I The Behrend Beacon Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof: or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. - The First Ammendment to the U.S. Constitution Quote of the Week • say, if your knees aren'tgreen by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re examineyour life! " - Calvin in Bill Watterson's `Calvin & Hobbes' Have a "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down" ? ft A 6.4 b NIP Send Suggestions to opinion@psu.edu •••••••••••••••••••••••••• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Beacon Thumbs Up Beacon Thumbs Down - Pizza Hut lunch buffet - Phil Mickelson wins The Masters - Two weeks of classes left - Warm weather attire ik ft ....D..... ~. i5t4,....4 4 1 / 4 ehliD jailbak Nallockewixa4 A A 481 instant Message with "MitncyDrew(lol4" NancyDrewool4 14/f/dc 55/m/dc i work at the department of homeland security i as an impressionable 14 year old girl, that li 1 I Impresses me wanna ovtre yes What are yr►u wearing? 01 • It t I• I'm dressed as a detective I'm a naughty Internet predator, wu'll have to 1$ It it frisk me first need some evidence 121)0, me wur office and cell numbers and send me pictures of wurseif • this is so hot lamp .% • buy a webcam, call me and well lest it out call vbta at wur office and set up a time to that luoda C., 11 12 I 1111"., „AFT Af7.7:77 - ', I. Mk -Burnt popcorn in microwaves - No Easter Vacation - Green Tea Emails - Tight SGA budget - Phrase, "Git R Done" Misinformation keeps soldiers fighting By Patrick Webster managing editor paw 175( psu edu It is three years later, and, as a nation, we still find ourselves stuck in that annoying country named Iraq. Even though President Bush declared victory and mission accomplished quite literally years ago, the reports coming from military officials and political lead ers in Iraq claim that the country closer to civil war than ever. Tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims seem MEM to be escalating at an ever increasing rate as daily bomb ings and attacks on opposing holy sites further stir up con tentious feelings between the two sects Something even more trou bling, though, is the result of recent Zogby polls of U.S. troops in Iraq. Almost a third think that a pull out should begin immediately. Nearly 72 percent believe that the United States should exit the country by the end of the year. Most disconcerting, however, is the data that shows that around 90 percent of the troops think we're there "to retaliate for Saddam's role in the 9/11 attacks." A slightly smaller number, only 77 percent, agrees that we went there to stop al- Qaeda. What makes this disturbing is that it has been common knowledge for quite some time here on the mainland that 0 Ey. Saddam Hussein had no role in the attacks on September 11. Nor did he harbor terrorists from al-Qaeda or assist in any kind of training for the organiza tion. It baffles the mind that in 2006 there could still be a sizable population that believes these things. Since the pri mary source of information for the troops overseas is the U.S. government itself, it is clear that this is the kind of information they're being given and/or that the government is doing nothing to correct. This is a particularly bad time to start tossing nuclear weapons around. Why? Shortly after the poll numbers were released, there were naturally sev eral political pundits who stepped out immediately to give reasons why it might be necessary for the government to encourage our troops to believe such things. The most prominent argument, of course, was that it was necessary to maintain a higher level of morale and purpose that such beliefs would rein force. If the troops were sure that by invading Iraq they were both dealing The Behrend Beacon Published Weekly by the students of Penn State Eric 111 Ilk! NI) beacon Submission Guidelines The Beacon welcomes readers to share their views on this page. Letters and commentary pieces can be submitted by email to dgml47@psu.edu or directly to the Beacon office, located in the Reed Building. Letters should be limited to 350 words and commentaries should be lim ited to 700 words. The more concise the submission, the less we will be forced to edit it for space concerns and the more likely we are to rim the submission. All submissions must include the writer's year in school, major and name as The Beacon does not publish anonymous letters. Deadline for any sub mission is 5 p.m. Tuesday afternoon for inclusion in the Friday issue. All submissions are considered, but because of space limitations, some may not be published. All subinissions must include consent to be edited before they can be edited for publication.' Letter to the Editor I'd like to commend the cast and crew of "The Laramie Project" for their performance thereof; the logistics were competently handled, set and lighting came off quite well, and all cast members proved well-practiced in their roles. I would further applaud the group as a whole for their decision to continue Mr. Shepard's memory, and the cast more so for their accurate rendition of the Project's findings. Everyone succeeded in conveying the emotional charge attendant on losing a fellow human to societal failure. In sum, your efforts are a credit to the theater program, H&SS, this campus, and most certainly yourselves. Know that you did well, and that it's a shame we haven't more of you and a larger theater—so that more folks could get the message Good work Annie Sevin, Editor in Chief Patrick Webster, Managing Editor Courtney Kaplin, Advertising Manager Randy Martell, Public Relations Manager Kim Young, Adviser News Editor Jennifer Haight Sports Editor Chris LaFuna Opinion Editor Daniel Mitchell Humor Editor Jerry Pohl Distribution Manager Photography Editor Robert Frank Michelle Vera Suroviec Penn State Erie, The Behrend College First Floor, The J. Elmer Reed Union Building Station Road, Erie, PA 16563 Contact the Beacon at: Telephone: (814) 898-6488 Fax: (814) 898-6019 Friday, April 14, 2006 proper justice for the losses of their countrymen in New York and Somerset as well as preventing further al-Qaeda activities, they would certainly fight harder and more passionately. Such mis information isn't only justified, it's nec- essary! Such an assertion is ridiculous should not have to lie to our troops to get them to fight. If you have to make up fake reasons and goals for our troops to he able to fight effectively, there are far deeper problems with the war that you're fighting than you might think. It doesn't help that reports were released this week that revealed that the administration has started planning military options against Iran. Iran, of course. continues to develop its nuclear technology, and while it claims that its research is entire ly peaceful. Bush has pretty well proven that the only way to avoid having the United States come in to - remove - your weapons of mass destruction is to actually possess them. Of course, with all our troops cur rently unavailable because they're doing their best to keep the country next door from detonating into a messy full-scale civil war, the administration included plans to use nuclear weapons in a possi ble war against Iran. With the already touchy position the U.S. is in with both its allies and enemies the world over, this is a particularly bad time to start tossing nuclear weapons around. Student Life Editor Sean Mail° Calendar Page Editor Siohhan Conway Copy Editors Kate Kelecseny Rachael Conway Justin Plansinis Jordan Gilmore
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