Slouch
by Jim Earle
“No one told you that campus trees were ineligible for the
bonfire?”
Opinion
Lots of energy?
Too many wine makers produce vinegar, as the saying
goes, and the same may be happening with America’s ener
gy policy in Congress.
As of last week, 888 bills wending through Capitol Hill
applied to some part of the energy problem.
In the House of Representatives, 83 committees and
subcommittees have their fingers in the energy pie. Every
eligible congressman belongs to at least one of the commit
tees.
But one congressman. Rep. Jerry Patterson, D-Calif., is
trying to whittle down that list of committees. He has begun
four weeks of hearings before his “Committee on commit
tees’’ to see if the House should have one or two supercom
mittees on energy.
Usually that sort of proposal does not pass, since nobody
wants to give up his little bit of power. But this time,
because of the emergency nature of the problem, the whit-
tler may get more support.
We hope he does — because more heat than work is being
produced with all that energy on Capitol Hill.
? i'
Politics not like sports
Increasingly — especially since the advent of television — presiden
tial races have taken on many of the aspects of spectator sports. Candi
dates work up game plans and strategies designed to win primaries and
caucuses and eventually “the big one” in November. And all too fre
quently, the media — and, once again, especially television — dwell
endlessly on these tactical elements, pushing aside all-important mat
ters of substance.
This politics-as-sports reporting is at least silly, and it could eventual
ly pose a threat to our democracy. For, despite all the similarities,
politics are really not like sports at all.
In sports, when the winner is declared, it’s all over. In politics, when
the winner is declared, that’s just the beginning. It behooves self-
governing citizens to find out who we are electing, not just how they
intend to get elected.
Keene (N.H.) Sentinel
the small society
by Brickman
£©MTINUALLY
THAK TH^Y
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Washington Star Syndicate. Inc.
The Battalion
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Editor Liz Newlin
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Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Wednesday
November 7, 1979
can
Analysis
Child custody decisions in France
have not caught up with divorce law
W\
_><o
By FRANCOIS DUPUIS
International Writers Service
PARIS — Germain Ravera, a construc
tion worker here, is currently going
through his fifth trial on the same charge.
He refuses to return his 10-year-old son to
his former wife, who was awarded custody
of the boy after their divorce.
A banal affair, to be sure, but one among
many similar cases that underline the ex
tent to which France, in contrast to other
modern nations, has been unable to adapt
easily to social changes.
Divorce has been traditionally rare in
France, partly because of the influence of
the Catholic Church, partly because the
family was considered sacred, and partly
because the rights of women to reject their
husbands were limited. In recent years,
however, old practices have disappeared.
The law, responsive to new attitudes,
has become more flexible. And divorce,
while not as frequent as in the United
States, is no longer a taboo. Last year, for
example, one out of five French couples
divorced.
But despite this shift, the courts still re
gard divorced fathers as unfit to raise their
children. As a result, wives are awarded
custody of kids in 85 percent of divorces.
Moreover, more children are sent to insti
tutions or put in the care of grandparents
than are given to their fathers.
A growing number of men are beginning
to argue that the claim of women for equal
ity ought to carry with it the possibility for
divorced fathers to keep their children.
They point out, among other things, that
the large proportion of women who work
are no better qualified to care for kids than
their former husbands.
In typical French fashion, these men
have even formed an association, the Pater
nal Condition, to lobby on their behalf.
They have so far registered little progress,
however.
The police are reluctant to get involved,
since they find that fathers deprived of
their children often react violently when
threatened. Besides, cops here hate to in
trude into family squabbles.
Judges, on the other hand, tend to be
tough. Last year, for instance, they sent
400 divorced fathers to jail for violating the
custody decisions. The Ministry of Justice
estimates, in addition, that several hun
dred men fled the country with their kids
last year rather than obey court rulings.
One judge here defends his usual incli
nation to give the custody of children to
their mothers on the grounds that he is only
conforming to the social consensus. As he
puts it:
“Society believes that a mother whose
child is taken away from her is a bad
woman, and her reputation is therefore
damaged. A father deprived of his kid
doesn’t suffer the same opprobrium.”
On the contrary, men who fight to keep
their children face serious battles, even
when the kids themselves plainly express a
desire to stay with their fathers. Such has
been the experience of Germain Ravera,
the construction worker whose trials have
been dragging on for months.
Ordered to live with his mother, Raver-
a’s son Pascal fled home and hitch-hiked
150 miles to rejoin his father. The mother
formally charged her ex-husband with kid
napping the boy, and the police arrested
Ravera.
During an initial hearing last year,
psychiatrists testified that the child ran the
risk of mental trouble if he remained with
,, By NANI
k Ba
Last spring
his mother. But the judge retun set * a l aw A'
to his mother, calling on Raveti] a PP nl ' sa ^ °
the “pursuit of his illusions, hstead of (
But Ravera defied the verdict,
now on trial again. He couldlje|M ses > Sei
to as much as a year in prison oft® a count;
‘MThis will
2 PI , „
lately focused the spotlight on i ia h ( >n of
dramatic cases, like that of Rogf!P er,: y as n
who killed himself a couple ofii j? 5 ’
because he feared that his thretMf taxing
son would be taken from him. 1 of th
Most disputes between estraj^ oy a fiy {
bands and wives over children ai ^ ors Whih
sational, though. ffitaxes un
All this indicates, then, thatd a PP ra ' sa ^ 1
tody decisions have not yet caugll s ‘ ia P e no
the divorce laws, largely becausflK; Bryan
hood and marriage are viewed die- ln o e pei
This emerged not long ago in “
man who murdered his ex-wifeBraze
to allow him to see their son. SmBjp * orm
the problem, the prosecutor sj^ 1 ^PP rt
fathers can breast-feed them,chiK nt y £ ov
be given to their mothers — \vljf ( ,l u 1
like it or not.” »f e the '
Dupuis writes on social issut v? 1 ie reco
lax Asses
Nouvel Observateur, the Frendj
WELL, START HER UP.
