Opinion

The presidential town hall debate on Oct. 7 produced daylight fireworks. That is, it was fun to watch for a little bit, but you pretty much didn't see anything. The debate produced no knockout blow for either candidate, at least not overtly. This ultimately meant a win for Barack Obama. He cruised to another debate win just by showing up, but that is not to say he didn't articulate his positions well.

The image of the 1950s is that of a simple and quaint life. The picture-perfect nuclear family was comprised of a father who worked from dawn until dusk, a mother with a bobbed perm and a kill-you-with-kindness attitude and kids (one girl, one boy of course) who thought that the world's greatest injustice was being bullied in high school. Throw in a fascination with dishwashers and a loose-to-iron-fisted love for the Bible and you have your stereotypical, white-picket-fence-dog-in-the-yard family, every hippie's nightmare and every Republican's dream. While this image is dead to our generation, the dream for a "perfect family" just can't stay buried.

Remember the Iraq War? Remember the latest body count of innocent civilians? No? That's okay because "Dancing with the Stars" was on TV and that is more important.

John LaVoie; Mark Levin; Sean Hannity; and...Sarah Palin!

If you have ever walked on Ring Mall, chances are you've seen a fraternity or sorority. They're hard to miss. Innocent freshmen searching frantically for their next class can't help but feel the vast presence of Greek culture. While scattered signs taped to a brick wall have been sufficient for various clubs to advertise on campus, the flash of a frat may just render such persuasions unrecognizable.

In last week's edition of the New University, AE Anteater wrote an article entitled "Aborting Misguided Policies: Patients May Face Choosy Doctors," about a straw-man doctor who exercises his free conscience by refusing to write a prescription for "the Pill," an act Elias characterizes as bordering on the stupidly malicious, and certainly deserving of his and our scorn.

Do you recall the pressure you felt when you took the SAT? It was probably sharp and crushing. However, you may have taken comfort in knowing that your college prospects were only partially dependent on the achievement tests. If you stumbled on those, you could always bolster your grades and extracurricular activities. However, imagine if that test was the only thing that mattered for college entrance. This is the type of pressure students in China face in their high school senior year.

Justice may be blind, sometimes deaf and too often dumb, but every once in a while it still gets something right. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently ordered the government to release photos documenting abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Throughout this election season, there has been great concern among Republicans as to whether or not young, evangelical Christians will remain loyal to the Grand Old Party (GOP), which has been justified by a recent lack of support for John McCain among evangelicals. A recent survey by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner featured in Religion and Ethics Newsweekly found that young white evangelical Christians aged 18 to 29 years "are less supportive of John McCain for president than their older counterparts."

While the New University's recent article entitled "PETA Accusations Fall Flat" by David Lumb [Sept. 29] provided graphic details about how rats and frogs were mutilated and killed for experiments in Neurobiology courses at UC Irvine, the article's title mistakenly suggested that PETA's accusations about this were somehow debunked.

Palin; Palin; Pali—err, Putin.

Thumbs down all around: McCain Campaign; Dino Rossi; Chicago Cubs.