Opinion

Compiled by the New University Editorial Board.

The UC Regents, perhaps trying to make up for their relatively low participation in staving off the budget cuts, are urging schools to...

Twitter is everywhere these days, so it’s no surprise that even our beloved elected officials use it. It is such a common part of their business nowadays that Twitter has sent a representative to the capitol to better serve those congressmen who use the blue bird. The novelty of old, technologically naive politicians entering the social networking world has not worn off quite yet, but one of these days Congress using Twitter will be as unremarkable as e-mail. When it comes to making political statements or campaigning, however, Twitter is still a powerful attention-grabbing tool and will be an important aspect of electoral strategy, not only in the next election but well into the future.

Through the course of history, protests have always proven to be an essential element in preserving the democracy that we hold on to so dearly. Protests are a form of expressing dissent to certain events and policies. Most importantly, the act of protesting is protected through our First Amendment right of freedom of speech, and to be punished for peacefully exercising this right is completely unreasonable. Despite this, the district attorney of Orange County recently subpoenaed six UC Irvine students and compelled them to testify before a grand jury regarding an event that took place about a year ago.

This truth has become self-evident in Egypt, where a grassroots populous movement calling for the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and for a new democratic government has begun. For 30 years, the people of Egypt have dealt with an exponential rate of unemployment, increasing food prices and a rapidly diminishing quality of life. However, on Jan. 25 2011, the Egyptians finally said “kefaya,” or “enough is enough,” and took to the streets with a resilient determination to overthrow their oppressive regime.

China. Does the name send shivers down your spine? Should it? The World’s Most Populous State (1.3 billion people) is the fastest growing economy in history, rocketing past Germany and the U.K. in recent years to take third place in the world market. In the past three months, Japan has reportedly fallen just behind China for yet another quarter, tentatively making China the world’s second largest economy. With that kind of track record, how long before they take number one?

One of the largest applause lines in the State of the Union was the moment when President Obama mentioned his success in repealing the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which barred gay and lesbian soldiers from serving openly. The extended standing ovation for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is not particularly surprising, given that it was one of Obama’s signature accomplishments, one of many that happened during last December’s lame duck session.

Despite his two decades of service in the House of Representatives, our suspiciously orange Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ohio native John Boehner has only now begun to catch some major notoriety. Even as a member of the Gang of Seven, a group of (not surprisingly) seven representatives known for squashing the House banking scandal in the early 1990s, Boehner stayed pretty quiet. It’s not for his newfound power or politics, that we know him now, though. It’s for his tears. That’s right, John Boehner is the federal crybaby.

The Associated Students of UC Irvine has taken a stance against the budget cuts proposed by Governor Brown. On Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011 the Legislative Council passed legislation (R46-60) in opposition to such cuts. The legislation urges the California State Legislature to open discussion on alternatives that do not hinder public higher education.

Letters from Meredith Michaels, Richard Lynch and Christian M. Peralta

Pie charts, graphs and the impending doom of what is yet another wave of cuts and despair aren’t exactly sexy. We at the New University bring you this Special Budget Issue, not because of its propensity to attract the masses, but because we believe that it is important to inform. We want the community to be aware of the ramifications and different ways that everyone in the UCI community is affected by the current financial state of affairs in California.

After taking the oath of office on Jan. 3, Governor Jerry Brown wasted no time introducing a bold proposal to solve California’s budget crisis. His plan involves a combination of tax and fee increases and drastic spending cuts coupled with transfers of funding from the state to local governments, all of which are intended to help address a staggering state budget deficit that currently stands at $25.4 billion. The plan is far from perfect, but it is the right move to save California before it’s too late.