Opinion BEHREND BEACON 7 January 22, 2010 www.thebehrendbeacon.com MY VOICE In the wake of tragedy it is human nature to band together for stability. Though us at Penn State Erie are thousands of miles away from the rubble strewn shores of Haiti, our hearts still go out to those af fected. It may be difficult for some to imagine such a disaster happening in our corner of the United States, but with the over-exposure it has received, we can easily empathize with their plight. Some locals have taken it upon themselves to travel to the epicenter in order to lend their services. However, there are many more who would love to help but lack the ability. As col- MY VOICE A new way to buy textbooks It has been two weeks since classes started, and my bank account is going through with- drawal. You all know what I am talk ing about. We're back to class, and that means taking out a loan or two just to afford a book. Let us be honest here. We pay a few hundred bucks every semester for books we'll read once. Despite this, many of us still throw away our money with a single swipe of a credit card. You would think the book store could throw in something to make the process a little less painful. I would like to propose a plan that would cut down the cost of books from an arm and a leg to just an arm, or maybe only a ,Pa kki,l44l)4iDlAil:ik J0:1 I've had enough of Pat Robertson Nothing makes a person more embarrassed than seeing a fellow member of their race/gender/religion/family do something stupid. It's a nause ating feeling that can only be compared to something as ter rible as the Dobbins Effect. This is how I felt when Pat Robertson appeared on TV and spoke about the tragedy in Haiti. Last week, Robertson stated that the earthquake was the re sult of divine retribution for an alleged transgression made over 200 years ago. What fol lows is a direct quote from his show, The 700 Club. "... [T] hey got together and swore the pact to the Devil. They said, we will serve you if you'll get us free from the French. True story. And so the Devil said, 'Okay, it's a deal. — If you are like me, then you 4701 College Drive, Erie PA 16563 Room 10H THE BEHREND BEACON Executive Board Editor-in-Chlef: Business Manager Connor Sattely Bethany Long edstor@psu.edu bjlso37@psu.edu Managing Editor: Faculty Advisor: Shawn Annarelli Kim Young smaslB9@psu.edu When a little means a lege students, with little money and living on grants, scholar ships and loans, we are the least able to assist in this effort and with the media's constant coverage. Our immersion can leave us guilty of our inaction. That being said, the ability for us to lend a hand is still possible. It just re quires more work to see There are sev- nated fun s wi eral opportunities on the area forwarded to the Catholic Re that allow us to do something. lief Services. A local charity, Hearts for the If either of those are not ap- finger. Here's the plan: The book store would set up the system that would log a serial number on every book it own. Then the stu dents would pay approxamitely half the current cost of the books in order to rent it. At the end of the semester students would re turn the book if in good condition and the bookstore would rent it out during the next se mester. If the book were in bad condition, the student would have to pay a higher price, i.e. what we pay now. In essence, I just created an may feel an overwhelming need to severely injure yourself in some manner after hearing id iocy of that magnitude (I chose to bang my head off of my desk, but any self inflicted trauma will suffice). Once your concussion subsides, please give the quote a second look, and if you are coura geous enough, look up the actual video. If you do, please reflect on what was said. First off, this whole pile of in sanity is based off a Haitian urban legend. There is indeed a story that Haitian holy men received a vision from their deity that they would be saved, but that's it. This is the equiva News Editors: Mike 0. Wehrer mrwso94@psu.edu Ally Orlando acososl@psu.edu Rachelle Thompson rltso6s@psu.edu Opinion Editor: kiylo@psu.edu Neil James opinion@psu.edu Hungry, is sending food to the to Cap Haitien, Haiti's second largest city. Donations can be given online at www.heartsforthe hungry.org/. Another op tion is to volunteer at the Catholic Dio cese of Erie. They are accepting man power as well as monetary dona tions and guaran tee that 100 percent of all do- NEIL JAMES ()owl in editor other library on campus. Both sides win. We get cheaper books and they still make some money. Of course, they will probably have to pay for a new computer sys tem and some more books. I'm sure, however, that between each stu dent paying $12,000 to $20,000 for tuition, $3OO for parking and all the other fees stu BRANDON BOYD be able to find the means to pay for this. Then again, someone has to pay Graham Spanier's $590,004 salary, Joe Paterno's $1,037,322 salary and each and \ ‘Nreo : Coos a . •mt \l :t , • lent of saying