opinion
All’s well that ends
in the Falklands
by Dick West
United Press International
WASHINGTON — By the time the
next campaign rolls around, President
Reagan’s biggest political asset may be
the slogan, “He kept us out of the Falk
lands.”
Meanwhile, it might be instructive to
contemplate a penetrating analysis of the
dispute by England’s own William
Shakespeare.
After all, the Immortal Bard made his
mark as a dramatist during the flowering
of the British Empire. So who is better
qualified to detect any overtones of colo
nialism in the current contretemps?
If Shakespeare were alive today, I’m
sure he would be a guest on “Face the
Nation” or some such program. The in
terview might go something like this:
Q. Mr. Shakespeare, do you detect any
• overtones of colonialism in the current
contretemps?
A. “Something is rotten in the state of
Denmark.”
Q. Actually, sir, the Falklands are in
; South America, where they are known as
’ the Malvinas.
A. “What’s in a name? That which we
call a rose by any other name would smell
as sweet.”
Q. I’m not sure they grow roses in the
Falklands, sir. What I’m trying to elicit is
your view of why Argentina invaded a
British possession.
A. “Vaultingambition, which o’erleaps
itself and falls on the other. What private
griefs they have, alas! I know not. But in
the gross and scope of my opinion, this
bodes some strange eruption to our
state.”
Q. You agree that Britain should seek
to regain control of the islands by force if
necessary?
A. “Arm’d at points exactly, cap-a-pe. I
am tied to the stake, and I must stand the
course. There’s a divinity that shapes our
ends, rough-hew them how we will. Let’s
do it after the high Roman fashion. Cry
‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of war.
Blow, wind! Come, wrack! At least we’ll
die with harness on our back.”
Q. Well-spoken, sir. But savage. You
like the way Prime Minister Thatcher is
handling the crisis?
A. “The lady doth protest too much,
methinks. She is troubled with thick
coming fancies, that keep her from her
rest. She looks upon them with a
threatening eye. Talks as familiarly of
roaring lions as maids of thirteen do of
puppydogs! There’s language in her eye,
her cheer, her lip.”
Q. What about Britain’s allies?
A. “Stands Scotland where it did?”
Q. I was thinking more of the United
States, sir. What would you say about
Reagan’s reaction?
A. “Policy sits above conscience. Who
can be wise, amazed, temperate and fu
rious, loyal and neutral, in a moment?”
Q. Did you approve of Secretary of
State Haig’s mediation efforts?
A. “I thank you for your voices: thank
you, your most sweet voices. For this re
lief, much thanks.”
Q. What might I as an individual do?
A. “Gregory, remember thy swashing
blow.”
Res
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Where does all the money
Q. My name isn’t Gregory, sir. I was
asking what America can do short of
actual intervention.
A. “Hang like an icicle on a
man’s beard.”
Q. Thank you, Mr. Shakespeare
Dutch-
Slouch
By Jim Earle
J
“If he hadn’t locked it, he would ha ve lost his handlebars
too.”
“Where do you spend all your
money?” my parents asked me in desper
ation last weekend.
I shrugged and answered, “On books,
supplies, ... y’ know.” Well, I lied. And as
much as I would have liked the matter to
be settled, it wasn’t. Oh, my folks bought
that explanation, but now / Ve been won
dering where I spend my money. This
has not been an easy question for me tb
answer. I haven’t the slightest idea where
my checking account drains to, since I
never record my checks.
Somewhere between Music Express,
Austin, and the Coke Building lies and
immense vacuum into which my savings
of the last two years has disappeared.
I set out to find that black hole (littered
with green) and the best possible way, I
decided, is to follow a chunk of cash as it
is slowly, but surely, sucked into the point
of no withdrawal.
I had to decide on the amount to trail.
Ten dollars would not be enough. That’s
only a puff of smoke — vaporizing before
I could say “IMPACT.” No, I need bil
lows. Fifty dollars sounds comfortable.
There is plenty of fun to be had with that
wad, and it’s sizable enough to trace.
And so I begin with a crisp $50 bill —
Ulysses S. Grant staring up at me, beg
ging to be released into circulation.
My first inclination is to get the hell out
of College Station. I have no car, so
according to Greyhound, fifty dollars
could get me all the way to Texarkana
and back. A scenic trip, but I can do
better.
Ah, yes, Austin beckons me. And after
bus fare, I’d still have bundles to spread
ever so gleefully across Sixth Street,
Guadelupe, and MLK. No doubt t.u.-
ville could assist me in spending my
funds, but that route has been so trod
den. I must do something different with
my precious treasury.
A date! Now there’s something I don’t
do enough. Let’s see, after the $25 bribe
to get a date, I could entertain her with a
quaint, candlelight, seafood dinner.
Then a romantic, aphrodisiac Hum
phrey Bogart flick at the MSC. Then a
Norwood sy
troduce every*
e MSC coun<
But what would I have alterwafi
sides stiff fingers and strained ci(
admit that I’d enjoy being BP.VKK
Pac-Man on campus), yet the thrill;
ephemeral for my tastes. 1 needs*
thing lasting. Unforgetable. Somi
that I could point at on myshell'ai
to my friends, “Look, thisiswhatl
$50 on!”
