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The Battalion
OPINION
Monday, January 30,1989
Even craz
need mac
Mike
Royko
Columnist
Maybe Americans are getting soft.
But we seem to have forgotten that lib
erty and freedom don’t come easy. No
ble sacrifices must be made. And that
can mean Americans giving their lives
for these cherished causes.
Last week we saw a clear example of
those who give their lives for the liberty
and freedom of others.
I’m referring to the five little kids in
California who were gunned down by a
man who sprayed a school with a mili
tary assault weapon.
Surprisingly, most Americans didn’t
realize that what they were seeing was
patriotic self-sacrifice.
People saw it simply as the case of a
deranged young man with criminal ten
dencies, who went on an insane ram
page, pointlessly killing and wounding
innocent children.
And if we isolate the sad event, that
might be all it was. But we must look at it
with a broader, more patriotic view.
Within hours, the predictable, silly,
knee-jerk reactions were being heard
and read across the nation.
Editorialists and other commentators
demanded to know why a crazy man
with a criminal record could walk into
an Oregon gun store, plunk down cash
and walk out with an AK-47.
They wanted to know why laws didn’t
require a waiting period so his past
could be checked out and the gun den
ied him.
And they asked why semi-automatic
military weapons are sold in the first
place, especially since they can be easily
converted to fully-automatic.
people
ine guns
That just shows how little these nat
tering nabobs of negativism know about
liberty, freedom or even the history of
their own country.
As the wise men of the National Rifle
Association could tell them, if you take
away the opportunity for a crazy man to
buy a military assault rifle, the next per
son to lose that right will be the rational
man.
Let us say this rational man is taking a
solitary stroll along the seashore. Sud
denly he sees Red submarines surface
and unload an invading force of Cuban
and Russian soldiers.
But is he helpless? No. Thanks to our
present sensible gun laws, he happens to
have his trusty AK-47 in his beach bag,
and he bravely holds off the horde until
help arrives.
But take away his right to have an
AK-47 in his beach bag, and what’s he
going to do — throw sand in their eyes?
(Don’t believe such things can’t hap
pen? It did, and the Red invaders
slaughtered helpless American women
and children. Fortunately, it was a
movie, and Chuck Norris eventually
killed the Red rats. But what’s to keep
the Commies from seeing this movie
and getting ideas?)
The NR A will also tell you about the
dreaded domino effect of disarmament.
If you can’t buy an AK-47, soon the re
formers won’t let you buy a common
hunting rifle. (Of course, hunting rifles
were sold long before the AK-47 was in
vented, and still are, but let us not quib
ble with impeccable logic.)
After the rifle is banned, then they’ll
get the shotgun and the pistol and the
slingshot. After that, it will be the hunt
ing knife, the pocket knife, the hatpin.
Then they’ll go after our kitchen knives,
and finally our butter knives, spoons
and forks.
We’ll be helpless, unable to defend
ourselves and forced to eat with our fin
gers. You ever try to wrap pasta around
your pinkie? Frazzles the nerves.
Those who would like to ban the AK-
47 are discriminating against the needs
of the physically handicapped, espe
cially those with trembly hands and
weak eyes.
Someone with shaky hands or weak
eyes has little chance of winging a fiend
or Communist with a pistol. Lakes too
much accuracy. Ah, but give him an
AK-47, and he can squeeze the trigger,
whirl about and spray the fiend or any
one else in the neighborhood who
doesn’t have the sense to duck.
No, instead of condemning the legal
ized sale of the AK-47 and other mili
tary assault wapons, we should be giving
credit where it is due.
We should praise those members of
Congress who vote for the laws that
make the sales possible. We should sa
lute the NRA for their generosity in
contributing to the campaign funds of
these congressmen. We should salute
the local politicians brave enough to
stand up to the shrill criticism of the
parents ol children who are killed by
gun-toting loonies.
And let us think of those dead and
maimed children in California as fallen
heroes. Maybe the NRA could give
them teem Purple Hearts.
I he c hildren died for your right and
mv right to own an AK-47, the NRA’s
rights, the right of congressmen and
other lawmakers to pick up fat contribu
tions. They died for the right of gun-
makers. gun importers, gun dealers, the
ammo manufacturers.
