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Opinion
Thursday, November 12,1992
The Battalion
Page 11
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Editorials
Mauro of the same
Politician doesn't belong in cabinet
In the wake of Bill Clinton's pres-
| idential victory, many experts men
tion Texas Land Commissioner Gar
ry Mauro as a possible appointee to
Ms cabinet. Mauro managed Clin
ton's unsuccessful Texas campaign.
Yet, in light of repeated revelations
of unethical behavior, Clinton
should maintain the integrity of his
administration by passing over the
Texas politician.
Early last year, a Houston paper
uncovered a myriad of questionable
business ventures by Mauro under
taken after he took office in 1983.
Presently, Mauro owes nearly $5
million on his failed investments
and seems of the verge of personal
bankruptcy.
Just months ago, inspection of
hone bills for the Texas General
d Office revealed that the office
phoi
Lane
der with
ve a skin
currently
complete
a 3 week
ou would
iQ will he
apparently made business calls for
the Clinton campaign and charged
the calls to taxpayers. Mauro and
his employees allegedly used state
time and money to conduct Clin
ton's bid for Texas votes.
An unsuccessful businessman
and a shady politician, Mauro de
fied the sacred trust of the electorate
by involving himself in unethical if
not illegal conflicts of interest and
misuse of position.
Many politicians reward their
faithful and hard-working support
ers with government positions, but
federal spoils must not fall to inca
pable and unethical politicians. In
trying to build a team capable
changing America, Bill Clinton
should deny Mauro the sinecure of
any federal post warranting Mau-
ro's abilities.
The tourist trap
National parks falling to ruin
■p
by the Interior Department found
serious deficiencies in Park Service
efforts to protect our federal lands.
The audit cites "serious and irre
versible degradation" of natural re
sources and points to park service
allocation of the majority of funding
to visitor services as a major prob
lem.
In Texas, Padre Island National
Seashore made the audit for the
juantity of debris washed ashore
rom offshore oil rigs and ships
dumping refuse into the ocean.
Too many people remain un
aware of park service deficiencies in
otecting national parks. In 1903,
eodore Roosevelt wrote, "Surely
our people do not understand even
yet the rich heritage that is theirs."
I
It seems a fitting sentiment for our
current situation as well.
Our park lands are set aside to be
reserved in their "original state"
or the "benefit of the people."
It is valid and necessary for the
Park Service to engage in programs
for visitor service; however, their
primary mission is to preserve park
lands.
Unless we are content to live in a
country of little more than strip
malls and parking lots, then we ail
must take a more active role in en
suring the preservation of "our" na
tional park lands. We must make
sure our legislators know that we
insist that the park service adhere to
its mission of preservation before
there is nothing left worth preserv
ing.
Morality suffers in sexual sell-out
Restoring the sanctity of sex is reasonable, prudent
S ex. You think about it. I think
about it. In fact, our entire soci
ety seems to rotate around it.
Sex sells. Big.
Prime time television is success
fully pushing its limits further and
furtiher. Madonna's "art" book is a
major best seller. "Basic Instinct"
was an enormous box office hit.
Why? Sex. Oh, the joys of modem
progress.
We've gone too far with this sex
thing. We've defiled it. We've made
it commonplace. We stood in the
temple and sold its sacredness.
Look, I'm no hypocrite. I am no
model of purity — no judge of morality. In less than two
months, I will marry my soul mate, my true love. I know
what desire is. I know what pleasure is.
Not for a minute do I believe that sex is bad. In fact, I
believe that it is one of the greatest gifts that God ever gave
to a man and a woman. But, it was meant to be honored.
And, yes, I do believe it was meant specifically for husband
and wife.
It is tragic that we as a society have collectively adopted
the attitude that, by a certain age, virginity is a shameful
thing. Does it seem at all sad that a man or a woman must
explain why he or she is not sexually active?
I resent the attitude of so many "experts" who wisely
advise parents to just accept that no young person in this
day and age could possibly wait until marriage. You
should resent it, too.
You're rolling your eyes at me now, right? Maybe I am
unrealistic or prudish or cold. I'll explain why I feel the
way I do.
First, let's talk basic biology. Sexual intercourse can
lead to pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS and
death. Birth control is not completely effective. I had a
friend conceive her child while faithfully taking the pill. A
condom does not completely ensure that AIDS will not be
transmitted. Scientists have said this over and over.
So, no matter what we do to foolproof ourselves against
the negatives of sexual activity, we cannot completely suc
ceed. Being "responsible" means improving your odds a
great deal. That's all.
If we kept sex within the sacred bonds of marriage, the
AIDS epidemic would be far less of a threat, if it even exist
ed at all. Sexually transmitted diseases would have very
little transmission. Virtually no pregnancies would be un
wanted.
But, let's say that a person is always "responsible" and
never becomes an unlucky failure rate statistic. He or she
has a fling here or there, or even a limited number of mean
ingful relationships where sex seems perfectly appropriate.
Chances are, that first one, that second one, that whatev
er number one will not be THE ONE. So, by the time THE
ONE comes along, there has been a history of other ones.
Why do we accept this as perfectly normal? Why
should we? Believe it or not, sex is not necessary to sustain
life. It's necessary to create it, yes, but not to live it.
I'm not trying to judge, condemn or hurt anyone. I have
been there. I know. My intention is to compel someone
else out there to wake up one morning, look at our world
and say, "Why?"
