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MlNOKiTI RIGHTS.
Texas Legislature lacks empathy
Well girls, as they say in the Texas
Lege, we’re in trouble. Big trouble. It’s
actually worse than I thought it was
going to be.
Clements says he will call a special ses
sion on abortion as early as this fall.
Gov. Mario Cuomo has announced that
the state of New York will continue to
respect a woman’s right to privacy in
abortion decisions and that the state will
continue to fund abortions. They’ve got
Cuomo, and we’ve got Clements, the
man whose ethical sensibility is so ad
vanced he thinks it’s all right to lie when
there’s no Bible in the room.
Shameless hyperbole.
Still, do you really want the Texas
Legislature (I mean, the Texas Legis
lature?! — have you ever seen these
guys?) deciding if you should have a
child?
I was standing at the back of the
House chamber Thursday. It was reso
lution time and they were being unusu
ally silly.
Deep, deep doo-doo.
Now I know the Texas Legislature is
not nearly as bad as I sometimes pre
tend when I’m particularly exercised: A
brief scan of recent coverage reveals
that I have reffered to them, both seve
rally and individually, as airheads, pin
heads, droolers, mean-spirited, gutless,
a public disgrace, ludicrous, nasty, igno
rant, “not the brightest porch light on
the block,’’ “no rocket scientist” and
many more loving terms of endear
ment. I would be the First to admit that I
went entirely too far the day I said the
whole bunch of them “suck eggs, run on
all fours, molest small children and have
the minds of adolescent pissants.”
I have long maintained that these citi
zens are not, in fact, representatives.
I’ve been covering them for 20 years
and I’m still convinced that you can go
into any community in this state, take
the First 181 people to cross the main
street, and you’d come out with a higher
average of caliber than in the Lege.
There are high-class politicians in this
world. There are even high-class poli
ticians in the Lege — a few of the Finest
people I’ve ever known have served in
that body. But I’m here to tell you —
there have not been many. I doubt, in
the aggregate, that they’re much worse
in sensitive situations. It is precisely
where some delicacy and tact, subtlety
and empathy are called for that govern
ment does its worst.
Mail Call
Soldiers with AIDS deserve more respect
EDITOR:
Discrimination and prejudice have many forms. The worst type of
discrimination and prejudice are against AIDS patients. Recently, the Dallas]
Herald ran an article about U.S. soldiers stationed at Fort 1 food in Killeen.!
article reported incidents of soldiers being discriminated against by toparnn
officers and enlisted men at the military post.
The article revealed that the high command at Fort Hood broke Departir* 4
of Defense regulations by transferring some soldiers with the AIDS virus tole
creditable jobs. It also recounted that the infected men were placed in a barn
called a “leper colony.” These soldiers were also denied essential medicalaida
were even up for court martial. Discrimination and prejudice go beyond the
administration at Fort Hood; discrimination is also thriving in the form of
personal harassment. Many soldiers were called “faggots and queers.” One
individual was harassed to the point of suicide. Is this the type of behavior
exemplied by America’s best?
Being enrolled in the Reserve Office Training Corp at A&M, 1 feel thattiit B
are alternatives. The administration should be more informed of the subject
should create a program to help these men, not fight against them. If worse(c®
to worst, these soldiers should be given honorable discharges instead of bein?
buried by personal harassment and meaningless regulations. If these men
dedicated themselves to the defense of their country, I feel the country owes ill
at least respect, not discrimination and prejudice.
Seong U. Kim ’92
Syndicated flag column gets flack
EDITOR:
To say that I am sick of hearing people defend flag-burning as an act offre
speech would be, to say the least, an understatement.
Molly Ivins column makes all flag burners out to be a group of passionate
heroic people protesting some great evil. That’s a lot of crap.
How is it that all radical dissenters are heroes and martyrs, and anyone
cherishing conservative-type values is a mindless idiot? I won’t begin to sit here
say that all things conservative are right and all things liberal are wrong; 1 don!
believe that. But I also don’t believe that Ms. Ivins or any of the other people
promoting the “ideal” of flag burning really give a damn about what free speed
really means, or those for whom the flag actually means something. It’sjust
something to get up on their soapboxes about and start yelling.
Ms. Ivins likens the flag burning furor as some sort of facist fad that those*;
care about the flag and the ideals it represents have always carried.
I have been in the military for over six years, and was stationed overseas
three of them. I, and the men and women I served with, worked very longhowi
in often wretched conditions and sometimes in hostile surroundings. Wedidnil
it for the big payday, because you certainly won’t get rich serving your country.il
remember many times getting off work only to get to the gate to see protesters 1
throwing rocks and burning the flag. It hurt to see it. I’m sure the majority of ill
who don’t find flag burning offensive have never served it and the countryit 1
represents. That’s fine. It’s a free country. For those of us who have, and in I
particular those who died doing it, however, it is a slap in the face.
