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Thursday, Maids OPINION Irsday, March 23, 2000 THE BATTALION Page 13 RussiPlaying snorfsfop i dailvlm ase ball too lax in dealing with Darryl Strawberry itfi Ctl sk environmental activ al leaders are wary of Pc s tliat he would strong .eminent. o\\ is an island that istk 1 farther from its safe Sumin, the Chelyabiil nst governor, hinsk has seen little j or the presidential vote, on billboards downtwc minor candidate, IS sv, w ho most local vote n the last two decades, illegal drug use has made a grand showing he world of Major igue Baseball. The list lelinquent athletes tinues to grow, includ- hames such as L.A. dgers pitcher Steve we, Atlanta Braves Putin Much in Russia's regie that is thanks to of regional media, cling president within: ilso thanks to Putin’simagti . dependable leader afteri tvals. ) longer think about Sore- on levels,” Pozdeyevsaii t stability.” te tractor factory, the hall iduced tanks for the Red A: I War II is back in action,i engines that are beine k Russia is selling to I risk in mbiqut fielder Otis Nixon and Anaheim Angels fielder Tony Phillips. Unfortunately, the ehas come to add Darryl Strawberry’s vMlIwuU-nmpaignposl^ letothe | ist _ agajn ' The question must be raised whether B is turning its back on the ugly problem [has recently regained media attention blast week’s announcement that Straw- ryhad tested positive for cocaine for the dtime in five years. This action follows a year suspension for violating the New :kYankees’ substance policy. In his first statement since Bud Selig’s mouncement of the suspension, Strawber- ;eemed apologetic and asked for the ince to restore public faith. He declared intention to indefinitely purge himself of drag addiction. The irony in Strawberry’s decision to hn> ,i war. and parts for IT himself to a rehab program is that he tently published an inspiring book about flercoming cancer and drug addiction called warning Life. In addition, the troubled ggerwas a spokesperson for the National luncil on Alcoholism and Drug Depen- ice’just one year ago. Strawberry's earlier larent interest in being perceived as a idel citizen is repeatedly overshadowed his actions and causes questions to be raised concerning his sincerity. Strawberry’s one-year banishment from the world of professional baseball is not surprising to those who have followed his history. Beginning with the accusation of breaking the nose of his ex-wife to the most recent cocaine-related suspension. Straw berry has seen the inside of more court rooms than Perry Mason. He has been arrested for assault on sever al occasions, failed to pay child support and threatened suicide. The .259 career hitter was indicted in 1994 for failing to report half a million dollars in income and ordered by a court to pay $350,000 in back taxes the next spring. In February of 1995, Strawberry re ceived a 60-dqy suspension for drug-related . problems and was released from his contract with the San Francisco Giants. Last June, he was suspended again for a 120-day period but was allowed to return one week early. Evidently, Bud Selig has decided that contin uing to extend Strawberry’s time away from the game is sufficient punishment. Fellow teammates have speculated whether their former designated hitter could return to the league at the end of his suspen sion next season. If Strawberry can rid him self of his drug problems, it remains to be seen if he can rejoin the two-time World Se ries champions and contribute to a team that may be better off without him in terms of team discipline. Turning 38 in less than a month, it seems unlikely that Strawberry could make a strong comeback after fighting his addic tions and being out of training for 12 months. It is disappointing that a baseball player who exhibits such talent and skill is left off the Yankee roster because of sub stance abuse. The life of money and fame is too much for Strawberry to handle, and his exclusion from the game should be perma nent. His repeated disregard for MLB poli cies reflects poorly on the league and sets a negative example for society. It seems evident that Strawberry may not be able to overcome his drug addiction and return to the game of baseball. The use of suspensions for violators like Strawberry is clearly ineffective because of short terms that are often cut by appeals and lifted soon after their being instated. Making a repeat offender sit out q, few games is virtually a slap on the wrist, and considering the length of the regular season,, is only a ipinor set back in the career of a baseball player. For this reason, baseball administrators should consider the possibility of banning him from the game indefinitely. Strawberry’s disrespect for substance abuse policies should result in his use as an example to other players. A new policy of ab solute intolerance for violators is essential to ensure the integrity of baseball. Drug violations are not a new problem to professional baseball, but they seem to be be coming more prominent. The league needs to take a firm stand on this issue and the necessary course of action is for Bud Selig to make an example of Dar ryl Strawberry. Burning this baseball great in effigy may seem harsh, but would defi nitely give new meaning to the term “He’s outta there!” o Summer Hicks is a senior English major MATT ROY/Thf. Battalion TANZANIA V eS MOZAMBIQ& gnorant celebrities lead tay on ^Politically Incorrect' 150 miles 150 km Indian Ocean elieveitor not, there is a television program out there that manages to spew ire ignorance and misinforma- ln than The Touchstone and The fie Review combined — that )gram is “Politically Incorrect tii Bill Maher.” Broadcast weeknights on 