IUPD

Pep rally fires up pre-game crowd

Junior Bo Miller didn't even know there was a Dick Vitale impersonation contest going on Wednesday. But he won the competition at the pep rally in Mellencamp Pavillion before the men's basketball game between No. 1 Duke and No. 16 Indiana. IU football player and master of ceremonies Lance Bennett said he loved that Miller gave a "shout out" to Bennett in his rendition of the famed college basketball analyst.

Csardas show to display 'Tango of the East'

Synchronized couple dancing, infectious boot slapping and rapid spinning are all in a day's work for members of Csardas, a Hungarian folk dance group. The group, which performs dances from the Carpathian Basin (which includes the countries of Hungary and Romania), will be featured Friday at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.

Why try Thai? Red Sea's great dining is the answer

In Bloomington, venturing down to Fourth Street for a meal is never a bad idea. From Thai to Mediterranean to Italian, Fourth Street has more ethnically diverse restaurants than anywhere else in Bloomington. When we were assigned to try out the Red Sea, located at 404 E. Fourth St., we knew we were in for a treat.

Alito attacked Roe v. Wade

WASHINGTON -- As a Reagan administration lawyer in 1985, Samuel Alito made clear his hope that the Supreme Court would one day overturn a landmark ruling that established abortion rights. Alito, now a Supreme Court nominee, argued against an all-out assault on the Roe v. Wade ruling, fearing such an assault would fail. Instead, he recommended a policy of "mitigating its effects" by trying to persuade justices to accept state regulations on abortions.

Dancing to the beat of my own hip hop

Journalist's documentary leads to kidnapping in Iraq

One digital photograph too many of an Iraqi marketplace almost cost New York documentary filmmaker Micah Garen his life. Garen and his Iraqi translator, Amir Doshi, were kidnapped from a gun market in Nasiriyah and held captive for 10 days by members of the Iraqi militant group Martyrs Brigade, which threatened to behead him.

Freshman group writes, produces film

If there is a checklist for making the most of the first semester of college, Rachelle Wilson has certainly completed hers. The "Art of Acting" Freshman Interest Group, a community within the Residential Programs and Services system, decided in September to go above and beyond for their final project relating to the freshman experience. Instead of making a scrapbook or writing a short story reflecting on the previous few months, this FIG decided to make a movie.

Shimon Peres quits Israel's Labor Party

JERUSALEM -- Bitter over his ouster as Labor Party chief, Shimon Peres quit his political home of six decades Wednesday to campaign for Ariel Sharon's new party, saying the prime minister is the best choice to lead Israel to peace with the Palestinians. Peres' defection was an important coup for Sharon in the scramble by the major parties to recruit high-profile supporters during a political realignment the past three weeks as the country prepares for parliamentary elections in March.

Jordan River Forum

I have tried to be a nice guy over the past few years, but there is one thing about IU that has really gotten under my skin. It seems like everywhere you go people are taking cheap shots at Carrot Top. As a huge fan, I find this to be so aggravating. I have heard everyone from Indiana Daily Student writers, to random people walking around campus, to professors taking cheap shots at Carrot Top at one time or another. And they are usually so inappropriate.

Supreme Court tackles abortion law

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court wrestled Wednesday with a New Hampshire law that requires a parent to be told before a daughter ends her pregnancy, with no hint the justices were ready for a dramatic retreat on abortion rights under their new chief. The court is dealing with its first abortion case in five years, as well as the first in the brief tenure of Chief Justice John Roberts.

President Bush defends war in Iraq, no pullout timetable set

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- President Bush gave an unflinching defense of his war strategy Wednesday, refusing to set a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawals and asserting that once-shaky Iraqi troops are proving increasingly capable. Democrats dismissed his words as a stay-the-course speech with no real strategy for success.

Fire erupts in Purdue apartments

WEST LAFAYETTE -- Purdue University students ran from their apartments as fire spread through an old commercial building near campus and burned through the roof. No injuries were reported from the fire that heavily damaged the top floor of the three-story Von's Book Shop building, but it left about a dozen students temporarily homeless. The fire was reported at about 10:15 p.m. Tuesday and firefighters needed more than two hours to extinguish the flames as heavy smoke blanketed the Chauncey Village area and police officers closed several nearby streets.

Lawmaker: Post reel times

Duane Cheney is tired of sitting through commercials when he goes to see a movie. That's why the Indiana representative, a Democrat from Portage, Ind., is drafting a bill that will require theaters to advertise the start time of the actual movie, not the commercials. "It's a matter of truth in advertising," he said. "(The theater) removes the consumer choice of whether or not they want to hear a chorus of 'Let's Go Out to the Lobby.'"

T.G.I. Friday's opens in mall

There's a new restaurant in town. T.G.I. Friday's opened its doors at the College Mall Nov. 14. The restaurant, known by its red and white stripes, is the second sit-down restaurant in College Mall and features a family-style atmosphere.

Beat finals week

Since you have already made that pilgrimage back to Bloomington after break, your stomachs filled with turkey and all the trimmings, I have to say it: It's crunch time. That's right -- like it or not, it's time once again to gear up for finals week. I shudder to think about the grueling weeks that lay ahead of me and the rest of IU's constituents.

Close reading

Recently for class I was required to read "Beyond the Pleasure Principle" by psychologist Sigmund Freud, and I have to say I found the experience distasteful. Full disclosure: I have been raised by a disciple of the behaviorist (and one time IU professor) B.F. Skinner, and therefore taught to believe that all conventional psychology is inherently worthless.

Military might?

Apparently, I'm a terrorist. At least that's what a National Guardsman implied when he told me I was performing terrorist activity. Allow me to explain. A couple weeks ago some friends and I traveled to Newburgh, Ind., to do a broadcast story for a class. Newburgh was one of the Southern Indiana cities affected by the deadly tornado that struck Nov. 6. As we neared the home of a source, I had the camera pointing out of the car window, and we passed a National Guard checkpoint. I thought nothing of it.

Rethinking Roe

I am a liberal. I am a huge Hubert Humphrey-loving, bleeding-heart, tax-em-till-they-squeal, peacenik liberal who voted for John Kerry grudgingly because I didn't think he was far left enough. I also think every woman in this country has the right to have an abortion. Yet, I think we should overturn Roe v. Wade.

IUSA falls short

The IU Student Association voted unanimously Tuesday night on a resolution to support the decision to raise IU's admissions standards. In bringing the resolution to the table, IUSA implied its support of IU President Adam Herbert's decision to raise standards at IU-Bloomington. Earlier this month, Herbert charged Interim IU-Bloomington Chancellor Ken Gros Louis with the task of beginning IUB's effort to raise the bar.

A truly epic achievement

Every so often, Sony's in-house game developers cough up a polished gem, "God of War" being a recent example, that puts most other games out at the time to shame. Their latest epic offering is "Shadow of the Colossus," which follows a nameless warrior and his brave steed on a quest to destroy the mythical creatures that inhabit a beautiful but cursed land devoid of any humans except our warrior and his recently deceased lover.