Keeping PACE

The last think I think we need in this country, region, state, county, city, campus is more laws and regulation based on moral 'standards'.

I love this campus, I love this university, but I do not even so much as hold a neutral opinion about the people who run this university. I am convinced the Board of Regents have a desire to ruin what the University of Wisconsin is.

More than three years ago the Regents formed a committee who's sole purpose was oversight on any and all Alcohol related issues, transactions, and service in the city of Madison, they called it PACE, Policy Alternative Community Education project. They will not leave students here alone. They have a very short list of accomplishments, and even fewer of them are positive from anyone's perspective. First, they extended the hours of operation at the 2 workout / recreation facilities on campus on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. In three years, that is the only thing positive they have done.

Since that, their only accomplishment was the artificial raising of prices of downtown Madison bars by pressuring bar owners into a Thursday-Saturday drink special ban; after all, PACE did have a say in who alcohol licenses are given to. They insisted this ban would help curbing binge drinking among students. Anyone who has been to college could have pointed out to them that their actions would do no such thing, and it didn’t. The statistics showed pre-ban and during ban numbers of “alcohol related” incidents did not show even the slightest decrease. PACE’s measures were statistically insignificant. A lack of specials didn’t cause anyone to drink less, just put a few more dollars in the bar owners’ pockets and eventually the city’s through taxes.

Luckily enough, a small group of Madison alumni filed for a class action lawsuit against the bar owners in the spring / summer of 2004 calling the specials ban “price fixing” and monopolistic. While the bar owners may not have been to blame for the artificial price hike, the lawsuit threat removed the bans and students can once again drink on the weekend and have about $4 more left in their pocket. All studies done related to the specials ban showed no less drinks were bought, only more expensive drinks.

PACE and university officials worked from a new angle since September 2005 though that has turned PACE from a mere annoyance into a threat to this campus in my mind. Around mid, late October, the university, and PACE, has been trying to shame us by saying that from the start of the fall semester to early November there have been 30 kids sent to detox centers. How terrible is 30 out of about 45000 students, 0.06% of the students. Or how the administration publicly claims that that is the worse in the Big Ten, and yet have never released any numbers of how that compares to other universities.

As a small personal note, every survey I've ever taken, on this campus or otherwise, has defined a 'binge' as more than 3 drinks in an hour or “in one sitting." If I had 3 beers in 1 hour I would be mildly buzzed. One might also wonder, what is a sitting? Does it mean one bar? If I go out to a bar, stay from midnight to 2am and have 5 drinks I might as well stay home, I'm barely gonna be buzzed. Goddamn right I'm a binge drinker in PACE’s eyes. I might as well get soda all night because my BAC is going to be about 0.0 at that pace. Or one house party maybe? Hell you go through 3 cans of beer in a standard game of Beer Pong! That certainly isn't enough for even the lightest of drinkers to get sick, or become seriously drunk. Apparently I need to 'binge' to feel accepted with the growing 'peer pressure' to drink here.

The worst part is they released their claims in the most public way possible, what they are really doing, is ruining our school’s image, and I don’t know why. Maybe they thought it would curb our drinking if they kept telling us we’re the worst students they ever had come through the school. I don’t think so, but I do resent them attacking mine and their reputation in order to gain some kind of public support for their policies. It obvious to me that the administration’s ability to control the students in ways they have no business doing is more important to them than upholding the great long standing reputation. Not only does the University of Wisconsin-Madison happen to be ranked as high as Ivy League school in academics, 34 in the nation overall at the moment, 8th if you consider only public universities, but continues to be in the top 10 party schools for as long as I can remember. That is an impressive feat, a diploma from UW-Madison has a tangle respect in this nation and the administration is currently trying to tarnish that reputation to serve their own ends, and that should be considered an unforgivable act which cannot possibly serve to better our education.

