Presidents: Let’s win – but be sportsmen about it
This weekend marks the beginning of another exciting season of home football games, as we host Northern Arizona University in our 2007 home game opener.
One hallmark of the great Arizona Stadium experience is the raucous home crowd, who display admirable school spirit in cheering on the team. In particular, the Zona Zoo is expected to be as big and as loud as ever this year.
As we welcome NAU, let’s keep the spirit of competition positive before, during and after the game. Sure, it’s fun to tell opposing fans which team we think will win the game. But we should do it with class. Violent, vulgar, and threatening behavior to fans of our opposing teams isn’t the UA way.
Some universities have seen their national reputations plummet because students acted shamefully toward opposing teams and their boosters. This is not what the UA has ever been about, nor is it what it should become.
As we prepare for this Saturday’s game against NAU, let’s all cheer the Wildcats on to victory. More importantly, let’s support our team’s effort on the field by being exemplary hosts off the field.
-Robert N. Shelton,
UA President
-Tommy Bruce,
President, Associated Students of The University of Arizona
Republicans the real hypocrites
In his Sept. 5 letter, “”Craig Issue Shows Hypocrisy of Democratic Party,”” Kevin Rand Wos is right about one thing: the scandals surrounding former representative Mark Foley and Idaho senator Larry Craig certainly reveal much about the human capacity for self-deception and hypocrisy. He errs, however, in attributing that hypocrisy to the Democratic Party and the so-called liberal media.
When Sen. Craig offered his resignation, he was not responding to pressure from either Harry Reid or the New York Times. Rather, it was Republicans like John McCain who demanded that he step down. Wos then claims that the only reason that these men’s erotic preferences made it to the evening news is because they are Republicans, a group that both the media and the Democratic party are apparently “”out to get.”” I remember a certain conservative filmmaker named Mel Gibson pursuing a similar line of reasoning when he suggested that he was arrested for drunk driving not because he was drunk and operating a motor vehicle but because the police officer who pulled him over was part of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy that specialized in starting wars and persecuting Christian filmmakers.
While such paranoid fantasies may help preserve a person’s idea of his own innocence or heterosexuality, they do nothing to promote self-knowledge, and it seems that in this case self-knowledge is required above all else. Mr. Wos, the media picked up on this story and others like it, because in recent years, the Republican Party has based much of its electoral strategy on demonizing gays and lesbians. As long as Republican strategists insist upon treating monogamous homosexuals as a threat to American civilization on a par with al Qaeda, you can expect that reporters will pounce on any closeted conservatives who are caught in sexually compromising situations whether these involve bathroom assignations or suggestive emails sent to congressional pages.
I humbly suggest therefore that the Republican Party retool its campaigns and run on issues that all conservatives can endorse regardless of their sexual orientation. When you focus on your core values, making the world a safer place for the wealthy and embarking on ill-considered military adventures in the Middle East, you will undoubtedly find that people will be far less interested in your sex lives provided that you are willing to extend the same courtesy to them.
-Michael Parker
English graduate student
Wildcat should stand by offensive comic
I have noticed the absence of the No Relation comic strip in your publication. I hope this is not due to the letters published in the Wildcat concerning the “”offensive”” material seen in No Relation. These comics were funny. Many comedies seen on television, major motion pictures, reputable stand-up comedians, etc., use what some might deem as “”offensive material.”” Are these productions/comedians looking to hurt any sort of minority or offend an entire race or religious sect? No. They are being funny. They are using the material from our past and present and making jokes out them. I’m sorry if certain individuals allow humor to offend them. I, however, was highly entertained by No Relation and was excited to see a unique comic emerge in your paper. I encourage you to bring it back.
-Julie Garrison
Theatre arts senior
Is there any greater poison in our nation than the rhetoric of right-wing radio?
I never cease to be amazed with the various ways that conservative pundits in this country inject bigotry and half-truths into public debate. There are so many it is hard to keep up with them: Limbaugh, Savage, Coulter, Hannity, and on and on.
The tragic irony of right-wing radio is that its representatives actually believe their work is noble. They are good Americans fighting the good fight. What could be further from the truth?
Consider the essence of their work. They oversimplify complex issues. They slander the good name of others. They communicate by attacking, instead of reasoned and thoughtful debate. They thrive on division and conflict. They push misinformation with impunity. Where is the integrity in this? How does this serve the common good?
As we consider the various presidential candidates in the coming months, I hope that our nation can find the wisdom to engage in more substantive and honest forms of debate. America, let us be done with these foolish children. Let’s turn off our radios and open our minds and hearts.
-Tom Donlan
History Student
Cherry Garage Updates Hamper Studying and Learning
As most students at this University have figured out, parking can be somewhat frustrating around campus. It seems that Parking and Transportation Services is out of touch with the parking necessities of the student body, as they are restricting parking even further with the new Cherry Garage addition. The brightly lit parking structure used to be free to park in after 5:00 pm and was the primary parking facility for students wishing to study at the Main Library or the ILC. I guess that did not sit well with Parking and Transportation Services, as it seems that they do not appreciate students parking anywhere on campus for free.
It seems perfectly logical for me that parking on campus be regulated during the hours in which the majority of students and staff are on campus, but after hours, there is no need to charge for parking in the garages because there is not enough demand. Now, if a student wishes to study for an exam anytime during the week, they are now forced to find a spot in a Zone 1 lot far away from the library, and walk in our dimly lit campus to and from their cars. This is an obvious danger when studying alone and it is putting our student body at an unnecessary risk. In addition to the physical risk of studying at night, there is the issue of discouraging students in studying at the library. At a university that is already struggling to improve poor student retention rates, this move by Parking and Transportation Services takes the whole university one step backwards. Open up Cherry Garage at night and allow students to study, safely.
-Scott Smith
Business economics senior
