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Thursday, November 4, 1999-Page 8 COMMENTARY College students trapped by Quirks: Sleep and dreams gambling via Internet sites Anne Butler advocates thought Kristen G. Fraser addresses the ernment has no right to interfere with the before decision-making about the gion. Then it would have to be a new reli- growing issue of Internet sovereignty of those nations. world's religions. Hey, maybe we should all worship gambling But, the problem still exists. Dissolving squirrels! I know they'd love that! foreign businesses is obviously not an ethi- Sleep is good. Sleep is very good. Un- No, wait, then, we'd run into a prob- Internetgamblinghas entered the national cal solution. fortunately, 1don't get enough of it. I'm lem of precisely what squirrels to wor- arena, most recently,extending to a younger The Baltimore Sun (September 22,1999 so busy that there are not enough hours ship. generation, America's college students. Al+) investigated the problem by noticing in the day in order for me to get enough Squirrels vary from continent to con- Though this issue has many implications for the trend with college students. This angle sleep. tinent and even state to state. youth, the bigger issue rests with Internet exposed another potential problem, the in- Hey, I know! What then would be the object of our freedom, business rights, and law enforce- creasing number of college students in- Why don't we ask God for more hours worship? ment. volved. in the days? Well, each region would claim their In an October 20, 1999 broadcast on The lax security measures exhibited by He/She/It can do that, right? squirrel's as superior. Eventually the ar- ESPN, the severity of the issue emerged. these sites could potentially lead to the I mean, he/she/it is God after all. AlI- guing would turn into fighting, then into Current online profits are estimated at $600 throwing of college-level athletic events, a powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing, etc. war, so, we're even worse off then be- million. The term "wide spread availability" problem not desired by any college. So, how could we get this to come fore. also serves as an important indicator for the In addition, the threat of severe debt in- about? Perhaps we should follow the Ba'hai true nature of the issue. curred by unsuspecting college students pre- Well, we'd probably have to get all of idea. Essentially, cyber gambling sites thrive sents a serious issue. the people of the various religions to- They want people to keep their own on the Internet, offering addictive;gambling Obviously, this problem needs to be ad- gether. religion but recognize everyone as equal: with only a few clicks of the mouse. dressed. The proponents of Internet freedom Wecould get them all together in one man, woman, black, white, no matter These sites are particularly dangerous of speech would [abel any attempts at regu- because they are running nearly unchecked. lation as a restriction of rights. In this case, The situation seems innocuous enough, their arguments are quite unfounded. Make a decision about all the religions after simple enough, and fun enough. While Internet freedom is a touchy sub- learning the facts about them. Or even choose no There is nothing innocuous, simple, or ject, most of the desires for freedoms con- fun for maxed credit cards and the conse- cerns Internet material that is not illegal. religion if you like. quences of an addiction. Clearly, gambling is illegal in the vast ma- Currently, there are no U.S. federal laws joriry of statesand mustbe addressedas such. place, and then we'd all pray in our own what religion. banning Internet gambling. There is a bill The U.S. government is faced with en- way for a few extra hours. However, in the cynical world of to- pending further debate in committee in the forcing laws through a medium that cannot Such a huge prayer would get God to day, is this even possible? U.S. Senate, but nothing solid has material- easily be traced. Is there a known solution? sit up and take notice, right? I'd like to think it is, but something ized. There is talk;of bringing the bill to the Not yet. But, the authorities must work fast. Of course, could we all get together in the back of my head say it's not. It's a floor sometime this fall, according to ESPN. Electronic gambling is an addition to the for this purpose? really nice dream, but I don't see us pull- However, the National Gambling Impact long list of headaches created by the Inter- I mean, the Protestants would clash ing it off. and PolicyCommission deems Internetgam- net. The problem of hacking, the availabil- with the Catholics. Fear not, however, I do have a solu- bling important enough to be considered in ityof terrorist material on the Web,computer The Jehovah's Witnesses and Mor- tion, and it's kinda related to the Ba'hai their continuing studies. viruses, and now Internet gambling create a mons would clash with the African reli- idea. It's rather simple actually. Let's just This Congress-appointed committee cur- daunting task for law enforcement. gions, and the Muslims would just be teach