The most recent and hopefully last motion PACE attempts to legislate is a keg registration law. This law would force liquor stores to keep a record of EVERY keg sold, who bought them, where the keg would be, and a signed document pledging the keg will only be served to Of-age people. These records would have to be maintained for a full year after the sale date, and the police would be allowed full access to this information, without any kind of reason or probable cause. The keg registration law would also permit only 1 keg to be registered to a single address without a permit purchased from the City of Madison.

I cannot as hard as I can think, see a reason to support this proposal, and neither did the Madison Police department when they dropped their support for it. Kegs of beer attract people, yes. The thinking is without multiple kegs, house parties (the declared enemy of PACE) will not get out of control, less people, less drinking, less problems. However what they do not seem to understand is that beer is their friend, it has a low alcohol content, it cannot be drunk in quantities large enough to be dangerous easily. By making kegs harder to come by, its not hard to think of viable alternatives like cheap handles of hard liquor. Unlike beer kegs, a bottle of vodka is can be mixed into drinks only god knows how strong and can be drunk extremely quickly. Shots, shooters, and very strong drinks are extremely hard to keep track of. One may never know how much they had to drink only drinking vodka, rum, Jack, and god knows what else. Injury and hospitalizations due to alcohol can only go up by discouraging beer drinking. Also as, you remember, the police has full right to inspect the records kept by the liquor stores at any time without any cause. Clearly its not hard to imagine an officer spending an hour on a Friday afternoon, listing all the addressed to drive around and inspect. Having a keg should not be considered probably cause, it reeks of extreme judgment and privacy invasion. No commercial transaction should be a handed over to any law enforcement official without some kind of investigation; this is not right and it frightens me that they think this is a legitimate way to curb drinking.

The police departments in Madison had even dropped their support for Keg registration days before it was voted on, and failed to pass after that. When it would seem campus was safe from PACE’s keg laws, the District 9 alderman of the City of Madison has reintroduced the bill to what end I cannot fathom. His district includes no part of campus or surrounding neighborhoods, what he could possibly want out of the keg registration, especially without the support from the Madison police officers who will be enforcing the law, is anyone’s guess. Maybe he should spend more time worrying about his neighborhood than meddling with students’ lives.

It amazes me how much influence PACE, an organization who clearly does not have the students’ best interest at hart, who have repeatedly failed to make any progress to their group’s goals, continue to be able to influence the legislation drafted and voted upon by the Madison legislators. Last Thursday an article appeared in the news paper that showed a typical interaction of the people of Madison, bar owners, and PACE.

A quote follows:
“The starter yelled, “Go!” and nine 96 oz. glass boots filled to the brim with beer were lifted from the bar and pressed against the lips of nine patrons.

Just a few minutes later, the team “Uhhhh, drink?” narrowly edged out “Sir Chuck Norris and His Mustache Riders” in a team speed drinking contest held Wednesday night at Dotty Dumpling’s Dowry on North Frances Street.

As Dotty’s gave free french fries to the participants and as the bar calmed down from the cheers and screams of the contest, Dotty’s manager Rachael Stanley looked out across the Wednesday night crowd occupying the warmly-lit room and smiled.

“This is fun!” she said. “This was successful.”

However, some city officials would not agree with Stanley.

According to representatives of the Policy Alternative Community Education project, Wednesday night’s contest represented the side of Madison’s culture that needs to change.

Earlier this week, Sue Crowley, coordinator of the organization, spoke with Stanley and asked her to call off the event.

“We’re putting a lot of resources in trying to change the culture of this community that the only way to have a good time is to drink,” Crowley said in a phone interview. “This contest sends the message to students that it’s okay to drink as much as you can.””

Why the hell does drinking have to be a bad thing? Drink as much as you want, as much as you can, have a good fucking time, your not hurting anyone. How do people so clearly disconnected with the population of voters can possibly hope to achieve their aims, or stay in positions of power long enough to do this kind of damage.

I'm glad at least three people agree with me on this

Tried to dig this up eariler...

