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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1981)
The Battalion Viewpoint December 1,1981 J Slouch By Jim Earle TMAS "TRESS 5?ECIAL "Want a money-saving hint? Wait till after Christmas; they’re much cheaper then. ’’ U.S. needs 50, not one, economic plans By DAVID S. BRODER NEW ORLEANS — When the Republi can governors met here for a couple of clays just before Thanksgiving, they gave a clas sic demonstration of that aphorism, “Where you stand depends on where you sit.” In interviews previewing the likely dynamics of the 1982 election, they showed how much their view of President Reagan’s economic policy depends on the health — or sickness — of their own state economies. To Gov. Robert F. List of Nevada, where state gaining revenues are up 14 percent this year and the economy has “helped .the recession only in a very limited way,” it seems that "Reagan is doing better all the time. He is stronger than ever in the West. Try telling that to Gov. Victor G. Atiyeh of Oregon. He says it’s “getting tougher and tougher” to defend the president. The se vere and prolonged nationwide housing slump has brought not a recession, but de pression, to Oregon’s vital forest products industry. Statewide unemployment, now at 10.6 percent, is projected to jump to 12.5 percent in the next few months. Atiyeh is no less a conservative or a Republican loyalist than List. “I support the president in trying to cut both taxes and budget,” he says. “But it’s a question of timing.” Where List says there has been “no real grief” on the first round of cuts in federal aid to Nevada, Atiyeh says the im pact in Oregon has been “unbelievable. People don’t want big spending programs, but when you have the kind of unemploy ment we have, they expect the govern ment to help.” The debate between the two Westerners has its counterparts all across the country. Energy-rich Sun Belt governors like Wil liam P. Clements Jr. of Texas and David C. Treen of Louisiana were cheering the presi dent on, while farm-state governors like Robert D. Ray of Iowa were warning that Reagan’s personal popularity does not con vince voters that “his policies will help the farm economy.” The Battalion USPS 045 360 MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Editor Angelique Copeland Managing Editor Marcy Boyce City Editor JaneG. Brust Asst. City Editor Kathy O’Connell Photo Editor Dave Einsel Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff Asst. Focus Editor Debbie Nelson News Editors Phyllis Henderson Bernie Fette, Belinda McCoy Diana Sultent'uss Stair Writers Gary Barker Frank L. Christlieb, Randy Clements Gaye Denley, Nancy Floeck, Tim Foarde Colette Hutchings, Daniel Puckett Denise Richter, Mary Jo Rummel, Rick Stolle Nancy Weatherley, Barbie Woelf'el Cartoonist. . . . Scott McCullar Graphic Artist Richard DeLeon Jr. Photographers Rose Delano Daniel Sanders, Colin Valentine, Greg Watermann EDITORIAL POLICY Tlx- Hathilion is u non-profit, svlf'-snpportinf' newspaper oi>erated as a eoinnumity service to Texas A&M University and Hryun-ColIcKc 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. The Battalion also serves 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 length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must also be signed, show the address and phone number of the writer. 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 and spring semesters, except for holiday and examination periods. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester, $33.25 per school year and $35 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald Build ing, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. United Press International is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it. Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. Speaker turns ‘informative’ discussion into propaganda [he Nov. dent in a Editor: On November 21 in room 301 Rudder Tower there was a conference on American Policy in Central America. The speaker was Dr. Margarita Melville of the University of Houston, This meeting was sponsored by the International Student’s Assoication here on campus. Since this is a country where the right to free speech is carefully guarded, Dr. Mel ville had every right to come here and ex press her views. To counter or to agree with Dr. Melville’s views a representative panel was chosen from the student organizations of Venezuela, Honduras, Belize, Guatema la, El Salvador and the United States. Each country had one representative, except El Salvador. All these representatives but one were told not to prepare for this meeting. They were merely supposed to be an infor mative panel. The exception to this was the second representative form El Salvador. This “surprise” representative of El Salva dor was Joaquin Samayoa, the underground leader of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). This front is the Readers Forum speech. It lasted exactly ten minutes, the other members of the panel, lie prog spoke too long, some didn’t speal id 10 p i' enough, but nobody else tinishedine T'clV 10 minutes. This has all the maldnt ^ ra P e ' planned speech. Secondly, nobody)! ^' ycai ’ ( ' the I.S.A.?) knew Samayoa wast» What was supposed to be a neutral had become dangerously red. Last!) panel members had been told not! k.aimi pare. This left them at a distinctdisa tage when facing two well-prt| rd. Wit! spearhead of the communist movement in El Salvador and has been proven responsi ble for rampant terrorist activity in that country including rocket attacks on the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador. There are several suspicious circumst ances surrounding Samayoa’s appearance here at Texas A&M. First, every represen tative on the panel was told that they had 10 minutes in which to ask questions. Samayoa asked no questions, he professed to agree with Dr. Melville and then began to deliver what sounded like a rehearsed propaganda speakers. Why this imbalance? Whydidtlie keep the apparance of Samayoa as ^ ir ’ Why weren’t the student represent notified so they could prepare their And why, here at Texas A&M, w ; 'ch a rle conference so blatantly leaned in tlie m t v si tion