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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 15, 1986)
i Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, December 15,1986 Opinion Christmas brings with it good, bad and ugly I, Paula Vogrin, as a new Battalion columnist, do sol emnly swear I will be entertaining, interesting and amusing. I swear 1 will not write any government com mentaries, politi cal criticisms or guidelines for United States na- tional policy. Lastly, I will fight for Paula Vogrin truth, justice and an “I love Texas A&M” column from Karl Pallmeyer. In comparison to the last task listed, the rest should be a breeze. Since the holidays are almost upon us, I decided to begin my stint as a col umnist with some observations about the Christmas season. Some things I dislike: • The way shopping malls put up Christmas decorations at Thanksgiving. Who wants to deck the halls before De cember? The Salvation Army. Those guys really know how to make you feel like pond scum. They stand outside the malls and grocery stores ringing their bells at you when you walk by. You try to act like your pockets are empty, but when you’re walking into a mall or gro cery store, it’s obvious you have money. So, if you’re like me, you feel guilty for having money, sheepishly donate a dol lar, and go on your way. • Flocked Christmas trees. Nothing looks more out-of-place in a 72-degree living room than a snow-covered Christmas tree. But I suppose America should be thankful. At least those pas tel-colored Christmas trees so popular during the 1970s have disappeared. • Theme-decorated Christmas trees. I’ve always thought Christmas trees should be a kind of family statement. My family’s Christmas tree represents the entire history of the family. There are ornaments my sisters and I made in kindergarten and grade school, orna ments we bought on trips to various places around the United States and or naments my parents had before they were married. A tree decorated entirely with red bows, gold balls and white lights just doesn’t mean the same thing as my family’s tree. • Shopping-mall and department- store Santas. It may have been neat to sit on Santa’s lap when you were a little kid, but take a look at the Santas today. Very seldom do you find a rotund, red nosed, jolly old man. Instead, look for a young, beady-eyed, deviant who wanted a cush Christmas job. I wouldn’t sit on those laps for anything. • Flashing lights of every color and size decorating the outside of people’s houses. I know some of these people have good intentions, but come on. There is a family living in my neighbor hood in Dallas with a Christmas display you would not believe. To begin with, an illuminated, life-size, plastic nativity scene complete with Jesus, Mary and Jo seph graces their porch. Above the scene, not quite on the roof of the house, is a star made of a string of red lights. The lights flash out of sync, so the star is never completely lit. The house is decorated with eight or 10 strings of different-colored, flashing lights — not the kind that twinkle, but the kind that flash on and off at once. Lazy news media and Congress deserve blame for Iran scandal In his interview with Time Mag azine about the current scandal in volving diversion of cash from Ira nian arms sales to the Nicaraguan contras, the presi dent put his finger on something: “The whole thing boils down to a supervised the program. Where was the press? Asleep, that’s where. Richard Cohen great irresponsibility on the part of the press.” The president is right. But not in the way he means. Enough information is now known about the im broglio to make Americans wonder about the sanity of those who chastise the press for bringing on this crisis. In fact, given what we know, you, dear reader, are entitled to fault us for being asleep on the job. Take the element of Israeli complic ity: Twice, in the months before the en tire arms operation was revealed, high Israeli officials were asked here in Washington about rumored Israeli ship ments of arms to Iran. At breakfasts for reporters, columnists and bureau chiefs, the then-Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Peres and his defense minister, Yitzhak Rabin, were asked to comment on those reports. They coolly characterized them as lies, although neither they nor any one else could explain why those reports persisted. The reason they did, we now know, is because they were true. Simple denials from Israeli officials seemed more than enough to turn off all in quiry. As with Saudi Arabian complicity — also denied — the clues were there for all to see and the press needed only to connect the dots. You may ask: Why did the mythologi cal guard dog called