Obama or Romney? - St Paul's High School

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012School NewsMr. Stadnyk’s Leaked Autobiography“My name is Danny Tanner, and I have the Problem”4Mr. StadnykTeacherNicknames are an interestingthing. Sometimes they providea great insight into someone’s pastand sometimes they are just random.The story of my first nicknameis an intricate look into theshady past of one’s childhoodwhich often manytry to forget but giddy-uphere we go.It all started as anew decade filled withhope began. That decadewas the 1990’s. In 1990Brian Mulroney was thePrime Minister, GeorgeH. W. Bush was President,Driving Miss Daisywon the Oscar for BestPicture, the Grammy forRecord of the Year wentto Bette Midler for “WindBeneath My Wings”, andof course the San Francisco49ers won Super BowlXXIV by defeating Denver55 to 10.In September of1990 I was starting gradethree at Royal School.Royal School is the elementaryschool in theSuburb Beautiful, or thatschool the grade elevenand twelve’s drive by to go to Mc-Donald’s, Subway, or Tim Horton’sat lunch.Grade three is when it allstarted. It was the simple days ofschool when almost everything wastaught by one teacher and in thesame classroom. Grade three hadthe simple comforts of having yourown desk where you kept all yourschool supplies inside. Miss Hillwas the grade three teacher who hada reputation of ensuring studentswere neat, tidy, and with everythingin order.Very quickly into the newschool year I learned that her reputationwas well deserved. Miss Hillwould pick up the desks of studentsand literally would hold the desk upand dump everything out if the deskwas too messy.Now simple gender prejudiceswill suggest that grade threegirls would probably not have theirdesks dumped while nine-year-oldboys would be messy and all havetheir desks dumped.Mr. Stadnyk in Grade 3.While these stereotypes almostplayed out as all of the desksof the boys were dumped expect forone boy. I was the only boy whohad his desk neat and tidy puregold enough to not get picked upand dumped out. For me it did notrequire any effort to keep my deskclean it just made sense. Everythinghas its own place so put it back in itsplace.That is when I was rightfullygiven my first nickname. As theschool year progressed and I veryquickly became the sole male survivorof the game of desk dumping,my peers affectionately referred tome as Danny Tanner.Danny Tanner was the fathercharacter on the hit television showFull House, which was an ABC sitcomthat lasted 8 seasons. DannyTanner was a single father who hadhis friend and brother-in-law moveinto his home to help raise Danny’sthree daughters. The family lived inSan Francisco, the home of the NFCfinalist 49ers. Danny was a morningnews host but that isnot where I earned mynew name.Danny was obsessedwith cleaning. Often duringthe show he wouldclean the house and evenclean his cleaning products.For Danny springcleaningwas his idea offun. Imagine someonewho actually likes toclean.Well as someonewho did not get his deskdumped I realized thatnot only did I like tohave a clean desk but Ialso liked cleaning andputting things back intotheir place. So the nicknameof Danny Tannerwas given and stuck forthe next three years untilI moved on to the hallsof Charleswood JuniorHigh.While attending awedding this past Novemberin B.C., a fellow studentfrom grade three asked me if I wasstill a neat freak. I had to admit thatI did make the hotel bed that morningto which he responded, “I ampretty sure they pay people to dothat for you. Oh Danny Tanner it isgood to see that some things do notchange.”When I reflect back on mygrade three experiences I realizethat many of my quirky tendenciestoday have been prevalent and deeprooted in me for whatever reasonContinuedPlease See Article entitledDanny Tanner on Page 6

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012for many years.I will admit that being uptightand rigid about tidiness is myown problem, but today I still havetrouble trying to understand the otherside how it is pure gold.After helping clean up afterlast year’s junior varsity basketballtournament at St. Paul’s, I discoveredsunflower seeds under thestands. Not in a cup or bottle butjust spit onto the floor. I try to understandtheir perspective but I cannothelp but think “Seriously, whodoes that?”When I am asked why I getso many people to help “volunteer”to clean up the lunchroom, I answer“I wish I did not need to”. You literallyneed to walk by a garbagecan in order to leave the cafeteriaso why would you not take an extrafive seconds in your life to puteverything into its place. Imaginea world where students could nolonger get lunchroom clean-ups becauseeverything was already clean.I personally would be so happy thatEmilio AbiusiContributorEnforcer of St. Paul’scanon law, Geography teacherextraordinaire, master of the minorinfraction, responsible for thousandsof after school hours, in the JUGroom. Most of you know him as Mr.Stadnyk, but what you might notknow is Mr. Stadnyk’s double life.This summer police radio scannershave picked up numerous cases ofcrimes about to be committed, butby the time the police have arrivedat the scene, all that remained wereunconscious would-be criminalswith green slips of paper on theirforehead. Police have been tryingto track down the cause of thesemysterious arrests all summer, butso far have found nothing. Theonly lead they have is the commonrecurrence of witnesses saying theyhave spotted a silver streak flashbefore their eyes and were unable tosee for minutes. When the witnesses’sight returned they noticed that thesuspicious youth hanging aroundseven eleven, all had mysteriousgreen post it notes attached to theirforehead. Beyond the silver flash,School NewsI would take a rag and wash the tablesevery day.The more I think about it themore I realize I am an odd minoritywhen it comes to cleanliness andputting things back into their places.Two summers ago whilepulling up to a Sobeys I noticed awoman and a teenaged girl pushinga cart to the SUV parked beside thespot I was pulling into. As I got outthe girl jumped into the SUV passengerseat and started texting awaywhile the mother had unloaded theircart and started to climb into theirSUV. However their cart was leftbeside their vehicle despite the factthat the cart corral was literally 10metres away.I will admit that part of mewas concerned that if they left thecart there it might roll into my carwhich would not only damage mybeautiful cherry red with a tint ofrust coloured paint but also mostlikely write off my car. So forwhatever reason I felt the need tothe only other common factor ineach situation is the victims, whoall happen to be around the ages of14-18.So far the police have beenunable to track down the vigilanteonly know as the “silver streak”.One witness under the fake name“Laquisha” tells her story. “I waswalking through Charleswood,when I saw some nice young boyswith their shirts unbuttoned. Nextthing I knew there was a flash!When I woke up the boys was lyingon the ground with green notes ontheir forehead!” When asked if shenoticed anything else unusual shesaid she noticed a man with longflowing hair walking down a streetnext to them. So far the police havenot been able to track down themystery man.When I first heard of thisstory I was a bit perplexed. Theonly person I knew who would dosomething like that would be Mr.Stadnyk. But Mr. Stadnyk wouldnever have long hair, it is againsthis code! Maybe the mystery man ishis famous movie star brother? Buttell her “Why don’t you put yourcart away?” To which she responded“Why don’t you put it away forme?” So as I pushed her cart theexcruciating 10 meters and whilehalf expecting an egg to hit me frombehind, I wondered how I could recoverthe 10 seconds it took me toput a cart back into its place. Moreimportantly I wondered if it was myfault that what she did, or did not do,bothered me. While I will save theenvironmental lectures for my poorgrade ten geography students, I cannothelp but think that this “someoneelse will do it” attitude has hadand will have a very negative impacton the planet. If I had a friend, andif they let me house sit their home,at the end of my stay would I leavetheir home a mess with garbageeverywhere? I would not, so whywould I treat my parking lot, cafeteria,school, or planet any different.However what do I know becauseI will be the first to admit that myname is Danny Tanner and I havethe problem.Enforcer of St. Paul’sUncovering the true identity of Mr. Stadnyk...when I walked into St. Paul’s for mygrad year I noticed the hair. Stadnykhas long hair, so I got curious.When asked about his new style heinstantly tried to change the subject,and when asked for a picture ofhis hair he pulled some nonsenseabout “school phone policy”. Whatman would not allow a picture tobe taken of his hair for journalisticpurposes??Is it possible that St. Paul’sown enforcer is the masked manknown as the Silver Streak? Couldthe Geography teacher by dayactually be doing something atnight besides marking tests? IsMr. Stadnyk’s blatant disregard ofschool dress code actually becausehe is a man for others? And whenis the movie coming out? Only timewill tell, until then, the Crusadernews room will keep you posted onthe story.Emilio Abiusi is a freelancewriter, and enjoys slurpees, a goodcup of Joe, and long walks on thebeach. Follow him on twitter!@El_milio5

6Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012John MatthewEditor-In-ChiefHow was your summer?My summer was spent movingout of our house in Winnipeg andheading to Houston. I landed inHouston on the 18 th of July. I livedin an apartment next to Strake Jesuit(they purchased the apartmentcomplex this spring) for six weeksuntil we moved into our new house.The rest of my family moved downjust prior to starting school at theend of August.How are you and your familyenjoying Houston?We are enjoying our new adventurefor the most part. Our girls reallymissed their friends for the firstfew weeks, but they have met newpeople at their respective schoolsand through their activities.Have you had a chance to checkout any of the recreationalactivities available (such asfootball or baseball games, thetheatre district, or shoppingmalls), yet?Due to the seasons of the sports Iam involved with, I really haven’tseen too much of Houston. Wetook a day with our family totake in the Houston Zoo (our girlslove animals), but that’s aboutit. Our house has a pool and ourneighbourhood is very nice, so wehave swam/hung out by the pool,walked, biked, etc. Our girls swimfour to six days a week, so we arebusy with school and activities.We’re hoping to venture out once webecome more settled and have somefree time away from our activities.It was 31 degrees Celsius here today(I see it’s currently raining and 7degrees in Winnipeg), so we enjoythe weather quite a bit.We do have family friends visitingnext weekend, so we are going to aTexans/Bills game on Sunday. Thatshould be a good time, although Ihaven’t quite jumped on the Texans’bandwagon yet. It should still be agreat experience.What are you teaching at yournew school?I’m wearing a few different hatsat Strake Jesuit. I’m the AssistantSchool NewsIn Touch with Mr. WatsonDean of Students (kind of like adeputy here as there is a sheriff/Dean of Students as well), HeadWrestling Coach, DefensiveCoordinator of the Varsity FootballTeam, teacher of Freshmen Algebra(that’s right boys & girls…Watsonis teaching Freshmen Algebra),and the principal of Strake Jesuit’ssummer school. Not all jobs areperformed at once, but let’s just sayI’m not sitting around too often.Are you involved in any extracurricularactivities at your newschool (is there wrestling team)?See above…I am currently coachingboth sports simultaneously becausethe wrestling season starts November15th and we still have three regularseason games left in our footballseason.Are there any similarities betweenyour new school and St. Paul’s?There are a ton of similaritiesbetween Strake Jesuit and St.Paul’s. Our Mass of the Holy Spiritstarted the school year (we’ll havea number of masses throughoutthe school year), we’re all boys(although the neighbouring girlsschool come over to Strake Jesuitand take classes with our guys), wehave the Examen everyday, there’sJUG (we call it PH here…short forPenance Hall), our cafeteria (wecall a Dining Hall) is crazy at lunchwith hungry guys trying to get to thefront of the line (Seniors get to cutin front of everyone here…exceptfor teachers), our guys have a dresscode (although it’s pretty relaxedhere…no shorts though)…so as youcan see there are a ton of similarities.That’s just a few.Would you like to share some ofyour highlights or memories fromyour time at St. Paul’s?I don’t have a great memory (toomany concussions, not that bright,or a combination of the two), butI would suggest my interactionswith a ton of good people throughthe activities and roles I held areprobably the most memorable. Ihave met some quality people andhave experienced some tremendousthings simply because I wasinvolved/associated with St. Paul’sHigh School. From El Salvador, towrestling…from crazy ol’ man Mr.Franz to Grumpy Joe our belovedcaretaker…I have some qualitymemories.Is there anything else that youwould like to add or say to thestudents of St. Paul’s?Good luck with your school yearand the activities you have chosento become involved with. Enjoythe experience of the school andwhat it’s providing you. Take pridein the role you have in making St.Pau’s High School the great placeit is. You have a responsibility toensure it stays that way.My final two pieces of advicewould be to take it easy on the Mr.Stadnyk jokes (I can’t believe theschool allowed the JV Footballteam to wear orange socks??) anddon’t take investment advice fromMr. Harder’s economics students.We hope you are enjoying yournew location and we wish you allthe best.Thank you for the opportunity tosay “hello” through the CrusaderNews…please recycle properly afterreading (Mrs. Louizos shouldn’thave to pick up hundreds of copiesfrom the cafeteria). It’s been apleasure checking in. If you’re everin Houston (sorry no direct flightsfrom Winnipeg), drop me a line…we MAY be able to find some roomfor you to bunk in with the Watsons(everyone except you Drouin…thegrocery bill would be too high)!

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012School NewsEditor’s Report Card: Project CruAn in-depth analysis of the school’s first danceJordan SinderEditor-In-ChiefAdvertising – B+The Student Council didquite a commendable job advertisingfor Project Cru, the school’sfirst dance of the year. Similar tothe 35th Annual Walk, the bulletinboard was used fairly effectively,there were a few easily identifiableposters around the school, and allof the students knew where ticketswere being sold. “Project Cru”, theactual name of thedance, was quiteeffective becauseit was catchy andeasy to remember,and sponsored studentsfrom otherschools could easilyassociate Cruwith St. Paul’s. Theonly negative aspectwas the qualityof the posters. Thepicture was fairlypixilated, and theydid not stand out aswell as they couldhave. Nevertheless,advertising for thedance was very good.Attendance – C+The dance was attended fairlywell. In fact, the Student Councilsold over six-hundred tickets, nearlycompletely selling out the event.In regard to attendance by gender,there were a few dozen more femalesthan males. Other than St.Paul’s, most of the students werefrom St. Mary’s and Balmoral Hall.The remainder of attendees weresponsored females from differentschools. The one significant issuewith the attendance, however, wasthe grade distribution. While therewere 120 students from Grade 9,there were a mere thirty or so Grade11 students. Perhaps making theevent more exclusive would attractmore of the older grades. The Semi-Formal proposed last year duringthe campaign of Eddie Sherlock andSimon Garfinkel probably wouldachieve proper grade distribution.Overall, the Student Council shoulddirect more attention to attendancefor the next dance.Organization – A-Project Cru was thoroughlyorganized. The dance started andended at the right time, the DJ waswell-prepared, and the canteen waswell-managed. In addition, the coatand purse check were an effectiveway of keeping students’ belongingssafe and easy to manage. Onearea of improvement, though, dealswith the entry into the event. Whenthe doors open, there was a long lineof people, and the admittance wasa very slow process. In result, studentswere forced to wait outside inthe cold. For example, it would bemuch more efficient if admittancewas divided up into grades. Moreover,students should be funneledinto a hallway instead of having towait outside in the cold. Nevertheless,the organization was more orless flawless.Student Behaviour – CStudent behavior is undoubtedlythe lowest point of the dance.First of all, so-called acts of intimacyare not necessarily a bad thing,but there is a major issue when innocentfemales are essentially objectifiedand abused. In addition, theissue is even more significant whenthe school receives phone calls fromconcerned and complaining parents.In addition, this dance was the firsttime an eye washing station had tohave been used. Some people hadchemicals flung in their eyes as aresult of a few students opening theglow sticks and throwing around theliquid. Clearly, the student behaviorand representation of the schoolwas, to an extent, disappointing andembarrassing as a result of the actionsof a few students.Music – BThe music at ProjectCru was generallyvery good. The DJwas obviously wellqualifiedand very experienced.Althoughhe cut out most of theprofanity and swearwords in the songs,some of his selectionswere still a little inappropriatefor a schoolevent. For example,the DJ chose to playthe dirty remix of“Teach Me How toDougie”, for instance,which was certainly frowned uponby the dance organizers. In addition,many students regretted the lack ofslow songs. For future dunces, itwould also be a nice touch to eitherhave an alumni DJ, or student DJ.DJ Kaps and Infectus Music are twogreat examples. Nevertheless, themusic was very good.Overall – BIn general, the first dancewas a quite good. The pre-event advertisingwas run fairly well, therewere a high number of attendants, itwas well-organized, and the musicwas above average. Aside from afew significant behavioral issues andthe poor grade distribution, most ofthe aspects of Project Cru were extremelypositive. Overall, the year’sfirst dance was a memorable event,and hopefully the Student Councilcan organize their proposed Semi-Formal for Term 2.7

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Crusader SportsAAA Football Team Recognized NationallyMarshal KleinContributorIn Canadian High Schoolfootball, the most credible sourcefor rankings, scores and such isCanadianfootballchat.com. It issite based in Nova Scotia that isall about CIS, High School andMinor football in Canada. Oneneat feature this site has is the“CFC Top 25 High School Teams”.Now, although the Crusaders wereranked forth in Winnipeg beforethe season, CFC ranked the CRUas 7 th in the country. This came asa shock because everyone expectedthe CRU to do poorly due to the factthat they lost 31 starters from lastyear’s team. The team though madeit their goal to push on through andprove to the league that they’re stilldominant. The only other Winnipegteam on the ranking was Oak Park,but they have now dropped out dueto their play off loss. The Crusadersthough are in 8th place and are stillgoing strong. So, not only are theCrusaders recognized in Winnipegas a dominant team, but by all ofCanada. This is not the Crusadersfocus though, the team is lookingfor a chance to repeat and winanother championship. They willplay Murdoch McKay at East SideField this week for their chance togo to the ‘Ship. So, come out andsupport you Crusaders!AA Crusaders Wrap Up Season8Drake LesperanceContributorStarting the season off ona good note, the AACrusaders managedto pull off a comefrom-behindvictoryagainst the CrocusPlain Plainsmen. TheCrusaders, who werelosing at half, hadseveral strong driveson offence as wellas several crucialstops on defence. Atthe end of the fourthquarter the Crusadersled with a score of32-29. But the gloryof the first victorycouldn’t last for ever.Week two against theKelvin Clippers wasan eye opener for theCrusaders. The Crusaders’ offencestruggled to put points on theBoard and the defence was unableto stop the Clipper Offence frommarching the ball, which resulted ina 34-0 loss. The team put the gamein the past to prepare for a toughhomecoming game against theKildonan East Reavers. Despite theCrusaders great effort, they came upshort of the win, losing28-13. Week four, theCrusaders took a roadtrip to portage to facethe Portage Trojans. A105-yard touchdown latein the game by AndrewSolomon insured thelead for a 27-6 victoryfor the Crusaders. Week5, the Crusaders took onthe River East Kodiaks.The defence had astellar game holdingthe Kodiak offence toonly 18 point, but withthe horrible weatherconditions the crusaderoffence struggled tomove down the field.The final score in thegame was 18-0 for the Kodiaks.

