THE DAILY REVEILLEWWW.LSUREVEILLE.COMVolume 113, Issue 71 Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Sports ...................... 5

Classifi eds ............... 14

Opinion ................... 12

Inde

x FRIDAYMOSTLY SUNNY

48 27

THURSDAYMOSTLY SUNNY

49 25

TODAYSUNNY

56 31

7:20 a.m.

8:20 a.m.

Noon

3:20 p.m.

4:20 p.m.

5:20 p.m.Broa

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STATE

La. scores low in national education report

BOARD OF SUPS

graphic by DELIA LUDU / The Daily Reveille

Final grades like a C, two Ds, two Fs and one incomplete aren’t marks many students brag about to their parents when they go home for the holidays.

But according to Measuring

Up 2008, the National Report Card on Higher Education pub-lished by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher

Education , those are the grades Louisiana received in its biennial report card — grades administra-tors said bear little relevancy to

the University.“I think we all want to be a

little careful about those kinds of things,” said Chancellor Michael Martin. “[For instance], I’m very happy that we’re a top-tier uni-versity ... It’s a wonderful accom-plishment, but we ought not get too serious about it.”

Mike Gargano, LSU Sys-tem vice president for Student and Academic Support Services ,

Administrators downplay resultsBy Lindsey MeauxStaff Writter

GRADE, see page 4

‘I’m very happy that we’re a top-tier university ... It’s a

wonderful accomplishment, but we ought not get too

serious about it.’Michael Martinchancellor

West a finalist for head of NFLPABy Leslie PresnallStaff Writer

WEST, see page 11

LSU Board of Supervisors member Rod West has an impressive football background — a 1988 national championship at Notre Dame.

And 21 years later, West could soon be moving to the professional ranks, according to The Associated Press.

West is a fi nalist to replace Gene Upshaw as executive director of the NFL Players Association, according to a report Tuesday by The Associated Press.

Upshaw, who died at age 63 of pancreatic cancer in August, spent 25 years in the position.

West, who is also president and CEO of Entergy, Inc., in New Orleans, refused to comment to The Daily Reveille on Tuesday but said in a statement Monday night he has no plans to leave Entergy.

West will interview with the NFL executive committee next week in Dallas. The eight candidates will be narrowed down and convene with the union’s 32 player representatives

Hitting Home

[Top right] Fady Hussein, electrical engineering graduate student, holds photographs of his family in Gaza. Hussein’s brother, Nedal Hussein, was injured by an Israeli bomb, and his cousin, Ahmed Hussein, was killed while trying to rescue survivors inside of a building hit by Israeli rockets. [Above] Lebanese soldiers (left) stand guard Tuesday behind razor wire in front of the building of the Egyptian embassy as people from leftist group burn a representation of an Israeli fl ag during a protest.

Fady Hussein feels helpless as he watches televised reports of bombs blanketing the region where he spent his childhood.

For more than two weeks, Hussein has somberly followed the unfolding hostility. Day after day, he anx-iously refreshes his Internet browser hoping to read about a cease-fi re, but he more realistically anticipates far worse.

Student has close, emotional ties to confl ict in Gaza

GAZA, see page 11

By Xerxes A. WilsonContributing Writer

KIM FOSTER / The Daily Reveille

FADI ABOU GHALIOUM / The Associated Press

SNAPSHOTVisit lsureveille.com to see

photos of Tiger Stadium at night.

SNAPSHOT Center in Middleton Library offers students, faculty

help with Moodle, page 4.

NEWS:Hester enjoys fi rst year

with San Diego Chargers, page 5.

SPORTS:

/ /

lsureveille.comLog on to see a video of

Fady Hussein telling his story.

Nation & WorldTHE DAILY REVEILLE

PAGE 2 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2009

WORLD NEWS

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Terri-fied residents ran for cover Tuesday in a densely populated neighborhood of Gaza City as Israeli troops backed by tanks thrust deeper into the city and sought Hamas fighters in alleyways and cellars. On the diplomatic front, Egyptian mediators pushed Hamas to accept a truce proposal and, in a hopeful sign, Israel sent its lead negotiator to Cairo for “decisive” talks on a cease-fire. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also headed for the region to join diplomatic efforts. Israeli military officials say that depending on what happens with what they described as “decisive” talks in Cairo, Israel will move closer to a cease-fire or widen its offensive.

Israeli forces storm Gaza City neighborhood

North Korea: United States must alter ‘hostile policy’SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea refused Tuesday to give up its nuclear weapons until after the U.S. alters its “hos-tile policy” toward the regime and proves it does not pose an atomic threat to the wartime rival. The cryptic statement from North Korea’s Foreign Ministry is the first to lay out North Ko-rea’s nuclear stance since the last round of international talks on disarming the North in December. Analysts say the state-ment also sends a strong signal that Pyongyang is keen to forge diplomatic relations with the next U.S. administration.

NATION, STATE AND CITY BRIEFSBurris to be sworn in to Senate seat ThursdayWASHINGTON (AP) — Senate appointee Roland Burris will be sworn into office Thursday, his office said, closing a painful and protracted certification process ensnared in the federal corruption investiga-tion of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Senate Demo-crats have reversed course, grudgingly accepting the former Illinois attorney general into their exclusive club as the person who will replace the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. “I really never doubted that I would be seated,” Burris said in a nationally broadcast television interview Tuesday. “It was just a matter of going through the process and making sure that the Senate rules were abided by,” he said.

CHARLES REX / The Associated Press

Illinois U.S. Senate appointee Roland Burris speaks Monday afternoon at a news conference in Chicago.

Largest-ever study of U.S. child health begins

State takeover advised for 10 La. schools

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists begin recruit-ing mothers-to-be in North Carolina and New York this week for the largest study of U.S. children ever performed — aiming eventually to track 100,000 around the country from conception to age 21. “We are embarking on the road to discovering the prevent-able causes of the major chronic diseases that plague American children today,” Dr. Philip Landrigan of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, one of the lead re-searchers, declared Tuesday.

BATON ROUGE (AP) — Louisiana’s education su-perintendent said Tuesday that the state should take control of 10 failing public schools, in an attempt to improve performance and better educate their 4,500 students. Eight of the schools recommended for take-over by state Superintendent of Education Paul Pas-torek are in Baton Rouge, while two others are in Cad-do Parish in northwest Louisiana. “If you look at many of these schools, they have been failing for 10 years. We have to do something,” Pastorek said.

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

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THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 3WEdnEsdAy, JAnuAry 14, 2009

The LSU AgCenter approved a new domestic strain of aromatic rice in December, which will serve as a U.S.-grown alternative to imported rice from Asia.

The new variety, named “Jazzman” by the AgCenter’s Rice Research Station in Crowley, will give Louisiana farmers the ability to compete with imported Asian jas-mine rice, an aromatic variety popu-lar in Asian cuisine.

Clarence Berken, USA Rice Council Chairman and Louisiana rice grower, said Jazzman was the “key to regaining market shares from Thai jasmine imports.”

Xueyan Sha, AgCenter rice breeder who developed the strain, claims imported aromatic rice makes up to 8 percent of total rice consumption in the United States. The average American consumes 26.01 pounds of rice annually, ac-cording to a 2001 USA Rice Feder-ation report. At current prices, this means Americans consume about $1.4 billion of aromatic rice each year.

“If we can capture some of the niche market, we can help Louisi-ana rice growers,” Sha said.

Asian imports dominate the niche market for aromatic rice.

“Prior to this, we didn’t have a U.S.-adapted variety,” said Steven Linscombe, director of the AgCen-ter’s Rice Research Station. “It will help the rice producers of the state,” he added.

Aromatic rice gives off a dis-tinctive aroma and cooks softer and stickier than other varieties. Sha and

his colleagues spent 12 years select-ing these characteristics. He origi-nally crossed a Chinese aromatic variety with a domestic strain from Arkansas in 1996.

It’s not a mimic of the Thai jasmine variety, he said. Rather, the new strain combines the desirable qualities of the aromatic strains with the hardiness of domestic strains. Sha said he detected “a need for something that can be grown do-mestically.”

