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« “It's Important for us to realize 9 . that on the 350 or more days a UnlinG. year we aren't competing on the Should the U.S. have sent athletic fields that we must find troops to Haiti to stabilize ways to work together for all of the Caribbean nation? South Carolina. ^ www.daUygamecock.com. ANDREW SORENSEN Results pubUshed on Fridays. use president, on cooperation with CLEMSON FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT r In.our.opinion Terror knows no boundary The bombings that rocked the subway system in Madrid, Spain last Thursday are a sober reminder that no country is immune from the specter of terrorism. Evidence is emerging that Spain was targeted by terrorists affiliated with al-Qaida for Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar’s support of President Bush’s war on Iraq. Spain has been afflicted by domestic terror campaigns for decades, but the attack by extremist Islamic groups is being called the Spanish September 11. ' While not as severe in terms of casualties as the attacks on New York City and Washington, the violence in Madrid woke Europe to its vulnerability so long as Osama bin Laden and his followers are still arouna. Europe might have largely condemned the war with Saddam Hussein’s regime, but the horrors of Madrid underline there must be a unified world response to terrorism in the name of any cause. Our sympathy as Americans must go out to the families of those who lost loved ones in the attacks, because their pain is every bit as real as what we felt when planes slammed into the World Trade Towers in New York. The countries that opposed the war with Iraq are correct about one simple fact — it will not reduce the threat to all nations posed by a determined organization with resources like al Qaida. Furthermore, opposition to the war in Iraq does not connote a lack of support for the war on terror. Our priority as a nation must be to put Afghanistan and Iraq back together in a way that ensures they do not become havens for cowardly terrorists who hide their faces and commit crimes by proxy. The citizens of those nations, and indeed the people of the world, will only be able to rest safely once this is accomplished. The horrors in Madrid are a sober call for a unified global response to the specter of terrorism committed for any cause SOUND OFF Create message boards at www.dailygamecock.com 5J or send letters to the editor to gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu Gamecock.Corrections If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. AboutJhe.Gamecock tanor in uniei Adam Beam Copy Desk Chief Gabrielle Sinclair Design Director Shawn Rourk Asst. Design Director Staci Jordan News Editor Michael LaForgia Asst. News Editor Alexis Stratton Viewpoints Editor Patrick Augustine The Mix Editor Meg Moore Asst. Mix Editor Jennifer Sitowski Sports Editor Wes Wolfe Asst. Sports Editor Jonathan Hillyard rnoio cuiiui Morgan Ford Asst. Photo Editor Johnny Haynes Page Designers Erin Cline. Brad Senkiw, Mary Pinckney Waters, Chaz McCarthy Copy Editors Allyson Bird, Jennifer Freeman, Jessica Foster, Steven Van Haren Wire Editor Z'Anne Coveil Online Editor James Tolbert Senior Writer Kevin Fellner vsupmaui mruitmAiivn Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@gwm.sc.edu News: gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu • Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu The Mix: gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu Sports: gamecocksports@.gwm.sc.edu Public Affairs: gamecockpr@yahoo.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 Sarah Scarborough Classified Manager Sherry F. Holmes Production Manager Amber Justice Creative Services Whitney Bridges, Robbie Burkett, Burke Lauderdale. Paul Koska Advertising Staff Robert Carli, Kate Femino, Latoya Hines Carolina Love, Jesica Johnson, David Weatherford Public Affairs Kimberly Dressier The Gamecock ,—1400 Greene St. ^Columbia, S.C. 29208 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 j 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 Advertising: 777-3888 ^Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 /SOW&, — l_/vAiefre NOT ACCEPTING \ jJf / anV V0U>NT66f*S r<? C0U>NIZ6 /*AffS CTOftNC' / V Trttf PzesweHTi*^ / llllr CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Cable gone wild in Columbia I know you. I know what you did with your spring break, too. I know you went to Hilton Head Island, or Myrtle Beach, or Charleston, or one of those red neck sanctuar ies in Florid; like Dayton; or Panam; City. I know yoi spent th< whole week 01 the beach, sun bathing witl your friend who happen ti all be foreigi exchange stu Hpntc whi only wear half a bikini, drinking an endless supply of frozen mar garitas and maybe taking some time out of your busy schedule to frolic with sea otters and various other drunken spring breakers of the opposite sex. I know what you did last week, and I don’t like it. I stayed in Columbia for spring break. I know