Thursday, April 23, 2009 - The Daily Cardinal by The Daily Cardinal

MOVE OVER FACEBOOK: IS TWITTER TAKING OVER?

With Twitter’s popularity ever-expanding, its societal effects are becoming more apparent yet diverse FEATURES University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Thursday, April 23, 2009

That’s a Capitol idea!

SEXUAL ASSAULT AWARENESS MONTH A monthlong series focused on sexual violence in America and on the UW-Madison campus in an effort to dispel myths and educate students, including weekly feature articles and daily facts.

False reporting difﬁcult to estimate, sources say By Brandice Altﬁllisch THE DAILY CARDINAL

LORENZO ZEMELLA/THE DAILY CARDINAL

UW students gather in the Capitol Wednesday to show off research projects at the sixth annual “Posters in the Rotunda: A Celebration of Undergraduate Student Research.”

Mayor unveils plan for economic improvement By Abby Sears THE DAILY CARDINAL

Getting Madison out of its current economic slump is top priority for the city in 2009, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said in his annual “State of the CIESLEWICZ City” speech at a Downtown Madison Rotary Meeting Wednesday. Cieslewicz noted several “sobering” statistics reﬂective of Madison’s current economic situation. With an unemployment rate of 5.4 percent—the highest since 1990—and a 50 percent decrease in city revenues this year compared to last year, Madison is another

community facing the challenges of the national economic crisis. “We are in the deepest economic recession probably since the Great Depression,” the mayor said. “We’ve got to think about the future ... and respond aggressively on these things rather than just pulling in.” Dave Cieslewicz mayor Madison

However, the news is not all bad, Cieslewicz said, pointing out CNN’s Money Magazine’s recent ranking of the best U.S. cities for ﬁnding employment that put Madison in the number two spot

for cities with a population of 200,000 or more. Cieslewicz also unveiled his plan to boost the economy based on a transformative recovery and inspiration from President Barack Obama. “[Obama’s] talked about not just returning back to the old economy, which has some weaknesses about it, he talks about needing to make adjustments in education, energy and health care because he sees those as the foundations of a new, stronger economy, and I think he’s right about that,” Cieslewicz said. The mayor’s plan aims to make the city more business-friendly and to demonstrate that Madison can be both progressive and pro-business. Cieslewicz said he

When it comes to sexual assault terminology, experts often consider victims to be individuals who endure the trauma of rape, but in some cases there are others who can feel victimized—those who are falsely accused. Pierce Harlan, a corporate lawyer in Pennsylvania, has been working as an advocate for the falsely accused since defending a friend in court. He authors a blog titled “The False Rape Society.” The site includes an extensive amount of news articles and personal stories about men who have been wrongly accused of rape. According to Harlan, many people do not talk about false sexual assault claims because they are overpowered by “politics.” “The whole ﬁeld has become so politicized that we’ve lost track of victims,” he said. “We’re talking about ideology here and not real victims. Why can’t we talk about rape victims and false rape victims without bringing gender, politics into the whole thing?” Harlan said in an interview. Harlan said false defendants of

sexual assaults are just as likely as the accuser to feel victimized. “Guys have been beaten, they’ve been killed, they’ve killed themselves, they’ve been ﬁred from their jobs, they’ve lost their businesses, they’ve lost their wives, their girlfriends … on the basis of an allegation,” he said regarding instances where a man was accused. Kelly Anderson, the director of the Dane County Rape Crisis Center, said men could also be raped, although the number is signiﬁcantly lower. Anderson said she thinks false sexual assault reports are an understandable crime to be concerned about, but said people often misuse the phrase, “false claims” to represent unfounded claims. “A false report is when someone says, ‘I was raped,’ and it’s demonstrably untrue,” she said. “Unfounded cases are where the chances are really good that something did happen, but [the Department of Justice] is not going to be able to prove it.” Estimates for the percentage of false reports range from 2 to 8 percent false reporting page 3

Gearing up for spring

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ASM endorses Martin’s new tuition initiative By Rory Linnane THE DAILY CARDINAL

The Associated Students of Madison voted to fully endorse the Wisconsin Initiative for Undergraduates Wednesday despite uncertainties about student support. The initiative, drafted by Chancellor Biddy Martin, would raise tuition to increase ﬁnancial aid and academic support. According to Martin, the initiative would help UW-Madison remain competitive with other Big Ten

schools. It will go before the Board of Regents May 7-8. “I think we’re at a tipping point in terms of faculty hired and the quality of this institution relative to our peers,” ASM representative Jeffrey Wright said. “Something needs to be done and it’s certainly not going to happen, at least in short term, out of the Capitol.” ASM sent out a poll about the initiative via e-mail April 3 which garnered over 2,000 responses. About 20 percent of the respon-

dents expressed support for the initiative, while 40 percent were neutral and 40 percent were opposed. Following a partial endorsement of the initiative at the last meeting, representatives said they talked to their constituents and found them to be supportive of the initiative. Many said students initially expressed opposition but changed their minds when hearing more about the initiative. asm page 3

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Colin Frater, a 2007 UW-Madison alumnus, helps fix students’ bikes as part of Hoofers on Library Mall Wednesday.

“…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, April 23, 2009

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FRIDAY: partly sunny hi 83º / lo 61º dailycardinal.com/pagetwo

Isn’t it nice out? Just really hellishly lovely?

