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VIEWPOINTS C AMEGOGK EDITORIAL BOARD Editor STEVEN VAN HAREN News Editor JACKIE ALEXANDER Assistant News Editor JOSHUA RABON The Mix Editor ALEXIS ARNONE Design Director chas McCarthy Sports Editor STEPHEN FASTENAU Viewpoints Editor BRINDY MCNAIR Assistant Viewpoints Editor AARON BRAZIER IN OUR OPINION Year-round donation key to ending shortages For some in the grips of disease or on the brink of death, sijnply living life is a challenge. But for most of us, giving life can be the easiest part of our hectic schedules. It’s Donate Life Week at USC, and with a program aimed at getting your blood and bones and organs, the chance to save lives has never been more readily at your fingertips. But while this week makes donating life more accessible, inconvenience should not be a consideration in the business of helping people survive when it’s so easy to donate year You don’t need a sign-up fair to help battle shortages of organs, tissues, blood and marrow. round. Monday’s organ donation sign-up session on Greene Street showed how easy it is to get involved, while also dispelling some common myths about becoming _ - J_ /T'_ 11_ dll Ulgdll UU11U1. 1^11 JUUi family, print the card online and put it in your wallet. But you don’t need a sign-up fair to help battle shortages of organs, tissues, blood and bone marrow. The Red Cross Bloodmobile is almost always idling in front of the Russell House, giving students plenty of chances to save up to three people’s lives with one unit of blood. Otherwise, the Red Cross’ Midlands headquarters is right down Bull Street and is open daily. The Sweet Caroline Bone Marrow Drive for two years has provided an easy, fairly quick way to sign up with the National Marrow Donor Program, but with only about 8 percent of registered donors going on to donate, joining the registry ups the odds of patients finding marrow matches. Visit www.marrow.org and get started any time. Students shouldn’t wait to donate life only once a year in the fall when the Carolina-Clemson blood drive gives them bragging rights. The competition to survive is a constant race, ana people need help every second of every day to keep running. IT'S YOUR RIGHT Voice your opinion on message boards at umnv.dailygamecock.com or send letters to the editor at gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu CORRECTIONS In Tuesday’s News, “Without coach, USC debate team suspended for year” should have been attributed to Jess Davis. The Gamecock regrets the error. If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know about it. E-mail us at gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Editor STEVEN VAN HAREN Design Director chas McCarthy Copy Desk Chief AARON KIDD News Editor JACKIE ALEXANDER Assistant News Editor JOSHUA RABON Viewpoints Editor BRINDY McNAIR Assistant Viewpoints Editor AARON BRAZIER The Mix Editor ALEXIS ARNONE Assistant Mix Editor KRISTEN TRUESDALE Sports Editor STEPHEN FASTENAU Assistant Sports Editor ALEX RILEY Photo Editor NICK ESARES A ___ CJ:._ KATY BLALOCK Public Relations Director ROSE GREENE Page Designers MIKE CONWAY, KATE FENWICK, MEGAN SINCLAIR StaJfWriters AJ. BEMBRY, TOM BENNING, JESS DAVIS, TIM McMANUS, MARJORIE RIDDLE, GINA VASSELLI Copy Editors CAROLINE DESANCTIS, BETHANY NICHOLS, ELIZABETH PARHAM, JAMISON TINSLEY, KRYSTAL WEBBER, LIZ WHITE CONTACT INFORMATION Offices located on the thirdfloor of the Russell House Editor's office hours are from 2-3 pm. on Tuesdays and Thursdays Editor. gamecockeditorQgurm.sc.edu News: gamecocknewsQgwm.sc.edu Viewpoints: gamecockopinionsQgurm.sc.edu The Mix: gamecockfeaturesQgwm.sc.edu Sports: gamecocksportsQgwm.sc.edu Public Affairs: gamecockPRQyahoo.