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The Blue Banner
Sept. 5,2002
Opinions
Dear Mr. President Why war with Iraq?
Letters to the Editor
i|£i
Dearborn McQ»r Me
Columnist
Dear George,
George. I
Dick is
pushingyou
to go to war
George. It is
oil and
tu- money, and
You have been talking a lot about
war with Iraq lately, and frankly, it
really worries me.
I know you are a sensitive guy,
and maybe the peer pressure is ju.st
too 1—f-r vou. Yoi. m.,.r be
under a lot of stress, with all the
expectations of your father and his
After all, daddy was the one who
started the Gulf War. He and his
friends are even responsible for allies’ pro-
where you are now! Gee, George,
did you ever really think you’d be
come President of the United States?
Much less on your own?
Of course not. So, it is only
ral that you feel indebted to them.
But, isn’t there a better way to coming
thank them? Maybe, send them a from Iraq,
card, or have them over for dinner
at the White House? I don’t think
war is the answer, George.
As Michael Moore said in his book
Stupid White Men, Bill Clinton was
the best Republican president the
United States has ever had. You
should strive to be more like him,
George.
Fire your speechwriter, and hire
Clinton’s old one. Attend speech
therapy for help with all those big
words you have such a hard time
pronouncing. And, most impor
tant of all, practice lying.
I know you are saying that you do
lie, and you do it all the time. But,
it’s not very convincing, and people
are starting to see through it. You
will never be an effective president
if you do not have the ability to lie
with such complexity and sincerity
that the entire country not only
believes you, but heralds you as the
best president in years before you
are even out of office.
I know you are asking where all
this is going. It is a lot of informa
tion and your poor brain must be
straining to comprehend, so I will
spell it out for you.
to the oil industry. Don’t seem to
remember all this? Let me refresh
your memory, George.
Before becoming the “acting
president”/vice president, Cheney
was the CEO of Halliburton, a
billion dollar oil company. He left
Halliburton with a $34 million
dollar retirement package.
If that isn’t enough to make you
choke on your pretzels, under
Cheney’s direction, Halliburton
made $23.8 million dollars worth
of contracts with Iraq through two
of its subsidiaries in Europe.
''The war on Iraq
is to pursue the
interests of you
and your baron
oilfriends.
Just remembery
George, we are
onto you”
it s commg
from Alaska
and the Gulf
ofMexico as
well, old
buddy. All
that black gold just sitting there on
preserved lands waiting for you and
all your buddies to pillage and plun
der.
You probably want to know how
I know this about you, George.
mg to a
tide
sfgb.c
Chene
France, Italy,
Germany and
business s
rangemen
Washington
Those arrangements pumped $24
billion of petrol under the U.N.-
administered oil-for-food program
in in 2000.
Assisted by Halliburton, Hussein’s
government will earn another $1
Well, frankly, it’s easy. Your family billion by illegally exporting oil
from Texas, and oil is their busi- through black-market channels.
And, your supporters, both i
the election (for a lack of better
term) and now, are all BIG busi-
Daddy, Dick and you have all sat
on the boards of large, multi-mil
lion dollar oil companies, raking in
the money from your combined
exploitations.
Even Don Evans, the Secretary of
Wow, George! You know how to
pick a president. (Excuse me, vice
president.)
You ask how all this would affect
your decision to declare war on
Iraq? It’s as simple as greed.
U.S. oil companies pumped
money into Iraq thus receiving
money from Iraq in return.
with your “War
Commerce, and Gale Norton, the Terrorism” underway, it wouldn’t
Secretary of Interior, had direct ties be very “American” to do business
with the Arab enemy, now would
it? Of course not.
So instead, you declare war on
Iraq claiming you are “pretty sure”
Saddam is close to having nuclear
weapons, and then, what happens?
Oil prices increase allowing you
and your cronies to do what you
have wanted to for so long — drill
in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.
And, of course, you would claim
all this oil would be harvested in an
“eco-friendly” manner and used for
the good of American’s oil guzzling
SUVs. But, in reality, Americans
would never see this oil, would they
No, it would be sold primarily to
our Asian oil market and all your oil
tycoon CEO buddies would get
rich. And, we all know what hap
pens when a good Republican,
Texas boy like you help out your
BIG business friends — you get
more money and get re-elected.
But, it doesn’t end there, does it
George? There is one last detail.
The fear of terrorism your adminis
tration attempts to strike in the
hearts of Americans, not to men
tion the encroaching anniversary of
Sept. 11, will further justify your
unilateral attack on Iraq and the
secret dirty business you plan to
conduct as a result.
It all makes sense now, doesn’t it,
George? It is not the American
people you are looking out for. It is
not the fear of biological, nuclear or
good, old-fashioned terrorism you
are protecting the U.S. from. And,
it is definately not the attempt to
curtail the human rights violations
Iraq committs everyday.
The war on Iraq is to pursue the
interests of you and your oil barron
friends.
