Opinion

Upon taking office, President Barack Obama promised to transcend "politics as usual" and reform Washington to promote bipartisanship. After more than a year of his presidency, Obama has fallen short on many of his ambitious campaign promises.

Since President Obama took office last year, the United States has endured a series of ill-fated health care bills and a financial crises. All America really needs to hit the trifecta is a group of fanatical far-right wingers to step forward and denounce the government as socialist, stampeding into a full-fledged attack against the president's authority. Luckily for Obama, the Tea Party has stepped up to the plate.

In America today most products bear the tag "made in ______" or "imported from ______." The blanks can be filled with basically any industrial labor-oriented country around the world. From clothing to out-of-season fruit to electronics, the exportation of jobs from America has become so commonplace that companies now boast of manufacturing in the USA.

Imagine being a child in many parts of Haiti today. You leave the orphanage to look one more time for your parents. What once used to be the street you lived on is now an expanse of rubble. As you climb onto one mound, you realize the place you called home is gone.

Your parents are nowhere to be found. Perhaps they are looking for you, or perhaps their remains are just below your feet. With over half of Haiti's population under age 21, you are just one of the countless youth searching for life as it was before the Feb. 12 earthquake.

In elementary school, teachers always try to give equal awards to all the kids in order to prevent jealousy among the students. Based on Russian skater Eveginy Plushenko's reaction to American gold medalist Evan Lysacek's victory at the Vancouver Olympics, you'd think he had never learned to be a gracious loser.

To quad or not to quad?

Since the opening of the Whistler Sliding Centre in 2008, many have called the luge track "too fast" or "unsafe." People believed that one day, the track would take the life of one of its competitors. But they never expected that a fatal accident would occur so soon, as Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvilli was killed after losing control of his sled and slamming into a steel pole during a practice run on Feb. 12, the opening day of the Olympics.

When judging school events, students, teachers, and administrators alike have to be wary of potential bias. For example, every year the junior class holds Saratoga Idol, the event where students are able to display their vocal talents outside of the classroom. Typically, a teacher is asked to help judge the auditions with a few musically inclined students. This helps ensure that each student will be judged directly by his or her vocal ability.

With just 8 percent of the state's signatures, anyone can get his or her own proposition on the California ballot. These propositions, called initiatives, mean any citizen can submit their own "law" because of California's direct democracy.

When a branch of government is defined by its ability to systematically withhold and stall major legislation, it is apparent that there is a flaw in the system.

It's been agreed upon that emotions and anger should should be let out rather than bottled up.

For this reason, many people vent to close friends and relatives. However, Challenge Day provides students with the opportunity to share their stories with complete strangers and break out of their comfort zone. While some people may find this uncomfortable, venting to strangers, also of the same age, can be more helpful and even less stressful than talking to a trusted friend.