Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday,September 25, 1984
Opinion
LETTERS:
Gramm editorial
right on mark
EDITOR:
I definitely agree with the Phil
Gramm editorial. Because there is noth
ing worse than an Aggie economics pro
fessor who thinks he’s a politician.
Gig ’em Lloyd!
Sergio Davila
Class of ’85
Gay Student Services
recognition question
of civil liberties
EDITOR:
This letter is written in reference to
the proposed recognition of the Gay
Student Services Organization. The
GSSO is a service organization. It exists
for the benefit of gay students who may
need counseling. As for those people
who do not want to be around homosex
uals, and for this reason object to the
GSSO being recognized, someone
should open their eyes. Every person in
this world is different. The sooner nar
row-minded individuals learn to deal
with these differences and respect peo
ple for who they are instead of the way
they choose to live their lives, the more
able they will be to cope with their own
lives. Who are we to judge others. The
actions of others are not anyone’s con
cern but their own. Let people have the
freedom to live their lives in their own
fashion. After all, that is what America
is all about.
J. Atchison
Class of ’88
Liberal, homosexual
not the same
EDITOR:
In response to Jamie Menton’s letter
concerning the GSSO, I have a few com
ments. I will not address the question as
to whether or not there should be such
an organization supported by Tetfas
A&M for two reasons. The first being
that it would serve no logical purpose;
the second being that it would draw
emotions and attention away from a
larger issue.
Ms. Menton, what the hell is wrong
with being liberal? I am referring to
your final paragraph, “If these liberal,
non-moral . . .” Is liberality synonymous
with homosexuality, or did you just
throw that in because it is the only word
you could think of to fit into your very
emotional, irrational letter? Are you im
plying that liberals are “bad” people and
should be scourged for being criminals
to decency and clean living?
The Battalion
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Member of
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Southwest Journalism Conference
In memoriatn
Bill Robinson, 1962-1984, Editor
The Battalion Editorial Board
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Assistant Entertainment Editor
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Make-up Editor : John Hallett
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Copy Editors Kathy Breard, Kaye Pahmeier
Cyndy Davis, Patricia Flynt
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resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, faculty
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Perhaps someone should remind you
that it is these “liberals” who made this
country what it is. Where do you think
we would be today if people such as
John Hancock and George Washington
were not “liberals?” Was freeing the
blacks from slavery after over a century
of oppression a non-liberal thing to do?
Can you think of any great American
who is considered so because he (or she)
wanted to keep things the way they
were? It has always been a break from
the traditional that brings about
changes and improvements. So to call
someone a liberal and imply that such a
person is in some way demented for be
ing so, or to attach that label to some
other label you think bad is not a fair
statement.
In conclusion I want to ask you to
change your future references to homo
sexuals and omit the “all liberals must be
gay” connotation.
Further, I think you should be honest
with yourself and forget about trying to
rationalize your very narrow-minded
opinions and admit that you are simply
a bigot.
Hopefully, as you progress through
your college education, you will realize
that other people have ideas that differ
from your own, and that they aren’t in
herently wrong because of it.
Kevin Peter
College Station
McGlohon’s column
offends readers
EDITOR:
“Who is this that darkeneth counsel
by words without knowledge?”(Job
38:2). We feel compelled to write this
letter to clear up some implied accusa
tions in Robert McGlohon’s column.
The Bible reveals that God created
man and breathed life into him. But
God put man before the trace of life,
that man might receive eternal life. In
stead, Adam partook of the tree of the
knowledge of good in evil, which issued
in death. It was not merely that God’s
commandment was broken. The real
damage was that a poison, sin and
death, entered into man. A good illus
tration would be if a father forbade his
son to play with poisons in the cabinet.
If the child broke this rule and got poi
soned, the disobedience aspect would be
far outweighed by the consequence of
ingesting the poison: death.
So it is with all man. We all died in
Adam. It is not that God has targeted
whole segments of the population of the
earth for eternity in a “nasty place,” as
McGlohon has alleged, but that we all
got poisoned and received a sinful na
ture. This nature bears fruit, sinful
deeds. As a result, “all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God”(Rom.
3:23). Sin issues in death (Rom. 6:23).