Hollywood hates you. They hate Tivo users, they hate people with DVD burners, they hate people with children who make backups of Disney DVDs for when the kids scratch the original Toy Story 2. They hate consumers who want options.

DRM vs. fair use, and why you're caught in the crossfire



Goddamn, it keeps getting better...

Movie studios may be moving against region encoding hacks, other exploits

The RIAA wants your soul.

Technology news that everyeone should be concerned about

My first non-retaliatory post

Ah. Video games. Master of my spare time, and a portion of it that should have been spend on making my elementary school book reports better.

Most of you won't relate to this on a personal level but you have some kind of similar feelings for something, like I dunno. Cars. How you lament the day when GM stopped making cars that people were proud to drive (too young to know if they ever did), or how the new lines of a 2005 Mustang make you weep and pine for a 67 Shelby GT.

There once was a time when people would crowd around an 12" tv disconnect the tv's rabbit ears and play Mario, humming along with a melody composed of a beeps and boops by a 4 fingered keyboardist.

That day has gone and the video game industry has gone to shit. Almost, entirely gone to shit. Until recent years I couldn't figure out how to walk into a Babbage's or Funcoland without walking out with something new. Half the NES games I have today I "borrowed" from my cousins (they never got any of them back, and I still play those games today). My friends decided who's house to go over to based on which game we decided to play. Everything was good in our 8 and 16 bit universe.

Then came along the Playstation. Sony, a new comer to the video game console scene. Just as Sega was realizing it was going to die a slow punishing death at the hands of Nintendo and their quality games, innovative controllers and lovable characters (Not to say Sonic wasn't cool). l The Playstation product announcement was premiered on MTV. Which as we all know, hardcore gamers watch religiously. MTV, the monolithic beast that has nearly singlehandedly destroyed music in my lifetime.

It was designed to play games on CDs. Holy shit. WOW. This was going to be awesome, think of how great the games are going to be on this thing, Cds hold so much storage space (more on this later). Turns out optical media means things like "Loading..." screens. I cannot tell you how much time I spend looking at that screen playing games. Its the bane of the casual gamer. What games do people play when they are short on time? Tetris, Minesweeper and Harts, because you dont have to wait for 3 company logos to come and fade, then wait for the game to "load." I would guess I've stared at a "Loading..." screen damn near 20-40 hours of my life waiting to play a game from optical media. And don't forget how easily a CD can get scratched, there is a $35-50 opps right there. And to top it all off, you now had to paid another $30-40 to save your games. Wonderful. Was the Playstation any better than a N64? Not really, but you could play your CDs on it! And thus the N64, an extraordinarily innovative system with an amazing controller (the PS controller was essentially a rip off the SNES) was outsold by a Sony creation because it doubled as a CD player.

Another issue with optical media based games, (cds on the Playstation, dvds on PS2, Xbox and Xbox 360) is the capacity is wholly unnecessary. The Game Cube, Nintendo's first console to use a non-cartrage delivery method, is a 1.5" dvd. And make no mistake, all the cross platform games fit on the GameCube disks. The vast majority of PS2/Xbox games fit on 3Gb or less. All that extra space is wasted and makes the console outlandishly bulkier when compared to a GameCube; but cheaper to produce (and yet marketed at a higher price).

First to market this last generation, the Playstation 2 ran under the same concept as the PS, it could be your DVD player too! The Xbox from Microsoft also comes into play here. And this is really where the videogame industry goes insane. Nintendo continues to maintain its celler-dwelling sales numbers with once again, an amazing console every bit as capable as the PS2 and XBox, with once again, the most well designed controller (The PS2 controller is identical to the PS controller, and the Xbox controller was redesigned based on huge negative feedback from gamers), but doesn't play DVDs and can't rip your music cds to be used as soundtracks for racing games. The industry is now more focused on the pissing contest between Sony and Microsoft as to who can perform the most operations per second, a statistic completely worthless to making games that are actually interesting with high replay value. Most of this is done publicly at E3. E3 (the biggest most important industry convention) is now filled with booth babes because they appeal to the gamer who is swayed by the bigger numbers. How that became the case, I blame EA, because most of them are selling Madden 200x from a company that used to make good games and now supports itself by purchasing small innovative companies, all their licensees, and shitting out a new version of Madden, NBA Live, and NCAA Basketball every 12 months, and Sony/MS because they know they can't compete with Nintendo on quality.

