Cut to the Chase T HE D AILY R EVEILLE WWW.LSUREVEILLE.COM Volume 113, Issue 95 Thursday, February 19, 2009 Entertainment ........ 15 Classifieds ............... 22 Opinion ................... 20 Index SATURDAY CHANCE SHOWERS 67 34 FRIDAY SUNNY 63 43 TODAY SUNNY 63 36 7:20 a.m. 8:20 a.m. Noon 3:20 p.m. 4:20 p.m. 5:20 p.m. Broadcasts Weather (AP) — A handful of Republican gover- nors are considering turning down some money from the federal stimulus package, a move opponents say puts conservative ideology ahead of the needs of constitu- ents struggling with record foreclosures and soaring unemployment. Though none has outright rejected the money available for education, health care and infrastructure, the governors of Tex- as, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alaska, South Carolina and Idaho have all questioned whether the $787 billion bill signed into law this week will even help the econo- my. “My concern is there’s going to be commitments attached to it that are a mile long,” said Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who considered rejecting some of the money but decided Wednesday to accept it. “We need the freedom to pick and choose. And we need the freedom to say, ‘No thanks.’” U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the No. 3 House Democrat, said the governors — some of whom are said to be eyeing White House bids in 2012 — are putting their own interests first. “No community or constituent should be denied recovery assistance due to their governor’s political ideology or political aspirations,” Clyburn said Wednesday. In fact, governors who reject some of the stimulus aid may find themselves over- ridden by their own legislatures because of SNUGGLING UP A blanket? A sweater? A robe?, page 15. Sports ....................... 9 ECONOMY Governors consider turning down stimulus money GOP attempts to put ideology first Enrollment could drop by nearly 8,500 if University hit with steep budget cuts RICHARD ALAN HANNON / The Associated Press Gov. Bobby Jindal speaks Wednesday at the State Capitol. EMMETT BROWN / The Daily Reveille Daily Reveille file photo LAWMAKERS, see page 7 By Melissa Deslatte The Associated Press • University may be forced to cut $71.9M (30 percent) of its budget next fiscal year. • The cut may decrease enrollment by 8,500 (including nearly half of minority enrollment). • University, System trying to decide if cuts should be performance-based or across the board. BUDGET CUTS BY THE NUMBERS: The University is bracing to endure a 29.8 percent drop in enrollment if it’s forced to cut $71.9 million from its budget next fis- cal year, according to documents ob- tained by The Daily Reveille. And an appar- ent difference between the Uni- versity and the LSU System’s ap- proaches to dealing with the cuts has been a sticking point between the two since the beginning of the year. An estimated 8,500 students may leave the University if state funding is cut by 30 percent next fiscal year. This figure — among others like hikes in tu- ition and student fees — was not included in the LSU System’s “budget reduction lsureveille.com Log on to see Kyle Bove break down the budget cuts. BUDGET, see page 8 By Kyle Bove Chief Staff Writer page 12 LSU System President John Lombardi University Chancellor Michael Martin A Brand New Box
Transcript
Cut to the Chase THE DAILY REVEILLE
WWW.LSUREVEILLE.COMVolume 113, Issue 95 Thursday, February 19, 2009
Entertainment ........ 15
Classifi eds ............... 22
Opinion ................... 20
Inde
x SATURDAYCHANCE SHOWERS
67 34
FRIDAYSUNNY
63 43
TODAYSUNNY
63 36
7:20 a.m.
8:20 a.m.
Noon
3:20 p.m.
4:20 p.m.
5:20 p.m.Broa
dcas
ts
Wea
ther
(AP) — A handful of Republican gover-nors are considering turning down some money from the federal stimulus package, a move opponents say puts conservative ideology ahead of the needs of constitu-ents struggling with record foreclosures and soaring unemployment.
Though none has outright rejected the money available for education, health care and infrastructure, the governors of Tex-as, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alaska, South Carolina and Idaho have all questioned whether the $787 billion bill signed into law this week will even help the econo-my.
“My concern is there’s going to be commitments attached to it that are a mile long,” said Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who considered rejecting some of the money but decided Wednesday to accept it. “We need the freedom to pick and choose. And we need the freedom to say, ‘No
thanks.’”U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the
No. 3 House Democrat, said the governors — some of whom are said to be eyeing White House bids in 2012 — are putting their own interests fi rst.
“No community or constituent should be denied recovery assistance due to their governor’s political ideology or political aspirations,” Clyburn said Wednesday.
In fact, governors who reject some of the stimulus aid may fi nd themselves over-ridden by their own legislatures because of
SNUGGLING UPA blanket? A sweater? A robe?, page 15.
Sports ....................... 9
ECONOMY
Governors consider turning down stimulus moneyGOP attempts to put ideology fi rst
Enrollment could drop by nearly 8,500 if University hit with steep budget cuts
RICHARD ALAN HANNON / The Associated Press
Gov. Bobby Jindal speaks Wednesday at the State Capitol.
EMMETT BROWN / The Daily ReveilleDaily Reveille fi le photo
LAWMAKERS, see page 7
By Melissa DeslatteThe Associated Press
• University may be forced to cut $71.9M (30 percent) of its budget next fi scal year.• The cut may decrease enrollment by 8,500 (including nearly half of minority enrollment).• University, System trying to decide if cuts should be performance-based or across the board.
BUDGET CUTS BY THE NUMBERS:
The University is bracing to endure a 29.8 percent drop in enrollment if it’s forced to cut $71.9 million from its budget next fi s-cal year, according to documents ob-tained by The Daily Reveille.
And an appar-ent difference between the Uni-versity and the LSU System’s ap-proaches to dealing with the cuts
has been a sticking point between the two since the beginning of the year.
An estimated 8,500 students may leave the University if state
funding is cut by 30 percent next fi scal year.
This fi gure — among others like hikes in tu-ition and student fees — was not included in the
LSU System’s “budget reduction
lsureveille.comLog on to see Kyle Bove break down the budget cuts.
BUDGET, see page 8
By Kyle BoveChief Staff Writer
page 12
LSU System President John Lombardi University Chancellor Michael Martin
A Brand New Box
Nation & WorldTHE DAILY REVEILLE
PAGE 2 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2009
WORLD NEWS
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI received Nancy Pelosi, one of the most prominent abortion rights politicians in America, and told her Wednesday that Catholic politicians have a duty to protect life “at all stages of its development.” The U.S. House speaker, a Catholic, was the first top Democrat to meet with Benedict since the election of Barack Obama, who won a majority of the U.S. Catholic vote despite differences with the Vatican on abortion. On his fourth day in office last month, Obama ended a ban on funds for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option — a sharp policy change from former President George W. Bush’s Republican administration.
Pope urges Pelosi to reject abortion support
Israel says no cease-fire until captured soldier comes homeJERUSALEM (AP) — Israel declared Wednesday that it will not open the Gaza Strip’s blockaded borders until Hamas mili-tants free a captured Israeli soldier, dealing a blow to Egyptian efforts to broker a long-term cease-fire. The decision was con-demned by Hamas, which is desperate for border crossings to be opened in order to start repairing destruction from Israel’s military offensive in the coastal territory last month. In parallel, the prime minister of the rival Palestinian government in the West Bank announced plans to stream reconstruction money directly to the people of Gaza.
NATION, STATE AND CITY BRIEFS
Attorney General: US cowardly on race mattersWASHINGTON (AP) — Eric Holder, the nation’s first black attorney general, said Wednesday the United States was “a nation of cowards” on matters of race, with most Americans avoiding candid discussions of racial issues. In a speech to Justice Department employees mark-ing Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives. “Though this na-tion has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards,” Holder said. Race issues continue to be a topic of political discussion, but “we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race.”
Republican faces recall effort for stimulus vote
Revenue panel increases shortfall projection
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao, the Vietnamese Republican who made a successful long-shot bid for Congress in an overwhelmingly black and Democratic New Orleans district, is the subject of a recall petition filed by critics of his vote against Presi-dent Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package. Rev. Aubry Wallace is the chairman of the recall effort. In a news release, he and Rev. Toris Young criticized Cao (pronounced “Gow”) for twice voting against the stimulus bill, which Obama signed into law this week.
(AP) — Louisiana’s budget picture has worsened for next year. The state’s revenue forecasting panel decreased in-come projections for the upcoming 2009-10 budget year, saying the state will bring in $103 million less than was expected. That means the state now is projected to have $1.3 billion less in state general fund revenue in the new budget year that begins July 1. The four-member Revenue Estimating Conference made the adjustment Wednesday. The panel also formally recognized a $866 million sur-plus from last year.
CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
The Daily Reveille holds accuracy and objectivity at the highest priority and wants to reassure the reporting and content of the paper meets these standards.This space is reserved to recog-nize and correct any mistakes which may have been printed in The Daily Reveille. If you would like something corrected or clarified please contact the editor at (225) 578-4811 or e-mail [email protected].
The Daily Reveille (USPS 145-800) is written, edited and pro-duced solely by students of Louisiana State University. The Daily Reveille is an independent entity within the Manship School of Mass Communication. A single issue of The Daily Reveille is free. To purchase additional copies for 25 cents, please contact the Office of Student Media in B-16 Hodges Hall. The Daily Reveille is published daily during the fall and spring semesters and semi-weekly during the summer semester, except during holidays and final exams. Second-class copies postage paid at Baton Rouge, La., 70803. Annual mail subscriptions are $115. Non-mailed stu-dent rates are $4 each regular semester, $2 during the summer; one copy per person, additional copies 25 cents each. Postmas-ter: Send address changes to The Daily Reveille, B-16 Hodges Hall, LSU, Baton Rouge, La.,70803.
THE DAILY REVEILLEB-16 Hodges Hall • Baton Rouge, La. 70803
bcm Dinner & TnT wOrshipEvery Thursday night. Dinner (free) at 7:15pm. TNT Worship Service at 8:00pm. The BCM is at the corner of Highland & Chimes. All LSU students invited! lsubcm.org
Genesis TuTOrinG-freeMonday-Thursday 5:00-9:00pmOffice of Multicultural affairs
AlphA kAppA AlphA sOrOriTY, incTolietry DriveFeb. 4th-28thDrop Box in LSU Women’s Center. Contact Marissa Brewer, [email protected] for a list of accepted items.
ZeTA phi beTA sOrOriTY inc. infOrmATiOnAlThursday, February 26, 2009Contact Nita Clark at [email protected] for info
briDGe prOGrAmThe Image of BeautyAfrican American Culture Center6:00pm
LAWRENCE JACKSON / The Associated Press
Attorney General Eric Holder makes remarks commemorating African American History Month on Wednesday.
THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 3thursdAy, fEbruAry 19, 2009
Though information on the University’s budget concerns is still sparse, the Staff Senate finds itself questioning the best role to play in the ongoing financial uncertainty.
The looming budget reduction was again one of the most impor-tant topics at the Senate’s meet-ing, joined this time by a vote on a parking-related resolution and a presentation on the celebration of the University’s sesquicentennial— its 150-year anniversary.
Staff Senate President Patri-cia Beste expressed the importance of the staff finding its niche in the adjustment of the University’s bud-get. She said there is a question of how high profile the staff should be concerning the budget.
“The staff are employees of the legislature and aren’t usually sup-posed to lobby them or make state-ments to the public,” Beste said.
But this situation is unique, Beste said, and the staff will defi-nitely play a role in budget revi-sion. The question is whether their actions will be “big and public.”
Beste stressed the potential magnitude of the cuts and what they could mean to the University’s progress.
“[The University] is on the brink of being everything we’ve dreamed of,” Beste said. “This
cut could set us back 20 years. We don’t want that when we’re so close to being so good.”
Staff members sang praise for Chancellor Michael Martin and his openness as the budget situation progresses.
