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ange
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—
Opinion
Page 9 • Tuesday, April 6, 1999
Insurance
Adj ustment
Legislation allowing reconsideration
of hasty claims deserves passage
Christian
ROBBINS
lore’s reputation on shaky ground with questionable claims
year was 1
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ing reach it.
he was knapas been appar-
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nd a wald^ 11 A! Gore, vice
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tion for why Gore
feo personality
Sideki>y final| y have
me to light in the M
GABRIEL RUENES/The Battalion
E ver wonder why there
are no door-to-door
snowmobile salesmen
in Texas? It could be because
it hardly ever snows in Texas,
or maybe no one is home
when they come a knockin’,
but whatever the reason, it
would probably be pretty
hard to get any intelligent
Texan to buy a snowmobile.
But imagine that this is not a regular sales
man; this salesman is so smooth that he could
sell a Big Mac to Dave Thomas. He guarantees
he has prior knowledge of the weather, and
though it is the first week in April, he assures
you a snowstorm is going to come in the next
couple of days. Next, he thoroughly convinces
you that purchasing a $2,000 snowmobile from
him would be a wise investment.
Lucky for you, when the next couple of days
pass and no snowstorm arrives, Texas con
sumers have the right to return their $2,000
snowmobiles.
In fact this scenario could never really happen
in Texas because the law requires that business
es including but not limited to salesmen, real es
tate companies and car dealers disclose pertinent
information to customers and give them reason
able time to back out of contracts that may have
been made in haste. It is only fair, so it should be
no surprise that fair practice and consumer pro
tection rules apply to most industries, but it
should appall many that there is at least one in
dustry that does not have any obligation to pro
tect consumers.
The industry that has no obligation to be
open and honest about their practices is the in
surance industry.
Finally, thanks to Representative Senfronia
Thompson, a democrat from Houston, House bill
2710 has been filed with the Texas legislature
that would require insurance companies to dis
close all relevant claims information to claimants
and allow customers 30 days to reconsider hasty
claim settlements.
The purpose of this bill seems extremely logi
cal. Elected legislators should agree that their
constituents be treated fairly and be aware of all
possibilities in order to make educated decisions.
Why then would this bill be defeated in a body
of legislatures elected by the public? What could
keep this bill, obviously intended to keep con
sumers from being ripped off, from passing?
The answers are the infamous insurance lob
byists, of course. Insurance companies spend
millions of dollars lobbying so that they can con
tinue to easily collect premiums, yet make it a
mini-miracle to collect on a claim. If this legisla
tion does not pass through the legislature, or is
simply tabled indefinitely, Texans should deduce
that this bill failed not because this law will not
assist consumers but because their elected legis
lators were too busy enjoying free lunches and
large campaign donations courtesy of the insur
ance industry lobby.
If there are no unethical practices occurring,
what exactly do these insurance companies have
to hide?
Dan Lambe, executive director of Texas
Watch, put it best when he wrote, “The legisla
tion simply holds insurance companies and their
representatives to the same legal standards that
apply to people who sell cars, real estate and ap
pliances, or ‘those who sell snowmobiles door-
to-door.’ Should business standards for insurance
companies be any less?”
Christian Robbins is a junior speech communi
cations major.
;m.
Mark
PASSWATERS
coach st few weeks; he is too busy inventing
^ncierful devices to develop one.
kP) — Tl In the last several weeks. Gore has
ouncedMcund himself well behind in polls for
’Vorld Indoce 2000 presidential election. He has
stu as bothme no closer than 14 points to Gov.
?orge W. Bush and has even seen his
o coachcad for the Democratic nomination slip,
in undefeo'. an attempt to buoy his campaign,
ast year, Me and his people have made an at-
al indoor mpt to show the nation how neat a
oals, poidlyjAl really is.
Bill Gates, are you sure you invented
the Side|indows? Lockheed, did your “Skunk
af 14 seas- J
acted the_
Works” really develop Stealth technolo
gy? Colonel Sanders, did you actually
come up with that original recipe?
Beware, because Albert Gore, super
genius, is on the prowl. The walking
cure for insomnia has apparently come
up with some other goodies. If an issue
is getting attention, then Gore had
something to do with it. Just ask him.