In college, I found myself in the dorms, shocked and amazed at the people now spending their time playing video games: Jocks, meatheads, and fratboys. These people frighten me, they buy up those Roster Update 2006 titles the day they come out and sign up for the Madden tournament sponsored by Miller at your local tavern. Most of them own only that one game. These are the people driving sales of dull, played out games, forcing innovative, unique games to become "nitch market," "cult classic" games.

Through the 2000-present period, with all the glitz and "improved graphics" of modern games, there have been casualties in the console wars. Replay value has diminished significantly. I find myself pumping Mario 3 through 5.1 speakers far more often then shooting drug dealers and miscellaneous mobsters in the latest Grand Theft Auto simply because the games are boring. They offer very little potential to become classics. How many games from the Playstation era are going to be considered must-play? How many people can think back fondly on the hours wasted playing Grand Theft Auto, how about Contra? Mario Kart?

The PS2 and Xbox have offered gamers extraordinarily little as far as innovative game play; and you would think with those powerful processors they argue over, one would expect better AI, which is not to be found. The most recent Metal of Honor nazis as just as stupid as the peons in GoldenEye. The games are no more challenging then they ever had been; and the "difficulty" settings almost never change how the NPCs react, the game only lets you find less ammo and health packs to make it "harder". The only evidence of slightly increased AI from the last/current generation of consoles is Halo's aliens. On the higher difficulty levels, the aliens can be smarter than the average player. However they also make the damage you take far greater as well and that doesn't count as any kind of solution to a pervasive problem plaguing all platforms.

Sony and Microsoft's solution to this problem has been to stick their head in the sand; oh and they offer online play for a subscription fee. You buy the hardware, the games at $50 a pop and then a few more bucks every month so you can play against other humans without picking up a phone or any effort at all for that matter. Lovely. All the connection issues of a LAN event without all the hassle of enjoying people's company.

So the new paradigm for this latest console wars is graphics, already the Xbox 360 made waves saying all games will have surround sound and up to 1080i HD quality visuals, and the PS3 claims it will deliver 1080p (as of the time of writing current evidence says Sony will miss this mark). What is the matter with that? Compare GoldenEye to Halo, Resident Evil 4, etc. We're hitting a wall. They can't possibly look that much better, and reviewers do not recommend anyone with a standard definition TV to get a xbox360 yet, the graphics improvements just don't exist over a composite video cable. And unless you get the "premium" package, you have to buy the HD cables separately. Hows that for customer appreciation? I can't see how that bodes well for a full bundle which can cost as much as a modest HD tv that it needs to be attached to.

Maybe I got it wrong though maybe the new crux of the industry is the new "will play your cds/dvds" feature of the game industry, interpolarity with the home PC. Today's TVs look a lot more like computers and computers are looking more like TVs, is your console's pc/internet connectivity the new main function? I can only hope it isn't. The only true video game company left is Nintendo, who has forever operated on the model "its all about the games." Sony and MS never seem to grasp this, but then again neither does the current average gamer apparently.

The one thing I will say is a positive about the video game industry in the last 5-6 years is the sports game evolution. The only sport game I have ever enjoyed before NHL 2003 was NBA Jam T.E. on the Sega Genesis. Perhaps thats where the influx of meatheads have come from, and if thats true I'd gladly trade the back the improved sports games for what used to be important to the majority of video gamers. The huge boom of game devlopers' budgets, player numbers and social awareness of video games has only lead to booth babes, high profile hollywood licensed generic movie games, a shift in the focus from quality, replay value and innovation to 'bling', 'glitz', a quick profit, unnecessary sequels, and higher prices of consoles, games, and the required "accessories"

Based on some feedback...

