Mustang Daily 05-21-09

CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITYMUSTANG DAILY

Thursday, May 21, 2009 www.mustangdaily.netVolume LXXIII, Number 150

TOMORROW: Partly cloudy High 71˚/Low 49˚

IN ARTS, 8 IN SPORTS, 16

Alcohol-free activities provide

cheap entertainment all over San Luis

Obispo.

The NCAA has restrictions for athletic alcohol cunsumption.

Mikaela Akunamustang daily

Go out any Friday or Saturday night in San Luis Obispo and you’ll see its presence. Beer bottles strewn across lawns and gutters. Police officers handing out tickets to loud partygoers. People stumbling across Higuera Street from one bar to the next. Alcohol is everywhere in San Luis Obispo, a town that’s home to two colleges.

It seems many students drink as a social activ-ity. Attending parties with drinking is not only shown, but celebrated in many movies and televi-sion shows. Movies like “Animal House” and songs like Asher Roth’s “I Love College” reinforce the notion that drinking and partying are key aspects of a college student’s experience.

Many Cal Poly students who drink agree that it’s just a way of life; partying on Hathaway Avenue as a freshman, throwing parties after moving off campus and going downtown once you turn 21 can be central events in students’ social lives.

Statistically, the beginning of each academic school year is the

highest point of partying in San Luis Obispo. Ac-cording to Captain Dan Blanke of the San Luis Obispo Police Department, the San Luis Obispo Police Department beefs up its staff to accom-modate partiers from the Thursday and Friday of Week of Welcome into the first few weeks of the quarter. This includes more overtime shifts as well as working with University Police to help patrol the northern end of town next to campus.

The number of parties and noise complaints tend to drop off further into each quarter, espe-cially over academic holidays like winter and sum-mer break when students typically go home. The beginning of the winter and spring quarters and holidays like Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day can also be busy, but the first month of school has the most alcohol and noise violations of the year.

Blanke added that the police department hasn’t yet had to enforce the Social Host Ordinance that started May 8, but that the real test will be at the beginning of fall quarter. The ordinance holds party hosts legally and fiscally responsible for un-

The drinking habits of a college town

Zach Lantzmustang daily

California voters sent a firm message to law-makers on Tuesday, rejecting five of the six prop-ositions on California’s special election ballot.

Proposition 1F, which limits salary increases for elected state officials, was the only measure to pass.

“We have heard from the voters, and I re-spect the will of the people who are frustrated with the dysfunction in our budget system,” California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

Propositions 1A-1E were shot down with each proposition getting on average only one third of the necessary of 50 percent needed to pass.

“The people were telling us: Don’t bring this problem to our doorstep,” said Senate President

Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg in a statement. “We are going to cut ... We’re not shying away from that.”

Proposition 1F passed with 73 percent statewide and received a resounding yes from 80 percent of the voters in San Luis Obispo County. 1F prevents elected officials including the governor from receiving pay raises in years when the state ends the fiscal year in a deficit. The responsibility of determining whether the year will end in deficit or not is given to the state director of finance. The measure was placed on the ballot at the insistence of local senator Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria), who voted yes on the February state budget-balancing deal conditional on a measure such as 1F being on the special election ballot.

Proposition 1A failed, with 65.8 percent of voters statewide and 61.9 percent in San Luis


For those who go drinking downtown, at-

tend weekly Farmers’ Market or just need a ride home, there is an eco-friendly form of transportation that provides a convenient way home to passengers; and best of all, it’s free.

New World Rickshaw Co. was started by Seth Tuton in 2000 in Santa Barbara. Origi-nally, the Santa Barbara circuit had 15 rick-shaws in its fleet, but when the city govern-ment received complaints about the rickshaws, officials stepped in to regulate. The city said that because the company paid the riders real wages, they had to license each rider, submit them to an FBI background check, and insure each rickshaw for about $2,000 each. The ser-vice ultimately had to stop because the new restrictions weren’t feasible.

Fred Stamm, a Cal Poly civil engineering alumnus and professional cyclist, teamed up

with Tuton in 2008 to restart the company and bring it to the Central Coast after an al-most six year sabbatical. Stamm, who suffered a knee injury in his second year at Cal Poly, took some time away from cycling to heal and experience a more typical college life. But he could only be away for so long.

“Bike season was getting closer and I thought doing the rickshaw thing would be a good idea,” he said. “After I got better I was referred to New World Rickshaw by a friend who knew Seth.”

Now, NWR runs both here in San Luis Obispo and in Santa Barbara. The pedicabs are generally downtown on weekends or at Farmers’ Market every Thursday. NWR is a non-profit organization with free services, but they happily accept tips from their passengers.

To bring in income, NWR is discussing advertising withlocal businesses including Downtown Brewing Co., Frog and Peach,

see Alcohol, page 2

Calif., SLO voters reject all but one proposition

Affordable and eco-friendly transportation comes downtown

see Election, page 2 see Rickshaw, page 2

-The first month of

school sees the high-

est amount of partying

-Most “dangerous”

drinking happens in

dwellings near school

and during greek-relat-

ed parties

-Sierra Vista Hospital

will no longer no-

tify the police when

underage drinkers are

checked in for alcohol

poisoning

Facts about

drinking in SLO

alcohol awareness

issue

News editor: Rachel Glas; News designer: Omar Sanchez

www.mustangdaily.net2 Mustang Daily

[email protected] Thursday, May 21, 2009

derage drinking at their home. Any host of a party where three or more minors are present, and at

least one minor is drinking alco-hol, will be charged with commit-ting a misdemeanor and could face jail time and a $300 fine.

According to the National In-stitute on Alcohol Abuse and Al-coholism, the average American

starts drinking on a regular basis at 15.9-years old. Binge drinking is defined as the consumption of five or more alcoholic beverages in a single sitting.

