[he Battali'
The Battalion
OPINION
Thursday, June 22,1989
Reoorters have
Thursday,
oc
to opimoE|
As one who has never been shy about
letting readers know what 1 think ot va
rious politicians, perhaps it ill behooves
me to criticize someone else for excess.
However, I’m afraid one of the breth
ren has gone too far. Roddy Stinson
AUSTIN (A
lawsuit which s
If public ediK
onstitutional
ates against
he Texas Sup
ednesday to
Mail Call
writes a column for the Express-News in
San Antonio and Sunday a week ago he
wrote about a homeboy, State Rep. Dan
Morales, who is running for the Demo
cratic nomination for attorney general.
Stinson thinks Morales is “the best poli
tician San Antonio has produced in the
last 10 years,” which for all 1 know is
true: Morales is a pretty good guy, all
right, Stinson goes to propose that ev
erybody in South Texas should pitch in
and help Morales get elected, something
he’s perfectly free to urge upon his
readers — I like to see people get ex
cited about and involved in politics and
I like newspaper writers who aren’t too
cynical to believe in a good pol.
Molly
Ivins
Syndicated Columnist
The high civ
died over in South Florida. The opt: j v '*" iear ora '
congressional seat in Miami left
L i i i ri ii i u I Richard Kn
by the death ot the beloved old radiof
Claude Pepper is the focus of an inteisl
Republican campaign. Lee At water, til/^1
Republican smearmeister, said earlier
the week that the seat “belongs to a Ci
ban-American.” State Sen. Jack Gordt!
planned to run for the Pepper seat,an
it was generally believed he'd haven
trouble getting the Democratic non
nation. However, he withdrew fromi
Urai
asyl
, . i . i n a i .i, WASHING
race late lastweek, repelled by theut I.,,,
. -iii i 7 i Phil Gramm a
ness the campaign had already sunklt
Aggie apathy abounds
EDITOR:
We’d like to thank Igor Can on and the handful of
others who cared enough to participate in the
demonstration June 21, concerning the recent massacre in
China.
According to the Aggie Code of Honor, Ags do not
tolerate those who lie, cheat or steal. The Chinese
communist government has done all three on a massive
scale. It seems ironic that, at a school that has contributed
so much to the defense of American liberties, so many
people remain utterly apathetic toward the struggles of
others who yearn to obtain similar freedoms. For us,
Wednesday’s demonstration was a statement in protest to
this apathy and to the limp, anemic response of the Bush
administration to this situation.
Here at Texas A&M, thousands flock to the burial of a
school mascot, and the American flag is lowered to half-
mast for the occasion. But few can spare the time to mourn
the murder of thousands of courageous people who
aspired to freedom. Maybe it is easier to guard the patch of
grass around the Memorial Student Center. A few well-
placed signs are all that is required foreveryone to be
satisfied that their ideals are being honored. We wonder
how long our own freedom will be maintained when such
complacent attitudes prevail.
Greg Pogue
Graduate student
Accompanied by two signatures
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff re
serves 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 clas
sification, address a nd telephone number of the writer.
Remember the good ol’ days
I reckon if I had a few more cups of
coffee I could work up to that pitch of
enthusiasm for Congressman John Bry
ant, a homeboy who is probably the best
politican Dallas has produced in the last
10 years (Zan Holmes was earlier).
Maybe it’s just hometown prejudice, but
to my mind, Bryant is even a shade or
two better than Morales, who tends to
demagogue about law ‘n’ order even
though he’s running for an office that
has nothing to do with criminal justice
(the attorney general, for the millionth
time, is the state’s civil lawyer). Likewi
se,if Lyn Ashby or somebody in Hous
ton wanted to take up for John Odam,
the former Harris County Democratic
chairman w ho is also running for attor
ney general, well, danged if he’s not a
real good guy, too. It’s one of those
freak races where everybody in it is first
rate.
;ration subcon
ack legislatio
Central Ameri
for asylum b<
J.S. border.
“Our policy
:ell everything
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jo 95 percen
khen they a
[States,” Gramr
“I don’t see
larian,” he toh
jj) Subcommittee
refugee policy
Gramm has
I’ve always considered college a time
in one’s life when he or she is some
where between responsibility and
“Romper Room.” I know this sounds ri
diculous, but it seems like the average
college student has a Dr. Jeckyl-Mr.
Hyde personality (or maybe I should say
Dr. Jeckyl-Henrietta Hippo personal
ity). The average college student knows
when to work and when to play. At least,
most of the time we do.
Damon
Arhos
Columnist
wrinkles and gray hair on the all new
adventures of the Cleavers. Producers
need to quit making these “reunion
shows” of all our old favorites so that
our classical images of these characters
remain intact.
The worst, the absolute worst, occurs
Trouble with Brother Stinson’s en-
thusiam for Morales is that he goes on to
say, “If you have friends or relatives in
any county outside South Texas who
would give Dan a handshake, a smile, a
glass of iced tea, a big piece of pie or a
small crowd as he travels through their
area, send me their names, addresses
and phone numbers and I will pass
them along to the Morales camp.” He
promises to put up a big map on his of-
And Jack Gordon is no politicalvirp
— he made a lot of money in privatel
before he went into politics, but k
been a public official for 25 years.!
