the spectator - march 22, 2012
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Catch up on the events this past week.TRANSCRIPT
Thursday, March 22, 2012 Scan this QR code with your smart phone to check out
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A U.S. Army staff sergeant is accused of leaving a base early last Sunday morning and murdering 16 civilians in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
The soldier has been identified as a 38-year-old Staff Sergeant Robert Bales of Washington State. Bales is married with two children. He was serving his first tour in Afghanistan after serving three tours in Iraq.
According to CNN, Bales is accused of leav-ing base from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. Sunday morning, and heading to villages nearby where he went door to door and opened fire. 16 Afghan civil-ians were killed. Among the victims were nine children, three women, and four men. Witnesses of the shooting reported seeing the soldier pour chemicals over the bodies of the victims and burning them.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said that Bales went back to the base after the ram-page on his own, told others what he had done and turned himself in. Panetta has also mentioned that the soldier could face capital punishment and possibly be executed.
Bales has not been charged yet. He was flown to a maximum security prison at a U.S. military base in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas last Friday. Of-ficials have said that the transfer from Afghanistan to the prison was necessary because there wasn’t an appropriate detention facility in Afghanistan.
An official motive for the shootings have not been identified. However, there are several factors that could have played a role in the rampage. One may be a result of post-traumatic-stress-disorder. Another is that this may have resulted from a head injury Bales got from a car accident that occurred in 2010.
John Henry Browne of Seattle, Bales’ attorney, said that the sergeant saw one of his comrades get injured one day before a rampage in Kandahar. Alcohol was also reported to have possibly played a role as well.
President Barack Obama has responded to the rampage saying that the U.S. was taking the case “as seriously as if it was our own citizens, and our own children, who were murdered.” He also mentioned that anyone who was involved in the rampage will be held fully accountable with the full force of the law.
“We’re heartbroken over the loss of innocent life,” Obama said. “The killing of innocent civil-ians is outrageous and it’s unacceptable. It’s not who we are as a country and it does not repre-sent our military. For that reason I’ve directed the Pentagon to make sure that we spare no effort in conducting a full force of the Soldier, page 2
U.S. soldier kills 16 Afghan civiliansBy Galia aBushi
STAFF WRITER
On Monday, March 12, Chabot College was fortu-nate to have author Fariba Nawa speak about her new book “Opium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords, and One Woman’s Journey Through Afghanistan.”
The full auditorium lis-tened as the Bay Area native in-f o r m e d about not only her new book, but also about her past as a citizen of Afghanistan and being in the field as a freelance journalist.
The main focus of her book is how the international opium trade out of Afghani-stan affects those living in Afghanistan. The audience seemed more than interested to hear her describe how she risked her life traveling for five years to do the proper research for her book, re-vealing some startling things that are not covered much in the mainstream media.
A secondary theme to the book is something that Nawa stresses is almost in-visible to the American Mainstream media: the issue of opium brides.
According to her studies, these opium brides are now numbered in the thousands and there is nothing being done to stop it.
Nawa described opium brides as young women who are sold as “brides” to the drug suppliers in Afghani-stan when the dealers could not pay debts. As Nawa stated, these girls are, “Like many of the girls here. They have similar wants and needs to the girls here at Chabot.”
The possibility of this getting to the mainstream
media is still out there. “Awareness
is the first t h i n g , ” Nawa stat-
ed when asked why it isn’t covered. “In America we are too isolated. We only think about ourselves, not what’s around us.”
Nawa read a passage from her book titled “The Opium Bazaar” and took a few questions from the audi-ence. There were also copies of her book for purchase, which she signed.
Her new book “Opium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords, and One Woman’s Journey Through Afghani-stan” is available online and at the Chabot College book-store.
For more information on Fariba Nawa and her work, visit her website at http://www.faribanawa.com.
To contact the author of the article for more informa-tion , you can e-mail him at [email protected].
Fariba Nawa’s journey home opens eyes at Chabot
By Jake hewitt
NEWS EDITOR
The story of the lost arcade
pg. 5
Afghanistan: what’s up with that?
pg.6
ALLEN LIN/STAFF PHOTOS
Catching up with Chabot’s baseball team
pg.7
Like us on Facebook
Top: Fariba Nawa signing a copy of her book after the presentation. Bottom Left: Fariba Nawa with Dr. Sara Parker. Bottom Right: A student purchasing a copy of Nawa’s book at building 700 in the event center.
