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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 1996)
Pdiji September 2? quarterback Brii throwing aria kg d the A&Mattai s wideoutsAlbei )onte Hawkinsiia . 2, respective]? ■eceiving. gies, who enter ed fifth in the me ise, will receive: return of sopl Derrick! ineup aftersiti with a pulled "ully we cant attack and thatir. i aspects of the id. “Ifweniaketlj passing game,it: p the runninggan The Bati Of Battalion ION Attack of the red submarine r" jouth Korea reacts irresponsibly to ‘invasion’ t looks like President Clinton will have yet another chance to send out the troops before Nov. 5 general election. Why? Because South Korea is aid beatingCe ^ iat North Korea is plan- *gan invasion after one of the Communist the ball rolling er their disappe Columnist iia Tech lost the s last season, k and had a Gni d won the tid. “Therearet! ties still leftandli mderstandsthaii still happen. 1 running backs i said he works or coincide with the; . L: k Michael Heinroth iacher certification tarting position ?tween players, d 'lationshipsoffiht ait each otherd» fe like to hangout ai close bond." inference gamesp cored a team (right ccumulated 137® relay’s match upap irth Texas, s and gained Ivantage] really® i said. "I can’t bt| th Man does for i are always suppoi likes to take things vorry about whei ill is in his future, (out getting my d b,” Hardeman sail i on football." ks before Hatta nas, Cliff Groce been recent uished athletes t* country’s submarines ran aground on a southern reef near Kangnang (90 miles east of Seoul). Although South Korea is request- the United Stales to deploy s on giving lOOrt ) re t r00 p S under the guise of nt maneuvers, the United es should not get involved, edays of America protecting lave a strong res: althy nations that fail to de- ning back Ericthemselves must end. If the request is honored and invasion by either country lows, American soldiers will on the front lines. And the tire peninsula is not worth eAmerican life. But ever since the plastic-hulled, foot submarine was discovered the surf last week, the South has ndled the situation in an irre- onsible manner that jeopardizes ealready fragile armistice. Amassive manhunt by thou- nds of South Korean military tsonnel located 11 of the Com- unist sailors — shot in the head a nearby mountain. Nine ore were killed in shoot-outs 'erthe following days. And it is kelythat five others have tossed into the North. ,. . _ Asof today, only one sailor has !)tCt ^ptured alive. Lee Kwang- Ipally refused to answer lestions for fear the North would imof his capture and punish his nily. But four bottles of the po- id there is no pts itAian liquor soju (and a likely es. : system,” e torch. We have! ltate( j j^g submarine’s engine id we try to be as efore. That’s ating) convinced him otherwise. The intoxicated sailor reluctant- d failed after five crew members 'nt ashore to spy on South Kore an military installations. Without any means to propel itself back to its northern home port ofWonsan, the vessel helplessly drifted and ran aground. He went on to explain that he and his comrades abandoned the beached vessel in an attempt to cross the demilitarized zone, which lay 40 miles up the coastline. He then added that the plastic-hulled submarine had been infiltrating South Korean waters since 1994. Lee’s “admission of guilt” was somewhat confirmed by the discov ery of two stolen South Korean mili tary uniforms onboard the vessel. But despite South Korea’s at tempts to divert attention by blow ing the incident out of proportion, the whole affair raises some seri ous questions about the South’s own riational defense. Whether the leaky vessel lost power during a training mission and drifted south or was spying on its sworn enemy, why wasn’t the sluggish, diesel-powered sub marine being tracked as soon as it entered South Korean waters? And if Comrade Lee is telling the truth, how could the submarine infiltrations gone undetected for over two years? This vessel didn’t exactly evade radar with stealth technology. It was an out-dated, Cold War relic belonging in a museum. With that in mind, the South Korean military ought to take a shot of its own soju and interro gate itself for a few hours in a dimly lit room. That won’t happen, though. The southern half of the Korean Penin sula and its national defense have been embarrassed — by an inca pacitated plastic submarine. To save face, the South Kore an government is dangerously escalating what was initially a minor incident into a major in ternational crisis, threatening to unravel planned talks between North and South Korea, China and the United States. The refusal to return the now- sober prisoner and the bodies of his dead comrades only serves to further destabilize an already volatile situation. And it is possible that South Korea is intentionally escalating tensions to justify a strike on its nemesis to the north. But if either country invades the other, one thing is clear: South Korea wants American sol diers on the front lines. Americans have already shed their blood on this foreign soil years ago. And the painful end to the conflict only resulted in status quo ante helium. But the United States should remember the harsh realities of the Korean War and not be so quick to suffer for the less-than- democratic South Korea just be cause the Asian country