Opinion
Page 2/The Battalion/Friday, January 20, 1984
Press and public
gain from ruling
Despite President Reagan’s recent
claims that the press is unpatriotic and
not on “our side,” the Supreme Court
Wednesday upheld additional rights for
American journalists.
In a unanimous decision, the Court
ruled that judges may only in “rare cir
cumstances” bar reporters and the public
from jury selection in criminal trials.
Previously, the jury selection, or voir
dire, portion of the trial, could be closed
to the press and public at the judge’s dis
cretion. The Court’s decision, however,
further extends the concept of a open,
public trial. Chief Justice Warren Burger
said judges should only close the selection
proceedings when a prospective juror
may be publicly embarrassed by the series
of questions.
Several justices, writing in separate
opinions, believe that the rights of prop-
ective jurors will have to be defined more
clearly in subsequent cases.
Still, the Court’s strong stand on the
decision is a victory for both the press and
the public. The Sixth Amendment
guarantees justice through speedy and
public trials to all American citizens.
The editors of The Battalion feel that
the rights of those accused of crimes
override the rights to privacy of prospec
tive jurors, some of whom will eventually
decide the defendant’s fate.
Justice only can be administered in
fair and open procedures at all stages of
the trial, not in closed sessions where
potential for bargaining between the pro
secution and the defense exists. The pre
sence of the public and the press in jury
selections will be an additional aid to jus
tice.
By ruling against closure of jury selec
tion, the Supreme Court has further
strengthened both public and press
freedom.
— The Battalion Editorial Board
Letters:
Aggie code valid
Editor:
In response to Ms. Wiesepape’s edito
rial on the Aggie Honor Code, I think an
important ideology was misrepresented.
It seems that the Honor Code of not
lying, cheating, or stealing, along with
intolerance of those who do, was per
ceived to be a fact rather than a code of
guidance.
When taken in a factual context, the
Honor Code does take on a sense of
hypocrisy because it is ridiculous to think
that out of 35,000 people in a common
environment, all will exhibit these saintly
qualities. It also becomes easy to refute
the Honor Code with specific examples
of students’ misguided achievements and
embarrassing predicaments.
Like Ms. Wiesepape inferred, the
Honor Code is taught to most incoming
freshmen who go through orientation
processes, but this does not guarantee
strict compliance the minute they set foot
on the campus.
It seems the best way to interpret such
a demanding statement on life would be
to consider it first as a goal for one’s own
How the Bowl began
by ART BUCHWALD
Columnist for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate
The child came into his father’s study.
“Daddy, what was the world like before
there was Super Bowl Sunday?”
The elder was startled by the question.
“Why do you ask, son?”
“WeJJ, if this is Super Bowl XVIII, that
means there was a time when there was
no Super Bowl Sunday. What did people
do to get through the winter?”
“It’s hard to think back when there
wasn’t a Super Bowl Sunday. I guess we
went to church in the morning, read the
newspapers, watched an old movie on
television or, if you were unlucky, your
relatives would stop by uninvited to
spend the afternoon with you.
In some parts of the country, people
had nothing better to do but shovel snow
off their walks. In the Sun Belt I guess
they mowed their lawns. Before Super
Bowl Sunday no one gave a damn about
January. Thank heaven you’ll never live
through those times.”
“But how did they sell light beer, if
there was no Super Bowl Sunday?”
“There was no light beer in those days,
son. You had to drink your beer with
one-third more calories. It was a dark
period for breweries and ex-athletes who
did TV commercials.”
“Why are the Super Bowl games listed
in Roman numerals?” the boy asked.
“Because the people who thought up
the Super Bowl wanted it to be the most
important sporting event of the year. By
using Roman numerals they were able to
distinguish their championship game
from the Rose Bowl and the Orange and
Cotton Bowl, which were nothing more
than hyped-up college games. The far
sighted Super Bowl founders were deter
mined to make it the biggest, most specta
cular gridiron contest between men ever
to be seen on television. By placing Ro
man numerals on the games they guaran
teed that mania would infect the land.”
