Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Diplomacy U.S. policy toward El Salvador should adapt to developments While the focus of U.S. foreign policy toward Central America has been on Nicaragua for the past few years, the situation in El Salvador has become increasingly unstable. The administration of President George Bush needs to take a close look at this country, analyze recent develooments and work toward peace in the region. Since the early 1980s, El Salvador has been ripped apart by civil war. A leftist guerilla force called the Farabundo Marti Liberation Front has battled the government, which has received hundreds of millions of dollars in military and economic aid from the United States. Although moderate President Napoleon Duarte brought about some reforms, human-rights abuses continued by right-wing extremists. In 1988, the situation only got worse as death-squad activity increased and the economy slowed. Then Duarte was diagnosed as having liver cancer. Now the rebels have proposed postponing presidential elections, which were originally set for March, until September. Such a move from the FMLN signals a significant break from previous policy; the rebels have refused to participate in past elections. Apparently, the FMLN leadership is willing to accept the government enough to get involved with its balloting process. Still, the rebels have not said they would put down their weapons before or after the election, and Duarte said peace talks will come only alter terrorist tactics cease. Meanwhile, during Vice President Dan Quayle's visit this past week, rebel forces struck in the capital city with bombings, and FMLN radio broadcasts urged leftist forces to fight on. Quayle, displaying a surprising eloquence, met with Duarte to talk about the situation in El Salvador. In a remarkable bit of diplomacy, Quayle said the United States would not accept any form of violence, on the right or the left. He warned the government to improve its record on human rights and to continue to move toward reform. El Salvador's government and the United States should carefully consider the rebel proposal. Although it is difficult to decipher the sincerity of the FMLN, it would be in the best interest of all concerned to open a dialogue. Beginning such talks would be the first step in defusing the time bomb that ticks in El Salvador. President Bush should work toward a settlement of this bloody civil war that has already left 65,000 people dead. Otherwise, the carnage in El Salvador can only get worse. 'IT'S OKAY, OFFICR-HE HASA PAVERS UC&lSE* .. i The Gamecock Best Non-daily Collegiate Newspaper, Southeastern Region Society of Professional Journalists, 1987-88 Editor in Chief Dalebook Editor ANDY BECHTEL JAN PHILLIPS Managing Editor Graphte E^tor JEFF SHREWSBURY MICHAEL SHARP I", , Comics Editor KATHY BLACkWELL TRACY M1XSON Assistant Copy Desk Chief Graduate Assistant CARYNCRABB ROBERT STEVENSON News Editor Adviser MARY PEARSON PAT MCNEELY Assistant News Editors Director of Student Med|a KELLY C. THOMAS ED BONZA SUSAN NESBITT Advertising Manager Features Editor MARGARET MICHELS J ODD HINES Production Manager Assistant Features Editor LAURA DAY TOMMY IOYNER Ascictant Prnrlnftinn Manaupr Sports Editor RAY BURGOS KtviN ADAMS Assistant Advertising Manager Assistant Sports Editor BARBARA BROWN CHRIS SILVESTRI Photography Editor TEDDY LEPP Letters Policy: The Gamecock will lr> to print all letters received. Letters should he, at a maximum. 25o to I 300 words long. Ciuesl editorials should not exceed 500 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for slsle or possible libel. The Gamecock will not withhold names under an> circumstance. ' Look at hist< A lot of people would say Errol Flynn wa< great actor. He had a presence, they say. He h charisma, and he had style. That may very well be so, but the man was no good actor. Case in point: I was watching Sante Fe Trail 1 other night. It was Errol and Ronald Reagan pi: ing Jeb Stuart and George Custer, two fame generals during and right after the Civil War. 1 whole plot was that these two men were in chai of a posse, if you will, that was seeking out Jo Brown and his raiders. Errol played Jeb, and Rc nie played Custer ? pre-Little Big Horn. Jeb Stuart was from Virginia. And no mat how you imagine the Virginia wilds, he was Southerner. Virginians don't have what I consic a huge accent, but they have an accent nonethele Well, Errol is from England and has a British ; cent to match. In this movie, Flynn portray Stuart, but kept the English accent. It was like watching Rpbiin Hood command i cavalry. I can't say for sure who would be responsible 1 noticing such an inadequacy in the movie, whetl it be the director or Flynn himself, but somebo let him go on sounding like an aristocratic Engl gentleman riding