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Being anti-Hillary is so last season

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Okay, enough! Everywhere I go I hear bizarre, unfounded anti-Hillary Clinton rhetoric, coming from conservatives and liberals alike, and it’s past the point of mere annoyance. I just don’t get it. Have we really all bought into the right-wing, crazy-lie machine? Do caricatures and rumors now completely substitute for fact and understanding in politics? I’d like to think not, but I’m becoming disillusioned.

p. I firmly believe that Hillary is the best candidate for the Democratic nomination in 2008. Out of the top-runners (Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards), she alone has stood up against Republican attack dogs, she alone has gained years of experience both in Congress and in the political realm working on issues important to Americans, and she alone has the ability to bridge the divisive gap among voters in this country.

p Hillary holds a unique position in the race to the White House because she has been in the public spotlight for so many years. Her name is instantly recognized by most Americans — more so than anyone else in the race. Because of her many years of political work and the deep hatred of hard-core Republicans for the Bill Clinton administration, Hillary has been made into an easy target for the right wing. Her unique political history has earned Hillary high negative ratings. You may have already heard about this (since every single person I’ve talked to who doesn’t want Hillary to win seems to bring it up), but it’s almost always taken out of context.

p. Yes, Hillary has the highest negative ratings of all the Democrats, but she also has the highest positive ratings (in a July Diageo Hotline poll, Hillary’s national favorability went up from 48 to 57 percent, an increase higher than any other candidate’s). It’s called “name recognition.” More people have heard of her, so more people have opinions about her. It’s like saying there are more Americans who dislike the Beatles than there are Americans who dislike the Gentlemen of the College. Well, duh.

p. What people also fail to mention is that her negative ratings have steadily dropped over the past few months, while her positive ratings have increased. I see this as a sign that people are finally getting over the lies Republicans have spread about Hillary and deciding that she’s amazing once they hear her speak at their county fair. Hillary’s campaign is based on overcoming the cold, uncaring persona the right wing has constructed for her and showing people the “real” Hillary, someone who is extremely personable and insanely knowledgeable about policy (unlike a certain other president).

p. Moving beyond my own personal and political desires, I think Hillary will win the Democratic nomination. She has been ahead in every single national poll I’ve ever seen, and she’s also ahead in many early primary states: An August Zogby International poll puts Hillary in the lead in Iowa with 30 percent over Edwards’ 23 percent and Obama’s 19 percent. An August American Research Group poll puts Hillary ahead in both South Carolina (Clinton 32 percent, Edwards 24 percent, Obama 21 percent) and New Hampshire (Clinton 37 percent, Obama 17 percent, Edwards 14 percent). It’s also commonly known that Hillary leads in both Nevada and Florida. While I agree with those who claim that polls aren’t everything, it’s also hard to ignore these numbers.

p. Hillary has created a unique position for herself as both a strong Democrat and a political moderate. This is not a contradiction in her actions or beliefs; it speaks to her ability to compromise and work across the aisle, while maintaining her progressive values. After nearly 7 years of reckless foreign policies, cronyism and mistrust, we need a president who will act both with strength and pragmatism. We need a president with the experience and knowledge necessary to put our country on a different track. Mostly, though, we need to nominate a Democrat who can kick some Republican ass in 2008. Seriously, Hillary is the (wo)man for the job.

p. __Devan Barber is a senior at the College.__

Feeding furry friends

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It’s a dewy September morning. As the sun peers over the Wren Chapel, you assume another beautiful day has begun. Looking over the Sunken Garden and the muddy divots made by frisbee fanatics, you catch a glimpse of a fidgeting McDonalds’ bag. With a Rainbow sandal gripped in one hand and your heart in another, you approach the paper phantom with caution.

p. With the sandal you poke the bag. What trembles out of the lip of the Happy Meal leaves you breathless. It’s a bleary-eyed squirrel with dried saliva cobwebbed in its nappy brown hair. His chilling stare looks past you before a final whimper as he collapses into the same land in which he once buried his nuts. Type two diabetes has claimed another creature of the wild.

p. With the onset of another academic year, what spells 15 pounds for collegiate teens nationwide means death by glucose for God’s less bipedal creatures.