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 ; Sports: 777-7182 Editor’s Office: 777-3914 Fa*- 777-04X7 STUDENT MEDIA Director SCOn LINDENBERG Faculty Adviser ERIK COLLINS Business Manager CAROLYN GRIFFIN Advertising Manager SARAH SCARBOROUGH Classifieds Manager SHERRY F. HOLMES Production Manager C. NEIL SCOTT Advertising APRYL ALEXANDER, KATIE CUPPIA, BREANNA EVANS, MARY RACHEL FREEMAN, DEIDRE MERRICK, MCKENZIE WELSH Creative Services MIKE CONWAY, JOSEPH DANNELLY, LAURA JOYCE GOUGH, MARGARET LAW, MEGHAN WHITMAN 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 is supported in part by student-activity fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchasedfor $1 each from the Department of Student Media. ?oia,avovt Health cAze ww top issue im as. Vour resr 1WSVL1S Ate WckT you're waving’/ \yov£5eif 5\cfj/ Courtesy KRT Campus K-I-S-S-I-N-G keeps inner-youth singing Forget adult sex mess, remember butterflies of early romantic life During a recent gathering, a very opinionated friend decided to announce how much she missed making out. This roused up an intriguing conversation among couples and singles. Remember those days, probably back in high school or at the beginning, awkward stages of a relationship, when kissing was the only physical contact you had? We’re pretty quick at recalling our first kiss as it becomes a part of our rite of passage into the early stages of adult _ _ i : d_^ _ i cia uuiuuipj. uui 11 u vy that years have passed and experience has crossed our horizons, we’ve forgotten that earliest stage of romance — the kiss. Have you ever just kissed someone for hours, maybe until 5 a.m. when the sun is coming up and it feels like there is no one else in the world? Remember when kissing wasn’t just foreplay to other activities? We’ve forgotten the most basic element of passion. Why would [J2 we want iiiuitp to kiss that SSL ^dbye? year print journalism get more student comfortable with our sexuality and accept that we now live in a sexual environment, and for some, a sexual relationship, the small things drift away, back into the middle school days of holding hands and sweaty palms in the backseat of dad’s _ _ 1_ ^1_ Ldl. VI, U1U1V,, done that, and why would we want to relive it? If we’re old enough now to be on our own, driving to pick up our dates and sharing much more that an armrest, why would we want to go back to that elementary stage of k-i-s s-i-n-g? After all it’s not like I want to be 14 again. But we can’t forget the child within us. Sometimes it feels nice to swing on a swing set. Sometimes it’s comforting to curl up under a blanket and watch “The Little Mermaid” while eating cookie dough with your best friends. Just because we’re old enough to stay up past bedtime or break curfew doesn’t mean we have to forget how much fun it is to be a kid. Kissing can be better than “all the way.” It can be safer, more intimate and ten times as fun. Just because you have the adult freedom to do something, doesn’t mean you should. Maybe the problem with the ailing relationship is the lack of fundamental romantic stepping stones. Sure. T’m annnved hv teenagers today and would give anything to never go back to those awkward years of super-emotional trivialities, but I’m not ready let go of youth. Don’t you want to be young and silly? Don’t you want to forget birth control and condoms? Forget all that orgasm talk, and let go of all the sexual tension. Grab a copy of “Beauty and the Beast,” pucker up and kiss growing up sayonara. Mwah! Baby America still building group identity In immigration issues, national personality isn’t simple to define Scotland was recently dubbed the worst small country to live in the developed world. The announcement came as a shock to me. The land of bar brawls, impossible accents, bad teeth and whisky breath could not be the worst. Sadly, according to the BBC and other incredibly honest sources, it is true, based on health statistics. The tiny island is going down, half out of its kilt with a broken set of bagpipes in hand. But the Scots refuse to weep into their pint glasses. They’ll tell you that they invented the modem world, their soccer team will surely rise to 95th next year and cancer is not that bad. They are fierce nationalists. Self loathing is pointless and only leads to trouble. What do we have in common with the land of liverspots and heather moors? Nationalism. Red, white and blue. Apple pie and teenage pregnancy. We’re proud of ourselves — 1 * . • luliLH mRRKQSKV ev!.n Second-year public °ur Place aS relations leader in the student free world, America is still a pup. And like any puppy, we don’t know our ass from a hole in the ground. The word on everyone’s lips this week is “immigration.” Nobody seems to know what to do with the millions of illegal