2 Thursday, March 22, 2012 thechabotspectator.com
NEWS
Soldier, page 1 law.” AJC.com reported that Abdul Rahim Ayubi, a Balandi lawmaker with the delegation said, “To-day, the Kandahar governor was trying to explain to villagers that he was only one soldier, that he was not a sane person and he was sick.”
“But the people were just shouting and they were very angry. They didn’t listen to the gover-nor. They accused him of defending the Ameri-cans instead of defending the Kandahari people,” Ayubi said.
Afghan President, Hamid Karzai called the rampage an “assassination, an intentional killing
of innocent civilians” and a cruel act against the people of Afghanistan. In a written release, Kar-zai told Panetta that Afghans have lost trust in international forces.
Karzai urged Panetta for international forces to give up the security control of the country and hand it to the Afghan military by 2013 rather than 2014.
According to the Kansas City Star, (www.Kan-sasCity.com), Karzai said, “This has been going on for far too long. You have heard me before. It is by all means the end of the rope here. …This form of activity, this behavior cannot be toler-
ated. It is past, past, past the time.” Following the rampage in Afghanistan, pro-
tests and violence erupted by upset Afghan civil-ians. In the village of Qalat, there were protesters chanting anti-American slogans calling for justice.
“The reason we are protesting is because of the killing of innocent children and other civil-ians by this tyrant U.S. soldier,” said University student Sardar Wali. “We want the United Na-tions and the Afghan government to publicly trial this guy.”
For more information on the article, contact the writer at [email protected].
Campaign workers needed. A local state assembly campaign seeks
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Hours: Monday – ursday 4:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.,
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For more information e-mail [email protected].
On Thursday, March 29, Chabot College will host fair pay activ-ist Lilly Ledbetter, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Reed L. Buffing-ton Visual and Performing Arts Center.
She will be available to sign her new book “Grace and Grit: My Fight for Equal Pay at Good-year and Beyond” which was re-leased February 28. She will also give a presentation and answer questions at the event.
Ledbetter had been working at a factory in Gadsden, Ala. for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Com-pany for 19 years when she found out that she was making a lot less money than the men in her exact same job. She went to the Equal Employment Opportunity Com-mission (EEOC) to learn about her rights and sued Goodyear. Her argument was that every time Goodyear issues her a lower pay-check than a man for the exact same job, the company commits sexual discrimination.
Unfortunately, Ledbetter lost five to four in the court case fight known as Ledbetter vs. Goodyear.
The court decided that if you feel you are treated unfairly, you
must sue the company within 180 days. After that time, you lose your right to sue.
Ledbetter lost not only the case, but her job as well. With the loss of her job went her retirement and so-cial security benefits, not to mention what she didn’t make working 19 years for Goodyear and not getting paid as much as her male counter-parts.
Yet, the case was not a total loss. This lawsuit gained a lot of fame and civil commotion that led to Presi-dent Barack Obama’s very first act as a president: signing the Lilly Led-better Fair Pay Act, giving people up to two years to report about sexual discrimination at their job.
“Fair pay isn’t just a women’s is-sue,” President Obama said in the signing ceremony, “It’s a family issue and affects everyone.” Both Presi-dent Obama’s wife Michelle and Lilly Ledbetter were present for this important event.
“Goodyear will never have to pay me what it cheated me out of,” Led-better said in the State Dining Room after the act’s signing ceremony. “In fact, I will never see a cent. But with the president’s signature today I have an even richer reward.”
For more information on the story, contact the writer at [email protected].
Lilly Ledbetter to visit ChabotBy sophia schmaGold
STAFF WRITER
This weekend, Chabot College’s forensics team continued their success at the state forensics tournament.
With nine members of the team at the state competition, Chabot managed to take away six total awards. Award winners in-cluded Kelsey Paiz, Bianca Contreras, Jake Hewitt, Clint Corvello, Richard Jaykins, and Sarah Knight.
The team received awards in a variety of events, which included; parliamentary debate, NFA-LD debate, poetry interpre-tation, duo interpretation, and informative speaking.
According to team member Jake Hewitt, “An award at the state tournament
is something to be valued. California is seen as one of the most consistently suc-cessful forensic states, even at the junior college level. To break into the final round at this tournament is really an honor.”
