Opinion
Texas voters
ca n ta ke
their pick
A misconception has evolved in the
American political system. Voters are
trained early in life that they are ex
pected to affiliate themselves with one
political party or another — to exclu
sively be either a Democrat or a Republi
can.
But Texas voters don’t have to affiliate
with one of the two major parties to par
ticipate in the primaries. What’s more,
they can vote in either primary they wish.
You have a choice.
For a democracy to function properly
there must be free and open elections. If
you as a voter are not satisfied with what
one party is offering, it is your right to
vote in another party’s primary.
as a
Under Texas law, registration
member of a party occurs when you vote
in that party’s primary. You can change
your party affiliation every time a pri
mary election is held.
Don’t get caught up in party titles
when you go to the polls Saturday. Make
your choice on the merits of the individ
ual candidates and choose your party
primary on the basis of that evaluation.
It’s not only your right, it’s your re
sponsibility.
— The Battalion Editorial Board
A reminder
Page 2/The BattalionAVednesday, May 3, 1984
It’s a great system for the parties. Vot
ers think they must be one or the other if
they’re to have any say in the party pri
maries. And when it comes down to the
national election, how many uninformed
citizens are prompted by party loyalty to
pull the lever or punch the card for the
straight ticket?
Monday, two groups of Texas A&M
students took time to remember two
events in history — events often buried
in history books and forgotten by gente-
rations who didn’t witness them.
For three hours in front of the Memo
rial Student Center, students from va
rious religous groups read a list of names
of French citizens who died in the Holo
caust, in commemoration of that tragic
event.
On that same day, members from the
Vietnamese Student Association com
memorated the fall of South Vietnam
nine years ago. They quietly waved their
flag and sang songs in their native lan
guage while passing out flyers and talk
ing to the passers-by.
Two groups reminding us, in a peace
ful way, of two tragedies. During this
time of the semester, most students are
wrapped up in themselves and their
studies. It’s good to see these students
making the effort to remind us of things
we shouldn’t forget.
— The Battalion Editorial Board
The Battalion
(JSPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Bill Robinson, editor
Stephanie Ross, managing editor
Kathy Wiesepape, editorial page editor
Shelley Hoekstra, city editor
Brigid Brockman, news editor
Kelley Smith, news editor
Ed Cassavoy, sports editor
The Battalion Staff , Letters Policy
Letters to the Editor should not exceed
300 words in length. The editorial stall' re-
Assistant City Editors Melissa Adair. «■"« ' l,r "> ,ruc ™ lor •" ,rf
MirhHIt* Powe length out ivtll make every eitort to maintain
. K , _ f , the author's intent. Each letter must be signed
Asststant News Editors Boi tie L..n B ford w imhlde . „ lc , nd , r , el ^„ nr
Tracie Lynn Holub. Kellie Dworaczyk numberol the writer.
Assistant Sports Editor Travis Tingle Our address: The Battalion. 216 Reed Mc-
Al Ease Editor Bill Hughes Donald Building. Texas A AM University. Col-
Assistant At Ease Editor Angel Stokes leffe Station. TX 776-43.
Senior Reporters Patrice Koranek.
Robin Black Bob Caster, Dave Scott Editorial Policy
Staff Wnters.....Ed Alains. Shawn Beblei . The Batta/ion «a non-profit, scll-suppor,.
Dena Brown, Daniah Bullaid, inf( newspaper operateti as a community ser\-
Leigh-Ellcn Clark. Tony Cornett, /c< - lw Texas A&M and Bryan-Colleffe Station.
Suzy Fisk. Patti Flint, Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those
Kari Fluegel. Donn Friedman, ol' the Editorial Board or the author, and do
Louis I lilgartner, Scott Long, not necessarily represent the opinions ol Texas
Karla Martin. Kimberlee D. Norris adni/ms/rarors. Inculty or the Board or
Sarah Oates. Jan Perry. ^f.e Bar,.,/;,.,. xrv „ „ a fabor.a-.r,
Lynn Rae Povec.James R.Ualker ,„ r repomn*. cdiiing
C°P> Editors TLithv Breard, photography classes within the Depart-
Kaye Pafitneier rnent of Communications.
Photographers Dean Saito „ . . . .. . . ..
