Friday, March 18, 2011 Print Edition

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Friday, March 18, 2011

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Virginia set to outlaw synthetic marijuana SARAH WATSON news reporter Synthetic marijuana and certain bath salts will soon be outlawed in Virginia.

On Feb. 26, a bill passed in both Virginia’s House and Senate creating penalties for possession, distribution of synthetic cannabinoids and bath salts that contain a specific compound.

“Synthetic cannabinoids, also known as synthetic marijuana, K2, spice or Mr. Smiley, are dried herbs sprayed with a chemical compound that, when smoked, creates a high similar to marijuana,” stated in the fiscal impact statement for proposed legislation. Possession of the chemicals would become a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Possession with the intent of distributing and manufacturing would be labeled as felonies.

“This year was the first time this issue was introduced as a bill before the body,” said Jane Waddell, legislative assistant to James Shuler (D) of the 12th District.

The bill was introduced by Delegate Scott Garrett (R) and Senator Mark Herring (D). One of the sponsors of the bill has been Delegate Shuler (D) of the 12th District, representing part of Montgomery County.

This bill holds an emergency clause, meaning that it will become law when Gov. Bob McDonnell signs it in April, according to Waddell.

“When this bill is enacted, Virginia will be adding its name to the list of at least 15 states that already have made it illegal to possess or sell synthetic marijuana or cannabinoids,” Waddell said.

Some outspoken opponents of the measure include members of the Tech chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

“Prohibitions of any kind don’t accomplish anything,” said Mark Goldstein, chapter president. Goldstein said SSDP lobbied in Richmond in February to combat the bill.

Goldstein believes the government is not the appropriate organization to determine what enters a human’s body,

and an individual decision is vital.

Goldstein stated that regulation, not prohibition, is the key when targeting synthetic marijuana usage.

Goldstein said synthetic marijuana “should stay legal, but be more tightly regulated.”

He stated if synthetic marijuana compounds are banned, this will create a black market for the drugs. Goldstein stated this is also a danger, because the consumers are unsure of what exactly they are purchasing from a vendor on the black market and may receive a drug laced with another more potent drug. This creates an incredible risk to an individual’s health, Goldstein said.

In addition, according to Goldstein several individuals who have been smoking “spice” have been doing so as an alternative to marijuana. He believes this will create an increase in the number of students using marijuana.

“People predisposed to use drugs will find something to get high on,” Goldstein said.

Offense Concerning Synthetic Cannabinoids

Penalty

Give, distribute, or possess with intent to distribute

Class 1 misdemeanor (up to 12 months)

Manufacture or possess with intent to manufacture

Felony punishable by 5 to 30 years

Distribute in a prohibited area

Felony punishable by 1 to 5 years Mandatory minimum of 1 year for subsequent offense

Maintain a common nuisance relating to use

Class 1 misdemeanor (up to 12 months) for first offense Felony punishable by 1 to 5 years for subsequent offense DANIELLE BUYNAK / COLLEGIATE TIMES

Forum to discuss Student break travel plans changed town Wi-Fi speeds by rise in prices at area gas pumps news reporter The town of Blacksburg will host a forum on Saturday to discuss growth in broadband connectivity.

The forum is hosted by the Blacksburg Electronic Village, a nonprofit supporting technology initiatives in the town.

The town of Blacksburg approved a long-term plan to increase Internet connection speeds to allow for speeds of one gigabit per second.

“What we want to do is let the community know that the town has set their sights on that goal,” said Brenda van Gelder, director of Blacksburg Electronic Village.

Van Gelder also said she hoped the forum would attract town residents interested in assisting the project.

The forum will also host local Internet service providers, who will set up booths and present attendees with information about their broadband services both now and in the future.

Van Gelder also said the town is looking to invest in infrastructure to fill in service gaps in the downtown area. There are some public Wi-Fi signals, including the Montgomery-

Floyd Regional Library, but coverage is limited.

“There could be a robust infrastructure covering the entire downtown area. That would be much more useful than what is currently there,” van Gelder said. “There’re bits and pieces here and there, but there’s ways to connect that all together.”

[

Blacksburg Forum

]

Kent Square’s atrium Saturday: 8:30 a.m. to noon

“We’re all accustomed to having wireless when we’re on campus, where we can sit outside with our laptops and do things,” van Gelder said. “And we’d like to be able to do that downtown.”

“Right now you have to log into Moe’s network if you are eating at Moe’s, and if you stop two doors down you have to log into a different wireless network. It’s kind of a pain, so we’d like to have a seamless downtown wireless, just to simplify things for people downtown,” van Gelder said.

ERIN CHAPMAN

“

news staff writer A recent hike in gas prices is forcing students and faculty to look at other means of transportation.

According to AAA, the nationwide average for a gallon of gas Thursday was $3.546 per gallon and $3.479 in Virginia.

Prices were as low as $3.31 in Blacksburg before spring break.

For some students and faculty, the costs are a pinch on their budgets.

Seth Locklear, a junior building construction major hasn’t made a trip home since winter break, citing high gas prices as one of the main factors.

“Gas prices are way too high — it’s almost too expensive to drive home,” Locklear said. “I ride my bike everywhere. I really haven’t driven lately.”

Hilary West, communications coordinator for transportation services at Virginia Tech, said this most recent spike hasn’t affected operations at Tech, but it has changed people’s attitudes toward other modes of transportation.

“We do see this once in a while and it does make people change their habits,” she said.

GAS PRICES

BLACKSBURG AVERAGE

3 479 VIRGINIA AVERAGE

3 546

Previously, when gas prices have risen there was an increase in the number of students registering bikes and signing up for the Commuter Alternative Program.

Gas prices are way too high — it’s almost too expensive to drive home.

SETH LOCKLEAR BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

SOURCE: AAA VICTORIA ZIGADLO & KATIE BIONDO / COLLEGIATE TIMES

JAY SPEIDELL

The program encourages faculty and students to travel via carpool, bike, Blacksburg Transit or on foot.

Additionally, faculty, staff and stu-

dents who register for the Bike, Bus, & Walk program receive 15 discounted daily parking permits and access to Emergency Ride Home Service. The parking passes are provided in case of inclement weather or another situation, where driving to campus is a must.

