University of Wisconsin-Madison Complete campus coverage since 1892 dailycardinal.com Wednesday, September 23, 2009l

“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”

Partner benefi ts law provokes legal wranglingBy Jessica FeldTHE DAILY CARDINAL

Multiple groups petitioned the state Supreme Court Tuesday regarding a lawsuit attempting to strike down Wisconsin’s domestic-partner benefits law.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal, a Chicago-based civil rights orga-nization, seek to defend the law, passed as part of Gov. Jim Doyle’s 2009-’11 biennial budget.

“There are almost 15,000 same-sex couples and their fami-lies living in Wisconsin who need the basic protections pro-vided by domestic partnerships,” Christopher Clark, senior staff attorney for Lambda Legal, said in a statement. “We plan to vig-orously defend the important legal protections that the legis-lature validly enacted to protect Wisconsin citizens.”

Wisconsin Family Action, a conservative advocacy group, filed an original action suit with the Supreme Court in July. The group aims to overturn the domestic-partnership law they say violates the 2006 Wisconsin constitutional amendment ban-ning same-sex marriage.

“The legal status that has been

created by the registry is unconsti-tutional,” Julaine Appling, presi-dent of WFA, said. “Nearly 60 percent of the voters in November 2006 said marriage in this state is between a man and a woman and that a legal status identical to or substantially similar to that of marriage would not be valid or recognized in this state.”

Under current law, same-sex couples are eligible for 43 out of over 200 benefits reserved for legally married couples. The majority of benefits available to domestic partners include ben-efits related to health care issues, according to a statement from Lambda Legal.

Appling said same-sex couples can obtain the same benefits as legally married couples without relying on domestic-partnership laws by hiring a lawyer and going through the legal system.

“We don’t have to redefine marriage and create a new legal status that approximates marriage in order for them to have those legal protections,” Appling said.

According to Clark, same-sex couples would have to spend a significant amount of money to

By Valerie KlessigTHE DAILY CARDINAL

Students nationwide are orga-nizing events Wednesday to raise awareness of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. The DREAM Act is a federal immigration reform bill that, if passed, would create a path to legalization through a two-year college education or two years of military service for undocu-mented youth.

According to Cindy Breunig, a member of the Wisconsin immigrant advocacy group Voces de la Frontera, the nation’s broken immigration system leaves almost no path to legalization for undocu-mented immigrants.

“The DREAM Act is a neces-sary policy change that we need to implement at the national level,” Breunig said.

In the majority of cases, undocumented immigrants have either entered the country without valid documents or entered with valid visas that have now expired. According to UW-Madison com-munity and environmental soci-ology professor Jill Harrison, a common misconception is that undocumented immigrants do not pay for social services. However,

because unauthorized immi-grants are often working

with false documenta-tion, they are paying payroll taxes.

“It’s not that these people aren’t paying

for the services that they’re using,” Harrison

said. “It’s that the federal government isn’t routing that money back to the jurisdictions that actually end up supporting those services.”

According to Madison East High School guidance counselor

Joe Nigh, the DREAM Act would be a good start to immigration reform because it would empower those granted residency to advo-cate for other immigrants. Nigh considers the DREAM Act social justice because immigrants would not be limited to what he calls “slave jobs and slave wages.”

“Some people try to paint Latinos as people who come here to commit crimes,” Nigh said. “The truth is that they do all the dirty jobs nobody wants to do for substandard wages.”

Members of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a national nonprofi t organization that aims to improve border secu-rity, have opposed what they call the DREAM Act’s “amnesty for illegal aliens.” According to FAIR, the DREAM Act would provide an incentive for additional illegal immigration to the United States.

By Allison GeyerTHE DAILY CARDINAL

New plans for Madison’s central library and a new city police train-ing facility were among the topics up for discussion at Tuesday’s sec-ond half of the Board of Estimates capital budget hearing.

Many Madison residents and city business offi cials spoke out in favor of the proposal to build a new central library on West Washington Avenue, saying it would provide job opportunities and an economic boost to the downtown area.

“The projects will bring steady, permanent jobs to Madison resi-dents,” said Mark Hoffman, busi-ness manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. “Growth will take off if we get the project going.”

A representative from the Board of Public Works also said 20 to 25 percent of workers unions are expe-riencing unemployment at this time and construction projects are being completed at up to 18 percent less then their original budgets.

A new proposal that excited many community and board mem-bers was the idea of creating public community gardens on the roof-top of the new library building. Madison resident Jane Anne Morris found strong neighborhood support for the garden idea and has already collected hundreds of signatures in favor of the proposition.

“I’d love to be able to get a book and a tomato,” resident Mike Fino said of the idea.

The library design team was receptive to the idea but expressed

doubts about its feasibility. Some members of the design

team said a “green” roof might be possible, but it might not work to grow crops on the roof.

Representatives from the police department also addressed the board, proposing the pur-chase of a new $2 million train-ing facility to replace their cur-rent location and accommodate growing class sizes. There was talk of a departmental part-nership with Madison Area Technical College, but those plans were ultimately rejected.

“We would love to have a partnership with MATC, but we have not been able to come to an agreement that would leverage our needs,” the representative officer said.

Struggling with juggling

DANNY MARCHEWKA/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Mindy Anderson practices the three-ball cascade at a juggling mini-course in Memorial Union’s Great Hall Tuesday night.

