Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VIEWPOINTS amecockI EDITORIAL BOARD Editor MICHAEL LaFORGIA News Editor STEPHEN FASTENAU Asst. News Editor JUSTIN CHAPURA The Mix Editor ALEXIS ARNONE Sports Editor JONATHAN HILLYARO Viewpoints Editor BRINDY McNAIR Copy Desk Chief STEVEN VAN HAREN Design Director chas McCarthy IN OUR OPINION Resurrected flu virus makes our palms sweat We question the logic of resurrecting the once-extinct disease that killed more people in a few months’ time than any other pandemic in recorded history. Scientists and apocalyptic wackos alike have said for the past x . . several flu seasons that the world is long overdue for another deadly pandemic. This year, avian flu has cropped up in Asia and pushed steadily westward, killing about 65 people along the way. So for, though, it’s proven containable and hasn’t spread readily among humans. With the threat of bird flu mutating into a new global killer hanging over our heads like a guillotine, some researchers say studying the 1918 Spanish flu might help them find ways to fight future outbreaks. The problem? That particular strain of the flu — which settled deep into victims’ lungs before drowning Should scientists them with fluid disappeared have rebuilt about 80 years ago, after wiping one killer out an estimated 50 million peo to fight another? Pi e worldwide. So scientists rebuilt it from scratch, working from a genetic blueprint they pulled from a 1918 flu victim found frozen in the Alaskan permafrost (consider that rotten luck). Now 10 vials of the ultra-deadly virus are being stored at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. In case you’re wondering, Atlanta is exacdy 204 miles away from the snif fling GMP worker who just handed you that cheeseburger. In an Associated Press report, health officials offered this gem of reassurance regarding surrounding the resurrected virus: “People around the world developed immunity to the deadly 1918 virus after the pandemic, and a certain degree of immunity is believed to persist today." Hmm. Granted, the CDC has small pox and all kinds of awful bugs under lock and key. And if this project will actually help the world protect itself from another pandemic, than were all for it. But in the meantime, we hope the state ramps up for the com ing flu season and sets an effective contingency plan should the worst occur. IT’S VOUR 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 CORRECTIONS • In a Wednesday news story, Kirsten Coleman was misidentifed. She is actually a Student Government senator. The Gamecock regrets the error. If you see an error in todays paper, we want to know about it. E-mail gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Editor MICHAEL LaFORGIA Design Director chas McCarthy Copy Desk Chief STEVEN VAN HAREN News Editor STEPHEN FASTENAU Asst. News Editor JUSTIN CHAPURA Viewpoints Editor BRINDY MCNAIR The Mix Editor ALEXIS ARNONE Sports Editor JONATHAN HILLYARD Asst. Sports Editor ALEX RILEY Photo Editor NICK ESARES Sports Photo Editor KATIE KIRKLAND Pare Designers MIKE CONWAY, JESSICA ANN NIELSEN, MEGAN SINCLAIR Graphic Designer LAURA-JOYCE GOUGH Copy Editors CHELSEA HAOAWAY, KRISTY LAUBE, MELISSA MAULDIN, KATIE THOMPSON, JAMISON TINSLEY LIZ WHITE Online Editor RYAN SIMMONS Creative Services JOSEPH DANNELLY, LAURA-JOYCE GOUGH, MARGARET LAW, MEGHAN WHITMAN TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock 1400 GreeneSt. Columbia, S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. The editor's office hours are Monday and Wednesday from 1-3 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.dttilygamecock.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 Advertising Staff BREANNA EVANS, RYAN GORMAN, KATIE CUPPIA, APRYLALEXANDER, MARY RACHEL FREEMAN, MCKENZIE WELSH, DEIDRE MERRICK 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 o/THE GAMECOCK. The Department of Student • Media is the newspaper’s parent organization. THE GAMECOCK if 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. IO'Oi-6 $ Cartoon courtesy of KRT Campus Boy meets girl, girl shuns boy, boy tries again Edison’s determination proves try and try again will get Duckies a dame According to popular folklore, Thomas Edison tried more than 6,000 combinations of design and chemicals before he successfully created the lightbulb. Six thousand times. If it weren’t for the fact that he produced one of the greatest technological advances in recent history, I would say Thomas Edison was a lunatic. Six thousand times! I would have probably given up somewhere around 10. It’s hard to find people who have that kind of commitment and ambition. To be honest, only one other immediately comes to mind. Duckie. The Duckman. Yes, that’s right. Duckie, as in Andie Walsh’s Duckie from “Pretty in Pink.” When it comes to getting what you want, that guy really stuck to his guns in spite of every indication he was fighting a losing battle. He wants Andie, and man, one day he’s going to get her. Any good movie fan can tell you that he ends up, well, not getting her. To put this in terms any Gamecock can understand, this is like watching a guy from Preston fall in love with a girl from McGlintock, spend night after night at the women’s quad unsuccessfully trying to get in to see her and then see her / ^\ drive off with a H guy from the Greek Village. What Thomas Edison did CNflSC ended up being sTouDcnmmE briUiant-^ far as Uuckie s Second-year behay;or is history . .. student concerned, well, I think the jury is still out on that one. Brilliant? Perhaps. Idiotic? Just as likely. I think that decision will always be left up to the Andie Walsh’s of the world. i here are two types or guys on this campus: guys who will admit they’re still bent on getting that one girl to go out with them, and liars. There are two types of girls on this campus: girls who guys haven’t quite figured out yet, and girls who guys haven’t quite figured out yet. Duckie is the first kind of guy. And Andie, well, Andie is a girl. But Duckies dilemma raises the one of those questions that guys secretly spend hours stewing over all the time. At what point does this kind of determination become too much? Do the same rules apply to asking girls out as apply to inventing light bulbs? Is it OK to ask a girl out 6,000 times before giving up? There is a fine