I hate to sound contrarian, but it is sadly unavoidable sometimes. Such is the case with the current hand-wringing over tuition increases at CSUN and other public universities. The truth is that we students get quite a deal for our university education, despite the tuition increases over the past four years. Consider the numbers. A full time equivalent student will pay $1,518 for the Fall 2005 semester. That not only includes the $1,260 tuition fee, but covers fees for Student… Read more

Yesterday, President Bush unveiled his grand plan to come to grips with the troublesome issue of immigration. The central part of his plan is a guest worker program, which would allow immigrant workers to live and work in the United States for a set number of years. Bush’s solution to the immigration problem isn’t much of a solution at all, but is instead the political equivalent of punting the ball downfield. The guest worker program at the heart of Bush’s… Read more

On Nov. 13, the Washington Times revealed that President Bush’s newest pick for the Supreme Court, Samuel Alito, had said in 1985 that “the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.” The consequences have been immediate, with both supporters and defenders of Alito manning the barricades to defend their respective positions. Abortion is what the fight over the judiciary has centered on. Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that afforded abortion constitutional status, has become the… Read more

Many of you are well aware of all the crazies that currently inhabit our state’s fine freeways. You drive with them every day, contending with their foibles and follies as you speed down the highway (or in the case of the 405, crawl). Often, we refer to these fine examples of vehicular malfeasance with a string of curses or obscene gestures. A new method of referring to these dread drivers is needed, a scientific method of naming them so that… Read more

The nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court is what philosophers and theology students like to call a “teachable moment.” The fight between conservatives and President Bush reveals how serious conservatives are about reforming the federal judiciary and how wrong liberals have been about the right’s motivations in this effort. When Bush nominated Miers to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Conner on the Supreme Court, there was instant outrage among many of Bush’s supporters. Conservative heavyweights such as David Frum… Read more

Starting on Oct. 25 and ending Oct. 26, students at CSUN will have the chance to vote on three referendums. The third referendum, which would create four new Senate seats, has the potential to make student elections more interesting and increase student involvement in A.S. The third referendum proposes to create a new category of student representatives in the A.S. Senate. Currently, the Senate consists of four lower division, four upper division, two Graduate senators and two representatives from each… Read more

Among the myriad ballot measures being presented to voters on Nov. 8 will be two competing propositions, 78 and 79, regarding prescription drug discounts. These two propositions are an excellent example of how flawed our initiative system has become. Voting both of them down will send a message to politicians and special interests groups to stop wasting our precious time. In recent years, the voters of California have been asked to decide important issues at the ballot box that are… Read more

This week’s feature in the theater of the absurd is the BBC’s new documentary series, “Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs.” The BBC claims in this series that President Bush told Nabil Shaath, then foreign minister for the Palestinian Authority, that God had given Bush a personal order to drive the terrorists out of Iraq. The BBC quotes Shaath as saying Bush told him “God would tell me, ‘George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.’ And I did, and… Read more

You have to love our President. With the scent of sagging poll numbers and dropping support for the war in Iraq in the air, the political hyenas have been circling the White House for months. Yelping incoherently about the lack of leadership in the war and the failure of the federal government in New Orleans, the pack has been hoping for an easy fight and a quick takedown of their prey. Unfortunately for them, this president is made of sterner… Read more