age 2/The Battalion/Thursday, July 31, 1986
Pay at the counter
The thought of raising taxes is enough to boil a Texan’s
blood in the dead of winter. But with the reality of falling reve
nues in virtually every sector of the state’s economy, Texans may
find themselves warming to the idea of raising taxes.
Less than a week from today the Texas Legislature will con
vene in a special session for the purpose of repairing the gaping
$3.5 billion dollar hole in the state budget.
Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby introduced Tuesday the idea of raising
the state’s sales tax either by reducing the products and services
exempted from the tax or by increasing the tax amount. Hobby
presented the tax increase as an alternative to slashing 34 per
cent from most of Texas’ state agencies, including education.
And according to education officials poor school districts will be
affected more severely.
Texas ranks 43rd in total state tax revenue and as part of a
long-standing tradition Texas does not have, and never lias had,
a state income tax. Only seven other states maintain this tradi
tion.
The answer to the budget shortfall is not a decrease in serv
ices but an increase in revenue. Cutting services means cutting
state jobs and it’s obvious our economy can’t absorb thousands
of unemployed state workers.
Aside from that, former Gov. Bill Clements and Gov. Mark
White have maintained a policy of streamlining waste at the Ca
pitol. So, little fat remains to be trimmed.
A great deal of the projected shortfall stems from effects of
the Gramm-Rudman law which may cost Texas $600 million in
federal funds. Federal income tax cuts may provide a little extra
money for an increase in the state sales tax.
If the first thing on legislators’ minds is the reduction of the
state budget shortfall, the first means should be a re-evaluation
of state revenues — not state services. We will all have to assume
the financial burden of balancing the budget one way or an
other. Let’s pay for it at the sales counter and not at the expense
of these vital services.
The Battalion Editorial Board
The long road ahead
for zealous reformists
Sen. Joseph Bi-
den of Delaware,
addressing Secre-
tary of State
George Shultz and
the television cam-
era, acted as
though he had just
come to town
from 20 years in
the desert and dis
covered Pontius
Pilate sentenced
William F.
Jkjckle^r
Christ to the cross. Shultz said calmly
that he “resented” Biden’s suggestion
that President Reagan’s speech had
been “immoral” and a tacit approval of
continued apartheid in South Africa.
Shultz can be tough customer when he
wants to be, but there are restraints on
secretaries of state addressing congres
sional committees. Former Secretary of
State Dean Acheson complained that 90
percent of foreign policy for a secretary
of state is domestic policy.
What Shultz didn’t say, others can
say. For instance: “Biden, old shoe,
when did you discover the evils of apart
heid and the necessity that the United
States declare economic war against that
government? Apartheid has been going
on for 38 years. When did you first
come out for sanctions?”
Everything in politics, and much in
life, is a matter of timing. Why are we so
excited at this particular moment? Be
cause of the emergency decree in South
Africa? There are 8,000 South Africans
being held without charges filed against
them, and in American circumstances
such a figure would be intolerable. But
has it not occurred to any observer of
the current scene in South Africa that
the government there might have reck
oned that in the absence of the emer
gency decree, 10 times 8,000 might have
been killed in general rioting? Isn’t it
possible that history will judge that
there was less suffering in South Africa
than there otherwise would have been,
had the government failed to act?
And then there is this matter of tim
ing. Viewed against the African scene,
The Battalion
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The Battalion Editorial Board
Michelle Powe, Editor
Kay Mallett, Managing Editor
Loren Steffy, Opinion Page Editor
Scott Sutherland, City Editor
Ken Sury, Sports Editor
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the crimes of South Africa assume gran
deur only because the goverment is
composed of white people. And this is a
subtle form of racism, as if to say: That
which is bad is bad if committed by a
white man, hut understandable if it is
committed by a mere black. Adam Wolf-
son, in the Policy Review of last fall, de
plores the lack of self-government in
South Africa, but then concedes that
there is no popular accountability in An
gola, Benin, Burkina, Faso, Burundi,
Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central Afri
can Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo,
Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia,
Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,
Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia,
Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania,
Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda,
Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles,
Sierre Leone, Somalia, Nambia, Sudan,
Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda,
Zaire and Zambia. We are talking about
85 percent of black Africa.