1C, “PI” is a never-ending pa le of celebrities sitting in on a round-table discus- mshowcasing their thoughts on politics, current ents and pop culture. With stand-up comic Maher rving as host, “PI” has given the late-night network evision landscape ;we -Xai Low-lying southern Mozambican towns are at risk of being flooded for the | second time in | than a month m AP wire reports itrovers have received over tn all sections of theco® Ballymena as beingfflrf icient recognition of# 'hich I may have achiev >r. ” C urrie, mayor of the Coirf trough, called the sa ^' , . frcibly berates his mena and Northern Ire®! ^ tU ^ : A -, nit,” Currie said. “It» a golden opportunity boost for tourism. II : who voted against him® kelift with its dif- rent framework. However, there is ierious flaw with s setup — the tehrities that ap- ll far on “PI” often ipear to be ex- ijnely simple- inded and down- iht ignorant. When j ey argue a side of a pic, they often rat- :off arbitrary num- ys and sources in tier to support their ! “f rational logic. Mak- g matters worse, [aher does not serve .pn impartial medi- or. Instead, he 16 FOR l E? ssnsii! : now Hiring te spring ^ ly today 346-4242 if tests when they disagree with him and he takes no i fort in hiding his “libertarian” slanted views. 'If“PI” and Maher wish to be seen as a somewhat gitimate source of information, they must realize eseflaws and fix them. In order to better inform eirviewers, an impartial host and better informed Ms are needed. The list of idiotic arguments made on “PI” is linhilly lengthy. The following is a snapshot of the Mmonth and a half. “Don’t you think it’s kind of risky for George ishto say that he’s pro-life, pro-life, pro-life, pro- ...and then kill a grandma last week?” said actor Im Henton. >,John. That line of reasoning is completely asi- ne.The woman in question was sentenced to die by Dry of her peers because she committed a brutal and useless murder. Without proper justification, Bush fin no position to stop the execution. It is called stice, John — look into it. in a later airing of “PI,” Kristen Short of The >ting Americans Foundation made the elementary sumption that President Clinton has something to 'with declining prosecution rates. ‘The number of prosecutions of people who hold odguns illegally in the United States has dropped 44 percent in the Clinton administration ... they •n’t enforcing.” News flash, Kristen — the president has nothing to with district attorneys’jurisdiction. Individual state Wts preside over the vast majority of illegal hand 'll prosecutions and even then they are in the judicial anch, not Clinton’s executive branch. Her anger for the low prosecution rates is seriously misplaced. Furthermore, where did Short get her numbers? The impressionable viewer has no way of confirm ing their validity. It could really be 3 percent for all they know. Later in the same show, actor Ben Savage from the television show “Boy Meets World” managed to pull the showstopper — he made the entire college-age population seem clueless with the proud statement, “I think Gore is stupider than Bush.” When asked why he feels that way about Gore, Savage supported his intelligent assertion with, “Because they ask him a question — he goes, ‘Well, this is what I think, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’ ” If Savage had the wherewithal to actually listen to the “blah, blah, blah,” he would have an intelli gent answer as to why he does not support Gore. During his entire line of reasoning, he did not men tion a single stance of any candidate. In Savage’s case, who says a per son needs a clue to vote? Unfortunately, correcting “PI” ’s problems would be an uphill battle. In order to maintain a fresh daily dose of celebrities, “PI” has slowly started to dip lower and lower on the Hollywood totem pole — as of two weeks ago, the celebrity list in cluded the likes of Rick James, Super Dave Os borne and Johnny Rotten. Needless to say, the lower they get on the totem pole, the more bel ligerent and incoherent the discussion. In addition, the current low-brow setup has proven to be a great lightning rod for the show’s ratings — inflammatory and ignorant remarks tend to raise eye brows. For instance, when Maher initiated a discus sion concerning the bonfire collapse during “PI” ’s Super Bowl special, he incorrectly stated that the bon fire had previously “fell on its own” in 1994 and that bonfire as a whole was a “stupid” tradition. With the help of actor Jason Alexander, the unfair stereotyping of the typical Aggie took place — Alexander went as far as putting on a phony redneck accent in imitating the football team’s reaction to bonfire. Needless to say, the negative response to this discus sion was tremendous. “PI” and ABC were deluged with email and letters in the following weeks. As morbid as it sounds, however, this whole hullabaloo managed to raise the local awareness and viewership of “PI.” The bottom line is that until Maher and “PI” real ize the level of influence they have over their viewers and take some responsibility, there is little hope of the show ever being seen as a legitimate source of intelli gent discussion. David Lee is a junior economics and journalism major. ROBERT HYNECEK/The Battalion Pradhan’s allegations outrageous Ex-professor’s claims of victimization show misconceptions CHRIS HUFFINES A fter reading the evi dence accu mulated in the case of Dr. Dhiraj Prad- han, former profes sor of computer sci ence, one is left with the impression that he is either a naive busybody or a slinking weasel try ing to play the system. No matter what interpretation is correct, this episode in A&M’s history needs to be swept into the same dark hole as ’80s big