Happy Halloween 2009 From Student Health

My relationship with Halloween is what you might call “complicated.”  I love the creativity and positive energy of our students dressing up.  I love this Gaucho spirit and unity.  Only at UCSB do you see your Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, and Dean of Students come out to greet the crowds of students on D.P. on Halloween night.

I don’t like the violence, ass grabbing, fighting, property damage, and all the trash.  Last year, Halloween fell on a Friday.  In spite of the rain, over 45,000 people came to I.V.  There were over 230 arrests made and 560 citations given out (instead of treats). 55 people were transported for emergency care and over 50 cars were towed. Two people fell off the cliffs.

This year we will have around 250 police officers on the streets, on horses, and conducting DUI checkpoints.  But, if we have the same or more visitors as last year, it will take more than just the police to keep the peace over the weekend.  Here are a few simple things you can do to help: (more…)

Unnerved by Responsibility, Democrats Signal a Yearning for the Minority

Our country’s pathetic excuse for an “organized” left, the Democratic Party, has once again begun to disappoint, much to the dismay of those that the party so vigorously claims to represent. Although time and again the Democrats have promised massive change and reform for America, the postwar and post-FDR left in the United States is somehow still reeling from an identity crisis that subverts its platform when viewed in the limelight. Aside from the four years of Carter and the twelve years of Reagan (ok, and Bush), the presidency has pretty much followed the eight-year cycle of alternating stewardship shared by the Democrats and the Republicans since the end of the Second World War. (more…)

Welcome to the Twilight Zone

On October 3^rd, 2009 Saturday Night Live mocked President Obama as a man elected “to bring this country change we could believe in”, but who has thus far accomplished “jack and squat”. Less than a week later, President Obama is the “surprised and deeply humbled” recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. According to Alfred Nobel’s will, the Peace Prize is to be awarded “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” (more…)

Nobels for Nothing, Sharia Gaffes, and Lisbon Updates

Apparently our Dear Leader is being considered for a Nobel Peace Prize.  The rational questions of course are “Why?” and “For what?”   The answer to the former is “Because he’s the first Black president, and because he’s a European-style socialist.”  As cynical as that may seem, it’s actually pretty much the situation.  Here in Ireland, most of the people I’ve met seem to very much like Obama but are unable to articulate why they like him so much.  They always mention how he’s the historic first African-American president in a country with a long history of racial discrimination, but beyond that, they can’t name a single accomplishment of his aside from his being elected, and are usually shocked when told that his administration has even further polarized the electorate. (more…)

The Gift of Fear

In the middle of his show that aired on September 24, 2009, after playing a clip of schoolchildren celebrating Barack Obama’s being the first black President by singing a song (during Black History Month) to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic that lauded the President’s accomplishments, Glenn Beck encouraged Americans to “listen to the gift of fear: it’s there for a reason.” Wow, thanks for the inspiring words Glenn. I can’t think of a less helpful thing to say to an already terrified public mired in the midst of a recession that, while slowly lessening its grip on the American economy, remains a painful reality for many of those who have already or are about to lose their jobs or houses, not to mention the other things they already fear thanks to the 24/7/365 inundation of information that is omnipresent in today’s society. (more…)

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