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TUESDAY, JAN. 20, 2009 © 2009 OU Publications Board

Students hope to witness history in person and try to get tickets to the inauguration.

“If we don’t get tickets, we’re going to put on multiple layers of clothes and watch the inauguration on the Jumbotron by the mall,” said Alli Assiter, political science senior.

Tickets are free, but there is a waiting list and they JAMIE BIRDWELL must be obtained through a representative or senator.

The Oklahoma Daily Cold weather in the area may also provide hope for anxious students wanting to attend the inauguration In Norman, OU students spent the winter break because some have yet to pick up their tickets from figuring out their class schedules, buying textbooks and enjoying the relative comfort of a month free from their representatives or senators, Ellis said.

Jonny Ortwien, political science senior, will be able to classes. In Washington D.C., OU students spent the last attend the inauguration separate from Ellis’s group after days of their winter breaks trying to score tickets to the working on the Obama campaign this past fall. hottest event in the country.

“Obama has to reach out to a lot of Republicans OU political science professor and independents who didn’t support Margaret Ellis spent the break in him,” Ortwien said. “We’re all one, Washington D.C. with her students united nation.” as part of her class “Presidential With a bad economy, two wars and For inaugural updates throughout Transitions,” in order to witness and a divided congress, Obama needs to the day, log on to OUDaily.com. study this historic presidential inauprovide hope and leadership for the guration, marking the fourth time country, Ellis said. she has taken students to the event Still, students are excited about for the class. being in Washington D.C. as they “It’s a phenomenal experience for the students,” she anticipate what the new administration will bring. said. “They get to see an example of a peaceful transfer “I believe in momentum,” Ortwien said. “[Obama] of power.” engaged young people a lot. If we get involved now, we Ellis’ class will examine the first 100 days of the can change the world.”

Obama administration.

The theme of the inauguration is expected to be “We’re going to look at how well he performs com- bipartisanship and reaching across the aisle, Assiter pared to other presidents in the past,” Ellis said. said. There are several McCain supporters attending “And with the staff and cabinet already approved by inauguration activities, she said.

Congress, he’s ready to go in and start working Tuesday The experience of going to the inauguration is unlike afternoon.” any other, Ellis said.

Ellis worked with the Washington Center, a non-profit “I think these types of opportunities are important for academic organization, to take students to Washington, students to assimilate and really have a practical workwhere they attended classes and lectures by various ing knowledge of what they learn in class. They’re going press and political figures. to have knowledge of a presidential inauguration and Students also had a chance to visit senators, sight-see understand the transfer of power.”

• OU students brave cold to watch transfer of power

OUDAILY.COM

AP Photo

A man holds a flag Monday on the National Mall in Washington, before Tuesday’s inauguration of Barack Obama.

LIFE & ARTS Stars kicked off the inauguration with performances by Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Shakira and Steve Carell for a star-studded Washington weekend. Page 11.

The digital transition is almost here. Are you ready? The Daily’s Callie Kavourgias explains the situation. Page 11.

SPORTS Blake Griffin isn’t the only Sooner to lead a dominating basketball team. Freshman Whitney Hand helped the Sooner women take down No. 6 Texas A&M. Page 5.

Men’s head basketball coach Jeff Capel has been feeling disrespected quite a bit lately.

The Daily’s Steven Jones explains why Sooner fans better listen up, if they want Capel to stick around. Page 6.

The Florida Gators handed OU a heartbreaking fifth straight BCS bowl loss in Miami. The Daily explores the attitudes in the Sooners’ locker room and the Orange Bowl’s parking lot after the game. Page 7.

• Twins given middle names Faith, Hope MATTHEW MONTGOMERY The Oklahoma Daily History was made Monday at the OU Medical Center’s Children’s Hospital when 3-month-old conjoined twins were surgically separated.

A hospital official gave live updates on a blog during the surgery on a Blackberry.

“I was trying to create an atmosphere for the audience who couldn’t be here to see this,” said Allen Poston, director of public relations at Children’s Hospital.

While he was in the operating room witnessing the surgery firsthand, Poston said he blogged exactly what he saw.

“Sometimes you can forget about the preciousness of life… I’m standing here in the operating room looking at the exposed, beating heart of Preslee Wells,” Poston said in his blog at 10:55 a.m.

Kylee Hope and Preston Faith Wells’ surgery began at 10:22 a.m. and they were separated at approximately 12:14 p.m., Poston said in his blog.

He said the babies are separated but were Preslee Faith, left, and Kylee Hope Wells, conjoined twins shown in this Jan. 1 photo taken by mother Stevie, were separated Monday at The

AP Photo

TWINS Continues on page 2 Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center.

TODAY’S INDEX Life & Arts 11,12 Campus Notes 8 Classifieds 10 10 Crossword Horoscope 10

OKC surgeons separate conjoined twin sisters

News 8,9 Opinion 4 Police Reports 8 Sports 5, 6 Sudoku 10

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WEDNESDAY

LOW 30° HIGH 60° Source: Oklahoma Weather Lab

Jari Askins to run for Okla. governor in 2010 • Candidacy to focus on bipartisanship and affordable OK universities RYAN BRYANT The Oklahoma Daily Democratic Lt. Gov. Jari Askins officially announced Thursday her candidacy for governor in the 2010 election, making the OU alumna the first official candidate to seek the governorship.

Askins said as governor, she would work to increase the number of college graduates and ensure that Oklahoma universities would be more affordable.

Ivan Holmes, chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, said he wasn’t surprised by Askins’ announce-

ment.

“I knew it was coming,” he said. “She had a strong interest in running for quite some time.”

Holmes said he anticipates that Askins will run a moderate campaign and will work with Republicans to accomplish as much as possible while still retaining her Democratic ideals.

“Even though she’s a good Democrat, her philosophy is that it is very important to work with the state’s Republicans,” he said.

Holmes expects Askins to use widespread support to try to win the governorship.

“Jari is extremely grassroots-oriented,” he said. “As a party, we’ve been working to rebuild our organization ability, and I have seen her everywhere, in every county in the state.”

Askins said the best governors in the past were those who focused on increasing the quality of the lives of Oklahomans by setting aside partisan politics.

“Make no mistake, I am a Democrat,” she said. “But I

fully understand that for us to rise up to be the best, we must be willing to set partisan politics aside.”

She also said she supports an amendment to the state constitution that would require legislators to set aside one year per two-year session to focus solely on the budget.

“Too many tax dollars are wasted because too little attention is paid to the details in the state budget,” she said. “Too much opportunity for progress is lost in the pursuit of partisan advantage.”

Askins, a former OU journalism student, said that she owes much of her political success to the skills she learned in college.

“After I graduated from OU, I found myself regularly relying on my journalism skills, especially when it came to talking to and understanding other people,” she said.

“My training helped me develop an interest in the state while helping me seek answers to important issues, and overall, made me committed to digging deeper.”

2

News

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009

Senior dies in Colorado snowboarding accident call from his son the morning of Jan. 6.

“He just called me to tell me happy birthday and that he loved me,” Bill Khourie said. “I was able to tell him that I loved him too, and I thank God for that.”

An Elk City native, Khourie was an employee at Seven47 on Campus Corner, a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and, according to friends, someone who “never met a stranger.”

“The thing about Billy was that he always wanted to help people who may not have had as much or were less fortunate than he was,” said John Paul Albert, energy management junior and fraternity brother of Khourie.

Albert said Khourie took his sister to her senior prom because she has a developmental disorder and he wanted her to have a good prom experience.

“He had a loving part of him that was enormous,” Khourie’s father said.

• Services held last week for snowboarder who ‘never met a stranger’ CLARK FOY The Oklahoma Daily

Photo Provided

Sigma Alpha Epsilon President John Paul Albert (left) stands with friend Billy Khourie (right), who died Jan. 7.

Billy Khourie, 22-year-old energy management senior, died in a snowboarding accident in Breckenridge, Colo., during winter break.

According to an official accident report, he was not wearing a helmet when he struck a padded post head-on Jan. 6.

Khourie was rushed to the hospital and treated for severe head trauma. He died the next evening, Jan. 7.

Khourie’s father, Bill, said he received a phone

Task force reiterates opposition to concealed guns on campus • Group requests $16 million budget MATTHEW MONTGOMERY Daily Staff Writer Oklahoma’s Campus Life and Safety and Security Task Force registered its continued disapproval of a proposal to allow the carry of concealed weapons on college campuses at a meeting Wednesday.

The task force has opposed past concealed carry legislation and is prepared to take the same position if it is debated in the upcoming legislative session, which begins Feb. 4, according to Glen Johnson, Chancellor of the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education.

“The task force is prepared to join many other law enforcement officials, our staff, our parents, our faculty [and] our veteran organizations again very aggressively to take the position that, although this legislation may be well-intentioned, we believe [it]

Twins

would not provide an environment where our campuses would be safe,” Johnson said Wednesday. “In fact, the very opposite would occur.”

Task force members also announced that they will be requesting $16 million for mental health counseling, notification and response systems at state universities.

Members want to make on-campus mental health counseling more available to prevent crises before they start.

“The stories that you hear about, that grab headlines, are those stories where folks didn’t get the treatment that they needed, and they are very rare,” said Terri White, Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services commissioner. “We want to make sure that a portion of the $16 million budget ensures that our campuses have the ability to provide these services.”

Gov. Brad Henry created the task force two weeks after the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech University, making the group one of the first of its kind in the country.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OPENS SEMESTER IN NEW LOCATION KALI CARTER The Oklahoma Daily

After nearly two years of construction, the 38,000-square-foot Lissa and Cy Wagner Student Academic Services Center is now officially open to students, and University College has settled into its new home there.

The new building is located at 1005 Asp Avenue, near the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

According to the Architecture Design Group, the designers of the building, the main goal of the student center is to bring together undergraduate students in one central location where all their needs are met.

It now houses undergraduate advising, the Writing Center, Project Threshold and the graduation office, along with other programs.

Continued from page 1

placed in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit under “critical condition.”

There will be a press conference later this week, Poston said, but it will be when the family has time to recover.

