Viewpoint
The Battalion • Texas A&M University • Wednesday • July 18, 1979
How private
is privacy?
By MARY TOBIN
United Press International
NEW YORK — Americans equate the right to privacy with the right to “life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and many are concerned with invasion of
their privacy.
A national poll recently conducted by Louis Harris & Associates, Inc., showed
that 64 percent of the American public is concerned over threats to personal
privacy. In particular, only 27 percent believe there are adequate safeguards to
protect personal information stored in computers.
President Carter has proposed legislation to reduce the masses of information
collected by federal, state and local governments and protect that already stored.
But private credit agencies, banks and the like have dossiers on millions of
Americans and horror stories of misuse and abuse of this information can be found.
“There are several reasons you should take steps to protect your privacy,” says
Richard Kovaceich, senior vice president of Citibank. “If some outside party had
access to all vour financial transactions, for example, they could know everything
about you, your political beliefs, your religion, how you spend your money —
they would have everything but an oil portrait,” Kovacevich said in an interview.
“But if the individual is concerned enough to know what laws are and are not on
the books to protect them, and business takes adequate precautions, invasion of
privacy could be made tremendously difficult and expensive.”
“Consumers should demand this protection,” he said.
Hes searching for
Mr. Goodtvrench
print.
It could be the agency conducted one of
those consumer surveys. Participants were
shown two pictures and asked, “Which
mechanic would you rather trust with your
car?”
Teevee watchers, conditioned as they
are to fantasizing about life, predictably
opted for the Hollywood type. Readers,
being more firmly rooted in reality, went
for the Joe Blow character.
If I were on a panel chosen to pick the
real Mr. Goodwrench, I would go for the
printed version myself.
I must have been in a thousand garages
in my time and I have yet to encounter a
mechanic who looked or acted anything
like the television Mr. Goodwrench.
When I drive into a repair shop and
start telling the service manager about the
ka-thumpin’ noise my car is making, the
first thing he does is ask if I have an ap
pointment.
I then confess I have neglected to make
a reservation. I tell the service manager I
dropped in off the street on the spur of the
moment on the assumption he would be
eager to hear about the ka-thumping
noise. He isn’t.
The upshot is I am given an appoint
ment for two weeks hence, but with the
understanding that if I have not presented
myself by 7 a.m. on the day in question
there is no guarantee my car will be de-
ka-thumped.
I’m not saying the print Mr. Good
wrench looks entirely real either. But at
least he appears to have grease on one
hand.
Are they friends or just tolerant?
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Will the real Mr.
Goodwrench stand up, please?
Surely there can’t be two of them — not
when there is such a world of difference
between them. One almost certainly is an
impostor.
Is the real Mr. Goodwrench the hand
some, debonair auto mechanic who smiles
wryly when a worried motorist describes
his car as going “ka-thump, ka-thump, ka-
thump,” and who saves a female customer
a bundle of dough by making a minor ad
justment when she thought her car
needed a complete tune-up?
Or is the real Mr. Goodwrench the
bald, bespeckled, middle-aged, mousy-
looking type with a passion for “summeriz-
ing” automobiles?
The former appears in television com
mercials touting a certain auto company’s
maintenance service. The latter is featured
in print media advertisements by the same
company.
Frankly, I’m not sure what to make of
the dual personification. If what we have
here is the Madison Avenue mind at work,
it looks a lot like incipient schizophrenia.
Some genius at one of the ad agencies
may have divined that motorists would
really cotton to a different sort of mechanic
than car owners who watch television.
If that be a valid premise, the distinc
tion is rarely observed with other prod
ucts. You don’t find O.J. Simpson running
through airports on television and Don
Knotts plugging the same rental cars in
Slouch by Jim Earle
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“DO WE ALL SOUND LIKE THAT?“
Saudis have oil
problems also
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
United Press International
BEIRUT, Lebanon — It’s not easy
being the world’s largest oil exporter.
The ruling family of Saudi Arabia finds
itself exposed daily to critical domestic,
regional and international pressures, all
focused on a single issue: oil production.
Saudi Arabia’s 5 million people usually
pump 8.5.million barrels of oil per day
(mbd), but have agreed to raise this to 9.5
mbd for the next three months. The West,
particularly the United States, constantly
implores the Saudis to use their 200 billion
barrels of proven oil reserves to alleviate
the current world oil shortfall and make
the gas lines disappear.
