Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Tuesday
March 28, 1978
r* —
Top of the News
Campus
Political threats and consequences
WASHINGTON — One of the evocative stories of professional football is
about the rookie who broke all records for pass receiving in college and
expects to do the same in the National Football League.
In his first game, he departs the line of scrimmage, gets a skull-shaking
helmet slap from a defensive end, a rib-cracking elbow from a linebacker and
is knocked flat by a “bump” from a cornerback. As he comes to, he look up
into the grinning face of his antagonists and the greeting “Welcome to the
NFL.”
That story ought to be recalled to some of the senators who were on the
losing side in the first Panama Canal treaty vote and rushed off the floor to
blame it all on “arm-twisting” by the White House.
It is very true that Jimmy Carter, perhaps for the first time since he
arrived in Washington, used just about every weapon of persuasion at his
command to line up the votes needed to ratify the first treaty. He cajoled,
compromised, massaged, flattered and probably made some private prom
ises to get the votes.
By pressing undecided and anti-treaty senators to come to the White
House to talk to him personally about their votes, Carter was putting them
— especially Democrats — in the uncomfortable personal and political posi
tion of having to say no to the president of the United States. That is heavy
pressure and no one should mistake it for anything else.
But so far as anyone knows. Carter did not cross the line of accepted
political conduct in seeking support. There were no public charges that the
administration engaged in the kind of below-the-belt blackmail tactics of the
type depicted in some recent Washington novels as par for the course when a
president is determined to have his way.
Carter played the game for keeps and won the first test. But there still is
another treaty to be considered, and it could be the president who is beaten
on the next big vote.
If that happens, it may be the supporters of the treaties who are disposed
to blame the outcome on opposition strong arming. Not the least of these
likely would be the open threats, some even printed in newspaper adver
tisements, of well-financed political retribution against pro-treaty senators
the next time they come up for election.
But threatening to “get” a senator at the polls for a vote in Congress after
the fact is every bit as legitimate as a summons to the Oval Office to influence
the decision before it is made. Both are tests of a senator’s strength of
conviction or level of weakness, as the case may be.
No senator, or anyone else in government for that matter, is entitled to a
free pass on any official action. Public officials are accountable to the public
and if those who are not prepared to justify what they have done and accept
the consequences should take up another line of work.
In the case, politics, rather than sports, provides the homily in the words
of Harry Truman: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
United Press International
The fall of the Senate’s South
By DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON — The retirement of
Sen. James O. Eastland (D-Miss.) is more
than the departure of a familiar political
figure, a symbol of the vanished age when
the term “Southern Democrat was almost
equivalent to saying “segregationist.
With his ever-present cigar and his im
passive, Buddha-like expression, Eastland
seemed a personification of the implacable
opposition to any relaxation in the complex
rules of racial separation that held say in
rules of racial separation that held way in
his own Sunflower County when he came
Harbor.
In fact, he played a more complex role
than that — moving slowly, very slowly,
and always with a great show of resistance,
in response to the cyclone forces of change
up leashed by the economic, demographic
and political changes that swept the South
— and eventually, even infiltrated
Sunflower County.
Eastland fought the losing fight every
step of the way. But he fought it in his own
fashion, never risking being overrun, but
rather negotiating his withdrawal for the
best price he could get.
A series of presidents — from Dwight
Eisenhower to Jimmy Carter — and their
Attorneys General sipped bourbon and
branch water with the chairman of the Se
nate Judiciary Committee. They learned
(if they were patient) what his terms might
be for allowing them to have vital parts of
their program considered by the commit
tee with the broadest jurisdiction in Con
gress.
Commentary
At times, Eastland’s terms were unac
ceptable, and the presidents had to chal
lenge him in a war of attrition, when his
weapons were his delaying tactics in com
mittee and, finally, his part in a Senate
filibuster.
But more often, the canny Mississippian
was able to strike a bargain which forced
Some concessions on the substance of a
civil rights bill or preserved the southern
judicial circuits from what he regarded as
the contaminating effects of liberal appoin
tees.
Eastland was powerful for two reasons.
The lesser of them was his suppleness as a
Mississippi politician who could quietly
activate a courthouse network on behalf of
a presidential candidate he liked, whether
that man was Republican or Democratic.
The more important one was that he was
part of a solid phalanx of southern senators
whose domination seemed inevitably as
sured by the inexorable workings of the
seniority system. Whatever happened
elsewhere in government — whatever
heresies shook the Supreme Court, or the
White House or the House of Representa
tives — the South, it seemed, had a lock
on the Senate.
