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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 9, 2002)
HE BATliU 'kin f 10 tied Hall of h ^onhemosi;' vas the Alin- he was t^ •humiaii \ W win 5 been ham] ‘•so missed tie and 2001 & >ed 176 after missinj >us nine yean’ was hittins ters and 831 1 ended hit ^ played is coming oi d season e a ribinab the first ic en missed thei auseofahyp Ibow stisias. on. aers had i 1 ; their doa ssatched tair a Fall Leaan it he is health .ogers. the ® n starter on i s Chan Ho with a 5J31 eight tteeL> onduetoasit a blistered k Opinion The Battalion Page 9 • Monday, De Losing their civil liberties Conservatives shouldn t join traditionally liberal ACLU for the wrong reasons 1 1 f„ 1 1, „ :»»„ .1 A A-.1 AT. : LEANN BICKFORD ell folks, it’s recruiting season once again for hose darn liberals. The knee sur?enB\merican Civil Liberties Jnion (ACLU) has long een a thorn in the side of Republicans, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to moan about “injustice this” and not fair that.” After all, with more than 300,000 members crusading to encourage gay and lesbian rights, the legalization of drugs and lower incarcer ation rates, it is no wonder conservatives have tra ditionally greeted the ACLU with hostility. Enter Sept. 1 1 and The Homeland Security Act. Now conservatives are asking the ACLU where they can go to sign up. There has been debate in Washington lately among conservatives about the more controversial parts of the Homeland Security Act, such as the proposed Washington D.C. “spy ams” and the idea of national ID cards. The ACLU has loved every minute of those debates, drawing in several Republicans with a new slogan hat accuses the federal government of “escalating he war on the Bill of Rights in the name of fight- ng terrorism.” And the slogan has worked. The ACLU is sign- ng on two of the most prominent Republicans in Congress as consultants. House Majority Leader Dick Armey and Bob Barr of Georgia, both of whom have “skirmished with Democrats in acid jterms,” according to USA Today. It is ironic to note that The American Conservative Union, which ranks members of Congress according to how they vote on issues important to conservatives, gave Barr a 100 percent rating and Armey a rating of 97 per cent. We can expect other conservatives to follow suit accordingly. The correct response from Republicans threat ened by the new Homeland Security Act should not be to join the ACLU, but to form a unique organi zation that promotes both their viewpoints on homeland security and their traditionally conserva tive ideology. Joining the ACLU is more of a pub licity stunt to benefit the organization's liberal plat forms than a statement of disapproval on behalf of conservatives. While it makes all the sense in the world for the ACLU to seek out new Republican memberships, it makes absolutely no sense for Republicans to join the organization. In fact, Barr and Armey are ridiculously gullible. Conservatives have every right to join the ACLU if they feel their rights are being infringed upon, but they are the ones in con trol of the federal government. The proper role of y OF KRT CWK| 12 Champ*®" ence.Webefc be vindicate aid he is corf :tter to Seer® the ACLU is to give those who really have no access to the government a voice, not the govern ment a voice to speak to the same govern ment with. Leadership by the conservative community in the organization considerably softens the ACLU’s image, which helps it out substantially, considering Republicans control both the White House and Congress. Actually, it’s quite a strategic tactic. The ACLU is being real istic about what party is in power, knowing that if it wants to affect federal policy, it can only start out with access to the gov ernment. The ACLU should just take every issue dividing the current Republican congress and make it a platform of the organization. There’s no need to stop at Homeland Security. Why not make it even more obvious its sole intention is to infiltrate the Republican Congress wearing a mask of civil liberty mumbo-jumbo, and then ask that conservatives consider some of its other ridiculously liberal platforms? If conservatives want to be heard in this Homeland Security debate, perhaps they should try talking to one another. It would cer tainly help them save face. What kind of mes sage are they sending to the American public if they not only disagree amongst themselves, but consult what was once labeled as the enemy? As a consequence, the aver age citizen will perceive his federal government to be disunited. Republican conservatives have worked too long and too hard to let anyone, especially some liberals, usurp their con gressional footing. Leann Bickford is a freshman business administration major. JEFF SMITH- THE BATTALION 'owell. him to tei»| cam ] "Rigtll 115*1 itraigh ,'e're a udents wtio^ /isas J$0\ accept :ton Bowl _ Texas J'- _ two :ball trad« asonwit^' ? dbids5» vl. . . rt in then; iship races 1 ;; 1 schools sj 2 eager tf devised» against ^ both coac; i their cor; p and pty 1 ampi ( Brown'' 1 ' eally iu look 31 ;; said, i state P l3 !' : Franchione not best choice for Texas A&M Wow, as if the University couldn't rnake itself look any worse than it did by firing R.C. Slocum, the new president, instead of hiring the best available head coach (Gary Kubiak - Offensive Coordinator of the Denver Broncos and former A&M QB who's family lives in Houston), Reformer C.I.A. chief hires his best friend - Franchione. To