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RISD NEWS INSIDE

T H U R S D A Y SEPTEMBER 18, 2003

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 74

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891

Residents have mixed feelings about College Hill neighbors

ayo ’94 poised to make it big on the art scene BY DANA GOLDSTEIN

damali ayo ’94 is the next big thing on the art scene — in Portland, Ore. If you haven’t heard about her yet, you will soon. With reviews of her work appearing in the Village Voice, Ms. Magazine, Harper’s Magazine and ARTnews, ayo, who prefers to see her name in lowercase for aesthetic reasons, is receiving the kind of underground and mainstream attention most young artists only dream about. Amid all the press coverage, it’s difficult to predict whether ayo’s name will become associated with creativity or controversy. After launching the Web site rent-anegro.com in April, ayo was flooded with laudatory and angry reactions from around the globe. The satirical site presents itself as a service for white people looking to increase their “social clout” by appearing in public with a “creative, articulate, friendly, attractive and pleasing African American person.” The Web site extends the joke to include an online payment form for services such as “touch her hair,” “help! I need a black opinion” and public appearances — with a higher price for “high question volume” from whites. A lifetime of frustration as the token African American in numerous social, professional and academic situations, according to ayo, inspired her to create rent-anegro.com. Before coming to Brown, ayo graduated from Washington’s exclusive Sidwell Friends Academy. At Rent-a-negro.com she writes, “As a child (ayo) introduced black perspectives into her school, expertly answering persistent questions about black history, hair, culture and politics. This work continued throughout her adolescent and adult life and today she continues to be a resource.” But ayo insists on being seen as an individual, not a resource for white people to exploit. She said she turned to art partly because it was a medium in which she could educate people about race without “having to always be in conversation, which is how I always ended up in other roles.” At Brown, ayo double-concentrated in American civilization and public policy, work which she described as “a very natural progression of who I had been as a child and an adolescent growing up … a perfect bridge from that to my adulthood.” An active volunteer at the Swearer Center for Public Service, ayo said she helped develop the Women’s Prison Project, which has received national acclaim. Upon graduation, ayo won a grant to start an education program, but decided to give the money back. “I thought I’d be always working in issues of diversity and education and race and gender and sexual orientation and class. I thought I’d be writing,” ayo said. “When I left (Brown) I went though a transition and eventually discovered art.” In addition to planning an actual rental with her rent-a-negro.com project, ayo recently opened two shows in Portland — one featuring found art and the other, with her theater company, defunct theatre. see AYO, page 4

BY SARAH LABRIE

Thayer Street with more fresh produce, it would be a benefit to the entire Brown community,” said Ryan Levesque ’04, who left the market with a bag full of large green peppers. The constant stream of students and University staff members kept the vendors busy. Steve Cory, owner of Portsmouthbased Cory’s Kitchen, was pleased with his first experience selling goods at Brown.

An early September party in Fox Point where students walked on cars and urinated in neighbors’ yards did nothing to endear a new generation of students living off-campus to their College Hill neighbors. Two weeks later, the party was still a point of contention at a Wednesday dinner and meeting of the College Hill Neighborhood Association. “What happened in Fox Point is not an isolated incident,” said CHNA President Tom Goddard. “There isn’t a Sunday morning that goes by that I don’t pick up beer cans.” He said he receives one or two complaints each month about parties held by Brown students. Goddard said he usually chooses not to call the police when noise levels get out of hand, but resents the lack of consideration many students show their neighbors. Still, he said he agrees with a number of other residents that “the great majority of Brown students are good people.” Many residents depend on Brown students as tenants or hired help or simply to “keep the neighborhood interesting,” said 30-year College Hill resident Sara Bradford. Amy Greenwald, an assistant professor of computer science at Brown and resident of Benefit Square Park, agreed that Brown students do not always detract from the neighborhood’s quality. “When I moved in I was warned there was an issue with Brown and RISD students, but I’ve never noticed a problem,” she said. But Ed Bishop ’54, a landlord who rents housing to students, said some of the students who rent from him have caused trouble. “Frats are the worst,” he said. “They demolish the house every year.” Bishop — who has been a landlord for

see FARMERS, page 4

see CHNA, page 4

Michael Flaxman / Herald

The first campus Farmers Market, featuring seven Providence-area farmers, attracted students to fresh produce on Wriston during lunch hours.

Outdoor Brown Farmers Market draws a crowd BY MICHAEL RUDERMAN

Students didn’t have to steal apples and pears from the Ratty Wednesday. Instead, the first campus Farmers Market, featuring seven Providence area farmers, attracted students to fresh produce on Wriston during lunch hours. The market was part of Brown University Dining Services’ Community Harvest Program, designed to provide students with fresh produce and to support area farmers. All crops were grown in Rhode Island. “We’ve always had quality ingredients, just not local (ones),” said Associate Director of BUDS Virginia Dunleavy, who has been organizing the event since August. The dining halls have featured more locally grown produce, but Dunleavy wants this new trend “to be pervasive throughout the whole program.” Students who are not on meal plan found the market convenient. Teresa McRann ’06 said the produce was fresher than most of what is normally available at stores near the University. She was happy to be supporting local farmers, she said. Julian Drix ’06 bought several bags filled with peppers, apples, beans and other fruits and vegetables to cook for his Art House food co-op. “You can get things directly from the people who made it, as opposed to getting it filtered through the system,” Drix said. He said the produce he bought was of a higher quality than what he would get through BUDS. “If we had an option like this on

UCS finishes internal elections BY KRISTA HACHEY

The Undergraduate Council of Students wrapped up internal elections and tended to routine business in its Wednesday night meeting. UCS elected positions in the Undergraduate Finance Board and Campus Life Task Force after hearing candidates present their platforms and respond to questions. Council members elected John Nichols ’04 to the UFB, a 10-member governing body responsible for allocating funds to student organizations. Andrea Abramoff ’04, Nathaniel Smilowitz ’05 and Ryan Roth ’04 were elected as student representatives to the Campus Life Task Force. Current undergraduate members of the task force include UCS President Rahim

I N S I D E T H U R S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 8 , 2 0 0 3 With an imprisoned coach and colorful mascot, RISD ice hockey makes a comeback RISD, page 3

RISD and Brown collaborate on interfaculty programs and interinstitutional centers RISD,page 3

www.browndailyherald.com

Research in neurorobotics leads to top innovator award for Brown med student page 5

