The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 24, 1992, Image 7

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    ay, April 24,133!
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fiday, April 24, 1992
The Battalion
Page
The Battalion Editorial Board
DOUGLAS PILS, Editor-in-Chief
The
Battalion
BRIDGET HARROW, Managing Editor
BRIAN BONEY, Opinion Editor
JASON MORRIS, Night News Editor
MORGAN JUDAY, Night News Editor
MACK HARRISON, City Editor
KARL STOLLEIS, Photo Editor
SCOTT WUDEL, Sports Editor
ROB NEWBERRY, Lifestyles Editor
The following opinions are a consensus of The Battalion opinion staff and senior editors.
natchup withtt*|
iday, the Lady.ti
rniy one home d;;
irM hosts UTA«
gies will then te
Tech on May 9 fa
r season
^ regionals,
y 15-17.
For Mom
Planet deserves year-round Earth Days
iver
| The majority of us think about
Mother Earth only once a year, on
t arth Day, April 22.
That special day has passed, and we
jneed to consider the fact that each day
should be Earth Day. We need to be
aware of the environment and its
roblems throughout the year.
Earth Day has contributed by
aking people aware. It has helped to
ublicize legislation, such as the Clean
ir Act of 1990. As a result of previous
arth Days, many Aggies have made a
commitment to the environment by
ecycling all their aluminum, plastic
ind glass containers.
But, there is still a growing problem
hat needs to be resolved.
Too many citizens have not yet
made a political commitment, nor
changed their lifestyle or consumer
labits to reduce waste and help the
environment.
Environmental issues are not simply
a matter of having clean air and water.
Fhey touch every aspect of daily life.
Perhaps, the solution is the United
? Richardson was
jgh, it didn'ttalij
JSt.
game as an
17, Richardsonwj!
Ts game again*
hssippi bv heal
errill. Ricnartte
an 82-yard toud
;till ranks as oneif
&M history
he's proud toM
ki sat out the 193!
injured knee,ge!i
n the NFL.
real neattoseei
who's worked O’
id come back from
r, to have the sut-
id to remainhm Nations Earth Summit that will be held
Toledo said. hj s summer. However, President Bush
hopes hunjililr ias y e t agree to participate in the
ailing on Sunday | umm it f-j me the people pressure
:he White House into taking action.
bs face
stretch
»ustoii
>m Page 5
"We're hoping
;ether, I think
>t a good club,
only ones who
ble to compete
tside of us.
tour hands full,
weekend."
becoming vital
, who have only
ice games
le strength of the
son, Johnson be-
A&M keeps its
1 place, it sn
ament bid.
e we've got a
nee," he said.
?ach other up so
ecords aren't as
playing tough
very weekend,
competing well
iference.
finishes second
for sure, go to a
The summit is an important and
historical event. Many key
environmental problems will be
addressed at the meeting.
The reduction of the rain forest will
have a vital impact in the medical
field. Over 40 percent of known
medicines are derived from rain forests
throughout the world.
The issue of fossil fuels has many
people in Texas concerned. Many
predict that fossil fuels will run out
within 50 to 100 years. The impact on
this region's economy cannot be
imagined. This does not include the
damage to the environment each time
a major spill occurs. Research into
different and better sources of energy
need to be examined.
Environmental issues reach into
every minute detail of our lives. To
ignore the problems occurring in the
world means leaving the cleanup to
our children. It is a very pessimistic
thought, but very true. Citizens need
to influence their local, regional and
national representatives to tackle the
tough issues. We cannot be concerned
with only protecting our own jobs and
interests anymore.
Our children's fate is more
important.
Helping out
Drug center brings A&M, cities together
By says
Good business decisions are those
(which benefit many different groups of
people within a community. Keeping
this in mind, the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice's recent
announcement of the construction of
n alcohol and drug treatment center
in Bryan can be viewed as an example
of a good decision. The project will be
mutually beneficial to both the
immunity of Bryan-College Station
and Texas A&M.
It provides a good example of how a
ommunity and a college located in it
an help each other.
The treatment center will be
orimarily a substance abuse station for
irisoners geared toward preventing
)eople previously convicted of an
ilcohol or drug violation from making
he same mistakes again in the future.
The choice of Bryan as the location
was influenced by the fact that Texas
\&M is located nearby, however many
)f the program's gains will be found in
he community or Bryan itself.
The center will be socially beneficial
o the state because it will help keep
riminals off the streets, putting them
n a place where they can receive
leeded help. It will also serve as an
conomic boost to the area by creating
new jobs for the community.
