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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 19, 1984)
Opinion Page 2/The BattalionATuesday, June 19,1984 Abortion a private decision Much to the distress of moder ate Republicans at the state con vention, a resolution supporting an amendment that defined life as beginning at conception was passed Saturday by voice vote. A number of convention dele gates were outraged by the resolu tion, which although vague would essentially make all abortions ille gal. Murder statutes would be come applicable to abortion. It’s outrageous for the right- wing faction of the Republican Party to think that an amendment prohibiting abortion — in any cir cumstances — will be successful. It’s even more outrageous for them to legislate an issue that is in tensely personal and emotional. Abortion must remain a choice. If not, it opens the way for coat hangers in the back rooms and sleazy back alley operations — common before the Roe vs. Wade decision. Arguments about the moment of conception have gone on for some time and probably will never be resolved. New developments in medicine continue to raise moral, legal and ethical questions. The most recent involves em bryos conceived three years ago by the in-vitro fertilization method and frozen in liquid nitrogen. The Los Angeles couple that produced them died in a plane crash and left an estate of about $1 million. What do you do in a situation like that? If the right-to-life movement gathers more strength, it probably will tackle a question like that. Any situation, abortion or fro zen embryos, affects people — not a movement. People — not a movement — must live with their decisions. And that’s the whole point — it must remain a personal decision. — The Battalion Editorial Board The Battalion USPS 045 360 Member of T exas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board RcTK*ca Zimmermauu, Editor Bill Robinson, Editorial Page Editor Shelley llockstra. City Editor Kathleen Hart, News Editor Dave Scott, S|>orts Editor The Battalion Staff Assistant City Editor Robin Black Assistant News Editor Delia Brown Staff Writers Kari Fhiegel Sarah Oates, Travis Tingle Copy Editor Trade Holub Photographers Peter Rocha, Dean Saito Editorial Policy Letters Policy The liutluliiut is a non- letters to the Editor should prolit, sell-supporting news pa- itot exceed 300 words in per operated as a. community length. The editorial staff re- servue to Texas AJLM and serves the right to edit letters Hryun Cullcge Station. for style anti length hut will make every elfint to maintain Opinions expressed in The the author's intent. Each letter llattalion are those of the Edi- must be signed and must in- torjal Hoard or the author, and elude the aihlress and tele- tlo tun necessarily represent phone number of the writer, the opinions i>f Texas AX:M The llattalion is puhlisheil administrators, faculty or the Monday tlmnigh Friday dur- lioard of Regents. ing Texas A&M regular semes- The Battalion a)stt serves as ters. except for holhlay anil cx- a la/M>ratory newspa/ter for aininulion periods. Mail sttalents in repttning, editing subscriptions are $10.75 per and photography classes semester. $$$.25 per school within the Department of year and $35 per full year. Ad- Communications. vertising rates furnished on re quest. Uniteil Press International Our address: The Battalion, is entitled exclusively to the use 2Id Reed McDtmald Builtling. for repcixluctioti of all news Texas AAM University, Col- dispatches creditei! tit it. lege Station, TX 77H-I3. Rights of reprtxluction of all Second class fxfstage /xtid at other matter herein reserved. ('o I lege Station, TX /7tM3. A new method^ to lose weight Getting rich quick with diet plan sieve thomas Fad diets are fabulous. They add color to the sterile white world of medicine, dem onstrate the effec tive use of tele- vision for deceptive trade, and always have repeat customers because they never work. They make loads of money with miniscule overhead and virtually no quality control problems. And you don’t need any special certification. Can you think of a better job for a college student? Introducing the Steve Thomas In stant Weight Loss Program; the only safe, scientific method for effective weight loss and control. A product of 10 years of research, this program’s nationwide testing by doctors and health care professionals has stripped excess weight from thousands of now happy people. Thorple Butard of Buckwash, Min nesota shed 85 pounds in only two weeks. 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And Pennsylvania’s Putrit was obese and unhappy when he came to us, but after 10 days of Twix bars, Twinkies, Moosehead and divinity he was a changed person. Three days af terward, he died a happy man. And for a limited time we at the Thomas Program are offering our guaranteed services for a paltry frac tion of their value. If you act now, you can lose those unwanted pounds - and keep them off — for a regristra- tion fee of $800. This will also entitle you to a membership in our private maintenance program for a low weekly fee of $65. So don’t waste time! Get in on the bottom floor of the nationally-ac claimed Thomas Program. Put an end to your porculent problem. We promise, you’ll never be weighed down again. (Steve Thomas is a senior joum- I ism major) Mondale backer remains optimistic Tn slates like New Hampshire and Ohio, he let himself be ste reotyped as the candidate of this group or that group. He be came the typical Old Politics figure. But in states like Illinois and New York, where he recognized he had to go beyond his base to win, he has done well’ — a Mondale campaigner By DAVID S. BRODER Columnist for The Washington Post Writers Group WASHINGTON — When “everyo ne” agrees on something, it is fre quently wise to listen to someone who dissents. The conventional wisdom has been proven wrong so often already in this political year, there is certainly a chance that it will be wrong again. That is why I went back the other day to talk with Richard Leone about Walter Mondale’s chances of beating President Reagan in November. “Eve ryone says these prospects are nil. This column has dwelled — to the point of irritation for some letter writers — on the weaknesses the primaries revealed in Mondale and the difficulties he faces in trying to unseat the incum bent. As an antidote to the orthodoxy, I