Page 5
Thursday, June 15,il
earts
iy, June 15, 2(XX)
D)
THE BATTALION
Vice President A1 Gore has been
Died quite a few things. The
MARK
PASSWATERS
n went home and spent
. He mailed it on a Wedm
■ phone rang. It was Lula.
>w he was still alive," she
Ik about. Johnston, whom
; World War II, surviveip^ the , astfew ^
. that sank his ship off Han,
er received a master's
v at l niversitv of Califotni™.. ,
; . , , , Blights include descriptions such
lev and taught secondarykB r,„ „. . , . . „
| | di nd, insomniac s best mend,
incidentally, his four ehajf" ^ "criminal." Now comes
near Marschat. She jost damning of all: Texas basher.
ae a teacher and had three# at ' sn 8 ht ' folks: C - 3P0 ' S lon g- lost
with her husband, a sc ithcrhas vidated the ILth Com-
intendent Bment (at the very worst, Commandment 11-B):
ter the phone converse f> u Shalt Not Mess With Texas. Apparently, Gore 2000
ton booked a flight immedi; inotgetthe message, and he has sinned,
doorstep, she expected to jM )re an d his staff, crowed the Washington Post, have
nstead, he opened his arms, de Texas out to be "backwater, a Third World state —
Appalachia of the Southwest." Pretty gutsy statement,
proposed at the dinner t isklering that Gore is from Appalachia itself. Or maybe
leaned over and kissed her atsv" isn't the right word. Maybe "stupid" is.
," she said, blushing. 'fexas is No. 1 in the nation for people who have no
Saturday More than 200pe & insurance at all. No. 2 out of the 50 states with
it a Woodburn church, uitlM ure( j children," Gore said. He points to Texas' rank-
i the groom u earing nar : ^ scores at 46th out of 50, and mentions that
aethearts, he said. Wes! ^is "the most polluted state in the Union." Of course,
cl these problems are the fault of Texas Gov. George
p.ish, his Republican opponent.
ere are just a few problems with Gore's statistics:
(\ tfih inspection shows that they don't quite work the
1 J vdl'T^ore wants them to. In fact. Bush's campaign quick-
■ ffine out with rebuttals, nipping most of Gore's whin-
ult with a deadly weapon gin the bud. The Bush campaign noted, among other
triggered by a dispute v ngs, that 423,000 more children in Texas have insur-
ler neighbor who compla ce now than in 1994, that Texas'per capita income has
.it shots* being fired at ItaB up $2,500 over the past four years, and that Texas
ie on July 4, b M /. jds the nation in reducing toxins released into the envi-
lovvse u as 'sentenced to. an n p erC ent drop in air emissions. The
s probation and or d l! " | S h campaign was also quick to point out that Gore's
1 '8° ,in }W 1 mnnagi nu itistics included illegal aliens. Since aliens often hold
perlorm community service. 1 , . , , r o.
J , Blow-wage obs and are not eligible for many of the
n January, Howse was charoa „ . ......
. . mces Gore mentioned, their inclusion can create some
i weapons violations, makinjB
yrist threat and resistinganit| e ‘ u ’ n h stallsllLS '
during an incident at a relaWT| G° re would like to know how most citizens in the
ie in South Los Angeles, dis: r Jf e °f Texas are doing under Bush's governance, he need
rney's office spokesperson San® n0 further than the city of Round Rock. A suburb of
oons said. listin, Round Rock was a sleepy town of 22,000 when
aorge W. Bush took office. Round Rock was a one-horse
iwn — with the horse on life support — when Bush took
See, but it has become a boom town five years later. It is
to computer giant Dell and has seen its economy ex-
by 340 percent since 1994. Round Rock was one of
Vice president’s derogatory comments
incorrect, based on misleading statistics
the top three fastest growing cities in the country in 1997
and 1998 and now has a population of over 50,000. Round
Rock, like an overwhelming majority of the state of Texas,
has benefited from Bush's administration.
In any case, Gore has violated "the fighting words"
doctrine, and no Texan can let that pass. If Gore is so inter
ested in comparisons, perhaps he would be interested in
comparing Texas and his home state of Tennessee. Consid
eration was also given to comparing Texas to a suite in the
Adams-Morgan hotel in Washington, D.C. — Gore's offi
cial residence from 1978-1992 — but that just would not
have been fair.
In terms of landscape, Texas has the beauty of the Red
River valley, the hills of central
Texas and the desert of the far west.
Tennessee was where they filmed
Deliverance.
Texas has more Rhodes Scholars
than any other state in the Union.
Tennessee was great inspiration for
Jeff Foxworthy's redneck jokes.
Texas does have more pollution
than Tennessee, which is to be ex
pected since Texas has the 11th
largest economy in the world; Ten
nessee has an ongoing dispute with
Kentucky over who has more
moonshine stills.
The citizens of the state of Texas
are not eagerly awaiting the return
of an overweight rock star who died
22 years ago. This could be true be
cause none of the members of ZZ
Top have died, and the citizens can
be sure that Billy Gibbon's daughter
would not marry Michael Jackson.
