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Opinion
Wednesday, July 21,1993 The Battalion Page 5
The Battalion Editorial Board
Jason Louahman, editor in chief
Mark Evans, managing editor
Stephanie Pattillo, city editor
Dave Thomas, night news editor
Mack Harrison, opinion editor
Kyle Burnett, sports editor
Susan Owen, sports editor
Anas Ben-Musa, Aggielife editor
Billy Moran, photo editor
The Battalion
100 years at
Texas A&M
Editorial
Honest compromise
Don't ask, don't tell will have to do
President Clinton's decision
Monday to allow gays to serve in
tke military as long as they keep
their sexual orientation to them
selves represents a compromise that
pleases both sides only superficial-
k
What Clinton called an "honor-
fflle compromise" represents the
only option he had that will ap
pease both sides — but only tem
porarily.
This compromise does not repre
sent the end of the debate, but in
stead just a lull in the fighting.
Gay rights activists are outraged
tiat Clinton did not keep his cam
paign promise to completely lift the
iian on gays serving in the armed
forces. Instead, gays will be al
lowed to serve as long as they ab
stain from homosexual activity.
Homosexual rights advocates,
towever, claim that this "don't ask,
bn't tell" policy does not go far
enough to protect the rights of gays,
who can still be discharged for ho
mosexual acts.
While this is true, it is only an ap
plication of the fraternization rules
already in place in the Military
Code of Justice. This means that
service personnel — homosexual or
heterosexual — are not allowed to
display affection while in uniform
or on duty.
Others oppose any change in the
50-year old directive forbidding ho
mosexuals from serving in the mili
tary on the grounds that openly gay
people will lower the combat effec
tiveness of military units and dis
rupt unit cohesion.
That rigid argument is the same
one used over 40 years ago against
the idea of racially integrated mili
tary units.
Both sides must realize that they
can't get everything they want.
That's the nature of compromise —
taking and giving. Gay rights
groups gained a little more accep
tance and the chance for homosexu
als to serve in the military. Those
opposing homosexual military ser
vice can point to the fact that the
military has not totally lifted the
ban on gays.
Neither group wins its fight; nei
ther group loses. Instead, the battle
spreads to guerrilla warfare in the
courts and in Congress, with the
rest of us waiting on the outcome.
Already, Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn,
the Democratic chairman of the
Armed Services Committee, has
promised his own legislation deal
ing with gays in the military. Sever
al members of Congress have
vowed to fight it.
In addition, several cases are
winding their way through the fed
eral court system. This compromise
has settled nothing.
One fact remains: the battle over
gays in the military is far from over.
Appointee scrutiny a waste of time
Forget the 'honest' politician; they're all a little bad
R ecently we have been faced
with yet another Clinton nomi
nation abomination, not in the
sense that the candidate is underqual
ified, but there seems to be a tenden
cy in the administration to abandon
nominees after questionable informa
tion has been released on them.
Such is the case with the current
nominee for Surgeon General, Dr.
Joycelyn Elders. Elders' confirmation
hearing is being postponed for a
week because of a lawsuit she is in
volved with as a bank director in
Arkansas where she was also health
director. The parties involved in her
confirmation agreed to review the in
formation prior to starting the hearing.
OK, we a 11 know that no matter what party the adminis
tration is, and no matter what office is open or which indi
vidual is named, the opposing party digs like hell to find
even the most minute evidence of foul play in any aspect of
the nominee's life. Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas and Zoe
Baird, all of whom were excellent candidates for their re
spective positions, were unduly run through the ringer for
ridiculous accusations.
First, let's determine what constitutes a large enough
problem to deem a person unfit for a government office.
As I recall, Robert Bork's flaw was that he was just plain
too conservative, that with Bork as a Supreme Court Jus
tice, there would be no need to speculate as to what his de
cisions would be.
Thomas' case was even more ridiculous in that his ap
pointment seemed to hinge on the manner in which he
mentioned there was a pubic hair on a Coca-Cola can to a
colleague (10 years prior, no less). Most of us remember
Baird's release being based on unpaid taxes for alien do
mestic help.
Now, it appears to me that all of these reasons — and
quite frankly all that I have been aware of in any appoint
ment hearing or even election — have no bearing whatso-
evever on the competence of the individual for the job.
What about integrity, you say? Well, let me tell you the
sad truth. No one — especially someone who aspires to po
litical positions — is free from any dishonest or questional-
ble activity prior to taking office. Why do certain individu
als strive for political positions anyway? Because they only
want to serve their fellow countryman? Ha ha, hee hee.
Why not serve soup at a homeless shelter instead?
Although some politicos may seem to be more caring
than others, it is naive to believe their number one charity
is anything but getting and keeping their positions. I cer
tainly hope no student at A&M really believes those buf
foons who claim during student elections that they really
care about the students, lie to CTs about how much they
love the Corps and promise to vote for more gravy on Sbisa
meatloaf. These individuals, not unlike their grown-up
counterparts, wish to bolster their egos while padding their
resume. This isn't really wrong, mind you, it's merely hu
man nature — but it should be understood as such.
