Chicken fingers may be the most popular item on the Leo’s menu. Served twice a week, they’re proof that Marriott can be trusted with meat sometimes. But I think there are actually two different types of chicken finger, one much more delicious.

I say this because I’ve noticed a sharp decline in the quality of the chicken fingers since the school year started. At first, chicken fingers were amazing. Now? Not so much. This isn’t just “They keep the good food out until the parents are gone” foolishness. At some point last semester the good version came back, briefly, giving me the opportunity to notice differences.

The regular chicken fingers have an orange color, and are flat. The earlier, better chicken fingers are more yellow, and bumpier.

So why not always serve the better iteration? Because, according to Director of Resident Dining Steven Gibbs, it doesn’t exist at all. “The Chicken Fingers in O’Donovan Dining Hall are the same. We do not offer two types,” he wrote in an e-mail.

Hardly! I still hold that there is a better kind of chicken finger. What do you think?
-Posted by Will Sommer, Staff Writer

What do gun nuts, Cambodia fanatics and Fritz Brogan’s enemies all have in common?

They’re Voice readers, of course.

Last week our gun editorial brought in all the expected protest letters from Second Amenment supporters across the country. Scott W., of Phoenix, Arizona wrote “Please, give us all a break and stop making idiotic comments like - ‘While it’s unclear what impact gun control has had on District crime over the years, what the sense in allowing more guns on the streets?’”

The Fritz Brogan cover story, too, provoked all manner of letters taking issue with our front-page-characterization of Brogan as “Joe Hoya” himself. One letter writer even threatened to expose some pretty steamy allegations about Brogan’s character. We’ll see if it makes it into print on Thursday.

The biggest surprise, however, came in a link in an e-mail sent to us by someone claiming the not so-self-effacing title of “Lord Playboy.” His Lordship pointed us to a discussion board of four pages of threads where all types of message board geeks spent the last week attacking Kent Elliot’s piece on Cambodia (”A $350 Problem”, March 15, 2007). These guys are really serious about everything from “dirty” backpackers to the assumed honesty of every bell boy in Cambodia. To see what these boring people spend their time doing, check this link out.
Posted by Chris Stanton, Editor-in-Chief

Did anyone else find it a little strange that Ray Danieli, the assistant director of off-campus life, was out in Red Square last Friday handing out ping-pong balls in Red Square with the Run for Rigby people?

The set of pakaged balls, custom colored to fit with the coming St. Patrick’s Day weekend, came with a reminder to sign up for the April 14 “Rigby Ball” and April 15 “Run 4 Rigby.” The message included an encouragement to “Enjoy these pong balls.”

Clearly the balls were supported and paid for by the Run for Rigby organization. However, Danieli’s presence in Red Square was an indication that the school tacitly supports appealing to students’ love for beer pong (beirut) in order to promote safety. It’s a definite compromise of ideals since the student code of conduct very clearly states that drinking games are not okay: “Of particular concern are alcohol-related drinking games. Because they are designed to encourage the excessive consumption of alcohol, they run contrary to and undermine the University’s promotion of the responsible use of alcohol. Alcohol-related drinking games shall be deemed an aggravating factor.”

The funny thing is, Danieli’s colleague (they share a tiny office), Director of Off-Campus Life Charles VanSant is the man responsible for lecturing and punishing off-campus students who party so hard that they burn the University’s bridges with the neighbors.

Way to go guys, for encouraging binge drinking and precision on the ping-pong table!

Posted by Chris Stanton, Editor-in-Chief

Over at The New Republic’s Open University blog, Georgetown Professor Michael Kazin (a former member of Students for a Democratic Society) wonders where radical student activists have gone, using Georgetown as an example of school without protests:

It’s possible that a campus in D.C. where both George Tenet and Madeleine Albright are faculty members and where Bill Clinton gives a speech every semester or so isn’t the best place to find a groundswell of independent activism. Or maybe “the student movement” has become mostly a subject for historical study, a phenomenon that crested decades ago and survives more as a desire of the left—young and old—than as a prospect for the future. (more…)

Despite their reputed fondness for fires and organized crime, Chinatown buses are one of the best things to happen to people with concerts or friends out of state. Every thrifty student worth his or her Safeway Club card knows that a Chinatown bus is the cheapest way to get around the northeast. Not content with ruling the highways, though, Chinatown bus lines are extending their hegemony to blogs.