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012The Crusaders were looking tobounce back against the numberone ranked Grant Park Pirates in theweek 6 home game. The Crusaderscame out strong in the first half withthe defence stopping the strongGrant Park running game. At halfthe score remained seven all. Thesecond half, the Crusader defencebegan struggling with the Pirates’run game. The offence was able toput up another seven points but itwasn’t enough for the victory. TheCrusaders lost 38-14. The Crusadersprepared to face the big MaplesMarauders in the last week ofKurt KolsunContributorThe JV Football team havea giant task ahead of them as theyhead into their semifinalgame against theOak Park Raiders onOct 30. The team beatthe Grant Park Pirateslast week 42-21 duringtheir quarter-final game,held here at the schoolon Connolly Field.The Crusaders startedoff with a shaky startwhich let the Piratesget comfortable on thefield. It was tied untilthe Crusaders startedto more comfortable onthe field and broke thetie with a couple bigtouchdowns and neverlooked back from there.This was the first ever high schoolfootball playoff game for virtuallythe whole team and showed poiseplaying the game. Even though theteam had played well against thePirates, the Crusaders will once againhave to raise their level of play asCrusader Sportsregular season. An early touchdownreception by Matt McDonald had theCrusaders off to a good start. Afterscoring 21 points in the first half theCrusaders had sealed and early lead.With no touchdowns being scoredby either team in the second halfthe final score remained 21-2 for theCrusaders. The Crusaders finishedthe season with five wins and threelosses, which set them up to play theRiver East Kodiaks for the secondtime. The Crusaders Defence comeout strong holding the Kodiaksfrom reaching the end zone, but theoffence came out slow in the firstJV Football Makes it to Semisthey play an older and experiencedOak Park Raiders team.The Oak Park Raiders playedthe Crusaders early on in the seasonand beat them by a large marginand will be looking to do it again.The Crusaders although, are adifferent team now than they wereat the beginning of the season andwill be looking for a little payback.This definitely won’t be an easyCru Puck B Makes HistoryJordan SinderEditor-In-ChiefOver the past weekend,the Crusader’s Hockey Team#2 participated in the SturgeonHeights Husky Classic, an annualhigh school hockey tournament.Unfortunately, the Crusaders losttheir first two games in roundrobinplay. In result, they were putinto the consolation side of thetournament. After dominating theGarden City Gophers by a score of5-2, the Crusaders advanced to theconsolation final where they met theCarman Cougars. The final scorewas 4-1 in favour of the Crusaders.half. However, in the second half,the Crusader offence found strengthin their running game and were ableto march down the field, setting up atouchdown pass to Marko Klimenko.Unfortunately the Crusaders werenot able to put any more points onthe board leaving the final scoreto be 14-6 for the Kodiaks. TheCrusaders season ended earlierthan hoped, but they put up a fightright to the end. Thank you to allthe trainers, players, volunteers andespecially coaches for such a greatseason.game for the team, but they havecome together as a team and havestarted to really produce on the fieldbecause of both a strong offensiveand defensive outputonto the field. The teamhas had a good couple ofpractices even with thecold and uncomfortableweather; the coacheshave been somewhatpleased with the amountof focus that the playersare putting into thepractices. With all of thisbeing said, the Crusaderswill be looking to carrytheir momentum fromthe quarter-final gameinto this rivalry playoffgame against the Raidersand give themselves achance to play for theHome Run Sports BowlChampionship. Even though theteam has little playoff experience,they have the confidence and thebelief in themselves and theirteammates that they can achievethis goal.The Cru Puck B team was awardeda ‘Consolation Champions’ plaque,marking the first piece of hardwarein the team’s history. The Crusaderswill now prepare for the toughcompetition they plan face in theUS starting November 15th.9

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Matt StecyContributorThe 2012 Crusader crosscountry season came to an endW e d n e s d a yas the teamcompeted atthe provincialchampionshipsat SpruceWoods. It was ashort but intenseseason for therunners thatresulted with asuccessful finishat provincials.One of thehighlights ofthe season wasthe weekendtrip to Duluth,Minnesota thatoccurred onThanksgivingweekend.T h eteam left theschool earlyFriday morning and arrived inDuluth in the evening along withcoaches Mr McMillan and St. Paul’sgrad Erik Sproll. After the runnersmet up with Mr Stadnyk who wasalso in attendance, they went for ateam meal the nightbefore the race.It was an earlyrise the next morning.The Cru set off for thehuge American crosscountry race whichconsisted of hundredsof both varsity andjunior varsity runners.Shiloh Johnson ledthe varsity teamwith a fifteenth placefinish, which wasgood enough fora medal. After thedaylong event in thecold weather, theSt. Paul’s boys wereable to return to thehotel for a relaxingnight and left bright and earlySunday morning for the long tripback to Winnipeg.Overall, the Duluth tripCrusader SportsCross Country DominationSt. Paul’s finishes strong after coming back from Duluthis always a great experience. Uphere in Manitoba, our races are notnearly as big as the ones in America.The team got to experience what areal cross country race is like. It wasJV Crusaders hold up their championship banner. This is the JV’s tenthtitle in eleven years.huge and very professionally done.The results were even recordedelectronically so exact results couldbe tracked. The race was somethingthat could not have been experiencedif it were not for the dedication ofThe Varsity team lines up before the gun.Coach McMillan who put his fulleffort into running the event.Upon returning to Winnipeg,the cross country team had a week-and-a-half left to train beforeprovincials. The runners were attheir prime going into provincialswhich were held on the 17 th ofOctober. The day of the final racewas cold andrainy, but theCrusaders setoff early on theWednesday withthe intentionof placing inboth the juniorvarsity andvarsity division.T h ejunior varsityteam finishedfirst in theprovince. Theteam was ledby grade ninerunner WillKoltek whoplaced 7 thoverall. Closebehind him wasJames Teschukin 11th andGraham Lock15th. To bring home the bannerSimon Meier and Christian Johnstonboth ran spectacular races. This wasthe tenth time in eleven years thatthe junior varsity team won theprovincial championship.The varsityCrusaders finishedsecond in the province.The team was led byShiloh Johnson whofinished third overall.Close behind him wasEvan Pfrimmer whoplaced 13 th . Great raceswere also ran by NeilRedpath, Ben Borysand Nick Leskiw toclaim second place inprovincials.Overall itwas an enjoyable andsuccessful seasonfor the Crusaders.The runners putin their best effortthroughout the yearand the result was a successfulseason for the St. Paul’s crosscountry team.11

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Josh PinetteContributorAs a first year debater, Iwasn’t sure what to expect. TheJunior Debate Club is enjoyablewhere you learn, have fun, and meetnew friends. After many lunchtimepractices and learning how todebate, the SPHS Jr. Debate Clubwas ready for action.St. Paul’s held the first JuniorDebate Tournament for this schoolyear on October 17 th which turnedout to be a rollicking success. St.Paul’s was well represented withSchool NewsDebate UpdatesFirst test for Junior Debaterssix teams in the tournament andall teams achieved greatness. Thesix teams that debated includedAngus MacLennan and JoshPinette, Ciaran Scanlon and IvanTsang, Colin Chartier and ThomasBialy, Michael Dobosz and MikeCavanaugh, Spencer Katerynuk andGian Aquino, and Max Hamiltonand Joel Adu-Quaye.The top debater award for StPaul’s went to Ivan Tsang. Way togo Ivan!Participating schoolsincluded Grant Park, St. John’sRavenscourt, Acadia, BalmoralHall, St. Maurice, Grey Academy,and Henry G. Izaat School.SPHS debaters, speakers,timers, and judges enjoyedsome pizza and pop prior to thetournament. All agreed that thedebate tournament was a reallygood time.Jr. Debate is now going to bepreparing for the next tournament atSt. Johns Ravenscourt in November.Good luck to the participants.The Manitoba Speech and Debate Association.12Roshan SadhakContributorThey’ve finished strong atGrant Park and Gray Academy.They’ve judged and calculatedscores here at St. Paul’s. Now theylook forward to the Rupert’s Landand Oxford Cup tournaments. Theyare senior debaters.On September 27 th , thedebaters went to Grant Park fortheir first tournament of the year.The topic was Tasers. The stylewas impromptu parliamentary. Forsome debaters such as myself andmy partner Nicholas Aguiar, it wasour first senior debate tournament.We didn’t let that discourage ushowever. Nicholas won top debaterfrom St. Paul’s and our team finished3 rd in the tournament.Grant Park was just awarm up. The real action started atSenior Debate in full swingGray Academy for the Asper Cup.This is a qualifier for the nationalOxford Cup tournament so someof the most experienced debaterscompeted. Nicholas and I, althoughyoung and inexperienced, held outground against some of the toughestdebaters around. Our team didn’tplace but your president and vicepresident did! Eddie Sherlock andSimon Garfinkel destroyed theiropponents to place 3 rd team at thetournament!After all this fierce debating,the senior debaters took a break byhelping out at the junior tournamentat St. Paul’s. For most of the newgrade 9s, this was their first timedebating! For some of the seniorssuch as myself, it was their first timejudging! Not only did we help outthe juniors by judging, I personallylearned a lot from it. I got chance tosee some of the juniors debate andthey did great for their first time. Thefuture of debate looks promising!The next tournament isat Balmoral Hall for the Rupert’sLand tournament. This is definitelya unique tournament. The maindifferences are that the debatersdeliver speech before debating andafter the speeches, we don’t evendebate with our partners! We arepartnered up with random peoplefrom other schools for impromptudebates. Rupert’s Land is sure tobe exciting, a lot of fun, and a greatway to meet new people.Finally, the Oxford Cup isnext month! Like I mentioned earlier,this is a national tournament held atSJR. It is in British Parliamentarystyle and it is sure to be fierce. Therewill be great debaters from all overthe country and Eddie and Simonwill be there to represent Manitobaand St. Paul’s!

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Happy HalloweenA Halloween I Will Never ForgetAnton SikorskyContributor…The large cauldron ofelectric blue liquid started to boil, tothink this day started off so well…I woke up this morning andlooked at the calendar; it was FridayOctober 31 st . I looked up and saw afake bat hanging above my bed; thenI remembered… It was Halloween!I can’t believe I forgot! Halloweenis my favourite holiday. This wasgoing to be the best Friday ever!I quickly got out of bed, gotdressed and had breakfast. I rushedout the door and went to school. Atschool I had a pretty normal dayaside from the people trying to scareme, but I was used to that.When I got home, I got thecandy ready, got into my costumeand let the cat out. As it started toget dark, I set out trick-or-treating.My costume was awesome; I kneweverybody would love it! I hadthe best vampire costume in theneighbourhood! I had walked a fewblocks when the sky started to cloudover, I decided to keep going despitethis weather. It was getting darkerwhen I saw my cat. He was sittingin front of the old mansion thateverybody claimed was haunted.Then, it started to rain, and therewere flashes of lightning. This reallyscared my cat, so he ran in the doorof the mansion which was slightlyajar.I decided to go into themansion and get my cat so I couldbring him home with me. Themansion was dark blue in the flashof the lightning. Paint was peelingoff, windows were boarded up andthere were some boards missingfrom the front porch. As I walked upto the house there was a very distinctflash of lightning that seemed toilluminate the whole house. I wasreluctant to go inside, but I didanyways.As I walked inside, it waseven spookier. The mansion wasnearly pitch black except for theoccasional flash of lightning fromoutside. It was very drafty and Iswear that I saw an occasional flashof movement through an open door.There were cobwebs everywhereand the constant squeaking of miceand rats. Every one of my footstepssounded like a clap of thunder, andevery one of the floorboards seemedto creak. There were noises thatseemed to be coming from insidethe walls. Some of the doors werebroken off of their hinges and someof the wood inside was rotting.After about half an hour ofsearching, I finally found my cat! Hewas sitting at the end of a hallwaywith a door on each side of him. Ihad to be prepared for him to dartinto either of them. I slowly walkedover and picked him up. I thought Iheard something move from insidethe two doors, but I ignored it. AsI started to walk away, two figuresran out of the doorways and grabbedme! I dropped my cat in surprise! Istruggled as they carried me downa flight of stairs into what I guessedwas the basement. My cat just satand stared at me.They brought me into aroom with many figures who werewearing dark hoods. Their faceswere completely in shadow, so Icouldn’t see what they looked like.One of the people holding me said“Boss, I found someone.”“Good, good,” said a manwearing a long black cloak thatwent to his ankles, “Get the potionready.”At this command a few ofthe people came forward and startedto throw ingredients into a largecauldron. The liquid then turnedelectric blue and began to boil, andthat is how I ended up here.The man in the cloak said,“The potion is ready; bring himforward.” The men holding meseemed to hesitate as if they werehaving second thoughts, but thenthe leader yelled “NOW!” and theyobeyed.The two men holdingme started to walk forward, butstopped abruptly when there wasa loud “MRREEEOOWW!” I feltthe men let go of me immediately.I looked back and saw them lyingon the floor. They were obviouslyin pain. I looked around to see whohad saved me but I couldn’t seeanybody. When I looked down Isaw my cat sitting by the men. I wassurprised by what he had just donefor me! When I looked up again Isaw all of the people in the roomadvancing on me. They surroundedme. I managed to duck and dodgea few and my cat slipped into thecircle and slashed some others, butthere were so many of them so theysoon had us cornered! Two of themstarted to walk forward to grab me,but before they could, there was adeafening “BANG!” I fell over,covered myself and then everythingwent black.I became suddenly awareof a cold hard floor beneath meand realized that I was alive. Iopened my eyes and there seemedto be a fog hanging in the room. Ilooked around for my cat and felthim licking my finger. I looked tosee where all of the hooded peoplehad gone, but all I saw was theircloaks and sizzling piles of goo. Iwondered what had happened, so Ilooked around the room, expectingan ambush. As I looked I saw piecesof cauldron everywhere and manypuddles of electric blue liquid. Thenhit me! The potion had boiled overand exploded. When this happened,it became fatal to every living thingthat it touched and melted it. Theonly reason that my cat and I werestill alive, was because there were somany of the hooded men between usand the cauldron, that it all hit them,and it didn’t reach us.At this I decided I shouldleave, I picked up my cat andcarefully walked around all thepuddles of goo and potion. I pickedup my cat and went upstairs tosearch for the door. After a while Ifound it, so we left and went backhome. When I got home, I realizedthat it was already past midnight, soI got into my pajamas and into bed.Only at this point did I wonder whatthe evening’s events were all aboutand what the potion was reallyintended for, but I decided not togive it too much thought tonight…now that is a Halloween that I willnever forget!13

14Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Noah GiannuzziContributorMy goal for this article is toprovide everyone with some laughsand possibly some great ideasfor your diabolical minds. Latelyegging has been out of control andeveryone thinks it’s hilarious butwhat they don’t see is what a painit is for people to clean up, I wantto provide some new and innovativeideas for the Halloween prankster.Without further ado, your topten Halloween pranks!10.) Sticky DotsThis is a relatively simple trickto execute but can be kind of funnyas well. What you can do is goto Dollarama, Staples or Walmart;basically anywhere you can buythose circle shaped sticky notes (alsoworks with regular sticky notes) andbuy about 3-4 different colours (red isrecommendedas 1 of the 3-4colours).Once itis Halloweennight goaround doorto door andstick differentcolour stickynotes on eachdoor. If youwant to beclever youcan press oneon when youknock on thedoor if you areout trick-ortreatingwitha youngerbrother orsister. I would recommend puttingone on your door too so you’re notsuspected by anyone.The next morning go outsideand watch as everyone notices thedots and speculates what it’s allabout.I had a friend who tried this andit worked great because all peoplewho had red dots were extremelyscared and thought there was aconspiracy theory going around.Happy HalloweenTop Ten Halloween Pranks9.) StatueThis is such a classic Halloweenprank that I’m sure everyone hasheard of but always manages toget a scare. There are little tono requirements to pull of thisprank. All that I recommend ishaving a costume that makes youunrecognizable, but, if you’re adaredevil, you don’t need one.On Halloween night, pick anyhouse you wish to terrorize and gostand as still as you can in the lawn.That’s it, just stand there and wait.Sooner or later someone will comeout (or send their kids out) to seewhat exactly it is that you’re doing.Now all your patience becomesworth it. When they get closeenough, yell “BOO!” at the top ofyour lungs. This is guaranteed to geta scream from them.The reason why this canremain so simple, yet stay so scaryis because obviously this person isexpecting you to do something buthe or she just doesn’t know what norwhen. Since they are anticipatingthis, when you actually release thescream, you are guaranteed to scaresomebody pretty bad.8.) Pumpkin TradingFirst of all I just want to saysmashing pumpkins is NOT a prank;it is vandalism and can get swarmsof crying children after you.This is such a basic idea notmany people have thought of it.The prank is what it sounds like;swapping people’s pumpkins. Thisprank may sound stupid at first but itcan be pretty funny while remainingrelatively harmless.The basic idea is to take apumpkin from one house and moveit to another’s porch, repeat. You cantake the pumpkins and move them tofunny spots like on the “Welcome”door mat or on top of the car in thedriveway. If you’re the creative typeyou can even add messages like“Your pumpkin has been abducted.Here are my demands...” If youthink you’re especially funny youcan remove the candle and addthings like melted candle wax, snow(if there is any on the ground), ortoy mice (usually for cats).Thisprank can befunny withoutcrossing theline, and inmy opinion,that’s whatH a l l o w e e npranks shouldbe about.7.) GhostKnockerIf you likemessing withpeople’s headsand enjoymaking themthink then thisis the prankfor you! It’spretty simple to do and all you needis a long line of fishing line or dentalfloss and a victim who has a doorknocker.What you do is tie the floss orfishing line to the door knocker andwalk as far as the line permits andhide. Every once in a while give theline a couple of tugs so it seems likesomeone is knocking on the victim’sdoor.It can be pretty funny to watch