The AgCenter will begin creat-ing a stockpile of foundation seed for distribution to Louisiana farm-ers. Linscombe said it takes several years to develop an ample supply of seed once they approve a new

strain.Berken said he thinks the new

variety will be successful compet-ing with Asian imports because Jazzman will carry the “Grown in the USA” logo from the USA Rice Federation. Berken explained do-mestic rice growers must adhere to strict growing regulations and cannot use certain chemicals. Most Asian countries have not made in-formation on their regulations avail-able.

“It’s real tough to get that kind of information,” Berken said.

All the residence halls on campus will receive a technology makeover by next semester.

Residents such as Matt Schexnayder, b i o l o g i c a l c h e m i s t r y freshman, and their computers will no longer be constrained to the wall by an Ethernet cord when the 17 residence halls — which includes East and West Cam-

pus apartments — go wireless.Residential Life and Infor-

mation Technology Services teamed up last semester to give every dorm room and on-campus

apartment wireless Internet con-nectivity by fall 2009.

Residence halls already have wireless networks in common ar-eas — lobbies, patios, study rooms, kitchens and laundry rooms — but not in individual dorm rooms.

“Our buildings have been limited wireless up until recent-ly,” said ResLife Director Steve Waller. “We looked at what other schools were doing and struck an agreement to go wireless 100 per-cent.”

Adding access points could cost up to $700,000 in installa-tion fees, Waller said. This number does not include operational costs.

“We have to pay for upgrading

the equipment,” he said. “Every so many years, we will be upgrading as technology moves forward.”

ResLife proposed a one-time 1 percent rent increase to students to fund the wireless connectivity. But in a trade-off with the phone service in each room, the fee could be eliminated.

A ResLife survey found 97 percent of students living on-cam-pus didn’t use the hard phone line, Waller said.

“They’re all using cell phones,” Waller said. “And my guess is it’s probably closer to 98 or 99 percent now.”

An active phone line is in-cluded in the price of rent, and

students will still have the choice to keep the phone line. Waller said by trading off the phone service students aren’t using, the 1 percent fee increase can be avoided.

Installation in the Engineer-ing Residential College, or South Hall, and the Business Residential College, or West Hall, were com-pleted in November. Broussard Hall, home of IT Residential Col-lege, was completed before winter break.

“When we built [South Hall and West Hall], I had them pre-wired on anticipation of going wireless,” Waller said. “We’re in the process now of designing the remainder of the buildings.”

All rooms have hardware ca-pability, but wireless will give stu-dents more freedom throughout the hall, Waller said. Once completed, each room will have both wired and wireless Internet connections.

“As we complete them, we will turn them on and let students take advantage of the technol-ogy,” he said. “We will not take away hard ports because those will probably go to 1[GB] in the near

future.”Brent Richard, biological sci-

ences sophomore and Highland Hall resident, said wireless con-nectivity would give him the abil-ity to study in the quietness of his room instead of the lobby.

“Just to have it to where you can lie in your bed at night and watch YouTube or just surf the In-ternet would be awesome because you have the freedom of anywhere in your room to sit down,” he said.

Matthew McKey, political sci-ence freshman, said he’s ready to move about his room without the restrictions of an Internet cable.

“Since moving into Louise Garig [Hall], I’ve always had to wire my connection, which is re-ally inconvenient,” he said. “You can’t [be mobile] with a wire un-less you had a 25-foot wire, which is just a ridiculous amount of wir-ing.”

RESIDENTIAL LIFE

Wireless Internet access to come to residence halls

AGRICULTURE

AgCenter develops rice strain to fuel La. economy

Contact Leslie Presnall at lpresnall@lsureveille.com

Contact Matthew Barnidge at mbarnidge@lsureveille.com

Project set for fall 2009 completionBy Leslie PresnallStaff Writer

New crop to compete with Asian importsBy Matthew BarnidgeContributing Writer

‘Just to have it to where you can lie in

your bed ... and watch YouTube ... would be

awesome.’Brent Richardbiology sophomore

‘You can’t [be mobile] ... unless you had a 25-foot

wire, which is just a

ridiculous amount ...’

Matthew McKeypolitical science freshman

photo courtesy of Xueyan Sha, LSU AgCenter

Xueyan Sha, the rice breeder who developed the new “Jazzman” rice strain, stands in a field at the LSU Rice Research Station in Rayne, La.

lsurev

eille.

comLog on to see a video of students’ reactions to getting wireless Internet.

THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 4 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2009

said the components the report attempts to measure cannot be accurately compared unless they are broken down.

“The general consensus here with this report is that it’s basi-cally an ineffective reporting mechanism,” Gargano said. “It’s impossible to measure the perfor-mance of one state to the next.”

The report grades all levels of education in each state based on preparation, participation, af-fordability, completion, benefi ts and learning.

The highest grade Louisiana received is a C in completion . Louisiana traditionally performs well in the completion category and typically awards certifi ca-tions and degrees relative to the amount of students enrolled, ac-cording to the report. But it noted few students complete college in a timely manner.

Louisiana received its lowest grades, two Fs, in participation and affordability.

Poor and working-class fam-ilies in Louisiana must devote 14 percent of their income to fund

an education at public, four-year colleges in the state, according to the report.

“Our tuition is $1,700 and that is less than most tuitions stu-dents would pay at a community college,” Gargano said. “Let’s look at the LSU A&M Campus — 93 percent of the students at LSU receive the TOPS award. How can there be an issue with affordability if you look strictly at tuition?”

Gargano said the report fails to recognize the “success” of the LSU System and the nearly 33 percent of bachelor’s degrees and 49 percent of higher-level de-grees the System awards.

“There’s just a lot of false

premises that have been built up in this report to attempt to say that higher education in the United States is failing when that does not bear any truth,” Gargano said.

Commissioner of Higher Education Sally Clausen said the Board should work in conjunc-tion with the Governor and the boards of elementary and second-ary education to “use these grades as a guide for positive change,” according to Meg Casper, Loui-siana Board of Regents spokes-woman.

“This is certainly not the kind of report card that you want to bring home to your mother,” Clausen said in a statement. “Now is the time to redouble our efforts with our K-12 part-ners as we focus on strengthen-ing educational attainment and workforce development across Louisiana.”

The Faculty Technology Center and Visualization Services Center , sharing a suite in Middle-ton Library , are assisting students and faculty with 3-D imaging for projects and help with Moodle and other classroom technology issues.

Starting this semester, the University is using only Moodle for online classroom needs. The

FTC , which held its grand open-ing in December, has assisted many faculty members with the transition, said Sheri Thompson , Information Technology Services Communication and Planning Offi cer .

“Moodle is evolving, and we want faculty to know what is available to help them,” she said.

The VSC offers walk-in help for students and faculty, creating visuals and imaging for projects, teaching and research, according to Imtiaz Hossain , VSC manag-er .

“The whole mission is to en-hance the visualization process for students and teachers,” he

said. Hossain said the VSC also

teaches 3-D imaging classes. Thompson said the cen-

ter has a professional staff that meets with faculty individually, helping them with any technical

problems.Before the FTC opened, Cen-

ters for Excellence in Learning & Teaching offered training ses-sions, Thompson said. She said the difference is the one-on-one help the FTC offers.

“The Faculty Technology Center is the one-stop shop for faculty technical needs,” she said.

The FTC and VSC are still in the early stages, but use of the facilities has increased with news of the centers spreading, said Greg Brignac , Information Tech-nology Services manager .

Since faculty returned from winter break, FTC receives about 10 to 15 walk-ins daily and 80 to 100 phone calls, Brignac said.

“I consider it to be fairly heavy utilization,” he said. “It fl uctuates, and we’re currently in a peak.”

Brignac said though Moodle is a popular subject right now,

FTC helps with all forms of tech-nology, which is why FTC is housed in the same suite as VSC .

“We don’t want to send peo-ple across campus,” Brignac said. “We want it to all be right there. If faculty want technical help in any way, we want them to know they can get it. That’s our goal.”

Thompson said the center is part of the Flagship IT Strategy , which ensures teachers have ev-erything they need to teach.

The FTC is funded by Infor-mation Technology Services and CELT , Thompson said.

“There really is no defi nite ‘next step,’ but as teachers’ needs arise, the Center will grow to meet their needs,” Thompson said.

Center assists faculty, students with transfer to MoodleStaff helps with other technology issues tooBy Steven PowellContributing Writer

TECHNOLOGY

KIM FOSTER / The Daily Reveille

A 3-D scanner in the new Faculty Technology Center in Middleton Library scans a small football to demonstrate how the scan-ner uses cameras and visible wavelength lasers to digitally photograph objects without radiation.

