The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, May 01, 1987, Page 5, Image 5
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Viewpoint
Friday, May 1, 1987 * 5
Murder
Contras should be punished
for killing innocent American
When vou think of Ronald Rpaoan and his administra
tion, his one foreign policy objective that immediately
rushes to the mind is the policy dealing with international
terrorism. Reagan, since he took office at the end of the
Iranian hostage crisis in 1980, vowed to be tough with terrorists
and to not give an inch in their favor.
Reagan's zeal in his attempts to eradicate international
terrorism have been well documented, and he has made no
bones about his vile feelings for terrorists. Without question,
it is atrocious that Libyan and Syrian-backed terrorists
kill innocent Americans. It is atrocious that Shiites
take American hostages and threaten their lives. They are
undoubtedly worthy of our scorn. But what about our sup
posea allies.' can tney kill Americans ana get away witn
it? "Of course they can't," you say, incredulously.
Unless, of course, your a Nicaraguan Contra.
An American volunteer who was working in Nicaragua
Tuesday was killed execution-style by a band of
Nicaraguan rebels or contras, as they are commonly referred
to. For the uninitiated, the contras are "freedom
fighters" battling against the Sandinista government of
Daniel Ortega. The contras are backed tentatively by the
Reagan administration and by rank and file conservatives.
W But the question is whether the administration and the
rank and file conservatives will even pay sincere attention
to this tragic incident of utter repulsiveness and stupidity.
The answer seems to be an unequivocable "no." This is a
shame. But beyond the shame involved in shutting up
about the incident, there is the two-faced, hypocritical
reasoning of the Reagan administration. The dead man,
Benjamin Ernest Lister, may have been working for the
Sandinistas. So what? Was he taking arms against the contras
or the people of Nicaragua? Was he plotting some
diabolical covert American/communist action?
No.
Linder was there on a humanitarian mission serving as a
mechanical engineer on the construction of a small
hydroelectric plant for a village. Does that sound subversive?
Of course not, and the insane, inept and dastardly
stuoid contras should have to nav fnr killina him Thev
should have to pay as dearly as a Moammar Gadhafi or
any other terrorist that has killed or injured innocent
Americans. Punishment cannot be limited to our enemies.
The Reagan administration will probably allow the issue
to die, and for them the sooner the better. The contras
have proven their impotence time and again. This violent
^ incident signals an army on the edge of losing any credibility
it might have once had, and Reagan's angst at defending
North America from an imaginary communist threat from
the south just gets aggravated more in times like these.
Reagan needs to address this murder of an innocent man
and bring the culprits to justice. If he fails to do this, he
loses crediblity in his terrorist stance; he loses credibility as
a man of peace and justice; and he loses his credibility as
person responsible for the welfare of Americans. There is
no difference in a person killed violently in an airport bom?1
bing by a radical religious faction from a foreign country
and a man killed needlessly by U.S.-backed contras. Let's
hope Reagan and his cronies will realize that also and take
action now.
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i
It's the news
Welcome to my version of the new Saturday
Night Live news script, localized, a bit,
/ f r * I. ~ r aL
jur i/ol unu ine ouum.
What's in the news?
Well, in an unexpected move, the United
States Treasury Department turned the
billions of dollars of outstanding debt the
United States is owed by Argentina over to a
collection agency. Vito Marcellini of the
Helpful Hand Acceptance Corporation said
he didn't think it would be too difficult to collect.
"We'll make them an offer they can't
refuse, but if not. we'll repossess as is stan
dard proceedure."
Jim Bakker today said he never was involved
in wife swapping, but once told a Henny
Youngman joke, which usually ends in
"Take my wife ? please" and someone
might have misunderstood.
The Federal Communications Commission
is trying to strengthen penalties for broadcasters
who use profane words on television
and radio. But the Commission will publish a
list of codes for your favorite taboo words.
i iic Dig wjic incaiii tuiyuiing iroiu an expression
of surprise, anger, alarm, fear or sexual
relations.
