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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1979)
A I g< ; : \\ ar lej g' a ' 1 Slouch by Jim Earle GIVE A BOTTLE 0 ' / 70 OF BLOOD FOR AN AGGIE Mi>C RM 212 OMEQA OMEGA £A*LB o^TS'79 “You re just gonna stick that thing in my arm without put ting me to sleep first?” Opinion Gentle John Paul A kind and gentle man has dominated the headlines and national newscasts lately. John Paul II charmed American on his tour last week, spreading his message, the ancient message, of loving one another. Some are predicting a religious revival for all denomina tions, not just Roman Catholics, after his historic trip. We re not so sure about that, but it was refreshing to see something other than SALT or the Russians in headlines. Finer mesh needed What is like a sieve with so many tears in the mesh that it is almost beyond repair? The General Services Administration. Maybe, instead of trying to mend this sieve, the time has come to throw it out and get a new one. The scandal-plagued federal purchasing agency is still losing millions of taxpayers’ dollars to fraud, waste and needless overpayments, ac cording to testimony during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Among examples cited by committee investigators was a check for $95,256 mailed out to a non-existent firm; the incorrect billing of a company for $657,914 instead of $1,657,914; the expenditure of $2.5 million for a building design that eventually was discarded. It appears that fraud, corruption, waste and mismanagement have so corroded the fabric of the GSA that it may be beyond salvation. Certainly the time has come for a general housecleaning, if not for establishing an entirely new government purchasing agency, one with a much finer mesh. Portland, Maine, Press Herald the small society by Brickman \\oo & \*S THAT 0F AWe WHE*l Y&D TELL FB&rLE YOWZ-E A Washington Star Syndicata, Inc /&-& The Battalion USPS 045 360 LETTERS POLICY MEMBER Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are Texas Press Association subject to being cut to that length or less if longer. The Southwest Journalism Congress editorial staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does J jry not guarantee to publish any letter. Each letter must be * ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I a j \x7*ii signed, show the address of the writer and list a telephone Managing Editor Andy Williams number for verification. Asst. Managing Editor .Dillard Address correspondence to Letters to the Editor, The Stonf* Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building, College t-* 1 • -rr ^ i* i station, Texas 77843. News Editors . .Karen Gornelison and Represented nationally by National Educational Adver- Michelle Burrowes tising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los Sports Editor Sean Petty An8ele!i City Editor Roy Bragg _ „ , Campus Editor Keith Taylor The Battalion is published Monday through Friday from r-. t-« j •. ty il_ i September through May except during exam and holiday FOCUS Editors Beth Calhoun and leriods and the summer, when it is published on Tuesday Doug Graham hrough Thursday Staff Writers Meril Edwards, Nancy Andersen, Louie Arthur, Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester, $33.25 per Richard Oliver Mark Patterson school year; $35.00 per full year. Advertising rates furnished ^ i a 11 on request. Address; The Battalion, Room 216, Reed Garolyn BlOSSer, Klirt Allen McDonald Building, College Station, Te,as 77S43 {J 0t ° Edi t° r Roy Leschper Jr. United Press International is entitled exclusively to the PnotOgrapnCrS Lynn BlanCO, use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it. Sam Stroder Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved Ht>rr-f»rra Second-Class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. c , Cartoonist Doug Graham Opinions expressed in The Battalion are Regents. The Battalion is a non-profit, self- those of the editor or of the writer of the supporting enterprise operated by students article and are not necessarily those of the as a university and community newspaper. University administration or the Board of Editorial policy is determined by the editor. Viewpoint The Battalion Texas A&M University Monday October 8, 1979 Kissinger disapproves of SALT Gerald Ford echoes j United Press International Gerald Ford has effectively thrown his not inconsiderable weight against passage of the second Soviet-American strategic arms limitation agreement. The former guaranteed commitments to increased de fense spending. “Some suggest,” said Ford, “that they are for the treaty on the assumption that the necessary defense president outlined his SALT position dur ing a well-written — and at times, eloquent — speech delivered the other day to the U.S. Army War College in Car spending decisions will be made. That is not my position. My position is that I am against the treaty unless the necessary de fense spending decisions have been made and have been written into law.” lisle, Pa. Ford made a number of points, but two stand out in particular: (1) Ford cannot support SALT without Ford thus echoed former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who made a similar demand during recent testimony on SALT before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (2) Ford is worried that neither the gov ernment nor the public will properly focus on the issues posed by SALT. “My greatest fear for this country,” said Ford, “is that the obvious danger signals for our economic security will blind our leader ship or our people to the more subtle danger signals for our national security ... the priority of our defense budget seems a distant concern in the gas lines.” Ford’s concern is wellfounded. The technical intricacies of SALT are to