I
s
Wednesday, i
OPINION
edncsday, April 19,2000
THE BATTALION
ANTOM
MENACE
ecision to hold back on digital release deserves criticisni
liar ll'ar.s: l-.pisodc /
The I’lhinltmi Men
ace was Imall\ re-
■d \pril -I i>!i homo
Ha. wInch was oxoilmp
■omc, disappoinliny
■thers.
lar liars' w rilor and
irecor George Lucas
pecillcally instructed
Ccntun Fox and l.ucaslilni not to rc-
the film on DVD. As soon as this news
lit the airwa\es. thousands of S/ar llo/s Ians
miitted their wrath on wlial else but the een-
hiyh-teeh the Internet.
^Several Internet sites teamed up to form
HB'Vor liars on DVD" earn pa ten. which i--
a letter to 1 ueas as well as a growing pc-
ition containing over 28,000 signatures.
jpbeatoiw! answer Lucas gave as to why he
Jhoi. .ige 6. and Darien (would not embrace the newest video technol-
s at Rock Prairie Eleme'igy j s incomplete at best. The reasoning be-
i’ud by tne Poultry Scs decision leaves much to be desired,
were then donated tote ,, ,
a i neens mo the tact that he is only releasing it on
aserdisc in Japan is ridiculous.
1 Hiinply put, George Lucas should release
mUPhantom Menace on DVD now.
irchitecturalent>ineeringd» ccordin g to Lucas ’ s response, Lucasfilm
'I science in architectukr S | 1 blls >' working on Episode II that the
„ ,, ,• • fT iBipanv docs not have time to create a DVD
romthel mversitvolTexas- . A. J .
. iVith the special additions Lucas wants.
Stewart s primary areasoif-j 1
ng are evaluation scope m
gc monitoring repairs. fc-[
eived his bachelor of sd
lectrieal engineering froni'J
ersity ofTexas-Arlington.
Teasdale’s primary areao'j
ig are structural evalualiffil
pes, geotechnical evaluation!
rnl civil engineering.
Teasdalc received histej
•ience in civil engineers
aster of science in civil eiis|
om the University of Texti-
[OV1S 1
RAGE
:ounts
AGE SPACE
The bootleggers have the time and will
surely take the burden from Lucasfilm’s back.
With Internet sales doing so well, bootleggers
will soon be creating illegal DVD copies
from laser disc and selling them for as little as
$15 per DVD.
Lucasfilm said they are “very concerned
about pirated DVD copies of Star Wars” and
that it is not encouraging bootlegging by not
releasing the DVD. However, that is exactly
what they are doing.
Lucasfilm is encouraging Star Wars
junkies to buy the DVD from bootleggers.
People who own a DVD player want to buy
DVDs to play in it. They spent a fair amount
of money on the player and want to watch
movies with better picture and sound quality,
which is not an unreasonable demand.
Lucasfilm also said that the bootleg ver
sion, which will be created from laser disc,
w ill not have the quality of the real Star Wars
DVD — which will not be released until
2006. But the bootleg version will be better
than VHS.
Lucasfilm almost deserves to lose money
due to bootlegging for being so selfish. They
claim “rumors and speculations that waiting
to release DVD versions is motivated by a de
sire to simply drive up demand, or force fans
to buy multiple copies are completely false.”
However, not releasing the film on DVD
does just that. People will buy
multiple copies because fans
are not going to wait six
years to own the first chap
ter of this most popular
film saga. The company,
aware of how loyal its
fans are from their past
behavior, surely realize
that fans will buy both
the VHS now and the
DVD later.
The previous three
Star Wars films have
each been released
four different times
on VHS — and
laser disc. Since the
re-releases were ob
viously commercially
successful enough to
repeat, it is in
comprehensi
ble why
Lu
cas
film
will not release
multiple DVD versions.
The fact that the movie has already
grossed $922 million worldwide is shocking.
Add in soundtrack, toy and video sales and
the benefactors oi'Star Wars could buy a ,
small country. When the complete collection
of all six films finally come out on DVD in
2006, what true Star Wars fan could live
without it?
Lucas should release the
movie minus the extra stuff now.
And in 2006, he could put all his creative
uices into the six-DVD set.
Lucas has previously shown that he is
committed to the highest quality presenta
tion of his films in the theater and at home.
Allowing fans to only buy his latest,
most sought-after film on VHS, the low-
ha*. est quality home video medium
available, seems out of charac-
ter.
Releasing a DVD ver
sion of The Phantom
Menace would
solve many
problems: It
would sat
isfy frus
trated
fans, curb the
piracy problem and preserve
the quality viewing Lucas usually
demands for his films. Then, in 2006,
everyone will plop down their credit card for
the extra-special-super-duper-edition DVD
boxed set.
