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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1982)
opinion Too much oil worse than oil shortages by Dick West United Press International WASHINGTON — Add to the list of things to worry about: the worldwide oil s lut - Until recently, clinging to a belief that the oil glut was certain to be short-lived, I was reluctant to spend much time wor rying about it. Now there seems no doubt that the surplus is real, is substantial, is wide spread and is causing troubles in many parts of the world. With petroleum experts predicting the glut will extend into the foreseeable future, and with each passing day pro ducing fresh reports of oil-producing countries struggling to cope with more- than-adequate supplies, truly conscien tious consumers have no choice but to admit this problem to their spheres of anxieties. However, I’m still not sure whether this means we can quit worrying about an oil shortage. Just be on the safe side, I personally intend to continue worrying about a shortage for a few more weeks, or at least until the situation is better clarified. /In short, the oil glut is no cause for panic — yet. Alarm, yes; panic, no. At the moment, it merely seems prudent to keep the oil glut in the back of your mind where other pertubations lurk. Then, later, if conditions warrant, we can stampede ourselves into a full-blown crisis. Meanwhile, the chair will entertain questions from the floor. Q. What causes an oil glut? A. As best I can ascertain, the villain of the piece is the same as the chief culprit in the recent shortage — namely, fossil fuels. Geologists and petroleum engineers tell us that fossils are highly erratic and subject to whim. Their eccentricities make it all but impossible to anticipate and predict the rate at which fossils are likely to covert themselves to fuel. Throughout most of the 1970s, the world’s fossil population was engaged in a dramatic slowdown. For the most part, fossil remains remained fossils, rather than taking the final, fateful plunge into combustibility. Then, about a year ago, for reasons that deny rational interpretation, fossils suddenly speeded up the transmutation process, liquifying themselves faster than the government could issue off-shore leases. Slouch By Jim Earle ‘Be grateful that you have a short name. Go for a night out at the Commond The following is an excerpt from a proposal I plan to submit to the Texas A&M Building Planning Committee this spring: Gentlemen, Texas A&M is blessed with the re sources — monetary, material, and hu man — to create gorgeous campus land scapes, to construct luxurious athletic facilities, and to provide more than ade quate living and dining halls for the stu dents. The Commons is a fine synthesis of all three. Yet, I propose that we breach our near-sighted standards and move a step further in the developement of the Com mons rooming/boarding complex. With a few minor enhancements, the Com mons could become a vanguard in elite college facilities. Allow me to explain. Already, students have proven the need for elegant dining and recreation on campus. When students haven’t time for dressing up, when they need a quick, nutritious meal, when they are too rush ed to bother with impressing their peers, they speed through Sbisa Hall for an informal bite. Yet the Commons provides a more sophisticated atmosphere. A girl spends time on herself before dinner; the fellows slap on cologne. The cafeteria just in nately carries a certain aplomb that escapes the other, more bourgeois cam pus eating houses. The air of the Commons reeks of potential. Structurally, 'the' building is perfect for a diversified complex of refined so cial activity. Starting with the cafeteria: paneling, carpeting, candlelight, and personal table service should transform it into a splendid restaurant — allowing the students to look no further than southside for a formal socializing. Upstairs, the area surrounding the TV lounges would make a luscious disco with leather and walnut furniture, Polynesian music, peacock feather table decorations, and lots of smoked glass. Behind the dis co, the bar and lounge (formerly the snack bar) would provide refresht for dancing patrons and members of J athletic club (to be built later on Dun Field) ... Also, I include material for a prof brochure: “... Under the brillant College Statl zenith, watch your romantic dreal come true on The Commons’ starlij walkways ... gaze from your townho window over Texas A&M’s majesties line. . . allow our doormen to welci you and your date to The Commons’! radise dance hall where your trouble schoolwork dissolve into our hoi punch bowl ... “Can you afford to let your fig waste away during college years? ' Common’s fully trained health clubs will insure you a trim, fit appearancel ter a few fun-filled hours on our runn track, in our pool, and in the co sauna... “Top off a long, uneventful day will meal at The Commons restuarantl perhaps our chicken florentine, or b| gundy mushrooms and gulf shr crepes ... Membership starts at $300,1 Any support for this predication; wish to offer may take the form of a leij to the Building Planning Commitj Texas A&M University. Letters: Writer needs a lesson in military history Editor: I feel compelled by all that is sane in this world to respond to the mindless drivel submitted to The Battalion by Bar ry Elmer. It was Elmer’s expressed ooin- ion that America’s supposed propensity for military aggression could be evi denced by the nature of our role “in all theaters of warfare.” He went on to cite several specific conflicts of this century. I could hardly believe what I was reading! Elmer’s lack of historical memory, it seems, is only outshown by the defects in his reasoning. Let’s take each major conflict of the century. World War I: We managed to stay out of the first three years of this one and after the war, rather than try to rav age the defeated powers with reparation demands. President Wilson tried to push his “14 points” which stressed humane treatment for the vanquished. He failed, but he tried. World War II: Yes, indeed! Our sailors at Pearl Harbor certainly did aggress against those poor bombs that were being dropped on them. Our only crime against the Japanese was our refus al to sell them the raw materials to con tinue their rape of China. And again we spent over two years trying to stay out of the war and, after it, trying to rebuild the defeated countries. Korea: Yes, indeed! We (and the other U.N. forces) managed to aggress ourselves backward into South Korea, dragging those poor North Korean and Chinese soldiers with us. And when Gen eral MacArthur decided he wanted to do a little forward aggression into