The Smoke Signal Friday, September 18, 2009 www.thesmokesignal.org Opinion 5

By Jerry TingEditor-in-Chief

Every year, a Homecoming meeting be-tween the administration and the class of-ficers is held to discuss Homecoming rules. Every time there are more and more rules and changes to Homecoming, said ASB President Kylan Nieh. (Refer to news page 1.)

The senior lounge can no longer contain couches and mattresses. Rallying and march-ing is no longer permitted. This year, seniors are no longer even allowed to honor the long-standing tradition of rewarding airbands with their ratings, and all classes are forbidden to hold signs in the audience. Ever since fresh-men year, I would look at the seniors for rat-ings, just because its interesting, you know? said Nieh. With these many changes, it soon becomes obvious that Homecoming has been diminished since I first walked the halls of MSJ as a freshman and has been replaced by rules, rules, and more rules.

Different rules are definitely warranted be-cause individuals in the past have indeniably abused their freedom during Homecoming week. Classes have struck out ruthlessly, mak-ing a mockery of fellow MSJ students. Even

vandalism of private and school property was commonplace; my own class of 2010 has been both a target and a retaliator. Yet modifica-tions of the rules that govern Homecoming should help to create a better Spirit Week, not reduce it.

Although the administration has proper intentions behind confining certain aspects of spirit week due to previous misconduct, some of their limitations obscure timeless MSJ tra-ditions, and a careful review of the necessity of other rules is warranted. Placing more and more restrictions on Homecoming reduces the week from its true form and spirit as a means to promote school unity. Rules like no couches in the senior lounge and the removal of signs may not serve the intended purpose of lessening tension among classes. Such re-straints deserve special modifications by the administration to ensure that their laudable purpose of reducing tension is achieved.

But this year, even the incorporation of other classes in our skits is being jeopar-dized. The agreement between officers and the administration is that representation is permitted, given that the following condi-tion is met: no member from another class

By Anastassia TselikovaStaff Writer

The only industrialized country in the world that does not yet have a universal health insurance system, America houses at least 40 million citizens who have no health insurance, nine million of whom are children. Approximately 18 thousand people die yearly due to lack of health insurance. Each time a president takes office, an inte-gral part of his platform is the eternal problem of healthcare, yet in the past few years, such significant reform plans as this have not been undertaken. The public option healthcare plan, a step that earlier would have seemed insane, has finally been proposed. The public option, similar to Medicare, would be available to anyone regardless of age, race, gender, or previous medical condi-tions and could prevent thousands of deaths. Countries such as Canada and Australia implemented similar single-payer programs years ago. The difficulty and exorbitant costs of pro-curing health insurances have caused some people to go without. However, we can never predict when car accidents or deadly diseases might occur, and no one is exempt. A public insurance sector provides healthcare neces-sary in the event of the unexpected. This option, though, does not completely remove private companies; it merely enables more people to access affordable health in-surance through the government. The option increases competition between the compa-nies, weeding out those who overchange and cannot survive in a highly competitive envi-ronment. If this sounds like capitalism as we under-stand it, youre right, despite the oppositions attempt to label this as a drift towards social-ism and total government control. We can still choose private insurance companies over the government plan. The only difference will be that the former will have to compete hard-er against the public option and each other to

retain their income levels. With higher prices for comparable service, private medical insurance may become obso-lete as increasing numbers of people switch over to the more reasonable public option. As with Medicare, customer satisfaction and company efficiency in public sectors outstrip

that of the privately-owned insurance com-panies. Therefore, the fearful reactions of private companies is understandable, as with this plan, they may very well risk losing many of their customers. Why pay more for private insurance when a public option provides ser-vice with the same quality at a lower price? Rated the top system of healthcare in the world, France offers universal healthcare, but people can choose to supplement it with private insurers, to fill in any gaps in govern-ment healthcare. This way, citizens still have a choice as to what system they use, yet every-one is guaranteed healthcare. Ambitious and far-reaching, Obamas plan can dramatically revolutionize healthcare in the United States and save many lives if only the population will give it a chance.

By Christine ChengWeb Editor

Alhough ideally President Obamas healthcare reforms promise great things and revolutionary results, in reality, the impracti-cality of his flawed plans will end up defeat-ing the original purpose.

