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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 26, 1997)
0 F \ Page 11 Wednesday • March 26, 1997 Editorial Roundup I (AP) The following is a sampling [editorial comment from Texas wspapers: 1° -fl \Maco Tribune-Herald on involv- inxphysicians in abortion solution: ®*BCongress should make no law t0f Bat would punish an ethical physi- l, 1 ii; nwho makes an ethical decision Isave a woman’s life or protect|her ^Balth. The U.S. House of Repre- ™Bntatives, by approving a bill iden- P^al to one vetoed by President ■inton last year, has voted to do 01 B't that. Clinton should veto this ii .Then he should seek a compro- ^■ise that would put this issue to ■st once and for all. The whole partial-birth abortion ■ntroversy is an attempt by anti- portion laypeople to elbow aside hpe physician who must make a e jldgment call about what’s best for Is or her patient. The extent to nich the surgical procedure known ■ dilation and extraction is used on Jalthy, viable fetuses is not really the ue here, despite attempts to make o.The issue is physicians’ ability to lo their job when a woman’s health ■jeopardized. ■ Third-trimester abortions are b; lied in most states including Bxas. States have that authority un- |o r #rthe/?oe vs. Wade decision, but not I the extent that physicians are ■ndcuffed in preventing complica- l&ftns from pregnancy or childbirth, pjrl Obstetricians only have proba- |m;|ilities to deal with when they de- ckli a late-term abortion is neces- Bry.There are no certainties. The Ur -H 'iise-passed bill seemingly would telisiston certainty — that this was a n5*e-or-death situation for the jrtliother. That is far too high a stan- Tardto apply when all a doctor can lo is make an educated guess about Tie health effects childbirth would issslave on a patient, irm I Seemingly this issue could be re- 1-92 lilved satisfactorily if the matter of lefming terms and potential health h® [Contingencies were laid out by the m, physicians who must make the judgment calls. For instance, an ob stetrician's decision to conduct a in: ^te-term abortion could be made contingent on consulting another fertified obstetrician. | Congress cannot write reason- able legislation on this matter if pol itics drive the debate. Underlying I® Ibis whole effort, we must remem- is hard-ball politics: a bid to I ban abortion entirely. Some advo cates seem to say: Physicians be damned. Abortion is not a practice society should encourage, but it shouldn’t be foreclosed by law. Back-alley practitioners would beckon in that case. Women by the thousands would put their health at risk. The legislation approved by the House puts more than women’s health at risk. It also puts at risk the jobs and reputations of the men and women who deliver America’s babies and sometimes have to make excruciating medical choices. The Dallas Morning News on campaign money: Sick of hearing about all these money-and-politics scandals? Want a road map to a new kingdom, where the money game is less prevalent? Here are some suggestions. These elements should be part of any effort to reform campaign finance: —Control ^ft money. "Soft mon ey” is die ample loot polidcal parties raise from corporadons, labor unions and wealthy individuals ostensibly for “party-building activities.” In stead, the money is used surrepti tiously to bolster partisan campaigns, as many 1996 races revealed.... — Full, regular disclosure of gifts. Members of Congress should have to file regular reports on campaign do nations, perhaps every month.... — Limit fund raising to when Con gress is not in session. This could like wise help control the constant Wash ington fund-raising game. Legislators could focus on their work, and not worry about "dialing for dollars” throughout the week. Some state leg islators already play by this rule. Another frequently mentioned reform requires broadcasters give qualified candidates free air time... Several broadcast organizations, including this newspaper’s parent company, volunteered free air time to help qualified candidates gain ac cess to the airwaves in the 1996 elec tion. This trend toward volunteering air time should widen within the in dustry because it is good business practice and a public service. At the moment, voters are like air line passengers in the middle of a thunderstorm. Things are getting rocky witli campaign finance stories dominating the headlines. But there’s a way out of the storm. These reforms could help show the way home. $6,000,000 Aggies Today's student needs superpowers to stay afloat Columnist Travis Chow computer science graduate student "ouldn’t it be great to be bionic? In the ’90s, living as a do-it-all wokaholic machine is more than just a fantasy. It has become a motto. With neither me chanical limbs nor microchip brains, the bionic persons of the ’90s excel through determina tion and hard work. Students react in two differ ent directions: they either em brace the jack-of-all-trades phi losophy or reject the pressure. The strive for perfection de mands both commitment and hardship, but the confidence and fulfillment gained far out weigh the pain. Students should not hesitate to join the bionic movement of the ’90s. To begin with, the movement is alive and will only grow stronger with global competi tion. Today’s role models are the first indications of the bion ic spirit. Just look at the president of the United States, Bill