Instead of Almighty damnation, one can
say "The Big Guy is mighty peeved."
If you want to call someone an SOB, use
Joan Collins' bouncing baby boy.
Billy Graham has been in town all week
long, and, at one of his 'historic' crusades,
Tetter's to tht
America isn't XT,
a 1*1 l game. All
turning liberal carina
last Nov
To the editor: Campbell
This may come as a disappoin- My po
ting surprise to a certain staff large cro\
member of The Gamecock, but to indicai
the entire USC student body has has becor
not been suddenly transformed still cool
into a reincarnated sixties sub- SFA Live
culture. There may be a few
wayward hippies roaming around
the campus, but the majority of Managen
USC students are still patriotic
and generally supportive of our
nation's policies. The College
Republicans have grown this year ? _|i
to a membership of over six hun- 03.0J
dred, which makes them the
J largest student organization on To the ec
campus. The Students for After i
America, a newly formed conser- article, "
vative student organization, is on firmative
the rise and growing steadily. edition o
Sorry, P.J. compelle*
And as for Ronald Reagan, he I foun
has no intention of resigning any sided an
time soon. Sorry again,P.J. manner.
It should also be noted that the fact that
number of persons attending the tion exis
"march on Washington" was deny "
estimated at 75,000. In com- Americ;
parison, about 33,000 persons minimiz
braved the cold, windy weather business,
to attend the first night of the Bil- and educ
ly Graham Crusade. If about that I fine
same number attend each night, hypocriti
that's over 250,000 South Caroli- he say
riianc that will he mnhili/ed disrrimin
_] Also, over 75,000 enthusiastic and incoi
I [The
c . , , Kdltor In Chief
if two letters per month by Rom Hea Kayne
Managing Kdltor
ight to stop printing letters An,v Delr>?
s to make room for new sieph^uil/ovie
AwKtant Cop)
ewpoint Editor, The n?k Chief
r A, Russell House, USC, T \Iu
' ' Nevyj l-xftlor
>208. Paula Wethington
fsURtJHtY'REllGDCl lg
0UTYBEGM5Q r
folks, and I ai
M ....
hrm
WK.
USC President James Holderman welcomed
flip pvnnoplict trt fhp I ISP fomilv flraViom'c
adoption into this ever-growing house of love
has this son of USC grateful, because he
thinks he's too shy to offer the Thanksgiving
blessing at a table built for 24,000. Billy's used
to that stuff.
In other campus news, Holderman announced
that USC has already reached its
goal of becoming internationally renowned,
but said the school could go further. Holderman
outlined goals for an interstellarly and
traris-tempOrally renowned USC, which will
add a few teachers to the faculty:
Darth Vader will be dropping in to teach us
how to use the Dark Side of the Force to cheat
on exams and the role of Villains in Galactic
culture.
Buck Rogers will teach a course for the
psychology department on how time travel affects
the emotional and mental well-being
? editor
- ' - ' ' ' s
can be easily mobiliz- taken lightly." He tl
;nd a Carolina football around and says, "grar
so, nearly 300,000 South mative action generall
voters were mobilized small-scale discnminati
ember to elect Carroll white males." You sc
I as our governor. taking it rather lightly,
>int is that 75,000 is a One should be a^
vd, but not large enough racism and discrimini
te that the entire nation two-way street. If a pei
ne liberal. Hey man! It's ly against acts of discr
to be a conservative. then he is against any
:s! solely on race, religion
Not against just thos<
Janice M. Kraft discrimination that r
lent/Marketing, senior day affect him. Whei
qualified applicants ?
ITin 16 from certain jobs simp
lUfilli IS of race by law, all yoi
i| tained is state-si
ly IMSISCO discrimination.
