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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 18, 1980)
Viewpoint The Battalion Texas A&M University Tuesday November 18, 1980 Slouch By Jim Earle iHg-So ‘These stickers? They’re for heroic service on the bonfire. By DAVID S. BRODER United Press International WASHINGTON — When the Democratic leaders of Congress scheduled the post-election lame-duck session for this time, they had no idea how many broken-winged birds there would be. By my calculation, there will be 17 senators and at least 65 representatives who will be filling their perches for the last time in this shortened session. The case for caution in passing much legisla tion of any moment in such a session is obvious and overwhelming. The Democrats arranged the session in order to avoid the political embar rassment of formally ratifying a $60-billion budget deficit in a pre-election vote. But they took the bitter medicine of defeat anyway. When the new Congress comes in next January, their 18-seat Senate majority will have turned into a 6-seat deficit, and their House margin will have been shaved from a healthy 114 seats to a shaky 51. There is some necessary housekeeping work on budget, appropriations and related matters for the lame-duck session to complete, and a few big bills that were passed in varying forms by the House and Senate, which could be moved off the agenda. But the main business before the two bodies — or at least those mem bers who will be returning — will be to com pare notes on the meaning of the mandate the voters sent. There will be as many interpretations of that mandate as there are members of Congress, but I heard two interpretations from young con gressmen last week that I found particularly interesting. One of those congressmen takes the oath of office for the first time in January. State Rep. Barney Frank (D) of Massachusetts may well be the most liberal individual elected to the House last week. He is the successor — in every sense — of retiring Rep. Robert F. Drinan (D-Mass.), the Jesuit priest who was ordered out of politics by the Pope. Frank is a leader of the liberal Americans for Democratic Action and a man who tried to dump both former Gov. Michael Dukakis and President Jimmy Carter, on grounds they were not sufficiently liberal for his tastes, only to see both of them lose to markedly more conserva tive figures. All of this background adds poignancy to his interpretation of the Reagan-Republican land slide. “The voters were saying they are unhap py with the state of the world, and they think the Democrats and liberals are to blame for it,” Frank said in a phone call from Boston. “We’ve been running the show for so long, I think we got ourselves painted as the defenders of the status quo.” The political implication of this view, he said, is that “we Democrats don’t obstruct Ronald Reagan. He is the President and he and his supporters are entitled to their shot. It would be a great mistake for the Democrats in the House of Representatives to let Ronald Reagan say he was blocked from doing what he and the Republican Senate wanted to do by a group of willful Democrats in the House. “We can’t let him,” Frank said, “run around the country in the 1982 campaign saying we kept him from changing the status quo. ” The other comment came from Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who was elected to his second term last week from a previously Democratic district. As a freshman, ex-professor Gingrich was exceptionally active and vocal in promoting Republican alternatives to basic Democratic budget policies, and he was one of the initiators of the mid-campaign ceremony on the steps of the Capitol, where Reagan and congressional Republicans pledged to work in concert for the enactment of new national policies. When I asked Gingrich what he thought the triumphant Republicans would really do, “now that you are in power,” his answer was as sur prising as Frank’s comments. “We are not in power,” he said. “If the Reagan people let that idea get abroad, we are in real trouble. “We do not control the senior bureaucracy as yet and we do not control the House of Repre sentatives. If Tip O’Neill (the Democratic Speaker of the House) is shrewd, he will en courage the Reagan people to think we re in power, and he’ll encourage the country to think we’re in power. And then he will systematically slow us down. And two years from now, when nothing has changed, he’ll let us take the blame ... If Reagan seeks to govern by seeking accom modations with the people in power in the House of Representatives, he will leave us terr ibly vulnerable in 1982.” These