reams deferred by finals
A
if you beat No.
you wouldn't ha'I
la State coach
hh. Breathe deep. The fresh
smell of pine and the faint
scent of cinnamon are in the
air. Alas, so is the sweet smell of fail
ure. That’s right. Once again, the
Christmas season and all its festivities
have been preempted by finals. And
like cheatin’ wives and dogs in a coun
try song, it only seems right that the
two be merged in verse. So, without
further ado ...
’Twas The Night Before Finals
'Twas the night before finals when all through
the dorm
ot a creature was stirring, and that was abnorm;
he scantrons were hung by the backpacks with care
hopes that the knowledge soon would be there;
Quanell X hides truth
behind accusations
am is No. bforn
j st rate
iut back to reality and my senses I came
remembered my classes and called them by name:
Now Econ! Now Banal Now Neuropsychopharmacology!
he overachievers were nestled all snug in their beds
ttile visions of 4.0s danced in their heads;
ut I with my No-Doz and a baseball cap
as absolutely positive I didn’t know crap;
en out on the porch there arose such a clatter
sprang from my chair to see what was the matter;
iway to my Nikes I flew like a flash,
tabbed hold of my wallet and what remained of
y can’t win the c my cash,
teir mistakes ct
nes. Vhen what to my wandering eyes should appear
f Fisher admitte|But my friends (all jackasses) and a large keg of beer
by Dishman’sc! Vith a shiny old tap and a pump so quick,
Sunday’s game knew in the morning I’d surely be sick,
he was putting
:he incident,
aments were a
le frustration you
i work so hardtoI)n Physics! On History! On Paleobiology!’’
ress to win the >o up to the top of the library I flew
:e games (of the Vith a bag full of books, and a Snickers bar too.
ri) to get into the;
s and then to lose aid then in a twinkling it was time for the test
way we did,” Fipfou’ve heard the beginning, now here comes the rest,
said. “We’re i
trated.”
Quarterbal
Steve Me!
had three i
vers. All threel
lints. A rougtiij
malty againstif'
te fourth qutf Be had a nice briefcase, but his shoes looked homemade
sive holding; )nd I laughed when I saw him, in spite of my grade;
iman in thef ^>e notes I had borrowed, and the book I had read
Jaguar scoring; »oon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
ts I reached for my pencil and was turning around
own to the podium the prof came with a bound;
e was dressed all in tweed from his head to his feet
ith a touch of polyester to make it complete;
bundle of tests he had flung on his back
ome called him a doctor, but I preferred “quack.”
5 speaks with a
t’s difficult to gc
not a lot ofemoi
Fisher said."
and play hard"
ertainly aren’t g(
i from their shrint
20,196 fans, the
/d to see the Oil
xodome, showed
me.
are 2-5 in the;
sason
spoke not a word, but went straight to my exam
And despite what they tell you, it does pay to cram;
Jo listen up kids, as your finals loom near,
dive them respect, but don’t give them fear;
eti \nd remember, if the time for studying seems less,
The procrastinators best friend is the educated guess;
hear me exclaim as I rhyme out of sight
‘Your finals aren’t tomorrow, so have a good night!”
So
ary 2
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‘f’s Room
tupire LARP
iegistered
@ tamu.edu
edu/msc/nova
'our special needs. W
n order for us to a$s : '
lasters
1 All GMs who
1 still get their
^ite will receive
31 be given pri-
-e at
H) (2nd floor
Mail
GUF increase will
ake from needy
Regarding Brandon Hausen-
fluck’s Dec. 6 column, "Students
present the only outlet for funds”:
Full-time work during se
mesters strengthens my will as
full moons coincide my visits to
Northgate.
Eighty-hour work weeks in
the summer build my character,
while blood drive T-shirts most
frequently add to my wardrobe.
Plasma donations stimulate my
body on a subsistence of rice,
potato and noodle entrees.
An academic scholarship’s
good fortune imparts the wis
dom of humility unto me as I fill
loan applications.
Finding one-third of my vet
eran’s benefits going toward in-
reased tuition and fees after 2.5
ars of service (and school debt
repayment) constantly firms my
academic resolve.
Yes, the newest Aggie joke
helps me in so many ways. The
pleas of our destitute student or
ganizations and faculty in an at
mosphere of “consumer-funded”
and “money-equals-wisely-in-
structed” education strikes the in
sane laughter deserved by such
pitiful ends.
I have time to rest assured of
nothing except the truth of my
ever-livin’ desire to oppose such
times when the needs of the
many are twisted by the need-less
few to no end.
out !
^lc
ve
Russ Jessup
Class of’97
Blame should not
be put on elephant
Regarding Aja Henderson’s
Dec. 4 article "Only Elephants in
danger belong to Class of’97”:
I would first like to point out
that elephants are not predators,
as Henderson believes. They are
herbivores. They eat plants; they
do not prey on other animals, in
cluding humans.
