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4 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, September 13, 2002 SOUND OFF ONLINE POLL Create message boards at Have you been desensitiaed by www.dailygamecock.com or symbols and slogans? send letters to the editor to gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com NO 50/o - I IN OUR OPINION Bush taking right steps With a list of grievnces 10 years long, President Bush went before the United Nations yesterday to unveil to the world’s leaders his agenda regarding Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s totalitarian regime. The speech wasted no time getting to the point, and only danced around solemn references to the Sept. 11 observances only one day old and the United States’ announcement it will rejoin the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Soon after, Bush launched into a long list of Iraq’s broken promises, from 1991 when Iraq failed to return all prisioners from Kuwait to as recently as Hussein’s 1999 disregard of the U.N.’s demand for weapons inspectors. Bush threw the book at Hussein, accusing him of such things as running up oil pripes ana genociae, ana aeciarea nis intentions to use military force to end Hussein’s regime with or without U.N. support. While Bush’s aggressive stance might seem harsh, sometimes it is the only voice that can be heard. War is not an ideal objective — especially for a nation still reeling from such a devastating attack — but when a nation that openly harbors terrorists secretly stockpiles nuclear and chemical weapons with no accountablity and a history of lies, action must be taken. We applaud Bush for taking his case to the governing body that Iraq has wronged and for seeking support before seeking destruction. By taking his case to the world and not abandoning his principles, Bush has set the stage for change. By taking his case to the United Nations, President Bush is allowing the proper procedures to rally global support, an action not frequently taken. Gamecock Quotables “The ball was on the ground more than it is in Coach Berson's soccer match.” LOU HOLTZ USC'S HEAD FOOTBALL COACH ON LAST WEEK'S LOSS TO VIRGINIA "If you have an extra $2,000, don’t run for Student Government. Go feed the homeless or work on the adopt a-puppy program. ” J.D. SHIPMAN STUDENT SENATOR ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM “I wish they had thought more about enrolling 3,000 additional freshmen this year while cutting parking.” BRYAN COX THIRD YEAR BROADCAST JOURNALISM STUDENT ON PARKING SHORTAGE “It's silly, it’s unnecessary, and I don’t think we have sufficient reason to invade Iraq.” KATHRYN GRAHAM THIRD-YEAR HISTORY STUDENT ON BUSH'S PROPOSED WAR WITH IRAQ GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us atgamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Editor in Chief Mary Hartney News Editor Adam Beam Asst. News Editor Emma Ritch Viewpoints Editor Chris Foy Asst. Viewpoints Editor Erin O'Neal The Mix Editors Justin Bajan, Charles Tomlinson Sports Editor Kyle Almond Asst. Sports Editor Matt Rothenberg Photo Editor Candi Hauglum Head Designer Katie Smith Page Designers Samantha Hall. Julia Knetzer, Shawn Rourk, David Stagg Copy Desk Chief Jill Martin Copy Editors Jennie Duggan, Tricia Ridgeway. Holly Totherow, Karen Vaught Online Editor Bessam Khadraoui Community Affairs Kiran Shah CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com News Desk: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Public Affairs: gckpublicaffairs@hotmail.com Newsroom: 777-7726 Editor’s Office: 777-3914 CTIinCMT MmiA The Oamecock is the Faculty Adviser Erik Collins Director of Student Media Ellen Parsons Creative Director Susan King Business Manager Carolyn Griffin Advertising Manager Sarah Scarborough Classified Manager Sherry F. Holmes Creative Services Derek Goode. Earl Jones, Kimberly Myles, Melanie Roberts Advertising Staff Adam Bourgoin, Justin Chappell, Amanda Ingram, Bianca Knowles, Denise Levereaux, Jacqueline Rice, Stacey Todd TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock 1400 Greene St. Columbia, S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777 3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 student newspaper of the University of South Carolina and 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 activities fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for one dollar each from the Department of Student Media. _ CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS New experiences, oldfriends STEPHANIE THREET GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Even in college, you can keep lifelong friends. You can tell a lot about a per son when you look at their friends. For 19 years, my goal in life has stayed the same: make as many friends as I can; make as many memories as humanly pos