Slouch
by Jim Earle
£A«J- E
“Since I wear so many boy s clothes, l thought it might
clarify that Vm a girl.”
Opinion
Mexico should pay
A Mexican ambassador has said that his government will
not pay for damages to Texas beaches caused by Ixtoc I.
“It was just an unfortunate accident,” he said.
So far, Mexico has refosed to even discuss paying the
damage.
If the tables were turned, and American oil had spilled
onto Mexican beaches, Uncle Sam would have already
made arrangements to pay for damages — and clean the
mess on the beaches.
Before Skylab ever fell, the U.S. government said it
would be responsible for any damage caused. The rest of
the world expects this.
If we had said Skylab was an “unfortunate accident, ” the
world would have protested and cried “imperialist. ”
How can Mexico expect the United States to overlook
the chocolate-brown muck on our beaches? Or the hun
dreds of thousands of dollars spent cleaning it up? Or the
50 percent loss in tourist dollars?
We are used to being the big brother of the world —
spending billions on foreigh aid and rebuilding Aur
enemies’countries after wars. -
But we shouldn’t have to absorb the cost of the Mexican
oil spill.
Mark White, Texas attorney general, has said he will file
suit against Mexico for damages. He said there was “appar
ently a great deal of mismanagement” involved in the well
blowout. Already, damage suits totaling $355 million have
been filed against PEMEX (the Mexican oil monopoly) and
SEDCO (the drilling firm).
Gov. Bill Clements —who made millions from SEDCO
— has refused to demand that Mexico pay. (Clements’ son
now runs SEDCO.) He has also refused to place any re
sponsibility on SEDCO or the Mexican government.
If Clements had no connection with SEDCO, it is prob
able his reaction would be different. And the state’s ap
proach to the problem would be unified and strenghtened.
It may have been an accident, yes. But the United States
was willing to pay for its accident with Skylab, and Mexico
and SEDCO should accept the same responsibility.
the small society
by Brickman
IN LIF&?
Washington Star Syndicate. Inc.
9-27
The Battalion
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MEMBER
Texas Press Association
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Editor Liz Newlin
Managing Editor Andy Williams
Asst. Managing Editor Dillard
Stone
News Editors . .Karen Cornelison and
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Sports Editor Sean Petty
City Editor Roy Bragg
Campus Editor . . Keith Taylor
Focus Editors Beth Calhoun and
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Staff Writers Meril Edwards,
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Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Thursday
September 27, 1979
ww
Broder
Hayden-Fonda duo tap emotional circuit
by linking campaign to anti nuclear issw
m
By DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON — Tom Hayden entered
the 1970s urging students to form what he
called “a disciplined revolutionary party.”
He ends the 1970s as co-star with his wife,
Jane Fonda, on a national tour promoting
semi-socialist schemes through the use of
the mass media that his coiporate enemies
use to peddle their new-model cars.
That many say something about the in
vincible tendency of the hard-sell element
in American culture to engulf even its
most strident critics. But it also raises
some pertinent questions about the
character and condition of what passes for
the Left in American politics.
Hayden and Fonda are making a five-
week trek through 15 states which will be
the site of important 1980 presidential
primary and caucus battles. Their stated
purpose is to raise the issues of nuclear
power and corporate influence on which
they think the presidential candidates
should be tested next year.
Some of their colleagues in the New
Left see them more as outriders for the
slow-starting presidential campaign of
their friend and patron, California Gov.
Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. (D). But that
probably misjudges the extent to which
Hayden and Fonda believe that they
themselves are the custodians of the long
term furture of a radical alternative to the
present power configuration in America.
Hayden is a founder of the Students for
a Democratic Society (SDS) in the early
sixties and an organizer of countless anti-
Vietnam demonstrations. He and his
actress-activist wife are about the only
people to the left of Ted Kennedy and
Ralph Nader in American politics with a
knack for generating publicity.
While their rallies are scheduled in col
lege auditoriums and occasional union
halls, their real audience will be provided
by the television cameras of Meet the
Press, Good Morning America, The
Donahue Show and countless local talk-
show. Only in America would the corpo
rate sponsors of commercial network pro
grams provide such a convenient soapbox
for the people who are trying to put them
out of business.
The success that Hayden and Fonda
have had in attracting publicity convinces
many of the less glamorous workers in the
quarrelsome organizations of the Left that
the two are either sell-outs or self
promoters or both. The comments a re
porter hears from the people in the activist
network about this tour range from the
snide to the scatological.
But Hayden, throughout his career, has
shown a genius for exploiting the seeming
strength of his chosen antagonists. He did
it with the cops in Mississippi and
Chicago, in his civil-rights and anti-war
days, and he did it with John Tunney, the
ex-senator, in Hayden’s first political cam
paign. He knows how to provoke the kind
of reaction that draws a crowd, and having
Fonda as a co-star does not hurt the box
office a bit.
Their basic economic plank is one which
never has excited much in the way of mass
support in America — a proposal for
worker and consumer representation in
the management and on the boards of the
big corporations.
