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SOUND OFF . ONLINE POLL Create message boards at Should John Palms still be www.dailygamecock.com or on USC’s payroll? send letters to the editor to www.dailygamecock.com. gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Results published on Fridays. IN OUR OPINION Fit penalty to mental ability The South Carolina House of Representatives is considering a bill that would ban the death penalty in sentencing the mentally retarded. Justice demands that the guilty have certain knowledge about their actions. If the suspect didn’t know he was committing a crime, the crime is properly classified as accidental. Hunting accidents involving gunshot wounds, even fatal ones, are prosecuted as homicide or negligence rather than murder. It is inappropriate to The mentally retarded are treat the mentally m a similar situation. You retarded like any cannot premeditate murder run-of-the-mill if you cannot comprehend criminal, the idea: The mentally retarded might not be able to defend themselves against a cop’s questions, or even keep the right to remain silent in mind. Mental retardation isn’t the insanity defense; retardation and insanity are totally different conditions, and it could be easier to standardize testing for retardation. The bill currently before the House, H.3165, requires past recorded sub-average intellectual performance, deficiency in at least two adaptive skill areas, and that the disorder be documented before the age of 18. It is inappropriate to treat the retarded like any run-of-the-mill criminal. They may be prosecuted, found guilty, and punished. But the sentence must fit the crime. In the case of the mentally retarded, their qualified intent and limited knowledge of the consequences merit a ceiling on their penalties. Winners and Sinners NORAH JONES Newcomer took the Grammy’s by surprise, racking up eight awards and redefining record companies’ ideas of a pop star. MSNBC Fired Phil Donahue after just six months on air. Jenny Jones is quitting her talk show; maybe she’ll take Donahue’s spot. TANYA HARDING The outcast figure-skater turned-boxer has to pay $20,000 for a rental home she was evicted from a year ago. CBS Is on a “hick hunt” to cast a new reality show, which is modeled after “The Beverly Hillbillies.” Welcome to “The Redneck World.” gamecock corrections In Monday’s index, musician Avril Lavingne was incorrectly listed among those who won Grammy Awards. The Gamecock regrets the error. If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Edit* m Chief CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Managing Editor Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com Charles Tomlinson News: Sa"'ecockudesk®hotmail.conT Viewpoints: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com News Editor The ^'x: 8aniecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Adam Beam Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com Public Affairs: gckpublicaffairs@hotmail.com Asst News Editor Online: www.dailygamecock.com Wendy jeffcoat Newsroom: 777-7726 ’ Editor s Office: 777-3914 E^oTai™*0' STUDENT MEDIA The Gamecock is the fcrln 0 Neal AJ , editorially independent tk hi cai. Faculty Adv ser student newspaper of The Mix Editor Erik Collins the Universit/of South Corey Garnott Carolinajt is A Tk Ml Director of Student published Monday. Medla Wednesday and Friday Meg Moore Ellen Parsons during the fall and Crtitk. . spUng semesters and Sports Editor Creative Director nine times during the Matt Rothenberg Susan King summer, with the . _ . _... exception of university Asst. Sports Editor Business Manager holidays and exam Brad Senkiw Carolyn Griffin periods. Opinions expressed in The Photo Editor Advertising Manager Gamecock are those of Johnny Haynes Sarah Scarborough the editors or author and not those of the Asst. Photo Editor Classified Manager University of South Morgan Ford Sherry F. Holmes Carolina. The Board of Student Publications tf Head Page Designers Production Manager and Communications Sarah McLaulin, Katie Patrick Bergen is the publisher of The Smith, David Stagg Gamecock. The Creative Services Department of Student Page Designers Derek Goode. Media is the Justin Bajan, Samantha Earl Jones. newspaper's parent Hall. Staci Jordan, Julia Sean O'Meara. organization. The Knetzer. Shawn Rourk Anastasia Oppert Gamecock is .. . _ _... supported in part by Slot Copy Editors Advertising Staff student-activity fees. Crystal Boyles. Tncia John Blackshire. One free copy per Ridgway. Emma Ritch Adam Bourgoin, reader. Additional Bianca Knowles. copies may be Copy Editors Denise Levereaux, purchased for $1 each Jessica Foster Alyson Jacqueline Rice. from the Department Goff, Mary Waters Stacey Todd of Student Media. “-“adraoui , TO PLAC^ AN AD _ , The Gamecock Advertising: 777-3888 Community Affairs 1400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 Kiran Shah Columbia. S.C. 29208 Fax: 777-6482 --- Anyone can win an award PHIL WATSON GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM The D-Bag awards are for the real celebrities. If you love shallow, preachy, self-righteous fashion whores created by the media, Sunday night was your night. Another awards show was on television, and