!
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XN REACTION "TO RECENT EVENTS I ^
IRAN, Americans have clamored for
XNDISCRIMINATE BOMBING- ^
or xbanww students’ p,c ^
Opinion
‘Unforgivable’ tag
applies equally
“An unforgivable series of actions” is how University of
Houston student body president Ed Watt terms several
events that occurred during and after the UH-Texas A&M
football game.
Stealing items from visiting schools is considered “good
bull” by some — but when they ask for their return, we
should comply.
Some Corps of Cadets leaders did that with what they
thought was part of the UH mascot’s costume.
But while A&M students were at fault. University of
Houston students were not blameless. To call A&M’s ac-
5 ; tions “unfqrgivable, ” wifhouf .viewing th e pthei^ side pf the
coin, is like the pot calling the kettle black. For instance;
— A crowd of more than 1,000 UH students was on Kyle
Field, even after requests both before and during the game
from University officials to leave.
— The same group shouted obscenities at University
Police and students who asked them to leave.
— Cheerleaders repeatedly ignored the same request to
stay off of Kyle Field.
— An entire crowd of victorious students rubbed in a
victory with a taunting “Poor Aggies” chant.
— Football players made obscene gestures and yells to
the crowd.
— And, to top it all off, UH student officials refused to
accept the possibility that their counterparts at Texas A&M
tried to locate and return any items that were stolen.
All in all, it appears everyone concerned is guilty of poor
sportsmanship — it’s a matter of degree.
the small society
by Brickman
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Washington Star Syndicata. Inc.
The Battalion
U S P S 045 360
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MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor . . . Liz Newlin
Managing Editor Andy Williams
Asst. Managing Editor Dillard Stone
News Editors Karen Cornelison
and Michelle Burrowes
Sports Editor Sean Petty
City Editor Roy Bragg
Campus Editor Keith Taylor
Focus Editors Beth Calhoun
Staff Writers Meril Edwards, Nancy
Andersen, Louie Arthur, Richard Oliver,
Mark Patterson, Carolyn Blosser, Kurt
Allen, Debbie Nelson, Rhonda Watters
Photo Editor Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
Photographers Lynn Blanco, Sam
Stroder, Ken Herrera
Cartoonist Doug Graham
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are
those of the editor or of the writer of the
article and are not necessarily those of the
University administration or the Board of
Regents. The Battalion is a non-profit, self-
supporting enterprise operated by students
as a university and community newspaper.
Editorial policy is determined by the editor.
Viewpoint
car
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Wednesday
November 14, 1979
Washington
Kennedy using ‘repentence strategy
by NAT
to explain Chappaquiddick incidem
By ARNOLD SAWISLAK
United Press International
WASHINGTON — One of the first
questions that arose when it became clear
that Sen. Edward Kennedy was going to
run for president was: “How is he going to
handle Chappaquiddick?”
The answer appears to be “head on. ” The
reason may be “to get it over with.”
In recent interviews, Kennedy has been
confronted bluntly with questions about
the 1969 accident in which a young woman
campaign worker drowned when Ken
nedy’s car went off a bridge on Chappa
quiddick island.
Kennedy (1) did not change his account
of how the accident happened, (2) de
scribed his own behavior in failing to report
it until the next day as “irresponsible,’ and
(3) said “I am a very different person than
prior to that tragedy.”
Kennedy said in some ways the accident
was more traumatic to him than the assassi
nation of his brothers John and Robert be
cause those were things that happened
beyond his control and Chappaquiddick
“was a circumstance (for) which I did have a
responsibility.”
To those who claim there is more to the
Chappaquiddick story (the theories are as
varied and extreme as any that have
attached themselves to the JFK assassina
tion), Kennedy replies that his version
“happens to be the way it was.”
There really is nothing new in any of this.
It is essentially the same response Ken
nedy has been making to questions about
the accident for some years.
There appears to be in the Kennedy
answers what political consultant Hank
Parkinson calls the “a calculated repent
ance strategy.”
In the newsletter “Campaigning Re^
ports,” Parkinson quotes former political
operative Victor Gold as saying when a
candidate’s opponent “confesses the errors
of his ways and throws himself on the mer
cy of the court of public opinion, anything
can happen, regardless of what the polls
say.”
Gold said both Mayor John Lindsay of
New York, Gov. Brendan Byrne of New
Jersey and Sen. Charles Percy of Illinois
used the mea culpa approach successfully
in seeking second terms.
After 10 years, Kennedy almost surely
wishes the questions about Chappaquid
dick would end. But he knows better. If he
is going to run for president, he is going to
hear them and give answers. If he tries to
cut off the questions, they willonli|
more frequent and hostile.
But in the absence of new
about the episode, both the qi
answers eventually will cease
Some people will continue to ^
hoping to catch Kennedy in an ioa
cy or make him angry, but manji
interest.
fairy ta
Ider Auc
it. Gisel
iston Br
fessed, net
fhe perfc
C Opere
jiety, wa;
That may not happen in the
paign. But while Kennedy ok,
trying to win the Democratic pi
nomination this time, his preside
sihilities would be far from ended
to Carter.
So getting Chappaquiddick ot I Area hip
way could be an early investment ikes out o
presidential campaign. itten.
Jin 24,0C
lout tax for
Iranians break rules, despite vulnerabili^
In the zealous eyes of Ayatollah
Khomeini, America is the “great satan” and
Great Britain its “evil” ally. But it is the
Ayatollah himself who is doing the devil’s
work by inciting and condoning the student
invasion of the American and British
embassies in Tehran. This is not just a di
plomatic affront; it is a declaration of war on
diplomacy itself.
The first step, plainly, must be to secure
the safe departure of the captives.
