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Quote, Unquote ‘We played like a team for the first time. I felt we played like a team should.’ Lou Holtz, USC head football coach & * • Monday, October 25,1999 Wat (Samtcock Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 Editorial Board Sara Ladenheim • Editor in Chief Kenley Young • Managing Editor Emily Streyer • Viewpoints Editor Corey Ford • Assistant Viewpoints Editor Brad Walters • Editorial Contributor Kiki McCormick • Editorial Contributor Campaign finance reform badly needed Every now and then, an opportunity arises for Congress to strip validity from the notion that the institution - especially this “do-nothing” Congress - never produces positive legisla tion aimed at helping its constituents. With much at stake, includ ing a presidential campaign, the U.S. Senate last week had a chance to reform the corruption that grips Washington. Unfortunately, the body rejected the opportunity, consequently rejecting the con cerns of its constituents. Campaign finance reform, with mounting momentum in the House, has not survived recent Senate sessions. Senator and presi dential candidate John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., co-sponsored a bill that would have prohibited corpora tions and labor unions from contributing soft money - unregulated donations - to state and national parties. Despite having 52 sena tors support the bill, McCain and Feingold didn’t gamer sufficient aid to break the predominantly Republican filibuster. McCain Feingold’s defeat primarily was caused by Majority Leader Trent Lott and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., two bitter opponents of reform who arrogantly confess they accept hordes of cash from special interests. lo average Americans, me economy ana me nauonai aeiense hold the limelight, while campaign finance reform withers in shad ow. Reforming our election system, however, is the most critical issue facing our nation today. Unless corporate America is forced to stop wielding disproportionate, corruptive influence, the aver age citizen will lose the opportunity to engage in meaningful polit ical participation. The current situation allows candidates with big pockets or fund-raising prowess to dominate the campaigns, mostly with neg ative, personal television and radio ads. Money distracts candidates from the issues important to the voters - and forces otherwise ca pable candidates (such as Elizabeth Dole) out of the race for the nomination. Congress lacked the guts even to vote against the bill, but in stead killed it through a feeble exercise of parliamentary proce dure. This Congress is exactly why we need campaign finance re form. Football stars not above the rules Peter Warrick, Florida State star receiver and Heisman Trophy candidate, was charged with grand theft last week when a po lice officer discovered that a clerk at Dillard’s department store sold him and a teammate more than $400 worth of clothing for around $20. After serving a two-game suspension, Warrick was cleared to play before Florida State’s game Saturday against Clemson, which the Seminoles won. Were Warrick prohibited from playing until the charges were resolved, he would be ineligible for the Heisman. Although Warrick shouldn’t be treated any differently just be cause he’s a talented football player, it’s disappointing that he did n’t get a stiffer punishment. Had he not been such an outstanding athlete, he would likely have been kicked off the team. Warrick should accept responsibilty for his actions, and his uni versity shouldn't nlav favorites with its snorts stars. 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I HE UAMECOCK Sara Ladenheim Editor in Chief Kenley Young Managing Editor Emily Streyer Viewpoints Editor Kevin Langston Brock Vergakis News Editors Clayton Kale Associate News Editor Rachel Helwig EtCetera Editor Todd Money Jared Kelowitz Sports Editor Kristin Freestate Copy Desk Chief Sean Rayford Photo Editor i Rob Lindsey Encore Editor Stuoemt Media Ellen Parsons Director of Student Media Susan King Creative Director Kris Black Julia Burnett Betsy Martin Kathy Van Nostrand Creative Services Will Gillaspy Online Editor Cony Ford Asst. Viewpoints Editor John Huiett Asst. News Editor Ann Marie Miani Asst. EtCetera Editor David Cloninger Asst. Sports Editor Greg Farley Asst. Photo Editor Casey Williams Asst. Online Editor Brad Watters Graphics Editor, Copy Editor, Editorial Contributor MacKenzie Craven Charlie Wallace Philip Burt Senior Writers Lee Phipps Advertising Manager Sherry Holmes Classified Manager Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Erik Collins Faculty Adviser Jonathan Dunagin Graduate Assistant The Washington Post "...AND THEY CALL US A DO-NOTHING CONGRESS'" I zur National Issues Right to choose still limited A few weeks ago, the House of Representatives passed the Fetal Vi olence Bill, which would have made a fetus, legally speak ing, a victim during an act of violence against a pregnant woman. Our president promised to veto the bill before it was passed, claim inrr nctntnlw frViafr the bill tried to create separate victims of mother and child. If one bullet kills two people, the person who fired the gun is still responsible for two deaths. But if one bul let kills a pregnant woman and her unborn child, only one death has occurred as far as concerns the law. A child must not re ally be a child in this case. (I suppose our president would point out that the issue depends on what the meaning of “child" is.) The