Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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ONLINE POLL What should USC do about its Paffe 9 admissions standards? Go to » www.dailygamecock.com to Wednesday, vote. Results posted Friday. THBilfeAMECOCK EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR COPY DESK CHIEF Adam Beam Gabrielle Sinclair DESIGN DIRECTOR VIEWPOINTS EDITOR David Stagg Wes Wolfe NEWS EDITOR SENIOR WRITER Michael LaForgia Kevin Fellner THE MIX EDITOR ASST. NEWS EDITOR Meg Moore Jon Turner IN OUR OPINION U.S. can do better job on flu vaccines The sudden and unexpected loss of half this year’s flu vaccine supply just before the start of the flu season was a certain shock to the system — just about as big of a shock to the immune sys tem of people who missed out on a shot and might contract influenza this year. The fact that our government relies on only two companies to provide the entirety of the nation’s flu vaccines is absurd. The flu regularly kills thousands of people every year, especially high risk people like young children, The fact that OUT the elderly and other people liv government relies wilh ibk immune on only two / . systems. companies to iUm While an additional 2.6 mil provide the entirety of the nation’s flu ll0n shots wil1 be available in vaccines in absurd. Januarxthe flu season is expected to peak that month, and it takes about two weeks tor a person to develop immunity, and the 2.6 million is a drop in the bucket compared to the 46 million shots that will not be available. As it is, producing flu shots isn’t a profitable business, which is why the government subsidized two companies to produce the vaccine. However, like in other places in which a public need isn’t profitable, the government needs to step in and play a larg er role. The solution to making sure this year’s flu problems not occur in the future should be open-ended. After all, the only thing worse than relying on two companies to provide flu vac cines for the country would be to rely on one. If the govern ment doesn’t take control of the system entirely and wants to stay with the private sector, the responsibility to manufacture shots should be spread out among several companies. There’s no reason for this crisis to happen again. IT’S YOUR RIGHT ! Exercise your right to voice your opinion Create message boards at www.dailygamecock.com ^ or send letters to the editor to gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu ^B GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS On Monday’s front page, in a story about the search for an Arts and Sciences dean, the first quote from professor Bobby Donaldson was not correct. Also, the article should have stated that Donaldson served on the provost search committee. The Gamecock regrets the errors. If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. I I ABOUT THE GAMECOCK EDITOR Adam Beam CONTACT INFORMATION DESIGN DIRECTOR Offices on third floor of the Russell House. David Stagg The E-ditor's office hours are Monday and Wednesday from 3-5 p.m. copy desk chief Editor: gamecockeditor@gwm.sc.edu Gabrielle Sinclair News: gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu news EDITOR Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu Michael LaForgia The Mlx: gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu Sports: gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu ASST, news editor Public Affairs: gamecockPR@yahoo.com Jon Turner Online: www.dailygamecock.com VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Newsroom: 777-7726; Sports: 777-7182 Wes Wolfe Editor’s Office: 777-3914 THE Mix editor STUDENT MEDIA The Gamecock is the MegMoore editorially independent SPORTS editor DIRECTOR student newspaper of Jonathan Hillyard Scott Lindenberg the university of South asst, sports editor faculty adviser Carolina. It is Daniel Kerr Erik Collins published Monday, cpwino writfr Wednesday and Friday SENIOR WRITER CREATIVE DIRECTOR durino thP fall and Kevin Fellner Susan Kme during the fall and ousan r\mg spring semesters and I?'!,?" n business manager nine times during the Jason Steelman Carolyn Griffin summer, with the sports photo editor exception of university Katie Kirkland advertising manager holidays and exam PAGE DESIGNERS Sarah ScarboraiJ8h periods. Opinions Erin Cline, Jennifer classified manager expressed in The Logan, Chas McCarthy, Sherry F. Holmes Gamecock are those of ' Jessica Ann Nielsen, the editors or author Staci Jordan production manager and not those of the Patrick Bergen I Iniworcitv nf ith COPYEDITORS - university ui ouum Jennifer Freeman, creative services Carolina. The Board of < Anna Huntley, Daniel Burke Lauderdale, Student Publications Regensheit, Jason Chelsea Felder, Laura and Communications is Reynolds, Jennifer Gough, Joseph the publisher of The Sitkowski, Steven Van Dannelly, Kristen Gamecock. The Haren, Shana Till, Joel Williams Department of Student Wallace Media is the online editor advertising staff newspaper’s parent E.B. Davis Robert Carli, Ryan organization. The Gorman, Caroline Love, Gamecock is Jane Fielden, Katie Miles Jesica Johnson, Katie supported in part by Stephens student-activity fees. ? One free copy per TO PLACE AN AD reader. Additional The Gamecock Advertising: 777-3888 copiesmay.be 1400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 purchased for $1 each Columbia, S.C. 29208 Fax: 777-6482 from the Department of fe __ Student Media. X CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Humor finally finds itself at VSC ■ Student debauchery making triumphant return to campus life I think