Viewpoint
The Battalion Wednesday
Texas A&M University November 15, 1978
Federal budget expected to be tight
By HELEN THOMAS
UPI White House Reporter
WASHINGTON — President Carter’s
natural frugality will be in full flower as he
works on the next federal budget.
Carter sounds like a conservative Repub
lican these days when he talks about the
“very tight’ budget he is preparing to pre
sent to the new Congress in January.
The only area he has deemed untoucha
ble is in defense spending. That budget will
be bigger, and more acceptable to the Pen
tagon .
Even if a strategic arms limitation ag
reement is reached with the Soviets, and it
appears likely, there is no outlook for re
ducing the dollars spent for defense, par
ticularly in view of inflation.
Carter also has signaled that he will
propose no new programs that will involve
major federal spending, except perhaps for
a national health insurance program.
A former small town businessman, and a
farmer. Carter is following his own instincts
for keeping a tight rein on finances. “Tight
as a tick,” is the way press secretary Jody
Powell described him.
The frugality Carter instituted at the
White House when he first came into the
presidency is typical. He put a relative —
Hugh Carter Jr. — in charge of doling out
Washington Window
the felt pens, and denying limousine trans
portation to his staff. Hugh Carter became
the fall guy, and is not so lovingly dubbed
“Cousin Cheap.”
Staffers also have to pay for most of the
parties they attend at the White House.
They shell out for their own picnics on the
lawn in the summertime.
The president is given $50,000 a year for
entertainment expenses. He can pocket
what he does not spend. Last year. Carter
put out out only $1,300 of that fund and was
able to keep the remainder.
But aside from his personal penchant for
holding on to a dollar, Carter’s budget cut-
Born 50 years too soon
By DICK WEST
fluences in contemporary ski masks.
WASHINGTON — The Smithsonian
Institution has announced plans to install a
major exhibit next year to commemorate
the 100th anniversary of the invention of
the light bulb.
Upon hearing about this, I got to won
dering what sort of invention of Tom Edi
son might be working on if he were around
today.
One possible answer turned up last week
in a local newspaper. It was an item about
the opening of a fashionable T-shirt
boutique in Georgetown.
Up to now, the wellspring of T-shirt
graphics, America’s newest art form, has
been our beach resorts.
Along many boardwalks, studios that
transform skivvies into objets d art have
Humor
been giving stiff competition to junk food
emporiums and electronic ping-pong ar
cades as the premier cultural manifesta
tion.
But like suntans, T-shirts that turned
vacationers into walking graffiti had sea
sonal demarcations.
The computer printout portrait, or the
color photo of John Travolta, that embel
lished one’s bosom at the beach somehow
seemed less chic in an inland setting.
And the risque witticisms worn with
such flair upon one’s chest at the seashore
never were quite so droll when worn, say,
at a mid-winter seminar on Byzantine in-
Thus one arrived at the end of summer
with a collection of garments that had lost
much of their relevancy, propriety and
charm.
As is apparent from the advent of the
Georgetown salon, T-shirt art is now enter
ing a new era of yearround, in-town accep
tability.
Here is where the reincarnated Thomas
Edison comes in.
Were he back in the lab today, I feel
certain the “wizard of Menlo Park” would
be devoting his genius to inventing an ap
paratus that removes outdated inscriptions
and inappropriate pictorial imprints from
T-shirts.
This could prove almost as hig a blessing
as the incandescent lamp.
With a few modifications, the invention
also could be used to expunge brand names
and insignia from other personal items.
You see this stuff everywhere. Shoes,
purses, neckties, sports shirts, etc., bear
ing some kind of advertising logo.
I envision a nationwide chain of franch
ised dealers not only at schlock centers
such as boardwalks but also — yes! — at
“with it” urban communities such as
Georgetown.
Say you go out to buy a beverage cooler,
and I did recently, and the only ones you
can find are covered with replicas of beer
labels. No problem. You just take it to the
local T-shirt effacer and have it decommer
cial ized.
