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4 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, November 14,2003 41 SOUNDOFF TTT^TTTTl^V VTTT1C1 ONLINE POLL Create message boards at I B-^ » l\ I I—* fl - B ^ I Should sexual preference be included www.dailygamecock.com or 'I I 1 i \l */ I ■ ■ % ■ l in USC’s nondiscrimination policy? send letters to the editor to I ■ J W W I \ W yk I L J YES 54% gamecockopinionsia.,hotmail.com —■— ■ ^ w * —®— V—^ ™^—' NO 46% : IN OUR OPINION Rock out for a good cause For those who love listening to music beyond the mainstream, college radio remains an ever-important medium, a means of introducing innovative artists to the masses. Looking to raise money to keep spreading the good word, WUSC is holding its annual fund raising drive, “Moolah For Music,” during which it will step outside its usual non-Top 40 bounds and play any artist this weekend—from the unheard to the overhyped—in exchange for donations. Yes, you can request and listen to Justin Timberlake songs until your wallet is empty if you so desire. Considering students’ devotion to their respective This weekend, tune in and show WUSC some love. favorites, on-campus listeners should be WUSC’s most-spirited supporters. Sure, speaking in favor of independent radio is ail well and good, but the bottom line is that every, station, regardless of how noncommercial it is, needs funds. No matter what one’s radio-listening principles are, every good music fan should understand the need to support emerging and underappreciated artists — after all, every great band has to start somewhere. That beginning, for many, has been their local college radio station. So, celebrate your disdain for popular music on another day. This weekend, indulge in that inner urge to hear a smash hit on WUSC, just for once. As college students, we may be music’s biggest pirates, but we should also be its biggest supporters. Tune in and show WUSC some love. Gamecock Quotables “We’re losing to a nut and a tiger. And we definitely don’t like tigers here. We need to show the world how cool a chicken can be." JUSTIN CHAPURA SECOND-YEAR JOURNALISM STUDENT. ON THE CAPITAL ONE MASCOT BOWL “I wouldn’t know half the stuff that’s going on right now if it wasn’t for this.” ANTHONY CONERLY FIRST-YEAR EDUCATION STUDENT.ON THE SUCCESS OF THE READERSHIP PROGRAM “I hope that this lady regrets her actions.” FAZEL AHMAD MANAWI DEPUTY HEAD Of AFGHANISTAN'S SUPREME COURT, ON MISS AFGHANISTAN'S CHOICE TO WEAR A BIKINI IN THE MISS WORLD COMPETITION “While America has a race problem, South Carolina has an obsession with racial problems.” LONNIE RANDOLPH JR. - PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE S.C. NAACP, ON THE STATE'S ISSUES WITH SEGREGATION IN EDUCATION GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS A story in Wednesday’s paper about the Interfaith Council dinner should have said Bahiyyih Young is a third-year psychology student. The Gamecock regrets the error. If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockopinions@hotmail.com. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Editor in Chief Charles Tomlinson Managing Editor Adam Beam News Editor Michael LaForgia Asst. News Editor Alexis Stratton Viewpoints Editor Gabrielle Sinclair The Mix Editor Meg Moore Sports Editor Brad Senkiw Asst. Sports Editor Wes Wolfe Photo Editor Morgan Ford' Head Page Designer Shawn Rourk Page Designers Justin Bajan, Staci Jordan. Philip Whiteheac Slot Copy Editors Amy Genoble, Tricia Ridgway. Mary Pinckney Waters Copy Editors Jessica Foster, Steven Van Haren Online Editor James Tolbert Public Affairs Kimberly Dressier CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com News: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@hotmail.com The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Sports: ganiecocksports@hotmail.com Public Affairs: gckpublicaffairs@hotmail.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 Editor's Office: 777-3914 STUDENT MEDIA Director Scott Lindenberg Faculty Adviser Erik Collins Creative Director Susan King Business Manager Carolyn Griffin Advertising Manager SaraN Scarborough Classified Manager Sherry F. Holmes Production Manager Amber Justice Creative Services Whitney Bridges, Robbie Burkett, Sean O'Meara Advertising Staff John Blackshire, Adam Bourgoin, Ben Sinclair, Jesica Johnson, Ryan Gorman, Laytoya Hines The Gamecock is the editorially independent student newspaper of the University of South Carolina. It 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-activity fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for $1 each from the Department of Student Media. TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock 1400 Greene St. Columbia, S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 tH§f^\ CARTOON BY MARY PINCKNEY WATERS/THE GAMECOCK I’m more exhausted than you STEVEN VAN HAREN GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM Sleep deprivation is the new test of cool. It’s time for another witty ob servation of student life that all the saccharine-sweet hayseeds