Emmy had a split personal-ity this year. Television’s annual awards show honored hot new broadcast comedies “Modern Family” and “Glee,” while stick-ing with more familiar favorites from cable in drama.

“Modern Family” won the Emmy for best comedy in its rookie season. The sweetly up-roarious sitcom knit together a gay couple and their adopted

sentations, students were able to listen to faculty speak and learn about what they could expect throughout their college experi-ence. Helpful tips on organiza-tion and study habits were given out to make the transition easier.

Students were then treated to Orientation Skits that were put on by the summer orientation staff. These skits even included musical numbers. Later that eve-ning, the 5th Annual New Stu-dent Talent Show took place, where new students were able

ByASHLEY MCDOWELLSTAFF WRITER

––––––––––––––––––––––––––

www.ChargerBulletin.comThe official student newspaper of the University of New Haven since 1938.

Charger BulletinVolume 90, Issue 2 | September 1, 2010

U.S. Troops Unlikely to Resume Combat Duties

According to the Associ-ated Press, it is expressed that it would take “a complete fail-ure” of the Iraqi security forces for the U.S. to resume c o m b a t operations there, the top Ameri-can com-mander in Iraq said, as the final U.S. fight-ing forces prepared to leave the c o u n t r y . The troops are final-ly com-ing home! G e n e r a l Ray Odi-erno said, in interviews broadcast last Sun-day, that any resumption of com-bat duties by American forces is unlikely. “We don’t see that hap-pening. The Iraqi security forces have been doing so well for so long now that we really believe we’re beyond that point.” Presi-dent Barack Obama plans a ma-jor speech about Iraq after his return to Washington, according to a senior administration offi-cial who spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday because the

details were still being finalized. The speech will be spoken short-ly after the President returns to the White House on Aug. 29 from his Martha’s Vineyard va-cation.

About 50,000 U.S. troops will remain in the country un-

til the end of 2011 to serve as a training and assistance force, a dramatic drawdown from the peak of more than 170,000 dur-ing the surge of American forces in 2007. Any U.S. involvement in Iraq after the end of 2011, General Odierno said, would probably involve assisting the Iraqis secure their airspace and borders. While Iraq forces can handle internal security and protect Iraqis, Odierno said he believes military commanders

want to have the U.S. involved beyond 2011 to help Iraqis ac-quire the required equipment, training and technical capabili-ties. If the Iraqis ask that Ameri-can troops remain in the country after 2011, Odierno said U.S. of-ficials would consider it, but that

th

e

Beck: Help Us Restore Traditional American Values

By DAVID BAUDERASSOCIATED PRESS

––––––––––––––––––––––––––

WASHINGTON – Con-servative commentator Glenn Beck and tea party champion Sarah Palin appealed Saturday to a vast, predominantly white crowd on the National Mall to help restore traditional Ameri-can values and honor Martin Lu-ther King’s message. Civil rights leaders who accused the group of hijacking King’s legacy held their own rally and march.

While Beck billed his event as nonpolitical, conservative ac-tivists said their show of strength was a clear sign that they can swing elections because much of the country is angry with what many voters call an out-of-touch Washington.

Palin told the tens of thou-sands who stretched from the marble steps of the Lincoln Me-morial to the grass of the Wash-ington Monument that calls to transform the country weren’t enough. “We must restore Amer-ica and restore her honor,” said the former Alaska governor, echoing the name of the rally, “Restoring Honor.”

Palin, the GOP vice presiden-

tial nominee in 2008 and a po-tential White House contender in 2012, and Beck repeatedly cited King and made references to the Founding Fathers. Beck put a heavy religious cast on nearly all his remarks, sounding at times like an evangelical preacher.

but pray on your knees but with your door open for your children to see,” he said.

A group of civil rights activ-ists organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton held a counter rally at a high school, then embarked on a three-mile march to the site of

See VALUES page 6

The first week on campus needs to be a week all students will remember, because what good would the first few days before classes be if students had nothing to do. The Of-fice of Student Activities has worked ex-tremely hard to create a sched-ule of events full of activities that are free and wel-come for all stu-dents to attend. Very few people know about the amount of work and money that goes into plan-ning this week to make it full of jam-packed days. Many of the activities and trips returned from previous Welcome Weeks, but there were also new activities added to the list. All students, not just fresh-man, were allowed to attend Welcome Week activities.

On Monday, new students were able and encouraged to at-tend the College Orientations that were planned. At these pre-

Welcome Week Proves to be Another Success

Text message your news tips and comments toThe Charger Bulletin!

1 (270) UNH-NEWS1 (270) 864-6397See COMBAT page 5

See WELCOME WEEK page 4

Split Personality for Emmy Awards

daughter, a more traditional bumbling dad and his uptight wife, and a world-weary patri-arch with his hot young Latin wife — and became an instant favorite on ABC.

“We are so grateful, we are so thrilled that families are sitting down together to watch a televi-sion show,” said Steven Levitan, the show’s co-creator. “We just

want you to know, we just want-ed to say we are so happy that you have let us into your fami-lies.”

See EMMY page 5

A CHARGER BULLETIN FEATURE––––––––––––––––––––––––––

By PHILLIP ELLIOT & NAFEESA SYEEDASSOCIATED PRESS

––––––––––––––––––––––––––

AN AP PHOTO

would be a policy decision made by the president and his nation-al security advisers. President Obama will face a delicate bal-ancing act in his speech between welcoming signs of progress and bringing an end to the 7-year-old war without prematurely declar-ing the mission accomplished, as former President George W. Bush once did.

Odierno said Iraq’s security forces have matured to the point

“Something beyond imagi-nation is happening,” he said. “America today begins to turn back to God.”

Beck exhorted the crowd to “recognize your place to the creator. Realize that he is our king. He is the one who guides and directs our life and protects us.” He asked his audience to pray more. “I ask, not only if you would pray on your knees,

a planned monument honoring King. The site, bordering the Tidal Basin, was not far from the Lincoln Memorial where Beck and the others spoke about two hours earlier.

Sharpton and the several thousand marching with him crossed paths with some of the crowds leaving Beck’s rally. People wearing “Restoring Hon-

AN AP/ JAQUELYN MARTIN PHOTO

PHOTO CREDIT kIM HARMAN

AN AP PHOTO

USGA & Morewww.ChargerBulletin.com | www.Twitter.com/ChargerBulletin | Text us! 270.UNH.NEWS (864.6397)

Page 2www.ChargerBulletin.comSeptember 1, 2010

USGA President’s CornerUNH Students,

I hope all of you students are taking advantage of the summer-like weather we have been experiencing these past couple of days. I know I would much rather be sitting on the beach enjoying these last days of summer, instead of sitting inside; but what can we do?

There are so many ways to get involved on campus, and I hope ev-eryone is taking advantage of these opportunities as well. There are some major positions still open that all student undergraduates can apply for. These positions include the Assistant Editor of the Chariot Yearbook, Assistant Chair of Scope, and USGA senator. We also have freshmen and junior class elections coming up. So, if you would like to make a difference and let your voice be heard, get up and apply! You can find all of the forms and applications on chargervoice.com. I hope to see the applications rolling in!

If you have any questions, feel free to email me or stop by during my office hours.

Thank you and have a great week,Scott KazarUSGA President

Interested in video podcasting for The Charger Bulletin?Email us at ChargerBulletin@newhaven.edu for more information!

Editor-in-Chief Matt Di GiovanniAssitant Editor Joann Wolwowicz

Staff Writers Stephen Acevedo, Michael Barone, Jason Beauregard, Mia Becker, Ashley Bogdanski, Natalie Brandt, Miriam Correia, Liz De La Torre, Vanessa Es-time, Matt Ezzo, Courtney Faber, Alex Gardner, Zach Gzehoviak, Michael Kelly, Alex Kratman, Sara McGuire, Carole McFaddan, Dave McKinney, Ashley Niro, Sophie Omelchenko, Cara Petitti, Kyle Quinn-Quesada, Kait Richmond, Angeli-ca Rodriguez, Melanie Rovinsky, Maideline Sanchez, Michelle Tapper, Jonathan Starkes, Kat Wilberding

Copyeditors TBD

Sports Writers Tom Chieppo, Phil Paquette

Sports Layout Kyle Quinn-Quesada

Content Editors Brittni DeHart, Liz De La Torre, Courtney Faber, Alex Kratman, Stephanie Manganiello, Dave McKinney, Maideline Sanchez, Josh Van Hoesen

Staff Photographers Colin Bassett, Sam Claver, Kim Harman, Shawn Tremblay

Feature Editors Tyler Salovin, Shawn Tremblay, Josh Van Hoesen

Advertising Manager TBD

Distribution Manager Charles DiGuglielmo

Podcast Editor TBD| Podcast Reporter TBD

300 Boston Post Road | West Haven, CT 06516ChargerBulletin@newhaven.edu | www.ChargerBulletin.com

www.twitter.com/ChargerBulletin | www.facebook.com/ChargerBulletinoffice: 203.932.7182 | text: 270.864.6397

Since 1938, The Charger Bulletin has been the official student newspaper of the University of New Haven.

Advertising

The Charger Bulletin accepts advertising from outside sources. Ad rate sheets are available upon request or by calling 203.932.7182 or via email at ChargerBulletin@newhaven.edu. Advertisements must be either submitted on CD by mail, fax, or in-person, or preferably sent via email. All advertisements must be received by noon on the Thursday prior to scheduled printing. Due to school sanctions, The Charger Bulletin is unable to accept advertisements from establishments that advertise hu-man research. The Charger Bulletin reserves the right to refuse any advertisement. Advertisements within The Charger Bulletin are inserted by outside sources identi-fied in the advertisements themselves and not by the University of New Haven. Ad-vertising material printed herein is solely for informational purposes. For the most up-to-date information. visit www.ChargerBulletin.com/advertise/.

Letters to the Editor

The Charger Bulletin welcomes letters to the editor. Letters can be sent via email to ChargerBulletin@newhaven.edu or online at www.ChargerBulletin.com. All leters must include the writer’s full name and phone number for verification and can be withheld upon request. The opinions expressed in letters to the editors, poems, col-umns, or other submissions are not necessarily those of the staff. The Charger Bul-letin has the right to refuse to print any letter or submission. Final decisions are made by the Editor-in-Chief.

TheCharger Bulletin

The Charger Bulletinwww.ChargerBulletin.com | www.Twitter.com/ChargerBulletin | Text us! 270.UNH.NEWS (864.6397)

Page 3www.ChargerBulletin.comSeptember 1, 2010

by Joann Wolwowicz

The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitu-tion granted American women the right to vote in national and local elec-tions. The Amendment also declared that women deserved the right to have full citizenship in this country. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee passed the proposed Amendment by a one-vote margin and became the 36th state to ratify the measure. This made way for its official adoption eight days later.

At the time that the United States was found-ed, the women of this country did not share all of the same rights as the men, including the right to vote. Some of the key rights that women were not privileged to own-ing included that married women could not own property and had no le-gal claim to any money they might earn. Women were expected to focus on housework and moth-erhood, not politics.

Passing the 19th AmendmentIt was not until 1848

that the movement for women’s rights launched on the national level, with a convention in Seneca Falls, New York. The con-vention was organized by abolitionists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucre-tia Mott. More than 300 people, mostly women and a few men, attended including former slave and African-American slave activist, Frederick Douglass. In addition to their belief that women should be afforded bet-ter opportunities for edu-cation and employment, most of the Seneca Falls delegates agreed that American women were individuals who deserved their own political identi-ties.

A group of delegates led by Stanton produced a “Declaration of Senti-ments” document, mod-eled after the Declaration of Independence, which stated: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Cre-ator with certain inalien-able rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” What this meant, among other things, was that the delegates believed women should have the right to vote.

Following the conven-tion, Stanton and Mott, along with Susan B. An-thony and other activists, formed organizations that raised public awareness and lobbied the govern-ment to grant voting rights to women. The idea of giving voting rights to women was mocked in the press, causing some delegates to withdraw their support.

With the onset of the American Civil War, the suffrage movement lost some momentum, as many women turned their attention to assisting in ef-forts related to the conflict between the states.

Throughout the course of the war, Stanton and some other suffrage lead-ers objected to the pro-posed 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which would give black men the right to vote, but failed to extend the same privilege to American women of any skin color. However, the turn of the 20th century brought mo-mentum to the woman suffrage cause. Between 1910 and 1918, the Alaska Territory, Arizona, Arkan-sas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michi-gan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North

Dakota, Oklahoma, Or-egon, South Dakota and Washington all extended voting rights to women.

