mg Intern
WITH
ay • October 24, 1997
The Battalion
PINION
Idmired" 0%
Sighting for the wrong cause
Stm, women of United States'armed forces should play no part in United Nations
Donny
Ferguson
columnist
pril 1775. American min-
utemen stand firm on
he battlefields of Lexing-
nd Concord, prepared to
ice their lives in defense of
om against a tyrannical
monarchy.
August, 1995 - Conroe, Texas
COIlsin Specialist Michael New
, fuses to wear United Nations
ionigtllsignia, stating he has taken
i oath to defend the United
ates, not the United Nations.
'less Sent Ever since brave American
ilunteers stood up to the world’s most powerful mil-
force on a quiet spring morning over two cen-
ies ago, the United States armed forces have up-
;ld a tradition of excellence and bravery.
TSowever, the rights of American soldiers and the
flivereignty of our military is in jeopardy at the med-
ting hands of the United Nations.
; 0( tober 24 will mark “United Nations Day,” the
anniversary of the international organization’s
at ion. Originally conceived as a global peacekeep-
rce to counter the worldwide nuclear threat of
old War, the UN has taken on the role of “plane-
aolice,” shipping American soldiers thousands of
away into domestic squabbles in far away war
nes such as Bosnia.
The UN should recognize that American soldiers
ive taken an oath to defend the Constitution of the
nited States from enemies foreign and domestic,
ley have no obligation to serve the United Nations.
Tlie UN’s control of American soldiers had gone
rgely unchallenged until a brave Army Specialist,
[ichael New of Conroe, deployed to Macedonia to
nake the UN presence known,” refused to wear a
NIrm band or helmet. “I ‘m enlisted in the US
rmy; I am not a UN soldier,” New said, “I have taken
vow to the UN; I have taken an oath to defend the
institution of the United States...”
New is right. Just as it was immoral to force Ameri-
jColonists to pay taxes and serve a king who violat-
their sovereignty and refused them representation,
is immoral to force a soldier to fight and die for a
ireign nation for which they pledge no allegiance.
Colonel Ronald D. Ray (USMC, Ret.), former
eputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and legal
unsel to New told The New American, “He has been
e victim of a bait-and-switch. He was recruited to
rve the Red, White and Blue, not the United Nations
flag.” Colonel Ray also pointed out, “As a US soldier,
New would be entitled to a protected status as a POW;
as a UN soldier, if he were captured he would be a
‘UN hostage.’” Not only are American soldiers’ lives in
danger while on UN “missions,” if they are captured,
they are not afforded the same protections they
would have under US command.
Probably the best known case of inhumane treat
ment of UN hostages is Lieutenant Colonel Rich Hig
gins, abducted and hanged by Hezbollah terrorists
while on another one of the UN’s “peacekeeping mis
sions” in Lebanon. Colonel Ray recalls “the position
of our State Department was that they would seek the
release of‘all of the hostages’ without making a spe
cial effort to secure the release of this American offi
cer. He wasn’t an American POW; he was simply an
other UN hostage, and this redefinition of his status
proved fatal.”
Efforts to reform the UN and relieve the United
States of its massive financial support have been met
by stiff opposition from Democrats and liberal Re
publicans. Congressman Ron Paul’s (Rep., 14-Texas)
amendment to House resolution 1757, the FY 1997-
1998 State Department budget, included provisions
for the United States’ withdrawal from the UN and in
sured no more American soldiers would lose their
lives for a foreign body to which they do not pledge
allegiance. »>
Local congressman Kevin Brady voted against the
UN reform amendment and it was defeated. In poli-
tics-as-usual style, Democrats and liberal Republi
cans together to fight reform of the United Nations
and succeeded in preserving UN command over
American soldiers.
The brave men and women of America’s armed
forces have no obligation to serve the United Nations.
Their duty is to protect and defend the United States
of America, not to cater to the political whims of a
multinational body.
Unfortunately, they must serve a Congress who
will not relieve them of their immoral obligation to a
foreign body and a Commander-In-Chief who once
said he is “in great sympathy with those who are not
willing to fight, kill and maybe die for their country,”
and finds himself, “loathing the military.
Hopefully, Democrats and liberal Republicans in
Congress, Kevin Brady included, will follow Michael
New’s lead and recognize the rights of America’s
armed forces.
Donny Ferguson is a junior political science major.
LClinton, Giuliani face disagreement over line-item veto
is gone be]
join us
;ood tin*
) a
hese days
President
Clinton is be-
, ing attacked on all
sides. Besides the
)ctober2i campaign finance
issue, the Paula
Jones ordeal, and
losing a daughter to
the world of higher
ken education, Clinton
aderehip ; has also been hack-
ihip that ing away at bills
i dt'ser. • With his newest toy,
would I fhe line item veto.
you P' eaie J| Touted by Republicans as part of
some kind ofWWF tag team for the con
stitution, the line item veto amendment
America was right up there next to its partner, the
danced budget amendment, which
failed in the Senate earlier this year.