grasp, the seemingly inconsistentne for more defense spending is accept, particularly in hard times. !et> cording to Ford, “the decisions we m and ears, if on our defense budget and the treaty are as important as any decisi America has ever had to make.” They may well be. Certainly those4 sions demand the most intense scmt possible by both the government and public. The Winston-Salem (N.C) Journal boy / ore you on t-be. ‘horns of q dilemma •3W- DICK WE ST Do words like ‘Le Car confuse you? You have no gift for foreign language By B China ha; side world ilturally a more mode Dr. Ross T< University ' Author ol China,” Te sions of the Great Issu< Future of C Based o through Ch new atti oupled v American i said he ob Whitman': Chinese pe it was tr “Sure i poetry, bu cause her America,” Industry tic change, of competi pervaded that now encourage units withi and prodi they have bonuses fo output. “The be great diffe country,” Not onl ness expe Entertaii been dep: formance now mak or politic; For ex: ing gallei Americar on his re diers had and duck Terrill ing a bah realize tl steps tov moderni; they stre taining c In fac these ste demand En| gro pro By DICK WEST United Press International WASHINGTON — Many Americans were impressed during Pope John Paul H’s visit by his abilities as a linguist. Although he may have hit the books pretty hard while mastering English, Spanish and assorted other tongues, it was plain that he is one of those people who have a knack for picking up foreign lan guages. I can recognize the aptitude because I am one of them myself. Admittedly, I am not nearly as profi cient as the pope. Yet I often find I can catch the drift of words and phrases writ ten in languages I have never studied. To illustrate: some models of a French automobile sold in this country have printed in large letters upon each side the words “Le Car.” Now I have never had a French lesson in my life, not even at Berlitz. I don’t own a French-English dictionary and have not spent any time among French-speaking people. Nevertheless, the first time I saw the “Le Car” logotype, I intuitively under stood what it meant. ing “tomaten,” “bananen” and “wasser- melone.” Although my college transcripts will verify I spent not a single day in German class, something told me that if I stopped there I would be able to buy tomatoes, bananas and watermelons. That something was right on the mark. Don’t ask me to pronounce it, though. This sixth sense I have doesn’t extend to the ear. All I can say is that somehow I knew at a glance that “Le Car” could be roughly translated as “The Car.” It was uncanny. And a little eerie. Re minded me of a time I was driving across Germany and passed a food stand advertis- And once in Italy I developed a sudden craving for a gelatin salad. I dropped into a restaurant and picked up a menu written entirely in Italian, a language that was Greek to me. Unerringly, and without a moment’s hesitation, I pointed to an item listed as “gelatina.” that can’t be explained. It’s a gilt ok born with. Either you have it or you In fact, the makers of “Le Car’ quite a risk in brandishing their name in French. Many motorists i»4 country probably had to rely on ik knowledge of vehicular configuralioii determine that the object thus emit lished was a motor car. A more reliable policy is followed I? French sporting wear company. It it tifies its garments with little replicas of a well-known reptile. A native of that country couldn’t have ordered more accurately. Don’t ask me how I do it. It’s something If the average American was as nalnnl savvy about languages as I am, the I wouldn’t need pictorial labels. It* simply imprint its athletic togs v words “Le Alligator.” Letters Will we see A&M bury the Cougars, or see Kyle Field bury the fans? Editor: Concerning the safety of Kyle Field: Hopefully, everyone realizes that under extreme pressure, objects tend to col lapse. For instances, alumni pressure re sulted in a type of collapsing last year when we lost our head football coach. The pressure put on the contractors and builders of the new stadium addition (Kyle Field) is another situation, but the results are nearly the same. Under the conditions the workmen have had to work, mainly the race against the clock, I am skeptical about the safety of the new deck levels. Who can do a “good” job when the pressure is really poured on? Personally, I don’t like the idea of using the Twelfth Man as a bunch of guinea pigs when Texas A&M plays Houston on the 13th. Instead of watching A&M bury the Houston Cougars, we could see a burial of a different type — a fantastic spectacle. — R. Kristian Harris. ’82 No to Kennedy Editor: Right on, Mr. Leonardon! Although I do not necessarily agree with his suggestions for the proper candidate in the upcoming election, I do agree 100 per cent with his opinion on Ted Kennedy. Those who would vote for Mr. Kennedy with the belief that he would be like his brother are uneducated, uninformed, or both. Not only do Ted Kennedy’s political policies differ greatly with those of JFK, but by the 1980 elections, 20 years have lapsed since the time thatlFK'" elected. Times have changed and Aur ca has changed. Many of those in ^ Class of ’83 were not even born in 1!# This country does not need social medicine, higher taxes, more welfare^ grams, or Ted Kennedy as President! | — Angela Denise Andries,^ THOTZ by Doug Graham Readers’ Forum Guest viewpoints, in addition to Letters to the Editor, are welcome. All pieces submitted to Readers’ forum should be: • Typed triple space • Limited to 60 characters per line • Limited to 100 lines CLhSS, HERE'S breakdown ON THE. TESTS I’M RETURN! HE 5 GOT ^O’s, 6 GOT SO's ; 300 Earned "70‘s, iz got foO'5. One •Rot 7AU.THC6E WHO RECEIVED A 2. ON Their exams SHOum SEE ME PRIVATELY AFTER V CLAS5 Mr. CHEESE!