On May 21, 1919, U.S. Representative James R. Mann, a Repub-lican from Illinois and chairman of the Suffrage Committee, proposed the House resolution to ap-prove the Susan Antho-ny Amendment, granting women the right to vote. The measure passed the House 304-89—a full 42 votes above the required two-thirds majority. Two weeks later, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the 19th Amendment by two votes over its two-thirds required majority, 56-25. The amendment was then sent to the states for ratification. Within six days of the ratifi-cation cycle, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin each ratified the amend-ment. Kansas, New York and Ohio followed on June 16, 1919. By March of the following year, a total of 35 states had ap-proved the amendment, one state shy of the two-thirds required for rati-fication. Southern states were adamantly op-posed to the amendment, however, and seven of them—Alabama, Geor-gia, Louisiana, Mary-land, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia—had already rejected it before Tennessee’s vote on August 18, 1920. It was up to Tennessee to tip the scale for woman suffrage.

The outlook appeared bleak, given the out-comes in other Southern states and given the posi-tion of Tennessee’s state legislators in their 48-48 tie.

The state’s decision came down to 23-year-old Representative Har-ry T. Burn, a Republican from McMinn County, to cast the deciding vote. Although Burn opposed the amendment, his mother convinced him to approve it. With Burn’s vote, the 19th Amend-ment was ratified. Cer-tification by U.S. Secre-tary of State Bainbridge Colby followed on Au-gust 26, 1920.

On November 2 of that same year, more than 8 million women across the U.S. voted in elections for the first time. It took over 60 years for the remaining 12 states to ratify the 19th Amendment.

Mississippi was the last to do so, on March 22, 1984.

With one week’s worth of classes under our belts and one semester’s worth of syllabi stored in our notebooks, it is officially time for the beginning-of-the-year anxiety to settle in. After all, it is pretty easy to feel overwhelmed when confronted with hundreds of pages of reading, countless exams and projects, and if you’re me, a looming thesis. And although as a senior, I could probably write 15 pages on the importance of staying organized in college, I’d like to offer all of you a less traditional approach to alleviating your preliminary semester stress: change your diet!

With the help of Better Homes and Gardens, Yahoo, CNN, and Shape, I have compiled the fol-lowing list of foods to consume in order to combat stress and relieve tension.

Almonds – Scoring high on the list of worry-busting foods, these nutritious nuts are packed with calcium, protein, and tons of vitamins. Almonds also deliver the crunchiness and snackability that many individuals seek out in times of stress. However, unlike the potato chips beckoning you from the back of the cabinet, almonds contain protein and monosaturated fats, which will keep you full and satisfied for the rest of your busy day.

Blueberries – There is nothing worse than coming down with a cold when you have a mountain of schoolwork to tackle. Ironically, humans are more susceptible to illnesses when they are under stress. Blueberries are full of antioxidants and vitamin C, both of which are crucial in warding off stress and strengthening immunity. In addition, blueberries contain fiber, which can help with stom-ach problems that occur in times of anxiety.

Sushi – No time to cook? Swap your fast food dinner for a couple of sushi rolls. The fish used in

many types of sushi is full of B vitamins, specifically B12. Sushi is bound to help melt your stress, considering B12 is used in the production of serotonin, the brain’s “feel-good” chemical. The sea-weed used in sushi contains pantothenic acid, which contributes to the health of adrenal glands (the glands responsible for stress management).

Beef – Although red meat generally gets a bad rap from nutritionists, a lean cut of beef can pro-vide you with B vitamins, zinc, and iron without too much of that undesirable saturated fat. The vitamins and nutrients found in beef have been proven to help stabilize your mood! Think top sir-loin… not Big Mac.

Chocolate – Before you sink your teeth into that king sized Snickers bar, remember that healthy eating is always about moderation. With that said, in times of extreme stress, it will do you no good to completely deprive yourself of a feel-good treat… especially if that treat is chocolate. Research-ers have found that eating chocolate releases endorphins in the brain, causing individuals to experi-ence a type of high. If you’re watching your weight, keep your indulgence to under an ounce – or three to four Hershey’s kisses.

Remember, reducing stress does not come from diet changes alone. Get a good night’s sleep, exercise regularly, and keep a positive mindset… even when you are on week two of 18 on that syl-labus.

Health and Fitnessby Melanie RovinskyTop Five Stress-Fighting Foods

Afraid Welcome Week is going to end and you will have nothing to do? Don’t worry, SCOPE hosts events throughout the year! SCOPE has all kinds of events planned, including movies, trips off campus, novel-ties, and you can’t forget the spring comedian, carnival, and concert. We hope you get excited and come out to all the events we plan for you this year.

This past week, we hosted three events. We had the game show Feud, which is played just like popular TV game show, Family Feud. The game was very fun and we had a good turnout of eager students ready to play and win a prize. Also, there was an event where you could make your own bumper stickers and street signs. Lastly, we ended the week with the comedian, Reese Waters, on Saturday.

Next week is really when SCOPE will get back into the flow. On Wednesday and Friday in the Alumni Lounge, starting at 9, we will have the movie McGruber playing. On Friday, September 3rd, weekend programming has planned a bowling trip to the East Haven lanes. The bus will leave from out front of Maxcy Hall, at 9:30pm. Sign-ups for bowling will be on Monday August 30th, starting at 7:30pm in Bartels, by the programming space. Also, weekend programming is planning the game show Fear. Fear is a trivia show based off of Fear Factor. Fear will take place on Saturday Sept. fourth in Dodd’s at 7pm. We hope to see everyone there.

SCOPE meetings will be on Wednesdays in Kaplan room 109 start-ing at 5pm. Please feel free to come and check it out!

SCOPE It Out!by Jen Cross

DON’T FORGET! This newspaper is recyclable!

Page 4www.ChargerBulletin.comSeptember 1, 2010

Charger Newswww.ChargerBulletin.com | www.Twitter.com/ChargerBulletin | Text us! 270.UNH.NEWS (864.6397)www.ChargerBulletin.com | www.twitter.com/ChargerBulletin | Text us! 270.UNH.NEWS (864.6397)

Rescue Will Take 4 Months for Chilean Miners By LIZ DE LA TORRESTAFF WRITER

–––––––––––––––––––––

As Chilean president, Sebastian Piñera, cheer-fully held up a sign atop the San Jose gold and cop-per mine, family, friends, and media gathered as the site flooded with emotion. The sign read “Estamos bien en el refugio los 33.” After an August 5 tunnel collapse caused 33 miners to become trapped 2,300 feet underground, the fates of these men remained un-certain. Nevertheless, the message explaining that they were all okay awak-ened unity and optimism

throughout Chile, a coun-try that had previously

struggled through the det-rimental 8.8-magnitude earthquake and the subse-quent tsunami earlier this year. The main focus then

became keeping the hope alive that everyone would

be able to return to their respective families.

While the miners had been able to survive more than seventeen days on two

spoonfuls of tuna, half a cup of milk, a fragment of

a cracker, and a piece of a peach every two days, authorities have gauged a time span of four months to drill a tunnel big enough for rescue. The miners have been instruct-ed by Minister of Health, Jaime Maña-lich, and NASA to be active and have rou-tine jobs in order to maintain a figure thin enough to fit through

the hole when they will be hoisted up. While the videos that have been sent down to record messages

Club Fair Fills Rec Center

By REBECCA KOLLMANNSTAFF WRITER

–––––––––––––––––––––Now that everyone is back in the swing of things at UNH, it is time for the club fair! Whether you are a freshman or a transfer student, adjusting to col-lege life can be awkward, difficult, fairly painless, or any other adjective in the book. No matter your situ-ation, attending the annual club fair is a smart choice. There is no better way to discover all of the oppor-tunities to get involved in on campus and improve your social life!

Normally the club fair is held in the Bixler/Bo-twinik quad, but due to flooding, this year it was held in the Recreation Cen-ter on Tuesday, August 24. It was a little more crowd-ed than usual, but there were a few new clubs of-fered this year to add to the

mix of the variety of clubs already on campus. Plus, who doesn’t love the free stuff? Many clubs handed out things such as candy, pens, pins, notepads, fris-bees, and reusable water bottles. Most clubs on campus will use this week to hold their first meetings of the semester, so look for any emails about dates and times for any clubs you may have signed up for.

Every year, the club fair draws the majority of both new and returning students. It is a good way to find something to get in-volved in, whether some-one is just starting out or looking for something new to try. Hopefully, this event will continue to do so in the future, with more and more new clubs being established on campus ev-ery year.

Tiger Woods, Elin Nordegren Divorce OfficialBy TOM CHIEPPOSTAFF WRITER

–––––––––––––––––––––

Sports’ fallen ionic fig-ure, but still number one ranked player in the world, Tiger Woods, and former Swedish model, Elin Nor-degren, divorced as of Monday at Pan-ama City, Florida with the judge sign-ing to make it offi-cial.

The golfer and his ex-wife issued a joint statement released by Norde-gren’s law firm, Mc-Guire Woods. “We are sad that our mar-riage is over and we wish each other the very best for the fu-ture,” the statement said, according to abc-news.go.com.“We are the parents of two very won-derful children and their happiness has been and will always be [of] para-mount importance to us. The weeks and the months ahead will not be easy for them as we adjust to a new family situation.”

In a span of nine

months, Elin broke her silence by having a one-on-one interview with People Magazine. “I’ve been through hell,” she said. “I’ve been through the stages of disbelief and shock, to anger and ulti-mately grief for the fam-

of two is studying towards a college degree in psy-chology. “I’m going to keep taking classes,” said Nordegren. “My main focus is to try to give my-self time to heal.” These statements are according to People Magazine. She

her the best in everything. And we’re looking for-ward to our lives and how we can help our kids the best possible way that we can. And that’s the most important thing.”

Although Woods has yet to win a PGA Tour event this year, he said that he would not call it a lost year. “I don’t look at it like that,” he said, accord-ing to the New York Daily News. “Every year you have to find the positives. I came back. This is a part of my job. Coming back and playing golf had noth-ing to do with our decision to go our separate ways.”

The enormous chal-lenges that lie ahead for Tiger Woods are that he is going to need to put his personal life behind him once and for all in order to focus on the game of golf. Another struggle for him is going to lie in dealing with how the public will view his legacy. Will Woods still be a highly respected golfer to the fans, the me-dia, his fellow players, and the PGA? It all remains to be seen.

Want to advertise inThe Charger

Bulletin?

Email us at ChargerBulletin@

newhaven.edu

See MINERS page 6

tells the magazine this was her first—and last—inter-view, as she intends to re-main a private person.

Woods’ reaction to the whole situation was a sim-ilar one. “It’s a sad time for us, what we’re going through right now,” he said, according to the New York Daily News. “I wish

ily I wanted so bad for my children. I feel stronger than I ever have.” Woods and Nordegren were mar-ried to each other on Oc-tober 5, 2004. However, they both plan to still be a part of the lives of their children, Sam Alexis and Charlie Axel.

The 30-year-old mother

AP PHOTO/ MEL EVANS

Welcome Week Proves to be Another Successcon’t from page 1

to show off some of their many talents. Following that was the OL Pie in the Face, an event always looked forward to. Ending out the day was Jim Spin-nato, a Welcome Week regular, who returned to do his hypnotist show that kept the audience in an uproar the entire time. New students and even previously hypnotized stu-dents took the stage to put on a show no one would forget (except those who couldn’t remember it in the first place).

On Tuesday, students could come to the Bartels programming space to do some poster shopping. The poster sale was on from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and proved to have a variety of posters for student selec-tion. Hopefully, all of the blank dorm room walls are now covered in a variety of purchases. Freshman Ex-

perience (FE 001) classes began that day and were followed by guest speaker Luma Mufleh, who spoke about the required reading for all freshman, Outcast United. A book signing later followed. “Building Your College Experience Informational Sessions” were also offered that day and consisted of informa-tion on campus recreation, information about New Haven, shuttle transporta-tion, campus safety, and campus dining. The most anticipated event of the day had to be the annual club fair, which took place in the Rec Center from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. This year there was an in-credible turnout in regards to both the clubs that were represented and the stu-dents that chose to attend. Finally, that night’s source of entertainment was Jim Karol: Psychic Madman.

On Wednesday, of-ficially the first day of

classes, the first edition of the Charger Bulletin came out and the poster sale continued. The first day of the three day pro-gram, “All Day Q & A,” began. Students wearing yellow t-shirts were avail-able at various locations around campus to answer any and all questions stu-dents had. Elsewhere, Bartels was packed with students waiting in line to sign up for upcoming off campus trips to the movies, duckpin bowling, Farmington River Tubing, Mystic Aquarium, Cocoa Keys Indoor Water Park, the Bronx Zoo, and a New Britain Rock Cats Base-ball Game. If that wasn’t enough, throughout the day, students were able to make their own aquariums and get a taste of West Ha-ven, while later being able to attend a dinner “beach party” with live music in Bartels and a block party in the Bayer parking lot.

On Thursday, there was a cupcake truck behind Maxcy Hall and a Martial Arts Demonstration in the Rec Center. David Hall, the Street Magician put on a show and was followed by Scope’s game show “Feud,” which is based off of the hit TV show, Family Feud. The Duckpin Bowl-ing trip took place on that evening. On Friday, more novelties were planned with Scope’s “Make You Own Street Signs” and “Make Your Own Bumper Stickers.” Saturday mainly consisted of shuttles that were provided to West Haven Beach and Scope’s Reese Waters, a Comedian who performed in Dodds Theatre at 7:00 p.m.

