Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Peace Israel finally gets to peace talks after U.S. economic pressure Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir has agreed to Middle East peace talks ... finally. The conservative leader had long tried to avoid negotiations with neighboring Arab countries as they could lead to Israel giving up some of its territory (i.e., the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights). This so-called "land for peace" scenario has always been opposed by Israel's ruling Likud Party, of which Shamir is leader. What changed his mind? Try $10 billion in loan guarantees that the United States could give to Israel, if Israel loses its belligerent attitude. The money is deperately needed to house Soviet immigrants to the country, so the U.S. effectively had the Israelis trapped. This economic blackmail, although heavy-handed, was just what was needed to get the peace process going. Israel was being so intransigent that it made hardline Syria look pacifist in comparison. That some Israelis do not want to give up the West Bank is moot when one considers that Israel stole these lands from its Arabic neighbors in the first place. Soviet client-state Syria has agreed to talk with no preconditions. So has Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the representatives of the Palestinians. By persuading mortal enemies to meet at the bargaining table, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker may have a Noble Peace Prize in his future. These peace talks will only add to American prestige in the region. For the first time since Camp David, the U.S. can be a Mideast peace-maker. The United States has truly become a kinder, gentler superpower if these negotiations bear fruit. i ^ mA ' wave pulleo myself i 4^ ^avf i up by the bootstraps, q ^ prom cm/lowooo poverty to'the hl&hest court >1 ( WE'D \ y BETTER 2E. \ (^ GRATEFUL- ) CD O ^ iCAMKCOCK] News: 777-7726 Advertising: 777-4249 David Bowden Editor in Chief Tige Watts Aaron Sheinin News Editor Carolina Life Editor Rich Taylor Daniel Bar abas Sports Editor Graphics Editor Julie Bouchillon Photo Editor Jennifer Jablonski Copy Desk Chief Laura S.Day Ray Burgos Production Manager Assistant Production Manager Renee a. Gibson Carolyn Griffin Advertixino MfinaQer Rutin#?? Mnnno#r Erik Collins Faculty Adviser Letters Policy: Tho Gamecock wiU try to print aH letters received. Letters should be. at maximum, 250 to 300 words long. The writer must include full 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 all letters sent. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit letters for style, possible libel or in case of space limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under any circumstance. | THE COMMON EARTHWORM. | a vji 1 % fc fc, I . - I r* I IF IT BECOMES THE VICTIM OF AN ACCIDENT AND I IS CHOPPED IN TWO PIECES, THE WORM'S SIMPLE ANjToMy ALLOWS IT TO BECOME TWO SEPARATE. LIVING BEINGS. . /\ J7 . Legalize marijuana t There are questions in life that have no sensi ble answers. Why are tax forms long and complicated? TIGE What happens when you tear the "Do not remove" tag from a mattress? Why do people vote for Republicans? The most dominant question I have, though, is why marijuana is not legal. - ^ I was talking to a friend this weekend and he told me a lot about the drug that surprised me. death. A 60% "sin" tax cc For example, marijuana was at one time used to and consumers would conti make cloth and gasoline. He also told me the duct. This would generate h only reason Congressmen outlawed the drug our economy, was because of pressure from companies in With the tax, moralists 1 competition with Mary Jane. plain. Legislators could get The primary purpose of the drug at the time and not lose too many votes was strictly utilitarian. People started to primar- If the drug was legalizec ily smoke it after it was banned. True, people soline industry would hav< did smoke it before it was banned, but consum- war reaping benefits for ers were nowhere near the number it is now. would use it how it was i Marijuana can be less addictive and harmful cheaper costs, too. This wo than alcohol, as well, and it is often used by and only the customers w< cancer patients. upturn in an otherwise drag Think of the benefits if the drug was legal- The legalization could al: ized, though. Legislators could tax the drug to dependence on foreign oil. America suckered in America loves a controversy, as shown by the media orgasm that