Countdown to 0-11\nI was glad to see that the football team switched sidelines this year. Now coach Cam Cameron can't miss my handwritten message that everyone else already knows: "BYE BYE CAM CAM."\nLet's face it, the man should and will be fired during or after this season. Thirteen wins in four plus seasons is pathetic. While it's nice that Cameron boosts our "academic excellence" within the program, tutors don't win games (except in Minnesota). Give me a coach who can teach guys how to tackle, not how to stay awake in their Finite class. A recruiter who can get a cornerback that is more interested in stopping a "third down and six," instead of stopping to watch the opposing receiver run right by him down field.\nWith the obvious aside, we can now focus on the task at hand. The only chance for a win is gone. Utah was it, folks. The rest of the season is nasty. That means one thing, the big 0-fer. I think they can do it, and I'll cheer them every step of the way.\nMany of you lost hope after Utah, but I gave up after last year's N.C. State game in which our Hoosiers blew a 12-point lead with two minutes left in the game, setting the tone for the 2000 season. After two years of close games, and almost breaking the .500 mark, that was the last straw for me.\nUtah was the smallest crowd in six years at Memorial Stadium, but trust me everyone, it'll get much smaller. But for those who wish to see the bitter end, come join the sarcastic cheers and help me hold up my sign for Coach Cam to see.\nThe magic number is down to nine. Start the countdown. The quest for 0-11 begins.\nMatt Rodwalk\nSenior
Arming pilots is dangerous business\nArming pilots is a bad idea. It will only make it easier for a person to hijack an aircraft. They will no longer have to worry about sneaking through airport security with weapons. If a group of people really wanted to hijack a plane, they could just take the gun away from the pilot and use it against them. If the hijackers are planning on killing themselves anyway, the threat of getting shot is not that big a deal. \nI don't know the actual numbers, but more times then not, a person is injured by their own weapon; at least this is true during a robbery. It makes no sense to make a hijacker's job that much easier. If they're not going to give out plastic knives during the flights for the meals, why would they put a lethal weapon on board?\nAdam White\nFreshman
Peace not Star Wars\nIn response to Joshua Claybourn's column in the Sept. 25 edition of the IDS ("Missile defense: a sound choice"), I must say that the argument put forward was not exactly convincing and that I believe the Star Wars plan to take out "the threat of ICBM capabilities of rogue states" is a grand pipe dream of ridiculous proportions.\nFirst, I must say the evidence against "the rogue states" mentioned here is the same I too have heard on the radio and the TV, of which I can validate very little myself from outside of what our media resources tell us. I see the finger pointing, as is the case all over the country with sprouting gardens of ignorant xenophobia, but I don't see how any person without all the facts is entitled to make such a charge.\nThe proposed Star Wars defense plan has for years been the pork project on the back burner, and is still today just as nuts as it was back in its days of conception. The plan calls for a massive amount of funding costing the people multiple billions of dollars that most certainly could be used to do a million other far more worthy things around the planet. What I am hearing is fear-based logic that says "I am scared and I want someone to say it's going to be OK." I for one am not on the bandwagon calling for the worldwide witch-hunt that will surely cost thousands upon thousands of more innocent lives. If terrorism were a simple thing to avert, there would be no such thing today.\nWithin Mr. Claybourn's argument, he states "MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) does not stop a determined terrorist." This statement embodies my point exactly in that if you tighten up defense on planes, missiles and boats, terrorists will go back to car bombs or chemicals or biological goodies the likes of which few can comprehend. If "... retaliation does not ... frighten them (terrorists)" as is stated by Mr. Claybourn, I don't see any logic explaining what the hell some umbrella-like missile defense from space is supposed to do.\nYou can't stop violence with more violence, be that through arms races or verbally abusive showdowns. Hatred and violence are our true enemies and should be recognized as such. Plans addressing the eradication of these prevailing evils will be the only true way to the democracy and freedom I hear so much of these days. God Bless peace.\nRob Mikolon\nSophomore
