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CA L I F O R N I A P O LY T E C H N I C S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y

Guy Ritchie successfully brings “Sherlock Holmes” to the big screen.

iPhone beware: Google unveils new Nexus One phone.

IN NEWS, 4

IN ARTS, 6 Volume LXXV, Number 55

College Sporting News honors Jordan Yocum.

IN SPORTS, 12

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

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Cal Poly floats to the top at Rose Parade Tim Miller mustang daily

courtesy photo

“Jungle Cuts,” the float built by students and volunteers from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona, captured two awards at the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade, held Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif.

Both Cal Poly campus’s collaborated on their float “Jungle Cuts,” which was the first float to win two awards at the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena this New Year’s Day. For the second year in a row the Cal Poly float won the KTLA Viewers Choice Award; this year they also won an award from the Tournament of Rose’s Committee, the Bob Hope Humor Trophy.

Cal Poly won the Viewers Choice Award with 20,788 votes only 401 votes more than the next closest float by RFD-TV. Last year, the first year the Viewers Choice Award was given, there were only 10,618 total votes cast.

Jane Theobald, the program leader for the rose float program and landscape architecture junior, said it felt really good to beat out floats designed by professional float makers.

The only thing that Theobald said she remembered when the float went by was “screaming my head off.”

“Once the float goes past the

TV cameras I’m done, the head of the giraffe can fall off for all I care,” she said.

This year’s theme for the parade was “2010 A Cut Above the Rest,” so the Cal Poly design featured a monkey giving haircuts to a variety of animals including a zebra with a spiked purple Mohawk and a lion with a perm. The float also featured several mechanical elements including a toucan flying around a tree and a monkey swinging from a tree as well as a waterfall.

“Jungle Cuts” was the 62nd float to be made in a collaborative effort between the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona campuses. The work for the float is split up evenly between the two campuses said Brandon Schmiedeberg, landscape architecture senior and lead float designer. In late October, the San Luis Obispo half of the float is taken down to the Pomona campus and the San Luis Obispo team members go down every weekend to work on the float.

Mary Young an agriculture system and management senior was the float driver as well as the con-

struction chair. Driving the float was very stressful because Young had to stay up most of the night before parade to move the float into place, she said. Young is able to see directly in front of the float but uses an observer on top of the float to look for possible obstacles outside of the driver’s line of sight.

The San Luis Obispo and Pomona campuses alternate providing the float driver and observer every year.

Theobald said that around 1,000-1,500 volunteers came to help the float builders during “Deco Week.” “Deco Week” is the week before the parade which all of the flowers are put on the float.

Michelle Ahlstrom, landscape architecture junior and assistant program leader said “Deco Week” is her favorite part of the building the float.

“I love Deco Week, it’s the most stressful and crazy week and it’s so much fun,” she said.

Schmiedeberg estimated that he put in more than 1,000 hours of work on the float himself, while see Float, page 2

States hesitant to Cal Poly honored as ‘Best switch from three-drug Workplace for Commuters’ ‘cocktail’ for executions Katherine Grady

Tony Rizzo mcclatchy newspapers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After a failed execution in September, the state of Ohio may have revolutionized capital punishment in America when it put a different inmate to death last month.

It executed Kenneth Biros on Dec. 8 with a single drug, marking the first time in the United States that a lethal injection was not done with a three-drug “cocktail” that has been the subject of numerous legal challenges in recent years Death penalty experts think it’s highly likely that other states will follow Ohio’s lead.

“I had wondered for years why one drug wasn’t used,” said death penalty proponent Dudley Sharp.

“There was some speculative downsides, all of which were, easily, overcome.”

Critics of the three-drug method repeatedly have suggested using just one strong sedative. That way, executioners would avoid the possibility of a condemned person suffering excruciating pain during the threedrug process, which is used in most capital punishment states and by the federal government.

In that method, a sedative is injected first to render the condemned person unconscious. A second drug paralyzes muscles.

The final drug induces cardiac arrest.

But if the initial anesthetic is injected incorrectly or in insufficient strength, the inmate can suffer agonizing pain from the next two drugs and be unable to cry out or show physical reaction because of the paralytic, experts see Executions, page 2

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Cal Poly was recognized with a gold medal as last year’s Best Workplace for Commuters.

The 2009 Race to Excellence Award credits an entity’s support for commuter benefits in addition to reducing air pollution, traffic congestion and fuel usage, and offering alternatives to employees driving alone. It was one of 27 companies, institutions and individuals recognized nationwide in November.

Cal Poly was the only CSU selected for this year’s gold award presented by the University of South Florida’s National Center for Transit Research (NCTR). It was recognized along with eight other institutions, including Stanford University and Virginia Tech.

Cal Poly also received the award in 2006.

Commuter and Access Services Coordinator Susan Rains submitted Cal Poly into the running both years.

“Because the Cal Poly campus is so supportive of the (commuter services) program compared to other campuses, we can make more improvements to alternate modes of transportation,” she said Cal Poly was recognized for several initiatives. The university has 11 vans for van pooling and coordinates with the regional Rideshare office in San Luis Obispo to match up employees with similar schedules and destinations. Cal Poly was rewarded for including an increased number of bicycle racks, showers, lockers, employee commuting awards, incentives and on-site amenities.

Cal Poly strives for long-term changes in on-campus transportation including fewer parking spaces,

increased parking fees and greater car sharing and bus use. Starting with the University Union Plaza renovation, this eventually includes closing Perimeter Road entirely with the exception of campus and emergency response vehicles.

Cindy Campbell, Cal Poly’s associate director of University Police, is committed to offering programs for sustainable transportation.

“We are definitely marketing to students on a regular basis,” she said.

“We try to send the message that before you decide on a single car as your only option, there are countless other options.”

These range from biking, bussing, rideshare matching, van pools, shuttles or the latest addition to Cal Poly’s transportation force, the Zip Car. The car service first appeared in October and is a Web-based membership program for an hourly see Commuter, page 2

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News editor: Kate McIntyre mustangdailynews@gmail.com

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Float

Commuter

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Theobald said she put in around 700 hours of work. The team does take some time off working on the float during finals week but they make up for it with all the time they spend during the first two weeks of winter break, she added.

Schiedeberg will be the lead designer next year to mark his fourth year working on Cal Poly’s float. He has already received the theme for next year and has begun to create the design.

“Next year’s float will be the most important to me because it’s my last float,” Schiedeberg said.

But he still expects to be in Pasadena at the end of December in the years to come volunteering on the float, he added.

car rental.

“It’s great for first year residents without cars,” Rains said.“You can drive to Costco with some friends and simply split the cost or go to a late night movie when the bus is no longer running.”

With 450 members, the Bicycle Coalition of San Luis Obispo County is a sustainable form of transportation on the Cal Poly campus. The coalition works with local governments to create more bike lanes and bike racks and greater access for bikes. It also offers education classes, maintenance and free parking as a way of encouraging people to bike. Dan Rivoire, executive director of the coalition, said the new bike paths and move for greater access in parts of campus like the UU promotes bike safety.

“We think (the improvements are) really good and should continue throughout campus,” Rivoire said.

Civil Engineering senior Todd Wilkinson said Cal Poly is definitely deserving of such an award.

“I think (the award) shows that we’re moving in the right direc-

Executions continued from page 1

say.

Litigation over that possibility of “cruel and unusual punishment” has halted and delayed executions across the country and has reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

Eliminating the two most “problematic” drugs was a good step that should be applauded, said death penalty expert Deborah Denno, a professor at the Fordham University School of Law. But, she said, “it’s not just about the drugs.”

