THE OORACLEVolume 94 | Issue 14 | Free in single copy | March 18, 2011Tennessee Tech University | Cookeville, TN | 38505

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Community rallies for custodians

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Student Tim Stricklen shows his support for Tech custodians.

INDEX

Opinion ...................... 2Sports ........................ 3Entertainment ............ 4

By CASSIE TESAUROAsst. Editorial Editor

Boucher clarifies Tech tobacco policyBy BRITTANY RITZMANStaff Writer

Concerns for Tech’s cus-todial staff have reappeared this semester as custodians and supporters protest the possibility of outsourcing.

Due to continuing de-creases in funding for state universities, Tech administra-tion is looking at options to reduce costs.

“The utility costs are hun-dreds of thousands of dollars higher each year,” President Bob Bell said. “We’ve been looking for a number of years for ways to do things effec-tively and in a real cost-con-tained environment.

“Custodial services is cer-tainly not the fi rst thing we’ve looked at. We’ve done a num-ber of things to try to bring the budget under control.”

A committee has been asked to investigate cost sav-ings associated with custodial work. One of the options the group is looking at is out-

Tech’s no-smoking policy went into effect in 2010, but there are still misconceptions about what the policy entails.

The policy states, “Effective Jan. 1, 2010, TTU is a No-Smoking and Tobacco- Free Campus, with all smok-ing (‘herbal’ and tobacco) and all other tobacco usage permitted only in private vehicles. This policy applies to all University buildings and grounds.”

Ed Boucher, dean of students, said, “Somehow, ru-mors have gotten around, and it has created this mis-conception that people can smoke on the sidewalks that border campus. Everyone needs to know that this is a no-smoking campus for everyone—students, employ-ees and visitors—and that smoking is only allowed in-side private vehicles.”

This policy seems simple but has met with some opposition on campus.

“I understand why it is banned in high traffi c ar-eas,” Bob Novick, junior English major, said. “How-ever, banning it on a campus of a public university alto-gether is extreme, authoritarian and dismissive of basic rights. There could at least be areas where it is okay to smoke.”

The idea of designated smoking areas is not new. When trying to create the new policy, University repre-sentatives considered installing smoking rooms in resi-dence halls and some other buildings on campus.

“Once we actually looked at the cost of construction plus the ventilation systems these rooms would require, we realized that it just wasn’t feasible,” Boucher said.

However, not all of the reaction to the policy has been negative.

“I like having the no- smoking policy because it was always such a nuisance when I would walk into a build-ing and the smoke would follow,” GeriAnna Wilson, a junior journalism major said. “It just really bothers people who aren’t smokers.”

Though the policy states that it applies to “all University buildings and grounds,” there are still some who question what this statement includes.

“One question everybody wants to ask is ‘Who owns the sidewalks?’” Boucher said. “Well, the Ten-nessee Code Annotated and the Tennessee Board of Re-gents policy state that the University Police have statu-tory authority over these areas. I’ve looked at policies from other universities in the state, and they have very similar regulations to the ones we put into effect here.”

While the policy brings with it some controversy and inconvenience, it is still relatively new.

“These things tend to have a life cycle,” Boucher said. “Students who came in several years ago and were accustomed to smoking on campus don’t like it. How-ever, the incoming students who never knew Tech as a smoking-friendly campus don’t usually mind. Give it a few years, and people will be more used to it and know what it means.”

sourcing custodians.“My main concern is that

the committee’s charge will not be taken seriously,” said Jon Jonakin, associate profes-sor of economics, fi nance and marketing. “That charge is to look at outsourcing but also at alternatives to outsourcing.”

Yesterday, TTU United Campus Workers facilitated a rally outside of Derryberry Hall. The demonstration was to show support for the cur-rent Tech custodians.

“We want to show that those at Tech and in the greater Cookeville commu-nity are against outsourcing and laying off loyal campus employees,” said Karly Safar of United Campus Workers. “A public demonstration is the only way to do that.”

Safar’s involvement with Tech custodians’ job security also includes protesting last semester’s proposed switch to third shift.

“[Some Tech faculty and staff members] suspect that the switch was a prelude to outsourcing,” Jonakin said. “By moving the custodians to the night shift, it was be-

lieved many would quit, and it would then be easier to outsource to a private com-pany.”

Regarding the proposed shift switch, Bell said, “When we began this discussion, we wanted to look at whether or not we could keep custodial services here on campus and do it in a different way that would save money.

