Only use the card for necessities.
Don't use credit cards for things that could be paid for with cash, like food or movies. Only use it for larger expenses that need to be saved up for, like hotel rooms. If it is not possible to pay off the bill in a month or two, save up before charging it.
The biggest thing to remember is that credit cards are loans that need to be paid back, they are not free money.
It's safe to say that debt is a disease and credit cards are the easiest way to get sick.
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Editorial Board
Road rage fuels my car
Samantha Donisi
Asst. Editor
I am normally a very passive, easy-going person. Then I get in my car and am seized with the overwhelming desire to break something.
Usually it is the head of the driver in front of me. You know the one I mean. It's the person driving 30 miles an hour on the highway while yapping on a cell phone and swerving from one lane to the other oblivious to the other motorists.
In case that doesn't ring a bell, these are the same people who, when done with their oh-so-important call, snap closed their phones and blow past you on the left side doing about one hundred.
These people bring out the worst in me. I am a person who avoids killing spiders and flies on my own, let alone other people.
But somehow, when these wonderful drivers appear on the road near me, I want nothing more than to smash and hurt things.
I don't think I am alone in this.
I frequently pass other people on the road that have just been cut-off or tailgated by a bad driver, and they look to be experiencing the same frustration that I am.
As someone who drives a considerable distance to school and work each day, I spend a lot of time on the road, and see a lot of bad drivers.
Statistics show that more than 64% of people today are driving less courteously and more dangerously than they were five years ago.
Each day I am confronted by a host of people who amaze me with their lack of driving ability.
These people show a total lack of regard for even the most basic driving procedures, such as using turn signals and staying in their own lane.
With all the dangerous driving I have been around, I consider it a miracle I have not been in an accident yet.
I nearly was in an accident not too long ago, and it made me think twice about how much I trust other drivers.
I was making a turn off of a busy highway, and a woman driving an SUV decided that talking on her cell phone took precedence over watching the road.
She was only about 300 feet away from my truck, still doing about 70, when she noticed me and slammed on the brakes. She nearly hit me, but managed to swerve to the left at the last minute.
Now, I was sitting on the road, brake lights and turn signal in full view. It does not take a genius to figure out that I was not moving, but this driver was too busy with other things to concentrate on something as boring as not smashing into another vehicle.
It's these kinds of things that really infuriate me. Although I would have been much angrier had she actually hit me, I nonetheless was a bit ticked off by her bad driving.
The urge to hit something came back, and I had to stop myself from yelling something not nice.
You know the feeling; it's the sense of despair you get when you are unable to physically tell the other driver how much you dislike the individual.
It's called road rage, and it brings out the worst in all of us.
Driving is not a hard skill, and it doesn't have to be frustrating either. All it takes is a little more consideration and common sense when you are out on the road.
I admit that I hate to study
Dan Sherman
Feature Editor
Study (n)- 1: a state of contemplation; 2: application of the mental faculties to the acquisition of knowledge See also: torture, agony, pain.
Study. The word haunts me. It chases me down and tortures me into submission. The very thought of it makes me cringe, much like when I think about nails on a blackboard. I absolutely hate to study. That's right, I said it. I hate to study.
But why? Why do I hate something that everyone tells me is so important? I've always known that studying is important, but I've never applied this thought to my schoolwork.
I guess it all started way back when I was but a wee little lad, running around the halls of my middle school. Even then I was given homework and expected to study material from a book.
So why did I never pick up on it? I think, and maybe some of you feel the same way, that I've been allowed to get away with it and still find success.
I never studied in high school. OK, that's something of a lie. I admit that I did hit the books in the five minutes before a test, so I can't say I never studied.
Even so, I got by on what little and meaningless studying I did.
Whenever I do try to pack some knowledge into my cranium, I am left staring at the notes I took only moments ago in a class that seems so far away.
I would like more than anything to be able to open up my notes, sit down, and do some good, hard studying.
Sadly, I just cannot see this happening; it's so easy just to turn on the television to see the crazy antics of Peter Griffin.
Often, I am left to wonder if I'm the only student that has this problem.
In some ways, I hope so. At least that would mean that most students have a much higher tolerance for torture, and can keep their attention on something that gnaws at my eyes.
However, I have to think that there exists at least a small group of students that, when asked to study, simply curl up in the fetal position and let out small whimpers of anguish.
OK, maybe not that extreme, but you get the idea.
All in all, I think the only solution here is for me to get Medieval on the books. That is, it's time to throw off the gauntlets, then grin and bear it.
I think the best solution, though it's failed me in the past due to lack of will power, is to simply turn off all distractions and completely focus on the notes.