“The chancellor has been an open book,” Beste said. “He knows the University isn’t about him; it’s about everyone.”
Senator Donna Torres of Ac-counting Services said she is im-pressed with the chancellor’s involvement during budgetary con-cerns.
“[Martin] is real,” Torres said. “He’s not sitting in an ivory tow-er.”
Beste asked members of the Senate to suggest ideas on what ac-tions the staff should take regarding the budget, emphasizing that Mar-tin wants the staff to have a voice in any decisions.
The staff also unanimously passed a resolution regarding park-ing. The resolution seeks to acquire a pro-rated parking fee for facility workers who work at night and may only be parked on campus during the last hour of Easy Streets lock-down.
These workers are currently paying half of the parking fee but only parking in a reserved lot for a small amount of time, said Chad Gothreaux, Staff Senate president-elect.
The resolution will now be sent to the provost for approval.
Rusty Jabour, vice chancellor of Communications and University
Relations, spoke to the group. Ja-bour also serves as co-chair of the Sesquicentennial Committee and spoke about plans for celebrations in 2010.
Some of the projects in the works include LSU Serves the World, a Web site honoring ser-vice by members of the University
community worldwide, and LSU Day, a festival that allows the pub-lic to “see, explore and discover LSU.”
Despite a light rain and the clat-ter of power-tools outside the LSU Student Union, a free king cake give-away was enough to stop students long enough for Student Government to grill them on their concerns.
Setting up shop outside in Free Speech Alley, the SG execu-tive branch hosted another edition of “Straight Talk with Student Gov-ernment” on Wednesday afternoon. Aiming for a Mardi Gras theme less than a week before the holiday, SG sought to have an open forum to dis-cuss student issues.
Though SG President Colorado Robertson had planned to have live, Louisiana-themed music present during this session, time and revenue constraints kept the bands from ap-pearing.
“We decided not to have a band today because they were going to charge us an arm and a leg,” Robert-son said.
To make up for the missing mu-sic, SG carted out a public announce-ment system with the intention of blasting jazz and zydeco sounds. However, a broken power outlet in
the alley ended that ambition.LSU Dining Services provided
SG with about 500 pieces of king cake for the event. Though there weren’t any plastic babies hidden in-side the pieces, the traditional Mardi Gras treat served its purpose.
“This is supposed to kick off the Mardi Gras celebration,” Robertson said. “Everyone enjoys a moist piece of king cake.”
While some students did walk up to the SG booth with legitimate concerns about the University, many said they were only interested in a
free piece of cake.
“I just went into New Orleans and didn’t get any king cake, so I thought I would just come over and get some,” said Adam Pren-tice, electrical engineering se-nior.
Before he had time to pick
up his cake, Robertson and Prentice got involved in a conversation about the delays in Union construction. Prentice said as long as new Union facilities are open before he gradu-ates in May, he would be happy.
Other students didn’t bother to stick around and chat with SG, nab-bing some cake on the run and con-tinuing on past the Union.
“Some people were just taking king cake and leaving,” said Iftekhar Rouf, assistant director of student in-volvement. “When you pass out free food, it’s bound to happen.”
Robertson said getting students to stop and share their concerns is al-ways difficult for SG. He said people going to lunch are more likely to stop than people coming from the Union on their way to class.
Aaron Caffarel, University Cen-ter for Freshman Year Senator, said
he had spoken to very few students about specific University issues. While he said “Straight Talk” was a good opportunity to make SG visible, he agreed most students who stopped were only after free king cake.
“Students look at us and say ‘Oh! King cake!’ and it gets them to stop,” Caffarel said. “This whole thing helps to promote a positive im-age of SG.”
SG hosts second ‘straight talk’ with studentsSTUDENT GOVERNMENT
Free king cake offered to passers-byBy Adam Duvernay Staff Writer
Adam Prentice, electrical engineering senior, speaks with SG President Colorado Robertson on Wednesday during Straight Talk with SG in Free Speech Alley.
lsurev
eille.
comLog on to see
SG reps. talk to
students and pass out king cake.
STAFF SENATE
Martin ‘an open book’ about budget cutsSenate passes new parking resolutionBy Ryan BuxtonContributing Writer
THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 4 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2009
If students ignore Student Gov-ernment elections this semester, they may be passing up their fi rst oppor-tunity to directly choose how their student fees are spent.
For nearly a month, the SG Sen-ate has been collecting student ideas concerning how best to spend $5,000 of student fees. After going through e-mails and suggestion boxes located around campus, senators on the Tem-porary Student Initiatives Committee were fi nally able to narrow down the submitted ideas and present them to the SG Senate.
The SG Senate voted unani-mously Wednesday night to accept the three student suggestions chosen by the Temporary Student Initiatives Committee, which will be put up to a campus-wide vote during the spring election.
Their fi rst suggestion rec-ommended the funds be used to
increase the University’s commit-ment to recycling. The proposition asked the money to be spent on ad-ditional recycling bins and a promo-tional awareness campaign.
Speaker Pro-Tempore Drew Prestridge, who served on the Tem-porary Student Initiatives Commit-tee, said he had been impressed with the suggestion’s thoroughness and supported it partly because so many of the suggestions they received con-cerned recycling on campus.
Sen. Meghan Hanna, University Center for Advis-ing and Counsel-ing, told the senate Facility Services had said a student-funded recycling plan could be implemented within two to three weeks.
The second student sugges-tion the committee brought to the fl oor was to create an online wait-ing system that could immediately inform students which computers are available in Middleton Library and
other high-traffi c computer labs. The proposed system may have
the option to allow students to re-serve University computers remote-ly, but the decision to add this feature has not been decided on.
Finally, the committee presented a suggestion to add more heavy-duty microwaves in high traffi c areas such as the Student Union and the Design
Building.“If we had
microwaves in the more highly traf-fi cked areas of cam-pus, it would be easier for students eating lunch dur-ing the middle of the day,” Prestridge said.
No specifi c buildings were offi cially named as potential microwave recipients be-cause permission must fi rst be given from any individual building before new hardware is installed.
These suggestions were cho-sen because they were the most feasible with the allotted $5,000. Other popular student suggestions
did not fi t into the relatively small amount offered to students.
Hanna said one new bike rack alone would cost almost $5,000, and creating a new crosswalk could reach upward $35,000. Any suggestion involving infrastructure could easily range in the millions.
“It is kind of ridiculous and sur-prising how much these things cost, but that’s often the reality of it,” Pre-stridge said.
The Baton Rouge Metropoli-tan Council’s fi nal vote denying the Caterie owners’ request to rezone the business caused business owners and two councilmen to storm from the room in disgust at Wednesday’s meeting.
The Planning and Zoning Com-mission approved changing the Cate-rie’s status from a restaurant to a bar Feb. 16, but the Metro Council as a whole rejected the rezoning Wednes-day. The vote failed after six coun-cilmen voted yes, three no, two ab-stained and one member was absent.
The council’s split vote means the 1973 establishment located on Perkins Road still cannot allow cus-tomers to smoke inside their build-ing.
John Hill, co-owner of the Cate-rie, said when the state changed the smoking laws, it destroyed the res-taurant’s night business.
One of the main reasons the owners asked for the council to change the status was to keep up with the competition from other bars that can allow smoking within the business.
The American Heart and Ameri-can Stroke Associations and the Can-cer Society Association opposed the zoning change and advocated the council should protect the public from second-hand smoke.
“No one should have to risk their health for cigarettes,” said Berry Trascher, Louisiana advocacy direc-tor for American Heart Association.
Allowing the customers to smoke inside the business would not
be in the best interest of the public, Trascher said.
“The Caterie got caught in a trap,” said Rodney Bourgeois, Dis-trict 12 Councilman. “The Caterie was doing fi ne until the state ... de-cided to reinterpret the law.”
Bourgeois said the restaurant received its license before the other bars in the area were in existence, and zoning requirements were dif-ferent.
The issue isn’t about second-hand smoke because the law allows other bars to have smoking inside their buildings, Bourgeois said.
Ritnuy Castine, who attend-ed the meeting and opposed the rezoning, said he enjoys visiting the
Caterie without worrying about smoke.
“Supporting the measure would endanger the life of all that go there,” Castine said.
Chandler Loupe, District 3 Councilman, said it is unfair to turn the issue into a public health cry for smoking.
“I don’t see this as a public is-sue,” Loupe said. “[I] see it as a busi-ness that is trying to survive.”
Caterie’s license unchangedMETRO COUNCIL
Split vote for future lift of smoking banBy Joy LukachickStaff Writer
Three student suggestions for spring ballot approvedSG SENATE
Spring election will see vote on $5KBy Adam DuvernayStaff Writer
‘‘‘It is kind of ridiculous and surprising how much these
things cost, but that’s often the reality of it.’
Drew Prestridgespeaker pro-tempore
THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 5thursdAy, fEbruAry 19, 2009
Obama throws $75 billion lifeline to homeownersNATION
MESA, Ariz. (AP) — President Barack Obama threw a $75 billion lifeline to millions of Americans on the brink of foreclosure Wednes-day, declaring an urgent need for drastic action — not only to save their homes but to keep the housing crisis “from wreaking even greater havoc” on the broader national economy.
The lending plan, a full $25 billion bigger than the administra-tion had been suggesting, aims to prevent as many as 9 million hom-eowners from being evicted and to stabilize housing markets that are at the center of the ever-worsening U.S. recession.
Government support pledged to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is being doubled as well, to $400 billion, as part of an effort to encourage them to refi-nance loans that are “under water” — those in which homes’ market values have sunk below the amount the owners still owe.
“All of us are paying a price for this home mortgage crisis, and all of us will pay an even steeper price if we allow this crisis to continue to deepen,” Obama said.
The new president, focus-ing closely on the economy, in his first month in office, rolled out the housing program one day after he was in Denver to sign his $787 bil-lion emergency stimulus plan to re-vive the rest of the economy. And his administration is just now go-ing over fresh requests for multiple billions in bailout cash from ailing automakers.
Wall Street has shown little confidence in the new steps, declin-ing sharply on Tuesday before leveling off after Wednesday’s an-nouncement. The Dow Jones indus-trials rose 3 points for the day.
Success of the foreclosure rescue is far from certain.
The administration is loos-ening refinancing restrictions for many borrowers and providing in-centives for lenders in hopes that the two sides will work together to modify loans. But no one is re-quired to participate. The biggest players in the mortgage industry temporarily had halted foreclosures in advance of Obama’s plan.
Complicating matters, inves-tors in complex mortgage-linked securities, who make money based
on interest payments, could still balk, especially those who hold second mortgages or home equity loans. Their approval would be needed to prevent many foreclo-sures.
“The obstacles have not gone away,” said Bert Ely, a banking industry consultant in Alexandria, Va.
Another cautionary note came from John Courson, chief execu-tive of the Mortgage Bankers As-sociation.
“It seems to offer little help to borrowers whose loan exceeds their property value by more than 5 percent,” he said, noting that that requirement would limit the plan’s success in some of the hardest-hit areas in California, Florida, Ne-vada and Arizona and parts of the East Coast.
Indeed, Obama himself said, “This plan will not save every home.”
The goal is to lower many en-dangered homeowners’ payments to no more than 31 percent of their income. But that depends on a high degree of cooperation by lenders who have been increasingly wary of new lending as the crisis has deepened.
Still, the Obama administra-tion, after talking with mortgage investors, appears confident that it is providing the right mix of incentives and penalties to make
sure mortgage companies take part. Obama said he backs legis-lation in Congress to allow bank-ruptcy judges to modify the terms of primary home loans — an idea ardently opposed by the lending industry.
“Taken together, the provi-sions of this plan will help us end this crisis and preserve, for mil-lions of families, their stake in the American Dream,” Obama said.