All this started when Gore told CNN
on Mar. 9 that he was the man “respon
sible for the creation of the Internet,” —
a very bold assertion and news to peo
ple at the Pentagon and Stanford yniver-
sity.
What Gore neglected to mention was
that the concept for the Internet came
about in the late 1960s as a device for
communication after a nuclear exchange
with the Soviet Union, and two engi
neering professors at Stanford started
working on the civilian version in the
1970s.
The attendance roles show no “Gore,
Albert,” in either place at those times.
Thankfully, the origin of the Thighmas-
ter is not a hot topic, or the American
people might be subjected to a visual
image that could scar them for life.
William Kristol, editor of the Weekly
Standard, said “People do have the
sense that Gore is conceited and full of
himself.” Unfortunately, there is good
reason for that. Several other comments
made by the vice president show that he
is, at the very least, shameless.
Folks might want to start bolting
down their possessions because if Gore
sees something that he can use to his
advantage, he will.
He has claimed that he and his wife
Tipper were the models for the novel
and movie Love Story.
The author, Erich Segal, said the
model for the male lead was Gore’s col
lege roommate, actor Tommy Lee Jones.
Gore was the model for the spineless
rich kid with the domineering father.
Gore has also claimed that he “served
with distinction in Vietnam.”
While he was in the country. Gore
was a writer for Stars and Stripes. If
making one’s bed every morning quali
fies as serving with distinction, then
Gore is certainly correct.
Comments like these show that A1
Gore is willing to use anything he can to
his advantage. This does not separate
him from other politicians; what does,
however, is using personal tragedy as a
tool.
In 1996, Gore made an impassioned
speech at the Democratic National Con
vention, attacking the tobacco industry.
Blaming them for the death of his sister,
who died of cancer in 1984, Gore said,
“I will fight them ... until I draw my last
breath.”
Words from his mouth brought tears
to the eyes of the soccer mommies in
the crowd.
When Gore ran for president in 1988,
an election where his was out charisma-
ed by the human statue, Michael
Dukakis, that same mouth told tobacco
farmers that “I’ve hoed it ... I’ve sprayed
it ... and I’m with you all the way.”
CNN’s video showed the speaker was
indeed Gore, with more hair and less
wrinkles, backing the tobacco farmers
— four years after his sister’s death.
Oops.
When A1 Gore gets up on the podium
and says that you can count on him to
continue what Bill Clinton has started,
believe it. While he has not taken part in
deep-breathing exercises with interns in
the Oval Office, he is of equally lousy
character. Kissing up to Buddhist monks
for money and making fund-raising calls
from White House phones can almost be
chalked up to politics as usual.
The American people should also be
ashamed if they allow this man to be
come president. Dan Quayle could not
spell “potato.” Apparently, Mr. Gore
cannot spell “decency.”
Mark Passwaters is an electrical
engineering graduate student.
MAIL CALL
a
Af
Xl iditor’s column still
* s Sio excuse for photo
lay,” the: Aaron Meier’s April 5 column was
JSt as irresponsible as his decision
s plays tho run the picture of the custodial crew
Reunion Cleaning up the remains of William
jlerry Jr. last week. His column was
lot an “en masse response," but an
gotistical attempt to show how he is
Bit and the vast majority of this Uni-
2/V 'ersity is wrong.
/ I Equating picture such as the father
peping over the body of his murdered
on evokes an emotional, personal re-
ponse. This picture does not evoke
j (] t I 1056 emotions. The one emotion that
* does cause for the viewer is that of
ftmplete disgust.
vft, L/?il Show ' n S the custodial crew wash-
' 'CAinl up this young man’s remains is cal-
^ „ lous and shows disregard for the life
. t-fj Ihat ended on that spot. Pictures of a
J Jung man being mourned by his fa-
■er makes the situation one that any
^|man can feel. This photograph
'dt: Hfk® 2 William Berry into a statistic.
■ Meier, kindly join us in reality. It is
. jncliii eviden1: frorn Battalion’s handling
of the Vail tragedy to this event, that
irt and |ou have no interest in helping the stu
dent body. You are interested in draw
ing attention to your paper. .