It took executioners about 30 minutes and several failed attempts before they successfully inserted an IV line in Biros’ vein, she said. And the state’s backup plan involved injecting two drugs “never injected into a human being, ever, in an execution” directly into muscle tissue, she said.

She questioned why Ohio seemed to be in a rush to carry out the execution without study-

courtesy photo Volunteers from both Cal Poly campuses spent a week attaching more than 20,000 flowers to the Rose Parade float. Each campus was responsible for building half the float before being brought together in Pasadena.

ing the new method.

Experts have said that the sedative dosage used as the first step in the three-drug method was more than enough to kill a person. The main drawback, they said, to using only one drug was that it would take much longer than the threedrug method.

But Biros succumbed in about 10 minutes, about how long it’s taken for inmates to die under the more established method.

“That was too easy,” a relative of the woman he was convicted of killing was quoted as saying afterward.

Missouri’s lethal injection protocol has weathered a number of challenges, some regarding the three-drug method and some regarding the competency and training of execution personnel. Last year, the state carried out its first execution since 2005. Missouri has 50 death row inmates.

Kansas, which has 10 death row inmates, has not carried out an execution since adopting lethal injection in 1994.

Ohio turned to the new method after the attempted execution of Romell Broom in September was called off ‑ after executioners stuck him nearly 20 times over two hours without being able to find a suitable vein.

If other states decide to follow Ohio’s lead, it likely will not happen before a more thorough analysis of the method and its possible drawbacks, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

Despite the occasional glitches, Dieter said, the three-drug method has been used in more than 1,000 executions, “most without big problems.”

The three-drug method has been found constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, and many states may be reluctant to switch to a method that has not faced the same scrutiny. Yet states always are watching what other states do, Denno said.

“I think with time, other states may begin to follow Ohio,” she said.

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Wednesday, January 6, 2010 tion by getting closer to the ultimate goal.”

Many Cal Poly students’ and employees’ first choice for transportation is biking, but Wilkinson considers the buses a great option for rainy days or the unexpected flat tire.

“I love the buses; it’s rare to be able to ride for free,” he said.

The funding behind the bus system comes from the parking fees on campus including citations, passes or metered parking.

Cal Poly employees and students make up roughly 70 percent of SLO Transit’s ridership. A doubledecker bus will be added to the fleet next fall and will follow a Cal Poly specific route allowing for more passenger space to and from campus.

The steps Cal Poly has taken steps to provide a commuterfriendly environment work to solve parking challenges and costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and gas demands, attract and retain employees or students and distinguish the university as a competitive benefits leader. The award winners are “recognized as leaders nationally for providing the best commuter programs that the community can benefit from,” said Julie Bond, program manager of the NCTR.

Small plane crashes in Illinois, two killed John Keilman and Richard Wronski chicago tribune

CHICAGO ­‑ A small plane making a cargo run had almost reached Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling, Ill., when it crashed into a forest preserve Tuesday afternoon, killing the two men aboard and setting off an investigation into the stillunexplained cause.

Officials said the Learjet 35A, owned by Royal Air Charter of Waterford, Mich., left suburban Detroit about 90 minutes before the crash, scheduled to pick up cargo in Wheeling and ferry it to Atlanta. It had been cleared to land at the Chicago Executive Airport when it went down about 1:30 p.m. CST officials said.

Debris was scattered in the woods of a Cook County Forest Preserve about a mile from the airport, and the fuselage was partially submerged in the Des Plaines River. The water was slick with fuel.

Officials found the bodies in the wreckage, but said they might not be able to recover them until Wednesday.

Authorities offered no initial theories about what caused the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board indicated that its probe would focus on the plane itself.

“We will look at the systems, the structure, the engine,” said senior safety investigator Pam Sullivan.

But Robert Mark, a veteran commercial pilot who himself flew into Chicago Executive Airport shortly after the incident, believes the crash shows all

the signs of a stall, the loss of lift that keeps a plane airborne.

“When they go in nose down, that’s a classic stall spin. There’s almost no other option,” Mark said.

The stall could have occurred as the plane just circled to make the final approach to the runway, experts said.

A circling approach was required Tuesday because the winds were out of the west-northwest.

The circling pattern is a more complicated maneuver than just coming in straight.

Authorities did not release the identities of the pilot and co-pilot killed in the crash, and officials at Royal Air declined comment.

According to NTSB records, Royal Air’s last fatal crash happened on an overnight, threeleg flight in March 2004. Then, a twin-engine plane had already ferried cargo from Rockford, Ill., to Maryland when it crashed before dawn on its way to Maine.

Investigators said the pilot lost control but they couldn’t figure out why.

Court and Federal Aviation Administration records show that the 31-year-old company, with a fleet of 35 planes, ran afoul of safety rules in the past.

In 1999, the company agreed to pay a $250,000 fine for maintenance and record-keeping violations. Federal prosecutors complained the company didn’t conduct scheduled inspections of fleet engines, propellers and wing flaps.

Wire Editor: Jennifer Titcomb

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U.S. government Obama poised to announce tougher airline security rules moving to deport

legal residents with criminal convictions

Michael Muskal and Mark Silva tribune washington bureau

WASHINGTON — After meeting this afternoon with top security aides, President Obama is scheduled to announce tougher airline security measures in response to a failed attempt to blow up a jetliner bound for the United States.

Obama will meet with representatives of 20 agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security, the CIA and FBI before unveiling the new steps this afternoon. Airlines have already been ordered to step up searches in the wake of the Christmas Day incident.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, who has said he was recruited by alQaida operatives, is in federal custody, charged with trying to destroy the Northwest Airlines flight as it approached Detroit from Amsterdam.

Authorities said he smuggled an explosive device aboard the craft, but the bomb only ignited, causing a fire.

Abdulmutallab was subdued by passengers and crew and the plane landed safely.

But the incident has set off a firestorm of criticism as Republicans have blamed the Obama administration for reacting too slowly and have questioned the effectiveness of existing security protocols.

Obama, who was on vacation in Hawaii, ordered two probes, the first into how the materials were smuggled through security and a second into how the watch lists of potential terrorists are maintained.

Abdulmutallab’s father, a prominent Nigerian banker, had warned authorities that his son was being radicalized, but Abdulmutallab was not added to the no-fly list and allowed to keep his U.S. visa.

On security issues, the TSA has already has directed airlines to give full-body, pat-down searches to U.S.-

Ken McLaughlin san jose mecury news

mcclatchy-tribune President Barack Obama talks about a meeting with officials relating to airline security and other counter-terrorism operations in the Grand Foyer of the White House on Tuesday. bound travelers from Yemen, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and 11 other countries.

Dozens of names have been moved to the tougher no-fly list, the White House announced Monday. People on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny before they are allowed to enter this country, while anyone on the no-fly list is barred from boarding aircraft in or headed for the United States.

White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters on Air Force One en route to Washington from Hawaii that thousands of people whose names appear on a government terrorismrelated database had been “scrubbed” since Dec. 25 and that “dozens” of people were shifted to either “no-fly” lists or a “selectee” list that requires special screening or stepped-up investigation.

Among those scheduled to attend Tuesday’s session are: Secretary of State

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, CIA Director Leon Panetta and FBI Director Robert Mueller. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder; Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence; Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center; national security adviser James Jones; and John Brennan, the president’s counter-terrorism advisor, also were to be present.

The president plans to meet this evening in the Oval Office with Democratic leaders of the House and Senate as negotiations for healthcare overhaul get underway. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer.

D-Md., are expected to join Obama at the White House, with Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., patching in via conference call.

Militant may have been freed as part of exchange for British hostage Ned Parker and Saad Fakhrildeen los angeles times

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government freed a leading Shiite Muslim militant on Tuesday, his followers said, part of an exchange that saw a longtime British hostage freed last week.

