Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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ONLINE POLL Would you like to see The Gamecock printed five days a week? Let us know at www.dailygamecock.com. Results posted Friday. AMECOCK I EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR Michael LaForgia NEWS EDITOR Jon Turner VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Wes Wolfe THE MIX EDITOR Jennifer Freeman ASST. VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Patrick Augustine SPORTS EDITOR Jonathan Hillyard DESIGN DIRECTOR Chas McCarthy COPY DESK CHIEF Steven Van Haren IN OUR OPINION Abstinence policy leads to risky teen business A new scientific study from Yale and Columbia universities sug gests that the official sexual education policy of the United States lets down students when it stresses abstinence-only education at the expense of in-depth discussion of the health risks of different kinds of sexual activity. Abstinence based sexual education leads teens to adopt risky sexual behavior instead of waiting for marriage Published in April’s issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, the study found that among 12,000 teens interviewed during the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, those who stated that they were waiting for marriage for inter course were more likely to engage in risky sexual practices, like oral and anal sex, and less likely to get tested for STDs. Coming as part of the most ambitious look into the sexual proclivities of teenagers in decades, it underlines the failures of contemporary education about sex in the nation’s schools, and it raises questions about the effectiveness of health policies intend ed to reduce unwanted pregnancies and disease. More than simply asking questions in a blind survey, researchers followed students from grades seven to 12 and fol lowed up the surveys with in-home interviews at one-, two-, and six-year intervals to get a complete picture of the results of dif ferent kinds of sex education. The study found that 88 percent of teens who pledged absti nence had sex before marriage, compared with 99 percent of teens who did not plan to wait for marriage. Although backers of abstinence education, like the Bush Administration, dispute the results of such studies on grounds of their definition of abstinence, it is clear that a failure to educate teens on safe sex in addition to the option of waiting for marriage betrays the realities of an culture obsessed with sexualizing teens at a consistently younger age. While the generation that now possess es political power and is setting policy may have reservations about the effects of the Sexual Revolution after living through it, the answer is not to ignore the reality that teens will experiment with sex or abdicate the need to teach safe sexual practices. IT’S YOUR RIGHT I 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 If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Michael LaForgia DESIGN DIRECTOR Chas McCarthy COPY DESK CHIEF Steven Van Haren NEWS EDITOR Jon Turner ASST. NEWS EDITOR Kelly Cavanaugh VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Wes Wolfe THE MIX EDITOR Jennifer Freeman ASST. THE MIX EDITOR Carrie Givens SPORTS EDITOR Jonathan Hillyard ASST. SPORTS EDITOR Stephen Fastenau SENIOR WRITER Kevin Fellner PHOTO EDITOR Nick Esares SPORTS PHOTO EDITOR Katie Kirkland PAGE DESIGNERS Jillian Garis, Staci Jordan, Jessica Ann Nielsen, Megan Sinclair COPY EDITORS Jessica Foster, Brindy McNair, Daniel Regenscheit, Jason Reynolds, Katie Thompson, Shana Till ONLINE EDITOR Ryan Simmons PUBLIC AFFAIRS Jane Fielden, Katie Miles TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock Advertising: 777-3888 1400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 folumbia, S.C. 29208 Fax: 777-6482 CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@gwm.sc.edu News: gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu The Mix: gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu Sports.- gamecoc ksports@gwm. sc .ed u Public Affairs: gamecockPR@yahoo.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 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 ADVERTISING STAFF Robert Carli, Breanna Evans, Ryan Gorman, Caroline Love, Katie Stephens, McKenzie Welsh The Gamecock is the editorially independent student newspaper of the University of South Carolina. It is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday duringthe 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 Communication* is the publisher of The I Gamecock. The fl 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 $1 each from the Department of ^Student Media. INV6Tf(6ATiONJ Qt5cove^i7 oozevs orrefZfzoK ^5?ecxs ai*u)\)jev to #uy — — "A/5That ', '^7SZTTf ,< yCj^£r A wi 56u- //—,lj~f / 50^THIH^ /-J7> CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS I’m a maniac, maniac on the floor ■ And I dance like I’ve never danced before — but that won’t stop me I’ve noticed a great confusion in this country that I feel compelled to correct. Contrary to popular belief, The Lord of The Dance is not a popular touring dance show starring Michael Flatley. Actually, The Lord of The Dance is an evil deity who really, really hates me. There are several things that I simply cannot do. Beat the original Super Mario Bros. game. Give birth. Walk on (unfrozen) water. These things I have accepted. What I refuse to accept is that I, for any number of obvious reasons, cannot dance. I can walk, sit, stand, clap — even jump. I have fully developed motor skills. Problem is, 1 can’t seem to control my feet, knees, hips, arms, torso and head all at the same time in any sort of coordinated fashion. This is, of course, assuming that the