love to make. Consider me bitter when I talk about this stuff. I’m a listener before class, pre ferring to look at my day’s sched ule, do a crossword or listen to conversations around me. Observation: nine out of 10 dis cussions I hear before, during or after any class concern sleep — or lack thereof. When it comes to sleep, less equals more according to the unwashed masses. A typical exchange involves two not-fully-baked jocks, two “busy” students or two loose ac quaintances who have nothing better to yak about. It begins with the casting of the gauntlet. Example: “I didn’t get to bed last night until 2 a.m.” A modest number, like the basic ante in a poker game. Person No. 2, who feels 2 a.m. is the standard bedtime for a se nior citizen, coolly shoots back, “I only got three hours last night, and two of those hours were re ally light, and the rest of the time went by so quick — it’s like I didn’t sleep at all. I’m so tired, dude.” Person No. 2 proceeds to bask in his one-upmanship with a weary grin. At this point, not listening to each other whatsoever, people pull out their special plays. They are determined to be the most baggy-eyed, coffee-swigging in somniac imaginable with a sleep less-night “horror” story. Jocks and frat boys are the worst — “Come on, man, we really did think we could walk to Lansing and get back for Wednesday classes.” There’s the overworked stu dent — “Not only did I have to write an international address for the Pope in 50 languages, but I also had to write three term pa pers, two novels and transcribe the Ten Commandments onto stone tablets. Whew.” But the bread and butter for all insomniacs is a reliance on getting wonderfully piss-faced — “I had to drink that gallon of rub bing alcohol. It said ‘alcohol’ on the label, and besides, we were out of toilet whiskey and moon shine.” I’m used to hearing all of this in some form or another. However, there are a few I haven’t heard yet that I’m sure will pop up someday. As every body tries to be sleepier than ev erybody else, this bloody annoy ing trend will continue into un charted depths. The hard-core insomniac will come along and best everyone — “Sleep? I haven’t slept in three days. Well, actually, it’s been more like a week. Wait, no, hold on — I’ve never slept in my life. I just stare at the ceiling every night. Nope. Never slept. Sleeping’s for idiots. Beat that one.” He’ll cackle with wild, drowsy evil, and those in his presence will worship his life of grogginess. I wish people could keep their lack-of-sleep stories to them selves. If they actually think the person they’re gawking to is lis tening to them, then sleepless nights have given them the IQ of a soiled mattress. Everybody wants the most pity. I hope the Sandman strangles these people with his fishing line of peaceful dreams. Maybe then they’ll talk about something, any thing, else. Van Harm is a second-year mechanical engineering student. IN YOUR OPINION Site helps students find easy teachers After seeing the signs around campus that advertise Student Government’s sponsorship of TeacherReviews.com, I in stantly recalled the many occa sions when I have used one of the Web sites that let students rate their teachers. My intentions are usually clear when I use the Web site: to look for an easy teacher. Students want to find that one teacher who is really nice, re quires as little effort as possi ble and gives easy tests. The typical mind set of stu dents is to choose the easiest way out, despite the possibili ty they might learn more with another teacher. College is not about finding the easiest teachers. Sometimes, having an easy teacher can actually hurt stu dents later in their professional lives. Being challenged and suc ceeding despite is one of the most rewarding things that col lege can offer. The bottom line is that stu dents only use this Web site to find the easiest teacher avail able, and that is what SG is telling all USC students and fac ulty members by sponsoring TeacherReviews.com. Although it’s helpful to know a little bit about the teacher with whom you will be stuck for a whole semester, TeacherReviews. com is not the only place to go. As a busi ness student, I know I can just go to the business school’s Web page to find out accurate information about business professors. The reviews are either harsh complaints from failing students or accounts of how nice and easy teachers are. They do have some entertain ment value, though. SG should not spend its time and our mon ey sponsoring something that all students know about and use anyway. The article in The Gamecock on Monday ex plained that sponsoring a teach er-ratings site was the No. 1 pri ority of the SG president. This is just another publici ty ploy to get SG’s names in the paper for not doing anything beneficial to the university. JACK CANINE SECOND-YEAR BUSINESS STUDENT Make use of VIP for ticket sign-up I have a question for Katie Dreiling and the rest of the Student Government: How is it that resources have been used to make sure people can vote for SG elections through VIP, but we are still