Stephen
Llano
columnist
Today, the line item veto is not an
amendment, therefore, a challenge to the
legality of the President playing cut and
paste with Congressional bills was obvi
ously forthcoming the first it was used.
It wasn’t the immediacy of the chal
lenge, but where it came from that
should spark some surprise. Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani of New York City filed
a suit challenging the constitutionality
of this provision of the President’s pow
ers just last week. Apparently, Giuliani is
protesting the veto of a provision that
would have kept New York from having
to return $2.6 billion dollars in Medic
aid funding.
“The president’s use of the line item
veto in this instance is detrimental to
the efforts of the city and its health care
partners — the city’s public and volun
tary hospitals and their employees — to
provide maximum health care benefits
to needy individuals,” Giuliani said.
Obviously, Giuliani is a little upset
about losing all that money. But the re
action should upset Americans as to
what we have lost as a nation.
The line item veto in and of itself is
an important consideration — giving
this sort of power to one man over the
content of bills is a scary proposition.
Pressure from the people, who are, of
course, so well informed on exactly
what goes on in the Capitol, pushed this
power right out of Congress, where the
people's true representatives are, into
the lap of the Imperial Presidency.
Rejoicing that the President will save
them from the evils of pork barrel poli
tics, many voters are going to be
shocked when their district represented
by a “good” politician feels the effects of
this power.
Pork barrel is bad, unless it’s in my
district. Just ask Giuliani or any of the
others who helped him file the suit.
On a deeper level, the distress call is
clear. Americans have lost the concept
of local government almost completely.
The climate on television, the radio
or in the newspaper reflects this —
Problem X is a severe problem, and
those lazy good for nothings in Wash
ington better do something to solve
problem X or we’ll vote them out.
Unfortunately, this view circumvents
the legitimate aim of government in the
first place ’— to serve and protect the
people.
Cities, counties, and states are
maybe not the best funded solutions,
granted. But the effort and energy of co-
operation on a local level can solve such
pervasive issues such as crime.
Neighborhood watch programs are a
great example of city cooperation on a
very local level.
It may not be quick or easy, but at
least it’s not contributing to a bankrupt
imperial concept of government.
Washington D.C. is the worst place
Americans can look to solve problems
that face them.
Continually giving new and exciting
broad powers to one person isn’t a solu
tion — it is destroying the best solution
we could possibly have. As for Giuliani,
even if he wins or loses, until Americans
rediscover city, county and state gov
ernment, we may as well give the Presi
dent a blank check.
Stephen Llano is a senior
history major.
ilenensreiKfl^
assoonasi!i ,;: 'x r ,—«
Mail Call
i. tam0m
—jVlisidentification
stirs radio static
n response to John Burtons Oct. 23
! Broadcast news’’column:
3 News Wis former vice-president and
sroom torrent volunteer for KEOS , I
vould like to respond to your arti-
ielconcerning KEOS’ relationship
IKaNM Cable Radio. First of all,
U operates at consistently er-
oneous in citing KAMU as the sta-
;h Friday ion opposing KEOS .
pKANM is a student organization
' vhic h operates at 99.9 fm cable,
f md should be the station cited in
” r our article. Also, there is no such
ocal program called ‘ Blues on the
dove,” produced by KEOS - that
irogram is produced by KPFT
Icifica Radio out of Houston.
■KEOS is not the arch rival to
[MM. As a participant with both
bons at the time that KEOS was
Ihdergoing the FCC licensing/ap-
>lication process during 1992-
1 994,1 can assure you that it was
|fact KANM that pilled its sup-
from the creation of an on-air
ilternative, non-commercial sta-
ionforB/CS.
3-025)
At the time, the DJs of KANM
refused to participate because
they wanted exclusive student
control of the new station, a posi
tion contrary to the mission of
KEOS as a community-driven, all
inclusive radio station.
KANM expressly wanted to ex
clude anyone who was not an A&M
student, and when they saw that
KEOS was open to all volunteers in
the community, KANM as an orga
nization refused to have any formal
participation with the creation and
development of KEOS.
Informally, however, many DJs
have participated concurrently
with both situations since KEOS
went on the air in 1995. KEOS has
long been open to a more formal
arrangement with KANM to in
clude student DJs on the airwaves.
But the management of KANM
has consistently been adverse to
any such arrangement.
In the meantime, KEOS has
grown substantially with student
volunteerism, programs which
target a student audience, and
outreach towards the local student
population, in addition to its out
reach to the general public. KEOS
has invited multiple student
groups to advertise their events on
the station.
Currently, KEOS has more high
school and college students on the
air than any other broadcasting
station in the vicinity.