Volume 118, Issue 136

2142 Vilas Communication Hall 821 University Avenue Madison, Wis., 53706-1497

TODAY: few showers hi 70º / lo 55º

MATT HUNZIKER his dark matterials

ello friends! Hasn’t the weather been lovely lately? Isn’t this a wonderful time of year? The sun shining, flowers blooming, animals fucking everywhere you turn your head—what could be better than the God-damned renewal of nature’s beauty that is spring, verdant and overflowing with the wonders of creation? It’s all just so excruciatingly delightful, isn’t it? Look! There’re some baby ducks and a desiccated old man in a golf visor and an idiot on a unicycle— “Hello, idiot!” Doesn’t it make you want to revel in the sublimity of the natural world and celebrate the abundance of life??? Fuck you. It seems as though every year, as soon as the four-and six-legged vermin come out into the sunlight to have sex with each other and nibble on filth, you

all crawl out of your holes to resume wandering around aimlessly in public places, clogging up the sidewalks on the way to and from barbeques. Sometimes you stop completely to share observations about the current temperature, humidity and presence or absence of cloud cover. “Sure is a beautiful day. You know, they say it’s supposed to get up to 76 degrees.” After listening to you all bitch about the cold and snow all winter long, I swear to god there’s nothing worse than having to hear you go on and on about suntans and balmy afternoons every April, like warm weather is something you just discovered at the back of your closet, rather than a predictable, recurring natural event. “Hey, this weather is really something, isn’t it?” “Yeah, we should make sure to remind everyone about it every six seconds so that it doesn’t go away forever because no one believes in it anymore.” “Oh no, that would be awful!” You know what I like? Blizzards and sleet and hail—the shit that becomes

a hazard to public health. And not because I think it’s pleasant—no, I hate having my fucking eyelids freeze together too—I just like to see everybody else hobbling along in droves outside. Because I know that as long as there’s snow on the ground, I won’t see any culottes or public drum circles. After April 15, on the other hand, everywhere I go is... “Hey, Matt. Sure is a gorgeous day to get drunk and throw beanbags back and forth on the front sidewalk for 11 hours!” I look at him and think, “Someday, I’ll eat pancakes on your grave.” “Hey, Matt. Want to come join our demonstration now that the weather’s ﬁnally nice enough to protest?” “Sure thing,” I say. “It’s so liberating to be freed from the oppression of sleeves.” “It’s just soooooo nice out! So much so, in fact, that I’m unable to talk about anything besides how goddamn pleasant it is. Oops, I applied this tanning lotion wrong and now it looks like I have a beard. Lala-fucking-la.” It’s like having a white-noise machine around at all times, except that I’d never sleep next to something that goes on for

so long without shutting up. You know what we could do to celebrate warm weather? We could organize a huge picnic on a boat. And ﬁll it with plastic deck furniture and hibachi grills. And make sure there was plenty of fried food and beaded jewelry on board. And organize a bunch of different events, like a Frisbee tournament, and a “Wonderwall” cover song contest, and an airbrush art exhibition, and a panel where people could loudly air their opinions about the merits of various cheap cigars and shitty beer, and a semi-ironic game of capture-theﬂag, and a 24-hour open mic for poetry scrawled in tiny notebooks while smoking American Spirits in crowded parks, and a sidewalk café, and a convention where people could share their riveting judgments about yesterday’s humidity and vague predictions of tomorrow’s. And then invite aboard everyone who’s just super excited about summer (oh my god!). And then we could sink it. How would that be? Would you like that? You disgust me. Don’t bother contacting Matt at hunziker@wisc.edu. Pricks.

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New Beer Thursday

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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 letters@dailycardinal.com.

Pearl Street Brewery el jefe

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Much like the Great Dane Pub and Brewery in Madison, the Pearl Street Grill and Brewery in La Crosse serves up bar fare and brews their own beverage. Just last week, Riley’s received a bevy of sixers from Pearl Street, and the decision was made to pick the hefeweizen— named El Hefe—to see if it matches up against its local competition. On paper, this beer has something going for it. It’s a local craft beer with a label that talks a big game, with such words as “unfiltered,” a code word for “delightful,” and “nautural.” That’s no typo (on our part), it says “nautural.” Lord only knows why they can’t legally use the word “natural.” Maybe the flavor will key off which unnatural elements are present. There’s a common saying that if something looks like a rat and smells like a rat, then it’s a rat. Well, this is an exception to the rule. El Hefe looks good and smells kinda good, but it doesn’t taste very good. In fact, this beer is tiptoeing on the tightrope of drinkability. Part of what makes a hefeweizen delicious are the distinct flavor and aroma of cloves and banana, and this beer has neither. Although the website claims the contrary, perhaps both flavors were nautural and were not easily

identifiable. In fact, the most identifiable flavor was malts that seemed like they would better suit a porter, as they carried a hint of coffee. There are other citrusy and nautural flavors that don’t have direct real-world comparisons. Pearl Street Brewery recommends a lemon wedge to accompany the beer, which is not uncommon for hefeweizens, as most require a citrus garnish. However, you might as well save the fruit for something worthier, unless you need to chase each gulp with a bite of lemon. This is ultimately very disappointing. As far as wheat beers go, this one has to be on the bottom of the list. There isn’t even a redeeming quality, such as high alcohol content or reasonable price tag. In the end, even the great Great Dane has beers that taste like the bottom of a shoe, so there’s still hope for Pearl Street Brewery in their other beers available at Riley’s, but El Hefe shouldn’t warrant more than a glance.

