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Qty t Saily ular Heri Test Your Knowledge With the DTH's Election Quiz With all of the confusion surrounding the presidential election, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the many com plicated developments. Just how much do you really know about the Florida recount? What do you truly under stand about the most important test of our democratic system? To test your knowledge, we proudly present The Daily Tar Heel’s Election Quiz: 1. The state of Florida: A. Has 25 electoral votes which will deter mine the winner of the election. B. Should be returned to Spain as soon as possible. C. Has now replaced South Carolina as the most embarrassing state in the nation. 2. Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris: A. Will certify the state’s election results. B. Is secredy hoping for an ambassadorship in a Bush administration. C. Should really get a refund from her plas tic surgeon. America Is, Like, Different From the Rest of the World As a Zimbabwean, I have found the events regarding the elec tions quite fascinating and somewhat amusing. But I am not going to talk about that. I am sure that there are many peo ple out there who have absolutely no interest in reading another article about the damn elections, because it is now becoming a dreadful bore. Yes, it was fun at the beginning, but, as you Americans like to say, “Enough already!” No, I merely mention the “e word" because it reminded me (again) of the differences between “y’all” and myself. I am not allowed to vote because I am not a citizen, so I missed out on the fun of voting for Bush, Gore or Eric the Half-a-Bee, depending on your sense of humor and level of under standing that no, your vote does not count. One more sentence about the elections to explain what I meaitt’just"' then: Despite Clinton’s rantings about how there is no question about the importance of your vote blah, blah, blah, they count if you live in a state with a lot of electoral clout, but no one gives a damn about you little North Carolinians. OK, so what is my point here? Oh yes, I was talking about how much I was reminded of the fact that I am an outsider here. Let’s make a list of the things that I (and maybe many foreign ers?) don’t understand about you. 1. First and foremost has to be this Readers' Forum Nov. 10 DTH Article About Israel-Palestine Panel Misleading TO THE EDITOR: I was very surprised to read the arti cle “Talk on Conflict Angers Pro-Israel Panelist” by Jenny McLendon in the Nov. 10 Daily Tar Heel. The article claims that “Or Mars, director of N.C. Hillel, held the lonejewish perspective on the panel.” As one of the panelists, although I might have been on the panel representing Amnesty International, I clearly identified myself as a Jew, and in fact talked about how myjudaism and my human rights work were connected. Further, while your writer focused on my quote on the media, she ignored the main focus of my remarks - while Amnesty has addressed human rights violations by many parties to the con flict, including condemning the recent car bombing in Jerusalem that killed two Israelis and the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah, our main focus was the ongoing use of excessive force by Israel. Al’s investigation into the killings, which have now exceeded 200, has found that in case after case, Israeli sol diers opened fire with live ammunition or plastic-coated metal bullets when their lives were not in danger. If the Israelis used internationally accepted methods of crowd control rather than military tactics, few if any Palestinians would have been killed. The Israeli authorities seem to be able to control crowds of Orthodoxjews who frequent ly riot without resorting to lethal force. Mr. Mars spoke from his own per sonal experience about what he had seen and experienced in Israel and did not seek to explain or justify the actions of the Israeli government. Personally, I found his remarks very moving. The issue in the current conflict is not 3. Texas Gov. George W. Bush: A. Wants the election to be decided as soon as possible. B. Is feeling self-conscious about his boil. C. Is going to give brother Jeb an atomic wedgie if he loses. 4. Vice President A1 Gore is waiting: A. For the Florida Supreme Court to make its ruling concerning hand recounts. B. For his crack team of lawyers to win the election for him. C. For his aides to reboot him. 5. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader is: A. Continuing to promote Green Party can didates across the country. B. Pondering another presidential run in 2004. C. About to be run over by a bunch of Corvair-driving Gore supporters. 6. The part of a voter punch card that has only been partially pushed out is called a: A. Pregnant chad. B. Swinging chad. C. Chad Everett ■ KIRSTY CARTER POINT OF VIEW door thing that you do. Why do people insist on holding doors open for me? I am perfectly capable of burning those two calories required to do it myself. I don’t think that it is something that anyone can try to answer. It’s a habit, and a weird one, and I must admit that I have started to do it myself. I know, I know, it’s polite to do it, etc., etc., but the thing is that it is taken to such extremes at times that I have to run to the door just because there is someone standing patiently, holding it open for me. And that is when it just gets ridiculous. 2. Related to no. 1 is the overuse of the phrase “Excuse me.” If someone comes within 10 meters of me (sorry, I 'am used to the farmore'seriSiblemet-' ric system - we’ll get back to this), they say, “Excuse me,” as if I am afraid of catching their cholera or whatever dis ease they happen to be carrying. Where I am from, people stand so close to each other, you can hear them breathe. Don’t get me wrong, that irri tates the hell out of me, too. I am merely trying to illustrate the contrasts to which I have to adapt. 