University of South Carolina Libraries
Poll finds Mass, gay marriage ruling OK THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BOSTON - Two new polls re leased Sunday show Massachusetts lawmakers could be bucking public opinion if they try to thwart the Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling last week that found the state’s ban on gay mar riage unconstitutional. Fifty percent of Massachusetts residents surveyed for a Boston Globe/WBZ-TV poll said they agreed with the ruling, while 38 percent opposed it. A separate «pston Sunday Herald poll found 3 percent said they support le galizing gay marriage, while 38 percent oppose it. Both polls, conducted after Tuesday’s ruling, had margins of sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. “If people want to be together, who cares? Let them,” said Bill Luff, 32, a nightclub owner in Worcester. In its ruling, Massachusetts’ highest court gave the Legislature 180 days to change the state’s mar riage laws for the benefit of gay cou ples. Some state lawmakers are now pushing for a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage and ef fectively skirt the ruling. Others, including Gov. Mit Romney, sug gest passing a law giving same sex couples some thing short of marriage, simi lar to Vermont s civil imions. Both polls released Sunday found opposition to the proposed constitutional amendment - 53 per cent opposed and 36 percent in fa vor in the Globe/WBZ poll of 400 Massachusetts resident, and 54 percent opposed and 36 percent in favor in the Herald poll of405 res idents. Another poll, by Merrimack College, found that 75 percent of Massachusetts adults support ei ther allowing gay marriage or civ il unions. That poll of 491 adults was conducted in the days before and after the decision, but the numbers didn’t shift af ter the ruling. The margin of sampling error was plus or mi nus 5 percent age points. The polls appear to show more support for gay couples in Massachusetts than the nation as a whole. A recent national poll by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press found Americans oppose legalizing gay marriage, 59 percent to 32 percent. That survey, of 1,515 adults, was conducted Oct. 15-19 and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. 1 “If people want to be together, who cares? Let them.” BILL LUFF MASSACHUSETTS NIGHTCLUB OWNER Homosexuality ari#f!?figign Religious beliefs influence many Americans' attitudes toward homosexuals and gay marriage, according to a new poll. QayS Percent who favor gay Percent who sr* clergy focus and Hip church marriage, by religious negatively on homosexuality affiliation Mainline Protestant37% _13% Top reasons Morally wrong ■■■ 28% for opposing Against religious beliefs ■■ 17% gay marriage Marriage IS between a Mi 16% man and a woman — ---—----—— the traditional bo good sox between nonreiigious p&op!8 not inciud®# Decays© was ioc sniaii The Gamecock is accepting applications for the spring semester. Positions include copy editing, designing, writing and photography. Stop by Russell House room 333 or e-mail gamecockeditor@ hotmail.com Daschle vows fight against Medicare bill Qhr MARK SHERMAN ■^Fhe associated press WASHINGTON - The Senate Democratic leader promised a vig orous fight Sunday against the Medicare prescription drug bill, one of President Bush’s priorities, which passed the House only af ter an unprecedented three-hour vote. Sen. Tom Daschle acknowl edged, however, that Democrats lack the votes to sustain a fili buster threatened by Sen. Edward Kennedy and his fellow Massachusetts Democrat, presi dential contender John Kerry. Republicans can stop the filibuster with 60 of the Senate’s 100 votes. “A number of our colleagues be ^tteve that we ought to focus on the ^Paws, and there are many, many flaws today,” said Daschle, D-S.D. “But I must say we will fight this bill as hard as we possibly can. We have a number of procedural options avail able to us, and we’re going to use them all.” Neither Daschle, who spoke on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” nor his spokeswoman, Ranit Schmelzer, would elaborate on what other parliamentary moves the Democrats might use riinst the bill. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who scheduled a vote Monday to block the threatened filibuster and wants final passage of the bill early in the week, said he thinks that the bill’s support ers have more than 60 votes. “I think we can break the filibuster,” said Frist, R-Tenn. “At the end of the day, there is no way they’re going to be able to uphold any sort of blocking ma neuvers. They simply can’t ob struct,” he told CNN’s “Late Edition.” The legislation was the subject of rare weekend Senate debates af ter the House passed it on the ex tended vote before dawn Saturday. 