p. I draw attention to the College specifically because it deals a double blow to its woodland friends. Not only do the furry felines and rambunctious rodents suffer from the half-eaten Wawa sandwiches, there is a preponderant supply of stale cornbread and ginger beer provided by our time-capsule tourist attraction, Colonial Williamsburg. Nine months of college junk food plus 12 months a la colonial equals 21 months out of 12 where Bambi’s friends lapse into comas.

p. But I digress here. In my column about the Wren cross last year, I offered little solution, as I found it simply God’s matter to resolve; however, as that same Lord above let Adam name the animals, I am here to name the solution.

p. First and foremost, I think we can all agree that the current dumpsters are a dramatic strain on our senses. Newly constructed waste receptacles will be made out of pure Nalgene in a robotically vacuumed chamber. Squirrels will not be able to get in or out. Each bin will have a scanner akin to the College’s dorm entrances, and will require proper student ID (as well as proper licensing and waste-disposal training).

p. I find the recycling at the College vastly inadequate as well. It’s only a means of helping the libbys sleep well with their “eco-friendly” contrivance while the money-snorting capitalists still burn the trash in the same furnace. New subdivisions must be made for waste. There will be the standard: paper, plastic and aluminum. But within those categories will be A-, B- and C-types. A-types will stand for glucose-contaminated, B-types for lactose and gluten and all C-types will be for the germ and venereal-tainted.

p. At this point you must certainly think, “But Mr. PETA — what if this isn’t foolproof and I, myself, am a fool?” Obviously I’ve thought of this as well. Effective immediately, every student at the College will receive one bamboo shoot and an insulin blow dart. GER eight has been added to graduation requirements featuring classes in squirrel resuscitation and Aiming 101.

p. The best alternative, though, remains the same ­— whether food or trash, don’t feed the animals. You never know when they’ll drop dead.

p. __Daniel Wolfe is a sophomore at the College.__

Branding the Tribe

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__Committee on pace to unveil new logo at Homecoming__

The College’s logo committee is on pace to have a proposal for the school’s new logo ready in time for President Gene Nichol to unveil it at this year’s Homecoming, should the President choose to do so.

p. “I think it’s fair to say that we’re going to be able to [have the logo ready by Homecoming] without too much difficulty,” Sam Sadler, vice president of student affairs and committee chair, said. “It depends on whether or not [Nichol] likes our recommendation, of course.”

p. The committee was formed after the College dropped its appeal of the NCAA’s ruling that called the Tribe’s feathers logo “hostile and abusive.”

p. The logo committee consists of 13 members, including Sadler, four alumni, two students (including student-athlete Kyra Kaylor of the women’s basketball team), two professors, one administrator and one graduate student, as well as Athletics Director Terry Driscoll and Women’s Field Hockey Head Coach Peel Hawthorne, ’80.

p. “This is a group that’s worked together really well,” Sadler said. “Everyone comes to our meetings. The people who are on it really want to be there.”

p. The committee has poured through countless logo ideas and submissions and has now whittled it down to what Sadler calls a “workable number.” They have hired an artist who is currently working with the last few ideas.

p. “We’re probably a couple of weeks away from being close to something we can recommend,” Sadler said.

p. One question that remains is that of the College’s mascot. The Tribe is currently without a mascot, and has not had one since the amorphous green blob known as Colonel Ebirt (who was never the school’s official mascot) saw his final action in 2005. As the logo committee was formed, they were charged with the task of recommending a new logo, but were also told that they were free to explore the question of a mascot.

p. “The sentiment on the committee is that they would like to [come up with a mascot],” Sadler said. “But they felt that we should do the logo first and get that done, then move to the others.”

p. Sadler said that the committee has received many mascot recommendations, just as they had for the logo. He also added that he hopes the College can have a mascot sometime in the near future.

p. “I’d like to see us have a mascot,” Sadler said. “I think it’s great for marketing. I think it helps affirm identity. I think the great challenge is finding one that people would look at and say ‘Oh, that makes sense’ or ‘Oh, isn’t that great.’ Because mascots can often be controversial.”

