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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 1977)
Page 2 THE BATTALION FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1977 System almost perfect for Carter WASHINGTON — If proof were still needed of the impotence and irrelevance of political party organi zations in the era of the personalized presidency, last week’s meeting of the Democratic National Committee would be Exhibit A. The leadership of the Democratic party gathered in the nation’s capital for the first time since the day after President Carter’s inaugural. It was an important time for the young ad ministration. Carter’s soaring personal popular ity was being tested on two fronts. In the Democratic Congress, action on his economic stimulus package — his basic response to the problem of un employment that was so central to his campaign — had been brought to a halt by a combination of conserva tive doubts and water-project poli tics. David SJ- Broderil In Moscow, the President’s most important foreign policy initiative — the bid to halt the nuclear arms race — had been rebuffed by Soviet lead ers, raising grave questions about the future of America’s international relations. In a healthy political system, a President facing that situation would have turned to his party leaders for both advice and support in meeting a challenge that involved them almost as much as it did him. Instead, Carter ignored the meet ing of his party’s national committee. And its members demeaned them selves by a public display of petu lance over the pettiest patronage matters. A more dramatic example of the breach between presidential leadership and party responsibility could not have been staged. While Carter was on his lonely pedestal, the politicians were scrabbling at his feet for jobs. Except for a 20-minute visit from Vice President Mondale, there was nothing but the patronage squawks to tell a visitor that the men and women of the Democratic National Committee had any connection with the government of the world’s most powerful nation. Nominally, they represented the party in power; in reality, as Mondale’s talk reflected, they were a roomful of paper tigers, easily fobbed off with a few jokes. Adapting easily to such treatment, the committee members focused on the parochial business of apportion ing some largely empty titles and appointments among themselves and their friends. Great emphasis was placed on the “victory” of blacks in gaining 10 seats on the party’s executive committee. But not one word was said about the consequences to the Democratic Party of Carter having named to the top positions in the Justice Depart ment two of his own political pals, Griffin Bell and Peter Flaherty, who were opposed by the nation’s largest Slouch by Jim Earle “NOW THERE’S A GUY WHO REALLY WANTS TO RE ELECTED!” The Battalion Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or of the writer of the article and are not necessarily those of the University administra tion or the Board of Regents. The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting enterprise operated by students as a university and community news paper. Editorial policy is determined by the editor. LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are subject to being cut to that length or less if longer. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does not guarantee to publish any letter. Each letter must be signed, show the address of the writer and list a telephone number for verification. Address correspondence to Letters to the Editor, The Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building, College Station, Texas 77843. Represented nationally by National Educa tional Advertising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Battalion is published Tuesday through Friday from September through May except dur ing exam and holiday periods and the summer, when it is published weekly. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester; $33.25 per school year; $35.00 per full year. All subscriptions subject to 5% sales tax. Advertising rates furnished on request. Address: The Battal ion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building, Col lege Station, Texas 77843. United Press International is entitled exclu sively to the use for reproduction of all news dis patches credited to it. Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved. Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Texas. MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Editor Jerry Needham Managing Editor Jamie Aitken Associate Managing Editor Rusty Cawley Assistant Managing Editor Mary Hesalroad Features Editor John W. Tynes News Editor Debby Krenek News Assistant Carol Meyer Sports Editor Paul Arnett Copyeditor Steve Reis Reporters Paul McGrath, Lynn Rossi, Lee Roy Leschper Jr., Jan Bailey, Darrell Lanford, Dave Tewes, Glenna Whitley, Steve Martaindale Photographers Kevin Venner, Tracie Nordheim, Mike Willy Student Publications Board: Bob G. Rogers, Chairman; Joe Arredondo; Tom Dawsey; Dr. Gary Halter; Dr. John W. Hanna; Dr. Charles McCandless; Dr. Clinton A. Phillips; Jerri Ward. Director of Student Publications: Gael L. Cooper. and most responsible civil rights or ganization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Labor, another vital part of the Democratic coalition, was “re warded’’ with its ten executive committee seats. But not one voice was raised at the party meeting to ask where the administration was going on minimum-wage legislation, or common-site picketing, or the issue of foreign imports. At one point, someone did suggest to Carter’s handpicked Democratic national chairman, Kenneth B. Cur tis, that it might be a good idea for him to send a copy of the Democratic platform to members of Congress and the administration, with a suggestion that they read it. Curtis said he’d see if he could hunt up some copies of the platform, but added, with a modesty that be comes his position, “I’m not sure they’d appreciate my telling them what to read.’’ There's nothing new about this. The other modern-era Presidents have treated their party with equal contempt. And why not? They don’t need the party for anything — they think. Jimmy Carter won the Demo cratic nomination in the primaries, with his own organization, and graciously accepted the surrender of the Democratic Party at Madison Square Garden. He immediately picked up a $20 million Treasury check for his campaign and never had to give another thought to the party that nominated him. In the White House, he has sought to gov ern, not by strengthening his party alliances, but by projecting himself directly to the public through televi sion. It was no different for the Repub licans with Eisenhower and Nixon, or the Democrats with Kennedy and Johnson. The party leaders, so- called, just have to keep their fingers crossed, knowing they will share only meagerly in a President’s suc cess but will suffer the full conse quences of his failure. There are a few peole around who nourish the dream of seeing a politi cal party strong enough to sustain a President in times of trouble and confident enough to restrain him when his misjudgments threaten his party with ruin. A number of those advocates of party responsibility — some of them active politicians, some of them academics — have found places on the Democratic Party commission assigned to evaluate the current presidential primary system. The commission is named for its head, Michigan Democratic Chairman Morley Winograd. ic0pm me. e/aittmmz Po-< bf b By JO! It's for the ; mcommon an K e who enj< King new fr /alley Food C< R)rganized al he co-op off ■nee to pur 1*01!t whole w Vesh vegetable i chance to sa\ Hopes still running very high for U.S.-Soviet arms limitation If there is any chance for the Democratic party leaders to reclaim their place in the sun, it lies in the Winograd Commission finding some way to rake the runaway power of the proliferating presidential primaries. Only if the politicians recapture a voice in selecting the President will they have any influence with him. But don’t make any bets on this happening. Jimmy Carter has pro nounced the present system “almost perfect. ” And for him, in this spring of high popularity, it is. (c) 1977, The Washington Post United Press International WASHINGTON — President Carter wants to end the nuclear arms race and to set the superpow ers on a course to wipe all the doomsday weapons off the face of the earth. But his first attempts to persuade the Soviets that there is a better way than the balance of terror are being written off as a failure by old-line diplomats. In the 1950s, Russian leaders re peatedly called for “general and complete disarmament.” But those Coleman hearing ‘was a joke’ Editor: In reference to Wednesday’s se nate nominating committee meeting on the appointment of Dr. John B. Coleman to the Board of Regents, th ere are a few points I’d like to bring up. Students are probably not aware of these facts, which likely weren’t presented in any of the media. I should hope people would be in terested. First of all, no one seemed con cerned with the welfare of Texas A&M. All that was discussed dealt with the