Don’t get me wrong. Tin not belittling
the Smithsonian’s tribute. Inventing the
light bulb was certainly nothing to sneeze
at. But where is Edison now that we really
need him?
Slouch
by Jim Earle
“WE MAY AS WELL PUT HIM TO SOME USE, OTHERWISE HIS
PRESENCE WILL BE A TOTAL LOSS!”
ting is in style, and is in line with his anti
inflation program, and the people’s tax re
volt.
Carter said that when he became presi
dent the federal deficit was over $66 bill
ion. “I have not heen in office very long yet.
But in the preparation of the next budget,
on which I am working now every week, we
wfll have cut the federal deficit and we are
going to continue to work until we have a
balanced budget for the government of the
United States.”
Even with the easing of the domestic
pressures for spending. Carter is discover
ing that peace has a price. Both Israel and
Egypt expect aid in terms of billions from
the United States.
At any rate, the bare minimum is Car
ter’s publicly known commitment to build
two new airfields for Israel to replace those
it will abandon in the Sinai. And Egypt is
reported to be seeking a U.S. sponsored
“Marshall Plan running into billions over a
five-year period.
He has declared war on waste, however,
and is pursuing the alleged corruption in
the General Services Administration and
other federal agencies, which is reported to
cost the government millions annually.
Carter also has put a freeze on federal
hiring. However, the White House staff
appears to have been bolstered in recent
months, with some of the aides put on the
payroll of other government departments,
an old game played by most presidents in
recent times.
By 1980, Carter expects to have estab
lished a record which will challenge the
Democrats “big spender” image. In doing
so, he will he following his own conser
vatism when it comes to spending, and he
believes he will he in tune with the times,
the trend in the country and the fed up
American taxpayer.
Election turnovers
signal new era
By DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON — There is an adage
(coined here this very moment) that after
every election, the country is entitled to
one week of hope.
For reasons amply discussed before vot
ing, this mid-tenn election of 1978 seemed
designed to test the faith of even the most
fervent believer in that aphorism.
But after wading conscientiously
through the election returns, the campaign
postmortems and the biographies of the
new governors and members of congress, I
am prepared to testify that indeed there
may be one hopeful and important fact
about what we have done.
We have begun the process of electing a
government for the 1980s.
Perhaps it would be more accurate to say
that that process was pushed forward by
last week’s election, because it is a continu
ation and acceleration of what began in
1974 and 1976. The American people, al
most without realizing it, have taken the
Capitol building in Washington and the
state capitols as well, turned them upside
down, snaken out a lot of tired veterans,
and replaced them with fresh young people
with new ideas and energy.
Here is what happened last week. There
were 35 Senate seats to be filled. Twenty of
them went to new people. There were 36
governorships at stake. Again, 20 were won
by non-incumbents. In the House of Rep
resentatives, with 435 members, at least 77
will be newcomers.
This kind of turnover rate is extraordi
nary, if not literally unprecedented. When
the Senate meets in January, more than
half its members will be freshmen or
sophomores, legislators who have served
there no more than six years.
The story in the House is even more
remarkable. Come January, just about half
its members will have arrived there since
1974.
The striking thing about these newcom
ers is not just their numbers but their age.
The new governors elected last week aver
age 49 years of age. The new seanators, 43;
the new members of the House, 40.
Those ages mean more if you think about
the years they were born: 1929 for the aver
age governor; 1935 for the typical senator;
1938 for the average new member of the
House.
These men and women have few if any
memories of the Great Depression. World
War II was a childhood experience for
them. The typical new senator was a first-
grader at the time of Pearl Harbor and just
ten years old when the atomic bomb was
dropped.
To them, the experiences that have
shaped American politics for the past two
generations are matters for the history
books. Their shaping experiences came in
the period from the Korean War to Water
gate. That simple fact probably tells more
about the changes that are coming to Con
gress and the state capitols than any shift in
pary ratios or supposed alteration in the
1 iberal-conservative balance.
When these newcomers face a decision
on foreign policy, they will not think of
analogies to Munich or even, necessarily,
to the San Francisco conference founding
the Unite Nations.
