On April 7, 2009, about 10,000 young Moldovans charged forth, weapons in hand, and set flame to Moldova’s parliament building, after a Communist Party victory. With the utilization of Twitter, e-mail and Facebook, the young people were able to assemble quickly and leave authorities stunned by the seemingly sudden appearance of thousands of protestors.

In reaction to the “Twitter Revolution,” as it was called in The Washington Post, Internet service in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, was immediately cut off. The United States, while free of Communist reign for the moment, intends to emulate this practice of tapping into virtual methods of communication.

According to a recent article in The New York Times, “officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications – including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct ‘peer to peer’ messaging like Skype – to be technically capable of complying if served with a wiretap order.”

Idealistically, if taking this step would aid the U.S. government in more successfully wiretapping and monitoring criminal and terrorism suspects, as it argues that its ability to do so is suffering, then inviting the government into all Blackberry conversations might be acceptable to U.S. citizens. However, just like Communism, the idea may appeal on paper but, in practice, presents a dangerous opportunity for the government to abuse its power and step on the rights of its citizens.

Video chats, Bbm (Blackberry Messenger), text messages, Twitter, Facebook and e-mails have become as personal as letters once were, if not more so – by tapping into their content, the government would be changing the relationship people have created with these methods of communication.

College-aged students trust their gadgets, thereby burdening them with photographs, conversations, letters and intimacies that, if exposed, would create the same feelings of violation as if a stranger rummaged through their bedrooms and read their diaries. This uninhibited trust that the younger generation has developed with cell phones, computers and online social networks widens the generational gap between them and government officials, who see it fit to gain unlimited access to the virtual world.

Many students can attest to exhausting arguments with their parents about cleaning up their Facebook profiles, using variations of their real names when registering online and being wary of what they do and say online. Although the younger generation may understand the potential dangers of the Internet, it’s difficult to feel at risk when our society entrusts something as intimate as dating to the online world.

While the government argues the safety benefits of wiretapping the digital world, allowing it to take this initial step presents the constant fear that it could exploit this new power, attacking the most minute of issues such as locating parties with underage drinking, as many U. Arizona students can imagine from their experience with UAPD.

Although there are clearly larger issues the U.S. government needs to tackle, it boils down to holding onto the small shred of privacy, real or imagined, that is possible in today’s interconnected world.

Austin Murphy’s cover story for the Sports Illustrated Oct. 4, 2010 issue, “Contender or Pretender,” examines the now legal ramifications of Boise State’s quest to reach the BCS National Championship game.

The story begins with Murphy saying: “In the menagerie of college football, Boise and its non-BCS brethren are decidedly less equal. That makes the Broncos’ lofty aspirations this season either noble and heroic, or naive and delusional, depending on your point of view.”

This will be the second time in less than two months that Boise State has been featured on the front page of SI.

One thing Alabama head coach Nick Saban said about the Crimson Tide’s narrow escape in Fayetteville, Ark., was that his team did not play with enough intensity early on in the game.

Intensity will most likely not be a problem for the Tide on Saturday, as the team has had the Florida game circled on its schedule since it came out.

“It is Alabama-Florida, it is why you come to Alabama to play football,” center William Vlachos said. “I can’t remember the last time Florida was down and didn’t win a bunch of games.”

Alabama will need to be focused to avoid climbing into another early hole against a talented Gator team. Vlachos said the Tide has learned from its slow start last week against Arkansas.

“I think last week was a wake-up call,” Vlachos said. “It was definitely a lesson for us, but the fortunate thing about that lesson is that we came out with a win.”

To some, this game holds a different meaning. Sophomore running back Trent Richardson not only played a key role in Alabama’s SEC championship win, he also hails from Pensacola, Fla.

“I just look at it like there is a lot of my boys there,” Richardson said. “I’m from Florida and there are a lot of boys I played with there. I wish the best of luck to them, but we got to play on Saturday. They are my defender and I’ve got to go hard on them.”

Different strokes for different folks

Nick Saban and Urban Meyer are widely known as two of the most successful coaches in college football. While their record and number of BCS National Champions might be similar, their offenses certainly aren’t. There is quite a difference between the fast-paced spread attack of Florida and the bruising downhill play of Alabama.

