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Show Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012 Page 10 17 &CI Utah State University • Logan, Utah • ini www.utahstatesman.conn "-Free Speech' Zone Opinions on this page (columns, letters unless otherwise identified are not from Utah Statesman staff, but from a wide variety of members of the campus community who have strong opinions, just like you do! This is an open forum. Want to write something? Contact: statesman@aggiemaiLusu.edu Football title affects the entire community As students at Utah State University and as devout Aggies, we like to show our team spirit by going to the football and basketball games. We paint our faces and get temporary tattoos stamped on our skin as a sign of our dedication. But up until now, these outward displays of loyalty by the fans have been mere compensation for what the actual sports An Editorial Opinion teams lack in performance. It's been more than half a century since the Aggie football team won nine games in a row. We've had to look on as big teams like Texas, Oregon, Florida, USC and UCLA steal all the thunder in the sports world. However, blue-and-white fans rejoice. Things have already started to change now that we won the Western Athletic Conference championship. This Saturday, the Aggies will take on Idaho in a game that will determine whether or not we'll take home in the WAC championship by ourselves or have to share. "An outright conference championship means a lot," said USU head football coach Gary Andersen. "There are not very many times in a career as a player or a coach where you get an opportunity to win 10 games, especially to win 10 games in the regular season. It's a special place to be." Practically speaking, we are sitting pretty when it comes to beating the Vandals. The only way we could walk away without a piece of the championship is if a miracle happens and we lose on Senior Night, which we all know isn't very likely. If we win Saturday — and we may go so far as to say when we win — it will be the first time the Aggies ever had an outright win since 1936. USU football is making a name for itself, as well as the university. With our newfound fame in athletics, we've found our corner, however small, in the spotlight of fame. Sports teams and events may not necessarily lead to academic success, but prospective students are drawn by the amount of team spirit demonstrated in the college they apply to. Winning may not be everything, but it definitely raises the level of school pride and college atmosphere, in turn raising the admissions level and overall student body. And of course, no one's going to complain about the extra revenue the school will pull in from that. Community pride develops as fellow fans unite to cheer on their team and alma mater. The Aggie faithful have shown a lot of support and loyalty to the team, and now the Aggies can start giving back by rewarding the fans with some wins they can be proud of. Abo ut US Editor in Chief Steve Kent Copy Editor Eric Jungblut News Editor Allee Wilkinson News Senior Writer Tmera Bradley Ouclifiew Features Editor Natasha Bodily Features Senior Writer Cale Patterson Sports Editor Tavin Stucki ForumLetters Pornography not a drug To the editor: "Fight the new drug" supporters have recently been using this paper as a platform to claim that pornography acts as a drug that causes euphoria and rampant addiction. I have a few questions for these people: Question 1, why don't people at art museums foam at the mouth and collapse into an epileptic episode of euphoria when they see works of art like David or Vitruvian Man? Because that's what most people would do if you injected them with heroin or meth. Question 2, how do nudists survive what is clearly an overdose? They like to spend copious amounts of time in the vicinity of their naked friends and they usually don't even get sexually aroused. In fact, it's actually against naturist social norms for someone to flaunt any sexual arousal (whether moisture or stiffness) they may have. On the occasion someone does get sexually aroused, they simply cover themselves with a towel until the arousal dissipates. However, if you constantly injected someone with heroin or meth for the amount of time some people stay in nudist colonies, they would die. In fact, I've never heard of anyone overdosing on pornography. Ever. It would be really disappointing if the answer to both these questions was "because pornography is not actually a drug" because that would mean that our friends over at Fight the New Drug are manipulating and cherry-picking real scientific data to fulfill an agenda much in the same way young earth creationists have repeatedly been rebuked for. Ben Maxfield Roommates aren't all bad To the editor: Sports Senior Writer Curtis Lundstrom tive manner, I found it to be merely an illusion as the article always portrayed one roommate as the antagonist and the other roommate as the victim of a situation. Though the "antagonistic" roommates went unnamed, the supposed victims didn't. This way, the portrayed bad guy of the situation can still be identified by using the process of elimination, and