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THURSDAY, FEB. 26, 2009 © 2009 OU Publications Board

Author explores relationship between America and Islam • Scholar criticizes religious rhetoric LEIGHANNE MANWARREN The Oklahoma Daily No one can win a cosmic war, New York Times best-selling author Reza Aslan told more than 200 members of the OU community Wednesday in the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.

“When [Americans] say the ‘War on Terror,’ we mean the ideological conflict, the so-called clash of civilizations that underlies this global battle that is us versus them,” Aslan said. “Because of that, the ‘War on Terror’ becomes very problematic.”

Through political rhetoric both American and Islamic societies have been lead to believe they are fighting a cosmic war beyond themselves, he said.

Chelsea Garza/The Daily A cosmic war, unlike a holy war, is a Reza Aslan, an expert on Islam, signs his best-selling war where the participants believe God book Wednesday night in Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum is using them in a battle between good versus evil, Aslan said. of Natural History.

“The difference between a holy war and Aslan said jihadists want to make jihad a cosmic war is that a holy war is a physi- a form of worship and make it the central cal war between rival religions; a cosmic element in Islam. war is an imaginary war, where the one or “Jihad is not, for the jihadists, a strugboth sides believe that they gle for the liberation … it are God’s instruments on is a antinationalist ideola plane where everything ogy. … Jihadists want to For a Q&A with is predetermined,” he said. destroy all states, all nation Aslan, see Page 2.

“You can not lose when states, erase all borders, what is at stake is your all national boundaries eternal soul; while this kind and recreate the globe in a of war is unloseable, it is transformative way under also unwinnable.” one leadership,” Aslan said. “Nationalism Aslan said Americans do not know the is a sin to jihadists.” difference between Islamists, who have a He said the American concept of the clear goal of creating a national Islamic War on Terror began to form when forstate, and terrorists who call themselves mer President George W. Bush “accidentjihadists. ly” called the conflict a crusade in 2001.

“When we use the term ‘jihadists’ it is “We have fallen into the trap that has because that’s how they describe them- been set for us. [American politics] have selves,” Aslan said. “You see jihad to made the War on Terror a war on Islam,” the jihadists is not as it is defined in the Aslan said. “That’s the reason the mass Koran, as a defensive struggle against majority of Muslims think the War on aggression and a communal obligation Terror is a war on Islam, because it is.” … where only a qualified cleric can lead The War on Terror from that time on them. [Jihadists] have stripped this term became a cosmic battle, where Americans from all its localized and nationalized were led to believe identity was at stake, connotations and turned it into a meta- he said. physical context.” “[The terrorists] knew that [the 9/11

From self-injury to safety EDITOR’S NOTE: To recognize SelfInjury Awareness Week, Feb. 22-28, The Daily’s Brittany Burden shares a first-person account of her battle with self-injury in a two-day series. Today’s installment deals with her descent into the disorder. Tomorrow’s will focus on her continuing recovery.

BRITTANY BURDEN The Oklahoma Daily For me, the last eight years have been a journey toward home. It’s a journey that has brought me through disorder, depression and hospitalization.

The journey has also been a battle, a battle with self-injury, the deliberate damage one does to one’s skin with knives, razors, lighters, slapping or punching walls.

According to a 2001 study published in the Journal of Threat Assessment, selfinjury affects roughly 10 percent of undergraduate college students in the United States. Yet this condition is one of the most widely-misunderstood mental health problem in the U.S. The government has little reliable data on the disorder, and discussion of self-injury is hampered by a close but inaccurate association with suicide. Self-injury has nothing to do with suicide. Instead, it is a way to relieve pain.

My attempts to deal with pain via selfinjury began at 14, when troubles at a new school led me to scratch myself with a rusty letter opener I found in the desk ay my aunt’s house.

I was living like an alien in the house of a family member when I started high school. Leaving old friends and trying to make new ones proved too difficult for my young, anxious body. Somewhere I had learned that when I broke my skin, my body released the deep tension built up inside me. As time wore on, I eased into my new life but not out of my new addiction and the acts went unnoticed for years.

By 18, I had grown accustomed to hitting myself on a near-daily basis. The loss of friends I had worked so tirelessly to gain pushed me to experiment and eventually abuse drugs and alcohol and led me to become a long-term smoker. This continued through graduation, when I became obsessed with body piercing. I practiced pushing needles deep into my skin. I was

a.m. Suddenly, I was blisteringly hot. My heart rate skyrocketed, my pulse drove upward and my vision blurred. I paced my room for hours. I was nauseous, I was disabled, I was lost, I was gone.

The episode was a result of a panic disorder, a situation which the sufferer experiences mental collapse along with the same physical sensations of a heart attack.

For about a year, with little medical attention, I continued my education with a worsening panic disorder. Eventually I started seeing a therapist in order to discover more about myself and more about my new diseases.

But at 21, round two of my real pain had begun. Although the new school year started out promisingly with new classes, a new boyfriend, group and individual therapy, great friends and a loving family, I drifted further apart from myself and into depression and self-injury.

I remember my first cut from that period of my life so well. I made it with a push pin taken from a bulletin board in Gaylord Hall. My heart pulsated rapidly as I dug the sharp point into my skin. On my biceps, I drew a deep vertical line. In time, after every cut I would make a new cut next to my first one across my arm, one for each time I’ve ever cut myself.

I recognized the danger I was heading into, so I warned my loved ones about the pain I had been experiencing and the way I was dealing with it.

“Take the knives,” I told them, “Because I will use them on myself. Do not for one second leave me alone with myself.”

My boyfriend cleared away every sharp object in my possession. I had to ask for permission to use simple objects like scissors. The depression and cutting had made me a prisoner in my own home.

One night in particular, sick of the absence of sharp objects in my life, I insisted on walking home instead of letPhoto illustration by Amy Frost/The Daily ting my boyfriend drive me to my apartBrittany Burden, English literature senior, was a self-abuse victim up until December of last year. ment.

Burden took part in self injury for nearly seven years before first checking herself into a hospital Glass, broken into sharp shards, laid at my feet on my walk back, and quickly last November.

I pocketed the sharpest I could find. But guilt-ridden as I was from my many broOne day I pushed myself too far. trying to find how I could harm myself in ken promises to stop hurting myself, I a more socially acceptable way than the broke down and gave him the piece. cutting I had done before.

This was my last cut, or so I thought, At age 20, I transferred to OU to study Panic and pain During Thanksgiving of my junior year, until I discovered two things: a set of box English literature. With my ambition to be a writer and scholar of literature, I pushed while trying to write a paper, I panicked. cutters that lay in the utility kit in my I remember sitting at my computer at 4 myself continuously.

INJURY Continues on page 3

Sooners from Venezuela fear for future of their country • Referendum allows endless presidential terms RENEÉ SELANDERS The Oklahoma Daily The luxury of distance has kept many students from fretting about Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’ new ability to run limitless times for re-election.

Venezuelan voters passed a referendum Feb. 15 that ended presidential term limits.

The Venezuelan presidency term lasts six years and before the referendum, leaders could only hold two terms.

For international student Yoryenys Del Moro, the 2,500-mile distance between Oklahoma and her hometown of Caracas, Venezuela, didn’t keep the referendum’s impact from hitting close to home.

Del Moro, geophysics senior, is a Venezuelan exchange student from Universidad Simon Bolivar, a university in the nation’s capital.

Del Moro said there is a great division of support for Chávez and the social divisions between those with high and low incomes lead to more visible crime, including murders.

Del Moro said her biggest concern is

the safety and security of her family. She said since Chávez’s first election in 1999, crime and violence have increased and Venezuelan society has become more fractioned.

“You get worried because if it gets to a point where Venezuela becomes something like Cuba, I worry if my family cannot leave that country,” Del Moro said.

Del Moro’s concern that Venezuela could follow a path similar to that of Cuba is not unwarranted. Chávez has set himself on a course similar to that of former president Fidel Castro, Latin American Studies professor Alan McPherson said in an e-mail.

“Chávez has clearly modeled himself on Castro before gaining power and since,” McPherson said. “He has a virulent anti-U.S.

rhetoric that will soften somewhat because Venezuelans like Obama but will continue because ‘Socialism for the 21st Century’ presents itself as the antithesis of U.S.-led neo-liberalism. Castro was similar: he liked John F. Kennedy personally and mourned him when he died, but he still hated the U.S. government.”

There are two great differences between Castro and Chávez, though, he said. Chávez has more money because of the Venezuelan petroleum industry, and Chávez also must appear to operate his country democratically because it’s the trend in Latin America.

Both of these differences could have an impact on U.S.-Venezuela relations.

VENEZUELA Continues on page 2

attacks] would bring more troops into the Middle East,” Aslan said. “If there was any goal for the hijackers, it was to engage us into the precise cosmic war they have been fighting … [the attacks] were an invitation to a war already in progress, a cosmic war, and as it happens we were more than willing to accept that invitation.”

While Aslan said the U.S. government has promoted a cosmic war against evil, he does not think it is too late to re-conceptualize it through dialogue.

“One can not ‘rid the world of evil,’ that war will go on forever,” Aslan said. “I’ll give you the secret to my book, the only way to win a cosmic war is to refuse to fight in one.”

Throughout his lecture, his audience burst into laughter as Aslan entertained with the same wit he showed in a recent appearance on the Daily Show with John Stewart.

“Aslan is the total package; he bridges the gap between America and Islam; he’s young and dynamic and can entertain as well as instruct,” said Joshua Landis, Center for Middle East Studies co-director. “We are lucky to have him.”

CAMPUS NEWS Women’s rights activist to speak on campus Esteemed human rights activist Igballe Rogova will visit campus today to promote peace and democratization and discuss the reconstruction of newly-independent Kosovo.

Rogova, director and co-founder of the first women’s rights group in Kosovo, will deliver a lecture at 10:30 a.m. in the Scholars Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

The women’s studies department is hosting the event as part of the “Voices of the New Europe” symposium.

Events will continue in the Union’s Weitzenhoffer room at 2 p.m. with a workshop allowing Rogova to share her experiences as an activist with women’s organizations in Kosovo, and her involvement in human rights around the world.

WHAT’S INSIDE Oklahoma House Speaker Chris Benge has proposed several alternative energy bills, including one promoting state use of hybrid vehicles and tax breaks to companies that support wind energy. Page 3.