Kurji ’05 and UCS Campus Life Committee Chair Ari Savitzky ’06. The Campus Life Task Force contributes to the planning of long-term projects and ensures they address issues relevant to the undergraduate population, Savitzky said. “Sometimes it’s tough for the administration to see why certain issues are important and must be dealt with,” he said. The task force grapples with issues ranging from modernizing campus libraries and dining halls to creating a student center, he said. The group considers many of the ideas that are part of the University’s master plan, created by New York architect and planner Frances Halsband. see UCS, page 4

TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Alexandra Toumanoff ’06 says John Kerry changes positions faster than Ron Jeremy column, page 11

See how the Bears are gearing up for the season and what future the fall has in store sports extra

wind high 71 low 60

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THIS MORNING THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2003 · PAGE 2 Coup de Grace Grace Farris

W E AT H E R THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

High 71 Low 60 wind

High 73 Low 67 rain

High 76 Low 53 t-storms

High 72 Low 55 partly cloudy GRAPHICS BY TED WU

Three Words Eddie Ahn

MENU THE RATTY LUNCH — Vegetarian Corn Chowder, Chicken Vegetable Soup, BLT Sandwich, Pasta Primavera, Apple Pie.

V-DUB LUNCH — Vegetarian Cream of Mushroom Soup, Chicken Soup with Tortellini, Sloppy Joe Sandwich, Lemon Bars.

DINNER — Vegetarian Corn Chowder, Chicken Vegetable Soup, Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Sauce, Southern Fried Chicken, Chocolate Cherry Upside Down Cake, Apple Pie.

DINNER — Vegetarian Cream of Mushroom Soup, Chicken Soup with Tortellini, BBQ Chicken, Vegan Vegetable & Tempeh Saute, Sourdough Bread, Apple Pie.

Greg and Todd’s So-so Comic Greg Shilling and Todd Goldstein

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Foresight 7 Very descriptive 14 Completely 15 Portable cooker 16 The oldfashioned way to make money, in an old ad 17 Outspokenly 18 Is omniscient 20 __ about 21 Copy 22 Symbol of smoothness 25 Actor Kilmer 27 Thick soup 31 1986 baseball champs, familiarly 33 Cooperstown’s lake 34 Simpson trial judge 35 Ticked off 36 1-, 7-, 67- and 68-Across? 39 “Hunting Season” author Nevada 42 Chain letters? 43 Small space in connective tissue 47 Bad-mouthed publicly 49 Endless 50 Loser to DDE 51 Name on a WWII bomber 53 Letter from Greece 54 Former Virginia senator 56 That much and maybe more 60 Overwhelm, as work 63 Very cold 65 Hockey wear 66 Frank 67 Indoor rollers 68 Ranges of effectiveness

DOWN 1 Compete 2 Stuck 3 Urban ways 4 Actress Skye 5 Elevator man 6 “That’s __ bad idea” 7 Geometric suffix 8 ACLU concerns 9 Put next to 10 Intention 11 Invited for dinner, say 12 Come again? 13 These, to Héloise 15 Knoll 19 More than med. 21 Mil. address 23 ABA member 24 Buy from 26 ’60s hallucinogen 28 Aquarium sight 29 See 30-Down 30 With 29-Down, flourishing period 32 Cheapskate 34 Call __ day 37 Spore beginning

xwordeditor@aol.com

38 Palindromic preposition 39 Org. with Cubs and Eagles 40 Paul Simon song 41 Fixes shoes, in a way 44 Basic dance 45 Crisscross gate 46 Like 48 Upbraid

Hopeless Edwin Chang

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My Best Effort Andy Hull and William Newman

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: C E D E B E S S I E A M S O X N A R D P O P A Q U A I N E P U S S Y W I L L O W R A T T A I L A N I M A T E W E E B S N O R E D I T E D R S A W I R E S E D A N P E A A H S S E R F E E D S T H E K I T T Y B O P H U M Y M A O R I O N B A D P O R E S S E S E E N T L E S S E R V A L A N C E S H O U T A T T H E C A T S M E O W H A D L A T I N A O G R E O N E E L E V E N S E E D I D S

49 “Dig in!” 52 Kent’s partner 55 Superior 57 Youngsters 58 Idle in comedy 59 Phobia prefix 60 Photo 61 Links number 62 NBA tiebreakers 64 Mint output: Abbr.

Jero Matt Vascellaro

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RISD NEWS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2003 · PAGE 3

RISD Nads want some credit; Jockstraps offer added support BY ZOE RIPPLE

Their honorary coach is in jail, their cheerleaders are called the Jockstraps and they didn’t win a single game last year. Still, the RISD Nads want to be taken seriously. The 25 returning and hopeful members of RISD’s ice hockey team, founded in 1963, met Tuesday night to discuss the upcoming season. Despite a no-win season last year, team Captain Brian Chesky RISD ’04 said this year would be different. “Last year we played for fun, and that wasn’t very fun,” Chesky said. “We’re playing to win now.” Because he wants a winning season, Chesky said players will be held to a higher standard of attendance and commitment than in the past. “We have a much better team this year than we did last year,” Assistant Captain Noah Breuer RISD ’04 said to the group assembled in RISD’s Tap Room. “We’re going to play to win.” Such emphasis on winning shows a general trend in RISD sports. RISD sports are “growing,” said Brian McNeils RISD ’05, a member of the team for two years. “There are a lot of talented athletes here who take it very seriously,” said Aimee Butterfield RISD ’06, who has played for a year on the intramural team. The Nads have both intramural and club teams composed of RISD and Brown students. Being one of the only women on the team can be “intimidating,” Butterfield said. But she said playing for the Nads has been “interesting and fun.” Aspiring members of the cheerleading team — called the “Jockstraps” because “they support the Nads,” according to squad hopeful Vilija Pakalniskis RISD ’07 — were also in attendance. “It’s a funny idea, art students as cheerleaders,” said Caroline May RISD ’07, another aspiring cheerleader. The Nads practice and play on Brown’s ice in Meehan Auditorium. This year, they will play on Saturday nights, directly after Brown hockey games. Chesky said he hopes the scheduling change will translate into more people at games. The Nads play the final game of each season at the Providence Civic Center, an

arrangement provided by former Providence Mayor Vincent Cianci, who served as the team’s honorary coach. Scott Quigley ’05 said he plans on playing for the Nads this year. “They’re a fun bunch of guys,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to play hockey.” Also at the meeting was Bob St. Aubin RISD ’04, who acts as the team’s mascot — a six-foot tall penis of foam and latex named Scrotie. Despite the mascot, Chesky said, “We used to be a joke, but now we are … like a respectable junior varsity team.” The team purchased official uniforms in 2000 and is currently looking for a coach. The Nads are RISD’s largest student-run organization and recently acquired their own space at the RISD store to sell merchandise, Chesky said. Herald staff writer Zoe Ripple ’05 can be reached at zripple@browndailyherald.com.

