The Pilot
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Page A3
Opinions
U.S. automakers help themselves - to our tax dollars
By Lauren Taylor
Pilot editor in chief
Benjamin Franklin is often
credited with the saying, “God
helps those who help them
selves,” a phrase that encour
ages perpetual hard work and
diligence.
But he took it a step fur
ther, saying, “Without continual
growth and progress, such words
as improvement, achievement,
and success have no meaning,”
That couldn’t be more true
to the Detroit Three right now.
The auto industry is looking
for a government garment with
which to cover its naked incom
petence.
Ford and Chrysler are in
deep but not nearly as badly
as General Motors. Toyota has
been beating the brakes off of
GM in sales since last year, a
disgraceful situation, and it’s
all due to their lack of ingenuity
and bad business practices.
When foreign car compa
nies were marketing innovative,
fuel-efficient cars to Americans,
GM offered us the Denali and
pointed to a gas pump.
Now that money’s tight,
luxury SUVs aren’t moving off
the lots.
Sure, there’s the Saturn, a
U.S. brand that gets good gas
mileage, but why has it been
up to other countries to lead the
auto industry in anything but
luxury automobiles?
I guess what I’m really won
dering is why domestic auto
makers didn’t come up with the
Smart car. To be honest. I’m
pretty jealous that German en
trepreneur Thomas Heidemann
sold his construction business
and decided to make, what I
think, is a great contribution to
the auto industry.
Why couldn’t the Detroit
Three pop that one out?
Now they’re asking for a
stack of billions to help keep
their companies going and com
pensate employee layoffs.
There were several ways
they could have foreseen this
coming, and in continuing to
chum out gas-guzzlers, the signs
of the times were ignored.
But it isn’t all their faults.
The feds could have coughed
up some change to fund more
research for fuel alternatives
when the hippies were scream
ing for it, especially in lieu of
ethanol being just as costly as
gasoline.
If the trinity would have
been willing to adapt, it may
have prevented their grievous
situations.
As seems to be the routine
these days, American pockets
being are called upon to pay the
price. I’m sure we would have
been happy to pay a smaller tab
earlier on. An investment in re
search would have yielded a fleet
of returns. Now the tab goes on
our unemployment rate.
If it was up to me. I’d make
all the people who told us to
buy Escalades put Thanksgiv
ing dinner on their employees’
tables. But President-Elect
Barack Obama is serving up a
bill to President Bush gobbling
a different tune by Turkey Day.
The proposed bailout is $25
billion, but more than that will
be needed to take care of busi
ness.
An additional $20 billion
may get tacked onto that to get
the Detroit Three out of hot wa
ter, as reported by CNN.
I guess this is the excep
tion to Franklin’s admonition
to work hard and help yourself
After all, why would a bunch
of CEOs need their own help
or God’s, for that matter, when
they have government bailouts?
I suppose Mr. Franklin
couldn’t have predicted this
scenario.
NOAH, HE WAS Floating his
STOCK WHILE EVERYONE
ELSE WAS FN LIQUIDATION.
From the
Brain of
Jermaine
By Jermaine Gash
o
Let 5 Talk Politics
Obama presidency not about black and white, it’s about a better America for all
By Diana Palka
Pi/ot staff writer
Let it be known, I voted for
Obama. I support a majority of
his platform and I am anticipat
ing a much-needed change in
the policies of our nation.
Now that we’ve set the re
cord straight. I’d also like to
make it known that I am also
aware of what he doesn’t stand
for, and I think that must be
cleared up as well.
Obama doesn’t stand for “re
verse racism.” It is not black-on-
white racism, which is racism
just as much as white-on-black
racism is.
Reverse racism simply does
not exist, and that is something
the media and the greater popu
lation must understand.
Obama doesn’t stand for
another black movement. He
is not Malcom X. He is not the
Rev. A1 Sharpton.
He is a medium of change
for the entire United States, not
just black America.
I know, I know. I am not
black. I know that there is noth
ing in my ancestry that can
even compare to the magnitude
of slavery. I know that there
is nothing I can relate to, as a
white female, that can equal the
struggle of blacks in the Ameri
can South during the 1950s and
’60s.
Because of this I also real
ize that I cannot share the same
joy, pride and sense of accom
plishment over the impact of an
African American man being
president.
However, I do understand
how “big” it is for our country to
have Obama as president-elect,
and the global implications his
election has.
Obama was not voted in as
president of any single race. He
is president of our nation.
He is not in office to cater
to one demographic, something
that must be realized by all rac
es, political parties, creeds and
genders.
I am not asking anyone to
stop showing pride, or to re
nounce any beliefs they hold or
causes that need attention.
I am simply drawing atten
tion to the need for unity in our
nation.
We all have a responsibil
ity to remain color blind and to
realize that this is all more than
just black and white.
Fan favorite ‘Total Request Live’ passes into television liistory
By Emma M. Lind
Harvard Crimson, Har
vard U.