The presence of private insurance compa-nies at the root of the problem is already an established fact. However, insurance compa-nies essentially can escape any actual regula-tion; their greed and corruption will continue to be fueled by their helpless clients, and los-ing just a few customers to other policies will be no more than a slap on the hand for the corporations.

Despite whatever improvements may be brought about by insurance reform, the pub-lic option overlooks factors contributing to our disfunctional healthcare in the first place. Physicians still have their hands tied in many medical cases, often for fear of malpractice lawsuits. This negates any changes that may have taken place, as medical practitioners would often still be unwilling to change

their habits for fear of capricious juries. Fur-thermore, the severe shortage of health care workers caused by a cap on the number of federally funded training positions threat-ens to cripple the health care system as Baby Boomers reach the age when their bodies be-gin to weaken and they need increased medi-cal assistance. Due to lack of medical work-ers, the health care system will quite possibly be overwhelmed in the near future.

The call for prevention is simply a well-meaning politicians misguided intention to improve the general quality of life of less privileged citizens while cutting medical costs. Unfortunately, prevention equates to an increase in costs, as it entails expensive proce-dures such as early screening and treatment for cancer, which often yield inconclusive or unsubstantial results.

This is not to say research should be ig-nored. Rather, it should be better funded, so as to find more effective and efficient preven-tive procedures. Similarly, drug development procedures should become more efficient, thereby saving both resources and lives by providing cutting edge medicine with no po-litical strings attached.

Sources for funding, however, are ques-tionable. We cannot use the resources paying for the huge war in the Middle East back in the states, so the healthcare reform money must invariably come from either the pock-ets of citizens or the paychecks of current health care workers. The former would bring stiff, bipartisan opposition, whereas the latter could threaten some hospitals to shut down and would force physicians to decrease the quality of care that is provided.

In the end, what is most important is the quality of care ultimately provided to the general public. Poor care not only costs lives, but also drives up expenses. It is obvious that health care reforms are necessary, but what the president is offering is simply not appro-priate for the current state of medical affairs in America.

Healthcare for All Practicality Mattersversus

can file a complaint. The consequence of a complaint? The offending class is automati-cally severely penalized, which puts them at risk of losing Homecoming. ...its finally our senior year and the administration is taking away our privileges. How can the admin-istration tell if a complaint is true or not? Another class could potentially frame us if they wanted to, said Senior Class Presi-dent Linda Xu. The agreement, although it prevents the mockery of other classes in skits, severely diminishes the creative license that script writers and actors are entitled to, forcing harmless puns to be removed and thereby creating a less dynamic production.

I vividly remember the first morning of my very first Homecoming. My class and I boldly marched into the amphitheater, armed with nothing more than our high-pitched screams. Then the sophomores came pouring in, some in

BLOG.MASSLIVE.COMProtesters face off in response to the proposed public option policy.

Weighing in on the Public Option

Restrictions come at an expense to school spirit and traditions.

...modifications of the rules that govern Homecoming should help to create a better

Spirit Week, not reduce it.

Homecoming Changes Too Prohibitive

ARCHIVES

yellow, cardboard school buses and others banging on pots and pans. It is moments like these that we students will remember and look back on twenty years after we graduate. But moments like these are being restricted.

Homecoming is sacred because of the tra-ditions that classes before us have developed.Being a freshman and wondrously gazing into the senior lounge with its couches and luxury adds to the awe of the freshmen expe-rience. Chanting Ho, Ha, you wish you were a senior! while marching in drapes of red is an integral aspect of our high school life.

As I anxiously look forward to my last Homecoming here at MSJ, it is troubling to imagine one that has been limited and con-strained by questionable regulations. Home-coming should be a week of unity, and only better rules, not simply more rules, will truly serve to reduce tension among classes.

Friday, September 18, 2009 The Smoke Signal www.thesmokesignal.org Sports 11

By Joseph TengSports Editor

Track 1: ENTER THE WU-TENG

By Joseph Teng & Anthony WuSports Editors

A brief introduction: Over the course of the year, the Wu-Teng Clan will produce columns (well call them tracks ) collectively known as Wu-Tengs Greatest Hits. Each track will include a rap on a current issue in sports, Docta Js diagnosis, and finally Masta As analysis. Hopefully our tracks will be spec-tacular enough to be pinned up on the most important section of your bedroom wall, but if not, at least flip to the sports section every month and see whether or not you agree with what the Smokie sports editors have to say.

