Four months after President Barack Obama signaled his intention to close down the military camp at Guantanamo Bay, a confidential Red Cross report was published that described in gruesome detail the horrors that took place there and at other black sites abroad. Water boarding, forced standing, beatings with collars, confinement in a box, prolonged nudity and food deprivation are just some of the egregious crimes that took place at these sites. These are the unfathomed events that Red Cross doctors helped administer. These are the measures that former Vice President Dick Cheney justified and deemed necessary to protect the country. However, these actions are downright unacceptable.

Don't worry about our tanking economy and towering unemployment rate, as child beauty pageants are what threaten our nation the most, and so they must be regulated.

Once again, Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly attempted to anger the hip-hop community by criticizing Eminem's latest music video and the media corporations that produced the work. The rapper recently stepped out of a Michael Jordan-like retirement to release the new single "We Made You" for his comeback album "Relapse." The famous conservative commentator responded with harsh criticism. These critiques are unwarranted due to the video's artistic value and the hypocrisy of O'Reilly's accusations.

Haven't you heard? April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. This month, UC Irvine's Campus Assault Resources and Education Program (CARE) is sponsoring events such as The Clothesline Project, Denim Day USA and has invited groups like "Take Back the Night" and "One in Four" to raise awareness through a candlelight vigil. CARE hopes to combat sexual assault on our campus and others. Many UCI students have undoubtedly received the mass e-mail inviting concerned citizens to participate.

Studies have shown that we humans take only 100 milliseconds to make up our minds about a stranger. Personality, talent, intelligence and all the other traits that make us unique individuals are lost. We judge people on nothing more than the arrangement of their features. No matter how many times we are told not to "judge a book by its cover," beginning with the saccharine children's programs we have grown up with, we remain stubbornly shallow.

When considering running for an executive position in ASUCI, there are a few standard questions you need to ask yourself: Do I have the experience? Do I have the time? And can I do the job? Unfortunately, here at UC Irvine, another question candidates must ask themselves is, "Can I afford it?"