Thursday, November 19, 2009 - The Daily Cardinal by The Daily Cardinal

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ASM recommends Woulf for voting member on ALRC The Associated Students of Madison Student Council voted Wednesday to recommend Mark Woulf to fill the position of a citizen-voting member on the Alcohol License Review Committee. Woulf is currently the non-voting student technical advisor on the ALRC, but if he is appointed will be able to have voting rights on the committee. The Common Council approved adding a citizen member to the committee Nov. 3, after Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said he would consider a student for the position. Legislative Affairs Committee Chair Adam Johnson said Cieslewicz has his own potential candidates, some of which are not students from UW-Madison. According to Johnson, the Council’s recommendation is due to the mayor by Dec. 1, and getting the recommendation to the mayor as soon as possible would help ensure the student representative is from UW-Madison. He said since UW-Madison is the largest institution with students in Madison, it would be of the greatest benefit to have a student from UW-Madison on the board. Johnson said the Student Council has asm page 3

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Thursday, November 19, 2009

UW students struggle with restrictive HMOs By Ryan Hebel

A student holds up a sign during the men’s basketball game Wednesday. Students were invited to make their own signs as part of the “Show Us Your Sign” competition.

SPORTS

If UW-Madison student Steven Sobeck asked every clinic in Madison to treat and refill his prescriptions for hyperthyroidism, their response would be unanimous: “Go home.” Sobeck’s condition over-stimulates his metabolism, accelerates his nervous system and can cause complications from heart palpitations and anxiety to congestive heart failure and even osteoporosis if not treated a few times each year. Unfortunately, Sobeck is one of the many UW students with insurance through his parents’ Health Maintenance Organization—which offers coverage within a limited network of health-care providers. Although most HMOs cover emergency care anywhere, other treatments are not reimbursed if the insured is “outof-network.” Most frustrating of all, Sobeck said his HMO would cover Madison treatments if his nearest in-network provider, Lake Mills Urgent Care Clinic, was more than 30 miles away. It’s 28 miles, and Sobeck’s HMO isn’t budging. “I’ve tried to get this changed by talking with the insurance provider directly, but they remain unsympathetic and refuse to grant any exceptions,” Sobeck said in an e-mail, though he did not reveal his insurer. Instead, when Sobeck needs his refill—usually two-to-four times per year—the Green Bay native works around holiday breaks when he can hitch rides home from friends and family. University Health Services Executive Director

Sarah Van Orman said she sees similar HMO frustrations almost every day. “HMOs assume somebody has a single home. The challenge with students is … the place they need to get care in the school year is different from where they might need to get care over break.” Although HMOs cover emergency care, Van Orman said the old restrictions renew once patients leave the ER. “Somebody may have an emergency condition, like a pretty serious broken bone, where they end up having to go to the emergency room … but then they need a follow-up appointment with an orthopedic surgeon or physical therapy, and even though the emergency was covered, the follow-up care would not be covered in Madison.” Van Orman said UHS covers most basic procedures for students through segregated fee payments, but specialty care, physical therapy and “complex diagnostic testing such as catscans, MRIs and endoscopy” are not covered. UW-Madison student Julie-Anne Spatz discovered her HMO’s limitations too late when she tore her ACL during a previous school year. “My health-care coverage would not pay for me to receive an MRI in Wisconsin, and I had to pay for a flight home to get one,” the Maryland native said in an e-mail. Van Orman said HMOs often render out-ofnetwork doctors helpless. “Normally I can order [specialty treatments] hmos page 3

Blue Velvet Lounge unable to increase capacity By Caitlin Gath The Daily Cardinal

The Alcohol License Review Committee was unable to increase the capacity of the Blue Velvet Lounge due to the Alcohol License Density Plan at Wednesday night’s meeting. Under the current ALDP, the city is unable to increase the capacity for any establishment, except hotels and restaurants, said Ald. Michael Schumacher, District 18. Blue Velvet owner Larry Schmock requested that the committee increase the number of patrons from its current 99 capacity to a proposed 168. Schmock said the Blue Velvet Lounge had been operating as a two-level bar under a 122-person capacity set by the building inspector. When the bar agreed to do a capacity review with the city, however, the number ended at 99. According to Schmock, the Madison Fire Department requested an architect review all of the plans, and based on that, the capacity level could have gone up to 168. ALRC member Mark Woulf said it was “super frustrating” that the committee could not fix this because of the ordinance. The ALDP is set to sunset at the end of 2010. To determine the capacity for bars with more than one level, Alcohol Policy Coordinator Katherine Plominski said it is based on square footage per person, exit width and toilet capacity. The item will be looked at again at the ALRC’s December meeting to determine if the 122-person capacity can possibly be

reinstated. A new liquor license for the Pub Bar on State Street was also granted at Wednesday’s meeting, under the new ownership of Gus Paras, current owner of the Comedy Club. ALRC member Pam Bean said she was impressed with the way the Comedy Club is owned and operated, and hopes the Pub will be run with the same diligence.

Paras said he plans to increase the security at the bar and put in cameras. “I do not need to have monkey business. We do it as clean as possible,” he said. According to Asst. City Attorney Steven Brist, there is currently a legal dispute over the sale of the business. Eric Fleming, former owner of the Crave Restaurant and Lounge, may have had a claim on it, he said.

Isabel Álvarez/the daily cardinal

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, speaks during the ALRC meeting Wednesday evening.