The IssueHello MSJ, say hi to our first trackNow all you gotta do is relax and sit back.Todays concern about the sports biz:Pro athletes and their ruined images.All that needs to happen is an accusationThen suddenly theyll have a bad reputation.And just cuz the verdict is not guilty,People still wont accept them so readily.Forever stained is the publics perceptionLingering thoughts affect their reception.

The Doctas DiagnosisPeople accuse pro athletes of crimes

to get money or time in the spotlight, re-sulting in the damaging of reputations. This deterioration of the athletes cred-ibility is what sports experts who double as Harvard-caliber doctors (like me) like to call degenerative depiction syndrome.

The Mastas AnalysisThe cause of degenerative depiction syn-

drome is the stardom of professional ath-letes. Because pro athletes are rich and fa-mous, people sometimes choose to take advantage of them to gain great rewards, ruining their reputations along the way.

Remember 2003, when a Colorado woman accused Lakers superstar Kobe Bry-ant of sexual assault? Or how about Steel-ers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who is currently the target of a lawsuit filed by a Lake Tahoe casino host who claims that Big Ben assaulted her? And dont forget Char-gers linebacker Shawne Merriman. Inter-net and TV celebrity Tila Tequila recently charged Merriman with battery and false imprisonment; both charges were dismissed by the district attorney a few days later.

These cases and many other simi-lar ones, combined with the common lack of substantial evidence, make us think that perhaps people are dishonest about their headline-making accusations.

But dont assume we believe that all such instances are just examples of normal people trying to take advantage of well-known tar-gets and their money. Yes, sometimes profes-sional athletes commit wrongs and deserve to be punished. However, the public shouldnt automatically doubt accused athletes just be-cause of rumors and the media. Instead, peo-ple should uphold the concept of innocent until proven guilty and, of course, refrain from trying to take advantage of sports fig-ures. I mean, who in their right mind would want to get on the bad side of a pro athlete?

Its Good Game for the Great Galactus in Shaq Vs.It always strikes me as funny when I

hear that people enjoy getting caught up in programs such as the ridiculous Jon and Kate Plus 8 or Gossip Girl. Let me sug-gest a show truly worth watching: Shaq Vs.

Shaq Vs. is a new reality show center-ing on Shaquille O Neal, the 325 lb. 7 1 NBA superstar. Shaq is returning to the lights and cameras, and make no doubt about it, he will take every chance he gets to flaunt his cockiness and flashiness.

Through Shaq Vs., Shaq revolutionizes re-ality TV by merging it with pro sports. In ev-ery episode, he challenges other superstars to their respective sports, albeit with handicaps.

For the first episode, Shaq faced off against reigning Super Bowl champion Ben Roethlisberger in a small 7-vs-7 two-hand touch game at Ambridge High School in Ambridge, PA. Both of them played as quar-terbacks and picked their own teams; Shaqs advantage was that he started on the 20-yard line while Roethlisberger started on the 40-yard line. Shaq, confident that he would come out on top, placed a bet with Roethlisberger; if Shaq won, he would get to wear Roethlis-bergers Super Bowl ring for a week. If not

The biggest battle of the sexes took place down in Southern California on the Her-mosa Beach volleyball court, where Shaq and gold medalist Todd Rogers, coached by gold medalist Phil Dalhausser, battled against Olympic legends Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. Shaq, confident in his height

advantage hes only two inches shorter than the net asked for no handicaps; however, he did prepare. Before the match, Shaq at-tempted to learn more of the womans psyche in order to get into his opponents minds by visiting Serena Williams, who taught him not how to play tennis, but how to grunt ex-plosively. He even tried to get into Walshs mind by threatening to replace his partner with Casey Jennings, her husband; but of course he didnt actually do it...right? The match would be the best of three matches, each to 11 points with rally scoring. What was the catch? Watch the show to find out.

His third battle happened on the baseball diamond, where Shaq challenged slugger Al-bert Pujols to a homerun derby at the T.R. Hughes Ballpark in OFallon, MO. This was a harder challenge for Shaqqie Robinson, be-cause his massive physique didnt assist him too much. Since a baseball is so much smaller than a basketball, which already looks as small as an orange in Shaqs massive hands, he defi-nitely needed several handicaps in this chal-lenge to have a chance of winning. The first handicap was that Shaq only had to hit 250 ft, while Pujols had to hit it 382 ft. Secondly, Shaq had ten outs per round while Pujols had only five. Shaq even toned down his usual smack-talk; of course, Shaq knows it isnt too wise to jostle a man always holding a bat.