The team is looking forward to the community college national tournament, which is going to be held outside of Chi-cago this year.
Although the national tournament will be grueling, many first year members on the team look forward to the challenge.
First year member Bianca Contreras stated, “Not only do I think the team is ready for the challenge, but I believe we can overcome it.”
To get more information on this ar-ticle, contact the writer at [email protected]
By Bernard miranda
CAMPUS EDITOR
Forensics continues success
Team now looking forward to national
tournament The Chabot College State tournament participants (from left): Zack Ciraulo, Kelsey Paiz, Toan Nguyen, Sarah Knight, Richard Jakykins, Jake Hewitt, Bianca Contreras
LOCALthechabotspectator.com Thursday,March 22, 2012 3
NUMMI creates programs to help laid off workers Two new programs hope to help the unemployed: Project Renew and the Nummi Resource Center
By Marisol CaBrera
OPINION EDITOR
In 2010, the NUMMI plant in Fremont closed down and dislocated between 4,000 and 5,000 NUMMI employees. Ever since, the unemployed workers have been desperate in seeking jobs.
Aside from a l l the problems the closure had on the workers, they now had to embark on a new journey in finding a job.
Since November of 2009, Chabot has offered their services in alliance with the Alameda county workforce investment Board for NUMMI employees.
Director of Project Renew, Nancy Soto, stated that there are two programs which both assist the unemployed workers.
The first program is called Project Renew, which located here at Chabot, and the second program is called NUMMI Resource Center (NRC), and is located in Fremont across from of the former NUMMI plant.
These programs consist of training unemployed workers and allowing them to take courses anywhere at Chabot or any other college for a period of time, or they could go straight to the search for work.
The programs, along with
the guidance of counselors, help the unemployed workers attain their GED (if needed) and better skills in the areas of their choice.
According to Nancy Soto, this is done by the “steps to success which involves job search, interview techniques, developing resumes,” Soto continued, “Then there are two different assessments, [they take] one is called Choices and [the other is] called Wonderlic.”
Choices focuses on math and English skills, while Wonderlic focuses more on their skill sets.
This process is finalized by meeting with Chabot counselors which help these people set their plans in going back to work.
Other than getting help through these programs, Soto also mentioned that, “not only where they eligible for the Work Force Investment Act funds to go back to school - a total of $5,000 - but they were also eligible for what’s called the Trading Adjustment Act, which is $10,000.”
With another g rant the county received, they decided to purchase three cohorts: one for machine tool technology, another in the auto technology and one in the welding technology.
“We collaborated with the NUMMI resource center and we opened up to other one stops which are locations,
which work with people that are unemployed but are eligible for the WIA funds to be part of that cohort.” Soto added.
Soto also mentioned that through all these help centers, the unemployed workers are gaining or have gained the confidence and stability they have been searching for by actually being hired by companies.
The Project Renew coordinator organizes what’s called a job club which meets every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the transfer center which brings employers that will talk about what they are looking for in employees and the types of positions they are currently offering.
For more information on Project Renew and the NUMMI Resource Center, contact director Nancy Soto or employment coordinator Dan Abrami at [email protected] or (510) 723-7456.
To contact the writer, email her at mariso l [email protected]
Top right: Former employees of NUMMI as they meet with counselors to discuss future plans. Community and stu-dent services in building 700, on the second floor.
Bottom right: A Project Renew coordinator helps a former employee through advising in various ways.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF WWW.CHABOTCOLLEGE.EDU
Chabot College’s annual tal-ent show will be held on April 17 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Reed Bluffington Performing Arts Center on campus.
If you want to ensure that you get your ticket, buy early before the show. In advance, the tickets are $5, the price at the door will be $7.
The emcee of the show will be selected in house. So, if any ASCC member thinks they can rock the house with their skills, they will have that option.
The judges will be teachers and administrators from Chabot College.
The talent show will have a total of 20 contestants. Since the auditions on March 8 and 16, the judges have collaborat-ed, tallied the points and select-ed performers with the highest scores.
According to Andrew Mi-chael Quirk, activities director for the ASCC, “They were spec-tacular!”
Quirk added some of the things that the judges were look-ing for, “Someone who is com-fortable on stage and is willing to get the crowd involved and excited.