Iran has its own diplomatic missions
abroad, which are vulnerable to reprisal.
Iran has also been getting badly needed
spare parts for its American-made weapons
— whose goodwill value should now he
plain to the Carter administration.
Iran can still gravely injure the West by
further reducing oil exports, but the injury
to its own economy would be even greater.
In any case, a regime bent on irrational
conduct cannot be appeased. The avowed
purpose of the embassy takeovers is to
force the United States to return the ailing
Shah to face a revolutionary tribunal. The
idea is unconscionable. The right of politic
al asylum is another valued tradition that
the Ayatollah sedmsTcT’cdnside'r diabolic
now that he no longer needs his own re-
volutiopary platfpriji s of asylum in. Iraq and ’
France.
And dpnt forget:... If we
start shm*-'
$omtimoce
could 0zt hurt
While pressing for release of its own
citizens, the United States should feel no
shame in resisting outrageous demands.
The New York Times
rvice-sp
leer saic
This yei
>n throu
federally
te schools
lailey saic
Bryan F
Dokkeepi
Issistant 1
Fifteen
id in one
A&M C
nsumer
Also in
3-90 stud
The tax
g a 104(
ividend £
[ fding si
itperiene
r orks.
Althoup
Ion, then
; High sc
subjects, 1
income ta
Dick West
Can we make synthetic fuel tips
out of reserves of raw hindsight}
neat, as b<
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Senate last
week approved a vast, or at least a half-vast,
program to spur the development of synth
etic fuels, otherwise known as “synfuels.”
If past form means anything, the advent
of synthetic fuel production will lead to
synthetic fuel shortages. Which will spur a
policy of synthetic fuel conservation.
Which will give rise to a new class of ener
gysaving suggestions known as “syn-tips.”
Not long ago, I addressed the question of
whether America was in danger of running
short of helpful hints on energy conserva
tion. The answer was reassuringly nega
tive.
An example of the type of resources we
can draw on is the recent publication of
something called “The Energy Crunch
Cookbook. ”
Its recipes were devised not so much
from a nutritional, caloric or epicurean
standpoint as from the amount of energy
required to prepare them.
Consideration was given to such matters
as the number of electric appliances
needed to chop, mix or otherwise trans
form the ingredients, and how long and at
what temperature the stove would be one.
“The United States has huge reserves of
tips such as these which have been been
tapped,” one energy expert told me.
But what, you may ask, is being done to
ensure an adequate supply of synthetic
ifuel-saving tips during the coming synthe
tic fuel crunch?
Insofar as I could determine, the most
promising research centers around some
experiments in making synthetic tips out of
unrefined hindsight.
We have in this country virtually unli
mited reserves of hindsight, most of which
goes to waste. But analysts have found that
raw, unprocessed hindsight usually con
tains a high proportion of afterthought.
And when afterthought is extracted and
distilled, it leaves a residue of second
guesses.
The trick will be to synthesize the second
guesses into artificially created helpful
hints.
ien the
| "On oeea
m a lowi
te a steak fi
hr Thayn
[isde bio
He and l
Once perfected, however, the: .'F 1 ^
, suit mon
process is certain to be expensW 1(
pared to energy-saving tips thatoccs
rally. At present, for example, yq,ui
a book of conventional helpful B
$3.99. A volume of syn-tips likely* |
$10 or more.
The price rise surely will set!
folks who grew up at a time \vk
advice could be had for the askingi
I have seen times when one <
advice than one wanted even * ■
asking. Excess advice was ventefi®
air the way oil fields “flared
natural gas. But if the age of syntheb
is about to dawn, the day of cheap:
may he about over.
Letters
Galveston Ags angry over actions
leading to exclusion from march-in
Editor:
An Aggie is an Aggie is an Aggie — until
you’re Galveston Ag — then you’re a “no
count” Aggie. You get used to it, though,
after you’ve been at Moody College (Texas
A&M University at Galveston?) for a while.
In my opinion, coming up least is charac
teristic of Moody College. We re probably
last on the A&M appropriations list; we re
the last college to walk the stage at gra
duation; and finally, our corps is the last
unit to march in with the Corps of Cadets at
the football games. Now, I’ve heard our
corps is not going to be allowed to march in,
not even last anymore. The apparent
reason for this is that we’ve not wanted
there.
What do you say to the people who have
been up at six in the morning for the past
month-and-a-half with the object of going
to “march in,” “Thanks, but we don’t want
you!” Well, all I can say is “GIG ’EM
AGGIES!” You know where we got the gig.
— Andy Tirpak
Editor’s note: This letter was accompanied
by 94 other signatures.
or not the cartoonist, Doug Graham,
thought it was amusing, but we would like
to voice our opinion.
In that “cartoon” Mr. Graham alluded
that President Carter was being indecisive
on the Iranian issue. We would like to
know what Mr. Graham thinks President
Carter should do. Perhaps send in the
military and get all the hostages killed?
We personally think that President Car
ter has acted admirably in a very delicate
situation. We are happy that we have a
President who is man enough to put the
hostages’ lives above all else. President
Carter deserves a round of applause for his
performance in this crisis.
A newspaper that conducts itself in this
manner should not have the nrivilege of
being connec such as
Texas A&M. me tsattaiion would better
serve by supporting the Presidenl
than making uncouth jokes about!*
tions.
Mr. Graham, we would welcomt
buttal. Please tell us what you, aseP
“political” cartoonist, would doifyou 1
in President Carter’s shoes!
— Julian Thomas S
— Douglas L. Md
XHOTZ
by Doug Grab
Cartoon not amusing
Editor:
We are writing this letter concerning the
“cartoon” that appeared on page two of the
Nov. 9 Battalion. We do not know whether