Thursday, November 18, 1993 Exactly who is running the country? by Alicia Hartman.ll,lshes Stairlothalatte mem cowskr 4 '" '''';'ilowever a stud Washing ton Post that the test will tun CI - when a First Lady is What ' •Alihta - with her =tett that Progress?tmeehotel her.linikunfs. As a • 7 , This 'First Lady will tiny be the women of *I '9o*, *Ai It *mew" political spouse. Hillary respected thi r ilundottilliOnd Rodham Clinton is not this character, and criticized for her "new" First Lady just because she involvement in the political is nog involved in political life meld. than her predecessors. Mrs. What Hillary Rodham Clinton Clinton has not renuned her law has become after the '92 election practice while her husband has is not the linage that was been presidem presented to us during the frontier First LOW have set caniPidiP. up the* 1U5160011401 the East While clunpligning alongside Wing of the White House. Mrs husband Bill Clinton for the Clinton. though, has her office in greskkincy, Mrs, Clintmt was de the West Wing near senior staff quiet, yet supportive wife members. Being close to "the prepared so become the want and boss" emits a sense of power. friendly "cookie baking" First Hillary Rodham Clinton is Lady. qutdified to hold a high public As the campaign progressed , office herself with her education Hillary Rodham Clinton became and experience. She has the most more outspoken and quite an power ever held by any First Snflome a Democratic women advo cate istory,t e ia alllyh as the care feared that the public might not reform program, . the issue that approve of a First Lady who was could make or break President more involved in political life Bill Clinton. than herd had been. Because Mrs. Clinton Traditionalists said that a possesses so much power, she subtle influence from the First and President Clinton have been Lady was pennittable if her labeled "Co-presidents," and the intentions were to enhance her seam "Binary" has also evolved. husband's interests. Conservatives call Hillary After all, Marilyn Quayle, Tipper Gore and Hillary Rodham Clinton with careen and college and graduate degrees, put their professional lives on hold to The gods must by Dave Barry Syndicated Calumnirt What's wrong with this country, aside from "light" beer, is that Americans don't know anything about foreign affairs. Your average American can't even answer basic questions about geography, such as: 1. In which direction does the Nile River flow? 2. What can the letters in "Great Britain" be rearranged to spell? (Answers: 1. Downhill; 2. "Big Than Rear.") Tragically, we Americans are too busy sitting around watching worthless juvenile mind-rotting TV situation comedies such as "Dave's World" (Monday nights, CBS, check your local listings) to learn about foreign affairs. This is bad, because what happens abroad can greatly affect our lives. For example, if tensions were to mount again in the Middle East, fighting could break out, and it could escalate to, God forbid, nuclear war, and this would almost definitely affect our TV reception. This is why today I'm going to present a Foreign News Update, starting with an important story from the Sept. everything from a "faninazi" to a "yuppie from hell." Several experts say that this "Hillary bashing" has resulted because the role of American 2, 1993, Times of India, sent in by alert reader Tapash Chakraborty. This article, which I am not making up, states: "Villagers of Khajuria in Ganjam district worshipped a frog on Monday to please the rain god Indra, as the dry spell continued to delay cultivation." The article further states that "a big like frog tied with a bamboo stick was carried by villagers who roamed in and around the village chanting couplets in honor of the wife of Lad Indra." The article does not give the exact wording of the couplets. Probably they went something like: We need rain; your wife is peat Here's a hug; let's cultivate! The article also doesn't state whether this effort resulted in rain, but I'm sure it did. If you're a rain god, and you have people waving a frog around and chanting about your wife, you're definitely going to dump something on them. But whether or not it worked, the point is that the villagers of Khajuria DID something about their problem. They did not just sit back and wait for "the other guy" to worship the frog. We need more of that kind of DYNIO I .3g women is changing, especially with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton is a woman who has power, yet is trying to maintain a balance between her career and family. Many men at afraid of women who have power and who hold a "man's ' have a First Lady who isn't afraid to speak and promote the issues she strongly believes in. What bothers me is that she seems to have more power than Vice President Al Gore and she doesn't hold a public office. She's even more publicly active than Gore. As a woman with such high authority in America, she is the gumption in this country. Take the economy. People have been whining