Slouch
by Jim Earle
“We’re merely testing the waters.
Opinion
Trudeau lukewarm to U.S.
Pierre Trudeau is back in power in Canada, and that
doesn’t bode too well for U.S.-Canadian relations.
Trudeau is pledged to reduce U.S. ownership of Canadian
industry.
The Liberal Party leader also is not inclined to increase
defense spending; he seems less bothered than (Joe) Clark
about the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan; he’s luke
warm about President Carter’s proposed boycott of the sum
mer Olympics in Moscow. None of that fits well with Presi
dent Carter’s new-found firmness in standing up to Soviet
aggression.
It’s clear that Trudeau has plenty with which to occupy
himself in domestic affairs.
Canada has serious problems of inflation and energy,
which in large part are of Trudeau ’s making. If he returns to
the free-spending policies of his previous regimes, the prob
lems are likely to be exacerbated.
It’s ironic that voters who indicated last May they had had
enough of Trudeau have now returned him to leadership,
and with a Parliamentary majority that ought to give him
more power than before.
Trudeau has the advantage of being a shrewd politician,
something that the inept Clark lacked.
Canada could use some governmental belt-tightening.
That’s not Trudeau’s style, but maybe Canada’s growing
problems and the comeuppance he got nearly a year ago will
have a sobering influence.
Scripps-Howard Newspapers
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Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Monday
March 3, 1980
Reader’s Forum
Film series was ‘propaganda S P
By
By DAVID SPRINGER and CELIA
KING
We would like to express our views on
the series of films presented in Rudder
Theatre on March 1 and 2 entitled “What
ever Happened to the Human Race?’ pro
duced by Dr. Frances Schaeffer, respected
theologian and philosopher, and Dr. C.
Everett Koop, Chief Surgeon at Philadel
phia Childrens’ Hospital. The series
addressed the controversial issues of abor
tion, infanticide, and euthanasia, as well as
human dignity and truth and history. The
commentator was Dr. Charles Thaxton.
Unfortunately, we did not attend the
film on abortion, but the films as a whole
were very “pro-life.” We would like to
point out that one of us is a Christian and
the other is not.
As a critique to the film, too much time
was spent in monotonous repetition of
irrelevant symbolism. For example in sev
eral minutes of viewing, the audience
watched the continual changing of geomet
ric figures and symbols during the oration.
Also we spent a significant amount of time
viewing the rain pouring down upon a de
serted banquet table which was devoid of
meaning. The movie was inadequate as a
visual aid to the oration. The analogies pre
sented were inaccurate: black slavery as a
parallel to infanticide, Nazi extermination
of the Jews as a parallel to euthanasia. Most
importantly the films were without
documentation; there were no facts. In
other words the film was propaganda.
On the issue of infanticide we were not in
disagreement of the view that disabled and
retarded children have the right to life.
In the third film Dr. Koop defined eutha
nasia as the killing off of the elderly in our
society. He blamed this on the economic
burden they present. According to the
American Heritage Dictionary, euthanasia
is defined as “the action of inducing the
painless death of a person for reasons
assumed to be merciful.” Euthanasia is a
broad term not restricted to the elderly.
The film implied that our families no
longer care about their older members. In
cluded in this idea is the assumption that
we as a society dump our elders into the
nearest nursing home and forget about
them. Koop defined this as “passive eutha
nasia.” We are not ignorant of this family
situation since one of us has encountered it,
and have found it to be a time of doubts,
suffering and guilt.
One of the last scenes in the film pictur
ing a monument was abhorrent to us. The
monument was a bronze bust of a man hold
ing an infant skyward placed on granite
blocks overlooking the sea. On the granite
blocks was inscribed the following (paraph-
ased):
To those members of society that were
old, unborn, sick, and disabled who
died as a result of the madness of the
lust, greed, and selfishness that marked
the last decades of the twentieth century.
