The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, July 10, 1991, Page 2, Image 2
2_
Law
Bush presidency has sealed
fate of American judiciary
President Bush has exercised his executive power to appoint S
preme Court iustices to suit his own f^r K^?t~r.
_ - J ? ? fMVkJj XVI UVllV/1 U1 WU1J
The Supreme Court is more one-sided ideologically than at ai
time in recent memory. An unfortunate side effect may be that t]
high court will side against the majority of public opinion on
wide variety of human rights issues.
For example, poll after poll shows that a wide majority <
Americans support the legality of abortion. However, the conse
vative voices in the Supreme Court now have the votes to overtu
Roe vs. Wade. This would make the states responsible for abo
tion and would surely mean abortion- delegalization in mar
states.
The situation in America would be similar to the pre-Civil W
days, with the nation divided between "free," pro-choice states ar
"slave," anti-abortion states. Particularly in the South, the pr<
choice forces would be outnumbered. Southern women needin
abortions would have no recourse other than to move or get
risky "back-alley" abortion.
lie net effect would be that although abortion is a majorii
opinion nationally, residents of some states would be denied th;
choice. That is only one way in which a conservative Suprem
Court is detrimental to the United States.
It is the president's perogative to choose justices, but the opir
ion of the American people should be taken into account. Hope
fully the Court will be responsive to the beliefs of the country an
not support laws that are antithetical to the values on which th
country is based.
I
an a
News: 777-7726 Advertising: 777-4249
David Bowden
Editor in Chief
Tige Watts Aaron Sheinin
News Editor Carolina Life Editor
Rich Taylor Daniel Barabas
Sports Editor Graphics Editor
Julie Bouchillon
Photo Editor
jennifer j ablonski
Copy Desk Chief
Ed Bonza Erik Collins
Director of Student Media Faculty Adviser
Laura S.Day Ray Burgos
Production Manager Assistant Production Manager
Renee Gibson Carolyn Griffin
Advertising Manager Business Manager
letters Policy: The Gamecock wil try to print al letters received. Letters should be. at
maximum, 250 to 300 words long. The writer must include ful name, professional title if
a USC employee or South Carolina resident, or year and major if a student. An address
and phone number are required with aU letters sent. The Gamecock reserves the right
to edit letters for style, possible ibel or in case of space limitations. The newspaper will
not withhold names under any circumstance.
KiAVlF
||^|QMCk?ag?Tribun?.
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( MWf&x>P
M&HW-'t 5EAT
tub ?mimr
U- rj/iA-T/O APBOIMT
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f"
American
lWhen
I think about American
'd ... barf.
What a waste our "land of the fr
e come. According to the First Amei
basically have the right to expressing
cal speech. Too bad, we don't use it.
The two parties in our system stin
short-sighted, bigoted Republicans in
and weak, spineless Democrats in th<
Starting off with the party I hate n
blicans are awful. Ronald Reagan <
Bush are proof of that While Rea;
office, we borrowed so much mon
now have to give up our country to
Need proof? Look at the percentage
owned buildings, land and companie:
I will give Reagan credit, though.
)ally good actor. He made us believe
control for eight years. Let's give h
orary Academy Award.
Bush is just about as dumb. Her
who would send half a million brav
Saudi Arabia to fight for Kuwaiti ci
jected to ruthless men, yet, he woi
poop for Croatians and Slovenians
independence.
It makes me wonder why we foi
Persian Gulf War. Every day and e
makes me think the war was nothing
a political move for Bush.
^ _______
t f?npTni7i>C[
"I LjEj I 1 JtLIvo
Club great for
beating heat
To the editor:
It has come to my attention recently
that The Gamecock has
lapsed into the summertime blueS
with the question of what there is
to do in Columbia. Most recently
? Paula Cobb's "From the Hip" columm
suggested such activities as
I golf, baseball, bowing, fishing, wa.
ter sports and watching television,
as well as a remark suggesting that
you and your significant other
learn the Figure 4 ? which I'm
assuming to be a dance.
With the exception perhaps of
water sports, this outlook is pretty
bleak. This being my first summer
in Columbia, I would go stark ravJ
ing mad if these were my only options.
Frankly, I can't imagine that
S any of these activities, plus others
such as sleeping in and watching
movies (suggested in past issues of
The Gamecock) would amuse anybody
for the whole summer.
Fortunately I have a remedy for
these summertime blues that I
would like to share with Miss
Cobbs, the Gamecock staff and the
rest of USC. Contrary to appearance,
not all student organizations
die during the summer. The USC
Mountaineering and Whitewater
Club is one of these. We are pretty
informal during the summer, but
we do exist and meet weekly,
more for socialization than for business.