On Sunday, MTV’s
“Total Request Live” is
sued its swan song, and I
wasn’t listening. Dubbed
TRL by its hordes of dev
otees — among whose
ranks I used to count my
self— the show marked a
generation of awkward and
not-so-awkward teenagers
who tuned in for a decade
to watch, fanatically, their
favorite “celebs” battle for
the top spot on the show’s
daily music video count
down.
In middle school I
watched TRL religiously.
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falling in lust with Lance
Bass and experiment
ing with eye glitter in the
bathroom mirror. Today,
‘N Sync is dissolved,
Lance Bass is gay and
TRL silently ran its last
episode while I sat in my
room pretending to work
on my thesis.
I feel a certain degree of
guilt about letting my last
chance to watch the show
slip by, not because I was
waiting with bated breath
to see who was number
one, but because I cannot
imagine my 13-year-old
self feeling anything but
shame at the way her 21-
year-old counterpart for
got this defining feature of
her adolescence.
For all of TRL’s ap
parent mindlessness, it
represented a crucial slice
of pop culture that I loved
and felt a part of.
TRL facilitated the
sort of direct public en
gagement with artists that
you can’t get on YouTube,
eMusic or iTunes.
Beyond the viewer and
the video, TRL was about
you, your best friend, host
Carson Daly, the hundreds
of people waving signs
outside of MTV’s studio
in Times Square and Brit
ney Spears before she got
trashy. It was bubblegum
beautiful.
The passing of TRL is
a reminder that the media
institutions that I always
viewed as essential and
contemporary are fading
away.
TRL’s viewership has
been dropping since its
peak at the turn of the
century, and its daily aver
age number of viewers of
more than 700,000 over
the past 10 years pales
in comparison to MTV’s
top rated show right now
— “The Hills” — which
regularly lures four mil
lion.
When you watched
TRL, it was possible to
envision yourself, maybe
someday, as one of those
sign-wavers floors below.
But hanging out with
celebrities is so 20th cen
tury. Culture today values
actually being a celebrity
yourself Shows that de
pict the “real lives” of
young people — like “The
Hills” or the phenomenal
ly popular “Gossip Girl”
— present viewers with a
more palpable alternative
to their own life.
But I confess: When I
read on Tuesday that TRL
had run its final episode on
Sunday, my reaction was
completely self-centered:
a melodramatic response
to a reminder of the pas
sage of time.
A generation of college
kids who grew up on TRL
didn’t care about its death,
and as I didn’t watch on
Sunday night, Daly said,
“We’re old now.”
I’ve finally resigned
myself to the idea that I’m
on the forestalled brink of
adulthood.
Time flies and things
change, whether for the
better, the worse, or the
entirely indifferent.
Sports
Bulldogs out of tournament after defeat by UNC Asheville
through the Asheville defense, giv
ing Gardner-Webb its first goal of
the game in the 75th minute. The
goal was Morrison’s seventh of the
By Andrew Veeder
Pilot sports writer
On Nov. 13, the Gardner-Webb
men’s soccer team was eliminated
in the first round of the Big South
Conference Tournament when the
Runnin’ Bulldogs fell to UNC Ashe
ville 4-2.
GWU concluded its season 5-3
in conference play.
Commenting on the season in
retrospect, head Coach Tony Setzer
said:
“The season was positive from
a conference stand point. I was
pleased with the results.”
UNC Asheville scored first in
the affair after a turnover midway
through the first half The Ashe
ville offense made quick work of
the turnover, sending the ball deep
into Gardner-Webb territory. After a
header and a few slick moves, fresh
man Bryan Bartels found the back of
the net, just above the out stretched
hands of senior goalkeeper Dane
Geraci.
The goal proved to be the only
one for either team in the first half.
After the break, the Runnin’
Bulldogs returned to the pitch ready
for action. The Gardner-Webb of
fense applied as much pressure as
possible, trying to rebound from the
1-0 deficit.
Asheville’s Ryan Haupt led the
charge again for his team. From the
30-yard line booted the ball into the
back of the net, putting the team up
2-0.
“We squandered chances, they
finished one, got another and then
we had to chase them the rest of the
game,” said Setzer.
The Asheville Bullddgs again
found themselves in a promising
position when Alex Morrow scored
10 minutes later.
The silent Gardner-Webb offense
picked up its intensity, and didn’t
go down without a fight. Morrison
connected with a well-placed free
kick that was unscathed as it passed
season.
Only five minutes later, Ashe
ville scored once again off a throw-
in.
In the last minutes of the game,
Morrison scored again, but the goal
proved to be too little, too late as
Asheville advanced into the semi
finals of the Big South Conference
Tournament.
The season has ended for the
Runnin’ Bulldogs men’s soccer
team with an overall record of 6-11.
The record in Big South Conference
play was 5-3. The Bulldogs were the
fourth seed in the conference tour
nament.
Setzer seemed optimistic about
building off of this year’s perfor
mance for the 2009 season.
“This season allowed us to build
a solid foundation for our fijture in
the Big South.”