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9
Opinion
The Battalion
Page 5B • Thursday, April 3,
aschle’s partisan agenda exposed
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T om Daschle personifies all
that is wrong with politics.
Politics is among the least
trusted professions, and with good
cause. When a vocal leader such
as Senate Minority Leader Tom
Daschle (D-SD) allows his opin
ion to change with the winds of
public influence, there is a major
problem.
In 1998, Tom Daschle was
among President Clinton’s biggest proponents
throughout the impeachment scandal. Late in 1998,
Clinton launched an attack on Iraq while pulling
America’s inspectors out of Iraq.
“We have virtually exhausted our diplomatic
effort to get the Iraqis to comply with their own
agreements and with international law. What other
option is there but to force them to do so? We don't
have another option. We have got to force them to
comply, and we are doing so militarily,” Daschle
said in defense of Clinton.
Not only did Daschle agree with attacking Iraq,
he co-sponsored a Senate resolution giving Clinton
the ability "to take all necessary and appropriate
actions to respond to the threat posed by Iraq's
refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction pro
grams.”
The diplomacy between Iraq and the United
States has not improved in the past five years.
But now, Daschle has done a 180-degree turn.
Instead of being a huge proponent of attacking Iraq
and taking a proactive stance in the war against ter
rorism, Daschle is against it. The only thing that has
changed in the past five years is that more than
3,000 additional Americans are dead at the hands of
terrorists and a new president is in the White House.
“The president has failed so miserably at diplo
macy that we are now forced to war,” Daschle told a
convention of firemen soon after the first strike
against Iraq in March.
By blaming Bush for a matter that he has no con
trol over, Daschle is pandering to the anti-war senti
ment and slandering our president. Why not blame
Bush for lack of relations with Fidel Castro while
he’s at it?
The reason America has no international rela
tions with Saddam Hussein is because he is an
insane dictator.
How can Daschle be trusted with such an impor
tant position as minority leader when he cannot even
remain consistent on a subject so important as war?
While America has young men and women giv
ing their lives, it is irresponsible for Daschle to
imply that the president has compromised their
safety.
Daschle is pursuing partisan politics at a time
when America needs to stand behind the command
er in chief and show support for our troops. Instead,
he is undermining the ability of the leader of our
forces, which is terrible for morale.
This is not the first time Tom Daschle has
been exposed as a poor political partisan. In
2002, Daschle attached an amendment to a
defense bill to exempt timber cutting only in his
South Dakota homeland from lawsuits and
appeals from citizens.
Daschle supported $20 billion in unauthorized
year-end spending while criticizing the Bush
Administration for the national deficit.
South Dakota passed a referendum to abolish the
“death tax” while their elected leader was voting it
down in Washington. Great job listening to your
constituents, Mr. Daschle.
As Daschle marches left, America keeps moving
forward. The further Daschle marches off-center, the
better it is for Republicans. Democrats would be
smart to find another leader, preferably one without
the ability to talk out of both sides of his mouth at
once.
As long as there are men like Tom Daschle in
Washington, politicians will never be trusted, and
with good reason. If Daschle runs for president, the
American people will see through his harmful parti
sanship, and our soldiers will be saluting George W.
Bush for four more years.
Thomas Campbell is a senior
agricultural journalism major.
Graphic by Becky Maiden.
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igh student voter turnout
ould impact city election
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bile record voter
turnout in the
recent student
elections is impressive, one
need only look at recent
College Station city elec
tions to see an almost anti
thetical level of student
involvement. Rather than
allowing this to continue,
students should realize the
R’S
SARET
great potential for increased stu
dent involvement in city govern
ment and take advantage of the
opportunity to influence, and even
tually gain positions on. College
Station’s City Council.
