Page 2/The Battalion/Thursday, April 17, 1986
Opinion
A balance for terror
The U.S. attack on Libya might have evened the body count,
but it didn’t balance our policy in dealing with terrorism.
We attacked Libya because it has supported terrorist activity.
But then why have we not attacked Syria? Why not Iran? Why
not other nations that sponsor terrorism to accomplish their
goals?
Most experts believe Iran and Syria are responsible for more
terrorist activity than Libya. So why attack Libya instead of these
countries?. Libya’s “mad dog” leader, Moammar Khadafy, is
much more verbal than the heads of other nations. In addition,
Libya is much more geographically accessible to U.S. retaliatory
strikes.
The U.S. terrorism policy is selective and based on conve
nience rather than equal retaliation for all terrorist attacks.
Robert Kupperman, a terrorism expert at the Georgetown
Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the adminis
tration is hesitant to act against Syria and Iran because of Syria’s
ties to the Soviet Union and because of those nations’ greater ca
pability for conducting terrorist strikes within the United States.
If this is true, U.S. retaliatory strikes are based on how clo
sely the target country is linked to Moscow and how much of a
real threat the target country poses to our own soil.
The United States is willing to risk increased Mideast terror
ism in this country, the killing of innocent people, strains in
East-West relations, international disapproval and American
military casualties in an attempt to send an anti-terrorist mes
sage to the sponsors of world terrorism. But pulverizing Libya,
the weakest of the terrorist-nation trio, will not cause its partners
to cease their activity.
If the United States is going to deal with terrorism, it needs a
definite policy for retaliatory action applicable to the act itself,
not the country who sponsored it.
The Battalion Editorial Board
Q. WAT S DANGEROUS,
BUT CHEAP AND
EASY TO OBTAIN?
MAR&tfUK
©W&fc HOUSTON Posy
United Feature Syndicate
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‘American’ used by groups
to coerce support for idea
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a place
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The sen
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iron kite
No time for slowpokes
It’s amazing
how the term “A-
merican” has been
bastardized by cer-
tain groups of
people to make
others feel bad if
they don’t agree
with the groups’
ideas.
• Make it a felony for homosexuals
to donate blood.
There are hun
dreds of these
Karl
Pallmeyer
• Bar federal funds to any hospital
which denies doctors and nurses the op
portunity to wear protective garments
when treating AIDS carriers.
• Cut off federal funds to health care
facilities which employ AIDS carriers.
• Cut off revenue sharing to jurisdic
tions which fail to close down homosex
ual bathhouses.
You’ve seen
them in the morn-
ing and you’ve
seen them at night
— the wild com
muter drivers hur-
tling their cars
through traffic at
rush hour on the
way to and from
work. They’ll cut
in front of you,
Art Buchwald
honk behind you and force you over the
curb. What motivates these modern bar
barians to risk not only their necks but
yours as well?
The answer is TIME. The people you
see driving hell bent on the streets and
highways are not only saving minutes
but seconds from their trips. But no one
has ever asked them what they do with on < ^ , one me
thf* rime thev <;ave I m going tO
“Some nights she wants to go to bed
early, and the three minutes is the dif
ference between seeing her and not see
ing her at all. I’m a good father. The
reason is I always make sure I’m pulling
in when my daughter runs out of the
house, even if I have to hit a school bus
to do it.”
I left him relating to his child how he
almost hit a cement truck so he could be
home in time to tell her a story.
The next car I followed was a speed
ing Oldsmobile filled with car-poolers.
I stopped them at the first turnoff. “I
notice you’re going pretty fast, gen
tlemen. Could you please tell me what
you plan to do with the few minutes you
saved?”
“I’m going to write a book,” said one.
“I’m going to wash my dog,” the sec-
groups but, for the purposes of this col
umn, I will only mention one: Ameri
cans Against AIDS.