USC is finally getting a sense of humor. For a while it looked like every time you went to the dining hall you thought there was a funeral. Kids here just don’t laugh, they don’t joke around. Everything gets taken too seriously. I don’t know if it’s because they can’t get beer on Sunday, or if it’s the abortion guy out on Gervais Street getting them down. Polo stopped carrying shirts in pink, Five Points looks like Kabul and it’s almost getting too chilly for sandals. The past few headlines of the student newspaper this month have given me a little hope, though. Take the front page of The Gamecock the day after the presidential debates. A picture of a bunch of the College Democrats partying it up at Delaney’s — beer glasses clinking together, people smiling, dancing and laughing. I thought, “Hey maybe politics and college can work out and survive in the same setting together.” Then I unfolded the paper and underneath it came the punch line. Four guys dressed in camouflage sitting in a bare living room with lawn chairs for furniture watching television below a mantel covered with a hundred-plus Jim Beam bottles on it, stacks of chewing tobacco and a cardboard cut-out of George W. Bush standing next to a gun with his hand stretched out. I don’t really care too much about politics to let it ruin my QQPEY fun, but if I’m HUTCHINS looking “th£ average rriday FIFTH-YEAR night of the ENGLISH r „ STUDENT college Democrats and the College Republicans’ idea of a good time then I think I’m going to have to pull the lever for Kerry in a couple weeks. Something about the way the Dubya cut-out had his hand stuck out there in the apartment of someone my age ready to just pat me on the back and say, “Just do it like your daddy did, boy,” then teach me how to pop my collar. No thanks. Our paper also recently printed a story about the theft of the ball from the top of a monument on the Horseshoe. They called it a prank. Personally, I like the fact that someone at this school finally made the big leap from knocking over my garbage can on the way home from the bars to doing something productive. I mean, you got in the paper, guy — it’s probably cut out of the paper and taped to your fridge. I’m wondering if this is the same laugh riot that’s been pissing in the dryers in the freshman dorm. It looks like someone finally decided to apply the art of pissing on someone’s clothes into a real-life setting and not something that only happens at R. Kelly’s house and fraternity hazing sessions. Good job — I laughed. Another thing I saw was a guy was caught masturbating in the basement of the library. This is really what defines the difference between guys and girls at college. The girl who witnessed this immediately called the police. Now I can’t speak for all guys, but I’d sure hope that if I ever see a girl masturbating in the basement of the library, I’m not going to be calling the cops. I’m going to have all my friends on a conference call at the same time. The police operator: “OK, now is he using his left hand or his right?” Girl: “I don’t know, but there’s a book by Bill O’Reilly and another one about farm animals on his lap.” Ball stealing, pissing in dryers and masturbating in the basement of the library. I also heard about a kid who is trying to go to the counseling center for drug addiction because he thinks it will help him stop biting his fingernails. It almost feels like I’m in college again. There was one more thing, but I can’t remember if it had to do with seeing that girl throwing up at 3 in the morning outside the School of Public Health building or — no, I remember. Someone got shot at the fair. There V something about Mary ■ Political hypocrisy comes hot on the heels of Kerry’s comments Although the final showdown quickly became a rhetoric-burdened letdown, the third debate generated enough controversy to keep the media entertained throughout the following week. The bait at which press sharks jumped had nothing to do with policy, or lack thereof, but with a lesbian who happens to be Vice President Cheney’s daughter. When asked early in the debate if he believed homosexuality was a choice, Kerry replied, “I think if you were to talk to Dick Cheney’s daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she’s being who she was, she’s being who she was born as.” Granted, Kerry’s reply was scientifically unfounded — the existence of a “gay gene” explaining homosexuality as a genetic characteristic has yet to be proven. Otherwise, the statement, intended to justify acceptance of homosexuality, seemed innocuous enough. Except it happened to drag into the debate an opponent’s child. Lynne Cheney, the vice president’s wife, called herself a “pretty indignant mom” at a rally following the debate. Kerry “is not a good man,” she continued, proclaiming his statement “a cheap and tawdry political trick.” Vice President Cheney described himself as “a pretty angry father,” calling the mention of his daughter “inappropriate.” Even 64 percent of likely voters and 40 percent of Kerry’s supporters found Kerry’s ANNA statement about HUNTLEY Mary Cheney inappropriate. FOURTH-YEAR c . » MIDDLE EASTERN what s with all the STUDENT commotion? Let’s begin with the word lesbian. Many viewers reacted to “lesbian” as a dirty word. Yet should those same viewers deign to acquaint themselves with an actual lesbian, they’d realize most gay women either refer to themselves as lesbians or are content to be referred to as such. And then there’s the Bush administration propagation that Kerry’s statement was no more than a slick political maneuver designed to give the Bush