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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1980)
Slouch By Jim Earle ‘Tm really looking forward to when I can wear senior boots. ” Opinion Tired of the same old Bull? Suddenly, Sen. Bill Moore is the media’s friend. The challenge of Kent Caperton has forced Moore to apologize to the press — “Sorry,” he says, “I’ve been busy. ” For the past four years Moore has been very busy indeed. Too busy to discuss the Texas Municipal Power Agency’s virtual invasion of Grimes County. Too busy to discuss his support of a tax on groceries. Too busy to discuss his attempt to block the state charter of a bank that will challenge his own Bryan-based bank for business. Too busy to return phone calls, to make interview appointments, too busy even mjjj toi answer a simple question. This is Bill Moore as he has been throughout his term as 5t;h District State Senator. But soihe members of the local media are cozying up to Moore’s new image. Somehow, despite his apologies, it’s hard to imagine his approach to the media, and thus to the public, will change. Unfortunately, this election comes at a time when Texas A&M has lost a great deal of political clout — Billy Clayton’s speaker position is in question, and, because of that, so is Bill Presnal’s chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee. Moore, Clayton, and Presnal, all former students, have helped Texas A&M grow from a small military school. To lose this power in one year would prove disastrous to the University. To replace Moore with former Texas A&M stu dent body president Kent Caperton also seems folly. So what to do? Do we return a megalomaniacal pawn of the lobby to another four years of power? Or do we send in a greenhorn? Wish we had the answer. But we don’t. small society by Brickman TH£ Fi?L.U>Wi^6 PAP F^LlTi^AL AN. ' fZ£FLE<AT TH& | - IM TH&ifZ /WIMP - o o o Q 1: ©1960 ICtny Features Syndicate. Inc World rights reserved The Battalion U S P S 045 360 LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are subject to being cut to that length or less if longer. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does not guarantee to publish any letter. Each letter must be signed, show the address of the writer and list a telephone number for verification. Address correspondence to Letters to the Editor, The Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building, College Station, Texas 77843. Represented nationally by National Educational Adver tising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday from September through May except during exam and holiday periods and the summer, when it is published on Tuesday through Thursday. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester; $33.25 per school year; $35.00 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Address: The Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building, College Station, Texas 77843. United Press International is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it. Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved. Second-Class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Editor Roy Bragg Associate Editor . . . Keith Taylor News Editor Rusty Cawley Asst. News Editor Karen Cornelison Copy Editor Dillard Stone Sports Editor Mike Burrichter Focus Editor Rhonda Watters Viewpoint Page Editor Tim Sager City Editor Louie Arthur Campus Editor Diane Blake Staff Writers Nancy Andersen, Tricia Brunhart,Angelique Copeland, Laura Cortez, Meril Edwards, Carol Hancock, Kathleen McElroy, Debbie Nelson, Richard Oliver, Steve Sisney, Becky Swanson, Andy Williams Chief Photographer Lynn Blanco Photographers Lee Roy Leschper, Ed Cunnius, Steve Clark 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 The Battalion Texas A&M University Tuesday April 22, 1980 The The French Foreign Legion: Board tion pr< nent ' for larg plied t< Still looking for a few good men Fun< By FRANCOIS DUPUIS International Writers Service PARIS — Despite its romantic aura, the French Foreign Legion is a subject of con troversy here. Yet it survives as one of France’s most durable institutions because it still fulfills a function. A bill aimed at disbanding the Legion was recently introduced to the legislature by the Communist Party, which criticized the force of 8,000 professional soldiers as “an instrument for colonial conquest and repression.” But the proposal went no further than a legislative committee, which defended the Legion as vital to France’s security. That portrayal may have been somewhat exaggerated. However, the Legion does serve President Valery Giscard d’Estaing, who has been using military intervention to strengthen French influence in Africa over the past two years. In May 1978, for example, a regiment of legionnaires was flown from its base in Cor- sica to rescue European families threatened by a rebellion in Zaire. That operation could not have been conducted by France’s conscript troops, who are bar red from going