Jill Riley is a senior journalism major.
hopefully THINGS
will SETTLE DOWN
now THAT the LlTTLe
FELLA'S OtA A
PLANE TO C0B&
“Js&a TAAS changes place spotlight on ESL
OVE Time for U.S. to rethink
- “--relationship with Israel
MARK
PASSWATERS
ATT,.
" * i
* *** \
irtW
TEXAS*'
SAM HO#]'
STATS]
#
eing the world’s only
superpower, the Unit
ed States is in a per-
lous position. It is faced
Kth more than a few ene-
jiies and an even more dan-
jerous group of “quasi-
Tiends.” These nations —
[ranee, Japan and Saudi
Irabia— are allies of the U.
I. at their convenience and are a far greater
lireat to American national security because
Tiey are unpredictable. The recent actions of
Israel proved that it is not only a “quasi-friend,”
|ut an expensive one at that.
Israel recently reached an agreement with the
[eople’s Republic of China on a multi-billion-
lollar sale of Advanced Warning and Control
lystems (AWACS) aircraft. AWACS, filled with
pchnology taken directly from the United
ftates, are radar platforms that can detect in-
joming threats from hundreds of miles away.
These PHALCON jets are superior to any
iround-based radar that China possesses and are
[lore difficult to jam. They can also track ships
pi the South China Sea, a capability that the Chi-
[lese did not have before.
More precisely, the Chinese now have the ca
pability to shadow the U.S. Navy.
I With the election of a government in Taiwan
liat supports total separation from the mainland,
The relations between China and Taiwan have
pown increasingly hostile. China threatened to
|nvade the island, an act that would lead directly
• war with the U. S. With advanced weapons
burchased from Russia and radar systems From
pur Israeli allies (not to mention nuclear
veapons data that was generously supplied by
[he Clinton administration), China is potent
force to be reckoned with.
Israel has ignored repeated U.S. requests
[o scrap the deal with China. Now, Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Barak has requested that
[he U. S. give Israel another $17 billion to
jid withdraw from the Golan Heights and
piake peace with Syria.
The facts show the hypocritical nature of the
Israeli government. They are willing to sell
weapons systems that may lead to the deaths of
many Americans, yet they expect the U. S. to
give them billions of dollars to serve their best in
terests? This is ludicrous!
Israel has proven through their actions that
the U.S. is not their friend —just their largest
extortion victim. If the interests of both nations
do not coincide, separate actions should be tak
en. The tune from Jerusalem would probably
quickly change from “My Way” to “How do I
live without you?”
The answer for the Israelis is simply that they
would not exist without American support. The
U. S. should not hesitate to remind them of this
truth. When Israel not only forgets who their
largest benefactor is and works to their undoing,
the U. S. should act swiftly with puipose. Cutting
off all aid to Israel would probably be a sufficient
slap in the face.
Unfortunately, this will never happen. Vice
President Gore and First Lady Hillary Clinton
both need strong support from the jewish lobby in
the U. S. in order to win their respective races. Is
rael certainly does not want to see Governor Bush
or New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in of
fice, as they have both shown a more independent
streak than the Clinton administration.
However, it is very important for American
citizens to recognize that their nation’s relation
ship with Israel is not wine and roses. While both
the Washington Post and Houston Chronicle have
run editorials condemning Israel’s hypocritical
actions, there have been very few news stories.
Considering that the action of Israel could lead to
America’s sons and daughters dying w'hen they
otherwise might not have, this is a travesty.
For its own sake, America must reassess its re
lationship with Israel. If less powerful nations take
advantage of the sympathetic U.S., they must be
corrected. A swift and forceful reminder of who is
in control is past due. This reminder may save
American lives and cannot be put off any longer.
Mark Passwaters is a senior
electrical engineering major.
A s TAAS testing
began last week,
there were many
students across the state
who were hurrying to
learn the essentials re
quired to pass the exam.
For some of these stu
dents, however, it was
not the basic math for
mulas or finicky grammatical rules that
they were trying to improve. Instead, they
were hurrying to learn the English language
to be able to read each question. In the past,
many students were exempt from the TAAS
test based on language learning deficien
cies, but recent changes are making the
exam more worthwhile. The previous law
stated that schools were allowed to ex
empt any student (even native-born chil
dren) if their English skills were shown to
be inadequate. The new rule states that all
students must be tested in either English
or Spanish. But there is a loophole. This
year immigrant students who have been in
the country for less than three years will
still be allowed TAAS exemptions.
If these students’ English skills are so
poor that they can not read the questions
on the TAAS test, what have they been
doing in Texas schools over the past two
years? This change that TAAS is imple
menting raises many issues concerning
where immigrant students fit in the U.S.
education system.