Through the club you can go
camping, backpacking, kayaking,
rock climbinff. canneina and white
- 07 ~ O ? "
water rafting. We take off for the
cool environment of the mountains
chi many hot weekends.
If you can't get away on
weekends, we still have many
things to do in town. When the
moon is full, we take canoes down
the Congaree for a fun evening on
the river. During the day or after
work, we sometimes head out for
an exciting Whitewater trip on the
Saluda River. On Wednesday
nights, we head over to one of our
coaches' house to climb on an artificial
rock wall, plan trips, socialize
and relax at these weekly
meetings.
(j()(jk
-BUT T??fiNlT?tY
$0>MEO>ME WHO WL
. ,jpEFENP THE GAINS'k
have mape in civil
r RIGHTS - GAINS THA
HAVE MAPE VS> MORt
OgMAVgE -fcPLBgAMT A^A
AH^ANC WATIOA
rr.^i, UCV<
oolitics nn
R
politics, I
ee" has be- . , Tige
ldment, we
1 our politi- ^
k. We have *4mJXi
Mt8BBt&&SB? jftMrrer -*
one corner ppwBWlit
^ other one.
nore, Repu- Since the war, no one ta
ind George dent's domestic policy, or i
gan was in 0f jf Kuwaitis wanted inde
ey that we ai-e ^ey stip under a monan
pay for it Why didn't we do some
of foreign- when Chinese students wen
5 today. aren't we helping Croatian
He's a re- their fight for independen<
^ he was in back Lithuania, Latvia, Geo
im an hon- tried to secede from the Sov
Why aren't the Democra
e is a guy these questions?
e troops to The Democrats, I'm sorr
itizens sub- a uttle bit better. They have
i't do jack Weak presidential candidates
who want ting tired of that.
The Democrats need to
light in the dishing out the hits. I wish
-very folly, all the times I've heard peq
; more than thing the Democrats ar<
House." I think I could eras*
TO THE EDITOl
Membership for the whole sum- hi
mer is only $10, which permits ac- ol
cess to our extensive line of equip- cl
ment^which includes boats, tents, th
climbing gear and more. Your ban- bi
dits also include expert instruction fc
in any of the aforementioned w
sports by experienced club mem- n<
bers as well as discounts from a
local outdoor stores. Most impor- ri
tant, however, is the fact that the M
club opens up many opportunities w
for you to challenge yourself and HI
meet interesting people. di
For more information about the ri
Mountaineering and Whitewater W
Club, as well as other active sports Je
clubs, please contact Campus Re
^cation in tsiaii f.t,. center ai pi
777-5261. I know that there are h<
other student organizations plan- sii
ning activities as fun as ours this va
summer, so track them down! In- W
stead of rotting in front of the TV ot
this summer, come out and try an
exciting new sport or just escape ne
the heat with us! in
Stephanie B. Simonson ne
Marine geology junior in
he
Writer needs m
intelligence %
To the editor: mi
Millions of U.S. troops died in an
battle to preserve the freedom W
which allows whiny brats like Mr. sh
Tige Watts to sound-off in his col- th:
umn "This coming July Fourth na
means nothing to me." to
Ac a nrr*ff? eeinnol urritor T tif>
*>W M ^/1 VIVJtJIUllUl nlllVl) uv
should refrain from acknowledging in
such a weak editorial from a rank na
amateur, but my duty as a Carolina bu
student, a South Carolinian and an rai
American compels me to reply. di:
Mr. Watts most likely does not
understand words like "duty." de
But there is a lot Mr. Watts does cri
not understand. Reading his col- ta:
umn, I do not think Mr. Watts jol
understands anything about the le:
principles and concepts of politics th<
in the U.S., and he does not under- pr
stand the words he uses: the word R(
"liberal," for instance. thi
Our forefathers were "liberal" pr
because they wanted to change inj
from a monarchist government to
the democracy and freedoms we ab
i
[ QQCOC
: A CP
V _ ri'p
?\
>w at all ti
?? My reme
candidate?!
WATTS ferable. Jes
bone but i
president?
