Nader is no joke,today’s politics is
Re: “Who are you kidding, Ralph?” and “Will Nader steal it from the Dems?” Feb. 24.

Grace Agostin sneers, “It looks like the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have a better chance at making it to the World Series this year than (Ralph) Nader does at becoming president.” How fitting, since, like most of what passes for political debate, both her column and Tuesday’s cover story read more like transcripts from some inane sports talk show, in which a bunch of has-been players and armchair would-be players bellow about who’s ahead, who’s tougher, who has spiffier uniforms, neckties or TV ads.

Meanwhile, all serious issues are either reduced to insipid show-biz sound bites or dismissed as quaint Don Quixote quests. We could save ourselves a lot of bother if we just put the major candidates on a game show and let them perform some asinine stunts, with the winner to be crowned king by Donald Trump. But of course, with our corporate-run pseudo-government and (dis)infotainment media, that is basically what we do anyway.

Nader did not cause Al Gore to lose in 2000. Al Gore caused Al Gore to lose. The despicable agenda for which Bush is the current poster boy at least definitely stands for something. If Gore or John Kerry lose to such a vile and vacuous opponent by merely offering more of the same shabby semi-conservatism cynically dressed up as something else, they have only themselves and their spineless stage managers to blame.

I’ve always voted for Democrats, not because I ever believed that most of them were at all serious about progressive issues, but in most cases simply because they seemed slightly less inept or crooked or dangerous than the Republicans.

This is choice? This is democracy? That’s why I so proudly voted for Nader in 2000, and almost certainly will again. He stands unwaveringly for what I believe in, and he’s basically the only candidate who’s ever honestly earned my respect. He’s not slick, but at least he’s not phony. I know he won’t win. He knows it too. But somebody has to be a thorn in the otherwise utterly complacent butts of the shamelessly corrupt keepers of the status quo, because if we never demand more, they’ll just continue to hand us less and less.

Roy Vaughn is a post-baccalaureate student in biology.

Construction of garagemust be expedited

I didn’t time it to see how long it took me to find a parking spot Tuesday; the lot behind the Library is almost always full so I’ve come to accept that. I finally learned that it’s not really worth it anymore since I know it will always take at least 15 minutes and that’s only if I’m lucky. But I’m not here to whine about that — I’ve been at this school way too long.

What I’m wondering about is that little thing on the front side of the Library we’ve been promised called a parking garage. This thing has been “under construction” for at least half a year now and all I can see from my vantage point on the fourth floor of the Library is a great hill of dirt. That is pretty sad when you consider how fast the office and parking garage went up next to the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center.

I have this sinking feeling that I’m going to graduate before it’s done and won’t even be able to use what my tuition is helping to pay for. As if I didn’t already spend enough on a parking pass to have the privilege of circling around the lot for a good half hour each day I have class while nearly having a vein burst in my head from having to stalk down pedestrians and fight my fellow students in cars for that one coveted spot.

I would like to remind everyone that the new athletics building has closed the lot behind the gym and the construction area has done the same to the one in front of the Library and thus, those students are spilling over into other lots causing the traffic situation to be even more congested than ever before.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but is it so hard to plan on finishing this parking garage in fewer than several years?

Kelley Minars is a graduate student in the School of Library and Information Science.