Editorial
Marijuana use
not an issue
A New York Times-CBS News poll shows a majority of
Americans do not believe trying marijuana is a sufficient
reason to prevent someone from becoming president or a
Supreme Court justice. This poll comes as a response to
Douglas Ginsburg's withdrawal of his nomination to the
Supreme Court because he admitted to smoking marijuana
eight years ago.
Ginsburg's confession comes during a year when the
media's scrutiny of people in public positions has received
sharp criticism. Ginsburg blamed the media for focusing on
his personal life and not his judicial qualifications. "Unfor
tunately all of the attention has been focused on our personal
lives and much of that on the events of many years ago.” he
said in a prepared statement.
Attorney General Ed Meese also succumbed to the
media pressure, and informed Ginsburg that the issue would
"cause great embarrassment to the administration.”
The media should realize that as more people from the
1960s and '70s enter politics, more people will have ex
perimented with marijuana. Ginsburg. 41. is one example.
Hut after his withdrawal democratic presidential candidates
Albert Gore. 39. and Bruce Babbitt. 49, both admitted trying
marijuana.
This view was reflected in the poll in which 28 percent
believed "most" people 30-40 years old had tried mari
juana, Forty-four percent believed about half had tried it.
The bottom line is that the public really doesn't mind if
politicians have experimented with marijuana, just as long
as they don't use it now. The media and the Reagan ad
ministration should understand this.
Meese's Ginsburg stance
a political embarrassment
President Reagan should re-evaluate the role of At
torney General Kdwin Meese in his administration. In the
course of the past year Meese has proved to be a political em
barrassment to the Reagan administration, and during a time
when most consider Reagan a lame duck president, this
negative attention is not needed.
Mease’s most recent blunder came when Supreme Court
nominee Douglas Ginsburg announced he had smoked mari
juana while he was a law professor. This was a direct con
flict with Reagan's anti-drug stance.
Unfortunately. Meese pressured Reagan into
nominating Ginsburg when little was known about the
judge. Meese was only concerned with furthering the con
servative agenda. He could have accomplished this if
Ginsburg. a young conservative, was appointed to the
Supreme Court.
Meese is obsessed with furthering his agenda with com
plete disregard for the wishes of the public or for the
political ramifications to the Reagan adminstration.
The public i$ moving away from the conservative stand
point it held seven years ago. If Reagan wants to leave office
with a positive impression, he should realize Meese does not
represent the new views of the people and will only con
tinue to embarrass the administration.
■4 Atm Mm*
DeFeNse
CONTRACTORS
"Weinberger's resigning... the Reagan
era's coming to an end...”
Letters
Unjust view
William Moore, in his letter,
urged individuals not to sup
port organizations supported by
United Way because it
assisted" Planned Parenthood
(ODE. Nov 2). He claimed his
opposition was "neither ar
bitrary nor uninformed.” yet
never before have I mad such a
blatantly unjust, conceited and
ignorant point of view in print.
Mr Mooru is arbitrary in that
it is his own. and others like
him. preference that groups like
Planned Parenthood should be
abolished.
Also, he can’t possibly be
"informed" on what it is really
like to suffer an unwanted
prugnancy, because it is my
guess he has never been a
woman faced with this tragedy.
Yet he believes that he has the
prerogative to tell all women in
this particular situation that the
only choice they should have
during an unwanted pregnancy
is to have the child regardless of
the financial, emotional or
physical strain that befalls
them
Does Mr Moore believe that
withdrawing support for Plann
ed Parenthood, thus leaving
young individuals with no
means for receiving proper birth
control methods and other
valuable services, will decrease
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sexual relations among young
people ami or the number of
abortions performed yearly?
Both the United Way and
Planned Parenthood are wor
thwhile and charitable
organizations. They do not pro
mote sexual relations between
students, nor do they "actively
advocate abortion." They do.
however, advocate a woman's
freedom of choice concerning
her own body. Mr Moon; will
never have to face the trauma of
an unwanted abortion, but still
deems himself knowledgeable
enough to pass judgment on
those who might. He has no
ethical right to ask people not to
support the United Way, which
in turn assists organizations,
like Planned Parenthood, which
provide freedom of choice.
As long as there are closed
minded. disillusioned view
points. such as Mr. Moore's. 1
fear for my own given right to
choose what affects me and my
body, as well as future genera
tions' freedom of choice.
People just don't seem to real
ly hug one another. People em
brace for mere seconds as if
afraid of each other. If you're
going to have contact with so
meone, make it count. Wrap
your arms around them and
squeeze all your positive energy
into them.
Don't pat someone on the
back. This is patronizing them
by not sharing with them.
Human contact is not
something that people should
be afraid of. People revel in this
exchange of goodwill.
What if someone l don’t want
to hug me tries to or does hug
me? Tough question. If they
hug you, return the hug. After
all. it's a wonderful thing
anyway.
What's more, maybe it’ll
open up a side to this person
you haven't noticed before. If
you feel that you cannot do this,
at least tell them you don’t feel
very comfortable with the ac
tion taking place. To really hug
someone is truth. The least one
can do is give them the truth of
Kelly L. Foutts
Pre- journalism
your feelings. Please be tactful;
these are human emotions so
tread lightly.
To just give them a partial
hug is an injustice to the human
closeness that all people desire
and to the positive feelings that
someone is giving off. Sharing
yourself with another is
wonderful and shouldn’t lx;
avoided.
So next time, hug for all your
positive might.
Blake Louts Sliter
Political science/English
Sorry Louisiana
I too wish to extend an
apology to Victor Adonri for the
treatment of racism he received
in this community.
Yet in a different light, I
wonder how John Tapogna can
justify his remark towards l.oui
siana (ODE, Nov 2). My inten
tion is not to offend you, but I
do think the apology should go
out to a whole state on your
behalf, or from you personally.
As for our international
visitor, I wish I could beg
forgiveness on behalf of this
country but can only speak for
myself.
Glen Smith
Student
Candidates
After watching the
Republican candidates for the
presidency on Firing Line (what
a coincidence it happened dur
ing Halloween week!), the
following pithy characteriza
tions came to mind;
George Bush... between cro
quet and hardball.
Bob Dole. . .opportunism as
an art.
Pat Robertson.. .curdled
whipping creme.
Jack Kemp ... amiable
simplicity.
Pierre DuPont... pseudo
Pete.
Alex Haig... vainglorious
busybody.
Dr. A. Brettauer
Eugene
Wednesday, November 11. 1987