My last entry has nothing to do me trying to build some kind of stable coherent argument. Its just a big fuck you to anyone who can't keep thier disparaging opinions to themselves. If your promoting your own disapproval of the personal, private lives of other people, you should shut the fuck up and worry about yourself.

Struck by my own moral indeciency

Once again, Beckstrom, an opinion editor/writer for the Badger Herald, has found a way to get under my skin extraordinarily quickly. Her article is linked : "Open relationships have drawbacks" However, as we have seen before, her article headline, isn't always accurate. Her article is far better characterized by the front page blurb "Valentine's Day advice: monogamy the only healthy relationship."

I cannot contain any semblance of calm writing here because I can only ask, Who the hell does this bitch think she is? How does one get to the point where one thinks, "Well I'm just so damn right about everything all the time I should start telling everyone else what to do"

Same format as last Beckstrom article...

"Back in the day, we had a name for those who defied the definition of monogamy. They were called swingers. But today, it seems the rules have changed and the prevalence of open relationships has increased significantly."

As you can see from the article if you chose to read it yourself, there is no point made after this. I can only assume Beckstrom finds the word itself evil and immoral, "swinger," did it send a shiver down your spine? Me neither.


"But a better definition may be cheating without the guilt.

Over the past few years, the social stigma of engaging in polyamory has greatly subsided on college campuses — and this university is no exception. It is a common occurrence for someone to proclaim this so-called “relationship” status on Facebook or to engage in a sexual rendezvous with another person while in a supposed relationship."

Cheating, by definition, implies an other party be unaware of the situation, can it be cheating if the other party knows, or *gasp* is in the same room witnessing the cheating?! Beckstrom did get one thing right, "polyamory" as she so clinically puts it, has degraded from some weird social sigma to a common occurrence. And monogamy is declining, and why shouldn't it? Should we go back to the way it was "back in the day" as she says? Should we start hanging black people on a whim again? Take away women's right to vote? Burning wiccans, protestants and schizophrenics at a stake? Cultures don't move backwards, they evolve. It's possible to see resurgence of movements and ideas, but its never the same phenomenon again.

"Maybe the Kinsey Report was the start of this deviation from traditional values. But the prevalence of open relationships was precipitated by something more."

Or many shows like "Who wants to marry a millionaire, or "The Bachelorette" have so eroded our concept of marriage and the social tradition of dating and relationships, that views like yours no longer apply to a post 1960s America.

"The back cover promises a book that will “introduce you to the open marriage concepts — trust, liking, role flexibility, individual freedom and growth, and love and sex without jealously — that can do wonders for your marriage.”
Somehow, I’m not buying it."

Who said you have to? Why do you think because you don't like something, we all have to follow suit? This is the crux of any argument I've ever had with conservative view points; why do you care what other people do so much?

"There are obvious health concerns for engaging in an open relationship for all participants involved. Having multiple sexual partners greatly increases the probability of contracting a sexually transmitted disease and becoming pregnant. But there are other problems for those who engage in this lifestyle."

Contraceptives and STD prevention is a fact of life in this country. Statistically for a couple to become pregnant while using a condom and some flavor of 'the pill" is near 0.12% I am not a betting man, but I'm positive I'll take those odds. The "other problems" mentioned here are never discussed, only mentioned to exists, kinda like Bush's WMDs.

"More importantly, how can one consider an open relationship to be, in fact, a relationship? Normally, a relationship requires a commitment between two people. If this doesn’t exist, then what differentiates an open relationship from mere dating — or friends with benefits? I’m drawing a big blank. Nonetheless, using the word “relationship” to define the aforementioned association diminishes the significance of a monogamous relationship between two people."