horses around the plains of Kt sas and the woods of Virginia. It threw the whole movie off. I can imagine what happened on the set. T director probably came up to Errol, who was < ting in his own chair with his name on the bai anH sat Hnwn hnmhlv tr? tpll him hp was nlavini Southerner and that his accent would be out character. Errol, being the superstar he was at the tin Letters ti Letter writers ? t plea for must wake up decisior right c To the editor: respon* I would like to comment on the let- |^ssuc ' ter by Scott Lamar and Jeff Robin- a son ("Moral decline plagues U.S.," 1 m .. Jan. 30). Gentlemen, you say we must 1 should return to a time of morals, , . . that we were better off back then? ecisior Ah, yes, let's return to a simpler re atlon time when women stayed home and had babies, when they were owned by tl0ns in their husbands and when they had no means c rights. But throughout history, it has " as a 1 been acceptable for men to keep mistresses. I suppose you feel that nnuet0 issue CO now that women do the same things men do, the world has gone to hell. an 1 ^ Wake up, gentlemen. There have man^ always been abortions, but not in l^rrns always safe and legal ones. A study in llg s.c the '50s found that about a fourth of L^nV all pregnancies ended in abortion, f ' and today the figure is about the ^ "V ia^ same. So did legalizing it make the er ap' number of abortions go up? No. And will making it illegal make the abortioi numbers go down? Again, probably & actions, not. , , Perhaps backstreet butcher shops 1-. - . . new anc are the morality you want to return . ir >/ a . i threat t< to. If you can t see it, does it exist? 1 ^ ^ hope this isn't the kind of world your . cf .. *7 in full god wants. ? , Perhaps Marie Loughmiller see. a l.u . .. ? . . tivity h Journalism lunior J contrar; you bel ever-gri U.S. realizing d7S i . . must r abortion s cost ing of ] secret f To the editor: rights < 1 am writing this letter in response after 1 to the one published Jan. 30. After million reading the letter calling for con- is begin tinued legal abortion, 1 felt compell- destruct nrv shows evol ; a ? *" ad * B >us Shrewsbury 9% 'he <*9 rge UmT hn g^k ^ >n- ^HM ter ,1?????? i a Jer probably said something like, "Oh, don't let ii ss. bother, old man, my adoring fans will love it jusi ac- the same." red And the truth about old movies is Errol was pro bably right.,, ... ;he In the first days of the movies (and to a certain extent now), people didn't pay to see superstar* for act; they payed to see'superstars.'' ler It was more prevalent then, but there is certainly dy enough evidence of it now. ish Errol was not playing Jeb Stuart; Errol was playtn ing Errol. He was his own character and did not care to get into the role. He was a swashbuckler, and he was going to play it the same no mattei he what the role. ?it- In my book, this classifies him as a mediocre ac:k, tor, but big star. The two often go together. I a The producers of this film did not hire Errol tc of be Jeb Stuart, they hired Errol to be the star. Movies are such a fantastic medium that anytime ie, I see distractions like this I get angry. But I dc le editor spond to what was obviously find it very stirring to re tional as well as uneducated many's ruling on th< support. government explained letter presented the landmark tion by stating that th i of Roe vs. Wade as simply a well where deeming ont )f choice in reproductive pie less than worthy ibilities. How could such an lead. How educating at bitterly divides our nation such as ours. Can we n ced to such humble roots? 1 our mistakes? Smith is < aren Smith, the letter writer, there is no action to coi rst accept that her reproduc- life successes. May I su ponsibilities begin with the Smith, that you are i to participate in a sexual minority that is rapidly ship. Also, she and society as medical advances ke responsibity for their ac- arguments to be nothir stead of using abortion as a lies! >f birth control and defending Sadly, it has taken 15 ight. million aborted unbor , Smith and pro-choicers con- begin to realize the mag look beyond the fact that this, own holocaust. Americ; ncerns two lives: the mother's the free and the home unborn child's. Smith, like must secure freedom c efore her, spoke of the issue citizens, both in and , of "the rights of the fetus vs. womb and be willing t< )f women." Why don't we life! For without equa lying word games? "Fetus" is life, what is to guarar >r small one. But then this is a won't be next? tnrtir r?f thp nrn-ahnrtir\nict ; by shadowing the truth or in Doug ay dehumanizing the victims Political ? issue, these staunch proaists can find solace in their Smith would have us believe f\f\i. pro-life activity is something J3101v ClOl 1 that it marks some stark new ~ 1 l a the abortion ruling. Quite to T01*1)10 