He said it has been nearly 25 years since the hospital has done anything like this and it is hard to say if and when it will ever happen again.

Poston said he hopes the hospital will use a blogging style of communication during future operations.

“I think this way of communication has the potential to reach

OUR COMMITMENT TO ACCURACY The Daily has a long-standing commitment to serve readers by providing accurate coverage and analysis. Errors are corrected as they are identified.

Readers should bring errors to the attention of the editorial board for further investigation.

ERROR SUBMISSIONS e-mail: dailynews@ou.edu phone: 325-3666

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Campus News

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009

3

Outlook not sunny for Boren’s Rainy Day Fund request • Most legislators oppose tapping special fund to prevent tuition increases RENEÉ SELANDERS The Oklahoma Daily The chancellor of the Oklahoma State Regents for higher education declined to echo OU President David L. Boren’s request for money from the state’s Rainy Day Fund at a meeting in Midwest City Thursday.

In December, Boren called on lawmakers to tap the special emergency account to fund an $80.4 million increase in higher education appropriations, an amount which the regents say will allow them to freeze tuition and fees at Oklahoma’s public universities.

But regents Chancellor Glen Johnson has not made a request for Rainy Day Fund money a part of his presentation as he travels Oklahoma, informing the state about higher education’s funding needs in advance of the next legislative session, which begins Feb. 4.

“Obviously the needs that we have are straightforward and solid,” Johnson said, “But as far as advocating a source of revenue like the Rainy Day Fund, I think our theory is that really is the prerogative of the legislature and Gov. Henry.”

The Rainy Day Fund, formally known as the Constitutional Reserve Fund, holds approximately $600 million. The state may use those funds if the

CAMPUS BRIEFS

VP Howard heads to Virginia

At the end of this school year, Vice President for Leadership and Strategic Initiatives Chris Howard will leave OU to become President of Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia.

Howard has worked for three years as Director of the Honors College Leadership Center.

“Without a doubt, the thing I will miss most about OU is the students,” Howard said in an e-mail. “These bright, dedicated, capable, caring individuals have not only been a joy to work with but have also made me a better person.”

Howard thanked OU President David L. Boren for serving as both his mentor and leadership role model.

— DAILY STAFF

governor and 75 percent of the legislature declare a state emergency.

Boren’s suggestion to use the Rainy Day Fund has received little support from state leaders, who are anticipating a drop in state revenue of approximately $309 million this year due to economic conditions.

But Rose State College Regents Chairman James F. Howell, a former Oklahoma legislator, said Thursday that he believes the present economic hardships warrant dipping into the funds to provide the $80.4 million needed by higher education.

“There’s enough money there to sustain state government this next year and I think when the pressure gets on to take care of the colleges in Oklahoma that they will do that,” Howell said, “Nobody’s right now saying they will, but I would bet you a steak dinner, or anybody else, that they will dip into the Rainy Day Fund the last two weeks of the session.”

Johnson said he hopes legislators will view the $80.4 million as an investment in Oklahoma’s future.

Studies released by the state regents found that for every $1 spent on higher education, $5.15 is put back into Oklahoma’s economy. In 2008, spending by higher education added an estimated 23,750 jobs to the Oklahoma economy, according to the state regents.

“To invest in education and the lives and minds of these young people is the greatest stimulus we could have for economic growth in Oklahoma,” Howell said, “It’s better than Obama’s economic Photo by Chelsea McIntire, courtesy of Rose State College’s 15th Street News stimulus plan. The better educated young people are, the more money they make, the more taxes they Glen Johnson, chancellor of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, spoke about higher education funding pay. That’s the way it works.”

Thursday in the Raider Room on the Rose State College campus in Midwest City.

Panelists honor Oklahoma activist Actor and civil rights activist Danny Glover, two law professors from Harvard Law School and Emory Law School and five members of the Black Panthers and affiliated civil rights groups came to OU Saturday night to pay tribute to an Oklahoma native’s work on the highly politicized case of the San Francisco 8.

The OU African and African American Studies Program hosted “The San Francisco 8,” a free symposium in honor of human rights leader Wayne Thompson, an Oklahoma native who worked on the San Francisco 8 case.

The case stems from the 1971 murder investigation of a San Francisco police officer and the subsequent interrogation and torture of two suspects in that case.

Wayne Thompson was involved in the case during the

Special Olympics held at Huston Huffman Center

1970s and again when the investigation was reopened in 2003. On Jan. 23, 2007 eight men were arrested in connection with the murder.

Jeanette R. Davidson, director of the African and African American Studies program, said the two purposes of the symposium were to celebrate Thompson’s life and work and to push forward the work of the San Francisco 8.

“As an individual you have the power to effect change,” said Curtis D. Austin, University of Southern Mississippi director of the Center for Black Studies, a co-host of the event. “I think Wayne really recognized that.”

Glover, Harvard Law professor Soffiyah Elijah, Emory Law professor Kathleen Cleaver and the five members who are part of the San Francisco 8 served as panelists in the discussion of this civil rights issue.

The Huston Huffman Center hosted the Special Olympics Winter Games from January 9-10.

This was the thirteenth year for the Special Olympic’s winter games and 2,120 athletes competed. Approximately 400 coaches volunteered to assist the athletes in their training and came to the games to show their support.

Athletes must train for at least eight weeks prior to competing and must qualify at a local or sectional competition to be eligible for the winter games.

Special Olympics Oklahoma is a non-profit organization which aims to help both adults and children with learning disabilities.

— RENEE SELANDERS/THE DAILY

— ASHLEY WOODALL/THE DAILY

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Opinion

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009

OUR VIEW

Ray Martin, opinion editor dailyopinion@ou.edu phone: 325-7630, fax: 325-6051 For more, go to oudaily.com.

YOUR VIEWS

Obama deserves patience, reasonable expectations Barack Obama makes history today on many fronts.

While the 44th president and his administration offer many reasons for Americans to be optimistic, some people have expectations that are unrealistic, at best. Some have hopes in a stratosphere far away from reasonable.

Those hopes should be ditched in exchange for patience.

Obama faces a tall task. He inherits two wars and an economy that’s in the tank, and he faces an opposing political party that will make initial bipartisan efforts more than challenging.

Meanwhile he must deal with a middle-eastern conflict while leading a country that is overwhelmingly pro-Israel, and he has to handle college football fanatics that insist he legislate a

tor who supported Proposition 8, BCS playoff system.

All of this, combined with the which banned gay marriage – will fact that Obama made a slew of deliver the inaugural invocation.

The truth is, Obama’s selection promises during his campaign and Congress isn’t yet willing to of Rick Warren to deliver the jump at his every request, leads prayer matters about as much one to believe that the as the price of Sarah change everyone is Palin’s wardrobe. But OUR VIEW even if it did matter, waiting for might not is an editorial come so soon. They Obama was bound to selected and debated shouldn’t expect it to. appeal to social conby the editorial board None of the aforemenservatives at some and written after a majority opinion is tioned problems offer point. Early on in formed and approved the potential of quick his bid for the Oval by the editor. Our View fixes.

Office, he promised is The Daily’s official opinion.

Americans must strong efforts to build be patient. Especially consensus among conthose on the far left. servatives and liberals The left has already manifest- alike. ed its unrealistic expectations on Some had hopes so unrealmore than one occasion. Liberals istic that they cringed at most erupted at the announcement that of Obama’s cabinet selections.

Rick Warren – a Los Angeles pas- Clinton’s cronies, who helped

create a surplus in the 1990’s, just aren’t left enough to be worthy of serving with Obama. These opinions, which are almost certainly motivated by a strong devotion to radically left agendas, have no place in reasonable political thought.

Obama’s aides have declared all week that an upturn, whether abroad with the war or here at home with the economy, will take time.

“Even if we move rapidly, it’ll take a little while,” Obama Senior adviser David Axelrod told an ABC reporter last week.

“Officials believe it will take years, not a matter of months, to turn the economy around.”

If Axelrod’s statement proves true, it will be change worth waiting for.

Coaches dropped ball in the big bowl If I were to rate the Oklahoma Sooner’s BCS performance, I would give quarterback Sam Bradford, the offense line and the Defense an A-. If I were to rate the coaches and their efforts, I would have to give them a D-. The players did a great job but the coaching and play calling were less then desirable. It was the sloppiest, most conservative play calling, weak decision-making effort I have ever witnessed at Oklahoma.

A good example was the second quarter against Florida when OU was on the move. The Sooners successfully used running plays to run over the Florida defense en route to a touchdown. When OU came back after halftime, it was a totally different

team. The Sooners started passing more and running less. Why would Kevin Wilson and Bob Stoops switch to a passing attack when the ground game they so desired to establish all season worked so perfectly? I think all fans should question their judgment. Perhaps it’s time Bob Stoops and Kevin Wilson discuss their future plans, because they are taking the team down a different path than Oklahoma fans would like. Oklahoma fans spend thousands of dollars each year to support the team and to watch them win – not lose. Watching coach Stoops stand there on the sideline in shock at every bowl game is unacceptable. If he can’t lead the Sooners to victory, then perhaps he should hire the assistant coaches that can.

- CRAIG HITCHCOCK, GRADUATE STUDENT

OPINIONATED? We want your feedback! Send letters to the editor to dailyopinion@ou.edu

STAFF POINT-COUNTERPOINT

Still change we can believe in?

So far it’s only rhetoric A very real and necessary and much of the same change is upon America

Max Avery is a political science senior.

His column usually appears every other Monday.

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“I am an imperfect vessel for your hopes and dreams,” said our new president the morning after announcing his candidacy for the office to which he now ascends.

It is this wisdom of humility which sets him apart from other politicians, and though he is human, he is better for knowing it.

And though some are unimpressed by his moderate, careful start, there is much evidence that all considered, a very real change is upon us.

Obama has inspired many of us partially because, like our own union, he is founded in contradicting traditions, and perhaps in negotiating the fissures of his own dual racial and multi-cultural heritage he took special insight in finessing the diverse and fractured political and broader social situation of our country.

Those who are not persuaded – and I know there are many – point to his faults including a tendency towards the grandiose, and his cool detachment from such pressing global events as the recent economic summit hosted by President Bush in Washington, and the dire situation in Israel.

