The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 07, 2004, Page 8, Image 8
8
Online P ckings are really very
Mil IC.r UM on and isolated inci
Should the S.C. Legislature dents, at least in the Columbia
pass a law to legalize tattoo- area.”
ingin the state?” SKOT GARRICK
www.daHygamecock.com. public information officer for
Results published April 9. Columbia police department on
* f SPATE OF CARJACKINGS AT USC
In.Our.Opinion
Schools still
need Pledge
The Supreme Court heard a case two weeks ago
that has the potential to upend conventional
thinking about the'nature of education and the role
of teachers in the classroom.
In deciding to hear arguments from a self-avowed
atheist from San Francisco who is opposed to his
child's teacher leading the class in the Pledge of
Allegiance, the court takes up an important issue
surrounding the establishment clause of the First
Amendment. „
The court is also being asked to rule on the
fundamental role of teachers
in leading by example and
whether students can
rationally decide to
participate in the Pledge at
such a young age.
Teachers have an
important role in showing
students how to act m the classroom through their
actions, and by leading the Pledge, they implicitly
give authority to the recitation. However, if the
teacher were not to lead the students, it is doubtful
most first-graders would follow through or learn
the words. Public schools are incubators of
democracy and citizenship, and thus teachers must
raise students to adhere to the qualities that will
make them productive members of society.
The phrase in contention was, in fact, not added
to the Pledge until 1954 in a unanimous vote before
Congress.
In many ways, this goal is more important than
the supposed harm that would be done to a child
who is repeating words he or she likely doesn't
understand. This underlines why the Court should
not rule in favor of California atheist Michael
Newdow, as his child is not irreparably harmed or
able to choose to say the Pledge or not. By filing the
case, Newdow shows he is doing exactly what he
accuses the teachers of doing — putting words in
his child’s mouth.
The Supreme
Court should not
rule in favor of
the California
atheist offended
by his child’s
recitation of the
Pledge.
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Gamecock.Corrections
In Monday’s editorial, The Gamecock incorrectly reported that
Bob Dylan will perform at the Colonial Center. Dylan will
perform Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Township Auditorium.
If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us
at gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu.
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Invading the feminist fortress
As our efforts to further pro
mote freedom in the world perse
vere, a hidden enemy remains
overlooked. I'm not talking about
Osama bin Laden or underground
terrorist syndicates. No, this en
emy is much closer to home.
Each year, hundreds are
trained and re
leased among
us — complete
ly undetected.
Clearly, this en
emy requires
unconventional
methods to in
“andneU- CURTIS CHOW
This is the Third-year
tms is tne political
task I have tak- science student
en upon myself,
together with
the few brave men who joined me.
With solemn trepidation, we will
set foot on enemy grounds.
Welcome to Columbia College,
Femi-nazi capital of the Southeast.
As intimidating as the enemy
is, we have friends on the inside,
a network of brave women spies
who subject themselves to the re
lentless brainwashing and train
ing within the enemy stronghold.
It is with these admirable ladies
that I and agents of the Male
Resistance met last weekend in
what we called “Operation
Columbia College Formal.”
Agent Nichole, who was at her
wits’ end, requested an immedi
ate full-scale invasion and annex
ation by USC. In my mind, I envi
sioned the carnage that would in
evitably result from such a course
of action: thousands of masculine
USC male-men running into the
building with mighty battle cries,
only to run out a few seconds lat
er, emasculated and weeping the
soft, fat tears of a child.
The solution was clear in my
mind: we needed to study the ene
my and exploit their weaknesses.
We thus progressed from Phase
Dinner to Phase The Dance. We ar
rived at the checkpoint, where we
were met by the entrance guards.