Clinton. Despite reservations one may have about him, his accom plishments are incredible. Dur ing college, he played for the Georgetown basketball team and, at the same time, won the Rhodes Scholarship. Above all, his wide range of success, in spite of his modest family background, exemplifies the ’90s self-start attitude. Even role models with much less stature, like television char acters, are becoming paragons of perfection. Take, for example, George Clooney, who plays a physician on the popular hit E.R. The heartthrob saves lives daily, rakes in six digits a year and has time to manicure his dark, shiny hair. Just a decade ago, doc tors were played by bald ing men with taciturn personalities, not these extrovert super models. Today’s television charac ters, with their perfect mind/body package, epitomize society’s fasci nation with perfection. The supply of bionic role models is certainly ample at Texas A&M. Their accomplishments demand many long nights and forsaken leisure time, but the rewards of self-fulfill ment and success leave them with no regrets. Students who seem to walk on water share their motivations. Steve Foster, the Corp commander and soon-to-be t.u. law school student, is driven by his undaunt ed Aggie Spirit. “ [Aggie Spirit] is what we are known for, and I am proud to have it for the rest of my life,” he said. Jill Jackson, active in stu dent govern ment and an avid runner, encourages all students to stretch their limits. “It builds adversity of character, and it’s very re warding,” she said. Jill is now an ticipating the Normandy study abroad program in Eu rope and her ca reer with Andersen Consulting. Of course, jumping onto the ’90s bionic bandwagon is not an easy ride. If it were, anyone could watch 30-minute in fomercials and have an immac ulate physique in three weeks. Balancing a hectic schedule, sticking to the routine and deal ing with peers’ criticisms are only a few of the challenges. But after overcoming these initial obsta cles, the rewards on the other side are golden. Jesse Czelusta, the Residence Hall Association president and a Rhodes Scholar nominee, shares his viewpoint. “No great thing was ever accom plished that did not involve risk and hard work,” he said. Life is unfair. Some are just born with a hefty inheritance. This reali ty, however, has never stopped Steve or Jesse. The invincible attitude is thriving in today’s ground breaking diversity. Doors open wide across stereotypical lines and are providing opportunities for those willing to seize them. Neither the macho attitude of the early ’80s nor the apathy of Generation X are binding people into categories. Anyone craving the Herculean body can hit the Student Recreation Center and the local GNC. For those with an entrepreneurial drive, striking it rich over . the Internet is just ' . footsteps from the full shelves of computer books at the MSG book;* store. The only requirement is a ^ bionic attitude. Cindy Ericson, the deputy Corp n commander, capr tures the spirit of * the times with one of Theodore * Roosevelt’s fa mous quotes. “Far better it is to dare mighty * things, to win glorious tri umphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they lie in the great twilight that knows not victory nor defeat,” Roo-*[ sevelt said. Students need to overcome lack of originality, creativity ot too long ago, my fingers brought _ forth upon this key board a new column, con nived in boredom and ledicated to the proposi- ionthat too many ideas re completely unoriginal. | Millions of American F; poviegoers are once again raying tribute to the cre- ive genius of George Lu- as by watching the re used Star Wars trilogy. The P eries is a classic and fun for P people of all ages, but the reissuing of M je enhanced trilogy comes at a time P* pen we desperately need new ideas. American consumers are being '|ibjected to an endless sea of the I Ime old stuff, and too many of our |reative outlets have decided to emu- : rather than innovate. The entertainment industry’s re- jance on already used, formulaic ideas Ifektftyich M-*® Columnist Jeremy Valdez Senior engineering major is an obvious symptom of this lack of originality. Lately, network television isn’t so much a wasteland as it is a widget factory. Execu tives at NBC found a way to resuscitate the old hospital show and call it E.R. Encour aged by the success of a “new” show, CBS rolled out their own medical master piece, Chicago Hope. The popular Fox show The X-Files is turning view ers into paranoid conspira cy nuts with one hand on the re mote and the other on the ray gun. Not to be outdone, NBC countered with its own short-lived series about aliens and government coverups, Dark Skies. And a bigger screen doesn’t neces sarily mean a grander vision. It’s not uncommon to find new movies being advertised as brighter, sexier versions of old films. Print ads and posters for last December’s blockbuster The Long Kiss Goodnight promised that it “out- femmes La Femme Nikita. Similarly, the film Two Days in the Valley also pimped itself by claiming to have “out-pulped” Pulp Fiction, Perhaps the re-release of the Star Wars trilogy is justified when viewed in the light of last year’s movie fare. If I were George Lucas, I’d be pret ty hacked if studio executives took Star Wars and traded Obi-Wan for a fighter jock and a computer nerd, flattened the Death Star into a float ing saucer and substituted a middle- aged crop-dusting booze-hound