what you’re think ing — I’m lame. And yeah, I am pretty lame. But normally, stay ing behind when 25,000 semi-ed ucated Gamecock Neanderthals exit Columbia to rape and pillage the Southeast coast isn’t that bad of a setup. I can lie around on my couch, lie around on my other couch, and when I get tired of watching reruns of “Brewster’s Millions” on Comedy Central and “Behind the Music: Vanilla Ice” on VH1, I have the whole Horseshoe to myself. Not a bad life, even if I am really lame. But that’s a usual spring break. That’s a normal spring break. That’s what spring break is like when Viacom is being rea sonable. I’ve got news for you guys: this spring break, Viacom refused to be reasonable. At least, that’s what Dish Network said. I know it’s confus ing, because we have Gamecock Cable, but apparently our cable is actually satellite. And apparently our satellite provider is Dish Network. And apparently they didn’t want to pay Viacom for the rights to certain channels. And so last week, spring break week, the week when I should be able to watch MTV, MTV2 and BET air the same Missy Elliott video at the exact same time, I instead just got to watch a screen that said “Viacom refuses to be reason able.” Over and over again. One time, actually, Dish Network showed me a map with all the cities not receiving Viacom channels (Columbia wasn’t on it — apparently Gamecock cable is actually pur chased from Dish Network Houston), and that was pretty ex citing. At least, there was a pic ture on the screen. Otherwise, MTV, MTV2, BET, VH1, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon just had a black screen reading “Viacom Refuses to be Reasonable.” Oh yeah, besides MTV2, which ran a 30-second video of Dish Network CEO’s (Charlie some thing, he wanted me to e-mail him but I didn’t) ad, “Charlie Chat” in which he explains just how rea sonable Viacom was refusing to be. Well, watching that over and again might have been better than watching that Missy Elliott video over and over again, but at least MTV2 plays commercials between Missy Elliott videos. Sheesh. One last word for the USC Housing people, who I’m sure do a great job besides from screw ing up everything I’ve ever seen them do: please, call Time Warner cable and save us from this satellite madness. And while you’re at it, look into upgrading some appliances. I hear these newfangled “dishwasher” things are great. Unless they refuse to be reasonable, that is. , GRAHAM ; CULBERTSON > Third-year English 1 student In.your.opinion Fire safety ignored on most campuses The fire that destroyed University Ridge Apartments in Clemson demonstrates the dangers students face in fires, both on- and off-campus. Since January 2000, over 80 percent of the fatalities in student fires have happened in off-campus houses and apartments where two-thirds of the students in this country live. Common threads include no automatic fire sprin klers, missing or disabled smoke alarms, smoking and al cohol. There are specific actions you can take to help avoid a tragic fire. Look for fire-safe housing with an automatic fire sprinkler system. Fire sprin kler systems have demonstrat ed their effectiveness time and again in saving lives. Sprinklers react in seconds af ter a fire breaks out, giving you the chance to escape safely. Every apartment should be equipped with smoke alarms that provide critical early warning of a fire. Disabling a smoke alarm puts you and all of the people around at a much greater risk from fire. If false alarms are a problem, relocat ing or cleaning the smoke alarm might solve them. All alarms must be taken serious ly, and if there are a series of false alarms occurring, then engineered solutions to the problem may be available. Approximately one-fourth of all of the fatal fires in resi dences are caused by carelessly discarded smoking materials. In 1999, the latest year for which statistics are available, candle fires reached a 20-year peak according to the National Fire Protection Association. Fire safety is a shared and personal responsibility, and your actions can have a dra matic impact on protecting yourself, your roommates and those living around you. Please take the time to learn and put into practice these ac tions to save a life — maybe yours. ED COMEAU CENTER FOR CAMPUS FIRE SAFETY. AMHERST. MA Dance Marathon helps sick children I would like to thank the 260 USC students who participat ed in the USC Dance Marathon to benefit Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital on Feb. 20 and 21. The event raised more than $84,000 for Children’s Hospital and donations con tinue to come in. As South Carolina’s first children’s hospital, we treat more than 82,000 sick and in jured children each year from all 46 counties in the state. USC’s Dance Marathon has raised more than $212,000 for Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital in its first five years. Donations have helped fund up grades to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and a children’s am bulance. These funds