The treatment center will be an asset
So Texas A&M because it will be a
wurce of research and internships for
>oth undergraduates and graduate
itudents in the College of Medicine.
Dr. Richard DeVaul, dean of the
College of Medicine, is extending this
advantage to the classroom with his
and other administrators' plans for
educational programs at the center.
With classes at the center, the
University hopes to provide
independent research classes and
opportunities to students who wish to
be licensed as chemical dependency
counselors.
The University's Center for Drug
Prevention and Education will reap
benefits from the state's decision.
Those involved in this program will be
given the opportunity to see first-hand
how an alcohol or drug treatment
program really works. Dr. Dennis
Reardon, director of the Center for
Drug Prevention and Education said
that the new treatment center will give
people a good opportunity to observe
an alcohol or drug program of this
type in action.
The center will include services such
as stress management, group therapy
and crisis intervention programs.
These programs will create internship
positions not only for students in the
College of Medicine but for graduate
students in many different colleges of
the University.
Implementing a program with as
many potential benefits as this one is a
good decision, and it shows what can
happen when A&M and the cities of
Bryan and College Station help each
other out.
/ /
y/f) & *
(//^/'///yy'-
Piqued interest
Coming of Perot means
I was beginning to believe this
year's presidential election was
going to be about as fun as having
orthopedic surgery, only more
painful. I'm pleased to note I may be
wrong since H. Ross Perot has
entered the race.
The race for the presidency started
well, but the two
major political
parties settled
down to their
usual tricks.
The
Republican side
presented little of
interest. Pat
Buchanan got a
protest vote or
two, thanks to the
(former?) state of
the economy and
a little Japan
bashing. Dan Quayle lost his position
as joke of the party, but David Duke
did not replace him; the dubious
honor goes to anyone who took
Duke's campaign remotely seriously.
And Bush trots on to the party's
renomination and, in all likelihood,
the presidency. Whoop.
The Democrats were almost fun to
watch for a little while. Paul "Fudd"
Tsongas talked funny, but he had a
pro-business view for the
government. Tom Harkin tried to
move us back to the late 1880s with
his populist platform. Bill "Slick
Willie" Clinton looks good and has
the incredible ability to change his
platform whenever politically
expedient (or whenever Hillary tells
him to). Jerry "Governor Moonbeam"
Brown holds the only Democratic
issue apparently worth debate so far,
the 13 percent flat tax.
But Tsongas ran out of money.
Brown can't or won't shake his image
as a flake, and Clinton wins the
Democratic nomination by default.
Yawn.
But then, to light our darkest hours
of the 1992 season, comes H. Ross
much more eventful campaign season
Perot, third party, grass-roots
candidate extraordinaire. And there
was much rejoicing.
I don't recall an independent
candidate who has created the kind
of support and criticisms Perot has
managed, especially since he hasn't
quite entered the race yet. But then, I
don't recall an independent
candidate (or for that matter, any
candidate) who has Perot's
background and credentials.
Perot has been hailed as the
country's savior and slammed as an
unqualified spoiler by the press
lately. Both definitions may be
correct, and I'm enjoying the fussing
and fighting in the media.
H. Ross Perot, a charismatic Texan,
is a very rich and very successful
businessman. Unlike certain
Democratic candidates (Hillary's
husband comes to mind), he can
claim to be a true political outsider.
The closest connections he has to
official politics is the blue ribbon
commission on the Texas school
system he headed for Mark White in
the mid '80s. He does not like George
Bush (at all) and did not support the
Gulf War. But enough of his good
qualities.
Perot has stated he is prepared to
run the federal government like a
business, or more appropriately, a
successful business. This means
cutting red tape and waste
throughout the government's
monstrous bureaucracy.
He says he wants to cut the federal
deficit to zero as soon as possible. He
says the deficit is hurting America's
standard of living and weakening the
country. This makes Perot the only
candidate to attack the deficit this
election year. Bush promised four
years ago to reduce the $400 billion
per year budget deficit; he has not.
Clinton has barely acknowledged the
problem, a problem that I consider
the most important this election year.
These are nice objectives, but I
question the notion that he is
influential enough to get the job
done. The government is not a
business, but a self-perpetuating
organism that has no interest in
efficiency or in the good of the
country.
Perot also has some more, uh,
unique ideas about how to run the
government and his presidency. He
suggested he would create an 800-
line that would allow constituents to
call in and voice their opinions, and
that he as president would vote
according to the voters' wishes. This
idea certainly casts doubt on his
credibility as presidential material;
it's weird, subject to the short-term
whims of the populace, and
impossible to enforce as a kind of
one-man, one-vote democracy.