we all got a glimpse of the en tertainment industry’s best. But I have to admit the Grammy Awards are probably the lesser of the awards-show evils. At least it’s about music, politics and image, not just poli tics and image, like most awards shows. I don’t care what Sheryl Crow’s guitar strap said, and I’m sick of John Mayer. I despise awards shows. Watching them is as unpleasant as watching a horse slowly going through a meat grinder. If I could direct my own awards show, it might go something like this: Announcer: “Welcome to the first annual D-bag Awards. Tonight, we honor the men and women who make Rohypnol dealers seem like honest pillars of the community. These people are the reason everyone hates America, so please put your clammy hands together for tonight’s host, Rosie O’Donnell.” O’Donnell waddles up to the podium, catches her breath, and makes some predictable anti-war comments as she adjusts the dozens of ribbons on her XXXL dress. Then, the excitement of the awards begins. The “Totally Deserved to Go to Jail Award” goes to... Ben Curtis, formerly known as the Dell dude. Unfortunately, Curtis was sold to Hell Dog Jones for three packs of cigarettes yesterday and is un able to attend tonight. The “Looked Like a Moron Award” goes to Barbara Streisand for using fake Shakespeare quotes from the Internet during an anti ,Bush speech. Thou hast blundered and brought shame upon thyself, vile woman. The “I Swear I Can Explain Award” goes to rocker Pete Townsend. Maybe Chester is a more appropriate name for him. Direct your attention to cen ter stage, where two performers, who truly represent what the D Bag Awards are all about, will perform a duet. Give it up for Eminem and Mariah Carey. That was nice. Now back to the awards. The “Limousine Liberalism Award” goes to actor Sean Penn. Unfortunately, Penn couldn’t be here tonight because he’s over seas helping the Iraqi army pre pare for war. The “Wants Everyone to Think He’s Getting Some Award” goes to Subway’s Jared for his Super Bowl commercial that in volves him and a woman in a somewhat sexual context. We know that girl on the commercial is a paid actqress. Nice try. The “Stupid Name Award” goes to singer India. Arie, who thinks she’s special enough to spell her name with a period in it. Get over yourself. Evidently, your music isn’t good enough to make people remember you, so you have to spell your name weird. The “Worst Idea of the Year Award” goes to Jerry Bruckheimer for making the movie “Kangaroo Jack.” Shame on you. The “I Hope 15 Minutes of Fame Was Worth It Award” goes to Sarah Kozer. Hardly anyone knew about your bondage videos before you appeared on “Joe Millionaire.” Now, it’s all over the Internet. Mom and Dad must be proud. And finally, the “Parent of the Year Award” and the “All Around D-Bag Award” go to Michael Jackson for raising his children in a stable environment that will undoubtedly help them become normal citizens. Way to go, Jacko. We are honored to call you our favorite D-Bag. Watson is a fourth-year print journalism student. IN YOUR OPINION * i ‘Daredevil’ review was too generous Ben Angstadt obviously saw an alternate version of “Daredevil” than what I saw last night. Since the movie Angstadt saw had “believable (romantic) chemistry,” villains who “truly steal the show,” the “dark, seri ous moods of‘X-Men,’ ” and a “high-energy battle” that “puts fight scenes from contemporary superhero films to shame,” those qualities must have been edited from the version I saw. I saw a movie with flat char acters whose motivations were suspect and whose internal conflicts had all the suspense of a one-man arm-wrestle. The villains in “Daredevil” were as predictable as their names would lead you to assume, and the dark, serious mood was continually confounded by melodramatic generalizations about justice and revenge. If you were still paying atten tion at this point in the film, you’d realize that the fight scenes are either laughable — Bullseye catching wafers of falling glass like some “Looney Tunes” kitchen mishap — or derivative of every other Hong Kong-inspired action flick of the past three years. “Daredevil” safely dodged said wafers of thrown glass with multiple backward somersaults. On second thought, Angstadt’s review did nail the movie on one count: “Daredevil” is most accurately described by the tired cliches of someone who is content to absorb a movie, rather than truly see it. DEAVER TRAYWICK 2002 DSC GRADUATE Protesters fail to be representative I have sat on the sidelines of this possible “war with Iraq” is sue waiting for the peace protesters to give themselves enough rope to hang them selves with. After reading an article in The Gamecock (“Columbia ral lies for peace,” Feb. 12), I noticed that only about 80 people showed up to this rally sponsored in part by an organization whose name is a slogan that a sixth-grader could have come up with. According to the 2000 Census, Columbia’s population was about 536,891 people. If you do the math, that’s only about .00015 percent of the population. Columbia didn’t rally for anything. The rest of the population had either better things to do or better judgment. And I loathe Bush. Saddam might not pose a danger to the United States now; but