When a tax policy question is before
them, they will not hear the echoes of
Franklin Roosevelt, Robert Taft, or even
necessarily Hubert Humphrey.
They are creatures of a different, more
skeptical and more equivocal age. And we
must know that the government they will
give us in their first term in office — a term
which will extend into the 1980s — will he
different from what we have known gov
ernment to be in the past. To suppose
otherwise is to imagine that generations
make no difference.
But they make an incalculable differ
ence, as we will all discover in the years just
ahead.
(c)1978. The Washington Post Company
Letters to the Editor
Gay study’s facts
need qualifying
Editor;
I have taken time off from my rigorous
studies to answer a letter that simply begs
reply. It concerns the statements made in
support of homosexuality and against “To
day’s Student” made by Messrs. Valois,
Wheeler, Heemer, et al.
First, I would like to say that I find “To
day’s Student” to be a very interesting and
informative publication, which is widely
read about campus. There have been few
complaints about the paper made other
than by homosexuals and Iranians.
Secondly, I wish to qualify some of the
statements made about homosexuality by
the above students:
— “Homosexuals appear ... to be as
psychologically well-adjusted as
heterosexuals.” This just says that “gays”
are happy with the way they live. So are
nymphomaniacs, exhibitionists, and
sado-masochists.
— “Homosexual men and women tend
to have more good, close friends than do
heterosexuals ... heterosexuals are in
cluded.” This does not say how many of
their friends are heterosexual, just that
they have some that are. Most of us do.
— “Homosexuals do not indulge in sex
ual violence .. as frequently as heterosexu
als do.” It is logical that one cannot over
power a person of one’s own sex as easily as
a man can overpower a woman. Also, re
member that homosexual gang rapes are
common in our prisons.
—“Homosexual males are not as likely to
make objectional (sic) sexual advances.” I
would consider any homosexual advance to
be objectionable.
— “It is not true that a majority of
homosexuals spend a good part of their
lives cruising in search of sexual contacts.”
Does this explain why homosexuals are by
far the major spreaders of gonorrhea in this
country?
I have found that homosexuals are par
ticularly and characteristically resistant to
any thought of change in their abnormal
lifestyle, when what they need is spriual
guidance. They would rather ask to be ac
cepted as they are than to admit that they
should repent.
Homosexuals should learn to open their
minds and close their collective mouths.
— Paul A. Hughes, ’80
Editor’s note: the statements made in
that letter were in reference to a study on
homosexuality.
Cartoon unjust
Editor:
First of all I don’t care if you print this or
not. This letter concerns the cartoon by
Doug Graham Thursday, Nov. 9. That car
toon was not only in had taste but also
teetered on the edge of yellow journalism.
Mr. Graham went beyond being opinion
ated and showed what appears to be his
utmost contempt of the winning Republi
can candidates.
Agreed, Gov. Clements spent more
money than did Hill in the general elec
tion. However in a democratic state such as
ours. Republicans usually find it necessary
to buy the publicity they need instead of
the free endorsements which the mul-
tititude of Democrat-controlled newspap
ers give their candidates.
The implication that Gov. Clements
bought the election would only be plausi
ble ifwe were to assume that the majority of
Texas voters are so shallow as to be influ
enced by high power politics. After all
these are the same “shallow” voters that
have elected Democrats for more than 100
years.
Too bad Mr. Graham missed his chance
to ridicule Krueger by depicting him trying
to bribe the La Raza Unida candidate or
planting slanderous inuendos about Sen.
Tower, his wife, and daughter.
I enjoy a good political cartoon. This is
why I felt that I must write to protest this
one.
Top of the News
CAMPUS
Pig chase scheduled for Thursday
A greased pig chase will be at the Texas A&M University Animal
Pavilion Thursday at 8 p.m. The contest, sponsored by the Memorial
Student Center’s Recreation Committee, is being staged to promote
interest in Saturday’s Texas A&M-Arkansas football game. Registra
tion of competitors is being held in room 216 of the MSC. Each team
will consist of four members, and a registration fee of $4 per team will
be charged.