Living the DREAM?Day of action pushes for immigration reform

Supporters push new central library at meetingdream page 3

A child holds a sign in Milwaukee as part of the Statewide March for Immigrant and Labor Reform on May 1.

VALERIE KLESSIGTHE DAILY CARDINAL

partners page 3

PART 1OF 2

IMMIGRATIONREFORM

EMMY RECAP: ‘30 ROCK’ AND ‘MAD MEN’ REJOICEThe rich get richer as TV’s landscape fails to transform for another year

FAFSA freaking you out? Our editorial board gives you reason to jump for joy

OPINION PAGE 4l ARTS PAGE 5l

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Corrections or clarifi cations? Call The Daily Cardinal offi ce at 608-262-8000 or send an e-mail to edit@dailycardinal.com.

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Editorial BoardCharles Brace Anthony Cefali

Qi Gu Jamie StarkTodd Stevens Justin Stephani

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Board of Directors Vince Filak Alex Kusters

Nik Hawkins Jason Stein Jeff Smoller Janet Larson Chris Long Charles Brace

Katie Brown Benjamin Sayre Jenny Sereno Terry Shelton

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JILLIAN LEVYone in a jillian

S narf: a character in the popu-lar mid-1980s animated show ThunderCats, or the word I

have to start this column with after losing a drinking-induced bet to my friends Saturday night.

Sorry, a bet is a bet and I hate to back down from a challenge. Especially as of late, when my social life has almost died out completely and I’m clinging desperately to the few friends who have vowed to re-fi nd my formerly fun self. And this bet came from one of the most fun people in the world whom I hate to disappoint: my friend Becca.

Becca is the kind of girl who will do anything at any time just to be able to say she did (and got away with) it. Climbing the stone wall under Gordon Commons in heels and a dress, mopeding the wrong way down John Nolen Drive, getting handcuffed to a bed in detox after acting out—all in a day’s work for Becca.

Hanging around Becca and the majority of my friends, I feel like my life is running backwards. My craziest stories and biggest mistakes all took place in high school or freshman year. A wild night for me now consists of go-karting at Bogey’s and some Wii in my apartment.

What happened to dancing on (and most likely falling off ) bar tops? Why do I feel like staying out past midnight is scandalous? When did I start thinking one beer was better than six?

My dad tells me that it’s all part of growing up, but I know that’s bullshit. I want to avoid being an adult more than anything, so it can’t be that I’m maturing. The real problem is: I broke my Fun.

Fun: a concept stolen from a Dave and Busters commercial, in which everyone has a side to him-self or herself, whose only mission in life is to go out, get rowdy and have a good time. The commercial really brings the idea to life so I suggest you YouTube it to help me sound less ridiculous than I already do.

Anyway, I believe everyone has Fun in them even if it’s buried deep,

deep down. Even the kids in the substance-free dorms have Funs... it’s just hard to fi nd them some-times. That was totally a joke...

Some people like my friend Becca, lose control of their Funs once in awhile and wake up naked on the bathroom fl oor of their dorm with no recollection of how they got there. Others only allow theirs out at preplanned, brief periods of time.

My Fun used to be one of the happiest Funs in the world, but now she’s either half-dead or so embar-rassed with my behavior that she’s semi-permanently abandoned me. Either way, when the weekend hits, you will witness droves of under-grads and their Funs fl ocking to the bars or other social watering holes, and mine is nowhere to be found.

There are still spontaneous moments when a glimpse of my Fun’s former self returns, though they are steadily decreasing. She’ll come out—probably in a low-cut shirt and too much make-up because that’s her style—sling a few shots, crack a couple jokes, drunk- dial my dad at 3 a.m., whatever strikes her fancy.

But then I wake up in the morn-

ing with a raging headache and no clue where I am, and my Fun decides it’s time to run away again. I’ll be left hunched over my toilet feeling both nauseous and dejected.

Maybe I’m not the only stu-dent with this problem. Maybe every student hits a wall where they’ve reached their maximum Fun-potential and just can’t han-dle going out or doing anything social that requires more than minimal effort.

Either way, I’ve had just about enough of living vicariously through my roommates and friends as they trot off into the night and I’m left sitting on the couch in my underpants eating Ben and Jerry’s.

I’m ready to welcome my Fun back into my life for good—or at least until midterms start kick-ing my ass—and fi nish off college strong. I’m a little nervous though; after an absence this long, whatever my Fun has been planning could be dangerous... I’ll have Becca save me a bed in detox or on the bathroom fl oor. We’ll see what happens.

If you’ve lost your Fun or know how Jillian can get hers back without causing permanent liver damage, let her know at jlevy2@wisc.edu.

Jillian searches for her Fun, efforts fail

TODAY:thunderstormshi 79º / lo 57º

THURSDAY:partly cloudyhi 81º / lo 54º

An independent student newspaper, serving the University of Wisconsin-Madison

community since 1892

Volume 119, Issue 162142 Vilas Communication Hall

821 University AvenueMadison, Wis., 53706-1497

(608) 262-8000 l fax (608) 262-8100

News and Editorialedit@dailycardinal.com

Editor in Chief Charles BraceManaging Editor Justin StephaniCampus Editor Kelsey GundersonCity Editor Caitlin GathState Editor Hannah Furfaro Enterprise Editor Ryan HebelAssociate News Editor Grace UrbanOpinion Editors Anthony Cefali

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The Daily Cardinal is published weekdays and distributed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and its surrounding community with a circulation of 10,000.

