The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, January 9, 2009 Page: 3 of 16
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3
Broken U.S.-Bolivia relations require fix
Over the eight years of his presi-
dency, the only two significant el-
ements of President Bush's Latin
America strategy have been continu-
ing the War on Drugs and signing in-
dividual free trade agreements. The
Andean Trade Preferences Act, ab-
breviated as APTDEA was a perfect
example of this strategy. In exchange
for cooperation in cocaine reduction
efforts, the U.S. signed trade deals
with Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and
Peru to allow them to export textiles
and other goods to the U.S. market.
The APTDEA was a win-win situation:
a boon for Latin American producers
and a plus for U.S. consumers.
opposition leaders to discuss ways
to promote their autonomy agenda.
The relationship between Goldberg
and Morales had always been tense:
The previous ambassador, Manuel
Rocha, said that Goldberg famously
declared during the 2002 elections
that the United States would cut off
all aid if Morales were elected presi-
dent, a statement which launched
Morales from long-shot candidate to
presidential runner-up. Tired of Gold-
berg's perceived efforts to undermine
democracy, the Bolivian government
declared him a persona non grata and
expelled him from the country.
a
Patrick McAnaney
Yet just three months ago the
White House decided to undermine
its own free trade agenda by suspend-
ing this agreement with Bolivia.
Let's rewind a few months to figure
out how we got to this point. Since the
2005 election of Evo Morales, Bolivia's
first indigenous president, tension
has grown between the poorer, indig-
enous Andean region and the hydro-
carbon-rich tropical lowlands. The
opposition leaders in the lowlands,
the traditional elite, have pushed for
their agenda as a means of resisting
Morales, a situation which culminat-
ed in violent protests last September.
During this same period, U.S. ambas-
sador to Bolivia Philip Goldberg was
caught holding secret meetings with
Bush's decision to
politicize the
APTDEA essentially
targeted the
poorest of the poor.
What happened to
"compassionate
conservatism?"
99
Furious at forced removal of its
ambassador, the White House de-
cided to retaliate by declaring Bolivia
non-compliant with Drug Enforce-
ment Agency standards. Although
independent watchdog agencies such
as the Washington Office on Latin
America and the Andean Information
Network note that Bolivia has actually
been more successful than Peru and
Colombia in reducing coca, and sub-
sequently, cocaine production, only
Bolivia received harsh penalties. The
White House suspended the APTDEA,
costing Bolivia 20,000 jobs and $150
million annually. In a time of world-
wide economic crisis, this came as a
tough blow to South America's poor-
est country. The true victims were the
textile weavers — indigenous subsis-
tence farmers who depend on U.S.
markets to eke out a modest income of
several hundred dollars annually. In
essence, Bush's decision to politicize
the APTDEA essentially targeted the
poorest of the poor. What happened
to "compassionate conservatism?"
President-elect Barack Obama
has a chance to rectify this egregious
mistake by the Bush administration
as soon as he sets foot in the Oval Of-
fice. The APTDEA can be reinstated
at any time with relatively little ef-
fort, should Obama choose to do so.
The benefits arc obvious: It would be
a sign of good will to South America,
reduce poverty in the region and
maintain a viable employment al-
ternative to cultivating coca. The
question is whether the incoming
administration has any intention of
adopting a more conciliatory tone
in its relations with Bolivia. Obama
spoke often during the campaign
about restoring our moral standing
in the world and making allies, not
enemies, in the international sphere.
His election instantly reignited Bo-
livians' faith in the United States, as
I was fortunate enough to witness in
person. It is up to Obama not to dis-
appoint them.
Patrick McAnaney is a Brown College
junior and studied abroad in Bolivia
last semester.
Sports not only for athletically inclined
In the movie Milk, anti-gay activ-
ist Anita Bryant condemns laws and
statutes protecting gay Americans
on the basis that permitting them to
do whatever it is that gay Americans
do — which, as far as I understand,
are mostly the same boring things
that straight Americans do — would
decimate the country and plunge its
citizens, perhaps overnight, into se-
vere moral degradation. Bryant and
several other characters in the movie
(and in real life) make this assertion
with the underlying argument that
the religion of Christ is the religion of
the United States. Unfortunately for
them, we know that Christianity isn't
the American religion. Sports are the
real American religion, and it is our
patriotic duty to celebrate them.
Education Supplement) to be the 13th-
best university in the world, millions
of people recognize it primarily as the
basketball powerhouse it was in the
1980s and '90s. By touchdowns, line
drives and free throws, we measure
ourselves against one another on the
field as often as we do off of it.
44
Let us ring in the
New Year not with
church bells or
saintly resolu-
tions but with
body slams and
slide tackles.
99
Timothy Faust
Rice won a bowl game last week.
Maybe you heard about it. Several
dozen of Rice's finest (and also #94,
kicker Brandon Yelovich) took to the
field and punished a motley crew of
Michiganders, who deserved to lose
because they are bad people and
even worse footballers.
Meanwhile, Rice is moving to ac-
quire Baylor College of Medicine.
At first, it seems silly to compare
these two - one is just a football game
while the other is a multi-million dol-
lar deal with tremendous ramifica-
tions for the future of the school. But
isn't the former just as significant a
benchmark of Rice's legacy as the
latter? Even though Duke University
is considered (by the Times Higher
But what are sports without play-
ers? Most students at Rice have played
at least one sport at some time in their
lives. The human body is wired to en-
joy endorphins, and nobody credible
disputes the importance of exercise.
But even at a school with extremely
generous intramural and college
leagues, there are people who are so
pathetically bad at sports, so indis-
putably unathletic, that even "come
one, come all" IM competition is too
fierce. I have been one of these people
since my two consecutive scoreless
seasons in middle-school basketball.
