Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / Oct. 21, 1992, edition 1 / Page 2
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Editorials October 21, 1992 Page 2 Viewpoint Hill on the Hill was too much This month marks the one year anniversary of the televised tales of Long Dong Silver and the adventures of a can of Coca-Cola. Anita Hill v. Clarence Thomas was the talk of the airwaves, the fight of the year. This show received top billing. Not only was it televised live from Washington, but the soundbites were replayed over the evening news and CNN to keep America abreast of the score. Even more than the media hype they received, the Senate Confirmation Hearings brought the lives of two well-educated and prominent African-Americans to the forefront of the American Agenda. This was an unusual event Hill sat in front of a panel of white males under oath and was forced to answer questions about her personal life and about incidents involving her years an an employee for Clarence Thomas. Her colleagues and a former boyfriend were also questioned in an effort to establish or discredit Hill’s character. This questioning was not only degrading but futile. Although Thomas was questioned, he had the upper hand. It was clearly her word against his. There was no reason why an established judge and scholar would admit that he had harras^ a former employee when there was no logical way to prove it Hill had been labeled an insignificant disruption and an entertaining distraction from the real issue. Hill’s testimony was merely a tiny piece in the political puzzle. Congress had an objective. Unfortunately, that objective was not to expose the truth. She was just one casualty in a series of wars for political party power on Capitol Hill. Hill's accusations have broadened the scope of sexual harrassment beyond your run-of-the- mill chase around the desk. She forced America to face the reality of the trials of women in the workplace. She did this with nothing to gain. One year later, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where both Thomas and Hill worked when the alleged incidences occurred, has had a significant increase in the number of reported cases of sexual harrassment, and there are several television commercials encouraging women and men to report incidents. As Justice Thomas begins his second session on the Supreme Court, American women are still in a constant struggle for their right to equality. The right granted to them by a Constitution that, ironically, a group of men selected Clarence Thomas to uphold. So, one year later, the question still stands. Who did you believe? -Tonya Taylor The Pendulum Editor; DceDeo Carowan Managing Editor; Tonya Taylor Commentary Page Editor: Jade Duval Sport* Editors; Rogers Harrison, Bill Smith Entertainment Editor: Jennifer Hudson Reporters; Kristin Blass, Allison Cooke, Lori Haley, Katie Brock, Rick Grimes Copy Editor: Bianca Brock-Smith Entertainment Reporter: Erick Gill, Ashley Stone Sports Reporter: Matt Ball Photography Editor: Mark Wheeler Photographer; Lindsay Robinson, Erick Gill Advertising: Lisa Keating, Buff Harsh, Jacki Roberts, Dave AUigood, UToya Whitt Graphics: Rob Mancuao Advisor; Brad Hamm Office: 102 Williamson Ave., Elon College, N.C., 27244. News: 684-2;i3l. The Pendulum, founded in 1974, is published by Elon College students each Wednesday during regular school terms. The Pendulum welcomes your opinions, with letters limited to lUxiut 250 words, if possible. Ixtters must be signed and a phone number given for verification. Deadline for submisskms i$ 5 p.m. Monday. Distributed by Tnbuo* Meda Services CUefSSt m/i WHIUB VOt Mutiny on the Employee Bush administration in "civil war" as president falters "We know very well what we're doing... Bligh has brought all this on himself. Now, by God, we'll make him suffer!" - from Mutiny on the Bounty, by Nordhoff and Hall Call it a mutiny, call it a mad dash for the exit... any way you look at it, the wheels have come off the once mighty Republican machine. Although it warms the cockles of my heart, this collapse is at once a beautiful and terrible thing to witness. Politics, by nature, is a cut-throat game played by a rogues gallery of thieves, womanizers, two-bit hucksters, and outright liars. But this is strange. What we're seeing in the Republican rank and file is the confusion normally associated with mustard gas attacks. Suddenly the scandal-a-minute Bush administration is being held accountable for its ill deeds and general incompetence, and with frightening efficiency the buck is being passed down the line. Scapcgoats have been offered, fall guys have fallen, martyrs have stepped forth, and innocents have been duped: it reminds one of Watergate, when everyone was scrambling for the out-door except the stupidly heroic G. Gordon Liddy. To wit; Jack Duval - The F.B.L, C.LA., and Justice Department are in a three- way brawl over the $4 billion loans made from the Atlanta branch of the Banco Nazionale de Lavoro to Iraq. The New York Times called it a "virtual civil war." - C.I.A. director Robert Gates recently admitted his legal department lied (in the form of a letter) to Federal prosecutors about the BNL scandal, he said he had been "out of the loop" regarding the letter. - F.B.L director William Sessions is being investigated by the Justice Department regarding his alleged avoidance of income taxes and billing of the government for long-distance phone calls. - Both the F.B.I. and Justice Department have accused each other of "engineering damaging newspaper leaks" regarding the BNL fiasco, the New York Times reported Friday. - A Federal judge accused the C.I.A. and Justice Department of withholding information from prosecutors in regard to the BNL scandal. - The State Department broke its own rules in expediting the search for Bill Clinton's visa, passp>ort, draft and citizenship records. - The Iran-Contra charges have resurfaced and are coupled with the charges that Bush helped to build Saddam Hussein's war machine by guaranteeing agricultural loans, thus freeing Hussein's money for we^x)ns. - Bush refuses to release records about his dealings with Iraq before it invaded Kuwait, when it has been well documented that the American Aml)assador to Iraq, April C. Glaspie, told Hussein two weeks before Iraq's invasion that "we have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait" - Monday, National Public Radio reported that James A. Baker, who had quit his post as Secretary of State to lead Bush's crii^led campaign, said he "really wasn't leading the campaign." - Tuesday, NPR reported that at many of Bush's "Spirit of America" train stops local Republican incumbents wouldn't show up because they didn't want to be associated with him. Next time you sec Bush spew his gibberish of trust, character and experience, think about what it has created.
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