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Sexual Assault Awareness Month Fact of the Day: More than 32,000 pregnancies result from rape every year. Thursday, April 23, 2009

Lawmakers assess strategies to curb growing prison population By Grace Urban THE DAILY CARDINAL

The nonpartisan Council of State Governments Justice Center released a report addressing rising prison populations in Wisconsin to state lawmakers Wednesday. The report outlined policy change recommendations. The recommendations are designed to reduce the amount of prisoners who re-enter the system and to limit parole. According to the Associated Press, implementing these strategies would save the state $2.3 billion. A bipartisan committee headed by state Sen. Lena Taylor, DMilwaukee, which since January has been discussing public safety and overcrowding in state prisons, will review the recommendations. Gov. Jim Doyle’s proposed budget includes a provision to address prison overcrowding, including the possibility of releasing non-violent prisoners early from prison, con-

trary to the state’s truth-in-sentencing policy. Truth-in-sentencing, a policy enacted in 1998, eliminates the possibility of parole, requiring prisoners to serve full terms. “[Truth-in-sentencing] was designed to reduce recidivism and make us safer, and what happened in the period since it was enacted is recidivism has increased and crime has increased,” state Rep. Joe Parisi, D-Madison, said. UW-Madison professor of sociology Pamela Oliver said the truth-in-sentencing policy contributes to those costs. According to her, it costs close to $40,000 a year to incarcerate one prisoner. “It doesn’t make a heck of a lot of sense financially to keep these people locked up,” Oliver said. UW-Madison law professor John Pray said the truth-in-sentencing policy reduces inmates’ incentive to rehabilitate.

“They might stay in prison longer, but on the whole they’re less likely to do well outside,” Pray said. Kimberly Liedl, spokesperson for state Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said early release of prisoners would jeopardize citizens’ safety. “Senator Fitzgerald feels this is not the proper way to go about saving money,” Liedl said. “There are other things to look at rather than jeopardizing safety in our communities.” Nevertheless, according to a study by the Pew Research Center, Wisconsin spending on corrections has increased from $557 million in 1997 to $1.08 billion in 2008, and with budget cuts looming, lawmakers are looking for ways to cut costs. The committee plans to vote next week on which recommendations should be introduced in the Legislature.

Most counties, cities see rise in unemployment Unemployment rates in all of Wisconsin’s metropolitan areas and most counties increased between February and March, according to data released Wednesday by the Department of Workforce Development. The Madison metropolitan area continued to have the lowest unemployment in the state, with a rate of 6.4 percent in March. The Janesville area had the highest rate at 13.5 percent. The city of Madison’s unem-

ployment rate grew to 5.4 percent from 5.1 percent, and Dane County’s unemployment rate reached 6 percent. However, ﬁve Wisconsin counties saw their unemployment rates drop and three saw no change. Wisconsin’s unemployment rate grew to 9.4 percent in March, and according to the Laura Dresser, director for the Center on Wisconsin Strategy Research, that number could reach double digits in April.

Dresser said the trend of rising unemployment, which is a lagging indicator of an economic downturn, will not likely end soon. “The recent 600,000 job loss at the national level suggests that we are not going to see that turning [around] in the next few months,” Dresser said. “I would say unemployment will continue to go up at least for the next few months, and some economists are saying for the rest of the year.” —Megan Orear

city from page 1 hopes to develop high-tech industries through partnering with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, bolster Madison’s image as a center for arts and tourism, build on the city’s natural assets such as the lakes, and compete with other regions. One prospective development the mayor expressed particular enthusiasm for was a regional transit authority, which he said would likely be created in approximately ﬁve years. Cieslewicz said a commuter rail would extend Madison’s community beyond municipal boundaries and improve the city bus system and streets. “What we really need to do is think about this as a region …

false reporting from page 1 around the nation, according to the National Center for the Prosecution of Violence Against Women. Harlan said he thinks false claims are much higher. According to the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review article “The Truth Behind Legal Dominance Feminism’s ‘Two Percent False Rape Claim’ Figure,” measuring false allegations is difﬁcult because policies on unfounded criminal complaints “differ from one jurisdiction to another.” Harlan said there are three prominent reasons the victim could lie about an assault. “The most prominent is to avoid getting in trouble ... there’s a small group that are for revenge—those are the scariest. And then there’s a small group … just really troubled people making up claims,” he said. Joel DeSpain, public information officer for the Madison Police Department, said an assigned detective thoroughly questions victims of sexual assault about the incident to gather all the necessary information to conduct and investigation. “Law enforcement does not “Guys have been beaten, they’ve been killed, they’ve killed themselves ... on the basis of an allegation.” Pierce Harlan corporate lawyer

unquestionably accept whatever a victim tells them. The issue is not that you go in and you say you were raped and they run out

asm from page 1 “There was a lot of opposition right away, but over time that opposition has died down,” ASM Secretary Hilary Minor said. “The more I talk to my constituents, the more I see that ‘aha’ moment … when they look at those beneﬁts down the line.” In the poll, about 40 percent of students said they were “moderately” to “very” familiar with the initiative, while about 60 percent of students said they were “slightly” to “not at all” familiar. ASM Safety Committee Chair Sol Grosskopf said the council shouldn’t dismiss student opposition as being linked only to lack of education. “To say students are simply not educated about this and vote against them is unfair,” Grosskopf said. Other representatives said the council’s perceptions of student

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where the people who work in your businesses don’t necessarily live in the municipality that the business is located in, so that’s why the RTA is so important,” he said. With a potential $18 to $25 million in stimulus funding and help from other city leaders such as UWMadison Chancellor Biddy Martin and Common Council members, Cieslewicz said he is conﬁdent the city economy can turn around. “We can either respond by turning in and being cautious or we can respond by being bold and aggressive and thinking about the future,” Cieslewicz said. “We’ve got to think about the future, we’ve got to think about the next 20, 30, 40, 50 years and respond aggressively on these things rather than just pulling in.” and arrest the guy right away,” Anderson said. The December 2008 issue of the Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association states if the accuser retracts his or her claim of being raped, the defendant may still experience reputation damage. Outsiders may think the retraction was “pressured” or illegitimate. However, Anderson said the sensitivity of the subject is the reason for excessive disbelief, not excessive lying. “There’s no more reason to disbelieve someone who says they were raped than someone who says they were mugged or car-jacked.” Kelly Anderson director Dane County Rape Crisis Center