Florida Legislature ain’t beanbag, an
as Gordon said, “I’ve been in dirty cat
paigns. I’ve been in nasty campaign
I’ve won them.” But Gordon also sat
“Eve spent a lot of time with mediacot
sultants, with pollsters, with image-mil
ers, with strategists. By the timeyougt
done talking to them, you are notin
campaign yourself, you’re preseni
the worst, negative kind ot images tit j[ lat wou | f j
exist, in order to get the attention (south Ament
people with 30-second commercials, or asylum at c
_ , Jassy in a co
Gordon said of Atwater’s tactics: I 1 United States
statement would more inflame ad ions, and wh
that has more tension and antagonis Jass through
than it can possibly deal with rightnw
That is the most inflamatory,
geous, irresponsible statement.!
seat is not a black seat, not a Jewish*!
It belongs to the people in the district
who are Americans. But Atwater*-
sending a signal. I don’t want togetif
thatkind of divisive campaign. I d
want to he responsible for it, and 1 A
want to have to deal with the cot:
quences, which 1 think would be!
irons for this community. We (
need somebody throwing matchei
our tinderbox and that’s whafshapi
•ug
lier.
The Texas
;ees from P
inion seek as
like Rome, an
gee status are
; er the United
“It works ev
except in th<
when small children call you “mister” or fice wall and put a pin in it for every
“sir.” Those two words make me shud- name he gets, says it’s a contest and
But remember that old adage, “Time
flies when you’re having fun?”
Well, at the ripe old age of 21, I am
beginning to feel the byproducts of the
aging process. No, I’m not taking Geri-
tol or anything. A lot of things are just
making me feel older.
I think it all started last weekend
when I was flipping through the paper.
All of a sudden this headline hit me:
“Smithsonian honors ‘Sesame Street’ on
its 20th anniversary.” Among the exhib
its are Oscar and Big Bird, as well as a
re-creation of Mr. Hooper’s storefront.
You know you are old when they start
putting muppets in a museum.
Last night when I went to see a movie
with a friend of mine, I was reminded of
my age again. After the preview for
“Batman” was shown, I asked my
friend, “Where’s Robin?” She replied,
“Oh, they killed him off in the comic
strip a while ago.” I was absolutely
dumbfounded. No more Robin? How
could they? It’s like taking eggs from ba
con or Amos from Andy.
Remember the good of days when
Adam West played Batman? Or when
the theme to “Batman” was sung by ran
dom people instead of Prince? And it
actually SOUNDED like the “Batman”
theme song?
When I made the startling discovery
that my childhood idols had become an
cient artifacts, things only got worse. My
five-year-old niece, an avid “Sesame
Street” fan, was sitting next to me when
I read about the exhibit. The article in
cluded a picture of Mr. Hooper happily
talking to Big Bird, as he does on many
of the programs. When I showed her
the picture, she pointed at it and said,
“Uncle Damon,” (yes, UNCLE Damon)
“Who is that?” I answered, “Well, that’s
Mr. Hooper.”
Speaking of movies, can you remem
ber the first “Star Wars” movie? “Raid
ers of the Lost Ark?” Believe it or not,
these movies came out before PG-13.
You know you are getting old when you
can remember the original movie that
spawned five sequels. You also know
you’re getting old when you can remem
ber when you could actually buy candy
with sugar instead of nutri-sweet and
the butter on the popcorn wasn’t choles
terol free.
der. Probably one of the most traumatic
experiences of my life was being intro
duced as “Mr. Arhos” to my niece’s kin
dergarten class. I always try to remem
ber another old adage: “You are only as
old as you feel.”
So, as I enter my final year of college,
I will have to deal with the wrinkles
forming on my forehead and other
signs of the aging process that we will all
eventually go through. I just keep
looking at the brighter side of things. I
still have my teeth, my hairline isn’t re
ceding and there are only about 40
years or so until I can retire.
And to all those people who think
that I am already washed up, over-the-
hill and outdated, I only have one thing
to say: I know you are, but what am I?
Damon Arhos is a junior journalism
major and a columnist for The Battal-
name ne gets, says it’s a contest
thumps the tub quite a bit more. The
reason that makes me wince is I’m
afraid its parlously close to a corporate
contribution: In fact, that’s what it is.
I hold the position, heretical in our
business, that newspaper reporters, yea,
even political reporters, are also citizens
free to have opinions. I believe perfect
objectivity is not only not possible, it’s
not even desirable.
Despite the trio of fine candidates in
the tace discussed above, the more com
mon problem as we all know, is the race
with no good candidates in it. Remem-
bei the story about how miners used
cameras in the old days? They’d take the
birds down into the mines with them
andl if there was a gas leak, the little
birds would die first, warning the min
ers to get out.
“The loser of that campaign w
the people, not only of the district 11
the people of the country who ">
once again see the political process 1
based and reduced to the level of'®’
distortion. It would not be what at
ocratic society requires — a discuss® 1
some alternative ways to achieve &
progress.” He quoted Goethe,"! 10 '
“You should never wear your best®
sers when you go out to fight forj!
and truth.” Gordon said he’d need 1
of the special suits they use in 11111 '
plants against radioactivity for this 01
paign. The polls showed Gordon J
eight points ahead of his most p r0 "
Republican opponent when
drew from the race.
c
he ">
VVell, another miner’s
canary just
Gordon quit not just because
Atwater and all the dirt and gan
come, but because the campaign P r ,
sionals on his own side told him
was only one way to fight back ‘
lot of people are saying it just me® 1
water won again and it will onj) e n
age him — but we all know whos
losing.
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And then she said it.
“Uncle Damon, who is Mr. Hooper?”
And I said, “Go ask your mother.”
Or how' about “The Brady Bunch?”
They were so groovy. No matter how r
old I get, it always seems like Marcia and
Greg are older than me. And the same
goes for “Leave it to Beaver.” It really
makes me feel old to see Wally’s
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News Editors
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Katny Haveman,
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Hal Hammons,
Makeup Editor
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