fails to monitor its own coastline. The time has come for coun tries, namely South Korea, which have emerged as indus trial powers under the protec tion of the United States to be gin defending themselves. Page 11 Friday • September 27, 1996 Buying out America F ellow Americans: I came before you a week ago to an nounce my candidacy for president. After introducing my immigration policy, the other candidates have unjustly attacked me and the immigration plan without offering an alternative of their own. Because of fear, the career politicians have stooped to dirty politics in effort to silence me. I will not go quietly. Today, the national deficit and future tax increases are of major concern to the American people. If reelected, Bill Clinton will continue to raise taxes and add twice as many social programs that will increase the national debt. Bob Dole has promised a 15 percent tax cut and an increase in defense spending while balancing the budget. This plan sounds a lot like “voodoo economics” under the Reagan regime. Ross Perot’s only goal will be to create a tax-code that will help his financial situation. American tax-payers, I have a solution in which you can believe. With almost six years of education at Texas A&M under my belt, I have discovered how to rid the United States of income taxes, balance the budget and possi bly pay the citizens money for just be ing Americans. The first phase is to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and in come taxes by in stituting a general use fee for all citizens. The president and his cabinet will be allowed to raise the rate of the fee at anytime without elections or warning to the people. The government should be trusted that it will act only in the people’s best interest. The next stage on the eco nomic plan is to build parking garages all over the country. As with the general use fee, unex pected increases in rates will be common practice. However, this increase will not effect Americans, since park ing garages will be strictly for visitor parking. Finally we have reached the phase of the budget policy that will dramatically raise funds for the American people. If I am elected presi dent, I will allow the United States to accept commercialism as a means of economic de velopment. Some coun tries may say the U.S. government is selling out when the torch of the Statue of Lib erty is changed to a Nike Swoosh, but how many others will posess the surname “The Nike Nation?” This would only be the first in a handful of corporate sponsorships. A second arch would be added in St. Louis and both would be painted gold. McDonald’s would salivate at the opportunity to have a city called McLouis which show cased the golden arches. The renaming of national monuments is another untapped resource. Just think of the Ford- Lincoln Memorial, the Master Lock Florida Keys or the Liberty Taco Bell. If these corporations are willing to pay individuals and universities millions to sponsor their teams, just think how much money the United States of America could generate. With these additional sources of revenue, income taxes will be a thing of the past and the national deficit will disappear in no time. The United States has no bounds in corporate sponsor ship, but it must act quickly. If we do not establish this policy immediately, the opportunities will be squan dered. As we speak, Sears is negoti ating a contract for aluminum sid ing for the Great Wall of China and Disney trying to purchase the an cient pyramids in an effort to create a new amusement park in Egypt. The time is now for the United States to take action insuring these corporate sponsors continue to support America and rid the coun try of the debt it has built over the years. Under new leadership this land can return to the powerful na tion we have all grown to love. God Bless you and God Bless America. Columnist David Minor Graduate student McDonald's would salivate at the opportunity to have a city called McLouis. Don’t get caught art Simpson’s philosophy rules American society Mm he highest honor bestowed upon any child on the playground by his or her peers is pretty simple: “I can’t (lieveyou got away with that!” Maybe we never grow up. Americans have long had a sickness rooting for the underdog, even when underdog breaks established rules. It n’t too long after our Puritan colonial tsthat this attitude became a preva il feature of American society. One early example of seeing what we get away with comes with the stonTea Party. The lightly taxed onies were pissed off that the crown and his tea |mpany buddies would be making extra cash off the monopoly in the colonies. So they dumped Muffin the harbor. By rational standards, these colonials were a lave House TheB^ : ^ ess mo * :) ‘ were steamed and came ' , wn hard on the Massachusetts Bay colony. And Bernard takes* colonies sat anxiously by waiting to. see if e against Nortli ' ;y wou i^ g e t away with it. The rest is pretty well ause he talks to 15 0wn history. It’s a funny little American quirk that it him as a seco® r law-abiding society should have its roots in ms to say andf c h reckless disregard for authority, s he thinks I doc 1 ® ut maybe those were bad rules — they deserved s do not know W ^broken. nfold or if they t* Per haps, but like all concepts that start nobly, our 3. But the tealn 1 s ire to duck authority has festered to become an >m