If affirmative <
litor: America's only hop
reading Samuel Starks' discrimination and ra
There is no shame in af- there is great reason I
action," in the April 27 Great shame indeed,
f The Gamecock, I felt
d to respond. Michael
d the letter to be one- Criminal justice, i
d written in a biased
While I cannot deny the iiiiiiig
racism and discriminat
in America today, I .
affirmative action is an extrem
a's only hope for
:ing inequalities in To the editor:
employment practices After reading Patr
ation," as Starks states. column on April 27,
1 Starks to be very disappointed and an
cal when, in one breath could someone as sup]
s, "although the telligent as Jean coi
larinn nf tnrlav U snhtle ' marches in Forsvth C
nspicuous, it is not to be Washington, D,C. to a
Gamecock
- ?
Assistant New* Editors Sports Editor
Todd times Jeff Shrewsbury
llrenda Rlyth Assistant Sports Editor
Viewpoint Editor Wayne Washing/on
Hal Millard Photography Editor
Monty Editor Thomas Humphrey
Candy Harr Assistant Photography Editor
Features Editor Leoncavallo
Tamara Willis Graphics Editor
Assistant Features Editor Robb Lane
Patrick Jean
in out of here
and a course for Applied Professional
Sciences on how time travel affects one's 9
p.m. dinner reservations at Sardi's.
USC administrators Chris Vlahoplus and
Francis Borkowski were seen walking across
the Horseshoe together. There's no news
here, folks, I just like saying Vlahoplus and
Borkowski. My thanks to Dave Letterman.
Generalissimo Franco is still dead. My
thanks to Chevy Chase.
It was revealed today that Tammy Bakker
is really just a sophisticated Muppet that was
stolen from one of Jim Henson's studios. I
don't know, maybe Henson is slowing down
in his old age, 'cause those Muppet things
usually look more realistic than Tammy Faye.
Hundreds of students assembled in front
of the President's House chanting "Come out
and play with us." The students were trying
out a new game called the lynch mob game, a
variation of the assassin's game. The president
didn't come out, but instead sent his
USC police goon squad out, armed with water
pistol UZIs commandeered from students
playing the assassin's game. The crowd was
dispersed with four casaualties. Mob leader
Michael Hogue, one of the dead, had this to
say after his death: "Gosh, all we wanted to
do was have some fun, which is a positive
thing. Aw, he's no fun at all."
The president was quick to respond though,
"Aw, he's just sore 'cause he lost, don't let
him fool 'ya."
Guess what folks, that's the news and 1 am
outta here.
.
. : v' . . .. . ,
nen turns a complete lioerai snut i it is true
ited, affir- that the recent Senate elections
y involves slowed down the conservative
on against movement, but it did not stop it.
;em to be Mr. Jean may find some interest
Starks. in learning that two of the new
ware that Democratic senators, Shelby of
ttion is a Alabama and Graham of
son is tru- Florida, are conservative; furimination,
thermore, 1986 saw the election
act based of eight new Republican
or sender. Governors.
5 types of Also, Jean's harsh statements
nay some about President Reagan were unn
the best called for, and they just managed
ire barred to prove that Jean is an extremist,
ily because The statements I refer to are:
j have ob- "The president is a bad guy" and
jonsored "After six years, the Reagan
nightmare appears to be over."
iction is Those cheap shots were offensive
e to end and uncalled for. The president
cism, then may have made mistakes, but
for shame, what president has not? I hate to
tell you, Jean, but John Kennedy
made the mistake of the Bay of
I D. Morin pjgS an(j Lyndon Johnson got us
tophomore bogged down in Vietnam. It took
Nixon to get us out.
t* I am not an extremist. I just
IS feel that a couple of protests do
. not signify a complete liberal
LISl shift. I am a moderate who can
see that liberals make mistakes as
often as conservatives. In my opiick
Jean's nion, Jean should research his
I was very facts more, before putting
gry. How himself on such an extremist
posedly in- limb.
npare the
ounty and' D. Troy Mullinax
i symbol of Political science, sophomore
ii>m. u, 11 1 'i
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