It is a complete misunder
standing of the FCC licensing
process to assert that KEOS could
have taken :the license and ran.”
KANM is not named anywhere on
the application to the FCC, and
could therefore have no authority
over the actual license to Brazos
Educational Radio as a non-profit
organization which created KEOS
Community Radio.
Additionally, KANM has shown
repeated ambivalence towards
any efforts at communications
with KEOS. Thank you for your
consideration.
Heidi Halstead
KEOS volunteer
Class of’92
Senate addresses
co-enrollment
Wed., Oct.22, the Student Sen
ate passed Senate Resolution 97
(F) 7 concerning Blinn Co-Enroll
ment. This resolution states that
the Student Senate is not in favor
of any change to the Co-Enroll
ment policy, the policy as stated in
Ruled 2.3.2 of the Student Rules
(1997-98) manual reads:
Undergraduate students en
rolled at Texas A&M who wish to
take a course or courses concur-
renyly at another institution for
degree credit at Texas A&M must
receive the prior approval of
their dean.
The Student Senate unani
mously passed this resolution
Wednesday night in response to
Faculty Senate discussion of a new
Co-Enrollment policy. Faculty
Senate has not taken any action
regarding Co-Enrollment at this
point, but in the best interest of
the students, Student Senate vot
ed to take an early stance.
We appreciate the work of The
Battalion, and understand that
mistakes are made. We want all of
the students to know that our posi
tion stands in their favor, not to
change the current Co-Enrollment
policy. Any student interested can
obtain a copy of S.R. 97 (F) 7 Blinn
Co-Enrollment Resolution avail
able on the Senate Web page locat
ed at http: \\ www.tamu.edu\stu-
dent_senate. In addition, if you
have an opinion on this or any is
sue, committee membership is
open to any student.
Information concerning meet
ing times and dates are also avail
able aon the Web. Any further con
cerns can be addressed by calling
the Student Government Office at
845-3051, ask for Alice.
Alice Gonzalez
Speaker, Student Senate
Class of'99
All Aggies should
respect The Battalion
Leave Mandy Cater alone. As a
journalist, she was just doing her
job. Almost every' response to the
Bonfire pots articles last Friday
have been a personal attack on her.
Frankly, her article served its pur
pose, and it obviously evoked a lot
of emotion.
It is true that many of the
people complaining about the
“bad” pots do not participate in
the tremendous work that Bon
fire requires.
It is also probably true that no
one would have even known about
the pots if it weren’t for the Batt. Re
member that tire Batt is a newspa
per. Cater helped to uncover an in
triguing story. No one can deny that.
Not if they’re reading the article.
The Bonfire workers seem to
tlrink that the pots are their own
business; that the profanities should
have never been uncovered in the
first place. Well they were, and now
everyone knows about them. The
“bad” pots were vulgar, disrespect
ful, and undeniably crude. It created
a bad image, and everyone knows.
Everyone should remember to
respect the Bonfire workers at A&M.
They are hard-working and dedicat
ed to what they do.
All Aggies get to reap the bene
fits of their work; all Aggies should
be proud of the Bonfire and its
workers.
Now the flip side...Everyone
should remember to respect the
Batt workers at A&M. They are
hard-working and dedicated to
what they do.
All Aggies get to reap the benefits
of their work; All Aggies should be
proud of the Batt and its workers.
Mandy Cater deserves at least
that much.
Daniel Hayman
Professor speaks
concerning Bonfire
As a professor who has been at
Texas A&M for 30 years, I can as
sure the “vocal minority” at the
bonfire cutting site that the lan
guage portrayed on some of the
hard hats and T-shirts is not accept
able in the “real world” of educated,
professional people, nor is it a tradi
tion, and hopefully, never will be.
While a student at this univer
sity, I worked summers and holi
days in the oil field, and never
was exposed to that degree of
moral turpitude.
I have heard this sort of filth on
a C.B. spoken by some, certainly
not all, of the long distance truck
ers on the interstate highways. This
could partly be attributed to their
lack of education and the environ
ment in which they were reared.
What I am seeing in the stu
dents who are advocating and
participating in this display of
pornographic language is a de
sensitization from being exposed
to language and activities of this
nature in various ways.
They seem to have literally lost
all semblance of a conscience and
the ability to discern what is right
and acceptable from that which is
pathetically immature and degen
erate.
I am saddened that these same
students will soon be wearing an
Aggie ring and receiving a degree
that will set them apart as a grad
uate of Texas A&M University.
One might expect this sort of
behavior from a young teenager
who is seeking peer approval and
experimenting with various
things for “shock” value.
This should not be found in a
university student who should be
serious about being a contribut
ing and valued member of the
community where they will
someday live.
I agree with the sentiments of
one of the students: “Get a life”!
“A people that values its privi
leges above its principles soon
loses both” (Wisdom Literature).
Larry D. Claborn
Texas A&M professor