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All copy, photographs and graphics appearing in The Daily Cardinal are the sole property of the Cardinal and may not be reproduced without written permission of the editor in chief.

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© 2009, The Daily Cardinal Media CorporationISSN 0011-5398

2 Wednesday, September 23, 2009 dailycardinal.com/page-two

the daily cardinal makes fun of you

Billy Graf was too hung over to give blood yesterday :(Year: Wisconsin ’10

Most Embarrassing Item: Damn! In his activities, if it weren’t for “driving,” Billy would have completed the pretentious-alpine-douche trifecta. And is that a list of Facebook interests or an application to star opposite Paul Walker

and Vin Diesel in the next Fast and Furious sequel? On to movies. OK, nice try. We caught you trying to slip Love Actually in between two shoot-’em-up action flicks like it wasn’t there. Look, just because you shamelessly steal one of Colin Firth’s sappy lines from the movie every time you’re trying to score some, like, totally smokin’ babe bro, doesn’t make it OK to have on your top movies list.

Stupid Fact About Your Hometown: Despite his numerous shortcomings, Billy is a Madison native. His hometown also has the distinction of being the only place brave enough to name the plastic pink flamingo its city bird.

Missed Opportunities: Somewhere in the mess of Billy’s 50-plus groups and 1,753 photos, I’m sure there’s enough to fi le at least ten class-action suits and make Billy’s future children vomit uncontrollably. For the sake of space and our readers, we’ve left them confi dential.

Saving Grace: OK, guy likes the book Ender’s Game. Anyone can respect a man who loves it when 12-year-olds fi ght aliens over the fate of mankind. Especially a man I had pegged to only enjoy songs about the buttocks and movies featuring approximately six explosions per minute.

Want your Facebook profi le to be made fun of? Join the group “The Daily Cardinal Makes Fun of You.”

Hometown: Madison

Political Views: Libertarian

Religious Views: Ron Paul

Activities: skiing, snowboarding, driving

Interests: Girls, cars, Michelle Pfeiffer, movies...

Favorite movies: The Departed, Love Actually, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Beverly Hills Cop, Eurotrip, Iron Man, Dazed and Confused, Lord of War, Kung Fu Hustle, Serenity

Favorite books: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Ender’s Game, The DaVinci Code, The Tipping Point, Jurassic Park

No shirt? Are those fake teeth? Aviators? Whatever it is you’re trying to say with your fashion statement... just don’t.

newsdailycardinal.com/news Wednesday, September 23, 2009 3l

By Robert TaylorTHE DAILY CARDINAL

UW-Madison health officials promoted the importance of good nutrition and healthy eating Tuesday as part of a weeklong “In Defense of Food” lecture series.

The lecture series is focused on the Go Big Read program’s current reading selection, “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto,” and will feature a keynote lecture by the book’s author, Michael Pollan, at the Kohl Center Thursday.

Gail Underbakke, nutrition coor-dinator for UW Health’s preventive cardiology program, used Tuesday’s lecture to examine common miscon-ceptions about nutrition and ways for people to make healthy eating choices.

“We have developed a dichoto-

mous view of foods in this country: good foods and bad foods. I don’t think that is appropriate. I think there is room for almost all foods,” she said. “It is just what you put it with and how you balance it out.”

Echoing a major premise of “In Defense of Food,” Underbakke said the growing disconnect between pro-cessed final foods and the original food source is a major contributor toward poor nutrition in the United States.

“We have come so far away from basic food that if it doesn’t have a shiny cover and it’s not perfect, then we don’t think that it is good enough,” she said. She went on to question the nutritional value of some so-called health foods.

“Why not just eat a piece of fruit?” she said.

Ironically, Underbakke said, as consumers have become more interested in nutrition, they have become an irresistible target for the food industry. According to Underbakke, the food industry appeals to consumers through a combination of their fear, misin-formation and lack of knowledge, resulting in a lucrative market for “functional foods.”

Functional foods, she said, are advertised to tap into a consumer desire to eat healthily but often hide food’s true nutritional deficiencies behind flashy labels and claims backed by questionable science.

“The challenge as a consumer is to ask, ‘Do I believe that? Does that make sense based on what I know?’” Underbakke said.

University Health Services released statistics Tuesday revealing a decrease in students at UW-Madison reporting flu-like symptoms.

UHS said 168 students contacted them with flu-like symptoms during the week of Sept. 13-19, making up 12.6 percent of the total visits to the UHS primary-care clinic.

During the week of Sept. 6-12, UHS evaluated 345 people with flu-like symptoms, and those cases represented 28 percent of the total visits to UHS.

Craig Roberts, a UHS epidemi-ologist, said although these numbers are down, the number of reported flu-like illnesses is still extremely high for this time of year.

“What we continue to see this week is still a lot of students with influenza in general,” he said. “The rates of influenza-like illnesses in our clinic are very high, like what we would

usually see in the peak of the [flu] season in a normal year.”

According to Roberts, it may be too early to tell if the numbers are decreasing for good.

He added the decrease could be caused by a more widespread awareness of the illness, leading students to take extra precautions to protect themselves.