Newly elect
resident Pat f
Craf, RHA prt
eluded, Norwc
â–  The new c
appointed on i
slow, desultory stroll across a moonlit
campus to her dorm. Then a seemingly
endless gaze into each other’s eyes at her
doorstep.
She’d succumb to sheer passion and
speak, “Gee, thanks, Dave. It was super.
Goodnight,” and slam the door leaving
me licking the messages off her Ziggy
noteboard.
There are definitely less frustrating
ways for me to blow that kind of cash.
Let’s see, $50 would buy me a huge
supply of beer. Cases and cases. Easily
enough for an ugly, bleary weekend lock
ed in a stuffy cubical with my roommates
and HBO. Gosh, it almost sounds too
fun.
A Pac-Man binge would certainly be
another alternative. I can feel the game
luring me into crowded, noisy game
rooms. Athirst for my quarters. Insulting
my intelligence. I could easily spend $50
(let’s see, that’s 200 games) proving that
I’m smarter than that lousy computer.
An album buying spree seemstoli
answer — a frantic, fruitful rate
the nearest album store, plucking
the record bins whatever is in
The Go-Go’s, J. Geils, 'fhe Stones,
Diamond ... no, skip Neil Diamond
just tear through the store, slamasi
records on the counter — expen!
damned (up to $50) — and be a bigsjj
der for a precious few moments,
that someone else is around to sees
But once out of the store I’dluj
half-dozen discs to listen to. Still an
to titillate and soothe me long after
purchase. Certainly a viable investi
symj
fro rr
B .iMv
I can’t think of many other com
ways 1 spend my money. At leastt
dollars is devoted monthly to
fines. (My mother won’t takeim dii
Twice a semester I break down and!
dollar’s worth of laundry. And oil
week my health and sanity requirell
seek nourishment someplace elst
sides Sbisa.
Any remaining change in inyporff
strictly reserved for my education:
books, supplies,... y’ know.
by Rebeca j
Battali
The Fort W
Orchestra will |
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Tuesday night:
Auditorium.
The orchesl
tro John Chord;
Weber’s overti
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The Three-C<
-de Falla and
umy No. 2 it
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), Giordano is
I son as the orche
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ago, he formed
Texas Little Syi
the core of the
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..wise be able n
Labor stands clear of the GOP
by Clay F. Richards
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Some might
think it a little mad of Republican Nation
al Chairman Richard Richards to go
courting the support of organized labor
at a time when unemployment stands at 9
percent — the highest since World War
II.
Last week Richards took his case to the
Building and Constrction Trades De
partment of the AFL-CIO, whose 5,000
delegates were holding a convention in
Washington. Only about a tenth of the
delegates showed up for his speech.
Richards knew in advance he was in
trouble.
Richards decided it was time to make an
open bid to labor, especially since
thousands of blue collar workers had
voted for Reagan in 1980.
But in the past year the New York
Times poll showed that Reagan’s overall
approval rating in labor households de
clined from 53 percent to 43 percent —
one of the president’s most dramatic poll
losses.
movement,” Richards told the union con-
Two days earlier the delegates had
booed President Reagan, an especially
unfriendly greeting considering that one
year earlier when he was leaving the hotel
after adressing their meeting he was the
target of an assassination attempt.
But even though he knew he was in
hostile territory, Richards asked for an
invitiation to adress the builders — he
had not been on their original speaking
list.
More than a year after taking over the
Republican National Committee,
At the same time Democratic Chair
man Charles Manatt has moved effec
tively to renew the coalition between his
party and labor. That alliance had been
strained in the past decade between the
late George Meany’s insistence that labor
remain independent and the unions’ un-
easyness of the ultraliberal, anti-war
drive of the Democrats 1972 candidate
George McGovern and aloofnness of
Jimmy Carter in 1976.
But now labor feels uncomfortable
back in the Democratic fold when faced
with prospect like picking between Wal
ter Mondale and Edward Kennedy for
the party’s 1984 candidate.
“I question whether a marraige of the
AFL-CIO and the Democratic Party is in
the best interests of the two party system,
the nation and the future of the union
vention.
If labor binds itself to one party,
Richards warned that “the Democrats
would think that you belong to them and
believe that you are in their hip pocket so
they no longer feel they need to try.”
“Organized labor will find itself out
side the mainstream of American politics
and this would be a tragedy of major
proportions,” he said. “If you want candi
dates to be more to your liking, you must
be involved in the party process.”
Richards’ predecessor, William Brock,
devoted a great deal of his chairmanship
to recruiting more black candidates for
the GOP. That effort was highlighted by
Brock’s inviting Jesse Jackson to address
the Republician National Committee.
There is no evidence that Brock’s
effort, boosted by a big chunk of Republi
can dollars, triggered any measureable
black switch to the GOP. Nor have the
policies followed by the Reagan adminis
tration since taking office proved to
blacks they were wrong in their decision.
Likewise, there certainly isn’t much
right now to convince the auto worker in
Detroit or the steelworker in Birming
ham that their future lies with the Repub
lican Party.
by Juli
Battalioi
Anyone intei
closer look at t
May Democra
have the chan
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