LIFE & ARTS Rochelle Feinstein, Yale art professor, made a stop at Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art Wednesday to explore different painting styles. Page 7.

Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha Trethewey read to students at Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Check it out on page 7.

SPORTS The baseball team spent the past two days in San Diego, playing two games against the No. 11 San Diego Toreros. OU stole the first game on Tuesday, but fell 10-7 on Wednesday.

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Q & A WITH BESTSELLING AUTHOR REZA ASLAN The Daily sat down with Reza Aslan after his lecture at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History Thursday evening and asked the scholar about rhetoric and religion.

Q: You ended your presentation by saying that the only way to win a cosmic war is to not fight one, but you began it by listing ways in which the war on terror has already been cast as a religious war by both Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush. Is it too late to change the rhetoric?

I don’t think so for a couple of reasons.

One, because you have to understand that the Arab and Muslim world understands us much more than we understand it.

Partly that’s because they have no choice. I mean, they’re inundated by American news and culture and society.

It’s everywhere around them. That’s what we talk about when we talk about the “McDonaldization” of the globe.

And partly, it’s because they are [enthralled with] American decisions. What we decide to do here even on a domestic level affects their livelihood. The passing of the economic stimulus plan in America will directly affect that poor 13-year-old kid in Egypt.

So they understand how things work here in this country. They know that there is a mechanism in place in the U.S. government that can’t be fundamentally altered. They know that we’re not going to suddenly give up our support for Israel.

That’s not going to happen.

What they’re looking for, however, is these very important micro-changes.

One is the way that the Muslim world is addressed. A perfect example of this would be Barack Obama in the interview that he gave to al-Arabiyya television where he had an opportunity to address the “clash of civilizations” issue.

And instead of engaging in those sort of rhetorical flourishes, [Obama] said something very basic and yet very profound: ‘Let me ask you, are your children better off today than they were before?

Are they better off under Hamas? Are they

going to school in Pakistan? Do you think your kids are better off with the way things are?’ That, I think had a profound affect on the Muslim world because it wasn’t talking down anymore.

The truth is that the Muslim world doesn’t expect that much from America, and so it can be pleasantly surprised in a very easy way. Just the fact that Obama has yet to actually use the phrase “war on terror” speaks volumes to this region, who is used to seeing its relationship with the United States through this cosmic lens.

Q: To what extent do the attitudes of ordinary Americans, like the 250 you addressed here tonight, influence the terms of this conflict?

The truth of the matter is that we are a country in which popular sovereignty actually matters. The reason that our politicians speak “religiousese,” the language of religion, is because we like the language of religion, that’s why.

If there were some profound sea change in the attitudes on the street toward some aspect of American foreign policy, American foreign policy would change immediately.

So it is very important to talk to the 250 people at OU because it’s their minds that can be changed, and their change of mind is what’s going to change our policy.

Talking to legislators for me doesn’t do anything. Because they will do what they think the American public wants them to do.

Q: Is there something that you wish the American evangelicals, whose attitudes you say are influential in shaping American foreign policy, understood better about Islam?

That it’s not a foreign or exotic religion.

The example that I use is Jews in the twentieth century. When you see someone, even if they claim to share the same sort of biblical prophetic tradition as you do — which of course the Jews do, and so do the Muslims — if they look different, if they speak differently, if they act differently, if

their conception of religious rituals is different, then they seem different.

It takes while for that to break down.

And it hasn’t broken down completely when it comes to Jews by any means. But nevertheless, there is a widespread sense that’s obvious in the very term ‘JudeoChristian’ that these two communities are one.

And I think the same thing is going to happen with Islam. People are going to realize that, wait a second, it’s the same stories. It’s the same myths. It’s the same figures: Abraham, Moses, Jesus. It’s the same morals. It’s the same values, it’s the same cosmology.

Q: [Atheist activist and author] Sam Harris thinks that people of different religions can’t even talk to each other. What is your opinion of interfaith dialogue?

Sam Harris is a moron. You can quote me on that. Sam Harris is a moron.

Look, I think interfaith dialogue is important insofar as dialogue is always important. It’s important to sit around and talk to people who think differently, who feel differently. The problem I have with interfaith dialogue is that it usually ends with dialogue. Which is great, but then what?

Dialogue is important in cultures that are not as pluralistic as ours. Interfaith dialogue is important in a place like Egypt because the Copts and the Jews and the Christians don’t live near each other, they don’t integrate with each other, they’re ethnically and religiously isolated and so it’s important for them to come together and talk.

Interfaith dialogue in the United States is the easiest thing in the world. Go to your deli! Go see your dentist! That’s it. It’s simple. So we have to create something new.

We have to go from interfaith dialogue to interfaith action. That’s what’s important. It’s not enough just to sit around with people of different faiths and cultures and ethnicities and talk about how you feel. Do something about it!

I have nothing against interfaith dialogue. I think it’s a good thing in and of itself. But it’s only the beginning.

-MEREDITH SIMONS / THE DAILY

Esteban Pulido/The Daily

Geophysics senior Yoryenys Del Moro (right) visits with friend Erika Perdomo, global affairs graduate student, while Perdomo works in the foreign language lab in Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Wednesday morning. Del Moro is from Caracas, Venezuela.

Venezuela Continued from page 1

McPherson said though Chávez will continue trends that exclude the U.S. from multilateral agreements, the Venezuelan president will still need to maintain relations since the U.S. is one of the biggest markets for the nationalized Venezuelan petroleum industry.

Under the newly passed referendum, elections will remain based on a democratic process, but McPherson said slight changes in Chávez’s control over the democratic elections could set the president up for long-term re-elections.

“He has set himself up to be president for as long as he can win elections,” he said. “But the historical pattern is that, while Chávez is in fact very popular in Venezuela and is a strong campaigner, his victories at the polls are less democratic every time because he controls more levers of public opinion such as the media and the electoral council.”

In addition to the challenges and adjustments that face every exchange student in a host country, Del Moro has the added stress of worrying about Chávez and the Venezuelan government’s policies and how their actions will affect her daily life when she returns home.

Some of the Venezuelan policies have began to affect her time in the U.S. Del Moro said the Venezuelan government gives a quote for how much money can be spent by a family per month. At the beginning of the year, she said the money allotted for travel expenses was cut in half.

“If you’re a student abroad, you can only spend a certain amount of money per month,” Del Moro said. “They will make it like people getting more and more papers to get that money. That’s just making people to try to find a way, a different way that is not the legal way, to get the money that they need to do the things that they want to do abroad.”

Erika Perdomo, global affairs graduate student, was born in Tulsa and raised in

Venezuela. She returned to Oklahoma to pursue her undergraduate work in 2003, but is still concerned about Venezuela’s political climate.

“From here, I could tell just by reading the news and having my family living there, I could tell the society’s more polarized, we have more division in the country, more pro or against Chávez,” Perdomo said.

Another concern Perdomo and Del Moro share is the trend of Venezuelans looking to leave the country. Perdomo said she worries about the ability for future generations to leave the country if conditions worsen.

“You also have young family, like young people in your family, that you see no future for them in your country and that really worries you,” Perdomo said. “It’s like, ‘So what’s going to happen to them?’ That’s another thing that worries us.”

The changes in Venezuela’s political system and government are what inspired Del Moro to join a student movement at her university in Venezuela that attempts to unite and influence people’s perspectives on their country.

“It’s just making the people to believe that they could make the country better, but it’s not about changing the rule of the country, it’s just about changing thoughts,” Del Moro said.

Perdomo’s future might be different, though. She said her parents and brother still live in Venezuela, but she doesn’t see herself using her master’s degree in the country where she grew up.

“For me, being in the global affairs business, I do have to work with the government,” she said. “I don’t see myself working with the government of Venezuela, especially since we don’t share the same ideology, so I don’t think I will be hired by the state. So I don’t see a future, especially right now.”

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State Rep. proposes flurry of alternative energy incentive laws • Bills would offer tax credits for investments WILL HOLLAND The Oklahoma Daily Oklahoma is already a leader in conventional energy production, but some state lawmakers, including House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa, have proposed bills to make Oklahoma more viable in alternative energy sources, too.

Benge said he has proposed several bills to create incentives for using alternative energy sources. He said it’s important that Oklahoma and the U.S. reduce their reliance on foreign oil, he said.

Benge said the bills he proposed take an “all of the above” approach in finding alternatives to foreign oil.

His proposed bills advocate the use of wind energy, geothermal energy, compressed natural gas, nuclear power and electric vehicles.

Two bills proposed by Benge were passed by the House Energy Committee Tuesday and are now on their way to the House floor.

House Bill 1952 would increase the number of state vehicles that run on alternative energy sources, like compressed natural gas, and increase the number of natural gas fueling stations in Oklahoma.

The second, HB 1953, would allow companies that provide services for wind energy companies to be part of the Quality Jobs Act, a state program that gives tax rebates to qualifying companies.

He also proposed two bills to give tax credits to Oklahomans who use alternative energy sources to heat and cool their homes or fuel their vehicles.

Another bill, HB 1948, would give tax credits to Oklahomans who install geothermal heating and cooling systems at their homes. The rebate would be 5 percent of the cost of the system, including purchase

Injury Continued from page 1

closet, and the fact that razors can be bought for 99¢ at any gas station in North America.

Soon, I was at my skin so many times a day that I can no longer remember the total number of cuts I made. I started wearing dark, long-sleeved and wearing sunglasses so that friends and classmates would not notice my skeletal face or the guilt behind my eyes.

A once bright and energetic

James Cornwell/ The Daily

Fowler Toyota sells the Toyota Prius Hybrid. State Representative Benge is proposing state legislation that would give tax credits to citizens who own vehicles that are hybrid or use alternative fuels. of equipment and installation.

HB 1949 would give tax credits to Oklahomans who buy hybrid vehicles, vehicles that run on compressed natural gas or the equipment necessary to allow vehicles to run on alternative fuels.

girl was crawling away inside herself, sleeping up to 6 hours during the day and 14 hours per night. All I saw in my mirror’s reflection was an over-rested, underfed girl with sunken eyes.

At a time when I could have turned to friends and family for support, I turned instead to my old, bad habit: a razor and a box of Band-Aids.

