Thursday • January 26, 1995
The Battalion • Page 13
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Is Gingrich in the right, or another Jim ^CTight
D id he or didn’t he? The
country sits riveted, hang
ing on every word. Every
one has an opinion and is ever so
willing to share it with us. Mil
lions will be spent trying to prove
his guilt or innocence — and who
really cares?
Nope, I’m not talking about
O.J., I’m talking about Newt.
I’ve heard all kinds of insinuations over the
past few weeks and not a shred of evidence of
wrongdoing. In fact. Newt gave $4,499,999.00 back
to the publishing company.
So what’s up here? Well, boys and girls, its time
for a little history lesson.
Once upon a time a man named Jim Wright held
the Speaker’s gavel, which presently belongs to Mr.
Newt. One day, Mr. Jim decided to write a book.
Problem was, no one wanted to read his book. Some
times, however, people did want to hear him speak
(after all, he was the Speaker).
Speakers are paid an honorarium for enlighten
ing their audience, and Mr. Jim loved to enlighten.
Unfortunately for Mr. Jim, Congress had ethics
rules governing how much members can receive
for enlightening.
Well, things get funny from this
point on. It seems that every time
Mr. Jim went enlightening, he would
sell a few books — like $100,000
worth of books. Hmm.
Now meet a junior representative
from an obscure district in Georgia.
Mr. Newt came to the same conclu
sions that we did after smelling the
air. He decided to do some enlighten
ing himself.
In the House, members can give speeches for the
record after normal business is over for the day.
Mr. Newt shared with the rest of the country some
of the things that he had noticed.
Normally, no one ever took notice of these little
sessions, but this one was different. This one set in
motion the chain of events leading to the resigna
tion of Speaker Wright.
Newt Gingrich is as responsible as anyone for
the flood of new ideas coming out of the Republican
camp. The Democratic leadership would like noth
ing more than to bring the Speaker to his knees.
The facts are their only obstacle — it’s OK, though,
the Democrats are used to that.
Let’s talk about what happened to Mr. Newt. It
seems that a number of people in this fine country
are interested in Mr. Newt’s ideas. When some
publishers realized that Mr. Newt would soon be
come Speaker Newt a bidding war ensued.
HarperCollins, a publishing group headed by
Rupert Murdoch, won with a bid of $4.5 million
(The next highest bid was $4.1 million). Here’s
where the controversy started.
Mr. Murdoch owns the Fox network in addi
tion to a number of television stations. The Fed
eral Communications Commission (FCC), pur
veyors of amazingly logical ideas such as the
Fairness Doctrine, had been trying to decide if
they could find a law that Mr. Murdoch had vio
lated — that’s what we keep administrative
agencies around to do.
To get to the point, they found one (or so they
thought) dealing with media ownership and Mur
doch’s American citizenship (It’s not supposed to
make sense — it’s the federal government).
About this time Mr. Murdoch stopped in to con
gratulate then Speaker-elect Gingrich. No big deal,
Murdoch has met every Speaker and President in
the last twenty years.
Soon after, the Immigration and Naturaliza
tion Service issued a ruling on Mr. Murdoch’s cit
izenship that made the whole so-called ethical
dilemma a moot point. Rupert Murdoch, it
seems, has been an American citizen since about
1987. (See, I told you it wouldn’t make sense).
Aiter all the noise and controversy over the past
few months it all comes down to this: Newt Gin
grich broke no laws and violated no ethics rules—
and he gave all, but one dollar back.
In other words, that squashing sound you hear
in Washington is sour grapes.
Some people up there just can’t stand the fact
that Mr. Newt and the Republican leadership are
doing exactly what they promised, not to men
tion the fact that we voted for it.
Speaker Gingrich kept the House in session
till two a.m. on the first day in order to make
sure everything was accomplished that was
promised. What’s up this week? Unfunded man
dates. Next week? The balanced budget amend
ment will be debated.