Yet, he also added: “We must also acknowledge the limits of this plan.”
He called on lenders, borrow-ers and the government “to step back and take responsibility” and said: “All of us must learn to live within our means again.”
President hopes to stabilize marketBy Liz SidotiThe Associate Press
One night several months ago, David Barnett was watching the band Weezer’s music video for the song “Troublemaker” when a crazy idea hit him.
The video holds the world re-cord for the largest dodgeball game ever — 50 people on each team. Barnett, a student at Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, couldn’t help but think how easy it would be to break the record.
Barnett and two of his friends, Andrew Carmichael and Margeaux Marks, are hosting a dodgeball game at the Parade Ground on March 28 in hopes of shattering the Guinness World Record and to raise money for Baton Rouge Food Bank.
The three high school students first requested official papers for breaking a world record from Guin-ness in November, Barnett said.
“I had almost given up on hear-ing back from them, but eight weeks after requesting the papers they final-ly got back to me,” Barnett said.
To make the record official, the group needs at least one referee, media coverage and at least two im-portant people from Baton Rouge to witness it, Barnett said.
They’ve already had huge suc-cess recruiting people to play in the game.
“We invited all our friends on Facebook,” Marks said. “Last time I looked I think it was up to 586 people.”
Barnett said they’re hoping to get 1,000 or more people.
But having a game this big is going to take a lot more than just people showing up to play. The balls and uniforms cost money, causing the three to search for sponsors. Marks said they plan on using at least 300 balls in the game, and each one costs about $20.
“We’re hoping that Dodge deal-ership will sponsor us,” Carmichael said.
Anyone can participate, but people under the age of 15 need a parent to sign a waiver for Guiness.
Participants need to bring either five canned goods or a few dollars to donate to Baton Rouge Food Bank, Barnett said.
“We talked to Baton Rouge Food Bank [on Tuesday], and they are thrilled to be working with us,” Barnett said.
On the day of the event, people will sign in a log book before receiv-ing a T-shirt and being assigned to a team.
If interested in playing, people should look for “BIGGEST DODGE-BALL GAME EVER” event page on Facebook. The group still needs about 400 people to meet their goal.
THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 6 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2009
RIDIN’ DIRTY
GRANT GUTIERREZ / The Daily Reveille
LSU men’s basketball player Terry Martin’s car gets towed Wednesday afternoon while he was in Arkansas for a game.
HS students try to break dodgeball recordEvent scheduled for March 28By Nichole OdenContributing Writer
THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 7thursdAy, fEbruAry 19, 2009
language Clyburn included in the bill that allows lawmakers to accept the federal money even if their gov-ernors object.
He inserted the provision based on the early and vocal opposition to the stimulus plan by South Caro-lina’s Republican governor, Mark Sanford. But it also means gover-nors like Sanford and Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal — a GOP up-and-comer often mentioned as a po-tential 2012 presidential candidate — can burnish their conservative credentials, knowing all the while that their legislatures can accept the money anyway.
Jindal said he, like Perry and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, is concerned about strings attached to the money even though his state faces a $1.6 billion budget shortfall next year.
Barbour spokesman Dan Turn-er, for example, cited concerns that accepting unemployment money from the stimulus package would force states to pay benefits to people who wouldn’t meet state require-
ments to receive them.In Idaho, Gov. C.L. “Butch”
Otter said he wasn’t interested in stimulus money that would expand programs and boost the state’s costs in future years when the federal dollars disappear — a worry also cited by Jindal and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
A spokesman said Sanford, the new head of the Republican Gov-ernors Association, is looking at the stimulus bill to figure out how much of it he can control.
“We’re going through a 1,200-page bill to determine what our op-tions are,” Spokesman Joel Sawyer said. “From there, we’ll make deci-sions.”
But state Democratic Party chairwoman Carol Fowler says Sanford’s hesitation is driven by his political ambition rather than the best interests of a state that had the nation’s third-highest unemploy-ment rate in December.
Many are hitting the gym to get the perfect spring break body, but some students are struggling to shed those recession pounds.
In a quest to save money during tough economic times, more students are buying lower-priced food, and as a result, gaining weight from the in-creased consumption of cheaper junk and fast foods.
“Research has shown that there is a link between obesity and socio-economic status,” said Julie Hupper-ich, Student Health Center associate director. “A lot of college students turn to fast food restaurants and 99 cent menus. Those choices have lots of calories, carbohydrates and fats.”
Some fast food chains have sal-ads, fruits or other nutritious items on the menu, but those seem to be higher priced, she said.
At McDonald’s, a premium salad with chicken has about 300-450 calories, while a less-expensive cheeseburger and French fries can have as many as 1,000 calories, de-pending on the size.
But many students can save a great deal of money by preparing their own meals.
“Be thoughtful when you go grocery shopping,” Hupperich said. “Clip coupons, and shop the sales. Students can buy in bulk with room-mates because that’s always less ex-pensive, especially for nonperishable foods like pasta and cereal.”
The majority of one’s expenses when grocery shopping is on fresh produce and fresh cuts of meat, which tends to force students on low budgets to stock up on items like potato chips and snack foods for a lower price, Hupperich said.
But buying produce that is in season is less expensive, she said. And to get the proper amount of pro-tein from foods other than meat, stu-dents can stick to some of the lower-cost items like beans, eggs and rice.
Students can also save money by purchasing store brands, like Wal-Mart’s Great Value brand, as opposed to national brands. These items are often made by the same company but just packaged differently.
In the past, those of lower-eco-nomic status tended to weigh less because of lack of food. But today, with dollar menus and cheaper food options, poverty is associated more with obesity, Hupperich said.
“When we talk about being overweight or obese, we talk about decrease in activity levels,” she said. “People who are of lower-economic status don’t have as much access to be physically active like [having] a gym membership.”
But the University Student Rec-reational Complex is offering free fitness and nutrition assessments to students and faculty each Thursday, said Tricia Milford-Hoyt, University Recreation assistant director of mar-keting and membership.
With the high-demand for this type of service, the UREC has cre-ated the “Healthy Lifestyles Suite” located on the first floor. Students can get advice from professionals about achieving a healthier lifestyle and gain information on various ex-ercise programs.
“As people’s schedules become more and more hectic, the first thing that falls out of their schedule is ex-ercise,” Hupperich said. “If college students are impacted by the reces-sion ... I could see where they don’t have time to go to the UREC.”
THE DAILY REVEILLELAWMAKERS, from page 1HEALTH
Research shows economic hardships can lead to obesityMore students buying low-priced foodBy Leslie PresnallStaff Writer
THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 8 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2009
exercise” released Feb. 4 . “We’ve tried to minimize any
discussion of enrollment loss and avoid too much focus on alterna-tive sources of revenue,” LSU System President John Lombardi told Chancellor Michael Martin in a Jan. 29 e-mail obtained by The Daily Reveille. “Those issues are likely to prompt questions we’re not ready to answer given the vari-able nature of the budget conversa-tions at the present time.”
With a projected cut in higher education state funding between $212 million and $382 million for the fi scal year beginning July 1 , the Division of Administration asked Lombardi to complete a “budget reduction exercise” showing what a cut of up to 30 percent in funding would mean for the System.
Administrators at the 11 insti-tutions compiled their own budget scenarios to submit to the System offi ce, where they were compiled into one “budget reduction exer-cise” and submitted to the Division of Administration .
Records show several differ-ences between what the University submitted and what was shown in the System’s exercise.
“I think [the System’s budget reduction exercise] made as good of a case as it could [for the Univer-sity],” Martin told The Daily Rev-eille on Wednesday. “I understand that we have other units within the System that have to be represented as well.”
Lombardi declined an inter-view, through System Spokesman
Charles Zewe , about the differences between the budget scenarios.
Martin said University offi -cials focused more on fi nding pos-sible solutions for a cut of up to 30 percent while the System’s interests lay in displaying what an across-the-board cut of 30 percent would look like for the System.
Lombardi said in the same e-mail to Martin that some suggested the Sys-tem use the newly created — but not yet fi nalized — Board of Regents’ performance-based funding formula to distribute the budget reduction in the exercise. Others suggested the System distribute the reduction based on the amount of extra fund-ing available to a campus or unit, like tuition.
“We resisted all these notions on the grounds that none of them seemed either wise or fair,” Lom-bardi said in the e-mail. “And we believed they would have signifi -cant negative effects for different campuses depending on how such differential distributions were cal-culated. While a more complicated method for distributing the reduc-tion might have been possible, we didn’t think it worth the effort to try and resolve that.”
Including the now permanent $10.3 million in mid-year budget cuts, LSU’s main campus in Baton Rouge would see a total budget re-duction of about $71.9 million for the fi scal year beginning July 1 if
state funds were cut by 30 percent. The System as a whole would see about $208.8 million in cuts under this worse-case scenario.
Whether the budget reduction will be handled in an across-the-board or performance-based fash-ion won’t be determined until more is known about the state’s budget,
Martin said. Gov. Bobby Jindal will submit his execu-tive budget with proposed cuts March 13 to the Legislature.
Martin said he is confi dent in Lombardi to choose the right path for the Uni-
versity and it’s too early in the process to predict exactly how the budget cuts will unfold.
“I don’t think any of us will know the full impact until we get that fi nal number,” Martin said.
Martin said it is important to remember the University is a land-grant, high research, top-tier insti-tution.
“I don’t think you can treat every institution in the state the same,” Martin said.
Besides an estimated student loss of 8,500 — including 2,250 , or about half, the minority student population — other elements were discussed in the University’s bud-get scenario that were omitted from the System’s fi nal draft.
For instance, the Bengal Leg-acy Scholarships for non-resident sons and daughters of LSU gradu-ates, the Board of Supervisors
scholarships and the Louisiana Freshman Merit Award would be eliminated under worst-case sce-nario cuts, according to the Univer-sity’s budget exercise.
“The cutting of any scholar-ship will have a detrimental impact on students eligible for the awards and may have a negative impact on enrollment,” the document states.
Merit increases for faculty, ad-ministrative and professional staff would also be “out of the ques-tion.”
With a large budget reduction, closing academic colleges is likely.
“To reach this [30 percent] level of a cut, more than one large college must be eliminated because of the corresponding loss of tuition revenue,” the document states.
Martin also suggested to Lom-bardi the idea of an involuntary fur-lough for faculty and staff. While
other colleges are making similar decisions, the Louisiana Board of Regents restricts the furloughing of faculty without declaring fi nancial exigency for the unit involved — a path University and System offi -cials are cautious to explore.
Martin said he is not suggest-ing the University enforce a fur-lough, but that it is a question of “could this happen.”
The issue of furloughing will not turn into a question of “should this happen” or “will this happen” until the University knows the full extent of the budget cuts later this spring. A policy change would also be required to enforce a furlough for faculty.
The name of the stadium is the same.The uniforms and most of the teams playing in the sta-
dium will be the same.But LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri said the Tigers
must make changes when playing in the new Alex Box Sta-dium.
“It’s going to be an adjustment for us,” he said. “That’s why we wanted to get in here early, so our players could have some of the nuances fi gured out before opening day.”
One of the major differences between the old Alex Box Stadium and the new Alex Box Stadium is the hitting back-drop.
SportsTHURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2009 PAGE 9
for success
New Alex Box Stadium ushers in new era of Tiger baseballBy Casey GisclairChief Sports Writer
ALEX BOX, see page 12
NBA
INSIDE: Tigers claw past Razorbacks, 72-69, in Fayetteville, page 10.
Paul’s 36-point game propels Hornets past Magic, page 10.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Lady Tigers hungry tonight to follow up signature win, page 14.
See what the new Alex Box Stadium looks like a day before its opening, page 12.
THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 10 thursdAy, fEbruAry 19, 2009
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Chris Paul had 36 points and 10 assists, and the New Orleans Hornets handed the Orlando Magic their worst loss of the season, 117-85 on Wednesday night.
Rasual Butler added 15 points, and David West had 14 for the Hor-nets, who’ve won their first two games following the All-Star break.
The Hornets are also set for the return of center Tyson Chandler, who failed his physical with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Rashard Lewis had 17 points, and J.J. Redick 14 for Orlando, which shot poorly from the field and free-throw line. Dwight Howard had 12 points and was a non-factor for most of the last three quarters, when he scored only two points.
Orlando’s previous worst loss was by 19 points to Boston on Dec. 1. Having won in overtime against Charlotte on Tuesday night, the Magic looked flat in New Orleans, shooting 37 percent (26-of-70) and trailing by double digits most of the game.
New Orleans outscored Orlando 44-18 in the paint and outrebounded the Magic 46-35.
Orlando was as close as 58-50 after Hedo Turkoglu’s 3 early in the third quarter, but the Hornets seemed unfazed. Minutes later, West’s driv-ing scoop ignited an 8-0 run that in-cluded six points from Paul, the last on a soft jumper set up by a weaving dribble across the lane.
Butler added a pair of 3s later in the quarter and Paul another jumper as New Orleans built its lead back up to 86-62 heading into the fi-nal period. New Orleans’ lead only grew from there as all 12 Hornets who dressed ended up with at least two points.
Reserves Melvin Ely and Devin Brown each finished with 11 points, Peja Stojakovic had 10 and the Hor-nets shot 58 percent (46-of-79).
After Howard had 44 points, 19
rebounds and eight blocks a night earlier, the big worry for New Or-leans was what Orlando’s superstar center would do against Hilton Arm-strong, Sean Marks and Ely, who’d been reserves before Chandler in-jured his left ankle in January and was subsequently traded.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
APRIL L. BROWN / The Associated Press
LSU’s Marcus Thornton (5) reaches in as Arkansas’ Rotnei Clarke tries to position himself for a shot Wednesday during the first half of the Tigers’ win, 72-69.
Tigers rally, slip past Arkansas to extend conference lead
LSU basketball fans are prob-ably getting tired of missing the men’s basketball team play instant classics.
The No. 23 Tigers found them-selves in a non-televised thriller for the second time in a week, as they overcame an 18-point first-half def-icit to defeat Arkansas, 72-69.
“We were God-awful in the first half,” said LSU coach Trent Johnson in a postgame radio inter-view. “It was 26-8 at one point in time, and I said ‘Fellas, we’ve got one or two things we can do. We can come out and compete and play like we’re capable of, or we can just go load the bus up right now and go fly out of here ... Boy, we showed our mental toughness.”
Junior forward Tasmin Mitch-ell and senior guard Marcus Thorn-ton once again took turns fueling the Tigers’ offense. Mitchell carried LSU (22-4, 10-1) through the first half, notching 12 points and six re-bounds on the way to a 20-point, 13-
rebound performance — his eighth double-double of the season.
Thornton, mostly quiet in the first half, blew up in the second for 20 points — including the game-clinching free throws against the Razorbacks (13-11, 1-10). All told, he shot 10-of-21 for 28 total points.
“Tasmin wasn’t his usual self. Marcus was a little fatigued out there, but he made some plays down the stretch,” Johnson said. “We’re doing the little things now that are so encouraging, so nice to see and it’s coming from everybody.”
The Tigers once again missed the production of sophomore point guard Bo Spencer — out with a sprained ankle — and once again rallied to replace him.
Senior guard Garrett Temple played in relief of Spencer and contributed seven points and three assists. More importantly, Temple grabbed a late offensive rebound off a missed free throw to clinch the win.
Senior center Chris Johnson posted 12 points and 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double of his season. He nearly came up with a triple-double, adding six blocks to his totals.
The comeback preserves LSU’s
first national ranking of the season, which the Tigers earned Monday following a close victory against Ole Miss.
“It’s a good win,” Johnson said. “If you can win on the road in this league or any league and you don’t play well, it just shows you’re a good team.”
More important to LSU fans than rankings is the Tigers’ sudden-ly improved conference standing.
Both Tennessee and South Car-olina dropped road games Wednes-day night, increasing LSU’s lead atop the Southeastern Conference to three games.
Wins against Auburn (17-9, 6-5) and Florida (20-6, 7-4) on Sat-urday and Tuesday would clinch the SEC regular season title for LSU
But as usual, the first-year coach isn’t impressed.
“All I’m worried about is the LSU Tigers,” he said. “We’re start-ing to get contributions from a lot of other guys, and that’s the most important thing.”
NBA
Hornets beat Magic, 117-85; Chandler to return to teamBy Brett MartelThe Associated Press
THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 11thursdAy, fEbruAry 19, 2009
LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri said he wants two things to happen when his team moves into its new stadium Friday to play against Villanova.
First, he hopes to carry LSU’s winning tradition into the new stadium. The Tigers won five na-tional championships in their old stadium and advanced to 14 Col-lege World Series.
But Mainieri has another tra-dition he hopes is transferred into the new stadium.
“Let’s see, there’s Chris Guil-lot, the K-Lady, Coon’s Corner, the Leftfield Lunatics and all of the other small groups that make our home field special,” he said. “I sincerely hope all of those tradi-tions are able to be taken into our new home too, because we have the best fans in the country.”
LSU has led the nation in fan attendance 13 straight years.
Chris Guillot is one of the Tiger fans who has regularly at-tended LSU games for several decades at the old Alex Box Sta-dium. He sits behind home plate and regularly helps lead cheers for the Tigers.
Guillot said the move has cre-ated the most buzz he’s ever seen inside of the Tigers’ fan base.
“Doesn’t everybody want a new car?” he said. “That’s how it feels for me. Even though your old car has been steady and loyal and got the job done for more than 30 years, you always feel special when you can get that new one.”
Guillot said LSU baseball fans are unlike others around the country because of their passion toward their team.
“Fans other places wait for the action to happen,” he said. “But LSU fans make the action happen. That’s what makes us different.”
One of the people who makes the action happen with Guillot is Baton Rouge native Anita Hay-wood, also known as the “K-La-dy.”
Following each strikeout thrown by an LSU pitcher, Hay-wood hangs a “K” along the fan’s side of the backstop.
Haywood said she has been informed that in the new park, her tradition will remain intact.
“I spoke with Herb Vincent, and he assured me that there would be a place for me to put them,” she said. “I do not know where they will go yet, but they will be there with me.”
Haywood, a Baton Rouge school teacher, likened her ex-citement level to something she experiences in her profession.
“It’s like moving into a new school,” she said. “I don’t know how I’ll feel until I get there. But I am so excited.”
One thing that will be slight-ly different in the new park is the seating arrangement of some of the Tigers’ season ticket holders.
With more capacity than the old park, Haywood said there were some minor switches in the seating arrangements of season ticket holders. The University tried to keep cliques of fans as close together as possible.
“I was talking on the phone to Maw and Paw who usually sit on the sides of us,” Haywood said. “And we figured out that they will be across the aisle now. So one of the things [Maw] asked was, ‘How are you going to share your nachos with me in the new place?’ Baseball is so full of tra-ditions and superstitions, and this park will create many of its own.”
One of the things emphasized in the construction of the new sta-dium was the comfort level for fans.
Nearly all of the seats in the new facility will have backs on the seats, and most of the seating behind home plate will have cup holders.
On the first day of spring practice in the new stadium, Mainieri also took note of the pa-vilion covering fans behind home plate.
“I am hoping that noise gets trapped in there and turns this place into an absolute boom box,” he said. “I have a feeling that won’t be a problem for our fans.”
Guillot said he can assure Mainieri he and the other Tiger fans will do their part to make his wish a reality.
“Every person is a charac-ter,” he said. “If we didn’t have characters in our seats, baseball wouldn’t be the same here. But the important thing is that we’re like a big family.”
Fans ready to make transition into new Alex Box Stadium
BASEBALL
LSU one of top attendance leadersBy Casey GisclairChief Sports Writer
LSU fans cheer on the Tigers during last season’s postseason run to the College World Series. LSU has led the nation in attendance for 13 straight seasons.
For the better part of spring practice, there has been no hitter’s eye in the centerfield wall of the new stadium, which leaves hitters staring into Tiger Stadium while hitting.
Without a neutral-colored hitter’s eye, LSU sophomore shortstop DJ LeMahieu said the baseball is harder to pick up in the current backdrop.
“It is a little different [to not have a hitter’s eye],” LeMahieu said. “With the stadium in the background and the sun shining on it, it’s almost white.”
Mainieri said he expects a hitter’s eye to be in place prior to the season opener on Friday. LSU’s third-year coach said he expects the stadium to play as a pitcher’s park, especially early in the season while everyone gets used to the surroundings.
“When you hit them good, they tend to go far,” he said. “But especially this time of the year, the ball doesn’t carry as well as when the temperatures are warmer, so I think early the pitchers will have a little bit of an advantage.”
Fielders will also have to play the game differ-ently to keep up with the new Alex Box.
The infield grass in the new stadium will be kept at 1-inch up from 5/8 of an inch in the old park, which causes the ball to roll slower
LSU sophomore catcher Micah Gibbs said the increased length of the grass will benefit speedy hit-ters who will now get more infield hits. He said the grass will hurt slower, power hitters who will not be able to muscle the ball through the infield as easily.
“I hit one on a rope that would have been a single [in the old stadium], but the grass chewed it up, and DJ [LeMahieu] was able to make a play and throw me out,” he said. “I am not the fastest guy anyway, so I will have to put the ball in the air.”
Gibbs will also have to adjust to the shadows in
the new Alex Box Stadium.The new stadium has a large structure that cov-
ers the fans behind home plate. Gibbs said in games later in the season when
the sun is positioned in the left-field portion of the sky, the shadows will be the most difficult to deal with.
“As the season goes, the sun is going to move down towards left field,” he said. “It’s going to cause more [shadows], because there will be noth-ing there to block it.”
In the outfield, the fences have been lifted from eight feet to 10 feet, and the walls have been padded to protect players.
Mainieri said the extra two feet will turn many balls that used to be home runs into doubles or tri-ples.
“There will be about 10 a year now that won’t get out,” Mainieri said. “I am just anxious to see Leon Landry and Jared Mitchell leap up and take some of those away.”
Another adjustment players will have to make is in right field, where there is no longer an Intimi-dator sign — something Mainieri said is disappoint-ing to left-handed hitters.
“They will be upset because they don’t have that big sign to use as target practice anymore,” he said.
But despite his team’s new facilities, Mainieri said the key to building new tradition in the new Alex Box Stadium is simple.
“Stadiums don’t win games,” he said. “Play-ing good, sound baseball wins games. That is what we’re going to try to do to make this stadium as memorable as the one before it.”
[Top] EMMITT BROWN; [Bottom left] GRANT GUTIERREZ / The Daily Reveille
PAGE 12
Out With The Old...
photos courtesy of LSU Athletic Department; ALEX BOND / The Daily Reveille
...In With The New
photos courtesy of STEVE FRANZ / LSU Sports Information
PAGE 13
THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 14 thursdAy, fEbruAry 19, 2009
The LSU women’s basketball team searched for proof it could defeat some of the top teams in the country for the first 21 games of the season.
But now, with a 66-47 win against then-No. 9 Florida under their belts, senior forward Kris-ten Morris said LSU (13-9, 6-4) is looking for more on Thursday when the Lady Tigers travel to play Georgia (15-10, 5-5).
“We’re hungry to go out there and get another win,” she said. “We know that this game is just as important as the last game.”
The Lady Tigers were 0-9 on the season against teams in the RPI Top 50 prior to Sunday’s win.