“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”

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Thursday, November 19, 2009

An independent student newspaper, serving the University of Wisconsin-Madison community since 1892

TODAY: showers hi 46º / lo 35º

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Football proposal lacks pizzazz and ﬂair Hey buddy,

Volume 119, Issue 52

2142 Vilas Communication Hall 821 University Avenue Madison, Wis., 53706-1497 (608) 262-8000 l fax (608) 262-8100

News and Editorial edit@dailycardinal.com Editor in Chief Charles Brace Managing Editor Justin Stephani Campus Editor Kelsey Gunderson Caitlin Gath City Editor State Editor Hannah Furfaro Enterprise Editor Ryan Hebel Associate News Editor Grace Urban Senior News Reporters Ariel Shapiro Robert Taylor, Kayla Torgerson Anthony Cefali Opinion Editors Todd Stevens Editorial Board Editor Qi Gu Arts Editors Kevin Slane Kyle Sparks Sports Editors Scott Kellogg Nico Savidge Features Editor Diana Savage Food Editor Sara Barreau Science Editor Jigyasa Jyotika Photo Editors Isabel Alvarez Danny Marchewka Graphics Editors Amy Gifﬁn Jenny Peek Copy Chiefs Kate Manegold Emma Roller Jake Victor Copy Editors Sam Berg

Business and Advertising business@dailycardinal.com Business Manager Alex Kusters Advertising Manager Katie Brown Billing Manager Mindy Cummings Accounts Receivable Manager Cole Wenzel Senior Account Executive Ana Devcic Account Executives Mara Greenwald, Kristen Lindsay, D.J. Nogalski, Jordan Rossman, Sarah Schupanitz Online Account Executive Tom Shield Mara Greenwald Graphic Designer Web Directors Eric Harris, Dan Hawk Marketing Director Mia Beeson Archivist Erin Schmidtke

JON SPIKE academic misjonduct

s tough as it was to watch my last Badger home football game come and go, the harder part was watching the complete atrocity that occurred in the fourth quarter. Yes, I know most folk were thrilled to see the brave band member who proposed to his girlfriend by having tubas march across the ﬁeld with a message that read, “Marry me, Kayla.” Why am I not happy for them? Maybe it’s because I was planning on proposing to my girlfriend Sherry on our twoweek anniversary AT THE SAME GAME! I was so outraged that he stole my idea that I wrote the culprit an angry letter. I thought about mailing it, but then I realized I had no idea who he was. So instead, I did the next logical option: I submitted it as a column in a college newspaper. Here it is: An open letter to the band member guy who proposed to his girlfriend via tubas at the game last Saturday:

Editorial Board l

Board of Directors l

ine r w, Pat t er

ex Ou p

no fewer than 37 wedding rings in one of the garbage cans outside of the stadium. Gee, I wonder what those are from. I know! It’s from guys who realized their masterful “propose to her in front of thousands of people” idea had been completely hijacked by some showboating tuba player. Unfortunately, I forgot that I secretly hid the wedding ring in Sherry’s nacho cheese sauce, and she accidentally swallowed it while dipping a tortilla chip. Otherwise, I’m sure my ring would’ve ended up in the garbage with all of the rest. You’re just lucky I didn’t use my band connections to get a little revenge. Right after I heard about your little stunt, I almost hired some tuba players to follow your message with one that spelled “he is cheating on you,” but I decided not to at the last minute. I am a merciful man... that is, unless you steal my idea for the most brilliant honeymoon getaway ever. Wait, you’re taking her to Afghanistan as well? Dammit! Not again! Did the tuba proposal also ruin your picture-perfect plan for a romantic proposal? Tell Jon about it at spike@wisc.edu.

Bell’s Brewery Christmas Ale

Charles Brace Anthony Cefali Qi Gu Jamie Stark Todd Stevens Justin Stephani

What’s your deal? Huh? You think you’re the only one who was planning on proposing to someone at the game? Well? Yeah, that’s right. I was going to propose to my girlfriend at that game... I’ll let you guess why I didn’t! And guess what? My proposal was going to kick yours right in its nether regions—it was that good! For starters, I had rock legend Peter Frampton dressed up as Bucky, ready to cartwheel his way up to Section O and sing “Baby, I Love Your Way” right after I got down and proposed. As for my entrance, I was planning on excusing myself to go to the bathroom around the second quarter, hopping on a charter plane and parachuting down onto the ﬁeld. After that, Bret Bielema agreed to give me a piggyback ride across the ﬁeld to where my bride-to-be was waiting (he is a former pig farmer, after all). Then, the real Bucky Badger was going to do one push-up for every time Sherry and I had intercourse (don’t worry, Bucky, it has only happened two-and-a-half times). However, as I was parachuting

down toward the stadium, I saw everyone cheering for you and your “perfect” little proposal and realized I’d be a total hack if I did my proposal now. So instead of landing on the ﬁeld, I steered myself into the local dump and tried for the next four hours to get the smell of hot garbage off of my body. Thanks a lot, pal. No—don’t worry about it. It wasn’t expensive at all to get the stadium technicians to display “PLEASE MARRY ME SHERRY” across the Jumbo-tron. Yeah, there’s 500 bucks down the drain. Cool, just cool. Oh, don’t feel bad. I had just arranged for the ENTIRE ALUMNI SECTION to create a giant portrait of my beautiful Sherry using oversized, colorcoded squares as I proposed. I even had a back-up plan lined up. If she turned me down, I would signal to John Clay to score a touchdown, jump into the stands and deliver a football that had “just marry the poor bastard” scribbled on it. And don’t think I was the ONLY guy who planned on proposing to his girlfriend on the last Badger home game of their senior year. As I walked out of the stadium Saturday, I counted