Sunday was the last day of Welcome Week. Many of the remaining trips off-campus were held, includ-ing the Bronx Zoo trip and the Farmington River Tub-ing. The various residence halls held Laundry 101 for

students who might have been dreading doing their laundry alone for the first time, after forgetting all of mom’s advice. The final event for Welcome Week was the Drive-In Movie, Iron Man, accompanied by root beer floats and pop-corn, which are always a favorite.

With this week now in the history books, ev-eryone should be sure to thank those who made this week possible. If you thor-oughly enjoyed this week and all of the events, rest assured that this year has a lot more in store for it. There will be tons of ac-tivities, trips, and shows put on throughout the rest of the year that everyone should attend. All events are put on for the benefit of all students, both residen-tial and commuter. Make it a priority to attend and ex-perience as many as pos-sible.

Follow That Cupcake!By MATT DI GIOVANNIEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

–––––––––––––––––––––

This year, one of UNH’s favorite Welcome Week regulars returned: the Cup-cake Truck! Thanks to the U n d e r -graduate S tuden t Govern-ment As-sociation (USGA), students w e r e able to pick their favorite combination of cupcake, frosting, and top-pings for free. The truck offered vanilla, chocolate, and red velvet cake, va-nilla, chocolate, and cream cheese frostings, and top-pings included sprinkles, Oreo bits, M&M bits, toasted nuts, and coconut

flakes. Students waiting in line to get their hands on the pint sized creations could be heard discussing last year’s experience, and the excitement was clear.

Although the available options were delicious,

upon viewing the Cupcake Truck’s website, www.followthatcupcake.com, it became apparent that the truck offers a much wider range of ingredients based on occasion. With eight varieties of cake including

See CUPCAKE page 5

Page 5www.ChargerBulletin.comSeptember 1, 2010Van Gogh Painting Stolen for

the Second TimeBy TOM CHIEPPOSTAFF WRITER

–––––––––––––––––––––

“The Egyptian police arrested two Italians and a woman at Cairo airport trying to smuggle out a Van Gogh painting that was stolen from a museum earlier Saturday” said the minister Faroug Hosni, ac-cording to vancouversun.com. The “Poppy Flow-ers” painting was stolen for the second time, the first time being in 1978 and returned a decade lat-er. The painting was later recovered in Kuwait. The authorities at that time said the painting was stolen by three Egyptian men, but none of them were ever convicted.

Overall, the painting was worth an estimated amount of $50 million. It was identified as the “Pop-py Flowers” or a “Vase with Flowers.” It was stolen from the Mahoumd Khalil Museum, after it was cut out of the frame.

Culture Minister

where they will be ready to shoulder enough of the burden to permit the re-maining 50,000 soldiers to go home at the end of next year. Odierno’s as-sessment, while optimis-tic, also acknowledges the difficult road ahead for the Iraqis, as they take con-trol of their own security, even as political divisions threaten the formation of the fledgling democracy.

South Carolina GOP Senator Lindsey Gra-ham, who is on the Sen-ate Armed Services Com-mittee, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that he hopes “we will have an endur-ing relationship of having some military presence in Iraq. I think that would be smart not to let things un-wind over the next three or five years.” Last Thursday, the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, be-gan crossing the border from Iraq into Kuwait,

con’t from page 1

Last U.S. Combat Forces Leave Iraqbecoming the last combat brigade to leave Iraq. Its exodus, along with that of the approximately 2,000 remaining U.S. combat forces destined to leave in the coming days, fulfills President Obama’s pledge to end combat operations in Iraq by Aug. 31. In in-terviews with CBS’ “Face the Nation” and CNN’s “State of the Union,” Odi-erno said it may take sev-eral years before America can determine if the war was a success. “A strong democratic Iraq will bring stability to the Middle East, and if we see an Iraq that’s moving toward that, two, three, five years from now, I think we can call our operations a success,” he said.

Much of that may hinge on whether Iraq’s politi-cal leaders can overcome ethnic divisions and work toward a more unified government, while also enabling security forces to

tamp down a simmering insurgency. Iraq’s politi-cal parties have been bick-ering for more than five months since the March parliamentary elections failed to produce a clear winner. They have yet to reach agreements on how to share power or whether to replace embattled Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Amid the political instability, other economic and governmental prob-lems fester. Fueling that instability is neighbor-ing Iran which, Odierno said, continues to fund and train Shiite extrem-ist groups. “They don’t want to see Iraq turn into a strong democratic coun-try. They’d rather see it become a weak govern-mental institution,” said Odierno. He added that he is not worried that Iraq will fall back into a mili-tary dictatorship, as it was under the reign of Saddam Hussein.

Hear a story you want to tell us about? Something on campus outrage you?

Upset about national sports?Text message your news tips and comments to

The Charger Bulletin!

1 (270) UNH-NEWS1 (270) 864-6397

Faroug Hosni told the Vancouver Sun that: “two Italians, a man and a wom-an, were arrested while trying to leave the country with the painting.” During that time, the police had some evidence connect-ing the two to the crime, but they couldn’t confirm that the two people had the painting in their pos-session. “The two Italians were in a group of Russian and Spanish tourists at the museum,” said the Italy’s domestic ANSA news agency. Police searched the Russians and Spanish tourists but couldn’t find anything. The investiga-tion is ongoing.

Mohsen Shalaan, a deputy culture minister who is the head of the de-partment’s fine arts divi-sion, said that the painting is in the hands of the po-lice force. “I feel like I’m working alone,” said Hos-ni, according to newsdaily.com. “I can’t work with these incompetent em-ployees. I wake up in the middle of the night worry-

ing about the artifacts be-ing stolen.”

Despite all of this, the Vancouver Sun also re-ported that nine paintings from the 19th century rule of Egyptian Ruler Mohammed Ibrahim Pa-sha were stolen in 2009 from his palace museum. Ten days later, the paint-ings were found dumped on a sidewalk outside his museum. An earlier in-vestigation showed that seven out of forty-three surveillance cameras were working during the rob-bery, giving the thieves a chance to escape, without being caught.

Now there is substan-tial doubt as to the fate of the museum and the jobs of the employees. Ques-tions have been raised as to whether or not any paintings of great value are safe to be displayed for everyone to see. The future holds the answers to whether security will be improved in the museum or if it will even be able to stay open for business.

The Emmy Awards

Hello from Career Services!My name is Thomas Dulovic and this is my first semester

working in Career Services. I am originally from a small town in Long Island, New York. I am currently a sophomore at UNH and I am the Academ-ic Peer Mentor for Botwinik Hall. I am a Mathematics (Education) Major with a Mi-nor in Biology. After gradu-ation, my goal is to pursue a high-school teaching position in Mathematics. I am part of the Honors Program as well as a board member for XE Club. My proudest accom-plishment was in 2009, when I earned All-American Honors as a hurdler in track and field. Some of my hobbies include basketball, running, biking, hiking and swimming.

As an employee of Career Services and as an Academic Peer Mentor, I take pleasure in helping other students succeed. Stop in Kaplan 210 and say HI!

salted caramel and sweet potato pecan, 6 frostings such as white chocolate cream and marshmallow, and ten toppings including edible gold and candied flower, the Cupcake Truck has something for every-one.

Additionally, for all the lovers of the Cup-

cake Truck’s cupcakes, there’s some fantastic news; a store is currently in the works in Downtown Bridgeport’s Arcade build-ing! However, no need to worry that the store, called Toppings, means the end for the Cupcake Truck. The truck will still be driv-ing around and parking in the New Haven area, de-

The Cupcake Truckcon’t from page 4 spite its proximity to the

store. Currently, the ten-tative store opening date is Saturday, September 4, 2010; so, if you or some-one you know is a cupcake enthusiast or connoisseur be sure to keep your eyes open so you can get your hands on one of these gourmet treats.

Levitan’s partner in the show, Christopher Lloyd, was oddly absent from the onstage celebrating. Levi-tan said later that Lloyd has an aversion to crowds.

Five of the six mem-bers of the show’s come-dic couples were nomi-nated for supporting actor awards. Eric Stonestreet, who plays the rotund, flamboyant half of the gay couple, won an Emmy.

He said backstage that his parents, Vince and Jamey, will get his Emmy.

“I know exactly where they’re going to put it,” he said. “They eat breakfast and dinner at the same spot every day. I want them to be able to sit there and look at it and know that they made this possible.”

While Fox’s “Glee” was beaten out for best comedy, the musical’s impact was demonstrated when Emmy Awards host Jimmy Fallon poked fun at the highly rated show with his opening routine. Fallon played the leader of a “glee club,” joined by some of the series’ stars and contributors like Tina Fey and Jon Hamm, per-forming “Born to Run.”

The skit won huge ap-plause from a jaded indus-try audience.

The show’s creator, Ryan Murphy, earned a best directing Emmy and the tough coach, Jane Lynch, beat back two “Modern Family” stars to win best supporting ac-tress in a comedy.

Murphy noted that “Glee” is about the impact of arts education on high school students.

“I would like to dedi-cate this to all of my teach-ers who taught me to sing and finger-paint,” he said.

Edie Falco of Show-time’s “Nurse Jackie” looked shocked to win the Emmy for best com-edy actress. “As soon as somebody calls you fun-ny, you’re not funny any-more,” she said later.

Emmy awards shouldn’t be foreign to her: Falco pulled the neat trick of winning the com-edy award after previously

con’t from page 1 winning an Emmy for best actress in a drama series for her work on “The So-pranos.”

Jim Parsons of CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory” won for best comedic ac-tor, unleashing his real-life inner nerd later.

“I’m a big reader of al-manacs, or I was, and I like lists and things like that — boy do I sound OCD,” he said backstage. “So I was awfully thrilled to be part of a list, a group, like this. The winning was really beyond.”

AMC’s “Mad Men” won the Emmy for best dramatic series for the third consecutive season. It’s a similar three-year winning streak for Bryan Cranston, who won best actor in a drama for his work as a teacher and meth dealer on AMC’s “Break-ing Bad.” Cranston’s part-ner on the show, Aaron Paul, won his first Emmy for best supporting actor.

“It’s like having a great meal to do the show,” Cranston said backstage. “And then to be awarded an Emmy is a beautiful flambe dessert. And then last year was another des-sert on top of that. I feel gluttonous. It’s more than I can take in.”

Wins almost seem routine for “Mad Men,” whose creator Matthew Weiner and Erin Levy, shared a writing award for drama series.

Weiner was listening to Levy’s acceptance speech but it went long, and he was visibly upset when the music cut off his own ac-ceptance speech.

He had another chance, though, when “Mad Men” won the best drama series award.

“So where was I?” he slyly asked.

He seemed much more relaxed after the second trophy.

`I never feel like I’m rolling,” he said. “I’m in a terror and a free-fall every day.”

“Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” are popu-lar within the Hollywood audience. But broadcast-ers say their dramas still

get a larger audience than those cable shows, and they’ve grumbled at the lack of attention their dramas receive. The new CBS drama “The Good Wife” and its star, Julianna Margulies, were seen as strong candidates to bring a broadcast network back into the winner’s circle for drama.

Yet it was passed by, except for Archie Panjabi, who won a supporting ac-tress Emmy for her role as a private investigator. Kyra Sedgwick of TNT’s “The Closer” won best ac-tress in a drama.

Emmy voters missed another opportunity: to make host NBC very un-comfortable.

Conan O’Brien’s short-lived “Tonight” show was nominated in the variety series category. It was seen as an affront when O’Brien was nominated and Jay Leno, the man he replaced, was not.

But O’Brien didn’t win. That award went to Com-edy Central’s “The Daily Show,” which has won the category nine times since 2001.

No apologies from Rory Albanese, the show’s executive producer. “The category’s insane and we keep winning it. It’s tough to feel bad. We work really hard,” he said.

“Top Chef” won best reality series, ending the seven-year winning streak of “The Amazing Race.”

HBO movies on the lives of euthansia expert Jack Kevorkian and ani-mal sciences expert Tem-ple Grandin won awards. Al Pacino and Claire Danes won best actor tro-phies, and paid tribute to the real-life characters they portrayed who were sitting in the audience.

The awards also al-lowed Adam Mazer, Em-my-winning writer for “You Don’t Know Jack,” to get off one of the best lines of the night.

“I’m grateful you’re my friend,” Mazer said, look-ing out at Kevorkian. “I’m even more grateful you’re not my physician.”

for families and friends have emerged showing the crew to be happy and positive, about five of the miners are reported to be depressed and not eating well. Despite the majority of them being fine, Ma-ñalich told reporters that being optimistic for too long is too much of an ex-pectation. “We are prepar-ing medication for them. It would be naive to think they can keep their spirits up like this.” In the case of the men who appear to be in “very bad emotion-al shape,” authorities are working on delivering mu-sic, stationery, dominoes, water, medicines, and microphones in order to combat ongoing isolation and help them maintain a setting that is both physi-

Page 6www.ChargerBulletin.comSeptember 1, 2010

Submit your campusadvertisement for publication!