The ostentatious “office of the President-Elect” placards posted on every lectern and the self-conscious and overused ‘change’ lingo of Obama’s organization have been tiresome to me, and the popular and premature comparisons to Lincoln and Kennedy (both Jack and Bobby) and Reagan, et al. have been gratuitous.

But in these vices are also his greata est assets.

The formality and grace he summons in sp speech, and with which h approaches his solhe emn duties recall an age when sincerity was more respected, and before our sarcastic and cynical modernity made it passé.

His detached cool-headedness has already proved valuable, w whether with respect to his wise, experienced cabinet and Vice President, or when, in the heat of our great economic meltdown he had the prudence to remain a deep and even kee keel.

Thou know not how he Though will re react to the grave events the last months, we can of these a be assured that his reaction will be deeply considered.

F For those who would criti criticize his retention of Rob Gates at the defense Robert dep department, I recall an ear early December morning two years ago, when ano another Democrat I know, f a famed former Governor and United States Senator, and our President David L.

O F

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T H E The Fine Print:

T H E

even mentioned the futility of transitioning from coal power because China and India will continue their use of the Carbon emitting energy source.

How can we support someone like Chu in environmental protection? Do we really want to abstain from doing the right thing because others aren’t doing it? After Obama’s campaign promises to protect our resources, Chu is already beginning to justify future actions that aren’t so different from Bush’s – he just has different rhetoric behind it.

Many Obama supporters were looking to the closure of Guantanamo Bay Prison as a sign of “change”. Last week, Human Rights Watch all but called on Obama to change America’s path and abandon the policy of human rights abuses, closing Guantanamo being the first step. Obama had previously committed to closing Guantanamo within 2 years of becoming president.

This would be a good change, a needed change, but it is only a symbolic step in the right direction.

Guantanamo holds 250 men. That’s almost one percent of the 27,000 men, women and children held internationally, without trial, by the U.S. government. Most of these prisons are in Iraq and Afghanistan, where we are involved in wars, but they’re also in Bosnia, Kosovo, Djibouti and Ethiopia. And there might be many more ore locales.

From the rhetoric ric of Obama, it sounds like these human rights ts violations by the U.S. will continue.

Barack Obama’s ’s rhetoric is a welcome change from the neo-fascist message we’ve heard eard for the past eight years. ears. It shows America’s values are improving.

But Obama’s words aren’t the only change I believe in. Actions tions speak louder than han words. So far, r, his cabinet hass shown him to be more of the same in very key areas where much ‘hope’ and ‘change’ were promised.

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Due to their flippant use throughout Barrack Obama’s presidential campaign, “change” and “hope” are words of little meaning.

When I voted for Obama, I hoped his cabinet would be the first sign of “change I can believe in”.

It’s not. I haven’t seen anything but the rhetoric of change and an administration George W. Bush can believe in.

The current conflict in Gaza is a unique opportunity to remind the international community that America can be a positive force in the world. Were Obama to act as an unbiased moderator, by abandoning America’s absolutist support of Israel, then real progress could be made and lasting peace MAX would become a viable possibility.

Working toward lasting peace AVERY will continue to be a fantasy until both Israel and Palestine’s grievances are given consideration.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely Obama will take advantage of the situation.

In a speech to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, Hillary Clinton, our new Secretary of State, committed the new administration to supporting Israel and not negotiating with Hamas. So far, there’s no ‘change’ in sight, just promises of working for peace, while supporting Israel unequivocally, just like Bush.

Clinton isn’t the only one who’s on Bush’s path.

Despite serving on Bush’s staff for the past two years, Robert Gates will retain his position as Secretary of Defense in the new administration.

Change is hard to believe in when we aren’t even receiving a new Secretary of Defense, a department that was a major focus of the promised change in Obama’s campaign for the presidency.

And if you agree that keeping Gates on board is bad, take a look at Obama’s National Security Advisor, James Jones.

The only thing he has going for him is he didn’t work for the Bush administration. His qualifications include serving on the Board of Directors at Chevron (like Condoleezza Rice) and at Boeing.

Jones’ history in both oil and the military industrial complex is the sort of conflict of interest that was rampant in the Bush administration. It may be a policy destined to continue into the infrastructure friendly Obama administration.

A key issue for many Obama supporters has been global warming and protecting the environment.

Our new Energy Secretary, physicist Steven Chu, seems to be someone who doesn’t hate American soil, air, and water as the previous administration’s actions suggest they do. Chu encourages us to be more efficient with our fuels, and has said those blessed words “coal is my worst nightmare.”

Then he dampened our hopes by bringing up clean coal, which, despite the multimillion dollar advertising and PR campaign, doesn’t exist. Chu

Boren appeared in the Hart Senate Office building in Washington and on national television to introduce and endorse Mr. Gates as our new Defense chief.

“I am here today,” said Mr. Boren, “not only because I believe that Bob Gates has exceptional ability, but also because I have confidence in his personal integrity and in his sincere desire to serve our country.”

Mr. Gates has been a force of sanity and calm amid the wild chaos and tremendous strain of our country’s military involvement, and has reported to congress and to the American people always with humility and independence from the groupthink gridlock which permeated and undid so much of the George W. Bush administration.

The change we need in this SLATER country is not from one radical extreme to another, and our new RHEA president’s willingness to retain this worthy public servant is an example of his earnest intent to work across party lines for the general good.

I have witnessed the wisdom of this approach in the many conservative Christians, friends and those I’ve met in passing, who wish him luck and good will, and who hope, fatigued as we all are, that we might move past and beyond the great division and animus of recent years. And the challenges we face require it.

It was John F. Kennedy who 48 years ago today challenged a new generation of Americans to take up the torch of history and to meet unprecedented goals in service and achievement. “We choose,” he said, “to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

We today lack the luxury of such a choice; our aims and our president’s are the burdens dictated by our reality. But these hard goals are worthy of our full effort and sincerity, because of their difficulty and their urgency.

And no one of our age, who have for so long been known for apathy, may rightly say that he or she does not live in important times, and in circumstances requiring and welcoming the talents of the young.

Now, as much as any time before, we may, and must together take the arc of history in hand for the sake of our one shared future.

Global economic recession, foreign and domestic poverty and social injustice, global warming, the crisis of reconciliation throughout the war-torn Middle East, and myriad other calamities face our nation and world, and they must be faced with cool heads and united wills.

You can see the change we need in the sage, deliberate gait of our new president; it is intelligence, and humility. It is service to, protection of, and defense of all who constitute these United States of America, and respect to others of good will. It’s alright if you don’t recognize it. It’s been a long, long time coming.

Slater Rhea is an English literary and cultural studies and letters senior. His column usually appears every other Monday.

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Columnists’ and cartoonists’ opinions are not necessarily the opinions of The Daily Editorial Board.

Steven Jones, sports editor dailysports@ou.edu phone: 325-7630, fax: 325-6051 For more, go to oudaily.com.

Sports

Sooners get helping Hand in 71-59 victory over No. 6 Texas A&M • Freshman nets 17, plays stingy defense ANNELISE RUSSELL The Oklahoma Daily Last season, the Sooners would have been in trouble if Courtney Paris did not score her nightly double-double, but things are different this year with a more apt supporting cast.

The Sooners topped Texas A&M 71-59 Sunday afternoon, and the victory was due in large part to the young players on whom head coach Sherri Coale could not have relied last year.

Freshman guard Whitney Hand and sophomore guard Danielle Robinson are not traditionally known as the force behind OU’s offense, as they sit squarely in the shadow of All-American center Courtney Paris.

But it was the Sooners’ supporting cast that came through on Sunday.

“We did not get beat by Courtney Paris, we got beat by Oklahoma,” Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair said. “Oklahoma did a good job of balancing.”

Hand is a player who appears to be discovering her role in that balance.

The freshman came to OU as a nationally -ranked pure shooter with awesome abilities from the three-point range.

As a rookie, she’s experienced some inconsistency, but against the Aggies, she hit five of six three-pointers.

“I can’t really explain how happy I was to make shots this game,” Hand said. “It’s not very hard to get open though when you have Courtney and Ashley [Paris] and everybody is drawing so many people in. So, I guess my role was to shoot and today they fell.”

Coale said that despite Hand’s offensive effort, her defense on A&M’s senior guard Takia Starks was even more impressive. “[Hand] did a fantastic job on Starks,” Coale said. “I’ve said this on the radio postgame that as much as everybody will look at that stat sheet [and] go ‘5 for 6 from 3 point line, wow, what a night for her,’ the most impressive piece of it was the way she defended Starks.”

Starks, the leading scorer averaging 15 points per game for A&M, did not record a single point in the first half.

While Hand was busy sinking threes and giving Starks fits, Robinson was leading the OU offensive attack from the point.

Under her watch, drives were established and high-percentage shots were abundant.

After posting 19 points, 10 assists, and 4 steals against A&M, Coale said the sophomore played more like a senior.

5

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009

SPORTS BRIEFS

Johnson, Paris named Big 12 Players of the Week Senior guard Austin Johnson and senior forward Ashley Paris were both named Big 12 Player of the Week for their performances this week. Both the men’s and women’s teams were 2 - 0 during the stretch.

In two games against Texas and Texas Af&M, Johnson significantly raised his peformance. He averaged 17.0 points, 5.5 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocked shots. Johnson shot .571 from three-point territory during the two games and against Texas he also shouldered most of the defensive duties against Texas leading scorer A.J. Abrams.

On the women’s side, Ashley Paris led the Sooners in scoring over the past two games. The Sooners beat Kansas State and Texas A&M this past week, and in those two games, Paris had 34 points in addition to 20 rebounds, six blocks, three assists and two steals.

Women’s gymnastics posts top NCAA score The No. 9 women’s gymnastics team scored the highest of the new gymnastics season as its bested Texas Woman’s University 197.175-189.600 Saturday night.

“It’s a real confidence builder as we continue our season,” said head coach K.J. Kindler. “In all honesty, I saw ten times as much energy, confidence and enthusiasm as we showed at Florida. It started out with a bang with a great bars set.

