Issue 126, Volume 86 2005-2006
Students Rally to Impeach Bush
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Over 100 students gathered in Storke Plaza yesterday to protest President George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping policies during "Impeachfest," which featured presidential impersonations and the throwing of peaches at the national leader's effigy. Students for Impeachment hosted the rally and brought local Isla Vista band Iration to play a set. Impeachfest included speeches from retired UCSB sociology professor Dick Flacks and Students for Impeachment member and third-year political science major Jake Thorn. Second-year political science major Patrick Donahoe donned a plastic George W. Bush mask at the event and gave a sarcastic oration, and the rally also featured a voter registration drive and a bank of local representatives' phone numbers and e-mails. Thorn said Bush's orders permitting warrantless surveillance of citizens' telephone calls and e-mails violate the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which authorizes the government to collect foreign intelligence information through surveillance, but also includes limitations of that power.
Volleyball Pros Face Off at AVP Stop in SB
Thursday, May 18, 2006
UCSB students will have the opportunity to watch - and even try their skills against - world-class volleyball players this weekend as the Association of Volleyball Professionals hosts the Santa Barbara Bud Light Open at West Beach downtown. The tournament starts at 8 a.m. today on Cabrillo Boulevard, and it is one of 16 stops on the AVP/Crocs Pro Beach Volleyball Tournament - the nation's largest volleyball tournament.
Regents Pass Measures To Reform Payment Practices
Thursday, May 18, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO - In the same meeting that three state senators and roughly 30 members of the public demanded University of California President Robert C. Dynes's resignation, the UC Regents attempted to rectify the compensation scandal currently plaguing the organization. During yesterday's meeting, held at the Laurel Heights campus of UC San Francisco, members of the Board of Regents unanimously passed Action Item RE-74, a compilation of 23 measures proposed by the Task Force on UC Compensation, Accountability and Transparency. The Regents commissioned the task force to provide recommendations for reforming compensation practices.
Three Vie To Fill Vacant D.A. Spot
Thursday, May 18, 2006
With no incumbent for the first time in almost 25 years, the position of district attorney is under close contention by two UCSB alumni and a current assistant district attorney. District Attorney Thomas Sneddon is retiring after 23 years in office, and the three opponents vying to replace him include Assistant District Attorney Christie Stanley and private attorneys Doug Hayes and Gary Dunlap.
Leggies Pass Facebook, Lighting Resolutions
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Yesterday marked the last meeting of the 2005-06 Associated Students Legislative Council before turnover next week, when newly elected members will be sworn in. At their meeting, the Leggies passed two resolutions, one about university judicial policies and another concerning campus lighting.
Coming Through
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Electric Sheep
Sex Dolls End Humanity
Thursday, May 18, 2006
I don't know what killed off the dinosaurs. Maybe it was an asteroid. Maybe it was disease. Maybe it was a combination of Pop Rocks and Coca-Cola. I'll probably never know for sure, but I do think I've managed to figure out the eventual source of humanity's demise. That's right, I think I've managed to pinpoint the exact cause of our extinction. RealDolls are the world's finest love dolls. These overgrown Barbie and Ken cousins feature ultra flesh-like silicone rubber skin, an articulated skeleton for realistic sexual positions and enough portals of love to keep the whole family occupied during holiday get-togethers.
Hey, Readers, Take a Look, It's in a Book
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Books: What are books but odd bricks of paper we are supposed to read in order to pass our exams? A pile of books brings the top-shelf liquor into reach. They provide a quick scrap of paper to jot down a phone number - endless possibilities. Ask anybody over 40, however, and they will be completely ignorant of the myriad of uses of books.
Waves Drown UCSB
Thursday, May 18, 2006
The UCSB baseball team's old habits came back to haunt it as the squad issued 13 walks and hit two batters in a 10-5 loss to #20 Pepperdine University. Five of the Waves' (38-18 overall) 10 runs came on free passes, and the squad combined timely hitting with the extra base runners to take an 8-3 lead after three innings. "The walks and our lack of intensity put us in a hole and it seemed like we were down 20-0 the whole day," Head Coach Bob Brontsema said. "Our lack of command pitching-wise kind of sucked the wind out of us."
Santa Barbara Closes Out Season
Thursday, May 18, 2006
The #71 UCSB men's tennis team ended its season Saturday with a 4-0 loss to #20 Cal in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Gauchos (15-11 overall) lost the doubles point and went on to lose three singles matches before play was suspended with Cal having already clinched the 4-0 victory. With a Big West Championship trophy and a multitude of postseason accolades, the end to Santa Barbara's season could hardly be considered a disappointment.
