Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

Quote, Unquote “The South has severed countless blows in it’s history because it is identified with slavery, racism, and segregation.” -Harold Cosby, Resident of Beaufort Zte Gamecock Wednesday, juiy 12,2000 Wrn (Summit Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 Editorial Board Miranda LaLonde • Editor in Chief Ann Marie Miani • Managing Editor Pete Johnson • Viewpoints Editor John Huiett • News Editor Teetering on the edge of genetically correct inow tnat science nas taKen a lew million steps rorwaro in mapping out tne human genome, making the dream of curing a host of diseases a viable possibility, certain Washington lawmakers are already on the move to use the breakthrough to further a political agenda. In this age of rampantly pathetic political correctness when no one is responsible for his or her actions because he or she is a victim or something or someone, a few of our more “compassionate” elected officals are see ing fit to apply this concept to perhaps the most significant scientific discovery of our time. It seems a law is trying to be greased through the ever-decaying halls of com mon sense that no one should be discriminated against becasue of a genetic flaw. For example, once we are able to carry our own genetic coding around on our persons the way we carry driver’s licenses, an employer with access to a prospec tive employee’s “genetic code readout” could not refuse said employee a job based on his or her genetic impurities. While it sounds delightfullly enlightened on the surface, this would undoubt edly lead to a myriad of outright stupidity. Imagine a person deaf from birth because of genetic makeup being hired as a 9-1 -1 responder because not giving him or her the job would make the person a “victim of genetic discrimination.” Imagine a quadrapalegic from birth because of a genetic malfunction given the job of lifeguard because it would no longer be “genetically correct” to deny said person the posi tion. While society would be patting itself on its collective back for being “extra sen sitive” to victims of genetic bad luck, a young woman dies in her home from a vi olent crime and a small child drowns in the community pool. But, alas, shouldn’t the lives of a few be sacrificed for the feelings of another few? After all, it’s the government’s job to hold everyone’s hand through every spe cific detail of everyday life because most are too “victimized” to deal with it on their own. The one shred of hope in this is that perhaps next science will find a way to rid the human brain of stupidity completely. About Us Address The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia, SC 29208 Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Student Media Area code 803 Advertising and Classified 777-3888 Fax 777-6482 Office 777-3888 Newsroom 777-7726 E-mail Editor gcked@sc.edu News gamecocknews@hotmail.com Viewpoints gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Etc. gamecocketcetera@hotmai I .com Sports gamecocksports@hotmail.com Submission Policy Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome from all members of the Carolina community. Letters should be 250 300 words. Guest columns should be an opinion piece of about 600-700 words. 8oth must include name, phone number, pro fessional title or year and major, if a student. Handwritten sub missions must be personally delivered to Russell House room 333. E-mail submissions must include telephone number for confirmation.The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space. Anonymous letters will not be published. Photos are required for guest columnist and can be provided by the submitter. Call 777-7726 for more information. The Gamecock s the student newspaper of The University of South Carolina and is published Monday. Wednesday and Friday duing the fall and sprig semesters and nine tunes duing the summer with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed n The Gamecock are those of the editors or author and not these of The University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communcations s the polisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media 5 the newspaper's parent organization. The Gamecock is supported in part by student activities fees. The Gamecock Miranda LaLonde Editor in Chief Ann Marie Miani Managing Editor Features Editor John Huiett News Editor Pete Johnson Viewpoints Editor Studeht Media Ellen Parsons Director Susan King Creative Director Kenton Watt Advertising Manager Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Sherry Holmes Classified Manager Erik Collins Faculty Adviser Jeff Romig Sports Editor Jacquelyn Poston Copy Desk Chief Photo Editor Sean Rayford Photo Editor Will Giilaspy Online Edita Jonathan Dunagin Graduate Assistant Todd Hooks Creative Services Brantley Roper Gina Me KeIvey Robyn Gombar Melissa Millen Advertising Staff Washington Post "I (JET SO MAD WHEN THEr MTT FOLL0V/ DIRECTIONS'' ^ 'SS5' f)Xooo HARE ANP TORTOISE 2000 Social Issues Keeping you safe from interns The federal government: keeping you safe from interns. Be hind-the-scenes at a major-market in ternship, part two. As evidenced by recent events in Los Alamos, the government has been playing fast and loose with na tional nuclear se curity secrets, plac ing the protection of such secrets on the level of im portance of, say, loose change in a John Huiett is a journalism senior and news editor. He can be reached at gamecockview points@homail.c om sofa after an all-night keg party. So, as some tyrannical world leader is one step clos er to blowing Des Moines, Iowa, into in finity, I can’t help thinking back to my ex perience of coming face-to-face with the one thing the government feels it must protect this country against more than any other: interns. It was a cold February morning (not that it matters; 1 just like the phrase “cole February morning”) when my news edi tor, jolted awake by her usual breakfast of a pony keg of black Staibucks coffee, callec me into her office. I politely waited fot her tremors to subside. Then she told me. Democratic New York Sen. Hey Everybody-Look-At-Me was having a press conference in the Senate press gallery on Capitol Hill (I think it was to blame Republicans were to blame for a vast right wing conspiracy to poke holes in liberals’ underwear or whatever). The time was 10:30 in the morning. The press confer ence was at 11:00. That meant I had ex actly a half hour to hail a cab, explain to the cab driver 14 times where I wanted to go (“You want me drive Burger King?” “No. Capitol Hill.” “Oh! You want me drive to Burger King.” “No! Capitol Hill!”), and wade through downtown D.C. traf fic. rsy some miracie oi Aiian u wouia say “God,” but I’m certain someone would be offended - gosh, I’m so diverse), I ar rived with 10 minutes to spare. Home free, right? Wrong. At the side door where the “impor tant” people enter, I encountered a stocky, military-looking fellow with Astroturf hair and a sneer on his face that made me feel about as welcome as a monk at an orgy. After staring at my press pass for the length of time it would take to read the first three chapters of a Tolstoy novel, he gave me a cursory grunt that I interpreted as, “Go on in.” I did, only to be greeted by two more security guards, one who stood with his arms folded across his chest and another about the size of a soft-drink machine standing just beyond the metal detector and X-ray machine. After placing my wal let, notebook, keys, change, pens, water bottle, press pass and spleen rat a conveyor belt to be X-rayed, I stepped through the metal detector. It beeped. “Step through again,” Soft Drink Ma chine growled. I did. It beeped again. “Stand with your arms and legs apart, please,” came Machine’s command, who proceeded to search me just short of the kind of affection you would expect in prison. Being an overweight, “mature” undeigrad student, it was the most action I had seen in a while, so I went with it. After a heated search, Machine found the security risk I was harboring that was making the metal detector beep: a box of breath mints. With four minutes to spare, I was fi nally free to ride the elevator to the third floor and make it to the press gallery just in time. But, of course, that was not meant to be. mooting me gauery uoor was yei other security checkpoint, occupied by a burly gentleman eyeing me as if I had stopped by the Senate Press Gallery Wfcapons Silo between checkpoints to stash a couple of assault rifles down my pants Again, I emptied my pockets (remem bering the breath mints this time). This time I didn’t beep, but my wallet aroused Intern see pace 6