Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Thursday
June 8, 1978
Time for energy compromise
The compromise bill worked out on the future of natural gas in this coun-
tiy is no “victory” for President Carter, nor for the gas industry, nor for the
anti-industry consumerists.
But it is, to paraphrase Lyndon Johnson, the only bill we’ve got. It is
demonstrably the only chance we’ll have this year, perhaps for many years to
come, to solve a problem this nation simply must address.
Granted, the bill’s “solution” is imperfect. Granted, it is a compromise
which thoroughly pleases no one. But what else did one expect?
There’ll be a lot of regulatory headaches between now and 1985. Tempo
rary controls on gas produced and sold within the same state. Thorny in
terpretations of what is “new” gas. Legislative language must yet be drafted
to cover some veiy intricate details of the gas producing and distribution
business.
Many Republicans and free marketeers will decry these continued and
expanded regulations and vote against the bill. Many Democrats and market
regulators will rant about ripoffs and rape of the consumer and vote against
the bill. This unlikely coalition could unhinge the compromise.
That, we submit, would be a disaster. The bill is not perfect, but it at least
would achieve eventual deregulation. It is the only measure yet seriously
considered by Congress that recognizes the profound truth that there are no
painless answers to the country’s energy shortage.
To let the bill die amid the bickering of ideologues of the right and left
would mean more years of confusion and uncertainty in the energy market,
more years of useless recrimination and a deeper and deeper dependence on
energy imports.
If the compromise bill is drafted faithfully according to the principles
agreed upon it should become law. The United States cannot afford the
alternative.
The Birmingham (Ala.) PostHerald
Mutiny stirring on Carter s ship?
By DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON — Whatever it reveals
about the deteriorating state of U.S.-
Soviet relations, last week s presidential
outburst against the reported “freeze” on
the strategic arms (SALT) talks speaks vol
umes about the heightening tensions
within the Carter administration’s foreign
policy and national security bureaucracy.
When Jimmy Carter cracked down on
the Washington Post’s report that adminis
tration decisions had “efiectively frozen
the SALT talks, at least through summer,
the newspaper was only the immediate ob
ject of his anger.
The strong presidential statement was
also aimed at those inside his own official
family who had challenged his authority
and credibility by giving the Post re
porters the information from which they
wrote.
AS IS HIS CUSTOM when his credibil
ity is challenged by anyone, Carter re
sponded by saying the criticsm was “abso
lutely untrue.”
But that is not accurate. As Jody Powell,
the President’s press secretary, said: “I’m
not questioning the fact that the story was
based on people saying what they said.
“But, Powell continued,” you’ve got to
be careffiL..not to confuse tough negotiat
ing, which has been going on all along,
with some sort of decision to freeze or to
slow down or to run in place for to mark
time, because of extraneous factors. That
is the crux of the matter.
That is correct, I think. And what is at
issue between the President and the Post
is how correctly those matters were inter
preted, not by the reporters but by offi
cials high in Carter’s own administration.
I do not know the sources my colleagues
Walter Pincus and Robert G. Kaiser used
in reporting on the arms talks.
But I do know that when the Post pub
lishes such a story, in the face of a strong
presidential denial (carried high in the first
story), the editors and reporters involved
must be convinced of the credentials of the
“authoritative government sources” whose
views are quoted.
THAT MEANS ONE of two things.
Either the President failed to communi
cate to those officials what his tactics are in
the arms talks, or they are convinced that
those tactics will not produce the results
the President says he wants.
My guess is that both factors are in
volved here. It is always hard to keep all
the players cued in on developments in a
continuing negotiation. And that is partic
ularly difficult when the President is jug
gling a heavy agenda, when the national se
curity adviser is fresh back from Peking,
and when the secretary of state is commut
ing to the United Nations.
But the reasons why Carter’s own
lieutenants dissent from his handling of
the arms talks tactics go beyond that.
Some of them fear that he is being manipu
lated by National Security Adviser Zbig
niew Brzezinski, whose penchant for using
provocative tactics with the Russians has
been evident — they think — from the
beginning of the administration.
Others believe that domestic political
advisers are mistakenly, in their view,
pressing Carter to take a “hard line” with
the Russians in order to combat his reputa
tion as a weak leader in domestic affairs.
There is a certain surface plausibility to
both theories. Brzezinski’s public state-
ments on SALT, plus his well-advertised
disposition to “shake up the old men in
the Politboro, make him a logical target for
those who disagree with the tactics.
FOR A PRESIDENT who must bite his
tongue in frustration when labor leaders,
Congress and the consumer price index
defy his wishes, the temptation to take it
out on the Russians must seem great.
But these interpretations overlook one
important fact. Jimmy Carter has a
passionate, personal commitment to re
duce the threat of nuclear war on this
globe. No one who knows him can se
riously doubt that is one of the deepest
desires that drove him to pursue his presi
dency.
The sooner the President can make that
goal clear again, the faster he can ease the
doubts that are undermining his position
within his own administration.