that Bloody Mary is a real spirit responsible for numerous unsolved murders. This is not even the first time this has happened. Just Google search for some of his quotes. If you haven't lost faith in the human race yet, you will now. In regard to Walt Disney World's "Gay Day," (a spe cial day to cele brate homosexual couples), Robert son "... [A] condi tion like this will NEIL JAMES opinion editor bring about the de struction of your nation. It'll bring about terror ist bombs, it'll bring about earthquakes, tornadoes and possibly a meteor" (according to Media Matters for America). I'm upset about all of this be- Editorial Board Culture Editor: Evan Koser emksllo@psu.edu Ast. Culture Editor: Shannon Ehrin sbesol7@psu.edu Photo Editor: Daniel J. Smith djss223@psu.edu K Mot\l's OPe T LIM TAT ibGeW Copy Editors: Jeff Kramer jsksl6l@psu.edu Marcus Yeagley mjysol2@psu.edu Engineering Editors Kristin Sliwinski kass79o@psu.edu Brett Miller bwmslsl@psu.edu Sports Editors: Nick Blake npbso4l@psu.edu Alec Habana ajiso37@psu.edu Videographer: Mike Fultz mlls2o4@psusedu lot pealing, one can always make donations at our local Salvation Army. We all have old, unwarn clothes lining out closets. Take an hour or two and sift though your wardrobe, place them in a garbage bag and drop them off at the Summit Town Center Salvation Army. It is easy for us to make ex cuses. We were assigned too much homework or we have a looming exam, but making even the smallest effort from us can be a life changing differ ence for our fellow man across the Gulf. Give that little bit and I promise that you will not re gret it. every professor's five to six fig ure salaries. On second thought, maybe we need to start a tip jar for Penn State, or perhaps start a donation hotline. Think about it. Penn State is paying thousands of its employ ees, and many of those employ ees are making straight up bank. We should be paying even more in our tuition, housing and parking to help pay this university's employees. On second thought, my bank account is as low as the temper ature outside. It looks like Penn State will only scrape away with a few hundred million dollars this year. AVeAPNWA,OIWAGO IWO fop' cause I feel he misrepresents Christians. To be frank, he makes them look bad. Christians are supposed to be tolerant, loving, compassionate and forgiving. Nowhere in the Bible does it say to be an insen sitive, ignorant, heartless, prej udiced douchebag, which Robertson is obviously really good at. I just do not want all Christians to be judged by one insane person. If you are going to judge us, do it on an individ ual basis. This man is a terrible repre sentation of an entire group of people. He is just a mad man with a microphone. People need to wise up and quit listen ing to this pied piper make truth out of fairy tales. If we're going to start doing that then look up the ending to the story of the real Pied Piper. Telephone: (814) 898-6488 Fax: (814) 898-6019 Single copies of the Beacon are free and available at newsstands around campus. Additional copies can be pur chased with permission of the editor-in-chief for SI 50 each. Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of all students, faculty or University administration. Opin• Business Editors: ions d t expressed d in columns, cartoons, and letters are not necessarily those of The Behrend Beacon unless otherwise in Harmilee Cousin Any letters intended for publication must be addressed to the editor. he no more than 251) words, and include the hxcso2o@psu.edu writer's name and phone number. Letters may be edited for content or length at the editor in chief's discretion Garrett Carson The Behrend Beacon does not publish anonymous letters to the editor. If students want their letters to be gmcso2l@psu.edu published, they must include their name. The Behrend Beacon intends for its Opinion page to be a forum for discussion, not a screen to hide behind. Occasionally, The Behrend Beacon may request responses to online Humanities Editor: queries in which responders will be identified by their username. Adam Spinelli The Behrend Beacon is editorially independent from the Penn Suite system. The Behrend Beacon operates par alsssB9@psu.edu tially on Student Activity Fee, and partially on advertising revenue. It is published every Friday during the school Science Editor: year except for before and during scheduled vacations, with exceptions for special issues Brian Carlson. , The editor-in-chief has the final authority on editorial decisions. including. hut not limited to, all columns. edito ais, and letters to the editor. Complaints regarding Fteacon coverage of school events should he directed to the edi bmcso62@psu.edu vials, at editor , ' psu.edu. MY VOICE Hill is still king Television just isn't the same without the hit show King of the Hill. The fact that the comedic genius Mike Judge would have a show pulled from the air for another Seth MacFarlane show is absolutely ludicrous. It's not just the fact that King