The Cal Poly Health Center received a grant six years ago that

has helped fund research aimed at locating local spots where students do the most binge drinking and partying. Each fall quarter, they send out surveys to between 1,000 and 2,000 students to answer ques-tions about their drinking habits.

The survey has shown that most students do the majority of “dangerous drinking” at apart-ment parties near campus and during greek-sponsored parties. It also shows that underaged stu-dents tend to binge drink and re-port vomiting and hangovers more than those who are over 21.

Dr. Marty Bragg, the Director of Health and Counseling at the Cal Poly Health Center, said the center has been working closely with San Luis Obispo Police De-parment, the California Highway Patrol, Sierra Vista Regional Med-ical Center and other public health and safety organizations. Now that they have a better idea of where people are partying excessively, the grant group plans on targeting trouble areas and educating hosts on how to have a safer party.

Beginning in the fall, the group plans on creating informative ma-terial to educate party hosts on how to keep them and their guests safe and out of trouble. There will also be a series of D.U.I. check points located around the city, tar-geting practices to stop the sell-ing of alcohol to minors, and even party patrolling.

“It will be very public,” Bragg said. “We’re not trying to run a sting operation or anything like that. We just want to help students be safer.”

When asked what the po-lice department is doing, Blanke said that there has recently been a large influx of people walking around with open containers or party cups in public. However, of-ficers are encouraged to be nice to students who are walking around from party to party at night. Some can even be seen walking around among the students conversing while others can be seen a block away writing a citation.

“We want to show them that we’re not just a bunch of jerks,” he said. “We’re not going to kid our-selves and think that students don’t party. We want you to have fun but we also can’t just tolerate public disregard for that law.”

In another effort to keep drinkers safe, Sierra Vista Hospi-

tal recently changed their policies towards patients admitted for al-cohol poisoning. The practice of dropping off a sick patient at the emergency room instead of wait-ing with him or her is a common one done by friends afraid of get-ting in trouble. This fear can also deter drinkers from seeking the help they need.

However, after several meetings between the two organizations, Sierra Vista representatives and law enforcement officials agreed that hospital officials do not have to notify the police when underaged people come in seeking help for alcohol poisoning. Although the police said that they would like this information to help prevent sexual assault, they decided that it is better to reassure students that they can go to the hospital when they need medical help, regardless of age.

“We’re not condoning under-aged alcohol abuse,” Blanke said. “But the most important thing is that people are comfortable get-ting the help they need.”

Not everyone at Cal Poly en-gages in heavy drinking, or even drinking at all. Students like busi-ness administration junior Jessie Becker and biology sophomore Natalie Folsom said drinking isn’t a big part of their college experi-ence.

“It just doesn’t appeal to me,” Becker said. “I can have fun not drinking and not having to worry about the consequences of it the next day.”

In regards to peer pressure, Becker and Folsom agree that Cal Poly students are fairly open to the idea of not drinking. “There are actually a lot of people who think it’s cool that I don’t drink,” Folsom said.

The infamous 21st birthday celebration often involves bar-hopping, but Folsom said she hasn’t put much thought into it. “Drinking doesn’t appeal to me too much now,” she said. “I don’t really think that will change just because I’m 21.”

However, Becker thinks that one’s 21st birthday might be worth celebrating appropriately. “I think it would be kind of cool to go to a sports bar and watch a game and maybe have a beer,” she said. “But I’m still not going to go out and get plastered.”

Alcoholcontinued from page 1

www.mustangdaily.net3Mustang Daily

News

Obispo County voting no. Proposi-tion 1A would have increased the size of the state’s “rainy day” fund, which would have allocated revenue from good fiscal years into the fund, to be used for future economic down-turns.

“The California State Univer-sity and other vital public services avoided a severe setback for the state’s future prospects when voters rejected Proposition 1A,” the California Fac-ulty Association said in a statement Wednesday.

Proposition 1B received no votes from 62.5 percent of voters statewide and 63.9 percent of voters in San Luis Obispo county. The proposition rested on passage of 1A, and if both passed would have given $9.3 billion to K-12 schools and community col-leges through the state’s Budget Stabi-lization Fund (BSF). The proposition was voted down despite not having any official campaigns opposing it.

Proposition 1C failed with re-jection from 64.6 percent of voters statewide and 67.4 percent of vot-ers saying no in San Luis Obispo County. If 1C had passed it would have “modernized” the state lottery system and would have allowed the state to borrow $5 billion from future

projected lottery profits through the sales of bonds, with that money go-ing into the state’s general fund. Op-ponents believed that projections for the future lottery revenues were over-optimistic and that 1C could have al-lowed the state to borrow money to be spent on unspecified reasons.

Proposition 1D sought to en-hance funding for children’s services originating from 1998’s Proposition 10, which created the California Children and Families Program (now known as the First 5 Program) for promoting, supporting and improv-ing health and early development of children during their first 5 years of age. 1D would have provided $600 million to fund children’s programs funded by revenues from state excise taxes on cigarettes. Voters statewide voted the proposition down by 66.4 percent and 69.4 percent of voters in San Luis Obispo County followed suit.

Proposition 1E would have basi-cally been to mental health services what 1D would have been to chil-dren’s services, and was similarly re-jected by voters with 66.4 percent voting no statewide and 67.1 voting no in the county.

In addition to Schwarzenegger, the propositions were championed by both democratic and republican state House and Senate leaders, as well as several large California labor unions and the California Chamber of Commerce.

Lawmakers will meet today to dis-cuss their remaining options for re-working the state budget, which The Los Angeles Times recently reported is in jeopardy of going bankrupt by July.

In an effort to balance the bud-get, lawmakers may have to resort to deep cuts in public education and state jobs, and may even have to sell off state property. California will also consider the release and deportation of 19,000 illegal immigrants currently in state prisons, the Los Angeles Times reported. Twenty three thousand in-mates could be transferred from state to county facilities as well.