I thought we did a much better job with our dismounts and stuck landings and it’s always nice to end with one of those beam nights that you’ll never forget.”

Kindler said that the team came out flat against Florida in their opening meet of the season, and the Sooners fell to the Gators. The performance on Satuday brought their record to 1-1.

Warren grabs title at Holiday Inn Invitational Junior Jarrell Warren won his first individual title since joining the Sooners on Saturday at the Holiday Inn Invitational in Lincoln. Warren, a junior-college transfer, won the 600-yard run with a time of 1:10.76.

Warren’s time was the second best of his career and the fastest recorded in the Big 12 this season. His personal best is 1:10.41.

With the win, Warren recorded his second consecutive top three finish in the 600-meter after finishing third at the Arksansas Invitational last week.

Track & Field returns to action next weekend at the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark.

Sooner Softball team tagged as Big 12 favorite

Amy Frost/ The Daily

Whitney Hand struggles for the ball during the game against Texas A&M Sunday.

“She just continues to amaze me because she’s just a sophomore,” Coale said. “But I just thought she really managed the game for us tonight and unless you’ve been on the floor against that you don’t understand how difficult that is to do. Sometimes she made it look pretty easy.”

The Sooners had their struggles, though. The Sooners turned the ball over 22 times against the Aggies, something OU has struggled with in the past.

Bench production was also shaky with only 4 bench points for OU, all coming in the second half.

Despite the lingering red flags on the stat sheet, the Sooners were able to convincingly defeat a top-ten team on a night when Courtney Paris scored only 11 points.

“Big win for our program, obviously, any time you can beat the No. 6 ranked team in the country it’s a big win and it helps us obviously in our conference standing,” Coale said.

The softball team received nine of ten first-place votes and was named the pre-season No. 1 team in the Big 12 preseason coaches’ poll.

The Sooners are preseason favorites for the first time since 2000, when the Sooners won their first National Championship.

“I appreciate and respect the opinions of the coaches in the Big 12 and because of that, it makes it very meaningful to me that they view our team in this manner,” said OU head coach Patty Gasso. “One of our goals is to finish at the top. That’s a tough challenge because our conference is competitive and it will take a lot of hard work to get there.”

The Sooners will return seven starters from a team that went 47 -14 last year, finished second in the Big 12 and finished No. 10 in the country. Three All-Americans will return to the Sooners’ lineup in seniors Samantha Ricketts, D.J. Mathis and junior Amber Flores.

The Sooners will begin their season in Honolulu at the Hawai’i Paradise Classic in Feb. 5-7.

– DAILY STAFF

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6

Sports

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009

Men’s basketball stays busy over holiday break Dec. 30 at Arkansas

ERIC DAMA The Oklahoma Daily Students at OU received a month-long break for the winter holidays. No books.

No tests. No school. Meanwhile, the OU men’s basketball team stayed in action.

The Sooners played eight games since the fall semester ended, posting a 7-1 record.

Here’s what you missed.

Dec. 20 vs. Virginia Commonwealth Head coach Jeff Capel, who coached at VCU for four years prior to his arrival in Norman, took his Sooners to Oklahoma City to face the Rams in the O’Reilly AllCollege Classic at the Ford Center.

Tony Crocker led all scorers with a season-high 26 points and helped OU improve to 11-0, continuing its best start since the 2003-04 season. Sophomore forward Blake Griffin was the only other Sooner to record double-digits in points.

He registered 18 points to go along with seven rebounds in only 26 minutes of action.

by Griffin’s 29 points, 15 rebounds and three assists, the Sooners’ win was their The Sooners traveled to Fayetteville first road victory against a Big 12 North with a No. 4 ranking and a 12-0 record, opponent since the 2004-05 season (also but despite career-highs in points, at Kansas State). rebounds and assists Warren was the from freshman only other OU player Willie Warren, they to record doubleSooners 7-1 over break returned to Norman digits in points. He Dec. 20: OU: 81, VCU: 70 with their first loss of scored 10 points Dec. 22: OU 70, Rice: 58 the season. to go along with Warren recordDec. 30: OU: 88, Arkansas: 96 three steals and two ed 35 points, four Jan. 3: OU:93, Coppin State: 62 assists. rebounds and four OU played the Jan. 5: OU 100, Maryland Eastern Shore: assists, but it wasn’t Wildcats in the con64 enough to push ference opener last Jan. 10: OU: 61, Kansas St.: 53 the Sooners past year, but a Kansas Jan. 12: OU: 78, Texas:63 Arkansas, which led State team led by stelSaturday: OU: 69, Texas A&M: 63 by 25 points midway lar freshman Michael through the second Beasley outlasted the half. Griffin had 21 Sooners, 84-82. points and 13 rebounds to notch his 10th double-double of the season. He had 10 Jan. 12 vs. Texas double-doubles all of last season.

This match up featured what most believe to be the two best teams in the Jan. 10 at Kansas State Big 12. If that’s the case, the outcome left OU opened Big 12 conference play little doubt as to which team can claim with a trip to Manhattan, Kansas. Led the title of the Big 12’s best team.

Despite a game-high 22 points from Texas guard A.J. Abrams, OU received help from everybody, as four different Sooners scored at least 15 points.

While it was much closer for the majority of the game than the box score suggests, a 12-0 second half run, which included scores from five different OU players, sealed the victory. OU’s win was the first against Texas since its 82-72 triumph over the Longhorns in Norman in 2006.

Saturday at Texas A&M In a contest that was one of the closest games OU has played all season, senior Austin Johnson was the difference maker, and the reason the Sooners were able to leave College Station with a victory. Johnson finished with a season-high 19 points, seven assists, four rebounds, two blocks and one steal.

For his play in the two games against Texas and A&M, Johnson was named last week’s Big 12 Player of the Week. During those two games, he recorded averages of 17.0 points, 5.5 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocked shots.

Michelle Gray/The Daily

Freshman guard Ray Willis (41) and senior forward Taylor Griffin (32) fight for a rebound against Gardner-Webb on Nov. 22 at Lloyd Noble Center.

STAFF COLUMN

The sun always rises in the east, February is always the shortest month of the year, and Oklahoma will always be a football state.

That’s simply truth. Fact. Unquestionable.

But is that a bad thing?

For basketball, and all other OU sports for that matter, it may be. Men’s basketball coach Jeff Capel certainly seems irked by it.

In an interview with The Sports Animal’s Al Eschbach on Jan. 13, the day after the Sooners’ 78 – 63 win over Texas, Capel mentioned the occasional disappointment that comes with coaching basketball at OU. He mentioned he is sometimes worried about what the crowd will look like when he heads down the tunnel before games.

He said he believes his program may be more respected nationally than locally.

I’ve seen Sam Bradford on campus sevBut should it?

He Griffin, said hiswho program maywould be more he he sun in the east, And saidalways he feelsrises bad for players like Blake Capel said be a celebrity in a basketball state like North Carolina. eral He times, never havecrowd I seen him toldjob a story about the team’s nationally thansaid locally.

February is some always the because shortesthe’srespected Capel deserves credit, not delusional.

He also he knew when heCapel took the he would face these struggles. wentand on to say the against busthe breaking down halfway between being asked for autographs. And the said he were feels still for out players like – was month– of the year, and sold Oklahoma will Texas a game that was out even thoughAnd manyhestudents of town best since he’s been at OU. team isnight supported well.

Norman andthat, the team sitting Blake Griffin, would be doesn’t a celebrity always football But be it aobviously still bothers him.who Capel said he understand whyand if a Tulsa, game like an 8 p.m. tip-offfootball on a Monday, can bepretty sold out, why But to some extent, Capel has a point. in a McDonald’s for two hours waitin North Carolina. state.every game? can’t Griffin could playing a place that fortend a new bus. Capel said that he was Capel is deserves some credit, because That’sproblem simply truth.

The is, Oklahoma a football state, and these thingsing don’t to change.

I’ve heard Boston, despite one be of the mostinstoried basketsells town. out every basketball game. Capel shocked no oneBowls, in thewill McDonald’s he’s not delusional.

He also saidof he Fact.teams Unquestionable. ball ever and a football team that has played in four the last seven Super always bereca baseball likely will getting eventually haveforthe chance Blake Griffin. knew when he Tubbs took the he would But is that so bad?

Former Sooner coaches like Billy andjob Kelvin Sampsonognized had successful teams, and they too have had trouble support their team.

The problem with that story is that to coach in a place like that. And why face these struggles.

He went on to say For is basketball, and There no indication that this is going to change. the crowd against Texas – a game that just because someone isn’t approached shouldn’t they take those opportunities? allBut other OU sports, it should it?

This will neverfor betwo supported like doesn’t mean noand oneTulsa, recognizes was sold out even many students may be. Men’s Capel told abasketstory about the team’s busthough breaking down halfway between Norman and thehim. team sitting in team a McDonald’s hours waittimes, recognized they simplyBlake don’tGriffin. want to a North Carolina or Duke. Football will weresaid stillheout town – that wasnothe ball for coach ing a Jeff newCapel bus.

Capel wasofshocked onebest in theOften McDonald’s always supreme.

But don’t that doesn’t bother the player.mean no one recognizes him. since he’s at OU. certainly seems irked The problem with story is been that just because someone is approached doesn’t Oftenreign times, they simply want to STEVEN that I think most students realize the sea- mean fans can’t support several teams.

But it obviously bothers him. by it. the player. bother JONES dentsThe Boston Celtics andcourt Pats.are having andisthe things problem is, Oklahoma is ateam foot-has.son an most interview IInthink sturealize the kind of talent this TheGriffin seasonisthat Griffin having andhesome of thesupports things hethe does on the Capel has done great things pulling does on the court are remarkable. But at ball state, and thingsHe’s don’t tend basketball with The But Sports remarkable. at the same time, he’sthese not Jesus. a college player. this to program It’s ignorant to into the NCAA tournament. And while the same he’s not Jesus.

He’s just change.