into combat except by spe cial legislation. But such daring forays abroad do not sway the leftist parties. They persist in de manding the dissolution of the Legion, con tending that it has become “as anachronis tic as the king’s mousquetaires.” Created in 1831 by King Louis-Philippe, the Foreign Legion was in fact designed for colonial conquest. It was sent to save Max imilian, enthroned by Napoleon III as emperor in Indochina and North Africa. And between wars, legionnaires were assigned to build roads and other construc tion jobs. Novels like “Beau Geste” and movies starring Gary Cooper or Jean Gab in gave the Legion an adventurous lustre, glor ifying its volunteers as heroic figures in white kepis fighting against a backdrop of burning sands. That image attracted idealists as well as delinquents. It also attracted numbers of defeated German soldiers after both World Wars. Germans now account for only 11 percent of the Legion’s men, but in times past they represented half its strength. Just retired after 30 years in uniforms, Chief Warrant Officer Horst Schacht joined the Legion after coming to France from Germany as a coal miner following World War II. A veteran of Indochina, wounded three times, he has won the Military Medal, the highest French award. “The Legion,” he said the other day, “is my family.” Though the Legion’s training program is merciless, applicants for enlistment out strip places by a ration of three to one. The Legion is no longer a haven for criminals, since recruits are investigated before begin signed up. They need not reveal their true identities, however. According to studies made at the Le gion’s reception center near Marseilles, re cruits generally join because of marital troubles and other unhappiness at home. Bernard Granier, a 22-year-old youth re cently discharged for psychiatric reasons, summed up his motives: “I enlisted out of despair because my life was crumbling. I could have jumped in front of a train in stead.” Grainer was lucky to have gotten a medical discharge. The only other way for a legionnaire to escape his five-year term is through desertion, and he is to be severely punished if caught. Compared to the old days, the Legion is ical ai requii 27,(XX eeded Mr. Vocatic be use< ! for a sf and an intench |’ Equi becoming increasingly lessforeign.fe.i'ill cos ly 40 percent of is recruits are Frendj the agi rest are Yugoslavs, Germans, S] Swiss, Belgians, Italians, Portup) Canadians. Only a handful are American. Consistant with traditinl officers or American. , The French recruits reportedly 111 theapp the discipline worst, perhaps be«i estimat Legion is too alien for them spokesmen claim, however, that mi percent of recruits fail to measure|i standards. The ideal legionnaire is su| the model soldier, ready for any obediant to his superiors andpn die in silence. This may be action, but it is less valid in peace! In Corsica, where the Legion main headquarters since it movedc Algeria in 1962, off-duty legionm often arrested for serious crimes, tion is also frequent. Thus, for all their martial skillsafii swerving loyalty, legionnaires may hid ing an enemy they cannot defeiB 1 boredom. ^ (Dupuis writers for the NouveKi ine vateur, the French weekly.) I Ian Fri< fell in s tunes o! cipants alumim festiviti Tod a Memor site of plays pi “Eart fact that regulate sources said Pe; The f helped aware in the adv LITT Suprem er court ty settle: uais, say rect in a men’s re James homose? Benjami been bi County The 1 Bramlet lal, fan tween t financial and so account The c case in i ship, ho’ Letters Carter and Democratic Party defended Editor: In reply to Richard Leonardan’s letter of April 17th: I would just like to say that Mr. Leonardan demonstrated by his statements that he knew very little about what he was talking about. He lays the blame for inflation and the energy crisis on President Carter and the Congress. Actually these two problems are one and the same since inflation is caused primarily by increasing energy costs. If you want to lay the blame for the energy crisis and inflation where it belongs then you should lay it on OPEC and the Republican administrations of Nixon and Ford. You should blame OPEC because they are the cause of the oil price increases, and you should blame Nixon and Ford because they did nothing to decrease American depend ence on foreign oil. Mr. Leonardan also cites deficit spend ing as a cause of inflation, and he blames this on the Democrats. Yet, I hardly think that the Republicans have an admirable record on balancing the budget. During the eight years of Nixon and Ford there was not one balanced budget. In fact, Ford has the dubious honor of signing the largest deficit budget ever. The last balanced budget was under a Democrat (Lyndon Johnson). Mr. Leonardan also wrote about how the oil companies are picked on by Congress. My heart truly bleeds for the oil companies; last year they had their best year ever. Boy, Congress must have really been tough on the oil