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4 ' _ THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, February 1,2002 ONLINE POLL Q rVfT M TY OTTTT I I , 1 ■ B Y I m m T r I 1 L 1 Have you ever cheated Parking Services? ouuiMJurr | ui }\\ Iff 1 \ I f ■ 1 yes, tickets are cheaper than a Create message boards at I I ^ B/B/ I I I ^k| I . GARAGE STICKER 31% www.dailygamecock.com or I I i B/ B/ I B m B| I k f SOMETIMES, WHEN I'M IN A HURRY 35% send letters to the editor to B ^ I y _ ^ B yV y NEVER, MY CAR WAS STOLEN FROM gamecockviewpointS@hotmail.com ~ ’ SENATE GARAGE 35% IN OUR OPINION Protecting the already-born What’s the difference between a fetus and a person? Suddenly, we have an answer: The fetus can easily get health insurance. The Bush administration, pushing prenatal care for low-income women, said Thursday it will let states cover “unborn children” under the Children’s Health Insurance Program. It takes little work to discover another motive. By calling zygotes, embryos and fetuses “children” — and by making'it easier for them to get insurance than for poor women—is an erosion of abortion rights. Granting health insurance, a symbol of personhood, to a cluster of cells is a step toward making abortion a crime. It’s insidious, under a cloak of kindness, to offer prenatal and delivery care to fetuses while taking steps to strip women of their right to choose whether to be pregnant. There’s a better way. Legislation lingering in the U.S. Senate would extend the same health care to pregnant women without taking up the thorny issue of when life begins. We urge its passage. It’s ridiculous for our government to protect the “unborn” and neglect the born. Bush’s latest measure is a backdoor way toward eroding abortion rights. Our government shouldn’t sacrifice the rights of the born to protect the unborn. Gamecock Quotables “Had I not been sick, I might have been shot.” REV. TIM UJEWSKI use PRIEST WHO HELPED A WOMAN ESCAPE THE SCENE OF AN ARMED ROBBERY “You’re already having to deal with our race — a minority within a minority.” ROD SCOTT-PADILLA A LEADER IN THE LEAGUE FOR ALTERNATIVE MINORITIES, ON THE SPLIT WITH BGLA “Can you get it back if you don’t win?” ED BIANCHI GRADUATE ASSISTANT, ON THE $25 SG FILING FEE “There’s just other stuff going on. Plain and simple.” COREY FORD SG PRESIDENT. AFTER MONDAY'S SG NEWS CONFERENCE WAS CANCELED “We got spanked pretty good.” DAVE ODOM MEN'S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH, AFTER USC'S LOSS TO OLE MISS SATURDAY “There is a lot of use and misuse of the garage.” DERRICK HUGGINS PARKING SERVICES DIRECTOR, ABOUT THE BULL STREET GARAGE GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS An article and graphic in Wednesday’s paper about candidates who had filed for SG elections should have said Amy Buchanan Feinberg has filed for a College of Science and Mathematics senate seat. The entertainment and events calendar in Wednesday’s paper should have said the Sinators will be playing at New Brookland Tavern on Thursday at 9 p.m. The Gamecock regrets the errors. If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. Write us at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Mary Hartney Editor in Chief Ginny Thornton News Editor Kevin Fellner Asst. News Editor Mackenzie Clements Viewpoints Editor Carrie Phillips The Mix Editor Justin Bajan Asst. The Mix Editor Chris Foy Sports Editor Keith Allen Asst. Sports Editor Brandon Larrabee Special Projects Martha Wright Design Editor Kyle Almond Copy Desk Chief Mark Hartney Online Editor Page Designers Crystal Dukes, Sarah McLaulin, Katie Smith, David Stagg Copy Editors Crystal Boyles, Jason Harmon, Jill Martin, Paul Rhine, Andrew Festa Photo Technicians Robert Gruen, Aaron Hark, Candi Hauglum STUDENT MEDIA Erik Collins Faculty Adviser Ellen Parsons Director of Student Media Susan King Creative Director Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Sarah Scarborough Advertising Manager Sherry F. Holmes Classified Manager Creative Services Todd Hooks, Earl Jones, Jennie Moore, Beju Shah, Advertising Staff Betsy Baugh. Denise Levereaux, Laura Miller, Jackie Rice, Stacey Todd TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia, S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com University Desk: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com City Desk: gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 The Gamecock is the student newspaper of the University of South Carolina and is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters and nine times during the summer with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editors or author and not those of the University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media is the newspaper's parent organization. The Gamecock is supported in part by student activities fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for one dollar each from * the Department of Student Media. !/> if you rtA^£ /C0^f7'-AlNT5 of /VA&NTAL w&oeuTy / ves... ' thcyk&e 1 5AYt^6 we'Li ve 5^nt pack TO WGHMfiTAt/ J KSomc?