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012your target look around for whohas been knocking at his door.WARNING: eventually somebodywill find the line that you tied; youwill know when they do becauseyou will probably feel some sort oftug. If you’re been discovered, dropthe line and run away so you don’tget caught.Variant: If it’s a windy dayyou can completely automate thisprocess so you can just watch fromanywhere near the house withoutbeing suspected. All you have todo is tie the fishing line to the doorknocker and thenbring it to a spotwhere the lineis semi-tightand tie it to al o w - h a n g i n gtree branch.Now head backtowards thehouse and watchthe action. Nowevery time thewind blows thedoor will beknocked on andyour victim willnever know whodid it!6.) Bobbing forVinegarThis is a relatively new prankthat I had never heard of untilsearching the web for some pranksfor this article. This, like the others,is an easy trick to pull off. All youneed is a bit of vinegar and a partywhere there is apple bobbing goingon. You can probably already guessjust by the title exactly what thisprank entails. In case you don’t keepon reading.You can do this prank if you’reat a party where there is bobbing forapples going on (this is likely to bewith a younger sibling or somethingof the sort). All you have to do ispour your vinegar in the water, andremember, the more the better!After that all you have to do is sitback and watch everyone taste thevinegar.This is a great prank becauseit is so simple and quick to executeHappy Halloweenand then all you have to do is watch.5.) Cone-ingThis is one of my personalfavourite pranks because it canbe done at any time, not only onHalloween. All you need is a coupleof bucks, a driver’s license (or afriend with a driver’s license willingto participate), a friend to help youout, some chocolate syrup and somesprinkles.Once you’ve found a friendto help you, grab your chocolatesyrup and sprinkles and hop in thecar and head to your local drivethruthat serves ice cream (probablya McDonalds since they areEVERYWHERE). When the ladyon the intercom asks you what youwant, order an ice cream. At thispoint you can give the sprinkles toyour friend (who is in the backseaton the driver’s side). Once you get tothe window where you can pick upthe ice cream make sure you pay theperson in the window. After gettingthat out of the way she will give youthe ice cream cone, when she triesto give you it, ask her to hold it for asecond then take out your chocolatesyrup and pour it over the ice creamwhile it’s still in her hand. After that,ask her to wait a second and waitpull up so that the back window is inline with the pickup window. Nowget your friend to roll down his orher window and pour the sprinklesover the ice cream. Now thank herand drive away with the cone still inher hand.I personally really like thisprank because it is very funny andis completely harmless as long asyou make sure to pay for the icecream before driving away, if youdon’t you could be facing serioustrouble, because that is stealing.4.) Pizza BoyThis is a really funny prank andranks very high on my list. It is easybecause all you need to do is stayin your house.It is literally assimple as callinga pizza place andordering a pizza.Once thepizza boy getsto your house,he will probablysay somethinglike “Here’syour pizza sir.”.At this pointyou can reallystart messingwith him. Takeout some candyand put it in hishands and saysomething like“Wow, I’m veryimpressed. Not too many peopleact as the character they dress as forHalloween too.”. If he tries to tellyou it’s not a Halloween costumeyou can use your imagination andtell him something else until youthink you’ve messed with him longenough at which point you can takeyour pizza and enjoy!3.) Caramel OnionsI love this prank because it turnsa classic sign of good will into arotten trick. It runs on the basis ofcaramel apples but there’s a greattwist. All you need for this is someonions, caramel, and a skewer orsomething of that sort.All you have to do is make acaramel apple, but with an onioninstead! It is literally that simple.From that point all you need to dois sit back and watch the prank takeeffect. The only problem is that you15

16Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012are not likely to be going aroundgiving out caramel apples to yourfriends because they will likelybecome suspicious. An awesomeway to really put this into effectis at a party. If you are hosting aHalloween party or even if youare at onebring some ofthese and telleveryone thatyou are havinga caramelapple eatingcontest andthat everyonehas to join inon it. Now itwill be evenbetter becauseyou can prankall of yourfriends at thesame time,which is whythis ranked sohigh on the list.2.) Bloody ToothbrushThis has to be one of thebest pranks of Halloweenhistory. It totally fits in withthe spirit of Halloweencombing pranks and blood! Iwould recommend doing thisto a sibling or a close friend,at the very least someoneyou know for a fact will bea good sport about it becausethe effects of this joke willlast a couple of days.This prank requires someeffect to do but can turn outto be very rewarding. Theonly things you really needare red food colouring, anoven and access to yourvictim’s toothbrush. I alsorecommend having somerubber gloves because youwill need to handle the foodcolouring but the gloves arenot necessary if you don’twant to use them.The first step is to takean oven pan and put a couple dropsof the red food colouring in thepan and put it in the oven at 200degrees Celsius for 30 minutes, whenyou take it out it will become a dry,white powder. I would recommendHappy Halloweenputting the gloves on now if you aregoing to use them. OK, now takethe powder and put it on a pieceof paper and grab the toothbrush.Wrap the paper up in a cone so thereis only a tiny hole at the bottom soit will be easier to pour it onto thetoothbrush. The powder will hide inthe bristles of the toothbrush nicelybecause the powder will be very fine.Now all you have to do is replacethe toothbrush and the powder willstick in there.Now next time your victim wetsthe toothbrush the powder will beready. When they start scrubbingthe toothbrush, the “blood’ will bepouring from their mouth.Like i said, pick a target that willbe a good sport because this couldpotentially stain their mouth or teethfor two or three days.1.) The finaltrick is a blastfrom the past.Mr. Smithsaid that whenhe was aHallowe’enera popularprank wasthe crankt e l e p h o n ecall. A fewexamples…..You phonea randomnumber andsay, “I’mcalling fromthe electriccompany. Isyour refrigerator running?”A kindly lady replies, “Why, yes,it is.”“Well, you better catchit because it’s holding uptraffic.” SLAM. Snicker,snicker, snicker.Or another….“I’m calling from thepublic health office. Whenyou are sick does your noserun and do your feet smell.”“Yes, they do.”“Well you’re built upsidedown!” SLAM Snickersnicker snicker.Of course, in Mr. Smith’sday, there was no calleri.d. And frankly I was a bitsurprised there were eventelephones.I really hope that everybodyenjoyed these pranks and that youall get an opportunity to use at leastone of them (except the doggie bagone) on your friends because theyreally are awesome.

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Student VoiceRising Tension in Israel-Iran ConflictOn nuclear weapons and potential military actionJames GrimesSenior ContributorWith the U.S. Presidentialelections looming large on thehorizon, a major topic of debateis the escalating crisis betweenIsrael and Iran, specifically thecrisis surrounding Iran’s shadowy‘Nuclear Program’. The Israelishave grabbed world headlines withtheir threats of a pre-emptive strikeshould the Iranians take their nucleard e v e l o p m e n t sany further, andthe Iranians haveresponded with amixture of threats,accusations ofwestern bias, andblatant denial.But questionsstill surroundthis affair: Is Iranindeed developingNuclear weapons;Can and will theIsraelis makegood their threatsof a pre-emptivestrike; and howwill the Americansrespond in thissituation?The history of Iran’s NuclearProgram goes back to the 1950’s,as part of cooperation betweenthe United States government andthe Shah of Iran, the Americanemplaced dictator of that country.When the Shah’s regime was toppledin the 1979 Revolution, AyatollahKhomeini ordered all nucleardevelopment discontinued, asnuclear weapons were prohibited byIslamic Law. However, this changedfollowing the brutal Iran-Iraq Warof the 1980’s, which saw the useof both World War I-era chemicalweapons and the first recorded usesof deadly Nerve Gas in warfare. Theuse of such destructive weaponslead to a reappraisal of nucleararms by the Iranian government,and nuclear development began inearnest following the Ayatollah’sdeath in 1989.On the surface at least,Iran’s Nuclear Developmentprogram seemed geared towardsnuclear energy, and a number ofreactors were established in the2000’s. However, this was changedby the November 2011 reporton the program by inspectors ofthe International Atomic EnergyAgency (IAEA). They uncovereddamning evidence of the programbeing geared towards nuclear arms,rather than just nuclear energy.This included the development ofdetonators, multiple point initiationof high explosives, and on top of allthis, experiments with the integrationof a nuclear payload to a deliveryvehicle (i.e. short-range, mediumrange, intercontinental ballisticmissiles). The Iranians respondedby denying the evidence uncovered,and threats were made to the effectthat Iran may reduce its’ cooperationwith future investigations. Ratherthan assuaging the fears of theinternational community, Iran hasonly exacerbated the problem, beingever more secretive in its motivesand refusing to cooperate with theUN.But is Iran really developingnuclear arms? Well, given theevidence obtained and judging fromthe Iranians’ actions following theserevelations, many in the internationalcommunity are left with little choicebut to say “Yes”. But while westill do not have enough concreteinformation to confirm that Iran isindeed developing nuclear weapons,one thing is for sure: If they doobtain nuclear weapons, they willhave more than enough weaponsplatforms with which to wield them.Despite comments made by Vice-President Biden during the Vice-Presidential Debate, that Iran doesnot possess weapons platforms onwhich to mount nuclear warheads,Iran is in possession of suchmilitary hardware. The Iranian AirForce possesses 24 Sukhoi Su-24MK “Fencer-D”medium bombers,which have thecapability ofcarrying nuclearordnance, andhave a maximumrange of 2775kilometers. TheAerospace Forceof the Army of theGuardians of theIslamic Revolutionalso possessvarious Ballisticmissile systems,such as theFajr-3, Shahab-3,G h a d r - 1 1 0 ,Ashoura and Sajjilmissiles, all ofwhich have rangesof between 1000 to 2500 kilometers,and some are capable of carryingmultiple warheads and avoidingradar detection. The bottom line isthat if Iran does possess or obtainnuclear arms, they have the meansto exploit them, and I doubt theywill hesitate to use them….But can and will the Israelismake good their threats? In anarticle on this subject in the previousnewspaper, “Why Bombing Iranis Stupid” by Alex Driedger, thecomment was made that Israel willnever do it, because they do not,quote, “have the resources”. Thisseems to be the general sentimentof most people on the matter, andis also blatantly wrong. Israel has,without a shadow of a doubt, thebest military in the Middle East.Although its population and the sizeof its military is small comparedto those of its neighbours, the oldquote is that “Wars are not one bylarge armies, but good ones”, and17

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces)are very good! Their training isamong the best in the world, andthey are probably among the mosttechnologically advanced militariesin the world. Most of all, they aremore than capable of a pre-emptivestrike. Israeli military doctrine statesthat any defensive action must be inthe form of a pre-emptive strike,and any war must be fought onthe enemy’s soil. Wars must alsobe short, to limit casualties and tomitigate the effects that the call-upof reservists may have on Israel’seconomy.In the case of military actionagainst Iran, the arm of decisionwill not be Israel’s ground forces,and certainly not its navy, but itsformidable Air Force. The IsraeliAir Force possesses 52-69 F-15Ato D Eagle Air Superiority Fighters(Max. range: 5550 km), 25 F-15EStrike Eagle Strike Fighters (Max.range: 3900 km) and 207-343 F-16Ato D Fighting Falcon MultiroleFighters (Max. range: 4220 km).That’s a total of 284 to 437 aircraftcapable of dealing a knock-out blowto Iran’s Nuclear Program, and withaerial refuelling aircraft (of whichIsrael has 13, and is pending a 14 th ),the Israeli’s range and ability todo serious damage is only furtherincreased.The Israelis also havea deadly arsenal of weapons tochoose from. These include theIsraeli Delilah Air-to-surface cruisemissile, a missile that can be carriedby any Israeli strike aircraft, has arange of 250 km, can strike mobiletargets, can even loiter in the airbefore actually being assigned atarget, and can hit within 1 metre ofa target with a 30 kilogram warhead.They also possess AmericanStudent VoiceGBU-27 2000 lb, GBU-28 5000 lband BLU-109 1927 lb laser-guided“bunker-buster” bombs, perfectfor knocking out Iranian bunkersand hardened instillations. Moreimportantly, Israel also possessesJericho II medium-range andJericho III Intercontinental ballisticmissiles, which are nuclear-capable(Israel’s strike aircraft can also carrynuclear bombs).More importantly, historyis on Israel’s side. In the Famous“Six Day War” of 1967, 195 Israeliaircraft destroyed the air forces ofEgypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq, in aspan of just 5 days, with Egypt’s airforce alone destroyed on day one! In1981, just 14 Israeli aircraft knockedoutan Iraqi nuclear power plant just17 km from Baghdad, and in 1985,the Israeli’s launched their furtheststrike yet, bombing PLO (PalestinianLiberation Organization) camps andHQ’s in Tunisia, a distance of 2300km (assisted by aerial refuellingaircraft). With today’s electroniccountermeasures (ECM’s) andradar jamming technology, as wellas the Israeli’s ability to use themountainous terrain to hide fromIranian radar, such a pre-emptivestrike would have a high probabilityof success.This brings us to the final,pressing question: In this situation,what will the Americans do?The evidence above more thansuggests that Israel is capable ofgoing it alone, so why do they needAmerica’s support? First of allthere are diplomatic reasons, as theAmericans can exert considerablepower and influence. Secondly, theIsraeli’s certainly would feel saferknowing that they can count on the“International police man” to havetheir backs, and finally, there is thesimple fact that the Americans needIsrael, and Israel needs America.Israel is America’s most important,if not only, ally in the Middle East,and if Israel goes, then America’sposition in the Middle East is inserious Jeopardy. At the sametime, the Israeli’s receive billionsof dollars in military aid from theAmericans, and the Americans areone of the very few friends that Israelhas to back her up, diplomaticallyand militarily, in the Middle East(especially in these deeply troublingtimes following the Arab Spring). Ifthey don’t have America’s support,then the Israeli’s position likewise isweakened.In this past Monday’sPresidential Debate (the fourth andfinal debate to be exact), PresidentBarack Obama affirmed, oninternational television, America’sdecision to standby her ally andfriend, Israel. However, Americanshave expressed concern over amilitary action against Iran, andObama has made it clear that theywill only ever contemplate a militarystrike when every other possiblenon-violent solution to this situationhas been thoroughly exhausted.The first and only timein history that nuclear weaponswere used in conflict was whenthe Fat Man and Little Boy bombswere dropped on Hiroshima andNagasaki, and no one wants to seehistory repeat itself in the MiddleEast. October 16th marked the 50thanniversary of the beginning of theCuban Missile Crisis, the closestthe world has ever come to seeinga nuclear war. So once again, today,humanity is confronted with such aspectre, very much (to borrow thetitle of Tom Clancy’s famous book)‘The Sum of All Fears’.18

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Scott SmithContributorThe Red Bull StratosMission was an attempt by FelixBaumgartner to reach 120,000 feet ina in a pressurized capsule carried bya stratospheric balloon, and then freefall from that height to the ground.Baumgartner and his team hopedto break the sound barrier duringthe fall, and to provide research.This research canthen be used tobetter understandthe effects on thehuman body, andhow things reactat such heights andsituations in hopesof improvingaerospace safety.The jump is similarto one carried outin 1960 by ColonelJoseph Kittingerfrom 102,800feet. Kittinger isactually a part ofthe team workingto make the jumppossible.At first this idea seems quiteridiculous. You are most likelywondering how the parachute willpossibly work or slow him downenough when he is jumping from sohigh, and is travelling at Mach 1.Well, let’s take a look atthe jump from a physics pointof view. At the starting height ofthe jump the air isextremely thin, andthere is almost no airresistance meaningBaumgartner keptaccelerating to overthe speed of sound.As he descendedhowever, the airbecame thicker andthicker and aftera certain point hebegan to slow downdue to greater airresistance. As theair got thicker histerminal velocitybecame slower and slower until hewas falling at about the same terminalvelocity as a normal skydive. Atthis point he pulled his chute, andsafely came in for a landing andStudent VoiceRed Bull Stratos Jumpthus the jump was successful. Thetechnology needed to perform thejump was quite impressive. Fromthe pressurized suit designed towithstand great heat and cold, tothe balloon and capsule, to the datarecording devices. In fact, the suitwas designed and made in Canada.On Sunday, October 14 atRoswell, New Mexico the launchtook place. It took roughly two-anda-halfhours for Baumgartner toreach a height of about 128,000 feetfrom where he jumped. The jumpgave Baumgartner the new recordof highest free fall, fastest speedachieved during free fall, highestmanned balloon flight, and the mostviews live on YouTube. The fallitself took a little over four minutesand thus did not beat the previousrecord set by Kittinger of 4 minutesand 36 seconds. Baumgartnerreached his goal of achieving Mach1 (the speed of sound) being the firstperson ever to do so in free fall. Anamazing 7.3 million people watchedthe incredible jump live on YouTube.The jump also reached 753000 likeson Facebook and 28500 followerson Twitter.I watched the jump live, andthe speed at which Baumgartnerfell away from the capsule at thebeginning was simply incredible.The initial fall from the capsule wasfollowed by a relatively blurry imageof Baumgartner freefalling. Partwaythrough he startedtumbling head overheels when he shouldhave been in a stablefall. This was a bitunnerving and theteam was relievedwhen he stabilized,and successfullyparachuted tothe ground. HadBaumgartner pulledhis chute a littlelater he may havebeat the time record.One thing I foundsomewhat funny waswhen Baumgartnerwas coming in for his landing andmission control was telling himwhat way the wind was blowing.First it was going “Towards theridge” then “No wait it’s goingaway from the ridge” , as if eithercomment was helpful in any way.Baumgartner was actually gettingangry at mission control becausetheir instructions were so terrible.The jump was followedby a press conferencewith Baumgartner andsome of the members ofthe Stratos team.If you haven’t seenthe jump yet I highlyrecommend going to theRed Bull Stratos websiteand watching it. On thewebsite you can alsowatch videos of the jumpfrom Felix’s point ofview, and find out moreabout the technology andpreparation behind thejump. It was an incrediblefeat that was accomplished, and thescale and outlandishness of it is hardto believe.19

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Isaac WeldonContributorThe story of AmandaTodd has become a contemporaryexample of several controversialtopics. Among the notable are theeffect of bullying, the power of themedia, the side effects of media,and lastly the role of adults in teenbullying.By now I’m sure that youhave heard the story of AmandaTodd, but a lot of people don’t hearthe dark sides of the story. In hearYouTube video, Todd admits thatshe has done bad things. It can beargued that the hardships she facedwere repercussions of her ownactions. Nonetheless this in no waycommends the reaction of her peers,or her own actions. Regardless ofher misdeeds and the misdeeds ofher peers, this outcome in popularityof the Amanda Todd suicide caseraises two issues I have about themedia. Firstly, the temperamentalnature of the media, and secondly,the potential detrimental side effectsthat the publicity of this situationcan induce.Student VoiceThe Story of Amanda ToddAmanda Todd wasn’t the firstteenager to kill herself; unfortunately,people kill themselves every day, infact, according to the World HealthOrganization someone commitssuicide every 40 seconds. The factthat people are focusing on this onedeath and not the thousand othersis evidence of the temperamentalnature of the media. Don’t get mewrong, suicide is a sad reality, butthis whole Amanda Todd issuehas been blown out of proportion.This is the first suicide I have seenpublicized to this proportion in mylife, but certainly, Amanda Toddwas not the first and is not the onlyperson to ever commit suicide dueto bullying. Honestly, I believe thatthe story of Amanda Todd’s suicidewould not have been shared if therehad something else to talk about inthe news. Why else would they runAmanda Todd’s story and not thestories of thousands of other suicidecases? The publicity that surroundsthis situation leads to my secondissue.Before her suicide AmandaTodd was very isolated. She facedR.I.P. AMANDA TODDmany difficulties in her life, wasnever taken seriously, and receivedlittle to no sympathy. After shecommitted suicide, now, she isfamous, she is popular, peopleare talking about her, people aretaking her story seriously, she hassympathy, and she is someone.Though the power of the media tobring attention to matters (importantor not) is often positive, in thissituation it is not. In fact, this couldbe very detrimental. Teenagers insimilar situations, who struggle withbullying, unpopularity, and selfworth,might see Amanda Todd’sstory as an example of how to dealwith their issues. They might seesuicide as a way to become popular,to receive sympathy and to becomefamous, and that is a bad thing.One last thing that I thinkneeds to be said is that a lot of theblame should be put on the adultsin Amanda’s life. I believe that ifAmanda had better role models shewould have: one, flashed people onthe Internet, two, dealt with it better,and three, not have committedsuicide.20