“I’m sure there are a lot of fans out there that like to see the wide open sort of run-and-shoot style that the spread emulates,” Saban said. “But everybody has got to choose philosophically what they think is important to give their players the best chance to win.”

With many schools moving towards more of a spread-style offense, Alabama’s pro-style offense has been a factor in recruiting athletes who did not run a spread offense in high school. Richardson, who decided to attend Alabama over Florida in the recruiting process, said the offense at Alabama suited him more than other schools.

“We ran the I-formation in high school,” Richardson said “It was really the same [as Alabama] because we ran power and the outside bone and stuff like that. It was all the same for me. That’s why it was so easy for me to catch on to the offense.”

Florida’s high-paced spread attack has gotten the Gators a lot of recognition as a fast team. Though the Alabama offense is not as spread out as the Florida offense, Richardson said he is out to prove that Alabama has speed as well.

“It’s more personal to me than anything,” Richardson said. “I got a lot of my boys from back home and a lot of my family on to me about this game, [saying], ‘Y’all are not going to be as fast.’ I do have a chip on my shoulder to show those boys that we’re not slow over here either.”

When I accepted a summer internship at the Narcotics Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico I was naively underestimating the magnitude of Mexico’s precarious issue with organized crime. During my first day of work, as I walked into my office, I observed the amount of American personnel and resources devoted to narcotics issues in Mexico. It took me no time to realize that I was about to work in one of the most relevant divisions within the embassy.

The motif of headlines in Mexican newspapers everyday revolved around findings of mass graves, assassinated politicians, corruption scandals and cartel feuds over territory. But what is this “drug war” really all about? And what are the U.S. and Mexico actually doing to deal with this issue? These questions remained trapped in my head during my three-month stay in Mexico, and the unique experiences I was exposed to slowly peeled away at the systemic and entrenched drug issue in Mexico.

During my second week as an intern, a co-worker told me, “You should start packing because you are going to Ciudad Juarez in two days.” I did not know how to reply to this unappealing invitation. Ciudad Juarez is considered to be the most dangerous city in the world. In this year alone, more than 2,100 people have been killed — a figure that might surpass last year’s death toll of 2,700. As I arrived at Juarez under the burning sun and got into the armored Suburban, I could observe dozens of trucks carrying masked policemen with AK-47s and sub-machine guns. As soon as the voyage began, it became unavoidable to see teenagers standing in the corners of streets with walkie-talkies, and many suspicious cars driving around with pitch-black windows and no license plates.

A month later, I had the opportunity to work for one week along the U.S.-Mexico border in Yuma, Arizona and San Luis Rio, Colorado in the state of Sonora. During my stay between the walls built by President George W. Bush, I was alarmed by the severity of drug, weapon and human trafficking.

For instance, I heard the story of a border patrol agent who saw a car whose passenger’s seat seemed somewhat uneven and shaky. His intuition told him that something was wrong, but the driver at the border checkpoint assured everything was all right. After scanning the vehicle, it was made visible that there was a man knitted inside the car’s seat, a clear victim of human trafficking.

Another story told by a general in the Mexican Army involved a group of unknown men committing killing raids against members of drug cartels. Initially, neither participants of the drug business nor the authorities could guess who was behind these brutal massacres. When the truth came out, it ended up being a group of prisoners who would buy off the guards, use their equipment for their deadly business and return to hide in jail so no one would suspect them. I did not only become aware of the severity of violence through all of these stories, but also through personal experiences.

One night under the pouring rain, I had to get into a cab in order to get home. As soon as I got in, my driver made some phone calls and specified his location and his intended destination. After looking at the taxi’s permit with the driver’s name and photo, I realized that the person driving me was not the person in the ID, and that if I stayed in that cab I was probably going to get kidnapped or assaulted. I quickly told him to drop me off and he showed reluctance to stop the car. Therefore, on the next red light I had to jump out of the cab and sprint as fast as I could.

