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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 1999)
Battalion o PINION Page 11 • Monday, November 15, 1999 akes onshi Candidates in ‘Jeopardy’ Aedia sensationalism takes presidential election focus off of important campaign issues MARK PASSWATERS e no surprise, een the top fir year. Scott LengefeldH a| a1 vidually, two second gentle- lace in the men'stiymen, it is re Andrea Booltoi!^ time for ip the Aggie scoiinf pig nion ey side. fflN of “Col- i-year men’s cr(®| e ieopaiciy. ” ve Hartman saidliff 1 " two final- i his team’s perfoi ts >pi and t say enough abouM'S 6 eac h ran,” Hartmans; lve t0 answer a question devel- d] just ran the race )eci specifically for them, ght there with AlkWge, your question is: Who is ansas, and he be ‘ e ^ e i r the Saudi Throne? And runners.” i* yours is: What color outfit an said he was )es best with your eyes on Tlies- Arith the women W morning? The correct answers? e girls improvedtl A) Abdullah Ibn Abdul-Aziz is year’s meet, and 16 Crown Prince and heir appar- :he race they ran,' lt - ‘’re a very young:-fl) Beige, going to get better The nation should laugh at help their confk ‘i 8 parody, but not too hard. The ” residential campaign has been a ridiculously saturated by me- ■coverage that these “ques- Hs” might pass as legitimate ews items. jhere is still nearly a year be- home. She saidFn: )re Americans go to the polls ause of the largem nd the nation already knows positions theyareri/hich candidates have inhaled. Vhile the Clinton administration she said, andwe as made the public more forgiv- tii so many hurt,we a g 0 f presidential screw-ups, it II also increased the media’s de- will increasethef j re t0 president, or season, which b residential candidates, screwing nt players. jl le net result is what former ‘ c1iey " 1 ’resident George Bush refers to as r guard toyfc.:..g 0 t c ha" reporting. .ders and sophop. 8 Bu5h , 5 Go B v George w ■er of die A&M : 3ush ' seemly caught with Hiding Club, rant ™ P an ‘ s dow "’ s ° l0 *P* ak - third in rebound: when ’ durln 8 Boston Tv s,a,10n 1 asset to the team e Prissy [Sharpe],” ^ 11, and she is going en selected as Big ad Ciilom is optimistii bute to the team's taleafa omher injuTy. est> 57-.e interview, he was asked to name the leaders of four for eign countries and was able to name only one. The fact that perhaps two people out of 100 would have gotten three of the four correct was irrelevant. Bush was embarrassed while the cameras were rolling. When the public con siders the ticker at the bot tom of the “Headline News” screen in-depth reporting, such blunders are a big deal. What relevance should Bush’s blunder have on Campaign 2000? In a fair world, probably none. But in an era where the 30 second sound bite rules, this goof-up actually can cause consider able damage to the gover nor’s reputation. What Bush should do is develop a cohesive foreign policy, instead of memoriz ing the name of the Armen ian president. The current administra tion’s foreign policy has as many holes in it as the Washington Redskins de fense, and an actual foreign policy would be a refreshing change. With people like Dick Cheney, George Schultz and Condoleeza Rice working for Bush, a co herent policy is possible. This, however, brings forth another question for our game: Can a foreign policy be shown on the six o’clock news? BZZT! Next contestant. D arental re- sponsibili- . ty has nk to an all- n< low. last Friday -year-old Jele- i Hatfield of ■no, Nev. filed awsuit against r parents, mise and Martin Rehm. She limed that in the past year her ather and stepfather squandered are than $100,000 in donations sed for her medical expenses. Hatfield is not new to the me- i spotlight. Early last year, she is battling for her life against cterial meningitis, an illness used by a bacterium that infects ? blood and inflames the lining the brain and spinal cord. The Associated Press reported at Hatfield is near ath when e was ad- tted to ashoe Med- il Center in >ril 1998. ie lack of blood flow to her ex- mities resulted in the amputa- n of both her legs and all of her gers. In response to Hatfield’s situa- n, the people of Nevada ened their hearts and their cketbooks when word of her ->p ha<;pmpntof' u 8S le was Publicized. Friends, Dasemeniu atives and dassmates scrarn _ )rder last veai^ t0 ra i se money to cover her adical bills and living expens- $35 plus tax in Various fund-raisers were Id, including benefit concerts, !. Cash, checks riety shows and auctions. . If Hatfield’s allegations are ie, then this is a sickening dis- iy of greed and selfishness by r parents. Hopefully, no one 11 take the Rehms seriously be- use instead of denying or con- mihg the charges, the Rehms ? relying on the flimsy “we-did- 3ecause-we-love-you” defense. This defense is a farce. If every- e’s parents loved them to the int where they would extort er $100,000, parental responsi- ity would be nonexistent. Although her recovery has en slow and painful, Hatfield rsevered through months of ?dijcal treatment and physical mapy to graduate from high mol in June. However, shortly er Hatfield left home after argu- ; with her mother, she discov- ■d a drained bank account. The suit specifies that in several If the allegations are true, the Rehms picked her clean. