Trilogy of opinion

This week, I bring three important issues to the table. Close to home, we need to revive our beautiful Drumheller Fountain, and clean out the filthy Frosh Pond. On the national scene, we as citizens must let our lawmakers know we support federal stem cell funding. Finally, on the cultural scene, a couple of choice words about everyone's favorite politician, former President Bill Clinton.

Turn on the fountain!

The sounds of summer are a little quieter on our beautiful campus this year ... the revelry, a little less joyous. Something's missing; some vibrant, integral part of our campus is absent. As I walk from the HUB to my psychology class in Bagley Hall, I stop by the gorgeous rose garden and the tranquil Frosh Pond. A few quacking ducks swim along its stone banks, mingling with each other in the mysterious green liquid.

There in the middle of the pond sleeps the majestic Drumheller Fountain, silenced since this past fall quarter. As I recall its glorious sprays of odorous mist, woven into the sunny afternoons, I shed a single tear, a tear which plummets into a pond which would long since have evaporated beneath the baneful sun. But the pond endures, for it is filled with the tears shed by many such students as I, who wistfully recall the times long past.

Really, we need to turn that fountain back on, and let it live again. The Drumheller Fountain has been the symbol of this university ever since its construction those many decades ago. It has been subdued because our coast is short on energy this year. That's well and good that we're doing our best to conserve energy, keep the lights on, and maintain a reasonable budget. But surely this is the most heinous wrong we have ever delivered unto this sweet, lush campus. There have got to be other ways to cut down electrical usage, and divert the water and power saved into our glorious fountain.

After all, without the fountain, Frosh Pond is nothing more than a polluted cesspool, where shopping carts go to die and chemists go for Nobel inspirations. Let us turn off a few more lights, or shut down some of the campus air conditioners. Let us propose a campus landmarks fee -- a voluntary quarterly fee I would gladly pay -- so that Drumheller will be able to operate, and the Frosh Pond will have a revenue base from which we can draft a cleanup plan.

Universities are supposed to be beautiful. By leaving the fountain fallow, and the pond poisoned, we are perpetuating a cultural dark age, at least as dark than anything a mere power and water shortage could possibly deal.

Stem-cell research a must!

Science is replete with important ramifications, each of which should be publicly debated by the public, both in our auditoriums and at our dinner tables. That very few people actually bother to learn the full science behind some of the most important issues facing us today -- such as global warming and genetic engineering -- reflects poorly on our nation and its citizens. Science was never meant to be an arcane thing; it is supposed to be for everyone.

Most of you already have an opinion on the ethics of stem research. I'm not going to change any minds with some scanty few words here. But what I would like to do is point out, objectively, some of the benefits and detriments of stem-cell research, which you may not have been fully aware of.

Stem cells are blank cells capable of turning into specialized cells, like nerve, muscle, fat, blood and so on. They exist in many species, and every human being has them. In very young beings, such as aborted fetuses and abandon embryos, the stem cells are more receptive to manipulation in the lab -- adult stem cells don't hold a candle in terms of potential usefulness.

Diseases and injuries, from heart attacks to Parkinson's disease, can severely damage the specialized cells in our bodies, and if science and medicine had the ability to synthesize stem cells in the lab and then implant these cells into a damaged body, where they would become replacements for the lost cells, we would greatly improve the quality of human life in this society. Greatly diminished would be the extent of human suffering.

Is this immoral? Scientists don't actually destroy life to get their stem cells--they use beings that have already died. But the argument is reasonably proposed that it could go beyond that, if demand for stem cells ever becomes sufficiently high.

I believe the potential danger is worth the benefits. I base this belief upon my faith that our courts and lawmakers will be able to provide some sufficiently elaborate framework that will assure us that wanton destruction of human life will always be a criminal act.

Federal funding will streamline the field, increase the rate of returns, and unite many of our nation's top scientists who will not be able to touch the stuff until it is authorized by the federal government -- the bread and butter of many scientists. It will calm a lot of suffering. This is something that we should all rally behind.

Bill Clinton: one in a million

New York Gov. George Pataki declared July 30 William Jefferson Clinton Day in New York, the very day our former president opened his new offices in Harlem. After being neutered by the GOP and spending several months licking his wounds, Clinton is ready to emerge out of his brief veil of political obscurity and resume his political career with a bang.

His charisma is unparalleled. His intellect is daunting. His political contacts are beyond count. His new office furniture is damn nice. He is a powerful white man with more friends than enemies in Harlem. Foreign leaders cry on his shoulder when Bush goes off on one of his ideological tangents. That's impressive. New Yorkers have even speculated that he might run for mayor -- and many of them are fond of the idea!

I for one am glad to see our top Democrat back in his usual, inimitable form. Let us hope that he enjoys a happy continued political career, continues to serve this country and his own interests with the grace of a saint, and has learned well enough to steer clear of the interns.

Move over, Sacagawea. Give this man the gold dollar!