humiliated publicly for all of USU to read. In no way, shape, or form should a professional publication such as The Utah Statesman allow this kind of article fly. This is the kind of writing I expect to see on my Facebook newsfeed, not from a university newspaper. Now as an individual with an international parent coming from a very humble background, I found the smelly fish story to be the most appalling. My mother's family used to live in a but smaller than the apartments that can be found in The Towers of Central Campus. For many years, my mother's family, which was made up of seven people, lived on what they could get. My grandmother, for example, worked at a local fish market selling a variety of fresh fish caught by fishermen who lived like she did. Normally, I don't find myself reading The Utah Statesman and today was no real exception. Instead, I happened to hear a classmate discussing an article which sparked my curiosity. I then proceeded to pick up The Utah Statesman for November 14 and found myself appalled at the lack of professionalism by staff in writing the article titled "Roommate drama rages through student apartments." Though the article seems to be written in an objec- ►See LETTERS, Page 11 Compromise needed in fiscal crisis Our national debt ticks up every day. Our nation is now more than $16 trillion in debt with no plan to tackle the problem. When the time comes, I imagine Congress will raise the debt ceiling one more time so we do not default on our obligations. I am disgusted with Republicans and Democrats alike for the pathetic fiscal situation where our nation currently finds itself. The looming question is: Where do we go from here? Democrats propose to raise taxes on only the wealthiest Americans as a way of bringing more money into the U.S. treasury. Republicans oppose this by saying this will largely hurt those who employ others and could lead to a larger unemployment rate than we already have. Republicans propose lowering tax rates to ensure that Americans keep more pay, thus increasing spending throughout the sectors of our economy, which they argue will eventually broaden the tax base. Democrats oppose this by saying this simply benefits the wealthiest Americans. Democrats refuse to act to reform our goingbroke entitlement programs while Republicans refuse to have a penny cut from the bloated national defense budget. Entitlements and defense make up the great majority of the United States budget ►See RIGHT, Page 11 AColumn Divided Two students take two angles on one political issue ii Moving beyond the election, the attention of the political world turned quickly to sa From the financial predicathe ment approaching with left the end of the year as a number of provisions and expenditures are set to expire. The cheerful euphemism "fiscal cliff" illustrates the gravity of the political and economic challenge facing us. Our approach to the budget needs to be threefold: reform the tax code, cut spending and increase revenue. The top-down approach to tax cuts has failed, leaving behind it trillions in lost revenue, no job creation and economic inequality rivaled only in thirdworld countries. While low taxes are necessary for the middle class and small businesses that shape the economy, the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy must expire. No one serious about cutting the deficit can overlook this enormous expenditure. Historically, the times of great economic prosperity have also seen the highest rates for those with the highest income. Additionally, tax loopholes and exemptions need to be closed. Between exaggerated deductions and willful tax evasion, the government loses around $400 billion which could be used to reduce our debt. As the economy recovers, we need to focus on lowering our deficit by reducing spending on federal programs. From discretionary spending to Mike McPhie 01t, i ir ►See LEFT, Page 11 Photo Editor Delayne Locke Senior Photographer Curtis Ripplinger Web Editor Karlie Brand Editorial Staff: Steve Kent Allee Evensen Delayne Locke Tavin Stucki Eric Jungblut Natasha Bodily Karli Brand About letters • Letters should be limited to 400 words. • All letters may be shortened, edited or rejected for reasons of good taste, redundancy or volume of similar letters. • Letters must be topic oriented. They may not be directed toward individuals. Any letter directed to a specific individual may be edited or not printed. • No anonymous letters will be published. Writers must sign all letters and include a phone number or e-mail address as well as a student identification number (none of which is published). Letters will not be printed without this verification. • Letters representing groups — or more than one individual — must have a singular representative clearly stated, with all necessary identification information. • Writers must wait 21 days before submitting successive letters — no exceptions. • Letters can be hand delivered or mailed to The Statesman in the TSC, Room 105, or can be e-mailed to statesman@aggiemail. usu.edu, or click on www.utahstatesman. com for more info. Polls, submission box, calendars, news archives and more: www. utahstatesman .com |