According to election results
SCRIM published in a May 5 article in The
Bryan-College Station Eagle, the
current mayor of College Station,
on Silvia, was elected in 2002
ith only 1,787 votes out of nearly
500. The recent student elections
aw more than 12,000 students
lock to the polls, with some can-
idates receiving more than 5,000
otes, according to a March 28
rticle in The Battalion. While vot
ing in campus elections can be
one online and is thus easier to
o than voting in a city election, it
ould take only a small fraction of
students voting in city elections to
have a significant impact on, if not
omplete control of, the results.
Thursday is the last day to reg
ister to vote in the upcoming May
3 city council election, according
■to www.bcvoters.org. Students
who have not yet registered to vote
in Brazos County should download
Ithe registration form from the Web
j'iizyrsor'undb Isite and mail it in immediately.
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iAdditionally, students concerned
||with student participation in city
■elections should consider joining
■ Aggies for Democracy, also called
■ the Maroon Party, a student organ-
lization that aims to get students
a actively involved in local politics.
I Kyle Whatley, director of the
' Maroon Party, said in a recent
Battalion article that “if students
I begin to voice their opinions and
1 become active in local politics,
I they will begin to see their con-
1 cerns addressed.” Whatley is
| exactly right.
Students need to take action to
make their voices heard as
they typically are not
afforded much if any of
their representatives’ atten
tion. This is evidenced in
particular by the fact that
city elections are held at
times that are extremely
inconvenient for students.
This semester they are
being held during finals
week, as they were last spring.
Additionally, Whatley said, a
polling site for city elections is not
always available on campus. It is
only by electing representatives
who are actually concerned with
listening to students’ needs that
students can hope to gain input on
the city council’s actions and have
elections moved to a more reason
able place and time of year.
Further, while many may be
annoyed with and poke fun at the
usual barrage of advertisements
and flyers that accompany campus
elections, the frenzy created by the
candidates and their campaign
staffs makes apparent the potential
for student leaders to run for, and
win, positions on the College
Station City Council.
The need for student involve
ment in city elections is made par
ticularly obvious as, according to
College Station City Secretary
Connie Hooks in a Feb. 20
Battalion article, the College
Station City Council is considering
raising the age requirement to run
for a city council position from 18
to 21. This consideration is clearly
aimed at preventing most college
students from holding city council
positions, and the idea that college
students should not be allowed to
serve on the city council of a col
lege town is ridiculous.
Last year, Texas A&M student
Jaime Cruz ran unsuccessfully for
mayor, but all that is needed to
elect students to council positions
is the organization and energy that
is already afforded to campus elec
tions. Candice McFarland, director
of administration for the Maroon
Party, said in a recent Battalion
article that perhaps the city coun
cil is considering the age change
because it is afraid that with the
help of organizations like the
Maroon Party, student candidates
for city council will have enough
support to actually win the elec
tions. The student body needs
merely to get its elicited foot in
the door to become a respected
part of the city electorate, but the
time left to do so is running short
as the current city council is con
sidering shutting the door com
pletely on student candidates for
city council positions.
Additionally, the Student
Government Association has a
prime opportunity to assist in sup
porting student involvement in city
politics, along with supporting stu
dents running for city council
positions. A voter registration
drive could accompany the cam
paigning for campus elections, and
voter registration could actually be
done at campus election polling
places. This would fit in precisely
with their mission statement (listed
on their Web site) of serving A&M
by “representing student opinion.”
SGA and the Maroon Party, as two
organizations trying to represent
students and their opinions in dif
ferent ways, have a unique chance
to work together to increase stu
dent voter turnout in city elections
and to create organized support for
students running for city council.
More than 40,000 students
attend A&M, and the recent cam
pus elections clearly demonstrate
that many of these students are
eager to have their voices heard.
Students should continue with
their enthusiasm to have an effect
on Texas A&M and College
Station by turning out in record
numbers for future city council
elections and casting their votes
for candidates that will act as true
representatives of the student body
at A&M. With continued student
involvement in both campus and
city elections, students will be able
to eventually gain positions on the
city council and put the “college”
back into the College Station City
Council.
Nicholas Neumann is a graduate
computer science major.