of the doctrine that threatenstln dom of every people in the world? Gloria Shen Editor’s note: This letter was accom| by four other signatures. The reality underlying all of these con trasts is that in this time of tremendous inflation-recession-interest rate pressures, what we have is not one national economy, but 50 different state economies, each going its own direction. That elementary fact poses a great poli tical challenge to Reagan’s economic strategy. The president so far has left no room in his plan for the strains some states face in adjusting to the massive changes his economic policies are generating. Quite the contrary. When he was asked in an inter view last week whether he thought it was “at all the responsibility of the federal gov ernment to redistribute resources between states that are relatively well off and states that are not,” the president said flatly no. “That is up to the states,” he said. When someone doesn’t like the situation in which he is living, he can “vote with his feet — move away, Reagan said. It was not the first time the administra tion had suggested that the answer to in equality is to move people, not money, around the country. Earlier, at a meeting of Reagan’s advisory commission on federal ism, the speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates, Benjamin L. Cardin, asked Norman B. Ture, the undersecretary of treasury, what he would do about financing government services “in a jurisdiction that has one-fourth the fiscal resources of a neighboring jurisdiction. ” “You don’t do anything,” Ture said. “You decide where you want to live.” There are 36 governors’ races next year, 16 in states now held by Republicans and 20 now controlled by the Democrats. Reagan pollster Richard B. Wirthlin said here these contests will open “the great hinge’ of his tory to the GOP, by providing “the oppor tunity for a realignment that would make it the country’s majority party. If that is true, the Republicans better hope that the Reagan economic plan deliv ers more Nevedas than Oregons in the au tumn of 1982. 0 By DAF be me of tli ght. iol stuck lot of th Anders* As she v down iat, the i ch he ec Monda; led as lium bi .wearni] lirt and U: Iffiies v ivelv i Ur Ttunit ng at MSC e Te\ e and ee will Euro rested om It Tra r Text juss tin ences. Bugle stand taken after |Ryan \ m, be lie be tha Ei Editor: At 6:50 a.m., 6:20 p.m. and 11 p.m. every day of the school year, bugle calls are blown by the Corps bugler. Since about 1936, these calls have been blown through a bugle stand that was originally dedicated to Edwin O’Brien Bellinger ‘36. The original stand stood in front of the Academic Build ing and was then moved to the Quad where it stands now and is used every bit as much as it used to be. It is almost entirely in its orginal form because of special care and a new paint and sandblasting job every sum mer given by the new bugler. Sometime last Friday night after the t.u. game, the megaphone was stolen. This let ter is written to ask for any information as to the whereabouts of the stand. Something this old is of priceless value to A&M and is not a thing to be played around with. We therefore ask for a quick return of this im portant monument that has become such an integral part of our school. Jim Williams ‘84 Kieth Mays ‘82 Paul Brown ‘83 nuclear weapons and the political power that they have. But, I have also seen the threat of Russia’s nuclear strength and dominance they have over smaller coun tries. Our only hope of not having a nuclear holocaust is if Russia decides not to throw away their country on our retaliation attack. They might call this some kind of stalemate, but if this will keep my children and their children from seeing world wide annihila tion, it will be worth it. Disarmament would be the next answer, but would either side trust the other in knowing if they had really disarmed all nuc lear weapons? Would you really feel safe if the United States had disarmed all nuclear weapons but have Russia just say that they did? I am not the “John Wayne type as what most civilians think of Marines, but I am an American. I have been to different coun tries and I found that even though the Un ited States has its problems, there is still not a better country around. Also, in the time of trouble, as many millions of fellow Americans, I will stand to defend it. If you live off campus you’re ini rochu 11 versify anis, Hand, by default, and you can attend any function. ■,)! — We will have two bands that willpf»' iy and C&W, jitterbug, rock and roll plusab# Re sen sound system. — A free buffet table of meats, breads cheeses will be provided. Also drinks be purchased. — You can wear anything you want,ils why it is called semi-formal (sportsjack suit and tie, etc.). — Information is available at the (l cubicle, 1st floor MSC, and theRuddef! Office. Tickets will be sold at the door at the MSC Rudder Box Office. Paul Bettenct OCA Presiit Fun dam en talism Nuclear power PFC John Robinette USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, USMC Howmetown, College Station Editor: In regard to Doug Wenzel’s and Jack Seifert’s letter of ending nuclear weapons, I think morally I would agree with them, but in reality I find it would never work. I’m not a college student in the United States, but I’m in a security detachment as a U.S. Marine on board the nuclear power aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhow er. I have learned firsthand the threat of OCA dance Editor: I would like to answer some of the ques tions being asked about the Off Campus Aggies Semi Formal coming up this Friday the 4th of December. Editor: I tend to agree with Jim Mazzullo’si cle in the Nov. 20 Battalion; howevei was a bit harsh on our fundamenti Christian brothers and sisters. There! minority of Chrisitians who believe in literal interpretation of the Bible they obviously feel the “word of God being attacked whenever true scieii facts and theories are expounded. Altk* they endanger our learning of the uni' 1 and how God operates it, they do have right to search for evidence for their bell Their attacks on scientific truisms also! us on our toes, demanding hard evide for theories which are taken for grant* Mark Baud