for Luke Skywalker and called it Inde pendence Day. Even the University campus, which is supposed to be a living, breathing biome of new ideas, is showing symp toms of this creative inertia. It’s an unwritten rule (and a curious sacrifice of our First Amendment free doms) that no group of students may peaceably assemble into an “organi zation” unless they have “designed” a “T-shirt.” Granted, this need for uni formity might have some roots in our need to clothe ourselves, but if every body is going to be dressing the same, it would be nice if the T-shirts were fairly original. Instead, most student groups pick the easy way out and settle for a “cute” shirt telling the world nothing about the organization other than its willingness to bend intellectual property laws. First-time visitors to A&M might be confused by student apparel, so here’s a convenient guide designed to make a few things straight: 1. The official mascot of Texas A&M University is neither Calvin nor Hobbes, but a border collie named Reveille. 2. Texas A&M University does not field any official co-ed naked sports teams or student organizations. 3. Not all lists can be organized into “Top Ten” format. 4. Contrary to popular belief, the mak ers of Absolut vodka have NOT spon sored an entire class of undergraduates. The lack of creative verve in some academic organizations might be ex plained by a time crunch. It simply takes more time and effort to come up with a unique idea rather than polish what has come before. However, the university lifestyle affords students the rare luxury of being both sources and consumers of new thought. On the outside there are bosses with egos, co-workers with competing interests, and company lines to toe, so students who are saving their free thinking for after gradua tion might be disappointed. There’s always room for parody and satire, and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But our need for fresh ideas is so great that we must stop kissing butt and start making demands for originality. PRESIDENT CLINTON, IWBDRT MORE, CHINESE WARES"! NOT, THROW ^OURSELF DOWNSTAIRS! Democratic fund raising gurus would help A&M t »\ i ^^,11^1.11— 1 ^ E very year it rears its ugly head, causing pain, grief and hysteria. No, it’s not another season of Houston Oil ers football. It’s the obligatory annual fee increase. This week, the Board of Re gents will vote on yet another Student Services Fee increase. Students are sick and tired of being forced to fork over large amounts of cash to go to school. Clearly, something must be done to counteract this growing burden of Texas A&M tuition. When it comes to scraping millions of dollars and not worrying where it came from, only Democrats can do the job. In fact, as of Feb. 28, the Democratic Party was forced to return $3 million in illegal cam paign contributions. Texas A&M should start showing the same cash-grabbing zeal. With two million dollars from the Chinese Com munist Party here, $100,000 from an Indone sian gardener there and a fat check from a Colombian drug smuggler, Kyle Field’s North End Zone expansion could be completed. There is no depth to which A&M should Columnist Donny Ferguson Sophomore political science major not sink to line its pockets. Dr. Bowen could follow the lead of Gore and make a few fund-raising phone calls from the University’s (taxpayers’) property. If asked whether he made ille gal fund-raising phone calls, he could repeat Clinton’s response to the same question: “I simply can’t say that I’ve never done it.” Or Bowen could borrow A1 Gore’s de fense that the law doesn’t apply to him and that “there is no control ling legal authority.” Then Bowen could throw in some Buddhist temples for $500,000 each in “community outreach.” The District Attorney might call it money laundering, but Bowen could label it a “dis traction” or a “procedural problem.” The University could follow the Democ rat lead and funnel contributions from the Chinese Communist Party through a local Chinese embassy. And although allowing foreign governments to influence a Presi dential election, laundering millions of dol lars and compromising national security are impeachable offenses, A&M needs cash. The 12th Man Foundation could charge $ 100,000 a night to sleep on Kyle Field. They [ could j ust photocopy Bill Clinton’s January > 1995 memo to his staff about renting out the | White House to raise cash and tell Founda- • tion donors to “get other names at $100,000 ,’ or more, $50,000 or more...Ready to start overnights right away.” The University could pull a Democrat and sell exclusive invitations to White House [ coffees. Officials could invite the same Chi nese arms dealer, Colombian drug smuggler and Lebanese international fugitive Bill Clin ton and Al Gore sought. Therefore, for all stu dents who wish to see more involvement in multiculturalism, the University could be under the influence of foreign powers. All said, A&M has only one choice — to sink to the level of the Democratic Party, therefore eliminating the need for another fee increase. And if things don’t exactly work out in 2000, Gore could even become A&M’s next president. Just give Gore a phone, a government office, a couple of hours and pretty soon students won’t even have to pay for tuition. Little things like federal law should not be allowed to get in the way of raising money for the University. It’s a good thing the De mocratic Party is here to pave the way.