offer the view of Leone* a veteran of New Jersey politics and the self-de scribed “house optimist” of the Mon dale campaign. Leone established his credentials with me in mid-May, when “everyone” said Mondale faced a very tough fight to win the New Jersey pri mary against Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson. I bumped into Leone at the Mon dale state headquarters in Livingston, where he was virtually the only person talking about the possibility of a big win. When Mondale blitzed the oppo sition, winning 99 delegates to 8 for Jackson and none for Hart, I decided to reread the notes of that first inter view with Leone. What he had said was this: “When Walter Mondale is in a state where he must concentrate on expanding his base, he does well. When he is in a state where the campaign is designed to preserve his base, he does not. “In states like New Hampshire and Ohio, he let himself be stereotyped as the candidate of this group or that group. He became the typical Old Pol itics figure. But in states like Illinois and New York, where he recognized he had to go beyond his base to win, he has done well. “New Jersey,” Leone said, “is that kind of state. It is up-scale and inde pendent. And Mondale is going after those voters.” He won their support in New Jer sey, while failing the same day in Gali- fornia, where his campaing was tai lored to preserving his base among the elderly, the Hispanics, the Jews and members of organized labor. In New Jersey, by contrast, Mon dale beat Hart among self-described Independents, among the 70 percent who said they had not been hurt by Reagan’s economic policies, among the self-employed and the salaried, workers, in non-union households, and among those with the highest lev els of education and income, accord ing to the ABC News exit polls. He won these groups in New Jersey (where he had lost their counterparts in other states) by emphasizing issues like arms control, the environment and economic growth. The payoff was that Mondale — for the first time out side the South — was rated Hart’s su perior as a strong leader. What are the implications for the general election? Leone draws two les sons. “People expect Ronald Reagan to be dazzling.” He said in a post-pri mary interview last week, “and they expect Mondale to be unexciting. So when he (Mondale) starts cam paigning hard, they will be surprised. They will be surprised how well he will do in debates.” If the “expectations” argument is traditional from the camp of the un derdog, the second point Leone made was more subtle. “Mondale needs to play off someone, to draw the differ ences,” Leone said. “It is not the dif ferences themselves that are impor tant, but what people learn about Mondale form these exchanges. They start out knowing him only as a former Vice President, backed by the poli ticians and the big interests. What they learn is that he is very good on the (nu clear) freeze issue, on the environ ment, on women’s issues, and the other issues of concern to them. They start to take another look at Mondale." Then Leone said something really surprising. “I’ve always thought the primaries would be a lot tougher for Mondale than the general election.” Why? “Because the job of drawing the differences with the other Demo crats was bound to be more difficult than it will be with Reagan. The greater the differences, the more peo ple will learn about Mondale’s posi tions; and the more they learn, the better his chances of expanding his base. “If he can secure his base by run ning the right kind of convention and frame the issues with Reagan cor rectly, then he can win the election- no question.” Thus, the “house optimist” of the Mondale campaign. Those are two big “ifs” he raises: Treating order and a semblance of unity out of the potential chaos of the quarreling factions that will gather in San Framcisco next month, and then wresting away from Reagan and the White House the ini tiative in “framing the debate” for the fall campaign. But, at the risk of being unconven tional, let me say that if Mondale and the Democrats manage to do both those things this summer, then the au tumn may well bring as close and com- ptitive a campaign as Leone suggests. Letters: — Tower's creator pans can picture Editor: It seems ironic that you print an edi torial dealing with journalistic respon sibility the day after the June 12 issue in which you ran the photograph of the tower of cans on my desk. I now have a constant stream of people coming into my office to view this work. This makes it terribly diffi cult to get anything done. If people aren’t calling me in the middle of the night to come open my office door, they’re camping outside the building. There are even people who claim this tower has cured everything ranging from arthritis to impotence. As for me, it has made life a living hell. I’m tempted to take this creation and send it to that great aluminum de pository in the sky. That’s right, the GanBanc! At least then maybe I can get sdme sleep. Next time you print a photograph such as this, please consider the conse quences. Frank Irwin Graduate Student, Dept, of Geology P.S. Judging from this reaction, I shudder at the thought of the chaos which will ensue upon the completion of the Albritton Tower. Journalists attacked for 'fabrications' Editor: Robin Black’s attempted defense of journalists is filled with the fabrica tions and lies for which the media is often criticized. One fabrication is her statement that 99.9 percent of journal ists are nothing like their negative image. I challenge you, Robin, to pro duce the data from which you derived that figure. Obviously you can’t be cause you just made it up. A lie she told is that journalists don’t stick microphones in the faces of disas ter victims. In fact after almost every flood or tornado we have in this coun try some reporter is shoving a micro phone in the face of some hysterical woman whose house was levelled. Richard H. Fosberg Editor’s note: Robin Black’s column was an opinion with generalized infor mation — opinions don’t lie. Sic but end Gi 9< D< Un j AUST candidal Democra ing gay vors alio grade sc mosexua “I don ing my ll Station < • school be i they pos< think the [ Grann Lloyd Dc eral elec I eluding j I security ] ity they persons - ual prefe “I am ning w George ] gett wili with Wal same coi Grami gan’s IS fined M stituencii activists a “Lloyd gay right