3. The metric system. Why do you all insist on keeping ounces, Fahrenheit and all those other stupid bloody mea surements? Isn’t it easier to remember one of Jew vs. Arab. It is one of justice and human rights. I urge your readers to check out our Web site at http://www.aiusa.org and join us in working for the human rights of every one in the region. There can be no true peace without human rights and securi ty for both Palestinians and Israelis. Marty Rosenbluth Israel/Palestinian Authority Country Specialist Amnesty International USA The length rule was waived. Presidential Winner Must Have Support From All Americans TO THE EDITOR: The problem with the election sys tem is not butterfly ballots but lack of patriotism. I’m not referring to the fact that only 50 percent of the nation voted, because, unfortunately, this year’s turnout was higher than previous years’. I am, instead, referring to the growing division in this country. The election is coming to a close, and I’m not asking Americans to show good sportsmanship. I’m asking for patrio tism. Despite popular opinion, neither candidate is divinely good or inherent ly evil. Both arguably are qualified for die position of president of the United States. Regardless of whom you voted for, in January there will be anew pres ident This new president might not sign the bills you support. But he will be leading this nation to the best of his abil ity. That act of civic duty deserves respect. If you cannot bring yourself to respect him, at least support him as your president until he has a chance to prove himself untrustworthy. We can either join together as a strong, unified nation, or we can complain and, as a result, Viewpoints ■ MARK SLAGLE EDITORIAL WRITER 7. Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan is: A. Surprised at how well he did in Palm Beach County. B. on his new children’s book, “My Best Friend the Butterfly Ballot.” C. Working on his 2004 campaign theme song, “Buchanan Ober Alles.” 7. Former secretaries of state James Baker and Warren Christopher are: A. Heading up the Bush and Gore Florida campaigns, respectively. B. Trading barbs in front of every television camera they can shove their way in front of. C. Going to do battle in a steel cage death that at sea level, water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius rather than 32 degrees Fahrenheit? And that water boils at 100°C, rather than 212°F. The metric system works in units of 10 and 100, rather than 12 (like inches and feet) and those other crazy numbers. The United States is the only indus trialized country in the world that has n’t adopted the metric system as its predominant form of measurement I mention that just to annoy those peo ple who care about keeping up with the rest of the world. 4. The use of the word “like.” I mean, like, what’s up with that? Like, it’s totally annoying, and like, nobody understands why I keep, like, saying this word. I am getting used to this little vexation, but I would greatly appreci ate it if someone would explain the ori gin of this (improper) use of the word. 1 could go on forever, fisting little grievances, but I Shan’t, because I am sure that I myself have annoyed many people. I just wanted to bring up some examples of quirks that you all consid er normal, and that I find amusing and strangely enticing. I know you didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition, but you got it. Kirsty Carter is a sophomore inter national studies major. Eric the Half-a- Bee and the Spanish Inquisition are ref erences to Monty Python. If you don’t know them, you should. Reach her at kirsty@e-zim.com. accomplish nothing. I’ve been searching through history books to find moments in U.S. history when the American people lost respect, support and genuine patriotism for the president. Many believe that the scan dals of the Clinton administration gen erated this lack of trust. In reality, dis sension by the American people stems back to the turmoil days of the Vietnam War. Students, similar to you and I, protested their government’s actions and refused draft notices. But these stu dents were not like you and me. They lived in war times and they exercised their First Amendment rights in protests against fighting in a war to which they were opposed. As students bom into peace, we look for any flaw in the government which we can criticize. We haven’t learned to “pick our battles.” We complain at the drop of a blue dress. The American presidency, however, is not blameless. Dishonesty and scan dals mark the administrations ofjohn F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, to name only a few. These scandals justifiably evoked anger and destroyed the trust of Americans. As we stand on the precipice of elect ing anew president of the United States, we have two choices. 1. We can assume the president’s inevitable failure and decide not to trust or support any exec utive actions, or 2. we can assume the president’s inevitable success and sup port and trust the American people’s choice, with the reserved right to com plain later. We have this choice, and I choose the latter. Meredith Livingston Senior Psychology The length rule was waived. match to determine the winner of the election. 8. President Clinton is: A Staying out of the Florida debate. B. Offering private advice to A1 Gore. C. Locking himself in the Oval Office and refusing to come out for the next four years. 9. Hand-counting voters’ ballots is: A. A reliable method of tabulating votes. B. A flawed process that is highly suscepti ble to humor error and political mischief. C. OK in Texas but not in Florida. 10. Florida’s absentee ballots will: A. Benefit Bush because they are mosdy from overseas military personnel. B. Benefit Gore because they are mostly from Jewish Americans residing in Israel. C. Cause another overworked postal employee to go on a shooting rampage. 11. Republican vice presidential candidate Dick Cheney: A. Is former President Bush’s Secretary of Defense. B. Got rich off of government contracts. Big mi l ’ ‘ ?rt:> **,-.