“The idea was that it is a more effi cient cleaning if you have the building to yourself. It created enough anxiety that we pulled back without com-pleting that study.”

Rally supporters also voiced concerns about po-tential safety issues involved with outsourced workers.

TTU United Campus Workers fl iers point out se-curity hazard examples in-cluding outsourcing compa-nies hiring convicted felons to work in Putnam County Schools.

“One of the requirements in the requests for proposal [for outsourcing companies to work with Tech] would be that they do background checks on everyone,” Bell

said. “If we were to go to outsourcing, the background checks would be much more thorough than they are now with our current employees.”

The rally organizers cir-culated a petition to protest outsourcing Tech custodians and received more than 1,000 signatures from community groups, as well as people on campus.

The TTU United Campus Workers and rally organizers continue to encourage student support for Tech custodians.

“I do not know if we’ll end up [outsourcing custo-dians] or not,” Bell said. “It’s very early in this study so we’ll have to see which direc-tion it goes.

“We’ve got good folks working here on campus, and I understand their concerns. I wish the state budgets were better than they are, and I wish we weren’t having to do this [study], but the reality is we are.”

TBR to fi nalize, review student fee increases later this monthBy CANDICE GRIGGSStaff Writer

Students aren’t going to see relief from rising fees any-time soon. Not only did the Tennessee Board of Regents Finance Committee approve the student activity fee athlet-ics fee, and health services fee during the March 7 meeting, they also reviewed requests from Tech for housing in-creases.

Monica Greppin, interim communications director, explained how the approval process works for the Finance Committee.

“While considering the recommendations submitted by each campus,” Greppin

said, “the Finance Commit-tee reviews each [request] to make sure they conform to state law, guidelines and the board’s previous practices. The committee also makes sure each recommendation is supported by a documented need, serves to positively im-pact the Complete College Tennessee Act completion agenda, and is in alignment with any THEC recommen-dations for tuition rates.”

The student activity fee will increase $38 bringing its total to $58 per semester. No conversation with SGA was held. However, the learning village concept was discussed with the prior SGA president during the 2009-2010 fi scal year, including the rollout schedule and funding source.

The athletics fee will in-

crease $25 to a total of $175. No discussion was had with SGA or the student body con-cerning this fee. The last time the fee was increased was Fall 2010, when it went from $125 to $150.

The health services fee will now be $30, an increase of $10. There were also no dis-cussions had with the SGA or student body concerning this fee. In the fall of 2007, the fee increased from $10 to $20.

The non-mandatory fees approved for included the laboratory materials fee for HEC 2032. However, fees for HEC 1300 were deleted. The fee is $20 per course.

The establishment of fi nes for violating University drug and alcohol regulations was also approved by the commit-tee. The fi nes are as follows:

$25/fi rst offense, $50/second offense and $100/third of-fense.

The $1 increase per se-mester for the P.O. Box rental fee was approved. The last time this fee was increased was Fall 2010 when it in-creased from $14 to $15.

Tech also requested to have the traffi c fi nes increased to provide incentive to adhere to the traffi c policies. The TBR Finance Committee has no au-thority to act on this request.

“Traffi c fi nes are consid-ered part of the University’s rules, which are promulgated through the Administrative Procedures Act,” Greppin said. “That process involves the Board, the Attorney Gen-eral’s Offi ce, the Secretary of State and the Legislative Committee on Government

Operations. They are not cur-rently acted on through the Finance Committee, so those increases won’t be approved when the board meets next week.”

The increase of the inter-national student registration fee was the largest jump ap-proved by the committee. The fee increased $70, which brings the total fee to $100 a semester. The last change made to this fee was Fall 2008, when a summer semester was added.

The establishment of in-ternational student deposit was also approved by the committee. The fee will be $300 per semester.

Tech has also put in re-quests for housing cost re-visions. Tech asked for residence halls fees increase

2.9-3.7 percent, which would bring the cost up from $535-$3,850 to $550-$3,850, generating $195,000 in revenue.

The apartments were requested to increase from four percent to 4.5 percent. The cost would rise from $335-$395 to $350-$900. Be-cause the apartments are currently under construc-tion, Tech has negative rev-enue of $410,000.

All fees, including housing, are reviewed by the Finance Committee for recommendation to the full TBR for a vote at the quar-terly meeting. At this point, none of these requests are considered fi nal and won’t be until the full board acts. The quarterly meeting will be held March 25.