abortion issue seems to be less and less about abortion itself and increasingly about not letting the other side gain any ground; why else should anyone have a problem with outlawing a repugnant procedure like partial-birth abortion? Such a law hardly impinges on a woman’s “choice”; after all, there are plenty of oth er ways to kill a fetus. Emiiy Streyer is the Viewpoints editor. She can be reached via The Gamecock at gckviews@sc.edu Whit a minute. What does the Fetal Vi olence Bill have to do with abortion? Quite a bit. The bill is intuitively ap pealing, which is why it threatens the pro choice people; the Fetal Violence Bill is not legally viable while abortion is legal. It would be nice, for example, if I were able to submit a term paper and receive a character in return. Were that character shaped like an “A,” I could decide that the character would be my grade. But were it shaped like a “C,” then I could say that the character was just a letter, not a real grade, and it would have no effect on my life. And if a professor tried to tell me that 1 had to take the “C,” I could say it was my prerogative to throw out that letter. But if the professor tried to take the “A” away from me, I could claim that the char acter was a grade and had a right to exist. Of course, a child is not a term paper. And the problem most of the bill’s oppo nents have with it is not that pregnant women can’t eat their cake and have it, too (and yes, that is the correct version of the aphorism), but that, although the Fetal Violence Bill specifically omits abor tion as a violent crime, many pro-choice proponents view the bill as the thin end of the wedge in an effort to overturn Roe vs.Wade. Most interpretations of the rul ing depend on the legal precedent that a fetus is not a child and has no rights. What would happen, for example, if a woman were attacked, and her fetus killed, on her way to an abortion clinic? Could the Fetal Violence Bill, were it law, ap ply? This is something for the pro-choice people to think about, which is why most of them don’t want to. Most peo ple intuitively understand that there is something just a little more sinister about attacking a woman when she is preg nant. Perhaps the notion holds in part be cause a woman is more vulnerable to an attack and more likely to suffer physical ly from an attack when pregnant. But the other reason that it seems worse to hurt a pregnant woman is because people know, but don’t want to admit, that a fe tus is a child. Although a pregnant woman may choose whether she has an abortion, she may not choose whether that which is in her uterus is a fetus or a child; the law has done this for her. This means that, despite several states’ attempts to prose cute women for child abuse or other cre ative charges (such as distributing cocaine to a minor), if they drink excessively or use drugs while pregnant, the law, and not women, decides whether a fetus is a child. (Such legal actions accomplish nothing positive; not only do they ignore the legal definition of “child” and target minority mothers, but they also discourage women from getting help for addictions.) A woman has the right to choose on ly whether she will terminate her preg nancy. Choosing to see her fetus as a child with a right not to be harmed before birth is not up to her. It’s up to the pro choice lawmakers. Letters Uliiw IIIIIIIIIWMiIiIIH—IWMilllHI—ilMill I III II III III! HIM— Hill. Christians should not tolerate gay lifestyle To the Editor I’ve just finished reading Kiki Mc Cormick’s article, “Rejection of gays un Christian,” [column, Oct. 20] and I must say, its contents turned my stomach. I want to recommend to the staff at The Game cock that they fill the religious corre spondent position with someone who ac tually knows scripture. Ms. McCormick is obviously uninformed about why reli gious denominations and Bible-believing Christians reject the sin of homosexuali ty Knowing that the Bible is verbally in spired by God, and human authors wrote exactly what God intended to be said, we have to look no further than Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans to see how God ad dresses homosexuality. Romans 1:21 says of homosexuals that"... although they know God, they did not glorify Him, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Verse 24 states that “God gave them up to uncleanliness, in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves.” These Gentiles were no different from the homosexuals of today, and what was wrong in Paul’s time is still wrong in 1999. So Ms. Mc Cormick’s statement that “the rejection of homosexuality is un-Christian” can’t be further from the truth. In fact, it is with in the very fiber of Christianity to despise this horrible sin. And why? Simply because the Lord Jesus Christ despises it. Romans 1:28 says: “They did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, tq do those things which are not fitting; being filled with un righteousness.” God does not condone this lifestyle; therefore, Christians who follow the word of God must not condone it, ei ther. Lastly, I want to comment on Ms. Mc Cormick’s plea that “God made homo sexuals that way.” This is probably the most erroneous statement I have ever encoun tered on this subject, and scripture will back me up. Romans 1:25-27 says, “...they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator... For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their desire for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error that was due.” You