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Viewpoint
The Battalion
Slouch By Jim Earle
“I ve never understood before why he liked to study in the
library!”
Cheers for
Being an average person with a moder
ate degree of sanity, I am subject to con
trasting feelings of joy and disgust with day-
to-day events and the people responsible
for them. That is, some things thrill me and
some things tick me off.
Thus, I present my current list of parties
receiving my cheers and jeers.
Each cheer comprises a flood of smiles,
applause, shouts of joy and happy feelings.
Each jeer, on the other hand, comprises
sighs of dismay, assorted snarls and mild
blasphemy.
First of all, three cheers to the MSG
Town Hall Committee for a fantastic con
cert Friday night. And three cheers to the
Commodores themselves who must have
burned off 10 pounds each on that stage.
However, three jeers go to each of the
vendors who peddled glowing ropes and
whistles in the coliseum prior to and during
the concert. Three more jeers to each per
son who bought one, and an extra three
jeers to those who felt obligated to swing
the ropes and blow the whistles throughout
the performance.
For a while I wondered if I’d come to the
circus instead of the concert. I always did
think whistles were obnoxious.
Three cheers to the yell leaders who have
told clean stories at midnight yell practice
some, jeers
Jane
Brust
for two out of two nights! Congratulations, 1
knew you could do it! Those three cheers
also credit the yell leaders with their suc
cess in passing back yells to the crowd de
spite foggy pea-soup weather conditions.
Three jeers to Cindy Green, Miss Texas
A&M University, for wearing a fire engine
red dress to assist in the pre-game coin toss.
I saw Green enter the stadium, and her
dress was really pretty. In fact, it would
have been flattering in almost any color —
but not BED for pre-game activities before
the Aggies face the University of Houston!
Three needless-to-mention-but-Ijl-say-
it-anyway cheers go to the Texas Aggie foot
ball team for their defeat of the University
of Houston Cougars. I love to see the
Aggies beat anybody, but especially the
Cougars.
Three cheers also go to each member of
October 12,1981
for other
the Texas Aggie Band for yet anot
standing halftime perfonnance,
needs twirlers?)
Another three cheers to the yell
and each member of the Class ofJM
managed to iorm the halftime bootlineB
minimal chaos. From my seat on tleB
yard line, second deck, it looked liliejB
did a darn good job!
Three cheers to everyone who wom
the* Bonfire Benefit Barbecue, oneoM
best campus-wide activities vveve®
Three cheers plus a bonus cheer tojfl
Zachry for his support of Texas till'
annual Bonfire. Another three chej
Farmer’s Market for serving the bestM
cue plates in Texas.
Last, but not least, three BIGjeerstoB
elves who have been toying with M
A&M s power source. I never usedlnl
afraid of the dark, but this is ridiculM
Three cheers to the people who now*
sense enough to curry flashlights anfl
candles with them everywhere they w
I almost left out another three BICj™
for the weather wizards gift of such rottfl
sticky mugginess. Whatever happdfin
those crystal clear, sunny, invigorating*
of October when the mercury fell toB
degrees and humidity took a vaon
Those were the good of days.
P
f<
Reporter’s coverage
of Liddy ‘shallow’
Regarding, the reporting of G. Gordon
Liddy’s speech last Monday: your reporter
did a surface coverage of the substance of
the talk, but failed to report upon its tone.
As a result, your coverage of Liddy’s talk
failed to give an accurate description of the
man, his views, and his artfulness. Last
Monday evening, after going to great
lengths to denounce the “world of illusion”
in which this country lives, Liddy pro
ceeded to perform a masterful illusion him
self. Instead of thoughtful opinions based
on fact, Liddy resorted to ridicule and
mockery to oppose positions and people.
He belittled and ridiculed the Carter admi
nistration and its consequences. He then
slandered Judge Sirica by attacking the
man’s intellect. All this was done in an en
tertaining and amusing manner. The few
supporting facts Liddy did offer his audi
ence were often distorted. The figure he
quoted for the Soviet military strength is an
example. Liddy’s figure was correct. What
he neglected to mention was the proportion
of the Soviet military which constitutes an
unskilled work force whose members are
non-combatants, have never been trained
to handle weapons, and don’t even speak
the national language of the Soviet Union. I
agree with Liddy’s assessment of the poor
status of our own military — but not be
cause of his commentary. His distortions
tend to discredit his conclusions.
This brings up Liddy’s philosophy —
which could be summed up as “might
Readers
Forum
makes right and the ends justify the
means.” Sadly, this philosophy may be the
only viable policy in international politics.