“That fear and that sense of vulnerability makes people really resistant to believe reports that do come forward, even though there’s no more reason to disbelieve someone who says they were raped than someone who says that they were mugged or car-jacked,” she said. According to Anderson, Meriter Hospital’s sexual assault nurse examiner, test results do not always clarify uncertainties about sexual assault incidents. “If [a report occurs] within the period of evidence collection, which is about 72 to 96 hours ideally, then you could get, potentially, some evidence,” Anderson said. “But, again, in most cases the question is not whether or not a sex act occurred, the question is whether or not is was consensual.” views could be skewed by their methods of outreach, which mostly include talking with friends or peers in their student organizations. “Some of us could be facing selfselection problems,” Wright said. “People we’ve been outreaching to may be most closely aligned with our way of thinking, and that needs to be recognized.” After debate, ASM voted 17-3-1 for the endorsement. Representative Dakota Kaiser voted against the initiative because he said the initiative lacks measurable outcomes, and could discourage students from applying who are unaware of the ﬁnancial aid opportunities. Both ASM graduate student representatives abstained from voting because they said the decision should come from the undergraduate representatives. Representative Kara Marnell also abstained.

featuresnew media Out of the nest: Twitter taking ﬂight 4

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Thursday, April 23, 2009

Story by: Gabe Ubatuba

Graphic by: Jenny Peek

A new social networking site emerges. The campus community questions the need for Twitter and the benefits it may bring. Social media have enslaved us to the “click and refresh.” It started modestly enough, waiting patiently as America Online dinged to signal the arrival of a message from a close friend. Its evolution into the 21st century has been dramatic—from e-mails to blogs to MySpace to Facebook. And as the decade closes, more and more networks are attempting to enter the fray. But try as they might, few join the list of sites users constantly check. However, there is a growing addition to this list. With every new 140-character message sent, Twitter is growing out of its novelty status and becoming a valuable social network, according to Katy Culver, a faculty member in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. “I think when some people first started getting on it, it was because of its novelty,” she said. “There was a lot of, ‘Just got out of the shower.’ ‘Going for a run.’ Then I think people quickly realized that this was a social media that could be very useful for their passions as well as their professions.” The concept of Twitter is based around microblogging, or blogging by only updating with small amounts of text. Type out a simple 140-character message on the website, through a text message or even from other social networks and share it with friends, family and the rest of the world. “It’s a very basic way of connecting with people and sharing information, and I think that’s what drives use,” Culver said. However, there are still some skeptical of Twitter. Mike Zenz, a recent UW-Madison graduate and staff researcher, believes that although there are some useful functions of Twitter, for the average person, tweeting results in dull reports of everyday life. “The way I see it used is people report minute aspects of their life that no one would really care about, and you can’t give much of a message,” Zenz said. “What is the purpose of telling someone, ‘I’m going to the store’?” Gabe Johnson, a fifth-year student at UWMadison, shared a similar thought about using Twitter for personal use. “I heard about Twitter a couple of years ago, and it seemed like a novelty,” Johnson said. “I didn’t really understand why people wanted to basically broadcast their text messages.” However, though Johnson and Zenz agreed there is little reason to broadcast and read about the humdrum of everyday life, they both see the potential in the professional world, specifically in journalism.

“I’ve heard of good things like breaking news,” Johnson said. “Something happens, somebody twitters on the spot at the event, that’s great.” Breaking news is right at home through Twitter, as journalists or the average person can quickly describe what is happening around them and broadcast it around the world instantly. That is why twittering effectively has become an ever-increasingly important skill for journalists to have, according to Culver, and it embraces an important aspect of journalism: getting to the point, and quickly. “In journalism, personally, I think it’s a fabulous skill to be able to take a story down to 140 characters,” Culver said. News organizations, such as CNN, The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, have begun using Twitter to get out their breaking news. However, although Zenz believes broadcasting news instantly is a valuable aspect of Twitter, he thinks it could potentially have negative effects due to little fact-checking of what is being broadcast. “You don’t have the layers of checking, which can lead to mass-spread rumors,” Zenz said. “One person says it, the next person says it, it explodes and there’s no veriﬁcation of it.” Dhavan Shah, Maier-Bascom professor for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, shares a similar thought with Zenz. “I still do like my journalism to be fast-tracked and focused through an editor,” Shah said. “I think it’s an aspect of what journalists are expected to do now, but I don’t know if it’s the art of journalism.” Although traditional journalism may be preferred the way it is, Twitter opens the ﬂoodgate for “citizen journalism,” allowing for the common

person to report news they see from the scene, before it is reported by a professional. This form of journalism was exemplified during the three-day coordinated shootings and bombings in Mumbai, India, in November 2008. Sue Robinson, assistant professor for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said that was the first big Twitter event that really showed the social network’s capabilities. “It was kind of a mass network journalism, or crowdsourcing is another term for it,” Robinson said. “A lot of people are writing in, and that mass—that collection of data—creates the news story.” Citizens broadcast photos and commentary on Twitter during the attacks, keeping the public informed even as normal media outlets struggled to keep up with the crisis. Shah said that was the first point where he began to really take notice of Twitter. “I probably first got interested in Twitter more actively around the Mumbai coordinated attacks,” he said. “It’s interesting because it was amazing what people were posting about Mumbai, what people were saying in real time.” Robinson said social networking is allowing us as a society to connect at events, such as the horrors in Mumbai or the sentiments observers felt during President Obama’s acceptance speech. “When we were watching the Obama acceptance speech and all of those people in Chicago were Twitter and text messaging and giving updates on their Facebook pages, it was as if we were all there,” Robinson said. But even with this increased connection, Culver believes that social networking will never replace our normal human interaction. “I don’t think social media are ever going to supplant to the true human connections we have with the people that are closest to us.” Even though speaking face to face will still be the ultimate form of contact, Twitter and other social media will be useful tools to enhance our everyday communication.