the American press not know, until the story broke in Leb anon, that American arms were being shipped to Iran? And why did we also know nothing about the funding of the Contras which entailed the cast of hun dreds — everyone from the Sultan of Brunei to American right-wingerswith deep-pockets and fertile imaginations? Consider this: Ship after ship arrived in Iran. Planes took off from Israel. Nu merous Americans were in on the se cret. Arms dealers in the United States, Iran and Israel were involved. So, too, were Swiss bankers. Israeli and U.S. of ficials knew and talked to one another. The National Security Agency, which monitors most of the world’s telephone calls, must have known, too. People in the White House not only knew, they Or take the secret and possibly illegal funding of the Contras: At a time when the United States had suspended lethal aid, the Contras were mysteriously in posession of both arms and the means to get them. Airplanes ferried supplies to Honduras. Pilots were on the payroll. Arms were being bought and ways in vented to get them to the Contras. Who was paying for all this? Where was the money coming from? We now know. But at the time, no one seemed to doubt that some Americans — presumably very rich people — were by themselves funding a war. If true, it may have been the first time in history. When I say different colors, I mean each string is a different color. They have several trees in their front yard garnished with the same diverse selec tion of flashing lights. But only the lower two or three branches are deco rated. The grand finale to this extrava ganza is a loudspeaker on the roof which booms out Christmas carols. The final result is something akin to a circus. I always expect a bunch of clowns to come running out the front door and start juggling on the lawn. On that note, it’s time for some things I like about Christmas: • Family gatherings. Families, whether spread out over the country or living under the same roof, experience a special closeness at Christmas. There’s less squabbling and more camraderie within families and it seems easier to get along with everyone. • The holiday spirit. Everywhere you go, people seem friendlier, kinder and more concerned about other human be- What’s true for the press is doubly true for Congress. It seemed terminally naive. Its suspicions never were aroused. It, too, seemed not to wonder where the Contra funds were coming from. It, too, did not pause to consider • Snow. Christmas in Hawaii or Bahamas might be nice, but tom white Christmas is still the idti| Christmas. Waking up on Chrisfc morning and looking out my window find a blanket of snow over everythintij one of my fondest Christmas memom • Christmas carols. Most peopleoi honestly say there isn’t a Christmas®K®y ^ an they don’t like. Unlike Top 40, Ik songs are perpetual favorites and ijl, never go out ol fashion. films j • Christmas dinner. On ChrisumlL,, Mike day, houses are filled with the sawloLet up a odor of turkey, goose or ham, potato^bdiscover stuffing, cranberries and all thediikBlays he you ate just a month ago atThanhf S* problem ing. Usually, these dishes are as good F r! ! ' I "“' l>etter the second time around. f 5 asl "" • Midnight Mass. Since fmCathol)L UOIum \ s I attend every year. Lots of otltln’t have i churches offer midnight services,andfasour low you ever get the chance to go, don’t it up. Af terwards, you’ll feel likematii it does make a difference that fact is t edicat< iw attenc ings. Real Christmas trees. They might be a fire hazard and a mess to clean up, but real trees make the whole house smell like Christmas. 2,000 years ago, a little boy wasbonn: Ards show | student d, Sim manger. Paula Vogrin is a senior jourmlisl major and a columnist for The Bara don’t exj ion. He used t Irhaul. whether its own legislation was being vi olated or, at least contravened. It sat smug and beguiled as administration of ficials briefed it on its latest version of the truth, never suspecting for a mo ment that it was being snookered. Even when Eugene Hasenfus went down in Nicaragua in October, there were few in Congress who expected what Hasenfus himself admitted — that he was, in some way, part of the United States govern ment operation. The snores from Con gress drowned out this declaration of truth. In retrospect, the sorry record of the press and Congress is startling. Presid- net Reagan, after all, is a known com modity. His anti-communism is not some dark secret that he keeps in the closet, but a resplendent article of his ideological faith. His language gave away his intentions. His characterization of the Contras as “Freedom Fighters” and his likening them to our founding fathers bespoke a man who would