#/'^ Economy will bounce back CLAYTON KALE GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Based on American philosophy, any idiot can make a buck. “You’re an idiot,” Matt said as I assumed the position at an empty bar stool next to him. “For what?” I asked. “Going out drinking on a Thursday night?” “You’re an idiot. I’m an idiot. That guy right there desperately clinging to the bar—he’s an idiot.” I cringed, hoping the drunk guy twice my size hadn’t heard my friend. He looked at us and burped. “We’re all idiots,” Matt said. “Why? Or do I want to know?” I asked, noting with relief that the drunk man was more focused on keeping the bar from spinning away than being called an idiot by a stranger. “There’s money being made in Greenville,” Matt said. “There’s money being made everywhere... except maybe by Enron and Kmart stockholders. What’s your point?” “Drive-through coffeehouse,” Matt said, pausing between each syllable for emphasis. “We’re idiots. They drive up and hand you money; you stand there and hand them coffee. They’re packed 20 deep, no matter what time of day you go. Money is being made in Greenville.” I didn’t need to say it. I know my friend had already said it before, but the words just came out. “Why didn’t I think of that?” Reading the business page of a newspaper doesn’t elicit the same response it did a few years ago. The capitalist in me almost would rather see pictures of collapsing oppressive governments on the cover of Newsweek than collapsing businesses. The bright side is that dismantled governments can be rebuilt from the ground up with a chance for success — if we work at it. Even the most radical regime can be transformed into a peaceful nation. But rebuilding a multibillion dollar company is much more difficult. Often, the causes are worse; greed is uglier than war. Enron’s top echelon made its money in what appears to be a scam. They have no more use for their employees. The Enron fiasco highlights the ugly side of the American economic system. The folks responsible for sinking the company came out rich while the employees were milked for man-hours and received worthless stocks in return. And while Enron’s files are shredded in a Dumpster, Kmart recently filed for bankruptcy. We might want to wait a few years before we say the one-two punch that Enron and Kmart put on the economy marks the beginning of the end of the Era of Big Business. Like a dead tree falling and making room for new life, a business that fails (or is dismantled) makes room on Wall Street for new giants. Ma Bell was whacked, yet Microsoft hangs on to its monopoly. It’s an endless cycle. Matt’s story about the convenience-enhanced coffee shop reminded me what is really necessary to get ahead in this society: a little bit of cash and a damn good idea. If the idea is good enough, even a small time operation like a drive through coffeehouse could mature into another American cultural icon like McDonald’s or Starbucks... or Kmart. The American economy is incredibly resilient, in part because the opportunity to make a buck exists in almost every nook and cranny of our society. From selling pirated rock band T-shirts at a concert to mass producing gourmet coffee in a drive-through, there are many ways for even an idiot to make money. Kale is a fourth-year print journalism student. Questioning the war on terrorism JASON PHILLIPS GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Killing terrorists is only a temporary solution to eradicating hatred. Last semester, I had the pleasure of listening to the visiting Tibetan monks speak about compassion at the Gambrell auditorium, after which they accepted questions. One audience member asked what I thought was an extremely shortsighted question. She compared Osama bin Laden to a child in need of reprimand and posed the question as to how compassion should be breached or altered in accordance with punishing his actions. Though she brought up a valid issue, her question made the assumption that any nonviolent means for dealing with the situation will be insufficient alone, and that punishment is only an unwarranted path because of its philosophical implications. Herein lies a fundamental error in reason, which seems to be prevalent of late: Many view the current peace efforts as merely an impractical and morally driven agenda. The error here, as in many other issues today, is a matter of oversimplification. The concept currently accepted by the media and our president is one of destroying evil and bringing justice to those responsible for the attacks. The word “evil” is used here without proper consideration of its complexities. “Evil” isn’t some causally immune entity that manifests itself in random individuals; terrorists are not a species capable of being exterminated. Rather, actions we subjectively view to be evil, such as terrorism, are produced by specific causes. For instance, here we are dealing with anger directed toward the United States; the individuals responsible didn’t wake up one day hating this nation with no provocation