Sunday, Sep 7, 2008
Coeds for Pat Buchanan!
BY KAREN OLSSON
(05/09/00)
I live in Austin, Texas, and the Buchanan petitioners that I have encountered at the University of Texas have been even more evasive than the article describes. They refused to admit who the petition was for and claimed that it was simply to get third parties on the ballot. They stopped talking when Buchanan's name was pointed out in small print at the top of the petition.
The Green Party and the Natural Law Party have also been collecting signatures, but without the evasive techniques. I know that many people don't care one way or another, but Buchanan's tactics only irritate that creepy feeling that politicians often give me. I thought third parties were supposed to be a break from politics as usual.
-- Tina Avent
Your article completely missed the point. I am a grad student in Texas, and I signed the petition to put the Reform Party on the ballot. I signed because we voters need more choices on the ballot. There are few substantive differences between Gore and Bush, and while Buchanan may not be any better, those of us who take pride in not being in either party should be heard from. I like the fact that, in Bush's home state, we are all not just falling in line behind ol' Dubya.
On the same day that I read your condescending article on students in Texas, I also read on your Web site about how third-party candidates are banding together to be heard by attacking the FEC. Maybe y'all should take a look at the big picture.
-- Alex Kaplan
Congo needs help, not Western posturing
BY DAVID RIEFF
(05/08/00)
I am a journalist in Uganda and I've just read David Rieff's article on the Congo conflict. His views may be aimed at "helping Africa" or pushing the international community (read: U.S.) into actually wanting to help solve the problem, but the man is out of his depth! He does not at any point mention Uganda, a major player in the conflict, which weakens my respect for his piece. But the statement that "it has little or no chance of working, and it also risks confirming the cynical impression -- already too common in America and Western Europe -- that no matter how hard people try, there is nothing that can be done for Africa" is pathetic. There can be no talk of "no matter how hard people try," because no one, not even we Africans, are trying hard at all to help! Rieff would know that if he was an Africa specialist (his specialty is the Balkans, just like Holbrooke's is East Asia).
-- Simon Kaheru
What exactly would Rieff have the West do? Consider even the simpler problem of how to reconcile democracy with Islamic fundamentalism: The West has no useful answer here for Egypt or Algeria.
Suppose the West were to arrive in the Congo, or Sierra Leone for that matter, with all guns blazing. Who are they supposed to kill? It's not like there is a consensus as to who are the bad guys and who are the good.
What the U.S. could do as its attempt to help these sort of situations is give Africa a break with respect to trade and remove the tariff barriers that penalize undeveloped nations; for example, those on fibers and fabrics, and those on agriculture. This may not be as sexy as dropping 5,000 soldiers in the Congo, but it's a hell of a lot more likely to improve African lives.
-- Maynard Handley
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