p. Sadler added that he believes that if the College were to come up with a new mascot, the logo committee would be right for the job.

p. “I would hope that a broad-based committee, with the kind of representation this has on it, might be better positioned to propose something for the institution,” Sadler said. “But we’ll see.”
The Tribe has been using a variety of logos for their sports teams. The script “Tribe” logo runs across both of the end zones in Zable Stadium, and on the jerseys of the men’s soccer team. The interlocking “WM” logo that used to feature the feathers has also been used as well. Sadler said he does not know what will happen to these additional logos once the new one is revealed.

p. “I think a lot of it depends on how good the new design is and if we want it to be on everything. Hopefully, it will be [good enough],” Sadler said. “I don’t know that it is on anybody’s mind that [the other logos] will all disappear.”

p. Regardless of whether or not the new logo takes over as the only one on campus, Sadler said that he hopes it will successfully brand the Tribe.

p. “We want people to look at it and say, ‘That’s William and Mary,’” Sadler said. “We’re intent on being able to accomplish that, and hopefully we can.”

Defense prepares for Keydets’ option

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__Tribe has won past 21 meetings; Nicholas ‘doubtful’__

p. Tribe football travels to Lexington, Va. tomorrow to take on the Virginia Military Institute Keydets in a 1 p.m. non-conference game. The meeting marks the 85th between the teams, and the 63rd consecutive season in which the two teams have played. The Tribe has won the last 21 matchups.

p. The College is looking to rebound after last Thursday’s 49-31 loss to the University of Delaware, in which the Tribe defense gave up an NCAA Football Championship Subdivision record-tying seven touchdowns to running back Omar Cuff.

p. “Defensively, we need to get better,” Head Coach Jimmye Laycock said. “We’re extremely young. We kind of let some things snowball a little bit defensively [against Delaware]. Whereas a more experienced team would have been able to regroup, we had a little harder time doing that.”

p. This week the defense will have to adjust from defending the pro-style power running attack of Delaware to defending the option attack of VMI, who won their season opener last weekend by a score of 20-0 over Lock Haven University. Jones said that the change won’t make too much of a difference.

p. “It’s just like any other week. Every offense we face runs different twists and different things,” Jones said. “We’ve just got to focus in and get our individual assignments down.”

p. Laycock was far more optimistic about the play of his offense, particularly junior quarterback Jake Phillips, who set a single-game Tribe record for passing yards with 433 against Delaware.

p. “I was very impressed with the play of Jake Phillips,” Laycock said. “It’s not so much the yardage, because I was a little surprised at that, but it was the decision-making that he had during the game.”

p. Phillips and the rest of the Tribe offense will be without junior wide receiver D.J. McAulay, who is out for the season with a knee injury. Also, senior wide receiver Joe Nicholas, who missed the Delaware game with an injury, is unlikely to see action, as Laycock called his chances of playing Saturday “doubtful.” In light of this, redshirt freshman Cameron Dohse will likely get his first career start at the wideout position.

p. While the Tribe does carry a huge series winning streak into their game with VMI, Laycock is not taking the Keydets and their wide-open option running attack lightly, particularly not on the road.

p. “It’s always tough to play over there in Lexington,” Laycock said.

Sports in Brief: Men’s Basketball

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ESPNU’s sixth-annual BracketBusters competition will once again feature the College this season. The Tribe has been slated to host a game during the two-day event, which will take place Feb. 22-23. Last season the College fell to Fairfield University 61-45 in their BracketBusters debut. The Colonial Athletic Association, which has accumulated a 7-2 record in televised BracketBusters games over the past three years, will feature all 12 of their basketball programs in the 100-team event. George Mason foreshadowed their improbable run to the final four in 2006 with an impressive BracketBusters victory over Wichita State, while Drexel made their case for an NCAA bid by knocking off Creighton in a BracketBusters tilt last season.

Sports in Brief: Women’ Soccer

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__College opens home schedule with Tribe Invite __

The College (1-1) will host the annual Tribe Invitational this weekend as the University of Oklahoma, University of Maine and Virginia Commonwealth University head to Williamsburg for the season-opening tournament. The Tribe shared the Invitational title last season after defeating Princeton University, 2-0, and drawing even against North Carolina State, 1-1. The College enters the Invitational following a 3-0 victory over N.C. State, highlighted by a pair of goals from senior Emily Kittleson.