West pointed out that it is difficult when a gas spike occurs in the middle of the semester, when registration for the Commuter Alternative Program has already passed.

Fiona Rhodes, a marketing specialist for Blacksburg Transit, said no changes to operations have been made at this time, as data for rider increase will be unavailable for a few months.

“There is nothing we can do about fuel prices,” West said. “We just have to have programs in place for those that the price of fuel is an issue.”

Tech dining halls several weeks Safety questioned for Japanese away from stocking tomatoes nuclear reactor in mid-1970s MICHELLE SUTHERLAND news reporter Virginia Tech officials said the university could be as much as a month away from having a steady supply of fresh tomatoes for its dining halls.

The tomato supply plummeted following a freeze in Mexico in early February, with North American tomato counts dropping between 20 and 25 percent.

Ted Faulkner of dining services said the prices of tomatoes are still three to four times higher than normal.

Dining halls suspended serving fresh tomatoes until

the costs lowers, although they are still serving foods that use canned tomatoes.

Joe Bernardi of Bernardi & Associates, a vegetable and melon distributor, said the supply in Mexico is still dwindling.

“We’re entering the 30 days after the freeze where our supplies have dropped,” Bernardi said. “We are in very short supply but Florida is just about to start with their spring crops.”

He said by the end of March, the supply and quality of tomatoes should be significantly better. Dining services expects to resume serving fresh t om at o e s

by April.

WEI HANN / COLLEGIATE TIMES

ROB HOTAKAINEN & GREG GORDON mcclatchy newspapers WASHINGTON — Safety questions about the Mark I model nuclear reactors that are burning out of control in Japan were first raised years ago in the U.S., by the nation’s top nuclear safety official and by the General Electric engineers who helped design them.

In 1976, three of GE’s engineers, including Dale Bridenbaugh, resigned over concerns that the reactors’ containment vessels couldn’t withstand the massive steam pressure that would build if a major accident disabled the cooling system.

In interviews with McClatchy on Thursday, Bridenbaugh said that the steel containment system wasn’t strong enough and the inner, light bulb-shaped reactor vessel was too small — “It was 10 pounds in a five-pound bag” — to contain all that pressure in such an event.

Five of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex in Japan use the Mark I design, as do 23 of the 104 reactors in the U.S. Bridenbaugh, now 79, said that when he first heard they were in use at the Japanese plant, “I could hardly believe

it. . . . I can’t say enough about how bad I feel.”

The disclosures raise questions of whether more could have been done to prevent the catastrophe in Japan, the worst nuclear disaster since the meltdown at the former Soviet Union’s Chernobyl plant in 1986.

Similar concerns regarding the performance of the Mark I reactors were raised in 1979 by Harold Denton, President Jimmy Carter’s pick as head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

At the White House Thursday, President Barack Obama said he has asked the NRC to do “a comprehensive review of the safety of our domestic nuclear plants” in response to the Japanese disaster.

The president said Americans need not fear any radiation exposure from the meltdown in Japan. He reiterated that he has no plans to abandon nuclear power, calling it “an important part” of the U.S. energy future. And he noted that all U.S nuclear plants have been declared safe.

Earlier at the White House, Greg Jaczko, the chairman of the NRC, said the U.S. has “a very robust program where we look at the safety and the security of our nuclear facilities on a minute-by-minute basis.”

And he expressed satisfaction with the Mark I reactors.

“Over the years, we have done studies and assessments of those particular types of reactors,” Jaczko said. “And actually over several decades, actually in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, changes were made to those containments to deal with these types of very severe scenarios.”

But he said he wants the NRC “to do a systematic and a methodical look at what changes we may need to make to those types of plants or possibly any other types of plants in the country.”

On Thursday, the Japanese desperately dumped tons of water on the reactors from military helicopters and sprayed them with water cannons in hopes that they could cool nuclear fuel rods and prevent the catastrophic meltdown of one or more of the reactors.

Top U.S. officials said earlier that they believe that one of the reactors is “in partial meltdown” and that radiation around the site is “extremely high.”

After problems were pointed out with the Mark I reactors, GE shored up the vessels, but apparently not enough to withstand the natural disaster in Japan.

GE defended the Mark I reactors, saying they have “a proven track record of performing reliably and safely for more than 40 years.” The company called the Mark I “one of the workhorses of the industry” and said its reactors all meet see JAPAN / page four

2 news

news editors: philipp kotlaba, liana bayne, gordon block newseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865

march 18, 2011

COLLEGIATETIMES

what you’re saying

virginia No raises for Amherst employees in new budget

//comments from online readers...

On Tech’s NIT win over BethuneCookman University: with...>> What is a Bethune-Cookman?

>> Reply to comment>> Hokie Hi>> It’s the last name of a married feminist.

>> Reply to comment>> Failed Univ. Goals: Research & Respect>> Bethune-Cookman U. is a black college in Florida. I see VT is still teaching quality research skills. The taint of misogyny was an added treat.

Amherst County’s administrator today proposed a 2011-12 budget with no pay raises for employees.

County administrator Lee Lintecum also recommended hiring an economic development director and doing away with the county’s tourism department.

Lintecum proposed a $35,112,654 budget in a Board of Supervisors workshop. This year’s budget was $34,839,330. “Even though rev-

enues may be short in some areas, it is anticipated revenues collected in excess will offset the shortages,” Lintecum wrote in his presentation. Major proposed expenditures include $3.1 million for the public safety department, $3.1 million for the sheriff’s office, $2.1 million for the jail, $3.5 million for welfare and social services.

Core services account for 98 percent of the budget. The school

contribution is the same as it was last year, $14,125,249, which is 40 percent of the county budget. The proposed Amherst County Public Schools budget is $47,045,917, about $6 million lower than it was just three years ago. The county budget would include $117,410 for an economic development department, including a $70,000 salary for a director.

“We believe the county can be a

viable player in economic development,” Lintecum said. Supervisors have stressed the need for economic planning in previous meetings and in a two-day retreat this year.

The tourism department cost $73,650.

The next budget work session will be at 9 a.m. March 22 with another at 9 a.m. March 31.

-scott marshall mcclatchy newspapers

world American drone missile attack kills 36 in Pakistan

Jochebed>> How about this RADICAL idea? Be the parent and keep your child away from this filth!