- Marlize van Romburgh contributed to this report.

Electioncontinued from page 1

Firestone Grill and the bike shops. Sponsorship has taken off with their Santa Barbara counterparts.

For Stamm, working the rickshaw is a good way to train for competi-tion and stay in shape. He recalled many different stories about people he’s met while just riding around town.“One night I was riding down Monterey (Street) and these four, big guys who were probably in their 40s wanted a ride from me,” Stamm recalled. “I wasn’t sure I could carry them all, so one guy decided to race me on foot back to their hotel while

I pulled two of his buddies on the rickshaw. The fourth guy just kind of took off.”

For people who frequent down-town, NWR provides a safe way home. Riders take people all over the city. Locals also like the accessibility of this transportation in town.

“I live downtown and I see them riding around all the time,” Margaux Mireles, a San Luis Obispo native said. “I think it’s great because I know that I can go out on foot earlier in the evening and if it gets too late, I can get a safe ride home without having to pay a lot for a cab.”

New World Rickshaw rides most nights of the week and has their number posted on the side of each cart. Everyone is encouraged to call.

Rickshawcontinued from page 1

campus bottle

Mustang Daily

Arts & entertainment www.mustangdaily.net

Thursday, May 21, 20098 Arts Editor: Emilie Egger Arts Designer: Milena Krayzbukh

Rocking out for freeThe most well-known, affordable entertainment you can find is right on campus every Thurs-

day during UU Hour. Concerts in the Plaza is put on by Associated Students Inc. and features touring bands each week as well as local favorites. This quarter bands like Elevaters and locals Still Time played in the University Union Plaza. ASI is always accepting recommendations from students for bands they’d like to bring to campus.

If it’s not Thursday, head over to Backstage Pizza on campus around noon. There are a lot of different acts that come at various times, so you have a good chance of finding a performance.

Some SLO classicsWhat if a movie sounds great, but sit-

ting inside on a nice warm Central California night doesn’t? Sunset Drive-In is a local classic.

The best part is that you get two movies for the price of your ticket (usually $6). Just hop in the bed of

a truck or roll the windows down and violá!Farmers’ Market always has free music and entertainment.

Also downtown is bike night, which is the first Thursday of every month after Farmers’ Market. It is the epitome of col-lege fun and ridiculousness.

If you don’t mind paying a little for some live acts, various San Luis Obispo venues host concerts and other performanc-es. Just for starters, check out what shows Downtown Brew, Linnaea’s Cafe, Boo Boo Records, The Graduate and The Clubhouse have to offer.

Dance the night awaySwing, salsa or samba your way into the evening — depending on what gets

you grooving. Cal Poly abounds with dance opportunities, with lessons offered by various clubs throughout the week.

The Cal Poly Ballroom Dance Club holds lessons Thursday evenings in Architecture Building 5, room 225. Check out their Web site at www.calpoly-ballroom.org for more information.

Salsa lessons, taught by members are held every Friday night at 8 p.m. in the same room. Go to www.cpsalsa.com for more information.

Not to be outdone, the Country Line Dance Club steps into the scene on Thursdays, offering lessons at The Graduate at 8 p.m., before the club opens up for line dancing night. Visit the club’s Web site at www.cpcldc.com.

When you feel artsy

The Steynberg Gallery is another wonderful place to check out different sounds as well as some extraordinary artwork. A family-run gallery, it’s an ever changing, ever stirring place according to English senior Will Vigliotti, who has worked at the gallery for three years. “The Steynberg Gallery is run by a fam-ily and you can definitely feel that here. The owner, Peter, is like everybody’s dad — but a much cooler version,” Vigliotti said. “There’s always some-thing new or strange go-ing on, even if it’s some weirdo from off the street who’s just doing stuff in-side or something we have lined up.”

The Steynberg has different things going on all the time, from poetry

Alcohol-free entertainment options abound in SLOBored on a Friday night? Can’t find anything to do? Looking for a reason to get out of the house without draining your bank account at the bars or the liquor store? San Luis Obispo is chock-full of things to do at a price much more affordable than a night out drinking. From on campus to around the city, there are tons of ways to find something to make the evening more exciting without getting trashed.

mikaela akuna mustang daily


Mikaela Akuna mustang daily

readings to new exhibits to various off-beat musical shows. “The gallery is rooted in the community and it’s that cyclical community relationship that keeps the place going and forever moving,” Vigliotti said.

Many of the performances held at the gallery are put on by the concert promotional group “Pocket Productions,” run by Cal Poly alumni Graham Culbertson and Michele Tondreau. The group brings new and interesting bands, many of which are indie-famous, to the gallery all the time, with tickets that average $8.

Just smile and nodIf it’s a good laugh your looking for, Cal Poly’s resident improve team, Smile and Nod, performs

every Saturday night at 7 p.m. with a short-form show and then again at 9 p.m. with their long-form style. Smile and Nod shows are a great way to start off your weekend right with a night of pure comedy. Both shows are only $5, and it is money well spent. Not only are they hilarious, but the team attends an improvisation comedy festival every other year, and your donations help the team pave their way to the extravaganza in Scotland. Be sure to make reservations online, because tickets sell out fast.

Take yourself out to the ball gameSports fan? Anyone can catch a Mustangs game or even attend a game for local summer college

team The Blues, for about $8.“I love watching baseball,” statistics senior Audrey Bigelow said. “The Blues make it fun with things like the ‘beer batter’ and all of neat stuff they do in between innings for kids.”

Visit the Cal Poly Athletics Web site at www.gopoly.com to see what’s coming up.

Don’t lose your groovePoetry aficionados

don’t have to lose their groove — at least not on the first Wednesday of each month. An-other Type of Groove is slam poetry, or spo-ken word poetry and features both students and famous slam-mers from around the country.