New Beer Thursday

The Daily Cardinal is published weekdays and distributed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and its surrounding community with a circulation of 10,000. The Daily Cardinal is a nonproﬁt organization run by its staff members and elected editors. It receives no funds from the university. Operating revenue is generated from advertising and subscription sales. Capital Newspapers, Inc. is the Cardinal’s printer. The Daily Cardinal is printed on recycled paper. The Cardinal is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press and the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. All copy, photographs and graphics appearing in The Daily Cardinal are the sole property of the Cardinal and may not be reproduced without written permission of the editor in chief. The Daily Cardinal accepts advertising representing a wide range of views. This acceptance does not imply agreement with the views expressed. The Cardinal reserves the right to reject advertisements judged offensive based on imagery, wording or both. Complaints: News and editorial complaints should be presented to the editor in chief. Business and advertising complaints should be presented to the business manager. Letters Policy: Letters must be typewritten, double-spaced and no longer than 200 words, including contact information. Letters may be sent to editor@dailycardinal.com.

Vince Filak Alex Kusters Joan Herzing Jason Stein Jeff Smoller Janet Larson Chris Long Charles Brace Katie Brown Benjamin Sayre Jenny Sereno Terry Shelton

FRIDAY: cloudy hi 52º / lo 37º

Wines for

If you haven’t taken the hint already, Christmas season and all the joy it brings—including the Christmas jingles that won’t stop until the 25th—is already here. This week, New Beer Thursday encounters its first Christmas brew. If you’re thinking it’s a bit early to break out the mistletoe and Christmas Ale, that’s fitting, because this beer hardly feels like the warm-hearted Christmas spirit you would expect out of a yuletide yearly. Bell’s Christmas Ale, from the makers of the popular Terrace choice Oberon, is a solid, if unspectacular, choice. Although the front of the bottle has a Christmas tree, there’s not much to distinguish this beer as purely “Christmas.” The malt-driven ale is apparently made with 100 percent Michigan-grown two-row barley malt and a mix of Michigan and Northwest Pacific hops. While Bell’s certainly picked cooler climates for their winter beer, the connection between

Michigan and quality beer isn’t entirely clear. Maybe Michigan just has its seasonal brewing cycle backward—the Christmas tree on the front is in the middle of a wheat field—because an open-ended wheat brew doesn’t whet my appetite when it’s below freezing and there are Christmas sweets around. The strong bitterness contrasts an otherwise relatively bland, wheaty taste. There’s nothing offensive about Bell’s to be sure, but no flavor stands out. Christmas is a time of excess, and the flavor of a beer is no exception to this. Bell’s just doesn’t have the bold, hearty flavors that are needed to distinguish the beer for such a season. When I cracked the bottle, I had visions of nutmeg, perhaps a splash of ginger, sugar plums or at least a hint of pine and peppermint. Alas, any sort of holiday taste was overriden by the carbonation, which is in abundance. To be fair, Bell’s beers are

held to a pretty high standard. The similarly themed Winter beer and the summery Oberon (with its distinctive orange taste) are must-haves for their respective seasons. Maybe I’m too harsh on Christmas Ale, but it’s easily forgotten. And with all the shopping left to do, the price definitely is not an attractive factor. Like Robert Zemeckis’ recent film “A Christmas Carol,” Christmas Ale comes much too early. We love Ebeneezer Scrooge around Christmas time, despite his bitterness and obvious flaws. But we’re less likely to put up with him when he comes out of hiding in early November.

Bell’s Brewery Christmas Ale $8.99 at Riley’s Wines of the World

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Thursday, November 19, 2009

news

Edgewater renovation discussed By Beth Pickhard The Daily Cardinal

The Madison Landmarks Commission and the Urban Design Commission discussed the Edgewater Hotel renovation Wednesday night during a joint meeting held at the Madison Senior Center. Renovations would transform the two existing structures, which were built in 1940 and 1970. The current plans increase the capacity of the buildings and offer a landscaped public walkway between them, with steps cascading down to Lake Mendota. Mark Sardegna of Elkus Manfredi Architects said the property should balance historic and cultural elements of the building in order to integrate it into Madison’s architectural landscape. “It belongs to the whole city

as well as the immediate neighborhood,” he said. Amy Supple, Hammes Company development director, said the terrace, which would stretch between the buildings, should keep historic details from the original design. “[The terrace is a] destination for the community to enjoy the historic district as well as the waterfront,” she said. Supple said the property is a Planned Unit Development, which, for the Edgewater, means it is a space that must remain open to the public under these guidelines. The population surrounding the Edgewater is diverse, and community members were present to offer comments about the redevelopment. Community member John Martin said there is still a lot of

information that needs to be released through details and renderings of the new designs. He said he believes the renovation plans do not take into account the characteristics of the property or surrounding properties, and the scale should not be increased. “[The proposed plan] violates the intent of the landmark ... it just needs to get closer to that feeling of less mass,” he said. According to Brad Murphy, planning unit director of the Department of Planning and Development, setback distance from Lake Mendota and following waterfront standards need to be addressed during subsequent meetings. He said modifications and alterations need to be approved by both committees before the plan reaches the Common Council.

ASM members voted Monday to recommend Woulf to the ALRC.

