r
The Battalion
Viewpoint
December 2,
Slouch
By Jim Earle I Apathy is everywhere
ONLY
“When I suggested that we decorate our room, I had a little
more in mind than that! ,,
By STEVE GERSTEL
United Press International
WASHINGTON — At the present
pace, President Reagan is racing to
ward a dubious record which can only
infuriate America s Foreign Service.
More so than any president in the
last quarter century or so, Reagan is
going outside the Foreign Service to
appoint U.S. ambassadors.
Reagan’s record, less than a year into
his first term, is incomplete. But the
signals are there.
The practice of naming noncareer
ambassadors, very often to the most co
veted posts, long has rankled Foreign
Service officers — many of whom spend
their lives moving to the top.
One of their best friends in the Sen
ate, along with Sen. Clairbone Pell, D-
R.I., is Charles Mathias, the Maryland
Republican, who represents many of
them living in Washington’s bedroom
suburbs.
Once again, Mathias has offered
legislation under which a president
would be limited in naming non-career
ambassadors — no more than 15 per
cent.
Similiar legislation, adopted by the
Senate, was watered down before it
reached the White House and the fi
gure was set at 50 percent — a mark no
recent president has exceeded,
anyway.
Mathias feel such legislation would
“improve the morale of the of the career
Foreign Service officers and bring grea
ter professional competence to the con
duct of U.S. diplomacy.”
In a statement, Mathias said he was
not implying the country always has
been badly served by non-career
ambassadors.
As outstanding examples, he lists
Ellsworth Bunker, John Sherman
Cooper, Averell Harriman and Shirley
Temple Black.
Mathias certainly should have in
cluded Mike Mansfield, the ambassa
dor to Japan.
Mansfield, a student of the Far East,
first was named by President Carter
and asked to stay on by Reagan. From
all accounts, he is the most succesful
envoy to Japan in recent times.
Despite the occasional noncareer di
plomat who makes it as a top-notch
ambassador, Mathias feels that “too
often political appointees lack the ex
perience and expertise to represent
competently America’s complex in
terests abroad.
“Ambassadorial posts as often
granted in exchange for political sup
port or campaign contributions,” he
said. “Our national security is too im
portant to be subordinated to the pat
ronage requirements of partisan poli
tics.”
In fairness, Mathias should have
pointed out that some posts, notably
the Court of St. James in London, de
mand a great deal of personal wealth to
handle in correct fashion.
Career ministers, for the most part,
do not have that kind of money. Politic
al contributors do.
So far, Reagan has named 81 ambas
sadors, of which 36 — 44 percent —
have come from outside the Foreign
Service. Only John Kennedy, who
chose non-career ambassadors 42 per
cent of the time, ranks close.
Figures provided by Mathias indi
cate the percentage of noncareer
ambassadors has declined. Eisenhower
and Nixon, who picked the most in re
cent times, chose 32 percent.
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
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but nobody really cares
If there were such a thing as an
apathy meter, this campus would be
registering record-breaking levels of
disinterest in school this week.
Everyone came back from Thank
sgiving full of turkey and dressing and
looking forward to Christmas. But, you
can’t get too excited about Christmas
because finals week looms between you
and Saint Nick.
The two weeks before finals seem to
serve only as extra time to complain
about how much there is to do and how
little desire you have to do it.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far
away, school started in mid-September
and the fall semester ended after the
Christmas holidays.
Good students opened textbooks
during Christmas, not presents. The
post-holiday depression and inability to
gear-up and accomplish anything in the
two weeks before finals could not be
overcome. So the University in its wis
dom decided to have finals before
Christmas.
Angelique
Copeland
Now, we go home for the Thanksgiv
ing holiday and come back and have two
weeks to waste before finals. There’s a
point to be made in there somewhere.
For those graduating in December,
the feeling is more desperate than
apathetic. Seniors only have one week
instead of two to finish everything they
have put off all semester.
And it’« impossible to concentrate on
studying with the din of holiday merry
makers reminding you how many shop
ping days are left till Christmas. As if
students have the time or money to
shop. Someone should broadcast an
hourly countdown of how many study
hours are left until finals,
shopping and decorating just
one more excuse for not stui
I’m not really a Scrooge at
Even if the only holiday bel
was Ground Hog’s day, I’d
complain that the crowds
burrow were distracting
spent all my time preparing
Ground Hog’s Day parade, h
like that.
The only good thing about
Thanksgiving, pre-finals depi
that it seems to be affecting the
sors as well as the students. They
piling on the material that dii
covered earlier in the semester
giving tests, but at least t
genuinely apathetic about it
But take heart. In twoweeksn
have forgotten it all — evei
least until your grades come,
that time your parents will be
ped up in the holiday spirit to
Besides, while Santa has lotv
about crying and pouting, he net |
you had to have a 4.0.
Reagan’s ambassadors
anger Foreign Service
And no partridges, please,
either in or out of pear trees
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — If you look back
over your shoulder, you can see that
another Christmas shopping season is
gaining on us.
Filled with good cheer, or whatever,
you naturally want to be as helpful as
possible to relatives and friends who
might have your name on their gift list.
One way to make shopping easier for
them is to compose and circulate a
“Christmas don’t list.”
The counterpart of a “want list,” a
“don’t list” contains an inventory of
items you don’t want anyone to give you
for Christmas. By browsing through a
few Yuletide gift catalogs, I have
already managed to compile a formid
able array.
— Don’t give me a cotton-polyester
T-shirt imprinted to resemble a tuxedo
jacket, complete with ruffled shirtfront,
cummerbund and boutonniere. I sel
dom dress for dinner.
— Don’t give me a “life-size, soft-
sculpture roommate” that can sit up by
itself in a chair and is washable enough
to put in the shower. My neighbors are
too nosy as it is.
— Don’t give me a “talking alarm
clock” that says things like, “It’s now
6:15, please hurry!” If there is one thing
I can’t abide, it’s recorded nagging.
— Don’t give me a fifth of 1040
motor oil in a wine bottle with a label
that reads, “Persian Gulf’59.” My car
doesn’t need vintage foreign oil. It runs
very well on the cheap, domestic varie
ty you can buy in gallon jugs.
— Don’t give me, at $79.50 each, a
matching set of weather instruments.
The
Me
M.
ps b
'ade
heC
stan
including thermometer, by;
and barometer in black alun#
ings. I like surprises of the
vided by U.S. Weather Seni®
casts.
— Don’t give me a $22,6$
diamond-capped, solid gold Pj
couldn’t afford the ink for ar
— Don’t give me a $330
control car starter” that lets yo*
before you get within range
your auto has been rigged vvi
sives attached to the ignition wirt
shape my car is in, it takes theff
lent of a dynamite blast to getitfl*
in cold weather.
— Don’t give me a $149 po)
shower. My dog insists ontul)^
— Don’t give me a “comply
size disco dance floor” that is? 5
teed “creep resistant.”
Correction
The photograph which accompanied the
article “Interferon — cancer cure?” (Wed-,
nesday, Nov. 25) showed Sal Comparini,
interferon supervisor at the Wadley Insti
tutes of Molecular Medicine, holding ajar
of nutrient solution. The picture was incor
rectly identified as Dr. Norwood O. Hill
holding a jar of interferon. The Battalion
regrets the error.
the small society
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>1981 King Features Syndicate. Inc World rights reserved
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