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Super Tuesday confirms the GOPs weak standing with inconclusive results
BY JAKE BARTMAN
Staff Writer

The Pioneer Log OPINION

MARCH 16, 2012

Confirming the expectations of educated observers across the country, Super Tuesday did little more than show that the Republican presidential primary race is pretty definitively not definitive. For those who dont like watching Republicans destroy one another in the news, Super Tuesday is the day when Republican voters usually make clear whos likely to secure the nomination. Its also the day when copies of The Stranger are bought in record numbers by a new generation of disillusioned future Lewis & Clark students. That said, its those voters who made Super Tuesday such a letdown that ought to be buying Nausea. Or maybe a copy of the Constitution, since most Republican voters seem not to not have read that either. Romney still has more delegates siding with him, like he did prior to Super Tuesday, than the rest of the Republican candidates. He now has more than the other three candidates combined by winning six of the ten states whose ballots were cast on Tuesday. Santorum is still spitting game and talking shit, though he looks more ridiculous than ever, which is of course a victory for us all. Gingrich has yet to roll over and bite the bullet or to grab the bull by the horns and look it in the eyes. Ron Paul has yet to win even a single

ILLUSTRATION BY SAMANTHA SARVET

state, but his Alzheimers is probably getting bad enough that he doesnt know it anyway. Then again, Im increasingly coming to believe that its more insulting for a rational

being to be winning the Republican primary than losing it. Indeed, winning the race is very much like being the tallest midget in the room, or maybe the most shit-housed

person at Sunburn. This bodes well for those of us on the Bama Boat. Speaking for myself, watching the Jersey Shore-esque drama of the Republican primary has led me more and more to see Obama as he appeared to me when I was an awkward and hormonally imbalanced high school lad in 2008that is, he seems once more a chain-smoking, bong-toking, healthcare-distributing badass. And I imagine the race has aroused similar sympathies in other folks, too. No matter what sort of independent Marijuana Party leanings one develops in the middle of a presidential term, voting for the little guy always seems absurd in the face of the Republican propaganda thresher. So Ill be voting Democrat until the whole debauch is over and I can resume voting on issues that nobody cares about raised by organizations that nobodys heard of. Super Tuesday has confirmed that the Republican race is not likely to end anytime soon, as every candidate seems unlikely to give up and teamwork is too advanced a strategy for politics. The close race is reminiscent of the Obama-Clinton tussle of the last election, but happily more devastating and much more hilarious, like that dog on YouTube who wakes up from what appears to be a glorious dream in order to run immediately into a wall. So well all do well to keep our eyes on the headlines and our seatbelts on, because shit is bound to stay silly.

Conflict minerals slip from diamonds on fingers to phones in hand

BY ROBIN AUBRY
Staff Writer

It is remarkable how much time we dedicate to staring at a screens: our phones, laptops, MP3 players, iPads and computers in the Mac and PC labs, and as we wrap-up yet another midterm season, the amount of time we have been spending with our precious electronic devices has likely climaxed. Thats why its important that we take a moment to reflect on how we got these fancy gadgets. Indeed, what we often overlook is the human cost associated with producing electronics. As crucial as they are to our lives, academically or otherwise, their manufacture helps finance one of the bloodiest conflicts the world has ever seen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since 1998, an estimated 5.4 million people have died in the DRC and millions have been internally displaced. The deaths arise from violent conflict and abhorrent work conditions, and so many of the deaths occur to children working in these mines. Just as terrifying is the over 15,000 cases of sexual violence reported in 2010 aloneincluding to children. Worse yet, this number likely only scratches the surface of total cases of sexual violence from that year. This is due largely to a constant conflict between militant groups and the Congolese government. One of the leading sources of conflict in the DRC have been control over the mines in the northeast, which have an abundance tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold elementshence the term conflict minerals used to describe the minerals excavated from these mines. It is a conflict that we often tragically overlook, yet as consumers we are complicit in it. The reason the mines in the DRC are so

coveted by militant groups and governments alike is that the conflict minerals extracted from them are so highly in demand by electronics companiesand indirectly, us. So far, no company is even close to producing a known, certified conflict free product. While some, including HP and Apple have spoken out against the use of conflict minerals in their products, more still have protested governmental attempts to regulate conflict minerals. Right now, STAND, the student antigenocide coalition, is hard at work to spread awareness of this issue through the Conflict Free Campus Initiative. Last semester, they screened a film, Blood in the Mobile, and passed an ASLC resolution calling for the school to consider companies progress in becoming conflict-free as we buy their products. This semester, we plan on having a number of speakers and discussions on the issue and fully commit LC to become the first school in the Northwest to sign on to such a policy. By taking a glance at just one of our computer labs, one can quickly understand how much power we as an academic institution can have in influencing corporate behavior, especially since larger universities like Standford, Duke and University of ColoradoBoulder have signed similar Conflict Free Campus Initiatives. Its time we begin to look at our phones, laptops and tablets the same way we looked at diamonds not too long ago. As a student and consumer, it troubles me knowing that the products I use daily have been produced under the some of the most horrid conditions in the world. No, going conflict-free wont end the atrocities by itself; but together, we can deal a massive blow to the lucrative business of violent conflict in the Congo.

ILLUSTRATION BY SAMANTHA SARVET