Email us atChargerBulletin@newhaven.edu

for more information!

Trapped Chilean Miners

con’t from page 4 acally and psychologically beneficial to them.

Though mining mishaps are rare in Chile, questions and concerns have been raised regarding the safety of the mines after a 2007 explosion, at the same the San Jose mine killed three employees. Following these concerns, Piñera has fired mining officials and is working to reestablish the organization and its regulations. As the presi-dent addressed the loved ones of the trapped miners to close his dissertation, he reinforced his commit-ment to a triumphant res-cue mission.

“It will take months. It will take time, but it doesn’t matter how long it takes to have a happy end-ing.”

Help Us Restore American Valuescon’t from page 1or” and tea party T-shirts looked on as Sharpton’s group chanted “reclaim the dream” and “MLK, MLK.” Both sides were generally restrained, al-though there was some mutual taunting.

One woman from the Beck rally shouted to the Sharpton marchers: “Go to church. Restore America with peace.” Some civil rights marchers chanted “don’t drink the tea” to people leaving Beck’s ral-ly.

Sharpton told his rally it was important to keep King’s dream alive and that despite progress more needs to be done. “Don’t mistake progress for ar-rival,” he said.

He poked fun at the Beck-organized rally, say-ing some participants were the same ones who used to call civil rights lead-ers troublemakers. “The folks who used to criticize us for marching are try-ing to have a march them-selves,” he said. He urged his group to be peaceful and not confrontational. “If people start heckling, smile at them,” Sharpton said.

Eleanor Holmes Nor-ton, the District of Colum-bia’s delegate to Congress, said she remembers being at King’s march on Wash-ington in 1963. “Glenn Beck’s march will change nothing. But you can’t blame Glenn Beck for his March-on-Washington envy,” she said.

Beck has said he did not intend to choose the King anniversary for his rally but had since decided it was “divine providence.” He portrayed King as an American hero.

Sharpton and other crit-ics have noted that, while Beck has long sprouted anti-government themes, King’s famous march in-cluded an appeal to the federal government to do more to protect Ameri-cans’ civil rights.

The crowd — orga-

nizers had a permit for 300,000 — was a sea of people standing shoulder to shoulder across large expanses of the Mall. The National Park Ser-vice stopped doing crowd counts in 1997 after the agency was accused of underestimating numbers for the 1995 Million Man March.

It was not clear how many tea party activists were in the crowd, but the sheer size of the turnout helped demonstrate the size and potential national influence of the move-ment.

Tea party activism and widespread voter discon-tent with government al-ready have effected pri-mary elections and could be an important factor in November’s congres-sional, gubernatorial and state legislative races.

Lisa Horn, 28, an ac-countant from Houston, said she identifies with the tea party movement, although she said the rally was not about either the tea party or politics. “I think this says that the people are uniting. We know we are not the only ones,” she said. “We feel like we can make a difference.”

Ken Ratliff, 55, of Rochester, N.Y., who served as a Marine in the Vietnam War, said he is moving more in the tea party direction. “There’s got to be a change, man,” he said.

Palin told the crowd she wasn’t speaking as a poli-tician. “I’ve been asked to speak as the mother of a soldier and I am proud of that distinction. Say what you want to say about me, but I raised a combat vet and you can’t take that away from me.” It was a reference to her son, Track, 20, who served a yearlong deployment in Iraq.

Palin likened the rally participants to the civil rights activists from 1963. She said the same spirit that helped them overcome oppression, discrimination

and violence would help this group as well.

“We are worried about what we face. Sometimes, our challenges seem in-surmountable,” Palin said. “Look around you. You’re not alone.”

Beck paced on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and spoke through a wire-less microphone headset. “For too long, this coun-try has wandered in dark-ness. ... Today we are go-ing to concentrate on the good things in America, the things that we have accomplished — and the things that we can do to-morrow.”

In one of his many ref-erences to King, Beck noted that he had spent the night before in the same Washington hotel where King had put the finishing touches on his “I Have a Dream” speech.

Clarence B. Jones, who served as King’s personal attorney and his speech-writer, said he believes King would not be of-fended by Beck’s rally but “pleased and honored” that a diverse group of people would come to-gether, almost five decades later, to discuss the future of America.

Jones, now a visiting professor at Stanford Uni-versity, said the Beck rally seemed to be tasteful and did not appear to distort King’s message, which in-cluded a recommitment to religious values.

Both groups heard from members of the King fam-ily.

Alveda King, a niece of the civil rights leader, ap-pealed to Beck rally par-ticipants to “focus not on elections or on political causes but on honor, on character ... not the color of our skin.”

Martin Luther King III said at the site of the planned memorial that his father in 1967 and 1968 “was focused on economic empowerment. He did not live to see that come to fruition.” King added, “We

have made great strides, but somehow we’ve got to create a climate so that everybody can do well, not just some.”

Beck had appealed to those attending not to bring signs with them. But Mike Cash, a 56-year-old At-lanta businessman, found a way around that. Over his polo shirt, he wore a T-shirt that read “Treat Obama like a used tea bag, toss him out now!”

“I wouldn’t have missed it (the rally) for anything,” said Cash, who drove up with his family. “We are here kind of protesting about our government, too. I’m a businessman and I’m worried about tax-es going up.”

Many in the crowd watched the proceedings on large television screens. On the edges of the Mall, vendors sold “Don’t Tread on Me” flags, popular with tea party activists. Other activists distributed fli-ers urging voters “dump Obama.” The pamphlet included a picture of the president with a Hitler-style mustache.

LaVert Seabron, 80, a retired federal public health officer who lives in northwest Washing-ton, said he was at the 1963 march and made it a point to attend Saturday’s rally. He recalled King as a “great orator” and said “because of what he did we’re here.” Seabron, who’s black, said he was heartened to see many young people at Satur-day’s event.

“It’s good to see the next generation is still participating,” he said. “We’ve been through this. It’s good to see so many young people, because they’ll have to pick up the torch and carry it to the next generation.”

Regarding the Beck ral-ly, Seabron said: “That’s part of a democracy — ev-erybody gets a chance to say what they want.”

U.S. Wasted Billions in Rebuilding IraqBy KIM GAMELASSOCIATED PRESS

–––––––––––––––––––––

KHAN BANI SAAD, Iraq – A $40 million prison sits in the desert north of Baghdad, empty. A $165 million children’s hospital goes unused in the south. A $100 million waste water treatment system in Fal-

lujah has cost three times more than projected, yet sewage still runs through the streets.

As the U.S. draws down in Iraq, it is leaving behind hundreds of abandoned or incomplete projects. More than $5 billion in U.S. taxpayer funds has been wasted on these projects — more than 10 percent

of the $53.7 billion the US has spent on reconstruc-tion in Iraq, according to audits from a U.S. watch-dog agency.

That amount is likely an underestimate, based on an analysis of more than 300 reports by auditors with the special inspec-tor general for Iraq recon-struction. And it does not

take into account security costs, which have run al-most 17 percent for some projects.

There are success sto-ries. Hundreds of police stations, border forts and government buildings have been built, Iraqi secu-rity forces have improved after years of training, and a deepwater port at the southern oil hub of Umm Qasr has been restored.

But even completed projects for the most part fell far short of original goals, according to an As-sociated Press review of hundreds of audits and in-vestigations and visits to several sites. And the ver-dict is still out on whether the program reached its goal of generating Iraqi good will toward the Unit-ed States instead of the in-surgents.

Col. Jon Christensen, who took over as head of the U.S. Army Corps

of Engineers in Iraq this summer, said it has com-pleted more than 4,800 projects and is rushing to finish 233 more. Some 595 projects have been termi-nated, mostly for security reasons.

Christensen acknowl-edged that mistakes have been made. But he said steps have been taken to fix them, and the success of the program will depend ultimately on the Iraqis — who have complained that they were not consulted on projects to start with.

“There’s only so much we could do,” Christensen said. “A lot of it comes down to them taking own-ership of it.”

The reconstruction program in Iraq has been troubled since its birth shortly after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The U.S. was forced to scale back many projects even as they spiked in cost, sometimes

to more than double or tri-ple initial projections.

As part of the so-called surge strategy, the military in 2007 shifted its focus to protecting Iraqis and win-ning their trust. American soldiers found themselves hiring contractors to paint schools, refurbish pools and oversee neighborhood water distribution centers. The $3.6 billion Com-mander’s Emergency Re-sponse Program provided military units with ready cash for projects, and paid for Sunni fighters who agreed to turn against al-Qaida in Iraq for a month-ly salary.

But sometimes civilian and military reconstruction efforts were poorly coordi-nated and overlapped.

Iraqis can see one of the most egregious examples of waste as they drive north from Baghdad to Khan Bani Saad. A prison rises

See REBUILDING page 8

7 US Troops Die in Bombings in Violent SouthBy CHRISTOPHER BODEENASSOCIATED PRESS

–––––––––––––––––––––

KABUL, Afghanistan – Roadside bombs killed seven American troop-ers on Monday — includ-ing five in a single blast in Kandahar — raising to more than a dozen the number who have died in the last three days.

The spike in deaths comes as President Ha-mid Karzai has publicly raised doubts about the U.S. strategy in the war, saying success cannot be achieved until more Af-ghans are in the front lines and insurgent sanctuaries in Pakistan are shut down.

NATO gave no details of the Monday blasts ex-cept that they occurred in the south, the main theater of the conflict, and that five were killed in a single blast.

Witnesses said the five died when a bomb struck a Humvee on a main road on the outskirts of Kan-dahar, the focus of an on-

going military campaign to secure the city that the Taliban used as their head-quarters during their years in power. The attackers ap-parently targeted the Hum-vee because it was not as heavily armored as other vehicles in the convoy.

Later Monday, a pair of rockets were fired at the Kandahar offices of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan. One fell short and slightly wound-ed a guard. The other over-shot the compound and ex-ploded in an empty field, police said.

U.S. death tolls for Au-gust had been running well behind those of the previ-ous two months that set monthly records — 60 in June and 66 in July. But 14 Americans have been killed in the last three days, raising the Ameri-can U.S. toll for the month to 49, most of them in the south.

NATO commanders have warned that casual-

See BOMBINGS page 7

By RACHEL ZOLLASSOCIATED PRESS

–––––––––––––––––––––

Did you know that you can follow The Charger Bulletin on Twitter?

Find us today at http://www.twitter.com/ChargerBulletin for the latest breaking news,both on-campus and across the globe!

Page 7www.ChargerBulletin.comSeptember 1, 2010

NYC Mosque Debate Will Shape American Islam

NEW YORK – Adnan Zulfiqar, a graduate stu-dent, former U.S. Senate aide and American-born son of Pakistani immi-grants, will soon give the first khutbah, or sermon, of the fall semester at the University of Pennsylva-nia. His topic has present-ed itself in the daily head-lines and blog posts over the disputed mosque near ground zero.

What else could he choose, he says, after a summer remembered not for its reasoned debate, but for epithets, smears, even violence?

As he writes, Zulfiqar frets over the potential fallout and what he and other Muslim leaders can do about it. Will young Muslims conclude they are second-class citizens in the U.S. now and always?

“They’re already strug-gling to balance, `I’m American, I’m Muslim,’ and their ethnic heritage. It’s very disconcerting,” said Zulfiqar, 32, who worked for former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland, a Geor-gia Democrat, and now serves Penn’s campus min-istry. “A controversy like

this can make them radical or become more conserva-tive in how they look at things or how they fit into the American picture.”

Whatever the outcome, the uproar over a planned Islamic center near the World Trade Center site is shaping up as a signal event in the story of Amer-ican Islam.

Strong voices have emerged from outside the Muslim community. New York Mayor Mi-chael Bloomberg has been steadfast in his support for the project. Jon Stewart nightly mocks the bigotry that the protest unleashed.

“The sentiment, say, five years ago among many Muslims, especially among many young Mus-lims, was that, `We’re in this all by ourselves,’” said Omer Mozaffar, a univer-sity lecturer in Chicago who leads Quran study groups as a buffer between young people and the ex-tremist preachers on You-Tube. `That has changed significantly. There have been a lot of people speak-ing out on behalf of Mus-lims.”

Eboo Patel, an Ameri-can Muslim leader and founder of Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago nonprofit that promotes community

service and religious plu-ralism, said Muslims are unfortunately experienc-ing what all immigrant groups endured in the U.S. before they were fully accepted as American. Brandeis University his-torian Jonathan D. Sarna has noted that Jews faced a similar backlash into the 1800s when they tried to build synagogues, which were once banned in New York.

Patel believes Ameri-can Muslims are on the same difficult but inevi-table path toward integra-tion.