I also wanted to see originality and an individual artistic voice.”
Student Chris Cooper
shared how he felt about his audition. “Pretty good. I had good eye contact. I projected. My guitar playing could have been better.”
Two ladies who are cheer-leaders for Chabot and really enjoy dancing auditioned for the talent show, Veronica Gon-zalez and Ashleigh Parker.
When asked how she feels about dancing, Veronica replied “Usually, I don’t do things if I’m not 100 % sure about it! Win or lose. I always wanted to do this, no expectations!”
The venue for the auditions, in building 700’s event center, was perfect; It’s large, clean, open, glassed-in space allowed for any type of acrobatics with room to spare.
You couldn’t ask for a better venue to show your talent!
“I heard at last year’s talent show, the men wore tuxes, it was Oscar-like,” said An Nguyen, an ASCC representative.
“What’s great about this tal-ent show is that it gives an op-portunity for those who may never have had the chance be-fore, to express themselves,” added Quirk.
The Chabot talent show is sure to be a hit this semester, so don’t miss the best show in town!
Tickets will be on sale soon with the ASCC.
To contact writer, e-mail her at [email protected]
SCENE
By Justin tonel
LOCAL EDITOR
On March 16, 2012, Apple released its latest innovation in tablet design, the revolu-tionary iPad 3.
From the best resolution on a mobile device, retina display technology, 4G long term evolution (LTE) capa-bilities, to a powerful-new A5X chip, installation of a 5-megapixel iSight camera and 10-hour battery life, the new iPad introduces some amazing improvements.
Apple’s Vice President of iPad Product Marketing Michael Tchao explains, “It’s a more personal experience with technology.
Now with the new iPad we’re elevating that experience by dramatically improving its fundamental elements.”
The biggest improve-ment is the third genera-tion’s new retina display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536.
That’s 3.1 million pixels, which is four times the dis-play of the original iPad.
That’s also a million
more pixels than your aver-age HDTV.
The retina-display that was introduced through iPhone 4 is available now on the iPad.
Retina display makes it so that the density-of-pixels are less visible, so when held 15 inches away, the human eye cannot make-out individual pixels. The new screen also features 44 percent greater color saturation from the previous iPad.
With the new Apple A5X chip and quad-core processor, the iPad runs smoothly and delivers amaz-ing graphics.
It has been said that the iPad rivals the graphics of today’s gaming systems, from the Xbox 360 to the PS3.
Next up is the 5-mega-pixel camera, which allows you to record video in 1080 pixels, and has built-in face detection for up to 10 faces and automatically bal-ances focus.
The camera uses a back-side illumination sensor and has an advanced hybrid in-frared filter that keeps out harmful IR light.
The new iPad now supports 4G LTE through the fastest cellular networks, which includes AT&T and Verizon.
When you’re travel-ing abroad the iPad will also work on GSM/UMTS worldwide network tech-nologies including the fast-est 3G networks -- HSPA, HSPA+, and DC-HSDPA.
Apple states download speeds at 42 Mbps with DC-HSDPA and up to 21.1 Mbps with HSPA+.
The iPad 3 can also be used as a personal hotspot and you can even pop in a local SIM card to get their connection.
The new iPad starts at $499 and comes in black or white with 16GB of internal memory and Wi-Fi.
The next up is $599 with 32GB and finally $699 for 64GB.
Adding 4G capabilities adds $129 to the base mod-els price.
Contact a cellular data service provider for simple month-to-month data plans.
To contact the writer for ques-tion or comment, e-mail him at [email protected].
Is the new iPad better?
4 Thursday, March 22, 2012 thechabotspectator.com
Chabot auditions for talent showBy KhadiJah Ford
STAFF WRITER
Sonya (top) and Yardley (bottom) posing after dancing the “Quebradita“-a combination of latin, jazz and swing.
Ashleigh Parker and Veronica Gonzalez (right) take a moment out for a quick beauty shot.
Chris Cooper feeling confident after his audition.
Rener (left) and Noelai (right) are resting after their dance.
KHADIJAH FORD/STAFF PHOTOS
From March 19 to the 22, the health center hosted a daily 30-minute walk around the football track to pro-mote good health titled “Walk for Fitness.” The campaign was cre-ated in part to bring awareness to National Nutrition Month.
Sign ups were held at the health center and late sign ups could still par-ticipate.