‘‘‘The Faculty Technology Center is the one-stop

shop for faculty technical needs.’

Sheri ThompsonInformation Technology Services

Communication and Planning Offi cer

Contact Steven Powell at spowell@lsureveille.com

GRADE, from page 1

Contact Lindsey Meaux at lmeaux@lsureveille.com

‘‘‘There’s just a lot of false premises that have been built up in this report ...’

Mike GarganoLSU System vice president for

Student and Academic Support Services

LSU’s men’s basketball team hosts its doppelganger when South Carolina comes to town tonight.

Doppelganger can be defi ned as “a ghostly counterpart to a liv-ing person,” according to Diction-ary.com. And the term fi ts well for the early going of the two teams’ seasons.

The Tigers (12-3, 0-1) and Gamecocks (12-2, 1-0) fell on dif-ferent ends of very similar games in the fi rst weekend of Southeast-

ern Conference play.The Tigers out-rebounded

and out-shot Alabama from the fi eld but managed only 10 free throws to the Crimson Tide’s 35 in a 65-59 loss .

“We didn’t play through some things,” said LSU coach Trent Johnson. “We didn’t beat them at crucial times to loose balls or to rebounds. We didn’t come back to the ball in the air in crucial situ-ations when we were in striking distance.”

South Carolina defeated Au-burn at home, 68-56, in a game in which it was out-rebounded, 41-34.

South Carolina senior guard Zam Fredrick came to the

Gamecocks’ rescue, scoring 27 points and shooting 5-for-5 from the free-throw line in the win.

“He did what you would hope fi fth-year seniors are going to do — play with poise and aggressive-ness and show a lot of leadership in a game where we didn’t get off to a real good start,” said South Carolina coach Darrin Horn. “He made some shots and cre-ated some baskets for us and did a good job getting to the foul line and knocked down those shots as well.”

LSU will be hoping to show the same poise in front of its sec-ond home crowd of the new year.

Former LSU running back Jacob Hester is on a new stage since he was drafted by the San Diego Chargers last April.

From living in sunny Califor-nia to starting at fullback for the AFC West champion Chargers, Hester and his wife, Katie, are loving the new experiences.

“We live downtown over-looking the bay, and it’s beauti-ful,” Katie Hester said. “I still catch myself thinking, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I live here.’ Most people get drafted, and no offense, but they go somewhere cold or rainy, somewhere with not really nice weather. We really

lucked out coming out here.”Jacob Hester said he quickly

warmed up to the city of San Di-ego and the Chargers’ loyal fan base.

“The most enjoyable thing about California is the city I’m playing in. It’s probably one of the best cities in the country,” he said. “Every day I get to experi-ence great weather and great peo-ple and great fans. Every game we had this year was a sellout.”

But when Jacob Hester ar-rived in San Diego, he wasn’t a household name like he was throughout his career at LSU.

The Hesters said being back in a rookie role was a challenge.

“It’s been really fun, kind of rough at the beginning of the year just because you’re a freshman again, having to start over instead

Sports THE DAILY REVEILLE

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2009 PAGE 5

Lady Tigers not looking past UNOBy Casey GisclairChief Sports Writer

UNO, see page 7

JERIT ROSER / The Daily Reveille

LSU senior center Chris Johnson blocks McNeese State sophomore guard Stephan Martin’s shot Dec. 22 in the Tigers’ 62-59 win against the Cowboys.

Tigers face clones in PMACLSU hosts South Carolina tonightBy David HelmanSports Writer

Daily Reveille fi le photo

Former LSU running back Jacob Hester carries the ball past Ohio State defenders in the 2007 BCS National Championship.

ChargingDENIS POROY / The Associated Press

San Diego Chargers running back Jacob Hester [right] tries to break away from Denver Broncos linebacker D.J. Williams on Dec. 28 in San Diego.

Hester enjoys fi rst season in NFL

HESTER, see page 10

By Rachel WhittakerSports Writer

To be the best, you have to beat the best.And with four matchups against ranked opponents

left on its schedule, the LSU women’s basketball team’s freshman-heavy roster will soon fi nd out how it stacks up against some of the best teams in the country.

But despite the diffi cult schedule, LSU coach Van Chancellor has only one game circled on his calendar — tonight’s road game against New Orleans.

“This is our biggest game of the year,” he said. “We

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

FOOTBALL

By The Associated Press

Scott, Black to announce NFL plans today

LSU running back Charles Scott and offensive lineman Ciron Black have scheduled a joint news conference today to announce whether they’ll remain with the Tigers or enter the NFL draft.

LSU offi cials said coach Les Miles would join the players at their announcement, which is scheduled for 2 p.m.

LSU is already losing two starting linemen from 2008, cen-ter Brett Helms and left guard Herman Johnson.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

MIRROR, see page 7

Contact The Daily Reveille’s sports staff at sports@lsureveille.com

Forward

lsurev

eille.

com

Log on at 2 p.m. to follow the press conference live.

Former Miami quarterback Robert Marve joined the Hurricanes in 2007 with all the hype of a top high school recruit.

He was named “Mr. Florida Football” as a senior at Plant High School in Tampa, Fla., and broke Florida quarterback Tim Tebow’s single-season records for passing yards (4,380) and touchdowns (48).

Two years later, Marve wants to transfer from the Hurricanes, possi-bly to LSU, the Associated Press is reporting.

Marve had a rough relationship with Miami coach Randy Shannon, according to the AP. He also sus-tained two suspensions and a tough 2008 season, where he passed for 1,293 yards, nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions, leading Miami to a 6-5 record as a starter.

Initially, Marve was barred from transferring to a school in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Southeastern Conference or the state of Florida.

Marve was recently granted

permission to go to South Florida, Central Florida and any SEC school besides Florida, Tennessee and LSU.

Officials at Miami insisted that the Marve family or their represen-tatives were in contact with Florida, Tennessee and LSU during the 2008 season.

“The University of Miami has reason to believe that the Marve fam-ily or others on behalf of the Marve family contacted those institutions during the 2008 season regarding Robert’s potential transfer,” accord-ing to a University of Miami Athletic Department news release.

Marve told the AP he had not had any contact with those schools.

Even though Marve could trans-fer to one of the restricted schools, including LSU, he would have to miss a season.

Michael Bonnette, LSU’s sports information director, said he cannot comment on other team’s players per NCAA rules.

Marve redshirted his freshman year after he broke his wrist in a car crash.

Marve was expected to be the starter last season but was suspended for the season opener because of a team sanction related to his misde-meanor charge Oct. 31, 2007. The

charges were later lifted. The Marve saga continued when

he was suspended for the Emerald Bowl against California because of a violation of team academic rules.

Marve’s addition to LSU would make for a crowded quarterback

situation in Baton Rouge.If he transferred, Marve would

join signal callers rising sophomore Jordan Jefferson, rising sophomore Jarrett Lee, rising junior Andrew Hatch, rising sophomore T.C. Mc-Cartney, five-star recruit Russell

Shepard and three-star recruit Chris Garrett as Tigers.

THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 6 WEdnEsdAy, JAnuAry 14, 2009

FOOTBALL

Former Hurricane QB Marve barred from moving to LSUMiami cites improper contact with schoolsBy Michael LambertSports Contributor Contact Michael Lambert at

mlambert@lsureveille.com

JOHN RAOUX / The Associated Press

Miami quarterback Robert Marve looks on during the Sept. 6. game against Florida in Gainesville, Fla.

THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 7WEdnEsdAy, JAnuAry 14, 2009

LSU’s baseball team was ranked No. 2 in the 2009 National Collegiate Baseball Writers As-sociation preseason poll released Tuesday.

The Tigers were already ranked No. 1 in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll released last month.

LSU coach Paul Mainieri said he was happy to receive the recog-nition, but downplayed the rank-ings’ significance after the release of the Collegiate Baseball poll.

“As long as I’m up here, it’s always going to be the goal of our team ... to have the best baseball team in the country — even though this is a very subjective thing,” he said. “We haven’t earned this on the field, but it’s nice to know that there’s some people out there that agree with me and our players.”

North Carolina, the team that

ended the Tigers’ 2008 season in Omaha, received the No. 1 spot in the NCBWA poll after Collegiate Baseball listed them No. 2 behind LSU.