After all of these experiences, I progressively acquired a thorough understanding of this complex issue and the ways in which it might be tackled. As both presidents Calderon and Obama have stressed, this is a shared problem between the United States of America and the United Mexican States. The U.S., which has a high demand for illicit drugs, and Mexico, which has a high capacity for drug production, are equally guilty in this illicit enterprise. While the U.S. needs to work exceptionally hard in reducing demand at home and controlling arms movement along the border, the U.S. government is also trying to help out Mexico with a strategic plan called the Merida Initiative. This policy includes donating billions of dollars in order to dismantle criminal organizations, institutionalize the rule of law, develop 21st-century border facilities and building strong and resilient communities.

In a Sept. 10 Cornell Daily Sun op-ed, a columnist labeled the Merida Initiative as “the biggest insult the U.S. has thrown Mexico’s way in years.” While I understand this author’s concerns and frustrations with the situation, her comment is highly misinformed, since she did not seem to express, in detail, about what the Merida Initiative is all about. What the U.S. is trying to do is supplement and guide Mexico in serious institutional changes that need to be put in place if we want permanent change. Institutional and structural issues such as corruption, a weak judiciary system and unemployment are Mexico’s problems, and no matter how much aid they get from the U.S., it is a change that Mexicans need to undertake within their great sovereign territory. For instance, if someone commits a crime in Ciudad Juarez, that person has approximately a 90-percent chance of going unpunished. If the law enforcement and judiciary institutions in the state of Chihuahua were not as corrupt and inefficient, this alarming statistic would be much lower. The problem is that the police and judges are corrupt or fear retaliation from the cartels, as killing DA’s, judges and mayors are now common occurrences.

Not without justification, the Merida Initiative is often criticized because its social component is the last priority and it has not shown a commitment with improving the social aspects that are visible to the public. While this policy should be enhanced by allocating more funds to social and educational programs that will reduce demand for drugs, Mexico needs to play its part as well and improve its mediocre public education system and provide more job opportunities in order to reduce the supply of labor for the drug market.

On Sept. 16 Mexico celebrated its 200 years of independence. These massive celebrations were met with different responses, but the most predominant attitudes were pride, joy and optimism. These are the attitudes that one hopes Mexico adopts on a daily basis if it wishes to effectively face these complex issues. After observing how much Mexicans love and care about their country, I am convinced that they will not allow organized crime to completely plague their republic, and that they will resist, just as Colombians did for more than 20 years. When it comes to Americans, we must not show ignorance, indifference or unresponsiveness. We must be as committed as Mexicans should be; if not this issue which no wall (no matter how high) can stop will progressively permeate the 1,969 miles that make up our border.

The largest country in the world by area, the Russian Federation, has frigid winters and moderate summers, in which temperatures rarely top 70 degrees. This July, record temperatures exceeded 105 degrees, hitting the nation with a high price.

The wildfires began on July 29 and spread to central and western Russia. Fires even reached the border town of Bryansk, an area near Ukraine contaminated with radioactive material following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Had fire reached Chernobyl, it could have created a wave of radioactive pollution.

The death toll hit 50 by mid-August, and the fires created significant infrastructure damage, amounting to an estimated $15 billion US.

With hundreds of deadly wildfires raging across Russia, citizens and spectators from around the world wondered if the massive disaster could have been avoided and if the Russian government neglected the safety of its people.

Scientists have suggested that wildfires are a natural part of Russia’s ecology, and little could have been done to prevent them.

Cornell Prof. Joseph B. Yavitt, natural resources, listed the three factors necessary for wildfires to break out, heat waves being only one.

“[First], there must be lots of fuel. Usually fuel is dead leaves, twigs, and stems that accumulate in old, undisturbed forests. Second, there must be hot, dry weather. Cool, moist air will coat the fuel with water and prevent fire. Third, there needs to be a spark to start the fire. Lightening is a primary cause, but humans do a good job too. Therefore, the heat wave did contribute to the fires, but only because there was abundant fuel.”

Fires are difficult to control. According to Cornell Prof. Timothy Fahey, natural resources, they will inevitably burn a large area in a dry, windy summer. However, they are natural and often necessary.