2) |)( rary, this movement has been swing since the 1973 ruling. > Smith and other feminists To the editor: rning of the tide. Pro-life ac- Well, it's no seci as become more visible, but religious right is rankle y to what Smith would have tion, but frankly I don ieve, it has evolved from an why. The Bible, that in awing realization of the book for the holy-to-be ion of innocent human life. a different view regardi ik Smith and women like her and fetal destruction, ealize that this resistance, For instance, the Bo ative-leaning court and sway- bestows the blessing popular opinion is not some upon those that dasl )lot against the morals and babies against stones af women. Rather, finally, Deuteronomy 21:18 tel 5 years and more than 18 should stone stubborn ; abortions, the United States children. God's prof ining to realize the awesome declares that it is Go ion that it has deemed legal. I pregnant Samarian wor lution of films realize the time and history of the movies like these. In the beginning of movies, realism was not the central focus. The country, down from economic hardship and fascinated by the big screen, was looking for personalities and hype. The directors were relatively new at the process and didn't have a whole lot of regard for accuracy when it came to big production films. This is OK, however, because every medium and art has to evolve. Film is evolving even today. If in the beginning there was just hype and big names, now I would say there is militant realism in film. Every film challenges each of its actors to be that character and be completely loyal to the truth, t Even the big stars these days can't become big stars t without being great actors. Then, it was a luxury to have a great acting star; now it is a necessity. i I enjoyed the movie as 1 do every Flynn' movie, ; especially Robin Hood, but 1 have to chuckje when 'I see the old movies with the big names ana realize i just how bad the acting was. There were the great actors then, but in that time period making the country happy and excited about the nnvpltv of the silver srreen was more im portant. Now, after the initial giddiness has worn off, directors, actor, writers and producers, for the most part any way, are expecting a great deal more out of the players. It's celluloid evolution. For pure entertainment, ? the movies now are not any more exciting to the viewers, but from an acting and directing stand: point, movies are just coming out of adolescence i into adulthood. ad West Ger- ripped up (Hos 13:16), a clear case ; issue. The of the performance of abortion, their opposi- The list goes on. ley knew too There really isn't much Biblical i race of peo- support for the sanctity of the fetus, of life could The issue then is not one of rescuing for a nation babies from "Dachua-like" family ot learn from planning clinics, but one of power, listurbed that By using the emotionally charged nbat the pro- issue of abortion as a focal point and iggest to you, a spring board, by slapping red paint now in the onto plastic dolls and impaling them losing ground on sticks or hanging them on strings, prove your by using demonic imagery that might lg more than easily come from the mind of Charles Manson or Freddie Krueeer. the years and 18 religious right hopes to force its agenn citizens to da of moral absolutism on the rest of nitude of our society. a, the land of If Roe vs. Wade is reversed, you of the brave, will not see these self-appointed peo>f life for all pie of God who block the doorways outside the to Planned Parenthood rushing to a defend that adopt the AIDS newborns. You will; [1 respect for not see the clinic bombers clamoring itee that you to take Tay-Sachs babies into their! homes. You will not see Vice Presi-! dent Dan Quayle play foster parent las L. Novak to the baby he believes an 11-year-old science junior girl should be forced to bear, even if it is sired by her sexually abusive biological father. You will see young women and ksiSll I girls die. As many as 200,000 die from botched abortions in develoD ri|*f|OF| ing countries each year. You will see more children starve. You will see more battered, murdered children. The true incidence of child ^buse is ret that the unknown, but suffice it to say that it d about abor- is too high and will certainly increase 't understand by many fold. [fallible hand- Of course, you will hear the so, certainly has called righteous saying, "If only they ng infanticide were right with God, none of this would be happening to them." ok of Psalms of happiness Jeff Ford 1 Babylonian School of Medicine (Psa 137:9). Is us that we Editor's note: Because of space ind rebellious limitations and a backlog of letters to )het, Hosea, the editor on other issues, The id's will that Gamecock will end debate over abor- \ nen should be tion as of today.