But God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, that who
ever believes in Him would not perish,
but have eternal life (John 3:16). Jesus is
the lamb of God, who takes away the sin
of the world (John 1:29). He also im
parts life to us, that we may be born of
God. It is not that Christians are exclu
sive, when we say that we are children of
God. But as many as received Him, to
them He gave authority to become chil
dren of God, to those who believe in His
name (John 1:12). This includes all who
believe, regardless of racial or national
origin.
So far this semester, only one group
of Christian speakers has used the spot
at Rudder Tower that McGlohon de
scribed for preaching: we the under
signed. Our sharing did not resemble
McGlohon’s dream, rather we declared
the jubilee (Lev 25:8-19; 39-41; Luke
4:18-19), the acceptable year of the
Lord. We did not emphasize hell, but we
declared the release from the bondage
of death, through receiving Christ as
the life-giving Spirit.
Robert McGlohon’s column slanders
God and offends us. Whatever his mo
tive was in writing this column, it indi
cates a grave misconception as to God
and His love for man. As long as this
misconception exists, sidewalk preach
ers are a necessity. As to Robert McGlo
hon we hold no ill feeling, but as the Bi
ble says, “Awake sleeper, and arise from
the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
(Eph. 5:14)
Gary C. Barbee
John Londergan
Mark Lupo
Terry Raines
Henry B. Ransom, Jr.
Samuel S. Villareal
EDITOR S NOTE: Robert McGlohon’s
column runs every Friday in The Battal
ion.
Going to the gross hoppers
In search of Cannabis pests
Scott
McCullar
It was inevitable
that some sneaky
agent in the Food
and Drug Adminis
tration would get the
fiendish idea and ap
proach the entomo
logy departments of
major agricultural
universities with it —
a research grant des
tined to frustate those involved in the
selling of a particular illegal substance.
This grant would fund the devel
opment of natural insect pests of Can
nabis sativa (See hemp) plants and bales.
Once made host specific, massive re
lease programs could spread the insects
around the country; especially in the
gulf states and major cities where smug
gling and usage are highest.
Several major universities applied for
and were awarded the grants, and even
though the motives of the professors
wanting to conduct such research can’t
be determined for sure, they never
lacked willing graduate students.
Experimental plots of the “host”
plant were needed and so grown, and
soon several likely pest candidates were
uncovered. “Grass” hoppers were one
of the best; already known as ravenous
plant-eaters, they only needed to be
made “weed” specific. And the pest that
lives anywhere and eats anything and
everything — the cock “roaches” — eas
ily became major “weed” pests.
The research was conducted in ex
treme secrecy to avoid dangerous reper
cussions from the underworld drug
dealers. Otherwise, agricultural re
searchers would for the first time in
their lives be harrassed, threatened and
terrorized, from a source other than
their department heads. However, due
to the security measures and element of
“surprise” involved, the experiments
went along uninterruped.
Even though the research would oc
casionally “drag,” and those conducting
it became slightly confused in their
thinking, they were the most relaxed
and mellowed out bunch of researchers
ever known. The pressures usually in
volved in government research were
somehow handled much better by these
researchers, and who KNOWS what
went on in those secret, test-plant field
stations.
Soon the new pests were ready and
spread across an unprepared country
with “traumatic” effects. The stashes be
longing to users of every race, class and
sex were wiped out by insects with the
weed-seeking ability far above any po
lice dog.
Yet the screams of anguish by those
victimized had to be kept rather con
stricted. They could hardly run to the
authorities seeking aid, for such would
acknowledge possessing the illegal sub
stance in the first place.
Insecticides weren’t much help ei
ther, for though they killed the insects,
they ruined the pot. (Remember the
Paraquat controversy a couple of years
ago.)
However, pot smoking took on a new
dimension when it was discovered that
the bodies of the pest insects absorbed
and concentrated a lot of the resins of
the marijuana they fed on. For dopers,
this created a “middleman” situation. If
the weed itself could not be smoked, the
pest that fed on it could. “Reefers”
changed to “creepers.”
Insect collecting took off like a
SHOT, and dopers started gathering
under street lights, parking lot lights,
and porch lights. Hanging out at truck
stops to scrape windshields and grills be
came popular. Even though smoking in
sects wasn’t illegal, policemen couldl
if a person was “under the influence'f
something he’d just smoked ifhevi
found running around in circles uncj
street lights at night.