The Iraqi government refused to confirm the release of Qais Khazali, a one-time aide and now rival of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Two of Khazali’s followers discussed the release on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

A spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry, Alaa Taii, told The Associated Press that Khazali had been freed. Taii could not be reached for further comment.

Khazali’s release had been billed beforehand as a key step before his League of the Righteous would hand over the last of five British hostages, whom the Shiite leader’s

supporters had abducted from the Iraqi Finance Ministry in May 2007.

Khazali, notorious for his past militia activities and his ambitions to challenge al-Sadr as the leading voice of militant Shiites in Iraq, was delivered to his followers Tuesday morning after police escorted him out of Baghdad’s Green Zone government enclave, the two followers said.

The release followed the complicated exchange of Khazali and 450 of his supporters from U.S. to Iraqi custody, which began in June when his brother Laith and a senior aide were given their freedom.

Since then, the League of the Righteous has handed over to the Iraqi government the corpses of three of the abducted British hostages, and the kidnapping’s one known survivor, Peter Moore, a computer technician. Moore was freed last week after the Americans transferred Khazali to Iraqi custody.

The fate of the fifth hostage remains unknown, although he is believed to be dead.

The U.S. military has backed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri alMaliki’s government in its effort to bring Khazali inside the political process and has said the League of the Righteous halted its attacks against the Americans last spring.

Khazali had been held since March 2007 in the kidnapping and killing of five U.S. soldiers in the southern city of Karbala in January of that year. His supporters kidnapped the Britons to bargain for his release. At the time, the Americans accused Khazali of working in direct collaboration with Iran’s Quds Force, the foreign arm of the Revolutionary Guard.

The U.S. military believes that Moore was held for at least part of the time in Iran, but a senior Iraqi official said the hostage had likely been held in Iraq for most, if not see Hostage, page 5

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Roger Simmie is no angel.

Twenty years ago, the Mountain View, Calif., carpenter was convicted of resisting arrest and drug possession. Fifteen years after that, he was found guilty of battering his girlfriend. Three times, he’s been convicted of drunken driving.

But it’s what he didn’t do that got him locked up recently in the Santa Clara County Jail. Simmie, a Scot by birth who fought in Vietnam as a U.S. Marine, never applied for U.S. citizenship.

Now he finds himself facing deportation as one of nearly 400,000 immigrants incarcerated in 2009 by the U.S. government. A growing number of noncitizens who have been living in this country as legal permanent residents are learning that run-ins with the law, even minor ones, are translating into lifealtering, one-way tickets to homelands they no longer know.

A report from Human Rights Watch released in the spring found that one out of five “criminal aliens” deported from 1997 to 2007 had been in the country legally. Many, like Simmie, have known America as home for decades. “I’m living in limbo,” said Simmie, 61, whose friends raised thousands of dollars to hire a lawyer to fight his deportation.

Simmie apologizes for the drunken driving, but he denies he was guilty in the other cases.

After leaving Great Britain with his family as a child and settling in Sunnyvale, Calif., Simmie joined the Marines as a teen and did two tours in Vietnam. But he never became a U.S. citizen, in part because his Scottish father felt his son should remain true to his heritage.

It was a costly decision. After

Simmie didn’t respond to a 2003 notice to appear in immigration court (he says he didn’t get the notice), he became a fugitive and was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in October and locked up in the county jail, which has a contract with ICE to house its prisoners.

Like Simmie, longtime San Jose residents Hassan Abpikar and Victor Garabay were thrown into similar predicaments: Abpikar, 49, is an Iranian immigrant who was jailed because of a three-decade-old charge that he contends was false. Garabay, 45, is a Mexican immigrant who says he stole food to survive when he suddenly became homeless.

They, too, have become enmeshed in a detention system that has mushroomed since Congress passed its last major immigration bill in 1996. Since then, the number of detainees has grown fourfold as new biometric technology, huge databases and more boots on the ground have made it easier for ICE to track down immigrants with criminal records.

While the 1996 immigration reform law was widely hailed as a get-tough measure on illegal immigration, one of its more controversial provisions allowed for relatively minor offenses to be grounds for deportation of noncitizens. The Human Rights Watch report found that 77 percent of legal residents had been deported for nonviolent crimes.

If immigrants have been in the United States fewer than five years, they can be deported for a single crime of “moral turpitude,” a broad term that includes shoplifting and pot possession. If they’re here longer than five years, they can be deported for either one aggravated see Deport, page 4

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National

SAN MATEO (MCT) — Police made fewer drunken driving arrests in San Mateo County and the Bay Area this holiday season compared with last year’s, according to preliminary numbers, but officials aren’t exactly sure why.

The poor economy appears to have kept a lot of drivers from making longer car trips this year while also causing them to trim their partying budgets. And state law enforcement’s annual effort to catch those who are behind the wheel and over the limit was less intense and shorter this year. But it will be hard to say for sure until the final numbers come in over the next few days.

In San Mateo County, police arrested 210 drivers on suspicion of driving under the influence this year compared with 271 last year, Daly City police Sgt. Dave Mackriss said.

WASHINGTON (MCT) — The White House announced Tuesday that it is halting the transfer of detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay prison to Yemen, a move that could complicate President Barack Obama’s plans to close the controversial military center on a naval base in Cuba.

The development stands to increase the number of Guantanamo inmates who ultimately could be moved to rural Thomson, Ill., site of a state prison the Obama administration wants to purchase and operate dually as a federal prison and military detention center.

Some supporters have sold the idea of “Gitmo North” to local residents as the destination for no more than 100 former Guantanamo detainees, though the White House has never committed to that limit.

•••

SACRAMENTO (MCT) — The animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has sent a letter to Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson asking him to prohibit horsedrawn carriages on city streets.

PETA made the request after a horse-drawn carriage was hit by a car late last month in Old Sacramento. The horse and passengers were injured.

•••

CHICAGO (MCT) — A woman charged with pulling the head scarf of a Muslim woman in a Chicago area grocery store last November pleaded guilty Tuesday to reduced charges and was sentenced to two years probation and 200 hours of community service.

Valerie Kenney, 54, of Tinley Park, Ill., was originally charged with a hate crime for the Nov. 7 incident in which she pulled the head scarf of 28-year-old Amal Abusumayah in the check-out line of a Jewel food store in Tinley Park.

News

Google unveils International potential iPhone rival LONDON (MCT) — Despite ongoing privacy concerns, authorities will start using fullbody scanners at Heathrow Airport, one of the world’s busiest, in about three weeks, the British government announced Tuesday.

The move reflected the determination of Prime Minister Gordon Brown to deploy the controversial technology as soon as possible in the wake of the failed attack Christmas Day on a Detroit-bound airliner from Amsterdam. Such scanners already are being tested at a smaller airport in northern England.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson told lawmakers that body scanners would have stood a “50 percent to 60 percent chance” at detecting the explosives concealed by alleged bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in his underwear before he boarded the Northwest Airlines flight.

•••

BEIRUT (MCT) — Washington reopened its diplomatic outpost inYemen on Tuesday after shuttering it for two days because of “credible information that pointed to imminent terrorist attacks,” said a statement posted on the website of the U.S. Embassy in Sana, the capital.

The United States, Japan and several European nations shut their embassies this week amid worries about rising al-Qaida activity on the troubled Arabian Peninsula.

Deport continued from page 3

or two crimes of moral turpitude.

“We’re not talking about Jeffrey Dahmer or Charles Manson here,” said Sin Yen Ling, an attorney with the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco. She argues that the punishment of immigrants with criminal records — deportation and separation from families — is often disproportionate to the offenses.

ICE officials argue that getting a green card is a “conditional agreement” and that immigrants have to take responsibility for their actions.

