i
Viewpoint
The Battalion
October 16,19S1
Slouch
By Jim Earle
T like to leave room for freedom of expression.
Columbus discovers
use for press agent
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The first serious
challenge to Christopher Columbus’ No. 1
ranking came from historians who claimed
the Vikings were the first Europeans to
reach the new world.
Then, as the nation was celebrating Col
umbus Day this week, up cropped evi
dence that Chinese sailors got here even
before the Vikings.
Despite all the detraction, however, cre
dit for discovering America still is generally
given to Columbus, a consensus that caused
Roll Call, the Capitol Hill weekly, to con
clude that “Columbus had a better press
agent. ”
Actually, there is nothing in the logs of
the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria to
confirm that the crews Columbus recruited
for his 1492 voyage included a public rela
tions consultant. Therefore, I think we can
safely dismiss any suspicion that his
achievement was in part a public relations
job.
Indeed, the very fact the Columbus was
willing to tackle the project without the
services of a media adviser is further testi
mony to his fortitude.
There is, however, no doubt that the
situation was ripe for a hype, as modern
publicity gimmicks are called.
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
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Regents.
Reagan has hazy foreign polkj
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By HELEN THOMAS
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Reagan is
a pragmatist on foreign policy. He creates it
as the need arises.
There is little cohesion and most of it is
articulated by his diplomatic and defense
advisers rather than Reagan himself. His
aides say that is the way it is going to be. It
will not be so clearly stated as to bar flexi
bility.
White House spokesman Larry Speakes
told reporters they will never see a foreign
policy address by Reagan per se. He indi
cated that the building blocks are speeches
by Secretary of State Alexander Haig before
the United Nations, and Reagan’s address
to the International Monetary Fund, a
broad brush exhortation to the underde
veloped nations to put their houses in order
and to return to a heavier reliance on free
enterprise.
But other than laying down a hard line
against the Soviet Union, with ample
threats to boot, Reagan’s foreign policy in
many areas of the world has yet to be articu
lated. It is negative and offers no new roads
to peace and improving the quality of life in
many areas.
To the friends of the United States
abroad, there is usually a promise of milit
ary assistance. Such is the case in bolstering
the government in El Salvador against the
rebels.
The Senate has approved the administra
tion’s proposal to repeal the Clark amend
ment, which barred the United States
from supporting any faction in Angola with
aid, or covert CIA intervention. It still must
be acted on in the House.
In a recent interview, Sudanese Presi
dent Jaafar Nimeri said that he had a com
mitment from Haig that the United States
will defend his government against attack
by Libya. Within hours, Haig stressed to
American television audiences that prom
ise did not include combat troops.
In the Middle East, the United States
will show the flag with demonstrations and
maneuvers involving B-52s aiming at
targets in the desert. The aim also is to scare
off Libyan strongman Moammar Khadafy
from attacking the Sudan or any other
neighbor.
A show of force does not a peace make,
although it might temporarily deter aggres-
Over and beyond the outbreaks in the
Middle East, and the patchwork that fol
lows, is the lack of a coherent policy for all to
see and understand. It also keeps possible
opposition off balance.
The assassination of Anwar Sadat
pointed up the fallacy of depending on per
sonal relationships in place of policy,
although there is every expectation that his
successor, Hosni Mubarak, will follow in
his footsteps in continuing the Camp David
hpus C
peace process. Israel’s Menacheml f 0[i '
has promised the same. heOL
The promise of the sale of sophisS nlL , a ^ r '
radar planes to Saudi Arabia has pull
Reagan’s ability to make good onaca . at f e
ment. He has an uphill battle in theS ^uann
to block defeat of the sale andittn off Ca
either way. Cher?
Meanwhile, Reagan has put iiu! PJJ S ac
chips, including his personal prestig e s
win this foreign policy initiative. ^ er
A defeat of the sale could discra) , ice
ability to conduct foreign policy intle ‘Less t
die East, and may embarrass the S tly in t
who need friends to walk a so-calledb 1, “and <
ate line in that troubled area. forridi
_ , T _ iollensl
Former Presidents Jimmy Cartet ree and
Gerald Ford have called for a dialogut to be
the Palestine Liberation Organization >rest in
the PLO recognizes Israel’s right toi itudent:
Carter said the two could go hand inka the prc
a simultaneous gesture. e d in F
m the Y
Carter also told reporters that he; itudent:
turbed by the “military” imageofU.S, edfor t
ign policy with no “balancing” withs anew
taneous efforts for peace and humanri
and to block proliferation of on
weapons. ^ ^
So far, there has been no
Reagan to explain his overall foreignp 1 ^
and the time will come when he nw
rally the country behind him. ^
1
Knowing what we do now about the art of
exploitation, let us try to visualize what the
discovery of America might have been like
if Columbus had had a flack aboard. For the
sake of hypothesis, we shall call him
Sammy.
