The Battalion
Monday, April 30,1990
Opinion Page Editor Ellen Hobbs 845;;
(B>i9P R*r
Form your opinions
before going to vote
Nuts
People keep asking me where I think
I get the right to makejudgments
about the candidates that run for office.
Well, I’m gonna tell you where I get
that right: I’m a voter.
Registered voters are few and far
between. People who act ually vote are
even fewer and farther between. And
only a fraction of those people who
actually vote have developed opinions
about everyone for whom they vote.
That’s sad. It’s sad because voters
don’t only have a right to vote, but they
have a responsibility to vote. And along
with that responsibility to vote comes a
responsibility to have an opinion about
the person who is getting this vote.
There are two things that voters need
to know about before voting: the
candidate and the office for which he
(or she, of course) is running.
Voters need to be informed about the
candidate and his stance on the issues he
Ellen
Hobbs
Opinion Page Editor
Mail Call
Co-ops for more than summers
EDITOR:
Regarding the letter of Greg Damron, printed on April
23, on “Summer employment seminar a ‘sham,’” it was ob
vious that the writer does not understand that the Place
ment Office and the Cooperative Education Office are
completely different operations. The Co-op Program at
Texas A&M does not offer summer-only positions.
As the spokesperson present (and on time), I apologize
for not providing the kind of one-time only information
you expected. However, the outlook for liberal arts majors
is not as bleak as many may think. Last year (1988-89), our
program had 38 liberal arts placements in such organiza
tions as CIA, IBM, NYNEX, OPM, Disneyworld, Employ
ment Standards Commission, Fluor Daniel and General
Dynamics, just to name a few. As I mentioned at the start
of my presentation, Co-op is voluntary and provides op
portunities to those students who want the services. Infor
mation was presented on the positions of campus represen
tatives for AT&T Products and Services. The positions of
Campus Manager, Assistant Campus Manager and 14 Stu
dent Representatives will be available this fall 1990. And to
my knowledge, many of those positions are still available.
All interested students should call 1-800-592-2121 for in
terview details.
Maybe the topic of the workship could have been “libe-j
ral arts opportunities and how you must persevere.” We all
know that employers are very familiar with the relevance
of such majors as Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical, and In
dustrial Engineering. Students with solid foundations in
computer science, accounting, business analysis, and man
agement have little explanation regarding applicability to
corporate America. The Liberal Arts major must be proac
tive as well as assertive. Not the pessimist but the optimist.
Co-op is one avenue liberal arts students might take to
identify one’s niche. It is my hope that each liberal arts stu
dent will see their own qualities and develop them to the
fullest. The poet William Ernest Henly said it best: “It mat
ters not how straight the gate/How charged with punish
ments the scroll,/I am the master of my fate/1 am the cap
tain of my soul.”
Y ou’ve got to get out there and
vote. It’s your right and
responsibility. But if you’re voting
and you don’t know about your
candidate or the office you’re
voting him into, you are shirking
your part of responsibility as a
voter.
Walter Odom
Assistant director ■
Office of Cooperative Education
Have an opinion? Express it!
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 evety effort to main
tain the author's intent. There is no guarantee that letters submitted will be
printed. Each letter must be signed and must include the classification, address and
telephone number of the writer.
would have to deal with in office, not
just about who’s Republican and who’s a
Democrat.
I heard a student who was studying
voting patterns at Texas A&M say that it
seemed to him that the best way for a
crooked candidate to get into office in
College Station was to run as a
Republican and then not campaign,
because so many A&M students voted a
straight Republican ticket.
Now, I’m not trying to imply that
Republican voting is bad. That means
| straight-ticket voting is bad.
When you vote a straight-ticket,
you’re voting for every person of that
party, whether or not he deserves the
office, and no matter what the office is.
The same Student said that in several
cases, because of straight-ticket voting,
students had been instrumental in
voting in candidates that did not have
the best interests of college studentsi
mind. They just hadn’t taken thetim;
learn about the candidates and vote|
them as individuals.
You can learn about theca
for some of the bigger state and natioi
offices pretty easily. You can readth
papers, watch TV, pick up their
campaign literature or go see them
speak during their campaign.
I’ve heard people say that ifyoulti
about a candidate through any
mediums, you’re getting a biasedvb
of him. But a biased view is bettertlm
no view' at all.
A less biased view of the candidal
for both the well- and lesser-known
offices can be found in special
publications like the League of Woiuk
Voters voters’ guide. You canalsod
little library research on their past
performance if they’ve been inoffit
before.
Even before we learn about the
candidates, we’ve got to know some
things about the office they are rum
for and the issues they will have to dei
with if they win.