Apparently Boston, despite a Sure, Animal’s Al is Eschbach on Jan. campus, 13, Capelhe’s to If Griffin walking around like every other student, only much taller. he’ll time, be a millionaire whenever headecides go pro, together. but that doesn’t mean stuthink he’ll be here forever. There are Capel may be dreaming if he wants college basketball player. storied basketball teamthen andhounding a football mentioned occasional dents shouldthe constantly mob disappointhim. I think that shows more respect him for autographs while he’s on his way to class. schools out there will more basketball Griffin walks around campus, is a baseball town.several times,When ment thatthe comes with coaching basketGriffinteam mobbed everywhere, fans should That’s way things are around OU. I’vemini-dynasty, seen Sam Bradford on campus and never have I seen him being asked for autographs or pictures either.

And the football is supported pretty well. prestige than OU,will and at somehave point, student, justFor taller.

Former Sooner coaches like ballBut at to OU. head out toto see thisin team while they some extent, Capel has a point. Griffin could be playing in a place thatBilly easily he’s sellslike out every every other basketball game. that matter Capel likely eventually the opportunity coach a place like that.

Hewhy mentioned is sometimes con- Tubbs and Kelvin Sampson had success- Sure, he’ll be a millionaire whenever he Capel will move on. can.

And shouldn’the they take those opportunities?

But the fans shouldn’t give him any decides to gothey pro, have but that doesn’t mean ful teams, and they tooinhad trouble cerned aboutiswhat theno. crowd willcountry. look It’s This team ranked 6 in the off to its best start a long, longgettime. And oh yeah, Blake Griffin.

STEVEN JONES IS A LANGUAGE ARTS EDUCAmore than he already studentsreign should constantly mob doesn’t him. mean ting support.

There is indication that likeButwhen he heads downbethe tunnel like this team will never supported a North Carolina orno Duke.

Football will always supreme.

But that fansincentive can’t support more thanhas. one team. Just because baseball town TION JUNIOR Boston AND THEis DaAILY ’S SPORTS EDITOR. This team has potential to go deep That’s the way things are around OU. is going to change. before games. doesn’t mean the Celtics and Patriots play tothis empty seats.

Capel, No. 6 Sooners worthy of more attention from fans T

The season Griffin is having and the things he does on the court are remarkable. But at the same time, he’s not Jesus.

men’s basketball 2008-2009

men’s basketball student season ticket holders,

The third pick up for men’s basketball is still available online at Games available during this pick up are Baylor, Texas A&M, and Colorado. The Men’s Basketball Student Season Ticket distribution for these games will end Wednesday, January 21 at 3 p.m. online and 5 p.m. at the Athletics Ticket Office.

Pick Up Dates: Sunday, Jan. 18- Wednesday, Jan.21 Print-at-Home Hours........................ Sun. 5pm – Wed. 3pm Office Hours of Distribution................ Tues.-Wed. 8am-5pm*

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Jan. 24 Feb. 4 Feb. 7 * The OU Athletics Ticket Office will be closed on Monday, January 18, 2009 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Please visit

for fo more information.

Sports

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009

7

Miami Meltdown

Zach Butler/The Daily

Claire Brandon, journalism sophomore, and Kira Moss, microbology sophomore, show their disappointment in the final minutes of the 24-14 Florida victory in the BCS National Championship game on Jan. 8.

Seniors lose final game despite different BCS attitude JOEY HELMER The Oklahoma Daily

“[It is] extremely disappointing,” Harris said. “It’s the last game of the season for the team.

Under the lights of Dolphin I was the captain on the defensive Stadium, Florida’s junior quar- side of the ball. I wanted to get a terback Tim Tebow and coach win and took it primarily upon my Urban Meyer hoisted the crystal shoulders, and that’s something we didn’t do in the long run.” ball, while the Inside the Gator faithlocker room, ful celebrated a n o t h e r their third senior, free national chamsafety Lendy pionship, and Holmes was their second emotional in a in three years. different way.

In the tunHe ran nel on the around taplower conping teamcourse of the mates on the stadium outback telling side of the them to keep Sooner locker their heads room, the sight was less -Senior Safety Nic Harris up.

“This loss, jubilant. just for the The roars seniors, is their from the Gators could be heard in the background, as senior safety last one,” Holmes said. “For the Nic Harris sat on a golf cart with young guys they have another his head in his hands, minutes chance at it, and I’m just heartbroafter OU’s loss in the BCS National ken that we just can’t get it this time and that the seniors can’t Championship game.

“I wanted to get a win and took it primarily upon my shoulders, and that’s something we didn’t do.”

leave out with [a win].”

Head coach Bob Stoops continually acknowledged the leadership throughout the year, and he did again after the loss in the National Championship.

“They’re great kids, young men,” Stoops said. “I told the seniors in there [that] I’m just incredibly proud of them.”

Many of the seniors were responsible for the businesslike attitude the Sooners took into this year’s title game intended to help them focus.

Although the Sooners didn’t accomplish their goal of winning the National Championship, Stoops didn’t put the blame on a lack of leadership.

“I thought [the seniors] did a fabulous job this entire year [with] the attitude of our team, the way we took the field,” Stoops said. “The attitude throughout the whole season could not have been much better. I was incredibly pleased. I told them I was proud of them, and they’re on to other things as seniors. But they did a great job for us and represented Oklahoma great.”

NEED MORE HOURS?

Staff Column: Road trip to Miami alters perceptions s I loaded stuff into a car for my first trip to Florida, courtesy of OU’s appearance in the national championship game, I thought I knew what to expect: a sprawling KYLE metro area, BURNETT crowded with people, especially nasty Florida fans.

I was wrong. Instead of a metropolis packed with people, I found cities surrounded by deciduous forests and scattered wetlands. Instead of Gator fans with insults ready, I found friendly people who were happy to greet Oklahomans — if they even knew why we were there.

My first clue that my time in Miami would be very unlike ventures to Stillwater or Dallas for the Red River Rivalry came as my group got to Gainesville and someone decided to put some

A

OU flags on the car.

However, the Gainesville natives didn’t seem too disturbed by our presence.

A few miles down the road, an accident brought traffic to a standstill on Highway 95. For 20 minutes, we walked around the while Florida fans threw a football around and had no problem tossing it to people in OU gear.

Once we reached Miami, I was surprised to find that many people were not as enthusiastic about the game as I expected. The manager of our hotel asked why we were in town. He didn’t understand why so many people from Oklahoma were staying at his hotel.

Once settled, we went out to tour the streets of the Miami and South beach areas. Two clubs down the street from one another were hosting pre-game parties, and in our single taste of typical college-football feeling, Florida fans yelled “Gator Bait!” at our passing car. We responded with a salvo of “Boomer Sooner!”

The Thursday of the big game I decided to grab lunch near the beach, and I dropped in at a quaint

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Mediterranean cafe. The man who found me a place to sit asked me a curious question.

“Did Oklahoma make the national championship? ” he said.

While enjoying some delicious shish kebabs and people watching, I realized that fans of both teams were pretty tame, and inhabitants of the Miami area were generally unconcerned with the game.

Even when we arrived to the stadium, we didn’t encounter problems from Gator fans. We didn’t receive a single threat while walking through the heart of Gator tailgating territory.

After the game, we exited quietly, accepting defeat. Many Florida fans said, “Hey, it was a good game,” and shook our hands.

I couldn’t claim to have anything but respect for Florida fans.

Of course, I couldn’t help but wonder how different my experience — and my level of respect for our opponents — would have been if OU had been playing not Florida, but Miami, for the national championship.

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8

News

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009

Hundreds gather for King Day services in Atlanta • Civil rights hero would have turned 80 on Jan. 15 ATLANTA — The inauguration of the nation’s first black president is a huge step toward realizing Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of racial equality, but there is still work to be done, King’s nephew told a large crowd Monday at the church where the civil rights leader once preached.

Isaac Newton Farris, president of The King Center, told the jubilant crowd on Martin Luther King Jr. Day that the election of Barack Obama was built on a foundation laid by King.

“There is definitely a spiritual connection between these two events,” Farris told the mostly black congregation that erupted in applause at any mention of Obama’s name.

Though Obama’s election to the nation’s highest office is a milestone, King’s final achievement will not be complete until disparities in health care, education and economics are eliminated, he said.

“The dream was not about an individual or any race of people attaining power,” Farris said. “It was a human dream.”

The sanctuary of Ebenezer Baptist Church was packed with about 2,000 people, and dozens were left outside.

CAMPUS NOTES TODAY SCHOOL OF MUSIC Trombone player Irv Wagner will give a concert at 8 p.m. at Catlett Music Center’s Sharp Concert Hall.

WEDNESDAY MEN’S BASKETBALL OU will play Nebraska at 8 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble Center.

SCHOOL OF MUSIC The concert ”Ethnic Signatures” will be at 8 p.m. at Catlett Music Center’s Pitman Recital Hall. Rossitza Jekova-Goza, violin, and Stephanie Leon Shames, piano,will perform.

The first half will consist of Jewish and Eastern European music, followed by Russia and Finland and ending with the music of American George Girshwin.

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AP Photo

Members of Martin Luther King Jr.’s family from left: daughter Bernice King, nephew Issac Farris, sister Christine King Farris, and Jason Carter, grandson of former President Jimmy Carter link arms as they sing “We Shall Overcome” during the Annual Martin Luther King Jr., Commemorative Service on Monday at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

The celebration also included a keynote address from Pastor Rick Warren, a Southern Baptist who is scheduled to give the invocation at Obama’s inauguration on Tuesday. Warren urged the crowd to follow King’s example of service and selflessness.

“Tomorrow when I pray the invocation for my friend, Dr. King and a whole

host of witnesses will be shouting,” Warren said. “Martin Luther King was a mighty tool in the hand of God. But God isn’t through. Justice is a journey and we’re getting further and further along.”

The selection of Warren, who opposes same-sex marriage in his home state of California, was controversial

“In one like this, I think there’s potential for a lot of good to come out of it, long-term good,”

• Flight crew besieged by media interviews after ‘miracle’ water landing NEW YORK — The probe into the crash-landing of a US Airways jetliner will take a year, and the lessons learned from the spectacular accident will last much longer, a senior investigator said Monday.

