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W\t (5amecock ■^resident Bush is a 'political prostitute' j Letters Bush’s tax refund checks are political ploy, but still deserve to be applauded To the Editor: While I would tend to agree with the notion that the GOP led initiative to hand out refund checks on taxes paid last year is probably little more than a ploy to win over support for the party, I nevertheless applaud the tax cuts which have been made for the next 10 years. These cuts are but a drop in the bucket com pared to what needs to be done to relieve the tax burden that the government imposes upon its citizens. Tax rates are upwards of 50 percent of income once property taxes, income taxes (fed eral and state), sales taxes, etc. are combined. Imagine, for a moment, the outrage that would ensue should the government not allow And, speaking about media coverage, just where is Chandra Levy? Under a Virginia - parking lot? Under Gary Condit’s mg? Of course, he has nothing to do with her disappearance. That’s why he told sev eral women to lie about relationships, why he lied to police about his relationship with Levy and why he was reportedly seen in Vir ginia throwing away the box from a gift from one of his girlfriends shortly before police searched his apartment.' ' The media reported on it. And did they report. They reported that Levy might have been pregnant when she disappeared. They reported that Gary Condit had a mastecto my. They never reported how the two might be linked. And, as the order of the universe goes these days, the Chandra Levy coverage sparked a soul-searching series of reports by the media about whether the media has gone too far. Speaking of interns, former President Clinton has inked a book deal for quite a bit more than $10 million. Even accounting for inflation, this beats the Pope’s former record for a book deal. Bill Clinton is serviced by an intern and gets more than John Paul U for his book? That has to be blasphemy. Lest we forget state politics, the S.C. Leg islature is fuming because Gov. Jim Hodges vetoed their cuts for higher education. To do that, he had to veto a cut in the food sales tax. taxed to be withheld on a worker’s paycheck. For many people, the withheld taxes amount to money that is never seen, and therefore isn’t as big of a deal as it would be if these people were paid their full wages and then had to write a check to the IRS every April 15. Now, I’m not saying that taxes should be eliminated. It’s true that we need the govern ment to provide basic services such as nation al defense, police protection and so on, but many modem government programs today border on a socialistic sort of redistribution of wealth that is downright contra-capitalistic. Wellfare and social security are two exam ples of programs that should be eliminated. I mean, come on — force people to save??? If a person wishes to save for retirement then he should go to a bank and OPEN AN AC COUNT! !! He doesn’t need government telling him how to do it. That will hurt the poor and elderly, the GO 'P says; after all, Republicans have always show m themselves to be the friends of the poor an id elderly, as long as they own guns or have a lot of money, respectively. Besides, the sta te is short on money, and everybody knows yc >u cut taxes when you don’t have enough mo n ey. And, as I will read this, the summer will have ended, and I will face one mo re year of school before going into the real worl Id. How well have I spent my summers? Hoiw well have I spent my life? I have flown through my summers - arid the first fourth (or less, I hope) - of my lif ie, as we so often do. We spend so much time trying to find out what is going on, or try ing to figure how to make more money, «pr looking for joy from a variety of differe nt sources, that we often lose sight of how mui ;h time is slipping through our fingers. I have two brothers that won’t stay your lg forever, and yet I have spent less and le ss time with them as the summer has marchttd on. I have a grandfather who is gravely ill - with what, not even the doctors know - arid yet how often have I spoken with him this summer? The summer is gone now, the last time I will refer to “the summer” as a distinct pe riod, a time of rest. Hopefully, I will spend the rest of my li fe wisely, perhaps more wisely than I did in th e summer that has just passed. Anyway, one last comment regarding the use of the example of the student who planned to purchase illegal drugs with his tax refund. It’s a particularly poorly chosen example because it would actually not “subvert” the gov ernment’s plan to stimulate the economy. It is true that purchasing goods on a black market will not count towards U.S. gross domestic prod uct, but it will increase the wealth of the person selling the drugs, and that individual in turn will likely end up purchasing legitimate goods tfiat will stimulate the legal economy. To effecively avoid any potential stimula tion of the economy, that student would need to bum his refund check, or otherwise destroy it. David Smith 2nd-year graduate student School of Law/MIBS Back to school brings fun, high