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www.daUygamecock.com. ™D AN°SBZE° C0N™L °F \
Results published below. | _ ____ _H
In.Our.Opinion
Houseshould
ink tattoo bill
The South Carolina House of Representatives
failed to give a yes or no vote to a bill that would
legalize tattooing.
South Carolina is one of two states that prohibits
tattooing, and the state senate has already passed a
bill that would change that, after Sen. Jake Knotts,
R-Lexington, removed his opposition. All the bill
needed was a vote in the House, but instead it was
narrowly referred back to committee, basically
ensuring it will not be passed this year.
The legislature fails to do its duty by not voting
, . on the bill, and shows once
The failure of the South Caroltaa
state Legislature . . ■ . ...
. . °.L .... struggles to keep pace with
to vote on the bill
legalizing the rest of the natlon
tattooing only Once the provenance of
hurts the state’s misfits, tattooing no
attempts to longer carries a stigma, judging
modernize, from its prevalence among
m
average college students.
Opposing it on the grounds that tattoo parlors will
attract unsavory characters is pure speculation not
supported by fact. Furthermore, legalizing tattooing
will allow it to be regulated, and will help the state’s
tourism industry.
Cities afraid of the customers such businesses will
bring can simply regulate their location through
special exception permits for zoning.
South Carolina established a lottery because the
state was losing money to Georgia as people went
over the border to buy Powerball tickets. The same
can be said for tattooing, as state citizens must
cross into North Carolina and Georgia to get inked.
South Carolina cannot hope to compete with the
rest of the nation and continue to promulgate
backward laws.
SOUND OFF
Create message boards at
www.dailygamecock.com
or send letters to the editor to
gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu
Gamecock.Corrections
In Wednesday’s news article, “RHA passes resolution to limit
hall spending,” Bates House was misidentified. In the same story,
Patrick Walsh should have been identified as Preston moderator.
In the same story, Adam Hark should have been quoted “Once
we’ve rooted out the problem we’ll look into reparations.”
In a photo caption in Monday’s paper, Doc Somers Band was
misidentified.
In a photo caption in last Friday’s paper, I Nine was
misidentified.
In last Friday’s Sports, Brad Senkiw should have been listed as
a fourth-year print journalism student.
The Gamecock regrets the error.
If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us
at gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu
AboutThe.Gamecock
Editor in Chief
i. 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,
Brad Senkiw. Mary
Pinckney Waters, Chas
McCarthy
Copy Editors
Allyson Bird, Jennifer
Freeman, Jessica Foster,
Steven Van Haren
Wire Editor
Z’Anne Covell
Online Editor
. James Tolbert
Senior Writer
Kevin Fellner
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WAR PRESIDENT'
1
13EELER*
CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS
Diagrams make it all better
Debate and question have fur
thered human knowledge ever
since the beginning of time.
Aristotle. Achilles. E! Entertain
ment Television. These are just
some of the names associated
with the higher
quality of
thinking that
has led us to
ask important
questions, such
as, “Why is the
sky blue?” and
Are Britney
Spears’ boobs DAVID STAGG
real?” Third-year
I’ve decided media arts
it’s time we hon- st ent
or some of the
most important debates and ques
tions that have plagued the human
mind at one point or another, and
I will give my take on the situation.
ANTIQUATED QUESTION: Is
the world flat?
COMMENTARY: Christopher
Columbus, noteworthy for being
the first person in history whose
name utilizes alliteration, once
sailed west from the Iberian
Peninsula in hopes of finding a
way around the world. He told the
Spanish government that the
world was, indeed, “round-ish,”
and that he could, by going “that
way” (pointing to show Ferdinand
and Isabella), find a faster route
to Yankee Stadium on game day.
MY RESPONSE: Although the
idea of the world being flat is now
widely regarded as “wrong,”
imagine what that must have been
like at the time.
Columbus: All right guys. We’re
going WEST this time.
Guys: What!? You are crazy,
Chris!
Columbus: For the last time,
don’t call me Chris. I’m trying to get
a national holiday out of this.
Guys: But Christopher Columbus,
the world ENDS if you go west. We’d
drop off into oblivion!
Columbus:Don’t ruin thisforme!
