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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1981)
Viewpoint The Battalion Texas A&M University Thursday May 7, 1981 -A] Wei Victory seen in "energy war’ By C/ By EDWARD ROBY United Press International WASHINGTON — The energy crisis, which President Jimmy Carter likened to war and his energy czar, James Schlesinger, found so “intractable,” seems to have vanished in the first 100 days of the Reagan presidency. Total U.S. energy consumption has sunk to pre-1977 levels, although the economy continues to notch surprising growth. Spring gasoline lines have failed to appear and demand has tumbled to 1970 levels, despite Middle East upheavals that virtually eliminated Iran and Iraq, the Nos. 2 and 3 OPEC producers, from the export market. A month-old coal strike has had negligi ble impact on electricity and steel produc tion and the natural gas distribution indus try now complains of federal constraints on the demand it was unable to satisfy just four years ago. A mere 7,000 anti-nuclear demonstra tors showed up in Harrisburg, Pa., on March 28 for what supposed to be a mam moth second anniversary of the Three Mile Island accident. But with electricity growth in doubt, Wall Street and the utili ties are shelving ambitious plans for reactor construction. Energy demand has also slipped in Europe and members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are quietly notching down premiums and sur charges to maintain their sagging crude oil sales. On the home front, three months of total oil decontrol has actually started to push gasoline prices back down, confounding the doomsayers who predicted a consumer dis aster. Major refiners are once again advertising regional gasoline bargains as corner gas sta tions compete fiercely for patronage. Liberal politicians, who whipped up support for a futile court suit in February to restore government control over the pet roleum market, have fallen strangely silent in the face of the new economic facts. Price-induced energy conservation — the only kind approved by the Reagan administration — has also silenced the ex perts who dominated government’s inter ventionist energy policies throughout the past decade. The energy crisis, a vaunted boogyman so often invoked in Congress to justify mas sive spending programs, has deserted prop onents of synthetic fuel subsidies, conser vation tax credits and solar banks in their hour of need. The absence of crisis has also sapped congressional opposition to the president’s stated intention of gradually dismani the Energy Department as a Cabinet-^ 1 agency. The agency — a lightening rod forp. anger over shortages and soaring prio the Carter era — is now rarely heardl If the new administration has itswat 1982 budget will lop $2.9 billion in ing on energy projects envisioned k Carter team. The agency’s Economic Re] Administration, which administered! controls that conservatives like toblaa past gasoline lines, would be reduced skeleton crew. Some of the most cherished programs — conservation, solar anil fuels — would be hardest hit. Admii tion budget-makers argue that these! native energy sources are already coi tive without public handouts. It’s beei basically th tvomen am College arry Dav aused by lon’t use < unately, t lon’t only lives, but t particul nent hou 'amily dwe While lamond Je .gujj ipartment station mo ;o January lip spej Di Es In a farewell speech in 1979 Secretary James Schlesinger warned coming decade punctuated by energyi tages and economic recessions. Instead 1980s has produced a worldwide oil[j m, strengthening dollar and an improvin] trade balance. A requiem for the energy crisis somewhat premature, but it seems moribund. By KAT B The real s succes ichieveme McM Uni\ s former aished Ah mmence Satim It’s your turn and JoeC. I R.A. Muri ,E. Pat i Clayton V ’54, will highest av ment. cert! ‘Fish Lady’ gives special thanks for rewarding year The Award is g who have butions to terest am career a Editor: As I write this, the year draws to a close. The Class of ’81 (or most of them) will be leaving their days as A&M students behind. I think my devotion to the Aggies is very well known on this campus yet allow me to speak my love still once again. This year has been so happy and reward ing. So many of you have done so much to make it so. A special “Thank you” to Col. James R. Woodall, the Trigon Staff and the Corps of Cadets for their love and support and the beautiful things they have done for me daily. I would like to express my appreciation to the Medina Hometown Club who made transportation possible for some of us to the Texas A&M-Arkansas football game last fall. The love and friendships of my fish are very special and memories of this year I will cherish forever. The “fish table,” as we call it, has been a joy and I will give up the Class of’84 with sadness. Yet, the fish are part of our future and to help them become sopho mores has been the reason for it all. I wish to thank Ann, Joni, Gretchen, Leigh and Sandy for the beauty and charm they have brought to our days also “dp” for his support, kind words and excellent work. Best wishes, love and God bless you ev ery one. Ruth Hunt “The Fish Lady” hearts for the Women Cadets Class of’81. Thank you to all who made this possible for giving us the opportunity to be the “Aggie Parents of the Year” and thanks to the leadership and administration of Texas A&M University for providing an institu tion to which we can confidently entrust our children. * Ernest and Virginia Jaska “Aggie Parents of the Year” Drivers anger student Award honors parents To the AGGIES: No greater honor can children give than to nominate their mother and father as pa rents of the year. A greater honor is for Aggies to recommend their mom and dad as “Aggie Parents