Criticism part of the deal\nIn response to Mr. Walterman's Sept. 28 column, "Criticism of America tiring," you stated values are those of freedom, democracy, respect and Americanism. Yet, without an ounce of contrition, you dispense sweeping accusations of naivete, of hypocrisy and of anti-Americanism against those individuals whose ideas apparently disagree with your own vision of America. This is not the language of respect or tolerance.\nIn an earlier time of crisis, Thomas Paine wrote these words: "Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."\nSo while you stand before us, with your right of free speech and your love of country, remember also that these freedoms are not solely yours. Those Americans who dare to examine our national policies may do so out of a keener love of country and of citizenry than those who merely serve as democracy's cheerleaders yet will bear no criticism of it.\nOliver M. Sun\nStaff member
Freeman wrong to 'blame America first'\nAfter reading Damon Freeman's column in the Sept. 26 IDS ("Consider peace, not war"), I was left with a complete feeling of anger and emptiness, along with everyone else I know who read the piece. \nMr. Freeman suggests abandoning sentiments of American spirit, patriotism and self-defense, and instead, take time to "understand bin Laden's philosophy." I find this morally repugnant. I wonder if Mr. Freeman has taken any time to "understand" the feelings of children who have lost parents, wives who have lost husbands or sisters who have lost brothers. \nIf a loved one of Mr. Freeman had been in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, I imagine he wouldn't take a whole lot of time to "understand bin Laden's philosophy." When one orchestrates mass murder, "philosophies" never justify deeds. \nBut Mr. Freeman is just another annoying voice in the blame-America-first crowd, a very miniscule fringe. The anti-American gripes from Mr. Freeman are really unbelievable. Had it not been for the brave men and women fighting throughout the years for freedom and liberty, Mr. Freeman would not have a place to spout off his nonsense. \nThe truth is that America is a beacon for freedom, liberty, success and equality. There is more religious and ethnic integration in our country than any other. Our humanitarian outreach far exceeds that of any other nation. Our way of life and system of government serves as a shining example of the peace, success, and well-being that freedom and democracy deliver. Bin Laden has been involved with attacks on innocent Americans for eight years and Mr. Freeman has the arrogance to call for an "understanding of bin Laden's philosophy" and a "new direction in U.S. foreign policy." Although Mr. Freeman would love for all of us to change our ways of life, this is no time to blame America. This is the time to defend our nation and our freedom. \nSurely to Mr. Freeman's dismay, we, behind the strong leadership of President George W. Bush, will finally stand up for ourselves, as well as other peaceful, freedom-loving nations. And make no mistake, we will win this war. \nSo Mr. Freeman, I call on you to show your patriotism and wave your flag. Unless you've already burned it.\nBrad Holtz\nSenior
Disorientation left wing, period\nIn his Sept. 27 letter, Chris Sapp attempts to refute columnist Joshua Claybourn's characterization of the recent Disorientation as "left-wing" ("Reorientation needed," Sept. 10), stating that few would consider the following Disorientation participant groups left-wing: Allys, Amnesty International, Indiana Public Interest Research Group, No Sweat!, Students Organized Against Poverty, St. Paul's Spirit of Service, and WFHB. \nThis is an attempt to hide the liberal agenda of Disorientation. Disorientation promoters themselves described their event as "progressive" -- Sapp himself calls it this at the end of his letter -- and alert readers will remember that "progressive" is a term used by liberals who don't want to be thought of as left-wing. \nThe Sierra Club, the Green Party, the Student Environmental Action Coalition, the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, Secret Sailor bookstore, Planned Parenthood, INPIRG and something called "Anarchist Black Cross" were all involved in Disorientation. It is a mystery to me why WFHB, SOAP, and the St. Paul's group chose to join this mess, but regardless of their reasons, adding a few groups with no apparent bias does not make it a middle-of-the-road coalition. \nNo conservative group was represented at Disorientation. No conservative group was even approached about it. Except perhaps for Allys, which I had not heard of, and for SOAP, WFHB and the St. Paul's group, all of the groups Sapp names are known for at least trace liberalism. \nThe No Sweat! Web site's link section, for example, should lay to rest any doubt that it is not leftist. \nIt is, of course, the right of the organizers of Disorientation to have a left-wing convention, and to exclude student groups they oppose, but there is no need to pretend that this event had no bias. But Sapp does, and claims that those who oppose the handful of groups he names are for "homophobia, torture, corporate abuse, environmental destruction, sweatshops (and) poverty." It may be difficult for Sapp to understand that there are reasons besides a cartoonish desire to promote evil for people to disagree with him. After taking his shot at "talk-radio," Sapp writes that the creators of Disorientation simply wanted students to have an open mind. The creators of Disorientation obviously wanted students to join left-wing causes and groups, and Sapp should not pretend otherwise.