Brown & RISD formalize College Hill relationship BY LOUIS TEE

Neighbors Brown and RISD will soon share more than College Hill — they will collaborate on programs and interdisciplinary centers. A formal Brown-RISD collaboration committee — to be appointed midsemester — will implement plans to create two new inter-institutional academic centers and a new interfaculty program. In the past, interactions between the two institutions have been informal and limited to the cross-registration of students. The Committee for InterInstitutional Collaboration aims to formalize and expand the working relationship. “In many ways it is pioneering,” said RISD Associate Professor and Head of Art Education Paul Sproll, who co-chaired the meetings that devised the plans in March. “It opens up the relationship

between RISD and Brown.” Scholl said the schools plan to create a center that integrates art and the sciences, an urban design center focusing on Providence and a multidisciplinary program called Arts in the Public Sphere. Brown Associate Professor of Music Todd Winkler and RISD Professor and Head of Digital Media Bill Seaman are working closely to steer the Center for Emergent Arts, Design and Science, Scholl said. Through the center they plan to initiate an Emergent Arts graduate program that will expand from the Digital Media program at RISD. The center will also hold international exhibitions, a concert series and symposiums, Seaman said. “It’s easy to see how arts, science and engineering can work together to do see RISD, page 4

FACES OF RISD: a series of profiles of randomly selected RISD students

Errickson RISD ’06 one of only 20 glass concentrators BY NICK NEELY

Tyler Errickson RISD ’06 is building his life around a course he took at a community college several years ago — glass blowing. Before entering RISD, the 21-yearold transfer student from York, Penn., interned for a professional glass blower, a RISD grad. One of about 20 undergraduate glass concentrators, Errickson refines glass techniques in class 20 hours a week and said he spends even more time in the studio working on personal projects. His vases and sculptures are spectacularly colored, mottled, streaked, Photo courtesy of Tyler Errickson

see PROFILE, page 9

Tyler Errickson ’06 interned for a professional glass blower before transferring to RISD.

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2002

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interface research and to create new expressive vehicles,” said Seaman, an artist who received his doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. RISD’s Architecture Department is spearheading the Providence Center for Urban Design and Innovation, which aspires to work with the local government to revitalize the city’s waterfront and housing. It aims to be a powerful participant in the city’s policy development. The urban design center will hold public lectures on urban redevelopment next fall. Brown’s Public Education and RISD’s Art Education Master of Arts graduate programs will be melded to form a new focusing on art in the public sphere. The program will study historical preservation, the performing arts and strategies to draw the public to art, according to the report produced in the March meetings. Students of the Arts in the Public Sphere program will use the gold-domed Old Stone Bank building in downtown Providence to stage exhibitions. Although no official timeline exists for the initiatives, all these plans will gain momentum once the CIC is created later this semester, Sproll said. “The committee is really the support mechanism to the collaboration,” he said. Brown Assistant Provost Brian Casey and RISD Associate Provost Jay Coogan have been chosen to join the 12-member panel. The other 10 members will be faculty members from the two institutions. The CIC will be finalized mid-term, when the team will work to bring the proposals to fruition.

“Brown students need a more centralized space,” Abramoff said. “They need a place where they can study, go to a practice room, interact with other students and groups.” Smilowitz told The Herald that campus integration can be improved by easing travel across campus. “There are so many ways to make the campus more connected,” Smilowitz said. “For example, students would benefit from a walkway connecting Pembroke campus with main campus.” Roth said in his address to the Council that he sees the task force as an influential tool in pushing the construction of a concert hall large enough to accommodate the student body. “That students should be denied entry to world-renowned speakers because of a lack of sufficient seating is unacceptable,” he said. “That most of us strained to hear Toni Morrison because of excessive reverb at Simmons’ own inauguration is unacceptable.” Having more undergraduates will balance the many interests on the task force, between facul-

CHNA continued from page 1 seven years — said he does not think noise levels and Brown student behavior are pressing problems. “At the board meetings, our biggest concerns are motorcycle noise and expansion of institutional buildings into the neighborhood,” he said. And like many other residents, Bishop said he finds living near students enjoyable. “As much as people are com-

ty, staff, students and administration, Kurji told The Herald. The task force submits its renovation and improvement ideas to the Corporation in February. The Council also announced election results for UCS at-large representatives, who are full voting members of the Council but are not beholden to a specific student class. New members include Justin Sanders ’04 who lost to Kurji in last spring’s UCS election, Brian Bidadi ’06, Natalie Schmid ’06, Joel Payne ’05 and Vijay Malik ’05. Schmid and Sarah SaxtonFrump ’07, a first-year representative, were elected to the Campus Crime Committee by the Council. The committee discusses public safety issues and reviews crime reports. Bidadi also became a member of the Committee on Accessibility, founded by recently hired Coordinator for Disability Support Services Catherine Axe. Council members motioned to make the Linux Users Group a Category II organization, receiving $90 a semester to fund free Linux program installation on campus. The council also granted Word, a spoken word and slam poetry group, an increase in funding to more than $90 a semester to bring high profile artists to Brown.

plaining, this neighborhood is more popular than ever,” he said. But not all landlords share Bishop’s perspective. Ronald Dwight ’66 rents apartments to visiting professors and graduate students, but he said he refuses to rent to undergrads. Dwight lives across the street from RISD students, who he said drive him to report noise complaints so often that police officers recognize his voice. “Students don’t have the right to throw huge parties just because they have an apartment,” Dwight said, referring to a Providence law that requires a

permit for parties including more than 40 people. Dwight also complained about trespassers in Prospect Terrace, the park where the CHNA meeting was held. Although the park officially closes at 9 p.m., he said students stay at the park until the early hours of the morning setting off firecrackers and engaging in other illegal activities. “We have to work for a living, which means we have to sleep at night,” Dwight said. No Brown students attended the meeting, which was open to all College Hill residents.

