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4 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, April 7, 2003 SOUND OFF ONLINE POLL Create message boards at Are you going to the spring www.dailygamecock.com or football game? send letters to the editor to www.dailygamecock.com. gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Results published on Fridays. IN OUR OPINION To our new SG president Dear Katie, You’ve signed up for a big job. You say you have faith that Student Government can become an effective organization with a push in the right direction. This past year, SG has been known more for infighting and self-regulation than for doing much to improve students’ lives. Maybe you weren’t in a position to change that when you were vice president. You’re in the perfect position now. One of the easiest ways to make students care ... ... about SG is to allow them a say of their own. Don’t stay to Students closed off 111 y°ur Office, and don’t allow SG to close itself on trom tne rest ot tne student body, invite students to speak at Senate meetings; actively seek their ideas. Another way to help students, especially in such tight financial times, is to take USC’s concerns to the state Legislature. Often, the ones who benefit most from new legislation are the ones who speak the loudest. Make our voice heard. Don’t just send a liaison to sit in on the occasional House gathering. Sign up to speak at the next meeting of the House Higher Education Committee. Come with facts. Such meetings are open to the public, and the legislators will have to listen to you. It’s your job to make SG matter to students. You’ve got some good ideas — creating boards to address student concerns and improving communication within SG are a couple of them — but the challenge will be turning those ideas into actions. College Quote Board THE DAILY FREE PRESS DENNIS REARDON, BOSTON UNIVERSITY “I don’t particularly care whether hazing goes on — af ter all, people who join frater nities know what they are get ting into. What I object to is having our money go toward organi zations where you must go through these weird rituals in order to join.” SWARTHMORE PHOENIX MORGAN HOLT, SWARTHMORE COLLEGE “If we sit on our butts stuff ing our faces with Big Macs and super-sized fries while watch ing ‘Friends’ reruns, we’re go ing to get fat. Big shock. But then we sue McDonald’s for making us fat because our port liness alienates and depresses us because, paradoxically, our culture does not like the chub biness it creates.” GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS The College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management was incorrectly listed as the College of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management in an informational graphic Wednesday about the results of the Student Senate race. Brian Murphy’s name was misspelled in an article about Student Government elections on Wednesday. The Gamecock regrets the errors. If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. ABOUT THE GAME.GOGK Editor in Chief Jill Martin Managing Editor Charles Tomlinson News Editor Adam Beam Asst. News Editor Wendy Jeffcoat Viewpoints Editor Erin O’Neal The Mix Editor Corey Garriott Asst. The Mix Editor Meg Moore Sports Editor Matt Rothenberg Asst. Sports Editor Brad Senkiw Photo Editor Johnny Haynes Asst. Photo Editor Morgan Ford Head Page Designers Sarah McLaulin, Katie Smith, David Stagg Page Designers Justin Bajan, Samantha Hall, Staci Jordan, Julia Knetzer, Shawn Rourk Slot Copy Editors Crystal Boyles, Tricia Ridgway, Emma Ritch Copy Editors Jessica Foster, Alyson Goff, Mary Waters Online Editor Bessam Khadraoui Community Affairs K«ran Shah CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com News: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com Public Affairs: gckpublicaffairs@hotmail.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 Editor’s Office: 777-3914 STUDENT MEDIA The Gamecock is the editorially independent Faculty Adviser student newspaper of Erik Collins the University of South Carolina. It is Director of Student published Monday, Med,a Wednesday and Friday Ellen Parsons during the fall and spring semesters and Creative Director njne times during the Susan King summer, with the exception of university Business Manager holidays and exam Carolyn Griffin periods. Opinions expressed in The Advertising Manager Gamecock are those of Sarah Scarborough the editors or author and not those of the Classified Manager University of South Sherry F. Holmes Carolina. The Board of Student Publications Production Manager an<j Communications Patrick Bergen jS the publisher of The Gamecock. The Creative Services Department of Student Derek Goode, Media is the Earl Jones, newspaper’s parent Sean O'Meara, organization. The Anastasia Oppert Gamecock is supported in part by Advertising Staff student-activity fees. John Blackshire, One free copy per Adam Bourgoin, reader. Additional Bianca Knowles, copies may be Denise Levereaux, purchased for $1 each Jacqueline Rice, from the Department Stacey Todd of Student Media. TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock Advertising: 777-3888 1400 Greene St. )■ Classified: 777-1184 Columbia. S.C. 29208 : Fax:777-6482 AUP^°NS Wf WaSTT To ryskAuttAsa / Keep ufWrrrt Kid-- j (ULtUC OTHER yoUR.