Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Marriage CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 the California Constitution, a po sition opponents have attacked as irrelevant to whether his ac tions violate the state’s marriage laws. Voters in 2000 approved a proposition defining marriage as between a man and a woman. The city is asking Superior Court Judge James Warren to de clare unconstitutional three sec tions of the California Family Code that define marriage as a union between a man and a wom an. City officials want the judge to determine if barring same-sex couples from marrying violates the equal protection and due pro cess clauses of the state consti tution. On Tuesday, Warren gave the city the choice of ending the same sex wedding march or returning to court in late March to show why the process has not been halt ed. The city said it would continue issuing such licenses until forced to stop. Judge Ronald Quidachay is considering a lawsuit filed by an other conservative group, the Campaign for California Families. He said Tuesday he was not prepared to issue a rul ing, and scheduled another hear ing for Friday. Like the city, conservatives want the two cases consolidated into bne, but they want Quidachay to hear it instead of Warren. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said it is his duty to defend laws that say the state will recognize only marriages between a man and a woman. But he added that the issue of whether such laws are constitu tional “is emerging as one of the great legal and civil rights issues of our day, and the question must be answered by our courts.” Lockyer, a Democrat, said he supports extending benefits to same-sex couples through domes tic partnerships and civil union laws. Comments on this story?E-mail ga mecocknewsCcvgwm. sc. edu FBI aims to reduce piracy with new seal BY ALEX VEIGA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES - The FBI said Thursday it is giving Hollywood film studios, music companies and software makers permission to use its name and logo on their DVDs, CDs and other digital me dia in hopes the labels will deter consumers from making illegal copies. FBI officials said the idea was conceived jointly by the agency’s cyber crime division and repre sentatives of the entertainment and software industries, who claim they’ve lost billions of dol lars because of digital piracy. “This anti-piracy seal should serve as a warning to those who contemplate the theft of intellec tual property, that the FBI will ac tively investigate cyber crimes and will bring the perpetrators of these criminal acts to justice,” said Jana Monroe, assistant di rector of the FBI’s cyber division. Like the warning messages that have appeared on VHS tapes and DVDs for years, the new la bels spell out that unauthorized copying and distribution of digi tal content is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. It will be up to the individual entertainment companies and software manufacturers to decide whether to display the new FBI warnings. Representatives of the various trade groups for the film, software and music industries said Thursday their members were studying whether to affix the warnings on packaging or direct ly on the CDs and DVDs, so it’s un known how soon they may begin to appear in the marketplace. U.S. software companies lose up to $12 billion a year to piracy, according to the Software and Information Industry Association. Music companies lost more than $4.6 billion world wide last year, according to.fhe RIAA, and movie industry offi cials pegged their annual losses from bootlegged films at more than $3.5 billion.' The entertainment and com puter industry has tried to stem piracy by making CDs and DVDs harder to duplicate. But the rise offree file-sharing networks on the Internet the past five years has made it easy for millions of individuals to distribute songs, movies and software worldwide. The companies have tried civil -litigation against firms who enable online file-sharing and last year, the recording industry launched an ongoing wave of lawsuits against individual file-sharers. Fred von Lohmann, a senior intellectual property attorney for the. Electronic Frontier Foundation, said he doubts the new warning program will work. U.S. government urges Americans to evacuate Haiti BY MICHAEL NORTON THK ASSOCIATED I’lIKSS PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI - President Jean-Bertrand Aristide declared Thursday he is ready to die to defend his country against a bloody rebellion, indicating he plans to cling to power. The U.S. government, citing continued vi olence, urged Americans to leave Haiti. Aristide’s defiance and Washington’s warning came as the United States and other coun tries were preparing a political plan to resolve the crisis. The last major government bastion in northern Haiti was Cap-Haitien, where armed sup porters of Aristide patrolled the city Thursday, vowing to fight any rebel attempt to seize control. Frightened police remained bar ricaded in their station, saying they were too few and poorly armed to repel any attack. Both sides have committed reprisal killings, and dozens of homes have been torched. “Iam ready to give my life if that is