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“It’s a wonderful day and seems like a great opportunity for students to see some local flavor,” he said. “There’s a personal touch to it. It’s honest — I like that.” Cory estimated he sold 120 jars of jams and salsa over the four hours he displayed his goods. Jam sold better than he said he had anticipated. “The jam really flew off the shelf,” Cory said. Gil Barden of Barden Family Orchards came to Wriston with over 800 pounds of apples and peaches. He estimated he sold around 500 pounds during the four-hour span. “We would love to come back again,” Barden said. Dunleavy anticipates a continuation of the Community Harvest Program with a cornshucking contest later in the fall. In the meantime, she said, students can participate daily by consuming goods in the dining halls that are marked with a carrot, indicating the ingredients are locally grown. “We should definitely have this every week,” said Jamie Relth ’06.

And she is also “panhandling for reparations” in Portland, a city she said is the whitest per capita city of its size in the United States. Her performance art project involves filming herself as she sits in a public area — she recently tried the parking lot of the department store Nordstrom — holding a sign and asking passers-by to contribute to a reparations fund. “I’m whittling it down to a very street-level conversation, which I think is a part of what needs to happen with the reparations debate,” ayo said. “I like that because it really pisses people off. People are like, ‘How much do you want?’ And I’m sitting there going, ‘I don’t know. I just know that my great-great-grandfather worked a whole bunch and didn’t get paid and, if he had, I would be like, not struggling for my living right now. I’d have some money in the bank.’” Despite her recent fascination with all things race-related, ayo said she plans to launch an Internet piece that will call attention to a different type of discrimination — sexism. “It will deal with issues of women and pornography, but I won’t say more than that,” she said. With both skepticism and rave reviews heading her way, ayo has not forgotten her alma mater. “I’ve been thinking about Brown lately,” she said. “It was really fun. I was really politically active. I think Brown needs to strengthen its commitment to diversity, which I saw suffer when I was there because of economic reasons. I really think the new president is a gift to Brown.” Herald senior staff writer Dana Goldstein ’06 can be reached at dgoldstein@browndailyherald.com.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

CAMPUS NEWS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2003 · PAGE 5

U. researchers revolutionize brain/machine interface Findings could aid paraplegics and prevent epileptic seizures BY GABRIELLA DOOB

Imagine a robot that could do your laundry. Now imagine a robot that could receive signals directly from your brain and would know exactly when and how you wanted the laundry done without you having to utter a single syllable. For a team of researchers at Brown, this kind of brain/machine interface is no longer a fantasy for the future but a developing technological reality that promises to aid those who cannot perform certain physical tasks themselves. And it’s coming sooner than you might expect. A device that could one day do everything from helping paraplegics do their laundry to preventing epileptic seizures is only a year or so away from preliminary testing on humans, once it is approved by the FDA. Brown’s research team, in cooperation with several other research and biotechnical institutions around the world, has been at the forefront of seminal study in the field of translational research — research that seeks to find the most direct line from thought to action. The team has focused on combining knowledge in neuroscience and technology to develop a “neural interface device” that would extract information about movement directly from electrical signals in the brain. To accomplish this formidable task, Brown researchers observed monkeys playing computer games. After having the neural interface devices implanted in their brains, the animals were able to control keyboard and cursor functions with their thoughts. Once they realized they didn’t have to move the mouse to produce the on-screen movements, the monkeys were content

using their thoughts alone to operate the computer controls. The device will likely have wide-ranging medical applications, including allowing paralyzed people to operate computers, said John Donoghue, a professor in neuroscience and a senior researcher on the project. In turn, the computer would become their link to other devices. Donoghue, who also chairs the department, predicts the development of a comsee RESEARCH, page 9

Serruya ’96 named one of world’s top 100 scientific innovators BY SARAH LABRIE

Mijail Serruya ’96 is a full-time student with the Brown Medical School. He’s also at the center of cutting edge neurological research and was recently named one of the world’s top 100 scientific innovators. His research at Brown as first a neuroscience major and then as a medical/doctorate student led him to develop a product that could give patients paralyzed by disease a method of communicating using a signal controlled by thought. His work earned him a place among the Massachusetts

Sara Perkins / Herald

Institute of Technology’s Technology Review’s list of the top 100 young innovators worldwide. Serruya received his doctorate from Brown in 1999. In 2001 Serruya and his advisor Professor of Neuroscience John Donoghue, along with a team of other Brown researchers and faculty members, formed Cyberkinetics, a research company devoted to finding modes of communication for severely paralyzed patients. The company is centered around the development of the Braingate Neural Interface Device, a sensor that would connect physically disabled patients to a PC, which they would then control using connections between neurons in the brain. “He’s very dogged,” said Cyberkinetics president Timothy Surgenor, who became head of the company in January, when he began working with Serruya. “He’s always pushing forward.” Serruya’s work at Cyberkinetics is part of the reason he will find himself honored with 99 other scientists under 35 from across the world at MIT’s Emerging Technologies Conference at the end of September. The other award-winners hail from a wide range of fields, including computer technology, transportation and telecommunications. Past TR100 winners include Lou Montulli, a co-founder of Netscape, and Shawn Fanning of Napster fame. Serruya’s position “at the interface between lab and clinic” contributed to his being selected for this honor. “Because I am a medical student, I have the opportunity to interview patients

BIKE ME: A fence doubles as a bike rack on the Brown campus. see SERRUYA, page 9

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WORLD & NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2003 · PAGE 7

Coffee-addicted city won’t swallow espresso tax SEATTLE (Washington Post) —

The tax seemed perfectly brewed for a city addicted to latte and liberalism — at least to those who managed to get it on the ballot. Voters here were asked to tax espresso drinks for the sake of children. Ten cents more per cup for expanded preschool programs, tax supporters had reasoned, would be noble and barely noticeable. After all, these are citizens who, without a trace of selfconsciousness and rarely a complaint about price, will bustle into a Starbucks (the world headquarters is here), order a triple tall non-fat decaf vanilla cappuccino and pay nearly $4. Seattle, too, has a progressive tradition of taxing itself to clean up lakes and build low-income housing and mass transit. Good intentions, though, were crushed Tuesday by caffeinated reality. Voters resoundingly rejected the tax, 32 percent for to 68 percent against. “Latte tax creamed,” shouted the headline on the top of

the Seattle Times. The paper sold briskly this morning in the city’scoffee shops as espresso grinders hummed, steam machines yowled and coffee drinkers said they were pleased that their hometown had the sense to see the tax for what they believed it was. “A bad idea. I voted against it and I work in the schools,” said Joe Emminger as he waited for a latte in a Tully’s coffee shop on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. He is a teacher’s assistant who works with special-education children. “If this tax had passed, it would have opened the floodgates for taxes on all kinds of stuff,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong. We need more money in the schools, but I think it is the duty of the legislature to get off its butt and come up with the dough.” The business establishment here, with Starbucks pitching in about $50,000, paid for a campaign called Joined in Opposition to the Latte Tax. JOLT poked fun at the tax, even as it praised the idea of spending more on lowincome, preschool children.