Just remember, George, we are
onto you. We see through your lies
more and more everyday. God, help
us if you send us into war. I have a
feeling the American people won’t
forget you, and it won’t be all the
good you have done for our coun
try that they remember.
Your dedicated dissident,
Dearborn McCorkle
An alternative solution to
the budget cut crisis
Dear Editor:
In times of financial crisis, as we
are facing at UNCA, we ask our
selves what is truly important. In
essence, we make a value judge
ment of what is worth continuing
to fiind and what is not.
As both sides of the spectrum con
tinue to fight over the validity of
the future six percent budget cut
that most departments will have to
face, we have to understand that
the budget cuts are necessary for
the survival of UNCA. However, I
would like to submit an alternative
solution as opposed to the flat six
percent cut.
First, the entire arts and ideas de
partment should be done away with.
In terms of utility and usefulness,
the arts and ideas department pro
duces very little, but boring and
uneventful, lectures pertaining to
issues that have minimal relevance
to the world we, as UNCA students
find ourselves in.
Having said that, I want to state
clearly that if it were possible, all of
the departments at UNCA should
remain intact. In other words, I am
not anti-arts and ideas; however, I
am trying to look at this extremely
critical issue with the interests of
UNCA as primary.
The idea is that wasteful spending
of resources must be completely
minimized. For instance, the
has ended when professors can spend
thousands of dollars to hire a lec
turer who does nothing, but bore
the audience into a death-like s
Secondly, I would propose s
sort of alternative referendum that
would allow for the allocation of the
current fijnds from the previous
bond referendum to be routed to
UNCA’s deficit management,
second referendum would be
quired, since the first referendum
was primarily for the improvement
of the grounds and facilities.
Third, whatever course the leader
ship at UNCA decides to take to
weather the massive budget cuts,
should support the decision of the
chancellor and those who work di
rectly for him. I, as a student, trust
that the chancellor of UNCA will
place the interests of the student
and faculty body as first and fore-
We are about to face an extremely
critical time, and ifwe are not united,
our divisiveness will destroy us. I
have no doubt that we will persevere
and with God-almighty, perhaps,
the situation will not be as terrible as
the forecasters might predict.
Avi Mechanic
Senior, economics
Students, welcome back, from
the vice president of SGA
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should not exceed 300 words. Letters for publication should also contain the author s
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accept submissions of anonymous letters to the editor.
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Blue Banner Editorials" JW,
The Blue Banner introduces the Fall 2002 editorial board:
Rachel Grumpier, Editor-in-Chief
Ed Fickle, News Editor Stuart Gaines, Features Editor
Hollie Childers, Sports Editor J.R Ammons, Photography Editor
Elizabeth Moe, Managing and Advertising Editor
Emily Moe, Business Manager G.J. Eland, Online Editor
Ben Stewart, Assistant Online Editor Jason McGill Circulation Manager
Welcome back, everyone.
To all returning students: it is
good to see you all again! Some
how, the summer slipped by all too
fast, and we find ourselves at the
start of yet another semester.
First and foremost, I would like to
thank everyone (individuals, stu
dent organizations, faculty and ad
ministration) for their actions in
reaction to the impending state
budget cuts last spring.
Many of you became directly in
volved in protecting UNCA’s pub
lic funding by contacting or peti
tioning your state representatives.
Many more of you took the initia
tive to inform yourselves and others
about the possible implications of
these budget cuts.
However, believe it or not, the
state legislature has yet to approve
any budget. Please, students, con
tinue to stay involved by watching
the news for any state legislature
developments. This issue is still
undecided, and can still impact
UNCA dramatically.
Second, I would like to extend a
warm welcome to all of our new
students, both freshmen and trans
fers. I hope that all of you will enjoy
your time here and find your home
tUNCA.
Once you have settled into your
classes and college life, I encourage
all of you to become active on cam
pus and in the neighboring com
munity.
College is for learning new things,
and Asheville is small enough that
it is fairly easy for students to get
involved in just about every con
ceivable activity.
Seasonal intramural teams, varied
students organizations and clubs,
open drama productions. The Blue
Banner, Underdog Productions,
Undergraduate Research and our
Student Government Association
are just a few possible ways to be
come involved. Moreover, I en
courage every student to find an
advisor or mentor on campus to
help plan your educational track.
I highly recommend everyone
participates in study abroad pro
grams, work internships and the
wide variety of academic courses
offered that make this a true liberal
arts education.
All of these opportunities are open
to you here, but you must pursue
them actively. This is your educa
tion; so take responsibility for it,
and take everything you can from
what UNCA has to offer.
I look forward to seeing each of
you around campus in the coming
weeks, so feel free to wave hello or
swing by the student government
offices (DH 211- near the book
store) if we can help you in any
Brian Cain
Student Body Vice President
Senior, interdisciplinary studies
Nothing in the Opinions section necessarily
reflects the opinion of the entire Blue Banner
staff, advisor, or the university faculty, ad
ministration or staff. Unsigned editorials re
flect the opinion of a majority of The Blue
Banner editorial board.