expectations for all X X That is it about the start of a new 1/1/ school year that makes every T T one feel that just about any thing can happen? Well, maybe not everyone. Maybe just me. Okay, I am weird — I admit it. Before I go to my first class I Cristy Infinger know that I can is news editor and make the Dean’s can be reached at List. I know that I gamecockviewpoints „ r ©hotmail.com can pass all of my finals and go to Five Points every night. I know that I will make friends with everyone in my classes and still manage to not have to go to any of my classes. Everything will be effortless, yet with the results of many hours of effort. Until I get the first syllabus and take that first pop quiz. Then I know that those nights out aren’t possible and that I will not be going on any dates. Toogie’s will become the first number on my speed dial, and my resolve to work out at least three times a week will be nothing more than a dream. I am now reminded of all of my hopes and expectations when I arrived my first semester at Carolina. What exactly did I expect? I know that I didn’t expect to have to pay at least $8 to wash my clothes down stairs in my dorm. I didn’t know that everywhere delivers food, and yes, I’m stupid enough to order it no matter what it costs. I didn’t think that I would spend as much time studying as I do. I certainly didn’t expect to spend so much time at The Gamecock office. With these downs there come so many things that I didn’t expect that are now unexplainable, irreplaceable parts of my life. That includes so many friends that are so very different. I formed the sort of independence that makes it impossible to stay at home for more than three days at a time, but makes me call my mom at least twice a day. USC has so far given me a sense of self that is possible to find at any col lege, no matter which one you end up going to. (Unless it is Clemson, and then I am so sorry for your misguided attempt to create a real college experience. I have heard that those Clemson people don’t read, and so this concept of a newspa per column is probably beyond their grasp.) I thought while I’m being a little wist ful, I might give you freshmen some ad vice while you’re reading your first re al college paper. — Only take one of the Zipsheets. They never change. They’re yellow. Peo ple will force them on you, but they’ll only stick around in your already cramped dorm room. Nobody expects you to give the coupons when you order food. — Ask for directions. Only a mean person would lead you astray on this big campus. This is the South. There are no intentionally mean people. — Being stupid and not paying at tention in class is only annoying in col lege. — Don’t spend all of your time study ing if you’re that type of person. Learn more about life than what’s in the book you bought for an inflated price by the person who’s teaching the class. — Girls: Don’t date everyone the first week. Though you might think this is what college girls do, you will only end up with STDs and no friends to watch out for you and share everything that is stupid in you life with. — Boys: Try not to come to class still drunk. You’ll just fall asleep. Most likely, you’ll have on the same clothes as last night. Even if you don’t notice, the people beside you will know you smell like Jungle Jim’s and the back end of that dog that walks with the man with the shopping cart in Five Points. — If you think you’re going to be a doctor and are pre-med, definitely have a back-up plan. Okay, I rambled. Now I’m back to thinking about newly sharpened pencils and shiny binders just waiting for my initials. It’s time for me to think of how my next two years are going to work at use. I’m sure they’ll be great and unfor gettable, with many forgettable pauses. When you want great shopping choices Columbia Mall brings you more and more... Foot Locker GADZOOKS Columbia Mall Dillard’s, JCPenney, Rich’s, Sears and over 100 stores and restaurants including a Food Court and Kid’s Play Area Two Notch Road at Parklane Rd, near 1- 20 • 788-4676 Shop Monday - Saturday 10am-9pm • Simday Noon-6pm Visit our website: www.Shopcolumbia-mall.com < CBL & ASSOCIATES PROPERTIES, INC., NYSE: CB is I write this, it’s early August, President Bush has decided to take one of he longest presidential vaca tions in history and all of the pundits have been anxious to analyze his first six months in of It’s simple: He’s a political prostitute who »n Larrabee sold the soul of the Re fiewpoints publican Party to the i the fall and HMOs while deciding reached at to declare war on our ^viewpoints environment and Eu iil.com. j-Qpg He also found some >ng the way to backstab the poor and ies on school vouchers and change tion on almost every issue he took a t on during the campaign, let’s not focus on the Vacationer in ead, I thought it would be useful to his summer’s series of current events, : this is, after all, the Welcome Back he national scene, our Leader of Very rain’s daughter got picked up on al harges, which promptly triggered a ;ensation, which immediately trig media sensation over whether the iensation was justified. (What hath ner wrought?)