The last time I was home I saw a let
ter my father had received from a
group calling themselves Americans
Against AIDS. I was delighted. When I
think of Americans, I think of a group
of people who will work together to
solve any problem. When I think of
Americans I think of a group of people
who are willing to help their fellow man.
I assumed that here was a group of peo
ple — Americans — willing to find a
cure for one of mankind’s most dread
ful diseases.
• Urge that students with AIDS not
be permitted to attend class with other
children.
-the time they save.
I was curious so I decided to follow
several of them home.
The first one I took after was a Mer
cedes-Benz convertible. It wasn’t easy to
follow him to his destination, but I man
aged to do it. As I pulled up the driver
was on the stoop, kissing his little
daughter.
“Sir,” 1 said, “I noticed you were driv
ing pretty fast. How much time do you
save by scaring everyone off the road?”
“In a 20-mile trip I usually save two to
three minutes, unless some stupid mo
ron stalls his car at a stop sign. Tonight
that dumb school bus almost made me
late.”
“It’s hard to believe after the way you
drive that you only save three minutes
on a trip,” I said.
“No sweat. I’ve been the first guy on
the block to get home before any other
husband for two years. No one takes
that away from me.”
“What do you do with the time?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You save two to three minutes every
night, and heaven knows you take your
life in your hands. Surely you must do
something with the precious time.”
He thought about this. “I get to kiss
my daughter.”
“Couldn’t you kiss her three minutes
later?”
going
third said.
reshingle the roof,” the
The driver said, “I’m going to watch
tapes of the last three Redskins games.”
“Okay, tell me honestly, why the reck
less speed?”
“There are four of us,” the man be
hind the wheel said. “If I didn’t jump
over Volkswagens I’d get my last two
passengers home late, and then they
would ask someone else to be the driv
er.”
The final car I followed was a Japa
nese sports car. I don’t think I would
have been able to catch up with him had
he not crashed into an eighteen-wheeler
refrigerator truck.
“Well,” I said, “you didn’t save any
time getting home tonight.”
“Wasn’t trying to save any time going
home,” he told me as he picked up the
door and threw it in the back seat.
“Don’t kid me. Do you deny you were
doing 75 miles per hour?”
“I don’t deny that. The part I’m de
nying is I was going home. I was leaving
the house to go to work.”
“What difference does a few minutes
make?”
“The difference of me or Manny get
ting the number one parking place in
the TV station garage.”
Art Buchwald is a columnist for the
Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
When I read their letter I was disap
pointed. The group should call them
selves Americans Against Gays — or
Americans Against Americans.
Americans Against AIDS is a division
of the Conservative Caucus, Inc., “the
nation’s largest grassroots lobby with
more than 750,000 supporters fighting
for fiscal responsibility in the U.S. and
victory over Communism worldwide.”
The letter didn’t say what AIDS has
to do with communism but it bemoaned
America’s declining morals and made
some unreasonable predictions of what
might happen if something wasn’t done.
It also mentioned these five measures
that could stop the spread of AIDS:
The letter asked for money to help in
the fight to make Congress pass these
five measures. None of that money
would go to fund research for an AIDS
cure. California Congressman William
Dannemeyer has proposed these bills
before the Congress. He has the sup
port of several senators and congress
men, including Jessie Helms and our
own Joe Barton.
There are several problems with
these measures. What’s wrong^ith ho
mosexuals giving blood? The AIDS vi
rus can be transmitted through transfu
sions, but not all homosexuals have
AIDS and some non-homosexuals do. If
people are prohibited from donating
blood just because they are capable of
getting a disease, our blood banks would
be drier than the Sahara Desert.
m t
e of
F;u.
:orrei
tt v
rurej
The way the second measure is
worded also could cause some prob
lems. I think that any hospital that
doesn’t allow doctors and nurses to wear
gloves, masks and surgical gowns should
be shut down. But “protective gar
ments” might mean some type of expen
sive environmental suit that most hospi
tals can’t afford. These hospitals would
be afraid of losing federal funds and
Titer Job
imev
The nin
might tl.ub i <T use to treat AllBsts wl
tims. Iniversity
S'Mne hospit.ib h.ive beerjP" 1 ll!