“Is Super Bowl Sunday more impor
tant than Christmas?”
“Let’s say it’s in the same class. In many
parts of the land Super Bowl Sunday has
taken on a religious significance that even
its disciples never dreamed of. For exam
ple, this year in Washington and Los
Angeles, people of all denominations will
get on their knees, face in the direction of
Tampa and pray for their respective
teams.
“Millions more will gather around
their television sets rooting for one or the
other team of gladiators, not for religious
reasons, but because the contest will de
cide once and for all the professional
football championship of the world.”
“Some of my friends say Super Bowl
Sunday no longer is a religious holiday,
and is only an excuse for a lot of people to
make a lot of money.”
“Your friends are wrong. No one in
volved with the Super Bowl ever thinks
about the money. The thing that makes
the Super Bowl so super is that they’ve
managed to keep crass commercialism
from sullying the game. The players, the
owners, the TV advertisers and even the
bookies would be the last ones to let
financial considerations interfere with
the joys and thrills of Super Bowl
Sunday.”
“What’s the point spread, Dad?”
“Washington by III, but I had to give
IV to Healy because he’s always looking
for an edge.”
MTV production difficult
By Dave Spence
Very late last Saturday night I decided to
tune-in to Music Television, or “MTV,”
on my newly souped-up, cable-modified
TV. The image on the screen at that mo
ment was of a rail-thin, British post
adolescent with starched, I-guess-you’d-
call-it-yellow hair sitting in a pub booth
with, I think, a girl. (It might have been
his bass player, I wasn’t sure). They were
sipping sodas and he was singing “her” a
song off his newest album, which is near
the top of the charts this week.
As with most people, the “wee-er” the
hours get in the night, the more strangely
things strike me, and that night I began to
imagine what on earth it must be like for
those poor video directors to get emerg
ing rock stars, some bordering on illitera
cy, to act worth a damn.
Only relatively few bands ever got on
the Ed Sullivan Show, but today almost
every single release is accompanied by a
promotional video.
reader’s forum
Small studios from Berlin to London
to L.A. must be jammed with cameras,
special-effects equipment, restless rock
groups with infinitely strange names, and
frustrated third-rate (i.e., “artsy“) film
directors trying to shoot videos as fast as
the songs are recorded.
“All right, quiet on the set! I need the
band members over here. Dirk, you get in
the hot rod. Flem, you sit next to him and
beat the dash with your drumsticks. Bo,
you’re at the corner buying flowers from
the girl. And Blood — where’s Blood? —
ah, Blood, you are in the intersection with
the flower girl.
“We stot with me smashin’ me guitar,
right?”
“No, Blood, you hang on to your
guitar. You play it, remember? In the
middle of the intersection, like in the
script.”
“Then I smash it latuh?”
“Sure, sure. But get in your place now.
Listen fellas, Blood plays a few bars to
start off with and about that time Bo
walks up to the girl to buy some flowers.
Blood — still in the intersection — gets
raging jealous and begins the vocals with,
‘Oh, oh, oh, baby, if he touches you I’ll
smash his life.’”
“’E says ’smash ’is life.”
“Right. Sorry, Bo. He sings ’smash his
life,’ then, Dirk, you charge Blood with
the hot rod like you’re going to run him
over for kicks — while you, Flem, are
beating on the dash. This time try to keep
the same tempo as the song. You looked
pretty clumsy in that last video.”
“This car’s not fast enough fo’ me. I
need a fastuh car.”
“This one will have to do. We’ve
already painted the flames all over it like
you wanted.”
“When ’e comes, I smash me guitar on
’is hood, right?”
“No, you’re not done playing it yet.
You dodge the hot rod and run over to
Bo and the girl. You should be to ‘Oh, oh,
oh, baby, your carnations electrify my
mind.’”