\nKarl Born\nSophomore
IU football losses numbing\nCall me an idiot, but I am a big IU football fan. I have gone to every home game since I've been here (fall of 1997) and honestly, the losses have become numbing. The sad part is, I honestly believe IU could be 3-0 right now. The main reason we aren't (besides the fact our defensive ends get caught inside and our linebackers are too busy blitzing to see the running back out in the flat) is that we have an attitude problem. \nEver got an "F" on an exam and say "I'll do better," but you really don't? Thus is the state of IU football. What steps have been taken to win? I've heard we have a great team in practice, where can I buy my ticket for that? I'd love to see this team do something good sometime, somewhere! A combination of penalties and poor coverage translated into our loss to the Buckeyes. Ohio State's Bellisari had a bum leg and yet he managed to scramble and find open receivers. Our defense has a history of giving up big numbers, yet nothing has been done on the field to prove its changing. \nFresno State, South Carolina, North Carolina, and other historically mediocre teams have put on impressive showings thus far this season. Why can't we? Indiana can do it if we first give ourselves a chance in our own minds. Penn State gets star recruits, yet they're 0-3. So is Notre Dame. Psychology and strategy are the real keys to victory -- skill gets you in the door. We've got guys that can run a 4.5 40. We've got guys that are strong enough to compete. We just don't think we can because we give into all the hype. Give me 11 Rudy Ruttigers on the field, not a "Heisman candidate" and 10 guys glad to have scholarships. Not to knock guys on the team, because I know you put in the effort and being a student athlete is no easy task. But all your work is for nothing if you don't get something out of it, and IU fans don't come out of the woodwork until basketball season. Does anyone see us winning a game this year? In a down Big Ten and a schedule with maybe 2-3 Top 25 teams, that's pretty sad.\nMatt Uhl\nSenior
Don't worry, America will be OK\nThis is in response to the Sept. 27 column titled "Accused enemy speaks: Don't take my rights or my airplane food," written by Mark Price.\nAs an atheist, I am on Mr. Price's list of "pagans" and "enemies of Jerry Falwell's America." But I am not on the list of people who agree with his opinions put forth in the article. On the other hand, much like the writer emphatically said I should be, I'm worried.\nI'm worried that people think Jerry Falwell is more dangerous than militant Islamic extremists. Falwell, as an American extremist, operates under the legal and political system of America. To think that he is more dangerous than militant Islamic extremists because he verbally attacks the lifestyle of certain types of Americans is a stroke of self-importance considering that the lifestyle of the entire Free World has been violently attacked.\nI'm worried that people think the ability to carry on manicure sets and the like is more important than passenger safety. I am going to go out on a limb and say that people can wait until after the flight to do their nails. I do not think that carrying manicure sets onto an airplane is a constitutional right.\nI'm worried that people think President George W. Bush's use of "God bless America" somehow makes his entire message targeted and biased. Like I said before, I am atheist, but I am not offended, and I do not feel left out. I understand the spirit of the message, and it is not some sort of Christian crusade. \nI'm worried that people in America think the policy of "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists" is targeted at them. This is not some excuse to go on a "hippie hunt." It is a message to\nforeign governments that clearly says that if they do not cooperate and share intelligence about terrorist activities, than they will be viewed as hostile regimes. \nFinally, I am worried about the implications of this article. I may be wrong, but what I took from it was "Corporations are out to get me and censor my speech, people who I didn't vote for are taking away my constitutional rights, and I am living in a new era of neo-McCarthyism." I certainly do not feel as Mr. Price feels, threatened and attacked by his own countrymen. I do feel that the basic freedoms that we take for granted, the freedom to live, learn, work and travel, have been threatened and attacked. That is what truly worries me.\nSteven R. Dorwart\nSenior