Some species absorbed and retain;
more of the precious resins thanotlic
Thus the various “grades" of tof
ranged from “pre—mo crawls” at
“Major Reefer Creepers" downtob |
grade bunches of small bugs smokedi
rolling papers cut with mealwon
mulch. High-grade grasshopperscoiJ
be smoked right down to the tipsiE
the legs as a “roach” clips.
In Texas the practice of mixingl*
dope with fire ants became popularw
those liking the “Jalepeno high"
added.
At pot parties phrases like “Arethei
any bugs in this room?” and “gettinw
buzz on” took on whole new meanings '
From the “haze” of these new pn
tices rose “black market entomologi i
for when research to combat theseno
pests was outlawed, “underground”!:
search began. Entomologists that hi i
fallen on hard times, lost their moralss [
that had their funding cut fromund: ”
them were sought by the drug unde ;
world for research.
And so came the despicable cum ;i
state of black market entomology: chei;
researchers working out of grimeylali |
involved in criminal research to obia |i
illegal objectives.
In retrospect and in the faceofsid |
developments, it seems the inevitali |
has occurred. Entomology finally,k
gone to pot.
Scott McCullar is an artist whodn*
the daily Battalion cartoon strip “M
ped." He has a B.S. in entomology (pi
Texas A&M and a b.s. in column wrii
from The Battalion.
noti
sear
tons
fum
they
wen
sugg
A
edo,
agaii
look
than
they
C
Reaching out from the wallet
to touch someone you love
John
Hallett
I received my long
distance phone bill
the other day. I had _
reached out and
touched my girlf
riend to the tune of
$62.43.
I’m glad I’ve got MCI. Ma Bell would
have asked for my first born male child.
I can really relate to the guy in the com
mercial who boasts that a particular long
distance company is for the guys who
“didn’t fall in love with the girl next
door.”
Now you might think that $62.43 isn’t
much of a phone bill but allow me to in
dulge myself and explain a few things
first...
This month’s long distance bill re
flected an attempt to reduce the num
ber and length of my phone bills; earlier
bills had been much higher. Actually
what occurred was a strategic redistribu
tion. It used to be that I would be the
one to initiate the phone calls, now I call
Elaine less but she calls me more. A lot
more.
In fact, her phone bill is now higher
than mine. But that’s not all. She goes
home from school at least twice a month
and calls me from there, too. I’m sur
prised her parents aren’t complaining
since they’re paying her bills. Mean
while, I’m here at A&M slaving away at
The Battalion trying to make ends meet.
Long distance relationships simply
aren’t cheap to maintain. Elaine’s birth
day is only a few weeks away. I wonder
if she’d rather get roses or four hour-
long phone calls instead (Believe it or
not, the phone calls would be less).
So far this year I’ve been to Indiana
three times (where Elaine lives) and Cal
ifornia twice (where my family lives) and
one more trip to Indiana before the
year is out is likely. Not bad for an “in
dependent student” on financial aid,
eh? I hope no one over at the Student
Financial Aid office reads this (Who re
ads The Batt anyway, right?).
Actually it can all be attributed to
hard work and discipline. Discipline
means keeping a strict budget which
means no junk food, no beer and no
Quarter-Pounders with cheese. Ba
sically that translates to lots of peanut
butter and jelly.
Last week, I splurged and ate dinner
at the MSG Cafeteria. I had forgotten
just how good mashed potatoes and
gravy can taste. It makes you appreciate
the simple things in life.
A friend of mine here at the paper
has been kind enough to offer me rides
home after work. Afraid that I might be
taking advantage of him, I declinedoK
night. He was embarrassed and thougli
that I had been of fended by his trail
can on wheels.
In all honesty I can say it wasn’ttk
trash that continued to accumulatef
his car that bothered me. It’s just thad
can’t bear to be reminded by the <
bottles, cups, wrappers, containers
bags of all the things I can’t have. T
times I do wish love was blind or at lea:
deaf.
I finally decided that I just co
take it anymore, so I went to see a
cial counselor to see if he had anysuf
gestions.
“The way I see it, there’s only ones:
lution,” he informed me.
“What’s that?” I asked as if I didn't* 1
ready know.
“Get married.”
So if you should happen to be in 8
lem, Indiana next May, stop by for® 1
wedding. If you don’t recognize mel
be in the red tux that say’s AL’S FOl
MAL WEAR on the back.
Then I can catch up on my photf
bills and maybe even finish my educ
tion.
John Hallett is The Battalion’s malf
up editor.