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■ QUOTABLE
4 • The Red and Black • Wednesday, June 6, 1990
OPINIONS
"It's associated with Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan and
It's no longer appropriate as an official state symbol.”
— Terl Taylor, chairperson of Students Opposed to Confederate
Symbols, referring to the Confederate battle flag.
The Red & Black
Ettablished 1893—Incorporated 1980
An independent ttudent newt paper not affiliated with the University of Georgia
Charlene Smith/Editor-in-Chief
Amy Bellew/Managing Editor
Hogai Nassery/Opinions Editor
■ EDITORIALS
Dead days, please
It’s the week before finals.
Yes, you're pulling your hair out and drinking
highly caffeinated beverages at the rate of a gallon an
hour.
To add to the stress of studying for each class, your
philosophy professor has assigned a paper due on the
Friday before exams begin.
Your geology professor has decided to give an extra
credit assignment for those with a less-than-wonderful
average and that includes you.
And your art project is due tomorrow.
“Dead days” should be a serious consideration for
the administration at the University.
An entire dead week is too much to ask on the
quarter system, but a proposal of three to four days
before final exams with no new assignments, no due
dates, and no major tests would be a welcome change
from what students deal with now. These days could be
used to review exam materials and give students a
head start with studying.
Students are professional procrastinators and
usually wait until the week an assignment is due to
make headway and get it done. Tum-in dates would be
received better if they were at mid-term of the quarter
or two weeks before finals week, not the week before.
This could probably eliminate “rush jobs” on projects
that professors despise and give umpteen Fs for.
Everyone would be a lot happier.
The birds would sing, the sun would shine and
rainbows would fill the sky.
While professors think that dead days would give
them time to calculate grades, make up finals and take
a needed break, most feel that the time given to study
would be used for partying. There would be no way to
monitor the progress of students. Only a handful of
students would take advantage of the chance to study.
It is, in fact, impossible to chain every student to a desk
in the library. One professor said it would be “ the most
alive days” on campus.
Who’s to say students and professors don’t need to
blow off a little stress before finals?
Most professors feel dead days would prolong the
quarter (which is already long enough) and that the
weekend students are given before finals week is
enough time to get a head start. Until the quarter
system is replaced with semesters, two days is ample
time to get a good amount of studying done, professors
say.
This isn’t an easy problem to solve. Students are to
blame for constant procrastination, bad study habits,
and failure to brush off a certain laziness that attacks
the body every alternate day of the week. Students
should learn to be responsible for course loads and
assignments. Life is full of stress, and students should
get used to it now.
Professors aren’t to blame for the material they
have to cover or the assignments they give. Most
struggle to complete their syllabus towards the end of
the quarter.
A balance of understanding needs to develop
between students and their educators. Students must
realize that professors are an integral part of their
education, which is the key to their future. By the same
token, professors need to realize how much effort
students put into being well-rounded individuals.
Having outside activities and a good academic record
are requirements listed for every job students will
apply for in the future. And not all students should be
blamed for the Animal House persona given to college
students today.
Even if only a few thousand students use dead days
to improve their education, it would be worth it.
STAFF
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Communism: evil, healthy and strong
A little more than 70 years ago a great
plague was released on the human race, com
munism. Since its beginning in 1917, this evil
ideology has been responsible for the death of
over 170 million people. Now nearly one-third
of the earth’s population lives under a mur
dering, oppressive regime. The Soviet Union is
still one of these regimes despite any current
changes it has undergone.
Communism continues to be an extremely vi
able threat to peace and freedom on our planet.
We have begun to feel more at ease with the
communists since Eastern Europe began to
open up. We have emphasized the positive
changes occurring there. However, we have ig
nored the negative events around the globe.
These include the massive Soviet conventional
build-up,the Tiananmen massacre, the
rearming of the genocidal Khmer Rouge in
Cambodia by the Chinese, and the quelling of
real unrest in the Soviet Union (i.e. the use of
nerve gas on Soviet Georgians protesting for in
dependence).
