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* ik’-, jjf jjf Online.Poll m «£88“ ™s jU8ta twhS Minch of little things that piled * Does the capture of Saddam Up » Hussein change the way you A . feel about the Tran war7 ‘ ADAM CULLUM reel aDout me iraq war. beezer's employee on the cause of the (■ Results published below. popular student eatery’s low grape on a^. RECENT SURPRISE FOOD SAFETY INSPECTION 1 In.Our.Qpinion Public needs safe eateries Beezer’s recent poor rating on a surprise state DHEC inspection is not a surprise considering the deep cuts in the state budget over the past year. While it is of concern that a popular local eatery received such a low score, Beezer’s corrected its mistakes and no harm was done. Indeed, Beezer’s is not alone in receiving a low rating, and of greater concern are the other restaurants surrounding USC who have not had surprise inspections within the past year from the Department of Health and Environmental Control. If the public cannot enter an It shouldn’t take a eatery with the expectation low C rating to that the food they eat is emphasize the prepare(} jn a manner that importance of meets minimum safety DHEC inspections. standards restaurants wm suffer. This is unfortunate, as the underlying problems are the vacancies in DHEC’s Division of Food Protection, in part because of deep cuts in the funding of state agencies like DHEC last year. Gov. Sanford alone is not to blame for the current state of affairs in the General Assembly, as he inherited a budget deficit of around $300 million last year from the previous administration. Every major state agency has seen its budget cut significantly in an attempt to make up for the shortfall in cash, but what is worrisome is that divisions like food protection, the Highway Patrol and the Mental Health Department cannot maintain essential services. USC administrators have rightly complained about reductions in funding that have contributed to tuition increases, but even these issues pale in comparison to the implications of food safety lapses like those that occurred across the street from the Horseshoe. It shouldn’t take a “C” rating to emphasize the importance of these inspections. Instead of putting money into their pet projects, South Carolina’s legislators must put the public’s interest first and ensure that agencies that protect the citizenry receive all the support they need to carry out their critical missions. Anything less is negligent. SOUND OFF Create message boards at www.dailygdmecock.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. Fbe.Gamecock Editor in Chief Adam Beam Copy Desk Chief Gabrielle Sinclair Design Director Shawn Rourk 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 Photo Editor Morgan Ford Asst. Photo Editor Johnny Haynes Page Designers Erin Cline, Staci Jordan, Brian Ray, Brad Senkiw, Mary Waters Copy Editors Allyson Bird. Jennifer Freeman, Jessica Foster, Steven Van Haren Wire Editor Z’Anne Covell Online Editor James Tolbert Public Affairs Kimberly Dressier Senior Writer Kevin Fellner CONTACT INFORMATION 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: gckpublicaffairs@hotmail.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 i Creative Services Whitney Bridges, Robbie Burkett, Trenholm Ninestein Advertising Staff Adam Bourgoin, Latoya Hines, Jesica Johnson, Caroline Love, Ben Sinclair 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 PUCE AN AD The Gamecock 1400 Greene St. Columbia. S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS N-E-R-D with a capital ‘S’ Recently, I’ve come across a brilliant game that is not only time-consuming but also in creases your intelligence as you play. If you’re thinking Quarters, you’re wrong. It’s Scrabble. It’s addictive, it’s thought pro voking and it’s really freaking nerdy. I hate to admit it, but I came back to DAVID STAGG school this Third-year past weekend, media arts „ , „ student and on a Saturday night when everyone was out wreak ing havoc on the unsuspecting Southern bar owners, I was Wreaking havoc on some wicked word scores. That’s OK — I’m comfortable with my nerdiness. Not to say that you ARE a nerd simply be cause you play Scrabble. No, you’re a nerd because you have the officially licensed Scrabble dictionary and can score over 300 points in a game and can quote any line from any of the “Friends” seasons and have an IQ over 150 and wear your pants above your navel and have a tat too of Stephen Hawking’s signa ture above your left nipple and frequently caress it as if it were a genie’s lamp so that he will one day pop out and grant you three nerdy wishes