morality of abortion, which all people who testified insisted was as bad as Nazi Germany killing Jews. (I’m not making analogies, this was mentioned.) Since Dr. Coleman is part owner and participates in an abortion clinic in Houston, he is dubbed “immoral by these people. Lewis Berry, a Houston lawyer, compared this situation to “putting prostitutes and pimps in public of fice.” As you can see things got quite off track, and much time was wasted at this meeting. Abortion is legal and we are not to impose our individual moral values upon anyone. Coleman could not possibly have any effect upon Texas A&M’s moral values, as Senator Walter Mengden infered by asking Coleman if he would force all Texas A&M medical students to learn how to perform abortions. Ira Early, president of Life Advo cates in Houston, was also present at this meeting. I don’t think he was there in concern over Texas A&M University, as everyone should have been, but rather to acquire some publicity for his organization. He was cut off by the chairman of the senate committee as soon as he began his emotional presentation against abortion. Early was at A&M several weeks ago in a debate on abortion in which he presented simi lar material. But here again, the purpose of the meeting is lost. Early should go home and revise his game plan. If he wishes to abolish abor tion, he should go back to its cause — problem pregnancy. If there were less unwanted pregnancies, there would be less abortions — you know, cause and effect. He should lobby for birth control education for young people in public schools. This would reduce the number of abortions needed and certainly should be con sidered less “immoral” than abor tions. All in all, the meeting was a joke. I wish more Aggies could have been there. It just didn’t seem to show enough concern over our university. Also, very little respect was paid to Dr. Coleman, who sure had to put up with a lot of crap. Perhaps we should all invade Austin next week in support of Dr. Coleman and Texas A&M University. — Scott Gordon ’79 What about campus reports? pus, sponsored a Bowl-a-thon with all proceeds to go to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. While The Battalion did contact me about Bowl-a-thon, no story was ever run in the paper. Why did The Battalion not run any stories on these events? Both took place in the M SC, the center of student activities, yet The Battalion did not feel they were worthy of coverage in the paper. Perhaps The Battalion should cease running AP stories, which everyone reads in the morning pa pers and devote more of its space to coverage of campus activities. — Russel R. Kirk ’77 Editor: Last week two activities took place on the TAMU campus which were never reported in The Battal ion. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Aggie Blood Drive was held in the Memorial Student Cen ter (MSC). Although I did see ad vertisements in The Battalion, I never read a story about what Aggie Blood Drive was all about. And I know the advertisements were paid for by one of the sponsoring organi zations . Also, last Saturday starting at 2 p.m. and lasting until 6 a.m. Sunday morning, Alpha Phi Omega, a Na tional Service Fraternity on cam- Editor’s note: The present editor works under the premise that a siz able percentage of the studentry at Texas A&M does not receive any other newspaper and therefore would not get state, national or international news reports if The Battalion did not carry these re ports. Also, we are limited to a certain extent in what we can cover be cause of the limited size of our re porting staff. The editors have to make decisions concerning priorities in coverage as we cannot report everything that happens on campus. We ordinarily try to give ad vance notice of events to our readers. Any oversights are not in tentional or deliberate. A Showing Of WATERCOLORS OF THE SOUTHWEST by RUSSELL R. WATERHOUSE At Texas A&M University Rudder Exhibit Hall April 12-27, 1977 8 a.m.-8 p.m. daily Presented by the MSC Directorate OPENING RECEPTION Tuesday, April 12 3:30-5:30 p.n Rudder Exhibit Hall Embrey’s Jewelry We Specialize In Aggie Rings. Diamonds Set — Sizing — Reoxidizing — All types watch/jewelry Repair Aggie Charge Accounts 9-5:30 846-5816 "f Happy Cottage is full of Easter gifts — WF jflL 11 & ‘ including beautiful wooden ^ figurines from Germany. ® Across From Luby’s £> <# & G5SSSSSSSSSSS ANNOUNCING! EASTER SUNDAY NIGHT 7 P.M. A PULPIT MUSICAL/DRAMA MUSIC BY BURYL RED msmumi LYRICS BY RAGAN COURTNEY PRESENTED BY FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH COLLEGE STATION NORTH GATE ON COLLEGE MAIN 'ft 'k The Peanut Gallery is OPEN SUNDAYS! The 30’s Night 5c BEER & 25c BAR DRINKS All Night Long! $1.00 Cover Charge PEANUT GALLERY 813 WELLBORN HWY. 846-1100 were the days of clear American nu clear superiority. President Richard Nixon changed the strategy at the start of his admin- from “suDeriority” to “suf- U .S.