This list goes on and on. We keep hearing
about the “liberalization” occurring. Many are
under the impression that Soviet expansionism
is over, and they’re no longer a military threat.
Unfortunately, this idea is called into question
when we look at Soviet priorities. They cur
rently spend over 20 percent of their GNP on
their military (we spend six percent of our GNP
on defense). Further, since Gorbachev has been
in power, Moscow has given more than $2 bil
lion of military equipment to Vietnam, Laos
and Cambodia; given more than $1.5 billion in
military equipment to Angola; continues to
spend more than $3.6 billion annually for their
war in Afghanistan (yes, there are still over 25,-
000 Soviet “advisors" there); and gives Cuba
more than $7 billion annually to prop up their
illegitimate regime. They are obviously more
concerned with maintaining international com
munism than with their little economic prob
lems, like no food or consumer products for
their citizens.
Recently a friend of mine returned from So
viet Goergia and told me of the people and their
ideas. The people there want not only indepen
dence, they want to join NATO (this is a plank
in the anti-Communist Party’s platform). They
actually want us to invade, to give them
freedom ‘Tike in Panama." These people and
others are yearning for our support...and we’re
failing them.
Considering this history and the status quo,
what’s a logical person to do? Eliminate com
munism from the face of the earth. How? Well,
we should follow the Reagan doctrine to its log
ical end. We should recognize all the Baltic
states and airlift supplies to them, as we did in
Berlin in 1949. We should bar any loans to the
U.S.S.R. until they stop wasting their capital
on supporting their satellites around the globe.
No new treaties should be made with the
U.S.S.R. or China until they’ve lived up to all
relevant previous treaties. We should resume
and raise the arms shipments to the mqjahi-
deen in Afghanistan ana UNITA in Angola. We
should bring the U.S.S.R. and China before the
U.N. on human rights violations, and boost the
power of the Voice of America. We need to
blockade Cuba and support Endata’s fight
against apartheid and the communist ANC.
Communism kills. Let’s end it now and for
ever.
R. Gabriel Sterling is a sophomore economics
major.
Lip-reading takes on whole new twist
Read my lips: George Bush is the do-nothing
president. The lack of leadership from the
White House has now become evident. Other
presidents have been visionaries trying to
guide their country toward greatness. Although
some may say Reagan relied too much on image
and appearance, at least he was a visionary.
The Bush administration lacks both vision and
goals.
It all started in 1988 when George Bush de
cided on brainy Dan Quayle for his vice-presi
dent. His advisers reasoned that Dan Quayle
would be popular with the female voters be
cause of his good looks, and Quayle’s inexperi
ence would make Bush look like a sophisticated
political veteran. This decision has been a di
saster. One cruel story goes that if George Bush
dies in office, the CIA has orders to shoot Dan
Quayle on site.
For months everyone had been urging Bush
to take out Noriega. At one point, revolutiona
ries had captured Noriega and his guard, and
asked for an American military helicopter to fly
Noriega out and give them protection . The U.S.
didn’t help out, Noriega escaped, and many of
the revolutionaries who had attempted to hand
Noriega to us on a silver platter were sum
marily executed. Months later Bush sent in
U.S. troops and eventually Noriega was appre
hended. Many Panamanians and U.S. troops
were killed, but overall the mission was a suc
cess. One wonders, however, how many lives
might have been saved if Bush had acted
Jim
Shaw
sooner instead of being plagued by indecision.
The next atrocity Bush committed was a
moral one. On June 4, 1989, Chinese soldiers
moved in on peaceful students protesting in
Tiananmen Square. Many students died, and
many have been arrested or executed since. The
Bush administration verbally condemmed the
Chinese and passed short-lived trade sanctions.
This amounts to a slap on the wrist of the
Chinese government. Many Chinese say they
wish the U.S. would enact tougher sanctions on
the Chinese government; they say they are
willing to sacrifice a few American goods for the
sake of freedom. Instead, Bush would rather
keep political ties open with China, so Amer
ican companies can sell their soft drinks.
Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine would be
appalled.