two views seem paradoxically contra dictory. The liberal Democrat, who might be supposed to vow die-hard resistance to Reagan schemes, says, “Don’t obstruct him. ” The con servative Republican, who might be thought to be savoring power, says, “Don’t think for a moment — or let the public think — we have really taken control.” But they are not at odds. Both understand that the vote last week was a sweeping conde mnation of the political and governmental sta tus quo. Both understand there will be further penalties from the voters in 1982 if that status quo has not been changed. And both are saying “If there is not change, my side better be in a position to claim it was the fault of the other guy-” I think that is a realistic preview of the poli tics of the new Congress and the new adminis tration, an intriguing chapter that will begin as soon as all these lame-ducks are removed from the scene. Warped Sadistical tendencies emerge upon siting of (yech!) roaches Even though I have a geology lab assignment due tomorrow, a research paper due in history, Spanish homework AND a story to turn into The Battalion tomorrow, I’m going to take time out to write about a problem — a problem common to all College Station residents, one that cannot possibly be solved by me writing this. Roaches — those beastly, little nasty crea tures! You ask, “Why do you want to write about roaches?” I guess because if I wasn’t writing this, Td still be cringing from my latest encoun ter with a roach. I was sitting at my kitchen table with my tasty, hot bowl of chicken noodle soup when I decided I needed a few crackers to go with the it. So I pulled out a previously opened package of crackers and checked them out thoroughly for roaches. (I’ve learned to do this since living in College Station.) They passed the test, but just to be sure, I discarded the top cracker. So when there were only a few spoonfuls of soup left, and four of the crackers were resting nicely at the bottom of my stomach, I heard this funny, crackling noise. I looked up and saw a blasted roach crawling in Staff notebook By Cindy Gee between the remaining crackers and the wrap per. It’s hard to describe the feeling of knowing you’ve just eaten those same crackers that roach was nibbling on only minutes before. No, this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened to me. Then there was the time I was munching on Fritos. About the third handful I pulled out, I found two little roach- lings weaving in and out of the croutons. There was also the time I got up extra early so I could fix pancakes. As I was pouring out the Bisquick mix, out came a big, brown roach. He was so big he must have been the granddaddy. Needless to say I didn’t eat pancakes, but at least that time I hadn’t already eaten some of it. There was also the time when I ran my bath water, and as I was about to step in discovered a roach floating on the top. Or the vered a roach crawling on my toothbrushli was in a container I specially bought to W roaches off. Or the time when I was eating dinner atsu friends’ apartment and listening to them hi about not having a roach problem. Nos* had they finished telling me when someth fell from the light fixture and into the plate| pork chops. We looked down to find-it guessed it — a roach crawling out mushroom gravy. It’s always funnier wki happens to someone else! However, I don’t think they were lyingakl not having many roaches because they ddi'l react like veteran roach killers. They went»i| whereas I would have calmly gotten upfroirl table, taken a paper towel and smashed heck out of that little devil. I have to confess roaches do bring out I sadistic nature in me. It’s almost a them with Raid and watch them squirm,ortai on the hot water when they’re in the sink I’m looking forward to the day when!® reporter living back in West Texas and Hit able to laugh roaches off as just another out! those college experiences. //Mmmm. Real politics to begin Universi mic and Zachry. Agg mer Planet’s smog indicates higher life forms By : B The Stud supports sc athletes wit is having an drive Wedn Michelle chairman fo jective of tl some bad pi received wl The grou impact of ti trying to pr< image, she The flags Battalion w ditionally \ games.” Earlier in Leader Mr against the ^ practice, say wave the fla mg in yells, hall games. We’re nc tt°n, Tracy •he Aggie C Reverse evolution — Saturn explained By DICK WEST United Press International WASHINGTON — Astronomers profess themselves baffled by some of the data sent back from Saturn by the Voyager 1 space appar atus. Perhaps they are looking at it from the wrong angle. My memory is about as reliable