OPINION
The Clarion
A British fetish
COLUMN
I love British Comedy! I am
probably one of the few who love
this comedy. However, I am proud
to say I love the British humor that
BY LENORA
MOODY
OPINION
EDITOR
makes me laugh until I cry or jiggle
until I am sore.
11 p.m. every night I turn my
T.V. to channel 33, Public Broad
casting Service, and watch “Are
you Being Served,” “Good Neigh
bor,” “Waiting on God” or “Keep
ing up Appearances.”
Each show is excellent end
deals with different types of people,
living in different environments and
looking at life in unique ways. This
type of comedy is different than the
T.V. shows on now.
Most American comedy
deals with young or middle age
people usually married or strug
gling with their love life. How
ever, British comedy uses older
people in a nursing home or
workers at a department store.
There are some episodes dealing
with love or marriage but they are
different. There are good and bad
programs like any other television
show. However, I believe the
majority of British comedy is Ex
cellent.
I remember the first episode on
“Good Neighbor.” A middle class
husband and wife were unhappy
with the monotony in their lives.
The husband decided to quit his job
and change his middle class home
in the suburbs into a farm. The
neighbors were appalled as the
couple milked their goat in the front
yard, tore up their grass to plant
lettuce, sold their car and
“hitched” rides and built a car
with a roto-tiller motor, two
benches and wooden planks. I
found this episode and every other
one hilarious.
Not many people understand
my British comedy fetish. When
I tell a person they generally laugh
at me rather than the comedy it
self The majority of people I have
talked to do not find British humor
funny. They say it is dry, non-hu-
morous or silly.
I believe these people have
never given British humor a
chance. The people who say the
dirty words, “I don’t like British
Comedy,” may have never watched
the comedy, seen a whole show,
understand the plot or a number of
other reasons.
I think every individual
should actually set aside one hour
of their lives and watch an episode
of “Good Neighbors” or “Keeping
up Appearances” and then judge.
If they don’t like it, I will say noth
ing else. If they like it I will say, “I
was right, wasn’t I?”
THE CLARION
Editorial Roarri
Michelle Crabtree, Chris Fredrickson
Lenora Moody, Rachel Mikaelsen and Jamie Welch
Staff Writers
Advertising Managpr
Shannon McGuigan
Managing Editor
Helen Bessette
Photographers
Chris Beauvais
Lindi Lagman
Wendy Byerly
Laura Ferrell
Jesse Janicula
Helen Oland
Ginger Palmer
Lillian Scarpinito
Rene Zeno
Adviser
SaraJJ. Rader
Bush: environmentahst?
COLUMN
STAFF EDITORIAL
MINNESOTA DAILY
(U-WIRE) MINNEAPOLIS —
As George W. Bush now faces no
serious contenders for the Republi
can nomination for president, he has
begun to turn away from bickering
with fellow Republicans and is pro
viding the American public a glimpse
of what the Bush Administration
could be like.
A few days ago, outside a manu
facturing plant that was built on a
newly revitalized piece of land, he
took a jab at A1 Gore’s environmen
tal stands and made his first major
environmental proposal. On the sur
face, his stance on brownfields seems
reasonable, but considering his envi
ronmental record in Texas, Americans
should be wary when Bush speaks
about the environment.
Brownfields are abandoned and
contaminated industrial sites com
monly found in and around cities.
Currently, there is a federal program
known as Superfund, which is sup
posed to oversee the cleaning up of
brownfields. Bush stated that this pro
gram was inadequate, with only 595
of 1,231 Superfund sites having been
cleaned.
In addition, because of its com
plex set of rules and regulations, it
literally sends potential developers off
in search of greener pastures. Thirty-
five states presently have their own
mini-programs to clean up
brownfields, and Bush says the fed
eral government should follow the
states’ models.
In Texas, Bush signed legisla
tion in 1995 that created a voluntary
cleanup program, which eventually
led to the cleanup of 595 brownfield
sites.
The main part of Bush’s proposal
would be that the Environmental Pro
tection Agency would set standards
that are a bit less rigid than those of
the current Superfund. For example,
standards for a brownfield cleanup
would be less if a factory were to be
built, as opposed to a school. This
makes sense, since things will have
to be reviewed on a case-by case ba
sis, and if people or companies were
to have specific concerns, they could
be taken into account.
But on the other hand, this also
leads to the possibilities of abuses. If
a developer could convince the gov
ernment that what it was going to
build did not require stiff environmen
tal regulation, they might be able to
get away with paying a little less, and
the people who might use the facility
after it was built would suffer.
As Bush also rightly points out,
because of Superfund, brownfields
get passed over while greenfields get
paved over. Many investors do not
want to spend a lot of time and money
to develop a brownfield, when in
stead, adding to urban sprawl, they
can just go to the edge of a city and
build there. But the public must be
wary of Bush’s environmental pro
posals. Texas, where he is governor,
is No. 1 in air, water and soil pollu
tion.
Recently, Houston’s air pollution
problems surpassed those of Los An
geles. While" it is refreshing to hear a
politician who can come up with a
solid idea to reduce government, it is
hard to believe the environment is
something that is seriously on the top
of his agenda, given the troubles of
his home state.
This seems to be more of a ploy
on the part of Bush to attract Demo
crats and undecided voters come
November. Hopefully, the American
public will leam his true environmen
tal record, so that we do not elect a
president who will lay waste to the
land.
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