Ning: The next big thing? What is it? Launched in October of 2005, Ning takes the next step in social networking by allowing users to create their own social network. The potential By allowing users to create their own networks, they can easily ﬁnd those who share the same experiences, beliefs or opinions. An advertiser’s dream With such specialized groups, Ning allows advertisers to datamine at an even greater level, making it incredibly valuable for research.

arts WUD you like to watch? dailycardinal.com/arts

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Enjoy some great indie ﬁlms at this weekend’s Mini-Indie ﬁlm festival at the Union By Todd Stevens THE DAILY CARDINAL

With the Wisconsin Film Festival long wrapped up and the summer blockbuster season emerging, it would seem that there is a dearth of independent film out at the moment. But this weekend independent film will be taking over the Memorial Union Play Circle as the Wisconsin Union Directorate hosts its first MiniIndie Film Festival, showing a collection of films made outside the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. The idea for the Mini-Indie Film Festival began with the WUD Film Committee’s recent trip to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The festival is the largest gathering of independent film in the world and inspired the WUD Film Committee to attempt something similar on the UW-Madison campus, albeit on a much smaller scale. Throughout the trip, committee members looked for films that would play well on the UW-Madison campus and made connections with filmmakers in hopes of bringing the movies back to Wisconsin. Because of these efforts, many of the films playing at the festival originally played at Sundance, including “Crude,” a documentary about oil contamination in Ecuador, “The Missing Person,” a modern film noir starring Oscar nominees Michael Shannon and Amy Ryan, and “Prom Night in Mississippi,” a chronicle of actor Morgan Freeman’s attempt to integrate the segregated proms of a

small Mississippi town. In addition to the Sundance Film Festival, many of this new festival’s roots lie in the Wisconsin Film Festival, which was originally created by UW-Madison students. One member of the Mini-Indie Film Festival’s lineup, the animatronic rock band documentary “The Rock-afire Explosion,” was actually one of the biggest hits at the 2009 Wisconsin Film Festival. “The students have always been a part of the Wisconsin Film Festival, but it’s grown a lot larger than us, so we wanted to do something that the students have total control over,” said Kelsey Field, director of the WUD Film Committee. The WUD Film Committee has been planning the festival for several months and hopes to create a similar atmosphere to the Wisconsin Film Festival with patrons hopping from movie to movie and examining a swath of films they usually would not encounter. With this in mind, the committee selected a lineup full of documentaries, genre films and recent indie hits in an attempt to represent the full spectrum of independent cinema. Some of the more famous titles include “Frozen River,” a recent Oscar nominee for writer-director Courtney Hunt’s screenplay and star Melissa Leo’s lead performance, and “Wendy and Lucy,” which received a great deal of attention at the Independent Spirit Awards. As a nod to the history of independent cinema, the Mini-Indie Film Festival slotted some more recognizable films for midnight

screenings on Friday and Saturday in hopes of drawing in the movies’ cult followings. Scheduled for Friday night is “Let the Right One In,” a bleak Swedish vampire film that offers a dark new twist on the traditional coming-of-age tale. As the film was released at the height of “Twilight”-mania, it was roundly embraced by all those who prefer their vampires with a heavy dose of gore and had nothing but contempt for Edward Cullen and his chaste vampire friends, and it should appeal to those who like some horror with their indie films. To close out the festival on Saturday the committee scheduled Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs,” which many credit with launching a new era of independent cinema more focused on genre films. “We tried to complement [the other films] with films we thought people had heard of, so hopefully there are some films people will be curious about along with those people are already fans of,” Field said. The Mini-Indie Film Festival runs Thursday through Saturday at the Frederic March Play Circle in Memorial Union and is open to all UW-Madison students and Union guests free of charge. For more details, check out www.union. wisc.edu/film.

Mini-Indie Film Festival where: Memorial Union Play Circle Theater when: April 23-25 cost: Free

PHOTO COURTESY NEW LINE CINEMA

Samuel L. Jackson is pretty frenching sick of your stinking shirt! If you’re not careful he’ll kick your ﬂinching bass, you booger brain!

Censorship can kiss my buns KEVIN SLANE citizen slane

rarely let my columns delve into the world of television. My colleague Ali already covers the world of the boob tube quite admirably. Yet, when television encroaches on the world of film in such an egregious and terrible fashion, I have to speak up. It was Saturday, and I was sitting around with my roommate surfing channels. Once we got to FX, we realized we had managed to catch the beginning of the recent Samuel L. Jackson classic “Snakes on a Plane.” Fully prepared to waste away the next two hours, we settled in. Now, I understand that television has different standards of viewing. They have to cut material for time and, more importantly, for content. So the random sex scenes were gone, as were much of the arbitrary foul language. Yet when we reached the most important line of the film, I couldn’t believe my ears. Samuel Jackson was mad, and he needed to tell people he was fed up with these slithering reptiles, so he opened his mouth and yelled, “I’ve had it with these monkey-fighting snakes on this Mondayto-Friday plane!” Seriously, that’s what he said. The editors at FX took the best line of “Snakes on a Plane” and made it into shit.

I’ve seen some bad television edits before, but rarely to such a crucial line. Usually a television edit is a moment to laugh for friends, a moment to comment on how Shooter McGavin eats pieces of “scum” for breakfast, or how Rod Farva likes that restaurant with all the goofy “junk” on the wall. But taking the most important line of a movie and completely changing its meaning is tantamount to cinematic homicide. The only other television edit that even comes close to this travesty is from “Die Hard,” when legendary tough guy Bruce Willis sneered at his captor and yelled his famous catchphrase, “Yippee-ki-yay, Mr. Falcon.” Rather than leaving television audiences cheering, wowed by how freakin’ manly John McClane is, they are left on the floor laughing, picturing Bruce Willis as a character in “Super Smash Bros.” about to deliver a finishing blow to Captain Falcon. When in doubt, television censors should just insert blank air over an expletive rather than adding a ridiculous dub. The dead air may briefly take audiences out of the film, but it’s better then taking them out for 30 seconds while they laugh about their favorite movie star’s colorful language being reduced to elementary school substitutes. Think Kevin is full of fish and should get a ducking clue? Email his handsome buttocks at kevslane@gmail.com.

