February 2005

Volume 8, Issue 3

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Sudan: A Forgotten Crisis – Aric Wong

When over two million people are killed, someone must be held responsible for that crime. When 1.6 million people are displaced from their homes and then denied humanitarian assistance, someone must be held accountable for their suffering. Yet according to the Sudanese government, there is no one to hold accountable or responsible for the widespread massacre, rape, and displacement of Sudan's people. [more]

Feeding the World by 2025 – David Lyons

Wealthy nations have yet to provide the development aid they have promised time and again to poorer nations. Significant progress could be made toward alleviating poverty and hunger over the next decade if developed countries act now. According to the United Nations Millennium Development Project report, presented January 17 in New York, half of the one billion people living on less than a dollar a day could escape poverty by 2015. [more]

Hotel Rwanda – Aric Wong

In 1994, more than 1 million ethnic Tutsis were butchered in Rwanda by the Hutu militia. Amidst one of the greatest acts of genocide seen in our generation, there were also great acts of heroism by ordinary men and women. Hotel Rwanda recounts the story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who sheltered 1,268 refugees in his hotel despite great risks to himself and his loved ones. [more]

Abstaining from the Facts: Keeping the Sex in Sex-Ed – Eric Panzer

According to national statistics, chances are that you have had sex. It is also probable that you used protection&mash;good for you. Unfortunately, future generations of students will not be equipped to make informed decisions regarding safer sex if proponents of abstinence-only education have their way. [more]

Pro-Choices: The Fight for Reproductive Rights – Kate Darling

Abortion is the four-letter word of politics. Politicians side step it and voters are polarized by its mere mention. This year marks the 32nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade and the re-election of a patriarch that’s set on building a “culture of life” in the U.S. At the same time, this advocate of the “culture of life” subjected 152 deathrow inmates (including a mentally handicapped prisoner) to death by lethal injection. [more]

Arnold’s Free Lunch: The Truth about Arnold and Special Interests – Joseph Testa

Since the Schwarzenegger takeover, the rhetoric against special interest groups has become common and has helped the novice politician surge in popularity and approval. The people of California have interpreted this rhetoric as an unwavering dedication to bring the power back to the people. Unfortunately for the people of our great state, Schwarzenegger’s rhetoric does not match his actions. [more]

Finding Feminism Beyond Burning Bras – Suzanne Ruecker

A common affliction of women today is their aversion to the label “feminist” and the image with which it paints the bearer. Women choose to distance themselves from the term, finding it alienating and misrepresentative of their ideals. “Feminist” has the unfortunate tendency to conjure up images of bra-burning, man-eating extremists, … [more]

Bush’s Other Deficit: A Mandate – Michael Kapp

Now that the election is over, Republicans in Congress and the White House insist that they not only have the power to pass whatever bills they want, but that they also have the backing of the people. However, the only backing Republicans really have is a 3% margin of the general population, and the 120,000 Ohioans who voted for George Bush instead of John Kerry. [more]

The Road to Recovery – Nathan Schneider

A few weeks after the election, I participated in a discussion with a couple of conservatives who, in effect, pointed out that liberals aren’t going to attract voters if they label everyone who voted for Bush-Cheney ’04 as stupid. After exhausting my list of complaints, I realized that my conservative friends were right. [more]

Communicating Liberally – Tomasso Sciortino

In the milieu of political action, few things are more emblematic of the left’s difficulty in communicating than the modern protest. Certain circles see protests as some kind of political homeopathic pill, capable of promoting any good idea, but sometimes you need more than Ginkgo extract. Protests are useful for galvanizing a public that already agrees with you, … [more]

An Anti-Choice DNC Chair? The Case Against Tim Roemer – Pamela Bachilla

At our second meeting of the semester, the Cal Berkeley Democrats considered a resolution to urge California DNC delegates not to vote for Tim Roemer as new DNC Chair. Our discussion of the resolution quickly centered on the fact that this former Indiana Congressman opposes a woman’s right to reproductive freedom. [more]

Candidates for DNC Chair – Varoon Modak

A look at the leaders who are vying to be the next Chairman of the Democratic Party. [more]

Boxer Still Fighting in the Senate – Cecily Miller

At barely 5 feet tall, Barbara Boxer doesn’t seem like the likely choice to be the powerhouse of Democratic resistance in the Senate, but recently in the hearings for Condoleezza Rice’s nomination for Secretary of State, Boxer’s voice of opposition has been heard loud and clear. Asking tough questions and demanding concrete answers, Boxer’s Senate hearing statements stood as a powerful example of the Democrat presence that is still alive and well in the nation today. [more]

Nevada’s Reid Summoned to Lead – Joseph Testa

Nevada Senator and former Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid succeeds Tom Daschle as the new Minority Leader for the 109th Congress. Reid, who was reelected to a fourth term by 60% of Nevada voters despite the state going red, has a long history of public service, and his life story exemplifies the American dream. [more]

Constructing a Crisis: Bush Tries to Short-Circuit the Third Rail – Tomasso Sciortino

Before FDR, child labor laws, and Social Security as we know it came about, there was another system of Social Security in America: having your kids pay for you in your old age. It didn’t work very well. With a little bad luck you’d find yourself with old parents and no siblings to help out. And even if you planned ahead for yourself, your savings could be wiped out by an unluckily long-lived parent. [more]

Bush: A Political Peeping Tom – Matt Werner

In this era of threatened Homeland Security, we Americans are being brought up in a culture that slowly infringes on our privacy, and thus, our liberty. Some argue that because the right to privacy is not stated but implied by the Constitution, this infringement is acceptable. But, concerning the Bush Administration’s red-orange alerts and access-to-library-records infringements on Americans’ implied right to privacy, I am regrettably reminded of Abraham Lincoln’s … [more]

State of the Union: Crumbling – Pamela Bachilla

So, it seems that everything in America is free and ridiculously secure. Everything, that is, except Social Security. President Bush made a point to reassure high turn out voters—whoops, I mean people over the age of 55—that nothing would threaten their Social Security. [more]