“Anyone that has the guts to speak their poetry is allowed at ATOG,” animal science junior Sade Haro said. “The best part is that even if you expect it from the featured poet, most people really blow you out of the water.”

Another Type of Groove is held in Chumash Auditorium from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month. Visit the Student Life and Leadership Web site at www.studentlife.calpoly.edu for the poet lineup each month.

When the great outdoors beckonIf you prefer to be outdoors, there are more than enough recreational

things to do around the city. Bishop Peak and Madonna Mountain are two of the most popular local hiking spots. Both are equipped with easier trails for someone who isn’t quite as experienced as well as more difficult

trails for some resident daredevils.The beaches in this area are an obvious attraction and wa-

ter sports of all kinds can be done on most beaches around the area. Those without their own gear can rent surfboards, skimboards and even wet suits in Pismo Beach and they are generally pretty low cost.

There is always something going on in San Luis Obispo. The trick is knowing where to look. Stop sometime and look at the bulletins around campus; it’s a great place to start.

Mustang Daily


Thursday, May 21, 2009 9Arts Editor: Emilie Egger Arts Designer: Milena Krayzbukh

Alcohol-free entertainment options abound in SLO

courtesy photo

courtesy photo


Mustang Daily


Thursday, May 21, 200910

Word on the Street“Are you for or against a possible

tax on beer to help provide health insurance for all?”

“I’m against it because then I’d become dehydrated.”

-Nicole Cattaneo, history freshman

It seems so unrelated that I probably would not be for it.”

-Hannah Payken, biology senior

“I don’t really drink so I wouldn’t have a problem with it.”

-Andrew de Jesus, psychology senior

compiled and photographed by zach lantz

www.mustangdaily.net

Pop Culture Shock Therapy by Doug Bratton

Girls & Sports by Justin Borus and Andrew Feinstein

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A free market form was one of the founding principles of the United States. A cornerstone of conservatism is that the government should rarely interfere in markets, acknowledging that the pub-lic is capable of making decisions that benefit so-ciety through the wonders of trade. Yet over time, governments around the world have entrenched themselves deeper into the affairs of business and trade, and now many promise that they can fix the very economic problems they helped create. Pro-posals call for more state control over the econ-omy, running completely contrary to laissez-faire principal that is so important to classical conserva-tives. Governments exercise this control principal-ly through business regulations and a centralized monetary system.

In response, many businesses throughout the world are beginning to return to the traditional way of doing business that existed long before the creation of governments: bartering.

As the global recession continues to deepen, world credit markets have largely frozen up, unwill-ing to make loans despite large injec-tions of cash into the money sup-ply by the world’s central banks. On top of this, many businesses have doubts about the value of currencies when they want to carry out transac-tions; the inflation and volatility caused by central banks may mean a exchange of dollars may soon not be as equitable as planned.

Fortunately, bartering, a system of trade exists which does not require the use of artificial cur-rencies, exists. Bartering is the true, original form of trade. Commodities are exchanged for oth-er commodities, depending on the needs of the parties involved and the relative values of goods and services, which are determined by the par-ticipating parties. Commodities can take the form of anything seen to hold an intrinsic or inherent measure of worth, ranging from basic necessities to precious metals. Exchanges of services also can be very beneficial to both parties through barter-ing. Farmers exchanging crops or livestock with other farmers who grew different crops probably was one of the first widespread bartering systems. Both parties benefit, and no government is needed to mediate the transaction.

Founding father Thomas Jefferson once said “A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of in-dustry and improvement.” It is becoming increas-ing clear that the U.S. government is anything but frugal, and if recent history is any indicator, this government also seems incapable of making wise spending decisions. Instead, governments are do-ing the exact opposite of what Jefferson advised, assuming they know how to best regulate busi-ness.

Bartering can offer a way out of this regulatory boondoggle.

Although the IRS tries to regulate bartering with the income tax, the fact that it is so easy to conceal makes it difficult to find just how much bartering takes place. And exactly how a simple exchange of goods or services can be considered “income” to both parties and therefore subject to direct taxation is truly ridiculous. Such a policy discourages efficient allocation of products in the marketplace by assigning numerical currency val-ues (which are taxed) to products, instead of rec-ognizing that products have actual value to the parties.

The current bartering boom is largely due to the Internet, which facilitates bartering by con-necting people and businesses offering goods and services. Various bartering Web sites serve as mod-erators for bartering exchanges. The International Reciprocal Trade Association is a nonprofit based in Portsmouth, Va., that regulates and provides standards for these modern barter-service compa-nies. The association estimates that more than $16 billion worth of business is exchanged annually

through barter ex-changes in North America alone, with significant growth potential. New on-line barter exchang-es are springing up worldwide, using innovative systems to make operating an exchange both profitable and ben-eficial to members.

Asia’s biggest barter trade site, Barterxchange.com, connects over 600 businesses in Malaysia and Sin-gapore and to half a million businesses participat-ing in over a dozen barter exchanges around the world. Barterxchange’s membership has grown by 30 percent since 2007 as businesses find barter as an easy way to expand their operations without having to borrow money.

Some barter exchanges create their own type of monetary system, translating the values of the goods or services offered into credits. Members gain these credits when another member takes them up on an offer, and lose them when find an offer useful to them.

This method does not require the products be of equal value, as these credits can be exchanged interchangeably at any time. The exchange op-erator takes a small cash cut as a transaction fee, depending upon the scale of the transaction. Old-fashioned barter sites like Craigslist are seeing in-creased usage as well, with Craigslist reporting an increase of 100 percent in activity on its barter boards.

Cash-strapped businesses and individuals are finding barter a great way to establish relationships with potential future trade partners, while at the same time circumventing complex banking proce-dures. Barter has a new lease on life; a resurgence of an age-old practice is taking place with the help of an unexpected tool — technology.