Acheson reviews Lupe Fiasco’s

‘Lasers’

- Student response needed for survey- College of Business to host Etiquette Dinner- New NCAA program may be piloted at Tech

Page 2 | March 18, 2011 www.tntechoracle.com

OPINION

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Tennessee Technological University--nondiscrimina-tory on the basis of sex in its educational programs and activities including employ-ment and admission of students to the University as required by Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 and regulations based therein and published in CFR, part 86. Tennessee Technological University is an Equal Opportunity Affi rmative Action Employer.

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BRANDON GOODWINBRANDON GOODWINSports EditorSports Editor

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CHUCK ACHESONCHUCK ACHESONEntertainment EditorEntertainment Editor

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BEAT REPORTERS:BEAT REPORTERS: Brittany Anderson, Jillian Boreing, Brendan Bowers, Brandi Campbell, China Chafin, Courtney Clifford, Olivia Clinard, Jackson Cresswell, Sarah DeRossett, Zachary Edwards, Julie Graham, Candice Goodman, Candice Griggs, Emily Haile, Elizabeth Harper, Justin Hill, Heather King, Shelby McDonald, Amanda Miller, Logan Nickleson, Justin O’Dell, Alek Peterson, Brittany Ritzman, Andy Rutherford, Will Sheckler, Logan Shrum, Ashley Smith, Niklas Trzaskowski, Katherine Vaughn, Suzanne Vaughn, Aaron Vick, Jacob Walker, Lindsey Wallace, Emily Weinzetl, Gerri Anna Wilson, Casey Woodard, Camille Woods

THE OORACLE

Must-see ‘Howl’ offers historical value

SARAH TOWNSEND

Editorial Editor

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CASSIE TESAURO

Asst. Editorial Editor

‘Server not found’: Tesauro weighs in on campus Internet

Poll of the Week

This poll is not scientifi c and only refl ects the opinions of those who chose to participate. It does not refl ect the public as a whole. Voting for this poll took place online between

February 25 and March 16, 2011 at www.tntechoracle.com.

Imagine going into a store and buying a bag of your favorite brand of po-tato chips. The bag looks like its bursting at the seams with chips.

Hungrily, you tear open the bag to fi nd about half a measly cup worth of crumbs that barely takes up one fi fth of the space in the bag.

Do you feel that sink-

ing realization of being ripped off? If you live in a residence hall on campus, it probably reminds you of the feeling you get every time you try to log on to the Internet.

When I was deciding which university I wanted to go to, one of the biggest factors was money. How much was tuition? How expensive were the meal

plans? How much would my dorm room cost?

I chose Tech because when I compared prices, it looked like here I would get the most for my mon-ey. For the most, part I was right.

However, I never an-ticipated how awful the Internet connection would be. Over the past three years, my Internet con-nection has gone from a little slow to absolutely crawling.

Over spring break, I used a computer with a dial-up connection, and I felt like it was moving at the speed of light.

Of course, it’s hard for

You have probably heard of James Franco. He is a young actor who has done a few memorable movie roles, including one in “Spiderman 3” as New Goblin/Harry Osborn. He also played the drug deal-er in “Pineapple Express.” If you watched the Oscars this year, he was hosting the show alongside Anne Hathaway. Franco is a pretty well-known guy; he even wrote a book (which I have heard only nega-tive things about, but I digress).

You’ve probably also heard of Allen Ginsberg, right? He is only one of the greatest American authors of the last 100 years and a leading fi gure in the Beat

Generation. If you have heard of him (which I trust you have taken some lit-erature classes and hope-fully have been exposed to his work already), then you should be excited to know that next Thursday our very own Backdoor Playhouse will be showing the movie “Howl,” based on Ginsberg’s book with the same name and court case it brought about in 1957.

I haven’t seen the mov-ie yet, though it came out some time ago. I know that the people who saw it when it came out will be eager to watch it again, so I would suggest getting there early to claim a seat. If you have time, you should also try

reading the book fi rst in case you are indeed new to Ginsberg. Everyone al-ways says to read the book before watching any fi lm, and in this case (like most), you should do that be-cause it really gives you a peek into the writer’s mind further than what a movie can portray.

Franco plays the role of young Ginsberg in this fi lm, and since he is a real-life student in the creative writing program at Yale, I expect his performance to be spot-on.

Just in case you haven’t heard of Ginsberg or the Beat Generation, don’t “beat” yourself up about it.

Check out the fi lm for free at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Backdoor Playhouse. It’s an interesting part of history and popular cul-ture that you shouldn’t miss if you can help it.

Would you drop out of college if your Pell Grant was cut?