The purpose of pain Self-Injury is not the creation of pain for pain’s sake; it is the exact opposite. It is the attempt to create a way of escape for

pain that is already present in the sufferer. It is known as a “coping device,” a way for the brain to figure out how to deal with what the body has failed to do.

I became obsessed with cutting and cutters, wanting to know every detail of my coping device. I researched the disorder to learn the nature of the chemical release I felt each time I dug a knife or a pin through one side of my arm and out the other.

Endorphins, adrenaline, and dopamine surged through my body, taking it all away:

The bipartisan nature of the alternative energy issues has led to little opposition, Benge said, but some legislators oppose the use of nuclear power, which he favors.

State Rep. Scott Martin, R-Norman, proposed a bill

the depression, the Zoloft, Clonapen, Cymbalta and Vistaril prescription drugs that were pumped daily and ineffectively into my body.

I joined Facebook groups dedicated to Self-Injury and talked with others around the globe who dealt with life the same way I did. I even asked random strangers whose scars I recognized if they had followed my same path.

Pain pushes the limits However, everyone has limits, and my deepest scar showed me

what would clear some obstacles for a nuclear power plant to be built in Oklahoma. Oklahoma is one of 16 states without a nuclear power plant, Martin said.

He said building a plant could take 10 years and billions of dollars, but some of the time would be eliminated and the cost lowered if his bill is passed.

Martin said his proposal would eliminate some of the “regulatory hoops,” which makes the building process longer and includes a cost recovery mechanism to help reduce the price.

The bill would not guarantee a plant would be built but could open discussion, he said.

Martin said he brought his desire to propose a pronuclear power bill to the attention of Benge, who also had expressed an interest in nuclear power. The two then toured a nuclear power plant in Arkansas which gets 75 percent of its power from nuclear energy, Martin said.

“We need to look at the entire portfolio and not eliminate any option,” he said. Benge said if the nuclear power proposal does not get passed, it’s still good that a public debate of the issue is taking place.

The idea of a nuclear energy plant in Oklahoma still makes some people uncomfortable, though.

Chris Applegate, geography senior, has been a member of OUr Earth, an OU environmental club, for three years and said he is opposed to nuclear power because of its aftereffects.

“It is a viable (energy) source, but the problem comes from nuclear waste,” he said.

Martin said if a plant were to be built, nuclear waste would most likely be stored on-site because there is no national waste disposal plan.

Applegate said he thinks Martin’s proposal will be passed, but doesn’t think a plant will be built.

“There are so many issues [with nuclear energy],” he said, “Like, who wants it in their backyard?”

Martin said there are nuclear power plants 400 miles to the north, south and east of Oklahoma City.

Applegate said although he doesn’t support Martin’s nuclear energy bill, he is in favor of some of Benge’s proposals that include wind and solar power because he said they would keep Oklahoma moving forward.

mine. Around 4 p.m. Nov. 10, I took a razor, pushed it into my skin, and pulled it hard and fast toward myself making a long and very wide cut. It bled for an hour.

Seeing this brought me to my bottom, and so, at 4 a.m. Nov. 11, I checked myself into the behavioral medicine wing of Norman Regional Hospital.

The first question anyone asked me was why I tried to kill myself. I didn’t have an answer.

Hospitals for the mentally ill are always so revealing, yet so impersonal and unnerving.

Daily therapy is helpful, but

the deepest desire is always to go back as soon as possible to that place that feels most like home. For me, home is where my boyfriend is. What I learned about myself on the fifth floor of Norman Regional Hospital was that I was loved.

My sweet family, friends and boyfriend came to me every day.

I learned to hand-make jewelry and made an extremely unlikely set of friends otherwise known as ‘crazies.’

I walked out of the hospital a healthier, happier woman. But this wasn’t the end of my story; you can’t be cured in four days.

THIS WEEKEND AT YOUR UNIVERSITY T hursday, Feb. 26

Sutton Artist Series: OU Wind Symphony | 8 p.m. in the Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall, Catlett Music Center. Adult admission $8, student, faculty/staff and senior admission $5. Please call F.A.C.T.S. Fine Arts Tickets Service at (405) 325-4101 for more information.

Friday., Feb. 27 FREE Film: “Quantum of Solace” | 4, 7, 10 p.m. & 12:30 a.m. in Meacham Auditorium, Oklahoma Memorial Union. Presented by the Union Programming Board and Campus Activities Council Film Series.

Art After Hours: How the West Was Seen, Federic Remington and Charles Russell | 5 p.m. in the Dee Dee and Jon R. Stuart Classroom, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. Frederic Remington and Charles Russell shared the same subject in their art, yet the men came from different backgrounds and had dissimilar attitudes toward the West. Light refreshments will be served.

FREE Late Night Snacks | 9:30 p.m. in Meacham Auditorium Lobby. Get some snacks courtesy of the Union Programming Board before the 10 p.m. showing of “Quantum of Solace.” Who Loves You, OU? University Theatre Presents Oklahoma Festival Ballet | 8 p.m. at the Rupel Jones Theatre. Inspired by the legendary companies that carried the name Ballets Russes, Oklahoma Festival Ballet presents a not-to-bemissed production with Miguel Terekhov’s dramatically beautiful Firebird as its centerpiece. From the enchanted garden in which the magical Firebird darts and dances, to the breath taking pageantry of the final scene, Terekhov’s powerful choreography and Stravinsky’s celebrated score will transport audiences to the very heart of the world of ballet. For tickets call the OU Fine Arts Box Office at (405) 325-4101.

Saturday, Feb. 28 OU Women’s Basketball vs. OSU | noon at the Lloyd Noble Center.

OU Students are admitted FREE! Visit http://soonersports.com for ticket information.

OU Softball vs. Creighton | 1:15 p.m. at the Women’s Softball Facility. Visit http://soonersports.com for ticket information.

OU Softball vs. St. Louis | 3 p.m. at the Women’s Softball Facility. Visit http://soonersports.com for ticket information.

Outside-In Crawfish Boil | 6-8 p.m. in the Molly Shi Boren Ballroom, Oklahoma Memorial Union. It’s a slice of summer in winter at the Union Programming Board’s Outside-In Crawfish Boil. Two dollars gets you crawfish, music and games. That’s a small price to pay for a whole mess of fun! Who Loves You, OU? OU Men’s Gymnastics vs. Nebraska | 7 p.m. at McCasland Field House.

OU Students are admitted FREE! Visit http://soonersports.com for ticket information.

University Theatre Presents Oklahoma Festival Ballet | 8 p.m. at the Rupel Jones Theatre. For tickets call the OU Fine Arts Box Office at (405) 325-4101.

Touch the Sky: Prairie Photographs by Jim Brandenburg | Photography exhibit on display at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History through April 12, 2009. This exhibit features the breathtaking prairie photographs of National Geographic photographer Jim Brandenburg. The photos capture the beauty and drama of the prairie ecosystem - its landscape, plants, animals and weather.

Sunday, Mar. 1 University Theatre Presents Oklahoma Festival Ballet | 3 p.m. at the Rupel Jones Theatre. For tickets call the OU Fine Arts Box Office at (405) 325-4101.

Monday, Mar. 2 Special Screening: “Darius Goes West” | 7 p.m. in Meacham Auditorium, Oklahoma Memorial Union. Come and see this inspirational film about Darius Weem’s ultimate road trip from Athens, Georgia to L.A. and his battle with Duchene muscular dystrophy, the number one genetic killer of young people in the world. Stay after the screening for a special Q&A with Darius and the filmmakers. For more information about the film, please visit http://www.dariusgoeswest.org. Presented by the Union Programming Board.

This University in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability, political beliefs, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices or procedures. This includes but is not limited to admissions, employment, financial aid and educational services. For accommodations on the basis of disability, please contact the sponsoring department of any program or event.

4

Opinion

Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009

OUR VIEW

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

STAFF CARTOON

Ian Jehn - civil engineering junior

Police records should remain open to citizens Often times, journalists deliver this information A bill that recently passed through the Oklahoma House of Representatives would allow law enforce- to the public.

Taking away access to the information is to take ment agencies to withhold information from the public, other than information pertaining to criminals away one of the fundamental roles of a journalist reporting the news, and one of the fundawho have been arrested.

HB 1490 states “…law enforcement OUR VIEW mental rights of citizens to hear it.

A year ago, the Oklahoma Supreme agencies may deny access to law enforceis an editorial Court rightly backed off of a decision to ment records except when a court finds selected and debated by the editorial board keep court documents private and off of that the public interest or the interest of and written after a its Web site. In a brief order from the office an individual outweighs the reason for majority opinion is of Chief Justice James Winchester, the denial.” formed and approved This bill is problematic. by the editor. Our View court wrote, “We are cognizant that many is The Daily’s official businesses and individuals rely on the It’s the right of citizens to have access opinion. information court clerks have placed on to this information, especially when it perour Web site. Personal privacy balanced tains to potential criminals.

The U.S. Supreme Court has placed a lower with reliable public information is critical for every expectation of privacy on criminals than law-abiding free society.”

We agree. And we think Oklahoma legislators citizens. And the public should be entitled to inforshould similarly back off of this piece of legislation. mation about criminals in their midst.

COMMENTS OF THE DAY In response to Michael Wilkinson’s Wednesday column about English-only legislation The problem is that we are not encouraging them to learn English when we allow classes in other languages. If they want to come to America they should learn English.

That doesn’t mean that they can’t speak their native tongue, but they should also be able to speak English effectively.

immigrants still try to learn it so they can function in society! The fact that it’s not our official language enables government offices to communicate with individuals in languages they are more familiar with and makes it easier to educate them on matters like laws and regulations and public services.

- POSTED BY DRFUEGO AT OUDAILY.COM

- POSTED BY HILLELKKILLER89 AT OUDAILY.COM

Even though English isn’t the official language,

STAFF COLUMN

STAFF COLUMN

Proposition 8 relevant to students, Oklahomans

Income taxes a hoax on American people

Supporters of Proposition 8 have argued that legalizing gay marriage would threaten religious freedom by forcing churches to marry same-sex couples or barring them from preaching against homosexuality.

These accusations are entirely unfounded.

There is a question of religious freedom at stake for some in this debate, which anyone with religious beliefs should care deeply about.