MODERN DEBATE: Dr
Pepper or Mr. Pibb?
COMMENTARY: Strictly by
factual evidence, I have found that
Dr Pepper outperforms Mr. Pibb
in sales, market share and the
triple salchow in the third move
ment on the ice.
MY RESPONSE: Let’s speak
metaphorically. Here we have Dr.
Pepper in terms of an ice skating
spin:
As you can see, the revolutions
overlay previous tracings. Nice
work. Effective.
And here we have Mr. Pibb:
Bad, Mr. Pibb. Your spin is trav
eling across the ice forming a
corkscrew. This is unacceptable
and out of control.
MODERN QUESTION: Why
does Mein Bowl in the Russell
House sporadically serve the or
ange and sesame chicken?
COMMENTARY: The Russell
House is the purveyor of all things
good about USC: concerts, food,'
ticket distribution, Hip-Hop Hump
Day, bureaucracy, giant rooms
and, most recently, Chinese food.
Courtesy of the face-lift received
this past year, the Chinese food
section of USC went to “awesome”
from “Chinese food? In the South?
Are you serious?”
MY RESPONSE: I would agree.
The serving of certain types of
chicken at Mein Bowl does seem
a little sporadic — not nearly as
sporadic as primary victories by
someone other than John Kerry,
but sporadic nonetheless. Pm tak
ing this one to the State House.
Irregardless, tliat is not a word.
Regardless, these questions and
more have led to numerous in
ventions, sporting events and
wasted time in the history of
mankind. I’d love to talk about
them with you — just come find
me. Every Wednesday,! sit on a
bench in The Thinker’s pose after
painting my naked body gray.
In. Your. Opinion
Web site provides
USC a vital service
Upon reading the front-page
story on the shutting down of
Teacherreviews.com (“Web
site shuts down,” Feb. 9), I was
a little disconcerted by the sit
uation in which founder Dylan
Greene now finds himself.
His Web site is used by hun
dreds of students here at USC,
not to mention at other colleges
and universities nationwide.
Although he gives his explana
tion of bending to the opposi
tion as lack of money, what he
might not have considered is
its effects in the big picture.
His Web site is one of free
speech, and for someone to sue
him would clearly mark that
professor as a violator of our
First Amendment right.
As a freshman, I have used
his site in registering for both
of my semesters. The result?
Only one bad teacher.
Mr. Greene, your site has
been helpful, and we look for
ward to again accessing valu
able information once its un
necessary reconstruction is
complete.
ADDIE DILLER
FIRST-YEAR ITBI.IC RELATION'S
.STUDENT
Wolfe should stick
to sports reporting
Last week’s column by Wes
Wolfe (“Unifying to get an id
iot out of office,” Feb. 11) was
an ad hominem political
tirade, presented no valid ar
guments, and through its utter
disregard for fact, was a dese
cration to the very paper on
which it was printed.
Wolfe asserts, “Poll after
poll shows that the public
doesn’t trust Bush to deal with
the economy or successfully
handle the rebuilding of Iraq,
or anything else, and for good
reason.” I would like to know
exactly what poll shows that
the American people do not
trust George W. with the econ
omy. The Harvard M.B.A.
president inherited a reces
sional economy from the
Clinton-Gore years and has
turned it around in the face of
global terror and led America
into a period of vast economic
growth. The unemployment
rate is down to 5.4 percent, the
lowest it has been in two
years.
Wolfe continues his pio
neering voyage into the arena
of politics by asserting, “... We
should’ve known (Bush would)
act like the ... village idiot
crowned king. He has been a
complete failure for the entire
ty of his life, succeeding only
because of family connections.”
Beside the glaring contradic
tion in the previous sentence,
this assertion is not at all ten
able. The “village idiot” Wolfe
speaks of was elected President
of the United States. He won the
position, because he is a quali
fied candidate, highly educated,
personable and an experienced
executive in the world of busi
ness and politics.
If Bush is a village idiot, I
would hate to know what that
makes Mr. Wolfe. Bush is a man
who is loyal to his loving wife, fa
ther to two adoring daughters,
leader of the free world and suc
cessful entrepreneur. Because
Wolfe is unable to present any ev
idence that Bush is a failure, one
would have to assume that his
hatred of our president is
wrought of jealousy and can be
dismissed just as quickly.