“It could be that the real inci-dence of influenza declined on campus, but it is certainly very plausible that the message has got out there widely and that people feel less of a need to contact us or come in for care,” he said.

Roberts added that students coming to UHS with H1N1 are still reporting the same symptoms: fever, body aches, cough, sore throat and runny nose.

Students with these symptoms can contact UHS at 265-5600.

—Kelsey Gunderson

Media and confidential news sources would be protected from revealing anonymous sources under a bill passed by the state Assembly Tuesday.

The bill offers protection for lim-iting disclosure of anonymous news sources and protects reporters from subpoenas requesting disclosure.

Opponents of the bill said it would lead to difficulties in assembling evidence for criminal cases and collecting information in libel or slander suits.

State Rep. Mark Gundrum, R-New Berlin, introduced an

amendment that would allow the collection of information from news sources in the case of a defa-mation suit. The amendment was tabled for further review, effec-tively killing it in the Assembly, but the amendment may be taken up again in the state Senate.

State Rep. Joe Parisi, D-Madison, one of the authors of the bill, said 37 other states offer similar protections for the media and none of them have reported problems.

The bill was messaged imme-diately to the Senate, where it will await a hearing.

State Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer, D-Manitowoc, was removed as chair of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee Friday by Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan, D-Janesville.

Ziegelbauer said he was removed because he voted to pre-vent late-term abortions, opposing the position of party leadership.

“They mentioned to me that

that was the principal reason, that I didn’t vote with them on the amendment, and it almost failed to fail because of it ... They had to twist somebody else’s arm to make the votes come out,” he said.

He said voting in accordance with the wishes of his constituents is his main priority.

“I have always put the highest

priority in representing the people of my district, and that’s what I did,” he said.

Rebekah Sweeney, spokesperson for Sheridan, said it is Sheridan’s right to set the chair positions but was unsure why Ziegelbauer was removed.

“I wasn’t privy to their con-versation on why this action was taken,” she said.

Vanessa Solis, legislative assis-tant for state Rep. Pedro Colon, D-Milwaukee, said Congress should pass the DREAM Act because it affects children and their educational opportunities.

“We have so many children falling through [gaps in the system] because we’re not following through,” Solis said. “That’s really difficult, especially when you see so many of these stu-dents’ parents working extremely hard to make our economy go ’round.”

To be eligible for the DREAM Act, initially introduced in 2001, undocumented youth would need

to have entered the country before the age of 16.

“It doesn’t seem right to penal-ize children of immigrants for their parents’ decisions,” Harrison said.

Other requirements include grad-uating from high school or obtaining a GED, having good moral character with no criminal record and having at least five years of continuous pres-ence in the United States.

If the DREAM Act were to pass, undocumented immigrant youth meeting those requirements would be granted conditional permanent residency, which is legal residency that allows students to legally drive, work and have access to federal aid.

Conditional permanent residency is re-evaluated after six years. During the six-year period, the student would need to obtain a two-year college degree or complete two years of mili-tary service. After six years, their cases would be reviewed, and they would be granted unrestricted lawful perma-nent residency if they completed the college or military requirements with-out a criminal record. Students would then be eligible for U.S. citizenship through the naturalization process.

According to Colon, the DREAM Act has become an emergency issue. “I think we’re losing a lot of talent [and] losing a lot of participation every day that goes by,” he said.

Assembly votes to protect media and anonymous sources from legal inquiries

UHS report shows influenza cases down among students

‘Go Big Read’ campaign begins with lecture on healthy eating

DANNY MARCHEWKA/THE DAILY CARDINAL

UW Health nutrition coordinator Gail Underbakke discussed healthy eating while outlining common nutrition misconceptions at her lecture Tuesday that kicked off the ‘In Defense of Food’ lecture series.

Ziegelbauer removed as chair of Ways and Means Committee

dream from page 1

hire a lawyer to obtain the same protections reserved for married couples and those protections would still not be guaranteed.

Currently, the parties involved in the suit await a deci-sion from the Supreme Court on whether it will hear the case.

WFA said the case should proceed directly to the Supreme

Court, bypassing the lower courts, based on the constitu-tional importance of the case.

The defense disagreed, argu-ing for a normal proceeding beginning in the lower courts.

“There is nothing so urgent about this that it has to be decided at the Supreme Court level,” attorney Lester Pines, who will represent the state in the case, said.

partners from page 1

opinionl4 Wednesday, September 23, 2009 dailycardinal.com/opinion

Cardinal View editorials represent The Daily Cardinal’s organizational opin-ion. Each editorial is crafted independent of news coverage.

view

O n Sept. 17 Congress approved far-reaching legislation that would

expand federal aid to college stu-dents and end federal subsidies to private lenders. The Students Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, if passed by the Senate and signed by the president, would allocate $87 billion in post-secondary education over ten years. The bill would increase the amount of federal aid available to uni-versity students and increase funding to community colleges. Perhaps most importantly, the bill would simplify the spiteful Federal Application for Student Aid, infamously known to stu-dents as the FAFSA.

The bill appropriates $499.7 mil-lion to Wisconsin over the next ten years’ with $56.4 million allocated to south-central Wisconsin.

In the 2008-09 academic year, Pell Grants numbered $5,350 a piece. If the new bill passes, the grants will increase to $5,550 in 2010 and $6,900 by 2019, surpass-ing the rate of infl ation.

