NEWS; ALUMNI SOFTBALL (JRNL 11H DIVERSITY STORY-NOT IN CHRONICLE)

University alumni played current student softball players in a game Saturday afternoon; it is an annual tradition for the current team to play the alumni for the final game of the fall part of the season.

The game was a part of an alumni day of sorts for the team: prior to the game, the team ate breakfast with their senior counterparts, and after, they held a barbecued lunch.

The game is held in the fall, instead of the spring, the regular time for the season. “We get better turnout in the fall,” Janie Edwards said, the wife of current head coach Bill Edwards. “24 alumni came back this year.”

The game is also for alumni to give whatever back they can to the school from which they came. “We support coach in all he’s done for us,” said Crystal Boid, a 1994 University graduate, and a 2-time Academic All American.

The game itself was not a hotly contested one, as the alumni appeared to be having more fun than competing. However, the current student-athletes were coached to take the game seriously.

The game is also preparation for the upcoming spring season for the students. “It is part of the conditioning process,” freshman second baseman Michele DesPasquale said. “It is an honor to play the alumni, and to uphold their tradition.”

DesPasquale enjoyed playing the alumni. “I could have done better, but I had a good time and had fun [regardless],” she said.

CONCERT REVIEW; ALL AMERICAN REJECTS F/ UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF GIANTS, IMA ROBOT, DAMONE (NOT PRINTED IN CHRONICLE)

Concert Review: All American Rejects f/
Under the Influence of Giants, Ima Robot, Damone

3/5

Girls screamed, guys cheered, and everyone had a ball at Adams Playhouse with the All American Rejects Thursday night.

The three opening bands seemed to take a toll on the crowd as they impatiently waited for their beloved Rejects to take the stage.

The first, Damone, sounded as they should be opening a show for either Joan Jett or Motley Crüe. The set was a headbanger-fest, with the requisite soloing and posturing by the band members. Tech problems plagued their set as well, with the vocals almost drowning out the rest of the band.

Next, Ima Robot seemed to go over the heads of many. Their noise-rock, dance-punk sound did not resonate with the crowd, despite their convincing performance. The only people that seemed to be into their music were the first five or six rows, stage center. They were rabid. The crowd was beginning to lose patience.

Lastly, Under the Influence of Giants had people dancing, but they did not fare well technologically either. The instruments sounded quite soft, giving them a sort of dead sound in the auditorium. However, more liked them than the previous performer.

Verizon Wireless sponsored the concert, and they made their presence known throughout the show.

Insignia was lit up on the curtains, two panels with their logo stood on the outside of the stage and a large screen with the Verizon logo on it displayed the names of the bands performing.

Between sets, Verizon allowed the crowd to text message onto the screen so all could see. This was quite a crowd pleaser, considering it often enflamed sports rivalries, contained shout-outs and expressions of love.

The headliners, All American Rejects, played a startlingly short 50-minute set to an adoring crowd. Their overwhelming stage presence mitigated their supreme lack of talent.

Constantly they were playing off the energy of the crowd, and vice versa. Their songs are incessantly catchy, and almost all were singing the words with reckless abandon. Highlights from the set were mostly singles, including their debut hit “Swing, Swing” and set opener “Dirty Little Secret.”

NEWS; SHIELD LAW FOR JOURNALISTS STUCK IN SENATE

Proposed Shield Law for Journalists Stalled in the Senate

If passed, a law will soon protect journalists from being subpoenaed by grand juries to identify their anonymous sources.

The bill, originally proposed in 2004, but brought back for this Congress by Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), Arlen Specter (R-Penn.), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Bob Graham (D-Fla.), calls for a separate judge to determine if the Justice Department can subpoena a reporter’s testimony about sources, if the article cited may have compromised national security.

Although the Senate’s Judiciary Committee has repeatedly stalled the bill since its introduction, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a speech to the National Press Club in Washington that he will place the bill on the floor of the Senate during the lame-duck session of Congress.

He will face strong opposition from many Republican senators, as well as the Justice Department and the White House, who are pushing hardest against the bill.