Languages, like culture, are ever evolving. Deal with it. However her definition is incorrect. An open relationship is one where two people share a deep connection as traditional relationship does, the "other people" are periphery, non-essential, unnecessary.

"Intimacy can only come when two people can engage in sex knowing there are not other sexual partners on the side. Sex is meant to be a bond that brings two people together — which is why waiting until marriage is the ideal situation."

I can't even decide where to begin with this last statement. Clearly even to the more conservative people, like Beckstrom, sex IS important. However it is impossibly dumb to get hitched and then find out if you enjoy having sex with your husband or wife. What if you can't stand it? What then? I guess I'll just not enjoy sex for the next 50 some odd years after waiting 20-30 years to have it? I don't fucking think so. I need no more evidence than can be found here here, and here. If you want an marriage to last, you better damn-well know if your compatible before you get married.

"Rather, sex is frequently used to either fulfill some mere physiological desire for both sexes or satisfy the lustful mind of an inebriated male after his beer goggles are firmly in place following a night out. It is disheartening to see so many people relegate sex to “it’s just sex.”"

Is she blaming men or finding another outlet for her anger against beer? I can't really tell, in case its the former, just remember, girls get beer-goggles too.

"A question I have, though, is if someone can’t be monogamous before marriage, who is to say they will practice monogamy within the bounds of matrimony? If people are accustomed to relationships without a commitment to remain faithful to one another (i.e. open relationships) during their dating years, why would marriage be any different?"

What makes you think that rational, sound decision making adults who are accustomed to open relationships WOULD NOT be ok with doing something they have done their whole adult lives? Clearly we've seen words change meaning, importance, connotations, and definitions all in this entry, so why would we keep a rigid definition of marriage here? Its a word. It can be changed, there used to be a point in time where a divorce was a shameful affair, that wasn't talked about, and embarrassing for all parties involved; now we televise "Divorce Court." Marriage is as special, scared, important as you make it.

"According to “The Monogamy Myth” by Peggy Vaughn, 60 percent of men and 40 percent of women will break their marriage vows at some point during their lifetime — and these figures represent only those who admit to engaging in infidelity. The increasing prevalence of open relationships before marriage will not improve this statistic."

Neither will "Divorce Court."

Its my theory that open relationships evolved out of the influx of young adults going to college; specifically the students who were in relationships before leaving for higher education, and chose to go to different schools. I ask why not have an open relationship under such conditions if thats what two people want. Why not even a marriage, if two people can agree what a marriage should be, then that marriage is fine with me.
Next time you want to make yourself feel better about your high moral ground Beckstrom, keep it to yourself, especially if you want to try and ruin people's Valentine's Day.

One should note that this reactionary post does not, in fact, champion any relationship style, encourage any believe about other's values, or attempt to make people ashamed of what kind of relationship works for them. My only point is that different people find different ways to happiness and I'm glad for them, unlike Beckstrom who finds them morally remiss, sexually unhealthy, and advocate their reform to her standards.

Underage drinking hurts...

..People who are underage.

There is an article in my local college paper today entitled "Underage drinking hurts economy" by Darryn Beckstrom. This girl is the Editorial Board Chair of the Badger Herald, and has been on the staff at that paper for at least a year and a half. This girl's compositions have never ceased to piss me off; so much in fact I generally try to avoid the opinion section of the paper routinely and only pick the paper up for the high quality comic strips they some how manage to keep.

I will quote excerpts for me to respond to; the article is linked here : Underage drinking hurts economy

"Wisconsin unfortunately does not have a strong dram shop law — which allows one to hold an establishment financially liable for damage a patron may cause after becoming heavily intoxicated. Yet bartenders can still be held liable for providing underage drinkers with alcohol. And taverns can also be held civilly liable for the damage caused by an underage patron if it is found that they have not checked identification with a “good faith effort.”"