ensued following the dis- JHPBk covering of MIAs from the Vietnam War still P??V DAVID alive in Indochina. My colleagues in the media \ ? should be ashamed of themselves for giving so ; I J much credence to this hoax. The Vietnam War is still a gaping wound in the American psyche, and I don't mean to make ' ^ > fun of those who lost love ones in that misguided effort. However, logic suggests that the be set back twenty years. Vietnamese would have no reason to hold Some say that American Americans prisoner today, in 1991. tivity have information th can't allow to be discove American POWs in Indochina make a good world. To be blunt, if that plot device in action movies, but the reality is Vietnamese prooaoiy woun far different What possible motivation can the Americans and buried them Vietnamese government have for holding Dead men tell no tales. Americans prisoner in secret? The Vietnamese want better relations with the United States. Another idea is that A They want our diplomatic recognition. Keeping held in remote areas not dii American POWs that they were supposed to be trol of the Vietnamese gove released in 1973 would be an act of war, pure and condescending to the V and simple. American politicians would call for in the 20th century. Rum immediate punitive action. Even if American have cars and radios. Sun planes didn't bomb Vietnam into the Stone Age cover missing Americans (again), American-Vietnamese relations would improve U.S. relations or, MMMMUI * - ?-??????? ??? MIRACLE OF PRIMITIVE LIFE, THE EARTHWORM EATS 175 WAY THROUGH THE SOIL AND DIRT. ITS WASTE OF DIGESTED DIRT PROVIDES VITAL NUTRIENTS. ITS DUAL (SENDER PERMITS ANY TWO TO REPRODUCE IN J A RITUAL UNCHANGED AFTER MILLIONS OF YEARS * : - ?r .1 ' ' f..So IF we coUlP DoTHe V-' ^ I n?i/v -r. nil/- uiitl ?... -r\t? 1 ni'KlAT'Tt^TIP xs WP'D iZ , r "en0CK/lff IMUWWUU H, e We j> Wve a Me eer foR' NATIONAL I : Vjfe w>)lTe Ho^e i^^^jCOMMlTIEE | 0 help economy Persian Gulf War, Mr. Cheese Wiz Bush said his administration might look into alternative WATTS fuel sources. Here it is, Georgie. Don't pass up on it. With a slow recession recovery, the legalization must be imminent. There's no way to get around it, we have to legalize it. Don't get me wrong, I am not a dope head. I >uld be placed on it only think there's no way America could lose if inue to buy the pro- they legalize marijuana, uge numbers to help We have to make a choice. Should we be upstanding and moral or should we be sensible eally couldn't com- and pragmatic? We have to make the right away with passing it choice which helps us most directly. > Election Day. I, the textile and ga- We can't let moralists continue to keep peo1 a large-scale price pie blinded from the practical nature of mariconsumers. People juana. It would only generate benefits. If we meant to be, and at ban it because it's a drug, then we better ban uld start a price war everything more harmful like alcohol. mid win starting an There's no alternative. Marijuana should be ging economy. legalized. Otherwise, we'll be awfully poor so help us lessen our moralists with our Japanese competitors conAfter the end of the tinue to take advantage of our poor economy. 4-~ T*r\\XT iu run iiuitA " they would kill the. prisoners and save the embarrassment. Either way there probably are no i BOWDEN living American servicemen in all of Indochina ! held against their will. But let's say that the Vietnamese, against all logic, did keep some American servicemen as I prisoners. The war ended 18 years ago! Do people actually expect American prisoners to survive POW camps that long? I have to think that soldiers still in cap- Americans still in Vietnam or any part of Indoat the Vietnamese china are there of their own free will. They red by the outside would have to be defectors who didn't want were the case, the their changed allegiance to be known by their d have killed these families back home. This itself is highly unin a shallow grave. likely, but makes more sense than the plot of Rambo. merican POWs are The issue of American MIAs is an emotional rectly under the con- one, and the Vietnam War will truly not be put ;rnment. That is silly to rest until it is resolved. However, instead of ietnamese. They are chasing hoaxes such as this photograph of or has it they even "American POWs," we should deal with the ;ly, they would dis- Vietnamese government for the remains of our and release them to missing servicemen. This isn't a movie, as suggested above, America. Wake up.