1. University of “Diversity”

In the first weeks of summer, Chancellor Birgeneau sent a mass e-mail to the student body regarding the university’s dire financial straits and his “leadership strategy”. Specifically mentioning the regents’ 9.3% increase in student fees and “other revenue enhancement”, and some unspecified “cost-saving measures”, he went on to say that “units with higher capacity will be asked to take larger cuts than those with lower capacity”, for the sake of “breadth”, with no judgment on the effectiveness or value of either set. And yet he described the policy as “the only rational approach”. The chancellor went on to “be clear as to what we will not entertain”, including “[sacrificing] our commitment to social access: low-income students who have earned a place at Berkeley must be capable of affording a UC Berkeley education” and “[abandoning] our efforts to train and promote a highly skilled and diverse workforce”. In short, Berkeley will be making an open-ended commitment to fully-subsidizing lower-income students, while forcing others to pay at least 10% more to cover that expense, and to “diversity”, at an institution that prides itself on the fact that the majority of its present student population is already some minority.

2. Letterman’s “Creepy Old Man” Look

Perhaps one of the reasons that Sarah Palin needs to protect her family from the spotlight and thus chose to resign is to avoid crude jokes made by late night television host David Letterman. In the Late Show host’s monologue, Governor Palin was referred to as having the style of a “slutty flight attendant.” Letterman then joked, “One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.” It was 14-year-old Willow, not Bristol Palin, however, who was at that game. Sarah Barracuda and her husband, Todd, shot back in a statement claiming that Letterman’s comments were “disgusting” and “inappropriate”, and only portray the type of sexual exploitation that society sees towards young women everyday.

3. Tax on Cigarettes a “Common Sense Revenue”

In an op-ed published in the Daily Californian, ASUC Senator Ariel Boone, Cal Berkeley Dems Policy Director Nik Dixit, and Cal Berkeley Dems Magazine Editor Mia Pskowski opine that the state’s recently-passed budget allows for too many “cuts, cuts, cuts” across the board. They claim that legislators “ignored new, common sense revenues which could have offset cuts and improved our outlook”. However, one of only two such “common sense revenues” Ms. Boone, Mr. Dixit, and Ms. Pskowski refer to happen to be additional taxes on cigarettes that would effectively a) raise money and b) reduce smoking. But isn’t such a tax, by design, meant to be a temporary, shrinking revenue source, and thus cannot reasonably serve to balance the costs of ongoing programs? One hopes it is still common sense that taxing something out of existence would make taxing it less profitable in the future.

4. Obama’s Ratings Down after Five Months

With each successive slip up, including the president’s “stupidly” remark, more and more seem to disagree with everything Obama does, but remain transfixed with Obama the man. On June 18, nearly five months after Obama’s inauguration, the Wall Street Journal released an article discussing Obama’s approval numbers – because they’re slipping. Moving past the president’s charisma and charm, two qualities that strongly boosted his number of votes in the presidential elections, Americans are beginning to take notice of how well (or how poorly) Obama can handle the important issues facing the country. Disapproval is already rearing its head on several of Obama’s key decisions – including the stimulus plan, the bailouts of banks and auto companies, and the decision to close Gitmo within the year. A majority of the survey respondents in the article claimed that their primary concern is to keep the budget deficit low, even if that means it takes longer for the economy to recover. In regards to Obama’s healthcare plan, more apparently favored it than opposed it at the time the survey was taken, as they still had yet to see what his plan would bring. Since then, ObamaCare’s met opposition on both sides of the aisle. As for Obama’s nominating Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, overall support for her confirmation is strong, as critics quickly learned it is best not to bring up a Latina’s past, even if she is to be a justice of the Supreme Court.

5. “Truth” Commissions for Berkeley High Students

Responding to “racist incidents on campus” protesters at a Berkeley Board of Education meeting in June demanded more diversity education in Berkeley High’s curriculum, such as mandatory courses in African-American studies and ethnic studies, more black teachers and more diversity training for teachers, according to a Berkeley Daily Planet article. The demands followed on the heels of what some alleged to be incidents of racism committed “by a few white students” either on campus or off. At least one of the alleged incidents happened on Facebook. In language that would make George Orwell cringe, the protesters also called for “truth and reconcilation forums”, or “restorative justice healing circles”, where those accused would be made to face their accusers and the rest of the student body.

6. A New Revolution: Vegetarianism

Lydia Guevara, the granddaughter of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara, is following in her grandfather’s footsteps as the icon of another revolution – vegetarianism. The 24-year-old vegetarian poses semi-nude in a PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) ad promoting vegetarianism. In October, Guevara’s ad is expected to debut in magazines and posters first in Argentina, where Che was born, and then
debut internationally. In the ad, Lydia Guevara wears camouflage pants, a red beret, and bandoliers of baby carrots. Guevara’s ad is PETA’s first campaign promoting vegetarianism in South America. PETA spokesman Michael McGraw claims, “We say the best way to save animals is not to eat them.”

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