like, “I wish that thermal radiation was at a lower temperature than a black hole so that the loss of entropy down the black hole would make it possi ble to have it greater than the in crease of the horizon area.” Well, I won’t settle for that. Nothing can get out of a non-ro tating black hole. If you consider yourself a nerdy Scrabble player, I’m here to help you out with becoming a cool Scrabble player. I have come up with a couple variations on the game to help you out: ♦ Variation #1—Strip Scrabble Every time a score over 10 is played, the other players take off an article of clothing. This works wonderfully when playing with people you are attracted to, but let’s be honest — only a certain type of people play Scrabble. I am one of them. I know that you would not want to play this game with me; otherwise, you’ll leave swearing you saw a ghost. ♦ Variation #2 — Scrabb-hole The game begins as normal, but with each consecutive play, the new player must better the score of the person before them, otherwise they have to drink. Play repeats as much as needed until everyone is sauced. At this point, the game becomes Strip Scrabble, then That’s Not a (Expletive) Word, then Your Mother, then Your Worst Nightmare and eventually the game is tossed out the window in favor of one of the more common past times of Americans: the Drunken Brawl. WARNING: As with Variation #2, I’m aware that some people cannot control their emotions when they are inebriated. This brings up an important question: Should Pete Rose be allowed into the Hall of Fame despite his ad mitting to placing wagers on baseball games? No, seriously, Scrabble is a very intense game that can cause many disputes. More often than not, the game ends in a career ending brawl whether alcohol is involved or not. Little known fact—Achilles’ . tendon wasn’t hurt in war. He just lost his emotions over a heat ed Scrabble game. Please exer cise caution when playing. I ad vise kneepads and a helmet at all times when in front of the board. In.Your.upinion Review leaves ‘Big Fish’ underrated This letter is in response to Gabrielle Sinclair’s article, ‘“Big Fish’ sinks amid a sea of story lines.” While director Tim Burton did choose to both introduce us to the colorful stories a father believed to be his life and show us how a son came to terms with his fa ther’s fictitious storytelling habits, I don’t believe he failed at either. The point of half of this movie, the stories, was not to be believ able. They weren’t believable sto ries but exaggerations created by a man to make his memories of a life that actually happened more interesting. His stories are unbe lievable and meant to be. They are all the tall tale cliches we’ve ever heard wrapped up into one life. The fact that we get to sit in a theater and watch them played out on film is just magical. It calls out to the cravings for adventure and romance in all those who maintain them. This movie has little to do with “Forrest Gump,” except for the fact that the movie about his life never admits to the fact that he was telling stories. Forrest’s sto ries were more original and thereby more believable. Forrest could die, but he won’t. How many movies kill off the main character before the end? The fact that young Edward Bloom can’t die doesn’t detract from his validity as a character. He doesn’t know his life’s purpose; it is constantly changing throughout the movie. He wants to be big, to find some place big enough for him, to marry his wife, to help people, and eventu ally he wants to have an ending that will rival the rest of his life’s stories. Edward Bloom’s character continues to be valid as that in teresting old man who tells sto ries that everyone knows aren’t true. “When I was a boy...” All of us have at least a little piece of unbelievable that we like to make public, and our friends and family usually accept it with a grain of salt. His son feels he doesn’t know his father (how many of you re ally know your father?) and like we all do at one time or another, he gets a bit upset at his father. He doesn’t realize until the end that he has known his father all along. The stories are who his fa ther is, because they are what he passes on. People will remember his stories, even though they may not have bothered to remember the facts of his actual life. While I admit that each half of this story seems quite unoriginal, if not (in the words of my hus band) cheesy or cliche, it is the fact that they have been put to gether that makes it a good (not great) movie. BRANDY GLETT GRADUATE STUDENT IN MARINE SCIENCE Copter needs to research St. Paul If Peter Copter (“St. Paul had a chip on his shoulder,” Monday) had done some more research, he would know that it was a Roman commander who saved the Apostle Paul from being stoned to death by an angry mob. Paul had no reason to hate the Romans at the time he wrote his letter to them. In fact, he spoke fa vorably about the Roman regime. For example: “The authorities that exist have been established by God” (Romans 13:1). The only book in the Bible that suggests Christian opposition to the Roman government is Revelation, which was written much later than Paul’s letter to the Romans. Jesus spoke against ritual no tions of uncleanliness. He focused instead on the uncleanliness that comes from the heart (Mark 7:20) and is exhibited through one’s ac tions. Therefore, the Apostle Paul was justified in warning the Roman Christians not to conform to the culture of sensuality in which they were living. ADAM CARTER FIRST-YEAR GERMAN 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 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. Online.PoIl Does Saddam’s capture change the way you feel about Iraq? Yes 16% No 39% Where’s bin Laden? 45% “Yes, because it brings closure to the situation.'"' ANDRE DAVIS FOURTH-YEAR CHEMISTRY STUDENT. No, it does not justify the initial reason for going in Iraq.” ERICA BELL DOCTORAL NURSING STUDENT. Yes, because It proved my stance on the war [was correct]” AMELIA BOGART FIFTH- YEAR BIOLfLBY STUDENT. , :ROM WWW.DAILYQAMECOCK.COM Try the checkout line for real news I’m on a quest to make the world aware of one David Bulger. He is the single-most important American journalist of the past 20 years. While conventional media personalities reported the fall of the Berlin Wall and September 11 in splashy, full-color TV specials, Bulger worked in the trenches of a much-maligned black-and-white publication digging the real dirt. David Bulger is a senior re porter for Weekly World News, the □ Florida-based newspaper with the sheer ambi tion and guts to report the sto ries that matter. Last sum mer, as I went STEVEN VAN g™cery shop HAREN pmg wlth _ , mom each mechanical week, I proudly engineering bought a copy of student Bulger’s respec tive publication and slapped it down on the con veyor belt. I couldn’t tell if the looks of disgust I got from several cashiers were aimed at Bulger’s controversial front-page stories or the cans of discount Diet Pepsi Vanilla I was secretly hoarding. How has Bulger, a beacon of hope in a quagmire of partisan me dia types, gone unnoticed for so long? It seems that since the mid 1990s, Bat Boy has been gobbling all of his attention. Who else delivered a compre hensive report on Spontaneous Nerd Combustion (SNC)? Where was CNN when Bulger dropped the “Abraham Lincoln was a woman” bombshell? When the world wasn’t looking, he single-handedly dis covered Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction: prehistoric di nosaurs. If 1U1 UUC, cull wuuagcu. ucu-gci o tips to prevent SNC saved me, the nerd king of USC. The usual sus pects — Bill O’Reilly, Larry King, that Martin Bashir guy—all came up empty. They’ve even missed stories from such booming metropolises as Hobart, Ind., and Bochum, Germany. Inexcusable! Lately, however, Bulger has re sorted to sensationalized shams and contests to win over a new, youthful readership. Everyone knows that a genuine Bigfoot sa ■fari costs at least $2,000, but WWN is offering the same Pacific Northwest excursion for $800, mi nus the cost of buckshot. To my knowledge, this is the first time anyone from the WWN staff has resorted to such cheap tactics to sell papers. Bulger and the rest of the staff deserve our thanks—not for pro ducing overbearingly serious sludge but for giving us some thing to laugh at. Weekly World News is genius in grayscale. If you don’t find it funny, then your sense of humor isn’t worth the cheap sandwich wrapping that | WWN is printed on. . omug oi-jL.0 casniers wm al ways giggle fiendishly at dedicated readers like me, but oh, the trea sures they’ve already missed out on: a “Get Out of Hell Free” card, extensive coverage of that Spanish galleon orbiting Mars, a tasteful featurette on giant slugs and all the life-affirming celebrity garbage you could ever need. We should band together be hind Mr. Bulger, Let’s find the currently MIA Pope John Paul II, get Bat Boy’s teeth filed and raise money for Hillary Clinton’s bas tard alien child. I’m even taking Bulger’s advice on how to help America’s sluggish economy — I’m suing myself for a tidy prof it. God bless you, David Bulger. Keep looking for the truth about all of our potential cross-dress ing presidents.