North Korea, he was fired! Vietnam: Many things can be said of our involvement in Vietnam, but I’ve never heard it called aggression except by the propaganda factories in Moscow and Hanoi — and. of course, bv Elmer. An. attle in that conflict knows that the conquest of enemy territory for strategic purposes was (much to our later chagrin) never a part of our policy. It’s sort of hard to be an aggressor when you aren’t allowed to push into enemy territory. And who in vaded who? Elmer also mentions, with apparent disgust, our attacks in Gamboaia. Mr. Elmer, have you ever seen a map of the Ho Chi Minh Trail? Where do you think it runs? Furthermore, bv the time we got around to attacking North Vietnamese positions in Cambodia, the North Viet namese already controlled half of that country. As for the Bay of Pigs, I concede the point. Let’s see, that’s Elmer — 1, the truth — 4. Look, I am not one who responds to criticism of my country in a hostile, refle xive way. I am quite critical of America myself, especially its foreign policy. Being willing to criticize is but the loving gesture of a true patriot, but along with learning that your country can be wrong, one must remember that it can also be right. Barry Elmer seems to have forgot ten this. He has rewritten history in his letter to the disadvantage of his nation and such is his hypocritical penchant that he debunks both our “massive mili tary buildup” and our “Firepower in feriority” in the same letter. He claims that our military history makes it inevitable that ours will be the first strike in a nuclear war. Yet he isn’t bothered by Russian invasions of Hun gary, Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan, their imprisoning of half of Europe, or the fact that the Russians armed and sup- ported the true aggressors in Korea and Vietnam. Amazing! One of the few things more dangerous than blind bias in favor of one’s country (also called “nationalism) is blind bias against it (also called “flatulence”). Guil ty, Mr. Elmer, guilty. Lance Wright Mclnnis Hall More people should attend Editor: It is 10:20 p.m. on the FirstTuesday of thi. inorith. You walk outside and a cool breeze is blowing. You see many friends and acquaintances, but you just nod in ack nowledgement — no words are spoken. Everyone is destined for a common site, the Academic Building. The moon is in its first quarter, and it casts a serene glow on the campus. You arrive at the Academic Building, and you take your place within the crowd. The only sounds audible are an occasional cough, the rustle of the trees in the wind and a slight shuffling of feet. Some people are bowed in silent prayer while others are gazing at the twinkling stars among the clouds. The mood is somber, for you all have come here with a common goal: to pay your respects to a fallen Texas Aggie. The quiet is broken by the clicks of a marching units’ footsteps. Slowly, metho dically, the Ross Volunteer Firing Squad approaches the plaza between Sully and the flagpole. They halt and prepare for their salute. The silence of the moment is shattered by the first volley of seven rifles. Your heart jumps, adrenaline flows and you hear the fluttering of birds as they fly from the trees. The second and third volleys come and go and your heart is greatly saddened. Then, from out of the darkness of the Academic Building, the strains of “Silver Taps" cut the cool night air. Once...twice...three times they are played. And then their harmony fades back into the night. T he ceremony is over but the experience will stay with you forever. You have taken part in probably the most beloved and beautiful of all Aggie traditions. Although you may not have known the fallen Aggie, the eternal bond that all Aggies experience is present and you are filled with a good feeling. But, there is a question in your mind. Out of approximately 35,000 Aggies en rolled in the University, why did only around 2,000 show up.' I ask myself the same question every- time I go to Silver Taps. I try to under stand the many excuses I get from people but it has come to the point where I can t relate with most of them anymore- “I have a big test tomorrow, and I need to study really bad." Hey, I go to school here too, you know, and I ha' e had tests, major reports, lab assignments and all kinds of academic work doe on the day after Silver Taps-1 he R. V. firing squad has things to do. So does the Silver Taps team. It wasn't the Aggie’s choice to die; he may have had plans for the rest of his life did you think of that? I hey changed Silver Taps to Once a month so everyone could make plans. You a re a college student now ... learn some time organization- You may not be able to put “attended Sib'er Taps" on a resume, but you can t put “played raeketball at 1|L30 p.m.” or “went to bed at 9:45 p.m- on one either. Grades definitely are in valuable part of an education, but there are the life experiences — the “other education” — that aid youjust as much as having your nose crammmed in a book. You get out of Aggieland just what you put into it. Traditions don’t carry on through apathy. “I didn’t know him/her so what’s the difference?” Of all the times I’ve gone to Silver Taps in my three years at Texas A&M, I have only known one of the fal len Aggies personally. Face it, an Aggie is an Aggie whether you know him/her or not. Out of all of mankind through the years, only approximately 100,000 have attended Texas A&M. We are a select few; therefore, we should be much more caring towards each other. Try the gol den rule on for size the next time you get apathetic. I don’t want to lecture on this matter, but it looks like that is what I have done. I know I will make many people angry and I guess that’s the way the cookie crum bles. It is just that I love A&M am traditions dearly, and I don’t want tef them die when there’s no real excusf great deal of the strife and tension; sent in Aggieland today has resu from the apathy towards such traditi as Silver Taps. Silver Taps is one of ( functions that serves to melt the bar! we have built up so that we will be cloij Aggies, whether black or white, non-j or Corps, Christian or Moslem, Repif can or Democrat. So just remember the next Silver'll is tentatively scheduled for April Hopefully, we will not lose any Agf but if we do, take an hour out of; schedule and pay your respects rat] than make excuses. You won’t be and you’ll help to perpetuate somet that serves to keep Texas A&M Univtj ty the best damn college anywhere! Ross Dale Rutherford I Dontl The Battalion USPS 045 360 Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference Editor Angelique Copeland Managing Editor JaneG. 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