>> Reply to comment>> Andy>> I don’t see how an image of a skinny person is a problem.

When I see these I take them for what they are. A picture of another human being. I wouldn’t consider it bullying. That is simply ridiculous. I think we are all getting just a tad soft for our own good.

Just one day after a CIA contractor was absolved by a Pakistani court of a double murder charge, Pakistan and U.S. relations were plunged into a new crisis Thursday over a CIA-directed drone missile strike that Pakistan said killed at least 36 civilians.

Pakistan’s military and civilian leadership condemned the strike in unusually harsh language,

crime blotter

demanding compensation for the victims and an apology.

Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani called the attack a “violation of human rights” and said the dead were peaceful tribal leaders attending a meeting, not Islamic extremists.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani called the strike “irrational behavior” and said it would “nega-

c-

tively impact the efforts to separate the militants from peaceful and patriotic tribesmen” and hit “very negatively on our joint efforts to eliminate the menace of terrorism in this region.”

There was no comment from the U.S., which does not publicly acknowledge the drone program.

The latest uproar came after Wednesday’s release of Raymond

Davis, a contract CIA security officer who had been jailed for nearly two months on double murder charges. He was acquitted after the families of the dead men received a “blood money” payment of more than $1 million and formally pardoned him.

-saeed shah mcclatchy newspapers

1 3 2 1 6 5 4 0 6 5 6 4 6 5 5 1 4

V I O L A T I O N - A F F I D A V I T

date reported

time

offense

location

status

arrestees

3/04/2011

12 p.m. - 1 p.m.

Follow up to Larceny of cash

Fralin Hall

Cleared by Arrest

3/04/2011

6 p.m.

Follow up to Larceny of cash

Fralin Hall

Cleared by Arrest

3/07/2011

10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Follow up to Breaking and entering/ larceny of cash

Fralin Hall

Cleared by Arrest

3/16/2011

10:40 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Larceny of a VCR

McBryde Hall

Active

N/A

3/16/2011

9:41 p.m. - 10:59 a.m.

Harassment

Slusher Tower

Active

N/A

3/16/2011

1:08 p.m. - 2:04 p.m.

Larceny of two wallets

McComas Hall

Active

N/A

13216540656465514

On poor celebrity role models:

www.campusspecial.com

Blue Valentine

M

Fri-Sat 7:00 & 9:15pm Sun 3:00, 7:00, 9:15pm Mon 10:00 am, 7:00 & 9:15pm Tues-Wed 7:00 & 9:15pm

The Lyric Theatre 135 College Avenue ~ Movieline: 951.0604 www.thelyric.com

opınıons 3

editors: scott masselli, gabi seltzer opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES

march 18, 2011

Get to know tell-tale signs of ‘McComas ballers’ at gyms irginia Tech’s campus is filled with nerds, jocks, partiers, professors V and one special breed of college students: McComas ballers. Who are these “ballers” you ask? After class, these students flock to the McComas basketball gym like birds migrating south. They are more excited to play a game of pickup basketball than a child on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa.

These intense, competition-driven basketball players don’t play for the love of the game. They play to do one thing — win. They go all out on every occasion. They treat every possession like it’s their last. There’s a loose ball rolling toward the three-foot thick concrete wall? Count on the McComas ballers to dive and save it and the game for you.

Pain heals and chicks dig scars, right?

(Thanks Nick Falco.)

Ballers travel in packs. Each one of them feeds off of the other. The alpha baller just dove for a bad pass heading toward out-of-bounds and called a timeout. Timeouts can be called in recreational basketball games? That just happened. And watch out because they are now pounding fists with explosions included.

Beware, these kinds of guys sound like great teammates, but who wants to play with someone who every time they touch the ball is yelling (hand signs included) “computer blue” or “wheel route x”? Who wants to get chewed out for not taking a charge from your 300pound friend? No one does.

So you went to the gym for a nice

game of horse or two-on-two? Not tonight, because these guys have other plans. You just got thrown into a game of five-on-five from hell.

The best way to save yourself from this nightmare is to be able to spot a McComas baller. There is nothing worse than walking right into a trap.

Here are the best ways to spot this rare breed of individual.

More than one piece of Under Armour apparel: If for any second you thought this was the same guy from the Under Armour commercials screaming, “We must protect this house!” then stay away.

Any combination of two or more headbands, armbands and calf sleeves: No one person sweats enough to wear that many bands. This is a dead giveaway of a McComas baller.

Eye goggles: Kareem-Abdul Jabbar does not go to Tech; don’t be confused when you see eye goggles. Keep away from this baller.

Cut-off T-shirts: These are very common at gyms on college campuses but are popular on ballers. If you spot one you must stay away. Even if they aren’t the real things, you will still want to stay away from these hardcore gym rats. If they are wearing a long-sleeve Under Armour T-shirt under a cut-off T-shirt then run like hell and never look back.

Drawstring backpacks: These backpacks don’t have car keys, a wallet or a phone in them. Instead, they have pre-wrap and tape for wrists and ankles, a towel for any pool of blood that may

The Collegiate Times is an independent student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903

Collegiate Times Editorial Staff Editor-in-Chief: Peter Velz Managing Editors: Zach Crizer, Katie Biondo, Josh Son Public Editor: Justin Graves Senior News Editor: Philipp Kotlaba Associate News Editors: Liana Bayne, Gordon Block News Reporters: Claire Sanderson, Jay Speidell, Michelle Sutherland, Sarah Watson News Staff Writers: Erin Chapman, Meighan Dober Features Editors: Lindsey Brookbank, Kim Walter Features Reporters: Chelsea Gunter, Majoni Harnal, Mia Perry Opinions Editors: Scott Masselli, Gabi Seltzer Sports Editors: Michael Bealey, Garrett Ripa Sports Reporters: Nick Cafferky, Matt Jones, Courtney Lofgren, Josh Parcell Sports Staff Writers: Alyssa Bedrosian, Alex Koma, Ashleigh Lanza, Zach Mariner Special Sections Editor: Bethany Buchanan Public Information Director: Dishu Maheshwari Training Director: Kelsey Heiter Copy Editors: Taylor Chakurda, Thandiwe Ogbonna, Spenser Snarr, Brittany Kelly Layout Designers: Danielle Buynak, Victoria Zigadlo, Wei Hann, Maya Shah Online Director: Jamie Chung

occur after diving for loose balls and a shooter arm sleeve just in case they get cold from the free-throw line. Get out of there now.