But junior guard Allison Hightower helped LSU snap that streak, scoring 21 points, pulling down four rebounds and notch-ing three assists and five steals against Florida.
The Arlington, Texas, native has been the Lady Tigers’ most consistent offensive player all season and has scored in double digits for 10 consecutive games.
But against the Gators, LSU was led by its defense — which ranks No. 1 in the Southeastern Conference in points allowed per game.
“If you give Bob Starkey a week to prepare for a game, he’s hard to beat,” said LSU coach Van Chancellor following the game.
The Lady Tigers held Florida to just 32 percent shooting for the game and forced 20 turnovers.
LSU’s defense will be tested against Georgia by a balanced Lady Bulldogs’ offensive attack.
Georgia has an SEC-best six players who average seven or more points per game, led by junior guard Ashley Houts’ 12 points per game.
Chancellor said the Lady Ti-gers will have two primary objec-tives against the Lady Bulldogs.
“We’re going to have to take away second-chance points,” he said. “We gave up 17 against Florida, and I thought that was the only thing we didn’t do real good. And we’re going to have to take care of the basketball, be-cause Georgia at home is just an entirely different team.”
Statistics back up Chancel-lor’s statement.
The Lady Bulldogs are 12-2 playing on either their home floor or a neutral floor, including hand-ing No. 3 Auburn their only loss of the season and an 11-point win against No. 18 Vanderbilt.
But the Lady Bulldogs are just 3-8 on the road, including a 30-point loss at No. 13 Tennessee and a loss at Detroit, who is just 8-16 on the season.
One player the Lady Tigers
are looking forward to seeing is Georgia sophomore forward Por-sha Phillips.
Phillips began her career with the Lady Tigers during the 2006-07 season.
But the Stone Mountain, Ga., native sat out last season after transferring to Georgia after her lone season at LSU.
Phillips has been a regular in the Lady Bulldogs’ starting lineup and has averaged 10 points and six rebounds per game for the
season.Hightower said she is excited
to play against her former room-mate for the first time.
“It’s going to be fun seeing her,” she said. “I haven’t seen her in over a year. She might try to trash talk, but it’s all in fun.”
Jason Bordelon / The Daily Reveille
Freshman forward LaSondra Barrett blocks a shot by Florida’s Marshae Dotson in the Lady Tigers’ 66-47 win on Sunday. LSU faces Georgia on the road tonight.
Lady Tigers to face one of conference’s best home teams
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Lady Bulldogs 12-2 at home, on neutral courtBy Casey GisclairChief Sports Writer
Nearly every culture has practiced body modifica-tion, and the most popular forms are tattoo and body piercing.
While new forms of body art are gaining in popular-ity, the tattooing business is still holding its own.
Atomic Tattoo has been catering to the University area since 2004.
“It’s a college-based [business], so people usually want stuff to do with LSU or Louisiana,” said Jeremy Granger, tattoo artist and body piercer.
Granger says the most popular tattoo these days is the fleur-de-lis.
“It used to be that you couldn’t give them away,” he said. “They got big after Katrina, probably because it represents New Orleans and Louisiana.”
All tattoo stories, however, aren’t picture perfect.“We get about one or two clients in a day that need
their tattoos fixed,” Granger said. “We try to get them in if we can.”
A unique form of body art gaining popularity is scarification, which includes branding and cutting. Ryan Ouellette, scarification practitioner and owner of Preci-sion Body Arts in Nashua, N.H., has been scarring clients since 2001.
“I’m primarily self-taught as far as technique goes, but I have lots of formal safety and anatomy training,”
Ouellette said. “I myself only per-form cutting.”
Scarification was one of the first forms of body art, but it didn’t gain popularity outside of tribal cultures until the late ‘80s, Ouellette said. Branding is also an extreme form of body art that consists of a design being burned into the skin. Once the burn heals, it leaves behind a design of scar tissue.
“It wasn’t until the ‘90s that it really started to grow as an art form equal to tattooing,” he said. “It’s not the same kind of demand you would
have for tattooing or body piercing.”Now, it is becoming widely accepted as a respectable
art. Ouellette has worked all around the United States, in Tokyo and London. He was also instructed in Germany.
The process is very different from tattooing, but the pain experienced is about the same.
“It’s uncomfortable, but it’s tolerable,” Ouellette said.
The healing process is also different because clients are basically dealing with an open wound.
“It can certainly be sore ... you don’t really notice it as long as you don’t bump it,” Ouellette said. “The most important thing is to keep it clean.”
EntertainmentTHE DAILY REVEILLE
Thursday, FEBruary 19, 2009 PaGE 15
ART
Scarification making its mark on societyBy Ashley NorsworthyEntertainment Writer
You want to keep warm when you are feeling chill, but you don’t want to raise your heating bill.
Blankets are OK, but they can slip and slide. And when you need to reach for something, your hands are trapped inside.
Problem solved. Get yourself a Snuggie.The Snuggie, the blanket
with sleeves, went on sale in Au-gust by All Star Product Group out of Hawthorne, N.Y.
The company began television advertising for the Snuggie in October and starting shipping to retailers in December, according to an article in USA Today. Four million Snuggies have already been sold.
Jennifer Macha, a mass communication professor spe-cializing in advertising, said the Snuggie has been success-
ful because it is a new, unique product and features straightforward advertising.
“It’s a new category in and of itself, so you really have to get across the features
and the benefits and the selling point of it,” she said. “In the commercial, it’s very obvi-
ous what it does because it presents you with, ‘Here’s a problem, the Snuggie is the solu-
tion.’”Using late-night informercials is also an ef-
fective way to reach audiences, she said.
lsureveille.comLog on to see a video and slideshow of Snuggies on campus. SCARS, see page 17
photo courtesy of RYAN OULETTE, www.PBAsacars.com
Snug Life
Quirky innovation gains fan baseBy Ben Bourgeois and Joshua ChenierEntertainment Writers
SNUGGIES, see page 18photo courtesy of RYAN OUELLETTE, www.PBAscars.com
The image of hand is ‘scarified’ into the side of a torso.photos by BEN BOURGEOIS / The Daily Reveille
‘You don’t really
notice it as long as you don’t bump
it.’Ryan Ouellette
scarification practitioner
[Above] SG President Colorado Robertson, [below] mass communication instructor and [right] LSU women’s basketball coach Van Chancellor sport a Snuggie this week.
THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 16 thursdAy, fEbruAry 19, 2009
RanksReveilleMUSIC MOVIES BOOKS TELEVISION
The Appleseed CastSagarmathayVagrant Records (Paramount)
Confessions of a ShopaholicTouchstone Pictures
MorrisseyYears of RefusalLost Highway Records
The seventh studio album from The Appleseed Cast is the soundtrack to a pleasant dream. The vocals are sparse and usually undecipherable. The singing and instruments are kept at the same level, us-ing voice as another instrument. “Sagarmatha,” the Nepalese name for Mt. Everest, is reminis-cent of a Buddhist trance taking listeners on a peaceful-dream journey to the top of the freez-ing mountaintop. The album is so unobtrusive that if you’re not paying attention, you won’t even know you’re listening to any-thing at all. Casual listeners will get bored quickly with the lack of variety and comprehensible lyrics.
“The International” is an action-packed thriller star-ring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts. The two spend the movie chasing the antagonist, an international bank that deals weapons into third world countries, around the globe in attempts to unveil the bank’s conspiracy. This conflict slowly unfolds into an end that is nev-er resolved. The intense plot leaves little time for character development. Despite these minor setbacks, the movie is intriguing and extremely well made. The actions scenes are incredible and definitely worth seeing.
Ever since he formed the in-fluential jangle pop group The Smiths in 1982, Morrissey has received tons of critical praise for his boastful songwriting and his unique voice. On “Years of Refusal,” the British crooner wails about love lost as usual, but his new backing band gives the album a sound that is fresh but also reminis-cent of early Smiths records. Morrissey may be almost 50, but “Refusal” isn’t your stereo-typical mid-career crisis album by any means.
The InternationalColumbia Pictures
Friday the 13th New Line Cinema
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of DeadFuture of SelfRichter Scale Records
Isla Fisher plays Rebecca Bloomwood, a journalist with a serious shopping addiction that leaves her drowning in a sea of debt, in “Confessions of a Shopaholic.” The film is based on the novel of the same name by Sophie Kinsella. Fisher tries to apply for her dream job at Alette, a fashion magazine, but finds herself working for a financial magazine instead. The movie follows Fisher as she fights her shopping addiction in fabulous style. Though Fisher is a delight to watch, the movie is only mildly amusing and a bit boring. The only memorable thing about “Confessions” are the clothes and accessories that would make any girl envious.
The twelfth installment of the famous “Friday the 13th” slasher films will not disap-point loyal fans. Directed by Michael Bay, the flick follows a group of teens who are ter-rorized by an angry and venge-ful Jason Voorhees. The usual protagonists are portrayed as booze-loving teens who get naked shortly before being beheaded by a machete — tal-ented acting is not required. There is little fresh material, but the classic killer moves will be appreciated by audi-ences.
Trail of Dead’s sixth major re-lease is a welcome listen. The band completely revamped their method of recording, completely throwing out click tracks and overdubs in favor of tracking all the songs live. Cuts like the six-minute-plus “Isis Unveiled” can get monot-onous with its dark lyrics and gloomy melodies, but most songs feature strong choruses and rhythms.
[B] [C+] [B]
[B-] [B+] [C+]
J. LebLANC M. DANg b. LeJeUNe
b. bOURgeOISL. NUNeZ A. NORSWORTHY
Editor’s PickM. WardHold Time
FOR FANS OF:She & Him, Fleet Foxes, bon Iver
Merge Records
S. AYCOCK
“Hold Time” is the latest album from sing-er-songwriter Matt Ward. He paired with actress Zooey Deschanel as duo She & Him on 2008’s “Volume One,” and Ward is back with a solo album that features collaborations with Deschanel, Lucinda Williams and Jason Lytle. Ward’s latest ef-fort is solid, featuring cover songs done in the folksy style that he’s known for. “Hold Time” is the perfect album for staying in-side on a rainy day or doing homework in front of the fireplace.
THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 17thursdAy, fEbruAry 19, 2009
On any given night, local bars will be packed with people to see bands perform.
Depending on the venue, these bands range anywhere from rock to dance themes to a few hip-hop and rap names. But there is one type of band that most people won’t see up on a stage in the mid-dle of a smoky bar — a group of men and women playing the viola and cello.
Usually reserved for the con-cert hall, these groups playing tra-ditional instruments, such as the cello, violin, viola or double bass, are mostly associated with classi-cal pieces and settings.
The Contemporary String En-semble is hoping to change this.
In a joint effort between LSU and Loyola University in New Or-leans, the Contemporary String En-semble is working toward bringing these traditional methods into non-traditional settings by playing with a more contemporary style and ap-pearing in more intimate and mod-ern venues such as bars.
The ensemble began last fall with an idea between LSU doctor-ate student Raul Gomez and his sister Andrea, a music industry major at Loyola University.
“We had the idea to bring this older style to contemporary set-tings and introduce it to people our age,” Gomez said. “By play-ing a more popular sound, we want the classical to blur into a modern style.”
Made up of eight LSU School of Music graduate students and 11 players from Loyola, the ensemble tries to incorporate all styles into their performance by mixing in wind and brass instruments and even electronic elements such as sound effects that blend with the
instruments.“We use a variety of instru-
ments, all depending on what the composer calls for,” Gomez said. “It runs anywhere from our core instruments to guitars, trombones and woodwinds.”
The ensemble is not only try-ing to bring out a more contempo-rary style but also introduces more modern and original pieces of music by performing at least one piece of music by a local composer at each of the ensemble’s perfor-mances.