“I think this one is going to be studied for decades,” said Robert Benzon, chief investigator on the case for the National Transportation Safety Board.

Benzon said the fact that all 155 people aboard the plane survived removes the guilt and fingerpointing that sometimes accompany aviation accidents. He said lessons learned from the successful ditching into the Hudson River could improve air safety.

“In one like this, I think there’s potential for a lot of good to come out of it, long-term good,” he said.

The Airbus A320 that splashed down in the river Thursday was at a New Jersey salvage yard Monday, where it was being guarded by company workers, federal investigators and New York City police.

“I was surprised at how intact the plane was,” said James Marchioni, a manager at Weeks Marine in Jersey City, N.J. “There were some bottom panels that were damaged. Other than that, it looked pretty good.”

Marchioni said the NTSB estimated it would take “a week or two” to disassemble the plane so the parts can be shipped to an undisclosed location for closer examination.

The search for the plane’s missing left engine was suspended until Tuesday because ice floes in the river made it too dangerous to put divers or special sonar equipment in the water.

Pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger safely landed the plane in the frigid river after colliding with a flock of birds. The collision shut down both engines less than two minutes after takeoff.

Robert Benzon, National Transportation Safety Board chief investigator AP Photo

President-elect Barack Obama said Monday he had spoken with the California pilot, who told him, “Me and my crew, we were just doing our job.’

“And it made me think, if everybody did their job — whatever that job was — as well as that pilot did his job, we’d be in pretty good shape,” Obama said.

Sullenberger, his crew and family were invited by Obama to attend Tuesday’s inauguration.

The five-member crew including three flight attendants has been besieged for media interviews.

The crew and the airline released separate statements Monday pleading for privacy.

The crew said they “wish to offer their sincere thanks and appreciation for the overwhelming support, praise and well wishes they have received from the public around the world since the events of last Thursday.”

They said they are willing to do media interviews “when the time is right.”

The airline said it was “extremely proud of the professional crew of Flight 1549,” but said that it and union leaders would “determine when media interviews are appropriate.”

The crew did speak with the NTSB, and Benzon said investigators would spend much time analyzing the crew’s choices.

“The way the landing itself occurred, the thought process that went through the mind of the pilots and the flight attendants. It’s interesting stuff for us,” Benzon said. “It’s going to take a while to go through it, but this one’s going to go down as a classic.”

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for both events. Obama’s decision to give Warren a role in the inauguration sparked protests from the gay community and the National Organization for Women. At the Atlanta service, about 100 protesters gathered across the street, and there was an outburst from at least one critic before Warren addressed the audience.

Farris defended The King Center’s choice of keynote speaker, saying that Warren’s stances on issues like global warming, AIDS and poverty are in keeping with King’s ideals.

“Warren is not so easy to pigeonhole as your average conservative,” Farris said.

Audience member Margarette Towner, a resident of Stockbridge in Atlanta’s southern suburbs, said she enjoyed Warren’s message and was only vaguely aware of the controversy surrounding him.

“Everybody has their own opinions,” Towner said, shrugging her shoulders.

“That’s what makes us so different.

That’s what makes America so great.”

King preached at Ebenezer from 1960 until his death in 1968, and a service commemorating his birthday and life are held there annually. On election night, the mainly black audience there was moved to tears when news networks announced that Obama had won the presidential race.

King would have been 80 years old on Jan. 15.

Only one of King’s three living children, Bernice, attended the Monday event. His sister, Christine King Farris, led the ceremony.

King’s son Martin Luther King III was in Washington already and his other son, Dexter King — who lives in California — did not attend. Their other sister, Yolanda, died in 2007.

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World News

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009

Gazans take stock of losses GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip— Gaza’s only cement packing factory is now a giant scrap heap, its towering silo tilting precariously. The owner’s villa was pounded by Israeli tank shells until it resembled Swiss cheese.

With a cease-fire taking hold Monday, Gazans got their first close look at the widespread destruction across their crowded territory.

The first estimates by independent surveyors said Gaza lost nearly $2 billion in assets during Israel’s three-week war on Hamas, including 4,100 homes, about 1,500 factories and workshops, 20 mosques, 31 security compounds, and 10 water or sewage lines.

Many Gazans seemed overwhelmed, saying they didn’t even know where to start with the cleanup.

East of Gaza City, a three-story apartment building owned by the Alami family had been shredded by tank shells.

Iyad Alami, an accountant, said he was going to move into the newly built third-floor apartment next month, after spending $50,000 on construction. He said he doesn’t have the strength to think about rebuilding after saving for his new home for eight years.

“The situation is very hard,” he said.

Moussa Saber, a 64-year old economics professor, inspected his damaged Gaza City apartment for the first time Monday, glass shards crunching under his feet. He turned on the tap of the bathtub, and to his relief water came out. Yet his home is uninhabitable, with doors and windows blown out by bombings of Hamas’ main government complex across the street.

Saudi Arabia pledged $1 billion Monday wfor Gaza’s reconstruction, and the international community has promised massive help.

However, many here are skeptical money will actually arrive. They fear the rebuilding efforts will be held up by the bitter rivalry between Hamas and its moderate West Bank rivals led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel is also expected to keep tight control over the flow of financial assistance, to make sure aid money does not strengthen Hamas.

Even those who have money to rebuild on their own can’t get basic materials such as cement, wood or glass. Shortages were widespread

AP Photo

A Palestinian member of the Salmi family salvages belongings from the rubble of their house Monday in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City. At least 1,259 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s air and ground onslaught, more than half of them civilians, according to the United Nations, Gaza health officials and human rights groups. 13 Israelis died, including four soldiers killed inadvertently by their own forces’ fire. in Gaza even before the war, due to the blockade on the territory imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas’ violent takeover in June 2007.

On Monday, the first full day of a mutual cease-fire, Gaza City almost appeared back to its chaotic normalcy, with cars backed up behind slow-moving donkey carts and Hamas police whistling and gesturing to keep traffic flowing across major intersections.

Many people were busy cleaning up and collecting the basics.

The muezzin of the Abbas Mosque in Gaza City’s middle-class Rimal neighborhood wore plastic flip-flops and rolled up his pants as he shoveled debris from the sidewalk. Tow trucks moved flattened cars.

Homeowners digging through rubble carried off vases, refrigerators, dishes and baby beds, some loading their goods into cars and trucks. Children carried plastic bags of scrap metal to be sold or

recycled.

Meanwhile, utility crews began planning repairs to electrical, sewage and water systems. A senior technician, Mofid Awad, said 80 percent of the electricity grid in Gaza City was damaged.

Power, water and sewage systems had been badly disrupted even before the war, largely because of Israel’s move in Nov. to tighten the border to pressure Hamas to halt rocket fire on southern Israel.

With little fuel coming in, water and sewage pumps broke down, and Gaza’s main power station operated only intermittently, leading to widespread blackouts and shortages of running water.

During the war, six water wells were damaged or destroyed, disrupting the flow of water to an additional 200,000 of Gaza’s 1.4 million people, said Monther Shobak, a top official in Gaza’s water authority. In the northern town of Beit Hanoun, close to the Israeli border, sewage seeped into the damaged

water line.

Shobak and Awad said they could restore water and electricity networks in a matter of weeks, provided Israel allows spare parts to be brought in.

However, that’s a big if. Even during the shaky six-month ceasefire that preceded the war, Israel eased the restrictions only slightly, reluctant to strengthen Hamas rule with a free flow of goods.

Israel planned to keep tight control over what is allowed into Gaza.

Authorities will wait for damage assessments by international aid groups and then consider requests.

“We are not looking to give Hamas a prize,” said Peter Lerner, an official in the Israeli military.

“There are limits, and the priority is food supplies.”

Even so, Hamas is hoping that a more permanent cease-fire deal under discussion will result in the opening of Gaza’s crossing into Egypt.

— AP

9

Iraqis stumping for votes for Jan. 31 election

BAGHDAD — Candidates in this month’s provincial elections are answering questions from voters and debating issues ranging from Baghdad’s housing shortage to the need to attract foreign investment.

This is the new style of campaigning in Iraq, where candidates feel safe enough to stump for votes and focus on grass-roots issues instead of the religious divisions and violence that overshadowed earlier elections held after Saddam Hussein’s regime was toppled in 2003.

The shift was evident at a weekend forum that brought together 13 candidates in the Jan. 31 election for provincial councils, including a communist, Shiites, Sunnis and a journalist who formed a party named after an Iraqi television show called “Let’s Talk.”

As a waiter in traditional Arab clothing poured coffee at the gathering in a Baghdad country club, the moderator and people in the audience asked candidates how they would improve public services.

They got one minute for each answer, and nobody was fazed when the power went out briefly — a common occurrence in a country that still has severe electricity shortages.

Madiha al-Moussawi, a candidate from a secular party, promised to encourage foreign investment to help create jobs.

“Our goal is a better life for Baghdad and respect for women,” said Ayad Younis of the main Sunni bloc, the Iraqi Accordance Front.

A new election rule allows Iraqis to vote for individuals instead of only political parties for the first time since Saddam’s ouster.

That has encouraged a number of first-time candidates to join the race, hoping to persuade voters to turn against politicians widely criticized for misrule.

The field is crowded. There are 14,431 candidates vying for a total of 444 seats on councils in all but four of Iraq’s 18 provinces.

The electoral commission says 75 percent of the parties and coalitions are new.

U.S. and Iraqi officials are pinning their hopes on the first nationwide balloting in three years, looking for it to unify ethnic and sectarian groups. The goal is to bolster local governments — a key step in rebuilding the war-ravaged country.

Previous elections in 2005 saw little public campaigning because of rampant violence and sectarian rivalries that threatened Iraq with civil war. In those ballots, people chose parties, often with little idea who was running.

This time, hopefuls have been trumpeting their programs and handing out cards at campaign rallies and on walks through markets. One even organized a soccer game in which the players wore T-shirts with his picture on them.

Qassim Hilail Sabre, a 47-year-old aid worker with a charity that helps poor people and orphans, is among the first-timers.

“I decided to take part in the elections to improve the current situation, especially the public services,” said Sabre, one of about 3,000 candidates for the 57-seat Baghdad provincial council.

