Upcoming Brazillian Election May Determine Country's Economic, Political Future
By Kavin Paulraj
Opinions Writer

On December 13, 2001, Argentina fell apart. For 20 years, the Argentine government had received funds from the International Monetary Fund, cut back on social spending, increased privatization of important industries and opened up its markets. The more loans Argentina received, the more annual interest it kept paying back to international lending agencies. The currency plunged; it had been tied to the dollar in 1998, which caused more monetary woes. The Argentine factor has swung the public support in favor of economic policy change. On October 6, Brazilians voted in high numbers for Lula (Luis Ignacio da Silva), the leftist Workers Party candidate who is the only hope against the IMF gang. He now faces a runoff against Jose Serra, the current conservative government's hand-picked candidate.

To Get Most Out of Pomona, Run Naked
By Peter Douglas
Opinions Writer

Sophomore year has been kind of a letdown so far. My workload has increased exponentially, I've started using words like "exponentially," and I no longer have any time for playing darts or bocce-frisbee in my hall, two of my favorite activities last year. Instead I spend eight hours in Seaver South every day, then emerge at two in the morning, bleary-eyed and pale, like some cave-creature, which is fitting since I'm a geology major. I've even begun doing homework on Friday afternoons, something I promised I would never, ever do. My weekends have been violated and I will never be the same. Most disappointing of all, though, is the fact that in a year and two months at Pomona I have never streaked across campus.

Disaster Drill, Donuts, and Oldenborg
By David Lydon
Opinions Writer

As Monday's disaster drill revealed, Alicia and I are the only accountable people in Oldenborg, which is going to be a real problem next time something goes wrong. However, there were plenty of donuts for us. Dean Quinley apparently had 50 dozen of them driven in, the idea being, I suppose, that these highly desirable items would stand in for the crude shanties, leather clothes, metal chains, '70s muscle cars, gasoline, and powerful automatic weapons that, according to Hollywood, will be the scarce and contested resources of the post-apocalyptic future. One of the things that may not wind up being a scarce and contested resource of the future, however, is Oldenborg.

Cynics Should Check Use of Ironic Sarcasm, Sarcastic Irony
By Cory Forsyth
Opinions Writer

Cynical use of ironic sarcasm is on the rise, reflecting a disturbing trend that's slowly pervading today's culture in many different circles. Despite the tone of what I've written so far, however, I have no qualms with cynicism, sarcasm or irony (though I have to admit that hanging out with the truly sarcastic can be very trying for me). I even consider myself a cynic. I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with cynicism. In fact, I think it's fairly healthy. It's the way cynical attitudes, and their concomitant irony and sarcasm, are being used that disturbs me.

In Terrorism Offensive, Public Becoming Aware of War's Hidden Consequences
By LaRoy Smith
Contributing Writer

Knowledge of our country's history is of utmost importance in the face of such misleading debates and official stories as are proliferating currently in the mainstream media. The United States has been responsible for the overthrow of more than two dozen governments in the past 50 years alone, mostly under the guise of "stemming the tide of communism." Now, with terrorism taking center stage as the new global threat, our leaders in Washington are carrying out operations-in South America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa-identical to, if not more severe than, those carried out during the Cold War.

China Hot, Governmet Not
By Leshai Lemish
Contributing Writer

As one who plans on majoring in Chinese Studies and loves learning the Chinese language, I have to wonder: Why do the Chinese people keep getting stuck with these incompetent leaders? Well, we know they don't choose them: these hooligans always take over by force. Half a century ago, Chairman Mao led his people into a frenzy of melting any metal they could find while burning all their furniture in order to make useless clumps of steel. When you hear Communist Party officials say that China is getting better nowadays, they mean in comparison to the disaster the Party first brought upon the country. While China is getting better in many ways, today's President Jiang Zemin can outdo all the ogres in China's past, as well as any of today's world leaders. Recent media reports have indicated that he will not step down as planned, but will, rather, clench his teeth around his decaying power.

Use of "Ghetto" as Negative Descriptor Is Not Appropriate
By Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
Business Manager

In recent years, people, particularly young people, have used the word ghetto as an adjective (and occasionally an adverb) to describe the actions or appearances of other people, events, places, things, or even, sadly, themselves. For example, if someone steals cups from the dining hall, his or her friends might label that action ghetto. A hastily written, mostly illegible sign might be called ghetto. People are also quick to call yelling at someone in a public place ghetto, shoplifting from a department store ghetto, and playing music loudly ghetto. The idea is that these are things that occur in ghettoes or that people who live in ghettoes do.