Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, September 29, 1986
Opinion
The Battalion
unuwa rettur* Syndicate
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
SouthwestJournalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Cathie Anderson, Editor
Kirsten Dietz, Managing Editor
Loren Steffy, Opinion Page Editor
Frank Smith, City Editor
Sue Krenek, News Editor
Ken Sury, Sports Editor
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supportine newspaper oper
ated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Sta
tion.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial
board or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions
of Texas A&M administrators, faculty or the Board of Regents.
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students
in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Depart
ment of Journalism.
The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during
Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday and examination
periods.
Mail subscriptions are $17.44 per semester, $34.62 per school
year and $36.44 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on be
quest.
Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald Building,
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843.
Second classpostage paid at College Station, TX 77843.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battalion, 216
Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station TX
77843.
MAf&vues
©we6Housicn bkt
Treading water
President Reagan is determined to sink with his policy on South
Africa. Whatever possibilities constructive engagement originally
may have promised, it has failed to deliver. It is now nothing more
than an empty hulk of foreign policy, and no number of vetoes can
make it shipshape again.
Reagan has been fighting the rising tide of public opinion, which
favors economic sanctions. Last year, he imposed an executive order
— a few watered-down measures against the Pretoria government —
in an attempt to stave off growing calls for stiffer sanctions.
The president is considering issuing such an executive order
again, this time calling for a black ambassador to South Africa, send
ing Secretary of State George Shultz to meet with various black lead
ers and government officials and sending $500 million in aid to bor
dering countries that suffer punitive sanctions imposed by South
Africa.
While these measures would help ease the smoldering conditions
in South Africa, they are not enough.
Apartheid is morally wrong. The South African government
condones and perpetuates racism. It denies the majority of its pop
ulation basic rights yet claims to have a popularly elected govern
ment. It is an insult to the concept of democracy.
By vetoing the sanctions bill, Reagan has ignored public opinion
and pitted himself against his longtime allies and party members.
The president doesn’t have enough congressional support to keep
the veto from being overridden, but his action has stalled Congress’
effort to combat this morally repugnant policy.
The United States took nearly two centuries to come to terms
with racism and inequality. Change also will be slow in coming to
South Africa. But world opinion and growing economic isolation will
help provide an incentive that pre-civil rights America didn’t have.
We have a moral obligation to ourselves and the tenets of democ
racy to break off financial support to countries that show no respect
for human rights.
The Reagan administration has done this in Nicaragua, Poland
and some 20 other nations. Yet it refuses to be consistent with its own
policy when it comes to South Africa.
By continuing to cling to his ineffective policies, the president is
holding the United States up to world ridicule. Nations that once
looked to us as a beacon of democracy are now leading the way in op
posing this racist regime in democratic clothing.
It’s time to abandon ship, Mr. President. You can’t fight the tide
of reality and public opinion forever.
V\n
G00P GOING!
OUR FIRST
RA1PMS A
HUGE SUCCESS.
Doctor-patient confidentiality
trashed in name of drug war
America’s esca-
lating war on
drugs took a turn
for the worse this
past week when
the American
Medical Associa
tion announced
that doctors
should set aside
doctor-patient
confidentiality if
they discover that
:#
Craig Renfro
their patients may threaten public safety
because of drug abuse.
According to the AMA’s code of med
ical ethics, doctors have an obligation to
keep medical information about their
patients confidential. However, the new
twist in AMA policy virtually eliminates
the code and makes everyone vulnera
ble to this tattletale drug game.
Imagine if physicians decided to re
veal every problem their patients came
to see them about. Pretty soon we would
have an Orwellian society, with the doc
tors playing Big Brother and the gov
ernment knowing everything about you.
One day you walk into your doctor’s
office, and he asks how you’re doing.
“I don’t feel too well doc, it seems as if
I haven’t got much sleep these last cou
ple of weeks,” you respond. “I was won
dering if you could give me something
that might help me relax.”
So the doctor refers to his little black
book of drugs and prescribes something
to ensure a good night’s rest.
“Just take one of these before you go
to bed and you’ll sleep like a baby,” the
doctor assures you.
So you take his advice and go home,
looking forward to a peaceful evening.
However, when you arrive home you
find a police car parked in your drive
way and two officers with stern faces
anxiously waiting for you to step out of
your car.
