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Show A6 mions Monday • August 11, 2008 Iraq timetable Beware the free steak dinner j to the point of fear. People Loraine Glueck-Gholdston | I scared me. I remember beOpinions writer ing approached by a couple In case no one's noticed yet, I'm a bit of a cynic. Not as whiny as some cynics, but a bit on the ranty side. If I'm really in rant mode, I'll probably flail my arms and swear loudly. This is why I'm so much better in print than I am in person - I have the luxury of going back and deleting the blunter passages, replacing them with something more benign. It's not as easy to get a point accross that way, but it keeps the folks with the torches and battering rams away from my house. There are some people, however, whom I don't mind offending sometimes: the ones I feel are offending me. By and large, this includes sales people and politicians. After alt, they're pretty much the same thing. They memorize the manipulative lingo and spew it forth as trained. Confront them and they get condescending. If you're not buying, they are trained to believe, you must be some sort of irresponsible, reproachful moron. It has been said — by my favorite author, Terry Pratchett, no less ~ that the path to hell is paved not with good intentions but with frozen solicitors. I didn't start out with an inborn hatred for all things sales. I was actually naive of petition-wielding supermarket sitters on one occasion. When I asked for more details, and a huge man, something of a cross between a gorilla and a water buffalo, stood up and hung over me in a threatening manner and started in with how ignorant I was and questioning if I was a decent They assured us no one would try to sell us anything. "Leave your checkbooks at home!" they announced cheerfully. If anything, that made me even more suspicious. ' The zoobie salesman/ lecturer stood in front of a room full of suckers like us and lectured for a good hour before and probably an hour after we got our large yet mediocre steak. "They assured us no one would try to sell us anything. 'Leave your checkbooks at home!1 they announced cheerfully. If anything, that made me even more suspicious.1' The content included citizen -- well, I signed it and kicked myself later. But a quiz on which rooms in I'm not the person I used your home are most likely to be. If someone tried that to have fires start in them, with me now, he'd be trying and went on to inform us to fish that petition out of that normal smoke detectors the back of his throat with a only detect about half of all fires (I'm not 100 percent pair of barbcue tongs. One thing I've never on how true, that is). This was followed by been is one to come away from a bad experience with- heart-rending tales of people out having learned anything. — mostly children ~ who had I vowed never to be intimi- died in fires. They did give a few details of how the fires dated like that again. More recently, my hus- started, but much more than band and I were suckered . that, they were pulling the into one of those "You've emotional blackmail strings Won. a Free Dinner!" sales for all they were worth. pitches. We were broke, so As this thing dragged we decided a free steak is a on, I got more and more free steak, and off we went annoyed. If it hadn't been to get one — even if it was perfectly obvious to begin accompanied by something with, it was clear that they called a "fire safety lecture." were selling something just Ethan Dodge Asst. Opinions editor by the way the details were recounted. For example, on the pull down screen there appeared a newspaper article with passages highlighted. But they didn't highlight anything about fire safety or prevention: It was a quote from a little girl who had been trapped. '"I was so scared!' she said, tears running down her face." That, I thought, was a low blow. But not as low as the obituary of the other little girl, the one who had died days after her parents had failed to invest in this product. They were selling smoke detectors and alarms, and set up appointments with most of the people there to come into their homes and tell them what deathtraps they were, and of course set them up with a brand new state of the art and very expensive system. I'm pretty secure with the system I have now, with the fancy sprinklers and all, but I mainly didn't want to buy because of their repellent sales tactics. Salespeople, beware. I know some of you are good people who are just trying to make a living, but watch what they teach you in that orientation. If it isn't a load of manipulative schemes, fine. But if it is, run. Run away from that cheesy group interview with the motivational speakers before you turn into a human face on a monstrous facade that I've learned to loathe. | In January 2008 when asked about the war in Iraq and Bush's willingness to stay another 50 years, Sen. John McCain answered, "Make it a hundred.... That would be fine with me." This powerful and firm stance was one of the main points in the McCain campaign, but it has recently come down as Nouri alMaliki, Prime Minister of Iraq, expresses his desire for troops to be gone by the end