Viewpoint

Terrorists are not Americans

 American Civil Liberties are for Americans.

Lighten up

 As a longtime fan of both humor and Mobile Party (not synonymous, but darn close) I fully support the Nov. 13 installment. Considering aforementioned observation that Mobile Party is approximately equal to humor, I am in favor of their work. From what I gather, Mobile Party makes fun of anything and everything that most Notre Dame students consider humorous (or highly offensive). Given this standard, I find it equivalently humorous that someone would choose the unfortunate ginger issue to take a stand on ("Ginger Pride," Nov. 16). 

Appreciate what you are offered

 Earlier this week, Scholastic published an article examining the issue of whether or not student athletes should be awarded a portion of the revenue they bring to the University through private business deals. The article was a thoughtful consideration of the issue, but was unfortunately overshadowed by one quotation from a member of our football team. I am going to repeat this quotation in its entirety, simply so everyone who's behind in reading their school publications can experience the full effect:

Don't judge a movie by its unicorn

As all of the dedicated readers of our classified section should know, "The Last Unicorn" is a great movie. A sports production editor quoted me as saying so in Monday's paper because he thought my statement was ridiculous.

Determinism

 The controversy between free will and determinism continues to rage. In one way, this is unsurprising: The same controversy has raged, in one form or another, for two millennia, and it is clearly a question near to us in our understanding of ourselves. In another way, however, that the controversy continues is deeply surprising: Since the rise of quantum physics, it has been clear that our world is fundamentally indeterministic — that nothing, including human action, is bound by determinate laws.

Your GPA and the end of the world

 Each mid-November, just as the perma-cloud settles in over South Bend, the days get depressingly shorter, and due dates for papers and exams start looming on the horizon — the Church starts talking about the end of the world. And while the Church Fathers who set the calendar surely couldn't have predicted the weather patterns or exam schedules of the university that Fr. Sorin had not yet founded, this talk about the end of the world these days seems somehow to, well, fit.

What about the Notre Dame 88?

Party at my place

Seriously. You are all invited. Although it will not be a typical Notre Dame party, it will be a good time.

The actual facts

The statement "You cannot be pro-life and pro-choice at the same time" ("The facts," Anne Barbera, Nov. 17) is not a fact. There is no well-constructed fence that divides the abortion debate.

Remember the Good

On Nov. 21, the seniors will play their last football game at Notre Dame Stadium. A lot will be made of it, and hopefully they will bounce back from the last couple of weeks and win their last home game.

The Notre Dame 10

Today is the 40th anniversary of an important event in the life of Notre Dame. On Nov. 18, 1969, 10 students were suspended under the famous "15-minute rule" after a demonstration protesting the presence of recruiters from Dow Chemical and the CIA. The 15-minute rule, announced by Fr. Hesburgh earlier that year, was viewed nationally as a get-tough response to student protests. "Disruptive" students were to be given 15 minutes to "cease and desist." If they failed to disperse, they would be suspended. If they remained five minutes longer, they would be expelled and subject to arrest.

True justice for terrorists

Christie Pesavento's Nov. 17 column "Taking terrorists at their word" is another absurd lash by the right wing in an attempt to smear the Obama administration. To suggest that the Obama administration is not taking the threat of terrorism seriously is an enormous misunderstanding of the Obama administration's commitment to the principles this nation was founded upon.

Coach suggestions

Dear Mr. Swarbrick,

Faking it

There is a lot of faking at Notre Dame.    

Go ahead and 'kill'

I would like to add my support to Lizzie Laughman's letter in which she encouraged the student body to put competition aside for the UConn game ("Be class, respectful," Nov. 16). She's right — even though we just lost to Navy for the second time in three years, our main concern should be not to hurt the opposing team's feelings. Maybe we will win the coveted College Football Bowl Subdivision award for "Classiest Football Team" or "Nicest Student Body." We can put that trophy right next to the Jeweled Shillelagh and all of the BCS trophies we've won recently.

Stay classy, ND

 This past weekend I attended the Notre Dame-Pitt game at Heinz Field. Despite the loss and the relatively poor performance that our team exhibited on the field, I came out of that game prouder than ever to be a member of the Notre Dame community. I don't think I have ever heard that many four letter words in my life, especially those directed to people who were quite obviously not Notre Dame students. The worst part is the Pitt insults were not even creative; their student section had only two chants throughout the entire game — "Let's go Pitt" and (more often) "F**k the Irish."

Sparkle motion

 I am just as excited for the new "Twilight" movie as the next 21-year-old female. "New Moon" actually looks pretty darn entertaining. Everyone's hair looks better and the action sequences feature Dakota Fanning and the guy who plays Colossus in the X-Men movies. If the clips in the TV spots are any indication, this thing might be a legitimately "good" movie, as far as an adaptation of a clichéd and derivative publishing phenomenon can be.

The facts

 You cannot be pro-life and pro-choice at the same time. I understand that abortion is a difficult issue, but you stand on one side of the fence or the other. While women do not take abortion lightly, easy access to abortion has caused the rate of repeat abortions to sky rocket.

More importantly, be loud

 In response to Lizzie Laughman ("Be classy, respectful," Nov. 14), I would like to make my own request of all Notre Dame fans. I'll start with the following disclaimer. In no way is the "kill" chant related to Jasper Howard, and I guarantee that the UConn players, should they even hear the chant, wouldn't make that connection. Howard's death was tragic, but considering the context of the chant, that we are fans cheering on our team, I don't see how shouting "kill" would dishonor his memory. However, though I disagree with the self-important, politically correct, "We are ND; we're better than everyone else," attitude that seems to motivate Lizzie's call to not perform the chant, I see a way to reconcile her motives with a desire to make Notre Dame Stadium a more intimidating environment for our opponents.

Slumbering echoes

 After Notre Dame's recent losses to Navy and Pitt, I have done a lot of thinking. I then came to the realization that something is terribly wrong with the Irish football team. However, since everybody has his or her own opinion on what needs to be changed, I will be as vague as humanly possible so nobody can tell me that I'm wrong. In fact, I'm going to format my rant as a mad-lib. Okay, here it goes: