Galway Advertiser 1998/1998_07_30/GA_30071998_E1_022.pdf 

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Comment & Letters Tealth Care, Mr Clinton & Ms Lewinsky^
It was the great American journalist HL Mencken who once bleakly observed, "At the end of one millennium and nine centuries of Christianity, it remains an unshakable assumption of the law in all Christian countries and of the moral judgement of Christians everywhere that if a man and a woman, entering a room together, close the door behind them, the man will come out sadder and the woman wiser." Of course, at issue in the case of President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky is whether, in fact, they did enter a room together (or a convenient broom closet) and shut the door. However, there can be hole doubt that the man in this case, who happens to be the most important political figure in the United States and quite possibly the world, is certainly sadder as aresultof any association, however innocent, he may have had with Lewinsky. Whether the "full-figured bnmnette", as the Irish Times rather saucily refers to her, has emerged from the experience a wiser woman may, however, be seriously doubted. Likewise, whether the rest of the world - indeed, the vast majority of the American pub lic - is either interested or concerned about what may or may not have gone on behind that closed door is also open to question. If the poll figures showing Clinton's enormous popularity can be believed, most Americans are quite unfazed by the possibility that he and Lewinsky might have had, in the words of the former White House intern's first lawyer, "a consenting relationship between two adults". The fact is, there is something very puzzling, even sinister, about this whole business. How is it that the alleged sexual peccadillioes of the President of the United States have become the subject of a major legal investigation, yards of media coverage, and thou sands of crude jokes? The answer to that question is an interesting one.

Suggestions for Galway's new causeway
Dear Editor, As plans for Galway's sewage treatment plant move closer to com pletion, many Galwegians no doubt look forward to the nice park sug gested by the Pilkington Plan. While things are still in the discussion and planning stages, please permit me to make one more suggestion. In the Netherlands, about ten per cent of newly-reclaimed land is reserved for wildlike and nature conservation. It is not left fallow, but carefully managed to create suitable wildlife habitat. Galway Bay is internationally famous for its water fowl and shorebirds, and the plant will attract even more birds. Would it not be a great idea to make a modest part of the causeway park inaccessible to people and their pets to create a secure resting area for shore birds, maybe even a nest ing colony? I'm sure that with some creative landscaping, with ditches and shrubs, such an undisturbed area would be beautiful to humans as well as valuable to wildlife. Interpretative displays, such as those at Booterstown DART station in Dublin, and a birdwatching blind would add more attraction to the park.
Yours sincerely, Peter Paul van Dijk Glann Road, Oughterard

Clinton a victim of partisan vendetta?
Apart from President Clinton, the man whose name is now almost equally linked with Lewinsky is Kenneth Starr. And what's his interest in what Clinton and Lewinsky allegedy did or not get up to behind the closed door? Therein lies a tale, and one that arouses more than a little suspicion that there is more to this case than meets the eye. In 1994 Kenneth Starr was appointed to the position of special prosecutor. This followed persistent Republican (the opposition political party to the Democrats, of whom Clinton is the leader) allegations that the president and his wife managed to make an awful lot of money very quickly as theresultof some well-timed investment in 230 acres of Arkansas swamp land called Whitewater. Since 1994 Starr's office, which is publicly funded, has spent millions of dollars attempt ing to substantiate these, and otherrelated,allegations. While he has uncovered some not quite kosher business practices on the part of some of Clinton's associates when he was Governor of Arkansas, after five years of well-funded, open-ended investigation, he has never found any evidence of criminal behaviour by either the president or his wife. There seems to be a generally shared consensus that Ken Starr, who is a Republican, does not like Clinton and is, quite simply, out to get him, and that he is prepared to follow any trail if it enables him to find evidence of presidential wrong-doing. Otherwise it is diffi cult to understand Starr's almost obsessive preoccupation with Clinton's sexual activities. This vendetta-style approach hardly sits comfortably with his position of special prose cutor, which is supposed to be independent and non-partisan.

Loyal punter 'disgusted' by races admission increase
| Dear Editor,

Right-wing conspiracy against a liberal president?
There is yet anotherreasonfor viewing this entire business with uneasiness, and this has been expressed most cogently by the novelist and some-time politician Gore Vldal. According to Vidal, whorepresentsthe most liberal side of the American political spec trum, the Right, both political andreligious,has it in for Clinton, who has been the most socially liberal president since Franklin D Roosevelt, whose battery of social measures, attacked as 'communist' at the time, helped depression-era America climb back to pros perity. Vidal points in particular to Clinton's radical health care package, in which his wife also had a major input, (hat would have considerably eased the financial burden on the ordi nary citizen who became ill and needed full-time cosily medical care. Most Irish people know someone - perhaps a relative - who has found out just how crippling health care costs can be in the United States. You would imagine that a programme of legislation designed toremovethis fearful bur den would be greeted with universal acclaim. And by most people it was. But not be doc tors, surgeons, and the big pharmaceutical companies, who saw the big bucks they had become used to seriously threatened. And so, argues Vidal, a sinister coalition of busi ness interests, the religious right and Republicans,who hated Clinton and all he stands for, joined forces. And indeed they succeeded in destroying Clinton's health package, in the process managing to him Mrs Clinton into a hate figure, even casting aspersions on her sexual preferences. The fact that the president's handling of the economy has been masterly, that unemployment figures are at their lowest ever, and that Clinton is widely regarded as an astute and likeable person only makes this sinister coalition more deter mined to bring bun down. Conspiracy theory? Maybe, but as the saying goes, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean people aren't out to get you. The most serious charge against Clinton is that he urged Lewinsky to lie about her alleged relationship with him. Lewinsky has now been given full immunity by Starr; in effect, a kind of licence to make whatever accusations she feels like making. The fact that this woman has shown herself to be unreliable on several other occasions, and that she has been bullied by Starr into giving testimony (he had previously refused to grant her the kind of blanket immunity her first lawyer was seeking) suggests that he is so desper ate to get Clinton that he will do anything at all he can to damage him. Whatever hap pens in this silly business, and whether or not there actually is a full-scale conspiracy against a liberal president, there certainly seems to be at least presumptive evidence that what really animates the special prosecutor's office is a crudely partisan vendetta of a kind that is of much greater potential danger to the office of the presidency than anything ^Mr Clinton may or may not have got up to once the door was closed.

As a punter who has been racing at the Galway Races for over 30 years, I am disgusted to see yet another increase in admission. Not only that, but those who have cars now have to pay again. This was done away with last year, but since this new manager has taken over, he seems to be hell bent on destroying one of the best race meetings in Ireland, [ which depends on the local punters and those who! travel from outside the country for this meeting | only. There were quite a few complaints last year froml punters regarding the increases and the cost of food, drink and the Comb stand. The last thing rac ing punters need is a Royal Galway Races! Racel meetings like the one in Galway should be an I affordable day out for everyone. It's time for a I reduction in prices. So the sooner this manager| goes, the better.
Name and address with editor

Dear Editor, With reference to Sunday work and trading, Archbishop Neary of Tuam has publicly decried what he terms "the desecration of the Sabbath". It should be pointed out to the Archbishop that Sunday is not and never has been the Sabbath day. The Sabbath day is the sev enth day of the week; it is and has always been from sundown on Friday to Sundown on Saturday. For political reasons the obser vance of the Sabbath was changed from the the sev enth to the first day of the

Sunday is not the Sabbath

week, the day of the sun, by decree of Constantine, Emperor of Rome, in 321 AD, and has been observed by the Catholic Church and, by extension, most Protestant Churches, with the notable exception of the Seventh Day Adventist Chuch, ever since. However, nowhere in the entire Bible is this change authorised by word or deed. Therefore Sunday work and trading is, in fact, correct Christian practice.
Yours faithfully, Karis Storan The Stables, Oranmore.

Team success due to power of prayer
Dear Editor,

Origin of the Claddagh Ring
Dear Editor,

In the recent issue of the Galway Advertiser, in an arti cle on the Claddagh Ring, you state that the design was created by Richard Joyce. I had a conversation with Key West treasure slavor Mel Fisher about the ring. He has found many aboard Spanish galleons in the Florida Keys and he stated that the ring was originally Greek. The Spanish used it for centuries, and it was introduced to Galway by Spanish traders.
Gabriel Donohue Ridgewood, New Jersey (originally from Athenry)

Brian Kerr, the team's wonderful coach and manager who steered Ireland's young team to become European Champions in their victory against Germany, was inter T H I S viewed immediately after the match for the benefit of TV viewers internationally. The leading question to him was: 'What's the secret of your success?" To which Brian replied without hesitation. 'The prayers and rosaries of the mother's (of Ireland)". May we invite Brian and so many of the players as are available to show their gratitude with us and the people of Ireland for this extraordinary success, which brings credit to Ireland and its young people, by participating in the National Marian Procession on Saturday August IS, com mencing at 2.00pm for the Garden of Remembrance, Pamell Square, Dublin 1.
Yours sincerely, T G O'Mahony, Director C C Centre on behalf of the National Prayer Crusade and Christian Community Alliance.

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