“We believe that there is a dire need now to change Iraq’s political map and its sectarian tendencies,” Sabre added. “The people do not trust the current officials and even do not trust each other.

Our goal is to play a role in changing all that.”

— AP

10

Classifieds

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009

PLACE AN AD Phone 405.325.2521

E-Mail classifieds@ou.edu

Fax

C Transportation AUTO INSURANCE

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HELP WANTED Recreation Leader (PPT) Parks and Recreation 12th Ave Recreation Center Must be at least 16 years of age. Experience working with youths in a recreational atmosphere. $9.70/ hr. Work period: May vary. Must be able to work a minimum of 15 to 20 hours per week.

35 hours during the summer. Monday - Friday 2:30-6:00 pm during the school year. Application deadline : Open recruitment. Obtain application at: 201-C West Gray, Human Resources Dept., City of Norman. 366-5482, Web: www.normanok.gov. EOE/AA Have the summer of your life at a prestigious coed sleepaway camp in the beautiful Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, 2 1/2 hours from NYC. We’re seeking counselors who can teach any team & individual sports, tennis, gymnastics, horseback riding, mt. biking, theatre, tech theatre, circus, magic, arts & crafts, pioneering, climbing tower, water sports, music, dance, or science. Great salaries and perks. Plenty of free time, internships available for many majors. On campus interviews on 1/28/2009. Apply online at www.islandlake.com. Call 800-869-6083 between 9 & 5 eastern time on weekdays for more information. info@islandlake.com.

Bartending! Up to $250/day. No exp nec. Training provided. 1-800-965-6520, x133.

Mystery shoppers wanted for easy tanning salon assignments! National market research company seeks individuals to complete assignments for a local tanning salon chain and other retailers. tanning session reimbursed for completion of online survey. Please apply at www.bestmark.com Now hiring lifeguard, swim instructors, and AM pool managers. Apply at the Cleveland County Family YMCA, 1350 Lexington Ave. EOE.

Employment HELP WANTED NOW HIRING! CHEDDAR’S RESTAURANT! Need energetic, motivated individuals to work in high paced environment, hiring all positions, great pay and benefits! Accepting applications NOW, apply within, 1300 24th Ave NW, Norman, intersection of Robinson & 24th (just south of the Super Target.)

$5,000-$45,000 PAID. EGG DONORS for up to 9 donations, + Exps, non-smokers, Ages 19-29, SAT>1100/ACT>24/GPA>3.00 Contact: info@eggdonorcenter.com

J Housing Rentals HOUSES UNFURNISHED

AVAILABLE IN MAY A short walk to OU, 1-5 blks west of OU, nice brick homes, wood floors, CH/A, w/d, disposal, good parking.

3 Bdrm $1200-1800 2 Bdrm $700-$900 1 Bdrm $420-$460 MISTER ROBERT FURNITURE 9-4 pm, Mon-Sat, 321-1818

Deputy Marshal (Part Time) Municipal Court High School diploma and additional education at a college or technical school level req. Law school student preferred. Valid OK drivers license & satisfactory motor vehicle record. Knowledge of courtroom proceedings and practices. $7.75/ hr. Work Period: 15 hours per week maximum.

Approximately 10 hours in the courtroom Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday afternoons and 5 hours serving processes. Selected applicants must pass a background investigation and drug screen. Application deadline: Open recruitment.

Obtain application at: 201-C West Gray, Human Resources Dept., City of Norman, 3665482, Web: www.normanok.gov. EOE/AA.

J Housing Rentals APTS. FURNISHED $400, bills paid, efficiency LOFT apartments, downtown over Mister Robert Furniture, 109 E Main, fire sprinkler, no pets, smoke-free. Inquire store office.

1 Bedroom near campus, $340/mo. plus all utilities, $200 dep., no pets, Call 886-6709.

APTS. UNFURNISHED

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Make up to $75 per online survey, student opinions needed www.cashtospend.com.

Norman Zoo Tour Guides needed, flexible with your class schedule. For info call 366-7229.

NEAR OU, privacy, $260, bills paid includes cable, neat, clean, parking. Prefer male student.

Call 329-0143.

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1 week only 2 bd/2bth 1000 sq. ft. includes FREE covered parking. Rate was $610 NOW $569. Offer exp 1/25/09. Call today before they are gone 366-0999.

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A public service message from Vision Council of America and AARP.

Hazing?

Not on our campus.

The Oklahoma Daily is responsible for one day’s incorrect advertising. If your ad appears incorrectly, or if you wish to cancel your ad, call 405.325.2521 before the deadline for cancellation in the next issue. Refunds will not be issued for early cancellation.

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The Oklahoma Daily will not knowingly accept advertisements that discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, religious preference, national origin or sexual orientation. Violations of this policy should be reported to The Oklahoma Daily Business Office.

Help Wanted ads in The Oklahoma Daily are not classified as to gender.

Advertisers understand that they may not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion or gender unless such qualifying factors are essential to a given position.

All ads are subject to acceptance by The Oklahoma Daily. Ad acceptance may be re-evaluated at any time.

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8 4 6 5 3 2 9 1 7

3 1 5 7 9 6 2 4 8

7 9 2 1 4 8 6 3 5

Monday- Very Easy Tuesday-Easy Wednesday- Easy Thursday- Medium Friday - Hard

Instructions: Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. That means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box.

ACROSS 1 “There’s ___ day dawning” 5 “Macbeth” trio 9 Examples 14 ___ fide 15 Prepare for viewing 16 Patently amazed 17 Drinks once pitched by frogs 18 Waiter’s words 20 Manifest 22 “Mother and Child” artist 23 Gossipy gal 24 Domino of the ivories 26 Cambodia’s Lon 27 Be in need of a lift 28 Now and again?

30 It may be organized 32 Obtain some value from 34 Musical aptitude 35 Copied, in a way 36 Chugging contest challenge 39 Permeable 42 Constriction worker?

43 Chanoyu drink 46 It may be blessed 47 “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town”

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director 49 Ball’s path 51 Show off one’s Harley, in a way 52 Guy in Dick and Dan’s ensemble 53 First name in country 55 Seismic crack 58 Herding dog 59 Glass-raising phrase 62 Where the Aisne ends 63 Titian’s supporter 64 Curse of wool 65 Warm, in a search 66 Unit of volume 67 There’s no real point to it 68 Diving eagles DOWN 1 Monasteries 2 Recently created 3 Bad things to give away 4 “Fuzzy Wuzzy ___ fuzzy ...”

5 Olympic cupbearer 6 Useless activity 7 Rummy player’s word 8 Incense spice 9 Bold

alternative?

10 Grows more antiquated 11 Extremely evil 12 Prototype 13 Colonized 19 Ballet step 21 Natural bird-watcher 24 Arbitrary order 25 Aerial artist 29 Anti-prohibitionists 30 French vineyard 31 Not merely paying attention 33 Piano key wood, poetically 35 Autocrat of old 37 It may be shouted at home 38 Engage in self-pity

39 Bar stools, for some 40 Pig out 41 PRNDL pick 44 Closer to the beginning of time 45 Craftsperson 47 Louisiana lingo 48 Make ___ of it 50 Rebecca’s bar or word shouted there 52 Shtick 54 Unaccompanied 56 Deviate 57 Yeats’ “The Lake ___ of Innisfree” 58 Quaintly attractive 60 Little bark 61 Hydrogen’s number

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

© 2009 Universal Press Syndicate www.upuzzles.com

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Innovative Court Solutions seeks P/T Male Drug Tester. Flexible hours. Contact 329-9100 for more information.

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R.T. Conwell, advertising manager classifieds@ou.edu phone: 325-2521, fax: 325-7517 For more, go to oudaily.com.

Previous Answers

11

Luke Atkinson, L&A editor dailyent@ou.edu phone: 325-5189, fax: 325-6051 For more, go to oudaily.com.

Life & Arts

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009

Ready or not, digital transition date looms • Analog signals end to free up bandwidth spectrum CALLIE KAVOURGIAS Daily Staff Writer

AP Photo

Bruce Springsteen sings "The Rising" in front of a choir during "We Are One: Opening Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial" on Sunday in Washington.

Inaugural show starts on good note • Actors, entertainers take stage in DC for historic inauguration DAVID BAUDER Associated Press The inaugural concert telecast Sunday on HBO from the Lincoln Memorial had a sense of history and seriousness of purpose — sprinkled with a little frat party.

The latter came when Garth Brooks, backed by a youthful chorus, sang the rock staple “Shout.” Thousands of spectators raised their hands in the time-honored dance.

What was “Shout” doing there? What, for that matter, was Garth Brooks? The crowd didn’t seem to care, perhaps grateful for a little goofiness and a chance to move in the chilly weather.

HBO paid a production company $2.5 million for the rights to show the event, which it made available for free to all cable and satellite customers. It was a nearflawless production with multiple camera angles and a majestic backdrop in the giant statue of Abraham Lincoln.

Through the cast, song selections and readings, the “We Are One” theme was

driven home almost to the point of cliche.

But it may have felt most real in what seemed like an offhand comment by comic George Lopez.

“I’ve got one question,” he said. “Anyone here from out of town? Well, you’re at home now.”

Actors from Steve Carell to Forrest Whitaker gave readings that served to tie President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration to American history. Remarks by presidents Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan were used. The speakers recalled Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech at the same Lincoln Memorial, and Marian Anderson singing there after being barred from Constitution Hall.

The musicians did the real inspiring.

Bruce Springsteen, backed by dozens of chorale singers, performed “The Rising,” the title cut of his album that helped the healing process after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Stevie Wonder joined Usher and Shakira for a hip-shakin’ version of Wonder’s “Higher Ground.” Another strong collaboration was Herbie Hancock, Sheryl Crow and will.i.am doing Bob Marley’s “One Love,” with will.i.am doing an impromptu rap on racial harmony. James Taylor, John Legend and Jennifer Nettles did a reassuring “Shower the People,” although our favorite of that

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song may have been Taylor’s unbilled male backing singer.

