The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 15, 1987, Image 3
Wednesday, April 15, 1987/The Battalion/Page 3 State and Local Freeze-dried urine, hot debates n highlight MSC Political Forum weren’t Buti I. By Danny LaBry and Melanie Perkins Staff Writers s 3pin®p|j erSj booklets, newsletters, pam- s rel y iBlets and other political parapher- ;i gainstnitJBlia filled the Memorial Student St concerniiBntei Ttiesclay as MSC Political Fo- sponsored its 1987 Political I Avareness Day. ' at thisUiftBStudents walking through the ■ a degree-• I® ( -' were l ,<,in fiaixled with infbrma- jnrU n Jn ranging f rom pro-abortion to • ’ “Hti-abotlion, democracy to cornmu- e system. R,,, an( | ami-drugs to anti-drug „ | Hting. The Texas A&M chapter of 1 ' ' the American Ci\il Liherites Union -OnesotouiM en we ,K as f ar as to sell treeze- ’• i here’s no (Bied urine as a political statement testing in ifiKainst drug testing. J esystem t^BThe table staf fed h\ the American ^tensionyHlniie Coalition was * ai the most ’ i Bpular sight lot debate. Debates Bout English as the official lan- all aroundtf-* age usually started of f as lo w-key ACLU sells freeze-dried urine to make political statement Freeze-dried urine was being sold in the MSC Tuesday by the Texas A&M chapter of the Amer ican Civil Liberties Union as a po litical statement against drug test ing. A statement issued by the union said the group doesn’t con done drug use and acknowledges that drug use is a problem but is opposed to drug testing as a way of solving the drug use problem. Union member Steve Ridge, a junior political science major who came up with the idea after see ing an ad for the freeze-dried urine in an Austin newspaper, said he proposed it to the leaders of the organization as a viable protest and they liked it. The urine, contained in small vials, came from a laboratory in Austin and was sold for $10 a vial. It also came with a booklet dis cussing drug testing. At last re port, there was a grand total of one sale. For those who didn’t get a chance to buy any of the freeze- dried urine Tuesday, Ridge said the group should have it on sale in the MSC again next week. s j •™».ussions between one or two stu- 3. otudtM^B nts an ,j a coalition supporter. As y down lltetM voices got louder, the crowd got ofessor'sma Agerand the discussion got hotter, tads from ■Students passing In may have mis- thereas jtaknthe Communist Party U.S.A. for a L.S. Army or Marine re- ^Biiting table because of the large ns stnrUiJ l"nbet of Cm ps membet s gathered * B rront listening to the QOrediscussions going on at the heycandotMie, anyone could tell that the ca- lassand,Offifinweren’t about to enlist, ough, theg'B y l ()Sl °f die |M)litieal groups rep- ^Kented at (he galhei mg had an op- ■nimity to express their ideas dur- ke tobdbtlj ' n ' a va, '’etv of speeches scheduled v for the nr em. Comic cion and yo have one. the system, limited. Correction ■r students 1 he system, l 1 irt of a m •e’s a place i ?r we’ve (oiiftj our collegtij of .* have it center An article in T uesday’s Bcittnl on reported that women must be t least 18 years old to receiv from Planned Paren- of Brazos Y'alley. Planned parenthood, however, offers its i vices to women of all ages. » (t'l leivu us Imod nj throughout the day in the MSC lounge. Most of the people in the lounge, however, talked with friends, did homework or slept rather than listen to the speakers. Some people did listen. “1 find it fascinating that they (Po litical Forum) do this program,” said Tom Wilhelm, a senior history ma jor. “1 find it interesting to hear the different views that people have.” I he speeches given in the MSC lounge from 1 1 a.m. to 3 p.m., in 30- minute intervals, came from a vari ety of conservative and liberal groups: the National Rifle Associa tion, the Public Citizen (a non-profit consumer group), the Texas Grass roots Coalition, the National Organi zation for Women, the Communist Party of Texas, the Students Against Apartheid, the Socialists Workers Party and the American Ethnic Co alition. Curtis Burns, coach of the Texas A&M Pistol Team, represented the National Rifle Association and ad dressed the issue of the constitu tional right to keep and bear arms. He said the men who wrote the Second Amendment to the Constitu tion were afraid of the standing army and were interested in all Americans being armed to avoid the overthrowing of the government and the creation of a dictatorship by the army. “Any attempt to control or elimi nate the use of firearms by private citizens for their own self-protection would inevitably cause the crime rate to skyrocket rather than go down,” Burns said. Public Citizen, a non-profit con sumer group founded in 1971 by consumer activist Ralph Nadar, was represented by Jessica Shahin, who spoke on the social value of the tort system and the product safety the system helped generate. “It is not federal regulations, it is not moral obligation, nor is it new technology that forces manufactur ers to make a safe product,” Shahin said. “It is still, foremost, the fear of private-liability lawsuits and the fear of the punitive damages that can be awarded in these lawsuits.” She said tort reform means giving up rights with little or no compensa tion in the form of lower insurance premiums. In another speech, Texas Grass roots Coalition Director Samuel Hoerster III, said Christians must become more involved in the politi cal process. Definitely the loudest and most outspoken speaker of the day, Hoerster captured the attention of even the most casual passer-by. “The modern cradle-to-grave mentality of govei nment is not wor king,” he said. “Government has tried to be omnipresent and omnip otent, but, unfortunately, only the Lord God is omnipresent and om nipotent.” He said civil government was or dained by God and is ultimately re sponsible to God. The function of government is to be a terror to those who do evil and a praise to those who do good, he said. He said American Christian cul ture is like a frog in hot water. If the temperature of the water is in creased slowly, the frog will not jump out of the water, but will be come relaxed. The frog gets so re laxed that by the time things get really hot, his muscles are too re laxed tojump. The speech by the Texas district of the Communist Party U.S.A. probably attracted the largest crowd of the day, with more than 60 listen ers. A1 Rodriguez,'a Class of ’74 me chanical engineer, pointed out the advantages of socialism and commu nism to capitalism. As soon as Rodri guez opened the floor for questions, hands flew into the air. When asked why the standard of living in communist countries was so low, Rodriguez pointed out that countries in which capitalism has failed, like Mexico, also have low standards of living. He said the so cialist and communist countries pro- Photo by Tracy Staton Steve Ridge, a member of the Texas A&M Civil Liberties Union, sells freeze-dried, drug-free urine for $10 a vial. vide an extra benefit to their citizens that capitalist countries don’t. He said people are starving in capitalist countries because they can’t afford to buy food; people in communist countries may be living without luxuries, but they aren’t starving. The speech made by Lou Zaeske, a local Bryan resident, on English as the offical language brought less au dience opposition than the, Commu nist Party — partly because most of the opponents were still at the coali tion table debating with other mem bers. “Establishing English as the o v; cial language is kind oflike recog ing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner is our official anthem or the ‘stars and stripes’ as our official flag,” Zaeske said. Get Your Xerox® Copies ninge a^- man n i rnust!# because l |( mi me. couches .I,in , Don’t S et icir and wha 11 fulwhen ainsiden insult mtial isely* 1 rape, here atf -ran it 15 " ; ny< ; whil e ’ iiois' 1 '* The best pizza in town.TA*^/ Cut along dotted line and present at time of purchase. SPECIAL OFFER! YOUR FAVnRITE LARfSE PIZZA ONLY $0.99! No coupon needed for a big bargain on the best pizza in town! A large Original Crust pizza made with smoked provolone cheese and your choice of a single topping. 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