It is true that there is brutal railroad
ing of people in South Africa — and
elsewhere. For example, the Ivory Coast
expelled 16,000 Beninese in the mid-
1960s; Ghana gave two weeks’ notice
and expelled 500,000 “aliens” in 1969;
Zambia expelled all of its “aliens,” some
150,000 people, in 1971. Uganda ex
pelled 50,000 Asians in 1972, and 10
years later expelled thousands of Ba-
nyarwandas; Kenya expelled almost
5,000 refugees from 1979-1981; Ethio
pia began a massive relocation of 1.5
million persons in 1984. In May of last
year, Ethiopian soldiers ruthlessly
forced 50,000 starving people at the Ib-
net relief camp to leave, and then set the
camp on fire, as part of a national policy
to resettle people in the western region
of Gondar.
Had enough? No, don’t go away.
“The most brutal expulsions,” Wolfson
informs us, “have occurred in Nigeria.
In 1983, up to 3 million foreigners were
forced to leave. The Washington Post
reported that in the ‘frantic struggle’ to
escape by the deadline, many refugees
were killed while some died of hunger.
Two years later, Nigeria expelled an
other 700,000, at times using tear gas to
break up refugee camps. In one con
frontation, the Nigerian police shot 65
fleeing refugees.
“South Africa also is properly con
demned for its inhumane ‘influx con
trol’ system, which allows blacks to visit
white urban areas outside of their
homelands for only 72 hours at a time.
Similar laws restrict citizens’ freedom of
movement in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozam
bique, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Tanza
nia and Zaire. Ethiopians, Mozambi
cans, Rwandans and Zairians must carry
work and residence permits and cannot
move without permission of the govern
ment.”
It’s a good thing the moral energy of
Sen. Biden et al is so profound. They
have just begun to fight. After the South
African blacks bring freedom to South
Africa, the senators can move their re
formist zeal north.
Copyright 1986, Universal Press Syndicate
Beauty pageants, livestock
shows have many similaritie
It is the mark of
a good coach or
manager to be
able to lose with
dignity. Nobody
likes a losing coach
who jumps up and
down and
screams: “They
cheated!” or “we
should have won!”
Some coaches,
like Tom Landry
and Don Shula, are well-known for the
graceful way they accept defeat. Other
coaches, like Woody Hayes and Mike
Ditka, have been known to act childishly
when things aren’t going the way they
would like. But that’s football, not the
Miss Universe Pageant.
You might expect competition in
beauty contests to be more mature. But
last week Richard Guy, manager for
Miss USA Ghristy Fichtner, made some
statements that showed he needs some
lessons in how to lose gracefully and
how not to make a fool out of himself.
When Miss Venezuela, Barbara Pal-
acois, became Miss Universe last week in
Panama, there was the usual amount of
polite tears and plastic emotions from
the other contestants. Miss USA, the
first runner up, responded in the tradi
tional fashion with a hug so gentle that
neither contestant’s dress would be ruf
fled.
The next day Guy responded with
some accusations.
“We got cheated,” Guy said. “This
girl (Palacois) had pock marks on her
face. This girl (Fichtner) had nothing.”
Guy obviously believes that beauty is
only skin deep.
It’s funny to hear a grown man argue
about which woman is the most beauti
ful, but it’s sad to think that a grown
man would be so upset that the woman
chosen to be Miss SMU, Miss Texas and
Miss USA could lose to a foreigner.
Like most people who don’t like to
lose but do, Guy tried to appease his and
his protegee’s hurt egos by claiming
they didn’t want to win anyway. Guy
said it’s better to be Miss USA because
the connections will be in the United
States. It seems as if Guy was saying that
he and Fichtner would just take their
crown and go home.
Such childishness at a beauty contest
isn’t so hard to believe when one consid
ers how childish a beauty contest really
is. Most people should have dropped
such sexist and voyeuristic tendencies by
the time they reached 18.
A beauty contest is nothing more
than a livestock show. Women are
trotted out like cattle for a bunch of
over-excited old men to drool over like a
starving rancher looking at a T-bone. A
beauty contest is pornographi
puts women on display former
sure. Why did former Miss
Vanessa Williams get into so mud
ble for her nude pictures? The
ference between Penthouse air
Miss America Pagent is the ait
c lothes the women wear.
A beauty contest degrades woe
telling them that physical beautv,
telligence or personality, is the
important attribute. They are
pected to say anything except i!
