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About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from May 2000.
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widespread cynicism bordering on alienation, and that worries me greatly," he said to the audience of just over 2,000, who were not deterred by temperatures in the mid-50s and a light drizzle.
"When the people come to believe that politics has become so polarising, and government has become so dysfunctional that it no longer serves our basic constitutional ends, civil consensus will eventually deteriorate to the point that our culture might fragment beyond recognition."
McCain, who was held captive for five years during the Vietnam war, was chosen to deliver the address at Colgate's 179th commencement by a committee of students, faculty members and trustees.
"The fault for public cynicism and alienation does not lie with the people," he said. "It lies with those of us who are privileged to hold public office. We are to blame for the sickness in American political life. It is we who have squandered the public trust."
'Pursuit of money revolting,' says Uta Hagen
Madison, Wis. (AP) - Uta Hagen is no capitalist. "Don't want to get rich!" the 80-year-old actress said during commencement exercises at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. "The pursuit of money today is revolting."
But when it comes to pursuing dreams, "be relentless about it," she advised the graduates. "Don't let anyone talk you out of it. ... Here I am, having a ball at my age, and it's all because I love what I do."
Too many people, she said, spend their lives working to get rich, plotting how to keep their money and pushing their children to pursue lofty financial goals. That's missing the point of living, she said.
"They are usually miserable human beings in my experience," she said. "They run to drugs, they run to liquor, anything to run from their miserable lives."
Hagen, who received an honorary doctorate at Saturday's commencement, attended UW-Madison for a year before pursuing private acting instruction. Her father, Oskar Hagen, founded the university's art history department.
She won Tonys for her performances in Clifford Odets' "The Country Girl" and Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" She also has spent 50 years teaching acting.
Virtues not values, says Will
Easton, Pennsylvania (AP) - Syndicated columnist George F. Will told graduates of Lafayette College that the culture mistakenly emphasises values over virtues.
"Hitler had lots of values. But George Washington had virtues," Will said. "When we move beyond talk of good and evil, when the categories of virtue and vice are transcended, we are left with the thin gruel of values-talk, the talk of a non-judgemental age, an age that is only judgmental about the sin of being judgmental."
The columnist went on to tell the 512 graduates that virtues are difficult to develop and not accessible to all.
"Therefore, speaking of virtues rather than values is considered elitist, offensive to democracy's egalitarian, levelling ethos," he said. "I say that is precisely why talk of virtues should be revived and talk of values should be abandoned."
Dancing Prince
Edinburgh, Scotland (AP) - Was it a compliment, or was dance teacher Carol-Ann Stephenson carefully choosing her words when she said Prince Charles has "plenty of potential"?
Stephenson partnered Charles in a merengue when the heir to the throne visited the new DanceBase centre on Saturday.
"It was a great pleasure to dance with the Prince of Wales. He has natural rhythm," said Stephenson.
"I certainly enjoyed our dance, and I think he did as well. The merengue is a very passionate, sensual dance and although he had never tried it before he was picking up the moves very well," she said. "He has great potential."
Romance for Keiko
Salem, Oregon (AP) - Love could be in the air - or CONT'D ON PAGE A20 Dance teacher Carol Ann Stephenson, 32, from Edinburgh shows the Prince of Wales steps on the dance floor during a visit to the Dance Base in Edinburgh, a National centre for Dance in Scotland, Saturday 20 May. Photo: AP FROM PAGE A19 water - for Keiko the killer whale.
Within a few weeks, the world's most famous captive whale could fall in love and swim off into the sunset. Right now, the "Free Willy" star lives in a netted section of a bay on an island just off the coast of Iceland.
But officials told the Statesman Journal newspaper in Salem they worry that construction of a pier near the enclosure, with the sounds of blasting and pile driving, could create shock waves and low-frequency vibrations that could harm the whale. The plan is to guide Keiko out of his enclosed bay and into the ocean during the noisiest work, then return him to his pen. Of course, there's no guarantee that Keiko - who spent 2 1/2 years at an Oregon aquarium before being shipped to Iceland - will return after he is led out of the bay. He's been taught to follow the trainer's boat when instructed to do so, but once he's in the open ocean, no one knows what will happen.