ganwyn sez: goin’ to the chapel

Clark enters presidential race LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Washington Post)

— Retired four-star Gen. Wesley Clark Wednesday announced his candidacy for president, promising an optimistic but strong challenge to President Bush’s leadership “in the highest sense of patriotism.” In a relatively short speech bereft of any policy specifics, Clark, 58, vowed to “hold this administration accountable” for the 2.7 millions jobs lost under Bush’s tenure, the ballooning budget deficits and the loss of respect for the United States by “so many people around the world.” “We are firm in our intent, we are clear in our purpose, we are mustering the resources, building the nucleus, drawing in the support of people from all across this land,” Clark said at a boys and girls club here. “We are on our way and moving forward.” Clark, the former NATO commander in Kosovo, enters the wide-open race as a wild card with huge potential but scant political training. His announcement speech was choppy and lacked rhetorical flourish. Clark also did not outline his views on any of the most pressing domestic concerns, such as health coverage for the uninsured and tax cuts, two issues many Democratic

voters care most about, according to polls. Clark promised major addresses on the economy and national security in the weeks ahead. Until Clark hits the campaign trails to get poked and prodded by party activists and the national media, it’s impossible to project how he’ll shake up the race. At the very least he offers something many Democrats crave: a fresh face with the potential to defeat Bush. Donna Brazile, who managed Al Gore 2000 presidential campaign, said that “it’s the perfect time to get in” because many Democrats are still looking for a candidate they think can unify the party and beat Bush. “It all depends how he comes out of the box,” she said. “Do Americans see him as a leader? Do they see him as a man with ideas?” While some Republicans worry Clark could pose problems for Bush, Christine Iverson, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said the retired general’s candidacy only “means more noise, more discord and more Democrat versus Democrat disagreement on Iraq policy, taxes, trade and other issues.” In the early stages of his campaign, Clark will rely heavily on

veterans of the Clinton-Gore years and his own resume, which he laid out in his maiden speech. He was first in his class at West Point, a decorated Vietnam veteran, army general and head of the NATO mission in Kosovo. “From West Point to Vietnam, 34 years in the United States Army, through war in the Balkans, back to Little Rock for business, I am proud to have made that journey, proud to have served my country in uniform,” Clark said. “Now we are talking about a new journey.” History suggests it could be a difficult one.” Dwight Eisenhower is the last general to win the White House, and he was much more widely known back then than Clark is today. But Clark’s adviser believe the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and the military operation in Iraq have elevated national security so high on the minds of voters that the time is ripe for military leader to win the presidency again. At the very least, Clark’s advisers believe the retired general could neutralize Bush on national security and focus the fight on domestic policy. It might be several weeks before Democratic voters get a taste of Clark’s so far undefined domestic thinking.

PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2002

NYSE Chairman Grasso resigns NEW YORK (L.A. Times) — New York

Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso resigned Wednesday, unable to withstand the uproar over a $140 million pay package that critics said made him look more like a symbol of Wall Street greed than one of the world’s most important financial regulators. NYSE directors, in an emergency board meeting convened 15 minutes after the stock market closed for the day, requested, received and accepted Grasso’s resignation, climaxing an increasingly bitter, three-week flap that market professionals said was tarnishing the Big Board’s reputation and becoming a major distraction from its business. The board asked NYSE director Larry W. Sonsini, a prominent Silicon Valley business lawyer, to serve as interim chairman and chief executive and was awaiting his response late Wednesday. However, the directors made it clear that the appointment was a stopgap, simultaneously naming a search committee to find a permanent successor for Grasso. Some critics said the 27-member board, which includes the heads of Wall Street’s largest securities firms and several top corporate chieftans, was at least as much to blame for the controversy as Grasso. The directors, after all, approved Grasso’s employment contracts and should have known what was in them, the critics said. “This is just one step. We have a ways to go,” said Francis P. Maglio, a recently retired 30-year veteran of the NYSE trading floor who still owns two membership seats. He said at least some directors should step down. Maglio said it was hypocritical of the board to handle Grasso’s pay “without the transparency and accountability that they demand” of companies whose stock trades on the NYSE, the world’s largest stock exchange. His comments echoed the criticism that has hounded Grasso since his outsized pay package was detailed in late August. One of the NYSE’s roles is to draw up rules of corporate behavior for its member companies — and Grasso’s compensation and the secrecy with which it was arrived at appeared to fly in the face of those rules. Grasso, 57, with a workingclass Queens upbringing and without a college degree, became the first Big Board chief to rise through the ranks rather than be plucked from an executive slot in government or a big brokerage firm. He joined the NYSE as a clerk in 1968 and never worked anywhere else. “Throughout my career and on behalf of all Exchange constituents, I have worked with great partners to build and enhance the value and brand of the NYSE,” Grasso said in a statement after the meeting. “I look forward to supporting the board and the Exchange in bringing about a smooth transition to a successor. I believe this course is in the best interests of both the Exchange and myself.” The tipping point in Grasso’s downfall apparently came Tuesday, when a growing Wall