None of Wolfe’s political
“facts” can be backed up but are
rather emotional jabs Wolfe
wishes to be fact. I don’t know if
this supposed “journalist” was
too lazy to actually research his
points or just decided to spill his
personal frustration into a man
ifested political column. For
now, I offer a little advice to
Wolfe — stick to sports, because
you obviously know nothing
about politics.
ANDREW FADALE
FIRST-YEAH BUSINESS STUDENT
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Letters to the editor should be less than
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major, if a student. E-mail letters to
gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. Letters
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and style. Anonymous letters will not be
published. Call the newsroom at 777
7726 for more information.
America
should
drop the
rat race
Two Americas — if you are like
me (and some of you are no doubt
praying that you aren’t), you have
heard these words become a theme
for John Edwards in the recent
Democratic primaries. Republi
cans and Democrats alike have
watched the primaries with great
interest and, at times, great amuse
ment. The candidates’ visions are
as differing as their personalities.
And yet, John Edwards’ theme of
two America’s seems to resonate
witn me, just as
I am sure it does
with many Am
ericans.
To Edwards,
and to many
Americans, I am
sure, two
JUST|N Americas do ex
SIMMONS \st- . . °,ne
. . America is for
Third-year ,, . , ,
political the nch and
science student privileged. It is
an America that
offers up its fruit to the wealthy —
a healthy life, a comfortable
lifestyle and luxurious amuse
ment. It is an America that re
wards the wealthy with no regard
for how that wealth was earned, if
it was earned at all. It is an
America that opens its door of op
portunity to only a chosen few,
with the correlation between
wealth and being part of the cho
sen few ever increasing.
To the rest of us there is the
workingman’s America. Like
Adam looking back into the gar
den from which he had been ex
pelled, America’s working class
presses its face to the glass wall
preventing it from accessing
America’s economic Eden. Do I be
lieve that there are two Americas,
one for the rich, and one for ev
eryone else? I most certainly do.
The question is, so what?
I think it s time for America to
ask itself what is so greener about
the grass on the other side? What
is it about wealth that we think
will make us happy? Oh, of course
it will get us lots of stuff. But since
when has stuff ever made some
one happy? John Edwards, and
just about every other politician
for that matter, would have us be
lieve that all we have to do is level
the economic playing field and
happiness will descend like man
na from above. It’s that easy. All
we have to do is become a little
more prosperous economically,
and all of our problems will dis
appear. Well, I don’t buy it.
Wealth is more of the problem in
America than the answer. As a
nation, we have too easily bought
into the idea that wealth leads to
happiness.
II anyuutj nas a gripe auuui
there being two different
Americas, it is my father. Alex
Rodriguez gets paid much more
for one game of throwing around
a baseball than my father gets
paid for one year of fighting fires.
It’s not fair, but that’s life in a
capitalist society. I have never
heard my father, or any other fire
man, policeman or soldier for that
matter, complain about getting
the short end of the stick. This is
something for which we should
all be thankful, because what if
we all decided to strive to become
part of “rich America” — who
would fight fires?
What if there weren’t men and
women who value their contribu
tion to society more than their
paycheck? We might all be
wealthier, but would we be hap
pier? I severely doubt it. Despite
what popular opinion tells us, nei
ther America’s happiness nor any
nation’s happiness is tied to its
wealth. If it were, the rich would
have bought up all the happiness,
and there would be no celebrities
to make us all feel better about
our lives, rich or poor.
Online.Poll Should there be a Constitutional ban on gay marriage?
Yes 51% No 43% T don’t care 5%
“Yes, I’m a Christian
and I believe (gay
marriage is) morally
wrong.”
ROBBYWIGGER
FIRST-YEAR BIOLOGY STUDENT
“No, everyone
should have the
choice to be with
who they want.”
ZATCH POUCHPROM
THIRD-YEAR HISTORY STUDENT
“No, nobody can tell
you what you can
and can’t do.”
JAMIE DOWNS
FIRST-YEAR ELECTRONIC
JOURNALISE STUDENT
RESULTS FROM WWW.DAILYGAMECOCK.COM