In Texas, citizens say "sir" and
"ma'am." In Tennessee, folks say
"boy." To both genders.
Texas is home of the Alamo and
Goliad. Tennessee is home to the
Bristol Motor Speedway.
In Texas, people name their chil
dren after famous war heroes. In
Tennessee, they name their children
after famous NASCAR drivers.
Texas is the home of the Daugh
ters of the Texas Revolution. Ten
nessee is the home of the Ku Klux Klan.
While driving on Texas roads, drivers can see bluebon
nets, wildflowers and various species of birds flying over
head. In Tennessee, drivers can see lots of trees, roadkill
and more banners with numbers on them hanging off cars
since the Soviet Union last had a May Day parade.
According to these "statistics," comparing Texas to Ten
nessee is like comparing deacons to drunks, royalty to re
jects, or the pure and virtuous to trailer trash. Of course,
these "statistics" are also biased and slanted, and they ne
glect items that would prove them to be false. Fortunately,
these comparisons are made in jest; A1 Gore's, however,
were not. Such untrue attacks are unacceptable. If Gore
wants to be president of the United States, he should show
the nation that he has a firm grasp of the issues, not the
ability to mislead. He has eight years of experience with
that. Gore should be out telling the nation how he can im
prove America's way of life, not lying to "show" how his
opponent would destroy things.
In any case, he would be well served to lay off Texas.
Texans don't take very kindly to such things. Gore should
remember that the most famous citizen of Tennessee,
Davy Crockett, died at the Alamo — because he wanted to
be a Texan.
Mark Passwaters is a senior electrical engineering major.
et prescriptions bad medicines
OPEN
HOUSE!
TEXAS MM
ay 29th-June 2nd
June 5th A 9th
June 19th-23rd
June 26th-28th
July 10th-14th
July 17th-21st
August 21st-23rd
NN (Brazos Center)
June 14th &. 21st
July 19th
August 2nd & 9th
oltaire
said,
“A
lysician is
|who pours
s of which
ows little
a body of
ich he
s less.” Voltaire illustrated a
that has always been faced
jatients: Society dependence
a single human being with a
owledge of medicine.
Physicians are trusted, admired
1 adored. They are experts in
dicine — the
ily people who
tually have pro-
isional knowl-
ge about
1th, humanity
the human
1. Doctors
: their train-
I with the
! !rld for what
fy believe to be
'ah price.
They offer
dance, health
formation and
Ascription
ijs and are
trendy looking
make their as
kance more
interaction, the patient knows
nothing of the doctor’s creden
tials, and the doctor knows noth
ing of the patient’s real symptoms
or medical history. Now, while
chatting with possible stalkers,
people can fill out brief question
naires and, with a click of the
mouse, order prescription drugs.
Proponents argue that this new
way of writing prescriptions is con
venient, saying it promotes better
self-care and can be done in the pri
vacy of the home to prevent embar
rassment. But the potential certain
for negative effects exists. For ex-
N (Townshire Campus) !li ! ill>le Anum
T axL LOt doctors
June 8th
July 13th 4 27th
flPIIIIIMIHh
Equal Housing Opportunity
w.melrosexofr«he 8 Sf„ y
W want to share
da medical knowledge by diag-
siig patients and writing pre-
'iptions via the Internet.
As Voltaire suggests, doctors,
!>ecially in today’s Internet age,
ml be overrated. They are hu-
mSbeings who make mistakes
e everyone else. And now they
! try ing to diagnose conditions
d lure diseases by way of mo-
m|h is a heroic gesture but po-
limiting a
Internet
JEFF SMITH/Tm; Battalion
ample, Web surfers may not tell the
whole truth, trying to manipulate
the doctor into prescribing what
they think they need. Even worse, a
child could find one of these sites
and order a harmful prescription.
Prescriptions on the Internet
are based solely on a brief ques
tionnaire about medical history.
Patients can easily manipulate
their answers to qualify for pre
scriptions that might be unneces
sary or even dangerous. Anyone
who has been on the Web knows
how easy it is to falsify personal
information. Through the magic of
the Internet, boys become men,
girls become women and 12-year-
olds obtain Viagra.
Granted, doctors do not know
everything about their patients
even during a regular office visit.
But without the face-to-face evalu
ation, there is almost no chance of
learning about a particular person
or his or her symptoms. How can a
doctor see subtle signs of sickness
in cyberspace? This creates a po
tentially dangerous situation where
the local hypochondriac can sit
in front of a computer, surf
more than 25,000 health sites
and end up with a prescription
for sickness or even death.
Selling prescription drugs
over the Internet is neither rea
sonable nor safe. The United
States Food and Drug Adminis
tration currently has no direct
way to regulate the quality and
safety of substances sold in vir
tual drugstores. To combat cor
rupt doctors and prescription
mistakes, the federal govern
ment has proposed forms of
governmental control over In
ternet pharmacies and partici
pating physicians. But the bit
tersweet appeal of the Internet
relies on freedom from govern
mental regulation.