£ tvchrhhf^)Wh1 / a,o^)f 5HOU^ WEP1CR ' \foV ftS OORWftR "" Expert? Voters determine term limits BEN EDWARDS GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Not all offices should have time restrictions. Concerning term limits, which were considered by the Founding Fathers during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Alexander Hamilton wrote in the Federalist Papers, “Nothing appears more plausi ble at first sight, nor more ill founded upon close inspection.” His words ring with truth today. I agree wholeheartedly that term limits, in most cases, are a terri ble idea. The premise behind the move ment is that politicians are in herently corrupt and become progressively more corrupt as time goes on. Consequently, the only viable way to ensure purity in government is to prevent politicians from remaining in one position for an extended pe riod of time. Many people dis trust elected officials, not out of any properly founded sentiment, but rather out of an uneasiness with having confidence in gov ernment that lingers from the Vietnam era. In some cases, I agree that term limits are appro priate. For instance, limiting the term of the chief executive at both state and federal levels makes perfect sense because it prevents the emergence of a dic tatorial figure who so thoroughly consolidates power under his or her control as to become impos sible to unseat. The same vein of thought when applied to the legislative branch lacks merit because of the distinctions in how power is ex ercised by representatives. Legislators do not have the same degree of control over imple mentation of procedural matters as the executive branch does. The power of legislators emerges from their ability to build con sensus with other legislators and create coalitions to advance leg islation that benefits enough of the populace to ensure popular support and, hence, re-election. Enacting strict term limits in sults the intelligence of voters by essentially saying they are not qualified to determine who should remain in office and who should be voted out. The best way to limit the term of a corrupt of ficial is to vote that official out of office. No matter how much spe cial-interest money an incum bent spends, he can still be voted out of office if his constituents do not approve of the way he votes. As an example of this, Tom Foley, a Democrat who was serv ing as speaker of the House, did not win re-election in 1994. He lost to a political novice who had virtually insignificant name recognition. Term limits would emasculate the power of the ballot and make it impossible to retain elected of ficials who have the necessary experience to do a good job. Contrary to popular belief, many officials spend their time work ing countless hours to help their constituents. Summarily dump ing these hard workers because of the amount of time they have been in office without evaluating what they have done clearly makes for injustice. Rather than forcing qualified and experienced legislators out of office, we should retain the power of the ballot to actively reward legislators who do a good job and to vote out politicians who do not perform. The assumption that enacting term limits will somehow im prove the competence of elected officials has no merit because there is no demonstrable link be tween limiting terms and im proving the quality of our elected officials. If anything, I fear it will lower the bar and put the deci sion-making power in the hands of people without the necessary experience to know the intrica cies of government. Edwards is a second-year philosophy student. IN YOUR OPINION Everybody has his own taste in music According to Ray Murray, Ludacris’ music isn’t music or entertainment (“Ludacris’ mu sic isn’t real entertainment,” Friday). Well first of all, it’s haters like Murray who try to bash and degrade anything they dislike or disagree with. I am not a Ludacris fan, but I don’t bash his music and say that all he is selling is arrogance. In fact, some of his stuff is actu ally pretty good. Music is art, and art comes in many forms, sometimes pleasurable to the mind, sometimes not. Musicians make some of the best music in the world by writing and singing about the way they feel, how they live and things in their lives, and if it happens to con tain some obscenities, it is their right to do so. L,uuacri5 may rap auoui some issues that are looked down upon or are considered rude and degrading. Well you know what, if you hate it that much, just don’t listen: the solution to the Ludacris controversy. If you don’t like what he’s about, don’t pay money for his CDs or con certs. It is that simple. Do you people think Ludacris is the only rapper to ever talk about money, drugs, hos and be ing a thug? Do you remember Ice-T and his song “Cop Killer”? What happened when people protested and tried to get his music banned? His popularity increased and he became an even bigger public icon. The same thing is happening with Ludacris: The more you com plain and protest, the more you fuel his popularity. If you don’t enjoy or agree with Ludacris’ music, don’t lis ten to it. Complaining about it isn’t going to make him disap pear or stop making music; if you really want to protest him, don’t pay any attention to him, his music,or anything he rep resents. To all the Luda fans out there, it’s your choice to listen to what ever you want, so don’t let these haters try to persuade you from what you like. And to Murray and every other Ludacris hater out there, What gives you the right to decide what is good and bad music? People are entitled to their own opinions, likes and dislikes, and we will listen to whatever we want to! JONATHAN BRUCKER