The first 100 to sign up received a free pedometer and for everyday peo-ple participated, they received a raffle ticket for a chance to win a free 8GB iPod.
The “Walk for Fitness” began at 11:30 a.m. and ended at 12:00 p.m. daily. In addition, the health center handed out pamphlets and tips to good eating. A healthy diet and nutri-tion is important and reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
“It was really successful. I think the turnout was good. This is the first time this year that we did this event. We plan to continue to have this event for the upcoming fall and spring semesters.” said Rosafel Adriano, head coordina-tor of “Walk for Fitness.”
To contact the writer, e-mail [email protected]
CAMPUSthechabotspectator.com Thursday, March 22, 2012 5
The room in the cafeteria lobby where the arcade used to be.
Many students are unaware of the mysterious arcade on campus here at Chabot, and even fewer know why it was closed.
The arcade, previously located in the cafeteria lobby, was suddenly closed a couple years ago with no real warning sign to the student body.
There were talks about reopening an arcade on campus, but as of last Tuesday, the idea of reopening the ar-cade at Chabot is no more.
Andrew Quirk, a Senate member of the ASCC at Chabot who came up with the idea said about the old arcade, “The arcade machines were leased.” He continued on saying that, “an ar-cade on campus would bring much needed revenue to Chabot as well as entertainment to its students.”
Many members of the ASCC do not really know what happened to the games. They would usually go to the Director of Services at Chabot, but since Chabot does not have one, they don’t know where the games went, although another great idea did come of it.
Director of Student Life of Chabot, Danielle Preciado, brought up the idea of creating a lounge on the balcony in the cafeteria - since the area is under her supervision. “I want to create a place where students would like to go and study,” Preciado stated about the proposal.
Preciado wants the lounge to look from her words, “relaxing and modern”. Someplace that we can be familiar with, “Someplace like Starbucks, but without the coffee,” described Preciado.
The ASCC is also in discussion of
possibly implementing an air hockey table or a foosball table. The lounge is planned to be free to anyone who attends Chabot, except for the games that will cost a small fee, but all rev-enue made will go towards Chabot.
David Rigunay, also on the sen-ate of Chabot, explained the possible attributions in regaining the arcade could bring, “We want to create rev-enue from it to create scholarships and overall funding.” In 2002, the once ex-isted arcade would bring in $5,000 an-nually for the school.
Even though this sounds amazing and maybe something every student at Chabot will want - it’s still purely an idea, “It’s in committee, the ASCC still have not agreed,” said Preciado.
Even though is just an idea at the moment, it is a great notion that every student of Chabot can look forward to and enjoy.
To contact the writer, e-mail [email protected]
By Sergio AlmodovAr
STAFF WRITER
Game over for Chabot arcade
The proposed location for the new recreation area located in 2300 building.
By JuStin tonel
LOCAL EDITOR
W a l k i n g f o r f i t n e s s
JAMIÉ HERNANDEZ/STAFF PHOTO
JUSTIN TONEL/STAFF PHOTO
Staff members of the Chabot health center.
Walker having just cleared the last hurdle.
“Walk for Fitness” participants on Chabot College’s track.JAMIÉ HERNANDEZ/STAFF PHOTO
ALLEN LIN/STAFF PHOTOS
JAMIÉ HERNANDEZ/STAFF PHOTO
OpiniOn6 Thursday, March 22, 2012 thechabotspectator.com
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Spectatorthe
There is speculation that is going around that Facebook can help you get a job with the more friends you have the better chances one of your friends might know someone who might want to hire you.
Well it all happened back in October at that time I was going to Chabot College taking less classes than I am currently taking and was a team photographer for the James Logan High School football team.
I didn’t have a paying job. Photography is my hobby, my passion and as of right now, my major.
It was a Friday in mid-October and I was shooting a football game for Logan. It was Fremont’s American High School versus Logan.
I had just gotten there when I saw this guy that had on a Sportswurlz shirt on and I asked what Sportswurlz was, he told me that it was online sports photography website that’s in the bay area that shoots high school sports.
He told me to contact another guy named Drew who is one of the persons in charge of Sportswurlz and gave me his Facebook. I then talked with Drew and he told me he would help me and do a job interview on the field.
After a week I did a photo interview shooting on how Sportswurlz shoots for football games and the following week I was told I got the job and now, I am a photographer for Sportswurlz.com.