LSU is the highest ranked of five Southeastern Conference teams in the NCBWA top 35. No. 5 Georgia, No. 14 Ole Miss, No. 23 Kentucky and No. 24 Florida join the Tigers.

Georgia, Ole Miss and Ken-tucky received slightly lower rank-ings than their Collegiate Baseball Rankings, which were No. 4, No. 11 and No. 19, respectively. Flor-ida received Collegiate Baseball’s No. 25 spot.

LSU also faces Tulane twice this season. The Green Wave were ranked No. 34 by both NCBWA and Collegiate Baseball.

Pluckers wing barTrivia at 8.

$4 34 oz Mother Plucker Mugs.If you don’t like our wings,

we’ll give you the bird.

Mellow MushrooM Pizza bakersTrivia and Karaoke Night

5-10pm: $5 Domestic Pitchers, $6 Abita Pitchers

9-10:30pm Fargo12:00-1:30pm Get Smart7-9:30pm The Dark Knight

cannot afford a loss and have to keep the momentum we have going.”

Chancellor said following Sun-day’s 55-34 win against Alabama, he pulled aside two of the team’s five leaders and emphasized the impor-tance of being motivated to beat their in-state rival.

“I told [junior guard Allison] Hightower and [sophomore guard Katherine] Graham that if we don’t play well, I’d hold you two respon-sible,” he said. “We have to win that game. There’s no ‘ifs,’ no ‘ands’ and no ‘maybes.’”

LSU (8-5, 2-0) comes into the game hot, having won seven of its last nine games, including the win against Alabama.

Since losing to No. 1 Connecti-cut on Jan. 3, the Lady Tigers have picked up their defensive effort.

In the two games since the loss, LSU has allowed 38 points per game and held opponents to 25 percent shooting.

“Here at LSU, we put a lot of pride in our defense,” Hightower said. “LSU’s known for their de-fense, and we don’t want to let that up.”

But LSU’s offense has also been more efficient as of late.

The Lady Tigers shoot 41 per-cent from the floor this season. But in the past six games, they have shot 45 percent from the floor.

One player who has helped the Lady Tigers’ efficiency is Graham.

Graham comes into the game fifth in the team in scoring, averag-ing 5.6 points per game. But the Birmingham, Ala., native leads the Lady Tigers in rebounding, assists and steals.

Graham had one of the best games of her career against Alabama, picking up 11 points, six rebounds and three steals.

With freshmen post players starting, Graham said Chancellor has emphasized rebounding to the team’s guards.

“He told me that I had a good game and he likes what I did, but he wants me to block out more to secure some more rebounds,” she said.

New Orleans comes into the game having lost three of its past five games.

But the Privateers are 4-1 on the season against Louisiana competi-tion, including a 3-0 record at home.

The Lady Tigers’ defense will have to contain UNO’s one-two punch on the perimeter, senior guard Jada Frazier and junior guard Brit-tany Helm.

The Privateers’ duo is combin-ing to average 22 points, eight re-bounds and six assists per game.

Hightower said despite UNO probably not being as highly rated as some of LSU’s recent opponents, the Lady Tigers know they will have to play well to earn a road win against an in-state opponent.

“Winning there is very impor-tant,” she said. “We have to stay fo-cused and stay on track. UNO is go-ing to play their best. [They will] play hard, so we have to match that.”

Contact Casey Gisclair at cgisclair@lsureveille.com

UNO, from page 5

The Tigers have not played a home game since the Jan. 3 win against Southeastern Louisiana while the Gamecocks have not had to travel since their Jan. 2 upset of then-No. 20 Baylor.

“I know the kids are excited about being back home,” Johnson said. “But our opponents — those are the ones we’re concerned about ... For us to continue to get better and not take steps back, we need to treat home and road the same.”

The Gamecocks will bring a more up-tempo style of play to Baton Rouge tonight.

South Carolina boasts the SEC’s No. 3 scoring offense, av-eraging 81 points per game.

But the Gamecocks’ defense hasn’t been as great, ranking eighth in the conference, allowing

65.3 points per game.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Tigers’ offense is ranked No. 7 in the con-ference, while their scoring defense sits at No. 3, holding opponents to just 61.6 points per game.

That de-fense will be tested early by the SEC’s third-leading scorer, South Carolina junior guard De-van Downey, who averages 19.7 points per game. The combination of Fredrick and Downey gives the Gamecocks two of the conferenc-es top-10 scorers.

It’s even possible Downey could serve as doppelganger to LSU senior guard Marcus Thorn-ton. Thornton finished the last season as the SEC’s No. 2 scorer, averaging 19.6 points per game, while Downey finished third with 18.4.

One year later, Downey sits at No. 3 with his 19.7 average while Thornton sits at No. 5, averaging 18.5.

“Our transition ‘D’ is prob-ably going to be tested unlike it’s been tested all year long, just because of their explosiveness,” Johnson said. “They basically play with five guards ... We all know we need to bring our ‘A’ game and defend with a sense of urgency.”

MIRROR, from page 5

Contact David Helman at dhelman@lsureveille.com

JERIT ROSER / The Daily Reveille

Senior center Chris Johnson goes up for a jump shot Dec. 17 in the Tigers’ 68-56 win against Nicholls State in the PMAC.

Tigers ranked No. 2 in ’09 preseason poll

BASEBALL

Contact Jerit Roser at jroser@lsureveille.com

By Jerit RoserSports Editor

‘For us to continue to get better ... we need

to treat home and road the same.’

Trent Johnsonmen’s basketball

coach

THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 10 WEdnEsdAy, JAnuAry 14, 2009

of just coming where he’s already established,” Katie Hester said. “He’s having to come in and get his name in there again and fight for his spot.”

Jacob Hester said he was “low on the totem pole” in his first season, but he and Chargers coach Norv Turner have devel-oped a solid relationship.

“You get some tough love, but a coach just wants to bring out the best in you,” he said.

Jacob Hester said days as an NFL player are much different from college.

“You don’t have class or any-thing to break things up,” he said. “You have football from 7 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon, so you don’t really have time for anything else but football.”

The Shreveport native got his chance to break into the lineup Nov. 23 when starting fullback Mike Tolbert left the Chargers’ game against the Indianapolis Colts with a shoulder injury.

Hester scored his first NFL touchdown that night on a 1-yard pass from quarterback Philip Rivers.

“That was the best feeling I think I’ve ever had,” he said.

San Diego lost that game, 23-20, and fell to 4-7, putting the Chargers close to being elimi-nated from playoff contention. Katie Hester said she was fully prepared to go back to Baton Rouge, where she and Jacob just bought a house, after the end of the regular season.

But the Chargers defied ex-pectations and defeated the Den-ver Broncos in the season finale to win the AFC West title with an 8-8 record. They were the first team to capture a division crown with a non-winning record since the Cleveland Browns in 1985.

“When we were 7-8, Denver was one game ahead of us,” Ja-cob Hester said. “When we were coming back on the plane and found out they lost and that if we beat them we would win the championship, it was a new sea-son.”

Katie Hester said the antici-pation was taxing for her.

“We are a team that waits until the very last minute to do things,” she said. “So I have been so stressed and feel like a heart attack is coming on sometime soon just because we can’t ever do anything early.”

San Diego’s playoff run be-gan with a 23-17 overtime upset of the Colts on Jan. 3.

“Indy was the trendy pick to go all the way in the AFC, and everybody said we didn’t have much of a chance against them,” Jacob Hester said.

The Chargers’ 35-24 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday ended their season, but Jacob said the team recognized how impressive its resurgence was.

“It’s tough losing being two games away from the Super Bowl,” he said. “We realized what kind of season we had, be-ing 4-8 and coming back to win the division and a playoff game. It’s never been done in NFL his-

tory, so we knew we did some-thing special that will push us more for next year.”

Jacob Hester finished his rookie year with 19 rushes for 95 yards, 15 receptions for 110 yards and two total touchdowns. He also contributed on special teams with three kickoff returns for 42 yards.

Off the field, Jacob and Ka-tie still keep in touch with LSU running backs Charles Scott and Keiland Williams, as well as former Tiger quarterback Matt Flynn, who was in the couple’s wedding.

Katie Hester said they have also found niches with the Char-gers.