Lawmakers look for BadgerCare alternative

asm from page 1

By Grace Urban

Isabel Álvarez/the daily cardinal

little time to search for and screen candidates. Therefore, he said, the obvious choice of candidates was Woulf, who already has experience on the Committee with his cur-

rent position. ASM members also addressed a resolution of support for further rights for UW-Madison workers as well as several amendments to the ASM bylaws. —Ian Byrne

Petition to unionize UW System employees Three unions, all of which represent UW System employees, filed petitions with the Wisconsin Employment Relations Committee to include the employees in unions last week. The petitions claim that some university employees perform the same duties as union members but themselves are not union members because of their job titles. The unions are asking that these employees be reclassified so they can be part of a unit with a bargaining agreement. If the WERC approves the petitions, it would effectively force about 130 UW employees to unionize. The University of Wisconsin System is opposed to the proposal, and

hmos from page 1 and get students in that day and it would be a lot easier and actually cheaper for everybody, but because their plan wouldn’t cover it because it’s not considered an emergency, I end up having to send them to the emergency room to see someone,” Van Orman said. “On a society level, it’s also a waste of ER resources.” Phil Dougherty, spokesperson for the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans—an HMO trade organization, said HMOs have worked hard in recent years to make sure parents understand their policy restrictions and limitations when they purchase insurance, but not everyone has the luxury of choice. While large employers can offer more plans with greater flexibility, employers are more limited when they have smaller employee pools to offer insurers, according to Jim Guidry, spokesman for Wisconsin’s Office of the Commissioner of Insurance. According to Van Orman, students with HMOs sometimes buy separate insurance to cover Madison, adding additional costs that many avoid unless they require chronic care. State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, D-Alma, said she’d like to see a state or federal insurance exchange so all Wisconsin residents could peruse “the whole menu” of about 80 options that

will file a motion with WERC to deny the petitions. According to UW System spokesperson David Giroux, the UW System believes the decision should be up to individual employees, not the unions. “Because we believe that employees should be the ones to make this choice, we are going to oppose that petition,” Giroux said. “We’re not talking about employees voting to organize. We are not opposed to unionization,” Giroux added. “What we are opposed to is forcing people to do something in a process where they absolutely have no vote.” —Steven Rosenbaum she is offered as a state senator. “If my kid is at River Falls and has a chronic illness, I’m going to look for a plan that covers him in River Falls, and I’ve got that flexibility.” Vinehout supports a public option to improve flexibility and affordability for low-income individuals without access to employer insurance, but said any exchange would beat the current system by shifting choice from the employer to the employee. “If you pick a more expensive plan or a plan that lets you go to Cleveland Clinic when you live in Milwaukee, then you’re going to have to pay a little more, but in some cases, if the kid has a really weird disease and the only person in the country that can get care from is at Cleveland Clinic, it’s worth paying,” she said. In the meantime, Sobeck said UHS could do a better job of reaching out to raise health insurance awareness among the student body. “Once you have [insurance], you don’t have to worry about it because someone else is paying the bill, right? Student don’t realize that there is a whole array of “fine print” that places restrictions on where care can be received, what type of care can be received, and what costs you’re responsible for.” Van Orman said she encourages all students to learn more about their insurance before they need to use it.

The Daily Cardinal

An increased demand for health insurance and a large waiting list for the BadgerCare Core Plus Plan has prompted the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to propose a “bare bones” plan for poor, childless adults. The approximate 7,000-person waiting list was created last month after enrollment was capped for BadgerCare Core Plus. According to state Rep. Jon Richards, D-Milwaukee, chairman of the Assembly Health Committee, the state stopped adding people to the program because demand exceeded federal funding. “I applaud the efforts of Jason Helgerson and the Department of Health Services to come up with a way to make basic health insurance avail-

able to people who don’t have a very high income and might have very great need for health insurance,” he said. Helgerson, director of Wisconsin’s Medicaid programs, updated lawmakers on the status of the new program at a joint hearing before the Senate and Assembly health committees Tuesday. According to Stephanie Smiley, spokesperson for DHS, there is no money in the budget for the new program. “The options would have to be self-funded,” she said. “That would mean the program is funded through the premiums and co-pays that individuals on the program would need to pay out of pocket.” Those who are eligible for the new program would have various options, including a preventive and

primary care plan with no hospitalization coverage and a “catastrophic-type coverage plan.” “We still haven’t nailed those down in terms of what the plan could provide,” Smiley said. “But definitely all of the options are going to be significantly less coverage than what people would be able to get on the Core Plan.” State Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, told the La Crosse Tribune she didn’t think Helgerson’s options were desirable or sustainable. Richards disagrees. “I think it is viable,” he said. Richards added that he expects those on the waiting list to take advantage of the options. Smiley expects the plan to pass the legislature and go into effect by March 2010.

featuresstudent life 4

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Thursday, November 19, 2009

Early-bird sales ﬂy in before Turkey Day DANNY MARCHEWKA/THE DAILY CARDINAL

More stores are trying to compensate for stampeding crowds on Black Friday by starting their sales before Thanksgiving.

Story by Nicole Daniels

t was a tragic accident that should never have happened in the ﬁrst place. On Friday, Nov. 28, 2008, over 2,000 people in line at the WalMart in Valley Stream, N.Y., surged through the doors in the early morning hours of a post-Thanksgiving sale. In the ensuing ﬂood of aggressive and violent shoppers, a WalMart temporary employee was trampled to death, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. What would drive people to go so far as to trample another person for a new Xbox 360 or the hot new toy of the season? The poor economy may have tightened budgets enough to push consumers to desperate measures. UW-Madison junior Hannah Lincoln said she was astonished by the chaos brought on by holiday shopping. “I think it’s kind of creepy that people get trampled to death,” Lincoln said. “It’s sad that [saving money] has come to that. People are getting trampled to death to save 10 bucks.”