His fourth fight was liter-ally about in the ring with former champion Oscar De La Hoya in

a five-round heavy hitting match at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. This was the most even match that Shaq participated in so far, as Shaq dominated De La Hoya both in height and strength, with his devastatingly long arms allowing him to land powerful jabs. But, height doesnt mean everything as David did beat Goliath. De La Hoya didnt hesitate when fighting Shaq, responding with flur-ries of punches when he had the chance.

His fifth match will be a competition of different strokes against Michael Phelps, the world swimming phenom. But Shaq will have certain handicaps to even the swimming field, so dont count him out yet. In his sixth and final match, Shaq will compete against tennis prodigy Serena Wil-liams, who he met in the second episode.

What really sets this show apart from others is the amount of trash-talk-ing that takes place as Shaq dem-onstrates his playfulness by taunt-ing and joking around with the other athletes. But underneath this pretense, view-ers can see the

competitive, fiery spirit that made

Shaq into one of the best basketball players of all time. But that

doesnt mean he dominates in every sport. So far, Shaq has lost each challenge and had to honor the terms of bets he made earlier in the episodes. Hes already lent one of his cham-pionship rings to Roethlisberger for a week

and walked down a beach in a pink Speedo for May-Treanor and

Walsh. Stay tuned for more.

continued from page 1LITTLE LEAGUE | MSJ Team Competes Nationally

the World Series in Taylor, Michigan.Mission easily dominated the field during

the district and section courses of the tour-nament but started to feel the competition heat up as they moved into the divisional section. The thirteen players fought their way through the divisional section with only one loss to Woodcreek. Full of energy and hope in achieving a title, they moved on to the regional section where they defeated Idaho, Oregon, Hawaii, and Nevada, but lost to So-Cal in a sweeping score of 11-0. Unfazed, the team walked away with a victory against Ha-waii, the defending champion team from last year. Due to a misunderstanding of league rules, Mission was eliminated from the tournament earlier than expected. Instead

of advancing, Hawaii took their spot in the World Series based on a better defensive re-cord of allowing less home runs to be scored.

Mission returned with a 17-2 seasonal re-cord with only the two losses from the Little League World Series Tournament. Having broken a 37 year old tradition of poor per-formance in the tournament, the boys came home with important lessons learned along the way. I felt anxious, nervous, and excited but I also learned a lot about sportsman-ship and how to deal with pressured situa-tions, said Mark. Hopefully the boys will continue to train for another impressive showing at the tournament next year. For play-by-play details on the teams experience at the tournament, visit www.msjll.com.

courtesy of ryan mark

syracuse.com

WU-TENGSGREATEST HITS

feat. Masta A & Docta J

courtesy of ryan markSophomore Kevin Finch winds up for a pitch.

Freshmen Kenny Jacoby, Reid Marion, Ryan Mark, Brandon Facha, Jeff Chu, Scott Havard, Adam Curtis, and Devon Jones and Sophomores Kevin Finch, Brandon Fuhs, and Patrick Andreson represent MSJ in this team picture.

usaplayers.comMerriman wasnt a merry man after Tequilas accusations.

12 Exclusive www.thesmokesignal.org The Smoke Signal Friday, September 18, 2009

Meet the editorsNews Opinion

Feature Graphics Centerspread

Editors-in-Chief

A&E Sports Web

In the beginning, there were two great writers, bred from the outskirts of MSJ . The few, the proud, brought in from the great depths of freshmen year, two Smokie legends were born. Armed with two years of experience and in the first Journalism 3 class ever, Editors-in-Chief Hannah Scobel and Jerry Ting are here to revolutionize the paper, Big Boss Scobel with her mega-macho musckles and Titanic Ting with his super-spiky hair. Looking down upon the school from Mt. N9, the two great warriors are always on the hunt for great story ideas. In the newsroom, Jerry strikes lightning on layouts while Hannah grumbles thunder about articles. Combined, the two are the best in Smoke Signal history, carrying the weight of the Smoke Signal on their shoulders. Contact them at eic@thesmokesignal.org.