“[Jacob] has some great friends,” she said. “Philip [Riv-ers] has actually brought the ‘hick’ out of Jacob because he’s gotten him getting cowboy boots and all this crazy stuff.”

Jacob Hester said he has also been close with former LSU teammate Craig Davis, who is in his second year as a Chargers wide receiver. Davis was placed on injured reserve Nov. 20.

Jacob and Katie said while their first season in San Diego was great, they are ready to enjoy the offseason in Baton Rouge.

“We’re coming back to Ba-ton Rouge, and I’ll work out with some of the guys from LSU and enjoy some time off,” he said.

Contact Rachel Whittaker at rwhittaker@lsureveille.com

Former LSU running back Jacob Hester lunges into Ohio State linebacker James Laurinaitis in the Tigers’ 38-24 win in the 2007 BCS National Championship game in New Orleans.

Daily Reveille file photo

HESTER, from page 5

THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 11WEdnEsdAy, JAnuAry 14, 2009

in Hawaii in March.Four members of Congress want

the Department of Labor to monitor the search for a new executive director, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

The Congress members asked that a detailed report of the search be provided to ensure the integrity of the search process and to ensure the search is compliant with all rules and regulations of the Department of Labor.

West didn’t play professional football but lettered three years as outside linebacker and tight end for Lou Holtz at Notre Dame.

Gov. Mike Foster appointed West to the Board of Supervisors’ 2000. West was elected chairman of the Board in 2006.

West also serves on the board of Allstate Sugar Bowl, First Bank and Trust and is a commissioner of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad and Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

WEST, from page 1

Contact Leslie Presnall at lpresnall@lsureveille.com

Billowing smoke from war-torn structures fills the Gaza skies where Hussein’s family and home are deep in the middle of a dangerous conflict. Hussein’s cousin was killed, and his brother was injured during Israel’s daily attacks on Gaza.

“Sometimes you feel like Is-rael doesn’t have to care about anybody,” said Hussein, University graduate student and Gaza native. “Sometimes you feel like they just want to ruin your life. Gaza is very crowded. If you’re bombarded by tanks, it’s nothing but killing inno-cent people,”

The escalation of violence be-gan Dec. 27 when Israeli forces launched an air assault on the Gaza Strip to end rocket attacks the Gaza leadership group Hamas made against Israel. The current conflict has taken the lives of 13 Israelis, three of whom were civilians.

The death toll on the Palestinian side has reached an estimated 970, half of which are women and chil-dren. There have also been an esti-mated 4,300 injured as Israeli forces continue airstrikes and press further into the Israeli occupied Gaza strip.

A week ago, Hussein’s cousin, Ahmed Hussein, attempted to rescue survivors inside of a building recent-ly hit by Israeli rockets. Soon after, Israeli F-16s pummeled the build-ing, this time destroying the entire structure and killing Ahmed.

Stories like Hussein’s are com-mon throughout Gaza as the current conflict enters its 19th day.

“I am very worried,” Hussein said. “Thirty percent of Gaza has been destroyed so far.”

Hussein’s brother, Nedal Hus-sein, was the victim of an Israeli at-tack.

“On Al Jazeera I saw pictures of an injured guy, and I was like, ‘Who is this guy? Who is this guy?’” Hus-sein said. “I didn’t know my own brother. His face had been swollen from the strike.”

Fady Hussein then called his mother, who told him of their fam-ily’s loss. Nedal Hussein was injured by a rocket and was transferred to Egypt for surgery.

A controversial topic among University students and professors

is who is to blame for this eruption of violence.

Krista Allen, history junior and representative of the Tigers for Israel group, blames the Hamas rockets for terrorizing and provoking defensive measures from Israel.

“When you are being fired on at your population centers, you have the right to defend yourself from what is happening,” Allen said.

Mark Gasiorowski, political science and international studies professor, said Israel has created a humanitarian situation in Gaza, leading to rockets being fired from Gaza.

During the last few months, Israel has restricted humanitarian support and supplies from entering Gaza, letting only about 20 percent of supplies into the region. About half of Gaza’s population is eat-ing only one meal daily because of these restrictions. This refusal to lift the blockade on goods and trade in and out of Gaza seems to be the rea-son for Hamas rocket attacks, Gasi-orowski said.

Edward Shihadeh, sociology professor, blames Israel for “one of the most deplorable stories of colo-nialism remaining today” and pro-voking the attacks.

“I’ve been to Gaza once,” Shi-hadeh said. “It’s a hell hole. It is one of the most crowded places on earth, and it is one of the poorest places on earth. For the people there, it is a prison.”

Israel controls everything and everyone going in and out of Gaza because Israel has blockaded every border with Gaza, Shihadeh said.

“Imagine if someone hemmed the United States in and started starving us,” Shihadeh said. “We would be launching missiles, too. If you were living there, you would be doing the same damn thing.”

Barry Weinstein, B’nai Israel Synagogue Rabbi emeritus and for-mer University professor, said any blockade on Gaza is not the reason for the conflict, claiming Israel has sent humanitarian aid into the re-gion.

The reason rockets are falling is because Hamas denies Israel the right to exist, Weinstein said. The cease-fire will happen when rockets stop falling on Israel, and there is

no way Israel can allow its popula-tion to be subject to these attacks, he said.

Hussein feels this escalation in violence is a harsh reaction and the wrong solution to the conflict.

“If you curse me, can I kill you?” Hussein asked. “No, because it has to be proportionate. They [Is-rael] cannot stop the rockets. Hamas stopping the rockets and Israel stop-ping the blockade — that is the solu-tion.”

Gaza’s dense population creates a lethal situation for Hussein’s fam-ily and Gaza civilians during this Is-raeli offensive, Hussein said. There are more than 1.5 million people living in Gaza’s 140 square miles, according to the CIA. An average household has 15 to 20 people, so any rocket fired or bomb dropped by Israel will kill people, Hussein said.

About 15 people live in two rooms at Hussein’s home in Gaza with no other place to take refuge from the violence.

“The whole neighborhood got threatened that the airforce will hit the area,” Hussein said. “At the same time, you have no place to go. Any target that moves, they throw

rockets at it. You can’t drive a car. You can’t go to your neighbors. You can’t do anything … Now my family starts to run out of many things.”

University students are conti-nents removed from the conflict but are still affected by this continuing turmoil in the Middle East. America spends billions of dollars in the Mid-dle East, and oil prices are higher now than when the Middle East is calm, Gasiorowski said.

Shihadeh said the average American should care more about the conflict because they are financ-ing it.

“We pour billions of dollars into Israel, arming it to the teeth to keep

this imperfect system going,” Shiha-deh said. “We should create a system where we don’t have to prop it up with billions of dollars in weapons every year for the last six decades.”

Hussein is set to graduate in May, but he has no place to go there-after. He can’t return home because he will not be let in.

“Everything in Gaza is de-stroyed,” Hussein said. “My pass-port expired. And to make a new one you have to go the Interior Ministry, and it is not anymore.”

GAZA, from page 1

Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at xwilson@lsureveille.com

ABDALRAHEM KHATEB / The Associated Press

An explosion from an Israeli airstrike is seen Tuesday in Rafah in the southern Gaza strip. Israeli troops advanced into Gaza suburbs for the first time early Tuesday, residents said.

OpinionPAGE 12 WEdnEsdAy, JAnuAry 14, 2009

THE DAILY REVEILLEThe Daily Reveille (USPS 145-800) is written, edited and produced solely by students of Louisiana State University. The Daily Reveille is an independent entity within the Manship School of Mass Communi-cation. Signed opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, paper or University. Letters submitted for publication should be sent via e-mail to opinion@lsureveille.com or delivered to B-26 Hodges Hall. They must be 400 words or less. Letters must have a contact phone number so the opinion editor can verify the author. The phone number won’t be printed. The Daily Reveil-le reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for space consideration without changing the origi-nal intent. The Daily Reveille also reserves the right to reject any letter without notification of the author. Writers must include their full names and phone numbers. The Daily Reveille’s editor-in-chief, hired ev-ery semester by the Louisiana State University Media Board, has final authority on all editorial decisions.

EdITOrIAL POLICIEs & PrOCEdurEs QuOTE OF THE dAy“Half of Louisiana is under

water and the other half is under indictment.”