Street chorus calling for his resignation was joined by California State Treasurer Phil Angelides, the heads of California’s two largest public pension funds and New York State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi, trustee of New York’s public pension fund. Together, the four influence the investment of $345 billion in state employees’ retirement funds and thus are among the NYSE’s largest customers. Angelides on Wednesday called on Grasso and the Exchange to voluntarily give back some of his past wages so that his total compensation package would look “rational.” “Our free enterprise system is built on the notion of entrepreneurs taking risk and earning wealth,” Angelides said. “But in recent years, we’ve seen an elite class that felt it had an entitlement to riches, without taking risk.” The flap even attracted the attention of Democratic presidential candidates. Senators Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and John Edwards of North Carolina both called for Grasso’s resignation Wednesday, and Edwards recommended that the whole board be replaced. As the pressure mounted, Grasso at midday Wednesday called on his board to hold a special meeting on Sept. 24 to discuss new corporate-governance recommendations that it was preparing to submit to the Securities and Exchange Commission. But the board decided it couldn’t wait a week and scheduled the emergency session for 4:15 p.m. The vote to seek Grasso’s resignation was 137. The directors pushing to replace Grasso, according to people familiar with the discussions, included William B. Harrison Jr., chairman of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.; Henry M. Paulson Jr., chairman of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and John J. Mack, chairman of Credit Suisse First Boston. As members of Wall Street’s elite, they had prospered along with the NYSE during the 1990s bull market and supported Grasso’s chairmanship. But facing a near revolt on the trading floor, they finally bowed to the inevitable, several market professionals said. “If you took the temperature of the floor community as this thing dragged on, each day the sentiment got more negative and the pressure for change became just overwhelming,” said trader Ted Weisberg of Seaport Securities. The anger against Grasso and the board went beyond the size of his pay packages, although there certainly was resentment that he was taking $139.5 million in deferred salary and pension benefits in a lump sum. Grasso’s resignation came two years to the day after his greatest triumph: the dramatic reopening of the stock exchange after the World Trade Center terror attacks. But even that career pinnacle was stained in recent days by the surprise disclosure that Grasso had received a $5 million bonus for his performance in the aftermath of 9/11.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2003 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9

Serruya continued from page 5 and doctors,” he said. As a neuroscientist he can then use the information he gains at the hospital to facilitate research and development of instruments that improve the lives of his patients. Cyberkinetics was founded largely to further the creation of the Braingate, which is now being tested to meet FDA approval standards, the first step toward its eventual use in humans. Last year Serruya worked full time at the company. This year, he is a fully enrolled medical student at Brown, though he returns to Cyberkinetics once a week as a consultant. Serruya’s work is being further developed by people like Dan Morriss, an engineer at the company. Morriss is currently working on what he calls “the next generation” of Serruya’s project. His job involves reengineering the software that controls the brain implant to make it safe and effective in human patients. Although Serruya is proud to have been selected as one of the conference’s honorees, his main focus remains on the benefits his work will bring to patients. “This is for the people that are disabled,” Serruya said. “At the end of the day, it’s really about the people you’re helping.” Serruya’s medical school experience brings him into contact daily with paraplegics, victims of Parkinson’s disease and patients with spinal cord

injuries. Many of these people retain the mental facilities of a normal person but are unable to control physical functions or communicate with the outside world. They are trapped in their bodies with no way to issue commands or make themselves heard, he said. Although some modern advances in the field have created modes of communication controlled by very slight movements of which some victims are still capable, such as blinking or small finger movements, Serruya said he hopes his product will allow paralyzed patients to communicate easily and instantaneously using only neural connections. “He’s full of energy and very bright,” Surgenor said. “He has a real vision.”

Profile continued from page 3 curved and biomorphic. Though he has yet to discover his niche in glass blowing, Errickson said natural forms and patterns, as well as tribal design, significantly influence his work. His artistic vision is evident in his beautiful jellyfish beads — small orbs encapsulating a striking glass representation of a jellyfish. Deceptively realistic and ethereal when lit, they grace the cashier display case in Thayer Street’s Beadworks, illuminating another great aspect of Errickson’s education — his school work is lucrative.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD lecture series presents “I Used to Be a Committee: Standards and Values at The New York Times” Allan Siegal, Standards Editor and Asst. Managing Editor talks about Talks about post- Jayson Blair fallout at the Times October 4

Research continued from page 5 puter connected to a semiautonomous robot that could undertake ordinary tasks of everyday life. Eventually, the same technology could lead to the creation of a device that detects an imminent epileptic seizure and sends an alarm. This new tool would allow epileptics to pursue normal activities without the fear of a fatal seizure. Donoghue said such a device might be able to not only sense the approach of a seizure, but prevent it as well, without the user even being aware of the interference. Despite the benefits, there are

His artistic vision is evident in his beautiful jellyfish beads — small orbs encapsulating a striking glass representation of a jellyfish. And he said he’s happy RISD asks for only one year of foundation studies — so he can focus “on producing more artwork. I’m here to meet new people and socialize, but my first priority is to work and learn.”

The same technology could lead to the creation of a device that detects an imminent epileptic seizure. risks and obstacles involved — the device may be too fragile or could stop working over time as the body recognizes the foreign agent and encapsulates it with scar tissue. There is also a risk of infection after the device is implanted. For now, a wire must pass directly from the brain, through skin and into the computer. The ultimate goal is a completely implanted device.

Donoghue stressed that some progress has been made in ironing out the issues. The infection rate in animals has proved to be low. The implant could be no more dangerous than deep brain stimulators and neural pacemakers, which have been safe to use and effective despite similar fears surrounding their use, he said. While the device undergoes further refinement, Brown continues to be a leader in neurorobotics. Donoghue and three other Brown researchers formed the company Cyberkinetics to develop the electrodes which are the foundation of the device and to further clinical trials, raising $9.3 million as a part of their efforts. Donoghue said Brown must strike a delicate balance between commercial and academic concerns.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

EDITORIAL/LETTERS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2003 · PAGE 10 S T A F F

E D I T O R I A L

Keeping it fresh Students off meal plan have plenty of dining options. On Thayer Street alone, they can choose from some 10 varieties of french fries and a dozen kinds of pastries. But for those looking for something not fried, frozen or frosted, the pickings are slim. The processed-food nourished among us finally got a break from HandiSnacks and Diet Coke on Wednesday with the addition of an outdoor Farmers Market to Wriston Quad. Set up as part of Brown University Dining Services’ Community Harvest Program, the market offered everything from tasty apples and jams to freshlycut sunflowers and bouquets. Not everyone has regular transportation to East Side Market or Whole Foods, leaving many students off meal plan to fend for themselves among the wilted produce in Store 24. Although today’s Farmers Market was a welcome visitor to campus, it would be even better as a weekly fixture. Instead of bumming a ride off friends or settling for a vitamin-starved diet, students could make regular trips to the market and stock up on fruits, veggies and preserves for the coming week. While they were improving their diets, students would also be supporting local farmers and small-time agriculture in Rhode Island. Providing all students with fresh produce may not be the most pressing item on the University’s agenda, but creating more opportunities for the Farmers Market to come to campus would be mutually beneficial for both students and local farmers. BUDS will be soliciting feedback on its Web site about the program, and students should take the time to give their input. Hopefully, the Farmers Market will eventually become a staple on campus. In the meantime, we’re looking forward to the cornshucking contest.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD EDITORIAL Elena Lesley, Editor-in-Chief Brian Baskin, Executive Editor Zachary Frechette, Executive Editor Kerry Miller, Executive Editor Kavita Mishra, Senior Editor Rachel Aviv, Arts & Culture Editor Jen Sopchockchai, Asst. Arts & Culture Editor Carla Blumenkranz, Campus Watch Editor Juliette Wallack, Metro Editor Philissa Cramer, RISD News Editor Jonathan Skolnick, Opinions Editor Jonathan Meachin, Sports Editor Maggie Haskins, Sports Editor

