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.