its sophon# tyscar on our national identity rather than a fun- t good things little quirk. We disregard the rules in many cases that are less Jn honorable. Would we think of our neighbor as riminal if he cheats on his income taxes? Proba- not. Our first question might be, “How does he \/| All j away with that?” But isn’t paying taxes the right ing to do? Even when we disagree with the rate, ; don’t disagree with the premise: Our government ads money to operate. And there are other laws we ignore. Are we crimi- kwhen we drive 70 in a 55? Try to imagine this: u’re charged with the murder of your ex-wife and tfriend, but you try to flee before the deadline ■ties to turn yourself into the police. Society mid judge you pretty harshly, right? Not if you’re OJ. Simpson. Apparently if you’ve >na Heisman Trophy, society will line the streets d cheer you on. What if you avoid the law in other ways like 'dging the draft? Apparently it is OK as long as dose the war. Dodging the draft for World War II is bad; dodg- gtheVietnam draft is honorable. Different wars ft different outcomes, but the premise was the Editor in chief Igi Michael Landauer Senior journalism major f ed Items • Jewelry • Woodcrafts • Collectibles • Aggie Iteias • Wearable Art g Lessons .vailable For Re* 776-087* same: The nation called on people to serve and some said no. And they got away with it. There is no way to write a column about getting away with it and dodging the draft without mentioning our presi dent, Bill Clinton, which is a pretty sad truth in itself. But Clinton is the ultimate example of how far we are willing to go to see people get away with stuff. We like to see him talk his way out of things so much we’re about to ask for a second term. On the other side of the coin, our great est national shame was when Richard Nixon got caught. The biggest question to come out of Water gate was not, “How could he abuse his power?” but rather, “Why didn’t he burn the tapes?” Bart Simpson might as well be president in the current administration. (“I didn’t do it. Nobody saw me do it. You can’t prove anything.”) When he first arrived on the national politcal scene, he denied everything. But now Clinton doesn’t even humor us with straight-faced denials. He has admitted to smoking pot and dodging the draft. He’s all but admitted to marital infidelity, and many supporters admit he lacks character. But we don’t care anymore. We’re sick of mudsling- ing, we say. But in reality, we think it’s kinda neat that such a “human” guy is in the White House. We think it’s great that he got away with smoking pot and dodging the draft. It’s like slapstick comedy. We find humor in the absurd things that Clinton gets away with. In fact, it’s possible the American public has a se cret agenda for electing Clinton. We want to see The Clinton Years, the movie, starring Bill Murray as the president and Jane Curtain as Hillary- One scene will open with a very stoned Bill thumbing through FBI files on Republican leaders and Hillary will march in angrily. “Bill, I told you to hide those Whitewater files, but you just left them on the table in the living room.” “Well, just say you didn’t know anything about them,” he’ll slowly reply. “Great idea, honey.” The movie can end on a flashback to a young Bill, played by Bart Simpson, on the playground. His friends will stand around him and ask with complete wonder, “How’d you get away with that?” Then the scene will cut to Bill being sworn in for a second term winking at the camera saying under his breath, “I don’t know boys. I guess it’s just the American way.” Mail Media misses the main issue, again Regarding Aja Henderson’s Sept. 25 column, “Infamous by death:” Once again, ignorant, insensi tive, white people have turned their backs on a misunderstood, ill-portrayed, black male. Get real Aja. Do you truly feel the majority of whites are that ig norant and insensitive? Was Tupac’s death tragic? Yes, any murder is. Did he posses tal ent and have many positive at tributes to offer society? Of course. Do I mourn his death? Not really. Now before you stamp KKK on my forehead, let me expand. Tu pac Shakur was a convicted vio lent criminal and sex offender — “Bottom line.” Funny how you left that out of your column. White, black, green, orange or Aggie ma roon, violence and sexual assaults are intolerable. The media has turned this event into a race issue. In my eyes, it is irrelevant that he was black or a rapper. Simply stated, he was a thug. Our country’s situation will never improve until we judge a person by their actions, not their color nor creed, or where they’re from. Isn’t that what we say we want? So much for being color blind. Aja’s attitude is disturbing. You are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Why don’t you try to under stand why people, regardless of color, react the way they do, in stead of always throwing the race card. But hey, I’m just some white guy from the middle class. John Urban Class of‘96 The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words or fewer and include the author’s name, class, and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Let ters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-11.11 Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: Batt@tamvml.tamu.edu For more details on letter policy, please call 845-3313 and direct your question to the opinion editor.