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.