Billy TauzinFormer American Congressman

June 14, 1943 - present

Editorial Board

THE DAILY REVEILLE

EditorManaging Editor, ContentManaging Editor, External MediaOpinion Editor ColumnistColumnistColumnist

KYLE WHITFIELD TYLER BATISTE

GERRI SAXDANIEL LUMETTA

ERIC FREEMAN, JR.TRAVIS ANDREWS

MATTHEW ALBRIGHT

Living in Louisiana is a lot like being on Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras: none of the abundant, scandalous activity surprises anyone — only because everyone looks like they’re having a great time.

It’s a good way to describe the corruption in this state, although the corruption crown has shifted slightly further up the Mississippi River.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested and indict-ed for trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder. Blagojevich was quoted as saying, “I’ve got this thing, and it’s fucking golden. I’m not giving it up for fucking noth-ing,” according to wiretaps taken by the FBI.

In addition to threatening to withhold millions in Medicaid reimbursements to a children’s hos-pital if the CEO failed to contribute $50,000 to his campaign fund, the embattled governor is also accused of planning extortion and trying to force the Chicago-based Tribune Company to fire editorial writers in exchange for a tax break allegedly worth $100 million.

The Illinois House of Rep-resentatives impeached Blagojevich — 114 to 1, with one member voting ‘present’ — and at the time of this column, he awaits trial from the Il-linois Senate.

In lieu of resigning his po-sition, the governor instead appoint-ed former state Attorney General Roland Burris, 71, to fill the va-cant Senate seat. The appoint-ment caused a predictable stir around the Cap-itol and across the mainstream media, as the race card once again showed its ugly face in the form of Rep. Bobby Rush, asking the media “not to hang or lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointor,” while call-ing the U.S. Senate “the last bastion of plantation politics,” according to The Associated Press.

The media circus sparked by Blagojevich’s actions brings Il-linois — yes, Illinois — back to its true place atop the corruption

echelon in America. A columnist hailing from

the home state of Huey P. Long and Edwin Edwards is claiming — nay, asserting — that Illinois was, is and will continue to be the most corrupt state in the nation’s history.

According to Time Maga-zine, Blagojevich is the first governor in Illinois history to be impeached but is the sixth Illinois governor to be subject to arrest or indictment.

His predecessor, George Ryan, was convicted in April 2006 on 18 felony counts, including racketeering conspiracy, mail and tax fraud and lying to the FBI. The former governor was exposed for trading truck operators’ licenses for political contributions, as well as exchanging government favors for family vacations, tickets to events and other gifts.

Ironically, when Blagojevich was elected governor, becoming the first Democrat to be elected governor of Illinois in 30 years, he pledged to end a “Repub-lican legacy of corruption, misman-agement and lost opportunities.”

Illinois corruption dates back to the 1920s, when former

Gov. Lennington Small was charged with embezzling over $1 million in state funds.

Small went on trial in 1922 but was acquitted and would serve seven more years in office, of course after giving state jobs to four jurors from the trial.

Otto Kerner was indicted and convicted in 1973 of bribery, conspiracy, income tax evasion, mail fraud and perjury, stemming from deals made with a horse rac-ing association, promising favorable race dates in exchange for $356,000 worth of stock.

Dan Walker became gover-nor the year Kerner was convicted but left office to start a savings and loan business, only to be indicted for making $1.4 million in fraudulent loans to provide maintenance to his private yacht.

After his death in 1970, former Ill. Secretary of State Paul Powell — no relation to Colin — had his house raided, only to find shoeboxes full of checks, totaling more than $800,000, made out by Illinois residents thinking they were paying license registration fees.

Also found in space he

rented: 49 cases of whiskey, 14 transistor radios and two cases of creamed corn. When it was all set-tled in 1978, his estate was estimat-ed to be worth $4.6 million, includ-ing $1 million in racetrack stock.

Considering he was in pub-lic office for 42 years, never earning more than $30,000 a year, Powell lived the fullest of his personal mot-to: “There’s only one thing worse than a defeated politician, and that’s a broke one.”

Only the coming weeks will tell whether Blagojevich will resign from office or be forced out by the Illinois Senate. But the day Robert Grant of the FBI’s Chicago office announced Blagojevich’s in-dictment, he said, “If [Illinois] isn’t the most corrupt state in the United States, it’s certainly one hell of a competitor.”

Bad news for Illinois: If corruption were a baseball player, Illinois would be Barry Bonds.

FREEMAN OF SPEECH

Illinois surpasses Louisiana as corruption capital

Contact Eric Freeman, Jr. at efreeman@lsureveille.com

Louisiana is the most corrupt state in the nation, according to a Department of Justice congressional report in 2006.

Some say the Big Easy — or, more appropriately, the Big Sleazy — should step aside and relinquish its throne. They say the Crescent City crown should be forfeited to one of its closest competitors (at least in terms of federal convictions for pub-lic officials).

But we must have faith that the leaders of the Pelican state will not bow to the pressure of their critics and stand idly by while public offi-cials from some prairie state try to steal their glory.

For years, federal judges have thrown out convictions like it was Mardi Gras on Bourbon Street, with our public officials standing in for big-breasted women.

But some go further, claiming Illinois — which ranked in the bot-tom half of the top-10 most corrupt states — has always been and will always be the most corrupt state.

Illinois may be ahead in a head-line horse race — but when it comes to a rich history of corruption, Loui-siana still reigns supreme.

Just ask David Duke about

supremacy.Duke, former Louisiana state

representative and gubernatorial candidate, served time in prison for tax fraud.

Oh yeah — and he’s a former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

Duke ran against former gover-nor Edwin Edwards, who served an unprecedented four terms as Louisi-ana governor from 1972-1996, with a brief four-year vacation thanks to former governor Buddy Roemer.

Edwards is now serving 10 years for racketeering charges. In unrelated news, his son was released from federal prison last year.

Sometimes corruption in Loui-siana is so common, it comes just as sure as a last name.

See: Morial, Jefferson, Long.In 2005, former New Orleans

mayor Marc Morial’s administration came under federal investigation.

That same year, former Rep. William Jefferson, D-La, came under intense investigation as well.

Since then, three of Morial’s and three of Jefferson’s close rela-tives have been convicted on corrup-tion charges.

And don’t forget the Long fam-ily. Sure, Huey and Earl gave out

free textbooks and improved infra-structure, but they also stole, lied and cheated elections.

One of America’s most popular and admired presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt, once called Huey one of the most dangerous men in America.

And this was at a time when the world faced the worst economic times in modern history — at a time when tyrants were plotting global conquest.

The state faces a coastal crisis that pales in comparison to its ethical erosion.

Sure, there’s always Gov. Bobby Jindal and that whole ethics reform thing, but Jindal is running for another office now.

Don’t expect his changes to last.

Marc Petanaude, Louisiana history instructor here on campus, noted Louisiana’s governors have historically been successful in their attempts to swindle the federal gov-ernment out of money.

Petanaude referred to the 1939

scandals involving officials in vari-ous levels of government — includ-ing former LSU system president James Smith and former Gov. Rich-ard Leche — who took money pri-marily from the Works Project Ad-ministration.

“One of the more interesting stories about the 1939 scandals was Smith spent $500,000 on the com-modities market and after he lost that money, he basically stole another half million and fled the country,” Petanaude said.

“And this is in 1939 dollars while the Great Depression was still going on,” he added.

There is sufficient time and space to simply mention Eddie Jor-dan, Katrina, the levee board, federal disaster funding, looters, FEMA, ed-ucation and the New Orleans Police Department — who are the kindest, most caring, best overall police offi-cers in the land.

With a cherry on top.But this isn’t where Louisiana’s

corruption tally ends.First, corruption can only be

measured through the prism of public data. There’s no telling how much corruption Louisiana’s public officials get away with.

Second, the aforementioned corruption rankings are inaccurate to begin with — the Justice Department statistics don’t include prosecutions by state district attorneys or attorney generals.

The DOJ estimated about 80 percent of public corruption pros-ecutions are brought by federal of-ficials.

In sum, unreported corruption and at least 20 percent of all public corruption charges did not figure in the rankings.

But to consider when the state’s corruption problems will end is a waste of time. If Louisiana citizens are serious about corruption, they must look where corruption begins — with voters.

Maybe Louisiana doesn’t need to drop the “Laissez le bon temps rouler” motto.

But maybe it’s time to replace “c’est la vie” with “c’est va.”

Tell “ya mom and ‘em” to quit voting for crooks.

