I would like to ask the Student Government to sit down and shut up. The fight with The Pirate Captain is dumb, and is nothing more than a power stunt. In addition to this, the refusal to compromise over the issue of part-time voters/representation proves how useless and ineffective the Student Government is. They had the opportunity to allow part-time students to vote, allow the issue of representation to be worked out later, with much less tension between the sides and instead have chosen to challenge the administration over an issue that means almost nothing. After all the fights over how much the Pirate Captain does or does not do with our money, you would expect those same members of Student Government to prove their use to the rest of the student body. Instead, they have decided to spend our time and money in a fight that no student actually cares about. Where are the angry masses of part-time students demanding a voice in Student Government? Where are the angry masses of full and part -time students demanding that the Student Government impeach the pirate captain? Nowhere, because no one outside of Student Government cares, nor will we be affected in any way by these resume-padders. Will CubbisonJuniorPolitical Science

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When my father, a graduate of N.C. State in 1981, speaks of the national championship run in ’83, I get jealous. But when he and I discuss the State basketball team of the present over a few beers, it ticks me off. When we watch a game together, it just burns me up. I haven’t been to a game since the beginning of the 2004-2005 season mainly because I get fed up with our inability to match our potential.

In the off-season Herb Sendek recruited the Mississippi high school player of the year, Courtney Fells, and he was lucky to play four minutes in a game. We have an extra big man in Ben McCauley for when Cedric Simmons gets into foul trouble, but he is also lucky to get four minutes in a game. Engin Atsur has steadily declined from a solid shooter with lots of potential his freshman year to a scared guard whose reckless play has hurt us at times this season. Why Cedric Simmons, who has a 7’4″ wingspan, touches the ball 24 feet from the basket every trip down the floor is beyond me. Simmons scored 29 points in a game against All-American Sheldon Williams and he still isn’t the centerpiece of our offense.

I’m here to tell the NCSU community it’s time for a change. It’s time to get excited about our basketball program again. It’s time for Lee Fowler to wake up and understand the shouts. It’s time for Herb’s resignation.

Phillip S. KreisherSophomoreBusiness Management

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After reading yesterday’s article concerning Tom Stafford’s latest attempt to thwart Student Government elections by shutting down the voting system, I have decided to salute him (to the tune of Budweiser’s Real Men of Genius Ad campaign):

Today we salute you Mr. Student Government Power Taker. Behind every administration is a guy who gets paid for wasting everyone’s time. What do you do when you have no power whatsoever? You pick on others who have even less. While other administration officials are content to quietly take their six-figure salaries, you fight feelings of unimportance by blocking an election nobody was going to vote in anyway. So crack open a nice cold [one], Protector of the Student Government Constitution. It’s not the student Senators who need to get a life, it’s you.

Jeff RiceJuniorStatistics

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This letter is in response to the tyrannical actions of Vice Chancellor Stafford on Sunday, March 26, and in response to the lackluster reaction to this issue given by the Technician.

It has always been a thought in my mind (and probably in the mind of every student who has ever taken an interest in Student Government) that the administration probably has more say in the way the students run their government than it lets on. The shutting down of the voting server by Stafford proves this suspicion, and shows that the administration believes that they have the right to step in on student affairs whenever they see fit. I believe the student body should be outraged at this clear breach of the administration into an area so completely controlled by the students, yet I am surprised and saddened by the apathy I sense about this issue. I doubt if a similar event occurred in American elections the people would sit by and let the government trample their right to vote.

I am also surprised and saddened by the response in the Viewpoint section of the Technician. Picking up this morning’s issue, I fully expected righteous anger to ring from every article and letter printed. Instead, the view of the Technician was curt, mocking and totally unsupportive of the SG’s actions, ending with the simple statement, “It’s called compromise. Look it up.” While I admit that compromise is an important part of the democratic process, democracy shouldn’t compromise with tyranny. Our founding fathers were great proponents of compromise within the early American government, yet none of them were willing to do so with King George.

It seems as if the only compromise happening here is that of the Technician‘s message and this article appear to be more of an attempt to spare the paper from the administration’s wrath than to represent an honest opinion. I encourage the students of NCSU (whether part or full time) to publicly outcry this assault on democracy.

Jeremy BuntingFreshmanAerospace Engineering

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Last Thursday’s Technician article “Victims of Iraq War Honored” seemed to be saying that the stars displayed in the Brickyard last Wednesday were set up in order to show support for the current Iraq war. The sponsoring groups did not create the star display that honored the fallen in Iraq in order to promote the war in any way. Our goals in placing the stars and the list of identified Iraqi casualties in the brickyard were to honor those who have lost their lives, to promote dialogue and to help give the campus a sense of the totality that the current Iraq war is inflicting on human life.

I support and honor those who have lost their lives because of the war, but I do not support the war itself. I do not understand how anyone can look out at the names of 2,319 fallen soldiers and the conservative estimates of 33,800+ Iraqi civilian deaths and say, “I’m glad to see that there is support for this war.”

Furthermore, I do not understand how anyone can support a political party that votes to send our brave men and women off to war and then slashes their veteran benefits while they are serving.

Drew BallPresident, NCSU College DemocratsSeniorPolitical Science, Education

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To all of those arguing about the existence of God in the newspaper: Everyone’s logic is thus far has been quite spurious. The fault comes from everyone having a different starting place. My brother, using the same technique, once proved to me quite logically that the existence of the Teletubbies played a key role in the universal construct. Therefore, let me end this argument by beginning, logically, with the first logical argument:

1) I think, therefore I am.2) I am, therefore existence is possible.3) The end of my current existence, defined through my thought process, ispossible through death.4) For my existence to continue, it is necessary to stem death byprocuring outside nourishment.5) From 4), in order to procure outside nourishment, objects outside ofmyself must exist.6) Air is necessary nourishment for my body. Therefore air exists, andis available for nourishment at all times, although I cannot sense stillair.7) From 6), not being able to perceive still air despite its existenceindicates that my perceptions are flawed.8) From 7), since my perceptions are flawed, objects outside of myperceptions must exist.9) Since 8), the existence of a God outside of my perceptions is possible.

That should do for Mr. Gromet’s column. However, this does not conclusively prove that God exists. That is simply a matter of belief. Remember that all of existence that a person knows begins with “I think, therefore I am.” Your thoughts, and especially your beliefs, influence your existence. Whether you have belief in an unperceived God is ultimately a choice of how you want to exist.

David AbrechtSeniorPSE/CHE