.Lflv Rrw-li . United Press IntcrnMutnal is entitled exclusixelv
John M.lkely, reter Koctl.l, fo lhc usc f nr reproduction of all ne**s dispatches
Mike Davis, John Ryan crctliti-d to it. Rights of reproduction t>f all other
Cartoonist Scott McCullar matter herein rcscrxxd.
Sccorul class postage paid at (Utllrgc Station.
TX 77643.
Letters:
Corps record is
exactly two percent
Editor:
I wuld like to take the time to ex
press thanks to “The Backbone of
Texas A&M and The Spirit of Ag-
gieland,” the Fightin’ Texas Aggie
Cadet Corps for their wonderful
support of the 1984 Texas A&M
Baseball Team.
I was wondering who left the
map for you to find Olsen Field on
your Corps trip to the Rice game
Friday night. If you were going to
leave after the fifth inning, why did
you even bother to show up?
But at least you made part of
one game, and one game out of 50
makes you exactly 2 percent. Con
gratulations, guys!
Brian Turner
Class of ’81
By BET
1984 in Aggielond
ML, IF WE CANT ABOLISH SLAVERY RIGHT NOW,
LETS AT LEAST ESTABLISH SECRETARIES WEEK
Editor:
Big Brother Aggie.
From the moment an innocent
freshman arrives in Aggieland, Big
Brother Aggie is hard at work
shaping his mind. Beginning with
the Aggie propaganda at Fish
Camp, Big Brother Aggie directs
every Aggie to accept what he
feeds to him without question.
One cannot express ideas differ
ently from Big Brother Aggies be
cause he has molded the student
body in his image and draws sup
port from those whose mind he
controls.
Big Brother Aggie is a tradition
at Texas A&M that dictates this
commandment: “Do not think dif
ferently, for Highway 6 runs both
ways.”
Glenn S. Murtha
Class of’86
Former White House old blasts
the Washington press corps
By JIM ANDERSON
Columnist for United Press International
ing Robert Redford play them
when a movie is made of their next
Vote for equal rights
Editor:
Like all good Democrats, I know
that the United States was founded
with a commitment to equal rights
for all. It is tragic that in 1984 a
candidate for the U.S. Senate, Kent
Hance, has made the basis of his
campaign the denial of equal rights
to some citizens. If he had his way,
gay Americans would not enjoy the
basic privileges of citizenship guar
anteed by the Constitution.
Haven’t we come far enough to
recognize that all citizens deserve
the same basic rights? In the May 5
primary, let us remember our
American commitment to equal
rights for all and vote accordingly.
Gardner Selby
Somewhere in the publishing in
dustry, there must be a directive in
structing editors to tell authors to
leave out the good stuff — “Who
needs another ‘War and Peace?’
We want another ‘Mommy Dea
rest.’”
That’s one possible explanation
for the poisoned view that comes
from former White House spokes
man Jody Powell in his new book,
“The Other Side of the Story.”
As Powell tells it, the other side is
pretty nasty. He dumps his heavi
est load of bile on those he dealt
with every day: reporters who cov
ered the president.
“Power and Prestige seem to
have roughly the same effect on
journalists as on South American
colonels. They immediately begin
casting about for someone’s finger
nails to pull out. Then they expect
to be treated as gentlemen and ac
cepted in polite company as soon as
they have cleaned the bloodstains
out of their dinner jackets.”
It should be stated that White
House reporters are not a partic
ularly lovable bunch. The “stars”
tend to be pompous. None are par
ticularly good at admitting their er
rors. Some secretly dream of hav-
story.
Powell quite accurately mentions
these traits. But he neglects their
good qualities. White House re
porters are generally hard-work
ing. They are right most of the
time when dealing with a bewil
dering array of topics — every
thing from Amy Carter’s tree-
house to the Panama Canal trea
ties. You will not read that in Pow
ell’s book.
As Powell occasionally admits,
some information coming from the
White House press secretary has a
political spin to it. Reporters must
try to read that spin, take it into ac
count and transmit the informa
tion rapidly and accurately.
White House reporters — espe
cially wire service and television re
porters — spend enormous
amounts of time in what amounts
sentry duty: standing around
■ne of ■
■s of ihe
f tjie done
Hd you
a\4 had a 2
on l or a we
I You laziP
roc ery stoi
ox collectii
oxes they I
’aking wh
irow your
ox and sq~
lefboitom.