40% - No, but I would have to take out more student loans.

20% - No.

40% - No, it would not affect me.

me to accurately gage how slow the Internet here is because the connection works so rarely.

Very often I’m re-searching online, and the connection is lost. I know I’m not the only person on campus who has been in the middle of a timed ilearn test when the Internet connection disappeared.

I have had to run to the library and frantically log back on to timed tests. If I’m very lucky, the library lab computer will work fast enough to let me fi n-ish the test. But that’s a slim chance. Other times, my connection in the dorm will disappear after

the library is closed. That means an ‘F’ for an online assignment.

On the Monday after spring break, I decided to keep a log of what my internet connection did throughout the day. At 9 a.m. when I went to check my e-mail, I got the “server not found” message. After thirty minutes, I was able to get to the ResNet login page, only to see “the con-nection has timed out.” I gave up for a few hours.

At 2 p.m., I went as far as the iLearn homep-age before the “server not found” message appeared again. I had no connection for almost an hour. For the

next hour, the connection kept timing out.

I fi nally had to run down to the library, mut-tering some choice four-letter-words as I walked through the rain. The same thing happened again later in the evening.

College is unbeliev-ably expensive. One of the many things I’m paying for is Internet in my dorm room.

After careful consider-ation, I think I have found a solution to this problem. If I only have a connection a fraction of the time I’ve been promised, how about I only pay a fraction of the fee I’ve been charged?

The Tech chapter of Habitat for Humanity is organizing an event to raise money to help build a house in Putnam County. The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on March 21-April 8 on the fi rst fl oor of the RUC, left of the informa-tion desk.

Students and organizations are encouraged to participate in the construction of a house on the wall. The house, made out of index cards, will illustrate Habitat’s purpose—to build homes. Index cards will be sold individually or in bulk for a dollar a piece. The student or organization will decorate their card[s] with their name or logo. The decorated index cards will be the bricks used to build the house.

All money raised will go directly to the Tech chapter of Habitat. Habitat is a non-profi t organization that builds simple, decent and affordable homes for families in need. Student’s assistance and involvement will impact their com-munity through Habitat. Learn more about the Tech chapter at www.orgs.tntech.edu/habitat.

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The highlight of the series came during an out-standing start on the mound for ju-nior right-hander Matt Shepherd (1-2) in game two on Saturday. He pitched seven in-nings, allowing only one hit, walk-ing four, and strik-ing out six Penguins.

This performance earned him the honor of being named Ohio Valley Confer-ence Pitcher of the Week.

“Matt defi nitely deserved it,” Bragga said. “He had a heck of an outing, and we hope to see that the rest of the season. We’re very proud and happy for him.”

This marks the second time the team has been given the award this year. Sopho-more right-hander Tristan Archer (3-1) also received the award in week two of the sea-son.

The Golden Eagles host the Purdue Boilermakers this weekend for a three-game se-ries.

The Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles baseball sea-son is in full swing.

They started the season off shaky, losing nine of their fi rst 13 games on the dia-mond, including series losses to both Eastern Michigan and Ohio.

“We have a really good baseball team,” head coach Matt Bragga said. “We’ve played up to our potential at times and haven’t at times. We’re looking to fi nd some consistency like we did this past weekend.”

Coach Bragga is referring to the sweep of Youngstown State that the team accom-plished this past weekend at the Averitt Express Baseball Complex. They won both legs of a doubleheader on Satur-day with scores of 10-6 and 13-7. The team completed the sweep on Sunday in extra in-nings when Zach Stephens hit an RBI groundout in the bottom of the 11th to end the game 5-4.

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SPORTS

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Baseball hosts Purdue in weekend series

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Junior Matt Shepherd earns Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week for his efforts against Youngstown State.

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“They are a very good team,” Bragga said about the Boilermakers. “It should be a great series. We’re supposed to have good weather, and it should be a lot of fun.”

When asked about his outlook on the rest of the

season, Bragga seemed confi -dent in his team.

“We need to improve dai-ly. We have to work hard and play hard.

“We have high expecta-tions. There are several chal-lenges ahead of us, but that’s why you play the game: to try and overcome them. We are confi dent and looking to our players who can step up and do that.”

Tech fell to East Ten-nessee State on Wednesday thanks to a Buc’s go-ahead home run in the ninth. The fi -nal score was 6-5.

For more information on scores and upcoming games, visit www.ttusports.com

Public Service Announcement

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dedicated to prevent rape by the thoughtful

application of theory and research to rape

prevention programming.