On Friday, Feb. 20, the en-semble will be performing at the Dragon’s Den in New Orleans premiering original work by LSU doctorate student Ronaldo Cadeu, as well as Chilean composer Se-bastián Valenzuela and Costa Ri-can composer Vinicio Meza.
“It is important to let people know that there are great compos-ers in the area,” said Sonia Bruno, music graduate student and cello player with the Contemporary String Ensemble. “We try to get the word out that there is great tal-ent around LSU and New Orleans, composers and performers.”
Part of this new talent from the University is Brazilian cello player Marcelo Vieira, who will open for
the Contemporary String Ensem-ble and make his debut playing with the group this Friday.
In his opener, Vieira will be performing songs from his upcom-ing CD “Cello & Voice — I Can Fly,” in which Vieira masters the challenge of singing and playing the cello at the same time in a very original way.
“I am very curious to judge the reactions we will get at the Dragon’s Den,” Vieira said. “The purpose of the group is to bring different things to new people and make them ask, ‘What is that?’”
The Contemporary String En-semble will perform Friday at the Dragon’s Den on Esplanade Ave. in New Orleans starting at 7 p.m.
Admission is free at the door, but donations are welcome to sup-port the group.
“We are inviting people to come experience something unique with our music and then stay with us for Mardi Gras over the week-end,” Gomez said. “People will enjoy this blending of the old and new, and I’m excited to see where it goes.”
Baton Rouge 15 (Mall of La)
Rave motion pictuRes02/20-02/23
9-10:30pm The Duchess
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pluckeRs wing baR$4 34oz Mother Plucker mugs.
$3 Margaritas and PluckersLemonades. $15.99 All you can Eat wings.
If you don’t like our wings, we’ll give you the bird!
Those who receive the scar must wash it regularly to keep it clean so it can heal correctly. The actual scar, however, may take weeks or months to develop fully.
The scarification body art at-tracts a different type of people.
“It tends to be more of a per-sonal body art than a lot of pop cul-ture tattooing,” Ouellette said. “The designs usually hold a more personal meaning and are usually more well thought out than tattoos.”
Ouellette has done many “cut-tings” on clients who do not have any other body art.
“You can never really visually pick out a ‘scarification type,’” he said.
The demand for scarification artists is still quite low, as is the num-ber of skilled practitioners.
“If you’re good, you end up get-ting a lot of work,” Ouellette said.
The Contemporary String Ensemble rehearses Sunday in the School of Music Building. The ensemble is working to bring their music to non-traditional settings.
THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 18 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2009
“You’re advertising to people at night, so there’s usually people sitting on a couch or in a recliner who may not want to get up and turn up the heat or put on a blanket, so the Snuggie seems like a decent fi t,” she said.
Macha said different audiences embrace the Snug-gie for different reasons.
“You’re hitting an older generation that goes, ‘Wow, that’s really use-ful. I can wear that at my kids’ soccer game,” she said. “But then younger generations think it’s a spoof, and it’s funny and something you’d buy as a joke for your friends. And all of that increases sales — they’re getting the most bang for their buck without doing much.”
The Snuggie is even a big hit on campus. Women’s basketball coach Van Chancellor tried it out in his offi ce Tuesday and said it was everything he expected it to be — and more.
“It’s everything I’ve seen on television — very comfortable, very warm as I lay here watching tapes of the game,” he said.
The Snuggie is so functional, ordinary blankets pale in compari-son.
“I got a tiger blanket right here ... but it’s always slipping off,” he said. “It makes me want to take a lit-tle nap right here before practice.”
Student Government President Colorado Robertson tried the Snug-gie on Wednesday.
“It does feel pretty comfort-able. It works well; it keeps you warm,” he said. “It would be perfect for reading a book.”
Though he enjoyed wearing it, Robertson said he will not be wear-ing it in public any time soon.
“I don’t think I’d wear it in public just yet. It’d have to catch on a little bit,” he said. “I feel kind of like Star Wars.”
Some students have already joined the cult of Snuggie. Mariesa Barbara, kinesiology senior , re-ceived her Snuggie as a gift from Walgreens.
“I use it all the time,” she said. “It’s the greatest invention ever.”
Meghann Mehrtens, mass com-munication fresh-man , said she also got the Snuggie as a gift.
“I got my Snuggie as a gift from my grand-mother,” she said. “I think the Snuggie trend will continue to get bigger.”
Students who tried on the Snuggie in the Quad on Monday said it was comfortable but would prefer to keep it inside.
“I don’t want to tote it around the Quad or anything,” Barbara said. “You could just wear sweat-pants and a sweatshirt.”
Mehrtens agreed and said she thinks the Snuggie should only be for private use.
“I would only wear my Snug-gie in the dorm, not out in public,” Mehrtens said.
Emily Erickson, mass commu-nication professor , said the Snuggie uses an effective advertising for-mula.
“A classic formula for a great ad is unexpectedness and incom-pleteness,” Erickson said. “Like a good story, the ad has a twist and it makes you work just a little bit to process it, which engages you.”
Erickson said the ads for prod-ucts such as the Snuggie and the ShamWow are tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top parodies of the classic late-night TV commercials.
“They dipped into the old tool-box of informational advertising, where you expound upon a prod-uct’s merits, and added a winking ‘we-all-know-this-is-absurd’ tone,” Erickson said. “That’s perfect for the Gen Y’s and Millennials, who have been bombarded with adver-tising since they were in diapers.”
The Snuggie ad runs on
late-night programming, but its big-gest success is being played thou-sands of times daily on Web sites such as YouTube.com. Erickson said these ads don’t even have to run on television very much to be successful.
“From what I can tell, most people have seen these online — which means the ShamWow and Snuggie have turned into a cultural trend without even having to spend much on media placement,” Er-ickson said. “It’s pretty sweet. The advertisers hit the viral marketing jackpot.”
Many students seem to fi nd humor in the Snuggie, regardless if they have it or not.
Barbara said her friends used to make fun of her when she got her Snuggie, but things are different now.
“At fi rst [my friends] made fun of me,” Barbara said. “But they see me use it, and now they get jeal-ous.”
Melissa Bolden, elementary education junior , said she feels fun-ny wearing a Snuggie.
“I kind of feel like a blueberry,” Bolden said.
Spencer Harbin, history sopho-more , said his sister received one as a joke, but now loves it.
As far as if he would ever buy one, Harbin offered a different an-swer.
“I would only take one as a gift, maybe even a dare,” Harbin said.
People may be reluctant to buy Snuggies now, but Macha sees a bright future for the product.
“How many times do you go to a football game and you’re freez-ing and you’re uncomfortable?” she said. “You’re wearing a jacket, and your arms are warm, but your legs are cold. It’s sort of weird, but if the whole student section had them, it could be cool.”
Students can only hope next year’s Pajama Game gets turned into the Snuggie Game.
Contact The Daily Reveille’s entertainment staff at [email protected]
SNUGGIES, from page 15
‘‘‘It’s everything I’ve seen on [TV] ... very warm as I lay here
watching ... the game.’Van Chancellor
LSU women’s basketball coach
THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 19thursdAy, fEbruAry 19, 2009
Jonathan Bellah has a chance at being the last comic standing — at least in Baton Rouge.
“Doing comedy is one of my fa-vorite things in the world. It’s such an adrenaline rush,” the history se-nior said.
Bellah is a semifinalist in The Funny Bone’s Last Comic Standing Baton Rouge contest. Comics com-pete Thursday nights at 9 p.m.
“It is similar to an open mic set-ting, but we have judges [and] some professional comedians,” said Tom-my Pancoast, manager of the Funny Bone.
Last Comic Standing Baton Rouge, which has no affiliation to the NBC television show, consists of four weeks of preliminary rounds — two of which have passed — fol-lowed by semifinal and final rounds.
Pancoast said anyone, profes-sional or amateur, can sign up for the competition.
“We encourage anyone who thinks they are funny and who wants to get on the stage to sign up and bring some friends,” Pancoast said.
While it’s not necessary to sign up for the competition, Pancoast
recommends calling and preregister-ing due to limited spacing.
Each night of the preliminaries, approximately 10 comedians have a three-minute set.
“As we whittle down the con-testants, they’ll get more time on the stage,” Pancoast said.
The winner of the competition gets a guest spot to open for a big-name comedian.
“It will be a nationally recog-nized talent — someone who has been on television,” Pancoast said.
Bellah is one of 12 semifinalists performing in the competition. Bel-lah, 22, started doing stand-up com-edy a little more than a year ago. His first show was last year at the Uni-versity’s Last Comic Standing.
“I would love to make a career with it, but I realize that, for the most part, all it is is a pipe dream, which is why I haven’t foregone my final year of college, hired an agent and put my name in the pro draft,” Bellah said.
While he loves doing stand-up, Bellah said he keeps it as a hobby mostly for monetary reasons.
“If I could make money at it, I would consider doing it profession-ally,” Bellah said.
In the meantime, he remains a student at the University and pays the bills by working at Voodoo BBQ & Grill.
Bellah said the competition during Last Comic Standing Baton Rouge is tough.
“There are plenty of good co-medians in Baton Rouge that come out and do their thing,” he said. “It definitely wasn’t easy.”
While he’s not nervous about the semifinal shows, Bellah did admit to being anxious, saying he would be “stoked” if he won and got to per-form with a big name comedian.
However, Bellah’s comedy isn’t used solely in front of an audience. He confesses to using it in bars as well.
“My friends and I were out a couple of weeks ago. I sat down next to a girl at a bar and said, ‘Do co-medians get a discount or do we still have to pay full price?’ which appar-ently is offensive,” Bellah joked.
Some University students, while disliking the prices at the bar, enjoy the comedy scene developing in Ba-ton Rouge.
Thomas Bonck, sociology se-nior, said he has a lot of fun at com-edy shows in the area.
“My favorite part of the shows is watching the comics pick on the audience,” Bonck said. “It’s fun to watch all the people suddenly be-come self-conscious. And with fa-mous comics like Dave Coulier com-ing here, comedy is definitely on the radar.”
COMEDY
Funny Bone hosts comic contestWinner to open for ‘big-name’ performerBy Catie VogelsEntertaiment Writer
The following is a top-10 list on how the University can cut its budget by $71 million.
10. House all residents in the PMAC.
9. Serve MRE’s at the dining halls.
8. Move Mike the Tiger to a penthouse suite at the Hilton.
7. Appoint Les Miles head coach of all sports.
6. Double the cost of a
game-day hotdog to $40.5. Auction Student Govern-
ment President Colorado Robert-son’s hats.
4. Drop the premium movie channels to Mike the Tiger’s ca-ble TV.
3. Sell Van Chancellor on Antiques Road Show.
2. Stop taking in squirrels at the vet school.
1. Cancel classes.
Mass Communication 3002 Feature writing
Editor’s note: This column contains language that may be offensive to some people.
Young Jeezy’s president is black.
What a coincidence – more than 300 million other Americans have a black president, too.
Jeezy doesn’t realize this be-cause he’s too busy calling former President George W. Bush a racist.
Obama being elected is a mo-ment to be shared by all Americans — no matter their race.
Jeezy’s newest song “My Pres-ident is Black” is nothing more than another example of an ignorant art-ist trying to make a quick buck.
If a white artist wrote a song titled “My President is White,” dur-ing the tenure of previous presi-dents, people would be up-in-arms about the lyrics.
This song is a prime example that it’s time to stop segmenting ourselves by race.
This country will never move past its racial divide and see the significance of Obama’s presidency if Americans continue to segregate
themselves.During a Jan. 18 concert, Jeezy
and Jay Z performed the song at the “Concert on the Eve of Change.”
Jeezy showed his immaturity that night by slamming Bush.