Apex Bus’s blog offers much more than simple, though still solid, ESL delight. In one post, Apex promises handicapped customers that, after alerting the company of their situation in an email, they’ll have no trouble getting on the bus. “That’s it. We will take care of you from there,” they write.

That’s especially comforting—when you consider that most riders get their help from the other, equally confused customers waiting on the sidewalk.

The best part of the blog, though, is when the writer stops bragging about new bus stops and takes jabs other bus lines. Apparently, some of the other Chinatown bus lines think they can push Apex around:

They cheated our customers and told them our company doesn’t exist(Lier!!!). They ask our customers to pay additional money.

The fact that a rival company can convince customers their rival just doesn’t exist should show those of you who haven’t tried a Chinatown bus what a delightful gamble you’ll be taking when you do.

Next time I leave D.C., I’m using Apex Bus. If they’ve got the time to mess around on Blogger, then they must have the usual Chinatown bus problems like fire and abominable bathrooms settled. Right?
Posted by Will Sommer

Georgetown’s College Republicans had officer elections earlier this month. Nothing particularly notable happened, which is disappointing considering how much fun College Republicans can be. The platforms varied, but one thing was agreed on: the flow of fuzzy lobbyists into Georgetown will continue uninterrupted.

Ok. Admittedly, this post is a round-about way of pointing you to a dishy article about the National College Republican organization. It ran in The New Republic back in 2005 (link via IvyGate). A writer for the magazine attended the group’s presidential convention and found out that, essentially, when College Republicans don’t have Solidarity to harass, they turn on one another.

The protagonists in the story are two rival candidates for head of the organization. One, Paul Gourley, is the Establishment candidate. The other, Michael Davidson, is a well-funded underdog. They threaten and cajole their way through the convention however they can, including using a congressman who threatens to “ruin” voters who don’t toe the company line.

(The article is hosted on the site of a group the writer mentions, but it was that or buy a New Republic subscription. I know how you feel about the Internet and credit cards.)

-Will Sommer

In a move that didn’t generate nearly as much excitement as it deserved to, whoever runs Gelardin New Media Center decided recently that DVDs, VHSes, and CDs can be checked out for a full 24 hours.

You’d expect Gelardin’s selection to be educational, but it’s anything but. Check out this PDF of Power for the extensive DVD list.

This is good news because it’s free, and since Movie Mayhem seems like a such a hassle. There’s no Blockbuster in Georgetown, after all.
Posted by Will Sommer

If you weren’t planning on voting because you don’t give a shit about GUSA, now you have a reason to: You can learn about other countries’ electoral systems. GUSA is now using an instant runoff system – also known as the Alternative Vote - used most famously in Australia and Ireland. What kind of Georgetown student doesn’t get all excited over that?
Well, it excites me.
(more…)

Excuse the tiresome meme, but a Leo’s employee whose name starts with an “R” and ends with an “mberto” was recently overheard arguing with a less sweater-loving cashier about security cameras in Leo’s. The latter was passionately supporting installing security cameras in the Grab ‘n’ Go nook, the better to “catch them.” The former employee, presumably realizing that pre-made sandwiches are a right, not a privilege, was less enthusiastic.

This isn’t as worrying as a keg ban or actual spooky cameras, mainly because it would only make stuffing cookies in a jacket pocket that slightly harder. It does, however, bring up a question: why are Leo’s cashiers so intense about Grab ‘n’ pilfering? The penalty when you’re caught is always just fidgeting and acting confused, but it’s a penalty they zealously impose.

Posted by Will Sommer

If you’ve walked through Red Square or the Leavey Center lobby lately, you’ve probably noticed the SSTOP (Students Stopping Trafficking of People) banners that boldly proclaim “Buy brownies, not people.” Now, I’m obviously not advocating human trafficking, but despite its good intentions, this slogan really bugs me. Cashless and on my way to Leo’s, I didn’t buy a brownie, but I’m not about to sell my roommate into sex slavery, either. If we want to stop the trafficking, we’ve got to stop the guilt-tripping first.

Posted by Anna Bank, News Editor