And for the irght of the deranged to
take up automatic weapons and defend
themselves against th<
only in their brains.
demons
about
arms.
th<
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■n in
jreceivec
Finally, we should look back totiBHow
tory and remember what JeffersonaB 0 ”')
right of everyone to kB),! 1 ’ 1
h |Chn
County
pies tl
As Jefferson put it: “Hey, evenalBccess
natii should have a gun. You thin» aset *
hungry grizzly bear knows if it’s^atinjB^j^'
lunatic or a pork shank?” a b,
weekly
Incidentally, that wasn’t ThomasJtiBkd
Q. Jefferson,
the Indians. Bp
p In b(
If Orville were around today. kBiactec
still find a way to make a good bod
And it would be legal.
ferson. It was Orvil
sold guns and whiskey t<
Copyright 1989, Tribune Media Services,h
itivone
ant
leads tt
Hjrimei
S&L industry doesn’t deserve continued support
If you haven’t been keeping up with
the news lately, it might interest you to
know that the savings and loan industry
in the United States is in trouble. Big
trouble.
And the price tag for rescuing these
failing institutions isn’t looking good.
Experts say it will cost the federal gov
ernment between $50 billion and $100
billion to bail out the nation’s S&L in
dustry.
A recent proposal made by Treasury
Secretary Nicholas Brady indicates just
how desperate the situation is. Last
week he proposed taxing depositors 25
cents for each $100 of deposits they
have. By levying this tax, the federal
government would raise about $6 billion
to go toward bailing out the S&L indus
try.
As you may have already guessed,
this proposal isn’t popular with too
many folks. Financial experts and bank
ers were quick to attack Brady for his
proposal, while it was denounced by
others as being “boneheaded.” But de
spite the widespread unpopularity of
the proposal. Bush administration offi
cials are continuing to defend it.
Michael Boskin, Bush’s nominee for
chairman of the Council of Economic
Advisers, said he does not consider Bra
dy’s proposal to be a tax on deposits, but
rather an “insurance premium.”
It’s true that deposits of less than
$100,000 are insured by the Federal
Savings and Loan Insurance Corpora
tion'. But depositors have never been re
quired to pay for this service, and'there
is no reason they should be required to
start paying for it now.
Regardless of how you look at it, call
ing it an “insurance premium” is ridicu
lous.
As one White House Official said, by
this logic, the taxes people pay to sup
port the Pentagon could be considered
an insurance premium to protect them
against bombs falling on their houses.
Depositors shouldn’t worry too much
about this proposal, because that’s all it
is — a proposal. It’s simply too unpopu
lar to become a reality.
But that doesn’t help the S&L indus
try. It still needs over $50 billion dollars
to keep it from completely collapsing.
So what’s our government going to
do?
Well, if the current trend continues, it
looks as if the federal government will
waste increasing amounts of taxpayers’
money to keep the S&L industry limp
ing along. Instead of just spending the
required money to pay back depositors
and put the S&L industry out of its (and
our) misery, the government continues
to “rescue” individual institutions by
“selling” them to wealthy individuals or
corporations. But the buyers generally
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Becky Weisenfels, Editor
Leslie Guy, Managing Editor
Dean Sueltenfuss, Opinion Page Editor
Anthony Wilson, City Editor
Scot Walker, Wire Editor
Drew Leder, News Editor
Doug Walker, Sports Editor
Jay Janner, Art Director
Mary-Lynne Rice, Entertainment Edi
tor
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspa
per operated as a community service to Texas A&M and
Bryan-College Station.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the
editorial board or the author, and do not necessarily rep
resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, fac
ulty or the Board of Regents.
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper
for students in reporting, editing and photography
classes within the Department of Journalism.
77ie 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
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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battal
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have been paying only a small percent
age of the actual worth of the institu
tion.
By selling troubled S&L’s, the gov
ernment is doing a disservice to everv-
one involved. The buyers get to make a
quick profit by using the S&L’s for tax
savings and by squeezing some income
out of the dying institutions. The initial
investment of these “buyers” is so small
that they really don’t have to worn
about losing any money. And their cus
tomers’ deposits are still insured bv the
FSLIC up to $100,000, so if they don’t
pull through, the government picks up
the tab.