Colin McKim is an environmental management and protection junior and a Mustang Daily political colum-nist.

12

Opinion/editorialMustang Daily

Thursday, May 21, 2009Editor in chief: Marlize van RomburghManaging Editor: Giana Magnoli

[email protected]


Mustang DailyThe voice of Cal Poly since 1916

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editors & staffeditor in chief Marlize van Romburghmanaging editor Giana Magnolinews editor Rachel Glasnews designer Omar Sanchezwire editor Cassie Carlsonsports editor Scott Silveysports designer Kate Nickersononline editor Lauren Rabainoarts editor Emilie Eggerarts designer Milena Krayzbukhcopy editors Alex Kacik, Jennifer Titcomb, Breehan Yohe-Mellor, Megan Hassler, Tim Millerhead photographer Kristen Hays photographers Nick Camacho, Patrick Fina, Megan Keating, Matt Fountainlayout manager Andrew Santos-Johnsonadvertising coordinator Jessica Luteybusiness managers Sarah Carbonel, Ian Toner, Brittany Kelleyadvertising managers Gaby Horta, Ashley Singer, Charlotte Lilleyad designers Daryl Daley, Justin Rodri-guez, Andrew Santos-Johnson, Mai-Chi Vu, Jason Cope, John Dixon, Sara Hamlingadvertising representatives Megan Dilley, Jessica Schroeder, Kacy Shin, Jenny Staskus, Colin Princi, Brittni Kiick, Kristin Coplan, Adam Plachta, Erika Powers, Drew Toneyfaculty adviser Teresa Allengeneral manager Paul Bittick

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corrections The Mustang Daily staff takes pride in publishing a daily newspaper for the Cal Poly campus and the neighboring com-munity. We appreciate your readership and are thankful for your careful reading. Please send your correction suggestions to [email protected].

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May 21, 2009Volume LXXII, No. 150 ©2009

Mustang Daily

“Is it raining dirty all over this newsroom? I think it is.”

Bartering resurgence a hopeful economic

indicatorIt might be a stretch to call Obama a “pothead,” generally though I agree with this article 100 percent. Nothing has con-tributed more greatly to the deterioration of our border secu-rity than the side effects of this so-called war.

— KyleResponse to “War on drugs puts the

fight in peaceful exchange”

These T3 things aren’t Segways. Segways only have two wheels and balance themselves using gyroscopic control sensors. T3s are nothing more than tricycles with motors slapped on them (so why do they cost $10,000?). Even more amusing is seeing that the cover story of today’s newspa-per is four officers busting some guy driving a popo Powerwheel escalade on campus. I guess they don’t want anyone stealing their thunder and they want to be the only ones driving electric vehicles made for children on campus.

— AnonymousResponse to “T3 vehicles help cam-

pus security go green”

Way to go, voters. We’re go-ing to have a generation of kids with underfunded schools — a generation of stupid kids will grow up into a generation of a stupid workforce and a genera-tion of stupid voters. Basically, by not prioritizing education even in times of economic recession, we’re going to screw up the long-range stability of this state. A child will never get back those years in primary school, so think a little harder next time what your deci-sion to ignore public schools’ cry for help. You’re depriving kids of an education that you were given and took for granted.Even though you’re out of K-12 school, there are kids and parents who were relying on your vote for Prop 1B.

— JavenResponse to “SLO County follows suit, rejects 5 of 6 election proposi-

tions”

Javen-Every year the federal govern-ment and state government spend more money on education than they did the previous year, yet test scores always remain unchanged.Don’t blame taxpayers for not wanting to throw more money down the crap hole that is the CA education system (ranked second to last in our nation). It’s our “leaders’” fault they couldn’t prioritize spending appropriately.Instead of complaining about oth-ers not willing to send more of their money to Sacramento, put your money where your mouth is and send your own money.

— JimResponse to comment on“SLO

County follows suit, rejects 5 of 6 election propositions”

Fortunately, a system of trade exists which does not require the use of artificial currencies exists. Bartering is the true, original form of trade.

For too long, our country has placed an em-phasis on the “American Dream,” which we have defined as living a prosperous life — wheth-er achieved by hard work or by credit. We’ve placed an emphasis on material possessions and on outward appearances of wealth instead of liv-ing within our means as individuals and families. This fault on behalf of Americans revealed itself most cruelly in the sub-prime mortgage col-lapse, as Americans bought homes they simply could not afford and had to foreclose.

However, the Senate has recognized an ad-ditional issue related to American finances that they addressed in the recent credit bill.

MSNBC reported that Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) said of the credit card bill, “Card issuers raise rates for unclear reasons, use billing meth-ods that consumers do not understand, and assign fees and charges without warning.”

In a statement upon passing the bill, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) mentioned Shelley Lyons, a woman who contacted him regarding the importance of this bill and the unfairness of credit card company practices.

“Like many honest and hardworking Ameri-cans, Shelley played by the rules,” he said. “She was responsible. Then, one day, out of the blue, her credit card company nearly doubled her rate. Shelley understandably wanted out of her contract. But the company said no.”

The Senate credit card bill had overwhelm-ing bipartisan support, and passed 90-5 on Tues-day.

The reason this bill passed with such sup-port could be a direct result of the involvement of the American public in the political process. MSNBC also reported that although there were dissenting voices in the Senate, “their voices were drowned out by lawmakers who said their offices had received dozens of complaints from voters.”

The bill changes the way that credit card companies and collections agencies will oper-ate. Under the new bill, the company may raise a credit card holder’s rate only after the holder is late 60 days. However,according to The New York Times, upon making a minimum payment on time for six months, the credit card company must return the rate to its previous level.

The bill also restricts who may be approved for a credit card. Those under 21 must prove

that they can make the minimum payment or cite a parent or guardian as guarantor before be-ing approved for a credit card.

