Opinion
Page 2/The BattalionATuesday, July 3, 1984
Tax bill
lunacy
The latest lunacy spawned by the
state Legislature’s special session is
a proposal about the state sales tax.
The House’s version of the tax
bill doesn’t include increasing the
state sales tax. But the Senate — in
Monday’s session — altered the
House’s version by adding a quarter
of a cent increase on the sales tax.
This addition jeopardizes the bill,
which must be approved by both
houses in the same form.
By raising it a quarter of a cent,
the tax becomes extremely cumber
some to work with. Try figuring
that sales tax out in your head.
Cities will probably even out the
odd figure by raising or lowering
their current sales tax.
A stiffer increase of liquor and
cigarette taxes makes more sense
than a sales tax of 4.25 cents.
— The Battalion Editorial Board
A Texan's
pearls of
wisdom
Dorm Friedman
LUBBOCK —
“You know why
they tell Aggie jok
es?” asked the
man with West
Texas sun-worn
skin.
I climbed out of
my car with the
Texas A&M
sticker on the side
and readied my
self for a jibe based on the Aggie ste
reotype.
Just get it over with, I thought. He’ll
make a stupid joke; I’ll hold my
tongue and we’ll both be back on our
way.
But he didn’t have a collection of
Aggie jokes. No, his question wasn’t
meant as rhetoric. As he urinated un
der the tailgate of his truck, he an
swered his question.
“They tell those jokes,” he said, “be
cause the Aggies are so smart. And
don’t forget it.”
He zipped his fly, climbed into his
truck and started to pull away.
The Double-Mountain Fork of the
Brazos River rippled as ducks danced'
around the support poles of a de
serted swing set. Jeff, my guide for
this journey through MacKenzie State
Park, chuckled.
“You always meet guys like that in
West Texas,” he said. “They’re harm
less, though.”
Brakes squeaked.
The backing lights of the red ’83
Chevy glowed. The horn beckoned.
Jeff and I curiously approached.
“Do you know,” he asked, “the five
things that will make people act?”
“No sir,” Jeff and I barked out in
the same non-committal tone we had
used many times before with our high
school coaches.
“Need, reward, rebuke, glory and
expectations — take that back to A&M
with you,” he said.
“Tell your goddamn professors
that. It takes patience.
“You think that this drunk old man
doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking
about, but I didn’t get this Rolex for
nothing,” he said, pointing at his gold
watch — a small diamond marking ev
ery hour.
Searching for an Aggie ring, I
looked at his wrinkled, worn hands
that gripped the steering wheel. On
his ring finger he wore a gold band
with diamonds encircling the band.
“What are the five things that will
make people act?” he asked again.
Jeff and I looked back and forth.
“Reward,” I said.
“Need, rebuke,” Jeff added.
“Olory,” I said.
“Need,” the man in the truck said.
“Reward, rebuke, glory and expec
tations. Take that down there,” he re
peated.
“A few years back a young man took
this and went down there and made a
4.0.
“You’re a dumb son of a bitch, if
you don’t do the same.”
(Donn Friedman is a senior Journa
lism major and The Battalion’s roving
columnist covering the plains of Texas
this summer.)
Sacrificing all for liberty
On July 4, 1776,
representatives
from the Ameri
can colonies gath
ered in Philadel
phia and signed
their names to a
document that
would become the
foundation of a
revolutionary new
form of govern
ment. Sacrificing
all, they pledged to each other their
lives, fortunes, and sacred honor in
their quest for rights they believed
were unalienable to all people.
These rights were not to be easily
won. The 56 signers of the Declaration
of Independence knew that by affix
ing their names to the document pre
pared by Thomas Jefferson they could
be hanged for treason against King
George III of England.
The signers of the Declaration were
established citizens and had a great
deal to lose in revloting under the op
pressive rule of the British crown.
Over half were college graduates and
among their ranks were teachers, law
yers, farmers, scholars and business
men. One signer, Charles Carroll of
Maryland, was one of the richest men
in America. He wrote his hometown
beside his name so there would be no
mistaking his identity.
John Hancock boldly signed his
name and declared, “Let them burn
Boston and make John Hancock a
pauper if it does good for the cause.”
Ben Franklin said, “If we don’t hang
together, we most assuredly will hang
separately.” No signers were executed,
but they were chased and shot at; their
homes were vandalized, and their
families were abused.
Yet, all of this was the price of lib
erty and Americans across te colonies
were willing to pay it. These patriots
were true freedom fighters who
wanted only to live in peace and free
dom.