FOURTH-YEAR MARINE-SCIENCE STUDENT Anti-war protesters aren’t unpatriotic The other day I was listening to a morning radio show and one of the DJs made a comment about how there were anti-war protesters gathering at a loca tion outside. The DJ then pro ceeded to say that all those who support the war should go out and show the anti-war people how to be patriotic. Excuse me? Just because someone is against the war does not mean they are not patriotic or don’t support the troops. In fact, it’s just the opposite. The reason I do not support this war is because of the troops. They are the ones who are out there fighting, dying, and leajving their homes and families. It is my generation that is pay ing for this war. Of all the Americans who are dead, cap tured or missing, 50 of them are under the age of 30. That’s more than half. These are people who just started their lives. They have families, husbands, wives and children who will grow up with out knowing their parents. The reason my generation is paying for this war is because we are too silent. This age group has the lowest voter turnout in elections, so America thinks that we do not care about what goes on in our country. Every day, I walk around and see students my age wearing their uniforms. They could go to fight tomorrow, and it makes me sick to my stomach. It makes me mad to think that my former teacher has been over there since last fall and left behind his wife and two daughters. But what really makes me sick to my stomach is to hear my 58 year-old llth-grade English teach er talk about how she’s never got ten married because all the men in her generation got killed in the Vietnam War, which could be reminiscent of a war we know now. JENNI DILLARD FIRST-YEAR PRINT-JOURNALISM STUDENT Submission Policy Letters to the editor should be less than 300 words and include name, phone number, professional title or year and major, if a student. E-mail letters to gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. Letters will be edited. Anonymous letters will not be published. Submissions are limited to two per person per semester. Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for more information. Express yourself without cursing SHAWN ROURK GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Here are alternatives to the five big dirty words. I never noticed the language of college students. Up until now, I never have noticed how much profanity people use in everyday conversation. Frankly, it’s a little disturbing. Being one who would put a sailor to shame with my mouth, it never did occur to me just to stop using that language and think of other ways to say phras es. I’m not saying that cussing is a completely bad thing, but it los es its effectiveness when people use it too much. For some people, f— k isn’t even a word; it’s a comma. It has become such an overused word that, whenever someone says it, it doesn’t even faze me. So to clean up this filthy problem, I have com piled a list of five dirty words and some alternatives to wearing out these staple phrases of college life. ♦F—k, v., n.: F—k is a hard one. Because of the wonderful, kind of whip-cracking sound at the end of the word, it is a hard-to-beat exple tive. However, you could call some one a “shmuck!” And f ing would become “shmoozing.” Fd up could then be “crunked-up.” Flark is an other good alternative for this, and it rolls off the tongue. - V^XX, li., V.. 1CICU1UU1C1 Id vorite of college students. My fa vorite alternative to this is dork. Yes, this one jumps off the tongue and can rhyme in time in songs. I hear that it is becoming a new al ternative for Will Smith to use in his music. Instead of this degrad ing word, you could call someone a dunderhead, not only insulting them, but confusing them as well. ♦ Hell, n.: Hell is about the only word on this list that can be print ed in a newspaper because, to most people, it is a proper noun. However, it has worked itself, at least in the past 100 years, into the popular phrase, “How in the... ” There really aren’t any alterna tives to this one, except for heck — which can be a good one to use if you are in front of your parents. ♦ S—t, n.: This is a favorite of people who have recently experi enced problems with their com puters. I can no longer count the number of times I have said this when my computer freezes and I have an essay due early the next morning. My only alternative if one were going to scream this at the top of one’s lungs would be to jumble the word so that it sounds like a line out of some rap-metal song. ♦ A—s: i ms one is tne easiest. You could simply use the normal alternative to it, butt. There are a few more creative ways to say it, however. One could go with my all-time favorite: fool. Other op tions include birdbrain, block head, bonehead, dimwit, halfwit, idiot, imbecile, jerk, lunkhead, mo ron, nincompoop, ninny, nitwit, numbskull, stooge and twit. Try to make a game out of putting together some of these in teresting phrases. Then you can come up with cool catchphrases like “Holy flarking schnit!” Or, if you really want to put someone down, call him a “crunked-up dunderhead who can’t spell worth a schnit.” Or, if someone is both ering you, use my favorite: “Backupoffmuhgrill, you schmuck.” Of course, the complete oppo site could happen now, if you made it to the end of this. Right about now, some of you might be thinking what my editor was thinking when she finished this: “What the F—K!” Rourk is a first-year print journalism Student.