(c) I97H, The Washington Tost Co.
‘A singularly joyless people 9
Glimpses of Cambodian no man’s land
By JOAN HANAUER
UPI Television Writer
NEW YORK — Cambodia is undergo
ing the ultimate revolution and while it
has a few admirers, to most observers it is
repressive perhaps to the point of what
one observer calls auto-genocide.
The CBS News Special: “Whafs Hap
pened to Cambodia?” which went on the
air Wednesday highlights both the major
aspects of the revolution and the main dif
ficulty with accurately gauging it. An
chorman Ed Bradley ticks off the cities
from Belgrade to Bangkok that the net
work news teams roamed in putting to
gether the documentary.
He is forced to add the one place CBS
was unable to go was Cambodia.
Denied access to Cambodia, or Demo
cratic Kampuchea, as the Communists
who took over three years ago prefer to
call it, the network interviewed experts —
including those first-hand observers, the
Cambodians in Thailand refugee camps.
It also shows excerpts from a film taken
by a Yugoslav television crew this spring
and those are among the most fascinating
aspects of the program.
They show street scenes in Phnom
Pehnh — scenes of empty streets, uninha
bited houses, deserted shops. Where are
the people?
They have been sent to cooperatives, to
building sites, to wherever the secretive
rulers of their country believe they are
needed in a land that has foresworn
money, salaries and such other luxuries as
postal service.
The Yugoslav film shows the Cambo
dians as a singularly joyless people.
Perhaps they are sullen, perhaps they re
flect a seriousness of purpose. Form your
own judgments.
But it is difficult to retain objectivity
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when you hear a small Cambodian boy in a
refugee camp talk about the execution of
his family — and watch him wipe away his
tears as he talks of revenge.
An Australian author and journalist
based in Hong Kong estimates that be
tween 1.8 million and 2.2 million Cambo
dians have died since 1975 as a conse-
quence of Cambodian policies, including
execution. He calls it “autogenocide,
where one race kills half or even more
than half of its own race. ”
Another Cambodia-watcher believes
the present Cambodian government wants
to kill everyone who worked for the previ
ous administration — all the soldiers, offi
cials, teachers, engineers, everybody.
Summing up, Bradley says, “There is no
longer even a vestige of urban society in
Cambodia; no longer a conventionally
educated class; no longer even the kind of
civilization there is in any other Com
munist country — no money, no private
dwellings, you can’t shop for food or
clothes. We know there has been, and al
most certainly still is, great hardship and
many, many deaths.”
The CBS picture of Cambodia is not
pretty and admittedly may not even be to
tally accurate. But it is thought-provoking
and frightening.
Not all college politics is dull
By HARRIET LEEDS
United Press International
MADISON, Wis. — The standard in
troduction line for the newly elected pres
ident and vice president of the University
of Wisconsin Student Association is “send
in the clowns.”
As candidates, James Mallon and Leon
Varjian promised to convert the student
government’s $70,000 budget into pen
nies, dump it on the library mall and let
students attack the pile with pails and
shovels.
Their burlesque campaign of daily ral
lies on the mall attracted hundreds of
people and captured the interest of stu
dent voters. The two received 1,510 votes
out of 4,529 cast — the largest turnout in
five years and a near-record for the
39,000-member student body.
Members of the “Pail and Shovel Party”
also won all of the 1979 senior class officer
seats, rounded up five student Senate
spots and won posts on the boards of the
student newspaper and yearbook.
Among the zany campaign pledges
were:
—Buying the Statue of Liberty and
moving it to Madison’s Lake Mendota.
—Ordering all campus clocks to run
backward so classes would be over before
they could begin.
— Putting dormitories on wheels so
they could be moved to a different part of
the campus each morning to provide stu
dents with a new perspective.
—Periodic flooding of Camp Randall
Stadium for mock naval battles.
“The students felt we had the best cam
paign platform,” Varjian said. “We built it
in front of them on the mall with 1,000
popsicle sticks.”
Mallon and Varjian said they bought the
election fair and square — and it cost them
$35 million in play money distributed at
campaign rallies to do it.
But not everyone is pleased with the
election results.
Some students fear the antics of the Pail
and Shovelers will jeopardize the WSA
budget, on-going projects and the credibil
ity of student government with university
and state officials.
Paul Rusk, former WSA president, said
he and many others were upset at the
prospect of the damage the “two profes
sional clowns could do.
“To give a year of my life for WSA and
then have something like this happen is
the ultimate insult, Rusk said.
Both Mallon and Varjian insist they are
motivated solely by greed.
T felt there was a lot more WSA could
offer me — payoffs, kickbacks, stationery
allotments,” Varjian said.
Mallon, 22, a communication arts
major, describes himself as a “modern
philosopher king, ” but a rookie in campus
politics.
“I’m in it for as much as I can get.
