Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Friday
February 6, 1981
In oi
ral reo
Slouch
By Jim Earle
“I can’t think of a thing to say that wouldn’t make you madder
than you already are. ”
the Re
The CHALLENGE of
of 53 vi
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I like to think I’m a reasonably intelligent
person.
Those of you nodding your heads in agree
ment have never seen me when I’ve just gotten
a sweepstakes application in the mail.
Admittedly, I act in an embarrassing man
ner. I can be suckered into anything for a one-
in-50 million chance at a letter opener.
Consequently, I have re-subscribed to Read
er’s Digest so many times that I can quote every
quotable found in those pages.
Promise me a car and I jump, skip and hop all
the way back from the mailbox. Promise me a
vacation home in Bermuda and I’ll scream in
ecstasy. Promise me $100 a month for life and
I’ll grab a calculator. (If I live to be 70 that’s 49
years x 12 months = ... sorry, I had a small
lapse.) For years I thought I could finance my
college education with my mega-earnings from
sweepstakes.
Publisher’s Clearing House makes me work
for my almost-earned money. Not only do I buy
Offhand
solid gold Twinkie worth $50,000.
Well, so much for Hostess snacks...
By Venita McCellon
But, the contest that really takes the tali
the new Pepsi Challenge Sweepstakes. Sim|i
All I have to do is find all the letters to theii
CHALLENGE in the bottle tops and 1
$500.
L<
far more magazines than I can read, but it’s
necessary to keep detailed records just in case
my number comes up. I have so many sweep-
stakes stubs in my desk drawer that I’ll probably
never find the right one should I win.
If I could confine my enthusiasm with sweep-
stakes to the magazine companies, I would not
complain. But, I am obsessed with any and all
sweepstakes.
For example, this week I bought a box of
Hostess Twinkies. Mind you, Twinkies are not
exactly my favorite delicacy, but, I had to see if,
possibly, by mistake, my box would contain the
I have worn out a perfectly good pairofl
vlon tweezers and broken three fingerm
pulling the rubber linings out of those sh;
tops. I have collected the letters C,H,L)
and E. In fact, I have so many of themlffl
spell the word three times — if I just hadsi
Now let’s be realistic. I might as welltb
the towel and save my tweezers. Even
formed idiot in Texas knows that all theAi
in Idaho.
Does that stop me from grabbing ever) E(|
top I see? You should be able to answertk
yourself.
Chili
unders
Spanisl
A&M 1
says.
And
Usir
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To
letter
Soft speaking-ignored
in favor of big stick
By HELEN THOMAS
United Press International
WASHINGTON — In slightly more than
two weeks in office, President Reagan has firm
ly established himself as a hardliner in foreign
policy.
“You don’t futz around with Uncle Sam,”
Reagan told a group of reporters in laying out
his get-tough attitude.
Reagan apparently intends to carry a “big
stick,” but so far he is not speaking softly in the
admonition of Teddy Roosevelt. In some ways,
his remarks verge on the bellicose when he
discusses the Russians.
Reagan has a view of the Soviets that appa
rently was not changed during the 1950s, when
coexistence between the superpowers was in
vogue, or in the 70s, when one of his foreign
policy mentors, Richard Nixon, promoted de
tente.
The president told a news conference the
Soviets “lie” and “cheat” in their striving for
world domination.
In the recent interview he said, “They don’t
subscribe to our sense of morality; because they
don’t believe in any of the things — they don’t
believe in afterlife; they don’t believe in a god
or a religion. And the only morality they recog
nize, therefore, is what will advance the cause
of socialism.”
Before it is all over, the Russians may long for
the days of Jimmy Carter, although they never
understood him or his foreign policy, and
viewed his human rights campaign as a direct
affront. They also challenged him and perhaps
shocked him with their invasion of Afghanistan,
changing the atmosphere and bringing the
drive for ratification of the SALT II to a stand
still.
Carter later revealed in an interview that the
Russian intervention surprised him, leading to
criticism that he was naive about Soviet inten-
gan also made it clear during the visit of
South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan that
the United States would no longer be a watch
dog when it comes to human rights.