As Voltaire said, doctors al
ready prescribe drugs to patients
without adequate knowledge of
their patients. Doctors prescribing
medicine over the Internet will
know even less about the patient’s
symptoms and medical history.
This is the price paid for conve
nience. If this new era of Internet
prescriptions and diagnoses con
tinues society will eventually re
ceive a thste of its own medicine.
Cayla Carr is a junior speech
communication major.
JEFF SMITH/1 in: Battalion
Poor funding haunts black schools
A s it stands now, the ranking of
Texas universities is a higher-edu
cation equivalent of society's
haves and have-nots. Unfortunately, the
state's historically black colleges and uni
versities (HBCUs) fall into the latter cate
gory. Every year, schools like Texas South
ern University (TSU) and Prairie View
A&M miss out on many promising high
school graduates who choose to attend more prominent and
higher-ranking universities. In Texas, schools like Texas A&M
and the University of Texas-Austin (UT) set the academic bar
for schools such as Stephen F. Austin State University and
Sam Houston State University, as well historically black
schools like TSU and Prairie View.
However, Texas' HBCUs face unique problems in reaching
world-class university status and must take additional steps to
compete with schools like A&M and UT for top students. Not
only qre schools like TSU and Prairie View historically black, but
they are historically under-funded.
One need only remember the image of the fatal accident in
volving the worn and cramped van of Prairie View men's track
team last February to see that the school needs increased funds.
HBCUs must overcome years of poor funding to reach their
goals of becoming fully recognized legitimate institutions of
higher learning. To combat this financial liability, the state gov
ernment needs to pick up the slack and undertake an aggressive
funding campaign.
Recently, Texas Gov. George W. Bush has made a promise to
improve funding for TSU and Prairie View. Bush said his pro
posed funding increase would improve, amongst other things.
Prairie View's juvenile justice, engineering and nursing
schools as well as the overall scholastic programs and campus
appearances of Prairie View and TSU. One can only hope that
Bush's words are more than just that. All too often, politicians
make promises on the campaign trail that are never realized af
ter election day. Bush is also pushing for other financial issues
such as tax law reform and direct emergency relief payments
for America's farmers, but of all his campaign platforms, in
creased funding for Prairie View and TSU is the most critical.
While TSU may have to rely heavily on state money, Prairie
View has the advantage of being a member of the Texas A&M
University System. As part of the System, Prairie View gets a
small cut of the state's Permanent University Fund (PUF), a
revenue pool generated from state-owned land and mineral re
sources. The PUF is split between the A&M and UT systems,
with most of A&M's share going to the College Station cam
pus. For Prairie View to grow, it needs increased financial as
sistance — and the PUF is a relatively direct way for that in
crease to take place. Thanks to a state constitutional
amendment passed last November, more than $75 million was
added to the PUF. Once divvied up, this $75 million does not
amount to as much as it sounds, but the Texas A&M University
System still should divert a disproportionate amount of the
new revenue to Prairie View.
Like other smaller schools. Prairie View does not have
the large athletic programs that are the cash cows of schools
like A&M and UT. However, Prairie View does have an as
sociation with a 43,000 student university with a top-ranked
athletic department. When doling out PUF money, the Sys
tem needs to look with a more favorable fiscal eye on the
Prairie View campus.
For TSU and Prairie View to compete at the same level as
schools like A&M and UT, more financial resources need to be
earmarked for Texas' HBCUs. Texas state legislature and, in
Prairie View's case, the Texas A&M University System, should
recognize HBCUs' under-funded history and take steps to cor
rect it. With the financial assistance of the state and a commit
ment to future growth, Texas' historically black universities
can reach academic goals previously met only by the likes of
A&M and UT.
Alcohol rules defeat
purpose of college
In response to Joseph Pleasant’s June
14 article.
Texas A&M administration obvious
ly does not understand that, while stu
dents come to A&M to obtain an un
dergraduate degree, they also come to
learn responsibility. A&M’s rule that par
ents be told when their student has
been caught illegally drinking as well as
their proposed rule that would ban al
cohol for students of legal age in the
dorms treats students like children.
College is a time when people are
supposed to grow and become capa-
Mail Call
ble of making their own decisions. In
forming parents of their students in
fractions is like we, as students, are all
still in high school. We cannot be ex
pected to learn responsibility in life, let
alone drinking habits.
A&M’s new proposal to ban legal drink
ing in dorms is equally ridiculous. It is
based on the statistically unsupported
idea that by allowing students of legal age
to drink it makes it easier for students of
non-legal age to do so. This is like ban
ning undesirable sites on the Internet or
TV violence because children might see
it. Just because some do, does not mean
it should be banned or that they, espe
cially older children and college students,
are adversely effected by it.
The University must allow us to make
Eric Dickens is a senior English major.
our own decisions. And if we make in
correct decisions, let us take the re
sponsibility for them.
Terrell Rabb
Class of ‘02
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must be 300 words or less and include 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 per
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may also be mailed to:
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