Most of us have taken POLS 207-
state government — or well have toil
the near future. Fake notes aboutwh
offices are which and what theelecttil
officials do.
If there is somebody you thinkisa
great guy, and you vote for himjust
because he is a great guy, thenit’spar
your responsiblity if, when he wins,In
a $. real guy but he knows nothingaboi
the office you put voted him intoandi
does a lousy job.
You’ve got tq get out there and volt
It’s your right and responsibility.
But if you’re voting and you don't
know about your candidate or theoffi
you’re voting him into, you areshirku
your part of responsibility as a voter.
Form opinions about these
candidates. It’s the only democratic
thing to do.
Ellen Hobbs is a junior joumalm
major.
In praise of great capitalist Michael Milken
December 31,1989, marked the end
of the decade. By most accounts, the
1980’s were a decade to be ashamed of.
The American populace indtdged in all
the sins of materialism, selfishness, and
greed.
The man that most symbolized this
past decade is Michael Milken. Last
week, Milken pleaded guilty to six
felony counts of investment fraud. The
crusaders of the left wing are reveling in
the persecution of the most notorius
capitalist in the United States.
There is no denying the fact that, as
head of the investment firm of Drexel
Burnham Lambert, Michael Milken
committed wrongdoings, but his crimes
amount to mere shoplifting when
compared to the allegations leveled
against him by the prosecution. The
crimes which he has confessed to
amount to a case of simple point
shaving, exchanges of favors with Ivan
Boesky, and using his influence to
maintain bond prices.
Andrew
Matthews
Columnist
mutilates what is called due process of
law. Instead of seeking the perpetrator
of a crime, the government targeted the
individual, Milken, then searched for a
The prosecution of Michael Milken
sounded like one of those third-world
country trials against political dissidents.
In this case Milken was an economic
dissident who threatened the livelihood
of the entrenched corporate and
banking elites.
The government prosecutor, Rudy
Giuliani, who happened to be running
for mayor of New York, used the
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organization (RICO) law to indict
Milken on a bunch of frivolous technical
accounting infractions. Under the
RICO law, prosecutors are able to shut
done a business and impose damages
before a trial has actually taken place.
The prosecution systematically
crime.
To understand the true meaning of
this case we need to stand back and look
at the big picture. During the 1960’s and
1970’s, commercial banks and the
investment firms tended to grant loans
to companies only if they either had
tons of collateral or whose bonds were
given the highest rating by the bond
ratings agencies.
The result was that the only
companies who could receive financing
were the established corporations with
large asset holdings. New
entrepreneurial corporations whose
future rested on only on a dream found
themselves locked-out of the capital
markets.
Emerging-growth companies create
capital for expansion by issuing bonds
which are given inferior ratings,
unflateringly called junk bonds’. Fresh
out Stanford, Michael Milken realized
that the higher return promised by
these bonds more than compensated for
the higher risk associated with thejunk
bonds.
For the next ten years Milken created
a $250 billion market in high-risk/high-
yield securities. Drexel and Milken can
be credited with the development of
whole new industries, thousands of new
companies, and millions of mw jobs.
The whole fiber-optics industry was
established by a three billiondollar
bond issuing by Drexel. Milken
provided billions to create a national
network of cellular commuhcations.
The biggest crime of Miclael Milken
was that he was to sucessful.When
somebody Finances that mu h economic
activity they are sure to reaf some
rewards.
In one year Milken earned $500
million. In the eyes of the xtliticians
and financial elites this along was proof
of criminal activity.
This brings us to the rootcauseofi
capitalist witch-hunt. People mayck®
that greed run amock, but I say thati
biggest sin involved here is envy.
Our society is always trying to'cut
down the tall trees. It does not mallei
that somebody may create millionsol
jobs, the fact that they are highly
compensated for it will arouse the
collective envy and contempt ofsocien
During the last few days of Deceml*
all the media columnists and televisi
specials decried high incomes andik
accompanying high spending. Isayal
the more power to them.
If Americans continue to treat
productive citizens with disdain,\ve«
only succeed in jeopardize the vital)
our economy, where citizens make®
they only perform up to average
Andrew Matthews is a junior
economics major.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Cindy McMillian,
Editor
Timm Doolen, Managing Editor
Ellen Hobbs, Opinion Page Editor
Holly Becka, City Editor
Kristin North,
Meg Reagan,
News Editors
Nadja Sabawala,
Sports Editor
Eric Roalson, Art Director
Lisa Ann Robertson,
Lifestyles Editor
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College Station.
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thor, and do not necessarily represent the
opinions of Texas A&M administrators,
faculty or the Board of Regents.
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