“To think of [a fire] as a disaster, is probably not appropriate because it’s something that happens in the course of ecology,” he said. “Naturally, in a forest in an area like Moscow or in any part of the northern world, the forest burns down about once a century. They always have, and they always will.”

Since forest fires are common in dry climates, trees species there have evolved to recover quickly from the fires. Yet, Yavitt described, “in the wetter climate near Moscow … tree species might not have good adaptations for fire.”

Some fires may also scorch soil or cause other damage, like erosion.  “An eroded soil will have less productivity, and thus the regenerating vegetation might be stunted, or worse, converted to weeds and weedy shrubs, rather than trees,” Yavitt explained.

Despite the detrimental outcomes of most wildfires, they may benefit forests. Wildfires kill pathogenic fungi that may potentially harm trees. They can also help recycle some of the nutrients within trees so that the next generation grows back healthy.

“A fire that burns old dead trees and does not scorch the soil can leave a modest layer of ash on the soil surface,” Yavitt said. “Ash is essentially all of the nutrients locked up in old, dying and dead trees, and thus ash is a very good fertilizer for the next generation of trees.”

Because many trees in areas where forest fires are prevalent develop adaptations to withstand them, increased efforts to suppress forest fires may jeopardize forest cycles.

“By suppressing fires, people have changed the way the system works, and that’s coming back to bite us,” Fahey said. “People build houses in areas susceptible to wildfires, so they obviously try to prevent them, but by suppressing them, you’re only letting fuel build up, causing the fire to be a lot worse when it does happen.”

In order to regulate forest fire suppression, many areas in the United States hold controlled burns – burning areas under safe conditions during cool months with the necessary tools for control in place. These burns diminish the amount of fuel present and reduce the intensity of naturally-occurring fires.

“[Controlled burns] definitely reduce the intensity of wildfires. You’re going to get the fires anyway, but instead of being really, really hot fires that just burn everything, you’re going to get a cooler fire, which allows more trees to survive,” Fahey said.

Fahey also explained that controlled burns could reduce the carbon dioxide emissions caused by wildfires. “If you have a controlled burn and get rid of some of the fuel, it releases some of the carbon dioxide,” he said. “But if you don’t get rid of the fuel and there is a fire, then you burn the whole forest and that releases a lot more carbon dioxide.”

Though the heat wave and the resulting wildfires in Russia were unexpected, future fires may come as no surprise due to global warming.  According to Yavitt, “ If global warming leads to drier conditions, then fires might occur during heat waves and produce fires similar to [those of] Summer 2010.”

The free market did not cause the financial crisis, and the Elmer’s glue and Scotch tape our wise leaders have applied to the economy are only prolonging the agony. That’s the thesis of my 2009 New York Times bestseller, “Meltdown.”

That’s not a popular thing to say in Bloomington, I learned several months ago.

When Young Americans for Liberty at Indiana U. hit a bureaucratic stone wall in trying to invite me to campus — a problem I can’t say I’ve run into at any other university — the local media took notice. But it was the comment sections that were a particular hoot.

It was as though I had insulted Joseph Stalin in the old Soviet Union. Who does this idiot think he is? How dare he speak of our wise overlords that way! Why, they’re just looking out for the good of the people! And so on, as if I’d stumbled into some kind of cliche competition.

Then, when the University reversed itself and even helped fund my appearance, the comments switched to, “If I had time, I’d go over there and set this guy straight!”

Uh-huh.

The large crowd that came to hear me a couple weeks ago couldn’t have been friendlier.

When visiting IU, I explained that asset bubbles, like the housing bubble we’ve just lived through, do not occur spontaneously. If people bought lots of houses on the free market, interest rates would rise as the banks’ loanable funds were depleted. That would put an end to speculation in real estate.

But thanks to the Federal Reserve System (or simply the “Fed”), which is no part of the free market, large infusions of money created out of thin air kept interest rates low, and thus perpetuated the bubble.

During an asset bubble, the asset in question rises, as does its price. Where would people get the money to keep buying an increasingly costly asset if the government’s officially approved money machine wasn’t there to flood the economy with cash?