“People are getting trampled to death to save 10 bucks.” Hannah Lincoln junior UW-Madison

Every November, retailers across the country prepare themselves for what Americans consider the largest shopping day of the year. The day after Thanksgiving, better known as Black Friday, has become an American tradition in continuance with the Thanksgiving holiday. Black Friday refers to the proﬁt of retailers, because they typically “moved into the black,” or became proﬁtable for the year, on that day. Excluding those employed in retailing and banking, most people have the day off of work, which contributes to the increased number of potential shoppers. With the economy on the rise, the question remains whether it will be able to bounce back in time for this year’s holiday season. Some people, like UW-Madison sophomore Kirsten Sauer, are more conscious this year of where their money is being spent.

When asked how her shopping habits have changed, Sauer said she is “more aware of deals or specials going on.” This pattern is affecting retailers. According to the 2008 annual report for Macy’s department stores, they experienced a net loss of $4.8 billion. This is a drastic drop from 2007, when Macy’s turned a profit of $893 million. Retailers have been forced to meet the demands of customers, even if it means drastically cutting back prices. That is why this time of year is so vital to retail businesses. Many college students find themselves having to budget for their holiday purchases. For Lincoln, the holiday season is about more than just the gifts. “I’m only planning on buying a few things for my friends, because my family decided to move away from material things this Christmas,” Lincoln said. “We’re trying to focus on the sentimental things.” Several companies, like Wal-Mart and Macy’s, are unable to comment on their stores’ plans for the holiday season, specifically any deals they have planned for Black Friday, but consumers can already start seeing the effects of the upcoming deals. Director of Kohl’s Department Stores’ Center for Retailing Excellence Jerry O’Brien said he believes customers will experience a different attitude toward Black Friday this year. “Actually, I think the biggest thing about this Black Friday is that it’s going to start before Black Friday,” he said. Companies are going to be mostly concerned with having a profitable holiday season. Stores like Kohl’s and Sears have already begun their seasonal promotions for the upcoming Black Friday and plan to continue the sales through then.

can

“ I think Black Friday actually might be a little less intense this year,” O’Brien said. Retailers are not only striving for high profitability, but they are also keeping in mind the safety of their customers. After last year’s Wal-Mart tragedy, retailers have to be careful about how they manage high-volume crowds. According to the New York Times, Wal-Mart plans to have a majority of their stores open Thanksgiving Day through Friday evening. By offering their seasonal deals early, stores can lengthen the high profit margin that usually occurs on Black Friday. Also, they can spread out the flow of large crowds that accumulate during the holiday season. Although retailers are generally accommodating to consumers’ demands, there is a catch when it comes to Black Friday and its surrounding weeks. O’Brien cautions consumers that stores have much lower inventories than last year. “There’s a danger in thinking, ‘Oh, I’ll wait two weeks and it’ll probably be a better deal.’ It could be that it’s not there because they have brought back their inventories in most stores.”

When planning for holiday shopping this year, consumers

e n j oy all the “door buster” specials and drastically low prices, but not at the price of another person’s life. “It just really put things into perspective,” Lincoln said. “Do we really need all this crap?”

arts Kevin says ‘nein’ to over-publicized ‘Nine’ dailycardinal.com/arts

KEVIN SLANE dr. slanelove

he other day, I was passing my time in the Cardinal office by reading some old issues from a few years ago. Not just because I was curious as to what Mayor Dave’s favorite rock ’n’ roll album of all time was (a standard question for The Daily Cardinal when interviewing politicians), but also because I wanted to see what my predecessors wrote for film columns. The first one I found was a column from Dan Marfield talking about some of the potential Best Picture candidates for the 2004 Oscars. Sure, Dan got one of them with “The Aviator,” but the rest of his list was puzzling. “Spanglish”? “The Phantom of the Opera”? “Beyond the Sea”? That last one, a Kevin Spacey biopic about the singer Bobby Darin, was critically lambasted, with Boston Globe critic Wesley Morris saying, “I knew almost nothing about the singer and actor Bobby Darin before sitting through Kevin Spacey’s new film about him. And having seen ‘Beyond the Sea,’ all I can really tell you is that he sure did act a lot like Spacey.” Given that Spacey wrote, directed, acted in

Thursday, November 19, 2009

and sang in the film, and that he rounded up a group of musicians and went on tour to support the film, the film’s flop was a sad parallel to Spacey’s post-“American Beauty” career. And yet, Marfield’s column predicts another Best Actor nomination for Spacey, noting his striking resemblance to the late singer. He wasn’t the only one either: At first, many critics picked “Beyond the Sea” to do extremely well, despite knowing nothing about the film beyond the hype. The studios create Oscar hype by getting A-list talent, a strong director and an Oscar-friendly storyline, such as a biopic or a historical epic. So instead of trying to predict what film will be a success come February, I’m going to try to predict which film everyone is going crazy over right now will end up being a flop, or much less successful than predicted, at the very least. My choice for the Reverse Oscar award goes to Rob Marshall’s “Nine.” This film has literally every component to win an Oscar. Rob Marshall directed the Oscar-winning “Chicago;” Best Actor winner Daniel Day-Lewis stars, along with a who’s who of A-listers (Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench). Beyond that, the film is based on the Tony award-winning musical of the same name, a look at struggling Italian director Guido Contini’s mid-life crisis, and the play is based on Federico

PHOTO COURTESY WEINSTEIN COMPANY

The Oscar buzz and overall celebration about Rob Marshall’s ‘Nine’ may be premature; all that’s evident now is an over-the-top trailer.