what it takes to defend my country,” Aristide told police of ficers. “If wars are expensive, peace can be even more expensive,” warned Aristide, who has sur vived three assassination at tempts and a coup. Amid the chaos, the United States urged Americans to leave Haiti. More than 20,000 Americans, at least a quarter of them missionaries, are registered with the U.S. Embassy. Peace Corps personnel were be ing withdrawn, and other U.S. cit izens should leave while commer cial transportation is still avail able, the State Department said. “American citizens should be aware that the U.S. Embassy has prohibited travel by its staff out side of Port-au-Prince,” the warn ing said. It added that the embassy’s ability to provide emergency ser vices to American citizens out side the capital city was limited and had “drastically decreased in recent days due to numerous ran dom roadblocks set up by armed groups.” The Pentagon said it was send ing a small military team to as sess the security of the U.S. Embassy and its staff in the Caribbean country. In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the emerg ing political plan does not con template Aristide’s stepping down before his term ends in February 2006, as Haiti’s political opposition and rebels are de manding. But he said the United States would not object if, as part of a negotiation with opposition leaders, Aristide agreed to leave ahead of schedule. “I think if they will both accept this plan and start executing on it, we might find a way through this crisis politically,” Powell told ABC Radio’s “Live in America.” But the plan does not address how to end the northern rebel lion, which has killed dozens of people. Among the dead are about 40 police officers, according to Jean-Gerard Dubreuil, Haiti’s un dersecretary for public security. Powell said the international community must do what it can to help Aristide in his capacity as Haiti’s elected leader. But many countries, including the United States, have accused Aristide of using police and militant sup porters to stifle opposition. The uprising, which began Feb. 5, is led by a gang that says' it was armed by Aristide to ter rorize his opponents in Gonaives, a rebel-held city and the country’s fourth-largest. Its members turned on Haiti’s leader after gang leader Amiot Metayer was killed in September, saying he was silenced to stop him spread ing damaging information about Aristide. Aristide denies any con nection to the gang. PHOTO COURTESY KRT CAMPUS Guy Philippe, a rebel leader in Haiti's Resistance Front, walks down a city street after an anti-Aristide rally. www.dailygamecock.com Nobody covers USC better. William and Marion Langfan Constitutional Oratorical Prize When: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 Why: For prizes: First place $1000, Second place $500, and Third place $250. ' iXv Who: Full-time students at the University of South Carolina (both undergraduate and graduate students qualify). Deadline for registration: 12 noon on February 23, 2004 Topic: To be announced 48 hours before preliminary rounds (February 23 at 3pm) and the same topic will be used in the final > round. The topic will involve an issue in constitutional law. Process: Preliminary rounds will take place at 4pm on Wednesday, i February 25 at a location that will be designated at the web site. Anyone who does not show can not make up the speech. There are no exceptions. The final round will be at 7pm. Speeches are to be 8 minutes long and they will be timed. They must include quoted material from secondary sources and the sources must be communicated in the speech. No audio or visual aids may be used - including power point. This contest is hosted by Carolina Debate and the Moore School of Business and funded by a gift from William and Marion Langfan. For more info visit http://www.cla.sc. edu/ENGL/Faculty/Berube/Debate^Langfan.htm NAACP CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 and address the groups, since that showed how much the can didates really cared about stu dent opinions on the issues im portant to the groups.” Students can vote for SG elec tions Monday and Tuesday at www.vip.sc.edu in the “personal” section starting 9 a.m. The elec tion closes at 5 p.m. Tuesday. All the candidates said they wanted to increase voter turnout, and they urged students to care fully examine the candidates’ plat forms before voting. Finally, they urged everyone to take part in SG by encouraging their hall mates and suitemates to vote. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu & STERLING UNIVERSITY Riverside I-1 215 Spencer Place Cayce, SC 739-0899 www.sterlinghousing.com ^1- P R G Campus Development Program ^ Keminder... have l hese Dates The Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) is excited to recruit USC talent into our Sales Development Program. We are looking for talented, driven people that plan to graduate in May 2004. Please review the following key dates: $ Resume Drop via USC Career Link: Wednesday, February 18,2004 $USC Career Fest at the Carolina Coliseum: Thursday, February 26,2004 11:00am - 3:00pm € On-Campus Interviews: Wednesday, March 3,2004 USC Career Center, 6th floor BA Building Visit www.pbg.coni for more information^