LOUISIANIMAL

Louisiana still upstages Illinois in corruption

Contact Daniel Lumetta at dlumetta@lsureveille.com

Daniel lumetta

Opinion Editor

eric Freeman, Jr.

Columnist

OpinionWednesday, January 14, 2009 PaGe 13

THE DAILY REVEILLE

Have you ever found yourself visiting a church and telling your-self, “Wow — look how great this church is. I wish I had someplace I could send my kids that would be this caring — but I don’t know if I want them learning about all this God stuff. Whatever am I to do?”

Well fear not, my frustrated faith-queasy friends. There’s a new trend emerging that may be right for you.

An emerging humanist “con-gregation” has developed at the Harvard campus in Boston, accord-ing to The Washington Post.

Humanism, like most religious phenomena, is hard to precisely de-fine. The term generally applies to a belief system that places a high im-portance on rationality and reason and espouses an ethical philosophy that holds the dignity and worth of all human beings to be paramount.

Pinning down an exact defini-tion of humanism in terms of reli-gious beliefs is especially dicey. Though religious humanists — those that apply humanist philosophical principles to an existing faith — do exist, humanism generally lacks any significant form of belief in a higher

power. Humanism generally disdains

using so-called “transcendental truths”, or supernatural explanations for physical or moral phenomena.

It is important to note that hu-manism is separate from atheism and agnosti-cism; humanists can be said to be “ignostic”— indifferent to the existence of gods. Athe-ism, the belief that no god or gods exist, and agnosticism, the belief that hu-manity cannot know whether god or gods exist, are both strictly religious phenomena because they are rooted in a belief (or lack thereof) about spiritual be-ings.

Humanism, in comparison, doesn’t necessarily define its phi-losophies in terms of gods. Though humanists disapprove of trying to use spiritual or supernatural forces to explain the world, the forces that act upon it or the moral and ethical

interactions that impact humanity, most do not outright reject the pos-sibility of a god.

In their view, the existence — or non-existence — of God is large-ly irrelevant.

Many humanists are young in-tellectuals who have broken from the religious traditions of their child-hood during their college careers.

Now that these young adults are emerging from their educations and becoming adults with real respon-sibilities, they find themselves in a major dilemma, especially when it comes to raising their children.

As humanists, they do not at-tend church and do not wish to send their children. They are wary of placing their kids in an environ-ment they perceive to be largely ir-rational, specifically when it comes to the creationism vs. evolution de-bate.

In addition, they believe chil-dren should come to a decision on their religious beliefs based on their own thinking and rationality, and a church — in their opinion — is not conducive to such a process.

Yet these new humanist parents still feel impelled to fill the church-

shaped hole in their lives. They long to find a community of like-minded people, with whom they can bond and share their beliefs. They long to find an environment where their kids can do the same, in a place that will help them come to their own decisions on how they view the world around them.

In other words, they are look-ing for a church with no God.

The phenomenon is not really a significant one — yet. But there is great potential for the movement to spread rapidly because it is perfect-ly suited for the demographic that least attends traditional services — college students.

Countless studies have indicat-ed that church attendance plummets in the college-age demographic for a multitude of reasons — from the mind-opening, doubt-inducing nature of a collegiate education to the simple freedom to break from a tradition they were likely unwilling participants in.

These same studies all point to another, connected trend: church attendance rises just as sharply at precisely the age when participants start trying to raise kids.

It seems new parents, searching desperately for stability for them-selves and their kids, tend to turn back to the nest once practical con-cerns outweigh intellectual ideals.

A humanist congregation pro-vides an alternative. Instead of re-turning like the prodigal son to the fold, young graduates might find an alternative.

That assumes, of course, the phenomenon spreads. Though the conditions for the spread might be right, a humanist church — and humanism in general — is rooted in a kind of intellectualism usually found only on a college campus.

It seems unlikely that anywhere except for the most academic of en-vironments will be a fertile breeding ground for the movement.

Still, Christian churches need to keep an eye on it. If the human-ist church starts to blossom, main-stream Christianity can either find a way to retain its college-age stu-dents or start working on a mind-control machine.

Coors Light inadvertently de-stroyed the LSU football program.

While this statement is blatantly ridiculous and untrue in many re-gards, it should be examined by LSU football coach Les Miles when con-sidering his team’s image.

It seems as if Miles is nation-ally promoting himself more than his football team, and cheap beer from the Rocky Mountain Springs has opened that door for him.

Coors Light has been pushing its television advertising campaign featuring actual clips of NFL head coaches in press conferences. They are spliced with scripted questions from young men drinking Coors Light, and they are cut to make the coaches answer questions about the beer.

The setup allows for the beer to be advertised and a few jokes to be dropped throughout.

Because of the commer-cials, NFL coaches were suddenly

appearing in commercial breaks during shows that had nothing to do with football.

In a world of simple celebrity, football coaches were highlighted.

And Miles almost leads the charge of using celebrity status to promote things other than his team. He has never been in a Coors Light commercial but is one of the faces of Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers and Cox Cable.

He also appeared in a commer-cial for ESPN’s SportsCenter, wear-ing a small LSU logo on his knit col-lared shirt.

Any press is good press, and Miles appearing in commercials is not a bad thing by any means. Any-thing that will promote LSU football or LSU in general can only be ben-eficial.

But these commercials do not promote LSU football in anyway. And, even if they did, following a 8-5 season probably isn’t the right

time to be flaunting either our pro-gram or our coach.

Even if Miles is a celebrity.While Miles’ fame began after a

winning season and will be a lasting legacy, it is easy to expound upon his fame while turn-ing his shoulder, however slight-ly, on his foot-ball program. Of course, his ESPN commer-cial was filmed when riding the fame of winning the National Championship, but he should be wary of what com-mercials he chooses to do next.

With today’s instant media, it becomes increasingly easy to be a celebrity. Take Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Computers, for example. Lately, Jobs hasn’t been able to make as many public appearances because

of a hormonal imbalance.I really can’t think of a reason-

able explanation as to why the world knows this.

But we do.This is the world we live in.So there is nothing immediately

wrong with Miles taking extra pay on the side from commercials, but it raises two important points: Does he need the money, and does this help LSU in any way?

While commenting on his fi-nancial needs is an extremely sub-jective action, according the non-classified salary database on The Daily Reveille Web site, Miles’ base salary $300,000 a year. It can be safely assumed Miles isn’t hurting for change.

And while his commercial fame might help LSU football get a good recruit or two — thus earning the school more money and helping LSU in general — this probably is not the case.

All that will probably happen is people will get slightly annoyed that Miles is promoting a company that has very little investment in LSU.

At least when his face is up on a Cane’s billboard, LSU fans can think, “Cane’s is an LSU institution in some ways.”

ESPN is not, nor will it ever be.Most children, after breaking

their family crystal, wouldn’t want their mother to appear on the front of Good Parenting. We shouldn’t assume LSU football players want their coach promoting sports shows when they can’t win games.

It’s time to focus on rebuilding the football program into another National Championship team.

More commercials can come later.

METAIRIE’S FINEST

Les Miles needs to focus on football before fame

Contact Travis Andrews at tandrews@lsureveille.com

Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@lsureveille.com

GRAY MATTERS

Humanist community offers church without God

As long as current trends con-tinue, college will soon become unaffordable for most Americans, according to a report from the Na-tional Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

Among the findings of the study:

Public college tuition and fees have increased 439 percent from

1982 to 2007. Median family in-come has increased only 147 per-cent during that same time.

Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade.

Students from low-income families get smaller grants from colleges than students from higher income families.

And that’s not all.

Patrick M. Callan, president of the center, told The New York Times the nation can’t afford the current system of higher education — which he claimed is financed by middle class debt.

The study found net costs of a four-year public university repre-sents more than 25 percent of me-dian family income while a private

university exacted a toll of more than 75 percent of median family income.

The report referred to large tu-ition increases, budget cuts and en-rollment cuts as causes for concern.

David Shulenburger, co-author of the report, suggested raising tu-ition when people can afford it, not during hard economic times like the

ones we now face.We want to bring these figures

to the University’s attention and implore the administration to think about the long-term consequences of these facts.