0! For his part, Kennedy was com mitted to the filibuster, although he repeated his offer to forgo the exercise if the Republican leaders in the House would agree to bring it up again there. “This was Florida all over again,” Kennedy told ABC’s “This Week.” “Republicans played fast and loose with the votes in Florida. They did with the House of Representatives. And if this is such a wonderful, wonderful pro gram, why not have the free and open debate?” he said. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said on “Fox News Sunday” that Kennedy’s outrage over the House vote was interesting con sidering that the senator “wants to deny people to have their vote. He wants to deny people to have an up or down vote on health care in the U.S. Senate by filibustering, to delay the vote.” The bill would create a pre scription drug benefit for 40 mil lion older and disabled Americans, as well as a new op tion for private health care cover age. Democrats overwhelmingly op pose the plan. They say some ele ments of the bill were too dear a price to pay for the drug benefit - especially a provision creating a limited experiment in direct com petition between private plans and traditional Medicare beginning in 2010. Like Kennedy, other Democratic senators said they were up set with what they said were strong-arm tac tics by House GOP leaders. The House ap proved the bill only after the longest roll call in the chamber s history that end ed at dawn - a contrast to the 15 minutes such votes are supposed to last. The House vote was stuck at 216 to 218 for over an hour, with the bill on the edge of defeat until a flurry of last-minute switches overcame a rebellion by conser vatives. Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware and presidential hopeful Joe Lieberman of Connecticut said they would support Kennedy’s fil ibuster. Sen. John McCain, R Ariz., appearing with Kennedy on ABC, said he would, too, but for a reason different from Kennedy’s. “He wants to make it bigger. I want to make it better,” said McCain, who said he worries about spiraling costs to state and federal treasuries and “another $8 trillion in unfunded mandates that we’re laying on our kids.” Hastert, his lieutenants and Health and Human Services Department Secretary Tommy Thompson shuttled from one GOP holdout to another seeking the votes to prevail. The presi dent lobbied about a dozen law makers by phone from the White House late Friday and early Saturday. Republicans hope to pass the bill and send it to the president be fore Thanksgiving. “A number of colleagues believe that we ought to focus on the flaws, and there are many, many flaws today” TOM DASCHLE SENATE MINORITY LEADER PACT CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1 adding and subtracting. First-year business student Austin McMillian said while he thought his South Carolina public education prepared him for college, he thinks the image of the state’s public school sys tem is mostly stereotypical. “Although I have heard that our state is inferior to most, I have not noticed whether out of-state people are more edu cated,” he said. “I think some people just think it’s the cul ture down here that makes us appear less educated, like foot ball and fried chicken.” With this new grant, the pro fessors hope the South Carolina’s national scoring lev el will improve and brought to above national standings. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Rhodes CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1 J She also is part of Chi Omega Sorority, University Ambassadors and Order of Omega. Marshall and Welch said the experience was beneficial. “Even if I didn’t win, it was definitely worth the experi ence,” Welch said, noting the “neat group of people” that he met. Marshall said along with it being a great experience, she ' also got to meet some very in fluential people and got some good practice for applying to medical school. “I do not regret the experi ence and would do it again,” she said. Welch also said he thought it would help him with future application procedures and in terviews. However, Welch said, in the future it’s “not like I’m going to run up against anything more brutal” than this. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com tl bumfo Quick, Healthy and Fresh! Burritos, Tacos, Salads, and Soups! Affordable, so saddle up... 934 Harden Street / Five Points 765-2188 I Tired of Dorm Life... . I i i I • Study Area • Lounge Area • • Multi Station • Computer Lab !l . 794-2948 \ . 100 Riverbend Drive • •Tennis Courts West Columbia % •Swimming Pools ■ •Fax & Modem Station linked to use Campus • State-of-the-art • Fitness Center v *14 Bedroom J r Apartments | have chosen Fully Furnished 2 &4 bedrooms to live fOT Individual leases m ^ Private bedrooms iu years Fully equipped kitchen ri I n n I Full size washer & dryer lUlllllIly«B« Electronic alarm system Fire protection monitor Swimming pool 24 hr. access: Computer, copier, Pool tables, fitness room Basketball, volleyball, tennis Free reserved parking Free cable plus HBO o.universiTY ^ COMMONS apaRTmenTS £} 800 Alexander Rd tSfUTSSHt Cayce, SC 29033 (located adjacent to Parkland Plaza) g^ m m m www.universltycommons.com yXMaQ444 Hours: M-F 9 am - 6 pm Sat: 10 am-4 pm