I hope that those of you who share in my strife will one day be able to overcome the problem.
After all, like the definition says, we study to acquire knowledge, and everyone can always use more of that.
Katrina was reality TV
Brandon Watson
News Editor
Recently, in my Introduction to Psychology class, a raging debate surfaced about whether or not the U.S. Government responded quickly enough to Hurricane Katrina's horrid aftermath in New Orleans, LA.
The disagreement was established subsequent to the instructor displaying two photos for discussion: the first photograph, of an African American male carrying a garbage bag and case of soda, while lunging through chest-high water, which was labeled as a "looter."
The second photograph revealed a white woman wading through water while carrying a loaf of bread, in which the caption said she allegedly found.
During the course of what turned out to be an opinionated volley, some students said that the media controlled what was shown to viewers and depicted the coverage as a racial issue. Respectful to other people's opinions, I briefly chuckled while withholding my emotions.
The carcasses that were afloat in highly noxious soup, civilians witnessing their loved ones' faint onto pavement laced with filth and the elderly slouched over in wheel chairs were not Hollywood productions.
In situations like these, one begins to wonder if race did ignite the five-day stall by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) ...oops, I mean President Bush.
Oh, but I forgot he was on vacation at his 1,583 acre Crawford, Texas estate, while thousands stomached what is being considered one of America's worst catastrophes next to September 11.
Now be honest with yourself, if such a disaster as Katrina struck in Beverly Hills or Denver do you really believe that evacuees would have suffered as long as those in New Orleans?
Before mentioning the disbursement of debit cards and provided shelter that survivors recently received, imagine how you would feel if you lost your mother to dehydration, when FEMA initially rejected three semi truck loads full of water from Wal-Mart not to mention them also shutting the door on the Red Cross.
It saddens me to see the richest country in the world tip-toeing to help those in serious need. For that matter, when those impacted managed to scrape up enough strength to point their trembling fingers at the U.S. Government, many people rebuked them for doing so.
Also, rap luminary Kanye West, who went on a racial tirade while at a nationally televised fundraising concert for Hurricane Katrina, said that "George Bush doesn't care about black people." Of course, West's comment was highlighted in the debate.
Whether you agree or not, the extensive coverage of Hurricane Katrina was reality TV, not animation.
The Buck Stops Here
Benjamin J. Buck
Editor
War is hell.
This holds true for so many veterans that even writing about this subject makes me think extremely hard about the psychological effects soldiers have experienced not only in the time of combat, but the years afterward.
One example, which gives me a chilling reminder of war, was during my tenure at Clear Lake High School. In order to protect the integrity and identity of the substitute teacher, his name will not be released.
During a class, our regular teacher had become ill and a sub had been placed in our class. This sub wasn't an ordinary sub. He was and still is one of my good friends.
After discussing the subject of war after a video, I was aware he had served in Vietnam. So I asked him, "When you were in the war, did you ever kill anybody?"
He responded, "You had to do, what you had to do."
I was blown away and the conversation was ended with a mutual nod. Immediately after the conversation, I regretted even thinking, let alone asking him about it.
To this day, I still don't know why I asked him that question and I wish I never had. But it's a reality that veterans of past wars and soldiers serving in the time of war right now deal with every day of their lives.
Soldiers are taught to protect and defend freedom and if that is in jeopardy, the act of "destroying the enemy" is completely justified.
I leave you with a few lyrics from a song by rap artist Twista and Faith Evans that hit the nail on the head when it comes to a time of war and faith.
"And I wish God could protect us from the wrong so that all the soldiers that were sent overseas come home. We will never break, though they devastate, we shall motivate, and we gotta pray, all we got is faith."
We can't Ôbreak,' must Ômotivate,' and have Ôfaith' to stand by the sides of these soldiers because they are doing "what they have to do," and they can't afford to suffer any more of psychological effects by taking the life of another enemy in order to defend the freedom that we all enjoy, every day of our lives.
Photo Opinion:
"How has Hurricane Katrina impacted you?"
By Travis Green
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"It has impacted me a good amount because I keep on thinking how close it was to us and how many people are suffering. It is just crazy that it happened to so many people."
Danielle Hill
Danielle Hill
Mason City
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"Not very much. It hasn't impacted me directly. I feel bad for the victims though."
Tawny Crabb
Mason City
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"I think what happened was a horrible thing. I feel sorry for those who experience it. I also think it is terrible that people are using this incident to commit crimes such as rape and robbery."
Tyler Harms
Titonka
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"It really hasn't had a great deal of impact on me, but I do pray for the victims. I've never really experienced anything so horrible, but overall I'm just flabergasted."
Christopher Tejeda
Austin, Texas
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