administration a facade of homosexual acceptance to turn those evangelical Christians previously ignorant of Cheney’s open support for his lesbian daughter away from the polls. Unfortunately for the population of conservative conspiracy theorists, the administration’s claims have no foundation. Evangelical Christians comprise 7 percent of the nation’s population, according to the Barna report. Of this 7 percent, less than half voted in the 2000 election, according to the Pew Research Center and the Republican National Committee; 24 million self-proclaimed evangelicals didn’t even register. Yet viewers’ biggest concern was the dubious ethics of mentioning an opponent’s child within the political arena. Ms. Cheney, however, is a 35-year old woman, not a child. And despite her notable privacy, she is director of the Bush-Cheney campaign’s vice presidential operations — a relatively high-profile position. Furthermore, she, not just her famous father? chooses to be open about her homosexuality. Ms. Cheney became one of the better-known gay women in the nation after her father spoke explicitly about his daughter’s sexuality shortly before the Republican National Convention, adding that he had “enormous pride” in Mary. Mary should be, however, off limits to the likes of Alan Keyes, who referred to her as a “selfish hedonist,” a comment that not only was intended to demoralize Mary, but also as a political maneuver to garner votes from those Republicans firmly against homosexuality. The Cheneys kept silent about that sort of “cheap and tawdry political trick.” Mr. Keyes is, after all, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate. 4 WINNERS AND SINNERS i . use FOOTBALL Overcomes five turnovers and humiliates Kentucky with USC’s fourth-string |MM quarterback. B IRAQI ORPHAN 16-year-old boy helps U.S. forces in j Baghdad, gets to immigrate to Nebraska. COCKY Our favorite rooster dominates his first match-up in Capital One Bowl Mascot Challenge. . SB, ' t \ \ “ CHIRON CORP. British pharmaceutical firm cancels half of America’s flu shots. UPSTATE PRINCIPAL Woodmont High School principal was charged with assaulting a student. HIV-POSITIVE SOLDIER Army sergeant at Fort Jackson charged with knowingly transmitting HIV to 12 people. - • * f Conduct yourself in a manner fitting me ■ My advice: Follow what I say or live a life of poor, rotten etiquette There has always been a certain element missing from The Gamecock, and it was only recently that I finally came to identify it — where is Miss □ Manners? How are we to expect students to behave like civilized adults in the absence of such necessary journalism? Do not be vexed, for I have CURTIS come to rescue CHOW you from any potential social FOURTH-YEAR f c ECONOMICS taux Pas> hor STUDENT everyone’s benefit, today I will distinguish between socially acceptable and unacceptable instances that are prominent in our society. Riding the elevator up or down a single level when there are no physical limitations to preclude you from using the stairs is always unacceptable. Doing this will immediately identify you as “that person.” Everyone knows who you are, and yes, as soon as the doors shut behind you, you can rest assured that the rest of us are indeed talking about you and your superfluous occupation of time and space while there were others who were running late and waiting for a ride to the seventh floor. Putting sugar in your grits is also never appropriate. What kind of communist, America-hating country do you hail from? There is only one appropriate way to eat grits, and it involves butter and/or cheese. Putting sugar in your grits will almost always result in one or more of the following externalities: ridicule of your fancy city slicker mannerisms, hot tea, an angry mob and disqualification from holding public office. Agreeing with me is always appropriate. My opinions are always right. If your opinions differ from mine in any way, it is because you are wrong. Furthermore, disagreeing with me almost always leads to public scorn and contempt, bad hygiene, a Wednesday column about you and the inevitable shame of finding out for yourself that you should have simply agreed with me to begin with. Adaptation of my point of view instantly makes you taller, more attractive to the opposite sex, more intelligent and often results in random people giving you presents. For college students, playing in the streets is always appropriate. It is what is expected of us — we sleep, study, eat ramen noodles and walk in traffic, oblivious to our surroundings. For bonus etiquette points, pack your backpack full of unnecessary books and hunch over while you cross the street — the more you look like a pilgrim, the better. Also, you should only cross when your light is red and dress in dark colors when it is nighttime. If oncoming traffic approaches while you’re walking, don’t speed up, just stand there, look dumbfounded for a second and then continue to saunter on at a leisurely Speaking of transportation, walking/driving stupidly is never acceptable. I’m primarily referring to those of you who get your friends to walk slowly in a line, thus occupying the entire sidewalk while talking about some mind-rotting idiocy while I’m stuck behind you trying to get to class. I want those of you who do this to know that you are ineffably stupid, and if it were in my power, I would prohibit you from reproducing. Similarly, pacing slow cars or driving below the speed limit while driving in the left lane of traffic makes you as stupid as your pedestrian counterparts. If you disagree with me, you should refer to two paragraphs up.