Fortunately, my date, Agent
Allison, was able to bribe the
guards with formal tickets, and we
were allowed entry as they fo
cused their attention on their new
prize. As we stepped into the main
hall, heads perked and turned. All
attention was on us; fresh meat
had been detected. I and the other
members of the Male Resistance
managed to convince the Femi
nazis that we too attend Columbia
College and were merely so ad
vanced in the curriculum that we
actually began producing testos
terone, resulting in a manly ap
pearance. This seemed to appease
them, and we were soon forgotten.
As the evening progressed, I be
gan to lose focus on the task at
hand and became distracted by
Agent Allison, who played her role
in being a wonderful date a little
too well. I was soon oblivious to
the happenings around me. I had
failed to notice that our defense
expert, Agent Sam. had gotten fed
up and left with his date to find en
joyment in the form of a taped
UFC fight. As we danced, it be
came more and more obvious we
were indeed not women. We had
no rhythm and were incapable of
performing any dance other than
the white-male-overbite-and-shuf
fle-your-feet routine.
I snapped back to reality, real
izing our cover was blown. The
Femi-nazis began to close in. We
had to initiate “Operation Run
Our Butts Off. ” I pulled out the se
cret weapon — girl-shoes — and
cast them into the crowd. Their
natural instincts prevailed, de
spite their grueling Femi-nazi
training, and we escaped while
they fought over the bait.
We narrowly escaped, with
lessons learned — err, OK, no
lessons learned. See you next
week.
In.Your.Opinion
Wolfe shows own
narrow-mindedness
I find Mr. Wolfe's way of
forming an opinion on an en
tire organization by passing
judgment on the actions of a
few (some of whom are non
members) to be very ironic. Is
open-mindedness not one of
the many criticisms his
beloved Democrats have of
Republicans? Democrats blast
the Republicans for what they
believe is narrow-mindedness.
They claim the Republicans
should be more open minded
and more receptive to issues
such as homosexual marriage
and flushing money down the
toilet for welfare.
Democrats wee wotte neea to
take a look at why he is criticiz
ing USC College Republicans.
Mr. Wolfe is very narrow
minded in forming an opinion
about College Republicans be
cause of a few students who
yelled at a John Edwards rally.
Imagine if it were President
Bush or another prominent
Republican? Mr. Wolfe, why are
you so upset about the exercise
of the First Amendment? I agree
that prayer is a solemn occasion,
and its interruption was dis
graceful; however, I thought
y'all were scared of public
prayer. Telling me that I can't
pray—now that offends me.
So do the rest of the liberal
secular attacks on America: po
litical correctness, gay mar
riage, removal of God from pub
lic places, desecration of the Ten
Commandments, etc. I hope the
Democrats get their way with
their God-bashing so they can be
sent where they belong—hell.
It is rather amusing that Mr.
Wolfe is calling College Republ
icans “knuckle scraping Nean
derthals.” It is even more comi
cal that his friend, Mr. Shipman,
likens us to members of the
“Hitler Youth” movement.
I am over the fact that The
Gamecock has promoted an
overtly liberal pro-gay, anti
Greek, anti-Republican agenda
during this semester. But, I am
not whining about that.
JONATHON
HINSHELWOOD
SECONU-YEAH CHEMICAL
ENCINEKIIINC.STUDENT
Dwyer overlooks
caricatures’ flaws
Though I understand Jillian
Dwyer’s concern that white
people seem unfairly scruti
nized when mocking black peo
ple (“Apology owed to Tice for
coverage,” March 29), I also un
derstand the history — quite
recent history — of segments
of white society parodying
black people so as to dehu
manize them.
Such portrayals reduce
black people to caricatures
without any depth of emotion
or eminence. And for those
; white people who believe in their
' own racial supremacy, it clears
| the way for Jim Crow and “sepa
rate but equal.”
Many college-aged students
don't consider just how close we
still are to this history. This was
our parents' and grandparents'
time. As such, today is a rough
time in the continuum of im
proving black-white race rela
tions in America, and colleges
and universities must make sure
that we don't lapse into what has
been, for so long, an oppressive
and unfair atmosphere for black
people. White college students
will get sick of this laundry list
of “dos and don'ts” and universi
ty officials telling them what’s
culturally sensitive and what
seems questionable.