line to be walked here between being the annoyingly stubborn guy who can’t take a hint and the endearingly persistent guy who eventually proves his worth. Nothing better than being the second type. Nothing worse than being the first. Until someone comes up with some kind of formula or gadget that can correcdy gauge all the factors that play into this distinction, it looks like us boy types are going to have to work off the old-school “trial and error” principle. Special emphasis goes to “error.” This campus is full of Duckies. Likewise, this campus is full of Andie Walsh’s. Since the campus bookstore doesn’t sell a girl-to-guy translator, I’m going to ask a question on behalf of all the Duckies in the world. Does I dont want a boyfriend” or “I just want to be friends” come with a lifetime warranty? No one ever said. Perhaps it expires after a year, two years, six months. Maybe when a girl utters those words, the boy and girl are subsequently entered into a legally binding contract mandating strictly platonic interaction that the girl has the right to cancel without penalty at any time. Every guy on this campus already is or will eventually become somebody’s Duckie. But I don’t really mind it all that much. After all, my Andie is pretty in everything, not just pink. IN YOUR OPINION Bush s buddy Mien; lacks solid credentials The title of your editorial, “Court nominee Miers represents compromise” (Wednesday), is only correct if you mean compromise of standards. George W. Bush came in to the Oval Office promising a return of honor to the presidency, but his administration has been marked only by the lowering of standards in some of the most fundamental areas of national government. He has made going to war easier, he has avoided specific rules against torture (something Miers, as White House staff secretary from 2001 -2003 likely approved of), he has weakened vital government offices by appointing unqualified loyalists and now he has named his personal attorney to the highest court in the land. I have seen a number of people say we need to wait to see if Harriet Miers can prove herself, an attitude I consider exactly wrong. This is not a job for someone whose resume is so sparse that she needs to be justified in time. While Bush’s last nomination, John Roberts, had credentials including having argued in front of the Supreme Court more than 30 times, defenders of Miers are forced to suggest that her single term on the Dallas City Council will somehow provide her with important insight into constitutional law. That she has not been a judge, as you point out, is not without precedent. But your example of William Rehnquist is inapt: he, like Roberts, had a far more impressive career as a lawyer than Miers, and Rehnquist, too, had argued before the highest court. The cronyism charge is just. Bush said Miers has been ranked for a number of years as one of Americas most important lawyers. This is true, but the citation mentions her influence on Bush as its reason. The logic becomes circular. She is fit for the court because she is important. She is important because the president (alone) sees her as fit for the court. Yet again, Bush insults our intelligence. American can do better than him, and we can certainly do better than Harriet Miers. BRIAN C. COONEY Visiting assistant professor Department of English 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. Do you think President Bush's decision to appoint Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court was a compromise? www. dailygamecock. com Studentfrets over science, his universe hits the fan Religion’s role in class could help us balance different world views I was in class the day I met Darren. I sat there ir^k arithmetic, and he said he^ —v believed 1 + 1 is I 1. All modern m western W mathematics g^EH||||LJ were wrong. I He proclaimed proudly that RRD7IPR his bdief that Fu bHHclbn Xi created the Third-year WOrld should be philosophy re ted. Naturally, one gets annoyed at this point. But it did not end there. Basically, every class had to pander to his inane opinions^ Well, people, opinions car^P be wrong. If someone argues that Hitler was a Russian, then no amount of appealing to belief absolves the wrongness. The liberal left doesn’t want belief systems taught in schools. The religious right wants it to be only Christian. Religious beliefs need to be taught in school. Objectively. Clinically. Of course, the upside of this is that people learn to challenge beliefs, and, lo and behold, you develop an educated group who can appreciate their religious background as well the myriad other religious” backgrounds in cosmopolitan America. -—a schools. So what do we get? We get creationism. We get lies and fabrications wrapped up in a rejection of all science. I had the luck of being taught philosophy and theology for four years in high school before ever setting foot in an establishment of higher learning, exposed to beliefs such as creationism. I do not mind if someone believes in creationism^ Arguing with these people is a lesson in indoctrination. The point is that creationism is not a science and should not be considered a science. Leave it out of my science classes. Perhaps the university should provide an “alternate” course, where the professor merely says, “God did it” for about five months, simultaneously lowering the intelligence quota of students. Intelligent design definitely appears to be something a philosophy or religious education course could cover reasonably and intelligendy. 1 he lessons here araA multiple. Respect does noi^ mean agreement. You can respect somebody by ripping apart his or her ignorant beliefs with intellectual vigor. If I did not respect that person, I would not bother arguing in the first place. Religious education is a necessity in schools. Children should know what a science is and what a religion is. They should know other religious beliefs and probably their creation myths for sheer comparison. The college student should know where^ his or her beliefs sit in a pantheon of opinion. If you sign up for a science course, you are agreeing with the fact that it is science within. If you believe in something anti-science, then do not bother going. In fact, university probably is not the place for you. Nobody should be forced to respect the unrespectable.