Trick or Treat

As college students head out on the eerie night of Hallows Eve, it's important for college students to remember those safety measures from yesteryear. Sure enough, the crazies will be out through the rest of the week, so take extra care of yourself and your compadres.

Though Halloween falls on a Wednesday, its spirit flows over into the weekend. Knowing your surroundings is the key to going out any night this week if you want to make it back from the brouhaha in one piece.

Choose a safe area for trick-or-treating, one that's well lit and populated, so the Heights might be out of the question. Wearing masks is bad idea. It was one thing when you were eight years old and wanted to be Zorro, but you had your parents with you then. Life is different now and you have to be alert and aware.

The Zorro cape might get in the way too - you don't want to impede your ability to run away from that insane kid from your Com class.

While toilet paper make great declarations on your own house and eggs are yummy in your tummy, other people don't appreciate your benevolent effort to beautify their domains; try to stay on your own property if your outside, or better yet, stay indoors.

It's great to party hard and kill the liver, but when you indulge you should definitely pick a designated driver. With many candy-seeking nomads out and about, crashing on someone's couch after a party is a much better option than driving home intoxicated.

Lastly and most importantly, students need to be safe in the sack. Men - even though the girl is dressed as a slutty bumblebee doesn't mean she wants you to jump her. Women - maybe think about dressing a little be more appropriately to avoid those jerks only looking to get some honey. According to the National Institute of Justice, 9 out of 10 college-age victims of rape knew their offender, so be vigilant at parties.

The investigation into the deaths of 17 Iraqi citizens at the hands of Blackwater security guards has come to a standstill. State Department (DOS) officials have granted immunity to Blackwater security guards involved in the shootings, according to an Oct. 29, 2007 Associated Press article by Lara Jakes Jordan.

With this move by the DOS, Blackwater employees accused of wrongdoing cannot be prosecuted, even if charges are filed by the Justice Department.

"Once you give immunity, you can't take it away," a senior law enforcement official is quoted as saying in The Associated Press article.

A new development in this ongoing saga is the resignation of Richard Griffin, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security's chief. The BDS was sent to inquire about Blackwater's practices and instead granted them immunity. The Associated Press article says that Griffin's resignation is directly related to the Blackwater investigation.

According to BlackwaterUSA.com, Blackwater is "a professional military." While the purpose of the contract between Federal government and Blackwater is to advance the US's cause in Iraq, their actions have deviated from what is morally right.

Granting immunity to the Blackwater fighters shrouds the actual events of Sept. 16, which will indefinitely remain a mystery. Someone from within the government need to step forward and call the foul on the DOS: Blackwater's secrets need to be revealed once and for all.