Fellini’s classic film “8 1⁄2.” Yet the trailer I saw for the film made it seem hokey and overdone. Kate Hudson vamping it along a catwalk made the trailer feel more like a Ralph Lauren commercial, not an Oscar-winning film. This could be because it’s hard to convey the epic nature of a musical in a two-minute

trailer, but the ﬁlm seems like it could be a bloated mess. Of course, a movie columnist four years down the road could look back at my column and laugh because “Nine” ended up winning 14 Oscars and shattering the record held by “Titanic.” The point is, attempting to handicap the Oscars based only on studio expec-

tations and name recognition is a fool’s errand. But predictions sell papers, so we’ll be seeing wild guesses like this for the foreseeable future. Are you a theater major, outraged that Kevin would even consider criticizing Guido Contini and “Nine?” Voice your outrage to kevslane@gmail.com.

comics 6

Chivalry at its finest. Turkish bridegrooms were once required to make a promise during their wedding ceremonies to always provide their new wives with coffee. dailycardinal.com/comics

Thursday, November 19, 2009

A No Coffee Morning

Today’s Sudoku

Evil Bird

By Caitlin Kirihara kirihara@wisc.edu

Angel Hair Pasta

By Todd Stevens ststevens@wisc.edu

Sid and Phil

By Alex Lewein alex@sidandphil.com

Solution, tips and computer program available at www.sudoku.com.

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

Today’s Crossword Puzzle

The Graph Giraffe

By Yosef Lerner ilerner@wisc.edu

Charlie and Boomer

By Natasha Soglin soglin@wisc.edu

Answer key available at www.dailycardinal.com

Above all else ACROSS 1 Boyfriend 5 Completely infatuated 9 Tour de France segment 14 Leprechaun’s land 15 Like many a thesis defense 16 Arthur Hailey work 17 Be excessively eager 20 American dogwood 21 Can’t stomach 22 Traveler’s transport, often 24 A choli is worn under it 25 Degree from MIT Sloan 28 Bit of work 29 Jaffa is part of it (with 45-Down) 31 Forbidden romance 33 Substitute scepterwielder 36 Country hick 37 One way to fall in love 41 “___! Who goes there?” 42 Superfluous 43 Fighting fleet 46 Understood, as a punch line 47 ___ mitzvah (Var.) 50 Urban grid abbrs.

51 Preceders of special days 54 Mild dehydration symptom 56 Feeling of hatred 58 Rousseau title character 59 Dreyfuss/Julia comedy of 1988 63 Anticipate, as an arrival 64 Quaint “Yipe!” 65 Stare slack-jawed 66 Effectively concise 67 Rip violently 68 Breakfast smear 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 2 1 13 18 19

DOWN Part of B.C. Chalkboard accessory Feeling feverish Tenantless State VIP Surveyor’s calculation Provides outfits for Hawaiian salutation Arab prince Attempt at a carnival booth Sampled from the smorgasbord Styling goo Claus helper Pontificated publicly “Sleepless in Seattle” director Ephron

23 Building block company 25 Stake- driving hammer 26 Strained pea catchers 27 “... how I wonder what you ___” 30 The L of L-dopa 32 Advertising catchword 33 “Tat-tat” preceder 34 Line on an invoice 35 High-school math subj. 37 Mature male red deer 38 Shade trees 39 Holler’s partner 40 “Good Times” actress Rolle 41 Consumes 44 Signify 45 See 29-Across 47 Kind of gown 48 At a slant 49 A woofer is part of one 52 Abu Dhabi bigwig (Var.) 53 Sudden flow, as of water 55 Adult insect 56 Big-billed cuckoos 57 Bridge length 59 Ring padding 60 Verb in IOU 61 Paddle kin 62 Put two and two together

Washington and the Bear

By Derek Sandberg kalarooka@gmail.com

opinion Other route necessary to secure CWC funding dailycardinal.com/opinion

TODD STEVENS opinion columnist

he Campus Women’s Center has been on a bit of an odyssey of late. Ever since they were denied eligibility for General Student Service Funds (better known as that pool of money where a couple bucks of your segregated fees go every semester), the CWC has gone through a seemingly endless series of appeals and hearings in an attempt to gain funding for the 2010-’11 school year. The Student Services Finance Committee dealt the women’s center its latest blow when it denied the CWC’s request for a redecision last Thursday. But somehow the organization still intends to keep pushing forward, as CWC Outreach Chair YunJung Kim confirmed that the group intends to file yet another appeal of an SSFC decision. I have a better suggestion: They should just give up. It’s not that the CWC doesn’t pursue noble goals. It provides several worthwhile and very valuable services to the campus community, including support counseling and Kids Night Out for children of student parents. Nobody is going to fault the CWC for its mission. It is the execution that the group has sorely been lacking. When it sent in its original application to SSFC, the CWC showed that its records were woefully inadequate. One of the chief requirements to achieve GSSF funding is that a group dedicate at least half of its time to services that directly serve students. The numbers the CWC provided did not do this at all. The figures it presented were incredibly vague, with time commitments listed as “~1/2” of an employee’s time, or other similar amounts. Alberto Gonzales kept better records of his activities. But even while using this incredibly vague and rather lazy cata-

loging system, the CWC couldn’t manage to get above the 50-percent threshold mandated by SSFC, at least after one of its main services, the Kids Night Out, was shown to not meet the definition of an official “student service.” This is not a matter of SSFC subjectively interpreting the data and deciding on a whim that the CWC does not deserve funding. By the CWC’s own numbers, it did not meet the 50-percent criterion. The CWC Finance Coordinator Zorian Lasowsky confirmed as much when he admitted Kids Night Out does not meet SSFC’s standards for a direct service to students. The blame here lies solely on the CWC leadership for failing to meet SSFC standards, which they should have known inside and out. Lasowsky in particular should have been able to craft a better application, considering he is a former member of SSFC. In addition, other group leaders like Program Coordinator Tina Treviño-Murphy should have thought ahead and better planned out the division of hours for each CWC employee.