By switching more student loans from private lenders to direct loans from the govern-ment-run Direct Loan program, students and parents are guaran-teed equal access to loans regard-less of the state of the economy. According to the Congressional Budget Office, this switch will save American taxpayers $87 bil-lion over the next ten years.

The bill passed the House by 253-171, with six Republicans vot-ing aye and four Democrats nay. The act passed under the radar in between the two sides bickering over health care, but it could be the largest single expenditure on post-secondary education to ever pass through Congress.

The benefits for students may not be instantaneous or outstand-ing, but such a massive bill will have far-reaching consequences in universities and community col-leges across the country.

By increasing available finan-cial aid, more students may be able to attend college. President Obama made a commitment to having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world, and this will certainly make that more attainable. This could also foster an increased diversity of different economic classes and backgrounds on campuses, a type of diversity often overshadowed by discussions of ethnicity and gender. Granted, the bill is not substantial enough to produce a noticeable surge in poor stu-dents attending college, but help is needed in any amount. As most college students know, a few hun-dred dollars can make a world of difference during a period of life as heavily indebted as college.

The bill could not be in the works at a better time. Students and the economically disadvantaged are most at-risk at a time such as now, with the economy still in the dregs. Last year, student loan defaults increased to 6.7 percent, up from 5.2 percent in the previous fi scal year.

Today, more and new careers require a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree. More students are consider-ing applying to graduate school or attending law school, either for career advancement or to stave off entering the meager job market.

Passing this bill at a time when the federal government is spending money left and right seems fiscally irresponsible on the surface. But, as with most educational expenditures, this is an investment. The money spent with the Students Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act will be repaid to the government and American taxpayers numerous times over. If more Americans attend and graduate from college, more and more American workers will find higher-paying jobs, command higher salaries and return more money over their lifetime to the government through taxes.

The bill will help students grad-uate with less debt while saving taxpayers money. Such action is wise and long overdue.

student financial aid revision overdue

Logical plan needed tochange drinking laws

I ’ve never actually heard some-one say “thank goodness the drinking age is 21! Remember

how bad it was back before in the ’60’s?” The idea that the drinking age should be 18 is more or less a given, especially here in Wisconsin. Even though most of us disagree, we continue to ticket our fellow citizens who are old enough to die for their country, vote and live on their own. The reason for the gap between what the public thinks and does and the laws our politicians continue to support is the lack of a safe, cost-effective plan to lower Wisconsin’s drinking age.

Before we can make progress on issues such as binge drink-ing and drunk driving, we must change the drinking age to 18. Just take a look around campus on the weekends. Even though this is a college campus, there is so much underage drinking on weekends one would think it were legal. The binge drink-ing we see has not decreased but rather continued to worsen under our current system.

Opponents of lowering the legal drinking age reference the federal highway funding Wisconsin would lose if we change our laws. This is true— we would lose millions of dollars in highway funds if we do not comply with federal regulations. But think of everything we would gain. The brain drain we are expe-

riencing could be ended. In the same way that marijuana laws are convenient for more open-mind-ed California residents, citizens of Wisconsin would benefit from realistic drinking legislation. The increase in tax revenue and eco-nomic stimulus we would experi-ence could easily offset highway losses. With thousands of new tax-paying residents and millions of 18-to-21-year-olds drinking in public instead of illegally at house parties, the financial wind-fall would be enormous.

But any plan to reduce the drinking age must reach beyond explaining the monetary aspects of such an gigantic cultural shift. It must explain to critics how allowing 18-year-olds to drink is going to decrease, rather than increase, irresponsible alcohol use. The new method must mir-ror our current drivers licensing program so as to include educa-tion, a probationary period and consequences for misuse of this new responsibility. Like our driv-ers, Wisconsin drinkers should have to obtain a license.

Teenagers who wish to apply for a drinkers license should only be able to do so after satisfactory completion of a drinkers education course. The course should include information about drinking and driving, alcohol poisoning, sexual assault and other relevant issues. After passing the test, Wisconsin residents, and only Wisconsin res-idents, would be issued a tempo-rary drinkers license. If during the probationary period they could prove themselves to be responsi-ble, they, and every future resident

wishing to drink, would be issued a permanent drinkers license.

This system would provide numerous advantages over our cur-rent situation. Every resident would be educated and know that drunken driving or other dangerous drinking- related behavior could lead to the revocation of their Drinkers license. By implementing, a license and low-ering the drinking age we would gain a new tactic for fi ghting problem drinking in all age groups. Instead of showing a drivers license to prove their age, all legal residents, regard-less of age, would show their drinkers license. Those who prove they are responsible would have no trouble getting a drink. Those who are dan-gerous would lose their drinking license. In addition, we will have an incentive to keep those who are under 18 from drinking. Any minors who are caught drinking without their parents would not be eligible for their drinkers licenses until they turned 21.

Changing our drinking age is the only method that will enable Wisconsin to deal with its alcohol issues in a productive manner. Rather than punishing our citizens and seg-regating them by age, a licensing program would educate the public and give them the benefi t of the doubt. We must change our laws to offer incentives for responsible drink-ing and functional consequences for behavior we wish to discourage.

Lowering the drinking age would give teenagers something to work toward. In addition, they would receive the education they need to become the adults our society needs them to be. If we lower the Wisconsin drinking age to 18 and institute a drinkers license, we will not only save money, we will rid ourselves of a culture that promotes binge drink-ing and discriminates against our young citizens.

