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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 12, 1995)
The Battalion • Page 5 Monday • June 12, 1995 £[ srs :fe Ciei; 1 ns ; k dr ant, :pa:. a til oft ry-ti ilaji esii: nt t: itmi cpeii orcfl anti? ;he: t Sir at s? licati Dai tak for: yYo: eer, TThe Battalion Established in 1893 Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views of the editorials board. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other Battalion staff members, the Texas A&M student body, regents, administration, faculty or staff. Columns, guest columns, cartoons and letters express the opinions of the authors. Contact the opinion editor for information on submitting guest columns. Editorials Board Jay Robbins Editor in Chief Rob Clark Managing Editor Sterling Hayman Opinion Editor Kyle Littlefield Assistant Opinion Editor Pig Protest A&M was right to not move the swine center to a residential area. Because the Texas A&M administration constantly faces a barrage of charges of being indifferent and out-of touch, it’s refreshing to see that the opposite is true with regard to the relocation of the Animal Science, Teach ing, Research and Extension complex. Currently, the swine cen ter is located at the corner of George Bush Drive and FM 2818. Although many have speculated that the move was initiated because of the swine center’s close proximi ty to the George Bush Presi dential Library, University officials have insisted that it was proposed in order to expand and modernize the facility. Originally, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences planned to relocate the cen ter to the Animal Science Teaching, Research and Ex tension Complex on FM 60, but nearby residents protest ed because of the potential odor problems. Whether or not the move was related to the Bush Li brary, the appearance of transferring the swine cen ter from that area to a place near a neighborhood sug gested elitism and a double standard on the part of the University. The protests prompted the University to cancel plans to use that location. Although the site has not yet been selected and will then face approval by the Board of Regents, the Uni versity clearly has realized that it must take into ac count the welfare of the sur rounding area in selecting the location. The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences should be commended for re-evaluating and altering its original plan and listening to those who might have been affected, es pecially since the new site might not be as ideal as the one on FM 60. The concerns of the com munity should have been taken into account in the early phases of planning the relocation, but the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has compensated for that mistake. Hopefully, other areas of the University will follow this example by recognizing the needs of others outside their areas in making decisions. MAIL ie t GOP plan to balance budget won't work Newsflash. Republicans don’t balance the budget. David Taylor once again has confused some vi tal issues and passed his informa tion as facts. The Republican congress has outlined a plan that, if implement ed and all things go well, might produce a balanced budget some time after the turn of the century. This accomplishment is ad mirable and is a significant im provement over what the last Re publican congress (1980-1986) ac complished. They were the guys who con vinced the American public that lower taxes and higher defense spending would not lead to a mul ti-trillion dollar deficit. In a nutshell, the Republicans believe if they can limit Medicare to increasing 5% a year and elimi nate some agencies, presto — the budget balances itself. The only problem is most an alysts believe that, given the aging population and the rising cost of health care. Medicare spending is going to increase 10% a year if similar care is de livered to the elderly. Imagine the chairman of Ford Motor company announc ing the company can reach record levels of profitability if the UAW (United Autoworkers) will take a 1% paycut for the next 7 years. That plan would IXX. ■ X5 LxK£ A cHocTates AT TtfE AKKIWILoF .KEEFERS To &S/IIA... Reagan gave us the ‘best of times’ David Taylor Columnist not fly just like the balanced budget, as it is currently envi sioned, won’t fly. The AARP (American Associ ation of Retired People) are go ing to make sure the elderly get the 10% increases in Medicare, guaranteeing that the budget won’t balance. So I hope Mr. Taylor will ex cuse me for not sharing his ex citement over a plan that, if im plemented and all things go well, might produce a balanced budget sometime after the turn of the century. R.B. Davis Class of’88 Dole should attack own party members When reading Senator Dole’s comment, “I’m talking about ... killing policemen and rejecting law.” I had to wonder