• • • The Witness to the Execution: Whose Justice Is the State Serving? I had never been to one of these before. One hadn’t happened in the last 11 months; 11 months ago I wasn’t really sure if I cared. Now I do. I don’t know why I really got involved, even though I supposedly cared about justice. Of course, the definition of jus tice varies from person to person. Now I know how to define it Many would call what I witnessed justice, a punish ment befitting of the actions of Michael Sexton. You see, 10 years ago, Michael Sexton killed someone. Thursday, Nov. 9, the state killed him. I paced around outside the prison with dozens of others, some holding candles, others engaged in strained conversation, still others sitting in silent prayer. We were of different backgrounds, different faiths, different cities and from different organizations. Yet as the hours slowly dragged by and the clock inched toward the hour of two, we were as one, united in indigna tion and sadness over the human fife that was to be ended only several hun dred yards from where we stood. Upon my arrival at the prison I was restless and uncertain, filled with dread over the impending act, yet still in denial that it really would happen. I didn’t know exactly where to go, and my cousin and I drove around in cir cles. Every wrong turn seemed to run us into more police. Twice, we were stopped by cops for unknowingly turn ing into the wrong area. A third time, we ventured across the street from the prison only to run into a dozen cop cars shrouded by fog. That image stuck with me for the night and is still vivid at the time of this writing. After much trepidation and no small amount of fear and discomfort, we arrived at the vigil. A prayer was being read over a bullhorn. We stopped and listened. Still, the impending execution was still hard to comprehend. Surely, the governor would realize the unfair ness and finality of the act and call it off, or at least grant a reprieve. Yet, as the minutes ticked by, I realized with discomforting certainty that my opti mism was ill-founded. The time neared 12, and more prayers were set to be read. The read ing began over the bullhorn, and the crowd gathered in attention. Soon ■ NICK WOOD POINT OF VIEW after, the street sweeper came rolling down Western Boulevard. At first, I was annoyed at the noise. But moments later I became angry. The street sweeper represented a normal activity, a normal activity that went on even though a man was to be put to death. The sweeper went on up the road following the route that it proba bly takes every night It was sterile and systematic, just like the illusion perpe trated by the Department of Corrections. Another hour of waiting ensued. I milled around the crowd without any real direction. For reasons I’m still not completely sure of, I didn’t want to sit down. So I kept walking around, occa sionally talking to others, friends and allies in this fight of utmost importance, all the while waiting for the last minutes of Michael Sexton’s fife to slip away. One o’clock came, and we gathered together for another prayer, the last public prayer of the night for Sexton. As if on cue, the street sweeper came down from the other side of the street At this point, I was too numb to really care, although I could feel the anger rising inside of me. At the conclusion of the prayer, we set out for an hour of silent mediation. Some congregated together; others went and secluded themselves. I was in the latter group and went to the far edge to experience solitary sadness for the tragedy that was about to unfold. About half an hour later, I walked back toward my friends, not really knowing what to do. I just wandered around. As the hour approached, sev eral of us stood together, facing the prison, the place where Michael Sexton spent his final moments on this earth. We watched together as the fog I saw upon my arrival descended upon the complex. The appointed hour came and went as we waited, arms around each other, each dealing with this in his or her own way. I brushed several tears aside, but steeled myself, wanting to appear strong in the face of this adversity. I Monday, November 20, 2000 time. C. Once shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. 14. Voters in Palm Beach County, Florida: A. Were confused by a poorly constructed ballot B. Were too stupid to vote for the candidate they wanted. C. Had to vote in a hurry so they could be back home for pudding and their 4 o’clock bed time. 15. The news media, led by CNN: A Irresponsibly called the election too early. B. Made an honest mistake. C. Are now retracting their declaration that America won the Gulf War. It is now too close to call. To tabulate your score, give yourself 2 points for every answer and then throw out the results and conduct a recount. Good luck. Mark Slagle is a senior journalism major from Raleigh who is seriously rethinking a return to a monarchy. Reach him at slagle@email.unc.edu. was filled with anger and rage, those feelings suppressing the extreme sad ness I feel as I write this. I couldn’t then, and still can’t now, absolve my own feelings of guilt over the fact that this was allowed to take place. Others cried openly, hung their heads, bowed in prayer or lay in crumpled heaps upon the ground. The support I felt from those around me helped me through. The minutes dragged by with no announcement; veterans of the anti death penalty movement said it had never taken this long. Shortly after 2:30 a.m., a full 30 minutes after the initial poison entered the veins of Michael Sexton, he was pronounced dead. The ambulance carrying his body out weaved through the parking lot. Prison officials and guards cascad ed out of the building, the sounds of laughter emitting from a few. The fog had lifted. I am not a reli gious person, but on this night I hope Michael Sexton went on to a better place. The crime he committed was terrible, none of us deny that, but the way he went was just as terrible. The state had committed murder and those responsible refused to address the issue. My only solace is that Michael Sexton knew that people out there cared about him when he went, more than anyone cared about him in his entire tragic fife. This experience has shaped me in many ways, many of them negative. Yet I will be out at the prison on Wednesday when the state executes Marcus Carter. Nick Wood is a senior communica tions major from Richland,Va. Reach him at nwood@email.unc.edu. OPENTMLL: ©if Batlji (tar Hrri welcomes reader submissions. Their opinions do not necessarily represent the opinions or views of the DTH or its editors. 9
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Nov. 20, 2000, edition 1
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