Swimming against the safety stream

Good news for students concerned about safety: Tucson crime is on the decline. According to an FBI report released this week, violent crime in Tucson has dropped by 9 percent over the past year, even as nationwide crime rates have climbed 2 percent. Unfortunately, there’s no news on the petty crimes like bike theft that affect UA students most – the FBI couldn’t collect accurate statistics from Tucson police. But fewer murders, robberies and assaults are always good news. As much as students may hate it when police break up parties and hand out red tags, the public servants who keep Tucson safe – and have made it safer – deserve a Pass.

Boiling over in Darfur

Conflict in Darfur, a cause cǸlÇùbre for Hollywood stars and college students worldwide, is spreading deeper outside of western Sudan. The U.S. and France pushed a resolution Tuesday in the U.N. Security Council to send peacekeeping forces into both Chad and the Central African Republic to mitigate the effects of the violence now spilling across international borders. The first meaningful U.N. force charged with attempting to halt the genocide won’t be sent to Darfur until sometime next year. Meanwhile, an estimated 2.5 million Sudanese have been displaced and 200,000 killed since the start of fighting. Although there’s hope in the Security Council’s leadership, the quarrels that have prevented the international community from taking action deserve a Fail.

Voter fraud fallacies

The U.S. Supreme Court granted review this week to two cases regarding a voter identification law in Indiana requiring all voters to present photo ID at the polls. Voter fraud is a remarkably partisan and polarizing issue. Republicans push the strict-ID agenda, and Democrats cry foul with claims of disenfranchisement, but both stand to benefit politically from their positions on fraud. In an important election year, it’s good that a (theoretically) objective court will rule on a contentious issue – although coincidentally, federal judges in lower courts have all made partisan rulings so far. But the truth is, voter fraud is an uncommon occurrence. In fact, despite the law, no voter in Indiana has ever been prosecuted for funny business in the ballot booth. The politically motivated laws that stand in the way of the franchise for so many poor voters should get a Fail.

So easy, even a caveman can steal it!

Students, faculty and Neanderthals alike were shocked this week by the theft of a life-size cardboard caveman cutout from the lobby of the Student Recreation Center. Although the caveman may well be living in modern style in a dorm room or apartment, campus conspiracy theorists found fodder for speculation: Perhaps the eccentric theft is part of a larger plot to drum up publicity and shill car insurance. We can’t say for sure, but we’d like to think that if the advertising cutout had remained untouched, the UA wouldn’t have been strafed by an annoying insurance biplane towing a caveman banner all week. For pilfering prehistoric man, the Great Geico Heist gets a Fail.

Opion’s Bored
Editorials are determined by the Wildcat opinions board and written by one of its members. They are Justyn Dillingham, Allison Hornick, Sarah Keeler, Connor Mendenhall, Jeremiah Simmons and Allison Dumka.