“Good evening officers, is there some
way that I may be of assistance?” you
ask.
Reagan administration ignores
past reality in Daniloff affair
The officers don’t find your question
funny, and they proceed to ask you
questions about your daily activities.
“You’re late getting home from work
aren’t you, sir?” the officer asks.
“Yes, just a little, but that’s because I
went to see my doctor after work,” you
respond.
“Why did you go to the doctor?”
“I don’t want to sound rude, but I
don’t believe that’s any of your busi
ness.”
To conserva
tives, the United
States is strong but
behaves weakly
The Soviet Union,
although weaker,
behaves strongly.
Accordingly, the
ultimate citation is
Yalta — the 1945
Big Powers con
ference at which,
conservatives say,
had either weakened or liquidated pro-
Western forces. The Russians had
borne the brunt of the fighting against
Germany, and no one can say what
force would have been required to dis
lodge them from what became their sa
tellites.
permitted a judge to hold him without
bail. It was only a matter of time until
the Soviets dropped the other shoe. Sur
prise?
Richard Cohen
the West ceded Eastern Europe to the
Soviet Union. As surely as God created
little green apples, the Nicholas Daniloff
affair is being compared to Yalta. In
other words, any swap would be another
sellout.
The Yalta analogy is instructive not
because it says anything about the will
ingness of the West always to yield to the
Soviet Union, but because it always fails
to take into account the reality of Soviet
power and determination. The Soviet
Union was — and remains — not only
powerful, but ruthless. Those facts
should never be forgotten.
Hardly. The administration says the
arrest of Zakharov was a routine opera
tion, simply a matter of policy. That pol
icy is to catch Russian spies and im
prison them. That’s the sort of policy
that gets roars of approval from Repub
lican National Convention delegates
who think the Soviets suddenly have
gone wimpy. To them, everything is a
matter of IT.S. weakness, not of Soviet
strength or determination. Theirs is the
wrong end of the telescope.
“So you wanna play rough,” the offi
cer says. “Well, that’s OK because we al
ready know why you went there — to
get more drugs.”
Feeling amazed at the sudden turn of
events, you ask the officers how they
found out about your prescription.
“Dr. Narc called us and said that you
came for more sleeping pills,” the offi
cer responds. “He said that was the
ninth time in the past year that he has
prescribed them for you, and he feels
that you may have a drug problem.”
“I can’t believe that he told you about
my prescription," you reply, stunnedby
such a breech of confidence. “1 thought
it was against their code of ethics to re
veal their patients’ medical problems.''
“It used to be,” the officer responds,
“But since President Reagan got the
anti-drug bandwagon rolling, it seems
as if everyone is jumping on it.
“First you have the politicians, then
the schools and universities and nowit's
the medical profession. Pretty soon ev
eryone is going to be involved in stop
ping this menace to society.”
“I know that everyone is getting in
volved in the drug war,” you respond.
“It’s all you see in the newspapers. 1
think it has something to do with it be
ing an election year.
“But what bothers me is that the med
ical profession has decided to get sucked
into the game. Just the other day I read
a story about doctors using drugs.”
The police officers’ curiosityis
aroused, and they ask for more details,
such as names and addresses. You have
to remind them that this was only a sur
vey, not a surveillance.
“A Harvard University survey of
more than 1,000 Massachussetts physi
cians and medical students revealed thai
nearly half of them have used mari
juana or cocaine, and nearly 25 percent
of them used mind-affecting drugs,
you reply.
“Sounds hypocritical to me, ” the offi
cer says. “In one hand they’re smokinga
joint and with the other hand they'redi
aling the telephone to squeal on their
patients.”
Craig Renfro is a senior journalism
major and a columnist for The Battal
ion.
There is good reason not to swap
Daniloff and good reason, also, not to
proceed further with plans for a summit
until he is freed. As they say on tele
vision, more about that in a moment.
First, though, let us examine the
Yalta analogy. It presumes that the West
— England, France, but really the
United States — could have stopped the
Soviets from dominating Eastern Eu
rope. Who knows? But as David Eisen
hower argues in his book about his
grandfather, the commander of the Al
lied armies, Dwight Eisenhower, be
lieved that a U.S.-Soviet war or Soviet
refusal to open a second front against
Japan might have been the result.