Secretary of State Alexander Haig under
scored that when he said that terrorism, not
human rights would be the main concern of
U.S. diplomacy.
Also in the campaign, Reagan called for
scrapping the U.S.-Soviet arms limitation
accord. Now he says he is willing to undertake
“discussions” to determine whether negotia
tions on a new pact are possible. But he ob
viously is in no hurry. The conservative camp
wants the Pentagon to begin a big military
build-up before talking about future reduc
tions.
Soviet Ambassador Anatoli Dobrynin is
learning which way the wind is blowing. Hav
ing enjoyed an intimate relationship with for
mer Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and
national security affairs adviser Zbigniew Brze-
zinski, he is now out in the cold. In the good
times, Brzezinski had Dobrynin to lunch once a
week.
He also has ridden on presidential planes.
Now he is no longer able to slip in the under
ground private entrance of the State Depart
ment, and he gets no special treatment in the
Reagan White House, although he is the dean
of the diplomatic corps.
The Cold War has not yet returned but the
words and the new policies are creating an
atmosphere that may lead to greater tensions in
the future.
The words may also be accompanied by
deeds, and it appears that the president would
have a hard time lifting the Soviet grain embar
go in view of his own tough talk.
In recent days, Reagan has received a strong
endorsement for his approach to the Russians
from Kissinger, architect of detente.
Kissinger told Reagan that he was putting
him “out of the lecture business because I can
no longer point with alarm.” He said he agreed
with Reagan’s policies and direction.
ways in
sented
fore, an
present
said.
“No
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said.
ead m
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Author doesn t understand politics
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1981.
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Editor:
We would like to comment on Miss Melissa
Wilson’s letter that appeared in The Battalion
on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 1981. It is obvious that
Miss Wilson does not understand world politics
when she wrote: “Besides avoiding war, other
reasons exist now for the U.S. to stay away from
intervening in other countries’ internal political
struggles.” These so called “internal political
struggles have ceased to be internal in nature.
The open intervention and the artificial revolu
tions and terrorism are used by the Soviets and
their satellites all over the world (Afghanistan,
Ethiopa, Nicaragua, El Salvador, etc.) to im
pose a system that destroys “life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness.” She also claims that
“maybe capitalism is the step after communism
in a society’s evolution” which for us is some
thing new, since we don’t recall reading it in
any U.S. history text book. Miss Wilson
pointed out that “If communism is a step that
many countries need to go through, maybe we
should let inflation, welfare, and unemploy
ment grow, and maybe we should let the U.S.
turn into socialism and, in a near future, into a
provisional communism to complete the cycle
and have a more efficient capitalistic system in
the long run.
We are definitely with her when she said that
“we don’t need any more Vietnams, and we
centainly don’t need another World war. ” But
what we do need is to keep our values which
Mr. Jefferson clearly stated in the Declaration
of Independence of this great country. She also
asked, “what can we do?” Unfortunately this is
not an easy question to answer, but the an?
is definitely not letting the World go com®
ist. In the basics of politics there are two®
ideologies: that of democracy and that of®
munism, which one would you rather 1*
Miss Wilson? Which one do you think 1
people in Afghanistan and El Salvador"® 1
rather have? We definitely stay with De®
racy.
Let’s make America great again!
Alvaro Andrade'
Carlos E. Zuniga
Warped
By Scott McCullar
The Battalion
I SPS 045 :)60
MEMBER
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Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Questions or comments concerning any editorial /nan«
should be directed to the editor.
Editor Dillard Stone
Managing Editor Angel Copeland
Asst. Managing Editor Todd Woodard
City Editor Debbie Nelson
Asst. City Editor Marcy Boyce
News Editors Venita McCellon,
Scot K. Meyer
Sports Editor \ .. Richard Oliver
Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff
Asst. Focus Editor Susan Hopkins
Staff Writers Carolyn Barnes,
Jane G. Brust, Terry Duran, Bernie Fette,
Cindy Gee, Jon Heidtke, Belinda McCoy,
Marjorie McLaughlin, Kathy O’Connell,
Ritchie Priddy, Rick Stolle
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Photo Editor Greg Gammon
Photographers Chuck Chapman
Brian Tate
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Heed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station, l
77843.
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