We are in the last decades of the twen
tieth century now, and we do not feel this
justifiable condemnation of our society. If
our society has regressed as far as this, we
would not be extending a helpin; k yj u , U.
the boat people or the Cambodiant* i anc ]
in Thailand who are an economictiB cu tting
A major analogy presented ir gressiR 311
was drawn between today’s socij At a Sat
Nazi Germany’s extenninationottference, f
Dr. Koop said that the church was rljifeady 50
sible for the genocide due to thdbudg et *
protest. Nazi Germany was a niilili-fe
by the time the question ofexteral
was an issue. The churches andtlif|
had little influence on the decision
Reich, and thus their protests woii
been of little or no value at this pT
German history. It is unfair to fefc.
churches for something Hilter aodife.
tourage were responsible for.
Finally, we question the needfongT’
mentator for the films, and wish to sty
we feel the commentator preseiT
Charles Thaxton, did not handle iW
tion competently. When asked a ipj
Dr. Thaxton was quite to our satisiL
As a commentatm hr <lnl ^ 11
to the issues, hut confusion insteadI* as receu
the Amer:
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1980 campaign melodrama contim
The me
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Ben tel H
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By ARNOLD SAWISLAK
United Press International
Presidential campaigns are supposed to
be serious business, but you can’t prove it
by watching what happens in New Hamp
shire. There, it is unabashed melodrama,
running the gamut from alligator tears to
duck jokes.
To begin, it is necessary to understand
that the New Hampshire primary is a kind
of WPA for out-of-work politicians. The
first thing a candidate does in New Hamp
shire is to sign up a current or former gov
ernor to front his campaign.
Jimmy Carter nabbed incumbent Gov.
Hugh Gallen this year, so Ted Kennedy
had to go next door to enlist former Gov.
Phil Hoff of Vermont. Jerry Brown brought
his own governor.
The Republicans had a larger supply.
Howard Baker’s ex-governor was Walter
Peterson, with Gov. Bob Ray of Iowa on
hand for heavy lifting. George Bush’s was
Hugh Gregg, which was something of a
coup because Gregg played Ronald
Reagan’s ex-governor in 1976.
Reagan had to settle for an ex-member of
the Republican National Committee,
Gerald Carmen, probably because the ex
governor who might have signed up with
him, Meldrim Thomson, is running for
president himself this year.
Reagan did have an ex-governor once
removed: Wesley Powell spent the cam
paign writing pro-Reagan commentaries
for the Manchester Union Leader, which
by itself supplies many of the sound effects
of the campaign.
With the cast in place, enter the duck.
Reagan, who gives the impression that he
would be shocked by the cartoons in Our
Sunday Visitor, tells a joke that is assured to
cause armed uprisings in Poland, Italy and
Connecticut, not to speak of a march on
campaign headquarters by enraged poul-
trymen.
At a debate in which none of the candi
dates actually debate, a citizen braces
Reagan about the story. He denies to play
the villian, claiming to be the victim of the
piece. Repentant, he pledges to slur no
more nationalities except the Irish.
The scene changes to a second debate,
supposed to be a cataclysmic clash between
Reagan and Bush. Reagan has become a
hero in this installment, having come to the
rescue of the debate with $3,500 when the
most popular villain in New Hampshire,
the federal government, hogties the origin
al sponsors with red tape.
Reagan shows what a warm human being
he is by inviting the other candidates to join
him and George. The sponsors veto this,
and the jilted candidates stalk off while
Bush grins and gapes. Backstage, the can
didates unanimously elect Bush as the new
dllain.
grandma
W'hich ap
Medical
Reagan comes out of this as here re
fault, which should he a good placf(3j ere s ^
music to come up and the conwiipf | ots
start. But Reagan won’t leave thew|^ r ' n -|
announcing just before the votelr P ro
counted that he is cashiering his ca'sjr 60 ’ m
manager. Baker, who didnt doallt»® min01
with his governors, offers to give thes®!* 01 ^’ *
manager room and board. pnich an
garlic ha
In real life radio, listeners would Jpy org;
horted to tune in next week. ButikHpnisir
maries arc moving this week to t Joggin
sachusetts and Vermont, and the; Be happ>
Yankees just don’t have New Hamf ^ent for
theatrical flair. So it may be necessBich ca
wait until February of 1984 forfeftte wroi
spinctingling episode of this epic, ppsom <
P.S. Carter and Reagan won thefTj^ n( ^
cratic and Republican primaries j nan .,
Hampshire. ^ st «
s tore for
THOTZ
By Doug Grahd
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