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4 the GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, December 1, 2003 SOUND OFF ONLINE POLL ' Create message boards at www.dailygamecock.com or Should Lou Holtz retire? send letters to the editor to www.daUygamecock.com. gamecockopinions@hotmail.com Results published on Fridays. IN OUR OPINION I Visit to Iraq is honorable Thousands of miles away from friends, family and their own culture, U.S. soldiers are most likely looking for a little personal leadership now and then. President Bush made the front pages for visiting and boosting morale with U.S. soldiers in Iraq on Thanksgiving. It is the nature of the president’s job that every action and inaction will carry a political edge. If he had not gone to Iraq, critics would have accused him of ignoring the troops, especially with other politicians such as Hillary Clinton making publicized visits. Despite arguments But Bush went- and>stm and agendas, Bush smarting over the whole did an honorable “Mission Accomplished” thing, and though incident on a certain aircraft risky, the trip to carrier, risked accusation of Iraq was clearly manipulating the military lined with good for votes. intentions. Presidents throughout American history have visited war-torn countries, including Dwight Eisenhower, who promised during his campaign to visit troops in Korea. Bush’s ultra-secret surprise visit to the troops was purposeful and carried a good message that these men and women are not expendable bodies, and that our government values them. Despite all possible angles, arguments and agendas, Bush did an honorable thing, and though risky, the trip to Iraq was clearly lined with good intentions. -*>. • ' ‘ p ' - - ’.‘A- 'I' _ College Quote Board OREGON DAILY EMERALD UNIVERSITY OF OREGON “The one thing the media’s circus left out, amidst inter views with family members and legal consultants and that home less guy who got Jackson’s spare change, was whether Jackson should really be charged with corrupting America’s fairy-tale view of the ever-innocent Peter Pan, who symbolizes every American’s dream of never growing up.” THE Pins NEWS UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH “Will male birth control re place vasectomies for men who don’t want to have any more children? Vasectomies, while fairly routine elective procedures are still invasive surgery, and are generally not reversible. For a man who isn’t completely sure he’s done reproducing, hor monal birth control may be ideal.” GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS In the Nov. 21 issue of The Gamecock, photographs of Tigerburns circa 1940 should have been credited to the USC Archives. 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, Mary Pinckney Waters t Slot Copy Editors Amy Genoble, Mary Pinckney Waters, Tricia Ridgway 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: gamecocksports@hotmail.com Public Affairs: gckpublicaffairs@hotmail.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 7J7-7726 Editor’s Office: 777-3914 STUDENT MEDIA Director Scott Lindenberg Faculty Adviser Erik Collins Creative Director Susan King Business Manager Carolyn Griffin Advertising Manager Sarah 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 Advertising: 777-3888 1400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 Columbia, S.C. 29208 paX: 777-6482 CoaA£ I AH 9 A WOMAN T W£ll, ) (T5 on? orruose J aA^ OUO'FASHIof^f7 / Vwpoin&s'/ ?5b >>-.aa.C®, s-r*^ t-—w* CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Curtains have deep meaning RACHAL HATTON qfMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM A heaping helping of Thanksgiving guilt. Over Thanksgiving break, I bought fabric for curtains, and while waiting patiently in a ridiculously long line on the biggest shopping day of the year, I found myself thinking about the larger meaning of curtains. A curtain masks, conceals and prevents others from seeing parts of our lives we wish to keep se cret. So then I started thinking of this double curtain — what we keep in our dwellings, and what we keep on our lives. My heaviest curtain is my sis- • ter. My family only speaks of her right before holidays, before a family member drops her off, since she sold the car my par ents gave her a few years back. I have learned to keep the draperies pulled and the shut ters sealed. My sister has spent the major: ity of her life institutionalized, and when she did spend time liv ing at home, she caused nothing but problems, and would usual ly run away every few months. My sister has not held a job her entire life. This Thanksgiving, she men tioned that she lives off of $800 a month that she receives in gov ernmental checks. With that money, she sup ports herself, her two sons and her abusive live-in boyfriend. I’ve never been one to blame the victim, but I feel she’s complete ly irresponsible for putting her children in such an abusive en vironment and not materially providing for them. I can’t forgive her for that lack of foresight and discretion, and all my knowledge about women’s studies and the status quo get thrown out the window, curtains and all. But I digress. I’m ashamed about how much I spend obsess ing and concerning myself re garding social ills, while simulta neously giving such little consid eration to the impoverished and mentally ill in my own family. I give money to local charities, and buy sandwiches and soda for the homeless who hang out at the Shell station on College Street. I could send money, food and clothing to my sister and her two sons. Instead, I blame her for her poverty and criticize her lifestyle. This Thanksgiving, when I was with my family, instead of taking time to be thankful for all I had, I was angry with my sister. I felt she was unwilling to make positive changes, and I was an gry that my family was so disin clined to help her when she so ob viously needed help. Aren’t they also responsible for her? How can they watch her get out of control and harm her children in the process? In the past, my parents had bought her cars, paid her rent and sent her checks. Financial aid isn’t enough; she needs livelihood support as well. I have a huge sense of guilt, and I have a huge amount of guilt. There’s so much I’m will ing to do for people, and so many ways I try to help others. But I am just as irresponsible as my heroin-addicted sister. I could talk to her about go ing to tech school, I could help her find a job, and I could look into other resources to help her find childcare and assistance. Instead, I further incriminate myself, and draw the curtains