comics 6

Screwed! Singing cowboy Wylie Gustafson was only paid $590 for his famous “Yahoo!” yodel heard on TV commercials. dailycardinal.com/comics

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Skinnin’ Coons

Today’s Sudoku

Anthro-apology

By Eric Wigdahl wigdahl@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 Classic

Evil Bird

By Yosef Lerner ilerner@wisc.edu

By Caitlin Kirihara kirihara@wisc.edu

Answer key available at www.dailycardinal.com IT’S A MATERIAL WORLD ACROSS

1 Mortal danger 6 A film might receive one 10 Moving word? 14 Certain Arab 15 “No ___ Traffic” 16 One-named art deco designer 17 Printing technique 19 Aloha State goose 20 Before, in rhyme 21 Guided trips 22 Two-legged support 23 Civil rights march site 24 Gin flavoring fruit 25 Be agreeable 28 Perpetual child 32 Phony deal 33 ___ Raymond Cobb of baseball fame 34 In days of yore 35 Meet, as expectations 38 Lacking zest 40 Manning of the NFL 41 Nixon’s undoing 43 Editing mark 44 “Charge of the Light Brigade” poet 46 Mushroom cells 48 Lose freshness, as lettuce 49 They’re seen at goingaway parties

51 “come up and ___ sometime” 53 Down Under dog 54 Part of a ‘60s bonﬁre, perhaps 57 WWII General Bradley 58 White-scutted creature 60 Device that can skip ads 61 Give wolﬁsh looks 62 Off-limits 63 Yukon transport 64 Cold one 65 Wax eloquent DOWN

1 What a model has to hold 2 Arab League dignitary 3 Breathing noise 4 Big expense for newspapers 5 Informal conversation starter 6 Run one’s ﬁngers over 7 Psychologist’s prescription, sometimes 8 War deity 9 Pool table success 10 Year on campus 11 Crinkly wrapping 12 “___ additional cost to you!”

13 ___ off (irate) 18 Belmont entry 22 God-America link 23 Truck stop sight 24 Render speechless 25 Thing of value 26 Deli counter item 27 Textile technique 29 Goddess with a golden apple 30 Smoothly mobile 31 Knotty swellings 33 Tit for tat, for example? 36 Counterpart of substance 37 Eschew edibles 39 Wedding vows 42 Give the right to 45 Biblical hunter 46 Pudding base 47 In nothing ﬂat 50 “Come in!” 51 Bar denizens 52 “___ and the Detectives” 53 Former Genoese magistrate 54 Rum-infused confection 55 Wild disorder 56 ___ vera (lotion plant) 58 Corn-eater’s throwaway 59 Adhesive for feathers

Frugal Gnome

By Lindsey Heinz and Emily Villwock lheinz@wisc.edu

opinion dailycardinal.com/opinion

Thursday, April 23, 2009

view Cardinal View editorials represent The Daily Cardinal’s organizational opinion. Each editorial is crafted independent of news coverage.

obama: ‘b’ grade for first 100 days

ast fall, the American people voted to move beyond the stagnation of the previous administration and elected President Obama. The ﬁrst 100 days of Obama’s term have almost passed, bringing everything from socialist paranoia to worthy admiration. Obama and his administration have stumbled at times, but largely they have kept up the hopeful momentum of the campaign trail. The election of Obama relied heavily on a desire to change how our government works, his stance on America’s current wars and a connection to constituents never before seen in a campaign. Unfortunately, he has not delivered on certain promises. The appointment of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the aborted nomination of Tom Daschle as secretary of Health and Human Services were almost reckless and immediately called into question Obama’s commitment to real change. Similarly, the antiwar rhetoric featured on the campaign trail has largely been forgotten with plans for American soldiers to move from Iraq to Afghanistan. Obama’s campaign also relied heavily on the youth of America, but the college students who rallied around him have largely been forgotten. Many of the promises focused on college students have been ignored up to this point, although UW-Madison and the city of Madison have beneﬁted from Obama’s plans.

In early March, Obama reversed former President Bush’s long-standing limits on funding for stem-cell research and has been unflinching in his support for alternative energy and the environment. These decisions have shown his commitment to scientific progress and a newer America. Obama’s stance on lowering the cost of birth control is also a refreshing change from the past. Obama also spoke recently about connecting America through the use of high-speed rail, something our national infrastructure has been desperately lacking. Madison could benefit greatly from a rail line connecting it with Milwaukee as well as Chicago. Diplomatically, President Obama has carried himself with humility and integrity. His recent appearance at the G-20 Summit helped to establish the fact that America is ready to cooperate again. Although Obama’s first 100 days have had a largely positive impact, he must be held accountable for his bigger promises. In our endorsement, The Daily Cardinal asked Obama to not forget about his student constituents. Obama must follow through on the promises to provide support struggling higher education. We understand the economy has presented a difficult and time-consuming challenge to your first 100 days, but more can be done for the youth who bolstered your campaign. Overall Grade: B