To understand why these claims are false, turn to semantics. The term marriage has two equally valid definitions: one religious, one secular.

It is a sacred ceremony that binds people together in many belief systems (not all of which condemn homosexuality).

It is also the legal term used to describe a civil contract between people that confers upon them more than a thousand federal rights.

These two “versions” of marriage are completely separate, and any debate about marriage rights must acknowledge that separation.

No, the government has no right to tell churches who they must marry – it already lacks that ability.

But neither does the Christian church have the right to limit who can receive the secular, legal marriage.

Followers of other religions and those without religious beliefs are allowed to marry. Obviously, a secular form of marriage is currently in practice.

Allowing same-sex couples to partake in the secular side of marriage will have no effect on the religious side of marriage.

It will not force churches to marry anyone (a right to refusal which they already hold), and it will not make it a hate crime to preach against homosexuality. The religious rights of the majority of this country are not threatened by gay marriage.

However, Proposition 8 does endanger the religious rights of several minority religions.

Some denominations of Christianity or sects of Buddhism, for example, condone same-sex marriages.

T H E

For those with political objections Another battle fought over the right to marry ended in 1967.

Then, the Supreme Court addressed anti-miscegenation laws that banned interracial marriage or cohabitation.

In its decision, Loving v.

Virginia, the court ruled that “marriage is one of the ‘basic civil rights of man,’ fundamental to our very existence and survival.”

To those who would answer that gay individuals have the MARY same right to marry that straight people do – that is, to marry STANFIELD someone of the opposite sex – I would ask what is the purpose of marriage? If it is simply procreation, then that argument stands.

But it would then follow that infertile individuals should not be allowed to marry.

Obviously, marriage means more to us than procreation.

For everyone Marriage is about more than offspring. In our civilized society, have we not grown beyond the simple, animalistic urge to continue the species?

While that is still an important drive, we have more than biology at stake now.

Marriage is, most simply, about love. It is about choosing someone with whom you are compatible to spend your life.

It is about supporting each other through the bad times and having someone to celebrate with in the good times. It is about making each other’s lives just that much brighter.

When viewed for what it really is, it is certainly “fundamental to our very existence.”

It is part of the unalienable right to happiness that all citizens deserve.

Any of us who value that right – or simply doesn’t wish to see marriage defined as a means for passing on the genetic code – should be watching this decision, and engaging in future battles, with passion.

Mary Stanfield is a philosophy sophomore.

I N D E P E N D E N T

S T U D E N T

V O I C E

NEWSROOM DIRECTORY Meredith Simons Nijim Dabbour Jamie Hughes Mack Burke Ray Martin Zach Butler

Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Assistant Managing Editor Night Editor Opinion Editor Photo Editor

Dane Beavers Whitney Bryen Steven Jones Luke Atkinson Judy Gibbs Robinson R.T. Conwell

Senior Online Editor Multimedia Editor Sports Editor Life & Arts Editor Editorial Adviser Advertising Manager

What if I told you you didn’t have to pay income taxes? What if there were no laws that required you to do so? Would you pay? My feeling is some would still pay, but most would not.

But this sounds too good to be true, right? The answer is both yes and no.

Few people realize that in 1894 the issue was settled. The U.S. Supreme Court found the income tax unconstitutional.

So should this the end of the story, right? Wrong. Greedy politicians were not easily stopped by a meager Supreme Court ruling.

The ever-so-enlightened politicians came up with a great idea: amend the constitution with the 16th Amendment and push through our federal TARRANT income tax bill a second time.

CARTER The problem was that the Supreme Court would eventually review the applications of the law and the 16th Amendment.

Surprisingly, in the cases following the ratification of the 16th Amendment, the Supreme Court ruled against the politicians. Writing for the court in Stanton v. Baltic Mining Co. (1916), Chief Justice Edward White said, “The 16th Amendment conferred no new power of taxation.” So the 16th Amendment did not justify the new income tax system and to this date, no case has overturned this ruling.

The Supreme Court went further in Eisner vs. Macomber (1920) and defined income as merely “corporate gains” and not in terms of wages or labor.

This is why my initial answer to the question of whether you have to pay taxes or not was both yes and no. If you look at the law, you will find that there is no law that requires any individual to pay an income tax.

So you are not obligated by law to pay income taxes. Therefore, if we live in a country that abides by the rule of law then we do not have to pay income taxes.

The scary truth is that we do not live in a country that abides by the rule of law. It is instead by rule of force or coercion (a.k.a. authoritarianism). We are coerced into paying income taxes by the Internal Revenue Service.

O F

160 Copeland Hall 860 Van Vleet Oval Norman, OK 73019-0270 phone: (405) 325-3666 e-mail: dailynews@ou.edu

T H E The Fine Print

For those with religious objections

By banning the secular right to gay marriage, the state is limiting the religious freedom of those groups.

Anyone with religious beliefs, majority or minority, should be greatly concerned by this blatant violation of the protections they cherish.

Contact Us

A week from today, the California Supreme Court will consider legal arguments against Proposition 8, which redefines marriage in that state as between a man and a woman, in response to a recent court decisions extending the right to marry to gay couples.

But why should we, living several states away in Oklahoma, care about a debate over California law?

In recent tax-evasion cases, individuals have tried to cite the Constitution and cases I have mentioned, but are turned down because judges will not allow the Constitution or Supreme Court cases to serve as evidence. That doesn’t sound like the practice of a free society to me.

Neither will judges force the Internal Revenue Service to present the law under which the defendants are being prosecuted. And you thought detainees at Guantanamo had it bad!

American citizens are being prosecuted for laws they cannot see!

The implications of these decisions are alarming, to say the least.

So where does our obedience to this fictitious law come from? Clearly we have been brainwashed to assume there is a law that requires us to pay income taxes.

We all know the saying about what happens when we assume. But in this case, it does more than make an ass of us – it makes us powerless and poorer.

I encourage you to be skeptical. I challenge you to find the law that requires you to pay income tax. Call the Internal Revenue Service and ask them to cite the law or statute.

You may be thinking if there is no law then you don’t have to pay an income tax. You would be right if we lived in a country of logic, reason and law.

The problem is we have become an authoritarian government. The Internal Revenue Service intimidates us into paying taxes. A lot of people, while they might be right in not paying taxes, still do so because they don’t want to fight the IRS. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Juries around the country are not blindly accepting what the judges tell them the law is. Many people are being found innocent of tax evasion because jurors are using common sense. I urge everyone to not assume we have to pay income taxes and to do the pertinent research and decide for themselves.

I hope I am wrong, but it seems the federal income tax is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated by the American government onto the American people.

Tarrant Carter is a psychology and philosphy senior.

U N I V E R S I T Y

The Oklahoma Daily is a public forum and OU’s independent student voice.

Letters should concentrate on issues, not personalities, and should be fewer than 250 words, typed, double spaced and signed by the author(s). Letters will be cut to fit. Students must list their major and classification. OU staff and faculty must list their title. All letters must include a daytime phone number. Authors submitting letters in person must present photo identification. Submit letters

O F

O K L A H O M A

Sunday through Thursday, in 160 Copeland Hall. Letters can also be submitted via e-mail to dailyopinion@ou.edu.

Guest columns are accepted at editor’s discretion. ’Our View’ is the voice of The Oklahoma Daily.

Editorial Board members are The Daily’s editorial staff.

The board meets Sunday through Thursday in 160 Copeland Hall.

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

Sports

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

Baseball

Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009

5

STAFF COLUMN

OU suffers first loss of the season, 10-7 New rules, players mark NHL resurgence

• Sooners split two-game series with San Diego

M

JONO GRECO The Oklahoma Daily A five-run second inning lead proved unsafe Wednesday for the No. 16 Sooners as they fell 10-7 to the No. 11 San Diego Toreros. The loss split the twogame series and was OU’s first of the season.

The Sooners (5-1) jumped out to an early lead when the heart of OU’s order put together a string of base-hits and walks that brought in five runs.

SDU (3-2) stormed back and went ahead for good with two runs in the second, six in the fourth and two in the fifth.

The Sooner offense could only muster up a seventh inning rally that brought home two runs on four hits, but was shut down by the Toreros’ bullpen.

Sophomore starting pitcher Michael Rocha was credited with the loss as he went three-andtwo-thirds innings while giving up seven hits and seven runs, one of which was unearned, before being pulled from the game.

Junior pitcher Jason Chowning was unable to stop the bleeding when he entered the game as he gave up three runs in just twothirds innings of relief work.

Leading the Sooners offensively were redshirt third baseman Garrett Buechele and juniors shortstop Bryant Hernandez and right fielder Kaleb Herren.

Buechele went 3-5 with three singles while scoring two runs.

Hernandez set a single-game career-high in hits by hitting safely in four of his five at bats, which included a double while bringing in one run and scoring one of his own.

any thought the cancellation of the 20042005 National Hockey League season would have buried the league into obscurity forever. Thanks to an influx of young talent and consistent enforcement of a new standard of play, viewership is up and the league is as exciting as ever.

It has been a long, tumultuous road, but the NHL is finally back on track; and as a fan of the league, I JARROD have never been more excited about it’s future.

YOST Television Ratings People are watching the sport again.

According to Nielsen Media Research, the Feb. 10 contest between the San Jose Sharks and the Boston Bruins hauled in 377,589 viewers, the most ever for a regular season broadcast on the Versus network.

Overall, viewership is up 16 percent from last season on the network, and an astronomical 64 percent among the crucial demographic of men aged 18-49.

Perhaps most exciting is the news that many sources are reporting that talks are heating up between the NHL and ESPN for a deal that would move the sport back to the network for the first time since before the lockout.

Having games back on ESPN would increase exposure on SportsCenter and various debate shows popular on the network.

Youth Movement The recent spat between young stars like Washington’s Alex Ovechkin and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby highlights an important aspect of today’s game.

Many of the top players are in their first few years in the league, and most of them (Crosby aside), have dynamic personalities.

While the NHL continues to inexplicably ride the Crosby train, showcasing the mediocre Penguins in most of its NBC weekend telecasts, a bevy of new talent is taking over the league. Heading in to Wednesday’s action, the top three goal-scorers in the league were Ovechkin (23 years old), New Jersey’s Zach Parise (24), and Philadelphia’s Jeff Carter (24).