whatsoever. There are causes, and though the specifics are up for debate, killing individual manifestations of these causes will accomplish nothing. Killing all the terrorists currently alive, but leaving the causes that produced such hate will only be a temporary solution. The same causes of anger, left unchanged, will later produce more terrorism. Here we reach another case of oversimplification regarding our own actions abroad. Our nation has consistently funded groups we refer to with euphemisms such as “resistance fighters.” This term attempts to hide th? fact that they are identical to terrorists; the only difference is they work for our nation’s interests. Osama bin Laden himself has been used by the CIA in such a role. In fact, in the ’80s, our nation not only encouraged Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan, but also provided them with resources and even thousands of Korans, according to the Washington Post (July 19, 1992). Why would the United States encourage such groups? At the time, it suited our interests. Our nation was still involved in the Cold War, and we seized upon the fact that these groups were fighting the Soviet Union. Sadly, our nation gives only vague justifications for its interventions abroad. Many of our past involvements in the Middle East have hinged around oil and economics, regardless of their other supposed goals. Now the possibility is very real that our government is using this “war on terrorism” to single out nations in which it already has alternate agendas. As citizens of this nation, we must avoid taking the media’s simple reductions of complex situations, and we must realize that questioning or even openly disagreeing with the actions of our government is necessary for progress and growth. Phillips is a member of Students United for Rights and Equality (SURE) and is a second-year a/1 studio student. Apian for USC parking ANN MARIE MIANI GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Parking Services seems to enjoy arbitrarily taking away student parking. This is an open letter to everyone at Parking Services: Will you ever get a clue as to how bad the parking situation is on campus? Probably not. Will you stop taking away parking spaces so that you can replace them with a few maple trees? Probably not. Will you keep changing the rules to keep students utterly confused? Undeniably, yes. This isn’t the first time I have complained about parking on this campus. And the fact that I have had to broach the subject so many times says something. Maybe the “brilliant” directors over there at Parking Services should listen to the students for a change and give us what we really want—a place to park the cars the university allows us to bring here. Since I’ve been at USC, I’ve witnessed parking lots be tom up to put in a chunk of grass that no one uses. In fact, there’s even a beaten path from the library to the Russell House that apparently was “supposed” to be used for picnicking and Frisbee throwing. As a journalism major, I m stuck in the Coliseum for classes. I have seen my fellow dungeon dwellers have their cars towed because the only places they could park were “illegal” areas. And with the deletion of more spaces to make room for a walkway for the yet-to-be finished Health and Wellness Center, it’s even tighter. I was there two summers ago when the free parking hours were changed at the Bull Street Garage and Parking Services felt inclined to tell no one, not even the campus newspaper. And you’ve done it again. If you think students won’t wait until 11 p.m. to get their cars out of the pay lot for free, you’re sadly mistaken. I’ve already done it. It was inconvenient, but I’ll be damned if I pay this university one red cent more than I already do. You people get more than $10,000 from me in tuition; there’s no need for you to take the last few dollars I have. I’ve offered you so many solutions in the past, and you’ve yet to take me up on one. But I will try again with the hope that maybe there’s one sane soul over there who will at least listen to me. How about charging the faculty and staff members the insanely high garage rates and letting the students have random lots all over campus? There are more students than professors, aren’t there? We’re the ones who are paying your salaries. My plan is very logical once you break it down: 1. Faculty and staff members make more money than your average college student; 2. Because they make more money, you can charge them even more than you charge us and make even more of a profit; 3. Once that profit is made, there will be no reason to charge students for parking. It’s a simple solution for a complex problem. It would cost nothing to implement, so you are guaranteed nothing but profit. Miani is a fourth-year print journalism student. We want your opinion! Letters to the editor should be less than 300 words and include name, phone number, professional title or year and major, if a student. Bring letters to Russell House ^3 or e-mail gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com.