whether he was talking about gangsta rap or G. Gordon Liddy. Once again the Republicans try to villify the ‘entertainment industry’ without checking who amongst them is saying the same things. Remember the biblical quote about casting the first stone? Seems that the Republican’s forgot to read their Bibles this week. Dale Christensen Chemistry staff L eadership is a quality we like to see in our leaders. It’s kind of a bonus when we find it in our IPresident. The current hold er of the post is trying to demonstrate some leader ship of his own. Yep, President Clinton has declared his intention to do everything in his power to lead us away from those ’80s. Clinton is trying to make sure that he never repeats the accomplish ments of Ronald Reagan. It’s time to take an ever-so-brief look at what President Clinton isn’t going to accomplish. Ok, I can hear your yawns from a week away. But aren’t you the least bit curious if you have been fed the complete truth over the past few years? It’s comparison time, and oh boy, this is gonna be fun. Clinton says that he will never treat the economy like Reagan treated it. Under President Reagan, average in comes rose by 21 percent, after accounting for inflation. But that was only for the white majority, right? After all. Republicans don’t care about minorities. Well ... no. Incomes for black Americans rose 24 per cent. For Hispanics ... 14 percent. Since Reagan left office, average income has fallen 3.6 percent overall, and 3 percent for black Americans. Clinton claims that all those tax cuts did nothing but make the rich richer and the poor more destitute. I guess by “rich” Clinton means “anyone not on welfare.” Clinton claims that the econo my as a whole was a mess under Reagan. Well ... not really. Actually, the Gross National Product rose at an average rate of 3.5 percent per year under Rea gan. Since then, it has not even been close. I can hear it now — “Sure Dave, but this all came at the expense of the federal budget. Reagan is responsible for the whole mess we are in now, right?” Well, the answer to that is also “no.” Actually, the Reagan tax cuts increased tax revenue after their implementation. The problem was, in seven out of eight cas es, Congress spent more than Reagan re quested in the budgets he submitted. In fact, commenting on the-P981 budget, Rea gan declared, “Cures were developed for which there were no known diseases.” Still, Congress wanted to raise taxes — and they eventually did. President Reagan explained, “Republicans believe every day is the 4th of July, but De mocrats believe every day is April 15.” By contrast, Clinton submitted a budget this year that increased the deficit by $200 bil lion and cut nothing. I’m pretty sure that President Clinton is not destined to follow Reagan’s example in for eign policy either. Actually, many Democrats are pretty quiet on this one. Hastening the col lapse of communism and winning the Cold War is kind of difficult to criticize. President Reagan left another example that we can be pretty sure Clinton won’t follow. Reagan observed, “It was leadership here at home that gave us strong American influ ence abroad and the collapse of imperial com munism. Great nations have responsibilities to lead, and we should be cautious of those who would lower our profile, because they might just ,wind up lowering our flag.” Leadership itself is the biggest area that we can be sure President Clinton won’t bring back from the ’80s. Leadership is also what we miss most about Ronald Reagan. I remember seeing a recording of FYesident Reagan’s speech at Pointe de Hoc in 1984. There, 40 years earlier, 225 Rangers, under the command of our own General Rudder, as saulted the cliffs. Listening to the President and seeing his demeanor, I could genuinely feel Reagan’s sincere gratitude for and on be half of the United States of America. It moved at least one cynical teenager al most to tears. Two years later, the nation mourned again for the seven Challenger astronauts. That evening, a stunned America looked to its Pres ident for leadership and comfort. President Reagan stated, “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them this morning, as they prepared for their jour ney and waved goodbye, and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God.” No, President Clinton is no Ronald Reagan. That’s one promise from this IPresident that we can count on. Former President Reagan is not in a posi tion to defend himself anymore, but that does n’t mean that we should throw away his many accomplishments. Get the facts and check where they came from. Then, the next time someone says, “the ’80s are over,” remind them that the ’60s are too. David Taylor is a senior management major Many deserved liver transplant more than Mantle Julie T HOMAS Staff Writer A s I read in the newspaper about baseball legend Mickey Mantle’s much- needed