sible. Over these long years, a hand ful of those special ones have stuck with me through it all. And now that I’ve moved away and am in college, the definition of a friend has changed. But some how, the best friends that have always been there for me have adjusted to the new standards. I’ve been blessed with close family and friends. Mom, Dad and my brother, Trevor, have al ways been there to talk to and lean on. Leaving them for near ly a month now has been really tough, but the friends I’m mak ing here and the experiences I’ve had come close to making up for it. And the fact that my best friend of 19 years is my room mate now doesn’t hurt either. Jennifer Frommer is my sec ond cousin and since we’re a close family, well, we were raised together. As we grew, I realized I could look up to her because she was older and she could look up to me because, frankly, I’m cooler. Not really, but she loves me for my funnies. Young children want someone to play Barbie with; Jennifer and I cried until our parents bought us the newest Barbie. At about 8 years old, girls look for friends who have brothers just like them, so they can both pester them. After trying it for years, Trevor and Jennifer’s brother Jason de cided we were cool enough to hang out with them and play Sonya and Kitana on Mortal Kombat. Other than playing video games, the four of us would watch MTV and swim; we could spend an entire summer day do ing absolutely nothing. It was fabulous. When we got into high school, things changed a little and we didn’t have much time for each other, but when we did, nothing but laughs and memo ries spewed out. In Jennifer’s first two years of college, we were separated, and our friendship was tested. But I came to my senses and realized it was time to get up there with her; she’d gone on long enough with me here to take care of her. Turns out, I need her just as much as she needs me. On my first hot date here in Columbia, Jennifer was there putting my hair in hot rollers and picking out a cute black peas ant top with the corduroy skirt. She actually took pictures after to see how good we looked to gether. All of our lives we’ve dreamed of being roommates and now it’s finally happening. We’re finally sleeping one room away from each other and sharing a bath room. Jennifer has always been, and will always be, my best friend. In a couple of years (well, many years...) she will be wearing the Gucci bridesmaid dress in my wedding. Of course, the new rule is that from now on, she has to approve of the men I date. But isn’t that what best friends are for? Threet is a second-year public relations student. IN YOUR OPINION Relationship advice for college students As if adjusting to college weren't hard enough, on top of classes and jobs and financial troubles, we, as freshmen, fre quently become the victims of unpleasant relationship changes. Guys and girls are equally prone to the new feelings of jeal ousy, uncertainty and the dreaded attitude that the grass looks greener on someone else that inevitably occurs at the be ginning of a college career. This is assuming a relationship has n't already fallen victim to long distance or new-experience ex cuses during the summer. I want to offer some advice to all those guys and girls go ing through such a difficult time. Unfortunately, I know first hand how a relationship — mine being long-term thus far — could be tested in these first few weeks of college. My advice? Run or fight! Although you might want to save the relationship, it can not be saved if the other per son is no longer interested in a relationship. In this case, run for your dignity, for your pride, for your sanity. It'll take a long time to get over the hurt, but, honey, it's college! Another possibility is that the other person isn't sure what he or she wants right now. In this case, my best advice is to fight as hard as you can. If you love this per son, then you should be fighting until you have no fight left, then fighting even harder. It's better to regret fighting as hard as you could and fail ing than to regret never fight ing and always wonder what could have been. I fought harder than I have ever fought in my life because I loved my boyfriend and wasn't about to let some stupid girl get between us. And I’m happy to say that it worked. We're still together, and we're getting better every day. So, the changes are in evitable, but don't play dead; fight for what you know is meant to be, or move on to find something better. Good luck to y'all out there trying to make it through. I wish you all luck. And Sean, I love you. TIFFANY SLATTERY FIRST-YEAR history student Spending cap not necessary for SG Is it just me, or has Student Government become slightly delusional lately? I’m sick and tired of SG members always bitching about how they want their organization to be a model of real government, then debat