CC: According to my charts, we are now
less than two nautical miles from the jump-
ing-off place. I guess it’s about time we
were turning around and heading back to
Spain. /• - .
Sammy: Chris, baby, those network
news directors are all big world-is-round
freaks. If you turn back now, you won’t
even get so much as a five-second mention
after the 27th commercial on the evening
news.
CC: Round, smound. The important
thing is that I have lived up to my commit
ment to the queen. In return for her finan
cial support, I vowed to keep sailing west
ward until I found a new trade route to Asia
or reached the jumping-off place, whichev
er came first.
Sammy: I know that, Chris, but this is
your big chance. Put yourself in my hands,
big guy, and I’ll have you in history books
all over the world.
CC: What profits it a man to go down in
history if he also goes down the jumping-off
place?
Sammy: I never promised you a rose
garden.
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It's your turn
Society protests engineering article
Editor:
Pursuant to your article, “New Engineer
ing Degree Offered” on October 2, we, the
Telecommunications Society, feel short
lived by your standards of excellence per
taining to journalism.
We do not feel the impulse to patronize
your inauspicious rhetoric. If we, being
astute and indigenous in professional prose
and academics, had uttered such assonant
nonsense, we would have been run out of
Texas A&M University and the Lone Star
State of Texas with wet towels. We have
been educated to be competent.
No professional journalism staffhas ever
assaulted the analytical sensibilities as
much as these blossoms of academic prose
and professionalism, who stand as living
rebuke to John Stuart Mill’s proposition
Warped
By Scott McCullar
that universal literacy would bring
eudaemonia. The rhetoric is gruesomely
consistant.
Are we not and are you not people of
reputation? The most reputable telecom
munications consultant in the industry is a
man by the name of James Martin...not
“Lewis Martin.” We, therefore, protest
vehemently about the impetus of our spe
cialty degree.
To set the record straight, you will find
no aberration in our exegesis of our special
ty program. The specialty degree in tele
communications emphasizes students’
understanding in the engineering, design,
and management of telecommunications
systems. The program asserts itself in deal
ing with the correlation of voice, data and
facsimilie as a function of transmission en
gineering, satellite communications, tele
processing, and other modes of the com
munication media. We, therefore, cannot
dispel our feelings.
This is not thrown upon you personally,
but we feel your readers and general public
were impolitic as to the article of October 2.
Let us all strive for “quality” not “quantity. ”
Write that down lest you forget. As you
introspect your mind, you will find subcon
sciously that we are people of high moral
standards and academic excellence.
tt
1
those right wing idiots who totally sui
an admitted felon, G. Gordon Liddy, J
label those who disagree with him as«
the path to communism and moral deca)'
I’m referring to an editorial in the
ion in which Cleon E. Dean invites alln
blooded moral American Aggies to join
“Aggie Youth for a Moral America.”
The purpose of the organization accoi f
ing to Dean is to “put back moral fiberin® f
American spine and to eradicate those
ments which would try to tear-do'j a
American greatness.” j £
Dean is under the misconception tij 1
something is morally wrong with Amerid J
One of the basic problems with this count! &
today is people like Jerry Falwell andDe*i.
who try to force their Victorian mori H
down the throats of the “majority’ ’ of Anm
icans who believe morals should be up I
the individual person. j ji
Dean, suppose I am an “immoral coif
munist” who deserves to be eradicate j
(death in a Nazi concentration campwou! j
be fitting) because I disagree with Falwd
c
F
Liddy and you.
The Telecommunications Society
Liddy response
I do have one last wish that I hope can U
granted before I am eradicated and thatj r
for God to save this great country and i L
unique system of government, whid ^
guarantees freedom for all, from moiff
idiots who are trying to legislate their
onto us all.
Editor:
It is unfortunate that we have among us
Frank
K