BUSINESS Jamie Wolosky, General Manager Joe Laganas, Executive Manager Joshua Miller, Executive Manager Anastasia Ali, Project Manager Jack Carrere, Project Manager Lawrence L.Hester IV, Project Manager Bill Louis, Project Manager Zoe Ripple, Project Manager Peter Schermerhorn, Local Accounts Manager Elias Roman, Local Accounts Manager Laurie-Ann Paliotti, Sr. Advertising Rep. Elyse Major, Advertising Rep. Kate Sparaco, Office Manager

PRODUCTION Zachary Frechette, Chief Technology Officer Marc Debush, Copy Desk Chief Yafang Deng, Copy Desk Chief Grace Farris, Graphics Editor Andrew Sheets, Graphics Editor Sara Perkins, Photo Editor

P O S T- M A G A Z I N E Alex Carnevale, Editor-in-Chief Dan Poulson, Executive Editor Morgan Clendaniel, Senior Editor Theo Schell-Lambert, Senior Editor Micah Salkind, Features Editor Ellen Wernecke, Features Editor Abigail Newman, Theater Editor Doug Fretty, Film Editor Jason Ng, Music Editor Colin Hartnett, Design Editor

SHANE WILKERSON

LETTERS

W rite

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Ricardo Bofill, Night Editor Marc Debush, Katie Lamm, Copy Editor Senior Staff Writers Zach Barter, Danielle Cerny, Dana Goldstein, Lisa Mandle, Monique Meneses, Joanne Park, Meryl Rothstein, Ellen Wernecke Staff Writers Kathy Babcock, Hannah Bascom, Carla Blumenkranz, Philissa Cramer, Ian Cropp, Jonathan Ellis, Stephanie Harris, Hanyen Lee, Julian Leichty, Allison Lombardo, Jonathan Meachin, Sara Perkins, Melissa Perlman, Eric Perlmutter, Cassie Ramirez, Lily Rayman-Read, Zoe Ripple, Emir Senturk, Jen Sopchockchai, Adam Stern, Stefan Talman, Joshua Troy, Schuyler von Oeyen, Juliette Wallack, Jessica Weisberg, Brett Zarda, Julia Zuckerman Accounts Managers Laird Bennion, Eugen Clifton Cha, In Young Park, Jane C. Urban, Sophie Waskow, Justin Wong, Christopher Yu Pagination Staff Lisa Mandle, Alex Palmer Photo Staff Marissa Hauptman, Nick Mark, Alex Palmer, Cassie Ramirez Copy Editors Emily Brill, George Haws, Katie Lamm

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OPINIONS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2003 · PAGE 11

Kerry, Kerry, quite contrary, how does your garden grow? John Kerry’s constant equivocations are his greatest weakness as a candidate IT IS A SORRY TIME FOR POLITICIANS. manipulative campaign of an aspiring Between the ongoing problem in Iraq, the politician has worn itself threadbare. $6 trillion deficit, problems with intelli- Americans tire of mudslinging and lying gence and credibility and an ever more garbage bag politicians. We want a leader distrustful American public, it’s hard to be who will guide America, with the wind a fence sitter. Poor Senator Kerry is having blowing in her sails, to the crest of economic stability and to the secuquite a time of it. rity we didn’t even know we revThe Democratic senator eled in before Sept. 11. Of from Massachusetts and course, some may think this is presidential hopeful is tryabout as possible as say, taking a ing to play all the games that sponge and wiping al-Qaida worked in the past, flinging from the face of the earth. dung at the incumbent presNevertheless, terrorism and our ident and emphasizing his attempts to quash it have shakown military background. en America’s superpower status, He even announced his bid and we are stumbling in the for the presidency in front of eyes of our people and the an aircraft carrier, and if that ALEXANDRA world. The people crave sincerisn’t a top-notch publicity TOUMANOFF ity and humble pie, not politistunt, then I don’t know WHAT’S A GIRL cians spouting promises as what is. Yet, his poll numGOTTA DO? filled with empty calories as bers are dropping like a cream puffs. We seem to haveFahrenheit thermometer in unconsciously agreed on one a New Hampshire winter. At the same time, in California, Ahhhnold, thing: Overt political games of cat and who has never held public office and mouse do not just divert attention, they whose military background consists of turn our stomachs. Politics are not the same since Iraq, and saving a fictitious colony on Mars, is strong in the polls. What is wrong with they cannot be played the same. John Kerry’s initials may be JFK, but he is no this picture? Where is Waldo? It seems that in the face of national prince of politics. Kerry’s problem is he is hardship and tragedy, the traditional running for office at a time when we need a dynamic hero, someone who will take a stand on issues and say, “This is what I Alexandra Toumanoff ‘06 is still not running think, and this is what I am going to do about it.” Kerry seems content to bash the for California governor.