“[This] places a thumb on the scale in favor of the reporter's privilege and tips the balance against executive branch judgments about the nature and scope of damage or potential damage to our nation's security,” Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty said in a hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Support for the proposed bill came from a surprising place, that of former Solicitor General Theodore Olson. “It extends to federal courts the nearly unanimous determination by the States that forcing journalists to disclose the identity of their confidential sources is often likely to do more damage than provide any concrete benefit to the public welfare,” he said in his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Progress in the House has been slow as well, as they are waiting on movement in the Senate before fully examining the bill. The House version of the bill has bipartisan support, including its Republican sponsor, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.).

The proposed shield law has received high profile coverage in the aftermath of the 85-day jailing of former New York Times reporter Judith Miller over the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame and the threatened jailing of two San Francisco Chronicle reporters over the BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative) steroids scandal in Major League Baseball.

The BALCO story involves two reporters, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, who won national awards and praise from President Bush for their reporting on rampant steroid use in Major League Baseball. BALCO is a sports nutrition center in California, and the reports from the San Francisco Chronicle led the league to adopt new, more stringent, rules concerning the use of illicit and banned substances.

Journalism professors were unanimous in their approval of the proposed law, despite its political implications.

“It is a great thing, but it got caught up in the political mess because of Judy Miller at the New York Times,” said Carol Fletcher, an assistant professor of journalism.

“It is a positive thing,” Margaret Finucane, another assistant professor of journalism, said. “Stories will no longer fall through the cracks.”

At the University, the reaction of students to the proposed law has been mixed.

“Insomuch as it protects journalists, the shield law is definitely a positive, but now there's no risk factor for government officials to consider when leaking important information,” Nick Place, a sophomore print journalism major, said. “Leakers will be invulnerable and the government will become porous on every single level.”

Sophomore Kelly Glista doubted its passage.

“I think the proposed law is a great step for journalists but I have severe doubts that it will be passed any time soon,” she said. “It’s the kind of step that the government will postpone as long as possible.”

OP-ED; UNFAIR RELIGIOUS BENEFITS OVER SECULARISM

The Wall that Doesn’t Exist

Thomas Jefferson once said that the Constitution “[built] a wall of separation between church and state.” Policies cited in a feature in the October 8, 2006 New York Times lead me to believe otherwise.

Religious organizations—Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc—get benefits, tax breaks and exceptions that no other group is entitled to get. These benefits are shifting the playing field away from free enterprise, putting secular nonaffiliated organizations out of business, as well as allowing the religious institutions to break the law.

The feature highlights the example of day care centers in Alabama. One center, run by Ethel White in Auburn, is always under the threat of inspection by state and federal authorities. In her center, “There must be continuing training for the staff…All cabinets must have safety locks. Medications for the children must be kept under lock and key, and refrigerated.” These requirements seem reasonable, considering that the safety and welfare of children is at stake.

Especially since Alabama had to tighten its licensing requirements after 12 children died in licensed and unlicensed centers.

However, a day care center run by the Rev. Ray Fuson in the Harvest Temple Church of God in Montgomery is not subject to such requirements. It does not need a license from the state to operate. His center can function as it pleases, when it pleases, how it pleases, with no such threat of inspection, ever.

This specific example is isolated only to Alabama, but it is a microcosm of a much larger problem. Religious organizations are encroaching further into society every day—“from day care centers to funeral homes, from ice cream parlors to fitness clubs, from bookstores to broadcasters”—and they are allowed to operate outside the laws that govern the free market, putting out legitimate businesses and destroying nonprofits.

In addition to not being subject to safety requirements, faith based institutions are not held to civil rights requirements when hiring workers: they may discriminate on race, gender, sexual orientation, nationality and age, if they so desire. The faith-based institutions are immune from all litigation in regards to their hiring practices.

Faith Based institutions do not have to report annual receipts and donations to the IRS, as non-religious centers must do. They have been given healthy tax rebates, despite the fact that the institutions pay no federal taxes to begin with. Further, all states have long exempted religious houses of worship from property taxes.

According to the New York Times article, since 1989, over “200 special arrangements, protections or exemptions for religious groups or their adherents were tucked into Congressional legislation, covering topics ranging from pensions to immigration to land use.” Court decisions from all districts— federal, state and local—all reflect the same pattern as well.

This “religious affirmative action,” coined by John Witte Jr., director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at the Emory University law school, directly contradicts the free exercise and freedom from establishment clauses of the First Amendment concerning religion. It goes against the spirit of the amendment itself. The founders wanted to allow religious enterprise, but not at the sacrifice of secular society and business.