using the ar chaic method of standing in a ridiculously long line to sign up for the Clemson lottery? Personally, it would be much easier for me to sign up for the lottery online through VIP since I am not on campus two of the three days when the sign up took place. With technology advancing at a rapid pace, there is no need for students to waste an hour or more of their lives standing in line just to sign up for tickets they might not even receive. I have stood in the line for the last time because I will be graduating in the spring, but for future students’ sake, I hope SG or someone can bring USC into the 21st century. TONY FLOWERS GRADUATE STUDENT IN EDUCATION Most-dedicated fans deserve tickets I have attended every home football game. I enjoy attending the football games, and I would really like to attend the Carolina Clemson game also. I think stu dents who have attended most of the games should be the first stu dents to receive tickets. The oth er people who never attend foot ball games should be the last to receive them. These people do not care about football; all they care about is be ing able to say they went to the football game. Most of them do not even like football and know nothing about it. Therefore, if there is a way to tell which stu dents have attended most of the games, then I think that these students should receive tickets first. AMBER SKALICKY FIRST-YEAR BIOLOGY STUDENT w Drop us a line at gamecockopinions @hotmail.com 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 gamecockopinions@hotmail.com. Letters will be edited. Anonymous letters will not be published. Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for more information. Iraq is not as bleak as it seems # PATRICK AUGUSTINE GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM The media is turning war into a sideshow. I must not have gotten the memo — the cool thing to do in the media is to bash Bush and Co. over the developing situation Iraq. I think it’s a good tiling cause if it all turns out well, lute we hope it will, every newspaper and major network in the United States will be eating a heaping helping of crow’s pie. Granted, not everyone is offer ing a doom-and-gloom assessment of the situation or saying it looks “eerily like Vietnam,” but the only stories from the cradle of civiliza tion seem to be about downed he licopters and dead soldiers. As Americans, we have the right to hear these stories about our mili tary in action. However, we might not be getting the whole story. I was sitting in the Charlotte airport last weekend and over heard a bit of conversation be tween a serviceman returning from Iraq and another passe* - The soldier was saying thsP - spite the coverage, the troops had all the support they needed on the ground and that things were rel atively calm where he was. No pronouncements that more troops were needed or that we were get ting bogged down fighting a broad-based insurgency slipped from his lips —just his honest, private analysis. There have certainly been prob lems in areas of Iraq from which Saddam derived support, notably the Sunni Triangle, but Sept. 11, 2001, proved that a small force can make a big impact with relatively little support and resources. Opposition forces carrying out attacks are driven more by A > rabid antimodemism than* tred of America, as witnessed by the bombing of an Italian police station two days ago in Nasiriyah. American troops are simply the nearest icon of progress at hand for Baath party loyalists and Islamic fundamentalists who, through their actions, pervert their own great faith. Our action in Iraq is simultane ously a turning point for democra cy in the region, as the president outlined, and for the American me dia, which for too long have held a sacrosanct position in public life. Even if the media, like myself, views the Iraq war as suspicious ly unjust and declaims the reasons proffered by the Bush admin tion, they still have a responsibili ty to show both progress and set backs in Iraq. News media should not be concerned with interpreta tion, only with providing the im ages and allowing the audience to draw its own conclusions. The Jessica Lynch drama is be ing played out on TV screens ev erywhere. By her own accounts, she was unconscious for all of the combat, while one of her comrades killed nine Iraqis who were trying to blow up the vehicles. Instead of highlighting the story of this Silver Star Medal-winner, Lynch was tapped as the hero of the situation and promptly given a $1 million book deal. I hardly think the Pentagon is the culprit in this game of greater deception. But the biggest farce to' e from Iraq is the legislators wh . t ed to approve action in Iraq and now refuse to vote for the $87 bil lion package to rebuild the nation. It has become a political football passed around by the Democratic contenders and the President, all of whom do our troops a disservice. Give our fighting men and women what they need to do the job and find another way to promote or op pose the current policy. Augustine is a third-year political science student.