“But these are geraniums.”
“I know, but Blood smashed all our
carnations in yesterdays shooting. OK ...
the finale: Dirk, you turn the car around
and this time ram the flower stand full-
throttle. Flowers go flying. The girl runs
off in fright. Bo decides she’s not worth it.
Dirk, in the wreck you destroy Blood’s
guitar, so the two of you become friends.
You all pile in the car, back over the
guitar once — ”
“Twice!”
(Sigh) “Twice. And then drive off in a
screech of rubber.”
(Editor’s note: Dave Spence is a senior
English major).
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
. Editor Rebeca Zimmermann
Managing Editor John Wagner
City Editor : Patrice Koranek
Assistant City Editors. Kathleen Hart,
Stephanie Ross
News Editor . Tracey Taylor
Assistant News Editors Susan Talbot,
Wanda Winkler
Editorial Page Editor Kathy
Wiesepape
Sports Editor Donn Friedman
Assistant Sports Editor Bill Robinson
Entertainment Editor Shelley Hoekstra
Assistant Entertainment Editor Angel
Stokes
Photo Editor John Makely
Staff Writers Robin Black, Brigid
Brockman, Bob Caster,
Ronnie Crocker, Bonnie
Langford, Christine Mallon,
Kay Mallett, Sarah Oates,
Michelle Powe, Lauri Reese,
Dave Scott, Kelley Smith,
Karen Wallace
Photographers Michael Davis,
Bill Hughes, Katherine Hurt,
Eric Lee, Dean Saito
Cartoonists Paul Dirmeyer,
t .tV Scott McCullar
Editorial Policy
'■ A .
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The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper
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Questions or comments concerning any editorial mat
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Letters Policy
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The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for
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Columns and guest editorials also are welcome, and
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Address all inquiries and correspondence to: Editor,
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,F<
self, and only then expect to see it on a
University-wide basis. The problems the
Honor Code seeks to combat are very
personal in nature, and it takes more
than codified peer pressure to complete
ly solve them, although I do think it is a
start.
With such a personality-oriented
statement, “practical enforcement” may
be too idealistic, while dropping the Hon
or Code to “avoid the taint of hypocrisy”
does not pass my cost-benefit analysis.
If all students do their best possible to
maintain the standards represented by
the Aggie Code of Honor, then I believe a
sound majority that attends Texas A&M
will maintain its respected and admired
reputation, despite the few who continue
to lie, cheat or steal.
Doug Rogers
Class of ’83
Abortion: no
neutral ground
1/
By M
Act of God?
Editor:
The damage that Cod reportedly did
in several dorm rooms over the holidays
wasn’t caused by any neglect of God or
the students. If God had turned off the
heat in the dorms, I could see how one
would be able to call it an act of God. In
my opinion, neither God nor the students
turned off the heat in the dorm — God
turned off the heat outside.
It’s a matter of ethics. I believe the
Univeristy turned off the heat in the
dorms, so they should pay for the dam
ages.
I would like to suggest that next year,
when the Univeristy turns off the heat in
the dorms, they make some effort to
draw the water from the steam and water
lines. I believe this would save money as
was the intention this year.
Steve Feeney
Hart Hall
Editor:
January 22, 1984 marks the!
anniversity of the legalized slaugkj|. Rich
unborn babies, via the SupremeC P ia y° r {
Roe v. Wade pro-abortion decision.■ lur ^ a
judiciary body made a legislativedeoF 11
which overruled the legally statedkiE| S p r ^‘ s
the people in most states.
In one decision, the Supreme 11^ at t h
overturned abortion laws acrossfil run
country and determined that a balMich wil
any gestation age could be killed. Ileat and
said such an excuse as the psycho!,! 11 N° vei
health of the mother was reasone Jr aa * i
to tear or burn the baby out o[p OUIU '
mother’s womb.