Layup lines before the game: If by chance these ballers slip past you and are getting loose for the game by creating a layup line, this is a bad sign. Layup lines are meant for real teams like back in high school. Concede defeat immediately.

Use of a hype-man: Six guys walk onto the court and challenge you and your four friends to a game of five-on-five.

You accept the challenge then realize the sixth man isn’t there to play. He’s there to cheer on his friends. He is fully equipped with a bullhorn and a towel (think Steelers terrible towels). You are doomed.

Now that you know what they look like you are all set to enjoy your McComas gym experience. There will be a time or two where you will be tricked by a baller who hasn’t done laundry in weeks, so he may be wearing regular workout paraphernalia. To combat this, you can do nothing but put yourself on the other team — and watch out for exploding fists.

CHRIS KAY -guest columnist -freshman -communication major MAHEEN KHURSHID / COLLEGIATE TIMES

Title X needed for lowincome health care Claire Sanderson’s recent article, “Bill poised to cut funding In for family planning” (CT, March 3), Matthew Hurt, chair of the Virginia TechCollegeRepublicans,claimspeople can go to the Pregnancy Resource Center of Blacksburg for the same services Planned Parenthood offers under Title X funding. However, local crisis pregnancy centers such as PRC do not and often cannot offer the same services as medically licensed clinics such as Planned Parenthood.

Cutting Title X funding for Planned Parenthood would do a great disservice to women’s health. Despite the frequent misinformation from antichoice officials, Planned Parenthood’s Title X funding cannot go to abortion services, but it instead supports basic health care services, especially to lowincome women. The elimination of vital providers such as Planned Parenthood would create an incredible gap in comprehensive care and service.

Mr. Hurt would have the Blacksburg PRC fill the gap. Sadly, he is not alone.

In fact, many reckless, out-of-touch legislators want to force women to visit CPCs instead of comprehensive reproductive service providers. As a bit of background, CPCs are faithbased organizations that are antichoice, anti-contraception and antipremarital sex. They are generally not medically licensed clinics (unlike Planned Parenthood), and many do not have doctors or nurses on staff.

Yet recently legislators in South Dakota passed legislation, forcing women considering an abortion to meet with a counselor at a CPC before she may obtain the procedure.

If we rely on CPCs for pregnancy counseling, the gap left by providers such as Planned Parenthood will be filled with biased and shaming counseling, counseling that does not meet where a woman is in her life.

Most importantly, CPCs cannot fill the health care gap left if Planned Parenthood lost Title X funding.

Crisis pregnancy centers cannot pro-

vide services such as screening and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, basic gynecological exams (Pap smears, for example), breast exams, as well as other basic health care services Planned Parenthood provides. Additionally, CPCs cannot dispense birth control, and they refuse to offer referrals for contraception.

Sanderson’s article mentions PRC offers free pregnancy testing.

However, the pregnancy tests PRC offers are not clinical pregnancy tests and are no more accurate than the tests one can buy at a local pharmacy such as CVS. Under Title X funding, Planned Parenthood is able to offer clinical pregnancy tests, which are far more accurate.

Women deserve sustained access to affordable and comprehensive family planning options. Eliminating funding for such programs effectively cuts low-income women out of health care and creates a two-tier system of service — those who can afford good health care and those who cannot.

Proposing and passing policy based solely on one’s views of abortion will ultimately hinder (or eliminate) women’s access to basic health care services such as HPV and Hepatitis vaccines, breast exams, HIV testing, emergency contraception, pregnancy testing, health education and more.

(Not to mention it will also be detriment to men’s health services such as STI testing and treatment and access to vasectomy.)

These are services that anti-choice CPCs either cannot or will not provide. That is why it is vital family planning. Basic health and sexual health services remain affordable and accessible to people of all income levels.

KATHLEEN DWYER -guest columnist -English major -senoir

Polarization in Washington likely to worsen before changes is dead.

That’s the stark take-away from Ianndividualism analysis of congressional voting records by the National Journal.

Since 1982, the Journal has combed congressional votes on key issues and rated legislators’ records. Last year, it reviewed 95 significant votes in both chambers using a relative, not absolute, measure. In other words, it seeks to compare members with one another, so, for example, a liberal score of 70 means that member is more liberal than 70 percent of his or her colleagues.

In analyzing votes cast in 2010, the Journal concluded that the level of polarization was the highest in three decades of measurement. Every Senate Democrat compiled a voting record more liberal than every Senate Republican, and every Senate Republican compiled a voting record more conservative than every Senate Democrat. The House of Representatives was similarly divided.

In 1982, for comparison, 36 Senate Democrats scored as conservative as Lowell Weicker, the most liberal Republican, and 24 Senate Republicans were as liberal as the most conservative Democrat, Edward Zorinsky.

In other words, 60 percent of the Senate was somewhere in the middle!

Since then, the “the ideological outliers have been purged,” I was told recently by Ronald Brownstein, political director of the Journal and author of “The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America.” “The story of the last three decades of American politics is unstinting polarization, a fusion of ideology and partisanship.”

Gone are the days when Jesse Helms and Jacob Javits were colleagues in the Senate Republican caucus, while Hubert Humphrey and Richard Russell were both Democrats.

Arlen Specteronce discussed with me a meeting of moderate Republicans who gathered once a week to discuss policy and strategy. In the early 1980s, the group had two dozen members. By his last term in office, Specter was saying that “the moderates can meet in a phone booth.”

The trend is unmistakable and raises two questions: What accounts for the change? And is it necessarily negative?

Brownstein argued that a combination of factors explains the purge.

First, he pointed toward changes in party leadership that facilitate ascendance based not on seniority but on the support of colleagues. This puts more pressure on legislators to toe a party line.

For example, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ousted Rep. John Dingell as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee when he wouldn’t go along on climate change.

Matt Bennett, co-founder of the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way, said members of Congress were polarized as a result of what he called “the great sorting out.”

“Congressional districts have gotten redder and bluer, and people have chosen to live with like-minded folks,” Bennett told me. “Add to that the phenomenon of closed primaries that occur at odd times (such as the middle of August) with extremely low turnout (around 4 percent), and you’re left with only the most committed members of the two parties choosing their congressional and Senate candidates.”