Ironically, this is how the S&L indus
try got into such a big mess in the first
place. With relaxed regulations and
government-guaranteed insurance of
$100,000 on each deposit, it’s no big
surprise that S&L’s weren't very careful
when thev made loans — the govern
ment was right there to shell out the
cash if the institutions screwed up.
The federal government doesn’t
.deem it necessary to hail out other kinds
of corporations, so why should S&L’s be
am different? Has anyone ever heard
of the government spending billions of
dollars to save the restaurant industry
or theaters? What about miniature golf
courses or grocery stores?
Certainlv the thrift industry as a
whole is more important to the well-be
ing ol our economy than many other in
dustries. But that is no excuse for the
federal government to waste the taxpay
ers’ dollars on S&L’s that are virtual I
dead in th water.
By spending billions of dollars 11
keep America's S&L industry alive,oii|
government is prolonging a probletl
that needs to be brought, quickly toil
end. I he government should startsyl
tematic ally closing down the S&L’stiil
are in trouble, paying depositors ato I
the way. 1 he price tag will be big, bt I
not nearly as big as it will be ifweketjl
these institutions alive.
The S&L industry in this country In I
been struggling to keep its head ata I
water for quite a while. The time k I
come to let it drown.
Dean Sueltenfuss is a junior joum {
lism major and opinion page editork
The Battalion.
Abstinence is key to solving
AIDS, teen-age pregnancies
A mother walks into the room and
sees her daughter engaging in sexual
intercourse. She responds to the situa
tion by saying, “Hey you two 1 was once
just like you, and I liked to do the ‘wild
thing.’” With lyrics to popular songs
such as this it’s no wonder that teen-age
pregnancies and AIDS cases have
reached record proportions.
Movies, sitcoms, songs and society all
project the message that premarital sex
is OK. Even though abstinence is the
only method that is 100 percent fool
proof, it is almost a thing of the past.
Condoms and birth-control pills have
taken, over as the most popular birth-
control methods.
By abstaining from sex, not only are
worries about unwanted pregnancies
eliminated, so are worries about sex
ually transmitted diseases.
Public service announcements for the
prevention of AIDS emphasize the use
of condoms. Public service announce
ments about teen pregnancies em
phasize thinking twice before engaging
in sexual intercourse. In both cases
more importance should be placed on
abstinence. If abstinence were practiced
Mia
Moody
Staff Writer
more, maybe teen-age pregnancy com
mercials and AIDS commercials
wouldn't be needed at all.
Instead of parents teaching their sons
and daughters that premarital sex is
wrong, they don’t even try. They as
sume it's a lost cause since “everybody”
is supposedly having sex.
Main mothers suggest their daugh
ters take the pill instead of teaching
them to abstain from premarital sex. Fa
thers and society teach men that it is
“cool for men to have sex. Virgin men
are often looked down on. Popular
movies like Eddie Murphy’s “Raw” say
that men should conquer as many
women as they can.
People should begin to recognize that
there is nothing wrong with abstinence.
It eliminates sexually transmitted dis
eases, guilt problems associated with
sex, and anxieties.
Many people who have sex know that
it is wrong, and this may cause gui
feelings. Sexually active people alsosu!
fer f rom anxieties because they won
about pregnancies. Many people cat
study because they think about thest
they could be having.
Herpes and other sexual disease
have done much to change peoplf
views about sex, which proves that pc*
pie can curb their sexual appetites.
Like “say no to drugs,” society shoul*
have “say no to sex” campaigns— ca»
paigns that show there is nothing wronj
with being a virgin.
These campaigns should show tb
anybody can have sex and that it takes*
person with a lot of will power to sayi<
to sex. Abstinence is something to k
proud of.
If people abstain from sex until the
get married and only have sex w
their partner, then AIDS and otherses
ually transmitted diseases would be vit
tually eliminated. Unwanted teen-aj
pregnancies would be a thing of tk
past.
Mia Moody is a sophomore jou0
lism major and a sta ff writer for
Battalion.