Own up to your mistakes and try to continue your mission through more productive means.

In the almost two months that have passed since the original SSFC decision, the CWC has provided numerous excuses for its poor application. The organization attempted to send revised numbers to SSFC, after suddenly discovering more time was spent on direct student services. Obviously, it is more than a little suspicious that the CWC only discovered these new numbers after getting denied funding. After SSFC denied the CWC’s request to resubmit these new numbers, the CWC went to the Student Judiciary claiming SSFC denied it

improperly, claiming various SSFC members were confused and not properly informed regarding the women’s centers eligibility. Nevermind that any confusion that resulted from the CWC’s presentation was probably a product of its own vague numbers that its members presented. Regardless, in the end there is very little to be confused about. The CWC did not meet the criteria. Its own application shows this. End of story. Own up to your mistakes and try to continue your mission through more productive means. Continuing to appeal the decision just delays the inevitable and prevents the CWC from seeking funding from other venues. I don’t want to see the CWC go under. With some new leadership and some slight alterations to its day-to-day operations, the organization should have little trouble getting funding next year. The only roadblock would be securing funding for the meantime, which the CWC simply isn’t going to do if it focuses all of its efforts on appeal after appeal. Members should be applying for grants, holding fundraisers, selling their plasma en masse—anything to try and get by for a couple semesters. The CWC is a truly valuable campus organization, but it still needs to operate by the standards all other organizations do. Hopefully the group’s leadership will regroup next year and do their jobs properly so the CWC can go back to providing the services this campus deserves. Todd Stevens is a junior majoring in history and psychology. We welcome all feedback. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

‘Colorblind’ opinion cause for concern Andrew Carpenter’s Tuesday column, “Race deserves no place in university admissions,” is a poorly-argued embarrassment to the students of the UW campus. The entire piece is uncorroborated conjecture. From his opening claim that “there are almost no students who pay any attention to race” to his belief that “it makes sense to expect minority students to drop out at higher rates than white students,” Mr. Carpenter’s journalistic atrocity is representative of nothing more substantive than his own speculation. In addition to its unsubstantiated argument, Mr. Carpenter’s piece also falls flat because of its implicit, racist foundation: that students of color are here by virtue of being students of color and would not have been accepted were it not for some unverified system of “race-based admissions,” while white students are here by virtue of their academic merit. That scores of qualified students of color are admitted to the university, along with scores of incompetent white students, goes completely unaddressed in his attempt to “show that [he believes] race has nothing to do with a student’s potential.” This assumption also fails to acknowledge that white students receive a daily “handout” in the form of white privilege. White privilege is a com-

plex concept in critical race theory, but a short description from Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” provides a working definition: “I had been taught about racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage.” If Mr. Carpenter were truly concerned about any unfair impact of race on college admissions, he would have addressed the unfair racial privileges which help to bring many UW students to and through the application process. While Andrew Carpenter is certainly free to hold incomplete, unsupported opinions on his own time, the fact that he has taken it upon himself to express what he sees as the majority “colorblind” opinion is cause for concern. He does not speak for us, and we do not wish to be included in his indiscriminate generalizations. —Ryan Adserias Erica Andrist Alana Keusch Jahna Lundberg Lia Stratton

sports 8

dailycardinal.com/sports

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Men’s Basketball

Wisconsin overpowers Grizzlies, 58-42 By Nick Schmitt THE DAILY CARDINAL

It was far from one of Wisconsin’s (2-0) best-played games, but the men’s basketball team did enough to get past Oakland (0-2) 58-42 Wednesday night. Senior guard Trevon Hughes propelled Wisconsin through a rough ﬁrst half and led the Badgers to the win with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists. He did most of his damage in the ﬁrst half, electrifying

the Kohl Center with his crossover and impressing Oakland head coach Greg Kampe. “I thought that Trevon Hughes, late in the ﬁrst half, really dictated the tempo of the game," Kampe said. “[He] made some great plays and was able to open the score up so we didn’t have a chance.” About halfway through the ﬁrst half, Hughes started aggressively attacking the basket, forcing the Grizzlies to commit, which opened

STEPHANIE MOEBIUS/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Senior guard Trevon Hughes scored 15 points on 4-of-9 shooting and added four assists in Wisconsin’s victory over Oakland.

BADGER BITS Women’s Basketball After opening its season with a 68-43 victory over North Dakota at home last Sunday, the Badgers play their ﬁrst road game tonight at UW-Milwaukee. Junior guard Alyssa Karel led Wisconsin scorers with 15 points against the Fighting Sioux, and junior forward Tara Steinbauer recorded a double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. The Panthers enter tonight’s game 2-0 after defeating Evansville and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. For UW-Milwaukee, junior center Jenilee Klomstad is scoring 14.5 points per game this season, and junior guard Ashley Imperiale is averaging 13.5. After this contest, the Badgers begin a twogame homestand before traveling to Eugene, Ore., for the BTI Tip-Off Tournament. Tonight’s contest tips off at 7 p.m.