LOCAL
Police still looking for vandals
Bryan police are continuing the search for three youths thought to
be connected with a burglary and criminal mischief case in which
several hundred dollars worth of school materials at the Ben Milam
School, 1201 Ridgedale, were destroyed. The juveniles apparently
entered the building through a broken window and threw desk draw
ers on the floor, tore down sections of the ceiling and sprayed paint
on record players, desks and floors. Two witnesses told police they
had seen three young boys at the school at 3 p.m. Sunday.
NE
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STATE
UH editor not fired for picture
The editor of the University of Houston student newspaper has
been reprimanded for publishing a photograph of a man exposing
himself. Lori Korleski, 22, editor of The Daily Cougar, was warned
Monday not to repeat such incidents following a three-hour hearing
by the student publications committee. The panel said the picture,
taken at a street festival, reflected poor editorial judgment but did not
constitute “sufficient” grounds for dismissal. The student-faculty
committee has the power to hire and fire Daily Cougar editors.
Witness: Davis wanted 15 slain
A paranoid, vengeful T. Cullen Davis wanted 15 persons killed,
including his younger brother and two judges, David McCrary, a
friend-tumed-informant, testified Tuesday at the millionaire’s trial in
Houston.“I felt like I could handle the situation,” said McCrory. “1
didn ’t know exactly what to do, but I thought if I went along with him
I could talk him out of it or kid him out of it without anybody getting
hurt. I felt like I could handle the situation. I told him, all right, we’d
work on it.” McCrory testified he would “have the murders taken
care of’ but instead went to the FBI when he became concerned for
the safety of himself and his family.
Medical researcher fights for job
A researcher who claims he was suspended and will be fired for
speaking out against mismanagement at the University of Texas
Health Center in Tyler took his fight for his job before a hospital
committee Tuesday. The hearing originally was to be closed to the
media, but it was opened after it began at the request of Dr. EmirH.
Shuford Jr., the suspended director of clinical studies. Center
superintendent Dr. George A. Hurst at first fired Shuford outright
Sept. 7, but then agreed to give him administrative leave with pay
pending Tuesday’s hearing. Among Shuford’s charges is that Hurst’s
alleged ineffective management has cost the center a National Cancer
Institute contract to help lung-damaged workers at a now-closed
Tyler asbestos insulation plant.
NATION
Man quits CIA after violation
CIA Director Admiral Stansfield Turner has accepted the resigna
tion of a CIA specialist who acknowledged improperly passing a se
cret analysis on Soviet arms policy to a Senate opponent of the
projected SALT pact. The case of David Sullivan, 35, an honors
graduate of Harvard and a former Marine Corps captain, has upset
high administration officials because they see it as an attempt by a
disgruntled specialist to undermine Senate approval of a projected
U.S.-Soviet strategic arms limitation pact. Neither Sullivan nor
Richard Perle, the arms aide of Sen. Henry Jackson, D-Wash., to
whom Sullivan passed the report, was available for comment.
WORLD
Italian terrorists bomb and burn
Terrorists staged a wave of minor bombing and arson attacks in
central and northern Italy Tuesday in an apparent attempt to stop
police from closing in on vital terrorist bases in the south. Bombs
went off during the night outside a police station, a treasury office and
the offices of a housing project in Florence. Two unexploded bombs
were found at other places in the same city. Bombings were reported
in Pisa at a bank and a state housing agency office and at Prato against
the home of a former mayor. In Turin, police reported an arson attack
against a metal firm. There were no injuries in any of the attacks and
damage was slight.
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The Battalion
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MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor KimT!**
Managing Editor LizNe^
Assistant Managing Editor .Andy Willi3 |1,
Sports Editor David Bi#
City Editor Jamie Aitl**
Campus Editor Steve U 1
News Editors Debbie Pa® 14
Beth Calhoun
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Patterson, Scott PendleW
Sean Petty, Michelle Scuddfl
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Jr., Dillard Stone
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Photographers Ed CunnW
Lynn Blanco
Focus section editor Gary Weld
W(
Ch
En
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are
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— Timothy C. Fallon, ’79