Head trainer Jeff Foster said groups of 25 to 30 killer whales have been hanging around outside the bay following schools of tasty herring. "When Keiko gets exposed to another whale, he'll be very interested and very excited," Foster predicted. "Right now, he's like a teen-age boy. You know, spring is in the air, and he's been pretty frisky."
Conspicuous consumers
Los Angeles (AP) - Ashley Judd and Kevin Spacey are among the celebrities who wear some of the big-ticket items named in the Robb Report's 12th annual "Best of the Best" list for conspicuous consumers.
The luxury lifestyle magazine's latest list, which hits news-stands Monday, includes everything from cufflinks to convertibles in its 125 categories.
Judd wears Oscar de la Renta, praised for upholding traditional evening wear lines. And Spacey sported an Aspery and Garrard watch and cufflinks at the Academy Awards, items represented on the list of wants by the affluent.
"Prices do not drive our final choice, but quality certainly does. Being in vogue is a non-issue," publisher Paul Dean said.
The $360,000 Rolls-Royce Corniche and $45 million Boeing Business Jet also made the list.
Brown sued for firing
Los Angeles (AP) - A former executive for singer James Brown's company has sued him for more than $1 million, claiming she was fired for refusing his sexual advances.
Lisa Ross Agbalaya was president of West Coast operations for The New James Brown Enterprises Inc. and James Brown West, where her duties included getting singing and appearance contracts for the entertainer.
Agbalaya, who was fired in February, said she had worked for Brown since 1993. "Mr. Brown repeatedly harassed Mrs. Agbalaya and propositioned her for sex, despite his knowledge that she had been happily married for eight years and was the mother of two children," attorney Shelly D. McMillan said in a wrongful termination and sexual harassment lawsuit filed in Superior Court.
"After Mrs. Agbalaya rejected Mr. Brown's many sexual advances, Mr. Brown retaliated against Mrs. Agbalaya and ultimately fired her," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit seeks more than $1 million in compensatory and punitive damages as well as court costs.
A message for Brown's attorney, Debra Opri, was not returned.
Come back Fonda, says Parton
Radnor, Pennsylvania (AP) - Dolly Parton says she would love for her "Nine to Five" co-star Jane Fonda to return to acting, even though Fonda has said she has no plans to do so.
"Maybe now that Jane doesn't have to answer to Ted Turner anymore, we can make her do something," Parton says in the 27 May issue of TV Guide. "I think people would love to see us do another movie together."
Fonda and media titan Turner recently separated after eight years of marriage.
Parton says that when she made her feature movie debut in 1980's "Nine to Five", her inexperience showed.
"I had never seen a movie made, and I didn't know they were shot out of sequence," she said. "I thought it was like a play, so I memorised every word of the script. To this day, Jane thinks that's one of the funniest things she's ever heard."
Another of the "Nine to Five" co-stars would also love to work with Fonda again. "I'd work with Jane again in a minute," Lily Tomlin said.
Madonna's boyfriend arrested
London (AP) – Madonna's film director boyfriend was arrested for pushing an "alleged fan" who tried to open the pregnant singer's car door after harassing the couple for five months, the boyfriend's spokesman said.
Guy Ritchie, director of the British hit "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels", was questioned for an hour after the incident Wednesday and then released, his spokesman, Kris Thykier, said Friday.
Police would release no details of the case, but said a decision would be made 1 June whether to press any charges. The name of the 20-year-old man who lodged the complaint was not disclosed.
Madonna and Ritchie announced in March that they were expecting a child. The singer divorced actor Sean Penn in 1989, and has a 3-year-old daughter, Lourdes, from her relationship with Carlos Leon.
Kissinger succeeds Thatcher
Williamsburg, Virginia (AP) - Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has been appointed chancellor of the College of William and Mary, succeeding former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the largely ceremonial post.
"Over the 300 years of its existence, William and Mary has educated three United States presidents, numerous senators and congressmen, and many others who have contributed mightily to our nation and world," Kissinger said Friday, adding that he looked forward to taking on the new role.
He served as secretary of state under US presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for his efforts to negotiate an end to the war in Vietnam.
William and Mary, established in 1693 by King William III and Queen Mary II, is the United States' second-oldest college, after Harvard University.
