Page 2/The Battalion/Friday, September 27, 1985
Opinion
Lefs be open
with opinions
Expression of opinion comes in myriad forms.
Newspapers, magazines, film, pamphlets and flyers are effi
cient means of making opinions available to the public. Usually,
these opinions are presented in an open manner by people who
aren’t ashamed to stand behind their views. But sometimes an
expression of opinion is distributed by a more cowardly means.
A quick look Wednesday through the books on the sixth
floor of the Sterling C. Evans Library, which pertain to Jewish
persecution, revealed a copy of the National Vanguard stuck in
side.
The National Vanguard is a “newsletter” published by the
National Alliance, a national anti-Jewish, Aryan supremist orga
nization. The publication makes such claims as President Rea
gan is grovelling “shamelessly at the feet of Jews.”
No matter how objectionable such material may be, in a so
ciety that strives for racial equality, the members of the National
Alliance have just as much right to express their opinion as any
one else.
But the manner in which their literature is distributed seems
inappropriate and cowardly. If the Alliance wanted to spread its
propaganda, why not set up a table in the Memorial Student
Center and hand out its “newsletters.” Instead it contaminates
historical accounts of Jewish persecution with its paranoid prop
aganda.
If a group believes strongly in a certain view, it shouldn’t be
ashamed to state its opinion, regardless of how unpopular its
views are and regardless of the criticism it may receive.
If a group believes strongly in a certain view it should come
out and state the opinion, rather than sneaking its twisted views
on an unsuspecting public.
Ironically, the National Alliance frequently condemns the
Jews by claiming that the Jews use the same tactics.
The Battalion Editorial Board
Mail Call
Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit
letters for style and length but will make every effort to maintain the author’s Intent. Each letter must
be signed and must include the address and telephone number of the writer.
Which cup do rock
stars drink from?
EDITOR:
I am writing in response to Loren
Steffy’s article concerning the “evils” of
rock and roll in the Sept. 16 Issue of The
Batt. In it, we were allowed the honor of
hearing his opinion of the latest at
tempts to rate rock music in the same
manner as movies. He claimed that
these ratings were an attempt to “cen
sor” the various groups’ “artistic ex
pression.”
I agree the ratings could be defined
as censoring, but of what? I have trouble
believing that songs concerning lust,
war, rape-murders, drugs, immorality
and sex are an “artistic expression.”
They are evidently the creations of sick,
lost minds and I pray the artists might
see what kind of wrong they are doing.
He went on to mention the groups
trying to rate music were narrow
minded. Put the shoe on the other foot,
Loren. You wrote yourself of what kind
of lyrics are being sung, but refuse to
look at them open-minded. Has it ever
occurred to you that these songs have
melted your sense of right and wrong?
Corinthians 10:21 states that people
will either drink of the cup of God or
the cup of the devil — not both. Since
these songs definitely aren’t of God,
from which cup do you think the writers
have been indulging?
David Ross
There he goes again
EDITOR:
In reference to Karl Pallmeyer’s col
umn of condemnation in Monday’s Bat
talion, I am glad to see that he has once
again gone out of his way to check the
validity of his information. Since he
seems to be so deafly concerned with
the well-being of Stacy (did he know
that is her name?) I wonder where he
was that night when this very unfortu
nate incident occurred?
Had he been there beside her he
would have realized that the young girl
was in fact trampled upon by the other
young children running out on the
field. And certainly he would have no
ticed that the first persons to come to
her aid were members of the Corps and
that they were the ones holding her
hand and constantly reassuring her that
she was okay until she was taken away
on the gurney.
And of course one of such genuine
concern would have gone out of his way
to visit Stacy at the hospital and would
have been relieved to hear that she was
okay and would be back in school on
Monday. But no, I imagine Pallmeyer
was too busy pointing his finger and dis
torting the truth to have done such.
I’m surprised that Pallmeyer is a se
nior journalism major because as such
he must have heard several times about
ethics in journalism. The press is a pow
erful instrument that is capable of
greatly influencing public opinion and
attitudes. As such it should only be op
erated by those who have the maturity
and wisdom to use it ethically.
Pallmeyer should be the last person to
write to the public about responsibility
and the rights of others when he cannot
exercise it himself and cannot respect
that of others. I would imagine that Pal
lmeyer is the type of journalist that
would try and cover the story of some
one attempting to commit suicide rather
than prevent it.
Henry Wercham ’86
Deputy Corps Commander
Bad bull, Ags
EDITOR:
This letter is directed to our head yell
leader Thomas Bufford and Tom Kelly,
a junior yell leader.
.1 have never been so embarrassed for
us Ags than I was Friday night at yell
practice. The Rock stories were just
BAD BULL, AGSJ You are supposed to
be the guys that lead our student body
in the spirit of Aggieland and should be
an example of what a good Ag is.
There were a number of visitors at
the first yell practice and this is not the
image that we would want people to
think of when they think of Texas
A&M. And what about the guys with
United feiturtSjskt,
Putting the national debt
in easy to understand terms
Karl
Pallmeyer
Two Trillion
Dollars — our na
tional debt. Can
you imagine an
amount that
large? No?
Let me help.
Let’s have some
fun with numbers.
Two trillion
dollars, or
$2,000,000,000,0-
00. Two trillion dollars equals two thou
sand-billion dollars. Two trillion dollars
equals two million-million dollars. Two
trillion dollars equals two billion-thou
sand dollars. Two trillion dollars equals
too much money.
Just imagine you wanted two trillion
dollars for yourself. If you went to cash
a check at the Memorial Student Center
you could only write one check for $50
each day. You would have to get in line
on 40,000,000,000 different days.
40,000,000,000 days equals 109,514,003
years, two months and a few days extra
if you want to take off for a long lunch.