“The vast majority of immigrants who come here comply with laws, lead productive lives and contribute to society,” said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for ICE. “But, if you come here as a guest of this country and you break our laws, you risk forfeiting the right to remain here.”

Abpikar’s case is bizarre.

He came to the United States on a student visa in June 1979, while Iranian students were still holding American hostages in the U.S. Embassy. In December of that year, while taking English classes in Oklahoma City, he put down a $200 deposit to buy a car. When he later changed his mind and asked for his money back, Abpikar says, the disappointed salesman called the cops and accused him of calling in a bomb threat.

Ultimately, he says, he never spent time in jail, and an attorney told him through a translator that the matter had “gone away.”

He went on to get a bachelor’s and a master’s in chemistry from San Jose State University, worked in high-tech industries and in real estate, and applied for citizenship in

mcclatchy-tribune

Roger Simmie sits in the visitor center at the Santa Clara County Jail in San Jose, Calif., Wednesday, December 16, 2009. Simmie is a Scottish immigrant and Vietnam veteran who was convicted of multiple drunken driving offenses.

2004. When the application form asked whether he had ever been convicted of a crime, he didn’t mention the Oklahoma incident.

Two years later, the federal government accused him of lying on his citizenship application — a felony — and put him into deportation proceedings. He spent 16 months as a detainee, mostly in Santa Clara County Jail.

While in custody, Abpikar, who also has a 1999 conviction for shoplifting, located his old Oklahoma records and found that he pleaded guilty in the case and was given a two-year suspended sentence. Under the United States immigration

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

law, according to immigration attorneys contacted by the San Jose Mercury News, the fact that Abpikar wasn’t put on probation and didn’t serve jail time in the Oklahoma case could mean it shouldn’t count as a “conviction.”

After being severely beaten in June in his cell by a fellow inmate, Abpikar was freed in early November. The reason: An immigration judge ruled that because he had served in the armed forces under the shah of Iran, he might be tortured by the current Iranian government if returned to his homeland. He’s still facing a federal charge of lying on his citizenship application, so he

mcclatchy-tribune

A look at Google’s new Nexus One phone, which has similar features to Apple’s iPhone including video capture at 20 frames per second.

John Letzing marketwatch

SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. on Tuesday unveiled its boldest effort yet in the market for advanced mobile phones that connect to the Internet: a new device that the company will sell directly to consumers to challenge Apple Inc.’s popular iPhone.

The new phone, dubbed Nexus One, is being manufactured by Taiwanese firm HTC. The device is based on Google software and was designed in tandem with the search giant.

While a number of devices based on Google’s software have already been released, the Nexus One represents a significant challenge to the established model of selling mobile phones. That’s because Google is taking a direct role in selling the Nexus One, including “unlocked” versions that aren’t provided with service plans from specific wireless carriers.

In a relatively unfamiliar role for the company, Google is selling the Nexus One through an online store starting Tuesday, where both unlocked versions and those provided with service from T-Mobile USA Inc. are available. Google said that versions with support from Verizon Wireless in the United States, and from Vodafone Group PLC overseas will be available in the spring.

Apple’s iPhone is currently provided exclusively in the United States with service from AT&T Inc. “The Nexus One belongs in an emerging category of devices which we call superphones,” said Google executive Mario Quedas during a media event at its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., adding that it’s “an exemplar of what’s possible on mobile phones.”

In a demonstration, Google showed off features on the Nexus One such as voice-activated email and interactive, dynamic wallpaper designs.

The Nexus One’s widely anticipated release is expected to steal some thunder from the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show

in Las Vegas, much as the initial launch of Apple’s iPhone did three years ago.

Google’s Quedas said that an unlocked Nexus One will be sold for $529, and that the model could theoretically be used on both TMobile’s and AT&T’s networks in the United States. A Nexus One version sold with a service plan exclusively on T-Mobile is available for $179.

Google anticipates providing the device with more operators in the future, according to Quedas, while new models from companies including Motorola Inc. are also expected.

Motorola’s co-chief executive, Sanjay Jha, appearing alongside Google executives at the Tuesday event, saying that his company isn’t threatened by Google’s more prominent role in the development and sale of mobile phones. “I don’t see it as a threat; I think this is potentially an expansion of the marketplace,” he said.

The demand for high-powered smart phones such as the Nexus One and iPhone is increasing, as more people rely on mobile devices they can carry everywhere rather than personal computers.

According to recent data from Forrester Research, some 17 percent of U.S. adult subscribers were using smart phones as of late 2009, up from 11 percent at the same point in 2008.

While the unveiling of the Nexus One underlines Google’s desire to tap into that growing demand, it also points to the company’s increasing divergence from Apple, as the two settle into more direct competition.

While Google’s software and services are prominently featured on the iPhone, Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigned from Apple’s board of directors in August, and the two firms have been drawn into territorial spats in the mobile market.

For example, Google has alleged that Apple rejected its Google Voice application, which enables mobile calling that bypasses traditional telecom networks, from use on the iPhone.

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Word on the Street

News Hostage continued from page 3

“How do you travel to school?”

“I walk because I live close to campus.”

-Brittany Koenig, business administration sophomore

“I drive because I live in Morro Bay. That would be a long walk!”

-Dan Puett, liberal studies senior

“I ride my motorcycle because I get 50 miles per gallon.”

-Joey Bradshaw, electrical engineering freshman

“I ride my motorcycle. It’s good on gas and the best way to get around town. It’s a lot easier to find parking.”

-Stuart Howard-Smith, business junior

“I drive because I don’t have a bike right now. I would ride it if I did, though.”

-Matt Williams, landscape architecture graduate student

“I bike because my parents said I had to pay for my own gas and my little sister stole my car.”

-Luke Roy, civil engineering junior

compiled and photographed by jennifer titcomb

WHAT’S YOUR

RANT YOU WRITE IN

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WE INVESTIGATE. mustangdailywire@gmail.com

all, of his captivity.

The official described Khazali’s relationship with Iran as one of mutual interest, and no different from that existing between al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army and Tehran.

The League of the Righteous, the Mahdi Army “and even Sunni groups get support from Iran,” said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the issue. “They are different in the levels of cooperation.”

He compared Khazali’s situation to that of exile Iraqi parties who had fought Saddam Hussein before 2003.

“No doubt all the armed groups, especially the Shia, have done training there. They (the Iranians) train them on how to abduct, (and) plant explosives,” the official said. “They need to know how to use the tactics.

Why else was Dakduk with Khazali if not for training,” he added, in reference to Ali Mahmoud Dakduk, a member of Lebanon’s Hezbollah picked up with Khazali by U.S.-led forces.

Dakduk remains in U.S. custody but is expected to be handed over to

the Iraqis soon.

Despite the Karbala killings, the U.S. military has offered tacit support to Iraq in its intentions to rehabilitate Khazali.

“The way you end these kinds of conflicts, the way you end these kinds of wars ... is by individuals ultimately reconciling. That process is one we have supported and the Iraqi government has supported as well,” Gen. David H. Petraeus said on a visit last week to Baghdad, when asked about Khazali’s transfer to Iraqi custody.

Al-Maliki’s circle has weighed Khazali, 39, as an alternative to the volatile al-Sadr, according to the Iraqi official. Al-Sadr disappeared from public view more than two years ago and is believed to be studying in Iran.

One former al-Sadr supporter has described his former leader as surrounded by advisers with close ties to Tehran who have isolated him and issued their own statements in his name.

Khazali boasts the pedigree to challenge al-Sadr due to his history as one of the closest aides to al-Sadr’s father, Grand Ayatollah Mohamed Sadeq al-Sadr, who was slain in 1999.