everyone to think. rently studies the growth of these forms, rec- The solution of this problem isobviously contesting everyone. Yeah, that's it. Let's teach people to ognizing their impact on the American unclear. With the far-reaching implications It's possible that the only ones not think. No, I don't mean education or facts people. of Internet freedom, legality, and intercoun- fighting would be the Ba'hais, and even and numbers. Thc problem is complicated by many is- try relations, no prediction can be made. then they would be being persecuted by I mean simple thinking. Using your sues, including the lack of prosecution of But, students, be forewarned. some of the Muslims. common sense, making informed deci- offenders. The next time a link appears for online . What then, of our prayer for more sions, stuff like that. Authorities who attempt to trace the in- gaming, or the next lime a "junk" email is hours? Make a decision about all the reli- dividuals or groups who operate the gam- received, think carefully before clicking to Could we possibly convert them all gions after learning the facts about them. bling sites often face failure; the majority of the sites. to a new religions? Or even choose no religion if you like. these businesses are stationed outside of the This illegal practice will produce noth- That might work. Icouldn't be any of Hell, worship squirrels for all I care, U.S. borders. ing but serious consequences- debt, loss of the current religions because there's too just as long as you thought about what These countries naturally do not want credit, and the possible termination of a col- much arguing. you chose. overt American attention, and the U.S. gov- lege career. Affirmative action: A policy for idealism or an outmoded system holding people back from success? Affirmative action has been in use in this Jeremy Keil criticizes the It is also extremely hard for black chil- If you want to improve the education of country for over 30 years now. American political institution of dren to succeed in school when all of their blacks, you need to start from the bottom up. It is intended to hold people who dis- affirmative action. ancestors, including perhaps their parents, There needs to be a program that educates criminate against minorities accountable; '.JJ' have been denied an education because of as many black children as possible, starting however, this is already covered in the 14th At present, racism falls very low on the their skin color. from their first day of school. Amendment to the Constitution which guar- list. Howcan weexpect black children to sue- Perhaps more money could be given to antees equal protection under the law for all During the days of slavery andJim Crow, ceed in school when they are unable to go schools with a high proportion of minorities. people. the few blacks that were educated were home for help? Anotherprogramcould be initiatedwhich Affirmative actiondoes nothing but harm viewed by the other blacks as Uncle Toms, One big part of affirmative action is its trains people (0 help tutor black children minorities. whosemothers must work twojobs and don't It guarantees that minorities will be rep- Unfortunately, there is more focus on measures such have time to help their kids with homework. ~:s:~~~~ei~h:~em~~~~::~:r~u~~:\~~t~~:~ as affirmative action that can pretend to show results and~~I~~~e~S~::i~!~~kSbecomeaseducated ~~:~~~necessary to compete in the work- because it is a quick and easy solution. me~::~srts~:~t:;:f~:~:t::e:~;i::~~~:c~~ Although affirmative action is applicable who sold out their race for selfish,reasons. role in college admissions. I believe this pretend to show results because it is a quick to all minorities,and also women, it is mostly Unfortunately, this problem still exists. policy does nothing for the majority of and easy solution. viewed as something that helps blacks. Iwill admit that Ido not have many black blacks. If we instituted a program that paid spe- It is a sad part of our history that slavery friends. All it does is help the cream of the crop cial attention to educating minority students existed. When I talked to the ones I have, they get scholarships. and made full use of the ldth Amendment Wecan not make up for that fact by giv- told me that they receive more taunting and Without it, these people may have been and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, I believe ing jobs and college degrees to people who prejudice from their black peers than from forced to attend a state or community col- blacks will be much better off than under we have failed to prepare to become a part white peers and educators because they are lege instead of an expensive private college, affirmative action. of American society. viewed as "trying to be white." but I believe they would succeed anyway It will take much longer before we see There are many reasons why blacks are I believe this is a serious obstacle to since they have already proven themselves results, but they will be actual results, and poorer and less educated than whites. blacks becoming successful. to be motivated. not manipulated statistics.