But freedom was not to be won by
merely signing a document of declara
tion. It was secured only after years of
struggle and hardship on the part of
all Americans. Civilian soldiers from
across the colonies rallied with the
Continental Army led by Cen. George
Washington because they knew the va
lue of freedom.
When the patriots finally did win
their independence, the Spirit of ’76
did not die.
The ideals tht our patriotic forefa
thers fought and died for now prosper
in America. Ours was the first nation
to hold dignity and equality of each in
dividual as the foundation of govern
ment.
We have held to that course. In fact,
we understand the true meaning of
the concept of equality under thge law
mech better now than them. We also
are closer to that goal today than the
signers of the Declaration of Indepen
dence could have envisioned.
This Independence Day, let us re
new our commitment to freedom and
liberty not only in America but around
the world. We are the world’s hope for
the truths proclaimed by those men on
July 4, 1776.
John Tower
Freedom worth more than gold
In December
1941, after the
Japanese attacked
Pearl Harbor,
armed guards ex
ported a strong
box to Fort Knox,
Kentucky. In the
box was a pad
locked bronze
container holding
something of far
greater value than
all the gold at Fort Knox.
The precious cargo was our Decla
ration of Independence. It was shel
tered at Fort Knox until the fall of
1944, when authorities decided that
the fragile parchment, yellowed by
age, was no longer endangered by
enemy attack.
This Fourth of July, as we celebrate
the 208th Anniversary of the Declara
tion of Independence, it is good to re
flect of the eloquent message of this
document.
Later in his life, Thomas Jefferson
recalled that when he sat down in 1776
to write the Declaration he intended it
“to be an expression of the American
mind...”
Today, the challenge for us is to
never lose sight of the Declaration as
“an expression of the American
mind.”
For the millions of people ruled un
der the doctrine laid down by Karl
Marx and Friedrich Engels in the-
Communist Manifesto, the. notions
embodied in our Declaration do not
exist.
The Manifesto maintains that such
sentiments as “bourgeois freedom”
and “bourgeois independence” and
“bourgeois individuality” should be
abolished.
The Manifesto also speaks of abo
lishing countries and nationalities.
According to Marxist theory — espe
cially as it later was interpreted by Le
nin, Stalin and other communist lead
ers — if people will only suppress for
the time being their desire for free
dom, and perservere long enough, the
state will eventually “wither away.”
The fact is, instead of withering
away, governents in communist coun
tries have grown more dominant,
more harsh in their rule. We have to
look no further than to Poland or Af
ghanistan to see the truth of that.
Those people who signed our Dec
laration of Independence 208 years
ago felt stronglly enough about the
concepts of equality and liberty and
rights to “mutually pledge to each
other our lives, our fortunes and our
sacred honor.”
Historians point out that the signers
deliberately pledge first their lives,
then their fortunes. That symbolizes
the abiding value they palced on this
revolutionary document.
The value of gold and other worldly
fortunes fluctuates widely, but the
priceless gift of the Declaration of In
dependence — underwritten by the
lives of those who signed it and of gen-
- erations of Americans who have fol
lowed — is undiminished.
Cracking down on bird crimes
By DICK WEST
Columnist for United Press International
WASHINGTON — When we think of the word
“crime,” our thoughts likely turn to holdups, burglaries and
other common forms of pillage, or perhaps an illegal drug
or two.
That federal authorities must be prepared to deal with
many other types of criminal activity was impressed upon
me the other day by an Agriculture Department news re
lease.
“Bird smuggler to repay $290,000 indemnity to govern
ment,” it said.
The odds are that many of us muddle along for weeks at
a time without giving so much as a passing thought to bird
smuggling. I gather, however, that attempts to evade bird
quarantine regulations are on the rise. So it is well to be
aware of this sort of law violation.
You might think the little feathered friend you have
caged at home is legit, but if you bought it on a street cor
ner, rather than from a pet dealer, you may be harboring a
hot canary.
Despite laws making it illegal to cage wild birds, a goodly
number are sold under the counter, so to speak. So it is
good to know what you are doing before engaging in any
bird transaction.
It is easy to become addicted to the chirping of birds.
Let’s say you are walking down the street minding your
own business. It may be an unsavory part of town, but a
bright, sunshiny day withal and bird smuggling is about the
furtherest thing from your mind.
Then, from a dark alley, comes a melodious chirping.
You stop for a moment to listen, enthralled. Perhaps the
bird is trilling Bach’s “Ode to Joy.” Or it may be a chirping
rendition of one of the Brandenburg Concertos.