A misguided friend claims that the “Contract
with America” was nothing but a Republican
ploy to get elected ... that, unfortunately,
worked. These attacks on the Speaker do nothing
but reveal a Democratic leadership lacking in
credible ideas.
Fortunately, they won’t work.
I can’t say the same for O.J.
Dave Taylor is a senior management major
Losing sight of the problem
Recent proposals to stop plight of homeless wrong answer-
I n the midst of the endless
hot air flying around now
about people on welfare
— how many children they
are or are not having,
whether every single person
on welfare is truly trying to
find a way to get off and if
they are as grateful as they
should be — we are losing
sight of the point of welfare.
When I was 12 years old and still innocent about the trou
bles of the homeless, I went to New York City to visit my uncle.
That was before there were scary-looking panhandlers
begging and washing windows on the corner of every busy
street in Houston. Before I lost the sorrow and pity and in
stead began feeling irrationally frightened when I saw
homeless people approach me. Before the majority of the
American people lost the ability to put themselves in the
shoes of the homeless.
Walking along the street one night after a play and an
exquisite dinner at Sardi’s — one of the most exclusive
restaurants in New York — I saw something that has been
burned in my mind ever since. A beautiful young woman,
probably around 20 years old, was sitting on the street
with a large dog. At first glance, it seemed that they were
just taking a moment out to rest.
As I looked closer, I noticed that her clothes were tattered
and thread-bare and she had dirt on her face. Young enough to
be rude without realizing it, I slowed down and stared openly.
She was mumbling to her dog and gazing into the street with
blank, unseeing eyes. She was homeless and blind.
I was horrified. Growing up in a suburb of Houston, attend
ing magnet schools and worrying if I had enough Esprit and
Guess, I had never witnessed this level of despair. I can still re
member the feeling in the pit of my stomach.
My uncle held me that night as I cried myself to sleep; he
tried to explain about unpaid bills, discrimination and just
plain bad luck that occurs in the world of adults. None of it
made any sense to me. All I knew was that she was sitting on a
street corner with nowhere to go and no one to lead her there
except a ragged dog. Meanwhile, I was warm and full.
The welfare system in America has plenty of flaws.
Then again, so does the defense department — and no one
in Congress has suggested that we drop it, or even that we
change it drastically.
In addition, the welfare department accounts for only one to
three percent of the entire government budget — a minuscule
cost for feeding and housing the poor in our country.
In the “Contract With America,” Republicans have laid out
plans to deny government services to legal aliens and to deny
welfare to unwed, teenage mothers. Thus the gist of the plan
would be to punish unborn children and people who are honest
ly trying to find a new beginning in this country.
These are also the people who want to make abortion illegal.
Thousands of children, wanted and unwanted, would be starv
ing to death on the streets of America.
Teenagers who had made mistakes in their youth would be
punished forever. Their children would possibly be put in an or
phanage (another idea from those ever-so-clever Republicans).
Or, if they managed to find some way to keep their children, it
would be impossible to support them while they looked for a job
or went through a job training program.
The role of the government in a democracy is not to decide
who gets to have children, who is allowed to have sex or who
starves to death. As the governing body of the wealthiest na
tion in the world. Congress’ most important duty is to take care
of the people who call it home.
While it is easier to sit back in our comfortable lives and
judge those who are not as lucky as ourselves, and easier still to
sit in Congress and dole out harsh judgments and punishments
to people who are down on their luck, this does not make it the
right thing to do.
To find the courage to care again, to give our assistance
without adding obnoxious and unasked for opinions on how the
downtrodden should behave in their private lives, we will have
to change our outlook as a nation drastically — and not in the
direction that Gingrich and his cronies are leading us.
I don’t ever want my child to look at a blind, homeless
woman and feel helpless, because we aren’t.
Elizabeth Preston is a junior English major
Elizabeth
Preston
Columnist
The Battalion
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Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views of
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student body, regents, administration, faculty or staff.