“I’m not saying this is going to be happy,” Patel said. “But I’m extremely optimistic.”

Yet, the overwhelming feeling is that the contro-versy has caused wide-spread damage that will linger for years.

American Muslim leaders say the furor has emboldened opposi-tion groups to resist new mosques around the coun-try, at a time when there aren’t enough mosques or Islamic schools to serve the community.

Rhetoric from some politicians that lumps all Muslims with terrorists will depress the Muslim vote, analysts say.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a poten-tial 2012 presidential can-didate, said in opposing the Islamic center that, “America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-polit-ical offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization.”

U.S. Muslims who have championed democracy and religious tolerance question what they’ve ac-complished. If the “ex-tremist” label can be hung on someone as apparently liberal as the imam at the center of the outcry, Fei-sal Abdul Rauf, then any Muslim could come un-der attack. Feisal supports women’s rights, human rights and interfaith out-reach.

“The joke is on moder-ate Muslims,” said Muqte-dar Khan, a University of Delaware political scien-tist and author of “Amer-ican Muslims, Bridg-ing Faith and Freedom.” “What’s the point if you’re going to be treated the same way as a radical? If I get into trouble are they going to treat me like I’m a supporter of al-Qaeda?”

U.S. Muslims are them-selves divided over the proposed mosque.

Feisal and his wife, Daisy Khan (no relation

to Muqtedar Khan), want to build a 13-story, $100 million community center called Park51 two blocks from the World Trade Center site. It would be modeled on the YMCA or Jewish Community Cen-ter, with programming for the entire city, and would include a mosque.

Some Muslims felt from the start that the plan was misguided, given the wounds of the Sept. 11 attacks and widespread misunderstanding about Islam. Yet they felt com-pelled to defend the pro-posal when the discussion over religious freedom and cultural sensitivity turned ugly.

Days ago, a brick nearly smashed a window at the Madera Islamic Center in central California, where signs were left behind that read, “Wake up America, the enemy is here,” and “No temple for the god of terrorism.” This past week in New York, a Muslim cab driver had his face and throat slashed in a suspect-ed hate crime.

The poisonous atmo-sphere comes at a still fragile time in the devel-opment of Muslim com-munal life.

Leaders have spent years trying to persuade

Muslim immigrants to come out of their enclaves and fully embrace be-ing American. The task became that much more difficult in the aftermath of 9/11. Many Muslims pulled back, convinced that if another terrorist at-tack occurs, the U.S. gov-ernment will put them in internment camps, like the Japanese in World War II. Their American-born children, meanwhile, have felt rejected by their own country.

David Ramadan, a Muslim and vice chair of ethnic coalitions for Re-publican Party in Virginia, predicts that comments from political figures in both major parties will depress Muslim voting in years to come.

Ramadan and other Muslim Republicans have been pressing GOP leaders not to support a particular mosque, but to acknowl-edge that American Mus-lims have equal rights un-der the Constitution.

“Who wants to come into the fold of the Repub-lican Party today, or even the fold of the Democratic Party?” Ramadan asked. “They just increased the number of independents in America.”

HISTORY OF THE WORLDAug 30: ON THIS DATE in 1963, the hot line communications link between Washington and Moscow became operational. In 1967, the Sen-ate confirmed Thurgood Marshall as the first black justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.Aug 31: ON THIS DATE in 1907, England, Russia and France formed the Triple Entente; they would be allies in World War I. In 1971, U.S. astronaut Dave Scott became the first person to drive a vehicle on the moon.Sept. 1: ON THIS DATE in 1666, the Great London Fire began, de-stroying 80 percent of the city. In 1939, Germany invaded Poland to touch off World War II in Europe.Sept. 2: ON THIS DATE in 1945, Japanese officials formally surren-dered aboard a U.S. battleship in Tokyo Bay to end World War II in the Pacific. In 1963, CBS and NBC both expanded their evening news broadcasts from 15 minutes to 30.Sept. 3: ON THIS DATE in 1783, the Treaty of Paris between the Unit-ed States and Great Britain officially ended the Revolutionary War. In 1976, the unmanned U.S. spacecraft Viking 2 landed on Mars to take the first close-up, color photographs of the planet's surface.Sept. 4: ON THIS DATE in 1888, George Eastman received a patent for his roll-film camera and registered his trademark, Kodak. In 1951, in the first live, coast-to-coast television broadcast, President Truman addressed the nation from the Japanese peace-treaty conference in San Francisco.Sept. 5: ON THIS DATE in 1972, Arab terrorists attacked the Israeli delegation at the summer Olympic Games in Munich, killing 11 Israelis. Five guerrillas and a police officer also were slain. In 1975, President Ford escaped an assassination attempt by Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme.

This week's question: In 1565, the first permanent European settlement in the present-day United States was formed at what location?

(Mark Andrews can be reached via e-mail at mlandrews@embarqmail.com.)(c)2010 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

By Mark Andrewsties will mount as coali-tion and Afghan forces enter areas that have been under longtime Taliban control. The NATO force swelled this month to more than 140,000 — including 120,000 Americans — with the arrival of the last of the reinforcements that President Barack Obama ordered to Afghanistan in a bid to turn the tide of the nearly 9-year war.

With death tolls rising, Karzai has become more outspoken in his criticism of the U.S.-led war ef-fort, telling recent visitors that the American coun-terinsurgency strategy is flawed.

Most recently, he told the visiting speaker of the German parliament that the campaign against the Taliban over the last eight years had been "ineffec-tive apart from causing ci-vilian casualties," accord-ing to a statement by the presidential media office.

The statement quoted Karzai as saying Afghan forces should take the lead in efforts to win support from deeply conservative Afghan villagers who har-bor suspicion of outsiders. That appears at odds with the strategy pursued by the top NATO command-er, Gen. David Petraeus,

Seven Die in Bombingscon’t from page 6 which calls for U.S. troops

to live closer to villagers to win their trust and protect them from the Taliban.

Last week, Karzai told a group of visiting U.S. congressmen that Obama's plan to begin withdraw-ing U.S. troops in July 2011 had given a "morale boost" to the Taliban and that the war could not be won until insurgent sanc-tuaries across the border in Pakistan are eliminated.

Meanwhile on Monday, a district governor in the eastern province of Nan-garhar, Sayad Mohammad Palawan, was killed when a bomb planted on his ve-hicle exploded as he was driving into a government compound in Jalalabad for a meeting of provincial security and political lead-ers, according to police spokesman Ghafor Khan.

Insurgents apparently planned for the bomb to explode inside the com-pound where it could po-tentially have caused far greater destruction, Khan said.

Elsewhere, NATO an-nounced the arrest of an insurgent commander and several associates believed involved in a weekend at-tack on two NATO bas-es in Khost province of southeastern Afghanistan. Nearly 50 insurgents were

killed in simultaneous at-tacks Saturday on Forward Operating Base Salerno and nearby Camp Chap-man, where seven CIA employees died in a sui-cide attack in December.

The commander was believed to be a member of the Haqqani network, a Pakistan-based faction of the Taliban with close ties to al-Qaida.

Afghanistan's Defense Ministry reported Monday that four Afghan soldiers were killed and another wounded the day before in a roadside bombing in Wardak province. A fifth Afghan soldier was killed and another hurt in a bombing in Helmand province's Nad Ali district.

In the southeastern province of Zabul, 24 Tal-iban traveling by truck and motorcycle were captured while trying to cross the border into Pakistan, said provincial government spokesman Mohammad Jan Rasoolyar.

Five Taliban, including one regional commander, were also killed in fighting with coalition forces Sun-day in Helmand province's Gereshik district, accord-ing to Daoud Ahmedi, spokesman to the provin-cial governor.

Page 8www.ChargerBulletin.comSeptember 1, 2010

U.S. Wasted Billions Rebuilding Iraqfrom the desert, complete with more than two doz-en guardtowers and sur-rounded by high concrete walls. But the only signs of life during a recent visit were a guard shack on the entry road and two farmers tending a nearby field.

In March 2004, the Corps of Engineers award-ed a $40 million contract to global construction and engineering firm Parsons Corp. to design and build a prison for 3,600 inmates, along with educational and vocational facilities. Work was set to finish in No-vember 2005.

But violence was es-calating in the area, home to a volatile mix of Sunni and Shiite extremists. The project started six months late and continued to fall behind schedule, accord-ing to a report by the in-spector general.

The U.S. government pulled the plug on Parsons in June 2006, citing “con-tinued schedule slips and ... massive cost overruns,” but later awarded three more contracts to other companies. Pasadena, Calif.-based Parsons said it did its best under dif-ficult and violent circum-stances.

Citing security con-cerns, the U.S. finally abandoned the project in June 2007 and handed over the unfinished facil-ity to Iraq’s Justice Min-istry. The ministry refused to “complete, occupy or provide security” for it, according to the report. More than $1.2 million in unused construction ma-terial also was abandoned due to fears of violence.

The inspector general recommended another use be found for the partially finished buildings inside

con’t from page 6 the dusty compound. But three years later, piles of bricks and barbed wire lie around, and tumbleweed is growing in the caked sand.

“It will never hold a single Iraqi prisoner,” said inspector general Stuart Bowen, who has overseen the reconstruction effort since it started. “$40 mil-lion wasted in the desert.”

Another problem was coordination with the Iraq-is, who have been left with health facilities that would cost at least as much as the Americans spent to complete. One clinic was handed over to local au-thorities without a staircase, said Shaymaa Moham-med Amin, the head of the Diyala provincial recon-struction and de-velopment com-mittee.

“We were al-most forced to take them,” she said during an interview at the heavily fortified local government building in the provincial capital of Baqouba. “Generally speaking, they were below our expectations. Huge funds were wasted and they would not have been wasted if plans had been clear from the beginning.”

As an example, she cited a date honey factory that was started despite a more pressing need for schools and vital infra-structure. She said some schools were left without paint or chalkboards, and needed renovations.

“We ended up paying twice,” she said.

In some cases, Iraqi ministries have refused to take on the responsibility for U.S.-funded programs,

forcing the Americans to leave abandoned buildings littering the landscape.

“Initially when we came in ... we didn’t collaborate as much as we should have with the correct people and figure out what their needs were,” Christensen said. He stressed that Iraqis are now closely involved in all projects.

The U.S. military pinned great hopes on a $5.7 million convention center inside the tightly secured Baghdad Interna-

tional Airport compound, as part of a commercial hub aimed at attracting foreign investors. A few events were held at the sprawling complex, in-cluding a three-day en-ergy conference that drew oil executives from as far away as Russia and Japan in 2008, which the U.S. military claimed generated $1 million in revenues.

But the contracts awarded for the halls did not include requirements to connect them to the main power supply. The convention center, still re-quiring significant work, was transferred to the Iraqi government “as is” on Jan. 20, according to an audit by the inspector general’s

office. The buildings have

since fallen into disrepair, and dozens of boxes of fluorescent lightbulbs and other equipment disap-peared from the site. Light poles outside have toppled over and the glass facade is missing from large sec-tions of the abandoned buildings.

Waste also came from trying to run projects while literally under fire.

The Americans com-mitted to rebuilding the

former Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah after it was destroyed in major offensives in 2004. The U.S. awarded an ini-tial contract for a new waste water treatment system to FluorAMEC of Greenville, S.C. — just three months after four American private security contractors were savagely attacked. The charred and mutilated remains of two of them were strung from a bridge in the city.

An audit concluded that it was unrealistic for the U.S. “to believe Fluo-rAMEC could even be-gin construction, let alone complete the project, while fierce fighting oc-curred daily.” The report

also pointed out repeated redesigns of the project, and financial and contract-ing problems.

The Fallujah waste wa-ter treatment system is nearly complete — four years past the deadline, at a cost of more than three times the original $32.5 million estimate. It has been scaled back to serve just a third of the popula-tion, and Iraqi officials said it still lacks connec-tions to houses and a pipe to join neighborhood tanks

up with the treat-ment plant.

Desperate resi-dents, meanwhile, have begun dump-ing their sewage in the tanks, caus-ing foul odors and running the risk of seepage, accord-ing to the head of Fallujah’s munici-pal council, Sheik Hameed Ahmed Hashim.

“It isn’t ap-propriate for the Americans to give the city these ser-

vices without complet-ing these minor details,” Hashim said. “We were able to wipe out part of the memories of the Fallujah battles through this and other projects. ... If they leave the project as it is, I think their reputation will be damaged.”

By contrast, the Basra children’s hospital — one of the largest projects un-dertaken by the U.S. in Iraq — looks like a shin-ing success story, with gar-deners tending manicured lawns in preparation for its opening. But that opening has been repeatedly de-layed, most recently for a lack of electricity.

The construction of a “state of the art” pediatric

specialist hospital with a cancer unit was projected to be completed by De-cember 2005 for about $50 million. By last year, the cost had soared above $165 million, including more than $100 million in U.S. funds, and the equip-ment was dated, according to an auditors’ report.