liver transplant Thursday morning, I started wondering why Mantle had top priority over other people who also needed a liver transplant. Did he get a liver so quickly be cause of need or because he is a famous “Baseball Hall of Famer?” Was he attended to faster because he would die shortly if he didn’t get a liver? I really don’t think so. Sure, Mantle was in great need of a liver, since his own liver was almost completely destroyed by his years of alcohol abuse, along with disease. But there are many people in this world in just as great a need of a liver transplant as he was. The disease that attacked his liver. Hepatitis C, undoubtedly was not Mantle’s own fault. How ever, can we say that his abuse of alcohol for 40 years wasn’t? Apparently, nobody cares that Mantle’s own ac tions destroyed his liv er and that some peo ple in America, includ ing children, also need livers and have been waiting for months or even years. These people have been robbed of receiving a liver one day sooner, a day that might make the difference between life and death — for the simple reason that someone more fa mous than themselves — and probably with more money — needed one too. Mickey Mantle should have to “live up” to his mistakes just like everybody else. His drinking caused him to need a new liver, and it is hardly fair that an alco holic should have precedence over a child, a mother or a sister — who have hardly had a drink in their lives and have been waiting patiently for their sec ond chances at life. Mantle waited no more than two days for his liver, even though the average wait for livers is 142 days, according to the United Net work for Organ Sharing. The Southwest Organ Bank in Dallas stated that, as of June 1, 4,659 in dividuals were waiting for livers. So Mantle gets another chance at life before those 4,659 people who have been waiting quite awhile do. I realize that blood type also has something to do with that waiting list; after all, the liver has to be compatible with the person who is going to receive it. However, I seriously doubt that there is not someone else out there with Mantle’s same blood type who has been waiting longer than he did. I have to question the morality that would let something like this happen. I know this time is not the first, nor will it be the last, that a “personality” gains from their power and achievements. Maybe Mantle deserves a little extra attention because he has ac complished so much, but why should he gain at someone else’s expense? Why does he deserve to live when others are dying for lack o : an organ just because everyone knows who he is? Mantle has already made his mark on the world, he has ac complished what most people never will. Mantle is 63 years old and he has lived a great life, but what about the chil dren who haven’t even had a chance yet? Who gets to say that the chil dren have to wait while Mickey Mantle doesn’t? Who gets to tell these children and their parents that Mickey Mantle took their second chance at life away? Mantle has done so much al ready, the “Baseball Hall of Earners” of tomorrow should get their chance, too. But I suppose the word “fair” is not in America’s vocabulary. I hope Mantle enjoys his new liver as much as the no-name per son who had been waiting for months would have enjoyed it. Julie Thomas is a junior accounting major TTme Battalion Editorial Staff Jay Robbins, editor in Chief Rob Clark, Managing Editor Sterling Hayman, Opinion editor GRETCHEN PERRENOT, City Editor JODY Holley, Night News Editor STACY Stanton, Night News Editor MICHAEL LANDAUER, Aggielife Editor Nick GeorGANDIS, Sports Editor Stew Milne, photo Editor Staff Members City Desk - Assistant Editor: Eleanor Colvin; Re porters: Katherine Arnold, Javier Hinojosa, Scott McMahan, Jill Saunders, Michael Sim mons, Wes Swift & Tara Wilkinson Aggielife Desk - Feature Writers: Kristen Adams, Amy Collier & Libe Goad; Columnist: Amy Uptmor Sportswriters - David Winder and Lee Wright Opinion Desk — Assistant Editor: Kyle Littlefield; Columnists: Elizabeth Preston, Frank Stan ford & David Taylor; Contributing Colum nists: Justin Barnett, Margaret Gordon, Alex Miller, Chris Stidvent & Mark Zane; Editori al Writers: Jason Brown & Alex Walters; Editorial Cartoonists: Brad Graeber & George Nasr Photographers — Mike Friend, Roger Hsieh, Nick Rodnicki & Eddy Wylie Page Designers — News: Kristin DeLuca & Kristen DeRocha; Sports: Robin Greathouse; Ag gielife: Stew Milne Copy Editors - Rob Clark & Sterling Hayman Graphic Artists — Toon Boonyavanich & Melissa Oldham Strip Cartoonists — Valerie Myers & Quatro Oakley Office Staff — Office Manager: Julie Thomas; Clerks: Wendy Crockett & Heather Harris News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in the Divi sion of Student Publications, a unit of the De partment of Journalism. 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