However, Liddy’s evident self-satisfaction
with his own illegal deeds made it clear that
he makes no distinction between internal
law and international policies. Nor does
Liddy seem to distinguish the difference
between collective might or power (which
our government is predicated on and which
is the force behind our law) and personal,
individual power. In referring to a law with
which he disagreed, Liddy stated “it’s not
my law. ” However, Liddy did appear to
endorse blind obedience to men ofpower in
several of his anecdotes. His dedication to
authoritarian power was subliminally pre
sent throughout his talk.
I will not elaborate on Liddy’s attempts
to perpetuate a James Bond 007 image of
himself.
I hope the majority of the people present
that night realized that they were being
entertained — not informed — and saw
through Liddy. Your reporter evidently did
not.
Richard Percy
the small society
by Brickman
X HAv^ a
'Zp&hlp THAN Y&l)
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981 King Features Syndicate. Inc. World rights reserved.
S-z*-
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Editor Angelique Copeland
Managing Editor Marcy Boyce
City Editor Jane G. Brust
Asst. City Editor Kathy O’Connell
Photo Editor. Greg Gammon
Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy
Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff
Asst. Focus Editor Debbie Nelson
News Editors Jennifer Aiflerbach
Bernie Fette, Belinda McCoy
Diana Sultenfuss
StaffWriters Frank L. Christlieb
Randy Clements, Gaye Denley, Terry Duran
Nancy Floeck, Phyllis Henderson
Colette Hut'hings D. nise Richtf" r 'k Stolle
Nancy Vveatherley
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Graphic Artist Richard DeLeon Jr.
Photographers Brian Tate
Becky Swanson, Dave Einsel
EDITORIAL POLICY
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper
operated os a community sen-ice 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
Begents.
The Battalion also sen es as a laboratory newspaper for
students in reporting, editing and photography classes
within the Department of Communications.
Questions or comments concerning any editorial matter
should be directed to the editor.
LETTERS POLICY
Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in
length, and are subject to being cut if they are longer. The
editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for style and
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Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, and are
not subject to the same length constraints as letters.
Address all inquiries and correspondence to: Editor, The
Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University’,
College Station, TX 77843.
The Battalion is published daily during Texas A&M’s fall
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It’s your turn
Vulgarity not needed to show spirit
Editor:
I am writing to express my agreement
with the opinion of Rick Wyly and Mike
Williams in their letter to the editor
Wednesday, Oct. 7. I cannot stand the
“choice” vocabulary of what unfortunately
appears to be a majority of the students. It
seems that vulgarity is a requirement to be
a mature, well-rounded college student.
Foul language cannot possibly exhibit our
pride and intelligence, and the integrity of
Texas A&M.
Unfortunately, this act of Aggie “spirit is
not limited to yell practice. The various hall
yells contain an assortment of obscenities; a
four-line yell may have up to five truly
“spirit-yielding words. Many of the dorms
spirit banners — including my own — are
also marred with language and insinuations
along the same line. In fact, several dorms
have already been banned from making a
banner for a week because of their graphic
nature; they were so “inspiring that their
effect could last for more than one week.
Maybe I just don’t understand the situa
tion. Could someone please tell me what
purpose all the vulgarity serves? If it were
justified, I wouldn’t have bothered writing.
All it shows is that we can cuss better than a
few of the other universities. What’s wrong
with “Gig ’em Aggies”? or “Farmer’s
Fight ”? I’d rather “saw varsity’s horns off”
anytime!
Larry Halbert
Americans unite!
Editor:
America needs more upstanding, patrio
tic citizens like Jennifer Afflerbach! Her
correct and proper response to G. Gordon
Liddy’s thrilling speech warms the blood of
any partiotic American, unlike your sail'
socialist critique, Ms. Copeland,
perhaps you are not too far gone on
to communism in moral decay. In fact,la 1
writing to you and Miss Afflerhach, and"
any red-blooded American Aggie,
you membership in a new organizationi*
cently founded on the Texas A&M camp®
It’s culled “Aggie Youth for a MoralJ/r
ica. Our motto is “Blood and Honor.”" 1
intend to put back the moral fiber:inti*
American spine and to eradicate thoseelf
ments which would try to tear down Amt!
ican greatness. University officials permit
ting, we will have mass-rallies in KyleFieli
(not conflicting with Yell Practice, ®
course). As a first approximation toidentil?
ing the un-Americans among us, we ad"'
cate the registration of all those witW
season football tickets (preliminary toaFir
al Solution, of course).
Warped