Star wars not so spectacular\nIn his Sept. 25 column "Missile Defense: a sound choice," Joshua Claybourn claims that "Our only true defense is a protective shield of missiles positioned in outer space.... As a strictly defensive system, other countries have no reason to fear." It's not quite that simple.\nThe missile defense system failed three simulations at $100 million apiece. Then, in a fake test on July 14, hailed as a great success, the test rocket actually had a Global Positioning System beacon on board to guide the interceptor missile to its target. Of course, real-life incoming missiles would not carry GPS beacons; rather, they would likely carry balloon decoys as camouflage to prevent the missile defense system from hitting its target.\nWhy build a defensive system that won't work? Because it's not a defensive system. In his Aug. 5 New York Times Sunday Magazine article, "Battlefield: Space", Jack Hitt writes:\n"Last year, the Air Force developed its Strategic Master Plan for Space, which states our goal bluntly: 'To maintain space superiority, we must have the ability to control the 'high ground' of space. To do so, we must be able to operate freely in space, deny the use of space to our adversaries, protect ourselves from attack in and through space and develop and deploy a N.M.D. (National Missile Defense) capability.'"\nNearly all nations oppose weapons in space. In the fall of 2000, a United Nations resolution against space weapons passed 163 to 0, with three abstentions: Micronesia, Israel and the United States.\nProposals for the military space program include orbiting battle stations, space-based lasers, pilotless robot space planes directed from space and capable of delivering powerful weapons to battlefields on earth, microsatellites (first launch this fall), microwave weapons (testing on humans in progress), 10-km wide magnifying glass space weapons and so on. But don't take my word for it, check out the U.S. Space Command's Web site: www.peterson.af.mil/ usspacecom/mediakit.html\nMany of these weapons would be nuclear powered, with the attendant atmospheric releases of plutonium and other highly radioactive materials, especially when the reactors fall to the earth or blow up on or soon after launching. NASA has a one in 78 launch failure rate.\nTwo treaties stand in the way: the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which bans weapons of mass destruction from space; and the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty, which forbids most antimissile testing.\nBill Mills\nNashville, Ind.
Wake up and go to class\nI hope few IU students follow the example of the student in the cartoon the IDS ran Sept. 7 (alongside a horrifyingly prescient article by Yahya Chami under the headline "World issues do affect your life") who sleeps through class with the plan of downloading the lecture later.\nStudents at IU are fortunate to be here in the midst of a concerted effort by the administration, faculty and staff to improve teaching and incorporate powerful new methods into instruction. IU has been nationally recognized for these efforts both by Time magazine and the Carnegie Foundation. \nEvery day, a whole team of consultants like myself work with faculty to develop innovations for their courses and to infuse them with good teaching practices. These approaches move well beyond the simple model of teaching as a download of information from professor to student to concepts of learning that emphasize the development of critical thinking abilities, group work and communication skills that are truer hallmarks of a well-educated student. The person who does the work is the one who does the learning, and our hapless, sleepy colleague is missing out on the opportunities to do the learning that someone is paying for.\nAs you go to your classes, you may notice that an increasing number of your professors are changing the formats of their courses to emphasize these valuable skills. More professors are not only teaching information, but also training their students to think. Many are moving away from a pure lecture format used to impart knowledge toward other approaches that emphasize thinking skills. They are taking more time for students to work together to use knowledge and develop their skills. You may notice that professors are increasingly using small, ungraded exercises to see how students are progressing before the exams, so that instruction can be better tailored to student learning. You may see professors being more explicit about what skills and knowledge you should be getting out of their courses, how the assignments help you achieve those objectives and how the tests assess that achievement. These are just a few of the changes in instructional methods that are happening around campus.