In 1959, for example, 10 of the 16 stand
ing committees of the Senate had chair
men who came from states of the Confed
eracy. Eastland, who was 55 then, had a
long fixture ahead as chairman of Judiciary.
But if anything happened to him, four of
the next six spots on the committee ladder
were also held by Southern Democrats.
Ten years later, in 1969, the picture had
barely changed. Southerners still held 10
of the 16 chairmanships. But behind the
top three Judiciary Committee souther
ners, aged 65, 72 and 73, was an unbroken
seven-man line of younger Yankees.
Now, the inexorable workings of time
have taken their toll of that aging southern
Senate hierarchy. Next January, the
likelihood is that only three of the commit
tee chairmanships will still be held by
southerners: Eastland’s colleague John
Stennis, Louisiana s Russell Long and
Georgia’s Herman Talmadge.
Moreover, the seniority ladder is now
filled by men from other sections. At the
beginning of 1977, three of the four senior
Senate Democrats were from the South.
None will be back next year. Between
Talmadge, who entered the Senate in 1957
and who turns 65 this year, and the next
Southern Democrat on the seniority lad
der, Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.),
there is a gap of nine years in age and ten
years of Senate service. Fourteen non-
Southern Democrats fill that gap, blocking
the South’s return to power.
In that period —- from Little Rock in
1957 to the passage of the Voting Rights
Act almost a decade later — there was an
enormous political upheaval in the South.
The region sent either Republicans or
short-lived transitional Democrats to the
Senate.
Since 1966, the new Democrats like
Hollings who have won have done so with
large numbers of black votes, and are a
different breed than Eastland and his gen
eration. And they are still several seats and
several years away from committee chair
manships.
That is why Eastland’s retirement, and
his replacement as Judiciary chairman by
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.),
really does mark the passing of a political
era.
(c) 1978, The Washington Post
Lasting peace passing by
By WILLIAM RASPBERRY
WASHINGTON — Israel doesn’t dare
take a chance. And because it doesn’t, it
may already have let slip away its first
genuine prospect for lasting peace.
I don’t mean the retaliatory incursion
into southern Lebanon, although that
clearly didn’t do much to advance the
cause of peace. I have in mind the refusal
to embrace the Sadat-initiated attempt at a
psychological breakthrough on the whole
question of the Middle East.
Commentary
What Sadat’s Christmas visit to Israel
offered was the opportunity for Israel to
join in a gamble that could break it out of
its painful dilemma once and for all.
On the one hand, Israel has learned,
through painful history, not to entrust its
national security to outsiders. Surrounded
by hostile neighbors who have questioned
its very legitimacy as a state, Israel has
concluded that it cannot afford to make
military chances. One military defeat, and
it’s all over. Israel knows that.
On the other hand, preventing military
Letters to the editor
defeat is not the same as securing peace.
Israel can lose once and for all, but it can
not win once and for all. It knows that, too.
The difficulty is in adopting policies that
take both pieces of knowledge into ac
count.
If anything is clear, it is that peace will
not flow from military superiority but only
from changed attitudes and relations —-
from a changed psychology.
But preoccupation with military secu
rity prevents Israel from taking precisely
the sort of chances that could help px oduce
that new psychology. It is excruciatingly
difficult — perhaps impossible — to think
of peace and security at the same time,
even if those two things are, at bottom,
inseparable.
The emphasis on security, the old ways
of dealing, led Israel to view Sadat’s initia
tive as the opening gambit in a new round
of traditional bargaining. Much of what has
happened since then can best be explained
as attempts at fashioning counter gambits:
hanging tough on the question of the West
Bank, for instance, or establishing new
settlements in the occupied territories.
These can be viewed as efforts to stack up
chips to bargain away in future negotia
tions.
But the impression here is that Sadat
wasn’t engaged in traditional bargaining at
all. He was trying to cut through decades
of psychological hangups, to achieve peace
virtually at a stroke. He felt betrayed and
frustrated when Israel declined to take the
gamble.
The whole business is enormously com
plicated by the continuing acts of ter
rorism directed against Israel. The recent
terrorist attack that killed 45 people, for
instance, may have evaporated any chance
that Israel could agree to the establish
ment of a West Bank homeland for the
Palestinians.
It seems enticingly logical that if Israel
cannot be safe from continuing terrorist at
tacks as things are now, it would be far
more vulnerable to such attacks if Palesti
nian radicals were allowed to settle right
next door.