-Soviet istration from supenority ficiency.” Since th Commentary negotiations for offensive nuclear arms limitation have centered on parity, if such a thing is possible. But now, Carter has introduced a new element — a reduction of the arsenals and a retreat from de velopment of even more sophisti cated missiles and first-strike capabilities. He is trying to put a cap on the arms competition before the technological explosion makes that an impossibility. Kremlinologists and the pundits are critical of Carter’s package of proposals, but even more so of his approach to the Soviets. They say that kid gloves and greater secrecy would have been more appropriate; that the Politburo should not have been caught off guard by dramatic new proposals; that Carter has naively put the Russians on the de fensive. His critics also say Carter has clouded the carefully nurtured at mosphere of detente by sending Secretary of State Cyrus Vance to Moscow with radically new propo sals, and no advance warnings. Carter’s diplomatic advisers see it differently. They say that since the election, Carter has signaled his in tention to seek more far-reaching goals in arms control than his pre decessors. Futhermore, they say Carter does not view the Vance mis sion as a bust. “Jimmy is a patient guy who thinks of the long haul,” said one aide. He doesn’t mind one step backward to take two steps forward. Isunaini is a i i the residents Bjng the Paci ■his is a jus tit Kil waves” h; to Japan in :cently as 1 1964, and He’s looking to long range[960v his and the secretary’s bel team of Te there will he an agreemenpeanographers Both Vance and National p»puter prog Affairs Adviser ZbignieBallow them ezinski insist they did nmow had the ef] Soviet Leonid I. Brezhne One of the r mediately embrace CarteriHReid, noted “to go beyond established; isually the prod ings to actual reductions. sBhquake wit is no question that the Sm™ close enou that followed gave the ■ ause a surge. A leadership some pause, oh mic islands On the positive side, a use such sur aides believe that in “gomjBprthan those and letting the AmericanpBhis surge is on the take-off as well aslt M flexing up in foreign policy, the Pres n4ind of water won their support and uni feross, Reid sj ing. They believe the same Piters of these Congress. RememberingcBtrenches iii | of the past, they say thatcKka, Japan, solid hi partisan supporlBnes. foreign policy. BGravity cai With U.S.-Soviet armsl»ate outvvarc suming next month, then i '«es from five is “no panic.” Irt travelling Carter appears convk® miles per considering the alternative loi gated sour the unleashing of a ftild occur in threatening, budget-busl nt nna and he race — the United StatesBtain directio Soviet Union will realistical«A near-by si an accord before it’s too la'^tor and incr “ ~ ~ k" Reid said Headers jorii he size <)f ' 1 V Pf., p water, far Guest viewpoints, in ill, maybe a tion to Letters to the braves from dee are welcome. All pieces I wave lenp mitted to Readers iice the ene should be: Be re, the hei • Typed triple space Bases, someti • Limited to 60 charactenBfeet, he said line BHawaii is s • Limited to 100 lines Bo all the m; Submit articles to f|ids also have McDonald 217, CollegeBt they cause tion, Texas, 77843. Aut| name and phone number! accompany all submissions 1 converge a |nage, Reid JVe are cur the tsuna: yels over an i offers aid This reaeti pact on wave ation. [since it take: nlrefor a tidal Iter the indicat | ijivity, the p Be to prepare /ili We neec ^ t<: /jfigerous a p oing to be.” Bargello ~ taught by Natalie Hawley fcthers invoh of The Elsa Williams School of Needle Arts | s - A. C. Va You will set-up 9 different patterns (Helpful to have worked limgall. The p from charts) ’V ( he National 3 wks. - 2 hour sessions - Wed., 7-9 p.m. nd the Natior Needlepoint at its finest!! $10 (Supplies not included) leanographic 401 DUNN BRYAN 846-4736 an Wyatt's Cajcteila . , Seafood Platter F riday 2 fried fish sticks, 2 fried shrimp, 2 fried crab rolls, hush puppies, french fries and tartar 4/8 §jj^Ufclo'V ® ee fTips and Noodles Cooked in sauce and served with one vegetable. Sunday 4/10 Ham Steak . . Served with rice and one vegetable. 0 UJyfltt CRf€t£Rlf)5 804 Texas Ave. Wear £ eat urin. !> u; s ° fop < tfn