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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 12, 2001)
July 12, 2001 pies. Kittens. Cf reeds! Oca s & others. 755. ecent trips to lo cal restaurants khave made me ex tremely nauseous. No it wasn’t the food or the margaritas that did m> in, it was the lovebirds. Cou- check o */3.34-acres M" p. Just mmjffis i >304 Los Roms : .land Realty. 5r r 846-5735 or f OMMATES ale: Chocolate Llh i i i ■ it, ready 7/901.rP lesshoulcl l >C r puppies. Biu«J§ OWC(I t() cat ln armed. $195 public, but the Cj^Botesqtie public lie has felines for i displays ofaffec- ne except rabies» . 25-8610,15™» n UHH go on .. ^« TATr Bound town U ESTATE sh)U | ( | | K . ;K ._ r home FWjBtmpanied by ^^■tes. At a school ■here freshman f |fe let out of their cages for Bie first time and people are get- Hng engaged every-day, where needed 3W'-'-B lou ^ ^ ne th'awn on let- +biiis. 979-229-sB n K t ^ ie world know you are in eeded, furnish £ |'Ve (or lust)? 0 +bills. (979I77-5B odrm, 2bth. ne» jK “1 think that it is cute to see just, $350- | i ()U pi es holding hands and stuff, eira 696-8952 |ut the l loover maneuver in ieeded, 3txJm»| |>ublic really is not. This town is j. +i/3biiis. or |)ot as bad as some places, idem, 9 a,a 8* HHhough. I was in the lazy river at ^^jj^dBplashtown, and my boyfriend j, atrium,$3151:sfRiid I saw a girl with her hand ob- 68-3070Tracy jMrjously in a region no one should )e at a family place. You don’t lend to see that here. Although, 1 remember when 1 as single, it bothered me more tain it does now. It was not jeal- usy and 1 would say ‘get a oom,’ but now it is more cute ndnot that big of a deal to me.” eded to shares vood valley, WO* d yard. $3051 — Kristi Ross, senior education major iRVICES : ensive Driving. I! Ticket dismiss M-T(6pm-9: r Fri.&Sat.- pm), Sat(8am- merica. Walk- . Lowest price 3 Dr., Ste.217. early. (CP-M 1, 1 Well maybe people in love are ute. I will give them that, but Swapping food at a restaurant rhile sitting on the same side of te booth is unacceptable. Not to lentdon that tliis type of practice t not food safe. The last thing 1 ant to see when I am trying to lat a Wet Burrito from Casa Ole if> a couple taking one bite of "rest; HopTrofrod, kissing and repeating. Station 695-9155® g ut p er haps the worst Ag- i\bortion PeerCwWj e j an( .| n - ia i < ing-out rural legend 1 _Jave ever heard happened at B°wler I lall. Fhe story is simple. ■Ten the dreamy boyfriend left his girl without kissing her good- ^ If bye, she decided to call out his ' kJ A name from the heights of the ^ dorm anti spit so that he may T 1 Batch her love in his mouth and ifemember her love for always. Bounds unreal, right? Wrong. I Board it from an eyewitness. BVhat is it with this obsession for letting everyone know when you are in love? Buying an ad in a col- ■tge newspaper is probably the .frost acceptable public display of plfection 1 can diink of and possi bly the most flattering. I So I might be a bit harsh on those who have truly found each pthcr, but how about the com plete strangers bumping and rinding while swapping spit on e local dance floors? 1 honestly ^ Jo not believe that is what pebple m "Wnilay a cover to see at such estab- ■ I Hshmerits. If a couple wants to |i 0 °k up, get to know each other ||y tn lbing first. Do not show the y orld how attracted you are to a person by giving them their year- physical to the tune of “Sotith- irn Hospitality.” i ses. 22123^ N G ed custom^ customers l to buy. -JeffKempf is a senior management major N 0569 o PINION THE BATTALION It’s not working Operation Gatekeeper ineffective, must consider other options A s a nation founded by , immigrants seeking a better life that calls itself the “Land of Opportunity,” the United States possesses a rich immigrant past. Until 1920, the United States had unrestricted immigration. However, even then, many were fearful and re sentful of “foreigners” and doubtful of the United States’ ability to absorb them. Eighty-one years later, the United States has built an iron door to prohibit illegal immigrants from entering the United States under the Oper ation Gatekeeper campaign, which has resulted in the tragic deaths of many people crossing the border. American lawmakers are stuck with the delicate task of creating immigration policies that reflect and maintain the ideals our nation was founded on. Until 1994, most immigration concerns were focused on what the Immigration and Naturaliza tion Services (INS) calls illegal aliens, mostly those slipping across the Mexican border. This is despite the fact that most aliens arrived legally and overstayed their visas. In October 1994, as a response to rising politi cal pressures, the United States launched high profile campaigns such as Operation Gatekeeper in San Diego. Operation Gatekeeper involved an unprecedented build-up of law enforcement man power and advanced technology in San Diego County (one of the most frequented entry points) to “deter” illegal aliens. However, the campaign is not working as hoped — it has just relocated the flow of immigration. Therefore, other alternatives to the operation should be considered. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, agents were increased by 140 percent, enforce ment was increased by 150 percent and miles of reinforced fences were implemented by 1998. In addition, the use of better lighting, infrared scopes, underground sensors, computers, vehicles and aircraft were either increased or implemented. Despite the government’s desperate attempts to secure the border, no significant changes have occurred. Instead, there has been a shift in immi gration resulting in a dramatic increase in immi grant deaths. While San Diego sector apprehen sions of illegal aliens have dropped, the El Centro areas have skyrocketed. In fact, according to the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, the apprehensions in Arizona and Texas have also increased dramatically— 351 percent and 55 per cent respectively. In six years, there were 88,001 fewer apprehensions at the California border, but apprehensions at the entire Southwest border climbed 68 percent. More than a $1 billion has been spent on Operation Gatekeeper, but illegal immi gration has not been prevent ed. Operation Gatekeeper simply has shifted them to the harsh conditions of the mountains and deserts east of San Diego, and the number of immigrant deaths has in creased by 500 percent. Immigration policy has to address a variety of econom ic, humanitarian and ethical issues. At the heart of the im migration debate are the rights of immigrants to be with their families, to seek asylum from persecution and to seek a better standard of living versus the rights of na tive-born citizens to deter mine who lives, works and benefits from public services in their country. A rising sense of insecurity among many U.S. communities such as El Paso, whose low-wage economy can at least partially be attributed to heavy immi gration flows, is just one ex ample of the factors affecting Americans’ differing views. However, stricter border controls have proven ineffec tive and lead only to human rights abuses and victimiza tion of illegal immigrants. With immigration offi cials considering implementing Operation Gate keeper in other sectors of Texas and Arizona, Americans should seriously consider immigration policy reform as a means to stopping this unsuc cessful and inhumane program. According to anthropologist David Stoll, the human rights abusesithat have occurred as a result of Operation Gatekeeper have “generated a sup port for a national worker identity card” that could be an effective policy reform idea. The identity card would include a photograph and pos sibly a fingerprint and would be much harder to duplicate than current forms of documentation. If issued to legal residents, authorized workers and U.S. citizens, the card would allow the much- needed enforcement of sanctions against employ ers who hire illegal immi grants. This would also re move the main incentive for illegal immigration by mak ing those without a card un employable and lessen the political pressure to milita- frize the border. Stoll also suggests “giving priority to anyone who can prove that they are victims of individual persecution, changing the current definition of family unifica tion to only include spouses and children, fol lowed closely by a large reduction in job-skills based immigration,” which only allows businesses to pay foreigners less than they would pay a cur rent resident. In addition, Stoll believes that policy reform shoulj “restructure provisional work pro grams to open the U.S. to temporary workers who take jobs that U.S. residents do not want, protect the most vulnerable economic sectors from an in flux of low-wage competition,” and most impor tantly “protect the basic human rights of all resi dents, legal or not.” Jennifer Lozano is a sophomore english major. Mail Ca» Rangers undeserving of excessive criticism In response to Mark Passwaters, Matt Thigpin and Mike Balhoff's July 7 7 article. Whenever I read the sports section, I see a recurring pattern of Astros prais ing and Rangers bashing. Mark, Matt and Mike are obviously Astros fans, and that is okay, but Col lege Station is in Texas, not Houston, so let us be fair. In today's Battalion, the Rangers were the "Disappointment of the Year," even though no pre-season polls had the Rangers ranked higher than 20th in the league. And when the Rangers "won" the Lone Star Series (the silver boot is in Arlington, not Houston), we all got to see "Rangers and Astros split series." We also got to hear about how good the Round Rock Express pitching staff is, what a bright future there is for Hous ton and how the Rangers are old and grey and have no future. No credit was given to the Rangers at all. Face it — The Astros were beaten by a bad