The league leader in points (goals and assists) is Pittsburgh’s forgotten superstar, Evgeni Malkin, who is just 22.

The NHL must stop exclusively showcasing the mundane Crosby, and turn more to exciting players like Ovechkin and Malkin.

No more clutch and grab After a few painstaking seasons of trial and error, the players have finally figured out how to play the game under enforcement of the new rules, and the result is extraordinary.

Scoring is up as skilled players are now allowed to wheel through the center of the ice without being hindered by the horizontal stick of a lesser-skilled skater.

The league successfully found a way to keep the physical aspect in the game, while almost completely eliminating the obstruction which once bogged down the most talented players.

If you are one of the few who hasn’t hopped on the NHL bandwagon, I suggest you do so, because there has never been a more exciting time to be a fan of the game.

Eli Hull/The Daily

Senior catcher J.T. Wise celebrates after tagging Western Illinois’ Andrew Hagins (21) at home plate in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader against Western Illinois. The Sooners won the game 6-1 and swept the Leathernecks in last weekend’s series. The Sooners then traveled to San Diego where they beat San Diego in game one of the series, but fell to the Toreros 10-7 Wednesday night.

Herren, a transfer from North Central Texas College, went 3-5 with two doubles and was the only Sooner to bring in two runs.

“We competed hard but we were not sharp on the mound,” head coach Sunny Golloway said. “You are always disappointed when you lose, but you can’t be discouraged. We have to start focusing on the next series and continue to get better.

Washington State looms large for us and we are looking forward to getting up there.”

The Sooners head north to Pullman, Wash., to take on the Washington State Cougars for a four-game weekend series before an eight-game homestand begins on Tuesday at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

OFF TO A HOT START The No. 16 Sooners have gotten off to a quick 5-1 start this season, and multiple players have been key in the effort. Here’s a look at two Sooners that have gotten the season off on the right foot.

Average: .600 Home runs: 2 RBIs: 8 Results Wed. v. SDU: 2-5 with a triple and one run scored.

JAMIE JOHNSON

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Average: .625 Home runs: 2 RBIs: 8 Results Wed. v. SDU: 4-5 with a double, one RBI and scoring one run.

BRYANT HERNANDEZ

JARROD YOST IS A JOURNALISM SOPHOMORE.

6

Sports

Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009

Tiger cruises in first action since surgery DOUG FERGUSON Associated Press MARANA, Ariz. — Eight months later, Tiger Woods looked as though he had never been away.

Woods made a triumphant return to golf Wednesday in the Accenture Match Play Championship with a start that showed golf what it had been missing in the 253 days since he limped his way to an epic U.S. Open title.

Just past high noon in the desert, Woods fired an 8-iron into 5 feet for birdie. Then came a gentle fist pump when his approach to the par-5 second settled 4 feet from the cup for eagle.

He closed out Brendan Jones of Australia with a 3-foot par on the 16th hole for a 3-and-2 victory.

“I told Stevie I felt like we haven’t been away,” Woods said, referring to caddie Steve Williams. “It was business as usual.”

But this was no ordi— nary day.

Before thousands of fans who scurried through the high desert, eager to see every shot from the world’s No. 1 player, Woods never showed any indication that he had reconstructive surgery on his left knee a week after winning the U.S. Open.

“It held up,” he said. “It felt good.”

Woods said he had looked forward to the nerves of standing on the first tee and the rush of competing. It was as if all that time away from golf had been bottled up inside of him. And then it came gushing out on a scorching day north of Tucson, where temperatures approached 90 degrees.

Fans packed the bleachers around the first tee, with more lined up behind the ropes to the green, and the cheer when Woods walked onto the tee could be heard all the way down the fairway.

Woods backed off his tee shot, and without much expression, belted a fairway metal down the right side of the fairway.

“You are back!” one spectator shouted.

Was he ever.

He won the first two holes before some rust settled in. Woods made three bogeys over his next five holes and was leading, 1 up, until he birdied the par-5 eighth with a 6-foot putt.

Jones never got any Tiger Woods closer.

Woods seized control of the match when Jones couldn’t save par behind the green on the par-3 12th, and then Woods struck another familiar pose by raising his putter above his head as his 20-foot eagle putt dropped on the 13th.

“I told Stevie I felt like we haven’t been away. It was business as usual.”

— AP

Matt York/AP Photo

Tiger Woods watches his tee shot on the par-3 12th hole during his opening round 3-and-2 victory against Brendan Jones of the World Golf Championships Accenture Match Play Championship Wednesday in Marana, Ariz. The match was Woods’ first since having knee surgery eight months ago.

NFL staff, commissioner Goodell taking pay cut DAVE GOLDBERG Associated Press NEW YORK — NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is taking a pay cut and the league staff has been trimmed by 15 percent because of the reeling economy, the NFL confirmed Wednesday.

The league said that its staff cut, announced more than two months ago, has resulted in a reduction of 169 jobs through buyouts, layoffs and other staff reductions. That amounts to just over 15 percent of the league’s work force of 1,100.

“All of us understand that it will continue to take collective sacrifice to get through this challenging economic environment, but these and other steps by our office and clubs will enable us to be more efficient and better positioned for future growth,” league spokesman Greg Aiello said.

Goodell, meanwhile, voluntarily took a cut of 20-25 percent from the $11 million salary and bonuses he was to receive in the 2008 fiscal year, which ends March 31. He and other league executives are freezing their salaries for 2009.

The NFL announced Dec. 9 it would reduce its staff by 10 to 15 percent. Seventy-six people took buyouts while 45 jobs were eliminated and 48 openings went unfilled. The moves affect NFL headquarters in New York, NFL Films in Mount Laurel, N.J., and the NFL Network in Los Angeles.

Teams also are reducing expenses.

The league estimates that 10 to 12 teams have laid off about 200 people total in the last few months.

On the other hand, Denver, which laid of employees almost a year ago, owes former coach Mike Shanahan an estimated $20 million for the next three years after firing him after the 2008 season.

Still, the league is worried about the effect the downturn will have in many areas, notably on sponsors, with the auto industry hit especially hard. While television ratings were high last season and television contracts are in effect for another three seasons, car companies are among the biggest advertisers.

NFL officials, including Goodell, have said that they won’t know the effect of the economic downturn on the league until later this year, and perhaps not even then. One factor is how well season tickets sell when they go on the market this spring — threequarters of teams are freezing ticket prices for this coming season at their 2008 levels.

Some of the league’s layoffs are intended to impact talks on the collective bargaining agreement, which could start this spring, after the NFL Players Association selects a new executive director to replace Gene Upshaw. The owners opted out of the contract last season, arguing it was too favorable to players, who receive nearly 60 percent of total revenues — an estimated $4.5 billion next season with a salary cap increasing from to $123 million.

Several team presidents and general managers said during the NFL’s annual scouting combine in Indianapolis during the past week that they expect to be more frugal during the free agency period, which begins on Friday. They include Bill Polian of Indianapolis, Mike Reinfeldt of Tennessee and Jerry Reese of the New York Giants.

Even with the salary cap going up, they predicted that second level free agents would have hard time finding big money after teams pay for the first level of stars, such as Albert Haynesworth, T. J. Houshmandzadeh and Ray Lewis.

— AP

Marco Garcia/AP Photo

Commisioner Roger Goodell answers questions at the Pro Bowl on Feb. 5 in Hawaii.

Softball

Sooners take down Golden Hurricane, 7-3 AARON COLEN The Oklahoma Daily The softball team traveled upstate to Tulsa Wednesday evening and defeated the Tulsa Golden Hurricane 7-3.

Senior first baseman Samantha Ricketts lived up to her All-American status, hitting a grand slam in the fifth inning. Ricketts went 2-4 and finished the game with five RBIs and one run scored.

Freshman pitcher Kirsten Allen improved to 3-0, pitching a complete game allowing seven hits and two earned runs. Jackie Lawrence got the loss for Tulsa, going seven innings and giving up six.

OU struck first when freshman Evan Sallis

reached base on an error in the top of the first inning, and was driven in by junior Amber Flores to give OU a 1-0 lead.

The Golden Hurricane responded with two runs in the fourth inning, with Katie Yarmer scoring on a sacrifice fly by Jessica Stoelke. Brook Smart scored the second run for Tulsa after Stephanie Chomicki reached on an error.

Ricketts’ grand slam gave the Sooners a lead that they maintained for the remainder of the contest, although Tulsa added a run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Flores went 2-3 with one RBI, and sophomore Dani Dobbs was responsible for the Sooners’ other run going 1-3 with one RBI.

Graduation

GEAR-UP

Everything you need to make the transition from student to graduate Norman Campus 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

March 2 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

March 3 through 5 Beaird Lounge (2nd floor, Oklahoma Memorial Union)

OU Heath Sciences Center 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

March 9 and 10 Room 172 and 174 David L. Boren Student Union

OU-Tulsa 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

March 12 OU-Tulsa Learning Center Rotunda

ou.edu/commencement The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution.

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

Life & Arts

Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009

7

Lilly Chapa/The Daily

Rochelle Feinstein discusses one of her American modernist paintings with students Wednesday at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.

Redemption through art • Yale art professor shares work with students KYLE WEST The Oklahoma Daily

Rochelle Feinstein, American modernist painter and professor at Yale University, spoke to students Wednesday at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. Feinstein said her lifestyle is defined by her painting.

“I think through painting,” she said.

Feinstein described her art as transformative rather than transcendent. Her work has changed over the decades, but there are links tying the paintings together.

Feinstein believes it has become harder over the decades to categorize what her art depicts.

“I don’t want my work to be thought of as a beautiful object,” Feinstein said. “I want it to reach for something more.”

Feinstein said her work, especially her early work, uses grids to express her ideas.

Feinstein said she enjoys painting from perspectives other than her own.

In a similar vein, Feinstein holds some unconventional

views, including her opinion on accidents.

“I love accidents and misunderstandings,” Feinstein said. “Yes, let’s work with the mistakes.”

Feinstein described the redemptive theme in some of her work. She said mistakes are an opportunity to recreate. She said she believes society’s need for redemption is a cultural construct, and that for her it is not a personal need.

In one of her pieces Feinstein turned John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s poster for the song “War is Over” into “Love is Over.”