Brownstein agreed, saying the primary process tended to reward the most ideologically driven candidates.

This makes sense: Often the most passionate voters show up on primary day, and passion is often driven by ideology.

And let’s not forget the rise of the partisan media.

“The Internet, talk radio, cable TV all provide huge amplifiers for angry voices, which has created a system in which bad behavior (hyper-partisanship) is rewarded and bipartisanship is punished,” said Mark McKinnon, a GOP strategist who has worked for George W. Bush, John McCain, Lance Armstrong and Bono.

The period of polarization in Congress charted by the Journal overlaps the rise of opinionated media.

Rush Limbaugh launched nationally in 1988. Fox News went live in 1996. MSNBC hiredKeith Olbermann in 2003. The split-screen television treatment of colleagues is now seen in Washington.

To what effect?

Political pragmatists are lacking in representation even as more Americans identify their general approach to issues as “moderate” than very liberal or conservative or somewhat liberal or conservative.

“It’s crazy and makes no sense,” McKinnon said, “but while voters are getting more independent, our elected officials are becoming more dependent and responsive to the constituencies represented by fringe organizations who find a powerful and disproportionate voice through cable TV, talk radio, and the Internet.”

Republicans are losing a voice in the Northeast. Democrats are disappearing from the South. And when consensus can’t be reached, problems don’t get solved.

“When one party has to pass legislation on its own,” Brownstein said, “it shoots for center of its own coalition, which is not the center of the country. And when you do that, little by little ... you are increasingly pulling away from the middle.”

So will it change? Probably not until it gets worse.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH -mcclatchy newspapers

U.N. agency: Where foxes guard the hen house magine a tribunal where governments appear to face the world’s Ijudgment on their respect for human rights. Now imagine Moammar Gadhafi’s Libya sitting on that tribunal. It sounds absurd. But it is the true picture of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

World leaders display something of a “who, me?” attitude, as if they only discovered Gadhafi’s viciousness in the last few weeks, after he responded to calls for democracy by slaughtering his own people. But Gadhafi’s outrages, not just his buffoonery, have been well known for decades.

And yet, on May 13, 2010 — less than a year ago — the United Nations elected Libya to the UNHRC. An astonishing 155 countries, 80 percent of the U.N. members, supported Libya’s bid. Nobody, not the United States, not Britain, not France, Sweden, Norway or any other of the countries that claim high moral

standing spoke against the decision.

On March 1, suddenly stirring up from its Orwellian stupor, the U.N. suspended Libya from the humanrights body.

By then, the Security Council had already noted that Gadhafi’s actions “may amount to crimes against humanity.”

The international community, the U.N. system, and nations in a position of global leadership, such as the United States, have displayed a baffling willingness to go along with the affronts to common sense and basic morality that have become routine at the UNHRC and other parts of the U.N. system. Obscenities such as Libya’s finally suspended membership in the council, continues unabated, with their full knowledge and complicity.

Only days ago, as U.N. members stopped averting their eyes from Libya’s presence in the human-rights body, the Islamic Republic of Iran

took its seat on the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, a body “dedicated exclusively to gender equality and the advancement of women.”

What can you say about Iran and its treatment of women? There’s Article 630 of Iran’s criminal code, which allows a man to kill his wife if she is unfaithful. In court, a woman’s testimony is worth half that of a man.

Women are not allowed to divorce their husbands, for example, and they are required by law to always wear head covers and cloaks in public. As it happens, Iran does not have the worst record on women’s rights on the CSW. Saudi Arabia, where conditions are far, far worse for women, also sits on the commission.

Saudi Arabia also sits on the Human Rights Council, along with other luminaries of oppression. That helps explain why the UNHRC, instead of working to protect human rights, has turned into a body devoted to the protection of human rights abusers.

Just imagine, the UNHRC’s agenda for March 18 called for it to adopt a report about Gadhafi’s Libya, in which the regime received lavish praise on its human rights record from countries including North Korea, Syria, Myanmar (Burma), Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and others. You could not make this up. Nobody would believe it.

The U.N. system is set up in such a way that repressive, undemocratic regimes wield enormous power. This affects many aspects of its work, but is most egregious in the UNHRC, where the organization generally divides its time between condemning Israel and praising tyrants.

The UNHRC payroll includes Libya’s Najat al-Hajaji, chosen to investigate — get this — the victims of mercenaries. Hajaji has a close relationship with Gadhafi, who today uses mercenaries to crush the opposition. Another astonishing UNHRC choice is Jean Ziegler, a special rap-

porteur on food issues. Ziegler, a fervent anti-American, co-founded the Moammar Gadhafi Human Rights prize, and won it in 2002. Then there is the UNHRC Palestinian expert, Richard Falk. Falk believes 9/11 was a U.S. plot, and has openly supported other 9/11 conspiracy theorists. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon recently condemned Falk’s “affront to the memory” of 9/11 victims.

The list goes on. The pernicious actions go on. The outrages against victims of torture and abuse go on.

The mockery of human rights and women’s rights goes on. The praise of dictators goes on. The neglect of important issues continues.

One might think Libya was a wakeup call, but we know the world was not asleep. The world was awake, watching and doing nothing.

FRIDA GHITIS -mcclatchy newspapers

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march 18, 2011

page 4

Japan: Weaknesses of reactor system exposed by strength of recent earthquakes “ from page one

I’m hopeful that not very many of the 23 plants would be sited in locations where a magnitude 9 earthquake might occur, but I guess you can’t really rule that out.

NRC regulatory requirements.

In his review, Bridenbaugh said he concluded that the plants’ containment system couldn’t withstand the pressure in a worst-case “loss of coolant accident,” a scenario “which turns out not to be the worst case . . . We’re seeing a worst case in Fukushima.”

Bridenbaugh also said that the reactors’ cooling pools for storing highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel after it has burned in the reactor — pools located on a second floor are in “a damned poor position” for replenishing them with water.

He said that a number of design and safety weaknesses left the plants vulnerable when devastated from last week’s 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that knocked out electric power and leveled much of the northeast coast of Japan.