And yet they are. Jimmy Carter regis
tered shock bordering on betrayal when
the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan
to prop up a friendly regime on its bor
der. But that was precisely what the So
viet Union did in Hungary in 1956, and
there is little doubt it would do the same
again. Now the Reagan administration
is shocked because the Russians took an
American hostage, probably in ex
change for one of their spies. Partic
ularly from a conservative president,
this naivete comes as a bit of a shock.
Whom did he think he was dealing
with?
Now, though, the damage has been
done. And now conservatives want to
stay the course. They have a point. The
Soviets should not be rewarded in any
way for taking an American hostage.
Not only would that lesson not be lost on
the Russians, but it would be noticed,
too, in parts of the world where hostage
taking is a cottage industry. The French,
for instance, ransomed some hostages
and were rewarded by the taking of still
others. The world is full of American
reporters and, unfortunately, those who
would abduct them.
In fact, Yalta and the Tehran confer
ence, which preceded it, acknowledged
what was already apparent: A totally
mobilized Russia was intent on extend
ing hegemony over Eastern Europe. It
already had occupied most of the coun
tries it sought and, even before that, by
virtue of proximity and ruthlessness,
Unfortunately, the answer is not
clear. Judging by the government’s own
actions, you would think that no one
ever had cracked a history book. It ar
rested a Russian employee of the United
Nations, Gennadiy Zakharov, and
charged him with espionage. From the
available information, Zakharov was
working his way up to small potatoes; he
had recruited a Third World student at
New York’s Queens College. No nuclear
secrets here. Nevertheless, in a media
circus, the FBI arrested Zahkarov and
But even should we stand fast this
time, the Soviets have sent us a message.
Whatever happens to Daniloff, no re
sponsible administration official hence
forth will permit the casual arrest and
media exploitation of a Russian spy.
The reason for that is reality — the
same reality that applied at Yalta and
which a conservative administration,
schooled in myth, ignored. Unfortu
nately, much of the cost of this lesson
may have to be borne by Nick Daniloff.
He is doubly a prisoner— of the Rus
sians and of a misreading of history.
Copyright 1986, Washington Post Writers Group
Mail Call
Response to the sticker stickler
EDITOR:
We are writing in response to Karl Pallmeyer’s Thursday column. We
rarely have seen the author’s writing more incoherent and without merit.
It is true that U.S. Rep. Joe Barton never has kept his educational
background a secret. As are most of us, he is proud to be an Aggie.
The famous Gig ’em bumper stickers recently received a great deal of
press across the 6th District. Both the Texas A&M and the Texas Christian
University stickers were printed by student groups that support Barton and
hardly represent an effort to defraud the universities as the author suggests.
Moreover, Pallmeyer admits that the campaign has complied fully with
the request of the universities in handling the matter.
Finally, we would like to point out that Barton has relied on issues as the
foundation of his campaign. Perhaps if Pallmeyer had taken a few moments
to review Barton’s record, he would know the congressman has compiled a
strong record that is the cornerstone of his re-election campaign.
Heather Hood ’88
Steven B. Carter ’87
One bad apple
EDITOR:
The two percenters have taken over the campus! I’ve reached this
conclusion because three of my books and three of my spiral notebooks were
stolen from the Commons. Like the old saying goes, it only takes one bad
apple to spoil the barrel. My faith will be restored if my books are returned to
me. Don’t let me down, Ags.
Krissy Weatherspoon
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 classification, address and telephone number of
the writer.
By I
Violin vir
jreceived a
playing Jol
Jcerto for Vic
iMajor to a
IRudder Auc
Perlman ;
lAntonio Sy
■open the 1
■for MSC C
I Arts Society.
Before P<
1 the orchestr;
■conductor .
I formed the
jtwo pieces
I Overture”
|Theme by H
Perlman 1
I lin because c
| Through ye
work, he est
of the world
Dubbed tf
of the violin
iPerlman has
appeared oi
[television pi
Isell-out crow
Perlman’s
[outstanding,
[instrument t
Res
HUMB
engaged it
spread of
festing sot
ties.
Researc
Forest Ser
cal sprayir
pesky insc
pine beetl
fested and
“The ol
trees as lo
predators
blow away
legist for t
The nei
[ spots in E;
hibitor am
from heali
stages of a
in the
11701 Bria
Pos