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. Letters and columns for The Clarion should be sent to: Brevard College MG 126 400 N. Broad Brevard, NC 28712 All submissions will be edited for libel, journalistic style and format. A contact name and number must be included. Names will be held by request-