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ONLINE POLL What is the best way to deal with leftover turkey? Go to www.dailygamecock.com to vote. Results posted Friday. AMECOCK EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR Adam Beam DESIGN DIRECTOR . David Stagg NEWS EDITOR Michael LaForgia THE MIX EDITOR Meg Moore COPY DESK CHIEF Gabriefle Sinclair VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Wes Wolfe SENIOR WRITER Kevin Fellner ASST. NEWS EDITOR Jon Turner IN OUR OPINION Holtz made USC a worthy contender At 11 a.m. today, USC will say goodbye to a coaching legend. For six years Lou Holtz has guided a football program once marred by defeat into national prominence with nationally tele vised games, national rankings and back-to-back New Year’s Day bowl wins against Ohio State, one of the top football programs in the country. While some scoff at the 1-10 record in November the past three seasons and a 1-6 record against Clemson, there is no denvine the coach with a national championship and 249 career Spurrier will be building on what Holtz established in his six years at use. wins made a difference at USC. There’s also no denying Holtz’s impact on college foot ball. He made a name for himself by taking lackluster programs and turning them into contenders. He s the only coach to ever take six different teams to a bowl game. His sixth, USC, came after an 0-11 season in which peo ple doubted even Holtz’s ability to make Carolina a winner. But he did, and with the same class and character he tries to instill in his players. It’s sad that Holtz’s last regular season game had to end with a loss to Clemson, but we like to remember all of his victories. Upsetting nationally ranked Georgia at home one year after its winless season. Beating Alabama for the first time in with an amaz ing fourth quarter comeback. Beating Ohio State in the Outback Bowl with a last second field goal. And, even though it was only once, beating Clemson at home by sending Corey Jenkins into the end zone on a fourth and goal to put the game away. That’s the Lou we’ll always remember — the Lou with a black pullover jacket when it’s 95 degrees and sunny. The Lou who would pull a player to the sidelines by his facemask after a bad play. The Lou who would wear out a pair of shoes in one game. It appears Spurrier will be next. And while we hope the ol’ ball coach can bring USC winning seasons and victories against Clemson, he’ll be building upon what Holtz established. And for that, we’re thankful. 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 GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS In Friday’s News, an article on Frank Dunham incorrectly stated that Dunham was “ dirty bomb” suspect Jose Pedilla’s attorney. 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. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK tUI I UK Adam Beam DESIGN DIRECTOR David Stagg COPY DESK CHIEF Gabriel le Sinclair NEWS EDITOR Michael LaForgia ASST. NEWS EDITOR Jon Turner VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Wes Wolfe THE MIX EDITOR Meg Moore SPORTS EDITOR Jonathan Hillyard ASST. SPORTS EDITOR Daniel Kerr SENIOR WRITER Kevin Fellner PHOTO EDITOR Jason Steelman SPORTS PHOTO EDITOR Katie Kirkland PAGE DESIGNERS Erin Cline, Staci Jordan, Jennifer Logan Chas McCarthy, Jessica Ann Nielsen COPY EDITORS Jennifer Freeman, Anne Huntley, Daniel Regenscheit, Jason Reynolds, Jennifer Sitkowski, Shana Till, Steven Van Haren, Joel Wallace ONLINE EDITOR E.B. Davis PUBLIC AFFAIRS Jane Fielden, Katie Mile; CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. The Editor" s office hours are Monday and Wednesday from 3-5 p.m. Editor: 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: gamecockPR@yahoo.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom-. 777-7726; Sports: 777-7182 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 Garen Cansler CREATIVE SERVICES Burke Lauderdale, Chelsea Felder, Laura Gough,Joseph Dannelly, Kristen Williams ADVERTISING STAFF Robert Carli, Breanna Evans, Ryan Gorman, Caroline Love, Jesica Johnson, Katie Stephens 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 $] each j from the Department of V Student’Media. TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock Advertising: 777-3888 1400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 Columbia, S.C. 29208 rtax: 777-6482 NOW THAT YOU'RE LEAVING I SHOULD PROBABLY TeLL You. You WeRe ADOPTED. mmmmm-wm CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Annan unduly spared in scandal ■ United Nations weak, meaningless under current leadership U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, an obstructionist of American foreign policy, was spared yesterday a vote of no confidence from the U.N. workers’ union, unfortunately. The union condemned U.N. leadership but spared the top dog. It’s another setback for those who hope the United Nations could play a role other than a laughable, preening semblance of diplomacy. The United Nations as it stands is an organization known mainly for its opposition to America and latent anti-Semitism. Many papers didn’t even carry the scandal because the United Nations long ago ceased to matter, and its non status as an organization will