up his teammates. He hit junior forward Tim Jarmusz for an easy lay-up, then senior guard Jason Bohannon for another. “Our offense felt pressured. People like to pressure us on the wings, especially the guards,” Hughes said. “I think I’m quick enough to drive by anybody, so that’s the spark we needed.” Hughes’ ability to take over and lead the team through sloppy starts is becoming a common niche for the senior guard, and his teammates have taken notice. “He makes us go,” junior forward Jon Leuer said. “When he’s driving and creating it just frees up everybody. It frees up [Bohannon] for shots; we can play off him. I can’t say enough about how impressed I am with him as a leader.” The Badgers fell behind early because some hot shooting from the Golden Grizzlies. Oakland stormed out to a quick lead, taking advantage of some Wisconsin turnovers and the play of junior center Keith Benson. But Benson and the Grizzlies got into some early foul trouble, opening the door for the Badgers. Benson’s departure allowed the Badgers’ big men to step up and take control of the paint. Leuer and junior forward Keaton Nankivil took advantage and, as a duo, dominated inside. Nankivil broke out with 13 points, nine rebounds and four blocks, while Leuer added 12 points, three rebounds and three steals. For the second consecutive game, the Badgers’ defense held its opponent under 50 points. The Grizzlies struggled all night from the field, shooting only 27.3 percent, and only 15.8 percent from behind the arc. Kempe called his team an efficient 3-point shooting squad, but it could not find the stroke in the

STEPHANIE MOEBIUS/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Junior forward Jon Leuer recorded his second straight double-digit point total, scoring 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting last night. Kohl Center. Luckily for Oakland, the Badgers could not buy a 3 either. Wisconsin shot 3-for-14 from 3point range even though it had plenty of open shots. Head coach Bo Ryan attributed the poor shooting to the team still trying to ﬁnd a rhythm. “Hopefully we’re going to have some nights where somebody’s going to have to pay for us having the open looks we had,” Ryan said. “We had some great looks tonight,

and I think we can knock those down in the future.” The win gave Ryan his 60th nonconference victory and marked the eighth season the Badgers started off 2-0. “We still have a lot of things to figure out," Leuer said. “We’re still learning how to play off each other, but I like what I’m seeing so far with the progress we’ve made. We’re just looking forward to going to Maui now and being competitive there.”

Jennings’ stint in Europe shaping his hot start in the NBA BEN BREINER boom goes the breinamite

is quotes coming out of Rome last year were pretty startling. “They treat me like I’m a little kid. They don’t see me as a man. If you get on a good team, you might not play a lot. Some nights you’ll play a lot; some nights you won’t play at all. That’s just how it is,” Brandon Jennings told The New York Times during his year playing European basketball. “It’s tough, man, I’ll tell you that. It can break you.” Now fast forward through the predraft questions about his maturity, through getting picked 10th by the Bucks all the way to this weekend when he dropped 55 points on the Golden State Warriors, two short of the team’s all-time record. So what happened? How is a guy who seemed so immature and in over his head overseas ready to take the top role on an NBA team? Well maybe, just maybe, it’s because he struggled so mightily last year. Had Jennings gone to an American university, he would have been protected by the warm and cozy bubble of

college athletics. A one-and-done player only needs to take 12 credits his ﬁrst semester and can then slack off after winter break (they leave after the team’s season ends for draft prep anyway). They get to enjoy life as the big man on campus, being let into campus bars because of their fame and having coeds feign tripping just to bump into them and ask while giggling, “Wait, are you Brandon Jennings?”

[Jennings] wasn’t coddled and pampered like most rising young hoops stars in the states.

No, instead Jennings had adult teammates who treated him as a kid, because to them, he was. He had to do the things he didn’t do well (play defense, be patient) and limited him from the role that made him so sought after (playing with the ball in his hands, freelancing, shooting... a lot). He wasn’t coddled and pampered like most rising young hoops stars in the states. The numbers speak for themselves (27-percent 3-point shooting and 38 percent overall his only

season in Europe). His team very rarely even paid him on time (many European teams don’t). But more importantly, he had to grow up. Few people would react well to moving across the Atlantic and working in an adult world thousands of miles from the life they knew. He had a tough time with it, but perhaps it was important he was challenged and shaken from his high perch as a hyped prep baller. Entering the draft, critics lambasted and questioned him, saying scouts couldn’t judge his body of work from 17 minutes per game in a structured offense. He became a prospect whose “question marks” were fretted over, dissected and ultimately overblown. As a Buck, he seems to have a good understanding of the game and is willing to play within the flow of an offense. Coming out of high school he was compared to Allen Iverson as a highvolume, low-percentage scorer. In his first eight games, Jennings is scoring over 25 points per game, but doing it at an efficient clip. He’s hit over half of his 39 3s and is shooting nearly 48 percent, an impressive feat for any guard, let alone one who is just 6'1" and 169 pounds. To put it in perspective, both

Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James, much larger players, connected on around 42 percent of their shots as rookies. The strong start to Jennings’ NBA career comes at the perfect time, as recent reports painted Jeremy Tyler, who left high school after his junior year to play in Israel, as an immature player. They say he deﬂects blame on others, makes excuses. The New York Times unapologetically lambasted him: “Tyler still talks openly about retiring with $200 million in the bank after a 15-year N.B.A. career. He also talks about modeling, the documentary being made about him, and how he and his girlfriend, Erin Wright, the daughter of the rapper Eazy-E, will grow up to be an American power couple.” Yes, he sounds like a punk. Yes, he seems like an immature kid in way over his head. But by facing those challenges now, he will almost assuredly grow and learn from them. Look at Jennings. A year ago, no one treated him like a man. Now, with Michael Redd’s injury, he’s the man on a (currently) winning NBA team. And his European struggles are, literally and ﬁguratively, thousands of miles away. Think the sky’s the limit for Jennings? Tell Ben just how good (or bad) he can be at breiner@wisc.edu.