allow Children’s Hospital to provide programs and services that we otherwise could not provide. With contri butions such as this, we are able to make being in the hospital more comfortable for families and a less frightening experi ence for a child. We have tremendous grati tude for the efforts of the USC students, who each raised a min imum of $150 to participate in the event. They then gave up their weekend time by dancing for 24 hours straight. We’re fortunate to have these students in our community. On behalf of the physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, Child Life specialists and staff of Children’s Hospital, I’d like to thank the USC students for help ing us to provide excellent care for our.children. DR. CAUGHMAN TAYLOR PALMETTO HEALTH CIIILDHEWS HOSPITAL, COLUMBIA 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@gwm.sc.edu. Letters will be edited for space, possible libel and style. Anonymous letters will not be published. Call the newsroom at 777 7726 for more information. Labels reveal little of beliefs I’ve always been confused on the labeling of people who are for or against abortion. They don’t make sense to me. The labels “pro-choice” and “pro-life” can easily be misin cerpretea. Perhaps if more people said that they were for or against abor tion, it would be simple. Unfortunately, both labels are vague. I could warrant either label for my beliefs. For exam pie, my value system supports me idea of people making choices for themselyes. I believe in the right of people to choose. I believe in the rjght of people to choose to have sex. I believe in the right of people to abstain from sex. I be lieve in the right to choose to use or not to use protection. You see-, I actually do believe in choices. But I don’t believe in abortions. And because I don’t be lieve in abortions, I fall shy a few choices of being a complete back er for free choice. Even though I believe there should be rights for several choic es, I just cannot believe in the choice to ignore responsibility. Women who get abortions have made their choices long before they ever walk into a clinic. And it’s sad that they can still make a choice down the road to end a life for no other reason than to allevi ate a mistake they have made in their own life. As far as I’m concerned, wom en who get abortions fall into that same category as obese kids who try to sue McDonalds. It’s amazing the way these two situations parallel. Both involve persons who have willingly made a choice. Both show ex treme consequences of that choice. And both also show that our society has eiven this fool ish notion to people that they are not always accountable for their own actions. All right, so I can’t claim pro choice as my status. I guess I turn to pro-life. But I’m not really a fan of this classification either. It’s quite broad, as it clusters most people. Isn’t everyone really pro lifeM’m not about to go out and say I no longer want to live. Pro-choice advocates would say they believe in life for sure — every breath they use to argue for the place of abortions comes from the lives they are living, lives that wouldn’t be here if their parents made that “choice” that they so vehemently fight for. This label certainly is enticing to encompass, though. I do believe in life. And I believe in every mea sure necessary to ensure that it happens. Even if it means a wom an is pregnant for nine months and then gives up her child for adoption. Even if it means a wom an being pressured from her boyfriend to get an abortion has to stand up for the right decision. The pro-life label is as perplexing as it is filled with choices—choic es for life. Well, it appears I’ve run full circle. Pro-choice doesn’t really sell my stance; but pro-life is just too general. If I were to be labeled, I’d prefer it be a title that’s fit to my beliefs. I’m anti-abortion, but I still believe in choices. I’m pro life, but I’m confident practically everyone is. Perhaps it’s just time to start going with a better label. One that is more fitting. Maybe one like pro-responsibility. CHRIS FOY First-year graduate business student College.Quote.Board TUFTS DAILY m is rsn HiMTY "Thursday’s bombings in the heart of Madrid are a tragic re ». minder of terrorism’s global reach. These attacks should serve as a sobering reminder of the turbulent world in which we live but not dissuade those students from studying abroad. Terrorism relies on our succumbing to fear in order to succeed, and the best way we can combat it is go about our lives, undeterred and un afraid ” AP» -ft COLORADO DAILY I'NivKRsrrr or Colorado "For decades, the Sierra Club has advocated stabilizing the American population for the sake of the environment. (Their) rationale isn’t “anti-immigrant,” as some claim. Rather, it takes the high road by calling on the nation’s oldest conservation group to persuade the fed eral government to make the United States a model in controlling U.S. population growth, and thus helping protect the environment.” ^ COURTESY OF U WIRE