Second, elephants are not a
“resource of ivory” to be used at
our whim.
They are living animals with
as much a right to exist as us.
Pardon the cliche, but how
would you feel if a species decid
ed to hunt you down and kill you
just because your brain made a
good aphrodisiac?
Henderson says it is the over
population of elephants that has
caused the destruction of vil
lages and agricultural lands.
I say its our own overpopula
tion, coupled with an egotistical
ideology that has caused this
problem and many others.
Elephants have roamed this
planet peacefully for millions of
years without overpopulating
the region, let alone the planet.
Only recently have humans
emerged.
Yet, with our rapid rate of
growth, combined with the “I
came, I saw, I conquered” phi
losophy, we have quickly
pushed animals and even other
races of humans into a fraction
of the land that their ancestors
once occupied.
The overpopulation of our
species has caused people to live
in regions that common sense
would say are hazardous.
It has also caused the deple
tion of resources.
Finally, it has caused the de
cline of the planet we live on,
whether it be through the
contamination of the environ
ment or the destruction of nat
ural habitats.
The solution to all of these
problems is realizing we are
not the only beings occupying
this planet.
We need to manage our own
population, rather than annihi
late others.
Cris Hein
Class of ’95
Senate does not
represent students
Regarding the Nov. 6 editorial,
“After asking for student opin
ion, the Senate voted against it":
The Texas A&M Student Sen
ate has quickly become the
laughingstock of this campus,
and the funniest part is it has
no idea.
It believes it is serving the
student body — informing the
ignorant, protecting the weak,
and shielding us from the “evil”
administration.
However, it has once again
tripped over its own feet in its
efforts to “save” us from our
selves.
On three separate occasions,
since these senators have been
elected, they have gone to the
student body with polls or refer-
endums to solicit our opinion.
First they came and asked us
whether we wanted runoffs for
yell leader elections.
After students answered
“YES!,” the Senate promptly
turned around and voted down
yell leader elections.
On another occasion, they
The Battalion encourages letters to the
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For more details on letter policy, please call
845-3313 and direct your question to the
opinion editor.
L ast Tuesday, Harley
Schlanger and Na
tion of Islam Minis
ter Quanell X came to
College Station and pro
ceeded to disgrace and
degrade the campus of
Texas A&M. The topic of
their presentation was a
ludicrous theory linking
George Bush to crack
dealers in South Central
Los Angeles.
Quanell X and
Schlanger, using information ob
tained from entirely reliable and
factual South American newspa
pers, accused Bush of financing the
Iran-Contra scandal with govern
ment-controlled drug trafficking.
Quanell X blasted A&M, saying
a library in honor of a “crack king
responsible for the destruction of
thousands of lives” should not
“disgrace” our campus.
Perhaps we should consult
Quanell X more often for his opin
ion on matters concerning our
University. Being the Aggie he is
(not) and seeing how he knows
what is right or wr ong for 40,000 of
us, maybe he can even decide if a
fee increase would disgrace our
campus. For Quanell X to criticize
and degrade a distinguished indi
vidual such as George Bush is
downright irresponsible and im
mature, seeing as Bush has done a
hell of a lot more for America than
Quanell X has done or ever will do.
Bush was a respected member
of the CIA, a loyal vice president
for eight years and a successful
president who held America to
gether throughout the Gulf War
crisis. It is because of these suc
cesses that A&M is dedicating a
library to George Bush.
Quanell X has only succeeded
in presenting misinformation as
fact and turning the inner-city
drug problem — a social ill — into
a black versus white issue by using
racist statements and stereotypes.
The accusation that Bush traf
ficked cocaine to the inner cities
is ludicrous. People are accepting
this so-called “conspiracy” as
fact. Well, remember the Richard
Jewell bombing case? I seem to
remember the media being
wrong in its accusations.
One can’t believe everything
that is said, especially when the
“evidence” for this accusation is
far fetched and unreliable.
Columnist
Jon Apgar
Sophomore
journalism major
A look at the record
of Bush will dismiss any
claims that he advocat
ed drug use among
anyone. Bush began his
War on Drugs on Sep
tember 5, 1989 by out
lining a plan to combat
drugs, using $7.6 billion
from Congress and a
$2.2 billion increase in
the budget. Seventy
percent of this money
went to increased law
enforcement to fight drugs.
Was Bush a supplier of cocaine
during his presidency? That’s hard
to believe, considering that co
caine use dropped 22 percent dur
ing his tenure.
In fact, drug arrests went up by
69 percent from 1985 to 1989.
Bush even appropriated $2.4 bil
lion to confiscate drugs as they en
tered the country. In 1989, the U.S.
seized 181,000 pounds of cocaine,
up from 12,000 pounds in 1982.
How anyone could accuse Bush
of trafficking cocaine when cocaine
use went down and cocaine
seizures went up by 1,500 percent is
beyond the realm of common
sense. Quanell X stated that co
caine is the “rich man’s aspirin and
the poor man’s dream.” It is neither.