Sports in Brief: Baseball

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__Tribe players excel in New England summer league__

p. Juniors Mike Sheridan, Robbie Nickle and Larry Stanfield helped lead the Vermont Mountaineers to a successful defense of the New England Collegiate Baseball League championship title this summer. Sheridan hit .320 for the season, tallying eight doubles and three triples. Nickle added six doubles of his own, in addition to belting three homeruns and recording 16 RBI. Stanfield preformed well in the field, accumulating 71 assists and 36 put-outs during the season. Sheridan and Stanfield proved instrumental to the Mountaineers post-season success as Sheridan batted at a .348 clip during the playoffs and Stanfield recorded a crucial double in Vermont’s 14-8 victory in the first game of the championship series.

Angels to take West, Yankees to secure wild card

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With Major League Baseball’s stretch run about to set in, here is a look at the playoff contenders in the American League.

p. **AL EAST**
The Boston Red Sox currently hold the best record in baseball at 84-56, having enjoyed success despite injuries that have limited the home run production of Manny Ramirez (20) and David Ortiz (26). With home run production down from Boston’s big hitters, the Sox have relied on strong pitching performances to build and hold a six-game lead in the division over the New York Yankees. The ace of Boston’s rotation, Josh Beckett, is tied for most wins in the majors with 17 and is posting a 3.30 ERA this season. His performance has enabled Boston to make up for lower production by Ramirez and Ortiz.

p. The New York Yankees are 78-62 and sit six games behind the Red Sox in the East. The Yankees have had mixed success with their pitching rotation this year, as Chien-Ming Wang is tied with Beckett for the most wins in baseball with 17. However, Roger Clemens is only 6-6 and is suffering from a day-to-day elbow injury and Mike Mussina, at 8-10, has lost his last three starts. The offense is in better shape, as the Yankees have benefited from Alex Rodriguez’s league-leading 48 HRs and 138 RBI.
Prediction: Boston wins the division. New York wins the wild card.

p. **AL Central**
The Cleveland Indians are 81-58 and currently hold a seven-game lead over the Detroit Tigers in the ALC, having been red hot with a 9-1 record over their last ten games. The pitching performances of C.C. Sabathia (16-7), Fausto Carmona (15-8) and Paul Byrd (14-5) have been the catalysts to Cleveland’s success. Additionally, Grady Sizemore, Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner have produced steady run production for the Indians, as each has recorded over 20 HRs, while Sizemore has tallied 100 RBI.
Detroit has suffered from the injury bug this season, as starting pitcher Kenny Rogers (3-2) was hampered by an elbow injury this season and was also out for three months with surgery due to a blood clot in his pitching arm. Gary Sheffield is also currently on the disabled list, making a late-season run less likely.
Prediction: Cleveland wins the division and Detroit misses the playoffs.

p. **AL West**
The Los Angeles Angels are 82-57 and have a 7.5 game lead in the division over Seattle. The Angels have had excellent pitching performances out of Kelvim Escobar (15-7), John Lackey (16-8) and Jered Weaver (11-6). Combined with the offense of Vladimir Guerrero (22 HRs, 110 RBI), these pitching performances have put the division firmly in Los Angeles’ control.

p. The Seattle Mariners are 74-64, and 1-9 in the last 10 games. Seattle has suffered from weak pitching this year, having only two players with over 10 wins — Miguel Batista (13-10) and Felix Hernandez (11-7). The poor pitching means that Seattle is the only team in AL playoff contention currently allowing more runs than they score. Despite Ichiro Suzuki’s .352 batting average and Adrian Beltre’s 22 HRs, this team seems doomed by the lack of a strong starting rotation.

p. Prediction: Los Angeles wins the division, Seattle misses playoffs.
Dave Erhart may be emailed at daerha@wm.edu.