-Hannah Scobel & Jerry Ting

EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!Newsies are back, theres no way to doubt it.

Theyve got it covered; its as easy as that,The brand new front page is where its at.

If its important, youll hear it from us,Fact or fiction? Its us you can trust!

Youll always know whats going downAs long as theres a Newsie around!

Megan and Sargun can be found behind a copy of the New York Times, at their fave lunch spots, or in the front cor-ner of N-9. Megan likes to boss around the Sports Editors and Sarguns favorite pastime is belting out JoBros lyrics.Hit them up anytime at news@thesmokesignal.org!

-Megan Bernstein & Sargun Kaur

There are legends. There are heroes. And then there are spazzy editors of the unequivocally best section of the paper. Why are we this extraordinary? Just Beccause.

The Opinion section tells you what we think, why we think it, and maybe - hopefully - youll learn how to think for yourself.

Have we hit a nerve? Struck a chord? Crushed an ego? Said something injanenious? Send a letter to opinion@thes-mokesignal.org.

See you in the Opinion section.

-Rebecca Gao & Jane Wang

Ali and SJ been a lot of places all around the wayTheyve seen a lot joy and are looking for more every dayThey are bringing Feature to the world,Telling their story as two beautiful girls.If Feature sees you getting down theyll definitely pick youPut you in the spotlight and tell the world about you.You might not see them todayBut you know theyll be back all around the wayLook for Feature everywhere you goThe more you see of Ali and SJ the more youll want to knowSend us your love at feature@thesmokesignal.org.

-Alissa Gwynn & Sonya John

Strike a diva pose cause Elisa and Albert are here to capture pictures of your beautiful face for the Smoke Signal! Dress to impress every day because youll never know when youll see yourself in the school newspaper. And dont forget to at-tend exciting events throughout the year to hear our cameras clicking away! When Elisas not editing photos, she loves to play volleyball and exercise with her doggy, Goldy. Albert, the master of Photoshop, constantly tries to find time in his busy schedule to fit some sleep in. If you have any photos that you would like to see in the next issue, e-mail them to graphics@thesmokesignal.org and they may be published!

-Elisa Ting & Albert Yuan

The haiku is yet another celebrated art form, one that your CS editors Karentina have beautifully mastered: Everybody knows You look at Centerspread first, Too hot to resist. Smack in the middle, Other sections cant deny, Centerspreads the best. Karen and Tina, We are just too cute to bear, Better read CS. Email us at centerspread@thesmokesignal.org. -Karen Lin & Tina Tseng

Niku was born in the Antarctic Ocean where she was raised by penguins with Happy Feet. One day, right when she was about to get eaten by an endangered polar bear, Cynthia arrived on the Titanic and took her to Breakfast at Tiffanys. The two became Just Friends and had (500) Days of Summer fun before seeking refugee in District 9oops, N9.

Cynthia enjoys stalking Ezra Koenig via Twitter, making friends on Omegle, and scrobbling music with Last.fm. Niku prefers making out with her non-existent poster of Chester Bennington, licking her toes, and being a creeper. Together, they make the most amazing A&E team to ever roam the world of journalism.

Email us at entertainment@thesmokesignal.org.

-Niku Jafarnia & Cynthia Kang

Prepare for what youve never seen before,Taste just a lil and youll beg for some more.Masta A and Docta J of the Wu-Teng Clan

Spitting out rhymes like no one can.Make sure you note our legit flow;

Were not just good, were professional.Everything we say is larger than life,

Doctas words are sharper than knives.Just listen closely to what we preach,

Or risk being disfigured by our figures of speech.Masta A and Docta J are baring their fangs;Witness a revolution, AKA the Wu-Teng.

sports@thesmokesignal.org

-Joseph Teng & Anthony Wu

One day, Christine, a narcissistic badminton fashionista, walked into Starbucks, looking for a hot cup of Java. There she saw Tanu, the infamous MUN meeting attender/VP, taking a byte out of a cookie.They ended up making Smalltalk, which in turn led to the creation of their brainchild, thesmokesignal.org.Thus, thesmokesignal.org generated many invaluable jewels for them, including things of Ruby and Perl.All over the world, people were amazed and enthralled by thesmokesignal.org, and thesmokesignal.org became an instant favorite.

Email us at web@thesmokesignal.org. Visit the site!

-Christine Cheng & Tanu Patel