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Student VoicePrenovault’s Politics: Justin TrudeauEl SalvadorIsaac WeldonContributorThe son of P.E.T. is making political wavesThis summer the El SalvadorProject visited the community of SanRafael in La Libertad Province of ElSalvador for the first time in the historyof the project. The villagers met us withlove and kindness, and had set up anafternoon of presentations. Throughtheir presentations it became clear thatthe community was in dire need ofservice.The village of San Rafael hasa history of suffrage and poverty. Thevillagers moved to the location andsettled on the land approximately 20years ago, but unfortunately they didnot have enough money to buy theland. In spite of the fact that they didnot own the land, they made it theirhome. The land they settled on wasowned by a wealthy baron, who did nottake kindly to the people settling on hisland, he often harassed the villages tomove, threatening to call the army. Afew years ago, the baron mortgaged theproperty to the bank; this would furtherthreaten the way of life of the villagers.Recently, the baron has not made hismortgage payments and has thereforforfeited his right to the land. Goodright? Wrong. The bank is auctioningoff the land to the highest bidder, whowill certainly try to remove the villagersfrom their homes. The estimated costof the land is $40 000, which is a lot fora poor village. It seems like all hope islost for aiding this village as $40 000 istoo much money to raise in such a shorttime.Even though the village hasbeen struck with poverty and hardship,they did not fail to be kind hosts. Theytreated us with fruits, tortillas, andcold Pepsis, while their communityperforming arts group performedSalvadorian cultural dance.Although it is hard, we haveto remain positive in a situation likethis. We have to believe that God willprovide, like the villagers our faith inGod must remains strong. You can helpby raising awareness of the situation inSan Rafael, as it is not the only villageundergoing hardships. The reality isthere are many villages all over theworld in need of our help, even inCanada. Raising awareness in our owncommunity plays a major role in aidingcommunities all over the world, andis the key to preventing situations likethis from occurring in Canada.Aidan PrenovaultPierre!Justin!From 1968-1979, andagain from 1980-1984, PierreElliot Trudeau led Canada with agovernment from the Liberal Party.Now, after almost 4 decades ofbeing away from politics, anotherTrudeau is a member of the LiberalParty of Canada. This time, it is hisson, Justin Trudeau, and he has thesame aspirations that his father had.Justin Trudeau only beganhis political life in 2006, whenhe became President of the YouthLabour Group ofthe Liberal Party’sRenewal Commission.In 2007, Trudeaubecame the LiberalMP for the Papineauriding, only to havebeen defeated in the2008 federal election,then having regainedthat riding’s seat inthe federal electionfrom May, 2011.When the LiberalParty dismissedformer leader MichaelIgnatieff after the2011 federal election,there was a lot of buzzwithin the party as towho would becomethe next leader. LiberalParty members wereindicating it shouldbe Justin Trudeaubecause he was,and still is, seen asthe Party’s saviour.Although, it would behard for someone likeTrudeau to becomeleader of a federalparty, especially thestruggling Liberals,because he would faceconstant comparisonsto his father.According to Radio-Canada, one ofTrudeau’s politicalpriorities is bilingualeducation. On a visitto Saint John, NB inMay 2007, Trudeausaid that 2 educationsystems (one inFrench, the other inEnglish) is too costlyfor a government.Unlike his father, who had declaredEnglish and French Canada’sofficial languages in the Charterof rights and Freedoms, Trudeauwould prefer an education system inonly one language, mainly French.With such a significant differencebetween father and son, it is hard todetermine if Justin Trudeau will everbecome the kind of Prime Ministerhis father, Pierre, was.21

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012SportsInside the Grey Cup Train TourAidan PrenovaultContributorThe Grey Cup has had aprofound effect as a trophy onCFL players andfans alike. This year,that effect might bemore profound withthe Grey Cup goingacross Canada on aspecially built train.This special traintour is making 100stops across Canadain 10 weeks, whichstarted in Vancouveron September 9,2012, and ending inToronto for the 100thGrey Cup game. OnSaturday, October6, 2012, I had theopportunity to seethis train and the GreyCup when it arrived in Winnipeg atthe Union Station on Main Street.The day began at 11:00 thatmorning. Tents that were sponsoredby the Bomber store, Telus andother CFL sponsors, were set upeverywhere behind the station. But,the main attraction was in the stationitself. Despite the long lineup to seethe train, it was worth the wait. Thetrain was covered with designs ofvarious Grey Cup moments, as wellas designs of stamps of each CFLteam’s most memorable Grey Cup.The train was a mini-museum forthe time being as it included variousmemorabilia that was donated bythe Canadian Football Hall of Fame.Such memorabilia included a pairof cleats from the 1977 “Ice Bowl”,football equipment dating the 1920s,past Grey Cup championship ringsand old footballs. Also includedon the train was an interactive carwhere fans could see, feel and hearthe atmosphere insidea CFL locker room.The CFL has done agreat job promotingthe 100th Grey Cupthis year with the GreyCup’s cross-Canadatrain tour. I think itwas really cool to seesome football artifactsfrom the past. I thinkthat this train tour isa great way to uniteall Canadians to agame we love andtake pride in. Fromas far west as BritishColumbia to as fareast as Prince EdwardIsland, and as north as Yukon,Northwest Territories and Nunavut,people across are being united tocelebrate an important milestonefor this coveted football trophyCanadians know as the Grey Cup.22

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Matias BuenoContributorThis year in the NFL manypeople are already starting to talkabout one of the most anticipatedawards from draft nightall the way until thepost season; the rookieof the year. There are5 key players (all QBsas well) in particularwho are beingmonitored throughoutthis season. There isBrandon Weeden ofthe Cleveland Browns,Ryan Tannehill ofthe Miami Dolphins,Russell Wilson of theSeattle Seahawks,Andrew Luck of theIndianapolis Colts and RobertGriffin III of the WashingtonRedskins. I will look at some of thekey aspects that determine how theyare performing such as stats, debutand overall success and give each agrade based on this.First let’s talk about BrandonWeeden. He was drafted out ofOklahoma State at the age of 29,which is very old considering he’sa rookie. This yearhis team isn’t so hotsitting at last in theleague at 1-6. Hehas led Clevelandto only one win,which of coursewas the battleof Ohio againstthe Bengals.Weeden has hadsome poor, decentand one stellarperformance. HisQB passer ratingis 72.3, which isalright some couldsay. He has hadthree games witha rating of over 90,with one of thoseover 100. His debut was a brutaldisplay of football though. Weedenthrew four picks, was sacked twiceand fumbled the two times he rushed.That game his passer rating was 5.1.Not very good for Browns fans. He isprobably the least impressive rookieSportsNFL FootballA deep look at potential Rookie-of-the-Year candidatesthis season, and I certainly wouldn’tfeel comfortable seeing him as thefirst string if I were a fan.Grade: DNext is Ryan Tannehill. Hecame from Texas A&M and is 24years old. The Miami Dolphins aredoing alright for themselves sittingat 3-3. His QB passer rating isn’tmuch higher than Weeden’s at 76.5.Tannehill did have one exceptionalperformance though against theCardinals in week 4. He broke theold rookie record for most passingyards in a game held by DanMarino. He passed for 431 yards andaveraged 11 yards per completion.Besides that he usually plays wellfor a rookie. He has had only twogames this season with a passerrating under 80, so I think he’s fit asthe starter for Miami. He’s no DanMarino or anything but he isn’t aRyan Leaf. He has good potential totake the Dolphins farther this yearthan last year, that’s for sure.Grade: B-Up next is RussellWilson of the SeattleSeahawks. Most fans mayremember his famous“Intertouchdownception,”or if that’s a mouthful, “FailMary” is easier to say. Iwon’t get into that though,Green Bay fans are stilltrying to forget that game.Ironically though he wasdrafted out of Wisconsin.Wilson has big shoes tofill this season since MattHasselbeck, Seattle’s former greatleader on offence, is with theTitans now. Last year the Seahawksacquired former Green Bay back upMatt Flynn, but he didn’t take themanywhere. This season Wilson has apasser rating slightly better than ourlast two QBs, at 79.5. This season heeither has a really good game, or aterrible game. He isn’t as consistentas fans had hoped. The Seahawks are4-3, which is better than the Brownsand the Dolphins, sopeople could saythat Wilson is doingalright for himself.His debut was ratherpoor, considering he18/34 for only 153yards, 1 TD and 1pick. He is not a badrookie, but could bemore consistent.Grade: C+Up now isPeyton Manning’sr e p l a c e m e n t ,Andrew Luck. Hewas drafted firstoverall, so onecould say fans would expect a lotfrom him. His passer rating is tiedwith Weeden’s actually at 72.3. Sofar he hasn’t reached stardom onthe field yet. The Colts are sittingat 500 with 3 wins. One of thosewins was a well fought, and well23

24Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012deserved victory with Luck leadingthe two minute drill. He lead themto a thrilling comeback win at home,after being down 21-3 at half timeagainst the Green Bay Packers. Hisdebut though wasone of his poorerp e r f o r m a n c e sand he threw 3interceptions.Not really whatColts fans werehoping for tostart the season.But neverthelessLuck is the secondyoungest of theserookies and stillhas all seasonto prove hisworth. OtherwiseIndianapolis can(C)ount (O)n (L)osing (T)his (S)unday.Grade: CLast, and certainly NOTleast, is Robert Griffin III. He isprobably the most talked aboutrookie this season, and has hadTurnar KistContributorThroughout the season sofar, only one thing is certain. Theexperts could not be more wrong withmany of their predictions.There has been the goodand bad, Heisman andchampionship dreamsshattered, and manysurprise teams.The GoodThe teams thatcontinue to show whythey belong at the top ofthe nation are the KansasState Wildcats, the OregonDucks, the Florida Gatorsand the preseason number1, Alabama, which continues toshow why they belong at the top ofthe FBS standings. The Kansas StateWildcats, led by Senior quarterback,Collin Klein has been the biggestsurprise in the Big 12. Klein has ledthe Wildcats to an upset over theOklahoma Sooners, ranked number6 at the time, as well as a dominatingSportsso many commercials and mediaadvertisements even before itstarted. Griffin even has the famousnickname “RG3”, and he has hadgreat success this year. He has anexceptional passer rating of 101.8.Not only is he the best rookie thisseason, he is probably one of thebest QBs in the league. Griffin’sstats are phenomenal and allRedskins fans are probably praisingGod for trading up to get the secondpick. He has made a huge impact onWashington this season and they areonce again a force to be reckonedwith. Despite their 3-4 record, RG3has performed well on a consistentbasis. His debutshocked theleague as hetook down the“ a l m i g h t y ”Saints in theS u p e r d o m e .Something notmany rookieshave ever done.That game hehad some of themost incrediblenumbers for anyrookie debut inNFL history.RG3 was 19/26for 320 yardsand threw 2TD passes.Not to mentionthat he also rushed for 42 yards.He is definitely living up to fans’expectations and I think he has agood chance of leading the Redskinsto the post season.Grade: A+NCAA College Footballwin against West Virginia in whichhe had 7 total touchdowns. Perhapsthe best part of Klein’s gamehowever, has been the fact he hadonly thrown 2 interceptions for the#3 ranked Wildcats while leadingthem to a #3 ranking in the polls.A team that keeps gettingforgotten about in the polls is theleader of the Pac-12 conference,the Oregon Ducks. Led by thefreshman phenom Marcus Mariotaat quarterback, and arguably thebest backfield in the country ledby running backs De’ AnthonyThomas and Kenjon Barner, theOregon Ducks are currently the #4team in the nation. The Ducks areaveraging 317 yards onthe ground a game, whichranks 5th in the FBS outof 124 teams. Althoughthe Ducks have not beatenmany strong opponents,they are still a favourite tobe in the Championship.The toughest tasks that lieahead of them though arethe civil war against theirTop 10 rival Oregon State,as well as a game againstpreseason Heisman favoriteMatt Barkley and his USCTrojans which are alsoranked in the Top 10.Another strong team thisyear, which has surprised many is theFlorida Gators. Led by Sophomorequarterback Jeff Driskel and Seniorrunning back Mike Gillislee, theGators have been able to knock offTop 10 opponents LSU and South

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Carolina, as well as beating theTexas A&M Aggies. Florida still hasgames against #10 Georgia, FloridaState, and the SEC championshipwhich would most likely be againstthe next team to be mentioned.The team that will mostlikely be in the SEC championshiponce again, and looking for a repeatof National Champions, is theAlabama Crimson Tide. Currentlyranked #1, Alabama is undefeatedand so far none of their gameshave even been a contest. The bestteam the Tide have played is theMichigan Wolverines, who havehad many struggles of their own.AJ McCarron, the quarterback, isn’tputting up the flashiest numbers, butis playing well enough to win withthe help of the defence and of therunning game. With 5 games left intheir regular season though, the Tideplays 3 ranked opponents, includingat#6 LSU and home against #11Mississippi State.The BadThe teams and players thatare struggling this year, whichentered the season with high hopes,are the Virginia Tech Hokies, theMichigan Wolverines, and the WestVirginia Mountaineers. VirginiaTech, ranked #16 in the preseasonpolls, is now 4-4 and fighting fora chance at a bowl game. LoganThomas, the quarterback, is havinga tough time this year as well. So farhe has 10 interceptions, and is onlycompleting 53.6% of his passes,while only having 13 touchdownpasses as well. They were upset byPittsburgh, Cincinnati, and NorthCarolina.SportsThe Michigan Wolverineshave also not even come close toliving up to their expectations.Ranked #8 in the preseason pollsthings have gone downhill fast forthe Wolverines. Denard Robinson, aHeisman hopeful, has struggled thisyear. In their first game, when theywere blown out 41-14 by Alabama,he threw 1 touchdown and 2interceptions, while only completing42.3% of his passes. Then, in week4, he threw 4 interceptions and notouchdowns, in a loss to the NotreDame Fighting Irish.One of the biggest flopsthis year in the NCAA, arguablythe biggest flop has been by theWest Virginia Mountaineers andtheir quarterback Geno Smith.Ranked #11 in the preseason polls,the Mountaineers started off theseason very strong winning theirfirst 5 games, including two winsover top 25 teams. Geno Smith,their quarterback was also playingoutstanding while throwing for 24touchdown passes, no interceptions,and for 1996 yards. During their twohorrendous losses, where they wereoutscored 104-28, Smith threw for2 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, and418 yards, including 143 in the gameagainst Kansas State. Smith, wholooked like the Heisman favourite,and West Virginia, which lookedlike a Championship contender,has now fallen out of contentionfor even a big 12 title and Smith’sHeisman hopes are slowly fading aswell.Players to WatchAs the season gets closer tothe end, there a few main players towatch. The main players to watchare Teddy Bridgewater, CollinKlein, Seth Doege, and JohnnyManziel. Teddy Bridgewater, aSophomore quarterback for theLouisville Cardinals, is one of themain reasons that the Cardinals areundefeated. Bridgewater has thrownfor 1694 yards, 11 touchdowns andonly 3 interceptions.Another player to watch,who was mentioned earlier is CollinKlein the quarterback for KansasState. He is an absolute force on thefield and is currently my Heismanfavourite after his impressiveperformances against Oklahomaand West Virginia.Seth Doege, the Seniorquarterback for the Texas TechRaiders has been a surpriseperformer for a surprising team. Hehas put up great numbers so far andshould be in consideration for theHeisman as well. Currently, he hasled the #14 ranked Red Raiders to a6-1 record while throwing for 2209yards and 28 touchdowns. He is alsocompleting 70.8% of his passes, buthis real test will be when he takeson the Kansas State Wildcats whichhave a shut down defence.Finally, arguably one ofthe top players in the SEC is theFreshman phenom Johnny Manziel.Manziel, the quarterback for theTexas A&M Aggies is probably themain reason for their 5-2 record ashe has thrown for 1956 yards and 14touchdowns, while also running for703 yards and 10 touchdowns.Collin Klein, Kansas State QB, is Turner’sHeisman pick.!25

26Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Carter LiebzeitSenior ContributorLast year’s NationalBasketball Association season wasthreatened by a lockout, yet turnedinto one of the most entertainingseasons in recent memory. The2011-12 season was changed fromthe traditional 82 game schedule to ashortened 66-game campaign. NBAfans saw the emergence of youngpoint cards Russell Westbrook,Ricky Rubio and Kyrie Irving, thesurprising rise to fame of JeremyLin, an entertaining playoffrace, and all capped off byan exciting final betweenthe Miami Heat andOklahoma City Thunder,and a battle of two ofthe league’s best scorers:Miami’s LeBron Jamesand OKC’s Kevin Durant.There’s never been thismany entertaining playersat one time in the NBA:James, Durant, DwayneWade, Kobe Bryant, ChrisPaul, Lin, Derrick Rose,Carmelo Anthony, RajonRondo, Steve Nash, DwightHoward to name a few. The2012-13 season has a lot tolive up to, and there are a lotof questions for NBA fansgoing into this season. I’llhand out some awards topreview this NBA season:Team to Beat: The MiamiHeatEvery team in theNBA is chasing the Miami Heat.There is no doubt that the Heat arethe best team in the league, LeBronJames and Dwayne Wade areperennial first-team all-stars. Jameswon his fourth NBA MVP awardlast season and is one of the bestto ever play the game. Chris Boshsettled in as the third-best playeron the team and played well in the2012 playoffs. Point guards NorrisCole and Mario Chalmers showedthat they are capable of playingdefense reasonably well and ableto hand the ball off to “The Big 3”,James, Wade and Bosh, on offense.Miami not only maintained theirstrong 2011-12 team, they got evenbetter. The Heat signed veteranguard Ray Allen, the NBA all-timeleader in 3-point shots made. MiamiSportsNBA Previewalso signed Rashard Lewis, a decentforward who has bounced around afew different teams the past coupleyears and is finally able to play ona championship contender. ESPNpolled General Managers of all30 NBA teams anonymously, and21 of these 30 (70%) said that theHeat are the best team in the league.Everyone is watching the Heat andit will be a surprise if they are not inthe NBA finals again this season.Most Entertaining Team: The LosAngeles LakersThe Heat may be the bestteam in the league, but everyoneknows what to expect from them.James and Wade play basketballunbelievably well. Having so manygood players allows them to balancethe scoring. Last year the Heat wereso unbeatable in big games becausethere are a number of playerswith good chemistry togetherwho were able to carry the loadwhen teammates were struggling.However, this year’s Lakers teamwill be so fun to watch because notonly do they have a “Big-3”, thereare 5 superstars. This L.A. team willbe so entertaining because each ofthese five players have been the staron a team in the past. Steve Nash,signed by the Lakers in the summer,has been carrying the Phoenix Sunssince 2004. Nash will now have toshare the ball with big-man DwightHoward, forwards Pau Gasol andRon Artest (It’s unacceptable to calla grown man “Metta World Peace”)and of course Kobe Bryant. Each ofthese players have a lot to offer, butplaying together may be a challenge.It’ll definitely be exciting to watchthe Lakers play in the high scoringWestern Conference, with teamslike the rival Clippers, the Thunder,the up-and-coming MinnesotaTimberwolves, and thepowerhouse San AntonioSpurs. The Heat may be thebest team, but the Lakers arethe most entertaining.!Most exciting “bad team”:The New Orleans HornetsThe Hornets have been oneof the worst teams in theNBA the past few seasons,and have only made it pastthe first round of the playoffsonce since they moved fromCharlotte to New Orleansin 2002. The Hornets losttheir only star player infranchise history Chris Paulto the Clippers last year. TheHornets are awful. This yearthey’ll be bad, but they’ll befun to watch. Their flashyuniform is one of the nicest inthe league. First overall pickAnthony Davis is an athleticbig-man who dominated theNCAA last year at Kentucky.The Hornets also draftedAustin Rivers who was an excitingpoint guard at Duke University.Rivers and Davis have not evenreached their 21 st birthday yet andwill be carrying an NBA team ontheir back. Along with shootingguard Eric Gordon, the team isbuilding for the future, and havingAnthony Davis is a good start tobecoming a contender.Best new brand: The BrooklynNetsThe Nets have gained a lot ofnew supporters over the summer of2012. They traded for Joe Johnsonand Gerald Wallace to form a solidcore along with star point guardDeron Williams. The Nets have freshnew black-and-white jerseys, theirnew name and their celebrity part-