But that supposes that the Palestinians’
overridding concern is the destruction of
Israel rather than the establishment of
their own state. If a Palestinian homeland
is the principal issue, then it might well be
that its establishment — even right next
door — would eliminate the incentive for
the terrorism. In short, settling of the
Palestinian question would be a crucial
part of the new psychology.
But Israeli Prime Minister Menachem
Begin, in town this week for talks with
President Carter, apparently is still insist
ing that the establishment of a Palestinian
state would increase, rather than obviate,
the threat to Israel. And if that is what he
truly believes, then he would be a fool to
do other than what he is now doing.
The irony of all this is that, until a few
months ago, it was the Israelis who in
sisted that the barriers to peace were
largely psychological, not military. It was
the Israeli view that the crucial break
through would have to be Arab acceptance
of the legitimacy of the state of Israel.
That is precisely the breakthrough Sadat
hoped his visit would achieve. He gam
bled his prestige, his credibility and his
political future in the effort. There is very
little he can do just now.
Whatever prospects for peace still exist
will depend on Israel’s willingness to take
a gamble. That may be asking a lot. But
the jackpot — permanent peace for a tiny,
beleaguered nation — strikes me as well
worth the risk.
(c) 1978, The Washington Post
Close call brings loud call for changes
Editor:
Imagine this scene for a moment. Third
and fourth floor residents of a dorm on the
TAMU campus begin smelling smoke in
their rooms around midnight. They dis
cover a fire on first floor in the trash chute
and alert the head resident adviser.
At approximately 12:15 the R.A. calls
the emergency number on campus. The
police arrive in a little over five minutes.
The fire truck rolls up at approximately
12:40, after what seems like an eternity
since the phone calls.
A problem arises. The trash chute door
is locked and no one present has a key.
After a discussion of the situation, it is de
cided to break the door in.
A second problem arises. Poles blocking
the entrance to a road in front of the dorm
make it impossible for the fire engine to
get close enough. The key to unchain and
remove the poles cannot be found so the
chain is cut.
The fire is finally put out, almost an
hour after the smoke was first smelled.
No, this was not a scene from a Three
Stooges movie. This actually happened at
Hughes Hall last Wednesday night.
For the second time this year, residents
of Hughes Hall have had a bad scare. Last
semester a second-floor popcorn popper
which was left on caused thick smoke that
filled third and fourth floors. It could have
been tragic if the popper had caught on
fire. Again we can be thankful that the fire
last week was small and caused no harm.
But what must happen before safety
precautions are taken? Does there have to
be a tragic incident?
The missing keys and late fire engine
were bad enough. But worse than that,
there are no fire alarms in the dorm and no
fire escapes. A year ago, money was ap
propriated for smoke alarms but where are
they now? Even with buzzers that would
sound if smoke filled the building, what
good would they be if there were no way
to get out.
I shudder when I think of the effect a
large fire could have on our dorm in the
middle of the night.
—Rhodema Spearman, ’81
Legalize the races
Editor:
I am writing you in response to Natalie
Ornish’s letter about pari-mutuel betting
in Texas. She says, “it bring suffering to
people who can least afford to lose.” Does
she think people aren’t already betting at
the horse races? If she does, she appar
ently has not recently gone to the racing
tracks. There are people who regularly bet
at the races, and not just small wagers. But
this is all done under the table and the
state doesn’t see one penny of it. If, now-
ever, pari-mutuel betting was legalized,
the state would receive its share of the
money in tax revenue. So let’s not let the
state of Texas, and the taxpayers, be rip
ped off any more. Let’s support the legali
zation of pari-mutuel betting.
— Billy Edwards, ’81
Drilling detour
Editor:
While walking along the sidewalk in
front of Sully on Saturday, and being re
routed to the grass to make room for the
junior rotsies drilling there, I was re
minded of the many times the same thing
had happened with the larger body of that
type which resides here on campus. This
caused a great inspiration to take form in
my mind: why can’t they do this drilling on
the breezeway in front of the MSC? It’s
the only place I can think of where they
would disturb more people!
— George Welch, ’79
Questionnaires, pictures due
Candidates for the position of yell leaders, OCSA president, RHA
president and all student government executive positions should fill
out questionnaires and have their pictures taken no later than 5 p.m.
Wednesday. All questionnaires should be completed and turned into
the Battalion no later than 5 p.m. Friday.