Khazali served as a right-hand man to the younger al-Sadr in the first

years after the U.S. invasion in 2003, as the pair built upon the legacy of the father for championing the rights of the Shiite underclass.

Khazali has also been described as a key leader in the al-Sadr movement’s fight against U.S. troops in the city of Najaf in the summer of 2004 and later helped lead the Mahdi Army’s battle against Sunni militants.

That fight turned into civil war, and caused many Sunni Iraqis to view him as a man with blood on his hands.

At the end of 2006, Khazali and al-Sadr bickered over the cleric’s decision to implement a freeze on armed operations at the start of the U.S. military troop buildup, according to government officials and alSadr supporters. The rupture would only become official after Khazali was arrested.

In addition to Khazali, several senior al-Sadr aides have left the movement to form their own political parties in the last two years.They cite their unhappiness with the current circle around al-Sadr and its lack of direction.

(Fakhrildeen, a special correspondent, reported from Najaf, Iraq. Raheem Salman and Usama Redha in Baghdad contributed to this report.)

wednesday, january 6, 2010

arts & Entertainment editor: cassandra keyse

movie column

Downey shines in “Sherlock Holmes” feature Robin Hood, Batman, James Bond. Three timeless names that are amongst the most frequently portrayed characters in cinema history. Still, none hold a candle to Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary detective, Sherlock Holmes.

The Guinness Book of World Records consistently lists him as the “most portrayed film character in history,” with 75 actors playing the part in over 211 films. His most recent depiction in film comes in the form of director Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes,” released this last Christmas.

The less I thought about Arthur Conan Doyle’s original Holmes, the more I liked Ritchie’s adaptation. The movie is filled with the director’s trademark sensational visuals and editing techniques along with over-the-top characters, an engaging soundtrack and noteworthy performances.

The movie stays true to many of

the traditional aspects of the novels, including the 221B Baker Street address and playful relationship between Holmes and Watson.

All of the original Sherlock novels involved different situations that all follow the same story arc: bad guy arrives in London, no one can solve the case, Sherlock is hired, case closed. “Sherlock Holmes” again follows this plot line, but provides its own modern take through the use of impressive computer generated imaging and uniquely choreographed action sequences.

Sherlock Holmes has been played memorably by the likes of Charlton Heston, Michael Caine, Frank Langella, Roger Moore and Christopher Plummer. Robert Downey Jr., a phenomenal natural actor who was unfairly forgotten in the past decade, has turned in both blockbuster and Oscar-worthy performances in recent films like “Iron Man,” “Tropic Thunder,” “The

Soloist” and “Zodiac.” Downey’s Sherlock has the skills and physique of an expert martial artist, ingenious methods of detection and a wonderful sense of humor.

In the film’s entertaining opening sequence, our two heroes frantically make their way through the streets of London in a successful attempt to apprehend a menacing satanic lord named Lord Blackwood, played by British actor Mark Strong. Blackwood is sentenced to death by hanging and is eventually sealed in a coffin deep inside of a tomb, only to later reappear and continue terrorizing London. This of course causes Scotland Yard to again enlist in help from Holmes and Watson.

Each of our main protagonists must deal with their own personal problems, which come in the form of women. Holmes’ love interest is

mcclatchy-tribune

Jude Law, Robert Downey Jr. and Rachel McAdams star in “Sherlock Holmes” (above from left). Below, Downey Jr. (left) plays the film’s title role with Law as Holmes’ sidekick Watson (right).

see Sherlock, page 8

sherlock holmes

Director: Guy Ritchie Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong

“Walk into the light”

mustang daily

Wednesday, January 6, 2010 www.mustangdaily.net

Arts

Arts editor: Cassandra Keyse mustangdailyarts@gmail.com

7

book column

World Poetry Slam Champion Themes of love and death headlines Another Type of Groove intertwine in eerie novel

Leticia Rodriguez mustang daily

Audrey Niffenegger, who recently becoame known for her work “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” has triumphed again with her latest novel, “Her Fearful Symmetry.” Set in London, Highgate Cemetery to be exact, Niffenegger weaves connections between sisters, strangers and even ghosts. The novel revolves around the relationships between two sets of twins, a bond that is often thought of as one of the strongest and unbreakable.

However, when Niffenegger reveals how these deep-seated bonds can be overturned, we are left to question every other relationship in the novel: if such a strong bond can be jilted, what are we to expect from other relationships? While this novel appears to be about symmetry and pairs, it is actually a story about finding individuality amidst the confusing, and often dangerous, boundaries of familial, friendly, and even erotic, relationships.

The two American twins at the heart of this novel,Valentina and Julia, move into a flat willed to them by their recently departed Aunt Elspeth (their mother’s estranged twin sister). The news of an estranged aunt and a fresh start in a new country come as quite a surprise and opportunity to the twins who are lacking a sense of direction in life. After dropping out of multiple colleges, the twins move into the flat where they become stuck in a state of stasis and uncertainty.

From the beginning, the difference between the twins becomes clear. While Julia is excited to move to London and learn about their departed aunt through living in her flat, Valentina is hesitant, desiring rather to return to college to pursue her dream of fashion design. In the end, Valentina’s need to be close to her twin wins out, and she agrees to move to London with Julia. Along with the move into the flat though, there are some conditions: the twins must live in the flat for at least one year before selling it, and their parents are not allowed to enter the apartment at all.

Clearly, Niffenegger is hinting at some sort of familial disconnect between the departed aunt and her twin, the girls’ mother, but the surprising event that causes it is not revealed until much later in the novel.

With these restrictions in mind, the twins move into their aunt’s flat bordering Highgate Cemetery, where

they soon find more than expected.

As expected when you hear that the flat is on the border of a cemetery, it isn’t exactly a normal living situation.While the flat itself is beautiful and full of antiques and priceless books, the inhabitants of the building are not quite so normal.

In the downstairs flat is Robert, Elspeth’s former lover, who establishes a voyeuristic and quite eerie relationship with the twins. His voyeurism leads him to eventually begin a romantic relationship with Valentina, a girl much younger than him, seeing traits in her that he misses so desperately from his beloved Elspeth.

In the upstairs flat is Martin, a man who suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder and agoraphobia. Martin is trying to piece his life together after his wife finally cannot take the circumstances of his diseases any more and leaves him and moves to her native country, Holland. Julia, driven by curiosity, develops a relationship with Martin while she is left more and more to her own devices while Valentina spends more time with Robert.

Finally, and most importantly, the most unique inhabitant of the building is the spirit of the twins’ Aunt Elspeth, which is trapped inside her flat. While these relationships grow and develop, Niffenegger creates new bonds while others become weaker, forcing the reader to question the normal perceptions of what constitutes a strong relationship. By the end of the novel, the only character who has a clear sense of direction is the ghost of Elspeth, throwing the other characters into a confusing search for identity and purpose that will surprise and confuse the reader up until the very end.

While “Her Fearful Symmetry” appears to be a novel about pairing and symmetry, it is actually about how twisted our perceptions of the concepts of sisterhood, love and death actually are. Although there are still the familiar elements of love, coming of age and family, Niffenegger artfully presents them in ways that turn them on their heads, transforming this novel from a simple ghost story and into a statement on forging an identity that is actually quite extraordinary.

Melinda Truelsen is an english graduate student and Mustang Daily book columnist.

Award-winning poet and World Poetry Slam Champion Joaquin Zihuatanejo will be the featured poet at the MultiCultural Center’s Another Type of Groove (ATOG) event tonight. Zihuatanejo has performed on HBO’s Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, and has won poetry slams nationally and internationally.

This will be his first time performing at Cal Poly.