not, if hecould, let their cause go down the drain. Just as Richard Nixon’s entire ca reer foreshadowed the paranoia and abuse of power that came to be called Watergate, Reagan’s career pointed to self-defined historical mandate to roll back communism — no matter what. In an opinion-editorial article in the Washington Post this week, White House communications director Patrick Buchanan referred critically to the “ar tillery of an adversary press” — a refer ence to a phrase once used by James Reston in a book title. Buchanan has a point. The White House is under seige and well it should be. But as for the vaunted artillery of the press, it took its time getting to this fight. For too long our guns were spiked and our gunners asleep. Copyright 1986, Washington Post Writers Group Mail Call Esjjays the | |neu for [ -fcntf Govern! 8specified [ Aggie turned jerk EDITOR: As an off-campus Aggie late for class a few days ago, I opted to parkina visitor lot. After driving through the crowded lot for about 15 minutes,! spied an empty space. Seeing no other cars near me, I put on my turn signal to claim myoasisiD the parking-lot “desert.” Suddenly, a fellow Aggie sped around the comer and stole the spot 1 had so clearly claimed just an instant before. After expressing my displeasure to my fellow Aggie, it took me 10 more minutesto park my car, making me hopelessly late for class. If the fellow Aggie who so maliciously misappropriated my parkingspact is reading this article, 1 hope he remembers the wise words of Joe Bob who said, “It’s not good bull to take another Aggie’s parking space.” Thomas Burton ’89 H m fssion out if Stud .live," Sims s hate speakc K dian man commission deni Matt S Hrman, Si fl&ther sic fipon will H of the set Common-sense solution? EDITOR. I read a couple of interesting articles in The Battalion Dec. lOaboutsex education for teens. It appears some of our more noble experts in the field got together and concocted a new “strategy” for stemming our nationwide epidemic of teen-age pregnancies (Oops, did 1 say “epidemic?” I’m sorry, apparently there is no epidemic, we are just a “different society”). Their solution? Relax, Mom and Dad — Big Daddy’s got lots of money tobuyall kinds of good toys for your kids to keep them from making a mistake. I certainly don’t claim to be an expert on the sexual problems of American teenagers, but I do claim to be fairly long on common sense. Therefore, I dare to make a bold move and suggest the following solutiontc the problem of teenage pregnancies in America: abstinence. Ifscheap, requires no government intervention, lets children be children, preventsjji and anxiety and makes sex in marriage a whole lot more fulfilling and exciting. But then again, it would require parents to intervene in the persona! affairs of their children. Oh well — it was just an idea. Mark Garrett ’84 Call him a politician EDITOR: Q: What would you call a politician who blames his opponent for problems with the economy that weren’t his fault, breaks campaign promisti and uses a seven-year-old photo for his campaign posters? a. dishonest c. Bill Clements b. conniving d. all of the above Be sure to study this question carefully, because it will be on a quizeverv day for the next four years. Robert Dowdy Rope $25 Come clean EDITOR: On Sept. 10, I was stopped for speeding on Anderson Road whiledriwni a black Ford Escort EXP. There was a car behind me — a yellow Monte Carlo. I got that car’s tickfl The officer said I was going 46 mph; however, I was traveling nowhereneat that speed and I believe he clocked the Monte Carlo. I’ve been to municipal court, where the judge didn’t even listen tome, and now I’ve got an appeal for Dec. 17. I really need to talk to the driver of the Monte Carlo. Don’t worry,you’! be in no jeopardy, but I think you owe me a little help. Please call meat 7W 3063. 40' C s d Beinj trip, Mich< sques wher at th( Douglas McCord Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right lot®-" for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must he. must include the classification, tuhlress and telephone number of the writer. The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Loren Steffy, Editor Marybeth Rohsner, Managing Editor Mike Sullivan, Opinion Page Editor Jens Koepke, City Editor Jeanne Isenberg, Sue Krenek, News Editors Homer Jacobs, Sports Editor Editorial Policy nucy , The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting ated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan • tion. Opinionn expressed in The Battalion ztc WO* 0 ^ board or the author, and do not necessarily repr^ 111 of Texas A&M administrators, faculty or the Boardo ? 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