all the Alabama faithful, please accept this sincere apology on ehalf of this student for the lack of integrity and ethics displayed on ehalf of Texas A&M and rest as sured if 1 could give him back, I surety would, (although now that We have seen Franchione's true col- °rs, I doubt Alabama would even Wa nt him back.) ft used to be that a man's word jras all you needed in a contract. but now society has evolved, (or Perhaps devolved) into one where MAIL CALL not even a legal binding contract means much of anything. Texas A&M violated their word (showing their true colors) when they fired Slocum with time left on his contract. Then, continuing the trend, they hired a coach who dis played the same lack of integrity by telling his school of just two years that he was "quitting" on them. When I was in the Marines, if I would have tried to void my employment contract, I would have been put in the brig and stripped of my rank and pay. So what are the students and Alumni supposed to get out of this? Is Texas A&M a University where integrity and honesty must be shown to everyone on campus except for the head football coach? If I were a potential high school recruit, why would I want to partic ipate in this uncertainty? All the recruits for Alabama that Franchione committed to also get lost in the mix. Do they now go to Texas A&M? Or can they even still go to Alabama if they wanted to? It's readily apparent to this stu dent that college football has evolved into a business far greater than that of the higher education system. If you don't believe me, take a look outside your window and ask yourself "What is the largest building in College Station?" Answer: Kyle Field. The sad thing in the end is that we now have to pay for a coach who isn't coaching and probably still should be. We've opened a can of worms with the University of Alabama, and we still did not even get the best head coach out there - Gary Kubiak. Imagine if A&M just would have let Slocum fulfill the contract he and the school agreed to, opting not to resign him, and then really went after Coach Franchione, who likely would have been done with his contract. Ryan Rebers Class of 2004 Law should resign as Boston Cardinal FORGET SN)D1 mm\ FIND OUT WHktt IN XRAQs (\RSE A bout 400 protesters met Sunday to march outside of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross church in Boston, where Cardinal Bernard Law was expected to celebrate Mass. According to The Dallas Morning News, the protesters were calling for Law’s resignation based on new revelations of priest misconduct in the Boston area. The new allegations, which far exceed the tales of sexual abuse the media has recently been flooded with, are enough to sicken any one and illustrate the grav ity of the problem American Catholicism must now deal with. Faced with the evidence of these horrific actions in the church. Law has no choice but to resign and make way for new leadership. The internal church documents, released last week, are drawing criti cism not only because of the illegal behavior they describe, but also because Cardinal Law apparently tolerated the priests who were responsible. According to The Dallas Morning News, only after the lawyers of alleged victims fought to have these documents taken from the archdiocese was the severity of the problem revealed, and the Catholic church’s willingness to cover up what went on illustrates the depth of the corrup tion, at least in the Boston area. The documents describe priests beating domestic workers, threatening previously abused children, willfully failing to get medical help for the sick in their care and trading cocaine for sex. There was even one priest who supposedly told children he was the embodiment of the second coming of Christ and that they should have sex with him. As disturbing as all this is, evi- GEORGE DEUTSCH u The new allegations have left churchgoers wondering why the Catholic church would willfully recognize these problems, even document them, but do nothing to remedy them. dence of this behavior was in Law’s possession and he still failed to act on it, as most of the accused priests were still active. The new allegations have left churchgoers won dering why the Catholic church would willfully recognize these problems, even document them, but do nothing to remedy them. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers, but all fin gers point to Cardinal Law. Law’s continued pres ence as the Boston Cardinal means that many who were sexually abused may still fear coming out and telling their story. For the healing process to begin for children and oth ers hurt by the men they trusted, the man who allowed their misery must be removed from power. A man of God cannot rightly allow priests to molest children, beat work- ers or take part in a drugs- for-sex trade all within the confines of the church. Not only is this illegal and the opposite of the Catholic church’s purpose, but it also turns victims away from a religion they might otherwise believe and take comfort in. This is hardly adequate spiritual leadership. The Boston Priests Forum and the group Voice of the Faithful are working to draft a document calling for Law’s retire ment, according to The Dallas Morning News. Such a document should not be nec essary. Law should stop compromising the Catholic church and take it upon himself to resign, thereby healing the wounds he has indirectly inflicted on the people of Boston for too many years. George Deutsch is a senior journalism major.