Column: Hits, Runs and Bonds
Thursday, May 18, 2006
It's only a matter of time before Barry Bonds hits home run number 714*. At least, it seems like it's only a matter of time before Barry catches the Sultan of Swat on the all-time home run list. Right now the Bay Area slugger is sitting on five home runs for the season and just 713* for his career. He's been there forever and it isn't because he's drawing his typical amount of intentional walks either. Bonds has been watching called third strikes, swinging and missing and looking flat-out washed-up at the plate.
Watch Out
Thursday, May 18, 2006
This weekend Santa Barbarians are being encouraged to take a timeout from their usual rabblerousing and take an educational trip abroad. Presented by Arts & Lectures, the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival hopes to enlighten moviegoers on global politics and challenge attendees to recognize and acknowledge the ongoing struggle for human rights. The original festival, which takes place in London and New York, chooses a select number of films to tour the country as part of the organization's traveling film festival. Human Rights Watch Director Bruni Burres says that they hope to make the film festival an annual event for the UCSB community.
Fear Factor
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Picture this: a country living in fear after a series of brutal terrorist attacks and a president manipulating that fear to strip citizens of their democratic freedoms. Sound familiar? That is because Pamela Yates wants it to. Yates is the mind behind "State of Fear," a documentary dealing with the 20-year war between the Peruvian government and the Shining Path terrorist group. The film features interviews with everyone, from a former Shining Path member who fondly recounts her devotion to Maoist leader Abimael Guzman to a woman who was abducted, raped and tortured by the Peruvian military during former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori's war on Guzman and his terrorist activities.
East Meets West
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Beads, boobies and beer are not the first things that come to mind when one thinks of human rights. Nevertheless, this year the Human Rights Watch Traveling Film Festival will showcase "Mardi Gras: Made in China," an expos on the largest Mardi Gras bead factory in the world that wonderfully contrasts American excess with the harsh reality of sweatshop manufacturing.
Fighting Dirty
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Cory Booker is a 32-year-old Yale Law grad, Rhodes scholar, college football star and hopeful future Democratic mayor of Newark, New Jersey, a city with one of the highest poverty and crime rates in America. Booker's opponent is Mayor Sharpe James, a consummate politician who has dominated the last twenty years of Newark politics. Booker takes great lengths to know his constituency. He meets and debates with hundreds of citizens in Newark's poorest neighborhoods daily.
Piano Man
Thursday, May 18, 2006
In a world where one's middle-class neighbors get shot at their front door, where citizens are afraid to venture across town after dark and where the fear of bombings is neverending, it is a novelty if foreigners are not kidnapped. This is the world of a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, and a world we cannot even begin to fathom.
Redemption
Thursday, May 18, 2006
"No More Tears Sister" describes the life and painful death of human rights activist Dr. Rajani Thiranagama in war torn Sri Lanka. Through conversations with family members, letters and dramatizations, director Helene Klodawsky takes her audience back to the 1970s and [980s, when revolution and mortality were on everyone's mind.
Right to Remain Silent
Thursday, May 18, 2006
At 9 a.m. on an overcast Saturday morning, deep in Ellison Hall - the citadel of the UCSB Film Studies Dept. - the organizers of the Reel Loud Film Festival met for this year's selection day. This is the festival's 15th year of inspired art and mayhem, and an ambitious body of films culled from a year's worth of production by our campus' resident auteurs were up for their judgment day.
Reel To Reel
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Reel Loud showcases a film selection as diverse as the wildest minds of the student body. Crossing over genres ranging from tragic drama to uproarious comedy, the festival entries include shorts about dance, betrayal, migrant labor, animation and breast implants. Promising something for everyone, the breakdown of Reel Loud highlights goes a little like this:
Liars, Burritos and Robots... Oh My
Thursday, May 18, 2006
As another year creeps toward its end, we here at Artsweek are feeling a wee bit overwhelmed. With pre-graduation jitters comes a slew of culminating performances, exhibits and screenings that attempt - ever so boldly - to wrap years of scholarly work into a nice, entertaining package of artsy goodness. Like so many of their liberal arts counterparts, the Dramatic Arts Dept. students have gone above and beyond, bringing us eight days of original works written and performed by UCSB underclassmen. Starting this Friday and stretching on through May 27, these up-and-coming thespians bring us their version of the year's grand finale by way of the UCSB New Plays Festival.
Pixel Perfect
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Among the hustle and bustle of the Electronic Entertainment Expo - more commonly known as E3 - in the Los Angeles Convention Center last week, there was an art exhibit of digitally epic proportions. The exhibit marked the public unveiling of 16 pieces of video game art that were recently selected by a panel of jurors to join the Into the Pixel art exhibit.
Artsweek Calendar
May 18, 2006 - May 24, 2006
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Thursday, May 18: San Luis Obispo natives Sherwood take a trip down the 101 today. The indie rockers will play a free show today in Storke Plaza in support of the upcoming release of their debut album, Sing, But Keep Going. The concert starts at noon and is being sponsored by A.S. Program Board.
Welcome to the Machine
Thursday, May 18, 2006