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Perspectives
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Sarah Kickler
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITORS
Mike Schmierbach
Laura Cadiz
Reno covers Clinton’s
TRAIL
Alt EMERALD EDITORIAL
By deciding against appointing an
independent prosecutor, Attorney General
Janet Reno has missed a chance to help clean
up campaign financing.
CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald
Bill Clinton is a
shaky character.
He has to be. He
ran for and won
the presidency. Winning
the political game these
days requires a willing
ness to sell your princi
ples to the highest bidder,
and Clinton has been
holding quite an auction
during the last few years.
Exactly what Clinton
has done remains un
clear. Questions have
been raised about his use
of the White House, his
dealings with foreign
companies and his con
nection to suspicious De
mocratic National Com
mittee fund-raising
efforts.
U.S. Attorney General
Janet Reno has decided to
toss all those questions
aside. Reno, who was ap
pointed to her job by
Clinton in the first place,
concluded that sufficient
evidence did not exist to
appoint an independent
prosecutor.
Only on one issue —
fund-raising calls made
from the White House —
did Reno decide an objec
tive investigation might
be warranted. On this is
sue, she has yet to decide
whether to appoint a
prosecutor.
Clinton may have done
nothing illegal. Even if
many of his actions were
devoid of ethics, they
might still fit within
what’s allowed by the lax
campaign finance laws.
Even if this is the case,
an investigation is still
justified, however. Cam
paign finance reform is a
crucial issue, and if an in
dependent prosecutor
turned over enough
rocks, the dirty political
secrets that crawl out
might help advance ef
forts to fix existing laws.
Bill Clinton and the De
mocratic party are cer
tainly not alone in their
questionable fund-raising
methods. They probably
aren’t even the worst of
fenders. This doesn’t
mean their actions
should not face more
scrutiny than a Clinton
nominee was willing to
give.
While it is Republicans
in Congress who are most
keen to see Clinton torn
apart by a prosecutor, the
GOP also stands to look
foolish under the intensi
ty of investigation. An ef
fective investigation
would not only objective
ly explore Clinton’s deal
ings, but would also ex
amine the corrupt way in
which most campaigns
are currently financed.
Opting to kill the issue
by not calling for an inde
pendent prosecutor will
not clarify and improve
the rules for the future.
Nor will it vindicate Clin
ton, who only appears
more corrupt because of
the possibility of a cover
up.
As long as elections are
bought and sold by spe
cial interest dollars, the
American public will not
feel the issue has been ef
fectively resolved. Hav
ing Reno proclaim Clin
ton’s innocence from on
high does nothing to
make the public feel jus
tice has been served.
This last issue is the
most crucial one. It is
public reaction to the ex
cesses of campaign fi
nance that will finally
force reform. And it is
public distrust of govern
ment that makes an effec
tive, independent investi
gation necessary.
Such an investigation
will probably not restore
public trust in govern
ment. But it should help
convince people that bla
tantly unethical acts will
not go unexamined. More
important, it can help il
luminate an issue to
which the public desper
ately needs to react.
Bill Clinton isn’t about
to go to jail. But he should
have to explain his ac
tions to the American
people, not just to an at
torney general he hired.
This editorial represents the
opinion of the Emerald edi
torial board. Responses
may be sent to ode@ore
gon.uoregon.edu.
Paula Jones
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Numbers
Wouldn't it be
great if there was one
book where you
could look and find
out if a word existed
or not, what it meant
and how to spell it?
Thankfully, there is
— the dictionary.
What follows is
some of the useful in
formation we found
in the 1993 American
Heritage Dictionary:
The first word fist
ed in the dictionary
is, not surprisingly,
"a." There are 54
meanings given for
“a," divided into ten
categories and in
cluding abbrevia
tions.
The last word giv
en in the dictionary
has only one mean
ing—the word,
“zyzzyva,” is defined
as "any of various
tropical American
weevils of the genus
Zyzzyva, often de
structive to plants,”
Prior to that last
word is a category far
more interesting to
the average college
student—words
that begin with the
prefix “zym." There
are seven “zym”
words, all of which
deal with some
aspect of
fermentation. Our
favorite is “zymurgy," i
which happens to be |
a magazine as well as
the word for “the
branch of chemistry
that deals with
fermentation
processes, as in
brewing.”
Another word of
interest to many stu
dents is “weed.”
While the dictionary
gives the usual
meanings, it also
suggests a new spin
on an old slang term
—•weed can also
mean “a token of
mourning, as a black
band worn on a
man’s hat or sleeve, "
Let's smoke some
arm band, guys.
The letter at the
beginning of the
smallest word cate
gory is “x." Only 95
words fall under the
"x” header, most of
which are probably
not part of the aver
age person’s vocabu
lary. For example, the
“xebec" is “a small
three-masted
Mediterranean vessel
with both square and
triangular sails."
We’re not sure
what word has the
longest entry in the
dictionary, but “well”
has to rank high on
the list. With 35 en
tries, none of which
are abbreviations,
“weir means a lot of
things.
Finally, in the cool
sounding word cate
gory, we have “kerf."
You probably would
n’t guess it, but “kerf
is the proper term lor
“a groove or notch
made by a cutting
took such as a saw or