hair, pet rocks and Gidget. Let no mistake be made — Pradhan’s “situation” (as the euphemism goes) is in tensely complex, highly charged and about as controversial as a Ku Klux Klan rally in Harlem. It is also probably true, as Pradhan claims, that the University was a bit excessive in its investigation of him. However, the overriding issue here is not the situation that Pradhan found himself in but his reaction to the charges. The allegations of witch hunting, racism, constitutional violations, and official co ercion have turned this case into the cen ter ring ’a la P.T. Bamum. Speaking of suckers bom every minute, Pradhan’s defense tends to lead one to believe he is simply an innocent victim. Pradhan claims that, while he was out of town. University System officials broke into his office and took his comput er. He believes this was a reaction to his recent stand against post-tenure review policies the University adopted as well as an example of overt racism on the part of University officials. Pradhan then claims that the University began something akin to a reign of terror: trumping up charges, forging documents (incidentally, some thing Pradhan himself pled guilty to), re canting statements and having him arrest ed on Christmas Day. Unfortunately for Pradhan, he is neither innocent nor a vic tim. Instead, the claims are a combination of half-truths, pretension and Pradhan’s own preconception that he was coming to a backwater school where he would be resented and the object of prejudice. For example, Pradhan complains about racial and religious harassment in a memorandum he issued Sep. 8, 1997. Reading Pradhan’s own words, the thin ness with which his argument is stretched is painfully apparent. Pradhan claims a member of the hiring committee asked about his religion and the religion of his wile (he is Hindu, she is Jewish), and about Pradhan’s “mixed marital status.” Another professor, unsure of Pradhan’s religion due to the different religion his wife espouses, asked him if he was Jew ish or Flindu. Pradhan apparently believes these instances constitute the religious harassment of his “ensuing six-year nightmare.” It seems Pradhan believes any professor who expresses confusion regarding another’s religion and oh-so- callously tries to directly remove his con fusion, rather than continue in ignorance, should be immediately fired. Pradhan sets a standard for the most outrageous of his claims. He sends out a shotgun spray of accusations rather than provide objective proof of his claims. It is possible the reli gious questions were motivated by preju dice, but without evidence, the over whelmingly more likely conclusion, that the professors were simply confused, should be adhered to. Pradhan also contends racism in his memoranda, this time with evidence, al beit misleading and out-of-context evi dence. Pradhan’s chief harasser was ap parently Dr. Dick Simmons. An examination of the email Simmons wrote, rather than Pradhan’s misleading quota tions, reveals that Simmons was offended by, and responded to, apparent impropri ety in the hiring of Pradhan and certain oftensive, pretentious statements made by Pradhan in a previous email. Simmons is also supposedly a racist for referring to students from Third World nations as “Third World.” Aside from the fact that “Third World” is an economic designa tion and has as much to do with race as the terms “democratic” or “communis tic,” Simmon’s actual comments were in reference to the policy of some Third World countries of inflating GRF1 scores. Concerned about these scores, Simmons advocated serving more na tive Texans and fewer Third-World stu dents. Frankly, these comments show Simmon’s regard for the integrity of his department, high educational standards and the taxpayers of the state of Texas. Racism is not a factor. Not content with misguided accusa tions of racism, Pradhan claims his vocal stand against post-tenure review of facul ty is what prompted the “witch hunt.” Pradhan, who came from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, also claims there is an anti-Yankee bias at work with in the University. Those claims are red herrings, meant to distract others from the real issue of Pradhan’s misconduct. Cir culating a memo calling for the fonnation of a professor’s union certainly did not win him any friends among the adminis tration, but to state that the University went after him simply to stifle his voice of protest is an unfounded claim. What should be looked at are facts, not the untrue ramblings and misleading accusations of Pradhan. The facts are that Pradhan was placed under investi gation and audited and he came out of it dirty. He pled guilty to over 50 felony charges. Pradhan forged documents and printed, even after being fired, over 100,000 pages at University expense. He came to this University expecting to be treated poorly, but he earned that treatment. No one has come out of this situa tion smelling like roses. But the situa tion has become so removed from the truth and so divorced from reality it re sembles an episode from “The Twilight Zone.” Like the fiction it is, this saga of finger-pointing and mindless accusa tion should be put back on the shelf and never opened again. Chris Huffines is a senior speech communication major. YOU CftH TELL WHICH IS gore AUfi WHICH IS BUSH. SORE'S THE ONE WHO'S STARTED COmPUMMlttG AfiOUT IT.... The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author's name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit let ters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed McDonald 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 Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: battletters@hotmail.com