“I want to thank the mother-fucker overseas who threw the two shoes at George Bush,” Jeezy said. “And ... I want to thank the mother-fucker who helped them move their shit out of the White House. Keep it moving, bitch, ‘cause my president is black.”
Following the concert, conser-vative commentator Bill O’Reilly discussed the tasteless words on The O’Reilly Factor. But, comedian and political commentator Dennis Miller to hit the nail on the head.
Miller said the two artists’ be-havior couldn’t overshadow the significance of Obama’s inaugura-tion.
“If they couldn’t ratchet down the hate for a day, that’s their prob-lem,” Miller said. “If the dinosaurs were done in by the asteroids, role models in the black community like that are about to be done in
by a shooting star named Barack Obama. “I welcome the next four years when ‘hos’ can once again become a word about an instrument that is used to till a garden at a com-
munity center … I am happy for Barack Obama, and I’m sorry emphy-sema [speaking of Jeezy] and Jay Z could not join me in that happiness.”
In response to the com-
ments, Jeezy told MTV that he felt “it was necessary” to write the song.
Jeezy said he has never paid much attention to politics because it never benefited him.
“This time around, it’s not a black-or-white thing — you got somebody in there for us that’s well-spoken and going to handle their business,” Jeezy said. “I just wanted to do my part and let them know we need change, we need
help, it’s rough out there.”Jeezy shouldn’t say “it’s not
a black-or-white thing” then say “It never benefited us” or “you got somebody in there for us.”
Jeezy has rapped numerous times about racism. He, along with most rappers, adds to racial tensions by writing the lyrics that separate blacks and whites.
O’Reilly isn’t off the hook ei-ther.
“When I object [to the video of Jeezy and Jay-Z], I’m a racist,” O’Reilly said during the interview with Miller.
That’s not true. You’re entitled to your opinion, but you teeter on the line of racial discrimination when using words like “we,” “us” or “them.”
You’re no better than those who use the same terms when de-scribing people.
Since the birth of the nation, we have not achieved equality. This doesn’t dismiss Obama’s victory.
Claudeidra Minor, Louisiana assistant attorney general and the University’s first black Golden Girl,
put it best when she said Obama is “everyone’s president.”
“He’s America’s president, and he just so happens to be black,” Minor said.
Jeezy claimed, “No president ever did shit for me.”
Maybe the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that President Kennedy intro-duced to Congress didn’t do “shit” for you.
Maybe Kennedy also never ap-pointed 40 blacks to administrative positions — something no president had done — and never secured the early release of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from jail in 1960.
Not to mention what President Lincoln did.
Take a piece of advice from someone who grew up in a primar-ily black neighborhood and whose best friend is black — know the facts before you rant about some-thing you know little or nothing about.
OpinionPAGE 20 ThursdAy, FEBruAry 19, 2009
THE DAILY REVEILLEThe Daily Reveille (USPS 145-800) is written, edited and produced solely by students of Louisiana State University. The Daily Reveille is an independent entity within the Manship School of Mass Communi-cation. Signed opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, paper or University. Letters submitted for publication should be sent via e-mail to [email protected] or delivered to B-26 Hodges Hall. They must be 400 words or less. Letters must have a contact phone number so the opinion editor can verify the author. The phone number won’t be printed. The Daily Reveil-le reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for space consideration without changing the origi-nal intent. The Daily Reveille also reserves the right to reject any letter without notification of the author. Writers must include their full names and phone numbers. The Daily Reveille’s editor-in-chief, hired ev-ery semester by the Louisiana State University Media Board, has final authority on all editorial decisions.
Time to nail down facts, find true story behind budget cuts
GET SILLLAY
Young Jeezy enforces country’s racial segregation
Jay St. PierreCopy Editor
For the past 30 years, conser-vatives and democrats alike have overwhelmingly implemented free market policies. Bush ex-panded these policies in an un-precedented way. Walker can be rest assured socialist policies did not bring about this crisis.
There are degrees of capi-talism and socialism. There is no clear distinction between the
two; rather, it is a gradation from one to the other, from restrictive communism to laissez-faire capi-talism. It is simplistic and anach-ronistic to believe this spectrum can be measured from “good” to “evil.” Striking a balance be-tween economic freedom and establishing a social net is im-portant but difficult, yet has been an expressed goal of President Obama’s from the outset of his campaign.
The bailouts have been a sad business, but the government did not nationalize these financial institutions. These businesses pleaded for government help. Economists overwhelmingly agree that, should they be allowed to fail, a worldwide depression
could occur. Intervention was necessary. To blame this on so-cialism is putting the cart before the horse.
As America did in the face of this crisis, Iceland recently re-placed their broken government with a radically new one. They nominated an economically lib-eral prime minister, and Europe’s first openly gay leader. Free mar-ket policies have failed us, and, as during the Great Depression, we are turning towards leaders who can break from the harmful, winner-take-all policies of the past.
Imagine the University with 8,500 fewer students on campus.
That might sound pleasant at first — more open parking plac-es, fewer lines to wait in and less walking traffic on campus.
But a closer looks reveals a stark potential reality for the Uni-versity’s future.
If the state forces the Uni-versity to chop 30 percent of its budget next fiscal year, the Uni-versity’s infrastructure will take a
crushing blow.Think about larger classes at
every level, fewer courses and an even the possible loss of an aca-demic college on campus.
Those issues are all possible.The results from these much-
talked about budget cuts are seri-ous — even more than what Uni-versity and LSU System officials wanted to reveal, according to documents obtained by The Daily Reveille.
So what happens now? We demand answers.Why is the University and
System quarreling over how to handle this situation? Should the budget cuts be performance-based — like the University is proposing — or across the board — like the System is proposing? Why can’t Gov. Bobby Jindal spare the Uni-versity the brunt of the cut?
Jindal shielded the Penning-ton Biomedical Research Center
and community colleges from mid-year budget cuts. Why can’t he do that for the University?
It’s time for the big dogs like Jindal and System President John Lombardi to live up to their bill-ings.
Jindal touted the importance of higher education during his campaign for governor. Lombardi came to the University with the reputation of being a fighter.
Let’s see how much they
really care about higher education now.
Let’s see if the state’s highest-ranking political official and the state’s highest-paid employee will stay true to their words and reputa-tions.
Let’s see if they go down in Louisiana history as one of the few to do so.
Gays and straights alike embrace French connection
COMMON CENTS
Econ for idiots: Price gouging ensures fairnessIn “The Myth of the Rational
Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies,” economist Bryan Caplan examines differences be-tween the way economists and non-economists view the world.
Previous columns addressed the make-work bias and the anti-foreign bias. The third economic fallacy — and the subject of this column — is the anti-market bias.
Caplan described the anti-market bias as “a tendency to un-derestimate the economic benefits of the market mechanism.”
This fallacy originates from the public’s tendency to scrutinize a business’ motives rather than its effects.
Economists find the assertion “business profits are too high” to be “not a reason at all” for economic problems, according to the Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy.
Meanwhile, non-economists — and hence the majority of the voting population — see business profits as a bad thing, and even as a cause of economic problems.
As far as voluntary transac-tions are concerned, one can only obtain profit by providing a good or service beneficial to others with a higher quality, a lower cost, and the most convenience.
When selecting a candidate for office, voters must select a leader of impeccable character above the temptation to abuse his monopoly on violence for personal or short-term benefits. They must be experts on all issues and choose the bundle of policies they suspect will produce the most good — or at least the least bad.
When selecting a vendor, cus-tomers need only to choose the
best product at the lowest price. The profit motive and the invisible hand take care of the rest.
The impossible challenge of the former has led to centuries of bad policies. The empower-ing freedom of the latter has led to the eco-nomic growth behind the 21st century’s pros-perity.
Unfortunately, the public’s anti-market bias has led to an in-creasingly large number of deci-sions to be made by the arbitrary pronouncements of the former rather than the consumer-pleasing calculations of the latter.
During Hurricane Gustav, I had several relatives stay with my family. Two of them, Uncle Tim and Parrain John, will serve as ex-amples.
When they drive to Baton Rouge, they both have economic incentives to buy gasoline. Tim would enjoy some battery and dynamo-free radio, and John — a veterinarian from New Orleans — brings $500 worth of drugs that need to be kept frozen.
In the leadup to the storm, Tim might value the gasoline needed to run the generator at $10. John, on the other hand, could theoretically pay as much as $499 to run the generator without losing money.
Because of this difference in preferences, the pricing system will allow John to outbid Tim if there were only one gallon of gas left. While the owner of the gas station would only raise prices to increase his own profits, doing so
would ensure the gasoline went to those who valued it most.
On the supply side, when the gas station’s owner sees prices climbing, he will have an incen-tive to bring more gasoline to the market. In any realistic situation, my parrain would never have to pay $499 for a gallon of gas, for it would be worth the station owner’s while to provide more gas at a far lower cost.
In fact, for more than $20 per
gallon, I would siphon gas out of my own car to sell to anyone that needed it in the short-term.
Not necessarily because I want to help them, but merely because I want to make some quick money.
The government’s laws against price gouging — far from prevent-ing station owners from unfairly raising prices — prevents people from negotiating an exchange above an arbitrary price.
And this would result in my
uncle twiddling his thumbs in front of the radio, the gas station owner losing out on an opportunity to make some extra profit and my par-rain losing $500.
Contrary to the anti-market bias of the public, the principles of supply and demand allow for effi-cient distribution of resources.
AIX-EN-PROVENCE, FRANCE – Fewer topics elicit a more polarizing response than “gay marriage.”
A political wedge issue, referen-dums concerning the legality of ho-mosexual partnerships have been a go-to tool for conservatives seeking to corral voters and shore up politi-cal support.
At one point in his presidency, George W. Bush thought a highly pressing matter on the nation’s agen-da was to introduce a Constitutional ban on the practice. Nevermind that using the Constitution for such a task is inappropriate or that Bush is al-legedly a conservative who favors state’s rights and individual liberty.
Of course, Bush’s ambitious plan never came to fruition, although it conveniently dominated much of the discussion during his re-election campaign. It also partly inspired states like Louisiana to address the issue on their own.
It seems two types of people op-pose gay marriage. There are those
who oppose it based upon their belief that the institution of marriage will be corrupted and those who simply despise gay people and their life-style.
The term “sanctity of marriage” has been the battle cry of the anti-gay marriage movement — that gays en-gaging in marriage will diminish the value of the institution.
But when religious arguments are used to “protect” marriage, oppo-nents simultaneously prove a point: Our government is recognizing a re-ligious institution, not merely a so-cial arrangement.
“Secular progressives” (to bor-row the term from Bill O’Reilly) would agree the real solution is to change the law — strike marriage from the books and view all domes-tic partnerships as “civil unions.”
Straight people can keep calling it marriage, and gay people will just have to come up with another term.
Now, if you still object to the idea of gay partners being
recognized legally by the govern-ment, you fall into the second cate-gory of gay marriage opponents. You are in the tent that detests gays and their lifestyle and subsequent-ly wish to exert your influence over them.
You’re in the ranks of King George, Hitler and Darth Vader – not be-cause you dis-agree with their choices, but because you wish to limit their freedoms.
You can stop reading now.For those rational individuals
who recognize the need to respect tradition and religious views while still affording fellow Americans with equal liberties, there’s an interesting example of a system which has come to the service of gays and straights alike.
France also once grappled with
the tricky issue of affording gays equal rights while respecting tra-ditional values. The “pacte civil de solidarité,” or PACS, was introduced in 1999 as the solution – giving gay couples similar benefits including lower taxes and easier estate succes-sion.
But unlike legislation passed by their European colleagues, French legislators didn’t specify it was in-tended for gays. They left the lan-guage intentionally ambiguous.