Some critics of this bill might claim that it only perpetuates Americans’ careless spend-ing habits. I argue that it highlights the conse-quences of not paying one’s debts on time and encourages prompt payments.

Under the Senate version of this bill, the rate hike can be implemented on customers who are more than two months late, and after 45 days’ notice of a rate increase. Card holders are more likely to attempt to pay bills before the 60 day deadline approaches in order to save themselves from the rate increase.

The bill also makes it easier for customers to make payments. According to an Associated

Press report, “Lend-ers would have to post their credit card agreements on the Internet and let customers pay their bills online or by phone without an added fee.”

The AP also re-ports that some bankers criticize

the bill because it is already a risky business to lend people money “with no collateral and little more than a promise to pay it back.”

Edward Yingling, president and CEO of the American Bankers Association, told the AP, “It is a fundamental rule of lending that an increase in risk means that less credit will be available and that the credit that is available will often have a higher interest rate.”

I do not think that this is necessarily a nega-tive consequence to the average customer, be-cause the credit bill protects against illegitimate and unfounded hikes in interest. On a socio-logical level, decreasing the availability of credit cards might be a positive element to curb Amer-icans’ reliance on credit spending.

If Yingling is correct and the bill causes credit card companies to be more careful about offering credit as freely as they currently do, we Americans might be forced to reevaluate our needs and wants, and to prioritize our spending in ways that we haven’t been forced to in the past. Most importantly, this bill is a positive step toward being satisfied with what we as Ameri-cans have and reevaluating the definition of the American Dream.

Stephanie England is an English junior and a Mus-tang Daily political columnist.


Thursday, May 21, 2009 13Mustang Daily

Opinion

LEttERSto the editor

SJPME lacks objectivity in presentation of Middle Eastern issues

Students for Justice for Peace in the Middle East claims to be neutral on Middle Eastern issues and yet focus most of its energy on defaming and deligitimizing Israel. I can under-stand complaints about Israeli policies and actions towards the Palestinians but calling it apartheid is wrong, inflammatory and eliminates any chance of a meaningful discussion. Apartheid in South Africa was sys-tematic racial discrimination against South Africa’s Black population. The Israeli security barrier is part concrete wall, and mostly chain linked fence that Israel erected to keep itself safe from terrorist attacks.

The barrier has nothing to do with race since it was only built after the wave after wave of suicide bombings in Israel in the wake of the second intifada. The security barrier has in fact almost eliminated terror-ism from the West Bank coming into Israel. In addition, Israel is a free and democratic country that affords all of its citizen full civil, political, and religious rights to not just the Jewish majority but also the 20 percent Arab minority.

SJPME never takes the time to mention that most of the people in the Middle East have limited political and civil rights. By making the ma-jority of your events about criticizing Israel, and encouraging divestment from Israel, SJPME is implying that Israel is the major cause of instabil-ity and injustice in the Middle East, which we all know is not true. Until SJPME stops applying this unfair double-standard to Israel, they will have very little legitimacy.

Zachary Goldsteinmechanical engineering senior

A shout out for the libertarian column

I just wanted to throw it out there how fantastic Jeremy Hicks’ column “War on drugs puts the fight in oth-erwise peaceful exchange of goods” is. Thanks! Keep up the good work Mustang Daily!

Morgan Perryagricultural business freshman

An open challenge to ASIDear Associated Students Inc.,

Even though I was only a measly volunteer with Poly House this past

weekend I felt like I did more for the community of San Luis Obispo than ever before in my four years here. I challenge you to provide opportuni-ties to all students on projects similar to what Poly House does. Student Community Sevices is a start but certainly not adequate.

The joy we were able to bring to a family in the area was something that I would like to see happen again and again. I ask that you focus less on pro-viding on-campus opportunities and promoting your events with the cre-ation of expensive promotional mate-rial (full-color posters and T-shirts) and put this money to use so that the community of San Luis Obispo and surrounding towns can see a much more instructive and caring presence of the Cal Poly community.

I would like to thank everyone that allowed me to help with their class project. If I could, I would do something like that every weekend; however, I feel that the possibilities are either not available or not adver-tised. So please, ASI, do more to allow Cal Poly students to get involved with the community we live in so that we can give back to a commu-nity that sees us as the noisy, partying neighbors and not the caring indi-viduals we are all capable of being.

David Hansenbiological sciences senior

Previous letter mistaken on Powerwheels situation

Mark Paulick, I hope that the rest of the biomedical engineering depart-ment isn’t as dense as you are.

1)Three of the four officers were SLOPD (ever notice UPD doesn’t have a motorcycle unit?).

2) If by fully armed you mean they were carrying their sidearms, yes. If you mean SWAT team loadout, no. Why the heck wouldn’t they have their duty sidearms?

3) UPD already has officers on bikes. But when your sorry butt needs them to get there faster than those bikes can take them, but can’t get there using the cruisers, that is what they are there for.

4) If you don’t like a law, go to the city council and do something about it instead of whining that the police have to enforce it like a little baby.

Mark Paulick, give me a break.

William Blakelyagriculture systems management

freshman

Credit card bill a chance to reevaluate the American Dream

blogs.mustangdaily.net

BLOGM D

paul lachine newsart

Thursday, May 21, 2009Mustang Daily

Sports14


Brian Mahoneyassociated press

Vince McMahon claims he’s being thrown out. His opponent insists McMahon is the double-crosser.

It’d make a good story line for a wrestling feud — but it won’t take place in Denver.

World Wrestling Entertainment is moving its Monday night show to Los Angeles because of a conflict with the Pepsi Center in Denver, which had booked two events for the same night.

The Nuggets are scheduled to host the Lakers on Monday in

Game 4 of the Western Conference finals, but WWE had previously se-cured the arena for an episode of Monday Night Raw.