chicken dance doesn’t count. As a high school student constantly barraged by homecomings, proms and various other excuses for loud music and skimpy clothing, this was a problem. Before I ever actually attended one of these events, I had all kinds of hopes and dreams about what to expect. The popular boy was surely going to get dumped by his even more popular girlfriend. One lucky freshman was somehow going to end up at the big senior party. No matter what anyone else tried to tell me, I was positive Molly Ringwald would show up. Naturally, I was completely wrong. I had several interesting and unique CHASE experiences at STOUDENMIRE dances' and hY interesting and FIRST-YEAR unique I mean POLITICAL ibk j haye SCIENCE icrriDie. STUDENT more horror stories than a fifth-grade class that just visited the Neverland Ranch. Once, my date got in a car crash on the way to my house. The only make-out action I was ever involved in was watching my date smooch another boy five feet away from me. Freshman year, three separate girls all declined my invitation to Homecoming. Another time, my date got sick and threw up at the dinner table. Twice. Eventually I realized I didn’t need to worry about not being able to dance: I became more concerned with the alien abduction I was sure was next. Upon my arrival on campus, I figured I was now safe from further dance-related distress. Again, I was completely wrong. According to my sister, a magical list exists of platonic male friends who are approved to take to sorority functions. Four sororities and five functions later, it seems I have made it on to that list. Uh-oh. Don’t get me wrong - I love them. The clothes are fancy, the girls are pretty and the times are good. It’s like prom all over again without the curfews and people who knew what I looked like in elementary school. This leads me back to the original problem. In all sincerity, dancing falls right underneath numchucks, bowhunting and computer hacking on my list of great skills. Right here, right now, I am declaring my intent to acquire basic dancing proficiency within a year. I figure if I stay focused, enlist the help of others and modify my musical tastes, I too may one day be able to drop it like it’s hot. I think I’U start by learning how to shag. As a native South Carolinian, I’m embarrassed to admit that I don’t already know how. I’ll probably be quite nervous the first time I shag. I’ve heard that it takes a while to learn how to really do it right. What if my partner has had plenty of shading experience? Will she be able to recognize my complete and utter naivete? Only time will tell. I’m not Greek, I’m just geek. As such, I’d like to thank sorority girls across campus for allowing me to partake in those weekend wonders you call functions. I’ll have my act together soon enough. Until then, I’ll be busy loving my mother and dancing like a blind one-legged ostrich standing on a bed of flaming coals trying to dodge an endless onslaught of speeding projectiles. Macarena party, anyone? IN YOUR OPINION ANWR shouldn’t be open to drilling The decision to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration is not just an environmental issue, but could possibly lead to an economic catastrophe. The oil within the refuge is too valuable a commodity to the United States to allow profit seeking companies and overeager consumers to exploit for their own personal welfare. The following are the facts of our economy; the U.S. trade deficit is at a high of $617 billion, the federal budget deficit is at $427 billion for the current fiscal year, the value of the dollar has weakened tremendously against the Euro and Yen, Social Security is a mess, and inflation needs an intervention or rehab because it is always high. If you’re looking for our'economy, look in a big white basin containing toilet water and you may find it. The Bush administration and others are suggesting that we open such drilling, increasing the supply of oil and subsequently laws of supply and demand binding, lowering the expensive costs of oil. Do you not think this is what the Middle East and those blocking the supply of oil want us to do? If we privatize and try to individualize the oil from ANWR, we lose the upper hand. We lower our assets that substantiate our economy and our net worth. The department of energy believes it would “yield 10 billion barrels from ‘a small corner’ of the reserve - ‘just 2,000 acres"' ("GOP Renews Drive to Drill in Arctic Wildlife Refuge, LA Times, March 10, 2005). As of March 10, 2005, the crude oil price per barrel is about $53.54. If you multiply that by the estimated yield of 10 billion barrels, you’re looking at about $535.4 billion dollars a blanket over the budget deficit and 87% of the federal trade deficit if that oil was to be sold at market value. By they way, OPEC is the general controller of oil prices, so it is not guaranteed that supply and demand would lead to lower prices. However, hypothetically speaking, if oil was to drop $20 per barrel upon the proposed supply created by the drilling, we would still have enough asset-value to cover half of our trade deficit. Face it — oil in the Alaskan region is the U.S.'s collateral. That is money not guaranteed to go into the exhaust systems of our cars, but definitely into the pockets of those doing the drilling and exploration. The oil would probably come into the possession of foreign countries that can pay the most for the oil once drilled. Given our economy, if countries were to come and demand the money that we actually owe them (nothing like kicking a man when He’s down), we would not have a lot to give. Unless we have an entire region of a valuable commodity, oh, but we do! If they come knocking we can simply say, “Look, we