COLLEGE REPUBLICANS

As reported on April 20, Gov. Jim Doyle’s approval rating has hit an alltime low of 45 percent, with only 8 percent of respondents reporting they are very satisfied with the job the governor is doing and 38 percent of respondents reporting they are somewhat satisfied. Doyle’s current approval rating of 45 percent is a 14-point drop from a poll conducted at this time last year. Although the numbers came from the St. Norbert College/ Wisconsin Public Radio poll, which is notoriously unreliable, just this once they seem to have gotten it right. Looking at two different polls conducted within the past few months, SurveyUSA found Doyle’s approval rating to be 32 percent, with MacIver Institute reporting a 52 percent approval rating among likely voters. Doyle’s actual approval rating is most likely an average of these two numbers, meaning that the SNC/WPR poll may have hit this nail right on the head. The SNC/WPR poll also reported that only 28 percent of respondents approve of the 2009-’11 Wisconsin State Budget, which spends $3 billion in federal stimulus cash and includes $1.7 billion in tax and fee increases. Yet Doyle claims to not be raising any taxes. This cycle’s budget also included over 80 nonfiscal policy items, 45 of which have thankfully already been taken out by the Joint Finance Committee which started its exec-

utive sessions last week. Some of the policy issues yet to be removed include: a statewide smoking ban, the right to form collective bargaining units for the University of Wisconsin faculty, requirements for all motorists to carry a minimum level of liability insurance, granting legal status to domestic partnerships between two unmarried people by allowing county clerks to issue “declarations of domestic partnership,” prohibitions of the use of private aircraft for out-of-state travel, allowing judges to expunge the records of convicted criminals under the age of 25 and repealing the QEO.

Slipping these policy issues in the budget is irresponsible and will likely only result in a circuslike situation.

It doesn’t matter if you are for or against these policies; what does matter is that the governor is sliding these controversial nonﬁscal policies into the budget instead of allowing them to be discussed and debated in the Legislature, denying the Assembly and Senate the right to vote on them. Slipping these policy issues in is irresponsible and will likely result in the circus-like situation that we saw last year during budget season.

ASM should work for better student outreach JOSEPH KOSS opinion columnist

f you were elected to the Associated Students of Madison as a write-in candidate, would you know it? Apparently I was, but I am still trying to ﬁgure out what ASM does. I accepted being part of a write-in campaign partly out of curiosity, and partly because the School of Education didn’t have anyone running and the former rep sweetly asked me to run.

I only knew I got a bus pass from [ASM] and many student organization fees I pay were controlled by them.

A few returning members, most notably Tyler Junger and Kurt Gosselin, put together a contract and asked me to sign onto it. I thought it sounded good, so I signed. I am still unsure of what it was that I signed up for, and I am not sure that this is a good thing or bad thing or neither. It is to be determined, I guess. That ASM has been the butt of many jokes for innumerable years is no secret, and my lack of involvement in school politics is a classic case. I am an informed and conscientious observer of many things locally and globally. I try to read the papers every day and

Doyle’s budget shows irresponsibility By Kristen Wall

Already the “circus” known as the Joint Finance executive sessions has begun, and Democratic members of the Joint Finance Committee have already resorted to personal attacks. Just last Tuesday Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, called Rep. Phil Montgomery, R-Ashwaubenon, “stupid” while debating whether or not Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton should receive funds for a new staffer. Pocan also ripped into Sen. Alberta Darling, RRiver Hills, during a debate on changing WRS eligibility requirements for school aid, saying that her rhetoric had “no basis in reality” and then adding that “when you come from River Hills, it’s unlikely you are talking to people who are working two or three jobs.” Pocan’s statement implies that because of where Sen. Darling has chosen to live, she is unable to understand the plight of the working class, which is accusatory and false. Reflecting on the actions of the governor and the Democratic members of the legislative branch these past few months, it becomes clear why their approval ratings are dropping. The people of the state of Wisconsin are realizing that when Democrats are in charge, all they will deliver are higher taxes, a larger deficit, personal attacks and irresponsible political maneuvers. Kristen Wall is the current first vice chair of the UW-Madison College Republicans. She is a junior majoring in political science and economics. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com

keep myself abreast of interesting and newsworthy events. But never in my time on campus have I ever felt the urge to get informed on the workings of our student government. I knew I got a bus pass from them and many of the student organization fees I pay were controlled by them, but not much more than that. The internal fighting has always seemed petty and incestuous. The players always seemed to be selfinterested, and the body itself always seemed to be outside the workings of students’ day-to-day lives. The entity lacked accessibility, accountability and relevancy. What does it say about an organization that controls millions of dollars but has no serious candidates run from an entire school? I think it says that ASM is out of touch and insigniﬁcant. It says the majority of students don’t feel that it is worth their time to even look into what the student government can do for them and their fellow classmates. It also says that the way the student government has previously been operating has been defunct of content, efﬁcacy, applicability and fun. Its operations have been seen as so insular that no one besides a select few student paper editorial columnists have cared. The pertinent question to ask would be: How did ASM get to this point? In many ways, ASM’s irrel-

evancy mimics Congress: Nobody in the public knows what the hell is being talked about and what happens behind closed doors. Nobody in the public has any connection to those being elected, and nobody in the public has the time or inclination to stay on top of things. The one ASM conversation I have been a part of with other members acknowledged this as the number-one problem. ASM has to become a part of the culture of the student body, be present and do good things.

Nobody knows what the hell is being talked about and what happens behind closed doors with ASM.

So, as of today, I guess I am an ASM School of Education representative. I have no idea who the Responsibility Slate or FACES are or what they even mean. I am pretty sure this should all be taken seriously. I’d like to say our student government is accessible and efﬁcient and, most importantly, is fun for those in it and the students it represents. Joseph Koss is a junior majoring in secondary education in social studies. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com

sports 8

More on dailycardinal.com: Men’s basketball draws Duke in the 2009 Big Ten/ ACC Challenge, and women’s tennis prepares for the Big Ten Tournament. dailycardinal.com/sports