The WWE chairman criticized Kroenke Sports, which owns the Nuggets and Pepsi Center, for not being more helpful when the con-flict arose over the weekend.

“They bumped us right out of the building, hardly an apology,” McMahon said Wednesday. “They didn’t do anything for us at all, and the media was talking about some-one has to write a check. They didn’t want to write anything and they wanted to give us a Sunday night. And the name of the show is

Monday Night Raw.”However, Kroenke Sports claims

McMahon had previously agreed to a deal to shift the event to Sunday.

“We negotiated in good faith with Vince and believed we had a deal in principal as of Tuesday,” Kroenke Sports executive vice president Paul Andrews said. “In fact, it was so clear to us that we did that we asked Vince to do a joint press release. He said, ‘Paul, I have no problem with a joint press re-lease.’ Then, he asked us if he could get five tickets to the Denver Nug-gets’ game on Monday night so he could apologize to Mr. Kroenke in person.

“That was Tuesday. We find out by a press announcement today by Vince, who I believe is the master of propaganda, that he’s moving the event to the Staples Center. He didn’t even contact us to tell us he hadn’t accepted the deal we negoti-ated the night before, so we’re quite shocked, frankly.”

WWE executive vice president Shane McMahon, at a press con-ference at Staples Center, said the Kroenke offer came too late.

“They tried to be amicable but we’re really at such a loss of words because we were expecting a capac-ity crowd. (We) Had sold 11,000 as of last week,” he said. “We’ve been

on sale since August so everyone knew we were coming. We built everything around it. That’s what we do. We promote and build the event.”

Vince McMahon said Staples Center called and offered use of its building and that his organiza-tion will return to Denver for an event at the Coliseum on Aug. 7. McMahon said many arenas, in-cluding Madison Square Garden, called and offered to host Raw. He chose Staples Center, which also was available Tuesday night for its second night of programming.

McMahon said it was important to have Raw be shown live on its normal Monday night slot on USA Network — where it will go head-to-head against the Nuggets-Lak-ers game on ESPN. He previously vowed he would hold the event in a parking lot if need be.

McMahon added the Mon-day show would include a 5-on-5 match pitting “Lakers” against “Nuggets” and his character would likely confront a character of Stan Kroenke, who owns Kroenke En-terprises, in the ring.

But while he said that’s enter-tainment for the fans, he remains angry at Kroenke and the terms he said were requested in the press re-lease to complete an agreement.

“They would not even talk about making a deal other than paying our expenses basically un-less we signed some sort of joint press release,” McMahon said. “You would not believe what these peo-ple were attempting to make us do. I guess maybe running over us and throwing us out unceremoniously on our ear was not good enough. They want to trample us.”

WWE said it secured the Pepsi Center last Aug. 15 and had already sold more than 10,000 tickets for the event. The organization said arena officials confirmed the wres-tlers were still coming and sent a signed contract on April 15, the last night of the regular season.

Then the double booking was set Sunday, when the Lakers beat Houston in Game 7 to reach the conference finals. Had the Lak-ers lost, Denver would have had home-court advantage against the Rockets, making the Pepsi Center available for wrestling on Monday.

The conflict has provided some great press for WWE, but McMa-hon said his preference was to do his show as planned.

“I didn’t want this publicity,” he said. “They threw me out and so what are we going to do? We have to garner some degree of public-ity.”

Kroenke Sports said WWE pre-ferred the publicity to a compro-mise.

“They haven’t returned any of our calls for over a 24-hour period since we had what we believed to be an agreement Tuesday night,” Andrews said. “We’ve reached out to them all day for feedback and then we get an announcement they’re going to L.A.

“The sensationalism and me-dia attention were more important than the fans of Denver.”

AP Sports Writers Arnie Stapleton and Pat Graham in Denver and Solange Reyner in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

WWE moving Monday show from Denver to Los Angeles

Thursday, May 21, 2009 15Sports designer: Kate Nickerson

practice field to win — plain and simple.

But there’s another reason for why Cal Poly must take advantage of the position they’ve managed to put themselves in. A long run in the 2009 college baseball postsea-son would put the Mustangs on the map for the first time, especially in terms of recruiting. It just so hap-pens that the Mustangs have never found themselves in the running for a championship in Omaha.

Sometimes, it only takes one big season to change that forever.

If Cal Poly can pull itself to-gether and get their name in the sports headlines this summer, good recruits are going to start taking Poly into serious consideration when it comes time to sign. That’s all it takes. The Mustangs have nev-er really had the success that gives them an attractive baseball image, so there’s no strategic reason for

good recruits to bother signing here. But that one good run in the postseason may just spark enough interest in recruits, which leads to more success season after season. Once the recruits start coming, the success will continue to come. All you need is that little spark and the fire keeps burning.

A perfect example of this is Big West Conference member Cal State Fullerton. I’m sure very few of you know that much about the school, unless you’re from around that area. They’re so small they don’t even have a football team to brag about on Saturdays. But ev-ery year they find themselves in the running for a championship in Omaha. So how does such a small and quiet school find success year after year? They get the recruits.

They aren’t a bigger school than Cal Poly. They don’t have more re-sources. But they get the recruits every year and this just leads to more runs at a championship.

So if Cal Poly can manage to throw something together in June, the snowball effect could start. It’s possible that all we need is that one big season. And this looks like as good of a season as any to get things rolling.

Tyler Jauch is a political science sopho-more and a Mustang Daily sports col-umnist.

Baseballcontinued from page 16

mustangdailyd il .nettyy

bloggsaudio slidesshowspolls

videdeo

always something new.

breaaking news

mustang daily staff report

The Big West Conference an-nounced Cal Poly senior Julieanne Dufresne and freshman Derek Thomas as Athletes of the Year on Wednesday.

Dufresne was recognized as the Women’s Field Athlete of the Year while Thomas was named Men’s Freshman of the Year.