WE'RE OFF TO IRAN
TO RESCUE AMERICANS-
rafts
|| Gillette
PBst-of-sht
Student Ji
fe In a re<
Gallery M
top four en
Ibre, jewi
Burger’s
in wood, f
ebony har
made from
Ki rt Buck
Wayne He
Scull's spa
Jody La
and Bobbi
■jj’s coffee
$la
Dick West
Could illnesses such
be the cause of our
j° n
as ‘authoritkywen
national malM
United Press International
WASHINGTON — When President
Carter lamented last summer that America
was gripped by a “national” malaise, he
didn’t seem to know for sure what was caus
ing it.
Well, if you can tell something is wrong
but can’t quite put your finger on it, a good
place to look is on health insurance forms.
Permit me to introduce Norman John
ston, senior claims examiner for Tolley In
ternational Corporation, which adminis
ters some 1,200 employee benefit plans.
he started writing them down, and has now
compiled a list of more than 250 ailments
completely unknown to medical science. I
recently arranged to inspect the collection
and found that most of the entries appa
rently have no bearing on the malaise Car
ter spotted. I think, for example, that we
can dismiss “impounded feet,’’“erotic
bowels,” “Cologne trouble” and “gastrik
dizzy stress.” The poor devils who men
tioned those afflictions on their insurance
claims undoubtedly had cause for distress,
but they sound more like one-shot infirmi-
In the course of processing insurance
claims, Johnston has encountered all sorts
of mysterious maladies. Twenty years ago.
ties than the roots of national malaise. And
the same goes for “serious liver.”
However, a few of the insurance ail
ments definitey qualify as the sort that
could lead to malaise. For one, “blabbar
trouble.”
Anytime the country experiences an out
break of “blabbar trouble,” particularly in
the CIA and other high places, malaise is
likely to be close behind. “Protestant trou
ble,” which presumably spread to Amer
ican from Ireland, also could be a contribu
tor, as could “authoritis.”
Although I’m no doctor, I can recognize
“authoritis” as an acute form of “blabbar
trouble” that frequently strikes former gov
ernment officials who then write gossipy
books about their erstwhile colleagues.
Although all of these ailments are sus
pect, a more probable cause of national
Ban
ays to
Tong minoi
al of the reg
malaise is “science trouble" and itional Soci
tion of the eyeball.” ^Texas A
You need only consider Threetekend.
land and the big flap over dumpinSeventy-fix
waste material to see how “scientf I seven chi
can make you feel bad
As for “information of the
almost nothing is more malaise]
than reading a newspaper full d|
information, of which there ha. 1
plentitude this year. Still other
to inflation as the prime cause oi
Which may mean that “removalof
ous gland” is the only cure. “Pi«
gland” surgery sounds rather dras*
sure. But it certainly beats a h
operation.”
ted schr
and di
progran
A&M
Letters
Theft victim buys bach own books,
urges others to report losses quickly
Editor:
I live in a north dorm and eat in Sbisa
Dining Hall. I often go into dinner and
leave my books on the table near the entr
ance with all the other books and bike
packs.
On Thursday as I left Sbisa, I couldn’t
find my three engineering textbooks that I
had left on the table — however, my three
notebooks were in the same spot that I had
left them 15 minutes earlier. I thought
someone had mistaken my books for theirs
and would return them to the table the next
day.
back without paying for them again like I
had to!
— Mary Ann McStravick, ’80
enjoyed the festivities as much as we did.
Sigma Chi was happy to be able to bring
the quality entertainment of Morning to
A&M, and the group was equally pleased
Freedom found h
Frat says thanks
to perform for the Ags. We hope to be able
i brii
Saturday morning I realized that my
books were obviously lost and I needed to
get some other ones. I went to all the book
stores in Northgate and finally found some
used books for two of my classes at the
University Bookstore. Before I bought the
books, I looked inside and they were my
own books with all my class notes and scib-
ble marks!! I was horrified that a fellow
Aggie could so calmly make a “quick buck”
at the expense of another Aggie.
Editor:
The Brothers of Sigma Chi wish to thank
all of the Aggies for their support of our
recent Fiesta Party.
The behavior of the exceptionally large
crowd at the Starlight Ballroom was excel
lent and made us proud to be Aggies. We
sincerely hope all of those in attendance
to bring talent of equal caliber in the fu
ture. Thanks again Ags, see you at the Der
by Day Dance in the spring.
— Chuck Stark
President, Sigma Chi
Editor’s note: This letter was accompanied
by 112 other signatures.
Editor:
Thursday afternoon during tie
12:30 class break I was around Haf
and listened to a guy sharing publi
Jesus Christ.
I think it’s good that we have the:
here in America to say openly
believe religiously, politically, 81
etc. I
A good example of the First
(
Moi
8:1!
Ru<
Thotz
I had to buy back my two books for $39 —
when I had paid $44 for them only eight
weeks earlier. The bookstore acknow
ledged that this has occurred several times
this semester. They also have a list of stolen
books so they can try and confiscate these
books before buying them back. This way
they can call the book’s owner and return
them.
Please, let’s try and find some way of
stopping this ring of “book thieves.” Also,
let’s tell people to report their stolen books
to all the bookstores as soon as possible so
the stores won’t buy back the stolen books.
Maybe this will help people get their books