tighter. Hatton is a third-year women’s studies student. IN YOUR OPINION Pragmatism alone shouldn’t guide law In her column (“Gay mar riages are practical,” Monday), * Allyson Bird discussed opposi tion by many to the idea of “gay marriage,” wondering, “ ...just what the big deal is.” Well, that’s a good question. I don’t agree with all of Bird’s assertions, but I’m not writing to argue the practicalities of “gay marriage,” because I be lieve very few people feel that pragmatism alone should de termine our society’s concept of marriage. So what is the big deal? I would guess there are plenty of people on either side of the “gay marriage” issue who don’t fully understand what it’s really about. I say it’s not just about homosexuals — it’s about all of us and how we re late to our Creator. I’ll go ahead and acknowl edge that I’m writing from a decidedly Christian perspec tive — at least that’s what I’m trying to do — in order to pre sent an explanation as to why many Christians are passion ate about this issue. You won’t find anger or hate here, though I expect many will dis agree strongly when I use the word “sin” in connection with homosexuality. Why do I use the word “sin?” In simplest terms, I be lieve the Bible. There are parts of scripture, taken in as much context as you like, that make it pretty clear, in my opinion. One of them is chap ter one of Romans. We must understand that this issue is not about passing judgment on people because the very next chapter in scrip ture (literally in the same train of thought and discus sion) says: “ ... at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, be cause you who pass judgment do the same things.” What is this telling us? I be lieve it is telling us that we all sin, and the nature of all sin is the same. God created us. He loves us. He wants us to be hap py, and to that end, He has a plan and a will for our lives. He gives us our lives and says (big paraphrase here) “Here’s life — use as directed.” But we all want to ignore His direction. It’s as if we’re prescribed medication to take once a day and we say, “That’s crazy, I’ll take 5 at a time as of ten as I like.” Well, that can hurt us, can’t it? Just like kids, we think “Because I said so” isn’t rea son enough. We’re too intelli gent — too sophisticated — to be told what is and what isn’t good for us. So we covet, we lust, we indulge ourselves, viewing His guidelines with suspicion and missing out on the joy He meant us to experi ence. This rejection of God’s authority in our lives is the hallmark of all sin, not just homosexuality. And a careful reading of the aforementioned chapter 1 of Romans will plainly reveal that the social acceptance of homo sexual behavior is an indicator that society in general has re jected God’s authority. This is why our government must not equate same-sex unions with marriage or in the process grant a civil stamp of approval to immorality. For the same reason, the prospect of “gay marriage” is one that should provoke in trospection, not judgment, among those who oppose it. “How have I been rejecting God’s authority in my own life?” is what I should ask myself when I think about this issue. Thankfully, God’s grace and forgiveness are available to all of us if we trust in His risen son, Jesus Christ. JEFF MOBLEY GRADUATE STUDENT IN STATISTICS Got something to say? We want to hear it! read it. Drop a line to: 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. Preorder your own GloFish today ANITA AUTRY GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM Brand-new way to beat nature into submission. In a fast-paced society that is revolutionizing nanotechnology and elucidating the human genome, Matt Groening visualized the future of fish engineering. It’s true that “The Simpsons’” three-eyed fish was one created by the freak contamination of a near by stream by the huge power sucking nuclear plant, but the similarities to the recent inven tion of the glow-in-the-dark fish are simply staggering. Matt Groening’s genius must not have been ignored. This newly engineered nsn that has recently been announced to the public has the ability to glow in the dark on command. By on command. I mean when you shine a black light on it. As a scientist and feminist, I am opposed to genetic engineer ing in general. There should be long-term research to figure out what the consequences of such ad vances will be on the ecosystem before these products are intro duced to market. I also think it’s just a little odd to recombine material found in nature and patent it, but hey, who am I to get in the way of profit-re warding hard work? However, I must praise the in ventors of this new “GloFish TM.” What better fruits of the genetic engineering conquest could you think of than a glow-in-the-dark fish? I mean, those guys at Greenpeace are so out of line when they call this stroke of ge nius “Frankenfish.” All the scientists did was help nature hurry up and do what it was meant to do: allow zebrafish and coral to reproduce together! Imagine the possibilities of mass marketing! “GloFish TM” everywhere! It will be the new betta. I think I’m going to go flush Lucky to make room for my fluo rescent fish. He’s embarrassingly old, anyway. I’m so glad they finally found a new way to market black lights. Those things were due for a resur gence in popularity. My Bob Marley and Dead Head posters just weren’t motivation to turn mine on anymore. i nuoe ueud lion wcicjuai a scam anyway. Down with those greedy betta farmers! Bettas only live for like, three weeks, and what do they do? Swim around. That’s it. The least they could do is glow, for Pete’s sake. The most exciting part of this revelation in the fish-making world is the possibility for future GE pets. What I really have use for is a glowing dog. Think of it: I could have an evening jog with my little puppy and not worry about being able to see the road or other drivers not seeing me on the side of the road. And honestly, what better con versation piece is there than a glowing lapdog? So my advice for you is to get on eBay as quickly as possible to order your new fish, available in the United States on Jan. 5, 2004, for a reported price of $5. You’re just not going to be respected if you don’t have this new fad fea tured as your dorm pet. And be sure not to put it in your “nature” corner — that would violate your feng shui be cause it’s not actually a product of nature. But be sure to put up a shrine to Matt Groening in your genius corner — he’s always been the wind beneath my intellectual wings. Autry is a third-year neuroscience student. , r