immigrant workers living within our borders. We can send them back, let them stay or do a combination. The politicians are raising white flags. What’s difficult about this issue is that it does not fall within party lines. We can’t point the finger at one party and look to another for a solution. We’ve got to clearly understand our identity before we boot anybody from the exclusive “American club.” We can’t forget that our country was built on the backs of immigrants. For years, pockets of our population spoke their native tongue. It wasn’t until recently that we got pop music, wine coolers, flavored air and John Ashcroft. My parents predate McDonald’s. America is coming into its own. We’re starting to build a national identity. This whole immigration thing is like a big game of Red Rover. Just like the Scots aren’t going drop their kilts and run for the highlands upon hearing the bad news, we aren’t going to go around and kick out every factory worker and farm laborer just because they don’t have the right piece of paper. We’re better than that. The immigration issue is tough. The nationalistic feelings that make us want to shut down our borders should also make us encourage the ebb and flow of people moving in and out of our country. Immigrants back then and immigrants now have always played a critical role in our economy, we can’t forget that. Winners & Sinners The Department of , Children and Family I 'f Services visited Briney * Spears’ home on Saturday for a “routine” investigation Bauch and Lomb agreed to stop shipment on its ReNu Moisture Loc solution after several consumers developed a severe eye infection. When in need of illegal aid\ foreigners can look to Bush Operative’s name leak, illegal alien conflicts based on similar lies Like many Americans, I 0 get most of my news from away messages on AOL Instant Messenger. A friend of mine’s away message stated how absurd it is that illegal, yes illegal, aliens are protesting for TIIM rights. IMIAI1US And ,at Fifth-year flrst- Xt does print seem pretty journalism darn absurd student that people protest to be allowed to do f something illegal, even if it is supporting their family. But in a country like America, where people at even the highest levels break the law to get things done, is it really that absurd? For example, the president and vice president wanted to discredit a former ambassador who criticized the administration’s claim that Iraq was seeking nuclear material in Africa. They did this by declassifying the identity of a covert CIA operative, * so that Cheney’s chief of staff, Scooter Libby, could leak the name to journalists. The operative happened to be the ambassador’s wife. Not only is this a crime, but one that endangers a federal agent’s life. Further, lying to federal agents is perjury, another crime Libby has been charged with. And if our nation’s leader is allowed to do illegal things in his quest to make his opponents look bad, . shouldn’t immigrants be* allowed to do the same in their quest to feed their family? The answer is no. There is a difference between the illegal aliens’ crimes and the president’s crimes. The illegal aliens take jobs for lower wages than Americans and thus, steal jobs from Americans. The Bush Administration’s crimes, on the other hand, are doing a very good job of employing American federal prosecutors for two years. Bush further helped their employment by encouraging them to find the leakA without telling them who it was — obstructing the nrnppcc nf Kri nmnnr <-Kp |p«it £-_ O-D to justice, so to speak. “If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is,” he said after the operative’s name was made public. After the hearings revealed the president knowingly authorized the leak, he said, “I wanted people to see the truth and thought it made sense for people to see the truth.” Mr. President, I see the^ truth and I salute you. You do what you want to do, and you do it while encouraging, not hurting, American employment. So unless these illegal aliens learn from the president, get high ranking jobs in the federal government, become involved in illegal activities and obstruct the trial process, they should leave the U.S. and support their families in whatever ways are possible in the countrv_