Saudi Arabia’s reaction as been ambigu
ous, sometimes sympathetic (as now, and
as during the Iranian revolution), some
times seeming arrogantly insensitive to
Western pleas, refusing to produce one
extra drop.
The ambiguity grows from Saudi
Arabia’s conflicting domestic, regional and
international interests and obligations. All
of these call for different production
policies.
It is crucial that America and the West
appreciate this minefield of conflicting
interests and obligations. Only that way
can they realistically assess Saudi Arabia’s
production intentions over the short- and
long-term and plan their own energy
policies accordingly.
Domestically, the overwhelming pres
sure on Saudi leaders is to produce less
and conserve more.
The Saudis need to pump enough oil to
finance their $142 billion, five-year de
velopment plan, begun in 1975. Foreign
investments coupled with the more than
$50 billion they will earn this year from oil
exports should easily cover these needs.
Anything beyond those needs is not
cream — it is potential waste.
Unless extra revenue can be invested
abroad at a rate of return above America’s
10 percent inflation, the Saudis will be ex
changing their irreplaceable and ap
preciating national patrimony for shrink
ing dollars.
More local pressure to cut production
would arise if Saudi Arabia decided to slow
down its rapid and occasionally wasteful
drive for industrialization.
Here again there are strong pressures to
do just this. Industrialization meane
foreign wrkers, multinationals, Westerni
zation and exchanging a traditional,
religion-based way of life for a hodgepodge
of imported values.
Regionally, Saudi Arabia’s interests and
obligations also point to limiting oil pro
duction.
Saudi Arabia is under constant pressure
to use its oil as a weapon in the Arab strug
gle with Israel. Many in the Arab World
would like to see the Saudis squeeze
America into forcing concessions out of Is
rael on the Palestinian question.
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The mystery of Byrd and Baker
By STEVE GERSTEL
United Press International
WASHINGTON — No stranger can
judge whether Robert Byrd and Howard
Baker are friends or whether the leaders of
the two political parties in the Senate just
tolerate each other out of mutual need.
The language spoken in the Senate, un
like anywhere else, is so heavily steeped in
civility and courteousness that even bitter
enemies can be taken as true friends.
Byrd, the Democrat,and Baker, the Re
publican, have been working in tandem
for more than two years now trying to keep
the Senate agenda moving with very few
signs of friction. Between them, they have
the responsibility of scheduling legislation
for floor action.
Although Byrd has the final say, he has
taken pains to include Baker in his plans
— partly out of courtesy and mostly in an
effort to preserve harmony.
In fact. Baker last week praised Byrd for
consulting and conferring with him “more
than ordinarily” as plans are mapped.
“It is different than things once were,
and I am grateful for that opportunity,”
Baker said last week. “I think it has
worked very well.”
But like all man-made systems, depen
dent on the cooperation of 100 members,
this one also sometimes breaks down.
It did so last Wednesday, a most inop
portune time. Byrd had just informed the
Senate that the sessions would be “long
and late” and there would be meetings
Saturday.
And here he was with no bill to call up
for action because every one on the calen
dar was blocked.
He offered the military construction
bill, three housing bills, authorization for
the Federal Trade Commission and the
nomination of Frank B. Reiche to the
Federal Elections Committee.
The Republicans nixed all of them.
Byrd refused to “put the onus” on
Baker, acknowledging that the GOP
leader was acting on behalf of his troops.
“But somebody is going to have to help
us both so we can get on with the work of
the Senate,” Byrd said.
“But my problem is, and the minority
leader’s problem is, what are we going to
do today,” Byrd said.
“So, I ask the question,” he added.
“Does anyone have the answer? I have
named the candidates.”
Feeling that Byrd had become a little
partisan. Baker rallied and offered as pos
sibilities 10 bills which he said the major
ity leader was holding at the request of
Democrats.
“Not with respect to trouble with mem
bers on my side,” Byrd said.
But he conceded the bills were being
blocked by jurisdictional disputes, the
need for budget waivers, the desire for in
itial action by the House, and efforts to
work out mutually amicable solutions to
some problems.
“I have no problems on my side,” Byrd
said. “I very seldom do have a problem on
my side. My senators are ready to go.”
Then he outlined why the Senate could
not take up any of the 10 bills offered by
Baker.
After an hour of discussions, always un
failingly polite and courteous, the Senate
was no closer to working on legislation.
At that point. Baker said he had to leave
to join a celebration on his grandmother’s
100th birthday.
Byrd told Baker to make sure to “convey
my best wishes to the grandmother of this
fine senator.”