president and backtrack, making his every “policy” sound like a halfway house between the more definitive statements of President Bush and Howard Dean. On the subject of Iraq, Kerry waxes equivocal, not surprisingly. After having voted in favor of the congressional resolution that authorized the president to use American armed forces “to defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq,” Kerry finds himself between a rock and a hard place. Despite his vote, he cannot exactly support the war on terrorism, as that would be a suspiciously Republican thing to do, and he has to be a hardcore Democrat. On the other hand, he can’t completely bash the war, either, because his main opponent, Howard Dean, has been against Iraq from the first and very public about it. Kerry’s solution? He goes for a drive down the center divider. He “still doesn’t take back his vote,” but criticizes Bush for “rushing to war.” You can’t have your vote and eat it, too, Senator. When it comes to the subject of tax cuts, Kerry again wobbles between Bush and Dean like a monkey-in-the-middle. Dean favors repealing all of Bush’s tax cuts, while Bush stands by them. As the tightrope walker in the prevaricating circus, Kerry says he wants to repeal some tax cuts but not all and “protect the middle class tax cut,” his feeble attempt at being definitive. Actually, the only thing Kerry is definitive about is the fact that he is almost never

definitive. Just when you think it might kill Kerry to express a well thought-out opinion on something, he does. And actually, the opinion itself isn’t bad. It’s what he follows it up with that stinks. He says, “It is inexcusable that this president did not do the planning that was necessary to know we had to secure a nuclear facility, that we had to secure Baghdad, that we needed to be training police, that we needed to restore the facilities in Iraq. So I’m running because I’m angry at the mismanagement of how we worked with our colleagues in the world and how we, in fact, have conducted the war.” Please. The first part of that about Iraq, before Kerry started tooting his own horn, was respectable. But he should have quit while he was ahead. There is no way Kerry is running for President because he is “angry at the mismanagement of how we worked with our colleagues in the world.” He was campaigning and drooling over the presidency before we ever even landed in Kuwait. No, Kerry is running for president because he wants to be president. The situation in Iraq just happens to be taking place at the same time. It is no surprise presidential hopeful John Kerry has to turn every statement into an opportunity for equivocation and selfpromotion, playing on the heartstrings of national tragedy in order to get votes. The insulting thing is he thinks we can’t smell it.

Setting the record straight on Iraq The antiwar rhetoric of liberals is often contrary to the reality on the ground DURING THE LONG RUN-UP TO GULF or defeatist paranoia at every misfortune, War II, the vast majority of antiwar argu- all of these popular fallacies are comments took the form either of unconvinc- pletely unconstructive vis-a-vis the curing national-interest asides (John Kerry) or rent reality of an American occupation of passionately anti-American, “internation- Iraq: Bush lied. There are no weapons of alist” screeds (Dennis Kucinich). Many mass destruction. Whether or Democrats have proven adept not the latter part of that stateat keeping one foot in both of CHRISTOPHER ment turns out to be true these camps, depending on MCAULIFFE remains to be seen. The first which audience they happen GUEST COLUMNIST part is, quite simply, inane. As to be addressing (Howard Bill Clinton himself recently Dean). However, most of the pointed out, amidst all of our antiwar rhetoric on the national political scene, as well as at prewar uncertainty, we did know, firstly, Brown, seems to be driven primarily by a that Hussein had shown an apparently unquenchable thirst throughout the 1990s powerful dislike of President Bush. After all, let’s face it: The arguments of to acquire these weapons. Secondly, we the antiwar left are about as fluid as the know he retained these weapons until at situation in Iraq itself. Before the out- least 1998 when the U.N. inspectors left. break of hostilities, we were supposed to Finally, we know that even after Hussein expect massive American and Iraqi casu- was given his last chance to avoid destrucalties, chemical poisons raining down tion, he lied and equivocated about the upon our troops, the destabilization of status of his weapons programs, refusing every friendly Middle Eastern country to provide any sort of complete or verifiand millions of newly angry young able information. So either the weapons Muslims waging Jihad on the United will turn up yet, or perhaps they were discarded or moved to Syria. In any case, if it States (as if they weren’t already trying). Of course, none of that turned out to turns out no weapons are ever found, the be true, and the realities on the ground reality is that Saddam Hussein spent his gave way to new criticisms. The popular final months acting like he had them. This leftist arguments have taken on an aura of result would not mean that Bush is a liar; it absurdity in the postwar situation. would mean that Saddam is a terrible Whether any point falls into the category poker player. This war is a hopeless quagmire. The of sinister conspiracy theory, arrogant platitude on “international cooperation,” term “quagmire” is cheerfully bandied about by much of the major news media these days. The evocation, I assume, is Christopher McAuliffe ‘04 hails from North supposed to be Vietnam. However, since when is a three-week war, followed by four Miami Beach, Fl.

or five months of occupation, considered a quagmire? World War II lasted four years after America entered the fray, and our occupation of Japan lasted six years after. In any case, I realize historical comparisons are worthless in these situations, which is why we would just as well lay the Vietnam image to rest. Gulf War II certainly has at least a couple more years to go before it can be considered a quagmire and, in the meantime, what would the cynics have us do? Shall we abandon Iraq right now, leaving the mission completely unaccomplished? This war was about money. This argument is most often made through oblique references to sinister corporations like “Halliburton” and the evil puppet masters behind the scenes (Dick Cheney). Most people actually know very little about the Halliburton situation. At the very most, they might know that Vice President Cheney used to be its CEO and that one of its subsidiaries received a lucrative contract for postwar Iraqi reconstruction. However, when it comes to understanding the way these contracts are awarded, most people are dumber than dirt. Fact: Military contracts such as Halliburton’s are awarded for set time periods, through a nonpolitical, competitive bidding process within the Department of Defense. Fact: The Clinton Defense Department twice renewed Halliburton’s contract to do the same kind of work in Bosnia. Draw your own conclusions. Bush and his cronies are arrogant “unilateralists.” Most critics of the

administration are unable to support this argument beyond the simplistic point that the international support we received and are still receiving is less than ideal. They suggest that, rather than Bush’s macho cowboy approach, we “work with the international community.” Fine. But what if the international community says “no”? Does a negative international response really affect the worthiness of the cause? Remember, France had national interests at stake, too. And while help from the United Nations would be welcome, it’s obvious why the Bush administration would recoil from handing Iraq over to hoards of international bureaucrats, with all of the hard work out of the way and their own reputations on the line. Eighty-seven billion dollars? Are you kidding? Okay, so this is the most convincing point. But it may turn out yet to be one of the best investments we’ve made in years. The people who moan about this bill are also the same ones who are so eager to spend $400 billion on a plan designed, as far as I can tell, to accomplish the complete destruction of the American pharmaceuticals industry, without so much as a national debate. There are plenty of points on which to criticize the administration’s handling of the war. For instance, why are our troops repairing public works when unemployed Iraqis would jump at the chance to do these jobs for $5 per day? However, the straw man arguments I have mentioned bring nothing to the table and certainly do not help us to accomplish our worthwhile mission.