She then explained that love is comparable to war.

“We live with it and we live without it,” Feinstein said.

Feinstein also shared her thoughts on how the current recession is affecting the art world. She said she disagrees with the sentiment that “hard times make better art.”

“Art is art,” she said.

Feinstein said the disappearance of markets does not affect art as much as people’s perception of it.

Feinstein has taught art at Yale since 1995. Her works reached acclaim in the early 80s.

Since then, her work has become internationally renowned.

Feinstein’s art has been exhibited across the United States and in Europe.

TOP 20 CONCERT TOURS

This week’s top 20 concert tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows in North America.

1. AC/DC –$1,520,673; $87.10 2. Eagles – $1,365,424; $122.96

Eli Hull/The Daily

Natasha Trethewey, winner of the 2007 Pultitzer Prize in poetry, gave a reading at the Kerr Auditorium in the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History Tuesday evening. Trethewey won the Pulitzer Prize for her 2006 collection “Native Guard.”

Pulitzer winner unveils new poems SARAH DORN The Oklahoma Daily

“... Beneath battlefields, green again,

The OU community hosted Pulitzerwinning poet and Emory professor Natasha Trethewey at Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History Wednesday.

On Monday, Trethewey was the guestof-honor in a public conversation entitled “Poetry and Memory.” The conversation was officiated by OU creative writing professor and poet Honorée Jeffers.

The atmosphere of the event was casual and conversational, without losing the feel that the discussion was an intellectual one.

Because the two professors are close friends, the event had a feel of intimacy that would have been impossible otherwise.

The audience could feel they were watching a scholarly exchange between friends, because they were.

At the same time, the setting of the event allowed for this viewership to not feel alienated.

Not only were the listeners intended to engage with questions, the manner in which Trethewey and Jeffers spoke included the audience as a third friend in the conversation.

In the discussion, Jeffers asked Trethewey about many aspects of her poetry, from the subjects and inspirations to the forms.

Much of Trethewey’s poetry discusses “historical erasures,” those stories from history that have been nearly forgotten or glossed over in the textbooks. The inspiration for these poems can come from the discovery of a previously unknown history or when something “clicks and starts the

3. Metallica – $1,206,306; $63.95

the dead molder—a scaffolding of bone we tread upon, forgetting. Truth be told.”

Natasha Trethewey reading from “Native Guard” next book.”

Finding histories such as these, according to Trethewey, can also provide links to a poet’s erasure of personal memory, especially in regards to difficult material.

“What I have to write is what haunts me, and the happy memories don’t haunt,” Trethewey said. “But the joy is in the craft.”

The second event in Trethewey’s visit was a poetry reading on Tuesday night in the Sam Noble Museum.

This setting was much more formal, with Trethewey reading behind an on-stage podium and an audience occupying the space of the modest auditorium.

Trethewey spent most of her time on stage reading from her Pulitzer-winning collection, “Native Guard.” In addition to reading many of the book’s poems, including favorites “Myth” and “Monument,” she also gave the audience glimpses at the lives of these poems.

For those in the audience who have read Trethewey’s texts before, these glimpses were telling histories some might not know about the poems they have read. For those whose first experience with her work came that night, the reading provided an emotional and

insightful look into the world of Trethewey’s poetry.

The surprise of the night, though, was when Trethewey read several poems from her next book, a work in progress revolving around the tradition of Mexican casta paintings. Because each of the works was something that might change before the audience could hold it in our hands or read it with our eyes, these five poems felt as if they had been shared with the intimacy of personal gifts.

The poems also had a feel from unique from those in her previous works. As Jeffers described it, these new poems have “more smoldering in them.”

With the final poem of her visit, Trethewey read “Illumination,” a work that aptly begins “Always there is something more to say …”

The very end of this poem, and the event, left the audience with three words: “silent / incendiary / waiting.”

These words described the end to Trethewey’s visit to campus, as the audience was left with an enkindled hope that similar events will find a home here in years to come.

Clint Eastwood awarded top Cannes honor to tribute career

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Clint Eastwood holds the Cannes Film Festival Golden Palm given to pay tribute to his career.

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PARIS — Clint Eastwood received a special top Cannes film festival honor Wednesday — three months before this year's festival opens on the Riviera.

Festival President Gilles Jacob presented Eastwood with the special Palme d'Or, or Golden Palm, at a private ceremony at the chic Parisian restaurant Le Fouquet's.

The privilege honored what a festival statement said was "the talent of a grand master at the summit of his craft." Jacob said it also was a "testimony of my admiration and a quarter-century of complicity."

"I'm very flattered," said Eastwood, who was surrounded by his family.

He praised the support of French film-

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makers who "encouraged me to go on" when he made his directorial debut in 1970, "and where in my own country people were much more reticent."

"People were saying we're not even sure we like this guy as an actor much less as a director," Eastwood said in accepting the award.

Eastwood, who is 78, was in Paris to promote his latest movie, "Gran Torino," which he directed and in which he stars.

A Palme d'Or will be attributed by a jury to the top film at the Cannes festival, which this year runs from May 13 to 24.

–AP

8

Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009

News

Scores survive Turkish airliner crash HAARLEMMERLIEDE, Netherlands — The host of a popular Dutch television show was half-dozing with her head against the window of the Turkish Airlines jetliner when she was shocked awake by the sight of the ground looming up through the mist and drizzle.

There was no warning from the cockpit to brace for landing when the Boeing 737-800 with 134 people on board slammed into a muddy field Wednesday about two miles short of Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, breaking into pieces.

The fuselage tore in two near the cockpit and the tail was ripped off.

Despite the catastrophic impact the wreckage did not burn and nearly everyone — 125 people — survived.

The nine dead included both pilots.

TV host Jihad Alariachi was among those who walked away unscathed, scrambling out of the wreckage through emergency exits or cracks in the shattered fuselage.

“The ground was coming near by, really near by,” Alariachi told Dutch radio station BNR. “Then we braked really hard ... The nose went up. And then we bounced ... with the nose aloft.”

She and her sister escaped through an exit “onto the wing, and then we were in a field, walking around,” she said, her nose bloodied and her shoes missing.

Survivor Mustafa Bahcec, his forehead bruised, recalled: “The back of the plane was completely gone. It was a blood bath, a terrible sight.”

More than 50 people were injured, about half of them seriously.

Authorities said the toll could have been far higher if the plane had not gone down in mud, which lessened the impact and helped avert a fire in the ruptured fuel tanks and lines on the underside of the fuselage.

In addition, having reached its destination, the plane would have used up most of its fuel, lessening the chances of a fuel-driven fire.

Authorities would not say whether the plane sent out a distress call before the crash.

“The fact that the plane landed on a soft surface and that there was no fire helped keep the number of fatalities low,” Turkish Transport Minister Binali Yildirim said, adding that it was “a miracle” there were not more casualties.

The head of the Dutch Safety Authority, Pieter van Vollenhoven, said the plane appeared to have lost speed before crashing and witnesses said it dropped from about 300 feet.

“You see that because of a lack of speed it literally fell out of the sky,” he told NOS radio.

Four Boeing employees traveling on business were aboard the plane, according to Jim Proulx, a spokesman for the company. All four are based in the Seattle area, he said, but he would not provide further details until their families had been notified.

He said Boeing was sending a team to provide technical assistance to Dutch safety officials as they investigate. The plane’s flight data recorders were recovered and were to be analyzed by experts.

Experts say crashes involving modern airliners are more survivable due to engineering advances that have resulted in strengthened structures and fire retardant technologies used for cabin seats and furnishings, as well as better emergency training of cockpit and cabin crews.

The most dramatic example of passenger survival was the Hudson River landing last month of a US Airways Airbus A320 that lost engine power when it struck a flock of birds. All 155 passengers and crew lived despite the watery landing.

As with Wednesday’s crash, most of the survivable accidents have occurred at or near airports, and in most cases the pilots maintained control, maneuvering to soften the

Cynthia Boll/AP Photo

Rescue workers evacuate injured passengers from a plane which slammed into a field Wednesday at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and broke into three pieces. A Turkish Airlines plane with 135 people aboard slammed into a field while attempting to land at Amsterdam’s main airport, killing nine people and injuring more than 50, the area’s acting mayor said. final impact.

“What’s notable about all those is that we’ve seen a number of recentmodel aircraft involved in accidents that have been survivable,” said William Voss, president of the independent Flight Safety Foundation based in Alexandria, Va. “Decades of lessons have obviously been applied to cabin design and its survivability, and the cabin crews are doing their jobs on evacuation,” he said.

Investigators said two pilots and an apprentice pilot were among the dead. Hours after the crash, emergency crews still swarmed around the cockpit, where the pilots’ bodies were later removed.

Six of the injured were in critical

condition, 25 were seriously hurt and 24 had slight injuries, health authorities said. Survivors were taken to 11 hospitals including an emergency field hospital set up by the military in the central city of Utrecht.

There were 72 Turks and 32 Dutch citizens on board, the Turkish ambassador to the Netherlands, Selahattin Alpar, told the Anatolia news agency.

Investigators will explore a wide range of possible causes, ranging from weather-related factors to insufficient fuel or loss, navigational errors, pilot fatigue or bird strikes. Experts say initial results could be made public soon because of the sophistication of the Boeing

U.S. hits China on human rights WASHINGTON— The United States on Wednesday scolded China for a litany of human rights abuses last year even though Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested during her recent Beijing visit that the issue would take a back seat to broader concerns like the global financial crisis.

In a report on the state of human rights around the world, the State Department singled out China for numerous violations while noting a general deterioration in conditions in other countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and eastern Europe.

The report noted some improvements in Afghanistan and Iraq, two countries where American troops are fighting insurgencies. The document also made clear that the Obama administration welcomes comments about U.S. human rights practices, an oblique reference to international criticism of America’s own treatment of prisoners taken in those conflicts.

In its section on China, the State Department accused China of stepping up “severe cultural and religious repression” of minorities in Tibet and elsewhere as well as increasing its detention and harassment of dissidents.

“The government of China’s human rights record remained poor and worsened in some areas,” the State Department said. The report noted that Chinese authorities continued to limit citizens’ right to privacy, freedom of speech, assembly, movement and association. It said authorities also committed extrajudicial killings and torture, coerced confessions from prisoners and used forced labor.