■■hen yc
rips to yo
larked at tla
| Sweaty a
jack upstai
inly to Fine
'ujj over al
the same since some of his accoafi was pre-
are disputed by the reporters! .^ a ^* n g
volved. 'Y back a
jtclous to ym
I was involved in one inciden® n S ^ or -
mentions. It was during they|* rcs (011( "
tember 1978 Camp David suiml
when the summiteers — Can®
Begin, Sadat and a few of til
aides — were sequestered extt®
for a couple of outings wheret^
had fleeting encounters withtaj
dreds of reporters trying to col
the story by reading the tea lea'
from Powell’s unenlightenl
briefings.
As Powell tells it, some reporif
tried to question the participant.^
a Marine parade, and whentl
failed were so piqued that the)
fused to stand for the national
them. Powell was furious. His*
cried over this display of unf
triotic behavior.
to
waiting for something to happen.
They are, understandably, not
amused when their pipeline to the
president, the press secretary,
treats them as the enemy.
Powell, does not mention this.
He focuses on those events when
the reporters failed, or he thinks
they failed, which is not necessarily
Well, I was there and I, like®
of the reporters, was standi
through the ceremony in a ref
off corral, because that’s the-
rangement that Powell made
guess that Powell — with his fa®
in the grandstand seats — wasa
noyed that we didn’t stand ont
toe at the sound of the national
them.
Easy (plastic) money tempts student
College students have few joys in
life, but one of them is a full mail
box. Anything, even junk mail,
makes that long trip to the box
worthwhile.
Recently, my box has been filled
with those fantastic promises made
to upperclassmen.
_ “Dear College Senior,” they be
gin, and then go on to say some
thing about the joys and privileges
of being a college student, and how
life is going to be even nicer when I
sign up for their cards.
My first enticing letter was great.
It was from Sears. It told me how a
responsible college student like
myself could have one of the store’s
cards.
bonnie langford
I seriously question Sears’
sources. Where did the store get
the misinformation that I was a re
sponsible college student — me,
the person who forgets to pay the
cable bill every month?
Granted, credit cards are nice.
My first one was a Shell card from
Dad, so that I never ran out of gas
no matter how little money I had.
But Dad’s no fool. He never let
me even see his Visa card. He
knows I can only spend so much on
a full tank of gas. I just don’t get as
excited about 40-weight oil as I do
about the new spring fashions.
Armed with a Visa, I could put
him so deep in debt that it would
take the next 50 years of his life to
pay it off.
So when Shell sent me my very
own application, I sent off for a
card. I explained to Dad that he
could still foot the gas bills so his fa
vorite (O.K., only) daughter could
afford to come home for visits. The
card would be an advantage be
cause it would have my name on it,
and my spotless credit rating could
start building.
When Texaco sent me an appli
cation form, I thought it might be
nice to get one of those, too, in case
I’m ever in an area without Shell
stations. I wasn’t planning to actu
ally use it, just keep it in my wallet.
But when I got the card, I got
this confusing explanation that
told me it was going to cost me
even if I didn’t use the card. I un
derstand why many credit card
companies operate like that — they
have to make money, too — but
that was $12 a year that I could be
using elsewhere.
So I cut the card in half, wrote
Texaco a nice note and sent it back.
Unfortunately, Texaco has ob
viously seen my credit rating with
the phone company, and they
weren’t going to let an opportunity
to make it into the Fortune 500 slip
away.
The next time I called home, my
mom informed me that Texaco
had called them. Because, like most
college students I’m hard to find at
home, Texaco had done the next
best thing and found my folks. For
tunately, they were both on my
side. Even though they didn’t
really know what had happened,
they politely told Texaco that if I
had sent back the card that’s what I
meant to do.
Everything has been fine since
then in the world of plastic money,
but I have a feeling that’s going to
change. I got an American Express
Card application today. If
just find some fool to be my
antor, I could own Dillards’ en®
summer collection.
Bonnie Langford is a seflf!
journalism major and staff'
for The Battalion.
Slouch
by Jim Earls
vers
Sarc
lea
to 1
COB
fo
E/tue
s-z-a^
“I just dropped by to see if you had any
suggestions as to how l could improve my
grade in your course. ”
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