Wherever the money’s the best, I ll be
there. After this. I’m going to sell my
memoirs for $25 a crack. Just think, if I get
four people to buy. I’ll have $100.”
Writing the editor
The Battalion welcomes letters to
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verification. Names will be withheld
on request.
FEEM
by Doug Graham
jL
Top of the News
Prizes
State
By
Jordan accepts professorship Brined w
Rep. Barbara Jordan, D-Texas, who retires from Congress at tk
leading off of her current term, has accepted a professorship at
University of Texas’ Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. He
UT Board of Regents Friday is expected to formally establish the an
post for Ms. Jordan to teach intergovernmental relations and ethics.
The position will pay $38,(XX) a year for five years beginning ii
January.
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Briscoe invests $2.9 million llJe Vp
ieir indivi
Governor Dolph Briscoe invested $2.9 million in his unsuccessful 0 rjudging
try for re-election, according to his campaign expense report to tic tion, said
secretary of state. Loans co-signed by political backers were a lar^grieultura
chuck of his total expenditures — $1,996,(XX). The report showdjncl youth
$112,500 of the loans were repaid, which means Briscoe supporten i
are $983,500 in debt. Jibbons,
were give
Gay conference in Dallas femonstn
^ Bvement
I he Fifth Texas Cay Conference lias been scheduled lor the Roy f®” 11 t(1 '
Coach Inn in Dallas next Saturday and Sunday, according to tic s P e£
organization’s publicity chairperson Brian Halliday. "EducationBe-F” 686 1
fore Legislation will be theme of the conference which will incluJc F m em
workshops on aspects of homosexual lifestyles for men and women |? y ear
and how they apply to the human rights issue. Blether i
aining a
bok. Geo
Nation
Wallace may run for term
icultural
■cialist,
Thirty-s
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>f the cm
Gov. George C. Wallace is seriously considering running for the
late Sen. James B. Allen s unexpired Senate term, a press aide said
Wednesday. Wallace announced May 16 that he was pullingoutof
the Senate race to succeed retiring Sen. John J. Sparkman, sayinghe
did not want to move to Washington, D.C. But Camp said Wallace
began reassessing his political future after Allen died last Thursday
ware as
work oi
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Disco outlawed in Henryetta
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Disco dancing may be the rage nationwide, but the law won tallow
it in Henryetta, Okla. Or any dancing for that matter. City Manager
Chester Simons said Henryetta s law declares, “No person or organi
zation can conduct a public dance in the city, period.”
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Srafts
Flynt accuses FBI, CIA
Hustler magazine owner Larry Flynt believes be was shot by either
the FBI or the Central Intellegence Agency. Phil Donahue, hostofa
television talk show, asked Flynt why he believes it was one of the
two federal agencies that shot him. “Why did they shoot (Dr. Martin
Luther) King?” Flynt asked in reply.
Floods sweep South
Residents of states from Arizona to Louisiana are poised for flood-
waters from torrential rains that swept the South to the Atlantic
Coast. Flash flood warnings were posted in parts of Lea County in
southea.s'tern Arizona. FlasJr flood sLaSIchc% wfcre up fbpimany sOctp!
of Texas and also in northern and >ves,tern Louisiana,'southern wla-
* homa and Arkansas.
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Jury deliberates Hughes case op
Eight Nevada jurors began deliberations Wednesday to decide if
Howard Hughes wrote a will elevating a Utah service station atten-j
dant to an overnight millionaire. Lawyers talked 10 full days to sum
marize and refute evidence in the trial, possibly the richest and i
longest jury probate case in the country, that began seven months]
ago.
World
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Bockslide buries sunbathers
Part of a mountainside slid down on a crowded bathing beach today
at Ischia, Italy, a popular resort island off the Naples coast, Inrryinga
number of bathers under tons of boulders and soil. Police said initial
efforts to uncover the victims showed at least four persons dead and
another three injured.
Pope blasts abortion
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Pope Paul VI said Wednesday that Italy’s new law legalizing abor
tion is a “serious offense against the law of God,’’ and all Roman
Catholics should oppose it. The pope also commended a statement by
his Vicar of Rome, Cardinal Ugo Poletti, that Roman Catholic doctors
performing abortions face excommunication from the church.
Mexico, U.S. to battle pollution
Mexico and the United States agreed Wednesday on a joint pro
gram to fight environmental pollution, with emphasis on contamina
tion along their 2,000 mile border. The program was set up under a
memorandum of understanding signed by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency and the Mexican Subsecretariat for
Environmental Improvement.
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Weather
Partly cloudy with little change in temperatures. High today
upper 80s, low tonight mid-60s. High tomorrow upper 80s.
Winds variable at 5-10 mph. Slight chance of widely scattered
thunder showers decreasing to less than 20% later today.
The Rattalion
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Represented nationally by National Educational Adver
tising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los
Angeles.
Editor Debit)-
Sports Editor David M
News Editor Lee Roy LexV
City Editor Gary" 1
Campus Editor Flavia^
Photo Editor
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