Why do we assume we just have to have sex? We are
more than hormone levels and sexual organs. We are not
slaves to lust or temptation. To say we are is quite simply
insulting.
Sex. It can be a very beautiful thing. It is supposed to
be a very beautiful thing. One religious leader even sug
gests that the level of pleasure shared by a husband and
wife during their lovemaking is the closest one can ever
come to understanding the intensity of God's love for us.
Imagine that.
I am not asking for perfection anymore than I would
want it asked of me. I am asking for you to join me in some
moral contemplation. Let's clean out the temple.
Garrard is a junior speech communication major
; with
MSC
fAIJ
■ m 4ji JR tt
Cultural sensitivity
talk ignores Irish
I am an Irish-American writing in re
sponse to the unfair conditions that
have been facing me and my people in
I this country. It nas to do with the injus
tice, inequality, and prejudice that I
must deal with due to the lack of a mul
ticultural society. I believe that I will
never be able to achieve success in this
country until there has been enough
sensitivity shown toward my ethnicity.
I also believe that the only way this
enlightenment will occur is through ed
ucation. It is time that American youth
learn about Irish leaders like Mickey
[ Rooney, Bono, Lucky Leprechaun ana
1 other Irish greats that have shaped his-
I tory. Through this education, I propose
that children will not only become cul
turally sensitive to my heritage but will
learn many important facts and cultur
ally relevant information for lifetime
purposes(i.e. Irish jigs. Pub trivia, pota
to knowledge). I'm sure that many of
you probably don't want to hear about
my culture, but I've been forced to
learn about American culture for 20
years, and what good will that do me?
I feel an inherent need to stand up
for my roots and the roots of my Gaelic
brothers and sisters. Who says the Irish
have all the luck? The Irish have been
persecuted since the early 19th century.
Because of the hardships of my forefa
thers, I am not able to make it on my
own in today's society. What I and my
brothers and sisters need is Pan
Irishism to lead the way to promote
multicultural education and to unify
this country. I just know that if educa
tion can teach someone about biology
or math or history, then it most certain
ly can teach a person how not to be
racist, and then I might be able to ac
complish something with my life in
America. Irish unite!
Erin O'Brien
Class of '92
Police racism charges
unsupported by facts
Manuel Arias, in his Nov. 4 letter, al
leges that the College Station Police De
partment committed a "terrible act of
racism" on Oct. 16 by arresting four
Hispanic males. It is clear that the alle
gation is based on nothing more than
conjecture and personal feeling rather
than any facts.
As a former College Station police
officer, I am very familiar with the stan
dard operating procedures in cases sim
ilar to those described by Arias. I saw
many citizens complain, in writing and
via phone, that officers either did too
muen or too little when they responded
to a disturbance. As is the case with
Arias, they were infrequently third par
ty, non-involved, non-informed per
sons.
Arias writes that a white male and a
Hispanic male were going to fight. Po
lice officers arrived before the nsts flew
but Arias felt that neither person was
questioned "in the proper manner."
It does not concern him that he does
not know what the questioning re
vealed and he does not know what the
arrestees were charged with. A few
possibilities: public intoxication,
threats made in the presence of the offi
cers, warrants, the car was stolen,
weapons, or the arrestees were contact
ed previously by the police and told not
to come back. The list is endless and so
are the complex situations that officers
face every day.
In recent times some law enforce
ment agencies have come under fire for
various actions and policies; some, not
all, were apparently racially motivated.
Citizens ana police alike want to blame
someone for these problems, and guilty
parties should be held accountable. For
this reason it is important for us to ob
tain all of the information related to a
situation that stirs our blood before we
go off half-cocked and throw around
inflammatory, groundless accusations
of racism.
I also feel that The Battalion, or any
news organization, has an obligation to
obtain some facts before printing such a
divisive charge like Arias' even though
it may only be an opinion.
].K. Armstrong
College Station
Liberal arts often has
left-wing agenda
Discovering other social groups is
not the major problem with the latest
multiculturalism controversy. In fact,
many students here at A&M are des
perate need of exposure to "alternative"
perspectives. I nave no problem with
the class Bubby Trammel envisions, ex
cept I fear it would not be the racial
bounding/learning experience we love
to watch on television. It would be a
politically-biased diatribe against the
existing 'power structures" — some
thing that many liberal arts students
have come to accept as business as usu
al at Texas A&M.
A recent National Endowment for
the Humanities report describes a trend
in higher education where free-thinking
and diversity are sacrificed at the hands
of multiculturalism and the political
left.
"Telling the Truth: A Report on the
State of the Humanities in Higher Edu
cation" confirms what I have seen in
many of my upper level history and En
glish classes. The analysis of "texts"
and history is limited almost exclusive
ly to discussions of class, race, and gen-
aer. More often than not, the professor
is so intent on instilling his or her ideol
ogy (usually Marxist/feminist) , that an
"objective" free exchange of ideas is im
possible. In a senior Shakespeare class,
more time is spent discussing gender
and how Shakespeare (as the white
male) should be "de-centered" than is
spent discussing the plays themselves.
In a grammar course it is now almost
absurd to ask, "What is the correct us
age of the English language?" There is
none, because we don t want to offend
"incorrect" usage.
And we being the good Ags we are,
we sit back and take it all in uncritical
ly, without thinking, without question-
This is not the purpose of education.
This is not the purpose of a class to ex
pose us to different perspectives.
Or is it?
Matthew Franz
Class of '92
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