continue until the agency drops its knee-jerk passivity and cleans up its scandals. This latest scandal in a long history of mismanagement arose over Dileep Nair, a Singaporean implicated in (of course) some kind of sex scandal. U.N. leadership absolved him of the investigation and sent him away with a slap on the wri&, to the anger of the U.N. workers’ union. The union felt the scandal merited a vote of no confidence and called a meeting Friday. The vote targeted Annan, who again has somehow escaped unscathed. Annan is a sincere idealist whose tenure has been characterized by strongly worded resolutions but no action. He ought to have been censured — this reality check might move the COREY United Nations GARRIOTT *° red leadership. In FOURTH-YEAR the book “ ECONOMICS c, , „ . STUDENT Shake Hands with the Devil,” the author, a Canadian general, claims Annan was overly passive in his response to the Tutsi genocide. Annan would eventually admit this. Inaction characterizes his response to most conflicts, such as Darfur. It took Colin Powell to bring the genocide to the world’s attention — not that it did any good. Annan has also been associated in money laundering scandals with the United Nations’ oil for food programs; several of Annan’s friends appear to have been on the receiving end of the program’s wealth, including his brother Kojo. He is a man who once said, “ You can do a lot with diplomacy, but with diplomacy backed up by force you can get a lot more done.” He was speaking in 1998 against Saddam’Hussein. He then ushered through about 20 resolutions condemning Iraqi hostility in the no-fly zone and suspicious activity, but held back, of course, from actually getting more done. Of course, for excellence in torpidity he was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize, an honor he shares with the late Yasser Arafat. The United Nations has done much to stymie world peace under his control. The United Nations remained silent about the threat of religious terrorism, preferring instead to negotiate and identify root causes. Root causes are indeed the solution to world conflict in the long term, but in the long term we are all dead. We have a responsibility to the short term as well, which means lining up soldiers in between those who kill and those who would be victims. Enforced peace was the solution NATO has pursued after Yugoslavia fell into pieces. Annan was nowhere to be seen. This latest scandal merits a re evaluation of Annan’s leadership. The United Nations otherwise will fade to black. Even U.N. sex scandals rarely make American news. For instance, Annan admitted Friday there is clear evidence of sexual exploitation among U.N. peacekeeping personnel in Congo. But nobody really cares about the United Nations except for Security Council countries who veto resolutions to, for instance, take action against the killers in Darfur — this would disrupt Chinese oil interests. As a world organization held unaccountable, the first step to cleaning up its record and reclaiming its status could be to replace Annan. --- IN YOUR OPINION Blood restrictions prevent patient risk I do not doubt that many people feel discriminated against when they are told that they cannot give blood because they are gay (“Some students turned away from record-setting drive,” Wednesday). However, do they think that only gay people are told they cannot give blood? If you read the questions on the form filled out before you give blood there are number of disqualifying criteria. If you have had a tattoo or piercing in the past 12 months, you can’t give blood. If you have been to certain countries lately, you can’t give blood. If you are below a certain weight, you can’t give blood. If you have ever shared a needle with someone for drugs, you can’t give blood. On top of all of that, I know people who were not allowed to give blood because their iron was too low or their blood didn’t clot fast enough. I myself have been rejected to give blood because I got a tattoo a couple of years ago. I went to a sterile place that I know to get a tattoo. I watched them use sterile instruments but I still was not allowed to give blood. Should I feel discriminated against? No, because I know that the Red Cross and the FDA are just trying to protect the people who receive blood. If gay people* think they are the only ones being discriminated against when it comes to giving blood then they are wrong. People need to understand that the FDA is trying to make sure that no one gets any diseases from someone who gives blood. Yes, by giving blood we are able to help save lives. However, if just one person gives blood who has a deadly disease then we have not helped save a life but have possibly ruined a life. KATHRYN OSTEEN Second-year business student Team doesn’t take Clemson seriously In my 21 years as a Gamecock, it is painfully obvious to me that the annual game against Clemson means more to Clemson’s players than it does to ours. Since a 56-20 USC win in 1975, Clemson has dominated the series 21-7-1, and has won seven of the past eight. The Tigers consistently play with more fire and emotion and this weekend’s game was no different, The Gamecocks were flat on offense and mediocre on defense, while Clemson employed