“I-would-like-to-make-the-world
ter-place-to-live” speech or dear
except twirl a baton and sing a
of the Carpenters’ hits. A beaim
also degrades women by tellini
that all they have to do is weai
clothes and put on lots of main
they will be pleasing to men. It'sai
ing to see these women transt i
into cold, plastic Barbie Dollswtioij
when to turn on a smile that is
lated to make everyone happy.
Guy said that Fichtner shoulc
won tlie Miss Universe title because
crowd was with her.” “F.veryone
classy, elegant woman,” he said..1
classy, elegant woman would
around with the likes of soraeont
Guy. A real classy, elegant
would not lower herself to ei , :|
beauty contest.
Karl Pallmeyer is a senior journ
major and a columnist for The t •
ion.
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Mail Call
'The People's
usual, misinformed and biased. Steffy attempts to unit
his plot around what critics have called “The Monkey I
Trials II.”
In training for
Courf?
EDITOR:
What an incredible laugh I am having imaginingjust
what went through Loren Steffy’s head as he was coughing
up that oh-so-juicy “Monkey Trials II” column. I can see
Steffy, in deep thought, pacing slowly in his room, so
lovingly concerned about the masses somewhere out there.
His forehead wrinkled, worried that their sheltered world
might be disrupted by those “idiotic Christian moralists,”
otherwise known as God’s censorship stormtroopers. This
is side splitting stuff. Steffy ought to be a comedy writer
for People’s Court. Unfortunately, his article’s obvious
close-minded bigotry, I think, would be a bit much for the
viewers to stomach.
It is amazing how difficult it is these days to have both
sides of the coin presented, and when the attempt is made,
look at all the feathers it ruffles. We Christians are
interested in having our side shown also, so people with
free choice (all Americans) can choose for themselves.
Why are so many disturbed by this notion?
The right to voice our views and not be subjected to the
humanist religion in the schools, that our tax dollars help
support, is guaranteed by our Constitution. (By the way,
the Supreme Court ruled that secular humanism is a
religion which places man as the supreme being instead of
God.) When supposed unbiased sources appear just the
opposite, people who seek freedom and the right to make
informed choices will make their voices heard.
John W. Roman
Class of’85
Old reruns in The Baft
EDITOR:
I saw an old rerun in the pages of The Battalion
yesterday. It was entitled “The Great Christian Massacre
Part VI: Loren Lives!” The plot was typical and just
another example of the producer’s inability to come up
with anything original.
In this horror flick the antagonist, Loren Steffy, takes
his routine potshots at morality, Christianity and the Bible
just like he always does and his position on the issues is, as
If Siskell and Ebert reviewed this film they would ;
probably say that the film has several flaws. First,Steffy ||
says that “secular humanism” is a term that only
Fundamentalists can define. But informed moviegoers |'
know that the Supreme Court defined it as “a religion 'H
without a god where man is considered the center of all ||
existence and the ultimate authority of good and evil.” 1
The second flaw of Steffy’s story is that the script was ■
probably taken right out of the pages of Time and
Newsweek. It doesn’t occur to Steffy that these magazines!
may he biased and that the information therein maynotr
accurate or worse, a gross misinterpretation of
T ennessee’s Vicki Frost’s position. Now he could have |1
investigated a little further and written something more 1|
objective and accurate, but it must have been a lowbudj/i
film.
So for its misinformed, inaccurate, biased content, 1 '|
half to give Steffy’s film a one and a half “putrid popcorn If
rating. But what do you expect from someone who
considers morality as “idiocy.”
Mike Foarde ’87
EDI POP’S NOTE: While some of the information was §
taken from Time, much of it came from articles in The |
Christian Science Monitor and l he New York Times. kM
again we state that opinion writing is not and never was 1
meant to be objective.
In the name of party loyalty
EDITOR:
We are writing in response to a letter in last Thursdays
Battalion. We enjoy Karl Pallmeyer’s writing and wishto «
continue hearing his opinion. However, we must agree jj
with the author that Pallmeyer is fat, is short and does in ;
fact dress like a dork — but at least he gives great parties |
Randy Kolb
Gary Engstrom
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. TheediWm
staff reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, but will
every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be si^B
and must include the address and telephone number of the writer.