Alan Wilson
Class of ’01
Former candidate
encourages turnout
Howdy! My name is John McFate,
and I had the honor of running for the
position of junior yell leader this
spring. To all the Aggies our campaign
crew has had the privilege of meeting
this past week, we want to say thank
you for allowing us to be part of your
lives. It was an experience we will
cherish forever.
However, the only disappointment
through all of this was that the out
come of this election was decided by
9400 Aggies.
That is less than 22% of the stu
dent body. It is a fact that we care
deeply about our school, the spirit of
the 12th Man, the many traditions we
hold dear, and the future of Texas
A&M. Go talk to the candidates, find
out who they are, and make an in
formed decision.
This Wednesday and Thursday there
are two run-off elections that everyone
can vote in: one for junior yell and the
other for student body president.
Both of these positions represent
the entire student body when elected,
that’s 100%, not just the 22% that
elect them.
Thanks and gig ’em.
John McFate
Class of ’01
Right to bear arms vital as free speech
Brendan
GUY
I t is amazing that when
it comes to defending
the First Amendment
no position is seen as too
extreme, but when peo
ple try to grant the same
protection to the Second
Amendment they are
viewed as crazed gun
nuts.
The Second Amend
ment is just as much a part of the Bill of
Rights as any of the other amendment and it
deserves both the same respect and devotion
to its defense that the other amendments re
ceive.
The Second Amendment was designed to
guarantee the rights of individuals to possess
firearms, no other interpretation of it makes
any sense. Just look at the historical context
of this amendment, it is part of the Bill of
Rights, a series of amendments inserted into
the Constitution for the explicit purpose of
protecting individuals and states from exces
sive national governmental power. The Bill of
Rights guarantees certain protections to indi
viduals; free speech, right to property, right to
trial by jury, why would this one amendment
differ from the rest?
The Second Amendment, like all of the
rest of the Bill of Rights, exists to guarantee
individual rights. One would think the
phrase, “the right of the people to keep and
bear arms shall not be infringed,” would have
already made this sufficiently clear.
The Second Amendment still guarantees
an important and necessary right for all
Americans, because even if this country is
safe from invasion, we are not safe from crim
inals. Yes, there is a police force that is sup
pose to protect citizens from criminals, but
even at their best the police are still danger
ously overworked and undermanned. The
consequence of this is that police protection
never seems to be around when you need it
— but strangely enough is always around
when you are going 53 in a 40.
And that is the police at their best, as for
them at their worst, just think of Rodney King
and Mark Fuhrman and all the other inci
dents of police brutality and corruption that
are constantly in the news. There are neigh
borhoods in this country where people are
understandably more afraid of the police than
of the criminals. And even with honest cops
who are trying their best to protect us, it is
simply not going to be possible for them to be
everywhere at once.
The American people cannot reasonably
rely upon the police to always protect them,
so they are going to have to be able to protect
themselves. That is where the Second
Amendment comes into play.
Gary Kleck, a criminologist at Florida State
University, points out that firearms are used
against criminals approximately 2.5 million
times annually. This is a rate that is anywhere
from three to five times the rate of guns being
used in crimes and approximately 90,000
times the rate of guns being involved in fatal
accidents.
However, fatal accidents involving guns
make up less than one percent of all fatal ac
cidents. The most common cause of death by
guns in this country is suicide (54 percent of
all firearm deaths) something which is tragic
but can hardly be blamed on the guns. Nor
does possession of guns indicate a high level
of gun-related crimes, just look at Switzerland
where every household is required by law to
possess an automatic weapon and gun-relat
ed crimes are almost nonexistent.
Indeed an armed citizenry can be a power
ful deterrent against crime as is demonstrated
by Texas and Florida which have both seen
their murder and crime rates fall since they
instituted concealed weapon laws. And as for
the claim that tight gun control laws are the
best way to reduce crime just look to Britain
which has incredibly tight gun control and
also higher assault, burglary and robbery
rates than the supposedly crime infested Unit
ed States.
This is not to say there is no place for rea
sonable gun control laws, the Constitution
does allow for limited regulation, as long as
those laws do not prevent law abiding re
sponsible citizens from being able to defend
themselves.
The Second Amendment enables us to
protect ourselves, and because of that it is just
as necessary today as it was in 1791.