Bush’s drug policy has been negligible. Wil
liam Bennett, tne Drug Czar, has had no effect
on drug use or drug trade in our country. While
youth in the inner cities are shooting each other
and in despair turning to crack, William Ben
nett worries about the effect Bart Simpson has
on our youth, saying he wants to wash Bart’s
mouth out with soap. The Simpson’s creators
responded that if William Bennett thinks he
can interact with cartoon characters, he must
be on something.
Bush’s drug policy hasn’t been creative or
flexible. He won’t even consider legalization of
certain drugs, though conservatives such as
William F. Buckley are surprisingly for it.
While many think youth in the inner city would
be less likely to smoke crack if more money
were given to improve living conditions, the
Bush administration keeps throwing money at
drug enforcement. Drug related violence in the
inner city is reaching epidemic proportions;
new ideas need to be put in action to stop the
deterioration of these areas before it’s too late.
Finally, who can forget George Bush’s vow of
“read my lips: no new taxes.” His administra
tion now wants to adopt taxes after swearing
during the campaign that under no circum
stances would new taxes even be considered.
George Bush is neither a leader nor a visionary.
He was elected on the coattails of Ronald
Reagan, and luckily for him, inherited a good
economy and a crumbling Soviet bloc. I recom
mend that if the Republican party wants to win
in *92, they tell George Bush “read my lips: no
nomination.”
Jim Shaw is a columnist for The Red and
Black.
True racism shines through
■ FORUM
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and Black's offices at 123 N. Jackon St.. Athens, Ga.
I found Mr. Heath’s description
of the “predominantly white,
mostly Greek" crowd at Lower/a to
be amusing: “Loud Obnoxious
Whiny Egotistical Redneck Yuppie
Schmucks.” I wonder if he would
object to a white person describing
a predominantly black crowd as a
bunch of “Loud Obnoxius Whiny
Uppity Shiftless Lazy Schmucks.”
Why, that would be tantamount to
racism.
I guess I momentarily forgot the
left-wing double standard which
allows Macks to say whatever they
please about whites, while any
white person who begs to differ
with a black probably has a white
hood in his closet.
Mr. Heath goes on to describe
racism and hatred as “reprehen
sible acts” perpetrated by those
who “emphasize differences and
take those differences as evidence
of inferiority and superiority.”
Heath would do well to heed his
own advice. His description of
“burly, inebriated, young...Anglo-
Saxons...enjoying their Miller Lite
‘Dollar Nite’ specials,” seems de
signed to separate these boors from
the suave, sophisticated, politically
correct Mr. Heath.
Whether he chooses to admit it
or not, Mr. Heath is simply a
racist. The “thin veil” that he
claims cover the Lowery crowd’s
“ignorance, prejudice and hatred”
is even thinner in his column.
Mr. Heath never ceases to
amaze, but sometimes I really wish
he would.
John V. Hunter IV
Junior, English
Anti-racist weapons
What a delight to read Terrance
Heath’s piece on racism amongst
the frat-boys at Lowery’s and else
where. To be silent on this issue is
to sure-up the primitive ideas of
white “supremacy” upon which in
stitutions like UGA were nurtured.
Of course, white drunks in the
bars downtown are more concerned
about losing their perceived heri
tage of subservient white female to
“niggers” than with re-introducing
slavery, and there’s always the
nagging anxiety surrounding the
impoverished tumescence of frater
nity members (sic)... but whatever
the motivation, the racist legacy is
a stain on society. It was the
thankless toil of our African-Amer
ican brothers and sisters that liter
ally built this country, and we
should now be happy to honour
them for this and their other
achievements.
Next time someone tells a funny
racist story, don’t chuckle and take
another sip of beer to take the
nasty taste away. Be up-front and
ask your pal if he or she doesn’t
find it a bit embarassing saying
something like that. Peer pressure
is the driving force amongst young
people — every individual is a po
tent weapon. Let’s use those
weapons wherever we can!
Jon Hughes
Grand Wizard, Mu Delta Alpha So
cialist Frorority