There is no shame in realizing one's
own inabilities: like alcoholism or
unwanted pregnancies, the first step
is admitting that a problem exists.
Like it or not, we non-athletes
are still card-carrying members of
the church of competition, and we
pine for a taste of those visceral, bru-
tal activities which genetics or poor
nutrition would otherwise deny us.
Many of us perpetual benchwarmers
would love to plungle ourseves into
the tempest of full-contact sports, if
only we knew the rules. Most of us
would suffer grave bodily harm if we
played against anyone with any sort
of muscle mass or workout regimen.
We've resigned ourselves to eternal
spectatorship, and not even IM sports
are lenient enough to take us in.
So what of us who aspire to ath-
leticism but failed to make the cut in
freshman flag football? What of those
of us who dream of hitting to left field
and sprinting around the bases when,
in reality, we strike out during tee-ball?
What about those unfortunate souls
whose bruised faces have proven them-
selves electromagnets for basketballs?
Are we condemned to muster limitless
enthusiasm and sit patiently in the au-
dience from now until death whisks
us to the big arena in the sky? Must we
limit ourselves to those sports more ap-
propriate for our delicate physiques —
running, golf or badminton?
Of course not! Let us form a league
of our own. What Rosie O'Donnell
did for women in baseball, surely we
can do for nerds at Rice.
Cast off your shackles of awkward
gait and miserable coordination,
young men of Rice! Take the torch to
your textbooks and the magnet to your
hard drives. Let us ring in the New
Year not with church bells or saintly
resolutions but with body slams and
slide tackles. I urge you: Let us form
a more perfect union of non-athletes,
dedicated to the pursuit of the urges
which our latent testosterone dic-
tates. Let us form the League of Con-
tact Sports for Wimpy Guys.
Timothy Faust is a Brown College
senior and Backpage editor.
New year an excellent time
for last push improvements
With the spring semester be
ginning comes the return of fickle
weather the reluctant return to study-
ing and drudgery, and an ardent
pursuit of cheap textbooks. But un-
derneath this simple and routine
facade lies a somewhat mundane
and repetitive but very relevant
detail. The most significant distinc-
tion the spring semester has over its
autumnal counterpart is the fresh start
for all involved and the potential bene-
fits thisnewbeginningcancontributeto
our university.
Amanda Melchor
it
By reviewing the
previous semes-
ter in an objec-
tive manner; we
... can see not
only where we've
fought too hard.
but also where
and when we
haven't fought
hard enough.
99
A new semester also allows stu-
dents to put the previous semes-
ter's occurrences into perspective.
Hindsight is 20-20, and nowhere
is this possibly truer than on a col-
lege campus. And winter recess, de-
spite its bemoaned brevity, grants
students the opportunity to take a
break from campus and view the
university's stances and our past
reactions and actions as students
in a more objective light. By review-
ing the previous semester in an ob-
jective manner, we as students can
see not only where we've fought to
too hard, but also where and when
we haven't fought hard enough for is-
sues that are important and relevant
to us, with the like student financial
changes and the alterations to SAC.
44
Our student life is
what we make of
it, and if we waste
our opportunity
to better it, we
have no right to
complain about its
flaws.
The spring semester is a great
way to truly bring about change
to campus since it signifies a more
communal student experience.
The vast majority of those entering
the spring semester are officially
tried-and-true students; this state-
ment is obviously true for upper-
classmen but for freshman, it's an
important distinction. Most true
freshmen —not to be confused with
transfer students — are no longer
green and inexperienced in the maze
of university life and can now, along
with their transfer brethren, be con-
sidered fully initiated members of the
Rice community. And although some
students may have been abroad or on
leave during the fall semester, most
of the student body present in the
spring have experienced the events
and controversies that marked the
fall term, such as Hurricane Ike and
changes made concerning student
finances and organizations like the
Student Admission Council. These
experiences and our reactions to
them unite us as a student body,
and it is only as a large body of
students that we can bring change
to campus.
99
With the new semester students
can once again engage the university
and speak and, perhaps most impor-
tantly, act on issues that really mat-
ter to them. The current administra-
tions at many college governments
end soon — most towards the end of
February — and the Student Associa-
tion will hold elections in March and
have its new leaders by April. These
college and university elections are
especially crucial because they mark
the end of any real student influence
for the rest of the academic year.
By the time these important elec-
tions have been held, most of the
momentum of student concern for
campus issues evaporates with more
pressing concerns like Spring Break,
midterms, Beer Bike, graduation
and summer plans. I can't remem-
ber when a resolution or motion
that could really affect the univer-
sity and student life was passed at
an SA meeting or at college govern-
ment meeting after changeover sea-
son. It is extremely important for
students to act now while they still re-
tain theirdrive and passion forstudent
issues and concerns.
ii
Students must use
these last few,
precious weeks to
act on issues that
matter to them
before they get
caught up in plea-
surable exploits.
99
The mark of a new year as a time
of change and revitalization is not a
novel concept by any means, and it's
a particularly opportune time to affect
change on our campus. Students must
use these last few, precious weeks to
act on issues that matter to them be-
fore getting caught up in more plea-
surable exploits and wasting the re-
mainder of their energy griping about
their concerns. Speak at an SA meet-
ing or college cabinet, or pamphlet the
tables at the residential colleges, write
a letter or column for the Thresher, but
by all means do something that seeks
to improve student life and leave a
lasting contribution while you still
have a chance. Our student life is what
we make of it, and if we waste our op-
portunity to better it, we have no right
to complain about its flaws.
Amanda Melchor is a Hanszen
College senior and opinion editor.
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Chun, Lily & Farmer, Dylan. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, January 9, 2009, newspaper, January 9, 2009; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443122/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.