of 2010. "I think it's a pretty good timetable," McCain said in CNN's "The Situation Room." The man's opinions have totally nipflopped from his ardent passion against any sort of timetable to leave Iraq that he had before the primary elections, but for good reason. On July 21, Sen. Obama met with Prime Minister Maliki and discussed" different issues concerning foreign affairs. The spokesman of the meeting, Ali alDabbagh, was quoted by The Associated Press saying, "We are hoping that in 2010 that combat troops will withdrawn from Iraq." Obviously if the Iraqi government desires a withdrawal and believes that they can handle themselves and al-Qaida without our soldiers and their M-16's. let us allow them! We handled ourselves just fine against the British when the entire world thought we'd never achieve indepen- dence, and look at us now. Who is to say that they cannot'succeed similarly? The government will not state a fixed date of withdrawal, but as of right'now, both Obama and "McCain plan to start a 16-month timetable for removal as soon as the election takes place and is confirmed. Yes, the Republican and the Democratic nominees have the same views and plans for one hot subject that is a crucial part of both their campaigns. However, will McCain's base suffer? His statements declaring Obama's foreign policy "naive" can now be turned against him. Not only does the Iraqi government itself agree with Obama's withdrawal process, but now McCain himself agrees with his opponents vtnaive" policy. Republicans are becoming less and less loving toward McCain, and this timetable could quite possibly have tipped the barrel. However, take into consideration McCain's time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, a war that did not conclude in the most desirable way. His desire to make' sure this war does not end the same way is understandable; he could still have a bad taste of failure in his mouth. After Obama's meetings with Nouri alMaliki, McCain now realizes that Iraq is ready to live without our help. Hats off to Sen. McCain for seeing the need to change and taking initiative. Undeclared Dilated Pupils Jordy Kirkman So are you registered for classes yet? Can you help me get into Sexology 1010? couldn't find it on the list. • Sure what are you taking? Why do you think there should or shouldn't be a timetable to withdraw troops from Iraq? "It's like putting a timeline on building a house. If it's not done in three months, are you just going to leave it? No." -Kaydee Brown "A soldier told me that a timetable would be a bad thing. So many Iraqi people love us there." -Daniel Denny "Goals always need to have a sense of definiteness. However, it's good in theory - but unrealistic." -Thomas Merrill "People have come back and told me of the good effect it has. However, I think we've lost the original purpose of why we invaded." -Ben Patient "Depending on the situation, it's nice keeping an open window. I'd rather get all the problems taken care of. But a timetable can bring a peace of mind to some." -Krystal Guerra Oh just Sexology 1010, Demonotog^2010and Space Ship Design. They're New. Ask your advisor. Yalam. We should get into the same ones. Get out of my office. Weekly Crossword 14 • 17 ^ ^ H 18 1 Across 1- Bearded woman, say; 6Timetable, for short; 10- Mines; 14- Sports area; 15- Andean country; 16- "Orinoco Flow" singer; 17-Languishes with longing; 18- School founded by Henry VI; 19- Diplomacy; 20Actor Stephen; 21- Study of rainfall distribution; 24- Gave light; 26- Rope for leading an animal; 27- Back muscle, briefly; 28- Tiny branches; 30- Short ringing sound; 33- Oil-yielding rock; 34- Ten of these equal one dong in Vietnam; 37- Singer McEntire; 38- Eddy; 39- Pack of cards; 40- Male cat; 41- Begin; 42- Rasping instruments; 43Rise to one's feet; 44- Embrace; 45- Attractive route; 48- Seeing, but not believeing; 52- Having tubercles; 55- Filled pastry crust; 56- Scottish Gaelic; 57Shrinking sea; 58- Staggers; 60Affirm solemnly; 61- Shipping deduction; 62Grows in Brooklyn; 63- Studies; 64- Auto pioneer; 65- Guides; 2 3 5 • 20 24 • 30 4 21 X L• - 31 37 40 32 6 7 8 • 9 10 11 12 13 ^^•16 • 22 1 23 -L 26 28 ••• • 29 34 35 36 ^^•39 HH 4 2 41 43 45 46 47 49 - J 52 56 50 51 - 53 • 54 ^^•58 55 59 60 63 1 64 _ • 65 • Down 1- Island in the Bay of Naples; 2- Disney mermaid; 3- Of the kidneys; 4- Vane dir.; 5- Veil worn by Muslim women; 6- Swiftness; 7- Etta of old comics; 8- Switch suffix; 9- Heap of manure; 10Flower parts; 11- Not proper; 12- Greek goddess of fortune; 13- Lustful deity; 22- Are we there ?• 23- Anger; 25- Forearm bone; 28- Next after the second; 29- Flaw, so to speak; 30- PC monitor; 31- The fifth sign of the zodiac; 32- Big Blue; 33- Stately aquatic bird; 34- Norse goddess; 35- Opening-day starter; 36- Approves; 38- Rapid-fire; 39- Delves; 41- Agitate; 42Obsequies; 43- Scoffs; 44- Riled (up); 45- Lieu; 46- Bend; 47- "Barnaby Jones" star; 48- Type of pitch; 49- Musical drama; 50- Angered; 51- Approvals; 53- Orsk's river; 54- Hog fat; 59- Hot time in Paris; GoMword puzzlai provMtd by UoCroitwordt.com (hup://ww.t»t*tre>Mwt>rdi.torn). 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