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Nukes President Bush breaks ground, but there's still long way to go George Bush made an announcement Friday of critical impor tance to the world. In one speech, Bush eliminated the Strategic /\ir ^uiiiuuuiu, /\mencan snori-raiige nuweai missiles m nuropt. and South Korea, nuclear warheads on U.S. surface ships and i great deal of the U.S. submarine-launched cruise missile force The amazing thing is he was being conservative in his reductions. Bush's announcements greatly improve world peace and stability. However, it is a shame that the president continues his wasteful obsession with the JB-2 bomber and the Strategic Defense Initiative. A stealth nuclear bomber is a first-strike weapon. It is destabilizing and unnecessary. SDI has merits, but it is prohibitivel) expensive. The best way to protect the United States from Thirc World ICBMs is to prevent them from getting them in the firs] place. Amazingly enough, some people still think America shoulc push for the total elimination of nuclear weapons. This situatior would be completely unstable and unworkable. A nuclear-free world is a liberal fantasy for as the cliche goes, "the nuclear genie is permanently out of the bottle." All the same, Bush has gone far towards creating a cheaper, anc safer, nuclear deterrent. Let's continue this progress with cuts or wasteful projects. Who knows, we might just be able to afford some educational spending. trarru. - __ f\is IK NOMlN/tnc ! mm Isllll "I THINK TUt QUEST ION, ROAiy, IS 'WHICH RTOfTlM. IBJCOOTC amvmtjx. VJC5T running.?:. * ! GAMECOCK" News: 777-7726 Advertising: 777-4249 Chris Silvestri Editor in Chief David bowden Brant Long Manaeine Editor IViewnnint Editor Cnnv Heel rui^f O- O * i Tige Watts Octavia Wright News Editor Carolina Life Editor Aaron Sheinin Teddy Lepp Sports Editor Photography Editor Patrick Villegas Gordon M antler Asst. News Editor Asst. News Editor Tracey Davis Rich Taylor Asst. Carolina Life Editor Asst. Sports Editor Virginia Marshall Greg Rickabaugh Asst. Copy Desk Chief Asst. Photography Editor Wayne Williams eric Glenn Comics Editor Darkroom Technician Renee a. Gibson Laura s. Day Asst. Media Director/Advertising Manager Production Manager r._ ~ " . .. r> dTACiE LEWIS ^AY 13UKUUS Asst. Advertising Manager Asst. Production Manager Erik Collins Carolyn G riffin Faculty Adviser . ,, Business Manager Lara Chapman Asst. Classified Manager Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all 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 oat withhold names under any circumstance. h * fllS^PPS J|\| // \ 'if |J I -^ "IV.- Jt^'-o^r'.i.'' ., _' _ / . '' -.;. *&?>?>*!? Star Wars wa; I picked up the newspaper Saturday morning r~ and almost vomited. No, I did not vomit because of the quality of stories in The State. Rather, I was appalled at ? the latest political action of blunderous George Bush. ^ Yes, I do admit it's a good idea to get rid of I nuclear arsenal capable of blowing this and other solar systems apart. But let's at least have some good intentions when we do such an in action. a Bush is not cutting nuclear weapons for the m< benefit of world peace, instead he's putting the ^ final nail in the Democrat's already-sealed 111 coffin. Did anyone really listen to Bush's speech? aP One thing that struck me was the absence of Uc cutting SDI, more commonly recognized as P^ "Star Wars." 553 WKv in Com'c hill Ha maaH Hnrv>U ?? tt iij hi uuiii j inn uw w\s 11wu uio uuniu, ta" pensive program? It was started with the "evil, Communist empire in mind." George, last time tot I checked there is no longer any evil, Commun ist empire. to So now, honest taxpayers, are stuck with paying up the wazoo for a useless defense cei mechanism. Also, if Bush is benevolent in this action lio where are domestic reforms? ec< Health worker Thursday, Kimberly Bergalis started testifying before Congress on the need for manditory HIV testing for all health care workers in the United States. Bergalis is dying of AIDS. She claims to have been infected by her dentist. Health care professionals, on the other hand, contend that the risk of acquiring HIV infection in this way is so slight that mandatory testing would prove to be more detrimental to solving w the AIDS crisis than helpful. The big problem with this point of view is 1 that AIDS is lethal. When a person becomes in- m fa/4 iim#U ' <" ? ? ? ?