of the Hill was pulled from the air for MacFarlane, it's the fact that it was pulled for what is es sentially another Family Guy. Family Guy has grown to be very popular, and to be honest, I don't really understand why. Don't get me wrong. Some times I enjoy Family Guy and I do find it to be funny at times. But I don't think it can even be compared to King of the Hill. My problem with MacFarlane is that his comedy is so over used and repetitive that Family Guy is just becoming boring to me. I also hate the fact that there is rarely ever a storyline in episodes of Family Guy, but just random situations. What made King of the Hill great was the fact that every episode had a story and it lasted for the en- tire episode MacFarlane seems to go off on different tangents, and quite frankly, it gets annoying. One of the most annoying things that MacFarlane does is the all-too often used "that's like the time 1..." MacFarlane does this all the time, for what seems like space filler. I remember an episode when the main character, Peter Grif fin, for what seemed like no reason at all, randomly said, "And now ladies and gentle man, Mr. Conway Twitty." At this time the show cut to a per formance from Conway Twitty at the Grand Ole Opry. It was literally an entire song. It lasted two and a half minutes long. It had nothing to do with Want to respond to an article? Send an email to opinion@psu.edu Submissions must be less than 350 words in length. Lakii , life vs. relationship I'm sure everyone's heard stories about someone ending a relationship because they don't want to "hold someone back." I'm also sure 98 percent of the time, this is absolute, indus trial-strength, All-American bullcrap. Most of the time, this is right up there with "it's not you, it's me" on the list of BS breakup excuses. Let's say for the sake of argument that you've been dating someone for at least six months, and it's going really well. Suddenly, the situ ation changes; maybe they're in the military, and they're being transferred to a overseas Maybe they were just offered a once-in-a-lifetime job opportu nity at a company on the west coast. Whatever the hypothetical situation is, the person you love has to move away for at least a few years, too long for a long distance relationship to have any hope of success. Do you put your life and career goals on hold to be with someone? There's no commitment, yet you aren't married, so in theory there would be nothing holding you to this person, right? E • it • rial Policies the show. At all A half-hour TV show is really a 20-25 minute episode, thanks to commercials. How can someone who is supposed to be so talented have to resort to such stupid space filler like that? This example of gag humor often appears to be the only humor that MacFarlane can create Like I said, it's not like this happens every once in a while. This is every episode. You just don't get stuff like that with King of the Hill. Judge provides his audience with in teresting storylines and real, genuine comedy. What it really boils down to is the reality that when you've seen one episode of Family Guy, you've seen them all : And when you've seen one MacFar lane show, you've seen them all. His newest program, The Cleveland Show, and American Dad give you the same thing. It's more disap pointing than any thing, because you know that the talent is there. But it's like the Family Guy creators are just lazy. It's the same old thing every episode. I guess what I want to say is that mak ing an animated NICK BLAKE vxorN edam show for adults can't be a very easy task. Mike Judge, in my opinion, did an amazing job with King of the Hill. The fact that MacFarlane's lame shows have grown to such popularity that they forced Judge off the air is quite de pressing. All I can say is thank good ness for shows like The Simp sons and South Park being on the air to keep MacFarlane from turning all animated sit coms into idiotic trash. But the hypothetical situa tions I laid out are probably the only time I can see not wanting to hold someone back as a valid excuse to end a relationship. Would it be extremely selfish to ask someone to put his or her career on the shelf just to stay with you? Of course it would. It would be just as self ish as your partner asking you to turn down that dream job in California so they could pursue their own goals where you are now. In my own experi ence and from talk ing to some of my friends, if the rela tionship is at a point where the MIKE 0. WEHRER /It'll S tll///// love you" and meaning it, then it's probably reached a point where they're going to put a good amount of effort into keeping it alive. So back to my original ques tion, "what matters more to you: your relationship or your life goals?" My answer is simple: finding someone you truly care about, someone who makes you wake up every day and wonder what small thing you can do to make their day, is just as important as any career goal.
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