Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, August 13, 1986
Pull the plug
While Bryan residents will be basking in the glow of cheaper
electrical power. College Station may be forced to weather yet
another increase in utility rates. College Station’s troubles stem
from its electrical supplier, Gulf States Utilities, which expects its
customers to pay for the obsolete River Bend nuclear power
plant it built in Louisiana. It’s time to pull the plug on Gulf
States’ continual rate increases.
The city of Bryan announced Monday that its customers
won’t have to pay fuel charges in August and September be
cause of the cheaper cost of fuel and increased efficiency of the
Bryan Utilities power plant.
Bryan lowered its fuel costs last year when it sold some of its
megawatts to other electric companies, and Bryan Utilities is
ahead of budget by $900,000.
Meanwhile, GSU is proposing another substantial rate hike.
The company’s president, E. Linn Draper, says GSU is in an eco
nomic crisis and needs $150 million to $175 million more each
year to dig itself out of its hole.
Draper proposes that customers pay more of the utility’s
costs, including the cost of River Bend, now operating near Ba
ton Rouge, La.
College Station residents already have been paying for the
power plant, and until recently were providing more funding
than the Louisiana residents who were supposed to benefit from
its construction. But GSU admits that the demand for power
generated from River Bend is almost non-existent.
While it’s unfortunate that GSU is facing financial difficulty
because of a bad investment in River Bend, College Station and
other customers should not be subjected to incessant power cost
adjustments just to help the company fend off the throes of
bankruptcy.
GSU built the River Bend plant, and it should absorb the
losses for its fiasco. College Station residents shouldn’t be ex
pected to pay for services they don’t receive — they’re paying
enough already for the services they do receive. They will only
tolerate so many rate hikes before they really blow a fuse.
The Battalion Editorial Board
Nuclear confrontation
a worldwide concern
Last week (Aug.
0 and Aug. 9)
marked the 41st
anniversary of the
bombings of Hiro
shima and Naga
saki. The usual
wire service arti
cles recounted the
incident for the
people who have
been brain dead
for the past 20
years. The United States, during World
War II, dropped its two remaining nu
clear weapons on the Japanese cities.
Being the first, and so far only, nuclear
warheads used against a civilian popula
tion, these two bombings have become
the leading argument for nuclear dis-
armement.
Mark Ude
The peace movements have flocked
to these sites as if they were holy shrines,
and staged assorted protests against the
superpowers and their apparent disre
gard for human survival. Such goals are
worthy of attention, and need to be
stressed, especially in these days of po
tential annihilation by just one country.
Thousands gathered in Japan, mark
ing the historical event with songs, dis
cussion and silent prayer. The proposal
for nuclear disarmament to be held in
these cities could be a motivating incen
tive to the hesitant powers.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Michelle Powe, Editor
Loren Stef'f y, Opinion Page Editor
Scott Sutherland, City Editor
Sue Krenek, News Editor
Ken Sury, Sports Editor
Editorial Policy
The Bmttilioit is n non-profit, self-supporting ttewspu-
/MT ofieruted ns ii community service to I exits A&.M iinci
Du itn-Collepe Station.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion me those ot the
Hditoriid Hoard or the author, and do not net essat ih t en-
resent the opinions oi 'i'exus . IX .W Hdministrators. tucullv
or the Hoard o/ Heffents.
The Battalion also sen es as a lahorittoi \ newspaper for
students in reporting, editing and phoitiffrapln classes
within the Department ol journalism.
The Battalion is published .Mondm through Friday
tin ring I exits A&M regular semesters, except tor holiday
and examiniitioii periods. Mail subscriptions are $16.75
pet semester. S:i.i,25 per school vein- and $55 per full
year. Advertising rates furnished on request.
Our address: The Battalion. 216 Reed McDonald
Httilding. 1 exits AA-.M L’niversitv. College Station. TX
776-1.5.
Second class postage paid at College Station. TX 776-1.5.
1‘OS'TMAS’TER: Send address changes to The Battal
ion. 216 Reed McDonald. Texas AA-.M L'niversity. College
Slat ion TX 776-1.5.