about the economy for years, but nobody does anything about it. I'm not saying we could get the economy going again by worshiping a frog. Please do not take me for a total idiot. We have a huge, complex economy, and we'd need a much larger amphibian, such as a manatee, or, if he is available, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. Speaking of frogs, many alert readers sent in an Associated Press report concerning an incident in Manchester, NH, which is not technically a foreign country, but you'll want to know about this incident stepping stone in leading other women to high positions in the United States. She is the force promoting the cause that women are just as knowledgeable as men and can hold the same jobs that men do. During the campaign when Americans heard Bill Clinton proclaim, "Vote for one, get one free," they responded negatively. Mrs. Clinton's image was then revolted to ate of the "traditional" political wife. Traditionally the First Lady's duties have been to showcase the President's character and run the social side of the White House. She was to stay behind the scenes. The First Lady was permitted to carve a small niche in the political world, but she had to remember that she held the position she did because her husband was elected. Another of the First Lady's jobs was to keep her husband aware of what the public was thinking; somewhat of a "reality ' _may `M She was the model of beauty, grace and friendliness of the imtkimy. First Ladies who have deviated from the traditional role and became publicly involved in their husbands' careers were severely Mn. Clinton has been accused of "false feminism" because she owes her position to her husband. But President Clinton owes his be crazy anyway, because it involves a woman who opened a bag a pretzels and pulled out a pretzel with a one-inch frog baked onto it. The AP sent out a photograph showing the actual pretzel, and sure enough, there's a frog son of welded onto it, looking crouched and ready to hop away, except of course that frogs become very poor hoppers after being subjected to the pretzel-baking process, as has been verified in countless laboratcuy experiments. My first thought, when I saw this article, was that maybe the frog had been put there on purpose. We live in an era of increasingly complex snack-food variations, such as Jalapeno Cheddar 'n' Onion Graham Crackers ("Now With Frogs!'). But apparently that was not the case with these pretzels, so the woman took them back to the food store, which gave her a handsome baked prince. No, seriously, the store gave her a refund, so all's well that ends well. But that does not mean we should relax, not with these alarming cheese-related developments that are taking place in England. I refer to a May 26, 1993, UPI report, sent in by alert reader Clyde E. position to HRC. Hillary Rodham Clinton was the focal point that held the election together. HRC rescues President Clinton when he falls in public, and relays what he is thinking when he can't find the words. Mrs.' Clinton has engaged in some "traditional" First Lady activities. She has read numerous White House biographies and histories, hosted several dinners, and has added her own decor to the White House. But the most important aspect of Hillary Rodham Clinton is that she has redefined the role of First Lads in several ways. As the first to have a career, she represents a gasenukm of women who are trying to find a balance between a jot) and a family. Hillary Rodham Clinton is a prime candidate for the first womart president not just because she is a woman, but because she has the education, experience and ability to communicate with the public. Never has a First Lady received so much attention nor criticism as Hillary Rodham Clinton. But perhaps instead of commenting on First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in the year 2000, we will be addressing Madame President Hillary Rodham Clinton. Alicia Hamm is a third semester communication major Morgan, which begins: "Fourteen people were injured taking part in the annual Double Gloucester cheese-rolling race." I am still not making this up. The article states that this race takes place every year, and it involves "rolling large round slabs of cheese down a hill," with individual cheeses "reaching speeds of up to 50 kilometers per hour." Last year, 27 people were injured. The question is: What if this kind of semideadly activity catches on in this country? I, personally, am not worried, because I live in South Florida, which is extremely flat; plus, even if you could get a large cheese rolling down here, passing armed motorists would blow it to smithereens. But what if people start rolling cheeses in, say, Colorado? What if you get one of those big babies hurtling down a Rocky mountain, straight toward -- to pick a worst-case scenario -- a John Denver concert? . . . friends around the campfire, And everybody's hiiiEEEE (SPLAY) Is that the kind of nation you want your children to grow up in? Me, too. Page