“I know she treasures in her heart the
thought of Howard Baker as being one
who has for his family, and for his friends
and for his constituents, distinguished
himself in a great way,” Byrd said.
Then Baker departed for the birthday
party in Tennessee, leaving behind an un
happy Byrd with nothing to do.
Top of the News
STATE
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San Antonio to commemorate
Flag-raising ceremonies at military bases and veteran posts in San
Antonio Wednesday will commemorate POW-MIA Recognition Day
in a city with one of the nation’s largest populations of servicemen and
military retirees. An estimated 200 former POWs live in the San
antonio area and some are expected to attend ceremonies at Randolph,
Lackland, Kelly and Brooks Air Force bases, Audie Murphy Veterans
Administration Hospital and at Fort Sam Houston. President Carter
proclaimed POW-MIA Recognition Day to honor the estimated
142,227 POWs and 92,761 MIAs from the two world wars and the
conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, an honor some veterans said was long
overdue.
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The Senate Tuesday easily defeated a proposed six-month
moratorium on construction permits for new nuclear power plants,
then killed a move to let states veto burial of atomic wastes within their
borders. The actions cleared the way for final passage of the Nudear
Regulatory Commission fiscal 1980 authorization — normally routine
but this year the vehicle for attempts to strengthen atomic safety
standards as a result of the Three Mile Island accident in March.
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UAW opens talks with Ford
The United Auto Workers Union opened contract talks with Ford
Motor Co. in Detroit on schedule Tuesday and with none of the
acrimony that marked the inaugural bargaining session at General
Motors. UAW President Douglas Fraser and chief Ford negotiator
Sidney F. McKenna exchanged friendly handshakes, then sat down to
discuss the union’s demands for more money, a shorter work week and
increased pension benefits for retired workers. Contracts for the
750,000 U.S. workers at GM, Ford and Chrysler Corp. expire at
midnight. Sept. 14. Talks at Chrysler begin Wednesday. Fraser indi
cated Monday that the UAW will not be cowed by recession and
slumping car sales in fighting for its demands. The union’s opening
session with GM, the company many industry observers think will be
the union’s strike target this year, was marked by an angry exchange
with top company officials over alleged interference in union organiz
ing efforts at a new Chevrolet plant in the South.
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Cheyenne residents return home
Residents of tornado-ravaged neighborhoods in Cheyenne, Wyo.
were allowed to return to their homes Tuesday and officials awaited
action on a request to have Cheyenne declared a federal disaster area
from the mid-afternoon twister that kiled an infant and smashed more
than 200 houses and a school. National Guard troops and helicopters
patrolled the three hard-hit areas during the night for looters. Eight
persons were hospitalized and the city’s two hospitals reported treat
ing 56 persons. If declared a federal disaster, residents affected by the
tornado could be eligible for low cost loans and other aid.
Boy sues dad, sis for $4.9 million
An 11-year-old Milwaukee boy injured in a traffic accident two years
ago has received an out-of-court settlement of $4.9 million in a suit
against his sister, father and three insurance companies.The settle
ment, approved Monday, calls for payment of $4.3 million to Todd
Leaverton of Hartford over a 60-year period. In addition, his mother
— who will care for him — gets an immediate $64,308, plus $12,500a
year for eight years. The boy suffered brain damage, loss of visual acuity
in both eyes, some hearing loss and function loss of his left arm. He
remained unconscious for seven weeks after the accident and was
hospitaized for four months. He was injured Aug. 14, 1977, when his
father’s car, driver by his sister, crossed the center line of Wisconsin 60
near Hartford and collided with another car. He was riding in the front
seat of the car. The settlement is believed to be the largest of its kind in
Wisconsin history.
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WORLD
Iraq leader steps down for “health”
The leadership of Iraq changed hands in a stunning television spec
tacular. But for all the drama, little or no change was expected in
Baghdad’s hard-line stand against the United States and the
Egyptian-Israeli peace. Ahmad Hassan Al Bakr, 65, stepped before the
cameras Monday night to announce he was resigning as Iraq’s presi
dent “for health reasons” and that strongman Gen. Sadam Hussein was
taking his place. The ruling Revolutionary Command Council an
nounced immediately that Hussein, 42, a tall, elegant champion of
Iraqi Baath Socialist Party infighting, will move into all of Bakr’s
positions — the presidency, the council chairmanship, the premier
ship and the Baath Party secretary generalship.
^ ^
The Battalion
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