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ONLINE POLL Should Lou Holtz be fired if Carolina doesn’t go to a bowl game? Go to www.dailygamecock.com to vote. Results posted Friday. THiftfAMECOGK EDITORIAL BOARD CUI I UK Adam Beam DESIGN DIRECTOR David Stagg NEWS EDITOR Michael LaForgia THE MIX EDITOR Meg Moore * uuri ucarv v.mcr Gabrielle Sinclair VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Wes Wolfe SENIOR WRITER Kevin Fellner t ASST. NEWS EDITOR Jon Turner IN OUR OPINION Carolinian Creed deserves respect Last week, USC celebrated the Carolinian Creed, an honor code espousing student behavior standards. But aside from being memorized in University 101 classes and used for USC promo tional items, the Creed seems to have lost its significance on campus. Most students weren’t even aware it was Creed Week, or even that the Carolinian Creed existed. The Creed was created in the 1970s as an alternative to the hundreds of pages in the official guide for student behavior. Rather than have a huge document laying out crime and punishment, stu dent leaders decided to draft the creed, on one page, and use it Believing in a set of ideals and trying to uphold them might set a standard of student behavior from which the Carolina Community can benefit. instead. The result was a document that, by enrolling at USC, every student pledged to uphold. But student behavior recently suggests many students don’t val ue the Creed. Students are stealing food from campus restaurants, . 1 culling itdiduictui uvvatio uiuu sands of dollars a year. Students are also ripping down signs put up by other student organizations to advertise their events. And Saturday, students threw water bottles and other objects onto the field to protest what they viewed as a no-call from the officials. It seems that students are not taking to heart the Creed’s admoni tion of “respecting the rights and property of others.” We are not offering the Creed as a one-stop solution to cam pus crime. Students will act like students, and we understand that. But if those same students would value the Carolinian Creed, understand what it means and try to uphold it with pride, maybe they will think twice before they steal from the GMP or tear down a student organization’s sign. A belief in a set of ideals and an effort to uphold those ideals might set a standard of student behavior from which the Carolina Community can benefit.So read the Creed, understand what it means and try to live by it while you are at USC. And maybe when you graduate it will stay with you as you enter the real world and become a productive member of society. IT’S YOUR RIGHT Exercise your right to voice your opinion. Create message boards at www.dailygamecock.com or send letters to the editor to gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu I GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK EDITOR MUCHII DCdlll DESIGN DIRECTOR David Stagg COPY DESK CHIEF Gabrielle Sinclair NEWS EDITOR Michael LaForgia ASST. NEWS EDITOR Jon Turner VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Wes Wolfe THE MIX EDITOR Meg Moore SPORTS EDITOR Jonathan Hillyard ASST. SPORTS EDITOR Daniel Kerr SENIOR WRITER Kevin Fellner PHOTO EDITOR Jason Steelman SPORTS PHOTO EDITOR Katie Kirkland PAGE DESIGNERS Erin Cline, Staci Jordan, Jennifer Logan, Chas McCarthy, Jessica Ann Nielsen COPY EDITORS Jennifer Freeman, Anna Huntley, Daniel Regensheit, Jason Reynolds, Jennifer Sitkowski, Shana Till, Steven Van Haren, Joey Wallace ONLINE EDITOR E.B. Davis PUBLIC AFFAIRS Jane Fielden, Katie Miles i... Offices on third floor of the Russell House. The Editor’s office hours are Monday and Wednesday from 3-5 p.m. Editor: 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; Sports: 777-7182 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 Garen Cansler CREATIVE SERVICES Burke Lauderdale, . Chelsea Felder, Laura Gough, Joseph Dannelly, Kristen Williams ADVERTISING STAFF Robert Carli, Breanna Evans, Ryan Gorman, Caroline Love, Jesica Johnson, Katie Stephens 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 ^'400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 . Columbia. S.C 29208 Fax: 777-6482 1 , . LeSTeR PimSaUAT, THe LAST uNDSCiDeD VoTeRin AMeRiCA* Misses The EiecTion EKTiReiY vvHeN He’s FAcep vJiTH TgTANQTHeR, vexins Decision,, CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Rove and Bush win through lying ■ The American people caved in to Republican manipulations and fear My hat is off to you, Karl Rove. You and the rest of the Republican Party showed that you are nothing short of genius. Only a genius could take a record as bad as George W. Bush’s and pull in more votes than Sen. Kerry. True, Sen. Kerry could have run a better campaign, but that takes nothing away from your ability to manipulate roughly 60 million voters. You convinced the “soccer moms” that Bush was the only one to protect us. You convinced the bigots and haters that gays were running rampant in America and the only way to stop them was to have a constitutional amendment that, for the first time in history, would limit rights rather than expand them. You convinced “pro lifers” that Kerry would encourage abortion. You convinced people that the only problem with the raising cost of health care was trial lawyers. You convinced the religious faiths that Bush was the only one with true family values. You did all this and you did