Many white college students
find these policies unfair and rep
rehensible. Some even begin to
resent black students and then
presence on campus. Others, like
Ms. Dwyer, begin to equate being
female — in all contexts — with
being a minority. This is just a
hard time. Justice takes time,
and fairness isn’t justice.
KEVIN SIMMONDS
(III.MlI ATK MUSIC KITIIKNT
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Campus
group
deserves
fair view
As chairman of USC College
Republicans, I am confident we
are in a good position for the elec
tions in November. USC
Republicans seceded from the
College Republican Confederation
of South Carolina because of the
bashing and slamming of fellow
Republicans done at the State
Convention. Most of the other
schools in the Confederation were
against USC from the start.
For example, when it was an
□ nounced that
USC would only
receive two
votes at conven
tion, the entire
room began to
clap and cheer;
there was also
RANDY cheering after
DARGAN We announced
„ , our secession.
HRTMyear When we (USC)
student reviewed the
credentials pro
cess, we found every school should
have received only two votes —
not just USC—because no school
had a letter from a Republican of
ficial certifying its chapter except
USC's letter from S.C. Rep. Joe
Wilson. When I pointed out this
rule in the Confederation's consti
tution, they (Furman, Clemson,
and the powers that be) quickly
ended the discussion. They were
fine with Clemson being repre
sented by 42 votes, Furman by 24
and USC — the state's largest and
strongest chapter — with just two.
Thus, the College Republican
Confederation of South Carolina
made it very clear they did not
want USC; we also did not want
them. We simply made things eas
ier for everyone.
USC Republicans are in good
standing with the South Carolina
Republican Party, her candidates
and officeholders. Whenever the
South Carolina Republican Party
or any Republican candidates
have asked, USC College
Republicans have stood up and
performed. We have a proud tra
dition of hard work and getting
the job done.
USC College Republicans pro
vided one of the largest pools of
volunteers for the Victory 2002
Campaign. We gave the
Republican party thousands of
volunteer hours, which included
over 150 people volunteering
over five hours each during the
last 72 hours of the campaign.
This past fall, USC Republicans
played host to Republican
National Convention Chairman
Ed Gillespie. We have brought in
speakers from all over this state
to address our group at every
meeting this year and have ex
ceeded the expected attendance
at most meetings. We are cur
rently poised to stand up and
make a difference once again,
this time without the migraine of
dealing with the CRCSC.
To Mr. Shipman and all the oth
ers who think USC College
Republicans are a disservice to
both our university and to the
South Carolina Republican Party:
I want to invite you to a meeting
to see firsthand how we are the
conservative voice on campus as
well as the grass roots infantry of
the Republican Party. To the fel
low Republicans on our campus: I
extend an open invitation to help
us re-elect President Bush and
send a second Republican U.S. sen
ator to Washington.
In closing, I would like to apol
ogize to Mr. Shipman, for I do not
envision the USC College
Republicans leaving campus.
Instead, we are just going to build,
build and build and along the way
get Republican candidates elected
so proper leadership and values
will be in place on the local, state
and federal level.
Winners.and.Sinners
AIRLINE SECURITY Ensures that coats, shoes,
and laptops can’t be used as weapons while
combating international terrorism. I
BASEBALL’S OPENING DAY President Bush
gets first pitch over the plate in St.Loiiis,
signaling the real start of spring.
USC SCHOLARS Win five major awards,
proving our diplomas aren’t second-rate.
GREEN'S PARKING LOT Makes small cars feel
like oil tankers at 5 p.m. on Fridays.
MOKTADA AL-SADR Shi’ite cleric in Iraq
threatens U.S. troops from fortified mosque in
a standoff that can only end well.
PORT SECURITY Terrorists sneak into Israeli
port by sleeping on mattresses in cargo
containers—is Charleston next?
I, . >?/ f