Our earth is only 4,500,000,000 years
old. Does that mean we have been
spending about $444.44 a year? No. It’s
a national debt and we have only been a
nation for 209 years. That averages out
to $21,531,100 a year for the United
States.
According to certain scientists, our
sun will explode in about 10 billion
years. We could pay off our $2 trillion
national debt before then at a rate of
only $200 a year.
There are about 4,762,000,000 peo
ple on the earth. That means we could
give every body on earth $419.99. Every
body on earth could buy a pretty good
TV set for that amount.
There are about 226,650,000 people
in the United States. Since it’s our na
tional debt maybe we should keep the
money in our country. Everybody in
America could by a nice Japanese car
with the $8,824.18 they would get from
the national debt.
According to Carl Sagan of “Cosmos”
fame, there are about 100 billion stars in
our galaxy. If we were to invest our $2
trillion in the stars we could spend $20
on every star. But Carl Sagan only talks
about “billions and billions,” Ronald
Reagan gets into the trillions.
President Reagan has trouble with
numbers. Out of a $253,800,000,000
defense budget, Reagan has designated
that $2,300,000,000 be spent on re
search for Star Wars. Reagan has also
appropriated $250,000 for AIDS re
search. Considering that no Americans
have ever died in a nuclear war and that
6,830 Americans have died of AIDS in
the past five years alone, there seems to
be some confusion of priorities.
Reagan has often displayed his num
bers non-sense. The 22nd Amendment
says that a person can only serve two
terms as president. Recently Reagan
told a.group of people that he thought
the public should be allowed to re-elect
a president a second time if they
wanted. If a president is elected, re
elected and then re-re-elected, he would
have served three terms. Three terms is
one more than allowed by the Constitu
tion. When Franklin D. Roosevelt ran
for his third term, 11 years before the
22nd Amendment was ratified, the op
posing party used the slogan “No Third
Termites.” I hope we don’t have;:l
hear that slogan in 1988.
Recently a group of scientistsdij
covered that you could gettltl
world’s largest prime number iri
multiplying two by itself 216,$1
times and subtracting one. Thenunl
ber contains 65,050 digits and woulil
cover two whole pages if wewereii
print it in The Battalion. A prim
number is a number that is notdivis
ble by anything except foroneandt-
self. Our national debt is a miroki
that can’t be divided by anythingti
ther. Now Reagan has something
shoot for.
Karl Pallmeyer is a senior joum
/ism major and a columnist for Tlx
Battalion.
Mail Call
dates and the freshman whose parents
came up to see the first game? Can you
imagine how embarrassing it was for
them?
We elected you to lead us in the spirit
and if this is what you consider good
spirit and something you want to convey
to future Ags, then we have problems.
For me, it was real hard to be a Proud
Ag Friday night.
Michael Cooper ’87
Accompanied by 8 signatures
Sodomy law prevents
the spread of disease
EDITOR;
This letter is in response to the edito
rial printed in the Sept. 19 Battalion
from the Beaumont Enterprise. I re
spect the notion that this was a rep
resentation of the author’s opinion.
What is in question here is the right of
homosexuals to their own privacy. I dis
agree, but for some very good reasons. I
believe it is up to the Legislative under
our form of government to protect the
people. If this be so, then I also believe
since homosexuality can lead to disease,
specifically AIDS, for which there is no
cure, then it should be up to the govern
ment to make such acts unlawful.
It is unlawful in our society to abuse
drugs, but this can be done in privacy.
Does making the abuse of drugs in one’s
privacy constitute an unlawful act, con
stitute an abuse of that person’s privacy?
I don’t think anyone would say that it
does. The reason being is that such acts
are a threat to that person and possibly
to society.
Homosexuals have a great threat of
contacting a disease (AIDS) which is
usually fatal. This disease can be trans
mitted to non-homosexuals, through
blood transfusions and some doctors
now believe by other means. This consti
tutes a threat to society. A threat that
cannot and should not be ignored.
A positive step has been taken with
the reinstating of the 1974 anti-sodomy
law and I praise the courts and legis
lature for finally stepping up to these
lawyers who twist and mangle our con
stitution to abuses I believe our forefa
thers never intended. It is time for even
more positive steps to be taken against
this moral wrong turned health hazard.
Hayward Rigano
Accompanied by 22 signatures
EDITOR’S NOTE: In Africa, AIDS is a
predominantly heterosexual disease.
The Battalion
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The Battalion Editorial Board
Rhonda Snider, Editor
Michelle Powe, Managing Editor
Loren Stef fy, Opinion Page Editor
Karen Bloch, City Editor
John Hallett, Kay Mallett, NewsEditon
Travis Tingle, Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editors
Kirsten Dietz, JerryOslin
Assistant News Editors ..........
Cathie Anderson, Jan Perry
Assistant Sports Editor
Charean Williams
Entertainment Editors
Cathy Riely, Walter Smith
Art Director Wayne Grabein
Copy Editors Rebecca Adair,
Mike Davis, Sarah Oates,
Brad Whitten
Make-up Editor Ed Cassavoy
Staff Writers Tamara Bell,
Meg Cadigan, Ed Cassavov,
Cindy Gay, Doug Hall,
Paul Herndon, Wendy Johnson
Tammy Kirk, Jens Koepke,
Trent Leopold, Mary McWhorter,
June Pang, Tricia Parker,
Brian Pearson, Lynn RaePovec,
Marybeth Rohsner, Gigi Shamsy,
Frank Smith, KennethSury
Scott Sutherland
Cartoonists Mike Lane,
Scott McCullar, Kevin Thomas
Columnists Camille Brown,
John Hallett, Karl Pallmeyer
Photographers Greg Bailey,
Anthony Casper, Frame Hada,
Jaime Lopez, Michael Sanchez
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