of the Year.” No words can adequately express the honor we feel. This title has caused us to examine our past. Our many shortcomings cause us to wonder why we were nomin ated, let alone selected. There are so many others deserving of this award. As our children went out on dates or to participate in activities, our standard admo nition to them was “remember whose chil dren you are.” Now it behooves us to “re member whose parents we are.” Not only parents of Mike, ’75, Bridget, ’81, Matt, ’82, and Lexa, ’83, but for this year, we will do our best to properly represent all pa rents in a manner fitting their expectation. We will always have a special warmth in our Editor: Everyone complains about the parking situation at this fine University and I would now like to join their ranks. My approach is somewhat different in that I am not dire cting my works toward the administration nor the Kampus Kops but rather toward the drivers of those red-stickered cars who park in the day student slots in front of Krueger and Mosher Halls. It seems that the drivers of said vehicles enjoy going out at night but do not like parking out in the dorm parking lots and walking the distance to their rooms. The following morning, in order to avoid getting yellow papers on their cars, there is a mass exodus, at five of nine, of sleepy-eyed Aggies moving their vehicles. This approach may seem quite practical to them but they neglect to consider the in convenience they are causing others. I am a day student and have classes that begin at eight or nine every morning. I do not think it is right that my fellow day students and myself should get to school a half hour be fore class and still find that we must park out on Jersey Street and then hussle across campus to barely make it to class on time because of the inconsiderate actions of those mentioned above. The parking situa tion at this University is tight enough with out these students making it worse. Andy Dean ’81 fully placed spitoons, I thought to myself “How could I be classified as a preppie?” Now, I do not consider myself a preparatory student even though I do own an Izod shirt — nor do I consider myself a cowboy, although I own a pair of cowboy boots. I am not in a sorority — I’m not even on dorm council. Can a basis for catagorization exist for one. article of clothing? I am astounded and appalled at such pettiness and injus tice. Why, what’s the difference between a dung-kicker and a fake dung-kicker? One cleans out stalls and ropes cattle — the other doesn’t. In many cases, however, their articles of clothing are basically the same. Both have boots with the inside half of their cowboy cut Wrangler’s tucked in, both have a big silver belt buckle making it impossible to bend over and both sport a straw cowboy hat so bent at the sides and front that it looks like a Schlitz Malt Liquor bull did a tap dance on it. (I graciously admit there are exceptions.) Now, far be it for me to pass judgment on one’s taste for clothes. I am merely trying to say that clothes do not make the man, his ideals or hobbies (obviously). Furth ermore, I hope I don’t receive a rash of calls reiterating the fact that Highway 6 runs both ways. My boots ain’t made for walking and I’m where I want to be. Colleen Barnett two million Palestinians have been forced off their land since 1948, while another one and a half million live as less than second class citizens in their own country; today called Israel. In the second cartoon which appeared in your April 28, 1981 issue, the well known stereotypical image of an Arab was display ed with the implication that the Arabs are being hurt by a world oil glut which they cannot avoid. This cartoon and others like it, strengthen the false assuptions held by a large number of Americans, that the Arabs seek to serve only their own interest in raising or lowering oil production. Very few Americans realize the sacrifices several Arab governments have made with their nation’s natural resources in order to save the world from economic depression. Saudi Arabia, the best known of these countries, with its present policy of over-producing its oil fields, has a good chance of drying up its reserves long before it has a chance to develop alternate sources of income for its people. Despite all this however, some of Amer ica’s newpapers, which are influenced dire ctly or indirectly by Zionist-Jewish interest, continue to portray the Arabs as the culprits in any oil crisis or Mid-East war. Wake up America, study the facts, there is more to the news you bear and read than meets the eye. Nabil O. Al-Khawaiter .brought c: Fo emotional stability of the children as grow up. Apparently, this would help vent a child from becoming a prospee crazed killer. I would like to say two things to 111 1.) I do not know what your experieu with elementary education (I have myself) but I seriously doubt that ptii/Y Kl psychologists in the school system wife tO MM any long-term effects on what achildp up to be. They could help in a limited but just how do you propose to make si system work effectively? How implement it? How much would it cost where would the money come from?! do you do in small schools? Large si Schools with high incidents of viols where nothing gets through to the b Instead of wasting space with pondti fi rst j n t j Cartoons anger reader New Mister Rogers ‘Preppie wear’ OK Editor: I am writing in defense of what is popularly termed “preppie wear.” As you are prob ably astounded by what may turn out to be a pro-Izod letter, please read on for the full complaint. I happened to be walking by Dudley’s Urban Draw when a slow southern drawl interrupted my reverie. “Walk on preppie” (spit). As I lightly stepped around the care- Editor: Enough of these ridiculous cartoons which portray Arabs as