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MARK McPHERSON/THE BATTALION And then there is Vice President A1 Gore. More charismatically challenged than Ben Stein on Valium, Gore has spent the last sever al months trying to reshape his image. Such an abrupt change from the Gore Ameri ca has known — and fallen asleep listening to — for the last six years raised eyebrows in the media community. Who has been engineering this transformation? For $15,000 a month, it is Naomi Wolf. Wolf, a well known feminist and the au thor of Promiscuity: The Se cret Struggle for Womanhood, has been brought on as a “personal advisor.” To this point. Wolf’s influ ence on the Gore campaign has supposedly been limited to picking out Gore’s outfits — she seems to prefer beige or tan — and helping to make him into an alpha male. A follow up question, for 10 poll points: What is an al pha male? Apparently, being an alpha male requires being more as sertive and showing a domi nating personality. Apparent ly, Gore’s normal demeanor is very beta, and this does not look good on the TV screen. As a result, the Washington Post noted, “do not be sur prised if, someday soon, you hear Gore growl.” Naomi Wolfs makeover of the vice president has be come fodder for the nightly newscasts. But is it really worthy of all the media attention it is getting? Maybe if the vice president were to show his alpha maleness by nailing President Clinton with a flying elbow at a Rose Garden ceremony. Other wise, can’t the media find some thing better to cover? Gore is attempting to empha size the differences between his Health Care Plan and the other plan by beta male Bill Bradley. To this point, his attempts to get me dia eyes on the health care issue have not mirrored their interest in the campaign dominatrix, Wolf. Our panel has another follow up question: Isn’t the possible fu ture of America’s health system more important than whether some feminist likes A1 Gore’s pur ple ties? BZZT! Please drive home safely. The average American atten tion span is apparently 30 sec onds. As a result, the media at tempts to cram as many juicy details into their clips or columns to make sure people continue to read them. While this may increase one’s libido or laugh content, it does not in crease their knowledge on a vari ety of serious issues. The race for the White House has degenerated from “News Hour” to “Celebrity Death Match.” What is going to happen next? Actually, scratch that ques tion. People who are truly inter ested in knowing the serious is sues of the campaign might not want to find out. Mark Passwaters is a senior electrical engineering major. Hatfield victim of bad parenting, extortion cases, the Rehms cashed large checks at various Nevada casinos. “There were numerous with drawals from the account,” Hat field’s lawyer, Kelly Watson said. “Many were automatic teller ma chine withdrawals. Some were in large sums, from $9,000 to $20,000, taken from places like Harrah’s and the Silver Club Ho tel Casino.” What was the Rehms re sponse to these facts? Nothing. Instead, they repeated their emp ty professions of love and devo tion to Hatfield. “We might not have done everything right, but we did the best we could,” Denise Rehm said. “We went through this too.” Oh yes, that makes perfect sense. One loves their disabled daughter so much that they al legedly fight with her to the point where she has to move out of the house. Then they sup posedly go off and gamble away her mon ey. “It makes me angry; it hurts and defaces everything we did for her,” Martin Rehm said. “That money went to her needs and her wants. ” Since when did blowing a cou ple thousand dollars at the black jack tables go toward Hatfield’s needs and wants? One wonders how much the Rehms would have spent if there was more fund-rais ing money in the account. “Frankly, Jelena didn’t want to go public,” Watson said. “But she heard through family members that her mother wanted to do an other fund raiser. She felt she had to go public.” “Through September, the ac count was $2 overdrawn,” Wat son said. “We doubt any of the money will be recovered, but Jele na wants to let the public know they have been exploited.” If the allegations are true, the Rehms picked her clean. A young woman with a physical disability had to leave her home without a cent to her name because of her parent’s greed. If it was not for this lawsuit, they would have tried to scam the public into pouring more money into their pockets. “I don’t know what to say to Jelena except we love her,” Denise Rehm said. Whatever. David Lee is a junior economics major. Government infringing on freedom of press T the local government is having an argument with CBS, and is show ing all the signs of developing it into a boxing match. The public should be warned to be very careful when decid ing which side to cheer for. In one corner is the rich, powerful network corpora tion that has control over some information the government wants. The network producers do not want to give up out- takes of an interview between Shawn Berry and Dan Rather. Berry is being tried for the dragging death of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper. Two other men, Lawrence Russell Brewer and John William King, have already been convicted of the murder and are currently on death row. In the other corner is the Jasper district at torney, helped by the good people at the FBI. They want transcripts of the interview and Dan Father’s testimony to help convict Berry. When CBS producer Mary Mapes