Eleven years later, the murderofl
fenseless babies continues. AbortioJ
proven itself to lie of psychologicald
ment to the women as well. Bynotspc
ing up, one gives consent to thisma
day holocaust. There is none
ground.
Jacob Paul Pel
(Editor’s note: this letter was accnj
nied by 13 signatures.)
i facul
Darwin omittedP'o
imroval
approval.
The b(
Editor:
On Jan. 14, the Texas Board of Edff ame : s ’
tion ratified a measure stating thaiff j^ 1 ^
Jf
Holt arms race
Editor:
The Student Peace Action is not, in
fact, as a group, advocating unilateral dis
armament, nor are any of the other orga
nizations also organizing the walk and
rally this Saturday. I suppose it is natural,
however, to assume, as does B. Mecum,
that a person whose philosophy and poli
tics differs from your own is suffering
from a lack of information and under
standing of the issues at hand. Is ques
tioning or protesting the actions of the
U.S. government, in itself, really evi
dence of nonsensical, unrealistic beliefs?
Those organizaitons (Student Peace
Action, Brazos Valley Sierra Club, Brazos
Valley National Organization for
Women) involved in the walk and rally
(8:30 a.m., St. Theresa Church, Lucky at
Hall in Bryan, down Hwy. 6) and the
individuals comprising each, hold a great
variety of philosophies and politics, have
many different opinions about the prob
lem and have many different ideas con
cerning the answer.
Two things these individuals have in
common is a distaste for thejeopardy and
uncertainty in which their future exist
ence has been placed, and a demand for
an honest attempt at reversing the nuc
lear arms race. It is my personal opinion
that the popular we’ll-talk-after-we-
catch-up approach toward this end is not
completely honest and has proven itself
useless in the past. I personally feel that
reversing the nuclear arms race is not
only possible, but simply must be accom
plished before most of us have any reason
to suspect that we will be alive tomorrow.
S. Cogburn
Class of ’87
textbooks do not have to mentionClia
Darwin and his theory of evolulion j
By this move, the Board will i
itself of a great burden and willallov|
publishing companies, who are;
trying to correlate public opinionl
profit margins, to quietly succumbiM -
vocal minority of persons whoaru
mently anti-evolution. Is the Illy rq
Board of Education so spineless th™
connot resist pressure from the:l
damentalist Christian hordes, orisii® For t
simply a majority of Board memberite* L the
actually do not believe evolutionMx*| :, ' on 31
In other action, the Board letso®?^ 015
10-year-old rule equating evolution® 1 ”^ |
other ideas of human origin, suchasi* cl j on j r
tionism. Irhursc
It appears that Texas hasane^ ve Hu
lished history of ignorance in scifBumbo
education. It is incredible that scicJjljust ta
in the 1980s have to defend evoliif^Alpha
Perhaps when one remembers than
your President, Ronald Reagan,
stated publicly that he does not nil
port evolution, it is easier to undera
the proliferation of this anti-science,]
religion viewpoint.
Is the Board’s measure consisteni'
Reagan’s drive to improve sciencee
tion in America? Obviously, thercBu
id^ u/Vin u/nnld ^
more than a few persons who wouldl
so.
Hu
to
sly pa
nana H
in sout
The various cliques of fundame®
ists, “creation scientists” and their Humana
porters (some in high places) and ppioval, h
tactics that try to supress truescienti
repugnant to me.
For those of you who feel likewise:
believe that such things produce
write letters to your legislators, theT(
Board of Education or other govei
figureheads to express your dismayai]
Board’s ratification.
All persons interested in educal
especially persons directly involvedit|
sciences, shoidd be outraged and
frightened. Indeed, this selective
sion of one of the most important
tific advances of mankind remindsoi
the rewritten histories describe
Orwell’s 1984.
Rex Allen
Geology Graduate Si
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lastly, tl
jse^oning
"You won't believe this, but I've already been asked if we
were holding class on Friday before Spring Break."