And is there any doubt that Beyonce is now the queen of all she surveys? Not only did she get a finale singing “America the Beautiful” on Sunday, she will serenade Obama and his wife Michelle at their first inaugural ball on Tuesday night.

Mary J. Blige did an energetic “Lean on Me” that got the Obamas smiling, although her voice didn’t quite have their range for it.

Having Josh Groban sing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” coming out of a clip of Anderson’s Lincoln Memorial version was unfair to both of them. U2 didn’t soar quite like you’d expect and Bono did a little too much politicking, trying to draw the Gaza conflict into the day.

At least he knew how to use a microphone. Couldn’t someone have told Joe Biden that he didn’t have to shout as if he didn’t have one?

Kids being kids, Sasha and Malia Obama were polite but didn’t have the enthusiasm they will no doubt show when the Jonas Brothers perform for them Monday.

Producers were also cursed by a little girl who sat behind the president-elect and several times could be seen in a sound sleep when the camera cut to him.

Her snooze was no reflection on a show that set a strong standard for three days of inaugural events on TV.

Surely by now everyone has heard about what is going to happen to American television on Feb. 17. If anyone has been living under a rock and hasn’t heard, that’s the day television signals will become digital rather than analog. Most Americans will never notice a difference, but others will need to purchase a digital converter box to continue to watch television. “[A] digital [signal] is more efficient, faster and stronger than analog,” Best Buy home theater specialist Brian Dockum said.

Many Americans are still confused as to what the transition is and what needs to be done to continue their service. According to the dtv2009.gov Web site, television sets that use cable or satellite service will be unaffected by the digital transition. Analog TV’s that receive a broadcast signal, however, will become obsolete.

“It’s a bit weird to explain digital versus analog,” Dockum said.

“Basically, digital is a smaller signal than analog is, so going digital will free up broadcast airwaves, making more room for cell phones and other transmissions.”

To help the public with this change, the government is offering $40 coupons toward the purchase of converter boxes. The government allows two coupons per household, however, many people who get these coupons don’t need to. Televisions equipped with the ability to receive digital signal do not need the converter box, but some consumers don’t know if their TV’s possess this capability. Televisions sold more than five years ago do not come equipped with digital, Dockum said.

With pocketbooks tight and an economy that’s slowing down, consumers are looking to purchase the converter box with the provided coupons. Unfortunately, the coupons are in high demand and the government may not be able to fund them, according to a government Web site on the transition.

Some government officials, including new President Barack Obama, are calling to push back the Feb. 17 date back to give consumers more time to make the transition and get access to the coupons.

According to the Web site, eligible consumers interested in the coupons will be placed on a waiting list and will receive coupons on a first-come, first-served basis as funds from expiring coupons become available. Government coupons expire 90 days after they are mailed and each coupon has an expiration date printed on it.

To help understand eligibility for digital converter coupons, go to https://www.dtv2009.gov/Options.aspx and take the short quiz. In addition to this quiz and to understand whether a TV is compatible with digital signal, visit Best Buy’s digital transition page at bestbuy. com.

HOROSCOPE

By Bernice Bede Osol

Copyright 2008, Newspaper Enterprise Assn.

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -- Instead of wishing or dreaming about things you’d like to do, take measures to bring them into existence. Fulfillment is within your sphere of probability.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) -- An ambition you hold near and dear can be realized, but you have to make it your primary objective. Don’t allow others to sidetrack your efforts onto something that is meaningless to you.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- Be a good listener when colleagues are talking because you can always learn something. By the same token, be sure to express your own ideas, opinions or concepts, too. You have something to say.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- Apply your executive abilities to situations that need guidance and direction, whether it involves something important or is merely social. In either case, you are a natural at organizing and delegating.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- To the amazement of others, sometimes you are able to take on an intricate task that would totally confuse most people and handle it with complete ease. This will be one of those days.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) -Devote your aptitudes to tasks or matters that challenge you both mentally and physically.

You’ll be able to effortlessly flex your muscles and your mind with equal dexterity and skill.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- Regardless of the obstacles you may have to face, know that you’ll be a particularly good performer under pressure. In fact, a bit of adversity can actually help get your motor started.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) -- Today is the day to handle any dangling financial matter that you’ve been postponing because you’re afraid to put yourself in a hole. Lady Luck will help you sort things out and get the best deal.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -Being born under the sign of the Twins makes you an extremely good horse trader -- you can see both sides of an issue. You’ll know how to get the terms you want.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) -- It shouldn’t be difficult for you to interest others in products or issues that you’ve been hoping to advance. Your skills as a promoter are better than usual.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- You’ll recognize a situation that has been dormant for some time may be the very one that will fulfill an important need. Get busy infusing new life and vitality into it, and let it do its stuff.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- Financial situations look particularly promising. Chances are someone you have helped in the past will be the very one who steps forward and offers you a great deal.

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Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009

Life & Arts

‘Kind of Blue’ unquestionably great • Legendary jazz trumpeter Miles Davis remembered as classic clocks 50 TYLER BRANSON The Oklahoma Daily s I listened to the 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition of Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue,” I couldn’t help but find similarities between the philosopher Descartes and jazz musician Davis.

A Descartes admirer once suggested to me (however boldly) that if I wanted to understand philosophy, it would be acceptable to skip Plato and Socrates and simply start at Descartes, because his ideas were just that r e v o l u t i o n a r y.

Descartes did so much for the world of philosophy that his importance almost outweighed that of his predecessors, even though they laid the intellectual founTYLER dations from which he was BRANSON working.

Davis, who recorded “Kind of Blue” in 1959 along with a star-studded ensemble that included John Coltrane and Bill Evans, revolutionized the jazz world in 1959. Since its release, “Kind of Blue” has been certified platinum four times, staking its claim as the most popular jazz LP ever. It could be suggested that to understand Jazz, you could probably start at Miles Davis and move forward.

What makes “Kind of Blue” so awe-inspiring, besides its epic lineup, is the marked way in which Davis diverted from the traditional “bebop” jazz solo popular in the 1940s.

Bebop jazz provided a repeated chord progression as the background for the jazz soloist, who would improvise various themes over those particular chords, allowing a relatively limited space for innovation.

On “Kind of Blue,” Davis helped popularize a completely new style of improvisation. Instead of establishing a rigid set of chords from which the soloist could work, Davis played various modal scales with the background instru-

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ments. The accompanying musicians needed only to stay within the appropriate scale being used, emphasizing the correct notes at the correct time, rather than moving from one chord to the other. In this way the background instruments could go literally anywhere; this gave the soloist an opportunity to create something truly unique—a modal melody within a scale, rather than an improvised solo that fit into a particular chord progression.

“Kind of Blue” popularized modal jazz, setting a benchmark for successive generations of jazz musicians and admirers. The boundaries of Jazz were stretched further into unknown and uncharted territories—and you can hear it when you listen to it. The wailing, somber trumpet solo on track number five, the “Flamenco Sketches,” goes often in one direction, then drastically in another, backed by a piano scale that seems to align itself and stray from the solo all at the same time. Track number four, “All Blues”, leans, as expected, toward the blues, but the different scales of the piano, bass and trumpet all coalesce and blend together into a strange and unusual jazz soup, evoking more of a blues mood than actually utilizing its musical techniques.

Davis said in his autobiography that with “Kind of Blue,” he was trying evoke the sound of a gospel choir he had once heard while walking down a dark Arkansas road one night. Whether or not he succeeds is up to the listener.

But it can at least be said that throughout “Kind of Blue,” evidence of the blues, the new and unfamiliar modal jazz and the solemn, goose bump-giving solos evoke some kind of mood, some kind of unprecedented evocation of feeling, that even 50 years after the date, is different than anything else that had come before it.

The 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition of “Kind of Blue” contains the studio outtakes as well, in which you can hear Davis’s raspy, almost prophetic voice as he apologizes for a false start, converses with his producer or talks to his band mates.

These two discs, released today on Columbia Records, are more than just jazz CDs. They are windows into the mind of the Descartes of Jazz, the innovator of the solo. “Kind of Blue” is one of those albums that everyone, even if they don’t enjoy jazz, should own, because Miles Davis was just that influential.

— TYLER BRANSON IS A ENGLISH AND HISTORY SENIOR.

TRUMPETER’S TIMELINE

Photo Provided

Jazz legend Miles Davis plays his trumpet in 1948 in New York City.

May 26, 1926: Miles Davis Dewey III born in Alton, Ill. Shortly after, the Davis family moves to East St. Louis.

1939: Davis’s father, a dentist, gives his son his first trumpet.

Aug. 14, 1947: Davis records first session as a leader with Charlie Parker on tenor saxophone.

1951: Davis is currently recording little because of heroin addiction. His interests are beginning to shift from the Cool to the harbingers of Hard Bop. 1954: Davis has kicked the drug habit and begins putting together small groups.

He records “Walkin” with Horace Silver on piano, J.J. Johnson on trombone and Lucky Thompson on saxophone. This song signals the beginnings of “Hard Bop” or “Funk”.

Davis refuses to record Bag’s Groove with Thelonious Monk accompanying because Monk’s playing is “too disturbing.”

1959: Davis is clubbed for loitering by police outside of Birdland nightclub in New York City. Miles was playing at Birdland at the time and had just stepped outside for a break.

1970: Davis records “A Tribute To Jack Johnson” for Columbia Records.

1975: Davis retires. He will not even play his horn for about four years.

1981: Davis officially returns to jazz as the featured artist at the Kool Jazz Festival.

1984: Davis wins the Sonning Prize, an award from the Danish government which normally goes to a non-jazz composer.

This would result in the 1989 release Aura, composed by Palle Mikkelborg.

1989: Columbia finally releases Miles Davis’s Aura, originally recorded in 1985 with a big band consisting primarily of Danes. Aura was composed by Palle Mikkelborg as a tribute to Davis, in honor of the trumpeter winning the 1984 Leonie Sonning Music Prize.

Sept. 28, 1991: Miles Davis dies from a stroke, pneumonia and respiratory failure in Santa Monica, Calif., at the age of 65. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York.

March 13, 2006: Davis was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Adapted from allaboutjazz.com