terrorists, blackmailers and war-mongers. Where do Zionists in American clothing get off, feeding the American public grossly distorted images of Arabs and encouraging Arab stereotypes that should have gone out with the middle- ages. I am specifically referring to two car toons, relating in a biased way to the Arab nation, that appeared in the Battalion dur ing the month of April 1981. In the first cartoon printed in your April 6, 1981 issue, the PLO, which every Arab considers Palestine’s de-facto government in exile, was depicted as merely a Russian puppet, something the Russians made up to terro rize the “free world.” This falsified impress ion only serves Zionist-Jewish interests by diverting the American public’s eye from the human dilema of the Palestinians; an entire nation of people who have been de nied their most basic human rights. Over Editor: Remember when Mr. Rogers would give the kiddies new words and ask, “Can you say that?’’ Well, it seems that there is a new Mr. Rogers in the neighborhood who wrote a Reader’s Forum column which seems to ask, “Can you figure out what the heck this means?” This is, of course, in reference to Marc Rogers’ column in Monday’s Batta lion. It seems this Mr. Rogers had no inten tion of making a reasonable point, but simp ly attempted to confuse and confound us with his seemingly endless knowledge of the English vocabulary. As for the content of his column, I helieve that what he finally tried to say was that there should be a psychologist in every school to monitor the verbosity (that’s “big words ”, readers), should have at least attempted to some of these questions. 2.) Speaking of ponderous verbosi think it insults the readers when they: to try and decipher an article such 35)1 At the risk of souding conceited, I had a good vocabulary, but it almost half an hour with a dictions struggle through the endless twistingsi turnings of phrases like: “. . . exacerbating this quandary, “. . . Scylla and Charybdis of lonelii and self-loathing. . .”; “. . . Merlin’s legerdemain...”; “. . . what is needed to denff the. . . dangerous from transient bances is. . . event. . . ubiquitous it ture. . . ”; and “Let our Armageddonb Apocalypse rather than an apocrypha.' I could go on and on, but this Id would then be as long as your artide, are not writing a lecture or a textbool speaking to 33,000 English and psycho! majors (no offense to them.) It is aprivi to write in the Battalion, but people seel yourself have no right to abuse that; vilege. In words you can understand,A cast about in hopes of impressing pimej of periodicals with achetypes denotil magnitude of your linguistic ca pabl*' (don’t try to impress newspaper n with examples of your use of your'» 1 bulary.) Noe Gul By Egypt, Lebanon female “d tional W the Texas pus in Jui This have four uished p address i women ai ia Dessel, tative for The s ence will Egypt, Ethiopia, ico and R land, wh< Lebanon. Azizal lessor of; nator of tl could be I United S Tm d Warped By Scott McCullar FROM THE PHOTO ALBUM! HERE STEVE IS THE OF N\ERR|TT JENNINGS: VERT PICTURE OF /AT FRIEND STEVE COLLEGIATE DIGNITY GRADUATES. HE'S THE AND INTELLIGENCE. ONE IN BLACK. IT IS IRONIC THAI THE fAOST IMPORTANT EVEWT OP TOUR SCHOLASTIC CAREER TANES PLACE IN A BASKET BALL STADItm. HERE EVERT- ONE WAITS FOR THE OTHER 1,000^ TO GET THEIR DIPLOMA'S; STEVE RECEIVES HIS DIPLOMA WITH HIS NAME SPELLED WRONG ON IT (By THE WAT, PR. SAMPSON SHOOK HANDS WITH EVERYBODY). The Battalion MEMBER I S P S 045 460 Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Editor Angelique Copeland Managing Editor Marcy Boyce City Editor Jane Brust Asst. City Editor Venita McCellon Night News Editor Jennifer Afflerbach Photo Editor Greg Gammon Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff Asst. Focus Editor Debbie Nelson News Editors Venita McCellon, Scot K. Meyer Staff Writers . . . Frank L. Christlieb, Terry Duran, Bemie Fette, Phyllis Henderson, Colette Hutch ings, Belinda McCoy, Kathy O’Connell, Denise Richter, Rick Stolle, Todd Woodard Cartoonist Scott McCullar Photographer Brian Tate The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaj# 1 students in reporting, editing and photograph within the Department of Communications. Questions or comments concerning any editoritln^ should be directed to the editor. EDITORIAL POLICY The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper operated as a community service to Texas A&M University and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Bat talion are those of the editor or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Texas A&M Universi ty administrators or faculty members, or of the Board of Regents. LETTERS POLICY Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 length, and are subject to being cut if they are editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for stA 1 length, but will make every effort to maintain theiol intent. Each letter must also be signed, show the and phone number of the writer. Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, tfll not subject to the same length constraints as lei* 1 Address all inquiries and correspondence to: EdiW.^ Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M Uni'tf* College Station, TX 77843. The Battalion is published daily during Texas AMI 1 and spring semesters, except for holiday and exaiafl periods. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester; per school year and $35 per fall year. Advertising furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald ing, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX7 United Press International is entitled exclusivelvl ( use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited ^ Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein resff® Second class postage paid at College Station, TX