companies! Finally, Mr. Leonardan says that Presi dent Carter is “an incompetent, worthless president” and he urges Aggies to “vote Republican (especially Reagan).” Just be cause Reagan is better than anyone else at giving quaint oversimplified answers to complex problems does not qualify him to be president. Remember, Reagan is the same man who once said, “The entire gra duated income tax structure was created by Karl Marx. It has no justification in getting the government needed revenues.” Boy, he really sounds bright. Also, remember what President Ford said about Reagan in 1976: “Governor Reagan can’t get us into a war. President Reagan could.” President Carter has done an admirable job under trying circumstances. He has been patient with Iran while at the same time applying tough economic sanctions against them. The important thing is that he has kept the hostages alive. If and when the time for military action comes at least the United States will have the comfort of knowing that we did everything we could to avoid bloodshed. There is little doubt in my mind that if Reagan had been president during the Embassy takeover that we would now have fifty American corpses in stead of hostages. I would like to urge all my fellow Ags not to vote for a party, but to vote for the best man. And I think that if you look at all the men in both parties that are running for President, you will come to the same con clusion that I have, and that is that Presi dent Carter is far and away the best choice. John Cherry III, ’83 pages of an economics book you will find a great deal of very interesting facts. Reagan’s platform does not provide an absolute answer to our current problems; however, neither does any other presiden tial candidate’s platform. Simply to attack with unsupported words is to be unrealistic and unfair to the readers of this newspaper. A little less unsupported and irrelevant journalism and a few more factual com ments would serve each of the readers of the Battalion a great deal more benefit. Have a nice day. Aubrey Smith (Editor’s note: The Opinion column con tains the editorial opinion of The Batta lion: not news stories, not features, but opinions. And we don’t have to defend our opinions. Also, the editorial in question did not “support our choice in presidential candidates” — it endorsed no candidate). The d ®an op account said the i a house, the pur What is a competent leader? Is lit 'from hi Honey v Wher eparat. iainst I te the '■issentec at temptii Reagan: magic up his sleeve? No, anything but economics! Editor: It is quite evident that you support your choice in presidential candidates by de fending them with slandering remarks against the opposition. By no means is Ronald Reagan incapable of “intelligently confronting the problems of our country” as you so colorfully put in Monday’s paper. Perhaps- you should educate yourself by reading an economics text. Within the Editor: In response to Thursday’s letter, Mr. Leonardon, the context of your letter seems to be from either (A) John Tower’s Newsletter, (B) a Young American’s for Freedom Newsheet, or (C) both. Where do these “facts” come from: We always hear them, but I for one can never find them. Did someone research your facts, or did someone make them up? The letter expressed the need for compe tent leaders in 1980. What is a competent leader? Is it a man who bellows about tax reform while refusing to make public his own tax return? Another candidate (George Bush) supposedly paid $3,000 in taxes last year on his $ 100,000-plus reported earn ings. What did Reagan pay, and where did his money come from? who promises to cut taxes by 30 increase defense spending by 25 and balance the budget at the sameft this just a ploy to get support or have some magic up his sleeve? What is a liberal? Obviously it n (A) an opponent in an election, iiii|® rs nip. colleague’s opponent in an elect®,■F arn ‘ e 0 someone who has an idea that you ;0115 tee f< think of first. How can I sign up(d 11 ?2' Vne '’ ° government giveaways that you wf . ra ™ett out? Are they anything like theoili' ">624.4- tion allowance? ■ p^ ma Your letter said that President C*;’ . ^hief “an incompetent worthless president nically, the author suggests a# Reagan. My point today is not that profits^ or that big government is good. Mm not that I will never vote Republic point is that all stories have twosidf ‘ ^ m ‘ facts about the different sides not trey paign ads, or from Washington lot'!* 1 from governors who close their eyes' they talk, but from neutral sources- In closing, the American in for a real task if November co' deciding between one former stale ernor who can’t get anything do# 1 another former state governor who know how to do anything except act- Ted W. A: L“if th -Ppellee ‘and an< Readers’ For uni Guest viewpoints, in addition ; Letters to the Editor, are welcoi#| All pieces submitted to Readf !! j forum should be: • Typed triple space • Limited to 60 characters M line ‘ • Limited to 100 lines — -s