ing issues that defeat that pur pose. If SG members expect to find a spending cap for polit ical races in the real world once they graduate, they will be greatly disappointed. In reality, instead of whin ing about how expensive a race is, candidates are forced to raise money and support. No one is twisting these candidates' arms to run. It seems to me that if you can't raise enough support, both mon etarily and in votes, you don't need to be running in the first place. EMILY O'KEEFE SECOND-YEAR SOCIOLOGY STUDENT Keep it in your pants, and go with celibacy Congratulations, Shanna Reed! In your column ("Who needs the dating game?") in Monday's Gamecock, you had the courage to say what must be said. Celibacy is not a crime that must be dealt with. I am an 18 year-old virgin, and I am proud of it. No one is going to tell me that I have to get a girlfriend and get naked right now to prove my manhood. It takes a bigger man to keep it in his pants. And, moreover, the risks of that kind of lifestyle are often more than they are worth in physical pleasure. How many lives have been ru ined by an unplanned pregnan cy? I have seen what premarital sex can do to some people, and I say: "I've got better things to do." DANIEL LEE FIRST-YEAR COMPUTER SCIENCE 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. Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for more information. - ..... -—j WANT YOUR VOICE HEARD? SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR TO GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM. Tangled in the Web we weave BROOK BRISTOW GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Going to date online? Meet my friend Lenny. Maybe it’s just me, but the time it takes Computer Services to get around to something is longer than Derek Watson’s rap sheet. r , Time and again I called asking J them to come fix my Internet, but I got denied more often than Gary Coleman playing in a Big and Tall Men’s clothing store celebrity bas ketball game. So I kept calling. I pleaded. I was polite. I was civil. It was as if I was reciting all the codes of cour tesy. Phrases like, “I’ll call you next week,” “Yes, you look great in those pants” and “I can’t wait to meet your parents” come to mind. But it wasn’t working. So I made the call—I called Mom. You all could learn a lot from my mom. Being a Carolina grad herself, Mom is well-versed in the dealings of the USC bureaucracy, which is about as useful as grades and parking tickets. Her rule of thumb: If you’re not being a bas- C ' tard, you don’t stand out. Polite means pushover. Don’t think of it as being bitchy, think of it as be ing patience-impaired, she says. So I followed Mom’s advice, and sure enough, they fixed it faster than ratings dropping from the Anna Nicole show on E!. During my time of not being tangled in the World Wide Web, I was amazed at how much I had de pended on it. From those great, insincere conversations on Instant Messenger, to those online chat rooms where you talk to people you wouldn’t be caught dead talk ing to in person, and all the fun that is Internet dating, the^l Internet is a medium we rely on more than Jessie Spano did on caf feine pills when she was trying to get into Stanford. Gosh, I miss that I am amazed by how many peo ple meet through the Internet. Some even get married. Now, while even I have been picked up as a hitchhiker by a few people on the information superhighway, it’s fairly risky. True, it’s about as safe as going to a bar and meeting some one, but at least in the dark, smoky, drunken stupor some of us enter at the pub, at least you have a faint idea of what you are getting into. Some people go online looking to “cyber.” Well, let’s make a crys tal clear distinction — and when ( t I say crystal clear, I mean more transparent than one of the Partridge kids. There is “cyber” and there is “sybr.” “Sybr” is an abbreviation for “someone you be lieve is real.” I hate to break it to you, Web surfer dude, but that bo dacious blonde hottie you thought you were talking to is actually named Lenny. Lenny is a 57-year old truck driver from Branson, Mo. Lenny is a single white male version of A1 Roker who boastfully celebrates his inner mullet even though he is bald. But if you are destined to meet someone online, here are two sim ple rules to abide by: 1. If you can spend an hour chat ting with them and they don’t mention the words, “ex boyfriend,” “duct tape,” “chair in my basement,” “alien abduction” or “Clemson,” then maybe it would be all right to catch a flick together. 2. If they send you a picture and it’s a glamour shot, you need to hit that block button and make your self scarcer than a white T-shirt in Ozzy Osbourne’s closet. It’s a World Wide Web of whackos out there. So be careful. But be glad you have access to them in the first place. Bristow is a fifth-year advertising student.