Questions? Email sstringer@thechabott spectator.com.
Can you get a job through
Facebook?By Samuel Stringer
staff writer
With the recent killing of 16 Afghani civilians, people have come to question whether or not the United States should still be involved in Afghanistan. The answer to that question is hard to determine, but I believe that it is a clear no. A result of the recent shootings in Afghanistan is the increased use of anti-American rhetoric. This is just an increase of the negative rhetoric that has been used while the United States has been there. If the United States stays there, they perpetuate a problem that their presence is directly causing. The prolonged military presence of the United States has not only created this negative image, but the lack of military presence in conflict areas along the borders is just showing that the U.S. is not fully committed to the country in the first place. I do recognize that Afghanistan is not in a very good state as far as having a strong government, but the government only has more problems when the people in their country start to dislike, and distrust the country that is there to “help” you. It is not smart for the United States to stay and help fix the country’s problems, especially when I am not convinced that the United States even knows what Afghanistan’s problems are anymore. This provides for an awkward, almost unnecessary stance for the United States, which is why I don’t think there is a need for any further involvement. To tie this back to the example used in the beginning, of the U.S solider that killed 16 civilians, I think this is almost a sign that the U.S needs to take a step back from being so involved in Afghanistan. I am not advocating that the U.S just pretend that Afghanistan doesn’t exist, because that would not be right in any way, shape, or form. I am saying that the U.S needs to let Afghanistan figure out where it wants to go and how it wants to go about its business. It is clear that the U.S. implementing its way of thought on the Afghani government is not working. I mean, the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, and many people can see the U.S just doing the same things over and over again. For comment, e-mail [email protected]
is U.s. intervention in afghanistan beneficial?By Jake Hewitt
News editor
In the past, we have been guided into war under the guise of other bogeyman such as Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden.
In the YouTube video “KONY 2012”, the human rights organization Invisible Children exposes the atrocities of child abduction and murder occurring in Northern Uganda by leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, Joseph Kony. Is Kony being used as a strategic bad guy to rile us into support of an American led intervention into Africa?
“KONY 2012” has reached over 82,282,426 views in less than 13 days; it is a testament to the power of viral media and its ability to rouse public interest and support.
In a 2012 press poster, Kony is pictured in front of the likes of Osama Bin Laden and Hitler. This association seems to make sense when you take into a count the fact that Kony is responsible for thousands of murders and over 30,000 abductions, brainwashing children and turning them into soldiers. Followers believe his commands come directly from God.
Kambale Musavuli, a human rights activist originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, contends that “The video report is a gross exaggeration of the situation on the ground in Uganda,” He suspects that the documentary is being used as an excuse to expand “AFRICOM’s footprint in Africa.”
The U.S. African Command is a strategic installation used to counter the Chinese influence in the region with military might. The Congo itself has recently revealed it has one of the largest oil reserves and the world’s largest cobalt mine, so it is no surprise that China and the U.S. are vying for influence in this region.
We are now fighting wars on two fronts with $1,313,308,974,000 trillions of dollars spent. Thousands of Americans, Iraqi’s and Afghanis dead. With social services, health, mental health and educational services being cut, we can no longer afford blind interventionism.
Many good intentioned donations are being used to fund an equally brutal dictator. The money that is donated to Invisible Children funds the Ugandan army and various other military proxies.
Ugandan President Yoweri K. Musevini, much like Kony, has abducted child soldiers in his rise to power. Musveni himself was held accountable for crimes committed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
In 2005, the ICJ charged Uganda with war crimes reaching from mass rapes of both women and men, disemboweling pregnant women, burning people inside their homes alive, massacres and plundering of resources. Killing over six million people after the Ugandan occupation of Congo was complete.
Supporting “Kony 2012” supports increased U.S. intervention in Africa. It is strange how interest has increased in this man after 26 years of tyranny. His activity in Uganda has dwindled since 2006 and his forces have been reduced to less than 1000. Our money, time and activism are better served building up our own country.