The Texas school board makes it seem
that they are improving the TAAS regula
tions by changing this rule to a three year
maximum, but what is the point of revamp
ing the testing criteria when there are still
thousands of children being served a great
injustice? Last year, 10,428 first, second and
third graders combined (about 18 percent of
students in those grades) failed the TAAS
test. What is the real problem here and is
anyone even trying to find a solution?
The TAAS may stand for the Texas As
sessment of Academic Skills, but in reality
the results are only an assessment of the
skills of the native, English speaking
Texas students.
The real reasons behind these new rules
are simple. At first glance, it seems unfair to
test recent immigrants because they do not
understand English well enough for the
exam. But by exempting some students the
results are not representative of the overall
achievements of students in public schools.
It is interesting that this rule is directed at
students with “learning deficiencies.” The de
ficiency is not the students learning, the defi
ciency lies in the way they are bejng taught.
The TAAS test is not the only problem these
The TAAS test is not the
only problem these
immigrants face. Their
troubles begin the day
they register for English
as a Second Language.
immigrant students face. Their troubles begin
the day they register for English as a Second
Language (ESL) classes in Texas public
schools. English as a Second Language class
es are structured to teach students coming
from foreign countries math and history skills
in Spanish. Who decided that this was at all
effective? Yes, the students are learning math
and history, but they are in a class of students
just like them, learning the same subjects
they would have learned back home and not
advancing their knowledge of the English
language. Texas schools are making very lit-
MAIL CALL
tie effort to help them adapt to American life
and learn the English language.
English is the primary language of the
United States. That does not mean that
anyone who wants to get in the doors to
this country needs to be fluent in English
first, but it does mean that learning this
language should be the top priority for any
immigrant students.
The children in Texas schools graduate
with an understanding of the math and other
skills they need to pass the TAAS, but with
out being able to communicate in English
well enough for a job interview. There has
got to be a better solution.
Perhaps the students should not have the
option for ESL classes. Instead, incoming
immigrant students should have one or, if
necessary, two years of intense English
— language classes. Yes, this would seem
to put them a year behind their peers in
age, but this imbalance is nothing com
pared to the difference in quality of ed
ucation for these students who know
only basic English skills.
Everyone wants to believe that Ameri
ca is the land of opportunity and that is
probably one of the biggest reasons that
draws immigrants to this country. These
children deserve the opportunity to go to
school and learn in the same way as na-
tive bom American children. However,
the opportunity offered in Texas needs to be
specified with the logical rule that American
schools are taught in the primary language —
English. While this may seem harsh, slipping
through the cracks of the education system
and graduating to the next grade without suf
ficient skills in the English language is going
to provide these students with much greater
problems in the future than whether or not
they pass the TAAS.
Melissa Bedsole is a sophomore
general studies major.
Creationism has strong following
In response to Brieanne Porter’s April 18 column.
I am amazed that the column’s main point is that it is wrong for
the government to put a bias in science education, and yet the ar
ticle is one big “bias” in favor of evolution science education.
It goes on for four long paragraphs about Oklahoma’s deci
sion as wrong with three wussy sentences stating the other side
of the case. That is biased. One statement — “The ability to put
disclaimers and opinions into textbooks is the first step toward
a totalitarian government where school children learn only what
the government believes is right” made me laugh.
When evolution was the only thing taught, that wasn’t teach
ing only what the government believes is right? Porter must have
forgotten that all the children who have been taught by their fam
ilies to believe in God and his creation have been just as con
fused when they come to school and have their beliefs uproot
ed in the name of evolution science. Porter must have forgotten
that these are more than “a few” who believe in creationism and
these people have the same rights as the people who believe in
evolution. If you are going to write and publish an article on un
bias, do not be a hypocrite and use bias in your article. It kills
your point.
Julie Thomas
Class of ’02
U.S. should stay out of Taiwan
In response to David Lee’s April 13 column.
Lee's states that “the United States must clearly state
whose side it is on.” Why? I might understand the U.S. getting
involved in a civil war if it were it's own, but it should not be
come involved in a foreign civil war. Lee went on to say that
the U.S. is merely prolonging the standoff instead of bring
ing it to "an amicable conclusion". What conclusion is
that? Would a hundred thousand dead Americans be satis
factory, or should we try for two hundred thousand? And
how many dead Chinese?
His article then goes on to say that by ignoring this issue
the Clinton administration will risk hypocrisy. When the U.S.
sends a carrier fleet'into Chinese waters, I think the adminis
tration would be risking more then hypocrisy. They would be
risking the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
I am currently serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and I per
sonally agree that Taiwan should be an independent nation,
but I’m not willing to die for that cause. When Taiwan formally
declares independence, and China decides to invade, think
about the men in uniform who will go and see what you think
of an "amicable conclusion" when it’s written in blood.
Andy Slaven
Class of ’99
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