South African Bishop Desmond Tutu
flew to Japan to milk the event for all
the publicity he could. Instead of en
couraging talks between the superpow
ers, the Anglican bishop denounced the
United States and warned that unless
sanctions are imposed upon South Af
rica, the blacks there will face a potential
Armageddon. That really encourages
me to start chanting “no nukes, no nu
kes.”
Tutu even went so far as to express
wonder and amazement at the people of
Hiroshima who have no trace of bitter
ness at the United States — as if we were
at fault in declaring war against the Im
perial Japanese Empire.
Americans are too quick to forget
what caused the dropping of the bombs
which devastated the two cities. The
United States was just starting to finish
the fourth year of a bloody global war.
The conflict in Europe was over, and
American troops were ready to go
home. We had just lost one of our most
popular presidents, and the future of
the Pacific War was in question.
Not withstanding the Japanese war
on China started 1939, the surprise air
raid on Pearl Harbor and the Bataan
Death March, the Japanese were de
fending their home island of Okinawa
with kamikaze tactics, extoling a high
casulty rate among American service
men.
With concrete evidence that the Japa
nese would continue to defend the main
island with continued ferocity, then-
President Harry S. Truman had to de
cide which lives were more valuable.
The encroaching Soviet Army was an
other factor which forced the issue. To
avoid a divided and occupied Japan, the
U.S. would have to beat the Japanese by
themselves.
The most formidable problem facing
nuclear disarmament now is the abun
dant number of nations with nuclear ca
pability. Until France and Great Britain
include their arsenals, and therefore
their offensive ability, with the United
States, the Soviet Union will not nego
tiate. But on the other hand, the Soviet
Union will disarm only enough to en
sure their ability to deter a nuclear at
tack from both the United States and
the People’s Republic of China.
The potential for nuclear confronta
tion is no longer a one-on-one with the
Soviets. It now concerns a great many of
other countries who are not willing to
entrust their defense to one of the su
perpowers.
Mark Ude is a senior geography major
and a columnist for The Battalion.
SPA*
I— NAS
Itests lat
rocket
berized
preven
for the
John
solid r
said th;
and ft
ceed, i
able to
Tho
ence a
Centet
team 1
new n
prevet
the Jar
crew n
“VVt
I stand
f
Star
Rehnquist’s peculiar brilliana
lacks wisdom, compassion
You must know
the story about the
city slicker who
stops on a country
road to ask a
farmer directions.
To each question,
the farmer replies,
“Don’t know,” un
til the city slicker
says, “You don’t
know much, do
you?” “Maybe so,”
PC
‘'Rehnquist’s extremism, if that is what it is, does not foreshadol
future, but instead reiterates the past .... (He) was so mudiiel
vor of (Julius and Ethel Rosenberg's) executions he rued in am
the absence of drawing and quartering (oh, what brilliance'.
Rehnquist, it seems, never met a death penalty he didn't like."
Richard
Cohen
the farmer replies, “but I ain’t lost.”
Well, pardon me if I play the part of
the farmer in the on-going confirma
tion hearings of William Rehnquist to be
chief justice of the Supreme Court. I
have heard Rehnquist described as "bril
liant,” an intellectual whiz, learned and,
of course distinguished. If he’s so smart,
the farmer in me asks, how come he's so
often wrong?
Take civil rights. From the memos he
wrote as a Supreme Court law clerk, in
dications are that Rehnquist did not
agree with the decision that found
school segregation unconstitutional.
That does not mean that Rehnquist fa
vored segregation. It only means that
after peering real hard into the Consti
tution, he could find nothing that could
serve to strike down school segregation.
“I think Plessy v. Ferguson was right
and should be affirmed,” Rehnquist
wrote, referring to the separate-but-
equal doctrine that prevailed until 1954.