not care about the fact that none of it is true. But when it came down to the actual voting, we let fear takeover. A lot of people wanted to vote against Bush but they believed what he and Rove were saying about the only true way to be secure is to “stay the course.” What course is that? Is that course to bomb countries that had absolutely nothing to do with Sept. 11, 2001? Or is that course to allow Osama bin Laden to continue to run free? Maybe the course they were talking CRAIG SWAISGOOD FOURTH-YEAR POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENT auom was iu continue to alienate the countries that used to be our Friends. I have no idea. But 60 million people bought into the idea that this country is heading in the right direction. With 45 million Americans without health care and millions of other struggling to keep it, we should not “stay the course.” With health care costs rising by more than 12 percent each of the past four years, we should not “stay the course.” With thousands dying over in Iraq, we should not “stay the course.” With the worst job loss rate since the Depression, we should not “stay the course.” With more than 30 million Americans living in poverty, we should not “stay the course.” With assault weapons back on the streets, we should not “stay the course.” There is not a single thing that has happened in the past four years that warranted four more years of this terrible “course.” The sad thing is that Americans are so out of touch with reality that they elect senators who tell the voters that they look forward to being a rubber stamp for the Rove agenda. Nowhere in America is that more true, than in our great state of South Carolina. DeMint’s campaign slogan should have been changed from “secure the future” to “Tenenbaum is a Democrat.” That is the only reason he won. Everyone throughout America knew Inez was a better candidate cme on-one, but she was a Democrat trying to win in South Carolina during a presidential year. DeMint told all South Carolinians that Inez would be another “Ted Kennedy or Hillary Clinton.” The sad thing is people bought that, too. He told us that he would be a vote for the president in all situations regardless of whether he was right. After 100 years of sending senators to represent South Carolina, we have decided to send a senator to represent the Bush administration and their special interests. I just hope for DeMint’s sake he never has to work with a Democratic president because then he might have to use his head and find solutions rather than just say, “Yes, sir” to people like Bush. Congratulations, Rove and Bush. I look forward to another four years of taking this country in the wrong direction and lies from you about how great things are. IN YOUR OPINION We need to bridge the political divide Only the handful of you who know me personally know whom I supported in Tuesday’s election. As I write this at 7:42 a.m. on Wednesday, I suddenly realize that while all our votes were important yesterday, my vote should mean nothing personal to you today, and your vote should mean nothing personal to me. What side you took is irrelevant now because, at some point in the near future, we will know whom our president will be for the next four years. That man will be the president of all of us, Republicans, Democrats and otherwise. You don’t have to approve of the final choice. You shouldn’t suppress your opinion of him. All I am recommending, even begging, of you, is that you accept the legitimacy of the victor and try to move past the divisions of the last few years. Approximately half of the country will be unhappy with either possible result of the election, and if we don’t pull together in either case, our country will remain similarly divided for many years to come. Remember how much we have struggled on our way to the present. We have experienced pain, loss and fear; and as time has passed, our anger at one another has only grown. Do you remember how we were united, if only briefly, after Sept. 11 ? We can recreate a semblance of that unity if we put aside our anger and distrust in favor of acceptance and compassion, even if we can never agree. We all love our country and want what is best for it, even if we cannot agree on how to achieve this common goal. Neither major presidential candidate has been willing to tell you that compromise is necessary between the two sides if we want to make significant, lasting improvements within our nation. Neither has been willing to ask all of us to make sacrifices in order to succeed in our foreign policy endeavors, or to admit just how difficult success may be. If we want to heal our country we must be willing to give something of ourselves without being asked, and we must be willing to accept each other as equals and teammates with a common desire to do our best for our country. I have one other request. Be thankful that you had the opportunity to vote. If you did not cast a vote this year, please remember the next time around how many people suffered, worked and died in the past to guarantee your right to vote, especially if you are not a white, property-owning male. Take pride in your vote, which is yours by hard earned right, and which is your civic responsibility. JOLIE HALE First-year student in the College of Liberal Arts Carolina students disrespect players I am a student equipment manager for our football team, and I feel for