Cocaine is Quanell X’s scapegoat —
an excuse for the behavior of mil
lions of inner-city blacks.
Regardless of how cocaine gets
to the inner city, it is ultimately up
to the individual to decide whether
he or she will start on the road to
ruin by developing a crack cocaine
addiction. The cocaine problem is
not just a problem among blacks,
as Quanell X would have us be
lieve. Whites are also addicted to
smoking crack. Contrary to
Quanell X’s argument that cocaine
is meant to bring the black man
down, cocaine damages anyone
who uses it, regardless of color.
The drug problem in the inner-
city will not be solved by blaming
the White House or by using racist
and stereotypical statements such
as, “White folks have got more care
for dogs ... than they have for
[blacks],” both techniques that
Quanell X has employed.
Quanell X hasn’t done a single
thing to reduce the drug problem
except provide misinformation to
the public and discredit a man
who actually did something to
help Americans.
came and asked us about the
Hopwood decision, and the polls
indicated that a majority of stu
dents were in favor of the Hop-
wood decision.
So the senators passed a res
olution against it.
Finally, on a third major is
sue, Student Government came
and asked us if we were in favor
of the GUF increase.
Again students tried to tell
their senators “No more fee in
creases,” but again the Senate
refused to listen and passed a
resolution supporting the in
crease in fees.
Three clearly expressed stu
dent opinions — three failures
for the Student Senate.
If we cannot depend on our
student senators to represent
our views to the administration,
then why do we have a Student
Senate at all?
If the Student Senate wants to
sit in Koldus and make all the
decisions for us without any re
gard for the students they repre
sent, fine.
But don’t waste our time by
coming and asking our opinion
about it when it obviously does
n’t matter anyway.
Jason Herrick
Class of’97
^ Editorial Roundup
Houston Chronicle on
Clinton’s nominees:
Domestic issues dominated
President Clinton's first presiden
tial campaign and much of his
first term. His recent Cabinet ap
pointments indicate that domes
tic considerations still dominate.
Madeleine Albright, the U.S.
ambassador to the United Na
tions whom Clinton has nominat
ed to be secretary of state, owes
her appointment as much to her
sex as to her impressive creden
tials and experience.
Clinton’s choice for secretary
of defense, former Republican
U.S. Sen. William Cohen, reflects
the president’s desire to ignore a
bipartisan Cabinet appointment
in the hope of working more co
operatively with the GOP-con-
trolled Congress. It might work
with GOP senators, but House
conservatives show few signs of
being mollified.
The president’s other two ap
pointees, Anthony Lake to be CIA
director and Samuel Berger to
succeed Lake as national security
adviser, are tested members of
the administration.
Where Albright is known for
her tenacity, however, Lake and
Berger are known as low-profile,
collegial players — a high priority
with the president.
Whatever the qualifications of
his appointees, only the president
can lend consistency to U.S. foreign
policy. Clinton has not done that,
and his appointments betray no
presidential vision for the future.
In his second term, Clinton will
face the expansion of NATO, the
need to craft a new relationship
with Russia, instability in the Per
sian Gulf, China’s unrelenting hu
man rights violations and its
takeover of Hong Kong, not to men
tion the chronic conflicts in the
Middle East, Africa and the Balkans.
The Dallas Morning News on
need to revamp state liability laws:
Let’s say you own a store in a
neighborhood where crime
sometimes strikes. Would you
keep the store there if lawsuits
started to arise because crimes
were committed against people
standing outside your door?
The problem is not so far
fetched. Texas law contends that
someone who owns a store or
apartment complex, for example,
can be held responsible for anoth
er person’s criminal act on their
property. That’s possible even if the
building’s owner had nothing to do
with the crime. The owner can be
held liable if a jury determines he
or she could have “foreseen” the
problem but failed to prevent it.
Admittedly, some store owners
fail to keep their premises safe.
But how does an owner develop a
fail-safe measure against crimes
on his or her premises?
Unfortunately, one way is to just
not invest at all in deteriorating
neighborhoods, where crime some
times occurs. Consider the case of
Dallas-based Kwik Wash coin laun
dries. A jury held the company re
sponsible for a crime committed
against a woman in one of their
washaterias. Afterward, the compa
ny closed several dozen stores in
“marginal” areas.
The Kwik Wash case is not
unique. That’s why Texas legisla
tors should change the situation
with some liability reforms.
They could also reinstate the
“assumption of risk” rule, which
Texas courts outlawed several
years ago. It excuses a landowner
from liability if a visitor knows of
an apparent risk.
For example, landowners
could be exempted from liability
if a person is hurt walking across
a construction site at night,
knowing full well that a large pro
ject is being constructed.
These changes could bring
greater evenness to Texas liabil
ity laws. They could also elimi
nate harmful, unintended con
sequences.