The report said the abuses peaked around high-profile events like last year’s Olympic Games in Beijing and unrest in Tibet and that toward the end of last year the government began harassing activists who signed a petition calling for respect of human rights.

The report covers 2008 and was largely drafted during President George W. Bush’s administration, but Clinton signed off on the findings.

Clinton was criticized by human rights groups for saying on a trip to Asia last week that while the Obama administration is deeply concerned about human rights in China the matter could not be allowed to interfere with attempts to cooperate with Beijing on the worldwide economic meltdown and fighting global climate change.

Clinton said a continuing debate over human rights with the Chinese government was not necessarily productive, drawing fire from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as well as several Republicans in Congress.

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., accused Clinton of “a shocking display of pandering” to China and of having “dismissed, devalued and debased human rights” in the country.

Clinton declined to answer questions from reporters when she presented the report. But she stressed that the Obama administration would work with both government and private organizations to improve human rights conditions throughout the world.

“We must rely on more than one approach as we strive to overcome tyranny and subjugation that weakens the human spirit, limits human possibility and undermines human progress,” she said.

During her trip, Clinton also questioned whether the current U.S. policy

737-800s black box, although the full report will likely not be ready before the end of the year.

Weather at the airport at the time of the crash was cloudy with a slight drizzle.

Candan Karlitekin, the head of the airline’s board of directors, told reporters that visibility was clear at about 5,000 yards. “Some 550 yards before landing, the plane landed on a field instead of the runway,” he said, adding the plane’s documents were checked and there was no maintenance problems.

Turkish Airlines chief Temel Kotil said the captain, Hasan Tahsin, was an experienced former air force pilot. Turkish officials said the plane was built in 2002 and last underwent

thorough maintenance on Dec. 22.

Turkish Airlines has had several serious crashes since 1974, when 360 people died in the crash of a DC-10 near Paris after a cargo door came off. More recently, in 2003, 75 died when an RJ-100 missed the runway in heavy fog in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir.

Boeing’s 737 is the world’s bestselling commercial jet, with more than 6,000 orders since the model was launched in 1965.

The 737-800, a recent version of the plane, has a “very good safety record,” said Voss. “It has been involved in a couple of accidents, but nothing that relates directly back to the aircraft.”

—AP

WORLD BRIEFS Iran carries out test run of nuclear power plant BUSHEHR, Iran — Iranian and Russian engineers carried out a test-run of Iran’s first nuclear power plant Wednesday, a major step toward starting up a facility that the U.S. once hoped to prevent because of fears over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Washington worried Iran would turn spent fuel from the plant’s reactor into plutonium, which could then be used to build a nuclear warhead, and U.S. officials pressured Moscow for years to stop helping Iran build the electricitygenerating facility.

Bangladeshi guards revolt over pay in the capital DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladeshi border guards angry over low pay paralyzed the capital in a daylong standoff Wednesday, taking their officers captive, seizing a shopping mall and trapping dozens of children in a school.

One bystander, a rickshaw driver, died after being shot. The Bangladesh Red Crescent reported it evacuated 15 injured people, some badly wounded.

Though the guards released the children and agreed to lay down their arms in exchange for amnesty, they were still in the compound of their headquarters late Wednesday, surrounded by the army.

Antarctic glaciers melting faster than thought GENEVA — Glaciers in Antarctica are melting faster and across a much wider area than previously thought, a development that threatens to raise sea levels worldwide and force millions of people to flee low-lying areas, scientists said Wednesday.

Researchers once believed that the melting was limited to the Antarctic Peninsula, a narrow tongue of land pointing toward South America. But satellite data and automated weather stations now indicate it is more widespread.

—AP

Evan Vucci/AP Photo

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton makes a statement about the 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Wednesday at the State Department in Washington. on military-ruled Myanmar, which relies heavily on sanctions, was effective in attempting to restore democracy.

Wednesday’s report said Myanmar’s military regime committed “severe human rights abuses” and “brutally suppressed dissent” through a campaign of extrajudicial killings, disappearances, and torture.

In its section on the U.S. human rights record, the State Department said the Obama administration would “hear and reply forthrightly to concerns about our own practices.”

—AP

Nation

Obama’s big dream echoes historic initiatives

BY TED ANTHONY The Associated Press When times get tough, big ideas happen. “In a crisis,” John F. Kennedy said, “be aware of the danger — but recognize the opportunity.”

Theodore Roosevelt’s Square Deal was born of Gilded Age injustices.

Depression begat FDR’s New Deal.

The unease of the Cold War incubated Kennedy’s New Frontier, the social tumult of the 1960s gave us Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, and the deep malaise of the late 1970s uncorked the Reagan Revolution.

Now: Another big crisis, another big chance. And whatever you think of his aims and methods, Barack Obama has made clear that he is seizing it.

“This is our moment,” he likes to say.

Now he must demonstrate that that’s true — or lose major credibility.

Addressing the nation Tuesday night with a fragile balance of reassurance and challenge, Obama was nothing if not ambitious. He promised what amounts to a fundamental restructuring of U.S. society for the 21st century: reformed banks, better schools, universal health care, new energy sources, millions more jobs, even a cure for cancer.

Rare is the modern chief executive who does not hunger to remake American society in his image.

“History reminds us,” Obama said, “that at every moment of economic upheaval and transformation, this nation has responded with bold action and big ideas.”

Obama was quite specific about what he wants to accomplish, even if he was less obvious about how to get there. (“I’m still having trouble doing the math here,” his campaign rival, Sen. John McCain, told CNN).

Taken together, a clear theme emerges from his flurry of proposals that gladdens progressive hearts and chills conservative blood: Like presidents who came before, he is taking a crack at distinctly redefining Americans’ relationship with their government.

“With Obama during the campaign, change was sort of a cotton-candy word: You bit into it and what was there?” says Stephen Hess, a political veteran who worked in the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations.

“In this speech, he packaged change,” says Hess, now a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution.

“And it has a much more progressive

9

Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009

NATION BRIEFS

State audit finds too many children removed from homes

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s child welfare system is bursting at the seams because children are removed from allegedly abusive homes almost twice as much as the national average, straining the system as well as children and their families, according to an independent audit released Wednesday.

The audit of the Department of Human Services also found it takes too long for Oklahoma children who are removed from their home to be reunified or adopted.

Of children entering care for the first time, less than one-third return home within one year compared to a national standard of 48 percent, according to the audit.

Accountability board urged for federal stimulus fund expenditure

Gerald Herbert/The Associated Press

President Barack Obama makes comments in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 25 after an economic meeting . tint than we thought it did.”

Defining history while in the middle of it is difficult. But whatever he eventually does, Obama is casting this moment as a pivot point in American history — a time when the principles of a smart market economy correcting its own course are inapplicable and, worse, naive.

“He sees this emergency as a time to reshape the country,” says Theodore Sorensen, one of Kennedy’s top advisers who was instrumental in shaping the famed 1961 inaugural address that defined the mission of the New Frontier.

Sorensen was struck by Obama’s use of the economic crisis to open channels to other issues — from the imperative of education as a patriotic duty to universal health care and a recalibration of environmental issues.

Ultimately, each impacts the economy.

“He’s talking about not just bankers and re-lending. He’s talking about the country itself making fundamental long-term changes,” Sorensen says.

To frame his goals, Obama invoked the always appealing image of Americans dreaming big and having their biggest achievements ahead of them. Trouble is, his next steps, as outlined, are far too interventionist

for Republicans’ comfort. “Force the necessary adjustments,” he put it at one point.

Princeton University historian Sean Wilentz, whose latest book chronicles the age of Ronald Reagan, says Obama, with Tuesday’s address, “exorcised” Reagan and the trickle-down theory of economics by repudiating it left and right.

Just as Reagan, taking office in 1981, articulated decades-old GOP principles in his own way, so, too, did Obama synthesize varied progressive principles into his plan of action.

“We’re getting an update of Democratic ideals,” Wilentz says. “The age of Reagan is over. Republicans ... have nothing. Ideas that once commanded the heights of national politics 30 years ago are now in disarray.”

While Tuesday night’s address — and, presumably, the budget that follows it — unite the many strands of progressivism afoot in the land today, the speech also was brimming with messages to comfort Americans concerned that society’s foundations might be shifting underneath them.

Don’t worry, Obama said — “we still possess in ample measure” those qualities that make us uniquely American.

“People want to hear that we’re

going to do some things, but they’re not going to be radical departures from our system. That’s what Franklin Roosevelt does. He says, ‘We are continuing in an established American tradition,’” says Eric Rauchway, director of the Center for History, Society and Culture at the University of CaliforniaDavis.

Obama, he says, tried to strike the same balance as his big-dreaming predecessors — man of action, grounded in American values that never go away.

“When he talks about saving the banks, he doesn’t say, ‘We’re going to dramatically change the way banking works in America,’” Rauchway says.

“He says, ‘We’re going to save the banks.’ Which is the same thing that Roosevelt said.”

For Sorensen, who knows about such things, “the speech responded to what the times required.” And whether the actions do as well — that a chapter that’s Barack Obama’s to write.

“Even when times were good it was recognized that the roof had a lot of holes in it,” Sorensen says. “But no president or Congress in the last 20, 30 years has had the courage or wisdom to fix those holes. It’s tough to fix them now with the rain pouring in.”

OKLAHOMA CITY — A policy group is urging Gov. Brad Henry to create an oversight board to ensure accountability in the expenditure of federal stimulus funds.

The Oklahoma Policy Institute made the request Wednesday as it released a report analyzing details of the state’s $2.6 billion share of the stimulus package.

Matt Guillory, executive director of the group, said it is important that stimulus funds are spent efficiently to support vital services and avert budget cuts, while improving the state’s infrastructure and promoting economic development.

Lawmakers file discrimination complaint over road contracts OKLAHOMA CITY — Members of the Oklahoma Legislative Black Caucus have filed a discrimination complaint accusing the Oklahoma Department of Transportation of racial bias in the awarding of road contracts.

They urged the federal government to withhold funds targeted for Oklahoma, including $465 million in stimulus funds for road and bridge improvements, until a disparity study of ODOT’s procedures is completed or an independent body is appointed to oversee the agency’s contract award process.