It was this interference with interest rates, pushing them well below where the free market would have set them, that set in motion the classic boom-bust cycle we’ve just witnessed.

F.A. Hayek won the Nobel Prize for showing how central banks like the Federal Reserve, by interfering with interest rates and not allowing them to tell entrepreneurs the truth about economic conditions, divert the economy into unsustainable configurations that inevitably come undone in a crash. (Hayek belongs to a tradition of free-market thought called the Austrian School of economics.)

None of this has anything to do with the free market.

Adding fuel to the fire was the so-called Greenspan putt, the unofficial policy of the Greenspan Fed that promised assistance to private firms in the event of risky investments gone bad. What kind of incentives do you suppose that created?

The point of being in college is to learn how to think beyond cliches. Forget the quacks who told us, cluelessly, that everything was fine with the economy in 2007.

Look instead to modern spokesmen of the Austrian School like Peter Schiff, Ron Paul and Jim Grant. You know, the people who, unlike your professors (who, by the way, tried to keep a dissident voice from speaking on campus), predicted the recent crash to a T.

Want to know what really happened to the economy, and why your job prospects are so bleak? Watch Peter Schiff’s YouTube “Why the Meltdown Should Have Surprised No One.”  That’s the first step toward becoming the independent thinker that four years at IU are supposed to make of you.

The Big Ten made noise this summer with the addition of Nebraska and an overhaul of their football alignment beginning in 2011.

In the near future, the conference could also alter the landscape of an entire sport — ice hockey.

Penn State officially announced on Sept. 17 the addition of Division I men’s and women’s ice hockey teams, raising the possibility of the formation of a Big Ten league for the sport.

“This leads to the presumption that there will be a Big Ten Men’s Ice Hockey Championship at some point in the future,” Scott Chipman, Big Ten assistant commissioner of communications said.

“A decision of that nature, however, cannot be made without a significant amount of discussion both internally, with conference chancellors, presidents, administrators and coaches, and externally, with the hockey community as a whole.”

The addition of Penn State makes a total of 59 Division I ice hockey programs in six conferences based on relative geographic location.

The addition of a Penn State varsity hockey team could possibly lead to the defection of Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota and Wisconsin from their respective leagues to a new Big Ten conference.

Such a conference could be on the ice by the 2014-2015 season. With these six teams, the Big Ten would fulfill the minimum requirements to secure an automatic playoff bid.

DIVISION ONE HOCKEY HOOSIERS?
The creation of a Big Ten conference would add a household name to college hockey that has been missing for years.

“The Big Ten teams, as far as college hockey goes, are huge in this country,” IU club hockey coach Jan Jas said Thursday. “The level of play would be unbelievable.”

The members of the IU club hope to be a part of that unbelievable play within the next three years, Jas said. However, a lot of construction work needs to be done first.

While the possibility exists for Indiana to sponsor hockey on the varsity level, Jas said numerous hurdles must be overcome.

“There are a lot of supporters, and a lot of people working to make this happen in the near future,” Jas said. “There needs to be more cooperation on the part of both the school and the league. A lot of construction needs to be done down the road.”

While the possibility of varsity hockey at IU is still alive, former IU hockey coach Rich Holdeman said the likelihood is not good. Penn State was only able to weigh the option of hockey with an $88 million donation from Pennsylvania businessman Terry Pegula.

The donation figures to fund the construction of a 6,000- to 8,000-seat arena, an upgrade from their current facility which accommodates approximately 1,350.

“Something similar would have to happen for IU to contemplate this,” Holdeman said. “In other words, it is highly unlikely.”

The obstacles the IU Athletics Department would have to hurdle include, for one, the lack of a facility.

“IU is not likely to spend the money for a rink without a large donation for that purpose,” Holdeman said. “Even if someone gave money for a rink, it is doubtful that the University would like to get into the rink management business.”

Furthermore, the athletics department would have to consider adding both men’s and women’s ice hockey teams to stay in compliance with Title IX. Although ice hockey can be a revenue-generating sport at some schools, it is questionable whether it would be one at IU.