My point is that although we most assuredly need politi
cians, to scrutinize for minor descrepancies is akin to using
a Dustbuster to clean a haunted house. We should trust the
individual "we" elected to make a sound decision (based
on what his advisors think, of course), on an appointee that
we have to assume is highly intelligent and will do his or
her best.
I'm afraid the best defense against unethical or illegal
behavior is not integrity, but instead the possibility of get
ting caught and losing such a cushy job.
Returning to the subject of Elders, the outspoken physi
cian from Arkansas, we are once again faced with a hearing
to determine her involvement as a bank director in a "lend
ing practice" law suit. This is the official reason anyway.
The real issue in this situation is that Elders' liberal con
victions toward sex education in schools and abortion
rights have the Republicans scrambling to discredit her.
Aside from perhaps robbing the damn bank at gunpoint,
how can such activity (if true) possibly be indicative of her
abilities as Surgeon General?
Most political figures — even since Roman times — have
been considered to be at best marginally honest, and histo
ry for the most part will back that up. Money, mistresses
and misrepresentation have been as large a part of Ameri
can politics as the ballot. What we should do as a nation is
just assume the appointee or candidate is something of a
crook, but ask if he or she can do the job well. Until we
stop confirming individuals for office on ridiculous
grounds, we will continue to have politicians like Ted
Kennedy passing ethical judgements on sexual harrassment
cases. Puhleeeeese.
Stanford is a philosophy graduate student
FRANK
STANFORD
Columnist
TUB
Shop owner will be remembered for more than just bicycles
number of
years ago I
bought a
tike; not an un
usual event for
nany college stu
dents. But I had
to sell my scooter
toget a mountain
dike, the Trek
/OOO - I got a
dike for the incon-
'’enience.
It seems my
doctor thought
diat the exercise
"'ould excise my
Wal paunch and relieve my mysteri
es joint pain — which it did, after I
‘ept at it (the paunch remains larval at
‘die moment).
Since that time I have enjoyed many
s rainy day on that bike. Those who
Notice that my columns reflect all the
Jtruism of a hungry velociraptor
dhuld note that I have been knocked
Wn twice by car-Nazis, which has
^en its toll.
But there are pleasures that one can
MATT
DICKERSON
Columnist
better appreciate walking or cycling
than driving. Just last week I pedaled
past a magnificent magenta-flowered
tree assaulting the blue sky with its
stark colors.
The massive tree's caretaker, an el
derly woman, happened to be watering
this gorgeous plant. She stood there,
hose in hand, grinning with pleasure at
her dripping prize. As I rolled past, I
couldn't help shouting, "It's beautiful!"
She called back, "Thank you!" as I went
along my way.
I doubt 1 would have noticed the
woman had I been in my car, and cer
tainly not her smile. Verbal acknowl
edgements would have been out of the
question. Cycling permits us the plea
sure of assessing and responding to
some of the scenery that usually sweeps
past us at speeds in excess of 30 miles
per hour. No wonder there's such a
boom in cycling vacations this summer.
No, I'm not a serious biker. But after
nearly three years cycling at least once a
week between work, home and school,
I have grown to enjoy cycling to the
point that I find it hard to imagine ever
parting with my bike.
O n Thursday, July 15, the owner
of Valley Cyclery, Tom Gray
died tragically when the plane
he was piloting crashed in Mississippi.
I did not know Tom in anything
more than a "business relationship,"
and therefore cannot pretend to know
the depth of loss his family, friends and
co-workers feel with his passing. But in
whatever small way my family and I
knew Tom, we were deeply affected by
his untimely death, and mourn his
passing.
I got my bike at Valley Cyclery
where I met owner Tom Gray — a tall,
athletic man. I had read a cycling mag
azine for nearly six months before I de
cided to actually go in, and Tom helped
me on a number of visits when I was
simply looking around. He answered
just about every cycling question imag
inable. Tom, even though he was the
owner, always seemed to stalk the shop
floors to help out customers.
Apparently, he was not the type of
business owner that sequestered him
self alone in an office away from his
customers.
Tom personally helped me select a
bike that was right for me, and over the
years he also fixed a number of my
flats. I can't remember a time that I was
in his shop and he wasn't there,
whether it was helping a customer or,
grease up to his elbows, fixing a bike.
Always energetic, he seemed to truly
enjoy his work.
The last time I saw Tom was some
months ago when my family and I went
in to the shop to pick up my four-year-
old son's vintage 1960's tricycle. The
wheels were broken, and we had found
it difficult to find some of the parts for
replacement. Tom went out of the way,
or as my wife put it, "the extra mile" to
get and install the hard to find parts so
a little boy could begin to learn the joys
of "tricycling."
Just last week, I was out walking
with my son as he pedaled his tricycle,
when we came upon a pile of broken
up asphalt. After asking what had hap
pened to the asphalt, he declared in
true mountain biker fashion that he was
going to go right through it on his tricy
cle, which he did.
Tom helped put a lot of us on two —
or sometimes three — wheels in this
area. In the process, Tom touched us
with his kindness, energy and love of
cycling. We will miss him.
Dickerson is a sophomore
economics major
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