AIDS victims wh" b.iu-backgni^P e l
s<>< ial \s<n h <>■ |>s\ibologytoadj® W ' IU
xelois !<n othet A1 l)S victim
with similar problems can ofcR j^ ou
each other come to grips louston; :
problems. People with terminal
often are brought togethertoin
each other. It would be a sad
hospitals weren’t allowed to
these programs.
Limiting sexual activity isd(
possible. Any piece of legislation:
down homosexual bathhouses
turns its back on businesses
mote heterosexual activity-is
criminatory and hypocritical.
Denying a child an education]
cause that child has AIDSiscei
way to cure the disease. Unless
is having sex with or givin
fusions to his classmates, it is
that the child is a health h;
possible that the classmates
to put aside some of the prejud
parents have thrust upon
learn compassion for theirfelb
If the group was called Ai
Against Dandruff they wi
suggest decapitation astheonli
scalp disorders. Instead offi|
deny homosexuals their ri|
doesn’t this group fight to fi
for AIDS? Jj
When I think of Americans!
a group of people who wi!
rights of everybody, regardless
sex, color, religion, philosoph]]
preference. When I think of
I think of a group of people*
help — not hurt.
n ill'
n i
loti)
S oi
Hi
Hie
Karl Pallmeyer is a senior]
major and a columnist fori
ton.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360) ~
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Editor Michelle Powe
Managing Editor Kay Mallett
Opinion Page Editor Loren Steffy
City Editor : .' Jerry Oslin
News Editor Cathie Anderson
Sports Editor Travis Tingle
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Mail Call
Thanks for the giggles
EDITOR:
I’d like to personally thank Cynthia Gay for providing
me with a few giggles from her column in Monday’s
Battalion. The statements she made were so blantantly
naive and simplistic, I had to wonder if she was preparing
to go job hunting.
Her reference to donations as being “maroon tinted
greenbacks” was priceless.
Maybe I’m cynical, but when I read that I should come
to the “realization that some old Ag out here is waking up
and wondering how much he can give to A&M and to us,”
I can’t help myself.
She also says about donations “we don’t earn it, we
don’t deserve it, but they’re willing to invest in Aggieland
simply because they are convinced we all share something
— integrity.” Simply because? I think Gay failed to
consider the concept of the tax write-off.
Murray E. Muzzall
If an award must be given then give thema
plaque or trophy. The trip to Hawaii is notcflmmefl
with their speecn-tnvine; efforts
>peecn-giving <
Coach Sherrill may nave convinced himself and!
athletes that this is not
fooling the rest of us.
Mark Spicer
Grad student
‘sports” related, but he isnoi
What a racket
Who's Jackie fooling?
EDITOR:
A friend and I were on a motorcycle Sundayn$
between 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m.,en route to the Co®'
from the tennis courts, when my tennis racketde#
was too warm in its cover and jumped out (veryquit! 1
that).
Upon realizing it was missing (not five minutes^
we backtracked the route we had taken (Houston^
Joe Routt Boulevard, right on ThrockmortonStreeif
finally left on Lewis Street) twice and found nothin?]
If you know the whereabouts of my Wilson IMj
Standard (graphite, gripped with blue tournagripW
call 260-0403. Don’t get me wrong— I’m not savin?!
EDITOR:
I find it incredibly dumb on Jackie Sherrill’s part to
even suggest giving a free trip for two to Hawaii to “any”
student-athlete under “any” circumstance.
Why give a “tangible” award at all? Isn’t the reward of
knowing you’ve given the best speech sufficient?
I cannot remember any instructor, department head
or dean offering such an award to any student for giving
the best speech, case study, mock trial or other oral
presentation to their fellow classmates.
stole the thing, but now you know w
really appreciate my racket back (so
it’s his). Thanks.
Nydia Cabello
Cla
where to returnitj
would mybroi
lass of’88
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