Yet the Christian Right, many conservative lawmakers and others say that there is currently a “war on religion.” One must wonder exactly from what world these deluded thoughts come.

CONCERT REVIEW; SECRET MACHINES

Concert Review: Secret Machines
Irving Plaza
October 2, 2006

For nearly two hours, New York City’s Secret Machines reached for outer space, and took a packed house at Irving Plaza with them.

The band’s brand of psych-pop trippiness is largely unique. Critics constantly compare the sound to Pink Floyd, but there is much more to it. Taking cues from kraut-rockers Neu!, Led Zeppelin’s stomp, the aforementioned Pink Floyd, and U2’s stadium pop, Secret Machines, on record, create a sound matchless by anyone else.

When performing live, they are unearthly. The sound is so loud, so mesmerizing, and so enchanting, one cannot hear, understand or move for days.

The show was the first of a North American tour in which the band plays “in the round.” This refers to the band’s stage setup, which features a cylindrical metal apparatus with large and small lights, huge stacks of speakers, smaller ones for the people next to the stage, three platforms for the band members (guitar, keys/bass, drums), pedals and monitors everywhere. Between the members were four huge light pods, which shone bright with the highs and lows of the performance.

For 45 minutes, an opening act stood above a laptop on one of the stage platforms. Using his laptop, and a pedal or two for effects, he created a spacey, ambient soundscape that sounded quite boring at times, and exciting at others. At first, it seemed like he was testing the speakers, and not a performer, but after the lights were turned onto him, it was quite obvious that he was the opening act. He never announced his name, or any form of identification.

For a half hour, the stage stood dark. No filler music filled the hall. People were contemplative, waiting with bated breath, stretching to see if the band was coming on stage soon.

Then the Secret Machines took to the stage to thunderous applause. They opened with one of the songs of their debut EP, September 000 “What Used to be French.” The song began with pulsing bass chords played by keyboardist/bassist Brandon Curtis; he made the venue’s floor vibrate, and the crowd was instantly involved. Drummer Josh Garza began pounding the skins of the drums as if he was going to punch through them like piñata paper. Guitarist Ben Curtis (Brandon’s brother) appeared more animated than ever before.

The set was an extremely short two hours, including a 30-minute encore. They played songs, old and new, with most being off their latest release Ten Silver Drops. As with all their performances, the band noodled around and jammed off of the main song, much to the delight of the enthralled and mystified crowd. Songs normally five or six minutes would be over ten, eight or nine minute songs fifteen, and so on.

As with any live set, there were a few minor mishaps, mostly related to technological problems. For example, in order to play “Lightning Blue Eyes” Brandon Curtis requires a bass, and it was in substandard condition. It rendered him unable to play the song in its original form; rather he played the notes instead of thicker-sounding chords.

The power and riveting nature of the music is indescribable. One must experience it in order to feel the encompassing wall of sound put forth by the band while performing live.

ALBUM REVIEW; KASABIAN

Kasabian- Empire
2/5

Big-ness does not always translate into greatness. Neither does an overt attempt to try and outdo a debut record; that they call the sophmore slump.

Kasabian is a band that wants music to return to the ‘druggy’ era of the 80’s: baggy pants, rave dance clubs, and the like.

Kasabian suffers from both problems on their sophmore record, Empire. The band's ambition is boundless, and so is its attempt at a modern rock epic.

The band hails from Leicester, England, and the British influence is found all over the record. Kasabian directly takes from “mentors” Oasis, Primal Scream, the Stone Roses, and other reknowned British acts.

“Empire,” the title track, is a weak attempt to start the album. With stop-start rhythms and strange harmonies, the song falls flat. The song is the lead single of the album, and has received little or no airplay.

“Apnoea” is total chaos on record. There is no discernible melody and no direction in the song.

Highlights are few and far between, but standout tracks include album closer “The Doberman,” which builds up over the course of five minutes into a noise-rock spectacle, and then explodes and disintegrates to the original single note guitar riff that opens the song.

“Stuntman” is a straightforward dance song, with a catchy synth track and a constant bass-y sound. “Stuntman” would fit in right at home with some Pretty Hate Machine-era Nine Inch Nails, or with some of the dancier Cure songs.