But Perot is the most powerful
independent candidate to come along
in a long time. He has the potential to
be at least a proverbial thorn in the
sides of both major candidates. He
can conceivably move the
presidential race into the House of
Representatives if he can split the
Democrat and Republican votes. He
also has the potential to win, if he
plays his cash and charisma right.
I don't know if he deserves my
vote. I won't know until he begins
more active campaigning, or at least
officially throws his hat into the ring.
I like his no-nonsense approach to
budget reform and his straight
forward attitude. I'm not amused at
some of his ideas for a more
"democratic" presidency.
I do know he has scared the
establishment out of its complacency,
and the major parties will have to
attack him on certain issues on which
neither has a strong position. In any
event, this summer could be quite
fun for watching politics.
DeShazo is a junior
electrical engineering major
writing letters to
to let them kno«
being cut," shf
good record (11-
iping we can jet
ETY
JRDETTE &
LL (TAMU)
SCOPE
£T, & MORE
i:00 PM
*1 DRINK!
Mail Call
We must return
to Christ's message
Did anybody see the "Concert For Life"
urogram Monday night? Did anybody notice
Axlfil? Rose's T-shirt? It was a depiction of Jesus
"hrist with a caption that read: Kill Your Idol!
low ironic. Also, everybody knows who the rock
jroup Queen is and the late Freddie Mercury who
jpenly expressed his homosexuality in rock
ddeos. He would dress in drag and sing songs
about the gay lifestyle. Well, Freddie died of AIDS
not too long ago, and this whole concert was a
tribute to him and a fund-raiser for the research of
an AIDS cure. George Michael gave statistics to
the cheering crowd that by the year 2000, nearly
10 million people will have tested HIV positive.
He suggested that we should "be careful", that
AIDS not only affects gays and drug users, but it
affects everybody. Now, that is.
At one point in the not so distant past, AIDS
ivas a homosexual disease, but now it is
everybody's problem. These years of complacency
must end now, and we must all face this growing
problem with reality instead of with ideals. Those
people who can relate to Monday night's concert,
and you know who you are, must get off the
deceptive bandwagon of freethinkers and get
back to the morals that God and Jesus Christ
founded for us to follow.
I realize that Christianity has been tarnished by
the likes of a few televangelists and maybe by
someone you know first hand, but a true
understanding of the Bible and it's meaning will
be beneficial to you. It will save your life. I am not
writing this to judge Mercury's lifestyle, nor
Rose's, nor your lifestyle, because I am human
and I have sinned and it would be hypocritical if
I, a mere human, tried to judge you, another
human. I am merely making a plea to those who
have been deceived and ridiculed and hurt. God
is loving and is willing to forgive if we confess
and turn away from our past sins. On the other
hand, Satan is on this earth to deceive and to
destroy. He wants to destroy what God has
created, you and me.
Antoine Arcos
Class of '94
Foundation lacks
gay affiliation
It has come to our attention that some of your
readers have been confused by an advertisement
for Americans for Medical Progress, Inc. (AMP)
that featured a photograph of the NAMES project
AIDS memorial quilt. The NAMES Project
Foundation wishes to clarify that it is in no way
affiliated with AMP and does not endorse AMP's
position regarding animal experimentation. In
response to our complaints, AMP has ceased all
publication and dissemination of this
advertisement.
Lis M. Catapano
Managing Director
The NAMES Project Foundation
Surgeon general
has done well
I am writing in response to Jason Loughman's
editorial entitle "Mother Government." I can't
believe that you were able to find such a deep
thinker to write your editorials. It is very seldom
that you can find one person that is not only sexist
but also clueless. Yo Jason, why do you think
everyone knows (except you of course) that
smoking can kill you? Perhaps, it's because of the
work done by the Surgeon General? And if you
don't like the fact that she is female then that's
your problem and don't waste ink telling me
about it. As far as not having any tolerance for
fun, ever tried having fun without a bottle in your
hand? Believe it or not it's possible. Try it, you
just might like it. I hope you try before alcohol is
running your life or kills you. And then you'll
have NTF!
James Lee
Graduate Student
tAaye..aja.QRi.nlQ.n.?,gxpffia^it?
The Battalion is interested in hearing
from its readers.
All letters are welcome.
Letters must be signed and must
include classification, address and a
daytime phone number for verification
purposes. They should be 250 words or
less. Anonymous letters will not be
published.
The Battalion reserves the right to edit
all letters for length, style and accuracy.
There is no guarantee the letters will
appear. Letters may be brought to 013
Reed McDonald, sent to Campus Mall
Stop 1111 or can be faxed to 845-2647.
r-