If you have questions or comments, email [email protected]
By OranOOS nerOw
staff reporter conPro
U.S. of AfricaBy andrew Quirk
staff writer
The killing of the 16 Afghan civilians has left many Afghans and non-Afghans heart broken. The majority of them question the US involvements in Afghanistan or any other Middle Eastern countries after the incident. I believe that the U.S. involvement has increased safety in many countries, especially Afghanistan. Although it might not come off as safe as we think, at some point it can be considered safe. The government has also created more jobs for people through their involvements with the Middle East and Central Asian countries. For example, soldiers sent to Afghanistan are required to learn the culture and to do so, Afghans are paid to set up an example of how life would be like in the actual country. Although not many people are convinced that the U.S. is just helping the countries, I personally believe they are in some ways, but there are also different ways in which people are blinded and cannot notice. Yes, it is true that some soldiers are in this with the wrong intentions or are not doing their jobs accordingly, but I don’t believe it should be generalized on how the rest of the soldiers are out there killing people or the U.S. is just using the countries. To my opinion, everyone in this world we live in uses each other. There is nobody out there who does not or has not used someone or something to his or her benefit and advantage. Yes, I believe that the killing of the innocent people was wrong and justice should be done, but I also believe that without the U.S. involvement many more would have easily died with the Taliban tribe for no particular reason what so ever.For comment, e-mail [email protected]
photo courtesy of msg-history.com
photo courtesy of bbcnews.com
Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army.
Q: How’s the season going so far? SF: Up and down. One day we’ll play really well and we’ll play really aggressive and with a lot of energy. We will play very hard and play very tough and the next day we won’t… It’s extremely frustrating because we have some players that can be good at times, but we’re inconsistent with how we approach the game – with our energy and our performance, consequently we’re 10-8 right now.
Q: What are the strengths of the team? SF: Well, at times we run the bases extremely well, at times we pitch extremely well, and at times we play very good defense, but like I said, we’ve been very inconsistent since the beginning of the year, and we continue to be inconsistent. We’re trying to figure out what we have to do to get a high standard of performance- because that’s what we base our program on; a high standard of performance, not wins or losses, but a high standard of performance.
Q: Where does the inconsistency come from?SF: I’d say a lot of it comes from our guys getting up for teams who are supposedly good teams, and getting down for teams that are not so good teams. We’ll play to
the level of the teams, for example they’ll get excited to play the New York Yankees but not get excited for the Toronto Blue Jays, consequently they’ll lose to the Blue Jays. We’re trying to get a consistent level of intensity, and focus and performance.
Q: What is the team philosophy? SF: Our teams philosophy is play hard and play tough on every single pitch. Let the results take care of themselves, and just compete – that’s what we’re trying to do because in those three areas we’ve been really inconsistent.
Q: What makes this team different than other teams you’ve coached? SF: Well in the past we’ve had some outstanding players, we’ve had some stars – this team does not have stars, but you don’t need stars to have a good team. You see it all the time in different sports, the team that plays together and plays to their strengths, they’ll be successful. Right now we aren’t playing to our strengths. We’re not performing.
Q: What is the overall goal for this season?SF: The overall goal for this season is to look back with no excuses, no explanations and no regrets.
SPORTSthechabotspectator.com Thursday, March 22, 2012 7
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A “TrAdiTion of ExcEllEncE”
Steve FriendPosition: Head Coach
Seasons with Chabot: 24Overall Record: 697-321
Conference Championships: 12
With the Chabot baseball team heading on the road to play San Francisco City
College, The Spectator decided to catch up with head coach Steve Friend and first basemen Craig Massoni to get an inside
peak at one of our school’s most storied and respected
athletic programs.
By Rashaan Mungo
SPORTS EDITOR
Craig MassoniAge: 20
Position: First BaseMajor: Business AdministrationHigh School: San Ramon Valley
Q: What is the ultimate goal of the team this year? CM: The ultimate goal is to win a state championship, that whats we’ve talked about from day one. We come out here everyday and we work and we believe that’s something we’re moving towards.
Q: What do opponents have to plan for most against Chabot? CM: Well regardless of conditions we come out and play hard. We want people to know regardless of what’s going on, or how we’re going at the moment that its going to be a tough game – that we’re going to come out and compete every pitch. Basically its never an easy day playing Chabot.
Q: What does it mean to you playing Chabot baseball? Following the footsteps of this great tradition?CM: That’s definitely something I think about on a daily basis, we talk about upholding the tradition. We have a tradition of excellence here, from a team standpoint and an individual standpoint. Basically you have to come out here everyday and make sacrifices and understand that if we take care of ourselves as a team that we’ll have the same success as the guys here in the past.