According to Jaczko, there was no water in the spent fuel pool in Fukishama’s reactor No. 4, causing radiation levels to soar. Bridenbaugh said that he suspects that plant officials forgot that they’d also put live fuel in that pool when they took it offline before the earthquake for a major inspection, causing the fuel to heat up and boil away water far more quickly than usual.

Bridenbaugh, who spent more than 20 years a GE project manager, said he

DALE BRIDENBAUGH GE ENGINEER is “still wary of” the reactors. He said he tried to persuade his boss in early 1976 that the design flaw was serious.

He said he wanted some plants using Mark I containment designs to be closed while an analysis was done, but the company objected.

However, he said, his boss told him: “Dale, it can’t be that bad. And if we shut down all of these 16 plants now, it would probably be the end of GE’s nuclear business.”

Bridenbaugh said he’d long been disillusioned, and that was “the last straw.”

He quit a week later.

Together, he said, GE and the utilities that needed the plants’ power generation capacity persuaded the NRC “that the probability of this major accident was low enough that the plants could continue to operate.”

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After the nuclear scare at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979, Denton said in an interview, he ordered a review of containment systems used at all of the nation’s nuclear plants. When compared with the different type of reactor vessel at Three Mile Island that withstood a partial meltdown, Denton, 75, of Knoxville, Tenn., said: “The Mark I’s didn’t look as good.”

In 1986, he also said in a speech to a trade industry group that the Mark I containment system had a high probability of failing.

Denton said the NRC wasn’t too concerned about nuclear meltdowns until the Three Mile Island disaster, when he said it became clear that “severe accidents and core meltdowns were not impossible.”

But he said the biggest problem in Japan was not that the plants had Mark I containment systems, but that the nuclear complex lost its power.

“They’re all dependent on electricity,” Denton said.

With 23 plants in the U.S. still using the Mark I reactors, Bridenbaugh said, “that’s of concern.”

“I’m hopeful that not very many of the 23 plants would be sited in locations where a magnitude 9 earthquake might occur, but I guess you can’t really rule that out,” he said.

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OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE IN RESEARCH Sociology graduate student seeking participants for thesis research on bi/ multiracial identity.

Recruiting Virginia Tech students to participate in interviews Only criteria: 1) must be 18+ 2) have parents of different races In addition to fulfilling my own research needs, the interview will offer an avenue for individuals to discuss their own racial identities and life experiences in a confidential environment.

Contact Melissa at mfburges@vt.edu to express interest in participating or to ask any questions

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GETTING COLD TIME to Plan your Spring Break 2010 Get Away! Learn how to travel to beautiful locations like Jamaica, Acapulco and the Bahamas on a party cruise. Find out what other Virginia Tech Hokies are headed to your destination.

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ACROSS 1 Lin or Angelou 5 Terrier type 9 Performed on stage 14 Contest with seconds 15 Gillette’ s __ II 16 Do-re-mi 17 Catch, as one’s sleeve 18 “Maz es and Monsters” author Jaffe 19 Ventilated, with “out” 20 Group with the #1 hit “ABC” 23 Emer itus, e.g.: Abbr.

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Spell the phrase in the grid above it, writing each unique letter only once.

The correct solution will spell the complete phrase along a single continuous spelling path that moves horizontally, vertically and diagonally. Fill the grid from square to square - revisiting letters as needed to complete the spelling path in order. Each letter will appear only once in the grid. visit www.Pathem.com

sports 5

editors: michael bealey, garrett ripa sportseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES

march 18, 2011

Softball begins ACC play following strong start ASHLEIGH LANZA sports staff writer Over spring break, the Virginia Tech softball team boarded a plane to Tempe, Arizona for the Diamond Devil Invitational, going 4-1 in the Invitational to bring its overall record to 18-6.

“I felt that we did really well,” said Betty Rose, a sophomore catcher. “We gelled together and did what we had to do.”

Tech began the tournament Friday with wins over Weber State and Florida Gulf Coast.

Senior Kenzie Roark (W, 9-3) threw a one-hitter against Weber State, winning 8-0 in five innings. Freshman Dani Anderson and junior Kelsey Hensel each had two hits, along with four other girls with one hit each to solidify the win against a weak Weber State (6-11) squad, whose four errors in the second inning caused the team to fall apart.

The day continued with a 10-3 win over Florida Gulf Coast. Tech started the game off with a three-run home run by sophomore Courtney Liddle followed by a solo home run by Rose to increase the score to 4-0. Later in the sixth, Rose had a three-run home run to add to the score. Florida Gulf Coast stared to rally back in the fifth, scoring one and loading the bases

before Roark ended the inning with a strikeout.

Sophomore Jasmin Harrell (W, 41) went 4.1 innings, allowing three runs on four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. Roark picked up her second save, allowing three hits while striking out five.

The next day, Tech played No. 8 Arizona State University but lost 103.

“I was excited to play ASU,” Banks said. “We’re always talking about how we have targets on our backs, so we were pumped because we were the underdogs and they had the targets.”

Tech jumped to a 2-0 lead after freshman Kat Banks hit her first home run of the season, and Liddle hit a double later in the inning to bring in another run. Roark started the game on the mound, leaving ASU scoreless until the third inning. The Sun Devils scored two runs before an accident between Hokies center fielder Banks and right fielder Marra Hvozdovic led to an inside-the-park three-run home run, which put them up 5-2.

“It was the perfect in-between ball,” Banks said. “We were both going after it and neither of us called it. At the last minute we decided to both dive for it. Her face went straight into my collarbone.”

Both players had to leave the game, while Hvozdovic broke her thumb and suffered a concussion during the

[

Tech Softball Record

2010: 7-16 2011: 18-6

]

incident.

After Banks and Hvozdovic were off the field, ASU came back to hit a two-run homerun that put them up 7-2 and forced Tech to take out Roark in exchange for Harrell.

“I wasn’t really nervous to pitch, I was excited,” Harrell said. “I knew they were a good hitting team and I wanted to show them what I had to see if I could hold them.”

ASU star freshman pitcher Dallas Escobedo had acareer high 16 strikeouts, with Tech recording only six hits.

“Escobedo was the National High School Player of the Year,” said Scot Thomas, head coach. “She is obviously a special kid.”

Roark (L, 9-4) went 2.2 innings, allowing seven runs with two walks.

Harrell finished, allowing three runs on four hits with a strikeout.