The goal: Help men understand how to help women recover from rape/sexual assault.

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start of the Tennessee Tech chapter,

contact Phillip at patilford21@students.

tntech.edu.

Junior Kevin Murphy notched 28 of Tech’s 66 total points, but the Golden Ea-gles couldn’t get any closer than fi ve after falling behind by a dozen and lost a 74-66 road game to the Broncos of Western Michigan in the fi rst round of the College Insider Tournament Wednesday night.

“We’re really proud of how our guys played,” head coach Mike Sutton said. “They put forth a monumen-tal effort in what proved to be something of an ugly game. I think our layoff had an effect, but our guys defi nitely com-peted.

“Kevin (Murphy) was outstanding, as he has been for the past few weeks, and Al (Jones) fi nished his career with a fi ve-for-fi ve perfor-mance from the fl oor—fi t-ting, as he leaves Tech with the highest accuracy in school history,” Sutton continued.

Tech battled through six lead changes and four ties in the fi rst half, with neither

team leading by more than four points through nearly the fi rst 17 minutes of play.

Murphy scored Tech’s fi rst nine points of the game to give Tech a 9-7 lead with 15:23 to play, but WMU tied the game, 9-9, with 15:09 on the clock.

Dennis Ogbe hit a layup with 12:13 left in the half to give Tech an 11-10 lead that the Golden Eagles held for nearly six minutes, allow-ing the Broncos to knot the score just once within that time frame. During those six minutes, the Golden Eagles reached their largest lead of the half on a three by Zach Bailey with 8:38 to play, set-ting the score at 17-13.

Western Michigan con-tinued their scoring drive in the second half, recording their largest lead of the night with 18:33 left to play. Back and forth efforts allowed the Golden Eagles to chip away at the lead, cutting it to fi ve with 8:19 left in the game on a jumper by Alfred Jones, but they were unable to come any closer than that.

Jones shot a perfect fi ve-

for-fi ve from the fl oor on the night, four-for-four in the second half alone, fi nishing the game with 11 points and fi ve rebounds. Murphy had 17 in the fi rst half and added another 11 in the second half to give him 28 on the night, and chipped in with eight re-bounds.

The pair were the only two Golden Eagles to score in double-fi gures, as they ac-counted for 39 of Tech’s 66 points.

“Rebounding was an is-sue,” Sutton said, “and there were a lot of free throws in the game. We had some op-portunities, and if we had gotten maybe one more key play down the stretch, I think we could have pulled it out. But you have to give Western Michigan credit. They had fi ve players in double fi g-ures and are a very balanced team.

“This wasn’t the conclu-sion that we hoped for,” he said, “but it was the end to a great season. It set the tone for what our basketball pro-gram has to look forward to next season.”

Tech falls at College Invitational TournamentPRESS RELEASE

Junior Kevin Murphy dribbles up the court Wednesday against Western Michigan.Sports Information

By CHUCK ACHESONEntertainment Editor

Lupe Fiasco’s latest of-fering “Lasers” takes Fiasco’s sound in a new direction featuring beats and rhythms ready for the club out of the box. While the electronic sounds on the album allow for a smooth album, general-ly rolling from track to track, this mass-consumer sound is combined with the politi-cal elements on numerous tracks, resulting in a confused fi nished product.

From the beginning of the album, Fiasco makes no qualms that this album is go-ing to an intimate journey into his mind. On the fi rst track “Letting Go,” which features Sarah Green, Fiasco opens with ‘My self-portrait / Shows a man that the wealth tortured / Self absorbed with his own self.’ Taking a look at himself while the chorus haunts the background of the track, Fiasco opens strongly.

Transitioning to politics

Let ’s Talk About Movies With CHUCK ACHESON

Entertainment Editor

www.tntechoracle.com Page 4 | March 18, 2011

ENTERTAINMENT

Let’s Talk About Music: Lupe Fiasco’s ‘Lasers’

Courtesy of Sony Pictures and Columbia PicturesAaron Eckhart playing Staff Sgt. Michael Nantz must lead a group of marines trying to save civilians and get to safety dur-ing the alien invasion.

i AlbumLasers

Final GradeB-

Label1st & 15th,

Atlantic

Price$13

ReleasedMarch 4, 2011

Available online and in stores

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“Battle: LA” is movie you can take or leave, and for the most part, it’s worth leav-ing. There are parts to like in this movie, but poor writing, questionable CGI and shaky cam really put a damper on this one.