as a Tehran hostage communique, but as I recall it was architect Buckminister Fuller who provided the proper perspective. For he was the father of Niwrad, the theory of reverse evolution. Niwrad (Darwin spelled backwards) chal lenges the notion that man descended from monkeys. “Man may have come to Earth from another planet,” says a Niwradian precis. “Evolution may be going the other way ... it is possible that we may be making monkeys of ourselves. ” For some strange reason, the concept of ear thly life beginning at its highest form and gra dually undergoing diminution never quite caught on. Nevertheless, it seems to fit right in with the Voyager 1 signals that have caused so much perplexity. For example, Voyager found one of Saturn’s moons enveloped in a smog-like cloud. Astro nomers conjectured the smog was a natural phenomenon. But when the Saturn smog is considered within the framework of reverse evolution, a more plausible hypothesis emerges. It may be postulated that Saturn once had a life form higher than any known on Earth, in cluding Henry Kissinger. Over the eons, as the reverse evolution pro cess worked its inexorable pattern, this life form steadily degenerated to a level only slightly above what is now your basis Earthling. That, of course, explains the smog. Rather than being a product of nature, the toxic haze was created by our Saturnian ancestors. Being, as I said, somewhat superior to pre sent day Earthlings, the Saturnians could fore see that smog would render their planet unin habitable. Also because of this superiority, space travel was no problem. So they all mi grated to Earth and points south. Had our ancestral life form remained on Saturn, reverse evolution would have con tinued much as it has on Earth. As the smog grew thicker, Saturnians p have taken ape-like to the trees, hopini would be better up there. Then they w ,0 promote We were tradition,” ] selling then ™g on the memento.” Roland sa inferred b kaders and or ganized w have burrowed reptilian fashion intotk [received a r Other ite as inclu "gam ground, or what passes for ground on Sat hoping the smog would not seep downthatfc From their subterranean existence, -- would have moved under water, firsts* wstlytool amphibian characteristics and then totallw like. From that point, as evolutionary timeisi# * sured, they would soon have turned into I blobs of protoplasm. If you play out the Niwrad string, you that the end result of reverse evolution is complete disappearance of the species. Itfl) happen here. The signal from Saturn is clear: Some 'L there may be nothing left of life on Earth e,®? cosmic gasses and presidential candidates, By Scott McCullar The Battalion U S P S 045 360 MEMBER Texas Press Association Questions or comments concerning any editorial matte: Southwest Journalism Congress should be directed to the editor. Editor Dillard Stone Managing Editor Rhonda Watters Asst. Managing Editor Scott Haring LETTERS POLICY City Editor Becky Swanson Asst. Gity Editor Angelique Copeland Lf , (fers to the Editor should not exceed 300 words ia, . Sports Editor. Richard Oliver and are subject to being cut if they are longer. The editorial ltd Asst. Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, mW Focus Editor Scot K. Meyer make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. EachletW' Asst. Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff must also be signed, show the address and phone numberoltk News Editors Lynn Blanco, writer. Gwen Ham, Todd Woodard Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, and ait mi Staff Writers Jennifer Afflerbach, Kurt Allen, subject to the same length constraints as letters. Address <ti Nancy Andersen, Marcy Boyce, Jane G. Brust inquiries and correspondence to: Editor, The Battalion, Ilf Mike Burrichter, Pat Davidson, Cindy Gee Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station, ft Jon Heidtke, Uschi Michel-Howell, Debbie Nelson, 77843. Liz Newlin, Rick Stolle , Cartoonist Scott McCullar The Battalion is published daily during Texas A&M sfall® Phntn Fdilnr Pat O’Mallev spring semesters, except for holiday and examination period: Photographers....V.V....V.V.V. ... . George Dolan! Mai ‘ ior ' s are $16 75 Per semester. $33.25per S cW leff Kerber y ear an d $35 per full year. Advertising rates hirmsnedonm J quest. EDITORIAL POLICY Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald Builtt The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper op- Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. erated as a community service to Texas A&M University and Bryan-College Station. 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