Zihuatanejo grew up in a barrio in east Dallas and later became a English and creative writing high school teacher. He has also published three poetry collections and has an album of spoken word poems called “Barrio Songs: A Spoken Work Collection” that he said are meant to be about the voices of his youth. Zihuatanejo said that a lot of his poetry has been influenced by his childhood and the people who surrounded him.

“I was blessed to sort of be raised in a setting that was kind of filled with poems. From my grandfather’s garden to the wild field,” he said. “I surrounded myself with storytellers as a child constantly.”

The MultiCultural Center’s (MCC) coordinator Renoda Campbell wants students and community members who attend to draw inspiration from Zihuatanejo’s depiction of barrio life and Chicano culture.

“I just want students to hear a

different perspective. I think a lot of times they don’t experience that here at Cal Poly,” Campbell said.

“I’m hoping Joaquin’s poetry will give them a visual of what it’s like not being here, but also a symbol of hope that you don’t necessarily become entrenched in being in that atmosphere, that you can get out.”

Basically, I want to make people feel and think a little deeper than they otherwise would have that day.

—Joaquin Zihuatanejo Slam poet

Event coordinator Josue Urrutia described Another Type of Groove as a way for students and community members to freely express themselves in an artistic way. The event has two open-mic sessions for anyone wanting to share their poetry, and a disc jockey who plays music during the show’s intermission. Urrutia, an agricultural engineering senior, said he got hooked because of the chance

he got to be with his peers and hear their emotions and opinions. Hearing from peers is one thing Urrutia said an attendee can definitely look forward to.

“They talk about relevant issues — issues that everyone can relate to and even issues that people don’t really think about and that’s one of the side benefits of poetry,” Urrutia said.

“It’s almost like a social relative tool to kind of move people and promote social change. It’s pretty amazing.”

Campbell said ATOG is one of the center’s most popular events and draws approximately 300 students and community members to each event. ATOG co-coordinator and statistics senior Saba Abuhay said she thinks the event is so well-received because of the freedom and entertainment attendees enjoy. She personally enjoys the raw emotion and feeling some poets bring to the event with their heartfelt poetry about rape, relationships, school and other life issues.

“It gives people the opportunity to freely express themselves and it’s an open environment. It’s a performance on something that is a piece of them,” Abuhay said. “Whether it’s comedic or whether it’s something that’s just personal or dramatic.

When they go up on stage and just put it out there to like 300 people it’s like, ‘Wow.’” see Poet, page 8

8

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Arts

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Sherlock continued from page 6

the deceitful and tough American Irene Adler, played by Rachel McAdams (“The Notebook,” “Wedding Crashers”), who is said to be the only person to have ever outsmarted the detective. Watson’s future wife, Mary Morstan, played by Kelly Reilly (“Pride and Prejudice”), seems a little in over her head and is being courted by Watson against Sherlock’s wishes.

It’s hard to imagine the performances by any of the actors in this film being much better.

As mentioned before, Downey shines in the lead role. His performance has already garnered him a nomination in the upcoming Golden Globe awards, and through the use of the British accent he mastered back when he played Charlie Chaplin in an Oscar nominated role along with his signature sarcasm, it’s easy to see why. Jude Law (“Cold Mountain,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley”) is equally humorous and well cast in his impressive role as the sidekick Watson, creating a supporting character that is almost as significant as the lead. The performance that will probably unfortunately

go relatively unnoticed is that of Mark Strong as the sinister villain Blackwood. A personal favorite of mine, Strong is one of England’s rising stars, and with praised performances in “Syriana,” “Body of Lies” and Ritchie’s last directorial effort “RocknRolla,” it won’t be long until he is a household name.

Guy Ritchie’s four most famous films, “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” “Snatch,” “Revolver” and “RocknRolla,” all in essence have the same stories and are not too distinct from each other, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Many critics have acknowledged his talent but also have been doubtful of his abilities to stray away from the funny British gangster movies he has gained fame for. In my opinion, he has silenced those critics with “Sherlock Holmes.” While it does share many similarities with the four before mentioned films, including his frequent use of slow motion sequences and recognizable faces, it definitely is in its own ways different … in a good way.

Alex Petrosian is a biological sciences sohpomore and Mustang Daily movie columnist.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

“Avatar” may gain top revenue crown Russ Britt marketwatch

LOS ANGELES — Maybe James Cameron really is the king of the world after all.

A dozen years after the director of “Titanic” made that famous exclamation at the Academy Awards — after claiming Oscar gold on top of boxoffice riches for the epic romance and highest-grossing movie of all time — Cameron just might top himself.

His first feature since “Titanic,” the box-office smash “Avatar,” could well be on pace to beat the $1.84 billion in worldwide revenue that the earlier film set during its run in late 1997 and early 1998.

Distributed by Twentieth-Century Fox, “Avatar” hit the vaunted $1 billion mark in combined domestic and overseas revenue in just 17 days, a pace believed to be unprecedented, even for “Titanic.” (Fox is owned by News Corp., which also is the parent of MarketWatch, publisher of this report.)

The story of humans invading a distant planet to mine a plentiful supply of a rare mineral, “Avatar” has tongues wagging over its groundbreaking special effects. What’s even more jaw-dropping for box-office watchers is the “legs,” or staying power that the film has maintained.

mcclatchy-tribune

Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana star in James Cameron’s “Avatar.”

“Avatar” didn’t set any records during its first weekend in theaters after debuting Dec. 18. It brought in $77 million in domestic receipts, healthy though not astounding.

It lost less than 2 percent of that business Christmas weekend, and dipped only another 10 percent during New Year’s weekend. Most films are considered to be healthy if they manage anything less than a 50 percent drop from their first weekend to their second. Dipping just more than 11 percent from the first to the third is unheard of, according to Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office analysis for Hollywood.com.

“This is just unprecedented,” he said. “I had to do a double take. I thought it was a miscalculation.”

Dergarabedian, however, isn’t ready to hand the all-time box-office title to “Avatar” just yet. “I think second place is guaranteed. I’m not sure about first place.”

“Avatar” is pretty much assured of beating the second-place holder, the 2003 release “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” from Time Warner Inc.’s New Line Cinema unit. That film made $1.13 billion over a fivemonth run. As of Monday, “Avatar” reached an estimated $1.02 billion in just 17 days.

But it’s a big, $800 million leap from “Lord of the Rings” to “Titanic,” Dergarabedian said. “Avatar” still would have to claim the worldwide box-office that 2009’s second-place film, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” got during its entire threemonth run. Today’s films flame out much faster than they did when “Titanic” was released.

Still, the legs of “Avatar” are much stronger than any film in recent history. “Avatar” has already exceeded the $1 billion box-office tally from the most recent blockbuster of the same caliber, 2008’s “The Dark Knight.”

“Dark Knight” set a domestic record for opening weekends, hauling in $158 million — more than double the “Avatar” initial take — in a mere three days. But the “Dark Knight”

Poet continued from page 7

www.mustangdaily.net Always in color

For Zihuatanejo, wowing people isn’t what he considers a successful show. Instead, he said, he feels most successful when someone approaches him at the end of a show and said they were inspired by his poems.

“Basically I want to make people feel and think a little more deeply than they otherwise would have that day.The world is in a big damn hurry right now and that’s what I love about poetry,” Zihuatanejo said. “It makes us slow down. It opens our hearts up, and our minds up and our souls.”

ATOG is from 7:30 to 10 tonight in Chumash Auditorium and is open to the public.

decline was more the norm, dropping 52.5 percent in its second weekend and another 43.2 percent in its third, according to Boxofficemojo.com.

“Avatar” also enters what is traditionally a lackluster month for film releases after the Christmas rush, which could work in its favor.

Or maybe not, says Brandon Gray, president of Boxofficemojo. The Christmas season offers any film a wider audience that is more receptive to sitting in theaters.