While the future of hockey as a varsity sport at IU remains up in the air, Holdeman said he liked the idea of Big Ten hockey.

“Overall, it would be a very exciting development for college hockey,” Holdeman said. “Getting the Big Ten playing as a conference should increase fan interest in the sport, and if it happened, it would create a real power conference.”

U. Houston quarterback Case Keenum said Tuesday that he is unsure if he will apply to the NCAA for a medical redshirt to play next season, or if he will take his chances in the NFL draft.

Keenum is scheduled to have reconstructive surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament at 9 a.m. today, and he will mull his decisions afterward.

“The fact is I don’t know,” Keenum said. “There’s a lot of unknowns now. There’s a lot of stuff I don’t know about.”

Dr. Walt Lowe will perform the surgery. Lowe is the preferred orthopedic surgeon for the Texans and Rockets and is one of the most respected doctors in the country in his field.

As a signal caller, Keenum was used to having most things in his control, including the pace of the offense and the plays called on the field. Now he submits control to doctors and hopes the healing process is timely.

“It’s not a fun experience,” he said. “I don’t wish this on anybody.

“A lot of it isn’t in my control. It’s not the senior year I wanted to have, but it’s the one I have right now, and I’ll make the best of it.”

Keenum did not say what his preference was for next season, but that he has the itch to play now.

“Right now, I want to be on the field. I want to be out there playing, and I can’t,” Keenum said.

“Right now, I want to play for the Cougars. As far as in the future there’s no telling.”

Because of concussion symptoms stemming from the previous game against UTEP, Keenum was wary when he threw an interception to UCLA linebacker Akeem Ayers in the Cougars’ 31-13 loss on Sept. 18. He said he wouldn’t have done anything different if he threw another.

“When I was chasing him down, I was actually thinking about my head,” he said. “I was thinking ‘don’t dive’ because I didn’t want to get kicked in the head or anything. I thought I would arm-tackle him, but it all happened pretty quickly.”

Keenum said he has received a flurry of calls from friends and family. Among well-wishers for Keenum was Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin, who suffered a similar injury last season.

“He gave me a heads up on what’s coming, how to rehab and how to come back stronger,” Keenum said.

Despite being clearly disappointed, Keenum remains optimistic.

He said he expects the timetable for recovery to be the average time for most ACL injuries, which is approximately six months.

“It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m going to get through it stronger,” he said.

“It’s going to be as quick as I can. I’m going to push the things I can push, and be careful with what I can be careful with.”

Head coach Kevin Sumlin said in this situation it is acceptable for Keenum to focus solely on himself, something he is not accustomed to.

“At this point he needs to make a decision based on Case Keenum, what’s best for him, which is a lot different way than he ever thinks.,” Sumlin said. “He’s always thinking about the good of everything else and other people.

“He’s done so much for this program and for UH. I told him ‘You don’t owe us anything. You have done a tremendous amount for this community on and off the field.’ You can’t put into words, dollars or the amount of publicity and pride he’s brought to the University.”

Keenum is one of two offensive team captains, as voted on by his teammates. Even though he won’t be on the field anymore this year, Sumlin said another player will not take Keenum’s spot as captain.

“He’s still a part of this team,” Sumlin said. “What he thinks, how he feels, how he’s able to talk is still important. He’s not done with us, and we’re not done with him.”

Keenum has expressed a desire to coach with the conclusion of his playing career. He received his first hands-on experience in Saturday’s game against Tulane. Along with his crutches, he could be seen on the sideline with a headset while assisting true freshman Terrance Broadway in his first start.

Keenum said he has confidence in both Broadway and freshman David Piland, and that they are more advanced as passers than he was as a freshman.

“It was definitely a different experience,” he said. “It was fun coaching those guys up. It’s good seeing those guys succeed. I think Terrance is a heck of a football player. He’s got a long way to get a whole lot better. David is a heck of a player too.”

“I know for a fact they’re a lot better along than I was at their age.”

Regardless of the result of Keenum’s situation, Sumlin said he thinks he will be a great coach when the time comes.

“He’s going to be successful no matter what happens,” he said.