As a result, PACS have been options for gay and heterosexual couples alike. Described as being in limbo between sharing a residence and being married, the option has attracted many because of its flex-ibility. It’s also easier to end than marriage while providing similar benefits.
When the legislation was first introduced, 42 percent of couples entering PACS were heterosexual. In 2008, that figure ballooned to 92 percent.
Clearly the PACS model is an attractive approach to handling the complex issue of equal rights for gays, although they are still limited in some respects. The increasing popularity of PACS among straight individuals also shows that people — in France at least — do not feel the value of their partnerships is di-minished by others’ decisions.
In fact, a growing trend among straight couples is to perform mar-riage-like ceremonies after the com-pletion of their PACS. So while they receive the same official recognition as their gay counterparts, the deci-sion on how they will constitute their marriage in a social and religious context is left up to them.
And that’s the way it should be. The rites of domestic partnerships divorced from the liberties afforded by the government.
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PPAARRTT TTIIMMEE RREECCEEPPTTIIOONNIISSTT Mid City attorneysoffice looking for part time receptionist. Duties
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SSAALLEESS AASSSSOOCCIIAATTEESS NNEEEEDDEEDDMassage Envy is looking for enthusiastic SalesAssociates for our massage clinic. Must be will-ing to work nights / weekends. Contact Bobbie at922-7000 or send resume to [email protected]. Wages + sales commissions paid.www.massageenvy.com
PPAARRKKVVIIEEWW BBAAPPTTIISSTT PPRREESSCCHHOOOOLLPreschool Teachers needed flex days
no degree required 293-9447
YYOOUUTTHH FFUUNN--FFIITTNNEESSSS IINNSSTTRRUUCCTTOORRSS Exerfit islooking for high energy, responsible instructorsto run fitness/game oriented classes for youth.Spring/summer jobs available. Fax resume to
(225) 706-1634.
SSWWIIMMMMIINNGG LLEESSSSOONNSS IINNSSTTRRUUCCTTOORRSS NEEDEDGreat Part Time Afternoon Spring Semester Job-Full Time Summer Job- Great Pay! CRAWFISHAQUATICS, Louisiana’s Total Swim Program- If
you are highly motivated, hard working, we canteach you the rest. Please fax resume to 225-706-1636 or e-mail to [email protected]
ZZOOEESS KKIITTCCHHEENNApply online a zoeskitchen.com
At Zoës you will find…An Environment.... that is bright, clean, cheerful,
filled with friendly peopleAn Opportunity..... to join a fast growing compa-
ny with a wide range of growth opportunitiesAn Experience..... that is challenging, fun and
rewardingAn Organization.... committed to providing our
people with value, opportunity and a greatplace to work
A Vision.......... to become a national lifestylebrand that is the leader in the
fast-casual restaurant industry for serving thehighest quality,
best tasting food, customer service and speedof service. 225.216.3534
CCLLEERRIICCAALL//HHOOUUSSEEHHOOLLDD WWOORRKKEERR.. Good com-puter skills. flex hr, up to 10/wk. $8/hr. Near
LSU. 225.769.7921
PPAARRRRAAIINN’’SS SSEEAAFFOOOODD RREESSTTAAUURRAANNTT Now Hiring
Waitstaff, Host, and Bar PositionsApply Mon - Fri
3225 Perkins Rd225-381-9922
PPAARRRRAAIINN’’SS SSEEAAFFOOOODD RREESSTTAAUURRAANNTT Now Hiring for All Kitchen Positions
Accepting applications for all positions. Apply inperson, only. 11AM-5PM Monday-Frid
PPRROOFFEESSSSOORR SSEEEEKKIINNGG MMOOTTHHEERR’’SS helper from4:30 to 6:30 pm each day. Would assist with
supervision of 3 young children and helparound the house. Mother would be present atall times. Near Bluebonnet/ I-10. Must provide
own transportation and references.225.202.1528
PPRREESSCCHHOOOOLL looking for loving and nurturingindividuals to work AM shifts. Very Competitive
pay. 225.924.6772
PPEERRFFEECCTT PPAARRTT TTIIMMEE PPOOSSIITTIIOONN AfternoonPreschool Teacher needed for child care center
near LSU.2:30-5:30 M-F 225-766-1159
CCHHIIMMEESS EEAASSTT IISS hiring wait staff!!! Pleasecome in and apply between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
225.296.4981
HHIIRRIINNGG WWAAIITTSSTTAAFFFF FFOORR full sevice menu, deliand host. Apply in person. La Bayou Bistro on
La 1 in Brusly. 225.749.6354
SSUURRVVEEYY RREESSEEAARRCCHHEERRSS NNEEEEDDEEDD!!!! LSU’sPublic Policy Research Lab is now hiring surveyresearchers for weekend and night work only.Must have a clear speaking voice, be friendly,willing to communicate with people over thephone, and to follow set procedures. Pay is
competitive, $7-9/hour. Flexible hours! Greatplace to work! Prior experience a plus but not
PPTT SSTTUUDDEENNTT WWOORRKKEERR Lewis ComputerServices, Inc. is seeking a PT Student Worker.
Excellent student opportunity. Will be responsi-ble for completing company errands and basicclerical work. Clean driving record is required.Must have excellent communication skills and
basic computer skills. Previous office experiencepreferred. No nights or weekends. Seeking can-didates who are available on MWF. Please e-
WITHIN 5172 CORPORATE BLVD. BATON ROUGE,LA 70808 225.928.7155
TTHHEE UUNNIIVVEERRSSIITTYY CCLLUUBB Golf Course is now hir-ing servers, beverage cart attendants, kitchenstaff, and outside service staff. Call 819-0800
for more information.
SSTTUUDDEENNTT WWOORRKKLocal BR company expanding Fast!
*$15.00 Base/appt*Flexible SchedulesNo experience nec
Customer sales/ svcConditions Apply
Ages 17+Apply NOW 225-927-3066
www.collegestudentwork.com
PPBBRRCC SSTTUUDDYY:: PBRC is looking for people toparticipate in a new research study. The pur-pose of this study is to determine how your
body weight today impacts your health in thefuture. Participants will be placed on a higher
calorie meal plan for 8 weeks. All meals will beprovided to you at no cost. Earn up to $3800.
Call 763-3000
CCYYPPRREESSSSMMOOUUNNDDSS BBAASSEEBBAALLLL CCOOMMPPLLEEXXCypress Mounds Baseball Complex is currentlyaccepting applications for the following posi-
tions: Administration, Retail, Ticket Sales, FoodServices, Maintenance. Wages will be $7.00 -
$10.00 per hour based upon qualifications andexperience. Work will be on weeknights and
weekends. Flexible Scheduling. To apply, pleasecontact Eric Wiethorn at 225-757-5550 exten-
sion 203 to set up an appointment.225.757.5550
AA.. CC.. LLEEWWIISS YYMMCCAA OOPPEENNIINNGGSS Now hiring forthe following positions:
Extended Day Counselor. M-F afternoons 3-6pm. Pay Rate $7.25.
Extended Day Site Director. Responsible for theoversight of the extended day school sites. M-F
afternoons 3-6pm. Pay Rate $7.50-$8.50. Exercise & Game Room Activity
Coordinator(XRKADE). Responsible for thescheduling of member challenges and events inthe activity game room. M-F 3-8pm and some
weekends. Pay Rate $7.50-$8.50.Please e-mail resume, apply in person, or con-
WWEE PPAAYY UUPP TTOO $$7755 per online survey. www.CashToSpend.com
********AATTTTEENNTTIIOONN******** AACCCCOOUUNNTTIINNGG BusinessMajors Incredible Job Opportunity!!!! NowHiring Part-Time Accounting Assistant WorkDirectly Under the Controller of the LargestSupplier of Bedding in the Southeast. Greatexperience. Flexible Hours Competitive Pay
$7.00-$8.00 starting pay for part time.We have 10-6, 11-7 & 2-9 shifts available dur-ing the week as well as weekend shifts. Please
apply online at www.mathernes.com. Eoe.
HHOORRTT AANNDD LLAANNDDSSCC AARRCCHH SSTTUUDDEENNTTSSImmediate P/ T and weekend Spring openingson Coursey in B. R., or on Hwy. 42 near Airlinein Prvl. Sell the latest in plants, ponds, and gar-
The Daily Reveille is not responsi-ble for the content of any classifiedand reserves the right to reject anyad. Advertisers must agree toaccept the type sizes and styles ofThe Daily Reveille. No refunds willbe made for errors in the classi-fieds, as ads are proofed by the per-son placing the ad. No refunds willbe given in the event of an overrun,as advertisers select thier owndates in which to insert the ad. Inthe event of error, immediate noticemust be given to the staff: the pub-lishers are responsible for only ONEincorrect insertion. All claims andadjustments must be made no laterthan 15 days after publication.
Deadline for ads is 12 noon twoworking days prior to the print publi-cation date.
ADS MUST BE PAID FOR INADVANCE BY CHARGE ON OUR WEBSITE AT CLASSIFIEDS.LSUREVEILLE.COM.
PLACE YOURAD TODAYGot something to sell? Want tomake an announcement? Need tofind an apartment or roommate?With the potential to reach over33,000 LSU students, faculty andstaff, there is no better way toadvertise. Not only do we print twicea week, but there is no additionalcharge to place your classified adon the world wide web atwww.lsureveille.com. Just click “clas-sifieds,” where your ad can beviewed on our website, that aver-ages up to 65,000 unique visitors aweek. For more information, pleasecall (225) 578-6090.
33//33 CCOONNDDOO IINNCCOOMMEE PPRROODDUUCCIINNGG Gated: 3/31700SF $206,000 Almost New. The Gates At
Brightside. 1.5 from campus. Income producingwhile your student lives free. 407-353-0564
Susan
FOR RENT
NNEEWWLLYY RREEMMOODDEELLEEDD AAPPTTSS small 20 unit cmplxw/ cntrl a/ h, ceramic tile flrs, tile kit cntr tops,otr micro, new appls, deck for fun, gated park-ing, on site lndry, nr lsu, brgh, brcc, dwntwn,
33BBRR//22BBAA CCOONNDDOO Like New. Free Cable.Community Pool. Extra Parking. Great Location
at LSU. $1500/mo. 225.202.1148
SSPPRRIINNGG BBRREEAAKK-- Sit back, relax. Let the wavesroll in.
Panama City Beach Rentals. Spring Break reser-vations.
One call does it all-1-800-923-2737www.pcbeachrentals.com
TTIIGGEERRTTOOWWNN 11BBRR UUNNFF 3299 Ivanhoe St. stove,fridge, AC 1BR $400 9275495 or 7660579
11//22 OOFFFF MMAARRCCHH RREENNTT!!!!Student roommate wanted for apt. near LSU onBrightside. The BLOX. 2 bed. furnished, modern,C A/H, pool, finess room, bus line to LSU, W &D. Looking for a “chill” roommate. $487.00 mo.
If interested please e-mail or phone 985-845-8049 or 985.778.9344
CCHHAATTEEAAUU DDUU CCOOUURR IINN TTIIGGEERRLLAANNDDLarge 2 BR 1 B in gated complex..772-2429
mckproperties.com
WWAALLKK TTOO LLSSUU CCAAMMPPUUSS 2BR/1B duplex justremodeled like new. $650/M Pet ok. Wood &
Tile floors. Available Now!McDaniel Prop.225.388.9858
AAPPAARRTTMMEENNTT FFOORR RREENNTT 1BR/1BA, BURGINAPARTMENTS HIGHLAND AND LEE; $545/ MO,
II WWAANNTT TTOO BBEE YYOOUURR DDEERRIIVVAATTIIVVEE so I can lietangent to your curves. Nerdy ndn chick seekingan intelligent and attractive conversationalist.Ladies only, please—I’m tired of natural logs
