The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 08, 2003, Page 4, Image 4
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IN OUR OPINION
Duty to Iraq
needs limits
President Bush plans to ask Congress for $87
billion to continue efforts to rebuild Iraq and quell
terrorism.
This comes after more than four months of
occupation following the end of major combat. During
this time, an average of 10 soldiers has been wounded
in action a day in the occupation, which costs $3.9
billion a month, according to the Washington Post.
The United States also has also yet to find weapons
ol mass destruction or Saddam
Hussein.
After overthrowing Iraq’s
government, .the United States
carries the responsibility of
rebuilding it.
“This will take time and
require sacrifice,” Bush said.
“Yet we will do what is
necessary, we will spend what
is necessary, to achieve this essential victory in the
war on terror, to promote freedom and to make our
own nation more secure.”
It seems there are no limits for the cost of rebuilding
Iraq, but this needs to be Bush’s last request. The
price of nation-building and peacekeeping in this case
are becoming a burden on American taxpayers.
Bush said his objectives include “destroying the
terrorists, enlisting the support of other nations for a
free Iraq and helping Iraqis assume responsibility
for their own defense and their own future.”
But the United States cannot do everything. Our
responsibility lies in establishing a democratic
regime in Iraq and getting out.
It seems there
are no limits for
the cost of
rebuilding Iraq,
but this needs to
be Bush’s last
request.
College Quote Board
THE REVEILLE
ERIC GREMILLION, LOUISIANA STATE
UNIVERSITY
“There lies little incentive
for other countries to send
their troops to a place they
didn’t want invaded anyway.
They would want a share of the
power, and our leaders cannot
bear to let any of it go. This just
means the Security Council
initiative by Bush and Powell
will fail, and they’ll find them
selves at the drawing board
again.”
DAILY HERALD
CHRIS ROBBINS. BROWN UNIVERSITY
“There are many arguments
against a living wage
ordinance, many of them from
small business owners and
corporations alike. The logical
facts speak for themselves,
though. Employees who make
more money spend more
money. Employers who pay
employees a reasonable living
wage experience less turnover
and employee absenteeism,
cutting training costs.”
GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS
In Friday’s paper, “Quigmans” artist Buddy Hickerson’s name
was misspelled. The Gamecock regrets the error.
If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us
atgamecockopinions@hotmail.com.
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CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS
Rivalry runs in the blood
mi—iiw ■ iiii 111 iw m '
JOSk WATSON
GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM
Clemson hatred is an
unquestioned mystery.
As a child in the early ’80s,
more than anything regarding
USC, I remember falling wit
ness to Joe Morrison and his
Black Magic. Morrison navi
gated the Gamecocks through
most of the 1980s, wearing all
black and utilizing a fire-ant de
fense that most teams couldn’t
sneak by.
My parents, their friends and
almost everyone talked about it,
as though a kind of messiah, for a
short time, was among us.
That inescapable legend, per
haps, now explains why I would
consider it better to live as a lep
er than a Tiger fan. No admitted
Gamecock or Tiger I ever met
can give reasons surrounding
their distaste for the opposing
team.
The reasons, it seems, are
usually undetermined. Still, it
seems this Carolina-Clemson ha
tred is predetermined by the
family unit in which fate places
an individual.
And unless some extreme form
of teenage rebellion occurs, where
kids end up the unfortunate vic
tims of foreign brainwashing,
they are likely to remain a disci
ple of one team for life.
There is, however, the danger
of growing up in a house of divi
sion, one parent Carolina, one
parent Clemson. Those situations
are much too bleak to discuss.
A new documentary written
and directed by Jeff Sumerel and
titled “Bragging Rites,” dissects
the myths, and wonderfully
maintains an objectivism, with
an equal number of interviews of
the fans, former and present
coaches, and past players of the
rival teams.
Nostalgic photographs mixed
with interviews give the centu
ry-old rivalry an indescribable
full quality, which a single
source or a small group of them
might lack. Stories from former
players, such as Heisman trophy
winner George Rogers and
Clemson player Jerry Butler,
bring a camaraderie to both
teams, which lets the film’s au
dience realize how much plea
sure these guys took from the
rivalry.
Rogers, arguably the greatest
Gamecock running back of all
time, tells how every time he
has seen a Clemson player from
his era they invite him to a pic
nic. When Rogers’ inquires
about the location of picnicking
spot, his old rivals respond with:
"Somewhere you’ve never been.
The Clemson end zone.”
Despite the film, I still don’t
comprehend the mental work
ings of a Clemson fan, and I as
sume a Clemson fan would think
the same of me. This documen
tary is quite superb, even fea
turing Dr. Sorensen’s views on
the rivalry.
He mentions that sometimes
he will meet a couple, where the
husband graduated from
Carolina and the wife graduated
from that other school, and the
wife apologizes to Dr. Sorensen
for her alma mater.
Dr. Sorensen, a very polite
man, whom I’ve met several
times, replies, "You shouldn’t
apologize for that, ma’am. You
should be proud."
I wonder what his response
might be, if she asked him to
name the best college football
team in South Carolina. I hope
his answer wouldn’t be
“Furman.”
Watson is a second-year English
student.
Gay marriage hurts no one
JOHN RABON
GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM
It’s time to reassess
this “victimless crime.”