So Wisconsin does the right thing by not punishing bars financially liable for overly intoxicated patrons. And the bartenders can lose their job...if they don't check for proper ID. This is the underagers fault? This is not a situation where grey area exists, the patron comes in, generally getting carded before stepping 4 ft into a bar, or at the bar by the bartender himself. The employee makes a decision from here on the validity of the ID. The patron is promptly given a drink or kicked out. If they drink and a police officer coincidentally comes in and asks for the drinkers ID and then it proved fraudulent, the offender is fined, the officer asks the bartender, "Do you check his ID?" Clearly the bartender did in this case, the employee is happy to have the underager out of the establishment.

I feel no sympathy for the bartender who get a ticket, or fired for not checking ID, or habitually letting underagers with poor IDs in. Thats simply a case of someone not doing the job they are suppose to do. How does that constitute the employee as the "victim" of the underager's crime?


Next point: According to a widely cited study by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, the costs of underage drinking are estimated at more than $58 billion annually. And this amount does not include the cost of enforcement or prevention of underage drinking.

I wont even begin to estimate how much profit is made at bars and liquor stores by underage purchases; That figure cannot possibly include "cost of enforcement or prevention of underage drinking" because the Madison police department makes no secret of the impossibility of writing as many underage drinking tickets they can; in fact they were quoted saying as such in very same paper not more than 2 day ago. Underage drinking tickets are mainly given in situations where other violations have occurred, underage drinking tickets most often are paired with disorderly conduct related tickets, the police do not spend their rounds giving Breathalyzer tests to random pedestrians on State Street.


Onward: Often, a person’s prefrontal cortex portion of their brain — which controls such functions as providing a person with the ability to use judgment and reason — does not completely develop until they reach their early 20s. This helps to explain why college students do not always make the smartest decisions. Alcohol does nothing more than retard the ability to use sound judgment and reason even more.

Her reasoning that the drinking age is 21. My only response can be; and yet with our unsound decisions, we can be entrusted to defend this nation's freedoms and the citizens who enjoy those freedoms. An 18 year old has EVERY legal responsibility that a 21 year old; and yet drinking is illegal. I'll consider 21 to be a proper drinking age only when a 20 year old doesn't have to worry about being drafted.


Continuing: Police officers were also making fewer house calls in the middle of the night to tell parents their son or daughter had been killed by a drunk driver.

I would LOVE to see where Darryrn has her numbers from.

Yet more: The Court in Dole was correct in asserting that withholding five percent of federal highway funds from states that did not increase their drinking age to 21 was not compulsion, but rather only “mild encouragement.” States can take the carrot — but by no means are they forced to eat it.

By a quick cursory google search of "federal highway funds received by Wisconsin" turned up an article that said for the construction of pedestrian walkways/ bike paths, along with highway related funds, for Wisconsin's FOURTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT ONLY was over $60 million in federal grants. That would be $3 million in funds gone if Wisconsin decided to change its drinking age again; excuse me for being crass but "mild encouragement" my fucking underage ass.

Nearing the end: the states’ rights thinkers among us who argue the law violates the Tenth Amendment and an individual state’s autonomy should be more concerned with asking why states are even taking federal money in the first place.

It was my understanding it was the federal government's job to support the states.


Lastly: Often, underage students feel they need a fake ID to get them into bars so they can hang out with their older friends. It is unfortunate, though, that socializing on this campus needs to revolve around beer and the retched stench of fermenting yeast.

I won't even stoop down to blast the author on their apparent distaste for beer and overly personal opinion on the smell of bars and any drinking. I simply wonder why bother to end the article with such high horsed personal hatred of drinking in general rather than some kind of solution to solve the "problem" of underage drinking or alternative to it.

If you are going to decry something as a pervasive problem, offer solutions. Darryn doesn't offer anything but flimsy justification for a law that keeps thirsty people out of bars and a platform for her distaste of drinking at any age.

As a final note; I'd like to note how little this artical actually did to claim underage drinking hurts the economy, on any scale: local, regional, statewide or nationally. And how much is it mearly an unwarented defense of the current drinking laws.

