REAL ID's Around the Corner

REAL ID's are a nationwide effort intended to prevent terrorism, reduce fraud, and improve the reliability and accuracy of identification documents that State governments issue," according to the Department of Homeland Security website. The REAL ID Act passed by Congress in 2005 is supposed to enact in May of 2008, though many states, including California, have been granted an extension that expires in December of 2009. The REAL ID establishes Federal regulations that states must standardize into their state-issued driver's licences. According to the Final Rule of the REAL ID Act the standards include:

• Information and security features that must be incorporated into each card
• Application information to establish the identity and immigration status of an applicant before a card can be issued
• Physical security standards for facilities where driver's licenses
• Applicable identification cards are produced

After this deadline any regular state-issued driver's licences will not be accepted into Federal facilities, Federally-regulated commercial airplanes, and other similar Federal-regulated facilities.

Organizations at CSULB such as the Political Science Student Association wants students to write to their local legislators about these kinds of Federal regulations imposed on states, according to the Daily 49er. President of PSSA, Lindsay Nelson, displayed fear that the REAL ID Act could turn into a national identification card. "Contacting your representative is the easiest and best way of having a say in what your government is doing," Nelson said. "It's democracy at work."

*To write to your local representative for any reason go to congress.com to learn how to write an effective letter and it will also direct you to your local representative.*

Ludacris Concert Incited a Student Organized Protest

Associated Students Inc. at the CSULB campus organized a Ludacris concert for students and local community members on Saturday, February 23. Several students organized a protest against the Ludacris concert. According to Daily 49er in a preview article on the protest, "His lyrics are misogynistic, racist, homophobic, they glamorize capitalism and overconsumption, and promote violence against women," said Marina Wood, a junior women's studies major and organizer of the protest. Wood and her co-organizers felt that the concert was not aimed primarily at Ludacris, but at mainstream hip-hop media as a whole.

Before the protest and concert students , including those who organized the Ludacris concert, did not feel the protest was unnessecary. Keya Allen-Littleton, Program Council program coordinator told The Daily 49er, "No one here has animosity towards the protest. We're trying in Program Council to represent every student, so for us to be one way or another is wrong. We have to be open."

Photo from Daily49er.com

The Ludacris concert ended up with a small audience, as did the protestors. According to The Daily 49er in an article on the concert, Ludacris dedicated songs like "Move Bitch" to the protestors outside. Not very many protestors or concert-goers found their way to CSULB, but it was nice for many students to witness activism on this large and sometimes apathetic campus.

Anthropologists in the Military?

A larger debate associated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have anthropologists in heated debates on the ethical implications of hiring anthropologists as contractors under the military. The anthropologists, who study the social traditions and culture of the Iraq and Afghanistan civilians, are embedded in the field wearing a uniform and may also carry a weapon. The anthropology department at CSULB held a debate Wednesday about the ethical implications of sending anthropologists to war, according to the Daily 49er.

The Iraq war is a more culturally sensitive war, as many of the panelists on the debate agreed. The American Anthropology Association, however, feels that by sending anthropologists under the name of the U.S. military threatens the work and research of American anthropologists around the globe. Other ethical issues are also implied in a formal AAA statement released on Oct. 1.

"In the context of a war that is widely recognized as a denial of human rights and based on faulty intelligence and undemocratic principles, the Executive Board sees the HTS project as a problematic application of anthropological expertise, most specifically on ethical grounds. We have grave concerns about the involvement of anthropological knowledge and skill in the HTS project," the AAA statement said.

The U.S. Army claims that information from anthropologists will "help us better understand what motivates them, what is important to the host nation in which we serve, and how we can either elicit the support of the population or at least diminish their support and aid to the enemy," said Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, according to the U.S. Army website.

Welcome to "Politics at California State University, Long Beach"

  This blog will cover student opinion and political events, debates and forums at CSULB as elections are underway and resentment lingers towards the war in Iraq.  In a time of political upheaval and history repeating itself our current youth stand in a position of future power -- but only if we know the facts.  Therefore, I feel my duty to ensure knowledge of these powers and decisions we will one day have to face.