the most part that the SEC is a classy conference, with great athletes and a lot of tradition. USC is in a time of trying to build tradition and respect. As tradition rich as LSU is, most people look down on them in Baton Rouge because of their fans. They do un classy things, like throw bottles when they get pissed off at everything. Man would I hate to be a part of that. Oh wait, now I already am. I have never been more embarrassed to be a student here than I was on Saturday. I feel the frustrations of what happened to our football team as much or more than any of you, but why must we act like people with no class. Do the refs screw us, yes, but doing what many of you did is crazy. I promise you that I will not make their calls any different; it only makes us look bush league. I also hear from my sister, who is also a student, that many of you personally call out these guys, and yell obscenities at or about them, etc. How we say we have the best fans in the country if we do that? These guys do give it their all, but people make mistakes. Another thought is, what if a recruit whom we really need hears you or anyone saying these things — you think that makes him want to come here? I doubt it. Let’s be great fans and have a good time, cheering the good, booing the bad calls, and hopefully winning, but can we leave the personal player bashing and bottle throwing outside the stadium. P.S. I am also one of the guys who runs footballs, so can you please throw Arkansas back to their ball boys, we only wanted the balls thrown out against Ole Miss because they do it to everyone else. DUSTIN CURTIS Fourth-year physical education student unifiif WW II If ■ dailygamecock .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@gwm.sc.edu. Letters will be edited. Anonymous letters will rt®t be published. Call the newsroom at 777 7726 for more information. Bush, Kerry in control of insanely huge pressure cooker ■ Give the people what they want: four more years of verbal diarrhea “President John F. Kerry, do you promise to uphold the Constitution, protect our country from its enemies, find out the truth about extraterrestrials, end all peace talks with a stirring rendition of‘All Love,’ make the Washington Monument the world’s biggest ketchup reservoir and windsurf no less than seven times a week?” “Yes, Chief Justice Bruce Springsteen.” “Good. By decree of the American people, let’s go party at Fenway.” — John STEVEN VAN HAREN THIRD-YEAR MECHANICAL ENGINEERING STUDENT Kerry’s dream, Nov. 1 “President George Dubya Bush, do you promise to uphold the Constitution, protea our country from its enemies, induce the Second Coming, attend all Cabinet meetings in full cowboy gear, rename the White House ‘Rancho de . Bush’ and finally find out what the hell ‘sovereignty’ means?” “Yes, Chief Justice Jimmy Buffett.” “Sweet. By decree of the American people, let’s mix some ’ritas.” — George Bush’s dream, Nov. 1 “This sucks.” — America, Nov. 1 It’s finally over. Kerry conceded the election to Bush on Wednesday. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, I’m projeaing a win for all people who no longer give a crap. We knew coming in to this election diat whoever won or lost, one half of the country would come out happy and the other half would come out pissed. So it goes. \Y/ka.. R.W.U r,. stressed the need to unite the country. Good luck. We’re more bitterly divided than Al Sharpton’s follicles. I’m predicting four more years of sniveling ass-kissing by Republicans and petulant whining by Democrats. Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday called Bush’s win “resounding.” Uh, Ronald Reagan’s 1984 domination of 49 states was resounding; diis election was an effectual draw, just like 2000. The only difference between 2000 and 2004 is that both sides’ hatred is already needling on full. South Carolina’s Senate race was brutal, but Jim DeMint achieved a sound victory. Finally, we don’t have to see TV ads followed by DeMint saying, “My name is Jim DeMint, and Jesus himself approved this bigoted message.” As a kid in elementary school, we were taught to memorize the name of the state superintendent. I learned, did well, my school didn’t explode, so I give some credit to Inez Tenenbaum. Whether she actually “gives her dogs bottled water,” in the words of Free Times columnist Michael Graham, is a question I’d love answered. Despite a huge national partisan divide, South Carolina actually got some stuff done in the midst of the madness. We finally axed minibottles, making drinks cheaper but less boozy. Ted Kennedy would have fought this tooth and nail, I’m sure. If only we could rid ourselves of the blatantly moronic blue laws. I voted for Bush, but I dread the next four years. Uncivil war? Maybe. At least John Edwards won’t be vice president when it happens, or some Republican sniper will take him out after he fails to stop his addiction to thumbs-up. Cold war? Most definitely. Cheney looks like a sober Gorbachev. Hopefully, we can pull ourselves together enough to get some stuff done. Like killing terrorists. That’s always fun. I’m sure Bush and Kerry, in the White House and the Senate, are already working hard to keep us safe. “Finally, I can relax. Think I’ll watch Spongebob.” — Bush and Kerry, Nov. 3 ONLINE POLL Were you aware of the Creed Week events? Yes 30% No 70% k FROM WWW. DAI I. 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