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Softball

Badgers salvage split against Minnesota By Joe Skurzewski THE DAILY CARDINAL

The Wisconsin softball team broke an eight-game Big Ten losing streak in thrilling fashion against the Minnesota Golden Gophers Wednesday. Senior pitcher Leah Vanevenhoven headlined the victory with an outstanding pitching performance, capped off by a game-winning walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning by inﬁelder freshman Karla Powell. Wisconsin (2-10 Big Ten, 13-33 overall) split a doubleheader with Minnesota, losing the ﬁrst game 4-0 but coming back to win the second game 2-1. The Badgers entered Wednesday on the heels of a heartbreaking loss to Ohio State in extra innings last weekend. The Gophers (6-8, 23-26) came into Madison having split a pair of 1-0 games with Penn State over the weekend. Wednesday’s doubleheader rapidly evolved into a spirited pitching duel between Vanevenhoven and Minnesota senior hurler Briana Hassett. Vanevenhoven and Hassett pitched complete games in both games of the doubleheader, and both

recorded double-digit strikeout totals. Vanevenhoven struck out 20 batters and Hassett struck out 16. In game one, Vanevenhoven recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts. But Wisconsin’s offense could not score on Hassett to support Vanevenhoven’s performance in the circle. Hassett pitched a one-hit complete game with nine strikeouts. The Gophers plated two runs in both the third and ﬁfth innings, en route to the 4-0 victory. Wisconsin junior shortstop Katie Soderberg supplied the only Badger hit. With Wisconsin junior hurler Letty Olivarez recovering from illness, Vanevenhoven got the ball again in game two and picked up where she left off in game one. Vanevenhoven shut down Gopher sophomore ﬁrst baseman Malisa Barnes, Minnesota’s leading hitter, and gave up only three hits in the game. Hassett countered with seven strikeouts of her own, and the pair battled back and forth, mowing through the other team’s lineup inning after inning. Through six and a half innings, Minnesota and Wisconsin were square at 1-1. In the bottom of the

seventh, the Badgers played small ball, with sophomore outfielder Jennifer Krueger and senior third baseman Theresa Boruta each recording infield singles. Sophomore second baseman Livi Abney advanced the runners with a fielder’s choice. Powell then hit a ball past a diving Barnes at first base. Minnesota freshman second baseman Sammie Howard fielded the ball and raced Powell to the bag, but Powell beat her out on a head-first slide. Krueger scored the winning run from third, giving the Badgers a 2-1 victory. “I knew she had it,” Vanevenhoven said of her teammate Powell. Vanevenhoven’s performance on Wednesday showed her mental toughness in overcoming recent struggles to lead her team to victory. The hurler gave up a four-run Badger lead in the seventh inning in game two against Ohio State last weekend, allowing the Buckeyes to tie the game and win in extra innings. But on Wednesday, Vanevenhoven improved as each game went on, facing no more than four batters in each of the last five innings of Wisconsin’s victory in game two.

ALYSSA CONNOLLY/THE DAILY CARDINAL

With junior pitcher Letty Olivarez still recovering from illness, senior pitcher Leah Vanevenhoven pitched both games for Wisconsin.

Cloudiness and overanalyzing plague overhyped NFL draft BEN BREINER one breining moment

sing of the hair of Mel Kiper, the everlasting streams of scouting reports, big boards

and mock drafts and the perpetual glut of hype and hyperbole that lead up to this weekend’s crown jewel of the NFL offseason. Yes, the draft is almost upon us. This event is pushed on us (mostly by one very large television network) and accompanied by handy, authoritative slogans like

“The Draft Matters.” Unfortunately, it does not matter in the way that the coverage suggests. The draft process above all is imprecise, yet its coverage puts on an air of certainty. Experts babble about how “this guy is a sure thing” and are never held accountable for their poor predictions.

For example, Robert Gallery was hailed by experts as capable of protecting his quarterback’s blind side for the next decade. Watch a Raiders game and ask yourself if any Oakland signal caller is protected on the blind side, seeing side, back side or front side. Tim Couch was the same story. Kiper discussed him as a franchise cornerstone when he was drafted, and a few years later said the pick was one of the bigger mistakes in team history. No one has to stand by what they say, they just say it with energy and a pretty graphic next to them. Anyone is allowed to keep spouting off about how one guy is a sureﬁre star that just can’t be passed on. And then we arrive at the cult of measurables. There may be some value in a 40-yard dash or the three-cone drill, but it is not the point of the process. The point is to get a football player, and that often seems to be overlooked.

Experts babble about how “this guy is a sure thing” and are never held accountable for their predictions.

If a wide receiver can’t run the 40 in under 4.55 seconds, it becomes a stigma. You know who ran a 4.6 40? Jerry Rice. Want a few more? Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin (and Boldin was taken behind Taylor Jacobs and Bryant Johnson because he wasn’t “fast” enough). But it’s the quarterbacks who receive the worst of the physical evaluations, especially in draft coverage. The ﬁrst thing observers look for is strong arms, really strong arms. Then mobility and height are

factored in, far before, you know, actually having football skills. Even after Tom Brady was called “too weak,” “too slow,” and “not athletic enough,” who is the projected top quarterback? Matthew Stafford, because he’s got the rocket arm and can “just make all the throws,”

The draft process is imprecice, yet its coverage puts on an air of certainty.

whatever the hell that means. Somewhere along the way, the emphasis of the draft shifted from actually being a good football player to being a potentially good football player or worse yet, a good prospect. As long as someone could run, shuffle and jump, the ability to tackle, hit and read a play were somehow made secondary. Finally, no draft would be complete without the useless exercise of draft grades. Yes, they are an excuse for fans to get excited, but they don’t mean anything. The measure of a draft is how it helps a team on the field. If the players don’t perform, it was a bad draft. Yet Monday morning, every so-called “expert” will be giving useless letter grades to each team (and even in the draft there is grade inflation, as almost no teams get C’s, D’s and F’s). After all this, it seems clear that the draft is covered far too much. It is fun to imagine how good all these players could be, but in the end that’s all the draft is about: what someone imagines a player can do, something wholly fleeting and entirely illusionary. Will you use this warm Madison Saturday for something other than watching the draft? Tell Ben about it at breiner@wisc.edu.