The evils of facebook

Sometimes I honestly wonder how law enforcement can be so incredibly insulting to me without ever actually coming into direct contact with me. Not more than a few minutes ago I received an email from the badgerbeat... a newsletter I am subjected to receiving for using a university email account from the UW police department. The very first order of business reads as follows...

<>Warning About Facebook
A large problem facing law enforcement today is Internet based financial fraud, one aspect of which is “phishing” where suspects obtain personal information like bank account numbers, social security numbers, and credit card information under false pretenses. Law enforcement has invested heavily in prevention strategies to help combat these crimes, attempting to educate consumers on how to safeguard sensitive information <>

Why, Oh Why Facebook?! Legitimate concerns about facebook aside, where college students of all sorts publicly display their addresses, email, phone number, classes, spring & winter break plans, interests, favorites, friends, graduating High School, and current relationship status; I find it funny to note the police alerting us to all of this obvious data-miner's dream... because campus police and school administrators all over the country have begun using Facebook as a tool to bust students. Photos submitted by themselves and their friends are being used as evidence in cases of underage drinking, and for violations such as drinking in dry dorms/campuses. Not only should this stir conflicted feelings about methods and practices of law enforcement; but I would have thought they would have had the decency to mention "Also don't post pictures of your bong or we just might kick your ass out of the dorms."

A lesson in treating fans right

Ever hear about writing unsent letters to people who you have unresolved issues with? Well I made one of those the other day; but it wasn't to some childhood nemesis, or a girl who wronged me or anything like that, no indeed. This is far more personal; this is to the Athletic Department at UW-Madison...

Dear Administration,

I hope you actually listen here to what I am taking my time to write to you....

I've been a student here for a few years; and I know for a fact that large majority of the athletic fans are not going to believe me when they read in the Daily Cardinal the other day that "the athletic department appreciates student fans." I personally find that to be outrightly contradictory to the actions of the department since I've been here.

If the athletic department cared about the student fans, you wouldn't have floated "speculation" of a price hike in student tickets. What I think you did was allow that to reach the student body early so we would simply roll over when it officially became the fact that it is.

Hockey fans and basketball season ticket holders alike would not have to wait outside in the cold, scrambling to get groups together after hearing of the 'suddenly decided' ticket distribution date; holding only towels and hopefully a a warm jacket to keep us from getting sick at night. In the 2003-04 hockey season, which was predicted to be a rebuilding year (read: not a large draw) we were offered shelter inside the last night along with some
juices/bagels in the morning as a thank you for being diehard fans. As the predicted successful 2004-05 and 2005-06 years came, we students were left literally out in the cold and kicked out of line for having pillows under the guise of some insultingly thin cover story about camping laws, and class attendance rates. I can not possibly fathom why these decisions were made other than we simply were not worth your time and effort because the badgers were going to have a good season and we'd show up anyways. Which brings me to the ultimate support for that argument, the basketball program.

If the athletic department cared about student basketball fans, there would be a much larger student section, with more seats available for your biggest fans. However this is not the case as the athletic department would rather non-student tickets be sold in their place at a much higher profit margin. I would in fact, have seen more than one badger basketball game in the last 3 seasons, if the athletic department actually wanted more students at the games. The only game I did see was made possible by a friend on Iowa's basketball team. When student season tickets sell out, and they seem to do so often and quickly, and the demand is so high for student tickets, one would think the athletic department would expand the student section; but since that hasn't happened the lottery system continues to keep a growing number of students out of experiencing badger games.

Its was my belief that the athletic department was suppose to help promote badger athletics FIRST to the students here today who become the alumni members of tomorrow. But it would seem to me that the athletic department if far more concerned with keeping the Kohl Center's seats filled with the heaviest wallets than helping create a solid, unflinching core student base regardless of our teams success rates. We may not stop attending games today or tomorrow but know I wont be the only one not coming back for more if you continue to treat students like this.