Andrew Carpenter is a senior majoring in communication arts and psychology. We welcome all feedback. Please send responses toopinion@dailycardinal.com.

ANDREW CARPENTERopinion columnist

The brain drain we are experi-encing now could end.

By increasing available fi nancial aid more students may be able

to attend college.

As with most educational expen-ditures, this is an investment.

We must change our laws to offer incentives for responsible drinking.

artsldailycardinal.com/arts Wednesday, September 23, 2009 5

Cherry pickin’ from the Emmys’ winners

S unday’s Primetime Emmy presentation wasn’t much different from the year

prior, at least within my uni-verse. I was still attempting to watch the awards in the middle of my Sunday night shift at work. I still watched gleefully as “30 Rock” won in every category and I still scratched my head when they announced a list of mini-series nominees I’d never heard of. It’s like a category just for HBO.

If you’re like me, the Emmys are less about watching a three-hour block of TV talking about TV and more about checking your scorecard against what’s winning awards—the more winners you already watch, the better you are at picking the right timeslots in front of the idiot box. And if you aren’t watching what’s stacking up piles of trophies, it’s a good night to re-evaluate your TV viewing schedule.

For instance, the six Emmys that the cast and crew of AMC’s “Mad Men” got to drag home with them last year gave me some indication that the 1960s period piece set in a New York City ad agency was worth a look. Lo and behold, the show lived up to the promise of all that gold and then some—it’s easily the finest produced, written and acted show on television. This year’s accolades were no differ-ent, except I got to gloat as one of my new favorite series gobbled up another two statues.

So who do we start watching this year based on their award collection? AMC’s other drama, “Breaking Bad,” has certainly garnered some attention, what

with its lead Bryan Cranston stealing the Emmy for lead actor in a drama from Jon Hamm of “Mad Men” two years in a row. The series follows Cranston’s character as he attempts to make the jump from chemistry teacher to meth dealer. If you don’t remember who he is, think back to the panicky dad from “Malcolm in the Middle.” Who knew he had it in him?

Also worth keeping an eye on could be Diablo Cody’s Showtime series “The United States of Tara,” which nabbed Toni Collette an Emmy for lead actress in a comedy for her por-trayal of a loving mother with multiple personalities. The pilot showed a lot of promise, with Cody’s scripting in full swing, and this win makes me think the rest of the series might be worth revisiting on DVD or otherwise.

Of course, not all the awardees are really winners. John Cryer’s frequent whining about what-ever Charlie Sheen is doing on “Two and a Half Men” shouldn’t have netted him Emmy gold. That was Neil Patrick Harris’ Emmy, pure and simple. For causing the only major upset of the evening, John Cryer will need to be sent to that special corner of Hell reserved for reality TV hosts and Kanye West.

Did you know that “Survivor” was still on, much less that it could win an Emmy for host Jeff Probst? Yeah, neither did Mark. Share your hatred for reality TV via e-mail at mriechers@wisc.edu.

MARK RIECHERSjumping the Mark

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‘Why?’ so glum, chums?By Kyle SparksTHE DAILY CARDINAL

Alopecia, Why?’s 2008 breakout album, exposed the kind of naked wry cynicism its name implies. It was as brutal as it was honest, offering solace to others only in its own wis-dom-induced depression. On their follow-up, Eskimo Snow, their songs conceal that cynicism like igloos or drifts. The intense attacks and disen-franchised rage are replaced by timid, fluttering pessimism.

Why? is a lyrical group, but that’s never been a problem until Eskimo Snow. Musically, they’ve relied on hip hop-infused rhythms to propel Wolf ’s abstract narratives and hope-less, anarchic rage. They take edgy, avant-garde hip hop a step farther, testing its limits with folk elements and rock inclinations. They exist in a very remote place, though, with-out overwhelming crossover appeal for either hip hop or folk fans. In accordance with their niche, there’s a high degree of correlation between musical success and lyrical triumph with Why?, sometimes sequestering an already divisive band into a subset within even its own fan base.

Hip-hop pioneers didn’t have Lady Gaga samples or Rihanna’s backing vocals to mask their lazy rhymes, and thus were forced to record bit-ing and sincere records out of fear of being exposed as a poser. By no means is Eskimo Snow reason to dis-credit Why?’s previous conquests, but it does show a distinct shift in focus. Wolf doesn’t rely so heavily on his lyrical prowess, but tries to incorpo-rate more production value. Why? is effectually a cutting-edge hip-hop group that veered too far from their roots and made a pop album.

Even as a pop album, Eskimo Snow still has a hard time establishing a strong identity. Musically, they stutter through verses that lack lyrical direc-tion, often creating a highway colli-sion of misplaced keys and inebriated rhythms. Occasionally they manage to gather the speed to steer through an accomplished chorus, but usually the pieces of upholstery fall in the same ditch as the crushed exterior. They channel Mark Mothersbaugh, but don’t have the delicate touch to quite pull off his earnest playfulness. They try their hand at thundrous per-cussion, but they’re too meek to muster the appropriate force.

Why? get their pop sound best when they marry crescendoing bass-

and-drums with frenetic keyboards until they let the bottom fall out and carve out their own groove. However, that’s an unsustainable for-mula. After carving enough, they climb a mountain only to see the bottom fall out entirely. Or, without the tired crescendo, they inhabit a flatland that doesn’t offer the amuse-ment of a parking lot carnival.

