The Minuteman pisses me off. No, not the school mascot, even though I’m not too happy with that character either. I’m talking about that bi-monthly excuse for a publication you might see laying around the Franklin dinning hall entrance in several pieces. You might find it in large stacks, sitting on the corner of the Young Republicans club table in the campus center. Just take my word for it though – don’t get too close to that table.

Ok, I want to make sure everyone understands I am not anti-Republican. Actually, quite contrarily, I am somewhat conservative. I do not consider myself a democrat at all. What ticked me off about this miniscule piece of propaganda was that even though the views expressed in it were so extreme and narrow-minded, it dared label itself “Republican” and “conservative” and “American”.

I think this gives real Republicans a bad name. My feelings all started when I picked up The Minuteman for the first time a week ago. Though I am a dedicated collegian reader, I thought I’d give it a chance (big mistake). Of course, most of the articles revolved around Sept. 11th and the aftermath. One article in particular strongly criticized the students who held a peace rally, to the extent that it called them “pieces of human debris.” What’s wrong with peace anyway? This so-called “American” publication mocks peace efforts and asks its readers to laugh at the proponents of peace? There is something wrong about this. Regardless of whether the peace activists are right or not, The Minuteman not only calls them anti-American, but also insults them in print. Obviously, the first amendment grants any group the right to demonstrate peacefully. Even more obvious is that the law doesn’t grant anyone the right to slander a group in the press.

I continued reading the paper hoping it would get better (Mistake No. 2). One section displayed a list of the top 10 anti-American organizations on campus. This makes me wonder if they have been smoking pot while holding s