Suddenly, a seedy-looking character emerges from the
shadows and whispers, “Hey, mister, you wanna buy a
duck?”
Unless your sales resistance is unusually high, you suc
cumb to the pitch, which is usually an f-sharp minor. From
that point on, you are a songbird junkie. Soon, a large per
centage of your income is going to support your habit.
This is the sort of thing the U.S. government is up
against in its drive to control bird smuggling. Education
probably is the best preventive.
Just be aware that parrot fever can be dangerous to your
health, not to mention the expense of ear surgery.
Letters:
'Bad Ag' photograph \
mocks Aggieland
Editor:
Who is this guy Peter Rocha ant
why is he such a bad Ag? Whatl’niref
erring to is his photograph of then I
tinguished Aggie Eternal Flame in
June 28 issue of the Battalion. W
Mr. Rocha is doing is making a mod
ery of a generous gift by the Class
1983, and by printing his photograpl
you are encouraging him.
It should be the duty of a scho
newspaper to show the good side a
the University, not to make fun
things which don’t happen to coin
out just right. You should leave ths
for the scum who publish the Bum
lion.
Before Mr. Rocha prints a fullpa^
of photos showing crippled peo|
falling on their faces, may I remi
him of one thing? Both Highway
and Highway 21 run both ways. Tail
your pick.
A C<
Brisi
Frank Irwin ' ——
Flame keepers
need a dictionary
ji
(contii
Jazz m
r .relayed .
° f elenU Count B.
Editor:
What is the meaning
Websters Second College Edition Ne>
World Dictionary defines eternal a show fo
forever the same; always trueorvalii System’s
unchanging; always going on; perpe Music
ual. Why is our flame not burningatf P°P_ to J
more? When the flame was litintk r
noon uni
fall of 1983 it was supposed to bun
forever. What happened? ^ K en
Kenneth P. Thompson's! Minor 1
Gregory A. Matthews’S! and saxi
Special
Families deserve
abortion rights
hasizes
;' The 1.
Sunrise
noon. R
to midr
Cari Put
mg in.
to commend the Battalion Thin
Editor:
I’d like
Editiorial Board for its editorial, “Affrom tl
bortion is a private decision.” Wayne
I’m a mother. I’m familiar with feu
development from embryo to birthbe
cause I read everything I could abo®!|
the subject during my pregnancy. 1 •I
happily and healthily carried a fetm [
inside me for nine months and gav< I
birth to a much-wanted child whoii||
now thirteen years old. Furthermore.i|
my profession as an artist has per
milled me to stay home with mi
daughter all these years. I’ve taken’
motherhood seriously; I’m certainly
qualified to comment about abortion.
My husband of seventeen years and f
I value very highly our right tochoosf
whether or not to carry an accidental
or dangerous pregnancy to term. Wt
resent anti-abortionists who presumf
to make our difficult family decisioni
for us. These folks wouldn’t be around
to pay the bills, bear the pain, and hold
our hands if an unwanted of risky pre
gnancy went wrong in some way.
I noticed, by the way, that both anti
abortion rights letters in the Battalion
June 26 were written by men. Asa
wise person once said, “If men could
get pregnant, abortion would be a sac
rament.”
Kristin Parsons
The Battalion
CISPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Rcbeca Zimmermann, Editor
Bill Robinson, Editorial Page Editor
Shelley Hoekstra, City Editor
Kathleen Hart, News Editor
Dave Scott, Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editor Robin
Assistant News Editor Dena Brown
Staff Writers Kari Fluegd
Sarah Oates, Travis Ting^
Copy Editor Tracie Holub
Photographers Peter Rocha
Editorial Policy
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profit, self-supporting news
paper operated as a commu
nity service to Texas A&M
and Bryan-College Station.
Opinions expressed in
The Battalion are those of
the Editorial Board or the
author, and do not necessar
ily represent the opinions of
Texas A&M administrators,
faculty or the Board of Re
gents.
The Battalion also serves
as a laboratory newspaper
for students in reporting,
editing and photography
classes within the Depart
ment of Communications.
United Press Interna
tional is entitled exclusively
to the use for reproduction
of all news dispatches cred
ited to it. Rights of repro
duction of all other matter
herein reserved.
Letters Policy
Letters to the Edit 01
should not exceed W
words in length. The edit 0,
rial staff reserves the right"
edit letters for style an
length but will make e^P
effort to maintain the F
thor’s intent. Each l ette!
must be signed and must in
clude the address and tele
phone number of the v/rilt {
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L