OUR VIEW

Contact The Daily Reveille’s opinion staff at opinion@lsureveille.com

Matthew albrightColumnist

travis andrewsColumnist

Higher education costs demand University’s attention

HELP WANTED

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NNIINNOO’’SS IITTAALLIIAANN RREESSTTAAUURRAANNTT

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OOFFFFIICCEE PPOOSSIITTIIOONN Moore Construction is

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DDEENNTTAALL OOFFFFIICCEE PP//TT dental

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VVAARRSSIITTYY TTHHEEAATTRREE

The Varsity Theatre is looking for security

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Great school job.

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3225 Perkins Road

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PPAARRRRAAIINN’’SS SSEEAAFFOOOODD RREESSTTAAUURRAANNTT

CLASSIFIEDSPOLICY

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ad. Advertisers must agree to

accept the type sizes and styles of

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son placing the ad. No refunds will

be given in the event of an overrun,

as advertisers select thier own

dates in which to insert the ad. In

the event of error, immediate notice

must be given to the staff: the pub-

lishers are responsible for only ONE

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PLACE YOURAD TODAYGot something to sell? Want tomake an announcement? Need tofind an apartment or roommate?With the potential to reach over33,000 LSU students, faculty andstaff, there is no better way toadvertise. Not only do we print twicea week, but there is no additionalcharge to place your classified adon the world wide web atwww.lsureveille.com. Just click “clas-sifieds,” where your ad can beviewed on our website, that aver-ages up to 65,000 unique visitors aweek. For more information, pleasecall (225) 578-6090.

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ClassifiedsTHE DAILY REVEILLE

PAGE 14 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2009

Now Hiring Line Cooks

Apply in Person

Mon - Fri

3225 Perkins Road

225-381-9922

EEAARRNN EEXXTTRRAA MMOONNEEYY Students needed

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Earn up to $150 per day being a mystery

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No Experience Required

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225.389.7214

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CCOONNDDOO FFOORR RREENNTT

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CCOONNDDOO FFOORR RREENNTT 3BR-2B-Remodeled -

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FFOORR RREENNTT

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8-5.

N

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ROOMMATES

RROOOOMMMMAATTEE WWAANNTTEEDD TTOO Roommate

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MMAALLEE GGRRAADD

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RROOOOMMMMAATTEE NNEEEEDDEEDD Nonsmoker needed

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ested.

RROOOOMMMMAATTEE NNEEEEDDEEDD to share 3 bedroom

31/2 bath in Lake Beau Pre’ Townhomes.

550/ month + 1/3 utilities.

318.452.4751 318.346.6406

RROOOOMMAATTEE NNEEEEDDEEDD Southgate Towers

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$250 dep. 225.921.1209

PERSONALS

CCOOFFFFEEEE FFOORR TTHHEE NNEEWW YYEEAARR?? Single,

outgoing, very attractive, brown Creole

LSU Senior gal looking to date interracial-

ly a mature, outgoing, nice looking male

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for coffee, museum dates, enjoyment of

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II WWAANNTT TTOO BBEE YYOOUURR DDEERRIIVVAATTIIVVEE so I

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chick seeking an intelligent and attractive

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asymptote. sheenyinabottle@hotmail.com

CCOOFFFFEEEE FFOORR AA NNEEWW YYEEAARR Single, outgo-

ing, very pretty, dazzling brown Creole

LSU Senior gal looking to date interracial-

ly an equally mature, outgoing, nice look-

ing male student or Grad/ or non student

(26-38) for coffee museum dates, enjoy-

ment of the Arts and music. If interested

feel free to reach me before or after finals

Selena_millieux@yahoo.com.

LLOOOOKKIINNGG FFOORR MMYY SSOOUULLMMAATTEE I am a

Business Major here at LSU. Looking for

guys ages 45-60. If you are interested

send me an email.

c.mumford@yahoo.com

SSEEAARRCCHHIINNGG 44 SSOOUULLMMAATTEE 20yo Asian

guy seeking masculine guy 18-23 to date.

Races open. I’m a sweetheart! tiger-

boy1988@gmail.com

MISCELLANEOUS

HHEELLPP WWAANNTTEEDD:: Somebody to go back in

time with me. This is NOT a joke. You’ll

get paid after we get back. Must bring

your own weapons. Safety not guaran-

teed. I have only done this once before.

Call 337-280-7836

THE DAILY REVEILLEWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2009 PAGE 15

THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 16 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tested be-fore taking power, President-elect Barack Obama privately delivered a pre-inauguration veto threat to fel-low Democrats on Tuesday, saying they would not deny him use of the remaining $350 billion in federal bailout funds.

Obama coupled his threat with a promise to revise elements of the original bailout program that have drawn widespread criticism, pledg-ing billions will go toward helping homeowners facing foreclosure. Several Democrats said his commit-ments, to be made in writing, would be enough to prevent an embarrass-ing pre-inauguration drubbing for the president-elect when the Senate votes this week.

“This will be the fi rst vote that President-elect Obama is asking us for. I’ll be shocked and I’ll be re-ally disappointed if he doesn’t get it,” said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent Democrat from Con-necticut.

Behind closed doors, Obama also urged lawmakers to act quickly on the massive economic stimulus

measure that his aides have been negotiating with congressional of-fi cials. The legislation will blend federal spending with tax cuts, and could reach $1 trillion in size, a mea-sure of the nation’s economic woes.

Several Democratic offi cials described a bill very much in fl ux. They said lawmakers were discuss-ing allocating as much as $80 billion over two years to help shield schools from the impact of state budget cuts and roughly $40 billion for tradi-tional anti-recession transporta-tion programs such as highway and bridge construction.

Additionally, they added that there was money tentatively set aside to fund a $25-a-week increase in unemployment benefi ts as well as a 15 percent boost in food stamp benefi ts. There was support in the Senate for funds to upgrade mili-tary barracks, as well. The offi cials spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to disclose details.

Democratic leaders in the House and Senate hope to have the legisla-tion ready for Obama’s signature by mid-February, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., held a

late-afternoon meeting on it.“We’ve made great progress,

and we fully intend to meet our deadline,” Pelosi, D-Calif., told re-porters. She disclosed no details.

For Obama, attendance at the Democrats’ weekly closed-door lunch was a homecoming of sorts, a return to the Capitol where he ar-rived as a newly elected senator only four years ago.

Reid called it a “lovefest,” and said the president-elect was greeted with a fi ve-minute ovation by Demo-crats happy to have the White House back after eight years of Republican rule.

Sen. Carl Levin said the ses-sion had a sentimental tone at times,

despite the magnitude of the nation’s economic woes and the challenge Obama and fellow Democrats con-front.

“It’s kind of hard not to call him, ‘Barack.’ So he said, ‘Call me Barack for the next couple of days,’” Levin said with a smile.

Separately, Obama’s nominee as budget director, Peter Orszag, said at his confi rmation hearing that even after the economy recovers, annual defi cits could reach $750 billion or so and steadily exceed $1 trillion by the end of the next decade. The president-elect has pledged to make defi cit reduction a priority, but says economic recovery must come fi rst.

Despite its size, the economic stimulus bill is not expected to face heavy opposition among Democrats, and Obama has won praise from Re-publicans for showing a willingness to show deference to their concerns. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., fl oated a new proposal, raising the possibility of a two-year elimination of Social Secu-rity payroll taxes.

Obama got a boost during the day from Federal Reserve Chair-man Ben Bernanke, who said in a speech in London that the emerging

legislation could provide a “signifi -cant boost” to the sinking economy.

Bernanke also warned in re-marks prepared for the London School of Economics that a recovery wouldn’t last unless other steps were taken to stabilize the shaky fi nancial system.

There was plenty of controver-sy surrounding Obama’s decision to tap the $350 billion remaining from the fi nancial bailout program that Congress created last fall, when the nation’s credit markets ceased work-ing and plunged an already weak economy into a tailspin.

President George W. Bush, act-ing at Obama’s request, formally notifi ed Congress on Monday that Treasury wanted to use the funds, but Congress can vote to block the move.

“It is clear that the fi nancial system, although improved from where it was in September, is still fragile,” the president-elect said Monday, making the case for use of the funds.

Obama presses lawmakers to OK new bailout funds

Contact The Daily Reveille’s news staff at news@lsureveille.com

ECONOMY

‘‘‘It is clear that the fi nancial system,

although improved from where it was in

September, is still fragile.’

Barack Obamapresident-elect

By David Espo and Jim KuhnhennThe Associated Press