But the Hayden-Fonda duo have tapped
into a live circuit of emotion by linking
their campaign against the corporations to
a call for abandonment of nuclear power in
favor of a conservation and solar-energy al
ternative.
They are making no mistake when they
hold their kickoff press conference near
the Three Mile Island plant. The fear of a
nuclear accident — as dramatized in Fon
da’s recent film — fuels more political tires
than any of their economic theories.
Hayden, who has been looking for a
worker-student radical alliance for almost
• Butll, ;V
20 years now, puts great stock in lit
that he and Fonday have beeninvjj
speak their piece to some hospitalm
and auto workers along the way.
is still far from a mass movement.
In California — where I
supplied some patronage, and
tion victories have gained some atta
— the Hayden-Fonda organization)!]
Campaign for Economic Democraq)
manage to attract only 7,500 dues-pj
members, by Hayden’s own accouat.
Nonetheless, he claims this moi
tour could help create an anti-coijj
movement for the 1980s. It woali
comparable to abolitionism in the!8|
trade unionism in the 1920s — acaiisj
waiting for a President to recognia
force and certify its legitimacy.
The abolitionists and the trade unit;
had to make their mark without the It)
television and a full-blown pukli
machine. “I don’t see,” Hayden said,!
we are risking a failure.”
If he is right, this may be thefintn
lution which has to Like a coiMi
bread for a message from its corp
sponsors.
(c) 1979, The Washington
Post Company
Window
Hard-campaigning First Lady Rosalym
called ‘closet adviser and full partner
tarts
Malon Southe
Monday as as
University Pn
Slier.
Southerland, 37,
kM graduate who
student-oriente
ining the univers
irrently serves
Kiperative educati
rector of career
acement.
“Mr. Southerla
rated outstanding
administrator in
[nments which he
Texas A&M, M
rowledge of the
mt services and
ams will be invah
Southerland, wh
^graduate degree
id subsequently a
educational
ined the Texas Ak
sirs of active duty
ie Army.
He initially serve
the Military Scie
,d then moved int
stant to the dean
sistant to the vie
udent services,
imed coordinator
acement service:
ter was promotec
dor of career
acement. He ass
Regist
By HELEN THOMAS
United Press International
Rosalynn Carter is taking the lead in seeking her husband’s
WASHINGTON
re-election.
The first lady is out in front like no other predecessor in recent times, stumping
for the president and leaving no doubt that he will run for another term.
She has become the top fund raiser for the Carter-Mondale Committee, raking
in $850,000 in appearances so far. She also has been in demand as a booster for
other Democratic candidates, so much so that last week Carter threatened mem
bers of Congress “not to send my wife” to help in their districts unless they
showed more cooperation in supporting administration bills.
Mrs. Carter won her spurs as a campaigner when she was on the road for two
years seeking votes for her husband’s first presidential race.
When the election was won, she moved into the White House and at first
appeared somewhat shy and reserved. She took a back seat and quietly began to
lay the groundwork for dedication to projects to help the mentally afflicted and the
forgotten elderly.
Complaints from her side of the White House began to be heard often, and loud
; J and£lear. She argued that her projects were “not sexy” enough to warrant good
press coverage or the kind of aroused public she was seeking. She has diligently
worked for a comprehensive mental health bill which could be a landmark in that
area.
To point up her influence on affairs of state, Mrs. Carter began having weekly
luncheons in the Oval Office with her husband. Although many appointments
Carter has are private and kept secret, lunches with Mrs. Carter are always on the
appointment schedule.
Her power in the White House has been steadily growing. She was at Camp
David throughout the deliberations on the Israeli-Egyptian peace accords. She
re
; other lir! hi
also sat in on nearly every session during the 12-day “Domestic Summit so)
searching deliberations by the president after which he purged his Cabinet
took a new stance of demanding total loyalty from his top aides.
Carter and his aides portray Mrs. Carter as his “closest adviser.”
When Carter abruptly canceled his energy speech and there were rumors
the president’s health may be involved, it was Mrs. Carter who took totheroi:
for four days after the Domestic Summit, adopting one litany, saying, “He
happy. He’s healthy. He’s confident about the future and so am I.”
The Washington cocktail circuit likes to say “she’s running the country.”
Actually, Mrs. Carter is not making war-and-peace decisions, but herhusW
does appear to consider her a full partner.
No one doubts that Mrs. Carter wants her husband to run, and to stay in
race till the end. She is a fighter and she has her dander up. Whereas
ladies may have had some doubts about whether they really wanted to live in
White House, Mrs. Carter has none.
When Kennedy first began to indicate in strong ways that he plans to seektli
presidency, it was Mrs. Carter who took on the role of “point woman, feii
asserting that her husband would win another term.
Wen she was asked whether she thought the president would win the Soutli
the next election, she looked defiant. “The South,” she said, “the whole counth
She has spent much of September on the road, making political appeafaffl
Her speeches are beginning to dwell on the president’s “record of accompM
ment.”
“It doesn’t matter what Kennedy does,” she said repeatedly, it is what'Jimni)
is doing for the country.