then again, neither did the Taliban until Sept. 11.1 am glad, howev er, that all the wannabe 1960 hippies can get together on the State House lawn to protest. In some countries, like Iraq, they would be killed for such public dissent. Their idealism, or as I refer to it, “the absence of fact,” and their ignorance to those facts must be the only solace they have. But hey, don’t hate your selves; you are in good compa ny — Saddam loves you guys. JOSHUA RAUH FOUliTII-YEAR POLITICAL-SCIENCE STUDENT Editor’s note: The estimated 80 protesters at the Russell House later joined a larger group a. the State House. Question Donehue’s temper, connections In response to the recent in quiries regarding Wesley Donehue, there are a few points that must be made. First, we must realize that Donehue nearly went to jail a few weeks ago for losing his temper and threatening bodily harm to another student. The act was ir rational and irresponsible and brings into question his ability to lead. And a few months ago, dur ing a war protest on Greene Street, he said that anti-war sym pathizers should be executed. Second, we should be skeptical of any student politician who is receiving financial and moral support from big-time politicians. I have heard that he is being en dorsed by Sen. Lindsey Graham, and is receiving financial contri butions from outside the univer sity. Is this an attempt to control student affairs? But perhaps worst of all, Donehue is a graduate student. Where were you during your un dergraduate career, Donehue? Although he has been involved in College Republicans and in some political campaigns, he has done little for the student body. His sudden interest in being a stu dent leader is questionable. JEREMY REYNOLDS THIRD-YEAR POLITICAL-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. Submissions are limited to two per person per semester. Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for more information. Grads need to prepare for jobs SHANNAREED GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Having a degree doesn’t mean you’ll get hired. We work so hard — or not so hard — to get our degrees. Four years of late-night study sessions and hustling to pay tuition bills, and you finally make it out. Just then, you realize your de gree is not enough. The guy sitting .next to you who is interviewing for your dream job shows you his resume. He’s had three intern ships, you haven’t had any; he’s been published in four profes sional publications, you haven’t been published at all; he was the editor of the school newspaper, you weren’t even on the staff; he has letters of recommendation from the managing editor of The State newspaper and a CNN cor respondent, and you have one from your manager at Foot Locker. Suddenly, it hits you like a thousand doors slamming shut in your face: You can’t compete. If you’re African-American, it might be even harder to compete. The ugly truth is that you still have to work twice as hard. And by the sheer fact that it is February, I’m going to speak about what I know about my people. I won’t go on about'the conse quences of driving while black, or that 23 percent of the military force eligible for deployment — and, consequently, death — is of color. Those concepts are too large and fraught with complica tion. All I can speak about is my own small comer of knowledge, in my own small way, to reach my brother or sister, ’cause, hey, he or she ain’t heavy. By the time you start compet ing for jobs, it’s too late to get the tools you need, so you have to start now while you’re still in school. For a lot of us, we’ve had to make the choice between the one-on-one attention and care from a historically black college or university and the affordabili ty and resources of a state college. It’s a little harder to find the peo ple to help you get the tools you need. The National Association of Black Journalists and other pro fessional organizations like it do their best to make sure you get the one-on-one attention you need. At The State newspaper’s convention last year, we were pre sented with the opportunity to network, receive invaluable in formation about the working world of journalism and a sur prisingly blazin’ lunch. We have to take every chance wp ppf tn makp siirp wp arpn’t caught like a deer in a million headlights. We have to focus; the goal is to get a good job, not just a degree. We can’t rely on our ad visers or professors because lots of times, they fall short. It’s up to us to make the effort, to make noise, to make it known that we aren’t just student numbers or nameless tuition checks. Our fu ture is in our own hands, and or ganizations such as the NABJ make it possible for us to find the steps to success together. Here are some of the steps to getting what you need to compete in journalism: Learn and under stand the journalism terms and jargon; become a staff member at your student newspaper; find all of your area publications, and try to get published; get a mentor; find internships, volunteer, shad ow; go to journalism conventions; become a member of a student journalism organization; compete in student journalism competi tions; build a portfolio; and share what you learn. Reed is a fourth-year public relations student.