Eskimos have a diverse vocabulary

of words that mean “snow” in all its different forms. Each word takes a dif-ferent meaning the way a Swiss Army knife takes on multiple functions. Snow is their lifeblood, and the many variations of the word demonstrate the myriad utilities it serves, each instru-mental to their survival. Unfortunately, in Why?’s case, Eskimo Snow is nothing but a bunch of different ways to say hardly anything.

After cleaning up with even more Emmys for their mantle, these two “Mad” characters went home looking like “Happy Men.”

PHOTO COURTESY LIONSGATE

Eskimo SnowWhy?

CD REVIEW

Of course, not all the awardees are really winners.

6 Wednesday, September 23, 2009 dailycardinal.com/comics

comicsl

A nicely cooked steak© Puzzles by Pappocom

Angel Hair Pasta By Todd Stevens ststevens@wisc.edu

Sid and Phil By Alex Lewein alex@sidandphil.com

The Graph Giraffe By Yosef Lerner ilerner@wisc.edu

Solution, tips and computer program available at www.sudoku.com.

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

Today’s Sudoku

NEW IDEA

ACROSS 1 Fair and impartial 5 Praiseful verse 8 Epicurean event 13 “A Fish Called Wanda”

character 14 “Alive” author 16 “Family Feud”

teammate, often 17 Stop from spoiling 19 Girl in Bizet’s “The

Pearl Fishers” 20 “Sesame Street”

Muppet 21 “Within the ___ of

possibility” 23 “___ appetit” 24 Attack word 25 Eternal 28 At leisure 30 Bake-sale holding grp. 31 Niger neighbor 33 Arab League dignitary 37 Wall hanging with

pictorial designs 41 Conductor’s charge? 44 Area equation element 45 “Go ___!” 46 Bathtub swirl 47 Canton in Switzerland 49 Expressed, as an adieu 51 Radical change in

character 57 Where to fi nd

solutions? 60 Kind of trip taken

alone 61 Energy type 62 Add one’s two cents 64 “Ain’t I a Woman?”

deliverer Sojourner 66 “War and Peace,” e.g. 68 Fix loose laces 69 “Mi ___ es su ...” 70 Bell tower sound 71 List components 72 Inclined to avoid the

spotlight 73 Calls Mary “Mindy,” e.g.

DOWN 1 They might be practical 2 Wombs 3 Like some signs 4 African antelope 5 Hockey legend Bobby 6 Handle on a tractor? 7 Alleviating agent 8 Clooney or Rooney 9 Needle point? 10 “I was at my friend’s

all night,” e.g. 11 Place to curl up and

dye? 12 Nashville intonation 15 Indian dish made with

stewed legumes (Var.) 18 Experience the effects

of 22 Computer support?

26 Suddenly change course

27 Repaired, as roads 29 Judicial declaration 31 Catty utterance? 32 Victor in Zaire, 1974 34 “21” school 35 Swell remedy? 36 Alternative to Sony

or JVC 38 Correct a FedEx

mistake 39 Companions’

separator? 40 Chester White’s home 42 Plump songbirds 43 Boss on a shield 48 Japanese leader

Hirobumi 50 Abbreviated mystery

writer? 51 Kind of culture dish 52 Fine-feathered

specimen 53 Letter carrier’s

assignment 54 A Baldwin brother 55 Spanish hors

d’oeuvres 56 “My Wild ___ Rose” 58 Lend ___ (listen) 59 Clapper containers 63 Holy See resident 65 “A Christmas Carol”

boy 67 Archipelago part

Answer key available at www.dailycardinal.com

Today’s Crossword Puzzle

Charlie and Boomer By Natasha Soglin soglin@wisc.edu

Rhyme Crime. No word in the English language rhymes with “month.”

Evil Bird By Caitlin Kirihara kirihara@wisc.edu

You Can Run By Derek Sandberg kalarooka@gmail.com

sportsl7 Wednesday, September 23, 2009 dailycardinal.com/sports

Big Ten needs wins for conference to get respect

Caity DuPont is one of two seniors on the Wisconsin volleyball team, which will kick off its Big Ten schedule at the Kohl Center tonight against Iowa.

KYLE BURSAWCARDINAL FILE PHOTO

Badgers riding streak at start of Big Ten playBy Adam TupitzaTHE DAILY CARDINAL

The Wisconsin volleyball team looks to start off the Big Ten sea-son strong when they host Iowa tonight at the UW Field House.

Wisconsin (5-4) ended the non-conference portion of its schedule with a sweep of Green Bay on the road last Wednesday. The Badgers are currently riding a two-game winning streak as they enter the Big Ten home opener.

“Any time you can get back-to-back wins, it’s great,” UW head coach Pete Waite said. “For this group, I think they’re feeling good about their play, and they’re doing some nice things out on the court.”

Iowa (8-4) and Wisconsin split last year’s season series, each com-ing up with a win at home. Iowa had lost 26 straight matches to the

Badgers prior to last year’s victory. “It’s the Big Ten opener, and we

want to come out strong,” Waite said. “We want to be serving tough and passing solid, so our offense can run well. We’ve been working on team chemistry and a faster offense, and we want to see that coming into play for the match.”