diverse play calling and a swarming defense. One would think that our players and coaches would have had more to offer in attempting to avenge last season’s disaster in Williams-Brice. The blame for USC’s poor performance against Clemson is multi-faceted, but I believe a primary reason is that our coaching staffs have not stressed to our players that no matter what, Clemson is always the most important game of the year. Until our players understand that and play like it, Clemson will continue to dominate us in football. JUSTIN NORTHCUTT Fourth-year finance and history student ONLINE POLL Do you think Steve Sptarier made the right move in coming to USC? Yes 86% FROM WWW.DAiLYG.WXOCK.COM 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. Anonymous letters will not be published. Call the newsroom at 777 7726 for more information. GOP abandons principles in election ■ True conservatives no longer have a place in the Republican Party Sen. John McCain has indigestion. However, it’s not from what he ate in the Capitol cafeteria, but from the direction his party is taking. Instead of n being the party of fiscal responsibility and small government, principles Republicans have always championed, the party of Lincoln PATRICK and Reagan has AUGUSTINE overseen the biggest expansion FOURTH-YEAR . , . , POLITICAL ln tederal SCIENCE soendine and in STUDENT spending and in the size of the bureaucracy since Lyndon Johnson. President Bush has succeeded in blindly leading the party he claims to be a part of from its core principles to a new ideology based entirely on a sectarian moral and arrogandy empirical view of the world. While much has been made in recent weeks of the crisis of direction that commentators claim is facing the Democratic Party following its institutional failure to make any semblance of gains on a national level, the winners have not had a critical eye trained on them. Part of this is our American inclination to view the successful as blemishless, but it does litde to advance the discussion of where our nation is heading. But just because the Right was able to dupe middle America’s isolated masses into voting for an agenda they can least afford to support, does not mean their viewpoint is correct. After all, the Nazis were roundly supported at home during their ascent to power. The ultimate irony of the Bush White House is that Karl Rove has the utmost , disrespect for the voters he manipulates, or he would not reduce the level of political discourse down to images of 9/11 that do nothing other than stir up the fears of hard-working Americans. Voters are served an apocalyptic view of a future for their children in which their country is devoid of churches, and the landscape is dominated by strip malls full of gay bars, abortion clinics, and movie theaters serving up Hollywood’s newest bloodbath. Leading the phalanx firmly against this onslaught of ‘anti family’ culture is our 43rd president, who we’re assured in 30-second television spots is a moral crusader and will soon be sainted by Jerry Falwell. Conveniently absent from the facts presented are reminders of his DUI conviction, or the charges of unethical campaign practices pursued by his first lieutenant in the House of Representatives and fellow Texan, Tom DeLay. You have to question your sanity if you buy into this slice of fiction in ignorance of four years of precedence. Reality is that no president is, or thankfully will ever be, powerful enough to change the direction American culture is taking. Our protections against censorship ensure MTV and Janet Jackson will continue to push the envelope of acceptability while forcing individuals to think for themselves instead of having their beliefs dictated to them by government or mainstream media. In many ways, the president is forcing Republicans implicitly to reject more than 150 years of historical stances on the issues and adopt a view of government that embraces growing government at an unfettered pace to fight endless moral wars at home and wars against world opinion abroad. So go ahead and proclaim your love for our “Republican” president and rock your “W always” stickers on your Ford Explorer, but at least realize that in doing so you’re giving up what you are supposed to stand for. It is a for greater travesty to willingly give up your independence to those who are loathe to protect it. COLLEGE QUOTE BOARD IOWA STATE DAILY IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY SincdjEckoRed first started using the larger-butt mannequins — aptly called the J, butt — nearly two years ago, its sales have tripled. Women like it because the mannequins more accurately portray their body shapes. Men like it too — so much so ffiarguys are going into stores just to buy the mannequin, The New York Times reported. ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA Making attendance mandatory creates an atmosphere that is distinctly conde scending and patronizing towards students. In effect, instructors are saying that students do not know how to take care of their own education and lack the ability to know what in their busy lives needs to be prioritized. Students have other commit ments than school and should not be punished because of their hectic lives. U-W1RE-.