Columns, guest columns, cartoons and letters express
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Editor in chief
Jay Robbins Heather Winch
Senior Managing Managing editor
editor for Business
Sterling Hayman
Opinion editor
Erin Hill
Asst, opinion editor
Branching Out
Texas A&M should use much caution when
deciding whether to expand the System.
Texas A&M University should use
extreme caution when considering the
addition of new schools to the Texas
A&M University System.
The University is now considering
the inclusion of both the Baylor Col
lege of Dentistry and East Texas
State University within the System,
and at least one other school has ex
pressed interest in joining.
While the ad
dition of bcJth
schools would ex
pand A&M’s hori
zon and opportu
nities, many
things must be
considered.
As the latest
state audit concluded, the Texas A&M
System has encountered many structur
al and organizational problems which
must be resolved. The expansion of the
System would further add to the com
plexity of such problems.
The Board of Regents should seek
to increase the System, but at the
same time, ensure that present prob
lems are dealt with in an efficient
and expedient manner.
If such additions provide more struc
tural complications, then these addi
tions should be either carefully ana
lyzed or postponed until the problems
can be effectively handled.
Barry Thompson, A&M System
chancellor, would like to see the Univer
sity continue to grow with the addition
of new schools and programs, but atten
tion must not be diverted from the prob
lems at hand.
If top officials cannot manage the
University’s financial affairs, as
demonstrated in the latest audit re
sults, they should not be attempting
to expand the System.
The Addition of the Baylor College
of Dentistry, no doubt, would provide
A&M with a
much much
needed branch in
the field of medi
cine. It would
also increase op
portunity for
A&M students
wishing to pur
sue a medical career.
East Texas State University would
also be an asset to the System. The ad
dition of the two schools would provide
needed diversity and also increase the
power and credibility of Texas A&M.
But regardless of all the advantages
the expansion project might bring, at
tention must not be diverted from the
present problems at hand. And any ad
dition to the System must be handled
with much caution and care.
Some may believe that Aggieland is
perfect in all respects, but it is by no
means. Texas A&M is a great universi
ty, but it has its own share of problems.
The System must not make any deci
sion that jeopardizes our strength or in
creases our problems.
E9CP9K NSIOI^J
G O P Takes The Reins in CONGRESS
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Carolyn Thompson
Class of ’9 7
Mail
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Hall far off base in attacking
other A&M System schools
I am a loyal Aggie and I love this school and its
traditions. But Zach Hall’s column on Jan. 20 was
off the mark. There are seven smaller schools in
the system, and the good they bring outweighs the
bad. The system has had problems getting respect
as a powerful education force because it was al
ways overshadowed by the UT system. The Texas
legislature always though of that system when re
ferring to higher learning. The addition of the sys
tem schools has given A&M the political clout it
needs to receive attention from the legislature.
Many of the things Hall writes are either wrong
or taken out of context. For example, he states
A&M-Kingsville admits unqualified students and
brings them up to speed in remedial classes. A&M-
College Station also accepts provisional students
who haven’t quite met the University standards.
Hall brings up our established reputation and
our need to uphold it. Judging from the newspa
pers, perhaps we should worry about the main
campus, not the system schools. Let’s concentrate
on the advantages of a large system; I think the
name “Texas A&M” can only benefit from it.
Student upset at racist graffiti
written on Harrington stairs
This letter is written to the individual or individ
uals who chose to write the racist comments on the
underside of the stairs to the Harrington Building.
First of all, the comments were derogatory and
directed towards fellow Aggies. I find this disgust
ing. Their racism only perpetuates their igno
rance. They can now say without any reservation,
“I am an ignorant racist”.
My second gripe is their cowardice with their
comments. If they’re going to publicize their
comments, why not where everyone can see it?
I’ll tell you why, because deep down inside they
know that their racist views and attitudes are
wrong. I know this because in my past, people
have pointed out that some slang phrases and
jokes I use are in poor taste. I have sought to
correct these, I hope they will also.
Michael J. Carroll
Class of ’95
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