A pregnant girl walks into a bar, lights up a cigarette and orders a glass of wine.This joke doesn't sound funny, does it? That's because it isn't.

I recently visited a bar in my hometown over the weekend and saw this very scene.

Although I was shocked at the sight of this woman's reckless disregard for her unborn baby's health, I was even more shocked at the waitress', bartender's and police officer's apathy for the situation.

"A couple drinks won't do any harm," the waitress said.

The recent revelation of sexual misconduct and drug abuse on the part of Rev. Ted Haggard is a tragedy - not only for him and his family but also for American Christianity as well.Though many Christians - including myself - disagreed with his political beliefs, that doesn't mean his fall was any less calamitous. His fall is an unfortunate example of lofty spiritual ideals being toppled by the sordid reality of the dark side of life.

Cell phones. As much as I hate them with every fiber of my being, they are a necessity in today's world.On-the-go college students are constantly shuffling classes, study dates and time with friends. As...

Responsible consumerism, the act of buying items with the producer in mind, is on the rise among people between the ages of 13 and 25, according to a 2006 poll conducted by Cone Inc., a public relations and research company, and the AMP Agency, a youth-focused marketing agency.In today's world of liquidation sales, buy-in-bulk, reduced prices and buy-one-get-one-free deals, sometimes it's worth it to spend a bit more.

Recyclable items are a start.

Aspiring guitarists are finding it harder to learn their favorite songs these days as a new threat of lawsuits from the music industry has started the decline in online guitar tablature sites.One of the largest guitar tablature sites on the net, Olga.net - Online Guitar Archive - has been the main target in recent copyright infringement lawsuit threats from the National Music Publishers Association and the Music Publishers Association of the United States.

It is often said the war in Iraq is comparable to the Vietnam War, but there is one thing that is noticeably different -- where are all the protest songs?Many of today's musical artists are so worried about having a radio-friendly hit that they forgo writing any songs that have actual messages. Thankfully, some artists are willing to take that risk.

Now that the mid-term elections have come and gone, let's take a look back at some of the most politically-charged songs to come out in the past year.

The final team race of the season is on the horizon for the Horned Frogs.Both the men's and women's cross country teams will travel to Waco this weekend for the NCAA South Central Regional Championships.

"We were improving every week until the Oklahoma State meet," said head coach Eric Heins.

Since that meet, the runners have had good individual races but haven't been able to pull together as a whole team on race day, Heins said.

"We haven't had everybody have a good race on the same day since Oklahoma," Heins said. "We want to finish on a good note."

President Bush announced Wednesday that Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense since 2001, had resigned. Bush made his announcement only hours after the Democratic Party took control of the House - and hours before the Associated Press reported Democrats made up the majority in the Senate. Although the president's announcement seemed to be rather hasty only a day after elections, many students and faculty members say Rumsfeld's step down was long overdue.

Ralph Carter, chair of the political science department, said Rumsfeld should have resigned a long time ago.

The death of a TCU student Monday can serve as a reminder that everyone is all linked together regardless of who they know, said the minister to the university Wednesday.Federico Cuevas was found dead at his off-campus home Monday at 5:20 p.m., according to the Tarrant County medical examiner database.

Cuevas, a senior Spanish major from League City, played on university intramural sports teams at TCU, said the Rev. Angela Kaufman, minister to the university.

November is here; November means Christmas shopping.Christmas shopping means fighting traffic, crowds and credit cards.

Life is stressful but exciting during the holiday season, especially when we are juggling classes, jobs and exams along with the Christmas madness. Let us not make that an excuse to slack off on the gift-giving. Let us not forget the real significance of gifts.

It's true - gifts are difficult. What if he or she doesn't like it? What if he or she thinks this is weird? What if, what if?

Two women's tennis players made school history in their last match of the fall season by reaching the doubles finals of the 2006 ITA National Indoor Collegiate Championships at Ohio State on Saturday.Senior Ana Cetnik and sophomore Anna Sydorska became TCU's first female tennis players to reach the final match in a doubles national championship event when they defeated Kim Coventry and Joelle Schwenk of the Kentucky Wildcats in the semifinals of the tournament.

As regular-season play comes to a close for the Horned Frogs volleyball team (17-12, 5-9), head coach Prentice Lewis only has one goal: to win.The Frogs go on the road this weekend to face the New Mexico Lobos (8-18, 4-10), and Lewis said winning is the team's goal.

"We're going to play them at their house, which is always different," Lewis said. "Our athletes are excited, and it's down to crunch time for us."