Despite being over .500 on the season, the Badgers currently have the worst record in the Big Ten. This may be a by-product of a challenging non-conference sched-ule, as the team has already played three teams currently ranked in the top 35 nationally.

“The matches that we lost, I think we still played really competitively,” senior outside hitter Caity DuPont said. “It’s great to be over .500, but now it’s all about the Big Ten.”

“It’s easier for the players to be

up for Big Ten play,” Waite added. “The crowds get bigger, and every match matters as far as the race for the Big Ten. They know these teams pretty well because they scouted them last year. Plus, the band and the student section really crank things up.”

Tonight’s game is the 19th-annual Steve Lowe Night. Lowe, who passed away from lung cancer in 1991, was formerly the head coach of Badgers’ volleyball. He led the team to its first Big Ten title and NCAA tournament appear-ance back in 1990.

Senior Brittney Dolgner will receive the Steve Lowe Endowed Scholarship prior to tonight’s match.

Game time is 7 p.m. at the Field House. Additionally, the first 250 students through the door will receive a free T-shirt.

Volleyball

E ach year, Wisconsin football fans are forced to hear and read about how weak Big

Ten football is. Unfortunately, as the Big Ten schedule begins this weekend, we’ll be hearing more of the same.

The bulk of the Big Ten’s non-conference schedule is done, and once again the conference produced unimpressive outcomes.

The headlining non-conference clash involving the Big Ten was Ohio State’s matchup with USC in the second week of the season.

After a resounding Ohio State loss in 2008 in Los Angeles, the Buckeyes had an opportunity to showcase the Big Ten on a nation-al stage. The ingredients for an Ohio State win were there: a home game, a more experienced Terrelle Pryor and a freshman quarterback for the Trojans.

The Buckeyes played a competi-tive game, but didn’t get the win, showing the top tier of the Pac-10 is superior to that of the Big Ten.

The result of the Ohio State-USC bout was disappointing, but it wasn’t the conference’s only prospect of potentially proving its ability.

The Big Ten as an entity entered the season with relatively low expec-tations, compared to conferences such as the Big 12 or the SEC. But one team that did come into 2009 with heightened expectations was Michigan State, after winning nine games in 2008 and finishing third in the conference.

Despite the hype, the Spartans had perhaps the worst non-confer-ence run of any Big Ten school, suffering a home defeat to a mid-major team in Central Michigan, followed by another loss at the hands of Notre Dame. Not much is expected of most Big Ten schools, but no one could have predicted the Spartans would enter their Big Ten schedule 1-2.

If one takes a current look at the Big Ten standings, most teams have a winning record, but only because the conference feasted on mid-major and FCS schools. When the Big Ten did butt heads with BCS competition, the results weren’t pretty.

The Big Ten’s record against the other five BCS conferences and Notre Dame was 5-6, which denotes a slightly above-average performance. But closer assessment of those 11 contests shows the Big Ten’s performance against BCS schools wasn’t even that.

The Big Ten had five victories, but three of them came against Syracuse and Iowa State, two teams who combined for a 5-19 record in 2008. Calling those three victories quality wins doesn’t do them justice.

The other two BCS-level wins are higher quality, but still not incredibly impressive. Iowa played and beat Arizona in Iowa City, pitting a top-tier Big Ten team against a mid-level Pac-10 squad. It was a nice win for the Hawkeyes, but nothing to hang their hat on.

The other win was a Michigan victory over Notre Dame in Ann

Arbor, which was probably the con-ference’s best non-conference per-formance. It was a significant vic-tory for the struggling Wolverines, but it was still a win over a squad who lost six games in 2008 includ-ing one to the Big Ten’s favorite punching bag, Syracuse.

Notre Dame was anointed a 2009 contender, but those were only based on the pre-season polls, which are, in turn, based on pretty much nothing.

Some of the Big Ten’s losses to BCS teams were also troubling.

It started opening day with Illinois, a mid-level Big Ten squad, getting blown out of the water in a neutral-site game against a mid-level Big 12 team in Missouri, 37-9. Illinois isn’t expected to be as good in 2009 as they were in recent years, but a close game would have been nice.

Then last weekend a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten squad fell to a lower-level Big East squad (prob-ably the worst BCS conference in the nation), when Northwestern fell to Syracuse, actually giving the Orange a victory in their Big Ten tour.

To add fuel to the fire, the Big Ten also suffered some hiccups against mid-major and FCS teams.

Over last weekend, Purdue lost to Northern Illinois, who entered the game ranked No. 79 in cbss-portsline.com’s rankings of all FBS teams. The Boilermakers are a lower-level Big Ten team, but a home loss to a poor mid-major school is disturbing.

Back during opening week-end, the Big Ten’s crown jewel, Ohio State, needed to stop a 2-point conversion at home to stave off Navy. Iowa needed not one, but two last-second blocked field goals to hold off Northern Iowa. Indiana’s 3-0, but they were within a score from losing to Western Kentucky.

It’s a pretty simple formula for the Big Ten: win, and it’ll regain respect. Until then, let the Big Ten bashing continue.

How do you think the Big Ten will do in 2009? Let Scott know by e-mailing him at kellogg2@wisc.edu.

SCOTT KELLOGGthe cereal box

l advertisement8 Wednesday, September 23, 2009 dailycardinal.com