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012owner Jay-Z have all contributedto the Nets’ bandwagon. Six NBAteams released new jerseys overthe summer. The Nets’ jerseys aresimple and classic without beingold-fashioned. Brooklyn uniformsare the nicest of the six, as reflectedby jersey sales. In fact, more Netsgear was sold on the first day ofsales than the entire New JerseyNets 2011 season.Worst collapse: Dallas MavericksThe Dallas Mavericks wonthe NBA title in 2010-11, shockingthe Miami Heat thanks to anincredible team effort. Two yearsremoved from that title, the Mavshave definitely fallen from being acontender. Former superstar DirkNowitzki is now 34-years-old andbattling knee problems, and hadSportsa very average 2011-12 season.Forwards Vince Carter and ShawnMarion are washed up. Last yearDallas lost their defensive anchorTyson Chandler as a free agent tothe New York Knicks. This year theMavs lost energetic shooting guardJason Terry to the Boston Celtics.The backcourt is mediocre, guardsO.J. Mayo and Darren Collison arenot good enough to carry an NBAteam. However, the biggest lossfor Dallas this offseason was notimproving via free agency or thedraft. The college draft was verydeep this year, a lot of college talentwas available in the first round, yetDallas traded the pick. They also didnot manage to sign any of the bignamefree agents this year. Dallaslooked old and slow in their firstround playoff sweep at the handsof OKC last season. Dallas didn’tdo much to improve, and they maybe at risk of missing the playoffs in2012-13.These five teams will all beinteresting to watch during the2012-13 season. Many questionswill be answered throughout theseason. Will the Heat repeat aschampions? Will LeBron James winhis fifth MVP trophy? Which newyoung stars will emerge this year?Will Jeremy Lin be able to continuehis success with the Rockets? Howwill new-look teams like the Lakers,Hornets and Nets play this season?Do aging teams like Dallas and SanAntonio have one last playoff run inthem? The NBA is at an excitingtime and it will be interesting to seehow the games play out this season.NHL LockoutWhy the lockout is the worst possible scenario...!John MatthewEditor-in-ChiefIs it a blessing in disguiseor is it suicide? It could be arguedthat, for some teams, having sometime off during the NHL Lockout isbeneficial. Such teams include theMontréal Canadiens (I use the term“team” quite loosely), the TorontoMaple Leafs, and the EdmontonOilers, as they are saved from theembarrassment of losing night innight out. More seriously, however,the lockout allows the top prospectson these teams time to developmore fully in the American HockeyLeague or in the juniors.For teams such as the LAKings, it is a mixed bag. They getthe extra rest time that they lostafter winning the Stanley Cup lastseason, but run the risk of losingpart of a fan base that had built upconsiderable enthusiasm during lastyear’s playoff run.And this is where the problemlies. The irony of the whole situationis that the lockout is supposed to helpto determine methods for revenuesharing;therefore stabilizing smallmarketteams or financially strappedfranchises in struggling Americanmarkets.However, the backlash fromthe lockout could end up hurtingthese teams beyond repair.Of course, the people whoreally lose out in this situation arethe ones who seemingly have novoice. The response to the lockoutfrom a fan standpoint has beenoverwhelmingly negative. Surprisesurprise!This negative responsestems from the fact that the lockout27

28Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012is a result of greedy millionaireplayers arguing with millionaire (insome cases even billionaire) owners.The mere thought is turning evenlifelong die-hard fans away fromthe league.If the greed is drivinglifelong fans away, the effect on thefans on the fence will be far worse.The fans in growing Americanmarkets who may have been gaininginterest in their local team will belost. Perhaps forever.The effects of that would bedisastrous in a market like Phoenix,which may have grown their fanbase a bit last year; due, for the mostpart, to a franchise-best playoff runwhich saw the Coyotes appear inthe third round.How would they have builtupon that success, on the ice and offit? We will never know, as the fanbase will likely return to what it wasbefore last year’s playoff run if andwhen the lockout ends.The ripple effect of thelockout would also affect teamslike the LA Kings and the FloridaPanthers, two other teams comingoff franchise-best performances.Last year, the Panthers made theplayoffs for the first time ever, andthe Kings won the Stanley Cup forthe first time. Now they can onlyhope that any momentum they hadgathered will continue from whereit left off, once the teams return tothe ice.But the American teamsare not the only teams who willbe affected. Even fans in the“invincible” Canadian markets havehad enough and are planning to cutties with the NHL after the lockout.This doesn’t just mean not buyingtickets.It means not buyingmerchandise and not watchinggames on TV. If the TV ratings drop,the league gets less revenue fromthose games, meaning there wouldthen be less money in the pot forthe hungry dogs to fight over. Andthe players would most certainlylove playing in empty arenas everynight.So if the NHL can lock outits players at the expense of the fans– who are the real driving force ofthis league – then the fans should goon a strike to voice their displeasureSportsat being taken advantage of.After all, this is the thirdlockout in the last twenty years.Shouldn’t all the problems be fixedby now?Still, as we move farther andfarther into what was supposed to bethe 2012-13 NHL Season, the fanscan only play the waiting game.The players can hold out aslong as they want, to get a “fair”deal, but when they come back, theyshouldn’t expect to have $3.3 billionsitting there for them to split.Without the massive fansupport, the players would all becrying over the miniscule amountsof money that they would be making.How on earth would they survive?A fan strike could send amajor message to both sides of thebargaining table, and could forcethem to stop taking the fans forgranted. There are plenty of otherconvenient entertainment optionsfor them to spend their money on.There’s an old saying thatyou don’t bite the hand that feeds,but that is exactly what the union isdoing right now.The fans pay the players’salaries.Not the owners.Not the league.The FANS.So the players can keepholding out, but once an agreementis reached, salaries will drop bymuch more than the 7% drop thatthe owners requested because themoney will be gone.The fans want to watchhockey.Where have the days gonewhen there was such a thing asplaying a sport for the love of thegame? In that time, in the 1970sand earlier, children idolized greatssuch as Maurice Richard, GordieHowe, Bobby Orr, and Tim Horton,who played not for the money butbecause they loved playing hockey.They didn’t even make enough toget by in society (that’s why TimHorton started the coffee shop).Now, the sport has stoopedso low that players with alreadyridiculous salaries want moremoney. The heart is all gone. Whatever happened to playing for thelove of the game?It’s time to stop with the “wefeel bad for the fans and want to geta deal done as quickly as possible”garbage. Actions speak louderthan words. If either the players orthe owners are truly serious aboutplaying, they would be meetingevery day to come to a deal and theywould stop being so stubborn andgreedy, for the sake of the fans.Most of the fans in this leagueforfeit a close to a whole week’sincome to see one professionalhockey game as a couple or a family.It sure is great for them to see abunch of millionaire babies arguingover their hard-earned cash.Suck it up and come to adeal so that the players can play andthe fans can watch. The talks aresupposed to be about growing thegame. The only way to grow thegame is to play it and inspire fans ofall ages.Arguing over a mile-highpile of cash is not the way to grow thegame. It has left the fans hopeless,and thinking “will we ever see agame this season?”It was embarrassing enoughwhen the NHL became the firstprofessional league in NorthAmerica to lose a whole season dueto a labour dispute. It would betwice as bad if it happened again ashort seven years later.Maybe these talks will settleall problems for the foreseeablefuture, but as time ticks away, thepatience of the fans gets lower andlower.If they take long enough,the discussions – which both sidesbelieve will solve all problems –could very well end up being thedemise of the league. But, at the endof the day, it’s only a game, right?

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Arts and LifeFull House: Season 3What ever happened to predictability?William Macneish and Jeremy SemchyshynContributorsAs many would remember,the eighties and nineties were filledwith quality family television. Onememorable television block wasthe popular ”TGIF” on the ABCnetwork. TGIF was home to manyclassic television seriessuch as Family Matters,Perfect Strangers,Dinosaurs, Boy MeetsWorld, and Sabrina,the Teenage Witch.However, one showstood above the restas the quintessentialfamily sitcom, and thatshow was Full House.For those who do notremember this sublimeseries, it starred BobSaget as the recentlywidowed Danny Tanner,who calls on his brotherin-law, rock star JesseKatsopolis (played bythe seemingly agelessJohn Stamos) and bestfriend, Joey Gladstone(the always funnyDave Coulier) to helphim raise his threedaughters, D.J. (Candace Cameron),Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin), andMichelle (Mary-Kate and AshleyOlsen). During the show’s eightyear run (1987-1995), not a singlebad season was produced, so it’snext to impossible to pick oneseason over the other, but afterserious consideration, season threeis the superior season, and for goodreason.Season three of Full Housebrought many changes to the show.For starters, the season broughtthe show into the nineties withits thirteenth episode, No MoreMr. Dumb Guy, which aired onJanuary 5, 1990. This season wasalso the first in which actress LoriLoughlin was given a credit in theshow’s opening credits. Loughlin’sportrayal of mother figure Rebecca“Aunt Becky” Donaldson is onethat remains unsurpassed bytelevision actresses to thisday. Her role paved the wayfor people like Jane Kaczmarek (Loison Malcolm in the Middle) JulieBowen (Claire on Modern Family),and Anna Gunn (Skylar Whiteon Breaking Bad) to find successin playing mother characters onpopular television comedies. Majorstorylines in the season included:The Tanner family getting strandedon a deserted island near Hawaii,Danny and Becky’s talk show,Good Morning, San Francisco,finally becomes the success italways should’ve been, and Jessestarts dating Becky, resulting in himexchanging his “bad boy” personafor a simple life with his girlfriendand nieces, a decision that is mockedby an old friend of his, played byScott Baio (brilliantly casted), whoaccuses him of “going from Dr.Dare to Dr. Seuss”. Other episodesfocused on more serious issues suchas Joey going on Star Search afterregretting his failed comedy career,Stephanie accidentally crashingJesse’s car into the family’s kitchen,after which she tries to run awayto Mexico in order to avoid thewrath of Danny, D.J. being offeredalcohol by a boy at a party, and anearthquake hitting San Francisco.Full House season three iswell liked by many people becauseit shows what real life is all about. Itis not just another sitcom, but rathera television series thatmany can relate to. Fromthe dramatic struggles ofD.J.’s move into Jr. High,to Michelle’s inspiringleap into her big kid bed,anybody could watch theshow and see somethingsimilar to what they haveexperienced. Anotheraspect of Full House thatis largely underappreciatedwas its ability to stay withthe times, and transitionsmoothly into the nineties.More importantly though,season three makesviewers feel good aboutthemselves. The countlessunforgettable momentsfrom Michelle’s classicone liner “You got it, dude”to the musical comedy byJesse and the band werethe classic motifs duringthe season’s truly special run.The season was truly unpredictable,with the season’s crazy storylinesbegging the question “Whateverhappened to predictability – insitcom writing?” Season three wasa moving experience. It is a pieceof television that will be seen andremembered by generations foryears to come. It delivers humour,yet it also inspires the audienceto ask questions about what theseason’s true message and purposewas. A worthy sitcom that exceededthe expectations of what wasbrought upon in its day. Televisionhas never been more exciting thanit was between September 1989 andMay 1990.9.9/1029

30Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Nelson KeepContributorATTENTION GAMERS. You maynow direct your focus to the nostalgiasection.I was going to do a full review for thisissue, but because ofreasons, that couldn’thappen, so here’s alist of things that youprobably don’t careabout. But seriously,DOS games werethe best, and I highlyrecommend checkingthese out. If youappreciate nostalgia,then you will enjoythem.#20 LemmingsNO IT’S NOT ABOUTSUICIDE. Basicallyits a highly enjoyablelittle (mini)gameextended about 20 or30 levels involvingthe safe return of anadorable group of (youguessed it) lemmings.I guess its the world’sway of saying sorryfor pushing them offcliffs.#19 SimCityAnyone here have agod complex? You cansatisfy it in this littlegem. Most people haveplayed at least one Simgame at some point intheir life, but this one literally makesyou god of a town that you create fromnothingness. IT’S ALSO REALLYHARD GRAAAAAH!#18 Prince of PersiaNot only did this game spawn a greatfranchise into the world, it managed tostill be a great game on its own. It hasespecially detailed graphics (for theDOS) and realistic controls in a reallycool puzzle platformer/action adventurebundle. Also it spawned Sands of Timeso yeah.#17 Wing Commander IV: The Priceof FreedomArts and LifeKeep On Gaming #002Top 20 Best MS-DOS GamesThis is all your base but without thestupid. The wing commander gameshave always been enjoyable, but IVwas definitely the best overall and isone of the best space shooters of alltime. BASE. BASE. BASE. BASE.#16 Ultima VI: The False ProphetSomehow the ultima games had a tonof sequels (and kept going) but no onehas ever heard of them. They’re allrealy good RPGs, but this one standsout for me a bit.#15 BloodNever heard of it? Neither had I untilI made this list. It is one of the mostunderrated FPS’s of all time, simplybecause no one has ever played it.Truly sad considering how much manlyno-nonsense fun it is.#14 The Elder Scrolls 2: DaggerfallThe Elder Scrolls games didn’t startgetting magnificent until Morrowindbut Daggerfall can hold its own any dayand is a good addition to the series andto 3D action RPGs in general. It wasbig, it looked great, it took a ridiculoustime to beat, and most importantly, itwas fun.#11 Duke Nukem 3D#13 Alone in theDarkEver wanted to playa B-Horror film asa game? Then playHouse of the Dead 2,because THIS GAMEIS SCARY. Alone inthe Dark is thrilling yethorrifying and far betterthan its future sequelsand preposterouslymovie SCREW YOUUWE BOLL. COMEAT ME.#12 Sid Meier’sCivilization 2HEY. GUYS. LOOK.GUYS. I NAMEDMY COUNTRYAMESOME TOWN.BECAUSE IT’SAWESOME. I don’tknow why AbrahamLincoln is the kingof Russia, but I don’treally care. Civ 2 is alot of fun and it feelsgood to be king... evenif you desperately suckat it.Am I allowed to say anything aboutthis game without cursing? DANG,THOSE ALIEN JERKS ARE GONNAPAY. I’M GOING TO DEFACATETHEM. DARN I’M GOOD. ALL OFYOU ARE SCREWED. (

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012of the best platformer series that everexisted. I never thought I would saythis about anything, but it desperatelyneeds a reboot. It’s hilariously creative,its visually appealing and it’s packedfull of iD software goodness.#9 Wolfenstein 3DHave I talked about this game enoughyet? Yeah, read my review from lastmonth. iD software can do no wrong inmy books.#8 The Day of the TentacleRemember when LucasArts madethings that weren’t Star Wars? Not reallyactually, I think Jar Jar has clouded allof our memories. TENTACULAR.That’s what this game is. I’ve never hadthe patience for point-and-click, but itsa lot easier to have the patience whenthey are as funny, creative and visuallypleasing as this one was.#7 DOOMDOOOOOOOMed. That’s what youare if you dislike this game. Doom 3on the other hand... anyway this gamerocks, and that’s pretty much all I cansay that I didn’t say last month. Wait, Idid say that...#6 Command and Conquer: RedAlertX-COM: UFO Defense#1 RankingArts and LifeHow needs Starcraft when you’ve gotthis? NO I’M SERIOUS. This gamewas a legend before there were legends.Its one of those games that everybodyplayed, but didn’t know it. It has all thestrategy of a game of Risk, but is abouttwice as fast. Even if you suck at RTS,its still easy to enjoy.#5 Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’sRevengeEver played Psychonauts? Tim Schafermade that game too, and believe methey are both amazing. You couldpretty much say the same things aboutthis game as the Day of the Tentacle,as they were both made by LucasArts(with the same source engine to boot)but this one is a legendary tale of piracyand hilarity. ARR ye land-lubbers bestbe playin’ this fine piece of eight, or Imay have to throw ye in the brig, yescurvy dogs!#4 Star Control 2Basically, its Civ 2. BUT INSPAAAAACE. I’ve never been goodat RTS so this one was a bit of achallenge, but the storyline was deepand complex, the gameplay was hardyet fun and Gamespot calls it the 17 thbest game of all time. Yeaah... why didI look that up?#3 QuakeBlah blah blah, last month’s article,best fps ever, the end.#2 Scorched EarthIn 1991, some stuff happened, but mostimportantly some guy named WendellHicken made the best turn basedartillery game in existence (I didn’tknow that was a genre). It was Wormsbefore Worms, (except not Worms) andit was kind of sad that barely anyoneplayed it, as only recently developershave been influenced by it.#1 X-COM: UFO DefenseI’ll make one thing perfectly clear. IAM TERRIBLE AT THIS GAME. Iwas going to do a full review of it to gowith Adam reviewing the new X-COM,but I didn’t even understand what Iwas supposed to be doing. One thingI did realize was the awesomeness ofit though. It’s one of the most creativetakes on alien defense game ever puttogether. The graphics are okay, and thestory is pretty good, but obviously whatmakes this game win more than anythingelse is the GAMEPLAY. Basically, youare the X-files characters, the cast ofCSI, the FBI, the men in black, ChuckNorris’ left bicep, and Football Manager2013 all in one. As aliens invade earth,the biggest obstacle they encounter intheir siege of the blue planet is YOU!It makes you feel like a god on steroidswhile forcing you to play with the skilllevel of one, and that’s just enough toearn the number one spot on my list.Keep on gaming everyone!31

32Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Arts and LifeXCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012) ReviewAdam SaundersContributorIt’s finally here, a sequel thatdeserves the honor of calling itselfXCOM. To me the original XCOMstands out as the best PC game ofits era. It had everything, massivebattles, tactical choices on asmall and large scale, a hugeprogression tree and one ofthe most memorable set ofenemies from any game Ihave played. All of this in aDOS game made back in thegood old days of 1994. Soit came as a surprise to hearthat the people who madeCivilization were makinga modern day sequel andI am as giddy as a kid onChristmas to say that it isfantastic.Gameplay Score/StorylineScore 9.8/10The first XCOMhosted the best turn basedstrategy gameplay of its eraand its sequel doesn’t stopshort of that. You take onthe role of the commanderof the newly formedXCOM program, a secretorganization made up of theworld’s best soldiers, scientists andengineers funded by a shady worldcounsel. The game starts with youbeing assigned your monumentaltask of repelling the alien invasionand then almost immediately youare left to your own devices. XCOMtakes places in two different areas,your “ant farm” base of operationswhere you build buildings, researchthe aliens and design the mostadvanced weapons of destructionthe earth has ever seen, and thebattlefield. You have to sendyour intrepid soldiers on multipledifferent kinds of missions on 100different individual maps. Wherethey will have to face anything froma protecting a VIP to raiding the hullof a UFO you just shot down withyour own fighters. XCOM doesa wonderful job of making yourdecisions feel like they have weightand your choices in both areas ofthe game ripple through the other.For instance say you only have 20Dying is Back in Stylealien shards and you have to choosewhether you want a set of armor foryour favorite soldier or build a laserrifle. You end up choosing the laserrifle and because you did when ahuge muton rushes through a walltrying to tear the head of one of yourrookies in the next mission, he ismet by a hail of laser fire and dropslike a rock. But another muton hassnuck behind your squad and opensfire upon your favorite guy; if heis hit you know he will not survivewithout that new suit of armor, soyou sit there, watching this hulkingbeast as it slowly raises its rifle andtakes its shot, praying that it misses.That is just one of the many fun andtense moments I have had playingthis game. XCOM manages to keepa great balance between its inherentdifficulty and fun, its iconic randomnumber generator manages to makeno matter how flawless a move feellike a risk. This spawns all sorts ofmoments, from the disaster of havingone of your veterans blasted awayin full cover because a mile awayalien got lucky and the moment ofpure joy when you manage to hitthat 10% shot that saves your squad.Behind all of this is the omnipresentsituation room where each fundingcountry has their own individualpanic level that must be managed orelse they will withdraw from yourprogram and take their funding withthem. If enough countries leave theXCOM project is shut down and theworld is doomed, so it manages tokeep a constant desire to impressthe council and makes it the bestfeeling in the world when you get agood rank.You might askwhy the storyline didn’tget its own segment.That is because it’salmost non-existent,there is enough plotto create a significantsense of emotion anda good ending but thegame is mostly fueledby your own choices.So it would be unfairfor me to assign a gradebased upon that. Besidesa few visual bugs thatwere ironed out inthe first patch XCOMis an almost flawlessgameplay experienceand a ton of fun.Graphic Score 8.5/10The new look ofXCOM is a tribute tothe cartoony style of theoriginal and it translatesreally well. The sceneryis well defined and every kind ofcharacter model manages to lookboth cartoony and have just enoughrealism for you to be able to becomeattached. The makeover of the aliensis also superb while in the originalXCOM mutons looked like purplemen in green leotards they are nowpurple muscle-bound monsters inwar gear. While they may be simple,the graphics do a wonderful job ofconveying the games sense of dreadand unknowing. Watching thatUFO softly glowing in the distanceas you advance upon it through thefiery gouge in the earth it left as itcrashed is a visual treat.In comparison to gameplaythere isn’t too much to talk abouthere; it’s not the best graphical styleever made but it’s certainly not theworst.Audio Score 9.0/10XCOM is a game where you

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012never really notice the music toomuch and in this case that is a greatthing. Almost all the in game musicis focused around atmosphere,providing a fantastic background towhatever you may be doing at thetime. Whether it is hopping fromcover to cover hoping no aliens spotyou to trying to wildly fend off acrysalid attack, it always managesto deliver the right mood. It usesan interesting mix of electronicand orchestral music that somehowmanages to alternate between thetwo perfectly. But the main starof the Audio is not the music butthe sounds effects. For me it waslike a cross between watching anold horror movie and an old Sci-Fi movie, mixing funky Theremintunes and laser noises that feel likethey could belong in star wars inArts and Lifeorder to create a war you could loseyourself in.Together with the graphicsthe audio manages to create agripping atmosphere which is theperfect backdrop to the gameplay.Replay Value 9.5/10By its nature XCOM is agame to be played over and overand over again. With a really healthymodding community as well ashaving ton of difficultly settings ontop of its random number generatornature XCOM is going to have areally long play life in your library.My only recommendation is thatafter getting the hang of the game isto play classic mode; it gives a greatchallenge and unlocks the full AIgiving you a worthy opponent.People have dumpedthousands of hours into the firstXCOM and it looks like the secondmay be able to carry on that legacy.Overall Score 9.2/10Well it turns out I mademyself a liar. I said that Borderlands2 impressive score of 9.1 wouldn’tbe topped anytime soon, but hey it’sa win-win all around. To me thisgame is truly impressive display ofwhat a good company can do withan old IP. This is Adam Saunderssigning off saying once again, whyhaven’t you bought this game yet?Nicholas KjernistedSenior ContributorOn October 26 th , 2012,Windows 8 was released. This newOS is a complete reinvention of theWindows experience. It strips awaymany of the unnecessary components ofthe GUI, such as Aero, and streamlinesthe OS for tablets as well as laptopsand desktops. Additionally, it comes inboth a full version, and a more limitedversion meant for ARM processors.These drastic changes to Windowshave gained Microsoft many accoladesfor innovation. At the same time, manycurrent Windows users absolutely hatethe upgrade, and believe that Microsoftis moving too far, too fast by blendinga semi-mobile with a more traditionalexperience. Windows 8 is an innovativeOS with some great features, but itmight be overstepping its boundaries.The entire Windows experiencehas been altered in Windows 8. TheAero interface has been eschewed alongwith the start button for what Microsoftbelieves to be a much cleaner interface.In actuality, the stark minimalismbrought about by the lack of Aero is anice change. However, the lack of thestart button is a mild pain, and may getelderly users confused. In addition tothe lack of the start button, is the lackof the traditional start menu. It has beenreplaced with a full screen interface thatwas at one time known as MetroUI.Windows 8 ReviewThis interface essentially resemblesa series of rectangles designed to beeasy to use one a tablet. They’re knownas live-tiles because they update anddisplay information directly on them.In a way, they act as app icons andwidgets all in one. Though this interfaceis sure to be a pleasure to use in a touchenvironment, using it with a mouse isan extremely “clunky” experience. It’sunfortunate that an option to regain thetraditional start menu isn’t an option inthe full version of Windows 8. Otherchanges include the addition of an AppMarketplace and full screen “metro”apps, among other operation-relatedchanges and features.In addition to the multiplechanges made to the Windowsexperience, Microsoft has added anew kind of Windows: Windows RT.Though the regular Windows (and W8Pro) have received all of the abovechanges, Windows RT is somethingelse. It operates in the same way,but is meant to run on ARM mobileprocessors. Additionally, it will onlybe able to run system programs, andones from the Windows (App) Store.This will be the version found runningon most tablets, and the one that is incompetition with the iPad and Androiddevices.Despite all of the greatchanges in Windows 8, they weren’t allnecessary, at least not yet. For example,the constant switching between thedesktop interface and the new startmenu isn’t very fluid, and creates andodd disconnect, reducing fluidity inoperation. This can be a detriment toeveryday tasks, work, and gaming.Additionally, it is quite the contrarywhen compared to the rest of the OS,which is very clean and smooth feeling.Additionally, as was stated before, thelive-tiles are awkward to use with amouse in a traditional desktop/laptopenvironment. Despite these problems,it’s no doubt that Windows 8 will besuccessful on tablets, and even on newtraditional-style systems due to it’sslew of new features. Windows 8 is agood OS, but not for everyone.Overall, Windows 8 is lookingto be a great experience for tablet users,and at least a decent one for desktopand laptop users. For those users readyto tread new waters and abandontheir old setups for a completely newexperience, Windows 8 will be great.However, most people on Windows 7would be better off sticking with it. It’sa solid OS with ten-year long support.Additionally, gamers should almostdefinitely keep using Windows 7.That said, Windows 8 appears to be aninventive new OS. If an average useris in the market for a new computer,they shouldn’t hesitate to buy one withWindows 8. In summation, Windows 8is a great new OS that is right for most,but not all.33

34Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Noah GiannuzziContributorOfficial Movie Rating: 10/10Before you say that Ioverrated this movie hear me out.This movie hasEVERYTHING from Adam Sandlerto football to violence toalligators roasting on thebarbeque. It’s movie thatprobably everyone has seenbut everyone can watchover and over again. If youhaven’t seen it, you’vebeen robbed, hopefullythis will convince you.Honestly the plot of thismovie is impeccable.The story isabout Bobby Boucher,a Louisiana-born-andraisedkid living in theswamps with his overprotective, alligator-eating mom.Bobby is a water boy for the localcollege football team, and a darngood one due to his weird obsessionwith water, he’s even good at turninga deaf ear at the ridicule he getsfrom the players AND coach. Nowwhen I say ridicule I mean abuse!Bobby is less than normal but doeseverything in his power to makesure these guys are hydrated andready to go from taste testing thewater to having a water dispensingArts and LifeThe Waterboy Movie Reviewbackpack with dual hoses for theseguys! Obsession with water right?The players abuse Bobby somuch he gets fired from the job thathe has put his entire life into becausehe is “distracting” the players fromdoing their job. When Bobby isfired from his job, he is forced tocontinue his water-boying skills atthe rival college, which is a losingteam with a washed-up coach. Thecoach isn’t good for football but istruly a nice guy. He wants Bobbyto learn to channel his anger tosomething else and in the processthey make a great discovery. Thewater boy can tackle like no one’sever seen. Bobby is forced to keephis football talents from his overprotective mom, and soon joins thecollege as an excuse to play footballand learns that there’s more to lifethan alligator stew.With his football skillsBobby is soon loved by everyonein the college. He even falls for anex-convict Vicky Valencourt whoteaches Bobby about thebirds and the bees. Bobbyleads his team towardvictory averaging 16 sacksper game. The team hasmade a full turnaroundand gets an invitationto play in the annualBourbon bowl against hisold college rivals. Bobbymust choose between thelove of his ailing motherand the glory of winningthe final game, or maybethere’s a way he can getboth...This is a movie you reallyhave to watch for yourself. It reallycan’t be described in words howfunny it is. Every character is wellthought out and hilarious in theirown way. You really must watch it tofully understand the 10/10 rating.The Waterboy is an awesomemovie that everyone should havewatched by now and if you haven’t,it’s a shame.“Weird” Al Yankovic Concert ReviewMathieu SchwabContributorConcerts these days seem to bea dime a dozen. They’re all the same.A band full of young, sweaty men willcome on stage and lip-sync to theirsongs, making the teenage girls go wild.However, one act came to the MTSCentre on October 11 th and stood out.This man was “Weird” Al Yankovic.A legend in the music industry,he revolutionized the music industrywith the release of his self-titledalbum in 1983, bringing credibilityto the parody genre. Since then, hehas released 12 more albums, whichhe somehow condensed into a perfect2-and-a-half hours, taking the best fromeach and every one of them.After his traditional entrancemusic of “Fun Zone,” from thesoundtrack for his 1989 movie “UHF,”he picked up his accordion andimmediately broke out the polka fromhis latest album, “Alpocalypse.” Hehas included a polka on every one ofhis albums except for 1988’s “EvenWorse.” What he does for these is heborrows the lyrics from popular songs,and put them over a polka beat withhis flawless accordion as the drivingforce. Some of the lyrics sampled onthis one were from such popular songsas “Poker Face,” “I Kissed a Girl,”and “Baby,” which, of course, soundsa thousand times better under thesecircumstances.Next, he got into a countrymood, playing “TMZ,” his parodyof Taylor Swift’s “You Belong WithMe.” In it, he perfectly describes thelife of a modern-day celebrity, with thecomplete lack of privacy for our ownentertainment. He then went backstagefor the first of many costume changesthroughout the night. However, tokeep the audience engaged, the screenbehind him played clips from plentyof different sources involving “Weird”Al, including TV shows, “UHF” andhis interviews with various celebrities,including Eminem, Megan Fox andUma Thurman.He ran back on stage to playwhat is arguably the best love song everrecorded, “You Make Me.” With itsinfectious synth line and heartwarminglyrics, it moved the audience to cry(with laughter). Taking a break fromvocals for a minutes, He got hisdrummer, Jon “Bermuda” Schwartzto play one of his world-famous drum

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012solos, which led to a standing ovationfrom the crowd. (Or maybe just me. Iwasn’t paying attention to anyone elseat that moment.)After another short costumechange, he came out with cheerleaders,a veritable small army (two of them).Just by looking at his short blondwig, striped shirt and faded jeans, theaudience knew what was coming up:“Smells Like Nirvana,” his cover ofgrunge anthem “Smells Like TeenSpirit.” He truly got into the mindsetof the grunge stars of the 90’s, even“forgetting” an entire verse of thesong.He then played three songsfrom “Alpocalypse:” “Skipper Dan,”an homage to failed actors everywhere,“Party in the CIA,” making fun of thetwo most fun-makeable things in theU.S.: the CIA and Miley Cyrus. Finally,he ended the set with “CNR,” a tributeto game-show host Charles NelsonReilly. It highlights all the remarkablethings he did over his illustrious career,all proven with scientific fact!Fortunately for him, the crowddidn’t turn on him when “CanadianIdiot” started up. Rather, just abouteveryone in the crowd was singingalong, making fun of themselves tosupport their favourite singer. To thankthe crowd, he treated them to anotherof Schwartz’s world-famous drumsolos. After that was the only love songthat can even come close to “You MakeMe,” which is “Wanna B Ur Lovr”from the 2003 album “Poodle Hat.”This song is truly the best song to useto impress your girlfriend; if you useany of those lines on her, I guaranteeresults.Arts and LifeThen a short clip from “UHF”was shown, which every hardcore fanrecognized as a prelude for the classicrock cover “Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies.” This song wastruly monumental in his career, as ithas such a long name to stop him frombeing sued, and it is the only song (todate) where a member of the originalband played with him on the originalrecording. Mark Knopfler of Dire Straitssaid he would only allow him to parodythe song if he could play guitar, to whichAl provided the only reasonable answer,“YESYESYESYESYESYESYES!”Next up was one of his famousmedleys, in which he would play aminute or two of a number of differentsongs, with virtually no stop betweenthem. He included newer fare, like“Another Tattoo” and “Whatever YouLike” from “Alpocalypse,” as well asclassics like “I Wanna New Duck” and“Theme from Rocky XIII”. He endedit off with his breakthrough song, “EatIt.” He went full Michael for it, withthe red jacket and silver glove that justscream MJ.After another costume break,he played another of his biggest hits,“Amish Paradise.” This was the onlyone of his songs to cause controversy,as the original artist, Coolio, said thathe hadn’t given his permission for theparody. However, they reconciled in2006, and “Weird” Al was “relievedhe could stop wearing his bulletproofjacket to the mall.” This was followedby “Perform This Way,” his lead singlefrom “Alpocalypse.” A satire of LadyGaga, he makes fun of all the stupidcostumes she’s worn throughout hercareer.The last two songs he playedwere crowd favourites, and two of hisbiggest hits ever. First, he rolled ontothe stage on his Segway to start “Whiteand Nerdy.” And after the last costumechange of the night, he burst onto thestage in his fatsuit to perform his otherMJ parody, “Fat.”As you can tell, he reallygets into… Wait, there’s more! Aftera short break, Rubén Valtierra, hiskeyboardist, started playing some eeriemusic, before getting the crowd to startchanting. In the middle of the noise,“Weird” Al returned to the stage oncemore dressed as a Jedi. Everyone knewwhat was coming: “The Saga Begins,”his parody of “American Pie” aboutThe Phantom Menace from Obi-Wan’sperspective.After Valtierra led the audiencethrough the theme from the AddamsFamily, he finished the night off withhis other Star Wars song, “Yoda,” aspoof of the Kink’s “Lola.” And, astradition with performing this songlive, about halfway through he and hisband broke into a semi-religious chantof nonsense words as well a differentmusical types. Words can’t describe theexperience of witnessing them in suchrandom unison. They then finished thesong, and said goodbye for the night.All in all, he put on one ofthe best concerts I have ever seen. Hetruly brought the performance aspect,while not sacrificing one note of themusic. The next time he comes around,everyone should definitely go see him.Score: 9.9/1035

36Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Gerassimos PepelassisContributorWithout a doubt, the 90’swere seen as one of the mostinfluential periods in music history.Many genres emerged to becomecommercially and criticallysuccessful, such as hip-hop,R&B, and techno. But rock,saw the biggest boom in the90’s. The whole genre of rockwent through a completeculture shift introducingnew styles such as grunge,industrial, alternative, andbritpop. And with this rise,many bands emerged tobecome successful andrevolutionize rock musicas a whole. These bandsincluded Nirvana, PearlJam, R.E.M, Soundgarden,and Weezer. Weezer, was probablyone of the most important bandsformed in the 90’s.In 1994, Weezer releasedtheir debut album. Also known asthe “Blue Album” because of it’sblue background, it spawned the hits“Buddy Holly”, and “Say it Ain’tSo”. The album was a commercialand critical success, with the albumgoing triple-platinum, and appearingon many best of the year charts. Theblue album was a clear success storyfor Weezer, as the band entered intothe mainstream music format. Andwhen the band announced theirfollow up, which would be namedPinkerton, many music fans wereexcited. Everyone was expectingJon WadeContributorThere aren’t too many moviesanymore that actually make you thinkafter you watch it. Looper is definitelyone of these movies. The film is set in2044. Basically, the plot is time travelis invented in 2074 and it is controlledby the mob. In 2044, there are peoplecalled “loopers” who kill guys that aresent from the future by the mob, anddispose of their bodies. Sometimes alooper’s future self is brought back fromthe future, and killing you’re future selfis called “closing you’re loop”, and youArts and LifeMusic of the 90’ssomething as great as the blue album,or something even better. Pinkertonhad a darker, and more abrasivesound compared to that of the bluealbum, and dealt with frontmanRivers Cuomo’s disillusionmentsfrom the rock lifestyle. Cuomopoured all his self loathing andloneliness into ten autobiographicalsongs on Weezer’s second album,detailing his awkward love lifewith agonizing specificity. In “ElScorcho” Cuomo verbally abusesa girl in his class who didn’t wantto go to a Green Day concert withhim, in “Across the Sea” Cuomobecomes dangerously obsessed withan 18-year old girl from Japan whosent him fan mail. Upon it’s releasePinkerton was viewed as a failure,both commercially and critically.Rolling Stone named Pinkertonas the worst album of 1996, and itonly peaked at #19 on the BillboardCharts. Cuomo didn’t necessarilyLooper Movie Reviewcan’t let your future self get away as itwould be too risky.Joe, played by Joseph-Gordon-Levitt is a looper, and he has to kill hisfuture self, played by Bruce Willis, buthe gets away, so Joe has to track himdown and kill him.Looper is really a mindbendingthriller that always kept me onthe edge of my street. The makeup jobis really interesting because they had tomake Joseph-Gordon-Levitt look likea younger version of Bruce Willis, soGordon-Levitt really looks nothing likehimself. The story was a little confusingsince it jumped back and forth throughcare about what the critics thought,but the fact that the public didn’treally care about the album is whatessentially hurt him.But is Pinkerton actually bad?Of course not. The album is painfullyhonest, emotional, and it’snot afraid to express itself.It can easily be comparedto In Utero, Nirvana’sfinal studio release, whereboth front men expressand confront their fears offame. Overall, Pinkertonis without a doubt a very“real” album and channelsa lot of inner teenage angerand frustration. You almostseem concerned for Cuomo,who sometimes soundsso hurt he might be on theverge of being suicidal.Admittedly, what killedPinkerton was the fact that it wasreleased during a time of culturalchange. Barely anybody could relateto the same disillusioned feelingthat Cuomo was experiencing. Butnevertheless, times have changed,and based on it’s strong cultfollowing Pinkerton was releasedon a re-issue last year. It seemsthat Pinkerton will be renownedand culturally accepted for manymore years to come. Listeners willkeep coming to Pinkerton to shareand relate to the tortured, angstry,and immature feelings of RiverCuomo. The fanbase will remain tobe a somewhat renewable source forWeezer.time constantly, but that is kind of whatmade the movie so good, the fact that Ihad to constantly be thinking of whatwas going on to keep myself updated.The story is unique, and reallysomething I had never seen before. Theway Looper implemented time travelinto the film was very intriguing. Theending was also excellent as it tied upany loose ends, and the story all cametogether by the end of the film. Looperwas an excellent film that was extremelyunique, and even though it was a littleconfusing, it all came together by theend of the film. I give it 8.5/10

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Morgan PaquetteSenior ContributorAuthor Morgan Paquette attemptsto explain how women work inrelationships and explains just whythe old antics don’t cut it anymore.For men, there will alwaysbe one mystery: women. The truthis, no one understands them andanyone that claims to is a liar.For those lucky enough to havea relationship with one of thesebeautiful creatures, stop right therebefore you make another move.There is one secret that isthe death of relationships:the old tricks of romancedon’t work! It might behard to believe but romancedoesn’t happen like it usedto in your grandparentsdays.I myself learned thisthe hard way. The old tipsand tricks I held true to myheart betrayed me, floatingoff to the Island of MisfitIdeals. Over three or fourmonths I fell hard for twowomen in my life, each one uniquelydifferent. At that point I vowed tofollow the age old rules of making arelationship work: instant attraction,deep conversations, profession ofattraction, attend social event withsaid girl, profession of love, firstkiss, happily ever after. There maybe variations, but at least one or twoof these steps fall into every man’srelationship guidebook. If there isone thing I learned: the old systemdoes not work. The women in ourlives have developed resilience toour ways.I followed these steps andended up in the worst possibleposition. I met this girl, she motivatedme to change and become someonebetter than my past self. I pouredmy heart, my energy, my wallet,my everything into this girl; if myrelationship were a clock, every cogmoved perfectly until the professionof love step in the system reared itsugly head and threw a wrench in mygears.I thought I did everythingright, my only problem being theprofession was over Facebook.Now, here I sit, a recluse writingArts and LifeRelationships with GirlsOne man’s honest opinionthis article for those who have yetto be destroyed by the old waysof romance. Since understandingwomen is impossible on my own, Iturned to a woman for help.At two in the morning, sixmonths after I had met the girl, herbest friend began to talk to me viaFacebook. We talked for a while,before I confessed I had fallen forher best friend and my plans tobring out the old fashioned ways. Atthis she snapped, promising to tellme how love works. As a romantic,and a journalist, I was immediatelyhooked and cleared my evening tolisten to this young lady tell me howit all worked.Relationships, accordingto the girl, go through four stagesbefore happily ever after. The firststage, the pre-relationship stageis according to her, “the most funstage”. It is in this stage that youtry and get the girl’s attention. Toelaborate on this stage, it is vital forit can make or break a relationshipopportunity.When you are trying to getthe girl’s attention, you have toattack it from the right angle. If thegirl is flirty and fun, then flirtingwith the girl is fine. However if sheis quiet, reserved and naïve showyour sensitive side if it exists. Inthis I mean: if the girl has classdon’t show up in public with her…wearing sweat pants.After this stage you enterthe second stage, the stage in whichone enters the relationship begins.We can also call this stage the “getto know” stage. The get-to-knowstage is when you learn all aboutthe person on a deeper level thanyou could have imagined. You learnthe small things, like what saidperson puts in her coffee and her petpeeves.After much prodding, anda small bit of sharing on your part,you break into her shell and herinto yours. You tell each other yourdarkest secrets, your deepest fearsand several other things you don’ttalk about even to your own motheror your best friend.Gentlemen, thisis a dangerous stage. Inconvincing this girl to tellyou her secrets you alsoharbour the responsibilityto keep the secret betweenyou two. Once she tellsyou, your lips must besealed even after therelationship ends. Sheopened herself up to you,now you have to hold upyour end of the bargainand keep these secretssafe.The few unlucky gentlementhat slip up and tell someone elsethe girl’s secret are usually thosethat end up in my position. I toldone of the girl’s best friends a secretI never should have. I thought I hadbypassed the problem until I gotinto an argument over somethingfrivolous with said girl.Of course my girl playedthe “You promised not to tell” card,resulting in my losing the argumentand going to bed feeling stupid.While I spend the night hatingmyself, my girl stays up no doubtsmiling on the inside armed with theknowledge that she has taught me alesson.After she tells you hersecrets however, the relationshipbegins. The relationship can godown two different roads: the funand flirty relationship or the seriousand meaningful relationship. Thefun, flirty and simple relationshipis perhaps the most common and iscertainly strong. It is the relationshipwhich consists of more fun dates(i.e.: go-karting, mini-golf, moviesand pizza in PJ’s, spontaneouskissing sessions, flour and water37

38Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012fights in the kitchen).The serious relationship,which is often crossbred with thefun relationship, is much moremeaningful. The experiencesremembered in the seriousrelationship are certainly drasticallydifferent. They involve steakdinners by candle light, little giftson a random Tuesday, big gifts suchas jewelry every Christmas, lettersof Notebook proportions, kisses inthe rain and a room covered in rosepetals.It is in this stage that the“lovey dovey” feeling is common.You are completely in love withthe person and want to spend everywaking minute with them. Of courseeven the strongest bridges areburned, in the form of Stage Three:the Reality Check stage.Stage Three is when youhurt each other emotionally, usuallyresulting in a massive blow outArts and Lifeargument. You are bitter toward thatperson in this stage and you beginto hate them. You find out thingsabout them that make you hate themunconditionally. The truth about thisstage is it is the death of so manyrelationships because men often areconvinced it will not get better thanit is.However for the percentageof men that fight through StageThree find themselves in Stage Four.Stage Four is the forgiveness stageand boy is it vital! It is in this stagethat things get a little bit better andsomething deep inside you keepsyou from ending it.It is at this stage you realizeyou don’t hate the person for thethings they did, you get over itbecause you love the person andthey love you. You can’t stop lovingthem, you relationship has enduredthe test of controversy. As the girlquotes, “You discover that they areperfect in the most imperfect way”.She is no longer the one that gotaway, but rather The One.These four stages are thebasis of a relationship from awomen’s point of view. These stagescan and should be modified for eachrelationship and will almost alwayslead to success in romance for thegentlemen reading this article.Romance isn’t like it used to be.One no longer runs to the airport inthe pouring rain and professes lovein a room full of people to the girl soclose to running away from it all.Today, romance is different.Today relationships are worthfighting for, either physically ormentally and with a girl at the helmof the relationship things can goawry. This article has hopefullyconvinced you to clean out yourdrawer of romantic antics andrevamp it because let’s face it: theold ways are forgotten for a reason.Critical Analysis of Justin BieberWorld’s most popular person? Really?Matt SingleContributorJustin Bieber. The first personto hit 3 billion views on YouYube,is arguably the most popular personin the world right now. He hasaccomplished the extremes,ranging from donating millionsto his own charity, to being thefather of Mariah Yeater’s son,which is currently being settledout of court.Bieber the long timegirlfriend of Selena Gomez, wassaid to have had a child with along time fan from Los Angeles.If this is true, which I believe it is,Justin is considered an adulterer.There is significant proof in whichBieber has no ways of denying.He simply try’s to make a jokeout of the fact. Over all of thiscontroversy, Gomez still findsherself in a close relationship withthe teenage sensation. Talk aboutdesperate.On top of all the negativecriticism, we have to take intoconsideration Justin’s 2012 Believeworld tour. The 18-year-old Bieberhas recently launched a multicontinenttour, with performancesin countries as far away as India. OnOctober 18th, I can say that I wasone of the fortunate 14000 attendeesfor his concert in our lovely cityof Winnipeg. I along with the 20security guards were the base ofthe male crowd that evening. Ifyour wondering that’s, 700:1 girl toguy ratio. This leads to my centralquestion. Why…? The crowd andthe hype that Justin is able to conjureis simply outstanding.Being on the go all thetime lead to something that peoplemay never forget. All the constantactivity of the Biebs caught up tohim on stage in Glendale Arizona.Mid performance he vomitedon stage. Now even with thatunattraction the Beliebers keep oncoming! An unknown source hassuggested the Bieber may have asevere parasite within the walls ofhis stomach.Bieber’s latest uprisingwas that his camera and photoswere stolen backstage whilehe was doing a concert. Thestolen property was all a scam toencourage his latest song “Beautyand a Beat”. The video talks aboutthe stolen property, which is whyJustin filmed the video by himself.

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012American ElectionThe Vice-Presidential CandidatesHow much will Biden and Ryan influence the U.S. election?Carter LiebzeitContributorEveryone is talking aboutMitt Romney and President BarrackObama; their debates, their positiveand negative qualities, and the futureof the United States of America.However, the vice-presidentialcandidates each will play a role inthe future of America if elected.Vice-President Joe Biden seeksanother four years in the WhiteHouse along with Barrack Obama.Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryanwas selected in August 2012 to runwith Mitt Romney and will attemptto bring the Republican Party topower. Ryan and Biden have manyvery different qualities and theiractions will likely influence publicopinion and could sway the muchanticipatedNovember 6 election.Paul Ryan was elected toCongress in 1998 at the age of 28.Ryan rose up the political ranksquickly, surpassing a number ofSenior Republicans on his wayto becoming the Chairman of theHouse Budget Committee. Ryan’seconomic policies have allowedhim to make a name for himself.Congressman Ryan has proposed anumber of economic plans whichfeature replacing Medicare with avoucher system and to attempt tostop adding to the deficit. At age 42there were some more experiencedrunning mates that Romney could’vechosen. However, Ryan was clearlyqualified for the position, and wasa strong choice as vice-presidentialcandidate for the Republicans.Joe Biden also enteredpolitics at a young age. At theage of 30 Biden became a Senatorrepresenting Delaware. Ryan wasonly three years old when Bidenwas elected. He has had a successfulpolitical career, and has spent fouryears as Vice President already. Atthe age of 69, Biden is the imageof a hard-working experiencedpolitician who gets things done. As asenator and as the vice-president thepast four years, Biden has focusedon foreign policy. Vice-PresidentBiden is a great speaker, and oftenuses his sense of humor duringdebates and speeches. Biden isknown for speaking his mind, evenif that has gotten him into troublein several situations throughouthis political career. On September6 it was officially announced thatBiden would run alongside BarrackObama, seeking another four yearsin the White House.Vice-presidential candidatescan have a significant impact onan election. They have the powerto not only campaign againsteach other, but also against thepresidential candidates. ManyAmericans can identify with therole of a “sidekick”. The role ofthe VP is obviously not nearly assignificant as president; howevervoters see the advertisements suchas “Romney-Ryan: America’sComeback Team” and see the nameof the vice-president as half ofthe team. Even though the vicepresidentialcandidates are selectedafter the presidential candidates, thepublic still sees the pair as a team.The first presidential debateon October 3 which was generallyseen as a Romney victory. Criticsstated that President Obama seemeddetached and tired while Romneywas energetic and not afraid tochallenge the president. A C.N.N.poll showed that 67% of Americanspolled felt that Mitt Romney wonthe debate, and other media pollsshowed similar results.On October 11 in Dansville,39

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Kentucky, Paul Ryan and JoeBiden debated a number of topics,including foreign policy in Libya,Iran and Syria, the U.S. economy,Medicare, and the role of theirreligion in their lives. The firstquestion was about Libya. Bidenwas defensive and aggressive fromthe beginning of the debate. Hespoke very well about the issues inLibya, making two “commitments.”His first commitment was to findthose responsible for the assault onthe U.S. embassy in Benghazi andbring justice to the victims’ families,and Biden also promised that themistakes would not be made again.Biden convincingly stated that thatunder the Obama administrationthe issues in the Middle East werehandled efficiently: they found andkilled bin Laden, ended the warin Iraq and scheduled to removetroops from Afghanistan in 2014.Ryan said that setting a date forleaving Afghanistan was projectingweakness abroad, saying enemieswill just mark their calendar. Ryanthen spoke patriotically about howAmericans must stand up for peaceand not cut defense spending.Biden consistently laughed atRyan’s statements, calling them“a bunch of stuff.” Ryan was alsonot afraid to go after the president,questioning why it took two weeksfor Obama to call the attack on theembassy a terrorist attack. Ryan’scriticism was effective; he was ableto make his points in a composedand organized fashion. Biden, onthe other hand, was interruptive andconsistently talked down to Ryanand sarcastically referred to himas “my friend here.” The two thenwent back and forth on Iran as anuclear threat. Ryan and Biden havedifferent debate styles, and eachwas not holding back during thebeginning of the vice-presidentialdebate.The candidates wereasked next if they could get theunemployment rate to under 6%,and how long it would take. Bidenbegan by criticizing Mitt Romneyfor his now infamous statementthat 47% of Americans do not takeresponsibility of their lives. Thisnumber represents the number ofAmerican ElectionAmericans that do not pay incometax. Obama did not bring upthis quote in the first presidentialdebate, but Biden devoted much ofhis two minute segment to say thatthe Romney-Ryan team only caresabove the upper class. Biden madedecent points, but the economy isPaul Ryan’s strongest field. Ryanoutlined the five point economicplan that the Republicans would useto improve the U.S. economy andbalance the budget. Ryan spokewell about the economic crisis andthe plan for reform.Biden and Ryan went on todebate Medicare, taxes, Afghanistanand Syria. Much of the discussionabout health care overlapped withthe October 3 presidential debate.When asked about tax rates, Ryansaid that all tax rates could belowered 20% and by adding jobsto the economy and changing theMedicare system, he claimed thatsix studies showed that this mathwould add up. Biden said that themath simply does not add up, addingthat the Romney administrationis seeking to allow the wealthy tocontinue paying low tax rates. Thecandidates then were asked foreignpolicy in Afghanistan and Syria.Biden made some very good pointsthroughout these segments, and wasvery convincing. Ryan was able toremain composed despite Biden’sattacks.begins at conception. Ryan saidthat he and Romney would makeabortion illegal except for a handfulof exceptions. Biden said thatpersonally he is pro-life, but “refusesto impose on others unlike my friendhere.” The candidates then movedon to discussing the negative toneof each other’s campaigns, followedby closing statements.As noted by moderatorMartha Raddatz of ABC, this isthe first time that two Catholiccandidates have run for vicepresident.The candidates wereasked about their personal religiousviews on abortion. Ryan’s argumentwas very logical, saying that faith inyour private life cannot be separatedfrom your public life, and echoingthe Catholic church’s belief that lifeOverall, each vice-presidentialcandidate spoke very convincinglyof their running mate and theirviews. A C.N.N. poll taken afterthis debate showed that undecidedvoters felt Ryan had a slight edge,but the debate was close. Vice-President Biden was able to connectwith lower and middle classAmericans using personal storiesand a very convincing debatestyle. Congressman Ryan remainedpoised, and made strong argumentson all nine topics. The case couldbe made for either candidate havingwon the debate.Congressman Ryan andVice-President Biden are not onlydifferent in terms of political views.At the age of 69, Biden has muchmore experience than Paul Ryan.Joe Biden is a good debater, he isaggressive and at times interruptive,and he is very convincing. His viewson foreign policy and commitmentto Americans were very well spoken.Biden has been very critical ofboth Romney and Ryan throughoutthe campaign. He brought a lot ofenergy to his debate, making up forObama’s first debate. Ryan, on theother hand, is only 42 and alreadyon the country’s largest politicalstage. His economic proposals arethe reason for his success, and heoutlined his economic plan wellin the vice-presidential debate.Ryan sticks to the facts and comesacross as a composed and intelligentdebater.Paul Ryan was able tocontinue Mitt Romney’s successfrom the first debate. Joe Bidenbrought some energy that Obamalacked and spoke very well. Pollsleading up to November 6 show thatthe election will be very close. Asidefrom political views, Joe Biden’spersuasiveness and energy, or Ryan’scomposure and intelligence couldhave influence on undecided voters,and ultimately help determine theresult of the election.Picture is from Associated Press(David Goldman)40