Drug survey reports due
Participants in the influenza drug survey are reminded to turn in
their weekly reports and pick up their final two weeks drug supply at
the reception desk Thursday and Friday at the University Health
Center.
State
Bell rate increase delayed
The Public Utility Commission (PUC) in Austin Monday voted to
delay for at least 120 days implementation of a $214.3 million rate
increase requested by Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. The com
mission scheduled formal hearings on Bell’s request for higher rates
to begin May 22, and Commission Chairman George Cowden asked
all parties involved in the hearings to do all they could to accelerate
the proceedings. A 1976 hearing on Bell’s request for a $298 million
rate increase took more than a month. The commission eventually
authorized Bell a $57.8 million increase at that time, and the tele
phone company has challenged the commission’s decision in court. In
the new request hearings Monday, the commission approved a mo
tion by PUC general council John Bell to delay any implementation of
the new rates until Aug. 12. Bell may implement the rates at that
time if the commission has not acted on the request.
Sentencing today in Torres case
Three former Houston policemen convicted of violating the civil
rights of a drunken Mexican-American who was beaten and drowned
in their custody face possible life inprisonment at a sentencing hear
ing in Houston today. A federal court jury Feb. 8 convicted Terry
Denson, 27, Stephen Orlando, 22, and Joseph Janish, 24, in the
death last May of Joe Torres, 23. All three officers were fired after the
incident while a fourth officer, Louis Glenn Kinney, whose case was
severed when his lawyer complained of prejudicial testimony, is still
awaiting federal prosecution. Torres was arrested on a barroom drunk
complaint May 5, 1977. His body was found in Buffalo Bayou
downtown the next day. Testimony showed he had been beaten be
fore he drowned. The jury convicted the three officers of violating
Torres’ civil rights which resulted in his death. The crime is a felony
carrying a maximum possible penalty of $10,000 fine and life impris
onment. The jury also convicted them of beating and intimidating
Torres, a misdemeanor carrying maximum penalties of one year in
prison and a $1,000 fine.
Nation
Winter of ’77-record cold
The National Weather Service in Washington says this past winter
appears to have been colder east of the Rockies than the frigid winter
of 1976-77. All the temperature records aren’t in yet, but the weather
service says a sampling of reports collected by the National Climatic
Center at Ashville, N.C., indicates average temperatures from De
cember through February hit a new low. January 1977 still stands as
the coldest month east of the Rockies since record-gathering began in
the late 1800s. And the service said the average temperatures for this
past winter combined with the previous one undoubtedly set a new
low for back-to-back winters in the East. But the West was warmer
than usual both winters. The weather service said record cold
weather average temperatures were reported this past winter at such
places as Galveston, Cincinnati and Nashville.
World
Riot delays airport opening
Riot police in Tokyo firing tear gas and water cannons Monday
stormed a 62-foot steel tower atop a concrete fortress built by leftist
radicals to block the opening of Tokyo’s new intercontinental airport.
Using a rock-crushing drill to break one side of the four-story con
crete fortress, police were able to reach the leftists inside the struc
ture. Police promptly began tearing down the steel tower and con
crete fortress, built on private land at the end of the new airport’s
second runway. The police attack came about 25 hours after the
firebomb-throwing radicals seized the control tower of the new air
port and smashed radar and other sensitive equipment to try and
keep the airport from opening on schedule Thursday. Premier Takeo
Fukuda appeared to have no choice but delay once again the opening
of the airport built at an estimated cost of $2.6 billion more than six
years ago. The airport has remained idle until now because of opposi
tion from farmers who lost land to the facility, leftist student activists
and environmentalists. Regarding the attack, police said 20 radicals
spent the night in an underground sewer system near the airport,
emerged through a manhole Sunday, and stormed the control tower
while police battled hundreds of other demonstrators nearby. Five of
the radicals made it to the control room gutted a communications
center along the way with a firebomb, then spent two hours smashing
every piece of equipment they could while police watched helplessly
and television cameras recorded the event with telephoto lenses. By
the time police broke into the tower through its large windows, the
radicals had little left to destroy. Thirty-four riot police and 22 radi
cals were injured in the battle.
Weather
Fair and partly cloudy and warm today. Partly cloudy and
continued warm tomorrow. High today upper 70s, low tonight
mid-50s. High tomorrow upper 70s. Winds from the south at
10-15 mph. Partly cloudy with a chance of showers on
Thursday.
The Battalion
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