This part
try to be J1
years ago.
character. A
ilks about the Presi- in^ 13X68 0
rather the lack there dale)! Even
spendence, then why up in convei
:hist's rule? Back to tl
thing two years ago seeing 88-y<
e being killed? Why was flipping
s and Slovenians in of days age
:e? Why didn't we time to see
rgia, etc., when they bill. Paraph]
iet Union? these restrici
ts pressing Bush for their job. If
do what the]
y to admit, are only I wonder
had six consecutive in Cayce or
! and people are get- say) the Wc
King's heac
stand up and start Southwest v
I had a quarter for and a cub sc
pie say, "It's a good You kno1
in't in the White some great
5 the national debt. videotape. T
R
- i ii
we today (freedom of worship,
F speech ...). They did not want
lange for change's sake. Once
eir ideals and government system
scame an establishment, the
rnnding fathers' philosophies
ere considered conservative, as
}w. If President Jefferson could
)me back, he would slap unpatotic
and ungrateful wimps like
It. Watts around. Jefferson also
ould be considered a populist,
bertarian conservative (sorry, I
tdn't mean to send Mr. Watts
inning to the dictionary). Mr.
^atts, you're no Thomas
fferson.
Mr. Watts feels he needs to be
otected from government. Again,
i shows his failure to grasp
inpie political concepts, ^.onseritives
are against big government
here did Mr. Watts get any idea
herwise?
In any case, government is
pessary. In Governor Campbell's
augural address, he explained the
led for government: "the overridg
purpose for government is to
ilp people help themselves ... to
;gresslvely create opportuni...
to discourage independent inative
and discourage debilitating
pendency."
From ignorance, Mr. Watts
oves to character assassinations,
id he calls the Republicans in the
hite House "stupid." While
owing off his penchant for using
is two-syllable word indiscrimitely,
he turns a blind eye to hisry.
The last Democratic presiint,
while certainly a noble and
tP.lliffP.nt man Kalna/1 ctAAf ttiA
UVl^/W JkVVl MIV
tion to massive inflation rates,
lilt a huge, ineffective bureauczy
in Washington and was very
sliked by the American public.
The last two Republican presints
brought down inflation, insased
the GNP, lowered adjusted
ices and increased the number of
bs for Americans, among countss
other achievements. In turn,
zy are two of the most popular
esidents in history. In one year,
?gan got 8 million letters from
e public, more than any other
esident, and Bush's approval ratg
hovers near 90 percent.
Mr. Watts does not have a clue
out the subjects he tries so limp
Wednesday, July 10>
(Fl
(WW 1
m
wmL. .
ime low
dy for their problem ? get a strong
3ne who has a spine would be prese
Jackson has a very strong backs
he capable of being the 42nd
y needs to stop getting people who
TC, the style that went out over 25
Look for freshness, charisma and
Jid for JFK's sake, don't have raisn
your platform (e.g. Walter Monthough
it's a constant, don't bring it
rsation.
he Republicans, I'm getting tired of
sar old senators talking nonsense. I
; through the cable stations a couple
> and I stopped at C-Span just in
Strom Thurmond support the crime
asing him, "We need to get rid of
tions limiting policemen from doing
they suspect a crime, they should
/ feel is best."
if Strom has ever been pulled over
if he saw (as Dave Bowden might
>rld Cup Soccer game with Rodney
1. Let's not foreet the euv in the
_ c:' o ?
/ho was tag-teamed by a policeman
out.
tv, American politics would make
footage for the blooper and follies
oo bad, we have to put up with it
wristedly to cover. The ignorance,
poor writing style and complete
cynicism that come from his benumbed
little brain are an embarrassment
to the paper and to the
university. He wants to speak for
Jefferson, a conservative model,
and yet he knows nothing about ;
Jefferson. As founder of the University
of Virginia, Thomas Jeffer
son very much believed in education.
Mr. Watts, get yourself one.
tuiwara L. Ingram
Ad/PR senior
New justice is
step forward
To the editor:
The 1960s brought the most dra- ?
matic advances in civil rights since
the Reconstruction. No one can
deny the significance or the morality
of ending legal segregation, the
American apartheid. 1991 will set
the tone for the future of civil
rights in the United States with the
nomination of Judge Clarence
Thomas for the Supreme Court
During the 1970s and 1980s, the
notion that affirmative action programs
could be effective took hold.
Such programs were implemented
on a large scale. Unfortunately, not
only were these programs largely
uneffective, but they helped to
1 rlimatA Q Am p
wuiscai ui& latiai v/v>?v
whites who are resentful of minorities
feel that affirmative acfion and
set-aside programs squeeze them
out of opportunities they would
otherwise have had, while some
minorities are beginning to wonder
if they are deserving of the progress
they make, or if they are being
moved along by the system.
That every person in America
deserves an equal opprtunity is obvious,
but Judge Thomas presents
a different way of achieving this
laudable goal than those who attack
him: ensure equality by aggressively
prosecuting individual
cases of discrimination, and preserve
harmony by setting no group
above another. The 1990s can be
the decade that civil rights are extended
to all Americans, forever.
Think about it
...... Michael Barton
International studies senior