“It certainly has a chance to do it (beat ‘Titanic’),” Gray said. “It probably stands the best chance of any picture since ‘Titanic.’ But it’s too early to say because it’s only played during the holidays.”

One thing is certain, Gray says.

While “Avatar” may beat “Titanic’s” revenue record, it will be tough, and the film is unlikely to surpass “Titanic” in attendance. Ticket prices were about $3 cheaper in the late 1990s.

What’s also impressive, says Hollywood.com’s Dergarabedian, is that “Avatar” made it through the holiday season in first place three consecutive weekends with a number of other highly competitive titles standing in its way, such as Warner’s “Sherlock Holmes” and “The Blind Side,” as well as Universal’s “It’s Complicated” and Fox’s own animated feature, “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.”

“Everyone stayed out of the way for ‘Dark Knight.’ But nobody got out of the way for ‘Avatar,’” Dergarabedian said.

Fox, which shared in the “Titanic” box-office riches with Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures, also partnered with several other companies on “Avatar.” It’s unclear what the split will be for Fox; company executives weren’t immediately available for comment.

It seems clear, though, there will be little concern over whether “Avatar” will recoup its costs. Prior to its release, numerous stories circulated that its budget was anywhere from $200 million to as high as $500 million.

opinion/editorial Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Editor in chief: Emilie Egger Managing Editor: Alex Kacik

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9

America’s blessings should inspire change in the world I would like to wish you a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I trust your winter break was well spent with family and friends. I was certainly blessed this break. Though our celebration was simple — healthy conversation over a delicious home-cooked meal — I am humbled to consider the condition of life outside the civilized world.

Even in the wake of recent terrorist attacks, the United States is stable and secure, unlike countries such as Sudan, South Africa and Somalia. Wrought with social, political and ethnic tensions, these countries as well as others like them exist in a state of instability and insecurity.

Take for example Darfur, in western Sudan. Save Darfur, an alliance of over 100 human rights organizations, reports that an estimated 300,000 people lost their lives in an ongoing conflict that former President George W. Bush declared “genocide” between 2003 and 2005. Americans, along with the western world, are blessed to have a safe and stable society, even as we fight the War on Terror.

Food is a commodity Americans take for granted. Yes, food banks help address issues of hunger in America, but the western world knows nothing of malnutrition that countries such as Angola, Swaziland and Zimbabwe experience. World Vision reports that more than 4 million Zimbabweans are affected by the worsening food shortage, hundreds of thousands of which are children.To add insult to injury, over 600,000 children have been orphaned by aids, and about one-third of the adult population lives with HIV/AIDS. Elaborating on the material gifts we regularly receive such as new shoes, warm clothes, electronics and toys seems

I don’t think a couple (or rather a guy) has to spend a lot of money on Valentine’s Day just to please each other.

My boyfriend bought me comics as a V-day present, which was way cooler than a pair of pretty earrings

irrelevant in light of the Zimbabweans’ suffering.

In the comfort of my home,

in the warm aura of family and friends, I realized that comfort promotes complacency. It is only

john kraus newsart

(his original gift idea.) When our romantic dinner plans were sort of thwarted, we just split the check at a Japanese place next door and still had a great time.

Neither of us spent that much money on the gifts and dinner (I’d say something like $50 total) and they meant more to us than flowers, chocolates and jewelry ever would.

—Daniella Response to “Valentine’s Day — an early warning”

I applied to Cal Poly because it’s close to home and a great school, but one of my problems with it is that it’s so far from Orange County/Los Angeles. And now the dean has confirmed my fears are justified, ”they are not aware of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.”

That’s a pretty powerful statement, a statement you probably don’t want to make if you want people to go to your school.

And Robert, it will never be like those places. Plus, UCLA doesn’t

natural that when people are the most comfortable, they are also the least motivated to work.

The Marxist concept that people must work to eat is at the most primitive level, true. Without real and relevant motivation, there is no incentive to work. Fortunately, in capitalism, this motivation is raised to a higher level by personal property.

In our society, motivation to be involved in government process has been lost to prime-time television and replaced by lifetime politicians who promise to solve our problems by increasing government size. As a culture, our drive to obtain personal property, financial freedom and make a positive impact on humanity has been substantially impacted by the comfort of our recliners. Ironic that our government was built on the very principles of hard work and personal responsibility we seem to despise today.

As we enter the new year, I urge you to reflect on the words of G.K. Chesterton, who, when asked to comment on the primary problem with the human condition responded, “I am.” With this simple response, Chesterton cleverly pointed out mankind’s imperfect nature. It follows logically, that if left in a state of complacency, man will not do good, but remain wallowing in imperfection. Therefore, I challenge you to answer Kennedy’s great call: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” by turning off your TVs and putting away your iPods. Fight for stability in Darfur, donate against hunger and inspire the intellect.

Nathan Tsoi is a computer science senior and Mustang Daily political columnist. even have a undergraduate school of business.

—Brent Response to “Orfalea College of Business looks to bolster reputation” NOTE: The Mustang Daily features select comments that are written in response to articles posted online. Not all responses are printed; the Mustang Daily prints comments that are coherent and foster intelligent discussion on a given subject.

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Wednesday, January 6, 2010 Volume LXXIV, No. 55 ©2009 Mustang Daily “But did it really float?.”

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Russell continued from page 12

losses will turn into victories. The uneven play will smooth out. And the Raiders will be back among the league’s elite.

“I said one of the things that would have to happen for us to get back to being a team that would have a chance to make a run at the playoffs and have success (is) you had to change the mentality and the defeatist attitude that gets in the locker room when you struggle for a long time,” Cable said.

That transpired this season, he said.

“The thing I’m most pleased about from the season is the fact that our talk now is about we can and we will,” Cable said. “It’s not, ‘Oh well, this happened, here we go again.’

That kind of B.S. It’s,‘We can and we will.’ That’s really a big deal.”

It remains to be seen whether Cable will be around to see the potential fruits of his labor. He hasn’t received any assurance from managing general partner Al Davis that he will return as coach.

His job status notwithstanding, Cable said the Raiders need to figure out what to do with Russell before they go any further.

Cable benched Russell after nine games this season and entrusted his offense to cast-offs Bruce Gradkowski and Charlie Frye. Davis didn’t use the No. 1 pick of the 2007 NFL draft on Russell and guarantee him $32 million so that he could model silverand-black beanies on the sideline.

It’s time for the Raiders either to part ways with Russell or to figure out a way to address the issues that

11

mustang daily

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The thing I’m most pleased about from the season is the fact that our talk now is about ‘we can and we will’ ... It’s not, ‘Oh well, this happened, here we go again.’ That kind of B.S. It’s, ‘We can and we will.’ That’s really a big deal.

—Tom Cable Oakland Raiders head coach

have plagued him his first three seasons: weight, work ethic, leadership and on-field performance.

Russell has lost the support of his coach, his teammates and the fans. As Cable said, it’s up to him where he goes from here, provided Davis also hasn’t lost faith in Russell.

Beyond that, the Raiders’ other priorities are re-signing potential free agents Gradkowski and kicker Sebastian Janikowski, signing potential free-agent defensive lineman Richard Seymour to an extension and retooling their offensive and defensive lines.

All-Pro cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said he intends to do his part during the week of practice before the Pro Bowl at the end of this month.

“If a (free agent) wants to come here, I’m bringing him along,” Asomugha said. “It’s building talent, and that’s what we have to do here. And I can show them. I have the facts. I can show them the games we did win and what we did offensively and defen-

sively in comparison to the games we didn’t win. And that’s something we can build off of. Guys will be able to get behind that. We have talent, and guys should appreciate that.”