On her return to the White House from her southern swing, Mrs, Cartel
appeared happy, upbeat and rarin’ to go again. She felt that she hadwonalotd
votes for her husband which is her aim in life today.
for Fr
By CIND
Battalion
Registration for
lasses will be tod
Memorial Stir
oon to 6 p.m.
The Free Unix
ffers classes, sue
ine tasting, for s
ie classes are ju:
. credit is g
Christi Patton,
Tee University
registration ■
the first hou
rpular classes fill
no advance reg
t}f rersity <
.sli that
poi
Congressmen won t admit wanting to raise own pa
Even for a Congress accustomed to par
liamentary sleight-of-hand, it was a sneaky
scheme. House members, fearful of out
raging their constituents by voting them
selves a pay increase, tried an end run. On
a non-recorded voice vote, they approved
a $4,025 annual pay increase for the mem
bers of Congress. Yet when opponents
forced a rollcall vote — lo! — the worm
had turned, and the pay-raise proposal was
narrowly defeated.
How readily doth the harsh, glare of pub
licity compel politicians to change their
ways. Barely an hour before the first non-
recorded vote was taken, more than 400 of
the 435 House members had stood in the
chamber for their official House photo
graph. With the pay-raise issue coming up
for a vote, the place suddenly thinned out.
The standing vote was 156 for the pay in
crease, 54 against.
Members began to think how such a
vote would look back home. With the fed
eral budget deficit already at more than
$30 billion, with most families squeezed
by climbing taxes and prices (and none too
disposed to think well of Congress in any
event), a fat pay raise was the last)
Congress needed. As New Jerseys
Republican Rep. Millicent Fenwicl
served tartly: “We re not being la
with the people. We justify the contr
that the American people have for
Congress.”
Providence (R.I.) Journal-Bulletin
Letters
How can a school with military emphasis
engage a former draft-dodger to speak?
Cou
Editor:
This is specifically addressed to member
of MSC Black Awareness and Great Is-
How could you possess the audacity to
invite a former draft evader to speak on
“world peace” at a university which places
a heavy emphasis on cherishing the
memories of all the old Ags which DID
serve and DID die for their country?
— Kenzy Hallmark, ’81
Tired of Fonda
Editor:
Jane Fonda strikes again!
First she raved about how the North
Vietnamese Communists did not torture
American P. O. W.s thus branding as liars
hundreds of P.O.W.s who returned to
contradict her. Then she raved about
human rights in the U.S. while overlook
ing the mass genocide practiced by her
comrades in Vietnam, Cambodia, and
Laos. And now she and her husband, Tom
Hayden, are starting a tour of fifty U.S.
cities and colleges this fall. She will re
ceive student fee honorariums for speak
ing on “Economic Democracy: Priorities
for the 1980’s,” a subject she is not qual
ified to address. She’s a college dropout
with no training at all in economics.
“I would think that if you understood
what Communism was, you would hope,
you would pray on your knees that we
would someday become Communists.” —
Jane Fonda, Michigan State University. Is
this the kind of philosophy any student
fees anywhere should promote?
I don’t know about most Aggies, but I
am tired of the “idealistic dissidents” like
Jane Fonda who leave their estates to rant
and rave about how repressive America is
and who support every extremist cause
from the People’s Temple cult to the San-
dinista terrorists.
“The Church that I relate to most is
called the People’s Temple (which
provides) a sense of what life should be
about.” — Jane Fonda 1977. (They had
such a fine sense of what life should be
about that they committed mass suicide.)
I think it is time Aggies and all Ameri
cans reaffirm our committments to the free
enterprise system, reduced government
involvement in our lives and increased
freedom to keep and spend what we earn
so that our market economy can continue
to give us the best standard of living ever
known to man.
To spend or sleep?
Top
R.
R.
Thi
Editor:
— FLASH —
The Ho-hum frustration of school has
begun to take its toll. Bag monsters are
preparing for a frightfully busy season of
bagging poor “innocent” students into
their cumbersome sleep. They have also
bought an extra shipment of bags for under
the eye insertion — in order to mark their
next victims.
— Lilli K. Dollinger, ’81
President, TAMU Young Americans
for Freedom
To combat this, grocery stores have
stocked up on Vivarin, No Doze, coffee,
tea, ... and in their cruel and unending
quest to maximize profits, have upped the
price of it all.
Students are caught between the coil
protection and the degradation of sub
sion to sleep. The pain continues
dents sit nervously in class watching J
wondering what their innocent - 4.
browed professors will say and do.
Then it’s oft' to the bookstore where!
musing misers have shamelessly prin
the student’s “tools for a better edn
tion.”
Ah : — but wait a minute — this hasl#
but a dream. Do we students not live in
artificial world? We have no real ref
sibilities or worries. Oh! What an easy
we lead! We need only to make strait!
A’s to get off scho pro — to pacify m*
and dad and personal satisfaction.
College — so easy and oh so trite
but, oh so true?!?
—Michelle Gam.
Thotz
by Doug Grahm
C*'
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