After an upsetting loss to ASU, Tech came back that night to beat Campbell 5-3. Singles from Ander and junior Kristen Froehlich in the first inning set up for a three-run home run by Rose, her third home run of the tournament. Campbell hit

a three-run home run in the fourth inning to stay in the game but Tech Senior Richelle McGarva hit a triple in the fifth and scored on a wild pitch to give Tech the lead.

Roark started the game on the mound and went for over three innings until she gave up three runs and Harrell(W, 6-1) came in for the save, allowing no runs on two hits with four strikeouts. Even though Tech won the game, their hitting was not on par of previous games that they have played and won, managing only six hits during the six innings.

Tech ended the tournament with a 5-1 win over Howard. Tech could find no momentum in the first three innings, going scoreless, until scoring two in the fourth. The next inning brought another run as Rose hit her fourth home run of the weekend, and the team ended the game with two more runs in the 6th. Harrell (W, 7-1) had four strikeouts and gave up four hits.

Rose was later named the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the week.

Over the five games, she collected nine hits — four of which were home runs — six runs, one stolen base and nine RBIs. “I feel very lucky and blessed that that happened,” Rose said. “I was just really seeing the ball well and it was working for me.”

Tech only had six hits against

Howard, just as they had against ASU and Campbell, a decrease from what the team’s average of eight.

“We didn’t play as well on Sunday when we left but it was the end of the long trip,” Thomas said. “We won 5-1 but we didn’t do that well at the plate.”

Tech is set to start their Atlantic Coast Conference play next week when they face North Carolina (16-10) twice on Saturday and once Sunday.

North Carolina freshmen pitcher Lori Spingola has put on a show

this past month, including tossing a complete-game one-hitter against Mississippi State, a perfect game against Penn State and went on to record 10 strikeouts against Charlotte.

“We need to make sure that we are active in the strike count and prepare differently with the information we have on the ACC teams we play year after year,” Thomas said.

Tech will take on North Carolina in Chapel Hill both Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m.

For first time, every NCAA game is on TV DIANE PUCIN mcclatchy newspapers Nothing says NCAA basketball mayhem like the words of Gus Johnson calling a down-to-the-wire game.

“Coldblooded,” Johnson howled Saturday when Washington’s Isaiah Thomas, well, cold-bloodedly ended the Pac-10 championship game in overtime against Arizona with a jump shot at the buzzer.

UCLA fans still love to replay Johnson’s call of the 2006 West Regional semifinal when the Bruins came from 17 points down to beat Gonzaga in the final seconds.

“What a game!” Johnson screamed as Jordan Farmar made a steal and a pass to Luc Richard Mbah a Moute for a layup in the final seconds. “What a game, unbelievable after being down by 17!”

It wasn’t so much the words as the tone, a tone as excited as any fan, UCLA or otherwise, who was watching at home.

Some aspects of this year’s NCAA tournament coverage are different.

CBS has partnered with the Turner networks, which means every game will be fully televised for the first time, on either CBS, TBS, TNT or TruTV. No more “live look-ins” and angst over missing your alma mater while the local CBS outlet gives you a game you didn’t care about.

Some of Turner’s well-known NBA voices such as Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Marv Albert will be in the mix, along with CBS staples such as Johnson and Jim Nantz.

Nantz, Clark Kellogg and Steve Kerr are still the No. 1 team and will do the Final Four games. Johnson and Len Elmore are together again as the No. 2 team and will kick off their NCAA experience Wednesday night in Dayton, Ohio, calling the Alabama State-Texas San Antonio and USCVirginia Commonwealth games.

Studio shows will feature a hodgepodge of CBS and Turner analysts — Greg Gumbel, Ernie Johnson, Barkley, Smith, Greg Anthony, Seth Davis, Matt Winer, Steve Smith.

That’s a lot of voices.

David Levy, president of sales, distribution and sports for Turner, said

this CBS-Turner merger is “empowerment of the viewer controlling the clicker.” For the past few years, with only CBS showing games, viewers got herky-jerky coverage — a game their local outlet determined they wanted and snippets of other games.

“This is far better,” Levy said.

As long as you can find TruTV (check with your local cable operator). Or, as Barkley said to David Letterman on the “The Late Show” Monday night, “We start (Tuesday).

We gave you two days to try to find TruTV. Good luck with that.”

Also check with your local cable operator or your onscreen guide to see if your distributor might be offering TruTV in high definition. In Orange County, for example, Cox is offering TruTV in HD on Channel

792 through the NCAA tournament.

But it is the enthusiastic Gus Johnson, who has a special following (don’t call it a cult following, Johnson says — he doesn’t like cults). There is a Gus Johnson Facebook page (not his own), and fan groups and YouTube clips galore.

Johnson said he hasn’t consciously worked on developing a style. He just likes what he does.

For example, while the action was nonstop at Staples Center on Saturday in the championship game, Johnson noted that Washington’s Thomas kept making big shots.

“I grew up in Detroit and Isiah Thomas, we called him Zeke, was everything to me,” Johnson said.

“Now here I am with another Isaiah Thomas and thought, ‘This is kind

of cool.’

“He could have hit 20 shots in a row, he could have missed 20 in a row, he had the same demeanor. He was so much under control . . . then we’re getting to the end, the shot clock is off, the game clock is at 12, he’s got the ball, no emotion, you can tell he’s thinking, ‘I’ll take that for myself,’ then he crosses over, steps back, shoots a long jump shot and it’s nothing but twine. All I could think of was two things. Wow, he’s a young Zeke, and that was coldblooded. Just coldblooded.”

And so, as Thomas’ shot ended that championship game, all Johnson said was “coldblooded.” Now it’s on YouTube. And Johnson is in Dayton waiting for another word story to unfold.

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march 18, 2011

he she

SAID

She said: Bracketology an emotional roller coaster verything was perfect last Sunday as I drove back to Blacksburg. The E sun was shining, it was 70 degrees, and I was ready to see all my friends. I made it back around 4 p.m., which left time for me to unpack and take a run before bracketology.

So maybe I did lose an hour of sleep, but the day couldn’t have been going by any smoother.

I threw on a pair of running shorts, tied my sneakers and plugged my headphones in. I remember looking at my watch and seeing 5:17. This meant I had exactly 43 minutes to break a sweat and be back in time for bracketology.