team. The Rangers were two pitches away from the taking the series five games to one. Also, two things in defense of A-Rod. First, any team and their fans would love to have him. Second, there is no way.that you would turn down $252 million - no way. You can call him greedy all you want, but anybody in their right mind, greedy or not, would not turn down money like that. A-Rod makes $25 mil lion a year because he is the best at his position. As of October 2000, Shag demand ed a three year extension and is making $29.46 million a year because he is the best at his position. So who is greedier? Battalion sportswriters, I speak for most of my fellow Aggies when I say-"This is not Houston." Craig Titsworth Class of ‘0 7 Art not to blame for sins (U-WIRE) — There’s something to be said for people who stick to their principles. But it’s an entire ly different game when we ask others to stick to our principles, too. Case in point: Recently, famed conductor Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Staskapelle were giving a concert as part of a prestigious music festival in Israel (the Israel Festival, actually ... such a clever name). One of the pieces he was supposed to conduct was to be from Richard Wagner’s opera, “Die Walkuere.” However, before the concert, many people com plained, saying that this piece would offend Holo caust survivors. The piece was re moved by concert organizers as a result of the complaints. The rea son? The piece was one of Adolf Hitler’s favorites. Is it me, or is that’ perhaps a bit much in the way of try ing not to offend anyone? Actually, it’s outright censorship, isn’t it? See, I think that attaching Hitler to Wagner and subsequently ban ning all public performances of his work is a bit silly. Yes, the music of Wagner was used in the past for silly things and was liked and appreciated by silly people. But the music is still amazing. Is it better to continue to connect the Nazis with it, or to re turn the music to the public realm? I think the latter is the best thing to do. Why get stuck on the nega- . tive? That’s what some of us are try ing to do here in the United States, at least. The other evening, while watching fireworks at Coors Field in Denver, I was surprised to hear “Dix ie” played as one of the patriotic, “Hey we should love our country” songs that folks were listening to as they celebrated our nation’s birthday by blowing stuff up. I can vividly remember people telling me that “Dixie” was one of those tunes that was forever linked with slavery, and that it would never be played with out someone being offended. I guess the folks at Coors Field risked it, anyway. And not one person has complained to the news me dia, the Rockies, or anyone else, as far as I know. Good for us, America. We seem to be moving on. I imagine that people can do one of two things when they see or hear something that was linked to an unfortunate and tragic moment in the past — re member and appreciate the art, anyway, or become fixated on the horrible things done with the work. I prefer to remember and enjoy. See, Wagner isn’t the man who spread evil and ha tred all over Europe in the middle of the last century. That was a different man. Hitler’s to blame for that. Hey, Hitler also really enjoyed painting, so should n’t we ban all public displays of oil paintings? Elimi nate all attempts to grow handlebar moustaches? Refuse to allow people to wear khaki? (Hider did wear khaki, you know.) I’m never going to try to argue that a person doesn’t have the right to be offended by something that he or she see, hears, smells, touches, tastes, or whatever. But that person does not have the right to prevent me from having that sensation. Nor does that individual have the power to control my response to the stimulus. That’s not how it works. Yeah, Wagner’s music has come to symbolize some evil intents and ac tions due to its nationalistic feel and the way in which it was favored by a bunch of idiots in silly outfits. But it’s still very beautiful and those who wish to hear his work should have every right to. And those that don’t should have every right to not listen, as well. That’s how freedom works — free to do or not to do as one chooses. There’s a happy ending (or so I think) to the story of this one particular censorship story. At the end of the concert, Barenboim asked the audience if they wanted to hear the Wagner piece. The crowd did, and responded with loud cheers, while a few folks groaned and booed. The group played the work, responding to attempted censorship in the best way that they knew how. Seems the cen sors lost this battle. Where will they turn up next? Bud Hunt Rocky Mountain Collegian Colorado State U. I'm never going to try to argue that a person doesn't have the right- to be offended by something that he or she sees, hears, smells, touches, tastes or whatever. But that person does not have the right to prevent me from having that sensation.