Dufresne was the lone double-winner for Cal Poly at the confer-ence finals last weekend after victo-ries in the shot put with a personal best effort of 52 feet, 8 3/4 inches and the discus with a new seasonal

best of 161-3.She recorded 12 victories be-

tween the shot put and discus at vari-ous meets during the season and is ranked No. 18 in the shot put and No. 65 in the discus in the latest national rankings. She will enter as the No. 2 seed in the shot put at the NCAA Western Regional in Eugene, Ore. on May 29 and will also be the No. 17 seed in the discus.

Dufresne joins Tamantha Jackson (1998) and Beijing Olympic gold medalist Stephanie Brown (2003) as the only Mustangs to win the award.

Thomas became the second Mustang in program history to win

Freshman of the Year, following cur-rent teammate Joe Gatel in 2006. He won a Big West Conference title in the 1,500 finishing in 3:46.19.

Thomas posted a personal-best 3:43.92 at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 17, the No. 35 time in the na-tion. Over the course of his rookie campaign, he has victories in the 1,500 at the Mustang All-Comers and the Big West Championships and won the 800 at both the Cal Poly-Fresno State Dual and the Cal Poly Invitational.

Thomas will join Dufresne and 15 other Mustangs at the NCAA West Regional on May 29.

MUSTANG DAILYSPORTSmustangdaily.net

thursday, May 21, 2009

sports editor: Scott Silvey

[email protected]

A few weeks ago I did a column about the new and recent success of Cal Poly’s baseball team. At about that time, they were ranked around No. 48 in the RPI rank-ings that determine a team’s place-ment in the postseason regionals and eventually a trip to Omaha and the College World Series.

Since then, the Mustangs have had themselves a decent run. They went 1-3 in a pivotal series against Big West Conference rival, No. 5 Cal State Fullerton, 2-3 in a se-ries at Long Beach State, and 1-1 against USC and Santa Clara. After the hardfought past few weeks, Cal Poly sits with a record of 36-17.

This puts the Mustangs at No. 46 in the RPI rankings as of May 20. As I said in my earlier col-umn, the top 64 teams earn invites to the regionals to fight for one of the eight spots in Omaha. So with only a three-game series left against UC Riverside this week-end, it looks safe to say that Cal Poly should be in the mix of things come June, unless something goes really wrong.

Should the Mustangs make it to the postseason after their weekend series against Riverside, they re-ally need to leave their mark on the field. This postseason could make or break Cal Poly’s name in the college baseball world. There are a few reasons for the manda-tory success facing the Mustangs in June.

The first thing is the obvious one, so I won’t touch it that much. Clearly, Cal Poly wants to do well in the regionals because that’s the reason you play the game. You put in all the time in the cages and the

Tyler Jauch o n t h e b a s e b a l l f i n a l e

Raising the stakes

c o m m e n t a r y

Sports Talk with Tyler Jauch

see Baseball, page 15

nick camacho mustang daily file photoCal Poly senior outfielder Ryan Lee and the rest of the Mustangs are looking to lock up their first trip to the Division I postseason.

andrew santos-johnson courtesy

Cal Poly freshman Derek Thomas was named the Big West Conference Freshman of the Year on Wednesday.

matt fountain mustang daily file photoCal Poly’s Jarred Houston, center, said that coaches don’t condone drinking but leave the players to police their own behavior.


College athletes are assumed to be the best of the best. In some ways they act as role models and are expected to set

an example — including the alcohol aspect of the college experience.

The NCAA has its own set of regulations on alcohol consumption as far as the athletes are concerned, but what do the coaches and the athletes think?

Track and Field might be one of the most time intensive and physically demanding sports when it comes to maintaining a certain weight and fitness. Natalie Roy, a theater sophomore and track team member, said that the team is very clear on what the NCAA and Cal Poly Athletics rules are and are even given packets that have everything outlined for student- ath-letes.

On the NCAA’s Web site, there is a resource manual that not only outlines the rules but also has information about how alcohol affects the body, mind, and overall performance.

“The coaches obviously expect us to take care of our bodies, but it’s really an honor sys-tem,” Roy said. “Everyone on the team takes there position seriously and are really respon-sible. “

Also a member of the track team, sopho-more wide receiver for the Cal Poly football team, Jarred Houston explained some of the rules and consequences of unsafe alcohol use for the football team.

During away games, the football team has

a team curfew with lights out in the hotel by 9 p.m. The coaches ask that the team not go out when they’re traveling. Team members are suspended from sports if they get into legal trouble related to alcohol. A DUI would re-sult in suspension for the season and the player is required to finish all the proper classes. The team is also held to a two strike and you’re out

rule of thumb.As a whole, the football team is taught to

watch out for each other, and keep each other in line. Houston said that if a team member does make a mistake, everyone learns from it and it motivates everyone to work harder and make up for it. Although there are smaller groups of friends within the team, they’re still a pretty tight nit team according to Houston.

“Its kind of an unwritten rule, and not that the coaches are condoning drinking,” Houston said, “but when we go out, they always tell us to ‘fly with a wingman.’ They want to make sure we always have someone looking out for us.”

“We have team parties or just hang out and throw the ball around on the weekends,” he said, “and even though we’re such a big team we like to look out for each other. If someone is in trouble or messing up we’re right there and stay connected that way.”

The common consensus is that all Cal Poly sports teams are held to high expectations to not only look out for themselves, but one an-other as well. This sense of unity is what helps keep everyone in line.

“As much publicity and media attention as athletics get,” Houston said, “We still do a re-ally good job of looking out for each other and keeping each other in line.

Athletes and alcohol: A no-no?

The coaches obvi-ously expect us to

take care of our bod-ies, but it’s really an

honor system.—Natalie Roy

Cal Poly track team

track and field

Dufresne, Thomas earn track and field honors

Mustang Daily 05-21-09

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