Benedict responsible for voting competition loss

Did everybody see J.P. Benedict's wonderful display of positive leadership yesterday ("ASU wins annual voter challenge")? Let me quote: "The punishment should be good because if students ask why I am wearing the shirt, I can say it's because they didn't register to vote."

Yeah, that's right, J.P., we should be punished for your administration's shortcomings. Your failure to abundantly advertise this competition should be directly the fault of your constituency. Let us be your proverbial scapegoat.

What a way to run a university.

Sam Richard
journalism freshman

Wildcat arts section lacks journalistic merit

This letter is being written in response to what Daily Wildcat editors Nate Buchik and Jessica Suarez seem to believe they can pass off as music reviews in their paper. If this is what editors at the Daily Wildcat believe constitutes journalism, then I'd like to submit some writing samples of my own in hopes of getting a job at your fine rag. Here's one for Police Beat: "A guy did something and got arrested." Or how about sports: "UA Basketball won over another team by some points." I could even write for your Live Culture section: "Tucson is really weird!"

The point here is that, while I usually have pretty low standards set for the Daily Wildcat, I believe Nate Buchik, Jessica Suarez and the editors over there all owe an apology to trees and web-space alike for issuing such a blatantly useless, uninformative "article" (yes, the quotes do need to be there) in their paper. 100-word flash-reviews that wait until the last sentence to tell me whether an album is "buyable" or not do not make quality articles. No matter how many pictures of the album covers you decide to include in hopes of fooling your readers into believing that what is written next to them has something to do with the actual music itself.

Ryan Lang
senior majoring in English and sociology

Poor offense to blame for Wildcats' Saturday loss

I recently read an article published in the Daily Wildcat which examined the reasons for the Cats' loss to Stanford. I believe that there are other, more important, reasons behind that loss.

First is Arizona's lack of a half-court offense. It's clear that any time we're forced to bring the ball into a set defense, the Cats have a very difficult time penetrating the interior. It seems to be due to the fact that there are only one or two Cats in motion at any time. Basics such as the pick and roll appear to be strangely absent from the offensive repertoire. Normally, we can count on effective three-point play to counter a strong interior defense. As the loss to Stanford illustrates, however, treys are a risky proposition to rely on.

Stanford made one slight alteration to their game plan that completely discombobulated the Cats: They sent every non-rebounding player back on defense as soon as the shot was released. The result was that our beloved Cats did not have opportunities to push the ball forward. I think the number of fast breaks executed during the game was in the single digits, most likely the low single digits.

The mistake made was that our Cats did not have a response to this defense. We are not strong in executing half-court offense. This needs to be rectified.

It's also clear that Mr. Montgomery lived up to his billing as one of the most intelligent coaches in basketball. His tactic of getting quickly back on defense and exploiting our inability to penetrate worked perfectly.

My sole reason for mentioning this is that I have spent many frustrating years watching our offenses deteriorate under solid defensive play. Usually we have standout performers that get us through a few rounds of the madness before we succumb to this Achilles' heel. I hope that by clearly illustrating an obvious weakness, Mr. Olson will concoct an effective solution. The fact that I live in San Francisco and will have to put up with hoards of insufferable Stanford fans until March, or perhaps longer, may have contributed to this call to action.

Bear Down (and find an effective half-court offense)!

Jacob Kaldenbaugh
UA alumnus

Petitioning the solution to Patriot Act woes

I am writing this letter in response to Joel Reuters' letter that the "Patriot Act should not violate the Bill of Rights."

When I picked up the Daily Wildcat on the first day back from winter break, I hardly expected to see or read an outcry against the fabled USA Patriot Act. I commend you, Mr. Reuter for writing your feelings about this act that so brutally cuts American citizens' rights, as well as those of Arab and Muslim immigrants, all in the name of anti-terrorism.

I then ask you, Mr. Reuter, and others to begin an opposition to the USA Patriot Act here in Arizona. Reading books such as "1984" and finding parallels to our current society do stem independent thinking, of which we desperately need more of. Therefore, I pose a solution: petition. We can express our rights of freedom, as many in other states are doing, by trying to repeal the Patriot Act. We can and still have the right to actively stand up for our beliefs. Honestly, if the government continues changing our basic rights there will soon be nothing left that stands for American freedom.

Anna Lemnitzer
art education senior

Sept. 11 not to blame for U.S. incursion in Iraq

In response to Peter Gamble's letter to the editor, "Wartime military losses not unlike peacetime," Gamble is correct that the military is dangerous in peacetime (I got shocked by 450V while serving in the Navy), but he is irresponsible in his analogy of peacetime losses to those of Sept. 11. All evidence from reliable news sources seems to indicate that Saddam wanted nothing to do with the Saudi bin Laden family. One wonders how long this false Sept. 11 connection will be trotted in front of the U.S. public to justify U.S. actions in Iraq.

As for Gamble's statement that "only a few have the courage to fulfill" current U.S. military action: When I was in the military (which wasn't that many years back), everybody around me that I knew joined to get a paying job with travel and it wasn't about courage. If one wants to show courage now, try bicycling in the Oracle Road area of Tucson when surrounded by lots of fast-moving SUVs burning Saudi oil. Or show courage by working in the Peace Corps overseas in places where much good will toward the United States has diminished since March. In short, what I have found since I left the military is that there are a lot of courageous and semi-courageous things to do for this planet that have nothing to do with, say, manning a checkpoint with orders to shoot to kill.

Dana Eyde
staff member, Disability Resource Center