First dog slated for April arrival WASHINGTON — This isn’t just another wag-thetail story: The Obamas are getting a dog in April and are looking for a rescue Portuguese Water Dog. First lady Michelle Obama tells People magazine that the target date for the arrival of the family pet is after her daughters’ spring break trip in April, though 7-yearold Sasha is convinced the dog is coming April 1.

The family wants a rescue Portuguese Water Dog who is the appropriate age and match.

—AP

10

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Job info line, 359-4648 www.edmondok.com Apply at 100 E First, Room 106 University College is seeking current students to work with the Summer Enrollment Program for entering freshman. Positions are FT temporary, May 18-July 31, $8/hr with weekends and holidays off. Apply online at uc.ou.edu, for questions contact Brian Nossaman at bnoss@ou.edu or 325-3521.

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True Sooners Don’t Haze.

9

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4

1

8

4 7

1 2

6

8

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Previous Solution 1 6 7 8 3 4 5 2 9

9 3 4 6 5 2 1 8 7

2 5 8 1 7 9 6 3 4

8 1 6 7 9 5 3 4 2

3 9 2 4 8 6 7 1 5

7 4 5 3 2 1 9 6 8

6 2 1 9 4 7 8 5 3

5 8 9 2 6 3 4 7 1

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

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

Universal Crossword Edited by Timothy E. Parker February 26, 2009

Report Hazing.

ACROSS 1 Beginning to cry?

5 Small progression 9 Addis ___ (Ethiopia’s capital) 14 1920s style: art ___ 15 Popeye, after eating spinach 16 Docket fill 17 “… ___, whatever will be, will be” 18 Complain, complain, complain 19 Pleasant surprise 20 It’s a capital place 23 Journalist Bradley and Trixie’s husband 24 Comstock load 25 Brings to the boiling point 29 Wet, spongy ground 31 Some are broken 35 Takes wing 36 Object in a quiver 38 Child seat?

39 It’s a capital place 42 Palindromic conjunction 43 “… ___ evil, speak …”

44 Audio signal receiver 45 Put through the paces

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small step no. 34

HOUSES UNFURNISHED

Telemarketer. P/T. Norman Co. $8 + bonuses. resume to yumi@newlookmedia.com or 202-8745

APTS. FURNISHED

Employment

J Housing Rentals

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

47 Word with “takers” or “day now” 48 Takes the helm 49 They precede mis, on a music scale 51 Haggard work 52 It’s a capital place 60 Eighteen holes, for example 61 Honeybunch 62 They may be beaten 64 Compel through coercion 65 Initial stake 66 Retina cells 67 Trusty mount 68 Unpleasant situation 69 Otherwise DOWN 1 Classified items 2 Animal fare 3 A little of a large lot?

4 Adjective for some horses’ coats 5 Does an office chore 6 They’re shed 7 Funny Idle 8 Game of chukkers 9 Action may make him laugh or cry?

10 Wine container

11 On the Baltic 12 Form droplets 13 Regarding 21 Lawsuit preposition 22 Get ready to surf 25 Coveted quality 26 Dame’s introduction?

27 Stares openmouthed 28 Historical period 29 Like the ocean 30 Yes ___ (one of two answers) 32 Not with another 33 Spring offering 34 Practices for a boxing match 36 Communicant’s word

37 Damper 40 The absolute minimum 41 Cash’s boy, in song 46 Hypnotic sleep 48 Coasts 50 Finished 51 Part of a full house?

52 Canine sounds 53 Horn sound 54 Work as a barker 55 Father of Cain and Abel 56 Tunney of the ring 57 Horror film fare 58 Adored one 59 Increases (with “to”) 63 Amsterdamto-Rome dir.

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

© 2009 Universal Press Syndicate www.upuzzles.com

“CAPITAL GAINS” by Ellsworth Perkins

The onset of eye disease may not be as visible as the appearance of new wrinkles. An eye doctor can spot the early warning signs of vision problems like glaucoma and macular degeneration, as well as other serious health conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. Early detection is key.

For men and women over 40, it might be wise to look into your eyes. For more information, visit checkyearly.com.

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

Previous Answers

Details/Weekend Update

Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009

11

WEEKEND UPDATE ▼

flying leap ▼

keep on truckin’

OU University Theatre presents Oklahoma Festival Ballet at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Rupel J. Jones Theatre, 563 Elm Ave. Call 325-4101 for tickets.

The Derek Trucks Band plays at 7 p.m.

Sunday at the Bricktown Events Center in Oklahoma City.

▼

norman music

▼

Tickets are $25-$30.

Call 236-4143.

hot union action

▼

Thursday Aron Holt 6:30 p.m. at Othello’s

▼

• Free hot chocolate, in the first floor lobby, 11:30 a.m. every Friday until Spring Break •“Quantum of Solace” plays at 4, 7 and 10 p.m. Friday and 12:30 a.m. Saturday in Meacham Auditorium.

• $2 gets you crawfish, games and music, 6 to 8 p.m.

Saturday in the Molly Shi Boren Ballroom.

POLICE REPORTS Names are compiled from the Norman Police Department and OUPD. The reports serve as a record of arrests, not convictions. Those listed are innocent until proven guilty.

CAMPUS NOTES TODAY

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Michelle Lee Greenfield, 33, Lindsey Street, Tuesday

The Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education will host a Scholastic book fair at 9 a.m. in Collings Hall.

PUBLIC INTOXICATION Edward William Frankes, 48, 311 White St., Monday, also harmful deception Janna Diane Harris, 57, 2300 24th Ave. SW, Monday Matthew Alan Wulfekuhle, 21, Lloyd Noble Center, Monday

CAREER SERVICES

POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA

Career Services will host a free lunch to discuss networking at noon and a behavioral interviewing session at 1:30 p.m. in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

Seana Lynn Grewell, 21, 2400 W Brooks St., Monday Maggie E. Millican, 21, 2400 W Brooks St., Tuesday

PRE-OPTOMETRY CLUB

ASSAULT AND BATTERY ON A CITY OFFICER/OFFICIAL

The Pre-Optometry Club will host a meeting at 7 p.m. in Richards Hall.

Perley Anne Pfenning, 71, 100 E Main St., Tuesday

MUNICIPAL WARRANT Jacob Travis Baker, 25, 1923 Twisted Oak Dr., Tuesday Cynthia Renee Bodnar, 47, 201 West Gray, Tuesday Patrick Michael Cody, 40, 201 W Gray St., Tuesday Kendall Hall Garrett, 38, 1230 Creekside Dr., Tuesday Laquita Nicole Mitchell, 23, 201 W Gray St., Tuesday Amanda Kay Herrera, 22, The Oklahoma Memorial Union, Monday, also harassing/threatening phone calls

DRIVING UNDER SUSPENSION Brian Coleman Rayburn, 22, Trout and Brooks St., Monday

OTHER WARRANT Berry Joe Williamson, 19, 201 W Gray St., Tuesday

SCHOOL OF MUSIC The OU School of Music will present a concert of guest soloists at 8 p.m. in the Catlett Music Center.

FRIDAY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION The Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education will host a book fair at 9 a.m. in Collings Hall.

Friday William Elliott Whitmore at 9 p.m. at The Opolis.

Hosty Duo, 10:30 p.m. at The Deli Karissa Bradshaw 7 p.m. at Othello’s.

Saturday Travis Linville, 10:30 p.m. at The Deli Flatland Summit 6:30 p.m. at Othello’s Sunday Hosty solo, 10:30 p.m. at The Deli

Need more L&A? Check out our blogs at OUDaily.com!

HOROSCOPE

By Bernice Bede Osol

Copyright 2008, Newspaper Enterprise Assn.

CHINESE RESTAURANT 364-2100 • 722 Asp Ave. CAMPUS CORNER

Daily Lunch Buffet

All You Can Eat

$4.88 • 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. • Sunday-Friday

Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009 PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) -An associate of yours who always asks more of everyone than this person is ever willing to do for others will perform the old tricks again. Don’t be afraid to reject any undesirable requests.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- Without meaning to, there’s a good chance you could put restraints on those you love.

Remember, the tighter you try to bind them to you, the harder they’re going to strain to break away.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- Although you might get some things accomplished, it won’t be enough if one job in particular doesn’t get done. Be grateful for whatever gains you make, even if they’re small.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) -Don’t force yourself to take on a project if you’re only lukewarm about seeing it through to completion. Your small amount of enthusiasm won’t hold up long enough to finish the job.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- There is a strong possibility that you will be privy to some information that could be harmful to another if it got out. Don’t be either prosecutor or judge when deciding who should know what.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) -- Although one of your friends might do something that warrants criticism, no one is perfect -- so keep your thoughts to yourself. Finger-pointing will only create hostility and the loss of a pal.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -Harmful comments about another will damage you more than they will any individual you trash. You won’t have much luck winning friends with nasty gossip.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- Be careful not to overreact if a loyal friend provides support to your opposition. The person isn’t being mean, merely honest. Ask yourself why he or she thinks so differently.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- Take ample time to study the directions or other pertinent information about anything new in your life, even if it’s similar to something previously explored.

It’ll save you a big headache.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) -- Loss of a prized possession is possible unless you are extra diligent about protecting that which you hold dear. Don’t leave anything lying around where it can easily be stolen.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- Heal old differences by letting bygones be bygones, even if they remind you of past indiscretions.

Dredging this stuff up again will only widen the chasm.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -- If your thoughts are negative, keep your mouth shut. If you don’t, the words that pop out will be regrettable ones, especially if they harm another who doesn’t deserve it.

12

Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009

OU STUDENTS YOU ARE INVITED! “Where Our Economy Is Headed”

David Leonhardt

New York Times Economics and Business Columnist David Leonhardt will share his insight on today’s economy.

Leonhardt has been writing about economics for The New York Times since 2000, focusing recently on the housing bubble, bailouts, the stimulus package, the Big Three autoworkers and today’s stock market. He also writes frequently about economic policy, real estate and the job market as well as about corporate mismanagement in recent years.

5 p.m.

March 2, 2009 Sandy Bell Gallery, Mary and Howard Lester Wing Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art Please respond by calling the Office of Special Events at 325-3784.

For accommodations on the basis of disability, call the Office of Special Events at (405) 325-3784.

The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution.