“Ghetto chicks usually have gold teeth, start fights and drama, and wear cheap clothes. Ghetto chicks have a very limited vocabulary and attempt to make up for it by forming new words…or simply cursing persistently or using other types of vulgarities, and making noises such as ‘hmmg!’ or smacking their lips…” So read the Facebook invitation for UCSD’s Feb. 15 “Compton Cookout.” Before someone writes the inevitable “it’s just a joke get over it” on the Sundial’s comment section online;… Read more

Joseph Glatzer Most people probably think of Haiti as the poverty-stricken, island nation recently devastated by January’s earthquake. They’ve probably also heard some hateful explanations from right wing Republican commentators as to why the quake devastated the island so badly; namely that it is the people’s fault. “We’ve already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax….You just can’t keep throwing money at it,” Rush Limbaugh growled recently. Televangelist Pat Robertson imagined a Satanic explanation: Haitians “swore a pact… Read more

I just spent three weeks in Israel, the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, and the West Bank. Many of my preconceived notions were challenged and discarded. I learned about people’s daily lives by staying with both Israeli and Palestinian families. I left the Holy Land with more hope for peace than I ever had before. One of the people I met was a young Israeli Navy veteran who agreed with a settlement freeze, and cited settlements as a main obstacle to peace…. Read more

From the calm and measured intelligent discourse of cable news to the hard hitting in-depth stories of the Associated Press, the debate is raging.  Should we send more troops to Afghanistan? The debate is usually very narrowly defined: “Are there enough troops in Afghanistan to win?” or “If we send more troops is winning possible?” Assuming that the war is “winnable,” does that make it right to wage it? Let’s put the shoe on the other foot for a moment. … Read more

The first thing I thought when I heard about Obama’s peace prize is that it must be a fake headline from the Onion. As usual, right-wing Fox News/Rush Limbaugh style criticism of President Obama has been so ridiculous and over the top, that any legitimate substantive criticism is ignored. Right-wing smear merchants like Sean Hannity are now denouncing Obama’s Nobel Prize, because it is apparently further evidence of Obama’s Socialism. The right wing cries that the Obama-lovers at the Nobel… Read more

The “two-state solution” seems like a fair way to solve the problem in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestine. The Israel Lobby (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), President Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas all back it so what could be the problem? Israel gets their state and Palestinians get Palestine. Problem solved, right? Unfortunately, a fair “solution” for a Palestinian state has never and will never be offered by Israel. There… Read more

The fake controversy of the week: The president giving a speech to children telling them to work hard and stay in school.  Next week the Republicans protest Flintstones Vitamins as a subversive influence on our children. The real issue here is race.  White racists don’t want a black man talking to their children.  Such racists still haven’t accepted a black man as their president. Think about the signs at the town hall riots and tea bag marches: “I want my… Read more

If you think school cuts in a tough economy are inevitable, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  People need to educate themselves on the reality of the California budget, not just trust what Chancellor Reed or President Koester write in press releases. There’s a major problem which drains money from the budget every year.  It’s welfare.  Yes, welfare in California is a major problem.  We have a bunch of lazy, good for nothing welfare recipients, doing nothing but sitting on their… Read more

Everyone is upset at CSUN over the recent difficulty getting classes, delayed graduations, fee hikes and teacher furloughs.  Unfortunately, not enough of us are asking WHY this is happening. Some of our trusted servants running the CSU system, the ones supposed to be looking out for us, would rather line their own pockets at our expense.  One such example is CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed, who is morphing before our eyes into Chancellor Bernie Madoff. The White House Initiative on… Read more