College receives “generic” bomb threats

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The College has been the target of several anonymous bomb threats, according to an e-mail sent to students by Vice President for Student Affairs Sam Sadler.

p. In the e-mail, Sadler described the threats — received by e-mail — as “generic” and noted that College police and the FBI have regarded the threats “not credible.” According to Sadler, many universities throughout the country have received similar threats in the past year.

p. “All of the messages have been anonymous and quite generic in nature — so generic in fact that they have not pinpointed a specific location,” Sadler said in his e-mail.

p. “We have not released details about these hoaxes, evacuated buildings or used our emergency notification system because we do not want to encourage more of this behavior.”

p. Sadler also said that the College’s Emergency Management Team would notify students and faculty about any further threats.

p. He also advised students to contact College police at 221-4596 if they receive any suspicious e-mails.

JMU’s student government president takes platform from Pilchen

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p. Junior Zach Pilchen’s student assembly presidential campaign platform has apparently worked twice: here at the College and also at James Madison University.

p. “The majority of my platform ideas were taken from the Student Assembly campaign of Zach Pilchen and Valerie Hopkins at the College of William and Mary,” Brandon Eickel, JMU’s student government president, wrote in a letter to students there. “I would like to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to Zach and Valerie as well as the JMU community for not making this clear last spring during my campaign.”

p. Eight of the 18 bulleted initiatives listed on Eickel’s campaign website — which was taken off the internet at the request of Pilchen — are nearly identical to those listed on the Pilchen campaign website.

p. For example, Pilchen’s site states: “Zach started a composting program with dining services to turn leftover food into nutrient-rich compost for William and Mary flower beds.” Eickel’s site, which went online during the last days of Pilchen’s campaign, states: “I would like to start a composting program with dining services in order to turn leftover food into nutrient-rich compost for JMU’s flowerbeds and trees.”

p. Eickel also uses several unusual phrases that are nearly identical to phrases used on Pilchen’s site, such as, “Some RAs perceive their role to be that of pseudo-police officers.”

p. In an e-mail to The Flat Hat, Eickel said that he wanted to incorporate great ideas from other schools into his campaign. “I felt as if my ability to make these things happen on JMU’s campus was more significant than where the ideas originated,” he wrote. “I realize this situation should have been handled differently, recognize my mistake, and have fully taken responsibility.”

p. Pilchen said yesterday that he heard last spring that Eickel’s campaign website was well-constructed and that he wanted to check it out for himself. He said that as he read through the site, he realized many of the ideas and phrases were taken directly from his own campaign website.

p. “I talked to him and asked him to pull down the website and issue a clarification to JMU,” Pilchen said, adding that he did not want to get further involved in the situation. “JMU will have to work it out for themselves.”

p. Mallory Micetich, a senator in JMU’s student government, said that the student government there stands behind Eickel. “It takes a two-thirds vote to impeach, and I know there aren’t two-thirds that want to impeach him,” she said. “He’s accepting full responsibility and, personally, I believe he’s doing it with extreme integrity.”

p. “Brandon’s a great guy, and we want William and Mary to know that he never meant to do it in anything other than a flattering manner,” she added.

p. Ilk Ghavami, who ran a write-in campaign against Eickel and lost by a margin of approximately 40 points, said he believes Eickel may have had motivations for plagiarizing other than just bringing new ideas to JMU. “It seems as though his intent was to get elected,” Ghavami said. “Maybe he thought that because the William and Mary election was over, this would go under the table.”

p. He said that he hopes JMU students take the situation seriously.

p. “It’s wrong. He cheated, he plagiarized, and now he needs to face the consequences,” Ghavami said. “I feel that this shouldn’t be forgotten because this tarnishes the image that JMU has.”

p. Because student politics are not part of academic coursework, Ghavami said Eickel most likely would not be tried for plagiarism by the school’s honor council.

p. The College’s honor council chair, Judd Kennedy ’08, said yesterday that if a similar situation occurred at the College, the honor council would have jurisdiction.

p. “Our process is a little bit different from JMU’s,” he said, noting that the honor code holds students accountable for both their academic work and their personal lives. “When anyone directly plagiarizes and asserts that someone else’s work is their own, it’s taken very seriously by the council.”

p. Eickel’s brother, Ryan Eickel ’10, is an SA Senator at the College.

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