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Show Page pinion & 5? ditorials 6 April 14, 1999 Editor: Jane Clark janeclarkinfowest.com True Intentions of U.S. are Questioned Concerning Bombing in Yugoslavia COMMENTAFttJ By Mike Sherwood jeromejn 12hotmail. com As the United States of America participates in a NATO bombing campaign over Kosovo, its hypocracy becomes apparent. Unless you live in a bubble, you probably know that the U.S. has been dropping bombs on primarily military targets in the nation of Yugoslavia. When the bombing first began, many nations disagreed with the attacks. Since the attacks began, it is estimated that over one million people have been forced from their homes. No one blames the US for the exodus of people from Kosovo, but there is no question that the bombings allowed Slobodan Milosavic, president of Yugoslavia, to increase the rate at which he conducted the ethnic cleansing of the Kosovar Albanians. Of course, the government of Yugoslavia claims that the US and NATO are violating international law. to According the nation of Milosavic, Yugoslavia is only trying to protect it's nation's borders. The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) has wanted autonomy for the province of Kosovo. It is fairly apparent that NATO and the U.S.'s plan did not go as planned and caused far more problems than it was trying to solve. Now, as the bombing continues, a humanitarian disaster has occurred. I do not fault President Clin Dear Editor, In last week's issue of The Dixie Sun, Vice President of Student Services, Bill Fowler, claimed I made unjust accusations about the administration concerning censorship. Mr. Fowler also brought up a Supreme Court judgment, Alabama Student Party vs Student Government Association (1989), as an example that the and elections committee could run student elections by rules established by the election committee. Personally, I have no beef with Mr. Fowler about his involvement I do not have any proof that Mr. Fowler directly censored or influenced censorship of campaign materials My problem stems from a comment made by Dean Larsen and another made by Jocelyn Palmer. During the campaign, I approached Larsen concerning numerous flyers which had been removed. He responded that after tire Humane Society had been on campus that "it was his understanding that some faculty and Donna Stafford had tom down the controversial flyers." He said he would check into it and tell them to stop it Stafford is an administration employee, and that is the reason I stated that the administration acted inappropriately. On April 12, 1 again confronted Larsen about this issue. He now says he doesn't remember telling me anything like that and furthemaore, Stafford did not remove any campaign materials from campus. Palmer told my running-matDarryl Barfuss, that they only .wanted slogans and other campaign materials that were "uplifting" toward Dixie College. I have two problems with this. First of all, according to tine school constitution. Palmer has nothing to do with this year's student elections. That responsibility lies strictly with Larsen and tire election committee ( a group of Larsen's friends on campus). Tire second problem is an obvious one. Apparently tire "establishment" only wants to hear trice things about Dixie. If a different viewpoint exists, no one wants to hear about it. Now back to tire issue concerning tire Supreme Court's decision about student electors, I am no lawyer (and I have no intention of ever e, ton for this failed policy toward Kosovo and Yugoslavia. I do however, feel that the attack shows a gross double standard in U.S. foreign policy with regards to human rights violations. There are currently a variety of crises in the world that are similar more and appalling than the in atrocities Kosovo. Currently on the Thailand border ing campaign over Burma? Are Europeans more important than the Burmese? In Sudan, over one million people have been killed and millions more displaced in an enormous campaign of ethnic cleansing. The atrocities in Sudan, by sheer number, far outweigh those of and Yugoslavia Kosovo. Why aren't we bombing the Sudanese? Are the Europeans more are than important over 110,000 refugees S Africans? '"Vi who were forced or fled In Cambodia, from the country of Burma. the Khmer Rouge In Burma, on the border practiced years of genocide with with Thailand, there are over no reprisal from the U.S. or NATO. The crimes that the 100,000 more refugees waiting to cross. Why isn't the United Khmer Rouge practiced were States participating in a bomb- - equal to, if not worse than, the becoming one), but if student elections are regulated by the rules established by the election committee, those rules must be enforced equally toward all parties running for office. All four parties running for office were given rules before the campaign. In bold print it said, "Obscene slogans, flyers, and poster will not be tolerated!" Under this rule, we were not allowed the slogans "Let's put the DIX back in Dixie," and (after being approved by Larsen and then rejected), "Vote for Todd and Darryl and become and intern (with a picture of Monica Lewinski). Larsen even told me that if they were put up, he would tear them down, and we could be penalized by having votes taken away or even by being disqualified. It's interesting to me how those two slogans are deemed obscene when our opponents played rap music in front of the library with lyrics about sexual foreplay and played a movie on speakers in front of the library, which contained foul language. Obviously, this is a double standard in enforcement of tire campaign rules. How many votes were lost by the offending party? A number of other rules were broken during the campaign, which caused no problems for the elections committee. One hundred dollars could be spent on the primaries, and an additional 50 dollars could be used for finals. No sponsors or donations are allowed, except with the approval of Larsen How much did those hard hats cost? Or were they donated? To tine best of my knowledge, the only problems the elections committee and Larsen had during the campaign were the slogans they determined obscene. All other violations were ignored. If the Supreme Court indeed gave the election committee control to set the rules and then enforce them, they are obligated to enforce them equally. Otherwise, these elections can be seen as only a farce. My hope is that Larsen, Stafford, tine elections committee, and the administration may someday realize that people are different. They may have different views, and they should be respected. There is another world out there. If they could show some real they nnay someday deserve respect themselves. Sincerely, Todd Fallows Dixie College student atrocities now occurring in Kosovo. Not once has NATO or the U.S. participated in a bombing campaign over Cambodia. I don't know why the U.S.. has chosen to attack Kosovo. If not for humans rights violations, then for what? I feel that we as a nation need to enact legislation that' is consistent with the rhetoric. If we attack Yugoslavia, we need to also attack the dozens of other nations across the globe that are practicing similar atrocities. It disgusts me that the American people are so blind to the problems that are occurring across the globe. It is my hope that the Kosovo crises will open the eyes and hearts of Americans to see the problems that occur not only in other countries, but here as well. Editor-In-Chi- Billy Ray Voshurg III ef billyratjd9l ManagingNews Editor N&S Editor Editor Opinion Editor A&E Editor Sports Editors Photo Editor ?.: Editor Reporters On-li- Photographers Adviser hotmail.com Jennifer Peltz Michael Sherwood Brooks Shelton Jane Clark Jennie Squire Courtney Gressmen & Loot K. Johnston Jared Newbold Derrick Albiston Paul Graves Ashleigh Millgate Laura Smith a Chelsea Van Noy Mekette Behling L Katie Hostnnan Carisa Huntington Loren Webb , uiebbcc.dixie,edu Sun is distributed each Wednesday during Fall and Spring semesters as a publication of Dixie College, its Division of Arts, Letters and Sciences, and Dixie College Student Activities- The unsigned editorial on the Opinion Page represents the position of Ttie Dixie Sun, as determined by its editorial board. Otherwise, the views and opinions expressed in The Dixie Sun are those of individual writers and do not neces sarily reflect the opinions of The Dixie Sun ox any entity of the college. Letters to the .Editors must be typed and must include the name and telephone number of the author. Only the name wifi be printed. Names are not withheld under any circumstances. The Vhie Sun reserves the right to edit letters for length and taste. 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