I remember sitting in a
Sunday school room back at my
home church after the Supreme
Court struck down the anti
sodomy laws and the
widespread panic started over
gay marriage.
I was probably the only liberal
in the place, and if you ever want
to feel like you’re fighting an up
hill battle, try to convince a
bunch of conservatives that gay
marriages aren’t going to bring
society crashing down around
them.
Not too long afterwards, our
President was quoted as saying
he would seek whatever means
possible to create laws banning
this kind of union.
If you could have watched me
read the paper that day, you
probably would have seen steam
coming out of my ears like a
Daffy Duck cartoon.
This came as quite a shock to
my system, and it insulted me to
no end that our government
would try to regulate and control
the morality of individuals based
on personal beliefs.
Isn’t there supposed to be a
separation of church and state
in this country? Aren't we sup
posed to be entitled to “life,
liberty and the pursuit of
happiness?”
I'm afraid I don’t see where it
says, “except for those we whose
lifestyles or definitions of happi
ness we don’t agree with.”
Before we go any further, I
wish to point out that I am quite
familiar with what the Bible says
about homosexuality, and as a
Christian myself, I won't disagree
with what it says.
Now, I am not saying that we
should allow for stealing, rape,
murders, etc.; after all, these are
crimes in which someone is un
questionably injured by the ac
tions of another.
These crimes tend to be uni
versal evils, things that any per
son regardless of religion would
say are wrong.
When two consenting adults
choose to enter into a same
sex relationship, there is no
victim.
There may be studies that say
it has a damaging effect on soci
ety, but who’s taking these stud
ies, and how do we know there
aren't similar studies that say the
exact opposite?
Certainly if homosexuality is
illegal, it is a “victimless crime,"
and it is therefore ludicrous to
have secular laws against this
practice.
We choose the kind of lifestyle
we wish to live. When we choose
to become Christians, we also
choose to accept all of God’s laws.
We also believe that God grants
us a right to choose whether to
follow His words.
In my 20 years of churchgoing
experience, I have yet to find a
biblical passage making it moral
ly acceptable to force a particu
lar lifestyle upon others.
I don’t think there’s a legal jus
tification to ban gay marriages.
Laws should be made according
to what’s best for the most peo
ple, not according to a specific
group’s beliefs.
A truly representative society
lends a voice to the entirety of its
people, respects their opinions
and never denounces any one
person or group just because
someone else does.
Think about it.
Rabon is a second-year English
student.
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i v
College:
When is
enough
enough?<
JULIE COOK
GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM
Overachievement costs
us more than our sleep.
We all heard the adages from
our parents and high school
teachers warning us that college
is the last stop before the train of ,
life derails in Realityville. We are l
almost duty-bound to pull all
nighters, spend every night at the
preordained cool college hangouts
and bars, and maniacally devote
our souls to the improbable suc
cess of our football team.
But recently my, dedication to
all things collegiate has brought
me to this question: Can you real
ly experience all you want to from
the college experience? And more
importantly, can you survive it?
I know people who consider it a
laid-back day when there’s a half
inch space free in their planners -
people who are literally at every
pvpnt frnm studpnt nrunnizatinn
fairs to soccer games. I admit that
I’m becoming one of those people.
It’s what I wanted, but I can’t
remember exactly why. As an an- i
noying kind of overachiever, I ’
took most opportunities that
came along, starting with that el
ementary school music club and
continuing on to this very
column.
I can whine about being busy
all I want, but I ultimately chose
to take on most every club, staff,
team and job that came my way.
I have always justified taking on
too much by arguing (with my
own over-taxed self usually) that
all my accomplishments and obli
gations were making me "well
rounded" and, if nothing else,
would at least impress the hell out
of those college application
readers.
But now we’re in college, con- |
tinuing to run from sunrise — ”
okay, 9 a.m. — to well after sun
set and occasionally onto the next
sunrise. And for what? Maybe
grad school, but that’s hardly a ra
tionalization. Because we’re irre
vocably trapped in a rat race per
petuated by American culture?
Possibly. Are we running from
something? Afraid to be “out of
the loop?” Afraid to be uncool,
alone or bored?
As Def Leppard wisely said,
“It’s better to burn out than fade
away.” But do we have to do one
or the other? Is there a sane medi
um in there somewhere?
Can you look back as a boring
suburbanite with 2.4 kids and re- g
member the “good old days” when "
you just went to one party a
month? And didn’t have a job, in
ternship or work study, never
chaired any committee, and never
even heard the morning birds
chirping from outside your dorm
room window as you paced
around your computer screen
hopped up on espresso shots try
ing to finish a philosophy paper?
Is there a point when the qual
ity of life you’re chasing greatly
diminishes the quality of life
you’re stumbling through? I think
so. We want it all, but to what ex
pense? Sleep for sure. Balanced
meals without a doubt. Is all this
just so that we can look back and
reminisce? Or is it all so we can
feel like we have truly accom
plished what we’ve paid so much
to do — go to “college?” d
Is this really the train’s last ™
party stop or have we already
crashed in Realityville, overex
erted ourselves with responsibil
ities and distracted ourselves
with fantasy?
College is just one of many
stops, with its own pressures and
expectations, best survived and
celebrated with a degree of bal
ance, somewhere between burn
ing out and fading away.
Cook is a third-year art history
and political science student.