Michael Ternus ’91
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit IdUnjfi
nd length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and mustmbi
classification, address and telephone number of the writer.
Drinking age law definitely worth whining about
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Clements
But Cl
(
As the spring semester drew to a
close, an incident occurred that became
the crowning blow that forced me to
take a firm stance against the drinking
age law.
Two friends (one of whom chose ano
nymity but is really fellow columnist
Timm Doolen) and I were enjoying a
domino game at the Dixie Chicken.
Though I have never frequented the
College Station landmark on a regular
basis, I had heard horror stories told by
underage drinkers who were caught
drinking there. None of us were 21, but
we still were enjoying a pitcher of beer
with our game.
Well, we made it through almost one-
half of the pitcher before we were seen
by a loyal Chicken employee who
herded us up the stairs to wait and talk
to the legendary Mr. Chicken. After a
few tense seconds of waiting had passed,
we were called into what I guess is the
Chicken coop. We were all behaving as
third-graders dreading the wrath of the
principal. What we got, though, was
really quite a surprise.
Mr. Chicken, called that simply be
cause of my ignorance of his real name,
was very reasonable and his words were
thought provoking. He told us that peo
ple like ourselves endanger his business
due to the law. He also shared his gen-
The Battalion
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Member of
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Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Ellen Hobbs,
Editor
Juliette Rizzo,
Opinion Page Editor
Fiona Soltes,
City Editor
Drew Leder, Chuck Squatriglia,
News Editors
Steven Merritt,
Sports Editor
Katny Haveman,
Art Director
Hal Hammons,
Makeup Editor
Matt
^ ^ /
McBurnett
z 1
Columnist
eral disgust with the legal drinking age
by bringing out some good points. (He
mentioned the age requirement for mili
tary service and something similar about
a New Mexico bordello, I think.)
At any rate, my experiences that
night were sobering.
I realized that Mr. Chicken was cor
rect about the unfairness of the drink
ing age law. It also became clear that the
law is ineffective, as was evidenced by
the relative ease with which I attained
alcohol then and since.
Alcohol is a very volatile subject and
quite a few people have opinions on the
drinking age.
Looking at the law on a purely the
oretical basis, it is obvious that the rights
of quite a few adults are not being
upheld. By adults, I am implying per
sons 18 and older. Never mind the ex
amples such as “If I can go to jail, or
fight for my country, I should be able to
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drink.” These examples are often effec
tive, but very overused. The only thing
which matters substantially is the fact
that at age 18, one is considered a free-
thinking adult able to make his own
choices and accept responsibility for his
actions. Why is alcohol removed from
this realm of choices?
Either the legal drinking age should
be lowered, or the legal adult age should
be raised. In our system, an adult can be
a “minor.”
Upon looking at the law in retrospect,
one can see that it is a failure.
For a minor, beer is just a hops, skip
and a jump away. I do not know of any
person who wants to drink and cannot
find a way to get alcohol. The law is a
sad commentary on our lawmakers.
On second thought, the law does
serve a purpose. It provides something
for College Station police officers to do.
The key argument against the law
may be that it is unnecessary.
The State of Texas presently has laws
which ban public intoxication. I have no
beef with this law. The State also does
not allow open alcohol containers in au
tomobiles and has strict driving-while-
intoxicated laws, both of which I
strongly agree with. If an individual
cannot legally be intoxicated, and if he
also is severely punished if he drives un
der the influence of alcohol, what pur
pose is served by an additional law regu
lating adult consumption of alcohol?
Many people claim that an 18 or 19-
year-old person is not responsible to
drink, or should I say obey the other
laws which regulate drinking.
What I am attempting to convey is
that the drinking age law is not effefll
anyway and it is useless because!
damaging ef fects of drinking arerei|
lated by other laws.
Finally, the methodology used b'-jt.
federal government to force states!
comply with its suggested drinking!
is almost immoral. Essentially, theil
government ruled that states not col
plying with the new drinking agewoti
not receive their allotted amountofftl
eral aid. This is a blatant case offc
■
governmental blackmail.
Though I am quite aware of the®
rible facts surrounding alcohol abuse
am also aware that the present syste»|
inherently flawed. I cannot see two!
ferent classes of adults with unec
rights. I’ll ponder it over a beer ortw
. J
Matt McBurnett is a junior elects
engineering major and a columnist]
The Battalion.
T