Iraqis not the only
ones mistreating POWs
In response to David Shoemaker's
April 2 column:
It is the height of American hypocrisy
to claim that Iraqi forces are violating the
Geneva Convention. The United States
has invaded a sovereign country without
any provocation, in violation of all inter
national laws. And yet it talks about Iraq
not following the same laws! Where was
the Geneva Convention when Iraqi pris
oners of war were being paraded in
front of US television cameras, a fact
which Shoemaker conveniently chose to
ignore when writing his article?
The other issue is, why would some
one who is portrayed to be such an evil
monster (even the anti-war people are
in agreement on this point) bother to
follow international laws when he
stands to gain nothing from doing so?
If Saddam treats POWs humanely, is
the United States going to stop the hunt
for him? If he stops suicide bombings, is
the United States going to stop bombing
his palaces? It is ridiculous to accuse
someone of being immoral and appeal
to his morality and ethics at the same
time.
To me it sounds like the United States
is whining when it talks about Iraqi sol
diers not following international laws.
Does the United States expect the Iraqis
to simply roll over and play dead while
U.S. forces continue to bomb their coun
try into the stone age?
Vinod Srinivasan
Graduate Student
Not all HLKN faculty
share same views
There is much misinformation being
printed on The Battalion's Opinion page
and in Mail Call letters this week about
the controversy engendered by the earli
est draft of the College of Education and
Human Development Statement of
Tolerance. A few updates follow.
FACT: The language in that statement
was changed from "celebrate and pro
mote" to "value and respect" with refer
ence to all members of the Texas A&M
community, including diversity in sexual
orientation. It is the revised language that
was unanimously approved by our Dean's
Faculty Advisory Council (FAC) on March
26.
FACT: Our Dean Jane Conoley did not
write this statement; it was crafted by fac
ulty members of the FAC.
FACT: The letter sent to the FAC express
ing deep concerns about the earlier ver
sion of this Statement of Tolerance was
signed by eight Health & Kinesiology fac
ulty. Their views are not shared by all
HLKN faculty, who number over 80 total
members. Most importantly, their views
are not shared by all faculty who sub
scribe to Judeo-Christian ethical and scrip
tural teachings, many of whom are dis
tressed to have their religious beliefs mis
represented by global generalizations.
FACT: No one has been fired or removed
from his/her current administrative post.
Our dean has refused to do so. However,
she has not "silenced" dissent on this
issue; she continues tp encourage it. (It
appears she has moved too far for many
faculty, and not far enough for others.)
FACT: "Sexual orientation" is included in
the University's official diversity statement
(see www.tamu.edu/OO/text/
start/divr.html).
My hope is that we can all work togeth
er to make this great University a place
that lives up to the intentions listed on
that diversity Web page, and to assure a
safe and respectful environment for every
one, including our gay and lesbian faculty,
staff, and students.
Susan Bloomfield
Associate Professor
Dept, of Health & Kinesiology
Baseball games shouldn't
interrupt Silver Taps
I've got a little story for you, Ags. Last
Tuesday night, me and a few thousand of
my fellow Aggies were standing outside
the Academic Building at around 10:30
for a little tradition we here in Aggieland
like to call Silver Taps. Now, I've been here
for almost five years now and attended
quite a few Silver Taps in that time, and
therefore, I'm pretty familiar with the basic
routine.
However, this month as the Ross
Volunteers marched into place, I noticed a
distinctive sound that I had never heard
before - loud cheering coming from the
direction of Olsen Filed. It seems some
very thoughtful individual in the athletic
department had decided to schedule a
baseball game during Silver Taps. Now try
to put yourself in the shoes of the friends
and family of the individuals we were
honoring that night. How would you feel
if you were standing out there to remem
ber your loved one and all you can hear is
loud cheering from fellow Aggies during
this most solemn event?
I, for one, was extremely embarrassed
and would like to apologize to these indi
viduals. I hope the athletic department
will have the foresight to consider things
like this in the future when scheduling
events.
Joel Neuber
Class of2002