see, God creates people with a free will, and prac ticing homosexuals have rejected God and made a critical “error” in their choice of Now, Ms. McCormick may call me intolerant, judgmental, fanatical and what ever other adjective she can come up with. That does not bother me because I am com manded by God to love homosexuals, but to hate their sin. The Bible says: “God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to redemption.” But please, don’t insult the intelligence of Chris tians by using scripture from I Corinthi ans (that is instructing on the institution of marriage) to justify and accommodate a claim that this demeaning lifestyle should be tolerated by God and His be lievers. Jason Autiy liberal Aits Senior I MRNHMMHMMMNMMMMNMHHHMMMMHHRiNMMMMB Fordiam Impeachment petty, waste of time To the Editor Upon reading the article by Sara Laden heim in last Friday’s Gamecock [“Trea surer might be impeached,” Oct. 15] re garding impeachment hearings for Elizabeth Fordham, I was surprised that the finance committee would spend the valuable time of the Student Government airing their laundry over something that can be cor rected through communication among in dividuals. Impeachment proceedings should be reserved for serious criminal offenses. I ask who was harmed by the confusion over missed meetings when an e-mail, telephone call or face-to-face discussion could have solved the problem. Why, if it is not a per sonal attack, would the committee, aware of the academic conflict, not meet indi vidually or through other means to work together with their elected treasurer? Seems that if the situation is not working, then it is from a lack of trying... why throw away something that can be fixed? The fact that our U.S. Congress wasted time, money, and world embar rassment with the Clinton affair should have set an example for those in Student Government who have filed the charges of impeachment. They risk bringing un necessary criticism on themselves from an already cynical student body. Shame on the finance committee for not putting forth the effort to solve petty problems them selves. Christopher Render Accounting Senior I National Issues Prison the only place for Tyson /son’s it again. During Sat urday night’s fight, his first since mid-Janu ary, the former undisputed heavyweight box ing champion decked opponent Orlin Norris after the first-round bell. Norris fell to the mat and claimed that he couldn’t continue because his right ruivv nuj sp r uuivu. i uv iiiuwii i»ivu a no contest — after a whopping one round of action. This “fight” was only the eighth in as many years for Tyson. After all, it’s a bit difficult to pursue a boxing career when you concentrate all your time and eneigy on getting incarcerated. Tyson served three years in an Indiana prison on a rape conviction and three-and-a-half months in a Maryland jail for assaulting two mo torists. But he’s not just Tyson the Cheat, Tyson the Convicted Rapist or Tyson the Road-Raging Bull. No, this Renaissance man wears many hats. • Tyson the Cannibal feasted on Evander Holyfield’s ear in a 1997 bout and was suspended “indefinitely,” which is about a year in boxing terms. • Tyson the Rattlesnake has threat ened to strike again, but only if pro voked. What is he? A Rottweiler? • Tyson the Torturer admitted that he tried to break opponent Francois Botha’s arm in a match earlier this year, obvious ly confusing pro boxing with pro wrestling (Hey, it can happen to the best of us). • Tyson the Sperm Bank has fathered children out of wedlock with several fe male partners, hoping to populate the world with more peaceful, upstanding citizens like himself. • Tyson the Shunned might or might not have hit a female deputy between the shoulder blades last month in Phoenix after she refused to shake his hand. Tyson was cleared of any wrong doing, but the deputy shouldn ’t have “provoked” Tyson in the first place, right? About the only epithet “Iron Mike” can’t claim these days is Tyson the Cred ible Boxing Contender, and that’s his own fault. In the first place, he’s no longer the sharp, focused, well-oiled ma chine he used to be, and he’s certainly not hungry for the gold. Tyson lost every round in the afore mentioned fight against Botha, but was able to knock Botha out in the fifth. And footage from both Holyfield vs. Tyson bouts clearly shows that “Iron Mike” has lost his edge. To compensate, Tyson has resorted to biting ears, throwing late punches and then blaming his opponents for his own mistakes. As a boxer, Mike Tyson is through. But as an entertainer, Tyson’s aging like fine wine. Why does he continue to con sistently draw large (and very raucous) crowds every time he fights? It has noth ing to do with his pugilistic skills or his ring prowess and everything to do with the controversy Tyson creates, in and out of the squared circle. He’s the Marilyn Manson of boxing, and he knows it. But as a former fanatic of Mike Tyson’s Nintendo game, it pains me to acknowledge a fact that has been abun dantly clear for years: Mike Tyson is an animal — a violent, destructive, highly skilled animal trained to break bones and unfit to walk the streets among decent members of society. Tyson’s a product of the boxing envi ronment, a world in which you can beat your opponent to a bloody pulp without fear of repercussions. There’s only one other place like it on Earth — it’s called prison. And for Tyson, it’s just like home. Kenfey Young writes a column each Monday. He can be reached via The Gamecock at gckviews®sc.edu T*t.~ ...—