Investigators blamed the delays on unrealistic timeframes, poor soil con-ditions, multiple partners and funding sources and security problems at the site, including the murder of 24 workers. Bechtel, the project contractor, was removed because of monthslong delays blamed on poor sub-contractor performance and limited oversight, the special in-spector general’s office said. A Bechtel spokes-woman, Michelle Allen, said the company had rec-ommended in 2006 that work on the hospital be put on hold because of the “intolerable security situa-tion.”

In an acknowledgment that they weren’t getting exactly what they hoped for, Iraqi officials insisted the label “state of the art” be removed from a memo-randum of understanding giving them the facility. It was described as a “mod-ern pediatric hospital.”

The hospital’s director, Kadhim Fahad, said con-struction has been com-pleted and the electricity issue resolved. “The open-ing will take place soon, God willing,” he said.

Residents are pleased with the outcome. One, Ghassan Kadhim, said: “It is the duty of the Ameri-cans to do such projects because they were the ones who inflicted harm on people.”

By JOANN WOLWOWICZASSISTANT EDITOR

–––––––––––––––––––––

Opinion & Editorialswww.ChargerBulletin.com | www.Twitter.com/ChargerBulletin | Text us! 270.UNH.NEWS (864.6397)

Page 9www.ChargerBulletin.comSeptember 1, 2010

By MATT DI GIOVANNIEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

–––––––––––––––––––––

Give us your opinion!

Submit your editorial toChargerBulletin@newhaven.edu

for possible inclusion in next week’s issue of

The Charger Bulletin!

One Down…Too Many More to Go

Good ol’ Politics

I don’t think I can go a single day without some-how weighing in on a po-litical situation or issue, and since I’ve never seen fully eye to eye with any-one, discussing politics can quickly degrade to arguing (more like a dis-cussion involving a lot of satire, sarcasm, and mock-ing) quickly. One of my most recent discussions was about Glenn Beck in general, touching on his rally in Washington D.C. on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

I can’t help but question the motive of Beck when I see him say-

With the first week of classes over and done with, it’s now onto the second week. Wait!!! It’s ONLY the second week? Already the reading as-signments have been piled on in each class, we know when to expect our first test (which is probably way too soon for anyone’s liking), and we know that there is a thirty page paper looming in the “not so dis-tant” future. Anyone else feeling totally swamped? Welcome to college.

I never enjoy the first week of classes. Mainly, the reason stems from the fact that I never know what to expect from my teachers and the class. The faster I can get through the first class, the better, be-cause, by then, the teach-

er has already asked me how to pronounce my last name (multiple times) and then tried repeating what I just said. I’ve had the same prob-lem since kinder-garten; it’s to be expected. How-ever, with the first week being over, every teach-er has given up on my last name and moved onto bigger and bet-ter things, which must be assigning homework, I’m assuming.

The one thing that makes me feel better when I’m sitting in class wondering what to expect when the teacher comes in is if I get a sense that the teacher actually cares about the students and how they do in his or

her class. Nothing stinks more than knowing your first day that the class you are currently sitting in will

be the worst class of your life and you should not bother to ask the professor for help because he or she will turn you away, since “this is college and you

should fend for yourself.” Encouraging isn’t it? I re-member my first class as a freshman here at UNH. I did not know the correct answer to the teacher’s question and immediately felt dumb because of the way the teacher responded to what I said. Let’s just say, I did not look forward to the rest of the classes that week.

However, I do have to say that I have not come across many teachers at UNH like that. Most of the teachers here genuinely care about their students and do everything they can to help make sure that stu-dents do the best they can do in their class. I have had teachers respond to emails late at night or very early in the morning just before a test to help answer any last minute questions. It is also reassuring to hear a teacher say that they

would be happy to talk to me at any time, even if it is not during one of their office hours. Because, let’s face it, it does not sound very welcoming to hear someone say “I am only available during my office hours. If my times are not convenient for you, con-sider that your problem.”

If your teacher is will-ing to go above and be-yond what is required to help you in the class, con-sider yourself one lucky student. We have some truly amazing faculty here on campus that you will come in contact with over the next four years. I am still amazed that there are teachers here who remem-ber me from a freshman year class and take the time to say hello to me. If, perhaps, you do not have a teacher who could be clas-sified as amazing or even moderately acceptable, do

not let that set the standard for the entire faculty here.

So, for those of you who, like me, have already fallen behind in your read-ing, keep your head up through these next cou-ple of weeks. Things get easier as you settle into a routine and get a feel for who the teacher is and what you can expect from the class. Just be grateful because, even though you may complain that your teacher assigns more work than you know what to do with, think how much worse it would be if they did not offer to help you if you needed it. Also, take advantage of the resources here on campus, because though they are free for all students, you are paying for them with your tuition.

Happy reading every-one and hurry up and get caught up before you fall too far behind.

ing on his show that he had no idea that it was MLK Jr. Day, when he planned the rally. Mr. Beck, with all due respect, I call shenanigans. I cannot believe that a politi-cal personality such as yourself would not consider all possibili-ties when planning a huge rally, particu-larly one where you made every attempt to make a link with MLK Jr. and his ide-als. Granted, you did not stand in the exact same spot as King, choosing a spot two flights of stairs lower instead.

Regardless of Glenn Beck’s motives, and

my personal feelings re-garding President Obama,

I can’t help but agree with his response to Beck’s ral-

ly. Obama, when asked by Brian Williams about the

rally, swore that he did not watch any of it. President Obama, thank you for not get-ting involved with this controversial ral-ly. You have caught more than enough flak for comments on the ground zero mosque and many other issues, and it’s nice to know that you may have avoided a little trouble for once.

As I wrote this editorial, I was getting breaking news updates on the Emmy results, and I found out that

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart won its seventh

Emmy for outstanding variety, music, or comedy series, which reminded me of Jon Stewart’s com-mentary on Beck’s rally. To end with a quote from that commentary, “Glenn Beck does have a dream. Unfortunately, it’s the kind of dream you have when you eat four pepperoni Hot Pockets right before bed.” Congratulations on seven Emmys Jon!

DON’T

FORGET!

This news-paper is

recyclable!

Missing your favorite game?

Let us know!Email

ChargerBulletin@newhaven.edu

Fun, Games, & Morewww.ChargerBulletin.com | www.Twitter.com/ChargerBulletin | Text us! 270.UNH.NEWS (864.6397)

Page 10www.ChargerBulletin.comSeptember 1, 2010

ACROSS 1 Worn out 9 First match 15 In flight 16 Secondhand deal 17 Least adorned 18 Abounded 19 Favorite 20 Lady of the cloth 22 Gabor of “Green Acres” 23 Sponged 26 __ Khan IV 27 Erie Canal mule 28 Along the way 29 Tycoon 31 Not as much 32 Smoother and glossier 33 Qum coin 36 “The Day of the Lo-cust” author Nathanael 37 As a group 41 Muscle pain 44 Truncate 45 Till now 49 Dutch painter Gerard __ Borch 50 Ruckus 51 Rich ice cream with

eggs and chopped fruit 52 “Just the Way You __” 53 Decorative dangler 55 Possessive pronoun 56 Scram! 58 Responsive to advice 61 Whole 62 Loller 63 Long scarves 64 Fastening devices

DOWN 1 Mottle with spots 2 Heckart or Herlie 3 Impact depression 4 Diamond stat 5 Very long period 6 Adjusts gauges before-hand 7 Guts 8 Vietnamese holidays 9 Cape on the Bay of Biscay 10 Nobility 11 Language suffix 12 Junior, to senior 13 Lifts 14 Danger signal 21 Highland hats

24 Neck band 25 Property of color 30 Most recent 33 Puts on a theatrical revival 34 Intrinsic 35 Cupid 38 Upright height 39 Puts to sleep 40 Slaughter of baseball 41 Endeavor 42 Acute infectious disease 43 Charlton Heston movie, “Ben __” 46 Minor weakness 47 Protuberance on the head 48 Stair elements 54 Insolent rejoinder 57 Lubricant 59 Snooze 60 Cobbler’s pointed tool

(c)2010 TRIBUNE ME-DIA SERVICES, INC.

Crossword Clues

Last week’s answers

Last week’s solution

Charger Chat“When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot

and hang on.”- Franklin D. Rooseveltwith Tyler Salovin

Page 11www.ChargerBulletin.comSeptember 1, 2010

Interested in podcasting forThe Charger Bulletin?

Email us atChargerBulletin@newhaven.edu

Last week’s answers

Broom Hilda by Russel Myers

Your comic could go right here,email us for more information

Page 12www.ChargerBulletin.comSeptember 1, 2010

Well to say the least, the university is looking damn snazzy with all the new construction almost done. I cannot tell you how much better Bartels looks and feels compared to years past.

We have bleachers!!! I don’t know about anyone else who likes to watch soccer up at Kayo field, but it’s very nice to finally have a more decent place to sit.

NegativesPositivesWell as great as Bartels looks, there are a few complaints I’ve heard

kicking around campus. A lot of these include the dirty dishes and the drink machines being empty early in the morning during breakfast, but I’m sure that will all clear up as people get back into the swing of things.

My one complaint that happens at the beginning of every single year is that the quad always looks terrible. You would think by now a solu-tion would have been figured out.

ChargerBatteryby Josh

Van HoesenT

he

Okay so I know the quad undergoes a lot of foot traffic at the beginning of every year and that lovely tent over it tends to help kill the grass rather quickly. Add in all the rainwater and poor drainage and you have a barren

landscape that reminds me of a war torn battlefield. But instead of the university having to redo the quad’s grass every year and spending half of the year trying to keep it looking even semi decent, hasn’t anyone thought to do

anything to actually help it? Maybe dig down and give it better drainage? I’m not a landscaper, and so I don’t know what can be done. My only question is, if there is something that could be done, why hasn’t it been done yet?

The Battery Charge

Jennie’s Hotties of the Week

The Guy

The Gal

Amanda Doerr Craig Roth

Craig is a sophomore majoring in Criminal Justice, concentrat-ing in International Security. Craig often boxes and shoots air soft guns. At only 19, he holds a job at the Long Beach Police Department and says that his goal is to “one day serve this na-

tion, in hopes that it will see a better day.” Up until last year, he worked in the United States Civil Air Patrol, organizing meetings

and training cadets. He works out at the gym on campus and is involved in the Criminal Justice program.

Amanda is a senior majoring in Marketing, with a certificate in paralegal studies. She is the President of the Legal Society this year, as well as the Academic Peer Mentor of Dunham. She has participated in the Presidential Fellowship program this past sum-mer at the Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, she is a note taker for Campus Access Services, a member of the Fire Science club, and the Executive Assistant of Paintball Club. In the little spare time she finds, Amanda does pageants, sings, and plays/teaches piano.

by Jennie Roth

Class of 2011 Class of 2013

the world’s best-known tracks, whether it’s inside a car or riding a motorcy-cle capable of exceeding 120 mph in a straightaway.

The USGPRU sanc-tions races across the na-tion, billing itself as a development circuit for motorcycle racers from ages 12 to 18. The hope is

these riders eventually will compete in a world-class series.

Lenz seemed to be on his way to the top before the accident. He was struck by 12-year-old Xavier Za-yat, of Flushing, N.Y., who escaped injury and did not race after the crash.

“We are deeply sad-dened by this tragic loss, but know that Peter is rac-ing even faster in the sky,” the Lenz family said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are now with the other racer and his

Sportswww.ChargerBulletin.com | www.Twitter.com/ChargerBulletin | Text us! 270.UNH.NEWS (864.6397)

Page 13www.ChargerBulletin.comSeptember 1, 2010

AP source: Ramirez Expected to Join White SoxBy JAY COHENASSOCIATED PRESS

–––––––––––––––––––––

Interested in writing about sports for The Charger Bulletin?

Email us atChargerBulletin@newhaven.edu

CHICAGO – Manny Ramirez helped the Bos-ton Red Sox win the World Series in 2004 and 2007. He powered the Los An-geles Dodgers to the NL West title two years ago with a stellar run at the plate.

The Chicago White Sox are hoping he has one more playoff push left.

Ramirez is expected to join the White Sox on Monday, giving the fad-ing playoff contenders a big boost during a key 10-game road trip.

A person familiar with the situation told The As-sociated Press on Sunday night that Chicago was close to acquiring the slug-ger from L.A. The person,

who spoke on condition of anonymity because the details were still being worked out, expected the deal to be completed on Monday, but whether it’s a trade or waiver claim was still to be determined.

The White Sox are hoping Ramirez will be energized by a change of scenery and can give them a lift similar to the one he provided when he was acquired by the Dodg-ers in 2008. Los Angeles got Ramirez in a deadline deal that season, and he hit .396 with 17 homers in 53 games to lead the club to the postseason.

But that was two years ago, and the 38-year-old Ramirez has been ham-pered by right leg injuries this season. The outfielder is batting .311 with eight

homers and 40 RBIs in 66 games in 2010.