Q: What’s the toughest obstacle you have had personally or as a team ?CM: Well, people say that baseball is a game of failures, you see it in the Majors, people fail three out of 10 times and get paid millions of dollars for those three successes’. I’d say the toughest part is the inherent failures of the game. You can have the best day of your life on the field but still fail. What we’re looking to do and what separates championship teams to normal ones is being able to overcome those failures and trust the system and trust what we’re doing.
Q: What’s it like playing under Coach Friend? CM: Steve Friend is a great guy. He’s very passionate and I have a ton of respect for him, maybe more than he even knows. He’s a great dude, he’s taught me a lot. He’s helped me a lot in my baseball career. This is my second year here and I’ve come along way since then. More importantly he’s helped teach me how to be a man. He just wants us to become better men, not just baseball players. He’s helped me more than I could ever express.
Feb 3 at Santa Rosa L 5-1Feb 4 Santa Rosa L 14-6Feb 9 Sacramento W 10-4Feb 10 at Sacramento L 4-3Feb 10 at Sacramento W 5-4Feb 14 Cosumnes W 2-1Feb 16 at Fresno W 4-3Feb 16 at Fresno L 2-0Feb 17 at Fresno W 6-5
Feb 21 at Cosumnes W 7-3Feb 23 at Sierra W 10-9Feb 25 Sierra L 9-4Feb 28 at Skyline W 7-6Mar 2 Mission W 7-4Mar 6 atW. Valley L 5-1Mar 8 at DeAnza L 7-5Mar 10 San Mateo W 7-2Mar 16 at Ohlone L 9-6
Gladiator 2012 Game Results
MARCH 20@
Cabrillo CollegeL 5-0
MARCH 22@
City College of SF2:30 p.m.
MARCH 24*Vs.
West Valley College12 p.m.
All dates and times courtesy of ChabotCollege.eduovErAll rEcord 10-9
MARCH 27*Vs.
MontereyCollege2:30 p.m.
*HomE gAmEs
Chabot PitChing StatS
iP 168WinS 10LoSSeS 9SaveS 3
hitS 171RunS 101
eR 70bb 71K 113hR 4
eRa 3.75
Chabot batting StatS
at batS 630RunS 91hitS 158
2b 213b 7hR 2
Rbi 78bb 67K 132
avg .251obP .355
ConfErEncE rEcord 3-4Golden Gate Coast Division Standings: 1. San Mateo (14-7) 2. West Valley (11-10) 3. Chabot (10-9) 4. De Anza (9-11) 5. Mission (8-13) 6. San Francisco (2-17-1)
to contact the author of the article email him at [email protected]
8 Thursday, March 22, 2012 thechabotspectator.com
crossword
2. First American woman astronaut to fly in space on the Challenger spaceshuttle in 1983. (9)
4. As co-owner of the Colorado Rockies, she’s the first Hispanic-American, male or female, to own a major league baseball franchise. (13)
5. First female to reach Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy. Developed the Common Business Oriented Language, also known as. COBOL, for computer programming, which opened technology to a whole new world of users. (11)
7. Celebrated pioneer in documentary photojournalism, this American woman captured the Great Depression and Japanese-American internment camps in World War II. (13)
9. Television’s highest paid entertainer. Also the first African-American woman to have her very OWN television network. (12)
1. Zoologist who penned “Silent Spring” about the damaging health effects of pesticides and other poisons. (12)
3. Coming to Chabot next week, this woman is responsible for ensuring that women get paid the same as men in the workplace at their same position. (14)
6. Considered one of the greatest jazz singers of all time, was given the Presidental Medal of Freedom in 1992. (14)
8. Founder and president of the American Red Cross, nursed injured soldiers in the Civil War. (11)
10. Credited with perfecting the universal system of stellar cassification, she compiled the largest amount of astronomical information ever assembled by an individual. (15)
11. In 1872, this activist, author and sufferagist became the first woman to run for President of the United States. (16)
12. Revolutionary of the 19th century who fought for women’s right to vote. (13)
13. The first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Lost in 1937 while attempting to be the first woman to fly around the world. (14)
14. Founded the Church of Christ Scientist in America. (13)
Down
Across Great women of American history
By Jessica caBallero
editor-in-chief