- ? A ? ?? - - - ' iv^ix/u wiui una vnua uicy arc going 10 cease lO , exist a lot sooner than they otherwise would, and I fail to see why anyone could be against 01 mandatory testing. ^ I understand the arguments against it on the Jr grounds of rights of the health care professionals, and the risks of accidental infection being relatively slim when proper procedures are followed. The nature of accidents, however, are m< that they are accidental, beyond the control of those involved, and the risk of accidental infec- fa tion, no matter how slim, is too high. br; I'm certainly not saying a health care profes- sh< sionals should loose their job or be forced to di< fattention! Ware now enteri! THE |NDEPEN?ENr REPUBLIC OF 0( ^ TABLE.' ?UR NATION REJECTS YoUl glltr WE DEMAND PEACEFUL CoEtt 1 f ^t lnce, respect an? free peer. s&msiM$ % ?v ltS^^ALxrr^I^j0 i i/l. todays ^ I (ycLDetJ 1ft \SKCOf^ SPFCtftC a^iCZC*HC ite of money -* %*> tige Watts ~% W0mm. Bush, as usual, said nothing about domestic tendons. Never mind the fact education is lling rapidly. Never mind the fact we pay :>re for the federal debt than anything else, jver mind the fact bankruptcies have almost pled over the past 10 years. I was reading The State Sunday and was palled at the information in the opinion sec>n. Knight-Ridder did a survey on our criping economy and the results were shocking, to y the least. Here's a few of those results: In 1980, hourly wages averaged $7.78. That al is now $7.54. Weekly salaries plunged from $275 in 1980 $260 this year. U.S. office vacancy rates grew from 5 perit to almost 18 percent. In 1980 the gross national debt was $909 biln. Thanks to Reaganomics and Bush's pansy )nomic plans the number is now $4 trillion. s must have , DENNIS SHEALY ork outside of their area of expertise if they ove to be HIV positive, but the person being sated certainly has a right to know and to ake a decisiorf as to whether they are willing be treated by a doctor or nurse or whomever at is HIV positive. If health care professionals lly care about the well being of the whole pant then they should realize a patient's fear for smselves or their sick children can be iusr as trimental to the quality of their life as whater it is they are being treated for. Patients ould not have to worry about their health a :>nth or year or three down the road. Another woman who believes she was incted by her dentist wears a medical ID acelet saying she has AIDS because she says e doesn't want to be like her dentist (who A of the virus) and infect another person. She for America Not only did the debt grow, but so did the interest on the debt. In 1980, we payed $75 billion in interest. We now pay $304 billion. Bush's GNP growth is the worst since Truman started his second term. Bush's GNP growth is only 1.5 percent. That's a whole 1.7 percent less than bonehead Jimmy Carter's GNP growth. One last area to look into is what our budget pays. According to the fiscal year 1992 budget, we will shell out $304 billion ? interest on debts. $295 billion ? defense. $289 billion ? social security. $114 billion ? Medicare. $46 billion ? education and job training. $19.5 billion ? environment. $14.5 billion ? administration of justice. In a time of world peace around the corner, can we continue to pay $295 billion for defense. Let's be reasonable, can we afford so much to kick Saddam Hussein's butt with as much authority? I think not. If Bush wants to be the education, environment, economic president, he needs to stop deceiving us. He needs to start pumping money into the domestic budget. \IDS testing should be the example for others who are HIV infected, policy makers and activists. The ACLU says mandatory testing for anyone or group (college students included) would be too stigmatizing. Well it might be, but I think the issue of other people's safety should take precedence. People don't have to lose any rights if they test positive, but they should be willing to admit, like this woman, that they are potentially harmful ?A ntlur nannla ??* **?. U1 IV/ V/UIVI |/VV/|/IV. This isn't meant to be an attack on the personal freedoms of anyone, but I think the reality of the AIDS virus needs to make people think and take the well being of others into consideration. I've met people with AIDS before in social situations and I wasn't afraid to shake their hand or sit beside them, but the knowledge of their illness simply made me aware of the po leiuiai iur personal narin. r uiun i ieei /\iua was going to jump out and get me, but I would have certainly taken a step back if they had cut a finger or in some way created a risk situation. This is the kind of perspective that needs to be developed, not some idealistic notion that slight risks rules out a persons right to know and choose who will care for them. ft