Running around Blacksburg in great weather made me even more excited to be back. Every car I passed was packed with luggage and students as anxious to be back as me.

As I made it to campus I had to ask myself one question. Should I risk running around the Drillfield when I know I’ll make it back in time if I don’t? Feeling lucky, I continued my run around the Drillfield. Halfway through I glanced at my clock — seven minutes left.

My heart started pounding, my palms were sweaty, and it wasn’t because of the exercise. I hit panic mode. I refused to miss a minute of one of the most exciting sport events of the year.

I don’t think I could have run faster if someone was chasing after me. I almost gave myself a heart attack sprinting back to my apartment, but I made it.

Beet red, I turned on the television and rolled on the floor, gasping for air.

And so it began. I was still catching my breath as they announced the top No. 1 seeds in the bracket. As I lay on the floor, I thought about how this was the first year I didn’t feel worried about us getting in the tournament.

I mean, we beat Duke right? What else was there to worry about? Even ESPN reporters included us without a question.

My perfect day turned into a dark Sunday as I heard teams such as VCU, Clemson and even Michigan State get into the tournament. My heart raced as each name was called, and I slowly realized we were getting screwed — again.

But what doesn’t pass the smell test was UAB getting in the tournament.

This season, UAB only played one top 25 team, which ironically was Duke.

Funny — Duke won by 21.

I usually watch ESPN for several hours to hear everyone’s advice about who to choose in the bracket, but I couldn’t.

Scattered rain showers illustrated our emotions for the next few days in Blacksburg.

It was a devastating blow. We may have lost to Duke last weekend, but we never gave up. I was impressed to see players were stepping up, including sophomore Manny Atkins.

The fact that Malcolm Delaney will never see the NCAA tournament is criminal.

While it feels like they have a vendetta against us, I should have known one win against Duke wouldn’t be enough to get us into the tournament. Losing two straight after that win was a death sentence, but it didn’t mean I wasn’t heartbroken.

It didn’t help that my other favorite team had five-straight losses before the tournament. It’s painful to watch how quickly the Villanova Wildcats are falling apart.

My dad is a Villanova alumnus, so I grew up watching and rooting them on. It wasn’t until Scottie Reynolds’ arrival that we got to see some magic happen. Seeing the team make it to the final four in 2009 was something I’ll never forget.

All in all I guess there is one upside to this year’s tournament. My heart is out of it. No more biases. I can finally let go, accept reality and make sure I don’t let Villanova go too far in my bracket.

So I’ve taken my time, watched several interviews, stalked the ESPN website and made my decision. After seeing them walk all over Texas, I have no other choice but to choose Kansas. The Morris brothers are unstoppable.

And if all else fails, at least I have baseball to look forward to. Go Phillies!

CHELSEA GUNTER -features reporter -sophomore -communication major

He said: March Madness Dos and Don’ts s impossible to discuss the fun-forgambling fiesta Ithatt’the-whole-family is March Madness without briefly touching upon the latest setback to intelligent life on this planet. A battle between reason and ignorance ended on national television Sunday, and — sorry Mensa — the idiots won.

The NCAA selection committee once again managed the astounding feat of making its BCS counterparts look competent.

“Praise be to the holy RPI,” the committee proclaimed from drool-covered pulpits. “Cast into the fires of the NIT those teams who struggle in the final week, for the schedule is not equally weighted.”

Blockbuster executives did a better job running their organization. NFL labor negotiators reached a more satisfying conclusion. Congress appears a bastion of logic and efficiency in comparison.

I don’t mean to pile on these poor oxygen-deprived souls, but it’s not a stretch to say that a room full of baboons could do a better job, and I mean that with all due respect to the baboons.

While it is tempting — not to mention completely warranted — to crank out another 500 words of vitriol directed at our dear NCAA friends, bitterness is not the Hokie way. We’ve always been keener on resigned cynicism in maroon and orange country.

In that respect, I will place my overflowing bounty of selection committee jokes on the shelf to present a brief primer about yet another Hokieless bracket. Narrative writing will be tossed

aside in favor of a dos and don’ts format, partly for comedic value but mostly so that I finish this column before my first TOTS Tuesday.

With no further ado: DO pick Boston University to advance to the Sweet Sixteen if you are in my bracket pool. They play stifling defense and what’s-his-name is a dynamic playmaker. A trendy dark horse pick.

DON’T question what business unimpressive VCU and UAB squads have in the tournament. Maybe the selection committee will take pity on poor Seth next year if we ignore their stunning incompetence. Oops, I tried.

DO pay attention to the strong midmajor competitors. Teams such as Richmond, Old Dominion and — as you may hear joked about once or twice on ESPN this week — George Mason have the potential to be the next George Mason.

DON’T encourage Wofford. Those guys are the worst.

DO pick Wisconsin to go far. It has the strongest motivation of any team: The longer it remains in the tournament, the less time it has to spend in Wisconsin.

DON’T feel the need to tell everyone your hilarious Morehead State joke.

DO pick Notre Dame to go to the Final Four if competition makes you uncomfortable and you’d like to throw away your ruined bracket as soon as possible.

DON’T cry like John Boehner when Duke wins the tournament again. My not-so-secret secondary allegiance is to the Blue Devils, villains reviled across

the nation for their academic success, passionate fan base and beautiful, selfless basketball.

(Note: Lest I be accused of athletic treason, let the record show that I gleefully stormed the court after Tech’s big win and nearly severed my relationship with the parents over participation in the “who’s your daddy?” chant.)

My Duke pick goes beyond personal favor and the $180 it won me in last year’s bracket pool, though. This team has experienced senior leaders in Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith (player of the year in a world where the fun of repeatedly saying “Jimmer” is not the main criterion for the award), knockdown three-point shooting from Seth Curry and Ryan Kelly and a bruising Plumlee frontcourt capable of wreaking havoc in the paint. Duke also has a coach with some experience in these sorts of things. Even without hobbled wunderkind Kyrie Irving, this is a stacked Duke squad built to win a championship.

DO show up to cheer on the Hokies in the NIT tournament. The selection committee’s predictable failure shouldn’t take away from the injurywracked squad’s impressive season. Go to Cassell and show the nation that we support our team through thick and thin.

ANDREW REILLY -features staff writer -junior -communication major