refused to surrender the records, she found herself in jail. Freedom of the press takes an uppercut to the chin. The necessity for this information is disputable at best. The case against Berry is monumental. He was implicated by King and Brewer. His pickup truck was used in the dragging death. One cannot help but think that his convic tion is a foregone conclusion, whether the government claims that the “innocent until proven guilty” principal is in operation here or not. Furthermore, to fail to convict Berry would likely spark a lynching — if not of Berry, then the judge and jury. In short, this man has no hope of acquittal. The overwhelming evidence against Berry makes it all the more curious that the prosecu tors think they need more evidence. Although there is no law that protects journalists and their sources in Texas from being forced to disclose information, there are some practical considerations. By insisting on having the CBS tran scripts, the district attorney leaves himself open to the accusation of evidence-tamper ing. Does the government really want the in formation badly enough to endanger its case? One would hope not. RUBEN DELUNA/Thk Battalion Many years ago, the infamous Al Capone escaped apprehension by the law for a num ber of years. His activities were monitored, his phone lines were tapped, but there nev er seemed to be enough evidence to get a conviction. Frustration led someone to check on Capone’s income-tax return, and as a result, Capone got an all-expense-paid trip to the penitentiary. The lesson learned with Capone was not lost on the federal government. From that time until today, the methods have changed a little but the underlying premise re mains the same — when all else fails, go fishing. At first, prosecutors asked for certain doc uments by name, and gave reasons why they were needed. That practice has degenerated into asking judges to subpoena “all business records for the period from A to B.” CBS is reluctant to turn over its records for the reason of maintaining its credibility. If someone knows they are likely to find their interview with the press used as evidence against them how likely are they to reveal anything others could view as damning evi dence? The Fifth Amendment would become operational with sources, and the scoop would never be the same. Besides the fact that the government does not need additional evidence against Berry, their argument that he may have perjured himself is irrelevant. Suppose he did? What exactly are they planning as punishment? Will he serve the sentence for perjury before or after lethal injection or life in prison? Nevertheless, there is an important princi ple at stake, namely freedom of the press. If journalists must decide between principles and jail, it is only a matter of time before the principles go south. When journalists must avoid sensitive is sues or face government harassment, free dom of the press is effectively abolished. Ann Hart is a senior English major. MAIL CALL Aggies should help keep campus clean When picking up a copy of The Battalion in front of Harrington Building on Thursday, I once again trudged through a pile of in serts that had fallen from the newspaper. I find newspapers and other trash blowing across the streets and fields of our beautiful campus. As Aggies we are all proud to say that we go to A&M, but if we are not proud enough to dispose of our trash in the many receptacles provided, then people who visit A&M will go on seeing the various objects that litter our home. Although I do not pick up all the trash people have left sitting around, I do try to pick up some of it, as gross as that is. For those of you who do care enough to pick up after yourselves, I con gratulate and thank you. I urge all Aggies to use the trash cans that are everywhere, and help keep our campus and earth clean. Katrina Lynn Smith Class of ’01 Slocum’s question receives criticism In response to Erika Doerr’s Nov. 12 article. Slocum said yell practices have not always been at midnight. "Many years back, yell practices were held after chow, which would be around 7:30 or 8 p.m., and was initially for A&M students," he said. "As the years progressed, former students and families be gan to attend, therefore evolving into Midnight Yell Practice." R.C. must be referring to Really Old Army Days? From 1957 to 1961, we had two yell practices during the week im mediately after chow. That is cor rect; but we held Midnight yell prac tice at midnight before home games. Midnight yell was in addi tion to the Tuesday and Thursday yell practices. O.W. Sandy Fine Class of’61 Is R.C. Slocum begging to be fired? First, he and the coaching staff destroy the football season through ineptitude. Then he kicks Dante Hall off the team because of a few parking problems. Finally, he suggests that the time for Mid night Yell be moved up. Maybe if Slocum worried more about win ning football games and less about this other stuff, then I could • still be planning on going to New Orleans in January. Slocum needs to get his job done, and let the rest of us worry about Yell Practice. Thomas Reed Class of ’95 The Battalion encourages letters to the ed itor. Letters must be 300 words or less and in clude the author’s name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed Mc Donald with a valid student ID. Letters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 E-mail: battletters@hotmail.com