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Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Thursday, December 2, 2004
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■ In my opinion
Y EAR in REVIEW
As fall term draws to a close, so
does 2004. For those suffering from
short memories and, more indulgent
ly, to relieve feelings of whatever you
call nostalgia for events too recent to
fit in the category, I present a brief his
tory of 2004:
January 4: (Hopefully) outgoing
pop princess Britney Spears sponta
neously marries childhood friend Ja
son Allen Alexander. Sound bytes
about the well-considered nuptials
(which were soon annulled anyway)
somehow turn into an argument
about the legalization of gay mar
riage. (The reader should be warned
here that this column is less a brief
ing of important social, scientific or
political events, but rather a mani
fest of journalistic flotsam of a year
gone oft awry.)
January 19: Former middle-of-the
pack candidate John Kerry, D-Mass.,
wins the Iowa Democratic caucuses,
presaging a heated primary season
and a divisive general election cam
paign. Ignoring Kerry’s electoral fait
accompli, Oregon holds its cash-burn
ing primary four months later (“Point
less primaries,” ODE, Mar. 5).
February 3: The Dukes of Hazzard
updates to the post-Cold War era as
the U.S. Coast Guard intercepts nine
Cuban migrants trying to reach Flori
da in a seafaring 1959 Buick.
February 25: The year’s most con
troversial film, “The Passion of the
Christ,” opens in the United States.
Despite some fears, the film sparks
little or no anti-Semitism. However,
a Wichita, Kan., woman meets her
TRAVIS W1LLSE
RIVALLESS WIT
maker, maybe prematurely, during
the climatic crucifixion scene,
when she collapses and dies of a
heart attack.
March 9: The spirit of youthful in
discretion folds in on itself as a judge
in spring break hot spot Panama
City, Fla., ruled that film of women
under 18 voluntarily exposing their
breasts for “Girls Gone Wild” — a
film series depicting young women
removing clothing — does not con
stitute child pornography.
April 14: The Saint Petersburg De
mocratic Club tops the later Swift
Boat ads to claim the title of the least
sensical campaign ad of the season,
when they place an ad in area paper
the Gabber (Gulfport, Fla.) saying of
Secretary of Defense Donald Rums
feld, “We should put this S.O.B. up
against a wall and say, ‘This is one of
our bad days,’ and pull the trigger.”
June 21: Privately funded Space
ShipOne successfully hits the (some
what arbitrarily designated) 62-mile
boundary of space. Meanwhile, non
sense on earth continues unabated.
June 24: History reminds us of its
kinship to irony when the gun used by
Gavrilo Princip to assassinate Austria’s
Archduke Franz Ferdinand is found in,
of all places, a monastery.
August 20: Asa Hutchinson, under
secretary for Border & Transportation
Security, apologizes for a mix-up that
delays Sen. Ted Kennedy, the other D
Mass., at airline gates three times on
suspicion that he was a terrorist.
August 24: Japan issues a deporta
tion order for chess great Bobby Fis
cher. The U.S. has sought Fischer
since 1992, when he threatened the
potency of American interests: Fischer
violated economic sanctions by visit
ing Yugoslavia and winning $3 mil
lion by playing a board game well.
September 10: Bloggers pick apart
memos “obtained” by CBS that nega
tively portrayed President Bush’s em
battled Vietnam-era National Guard
service. The nation spends some time
mulling the trustworthiness of media,
but eventually settles on a three-week
conversation about the minutiae of
1970s typesetting technology.
October 21: University of Florida
scientist Thomas DeMarse reveals
that he has grown a network of rat
neurons and trained it to fly an air
plane simulator. No word from the pi
lots’ unions so far.
November 19: NBA 2003-04 De
fensive Player of Year Ron Artest gets
defensive, attacking a fan he be
lieved threw a cup at him. That and
a related on-court brawl, the biggest
in recent memory in the league, land
players suspensions varying from
one to 73 games.
traviswillse@ daily emerald, com
INBOX
University needs better
student ticket system
When some of my fellow students
and I went to get basketball tickets a
few days ago for the basketball
games during winter break we were
turned away. They were all gone.
The lady at the ticket office told us
that there were only 300 student
tickets released for the games.
I am a senior and have always
been able to get tickets for the win
ter break games until this year. The
lack of tickets was caused by the
ASUO, according to the ticket office.
This is horrible. Only giving out 300
tickets is not acceptable, especially
when there are 2,300 tickets avail
able to other games. I know that
there is a disclaimer that at least 305
tickets will be given out during
winter break games, but it says “at
least.” Where are the rest? Why not
give out a few more to students who
go to every game and have for
four years?
I think there could be a better
method to the way things are
handled. Why not make all the
student tickets available until
Wednesday and then after that sell
the rest? We pay a fee that allows us
to go to the game and now we aren’t
allowed to go during winter break
because the tickets are sold to the
public instead of the students. That
makes no sense and needs to be
changed. The team needs the stu
dents there; they play better when
their crowd is loud, and the students
make it loud.
We don’t know what you can do
this year but if there is any way to
make extra tickets available, that
needs to be done. Do something, be
cause giving tickets to the public in
stead of students is not respectable
or acceptable.
Isaac Price
Undergraduate
■ Editorial
PFC budget
hold a good
move, albeit
a late one
The U.S. Congress could learn a thing or two
about fiscal responsibility from the Programs Fi
nance Committee.
PFC Chairwoman Persis Pohowalla pushed
for delaying the approval of any student group
budget that includes stipends until January,
when a new model for determining stipends
will be finalized.
The delay was sparked by a letter from Univer
sity President Dave Frohnmayer, which pointed
out that some student groups spend as much as
70 percent of their budgets on stipends, leaving
only 30 percent for programs.
Holding up the budget process was no doubt a
difficult decision, but it was a fair one. We know
many groups will be inconvenienced, unable to
plan for next year until after winter break, and we
sympathize. But it is a small price to pay in order
to ensure that student money is not being thrown
around carelessly, at least not in this particular in
stance. No budgets with stipends should be ap
proved until the stipend model has been re
worked across the board.
Unfortunately, this matter could have been
dealt with long ago. Frohnmayer’s letter was sent
to ASUO President Adam Petkun, ASUO Vice
President Mena Ravassipour, and summer Sen
ate President Rodrigo Moreno-Villamar over the
summer. It went virtually ignored for months as
the job of reworking the stipend model was
passed from person to person with little progress.
Apart from passing the buck, we commend the
student government for finally making the tough
call and looking out for our money. We hope the
ethic of fiscal responsibility continues to drive the
PFC process.
High Court
hallucinating
about tea
crack down
It is all drugs all the time at the U.S.
Supreme Court. As justices are pondering the
constitutionality of Oregon’s medical marijua
na law, the Bush Administration has asked
the High Court to crack down on a drug even
more dangerous than herb. Tobacco? No.
Meth? No.
Hallucinogenic tea, of course.
According to a CNN report, the U.S. govern
ment and the O Centro Espirita Beneficiente
Uniao do Vegetal church in New Mexico have
been embroiled in a long-running legal battle
about a special tea made from plants in the
Amazon River Basin. The tea contains the
controlled substance DMT.
Finally, an administration that is willing to
take on the powerful hallucinogenic tea trade
that is ravishing the inner city. Apparently the
president’s Faith-Based Initiative only applies
to churches getting high on God.
Federalism, religious freedom — they
should use whatever excuse they want, but
the court should pass on this case.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Jennifer Sudick
Editor in Chief
David Jagemautti
Editorial Editor
Steven R. Neuman
Managing Editor
Gabe Bradley
Freelance Editor