don’t have the actual money, but we have tons of precious oil. You forgive the amount we owe to you; you can take the market valued amount of oil we owe." The same thing occurs in an equity loan. If you don’t have the money to pay the loan, the bank says, “Fine, you don’t have the money, but we’re going to take that nice home of yours and some of your stuff." It could easily be argued that Congress has eight million acres, at their disposal. So what does two thousand acres mean? Remember, that potential money would probably demand even more drilling. Also remember, that it is a refuge for animals, that otherwise would have their lives disrupted by the current drilling and scouring of their homes in other areas of Alaska for company profit. My plea to Congress is to keep this from occurring. MARLIN DEBRAMALETTA Second-year business student 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 tire newsroom at 777 7726 for more information. . . Five Points celebration withholds green beer ■ Why am I paying $4 to drink cheap American brew with 30-year-olds? I have to admit, I feel kind of cheated. For weeks (or days, at least) I’ve been seeing commercials from Guinness, begging me to treat St. Patrick’s Day like □ a real holiday. Green Guinness flows from every keg. There’s enough beer for everyone, and then some. If this is what it means to treat St. Patrick’s Day like a real holiday, I’m CULBERTSON ‘ Accompanying FOURTH-YEAR A656 nationally ENGLISH televised ads was a STUDENT local-level barrage about St. Patrick’s Day in Five Points. The Free Times and The State turned green to announce the festival. Perennial pre-teen fave Jump Litde Children, washed up former alternative rockers Collective Soul, and (in a strange turn of events) a real band, Southern rockers Drive-By Truckers, were going to be at the scene. Not surprisingly, these two events fused in my head. In my fantasy world cheap, green Irish beer flowed from every Five Points bar (even Starbucks) while Jump, the Truckers, and finally Collective Soul worked the alcohol crazed, mostly early-20s crowd into a frenzy. That would have been a St. Patrick’s Day to be proud of. Of course, that fantasy bore no resemblance to reality. For starters, I never found any green beer. Secondly, the non-green beer that was there wasn’t Irish — it was pretty much Budweiser, Miller, Bud Light, etc. Furthermore, if I wanted 12 ounces of crappy American beer from a can, the same can that can be had at Green’s for ‘round about a quarter, I had to pay $4. Keep in mind, this is St. Patrick’s Day. These people, seeing as they pay about 10 cents for that can wholesale, could have sold beer for a quarter and still made a humongous profit — there were just that many people wandering around. It was the perfect time for cheap beer. It was a match made in heaven. Instead, I had to fork over the approximate amount of a 12-pack at Green’s for 12 crappy ounces of non-green, non-Irish beer. I finally wandered over to Pub, that hole in the wall next to Yesterday’s, because they have Rolling Rock for a dollar every day. Of course, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, the day when beer should be flowing freely, they doubled their price to two dollars. Don’t get me wrong, two bucks for a beer that at least comes in a green can is way better than four for some pseudo-beer from the Anheuser-Busch corporation. But doubling your prices for St. Patrick’s Day? That’s treating the day as an evil excuse to make money off college students, not a real holiday. Oh, did I say college students? Sorry, I meant middle-aged Columbia residents with beer bellies hanging out of green tank tops that said clever things like “Irish for a Day” or “I May Be 45 Years Old But I Still Need To Be Wasted In Five Points In The Middle Of The Day To Have A Good Time." Most of the old men were also handing out beads, apparently thinking it was Mardi Gras, many of which were blue. Who brought blue beads to St. Patrick’s Day? The only well-planned thing about the whole festival was that the Truckers and Collective Soul were scheduled to play at the same time. Yes, for the festival planners, it was a terrible and idiotic idea to have their two main draws playing on different stages at the same time, but for my purposes (a.k.a. not having to watch a drunken crowd of Columbians attempt to sing along with “Shine") it was a stroke of luck. After a great show by the Truckers, all I had to do was throw up once and stagger home. Ah, St. Patrick’s Day, the greatest holiday of them all. i mw% '~ < < COLLEGE QUOTE BOARD THE PITT NEWS UNIVERSITY OF PITT SBURGH It’s the old tune of a familiar song: Our society’s “entertainment” should reflect our values. If we don’t condone violence, then video games ought not be violent. And according to Michael Patcher, a Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst, our society does not believe drugs are an “appropriate thing," so they should not be included in video games, either. The makers of the game “Narc” do not agree. When the game is released for PlayStation 2 and Xbox next week, the players of “Narc” will be able to take drugs — as part of the game play, of course. » ARKANSAS TRAVELER UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS True, the average Iraqi political dissident is much less likely to be silenced, but the random citizen and typical school-bound child are much more likely to fall victim to some variation of a bomb or grenade attack. This is the state of disunion in Iraq two years after a plan for invasion that was handed down from father to son was first made public in a presidential address that cited falsehood upon falsehood as justification for commandeering a bothersome yet sovereign country. r U-WIRF.