As soon as the movie kicks off, you are alerted to the fact that aliens are landing all around the world, wreak-ing havoc on the human pop-ulation. The story follows SSgt. Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) as he leads a group of marines to rescue civil-ians trapped behind the alien lines. Over the course of the movie, the plot changes from a survival movie to over-the-top action thriller, reminis-cent of “Independence Day,” without Will Smith and his snappy one-liners.

Following a brief intro-duction to the current situ-ation, a fl ashback occurs, which serves to set the stage and acts as a roll call for char-acters. The roll call is essen-tial because for the rest of

the movie, the only marine’s name you will hear said in Nantz. On the other hand, it’s really a waste of time as over half of the people named will be dead in 30 minutes (it’s a war movie; these things happen).

The fl ashback very neatly rolls into the present as the marines fi nd the group of ci-vilians and from that point onwards, the movie is a non-stop, bullets-a-plenty shoot-fest. However, along the way, dramatic moments are shoe-horned into the plot, which are largely inconsequential and just disrupt the fl ow of the movie. When you add in the awkward lines found dur-ing these periods, the product just leaves you feeling weird, rather than emotionally con-nected to anyone.

If “Battle: LA” just stuck with the action, which it does very well and is quite intense at times, it would have been so much better. In addition, while the movie obviously should be seen as a condem-nation of colonialism, the sense that Westerners (the ones most readily at fault) should feel guilty never ma-terializes. “Battle: LA” lacked the ability to evoke that same feeling of shame that “District 9” managed to create.

A theme on the opposite end of the heavy-handed spec-trum was the patriotic theme. This movie is defi nitely pro-military, which is absolutely fi ne, but the patriotic theme is caked on so heavily you expect Toby Keith to show up and tell the marines to ‘put a boot in the ass of those aliens;’ or at least Spiderman to fl y in front of a majestically waving American fl ag, despite there not being any wind.

Another issue with the movie was the design of the aliens. The CGI design of them was odd in that they cause you to register almost no emotion. They were a weird combination of met-al and biological material. Again, the movie missed a chance to hammer home the idea of “shame on us for co-lonialism” by making them look more familiar.

Also a technical problem with “Battle: LA” was the use of shaky cam. During the fi ghting sequences, it worked well and was fi ne. How-ever, during the non-combat scenes, it looked like the fi lm-makers used handy cams.

On some positive notes, Eckhart was perfectly cast and played the role of Nantz very well. In addition, all the main characters were played well, though that might be thanks in part to how few lines they, other than Nantz, had.

And, as I said before, the action was frantic and thrill-ing when the movie shifted gears into that mode. Watch-ing “Battle: LA” on the big screen is the way to go.

However, these positives were not enough to bring this movie above the ‘below aver-age’ threshold. “Battle: LA” is a summer action movie that came out a few weeks too early and just never really reaches its potential.

Final Grade: C-MPAA: PG-13

Battle: Los Angeles

Courtesy of Lupe FiascoLupe Fiasco’s third album is pretty good but never catches the same magic as “Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor” or “The Cool.”

in the second song, “Words I Never Said,” Fiasco continued his strong showing, speak-ing from the heart and ham-mering his opinions home. Lines such as, “Limbaugh is a racist / Glenn Beck is a rac-

ist / Gaza Strip was getting bombed, Obama didn’t say s--- / That’s why I ain’t vote for him, next one either,” re-ally show the torn attitude of Fiasco as he sublimely infi l-trates the speakers over the pounding bass.

As great as the opening to the album was, the fourth track “I Don’t Wanna Care Right Now” is where things start to go wrong for Fiasco. The beats change from a rap-

rock feel, taking on a more club feel, complete with cli-ché drops and peculiar horns that just disrupt the fl ow of the album.

By the midway point, Fiasco manages to right the ship with the fi rst single off the album, “The Show Goes On.” Following in the sev-enth slot, “Beautiful Lasers (2Ways)” continues correct-ing the course with witty and well-crafted lyrics, but the next three songs revert to re-lying on the club sounds.

“State Run Radio” is a catchy song, but here more than anywhere else the mud-dling of the message and the music butt heads and never get on the same track. By the fi nale, Fiasco gets the album back to where it started, but the middle pop/club sections took their toll.

This album has some of the most interesting musi-cal arrangements found in a rap album of recent times and I enjoyed the majority of it. However, the highly-com-mercialized feel to the tracks combined with the political content that champions indi-viduality results in a confu-sion that never quite clicks the same way as Fiasco’s pre-vious albums.