White Sox general manager Kenny Williams declined comment in an e-mail to the AP. The AP also e-mailed Dodgers GM Ned Colletti seeking comment.

Ramirez’s salary is $20 million in the final season of a two-year contract, but only $5 million is due this year, with the rest to be paid over the next three years. He also has a full no-trade clause.

The White Sox were awarded a waiver claim on Ramirez last week, giving them until 1:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday to complete a trade with the Dodgers. Or Los Angeles could let him go and the White Sox would simply assume his salary.

Those details were still being worked out, with Chicago likely trying for a trade that would in-clude cash to offset part of Ramirez’s salary.

The White Sox (70-60) have lost nine of 14 and 13 of 20 to fall 4 1/2 games back of AL Central-lead-ing Minnesota with three games left in the season series between the teams. Interestingly enough, the first two stops on their 10-game trip are Cleve-land and Boston, two of Ramirez’s former clubs.

“We know what time it is,” second baseman Gor-don Beckham said after Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the New York Yankees. “Sep-tember is around the cor-ner and we have to make a push.”

Ramirez likely would

become the designated hit-ter in Chicago, especially considering his recent fragile history. He returned Aug. 21 from his third stint on the DL this year.

The 12-time All-Star became a fan favorite when he arrived in Los Angeles, with a section of seats named in his honor at Chavez Ravine and wigs that mimicked his dread-locks suddenly becom-ing fashionable. Ramirez performed so well down the stretch during his first season in Los Angeles that the Dodgers signed him to a two-year, $45 million contract.

The injuries and last season’s 50-game suspen-sion following a failed drug test soured his stay, and Ramirez hasn’t spoken to reporters since spring

training, when he said this would be his final season in L.A.

The Dodgers (67-64) could have kept Ramirez to bolster their chances of making the postseason. They won four straight last week to move closer to a playoff spot, then lost consecutive games at Col-orado over the weekend to slip back.

Los Angeles is fourth in the NL West, 10 games back of first-place San Di-ego, and trails wild card-leading Philadelphia by 6 1/2 games.

Ramirez, who hasn’t started a game since Wednesday at Milwaukee, entered Sunday’s 10-5 loss as a pinch hitter and was ejected after arguing a called strike on the only pitch he saw.

RECSports Begin AgainBy ASHLEY BOGDANSKISTAFF WRITER

–––––––––––––––––––––

If you’re not on a sports team, but still want to be active and play sports, RECSports may be just for you. RECSports are the many sports played throughout the year with your friends instead of the official UNH sports teams. All that someone has to do to participate in RECS-ports is to gather a bunch of friends and sign-up togeth-er as a team. When partici-pating in RECSports, you can also participate in the

Charger Cup, which is a competition between the different teams to get the most points and maintain a great sportsmanship rat-ing. However, if you par-ticipate in RECSports you do not have to participate in the Charger Cup. If your team does chose to partici-pate in the Charger cup, there is a chance to win a champion t-shirt.

RECSports is bro-ken up into four seasons throughout the academic year. There are two sea-sons in the fall semester and two seasons in the spring semester. Season

one contains 6 vs. 6 vol-leyball, floor hockey, flag football, and 3 vs. 3 men and woman’s basketball. Season two contains out-door soccer, handball, CoRec 5 vs. 5 basketball, and fiddle Stx. Season three contains 5 vs. 5 men and woman’s basketball, dodgeball, wallyball, and roller hockey. Participants in roller hockey need to provide their own equip-ment. Season four contains 4 vs. 4 volleyball, softball, indoor soccer, and 3 vs. 3 CoRec basketball. The games usually run on Sun-days, anytime through-

out the day, and Monday through Friday, usually at night when most students are out of class.

RECSports is a fun way to get yourself and your friends to participate in different sports that you might not have heard of before or ever attempted to play, without needing to be part of the official UNH sports teams and at-tending practices. If you need more information on RECSports, go to http://www.newhaven.edu/Char-gerREC/recports/.

Teen Motorcycle Racer Killed in Crash at IndyMICHAEL MAROTASSOCIATED PRESS

–––––––––––––––––––––

INDIANAPOLIS – The motorcycle racing com-munity mourned the death of a promising 13-year-old rider in a crash at India-napolis Motor Speedway while defending the youth circuit that allows teens to drive vehicles that can top 120 mph.

Peter Lenz of Vancou-ver, Wash., fell off his bike during the warmup lap for Sunday’s first race at Indi-anapolis and was run over by another motorcycle, driven by a 12-year-old. Medical workers imme-diately placed Lenz in a neck brace, put him on a stretcher and began chest compressions while taking him to a hospital.

Several hours later, he was pronounced dead.

The Marion County coroner’s office said Lenz died from blunt force trau-ma. More details could be released Monday fol-lowing an autopsy on the youngest driver or rider ever killed at the 101-year-old speedway.

“Peter passed away ear-ly this morning when he was apparently struck by another rider,” read a post-

ing on Lenz’s Facebook page, which was signed “Dad.”

“He passed doing what he loved and had his go fast face on as he pulled onto the track,” the post-ing said. “The world lost one of its brightest lights today. God Bless Peter and the other rider involved. 45 is on another road we can only hope to reach. Miss you kiddo.”

Lenz rode the No. 45 bike, and his father was at the track Sunday.

It was the first death at the track since IndyCar driver Tony Renna was killed in testing in Octo-ber 2003.

Lenz had emerged as one of America’s young-est rising stars.

At age 11, he earned the “expert” license from the American Federation of Motorcyclists, and in March 2009, Lenz became the youngest rider ever to win an AFM race. This year, competing in the U.S. Grand Prix Racers Union series, Lenz had four wins, five podium finishes and was leading the MD250H classification in points.

The grown-up resume just didn’t match his ap-pearance. Listed at 4-foot-11 and 81 pounds, the ba-by-faced Lenz described

his profession as “kid.”“Our hearts go out to the

parents, family and friends of Peter Lenz,” speedway CEO Jeff Belskus said in a statement. “Words can-not adequately express the sadness of our company and our employees about this tragic incident, and Peter is in our thoughts

and prayers.”It wasn’t the first time

Lenz was involved in a se-rious crash.

A mechanical failure last season left Lenz with four broken bones and a severed radial nerve — all of which required sur-gery. By November, Lenz was healthy again and by spring, he was back in Vic-tory Lane.

The fatal accident al-most certainly will spark a debate about how young is too young for racers to be competing on one of

family, who were also in-volved in this tragedy.”

Racers insist age has never been the issue.

American Colin Ed-wards was running 250cc bikes at age 17, and Indy MotoGP runner-up Ben Spies was competing on the 125cc circuit at age 12.

“That’s not like a bike too big for him, you know, I mean this is our sport, we chose to do it,” said American Nicky Hayden, the 2006 world champ who called the death “terrible.”

“I mean, sure, we know going in the conse-quences.”

But are new rules needed?

Those in racing circles say no, comparing the

sport to other potentially dangerous sports such as football and gymnastics. When asked about running at Indy, speedway officials pointed out that the series has stops at potentially more dangerous tracks.

USGPRU officials said this was the first fatality in the series in nine years.

Still, racing conditions were not ideal this week-end at Indy.

Hot, dry weather turned the bumpy, 2.621-mile course into a slick track that tested the world’s best

riders. Reigning world champ

Valentino Rossi fell four times, including a spill Sunday morning during a 20-minute warmup ses-sion. Sunday’s Moto2 race was shortened after a big wreck on the first lap took out four drivers.

“This was the most dif-ficult race for everyone,” MotoGP winner Dani Pe-drosa said. “The condi-tions were very hard be-cause of the heat and the asphalt was very greasy.”

After a brief delay to clear the track, the US-GPRU race was restarted. Had they known the sever-ity of the injuries, one of-ficial said they would have considered canceling the race. The three other races all started on time, though Lenz was never far from the racers’ thoughts.

“This is an ugly, ter-rible part of this sport,” USGPRU chief steward Stewart Aitken-Cade said. “You do what you can to stop it from happening as best you can. That’s really all that you can do.”

“Any time a racer is in-jured in this way and loses his life, it’s tough, adult or child,” Aitken-Cade add-ed. “It just makes it espe-cially difficult when it’s a young guy like Peter.”

Music & Entertainmentwww.ChargerBulletin.com | www.Twitter.com/ChargerBulletin | Text us! 270.UNH.NEWS (864.6397)

Page 14www.ChargerBulletin.comSeptember 1, 2010

Crispy GamerIn 1994, the Internet

was still a mystery to most of us. My dad, forever the electronics tinkerer, was perpetually trying to hook our household up to the net via the local library’s dial up access point (it never actually worked).

Meanwhile my friends all had varying degrees of connectivity using the “big three” of AOL, Com-puServe and Prodigy. So when I first loaded up “Monkey Island 2” and after I thwarted the state of the art copy protec-tion (involving a decoder-wheel!), it asked me if I wanted to play the regu-lar (easier) version of the game, or “Mega Monkey” mode. “Mega Monkey” should have read: “Bug your friend Jeff every day at school to go home and post yet another obscure gaming question on some backwater message boards on your behalf mode”. Though he probably hat-ed the task, I have fond memories of those times, always eager the following day to hear the next step in an impossibly hard puzzle.

Jumping into the same game 16 years later, I’m still laughing out loud at the great humor and still looking on GameFaqs for the answers. “Monkey Is-land 2: Special Edition” is LucasArts’ remake of the classic - but now with better graphics, full voice work, updated user inter-face and a host of fun little extras. Clearly I’m enjoy-ing my time with an old friend, but is it just nostal-gia or is this ancient game worth buying again?

The first change that smacks you across the face upon load-up is the graphics overhaul. The backgrounds and general artistic style are spot on, matching the original’s in-tent and then running with it. You almost get the sense that the artists painted the scenery onto your screen using watercolors. All of the colors pop and even the night scenes are vivid and inviting. If there’s one area where LucasArts dropped the ball, it’s in the model for Guy-brush himself. Maybe it’s the height differ-ence, maybe it’s the too-lightly-colored beard but one way another, the remod-eled Threepwood just doesn’t hold a candle to the original and I found myself wishing I could navigate the old 8-bit avatar around in the new world.

For those snobs out there that refuse to play old games because of all the reading, now you have no excuses left; the entire game is also full voice acted with all the previous actors repris-ing their roles. One small improvement from “The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition” seems to be timing. In the first “SE” installment, there was a bit of dead air between spoken lines because the game was still waiting for the player to “read” the dialogue. This led to the game feel-ing very staccato, almost as if the characters were performing a bad high school play, rather than

talking naturally. Thank-fully, this issue has been fixed for the second “SE” and now everything flows naturally, with jokes firing off right on cue. The music has also been remastered, going from MIDI blats and tinny chimes to fully real-ized string and woodwind scores.

One of the crazy cool inventions that have car-ried over from “SMI: SE” is one where, with a sim-

ple press of the F1 key, you can switch back and forth between the 1994 and 2010 versions. I’d like to say I was making all of these comparisons by memory but you don’t truly understand the grav-ity and amount of change that LucasArts put in until you alternate between the two versions. The user in-terface is also revamped over the first remake as now all you have to do is hold down right click over an object and only the rel-evant options are given (including the very situ-ational “push” and “pull” functions). Behold the

power of late ‘90s technol-ogy!

Finally, “MI2: SE” comes with a goodly amount of extras, similar to what you would find on DVDs of newly re-leased movies. Included is concept art from both the Special Edition and the original art dating back to 1992. While it is neat to see what “Sam and Max” creator Steve Purcell was drawing 18 years ago, it’s

especially cool to see how the current artists grappled with turning the old 8-bit collection of pixels into fully realized characters.

I’m not sure I could tolerate drawing different versions of Elaine over and over, but I’m glad Gary Choo did!

The other special edi-tion feature is the audio commentary by three of the original creators. I will say it right now: every game needs this feature included from now on. Every single game. When entering an area, you are sometimes given the indi-cator that pressing the A

By Brian MardineyReview: Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revengebutton will bring up some neat bit of information or even some friendly banter between old developing buddies relating war sto-ries. It even switches to a “Mystery Science Theater 3000”-type view. This feature isn’t implemented perfectly, however, since the game doesn’t pause and the commentary can overlap important/funny game dialogue. Also, the commentaries are linked

to areas, not game progression, so you will end up hearing the same bit of com-mentary every time you enter the town of Woodtick, no matter how far into the game you are. But these are small concerns and I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

All of these im-provements are great for die-hard adven-ture fans and people who played the game

as kids, but what about the rest of today’s population? Does the actual game hold up low these many years later? While the humor is still very funny and the equal (better?) of the re-cently released “Tales of Monkey Island” episodes, the gameplay is definitely showing some age. At one point I had close to 30 in-ventory items; that’s just too many and shows that while these games are clas-sics and laid the founda-tion for future generations, they still hadn’t quite got-ten everything right yet.