\nNone of the skills these methods teach can be downloaded. As you go to your classes, look for and take advantage of these innovations to develop the skills that you will need for the rest of your life. You could sleep through your classes, like our cartoon friend, and you might even still learn something. However, you may be losing out on opportunities to learn how to put that knowledge to work.\nDoug Karpa-Wilson\nInstructional Consulting
Reaching a compromise\nNews reports have indicated that the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform is planning to bring the Genocide Awareness Project to Bloomington and Indianapolis. GAP is a travelling educational display on the horrors of abortion, and will serve to open the eyes and hearts that have been closed to the reality of what happens to unborn children in this country.\nMany will consider the images displayed by GAP offensive and disturbing. But are those images really any more graphic than other images in the media? GAP is only offensive to the extent that the destruction of human life is offensive. If abortion did not end a human life, would these pictures be so disturbing? GAP simply brings the truth to light, and many people do not want to recognize that truth. GAP will serve to foster a much-needed dialogue about the sanctity of human life, as it has done all over America.\nCBR is committed to nonviolence. Anyone who participates in GAP must sign an agreement to be nonviolent also. While CBR tries to provoke thought, they do not want to provoke violence. It is not CBR's fault if some people have been violent against GAP.\nSome people have claimed that Dunn Meadow is the "traditional" place for political protests, like GAP. These people are mistaken, because dozens of protests have taken place all over campus, outside of Dunn Meadow. I am glad IU and CBR have worked out a compromise that will allow CBR to exercise its free speech rights. \nScott Tibbs\nBloomington resident
Respect others' opinion\nCriticism is important because of the realities of human existence and our institutions. We are not perfect, nor are the things we build. More importantly, our imperfections are often hidden though great familiarity. A thoughtful critic is necessary both in individual works like academic papers, and in group projects like national policy. \nThoughtful criticism of an opposing point of view not only exposes faults in that view, but also shows its strengths. Criticism exposes unspoken assumptions, hidden connections and many other features of both the critic's position and the position being criticized. Ignoring our critics out of hand is the surest way of pushing some of them to more drastic courses of action. \nWhile discussion and reasoned debate are seen as a viable method of bringing about change, the vast majority of people and states will use them. If debate and criticism are perceived as falling on deaf ears, then more direct methods, methods impossible to ignore, become more attractive. Blowing up those who disagree with you (whether it be a terrorist suicide-bomber, or a patriotic rocket-strike) is guaranteed only to reinforce the impression that less extreme forms of criticism are useless.\nTrue respect for a person, or a government, is shown by being honest. While thoughtless lambasting is indeed counterproductive, so is thoughtless adherence to a doctrine or course of action. We should value our critics for keeping us honest, both in their objection to and their agreement with our own position.\nJohn Johnson\nGraduate student
Red Bull scare not a big deal\nI am an alumnus, and I didn't like the strong anti-Red Bull stance of the Sept. 28 editorial board article, "Beware of the Red Bull." \nStarting the article with, "...it might kill you," and a headline reading that it, "Should be avoided," is too strong. One billion cans were sold last year. Three people died the same day they drank Red Bull. Think about those numbers. I'm sure the same sort of statistic could be contrived for rum and Coke, gin and tonic or whiskey and water. \nRed Bull is new. Red Bull is different. The public is still learning about the product. Irresponsible journalism starts rumors. Quoting a local bartender saying that Red Bull is bad for your heart is just plain bad journalism. Red Bull has been mixed with alcohol all over the world for many years. People should be careful not to over-consume anything, especially with alcohol. But I don't think a couple Red Bull and vodkas to get the night started is anything to worry about.\nNathan Benedetto\nAlumnus