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012American ElectionRape and RepublicansWhy Driedger claims republicans are stupidAlex DriedgerContributorThere was much controversyin August over the statements madeby Representative Todd Akin on thetopic of rape. Akin was running forthe senate in the state of Missouri andwas on a television program when hesaid something that shocked peoplefrom coast to coast. Akin stated that“legitimate rapes” are very rare andthat the female body can shut downso that they don’t get pregnant. Notonly is this 100% completely false,it also tells of what the RepublicanParty believes.Shortly after Akin madethese comments, he was on a radioprogram with Shawn Hannity.When questioned about where hegot that ridiculous idea from, Akinresponded by saying that he had readin a medical report that it is difficultto get pregnant from a “legitimaterape.” However, Akin could notactually site the medical reportbecause it turns out that it was notactually a medical report that Akinhad obtained this false informationfrom.Akin had actually readthis in a book by Dr. Jack Wilke,published in the 1970s, titled “WhyCan’t We Love Them Both?” Inthis book, Dr. Wilke makes absurdconclusions about rape with noscientific evidence to back themup. Dr. Wilke states in his bookthat women have natural hormoneswhich are released in the case of anassault rape and the egg will not befertilized. Dr. Wilke also stated thatthere are only 1 or 2 pregnanciesfor every 1000 rapes. It is this kindof thinking that leads Republicansto believe that most rapes are not“legitimate” because according toDr. Wilke, “legitimate rapes” arevery rare. They still believe thiseven when there is absolutely noscientific evidence to back it up. Infact, according to a study done bythe University of South Carolina,there are 32 000 pregnancies fromrape every year.The worst part is that Dr.Wilke isn’t just some crazy guy thatAkin read in the seventies; Wilkeis the Republican’s ideologicalguru on abortion and rape. ManyRepublicans support Dr. Wilke’sbeliefs, even Mitt Romney. WhenMitt Romney was running forpresident in 2008, he praised Dr.Wilke when he endorsed him andsaid “I am proud to have the supportof [Dr. Wilke]… I look forward toworking with Dr. Wilke and welcomehim to Romney for President.” Thecrazy statement about “legitimaterape” is not just what one personthinks; it’s a right wing ideologythat many Republicans believe, eventhe person they have nominated forpresident.Enough about Dr. Wilkeand Mitt Romney, let’s get back toTodd Akin. While Akin was on adifferent radio show, this time withMike Huckabee, he let the public inon more of what the Republicansactually believe about rape. WhileAkin was on the show, he said thathe had misspoke and that he did notmean to say “legitimate rape” but“forcible rape.” Is he implying thatdate rape and statutory rape do notcount as rape? Could his philosophyreally be this sick? Yes it can!41

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012American ElectionWho Won Each DebateStats are from CNN.com, except for the Vice-Presidential Debate, which was from CBSNews.com.First Presidential Debate25%Romney Wins 67%First Vice-Presidential Debate50%Biden Wins 31%Second Presidential DebateThird Presidential Debate39% 46%Obama Wins23% 53%Obama Wins42

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012American Election - DebateWho is Best for America: Obama or Romney?Keep the Train Rollin’: Re-elect ObamaSky HuntContributorAs Election Day draws nearin the USA, the world begins to focusmore closely on the presidentialcandidates for the coming election,and which one of the six candidateswill be voted into the oval office. Asfar as most are concerned, there aretwo main candidates in this year’spresidential election: Republicanrepresentative Mitt Romney, andDemocratic representative andincumbent President Barack Obama.Both candidates have made a lotof promises and claimed that theywill leave the country in a betterstate than it was if they got elected.However, with careful examinationand common sense, it is clear to seethe Barack Obama.President Obama has beenthrough a rebuilding period inAmerica’s history after anothercontroversial term of Bushleadership. Because of this, hisleadership skills have been testedmuch more than Romney’s, and heis much more prepared to gettingback to work as President. Not onlydoes this deal with the fact thatObama has already served a term asPresident, and therefore has moreexperience leading the country, buthe also knows how to deal withissues on a much larger scale thanRomney, as well as experiencebeing a governor.Governor Romney has alsohad a history of contradicting himselfon several occasions. Just a few ofthese issues include taxing higherincomeAmericans, healthcare,and the role of government in theeconomy. He has gone back onwhat he has said on what he haspreviously said many times, mostnotably in the first presidentialdebate. If Romney changes whathe says depending on the audiencehe is talking to, or just changeshis policies as a candidate, howeffectively will he make decisionsand inform the public of what hereally intends to do as President? Issomeone who can’t seem to agreewith even himself or his party reallythe best choice for a President?Probably the biggest issuepeople will be paying attention to inthis upcoming election is how eachcandidate will deal with the economy.Under Obama, the US has seen jobgrowth, which has been essentialto stabilizing the economy duringthe economic recession. Many ofthese jobs have been accessible jobsfor the working class in areas likemanufacturing, which is importantfor getting more people back towork. Obama also has plans to stopgiving tax breaks to companiesthat outsource jobs to low-wagecountries such as China and Mexico.These companies lay off thousandsof hard working Americans who tryto make a living working for them.Their jobs are then either taken bymachines or given to people whowill work for far less money and insometimes disgustingly inhumaneworking conditions who live indifferent countries. Companies thatpractice this profit off of this, oftenhaving the money made from this godirectly to bonuses given people inhigh positions like the CEO, whiletheir former workers are left to lookfor work elsewhere, if they canget it that is. Companies like theseinclude one Bain Capital, an assetmanagement and financial servicescompany founded in part by MittRomney. If a company Romneyfounded outsources jobs to differentcompanies, how will he understandthe needs of an average middleincome American?A topic that goes hand in43

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012hand with the economy is education,and President Obama has shown thathe is ready to give more people theopportunity to go to college. Obamabelieves that education should not bea luxury, and that higher educationis one of the best investmentsAmerica can for its future. He plansto cut tuition and to help moreAmericans reduce student loan debtfor even current college students.The cuts Romney plans to make oneducation will only be a short termAmerican Election - Debatefix for a long term problem, whichis helping more Americans have theopportunity to have a more diversecareer path.In closing, Romney’s plansmay look great in the short term, butif we look into the long term, theirflaws are as clear as day. He has ahistory of outsourcing jobs, doesn’thave the experience President Obamahas, constantly contradicts himselfwhen talking about policies andwhat he plans to do as President, andwill limit the amount of educationcurrent and future generations willhave access to. Obama on the otherhand is experienced, understandsthe needs of average Americans,and has clear plans for what he willdo in his second term as President.I hope this has cured any cases of‘Romnesia’ that any of you had andshows who truly deserves to be thePresident of The United States ofAmerica.Time for “Big Change”: Vote Romney44Nicholas AguiarContributorAs the US presidentialcampaigns are coming to a close andElection Day is mere weeks away,undecided voters across America areyearning for any information theycan grasp from the candidates tohelp them make the right decision.This brings us to the main questiontoday: who is better for America,Mitt Romney or Barack Obama?If we take a close look at the realissues of this election, we see thatRomney is the obvious choice inthis matter.America is rife with problemsin today’s society. America nolonger appears as strong as it oncewas; the recession is hitting themhard, the Middle East is in turmoilwith tensions that are escalating,and a culture war is ripping acrossthe nation. In tough times, Americaturns to their leader, who guidesthem through tough times. But weclearly see that Barack Obama hasnot been able to do this task.In 2008, coming off thesecond term of the less-thanlovedBush administration, Obamacampaigned on “hope and change”,promising that he would cut thedeficit in half, lower unemploymentrates, and get the economy backon track. Obama hasn’t even comeclose to his economic goals. Obamapromised to halve the ten trilliondollar debt by the end of his firstterm in 2008. He has instead addedsix trillion dollars. Obama said ifCongress passed his stimulus plan,unemployment would be at 5.6%.Congress passed his stimulus plan,and unemployment sits at nearly8%. That’s over nine million jobsshort of his guarantee.What do Americans think ofthe current economy? Recent pollshave indicated more than 60% of theAmerican public think the countryis on the wrong track, and 41% ofAmericans report hearing mostlynegative economic news, comparedto just 3% who hear mostly positive.American voters overwhelminglybelieve the economy is the primaryissue in this election, and 61%believe Romney would do betterwith the economy in four years thanObama. Obama has failed to deliveron his promises in the past fouryears, while Romney has experiencein creating successful businesses,balancing budgets for the Olympics,dealing with a Democratic majorityin Massachusetts to erase a threebillion dollar budget gap, and havingbrought Massachusetts schools tonumber one in the country.Mitt Romney has a fivepointeconomic plan to get the US’s

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012economy back on track. Romneyknows that serious reworkingto social security, Medicare andMedicaid are necessary to deal withthe growing number of Americanseniors, Romney knows how tocrack down on unfair Chinesetrading practices to help Americansmall businesses. Mitt Romneyhas the experience, the knowledge,and the tools to fix the economy,the sixteen trillion dollar debt, thetwenty-three million Americansunemployed, the forty-six millionAmericans on food stamps, and theforty million Americans living inpoverty. What has Obama done inhis four years? He raised the deficitnearly six trillion dollars, increasedunemployment 1% and has fallennine million jobs short of his goals.He has focused on a healthcarereform that passed with a razor-thinmajority with a Democratic majority,which the majority of Americans areopposed to, rather than the pressingeconomic issues.We look to the criticalsituation in the Middle East. Syriais raging in civil warfare and Iran isfour years closer to a nuclear weapon.Nicholas AguiarContributorWhen closely analyzing pro-Obama’s case in this issue, one canclearly see there are huge flaws intheir arguments, and they seem relativelyuninformed about the true natureof the facts they are expressing.They have painted a picture wherea strong and steady Obama has ledAmerica through the crushing recessionwith excellent job growth andimproved education, and that Romneyis a schizophrenic outsourcerof jobs who wants to cut education.However, there is something evidentlywrong about the picture theyare trying to portray.Firstly, Obama’s job growthhas been abysmal at best. In hisfour-year term as president, he haslost more than 250 000 jobs thanwere created; he has raised unemploymentmore than one percentAmerican Election - DebateThe first American ambassador inover thirty years was killed in Libyain a terrorist attack, and the ObamaAdministration took two weeksto actually report it was a terroristattack and not a “spontaneousdemonstration”. Obama’s foreignpolicy is unraveling, and the MiddleEast sees weakness in Americawith the struggling economy, and“putting daylight between the USand Israel”.A culture war rages inAmerica about religious rightsand beliefs. According to a recentGallup poll, the majority ofAmericans declare themselves prolife,the position of Mitt Romney.Only 20% of Americans thinkall abortions should be legal, thestandpoint of Obama and PlannedParenthood, which receives fundingunder Obama. With over 78% ofAmericans being Christian, andwell over four-fifths being religious,Romney is the obvious choice tosupport Christian and religiousviews.Mitt Romney is the man forthe job, to take on all of America’sincreasing problems. Obama hasRebuttalsObama is Old Newsand has had forty-three consecutivemonths of unemployment at nearlyeight percent; his economic growthhas been less than two percent peryear, which, when compared to Reagan’sseven percent growth per yearin similar economic conditions, isappalling.They have criticized Romneyin regards to education, sayinghe would cut spending. However,Romney said he would discretionallycut non-military spending,and didn’t specifically state that hewould cut education. As well, Romneyhas led Massachusetts to be thenumber one state in regards to education,so clearly this point does notmake sense.A criticism about Romney’sposition changes was brought up,but according to a Pro-Con study onsixty-eight key election issues, wesee that it is actually Obama whohad four years to do the job, andhe hasn’t been able to do it. Hepromised “hope and change” withhis campaign, offering a way backout to a country who suffered aneconomic hit, and a continuingwar in Iraq. The American publicbelieved Obama, believed he couldsolve their problems, and looked tothe future with lofty expectations.But four years later, are you happywith the results? Four years later,are you happy with the way thecountry has been going? Fouryears later, are you optimistic withthe economic outlook? With theextra six trillion in debt? With thetwenty-three million Americansunemployed? The American publicis not optimistic; 60% of the publicthink the country is on the wrongpath. Obama has changed hiscampaign strategy from one basedon hope and change to one based onaggressive attacks, defamation, andblame. He cannot brag about histrack record. If someone can’t getthe job done, you replace him.The main question of thisdebate is this; are you happy withthe last four years in America?changed position on more issuesthan Romney. As well, the statementthat “[Romney] can’t seem toagree…with his own party”, is completelyabsurd. Romney not onlyhas experience with dealing with hisown party, but has governed in Massachusettswith a congress dominatedby democrats, making his bi-partisanshipskills well renowned. Onthe other hand, Obama was unableto meet his goals with a majoritydemocratic Senate and Congress,and the Affordable Care Act passedwith no republican votes and onlyafter Obama “twisted some arms”in his own democratic party.They also stated that a companyfounded by Mitt Romney practicesoutsourcing jobs. Mitt Romney,who left Bain Capital in 1999,has not outsourced any jobs, whatsoever.In fact, when Mitt Romneywas an active member in this com-45

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012pany fourteen years ago, he helpedfix companies such as Staples andSports Authority, creating more than200 000 jobs in the United States.Now, this debate reallycomes down to three main questions:what has Obama proven inthe past four years, what experiencedoes Mitt Romney have that hecould bring to Washington, and whocan handle the economy better?As has been stated multipletimes, Obama has not proven himselfin the past four years. He hashad an approval rating of under 50%,has failed to come even remotelyclose to his economic goals, and hasalienated many of the religious withhis policies. He has debilitated themilitary which has led to unrest inthe Middle East. It is evident thatObama’s track record is not good,which is why his campaign focuseson attacking Romney, a campaignof defamation and blame.American Election - DebateWe see that Romney hasplenty of experience to bring toWashington. He has a self-madefortune, made from his successfulbusinesses. He saved the 2002Olympics from a budget crisis. Hehas governed in Massachusetts anderased a budget deficit, while workingwith democrats. Mitt Romneybrings key economic experienceto the table, perfect for resolvingAmerica’s struggling economy, andhas the necessary bi-partisanshipskills to get it done.Throughout this debate, themain issue has been the economy,and it is plain that Romney is thebetter man. Obama has failed tojumpstart the economy with hisspending policies, and even witha democratic majority in Congressand the Senate, he has fallen wayshort of his economic goals by tentrillion dollars and nine millionjobs. The American public believesRomney will handle the economybetter, because of his previous businessexperience, and his five-pointplan can get the American economyback on track.This debate is all about whois better for America, and to getthere, there are a couple of key questionsyou must ask yourself. Areyou happy with how the depressingstate of the economy has beenhandled over the past four years?Are you satisfied with the debilitatedmilitary and Obama’s crumblingforeign policy? Do you want a presidentfocused on government-runhealth care when forty-six millionAmericans are on food stamps andforty million are living in poverty?All of these questions point to oneanswer; if you want real hope andchange, you’ll choose Mitt Romneyfor president.46Let’s Get Serious: Four More Years!Sky HuntContributorAfter examination of thePro-Romney side of this debate,I have found some major flaws inthe points my opposition has made.He paints a picture of America asa country in tatters after a greatstruggle. The reality is that thestate of America as a nation hasimproved greatly since BarackObama became the president. WhatAmerica needs right now is not MittRomney who will undo and takesteps in the wrong direction for mostAmericans. What America reallyneeds is the progressive policies thatBarack Obama has been putting intoplace since he started his first termas President of the United States ofAmerica.Although there are stillproblems with America, Obama hastaken steps to fix these problems forthe long term. These fixes includesuch policies as the “ObamaCare”health care system that would givemore people access to medicalservices and insurance to morepeople who may not have been ableto afford it otherwise. Barack Obamais still a leader that many peoplecan still look up to. He is relatableto many people as he has a smallfamily, is very friendly, humorous,and does a lot of activities publically

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012that many people can relate to, suchas playing basketball. Not manypeople can relate to a millionairewho owns businesses and constantlyonly wants to talk numbers, likeRomney. I guess if my opponentthinks that people shouldn’t be ableto relate to a leader, then Romneywould be a perfect candidate. Andif my opponent does, he mustthink that the only voting publicthat matters are the wealthy andpowerful in today’s society. In thatcase than why not just disallow allcitizens not in the top 1% in termsof salary and material wealth fromvoting, therefore creating a utopiansociety for the rich. Better yet, whynot go back to the days of slavery,when the rich owned all and thepoor did all the hard work, gettingnothing, not even their freedom, inreturn?As for Mitt Romney’s fivepointeconomic plan, I think that it isnot the right way to go on this issue,but I’m sure many Republicansdo. Mitt Romney’s plan calls forachieving energy independence,better trading, cutting the deficit,giving more people the skills tosucceed through education, andchampioning small business.Apparently former Republicancandidates John McCain and GeorgeW. Bush think that 5 point plans aregreat too. In fact, Romney’s planis eerily similar to McCain’s, andMcCain’s is very similar to Bush’s.American Election - DebateWow! The Republican Party hasreally outdone themselves withcoming up with new, progressiveplans to rebuild the economy. Allthree of these five-point plansinvolve opening trading markets,cutting government spending,increased focus on education,helping out small business, andproducing more energy in America.Just look at how successful theseplans are. McCain was extremelysuccessful considering how mostpeople expected the Republicans tofinish in the election, and Bush hasheard nothing but critical acclaimfor his leadership during his twoterms as President...right? ClearlyAmerica has chosen what directionit has wanted to go in economicallysince Bush’s last term.Now on I get that the USAis a nation founded under God, andit is even still printed on its money,but should we allow any religion orcombination of religions shape lawsand government spending? Theclear answer is no, because althoughone person is voted into the positionof president, it is that person’s jobto make sure he looks out for all ofhis citizens. The fact is that even iffour fifths of people are religious inAmerica, there is still a fifth that’srights need to be accounted for. Justbecause Planned Parenthood receivesfunding under Obama doesn’t meanthat a pregnant woman will have toget the abortion; it means that she isgiven the choice whether she can ornot. I also, personally, believe thatmen shouldn’t have any say in whata woman can or cannot do in thissituation because men will never beput into this situation. I don’t thinkthat abortion is the main problemwhen talking about funding forPlanned Parenthood, I personallythink it is sex education and meansof contraception. The Abstinenceonlysex education that manyChristians preach has been provento be vastly ineffective on unwantedpregnancies. The reason for this isthe fact that no matter how hard youpreach abstinence-only, the act inquestion will still occur, and withoutproper education on the subject andaffordable contraception, unwantedpregnancies are still going to bean issue. If funding for PlannedParenthood is cut like my opponentclaims is for the better for mostAmericans, a good portion of thepopulation will be left withoutoptions if they want to plan a familyresponsibly.In closing, when selectingwho you’d rather have leadAmerica, take these points intoconsideration. If you want an ultraright-wing president that mostpeople won’t relate to and is out oftouch with modern policies, chooseMitt Romney. However, if you wanta better option for America, one thatwill lead to a better America, chooseBarack Obama.Who will win? Obama or Romney?American Presidential Election 2012!47

48Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012American ElectionFun Pictures

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Paul AgasinoContributorDiversionsCrusader ComicDo you like writing comics? Send yours in to the CrusaderNews for a chance to have it featured in the next issue! Pleasetalk to Jordan Sinder, John Matthew, or Kevin Doering forcontest details!49

Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Colin VanstoneContributorDiversionsCryptogram50Interested in joining the newspaper? We are lookingfor journalists, columnists, photographers, andtechies. Please stop by the News Office (RoomB11 in the locker room) or send one of the editorsa message over the community.