The game is also hard. A lot of these puzzles have

such backward logic as to be evident only in hind-sight. There is also lots of requisite backtrack-ing which is something most games were guilty of throughout the 90’s. Later adventure games like “Full Throttle” managed this problem by inventing the double click area transi-tion arrow, but “MI2: SE” stayed true to its roots, opting to leave you dou-ble-click-less. Authentic but ultimately frustrating.

To answer my own question, no, this spe-cial edition of a 16 year old game probably won’t nestle itself in the hearts of those who never played the original. But I’m not sure that was ever really the point. It seems more like LucasArts, apart from wanting to make a bit of money off an old IP, wanted to give the old girl one last coat of wax and some touch-up paint be-fore sending her off to the Smithsonian to be forever crystallized in time. Now all of the adventures of Guybrush Threepwood are fully voiced, look great, and will be available when parents want to show their kids a relic of a bygone era of gaming. It’s the closest a developer has come to turning a game into a pub-lic service.

For the latest informa-tion about videogames, visit www.crispygamer.com

COPYRIGHT (C) 2010 CRISPY GAMER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SER-VICES, INC.

Movies Dominate Stage On Broadway

By JOHN CARUCCIASSOCIATED PRESS

–––––––––––––––––––––

NEW YORK – There was a time when Holly-wood turned to Broadway for movie ideas, trans-forming such shows as “Chicago,” “The Sound of Music” and “Amadeus” into box-office gold and Oscar winners.

These days, theater producers look to the film community for juicy stage projects, turning movies like “Billy Elliot,” “The Producers” and “Hair-spray” into Tony winners.

The new Broadway season is no exception. Among shows opening this fall are “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” based on the comic book and movie franchise; “Elf: The Musical,” inspired by the outrageous Will Ferrell comedy; and Pedro Almo-dovar’s 1988 film farce, “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.”

Meanwhile, “Priscilla Queen of the Desert the Musical,” adapted from

the 1994 road movie about drag queens and a trans-sexual and their cabaret act, opens for a pre-Broad-way run in Toronto on Oct. 26. It was first adapted for the stage in 2006 for a run in Sydney, and most recently had a success-ful turn on London’s West End.

Many eyes, though, are on the $50 million-plus “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” which was in the works for six years and long hung in limbo as it jumped financial hur-dles. Based on the Marvel comic book hero, “Spider-Man” features music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge, with a book by its director, Julie Taymor, and Glen Berger.

U2’s Bono and The Edge are cutting their teeth writing show tunes. The jump may not be so far, given the appeal of the hit series “Glee” and its occa-sional ability to transform rock anthems into show music. So it’s not hard to believe that the Irish

See BROADWAY page 15

con’t from page 14

Page 15www.ChargerBulletin.comSeptember 1, 2010

39% The Expendables $17.0M6% Vampires Suck $12.2M38% Eat Pray Love $12.1M32% Lottery Ticket $10.7M76% The Other Guys $10.2M75% Piranha 3-D $10.1M77% Nanny McPhee Returns $8.4M50% The Switch $8.4M87% Inception $7.8M81% Scott Pilgrim vs. the World $5.2M79% Despicable Me $4.7M51% Dinner for Shmucks $3.5M

Currently in Theatres

Lottery Ticket

Critics’ Consensus: There’s a worthwhile message at the heart of Lottery Ticket, but it’s buried under stale

humor, tired stereotypes, and obvious clichés.

Top 12 Movies This Week from RottenTomatoes.com

Interested in joiningThe Charger Bulletin?

Email us atChargerBulletin@newhaven.edu for more infor-

mation!

The Big SwitcherooBy CAROLE MCFADDANSTAFF WRITER

–––––––––––––––––––––

In The Switch, Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston spool over their friendship in a lonesome, 14-year dance on the line of friendship and “en-ergy”, as Aniston’s char-acter, Kassie, describes it. The movie proves to be a combination of Jen-nifer Lopez’s film last spring, The Back Up Plan, in which Lopez’s charac-ter meets a man after in-semination, and Aniston’s real-life plans to under-go insemination without a partner or companion in hand.

Kassie is an intelligent, outgoing, fun-loving, single woman who has

decided it’s time to have a baby--even if it means doing it by herself. De-spite her very neurotic best friend Wally’s (Bateman) objections, she under-goes her plan with a little help from a charm-ing sperm donor. Un-beknowns t to Kassie, her plans go awry at her i n s e m i n a -tion party because of a last-minute switch, which isn’t discovered until sev-en years later when Wally finally gets acquainted with Kassie’s precocious and slightly neurotic son.

Although receiving a “splat” 49% grade on www.rot tomtomatoes.com, a movie review site by professional and civil-

ian pre-viewers, 62.8% of theatre viewers have given it A’s or B’s according to www.boxofficemojo.com. Totaling out in its second weekend, the film has

surmounted at nearly $12 million.

Despite its low reviews, I highly suggest this “al-ternative” natured film

for a night of laughs and a romantic comedy that re-flects on the realities and actualities of life.

Top Pop Singles1. Love the Way You Lie, Eminem,

featuring Rihanna, Aftermath

2. Dynamite, Taio Cruz, Mercury

3. California Gurls, Katy Perry, featuring Hayley Williams, Capitol

4. I Like It, Enrique Iglesias, featuring Pit-bull, 101 DISTRIBUTION

5. Teenage Dream, Katy Perry, Capitol

6. Cooler Than Me, Mike Posner, J-Records

7. DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love, Usher, featur-ing Pitbull, La Face

8. Mine, Taylor Swift, Big Machine Records

9. Airplanes, B.o.B, featuring Hayley Wil-liams of Paramore, Atlantic

10. Ridin’ Solo, Jason Derulo, Warner Bros.

(C) 2010 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

Dave’s Music ReportThe world of popular

music can be a very cruel and unforgiving place, es-pecially with the percep-tion that a pop star is es-sentially supposed to be a young, sex symbol just as much as a performer. Many have claimed that once an artist turns 40, while album sales may re-main strong, their success will inevitably decrease. Whether or not this is ac-tually true is up for debate. On one hand, there are plenty of cases that prove this theory. For example, Whitney Houston’s last major commercial success on the singles chart came in 1999, when she was 36 years old. However, when

Houston released the sin-gles from her 2002 album, Just Whitney, they went unnoticed, and she has struggled ever since.

On the flip side, howev-er, many artists continue to have commercial success after turning 40. Michael Jackson was still releasing top-20 singles at the age of 43, and even Jay-Z’s first number as a lead artist, “Empire State of Mind,” was still at the top of the charts when he entered his fourth decade. Others have even experienced success into their 50s. Cher’s “Be-lieve” hit the number one stop on the Hot 100 when she was 52. But it’s hard to call that a fluke, con-

sidering she had many hits well into her 40s. Prob-ably the most successful of these artists would have to be Madonna, who has released eight top-10 hits since turning 40, including a number one and even a top-3 hit, after turning 50.

Meanwhile, for some, it is hard to blame lack of success on turning 40. Jennifer Lopez is finding it difficult to keep her mu-sic career alive, having re-cently parted with her label after an unsuccessful start to her currently unreleased album. However, her com-mercial decline has been a long time in the making, with her last top-20 hit be-ing released in 2005. Even

Mariah Carey has seen a slump in her popularity, but then again, her latest album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, wasn’t exactly the most praised album of her career. Sure, there are plenty of art-ists who suffered from the inevitable movement of time, but it is probably safe to say that an artist’s waning popularity or con-tinuing success is more of their own destiny. In the end, it is just a matter of staying relevant, remain-ing in the public eye, and keeping the music inter-esting. The select few that have the ability to do that are the ones that truly will survive through the years.

By Dave IannaconeThe Curse of 40

Movies Dominate Stage for Upcoming Broadway Seasonrockers can retrofit their stadium-oriented rock into the more intimate musical theater.

The big budget musi-cal extravaganza boasts one of the highest budgets in Broadway history and bursts with producers that include Marvel Entertain-ment and Sony Entertain-ment. Above the pack is lead producer Michael Cohl.

The cast once included Evan Rachel Wood, known as both Queen Sophie-Anne Leclerq on TV’s “True Blood,” and the on-again, off-again girlfriend of Marilyn Manson. Alan Cumming was slated at the villainous Green Gob-lin, but has been replaced by Patrick Page, the name-sake of the Broadway ver-sion of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”

“Spider-Man” opens in the newly named Fox-woods Theatre. Perhaps the name change for the cav-ernous venue will bring a change of fortune, because until this year, the Hilton Theatre, as it was previ-ously called, had been a place where shows went to

die. “Young Frankenstein” played for a lackluster 485 performances, while other shows became more im-mediate casualties. “The Pirate Queen” (85 perfor-mances) and “Hot Feet” (97 performances) barely hit their stride. Interest-ingly, the theater’s earlier moniker, the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, saw a successful revival of “42nd Street” that ran for 1,524 performances.

“Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark” begins previews on Nov. 14, and will open on Dec. 21.

“Elf: The Musical” be-gins previews Nov. 2 at the Al Hirschfeld Theater, opening Nov. 10 in time for the holiday season. Based on the 2003 com-edy, the musical tells the story of Buddy, a human raised as an elf at the North Pole. Madness ensues af-ter he is sent to New York to live with his biological father. After getting used his new world, the giant elf goes on a mission to save Christmas.

The musical stars George Wendt (“Cheers”) as Santa Claus. Tony win-ner Beth Leavel co-stars

and is reunited with her “Drowsy Chaperone” counterpart, Bob Martin, who wrote the book with Thomas Meehan (“Hair-spray,” “Young Franken-stein”). Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin (“The Wedding Singer”) supply the music.

Even foreign films aren’t outside the realm of what producers will adapt these days for the stage. “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” tells the story of a soap opera actress, her philandering boyfriend and the people who come in and out of her life. In some ways, it’s like “Sex and the City,” though with less sex and a different city. (Is “Sex and the City The Musical” not far behind?)

The cast includes Tony winners Patti LuPone, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Laura Benanti, as well as Tony nominees Danny Burstein and Sherie Rene Scott.

“Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” begins previews Oct. 2 at the Belasco Theater, and will open Nov. 4.

The classic Pee-wee

Herman TV show, “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” was based on the film, “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” Now “The Pee-wee Her-man Show” will have a limited run at the Stephen Sondheim Theater, open-ing Nov. 11.

And, as in previous seasons, Broadway wel-comes a bevy of stars that include: James Earl Jones and Vanessa Redgrave (“Driving Miss Daisy”); Laura Linney and Chris-tina Ricci (“Time Stands Still”); Patrick Stewart and T.R. Knight (“A Life in the Theatre”); Cherry Jones (“Mrs. Warren’s Profes-sion”); David Hyde Pierce (“La Bete”); and Jeffrey Wright and Mos Def (“A Free Man of Color”).

The season will also see the last collaboration of musical theater greats John Kander and Fred Ebb (“Chicago,” “Cabaret”): “The Scottsboro Boys,” the real-life, staggering story of nine young black men accused of raping two white women in Ala-bama in the early 1930s and their tale of justice repeatedly delayed and de-nied. The show played off-

Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre, winning good re-views and a Drama Desk prize for Kander and Ebb.

The score for “The Scottsboro Boys,” which opens Oct. 31 at the Ly-ceum Theatre, was written before Ebb died in 2004.

One of the most talked-about plays for the new season is the Broadway premiere of “Driving Miss Daisy,” starring Tony win-ners Redgrave and Jones. Alfred Uhry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play ran off-Broadway in 1987 be-fore becoming an Oscar-winning movie starring Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman.

“Driving Miss Daisy” begins previews Oct. 7 at the Golden Theater, and will open on Oct. 25.

Other plays include the Roundabout Theatre Company’s “Mrs. War-ren’s Profession,” starring Cherry Jones in the George Bernard Shaw work about a mother who makes a bad sacrifice for her daughter. It opens Oct. 3 at Ameri-can Airlines Theatre.

The Roundabout also will present the Kneehigh Theatre’s production of

Noel Coward’s “Brief En-counter,” which was sold out in its off-Broadway run at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, opening at Studio 54 on Sept. 28; and Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Ear-nest,” starring Brian Bed-ford, which debuts at the American Airlines Theatre on Dec. 20.

John Guare is debut-ing his new play, “A Free Man of Color,” at the Viv-ian Beaumont Theater on Nov. 18. Set in 1801 New Orleans, Jeffrey Wright stars as a Lothario.

Discussion of art return to Broadway with David Mamet’s latest, “A Life in the Theatre,” opening Oct. 12 at the Gerald Schoen-feld Theatre, and “The Pitmen Painters,” with an opening Sept. 30 at Samu-el J. Friedman Theatre.

Patrick Stewart and T.R. Knight (“Grey’s Anatomy”) star in the Mamet tale about two ac-tors in a repertory com-pany, while “The Pitmen Painters” concerns itself with a group of miners who become celebrated painters.