Talent gets you only so far, Seymour said. It’s about harnessing that talent, playing as a team and winning games.

“We all have to do a better job, from top to bottom,” Seymour said.

“Obviously, five wins in a season isn’t going to get you anything. So, let’s not fool ourselves. We all have to get better. That’s up to management to get the right pieces in place, and we’ll just see what happens from there.”

If that entails Cable delegating more to his coaching staff, so be it, he said.

“You’ve got to make the team better and look at every area, every aspect of it, all positions, really, have some real honest evaluation,” Cable said. “Don’t window-dress it. It’s got to be very black and white.”

continued from page 16

Champions, sports an 18-4 record this season, is a two-time Pac-10 champion and placed seventh in the 2008 NCAA Championships to earn All-American honors.

Both Novachkov brothers and Pami are 5-0 in dual meets so far this season.

Mustang 174-pounder Ryan DesRoches, 21-6 on the year with 14 pins, is ranked for the third time this season by D1CollegeWrestling.net, moving up two positions to No. 23. He placed second in the Reno Tournament of Champions, fourth in the Missouri Open and won five of seven matches at the Las Vegas Invitational.

In the Pac-10 individual rankings released Tuesday, Filip Novachkov is ranked No. 1 at 141 pounds, Boris Novachkov is ranked No. 2 at 133, Chase Pami is No. 2 at 157, Ryan DesRoches is ranked No. 2 at 174 and two Mustangs are ranked No. 3 — Eric Maldonado at 149 and Ryan Smith at 197.

Cal Poly (3-2), which fell to top-10 teams Oklahoma and Oklahoma State last week, hosts North Dakota State (2-3) for its first home meet of the season Saturday at 5 p.m. in Mott Gym.

mustangdaily.net

mustangdaily.net Wednesday, January 6, 2010

SPORTS

sports editor: Brian De Los Santos

mustangdailysports@gmail.com

MUSTANG DAILY

Yocum makes CSN’s Fabulous Fifty honorable mention mustang daily staff report

Junior fullback Jordan Yocum, Cal Poly’s leading rusher last fall despite being hindered by injuries, is an honorable mention on the 2009 edition of the College Sporting News’ Fabulous Fifty.

Selected by staff members of College Sporting News, the Fabulous Fifty, unlike other All-American teams, is designed to be like a real team, capable of taking the field and competing in a game.

The team includes everything from dual-threat running backs to long snappers and various special team performers. Along with outstanding players who accumulate lofty season statistics, the Fabulous Fifty also focuses on players who have showcased character and other team oriented traits.

Yocum, a selection pulled from 138 student-athletes representing 70 schools, missed two games with a hip injury but still finished second for Cal Poly with 459 net rushing yards, averaging four yards per carry and 51 yards per game, and scoring one touchdown — a one-yard run at Montana on Oct. 10. After finishing his freshman season in the backfield, Yocum briefly tried out at inside linebacker in 2008 before returning to the offensive backfield in his sophomore season.

nick camacho mustang daily file photo

Junior fullback Jordan Yocum rushed for 467 yards off 115 carries last year with one touchdown.

The junior established career highs with 27 carries and 130 yards at Ohio on Sept. 19 and added 119 yards on 24 trips against Montana on Oct. 10 for his fourth-career 100-yard game. Yocum also has six

Wrestling makes national noise mustang daily staff report

Despite losing a pair of dual meets last week, the Cal Poly wrestling team inched upward in the national polls, ranked Nos. 14, 16, 19 and 21 this week.

Coach John Azevedo’s Mustangs are ranked four positions higher than last week according to Win Magazine (No. 14). The Mustangs are also ranked No. 16 in the InterMat tournament rankings, No. 19 as voted by the National Wrestling Coaches Association and upgrade two spots to No. 21 by D1CollegeWrestling.net.

Cal Poly is ranked No. 31 in Win Magazine’s tournament power index.

Four Mustangs are ranked in their respective weight classes.

Mustang 141-pounder Filip Novachkov, who placed second in his weight class at the Las Vegas Invitational, is ranked No. 3

by InterMat, No. 4 by D1CollegeWrestling.net, No. 5 by Amateur Wrestling News and No. 13 by Win Magazine. A junior, Novachkov was an NCAA qualifier a year ago who placed third in the Missouri Open and is 15-4 on the year.

At 133 pounds, sophomore Boris Novachkov is ranked No. 5 by D1CollegeWrestling.net, Amateur Wrestling News and InterMat and No. 8 by Win Magazine. Novachkov, 18-1 after capturing the title at 133 in both the Missouri Open and Las Vegas Invitational and placing second in the Reno Tournament of Champions, was an NCAA qualifier in 2008 and redshirted the 2008-09 campaign.

Both Novachkov wrestlers have one third-place Pac-10 finish to their credit.

Cal Poly 157-pound senior Chase Pami is ranked No. 9 by Win Magazine and No. 10 by D1CollegeWrestling.net, Amateur Wrestling News and InterMat. Pami, who won the Missouri Open and placed fifth at the Las Vegas Invitational as well as the Reno Tournament of see Wrestling, page 11

catches for 87 yards in the 2009 season.

As a sophomore in 2008, he rushed for 353 yards and three touchdowns, including two scores against Idaho State.Yocum also re-

turned two kickoffs and notched eight total tackles (five solo) on defense.

His first two career century games were late in the 2008 season — 116 yards on just eight carries

against Idaho State and 110 yards on 10 trips against UC Davis. He recorded a 43-yard run against UC Davis and a 42-yarder against Idaho State.

Yocum was one of three true freshmen to play in 2007, rushing for 257 yards on 43 carries and averaging 6.0 yards a trip. One highlight of his early career was when he broke off a 41-yard run in the win over UC Davis. Yocum played in eight games with starts against Southern Utah and Iona and logged three games with more than 50 yards, including 62 against Northern Colorado.

Cal Poly finished 4-7 last fall and ended their streak of six-consecutive winning seasons.

This season, Cal Poly’s rushing attack ran through defenses for 1,963 yard and the Mustang passing threat contributed for 1,686 yards.

This season marked a 1,408yard drop off on the ground.

There were 10 unanimous to the Fabulous Fifty. Players included Deji Karim, Southern Illinois; Clay Harbor, Missouri State; Scott Sicko, New Hampshire; Duane Brooks, Stephen F. Austin; Terrell Hudgins, Elon; Adrian Tracy, William & Mary; Christian Anthony, Grambling; J.C. Sherritt, Eastern Washington; Matt Bevins, Liberty; and LeRoy Vann, Florida A&M.

Cable optimistic for next season

mcclatchy-tribune

The former No. 1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell was benched this season after the starting the first nine games.

Steve Corkran contra costa times

When Raiders coach Tom Cable assembled his team for the last time this season, it wasn’t long before the talk turned to next season, when he expects the groundwork laid the past two years to reap dividends.

Cable didn’t waste his time talking about winning back-toback games, surpassing the fivevictory mark for the first time since 2002 or just showing some

improvement.

“Next year, there can only be one goal,” Cable told his players Monday, “and that’s to be a playoff team.”

Cable felt as if he had a playoffcaliber team this past season were it not for the substandard play of quarterback JaMarcus Russell.

Impressive victories over the Philadelphia Eagles, Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers and Denver Broncos bolstered Cable’s claim. However, those wins were overshadowed by losses to the Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland Browns and Washington

Redskins, none of whom won more than five games.

Such helter-skelter play, in addition to their 5-11 record, suggests the Raiders just aren’t talented enough to be a successful team.

Ever the optimist, Cable sees things differently. He views the inconsistency as a sign of a team learning to win, one shedding the layers of pessimism spawned from seven straight doubledigit-loss seasons.

Before long, he says, the close see Russell, page 11