This was the conventional conserva
tive opinion of the time and some con
servatives still hold it. As legal theories
go, it’s not the silliest you are likely to
encounter, but neither is it particularly
profound. Had the Supreme Court ac
cepted it, some states might still have
school segregation and other aspects of
Jim Crow as well. In short, the nation
would be divided more racially than it is
now and further from the goal of a just
society. History rebukes Rehnquist on
this one issue alone — and vindicates
the wisdom and the tactics of Chief Jus
tice Earl Warren.
Unfortunately for Rehnquist, what
was true for school desegregation re
mains true for other issues — such as af
firmative action — that affect minorities
or women. As their spokesmen have tes
tified, Rehnquist seems to be against
them. He seems almost always to side
with authority, with the government
and against the individual. Each and ev
ery Rehnquist opinion, lawyers will tell
you, is witty and scholarly — an intellec
tual tour de force. Maybe. But they are
almost always historically irrelevant, too.
In Rehnquist we have a most peculiar
brilliance. It is one that seems to have no
relevance to results. It rights no wrongs,
expands no rights, champions no op
pressed and seems to accept things the
way they are. As a school of thought, it
has been on the sidelines or opposed to
the movements — civil rights, feminism
— whose achievements have been his
toric and beyond debate. (Do we any
more question whether married stew
ardesses have to quit work or whether
schools can be racially segregated?)
At the Rehnquist confirmation hear
ings, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., called
the likely chief justice an “extremist.”
Kennedy is entitled to his views, but ex
tremism, as Barry Goldwater once
maintained in a different context, is
hardly a vice. Indeed, if over the years
either the courtor society had moved
Rehnquist’s way, his “extremism” would
be laudatory. After all, abolitionists
were once extremists, but today there
would be nothing extreme about j
views — unless, of course, you l«|
to think slavery is a good idea.
But Rehnquist’s extremism, if
what it is, does not foreshadow ih(
ture, but instead reiterates tht past
for his brilliance, it seems to be
nected to his memory and whtit
comes to embarrassing inddeiiu,lit
been an observer, not a participant
his own life. He can not account ton
nesses who allege he once harassed
norities at the polls. 1 le allows licit
have seen a restrictive covenant id
own house, but memory fails hirnli
too. He does, though, remembet
house.
Just as history rebukes Rehnquiit
his Plessy v. Ferguson opinion, i
made him seem small and meanwl
comes to the executions of Juliut
Ethel Rosenberg for espionage. I
quist was so much in favor of thed
cutions he rued in a memotheate
of drawing and quartering (oh,
brilliance!). Years later, though,wet
reason to question whether
ment fit the crime and w
Ethel’s case, the actual crime wasnot
own execution. Rehnquist, it se
never met a death penalty he didn’t
fhe brilliance of William Rehwiii
a cold thing. It shimmers without
warmth of wisdom and compassion
therefore serves no purpose
city slicker who mocks the fan
Rehnquist knows everything bun
he happens to be at the moment
brilliant people could provide hii
answer: It’s the 20th century.
Copyright 1986, Washington Post Writerik
DA
not p
sporti
pollut
mile s
Cat
died
stretc
about
down
near *
Th
more
Denn
Texa
mem
branc
Of
60,DC
it is r
184,(
Th
prog!
pleni
fox s
pollu
tocki
gle c
reme
Tl
rang
the I
H
up h
bottc
Wat<
coor
indu
age
mu n
W
rain
and
The
robt
essa
O
min
brei
poii
pari
ter.
to s
side
C
ing
msm
(NOT WWl£ CPERSONtb
weavv nuclear
WEAfSNS)
And now,
the results
of the
president’s
drug test:
SUNW
LOTON
(T)tmv
ftAlUEfc)
GRECIAN fORMUlA
(OfFIOAU* C£M1K>)
ft 8 '
-SOMINEX
(RAR&LV NETO>i SLEEK BW)
UP BALM
(R>R UPSEPVICE TD OON&KE5S CNTHE
AtfOHOU
Cat stwe pinners)
GOTTOL
(ID CKSPEl AGE QU&flCN)
DR. SCHOLLS
AIRPIUOW INSOUS
(SDR fcmdLS intro TERM RUN)