opinion
Slouch By Jim Earle
"'They got my laundry mixed up again, but if we can find
this guy, we can make several coaches happy.’ 9
President versus
GOP troublemakers
by Robert Shepherd
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Two Republican
congressmen who will retire al the end of
their current terms are causing the
Reagan administration some discomfort
with their wellpublic i/.ed disagreements
with.adntinistra.tjbn policies.
Probably the most bothersome com
plaints come f rom Rep. John Rhodes, R-
Ariz., who formerlv w;ls the Republican
leader in the House, a position requiring
stern adherence to GOP policies.
Rep. Lincoln Marks, R-Pa., was less
well-known on the national scene, but his
vigorous denunciation of administration
policies in a House speech March 9 re
ceived wide-spread media attention.
Hoping to aggravate the administra
tion’s embarrassment, several national
unions took out large ads in The New
York l imes last week to reprint Marks’
speech in full under the headline,
“Reaganomics: Enough is Enough.’’
Rhodes’ differences with the adminis
tration are over defense issues, while
Marks' complaints are across-the-board.
Rhodes’ position became known when
the Washington Post reported comments
in a speech he plans to deliver when Con
gress reconvenes after the Easter recess.
He expounded on his ideas in meetings
with reporters and copies of the yet-to-
be-delivered speech were distributed to
the press the day after the Post story
appeared.
Jn his speech, Rhodes says he has al
ways classified himself “as a hawk where
matters of defense are concerned,” and
that the communist world is constantly
probing to find weakness among the
democratic nations.
But he says the U.S. defense posture
needs constant reexamination and such
reexamination “is long overdue.”
Rhodes then goes on to recommend
significant changes in the Reagan ad
ministration’s defense policies.
Rhodes say s the United States should
take its troops out of Europe, cut the MX
missile program by at least 70 percent,
abandon the B-l bomber, cut the Rapid
Deployment Force and change its mis
sion to operate mainly in the Western
Hemisphere, and build a strategic defen
sive system in space.
Rhodes’ message is not directed just at
the Reagan administration. Indeed, he
says many of the things he proposes
should be accomplished during the next
50 years.
But the policies and programs Rhodes
criticizes have been either endorsed or
initiated by the Reagan administration,
and it can be of little comfort to have such
a stalwart Republican join administration
critics in that area.
Marks began his March 9 speech to the
House by saying he had “voted for every
major economic program that Ronald
Reagan and this administration have put
forth since coming to power.”
He then went on to declare “the time
has come to stop this massacre.”
Marks condemned the administration
as “a president and his cronies whose be
lief in Hooverism has blinded them to the
wretchedness and to the suffering they
are inflicting through their policies.”
Marks even praised the Democratic-
leader, House Speaker Thomas O'Neill,
who “had the guts to begin to point the
finger at the president and suggest that
for all of the president’s good humor, he,
the president, is the sting that paralyzes
the sensibility of a government that
should be helping, not hurting, the peo
ple it serves.”
Because of considerable advance bill
ing of Marks’ speech, it received exten
sive news coverage, and could be seen in
many areas of the country over cable tele
vision.
On March 18, Marks had a return
engagement, in which he told the House
of the mail response to his speech. It was
overwhelmingly favorable.
BattaliWPfl
April H11
An itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny,
yellow polka-dot snow ski suit
by Dick West
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Ever come across
an idea that so thoroughly agrees with
your own thinking you immediately feel
a sense of kinship?
My subconscious began sending up
blips of consanguinity as I was reading
plans by Edwin Paget, a retired speech
professor, to stage a World’s Eair To
Change the World in Raleigh, N.C., this
summer.
There will, of course, be a convention
al World’s Fair running simultaneously
and fairly close by in Knoxville, Tenn.
But I should think the chances of fair-
goers ODing are fairly remote.
At Paget’s fair, if it comes to fruition,
the maddening throngs will look upon a
fashion show unlikely to be duplicated in
Knoxville. Or anywhere else for that
matter.
Any garments he designs could be
even more eyecatching than the costume
Sally Rand wore at the 1982 Chicago
World’s Fair.
Paget, you see, is the creator of what he
calls “non-symmetrical designs' in clo
thing. Some of the ideas apparently come
to him as he is running up and down
Pikes Peak in Colorado, which he has
done 98 1 times since 1919.
Nevertheless, it was the nonsvmmet-
rical concept that aroused b\ sense of
affinity. While reading his views on
apparel, I could onl\ nod vigoroush and
mutter injections of agreement.
“Why should both legs of a pair of
pants be the same length? ” Paget asks.
Why indeed?
I have often asked myself that question
as I was taking a new pah of slacks bat k to
the tailor for remedial alterations on the
cuffs.
Paget not only envisions dressing us
conforming wimps in trousers whose legs
vary in length — one long, one short;
under his non-symmetrical tailoring, the
legs also might be different colors, pat
terns and fabrics.
1 like it, I tell you. I like it. I letc is one s
big chance to shuck the shackles imposed
on clothing by Bill Blass, Pierre C ardin
and the like, and lei the "rep
through.
Not is the father of noil
wardrobes stopping at variegai
legs. At the Raleigh fair,
troduce non-symmetrical al
non-svmmett ical automobjlesf
sv mmett ical f urniture.
I his att.u k of what he(lep|ij
monotonous appearance i
also will feature women'sdwl|
built-in lighting “for almostenl
ety.”
I c an see it all now. AIoilg'l|iJ
pink" golf balls and two-lonelf
that have begun to appean
and courts, there soon willi
match.
Golfers in knickerbockers!
buc kled above the knee, thet
tencd at the ankle. Tennis!
double- knit alligators on ondlj
plin kangaroos on the other.
Win , non-svnnnetry could
whole new dimension todesigt
— skin-tight denims withthebra|
on the hip spelled out in I
I!
I To keep si
F track, Tau
Society plant <
"1 FEEL NO STM,
SUCKKRSIII
Tradi
to he;
o
Betty Am
■ Battalion R.
I II you’ve notice
than usual savin
this week, there's
iwhy. It s Howdy
| Each fall and s
ditions Council se
to promote the u;
howdy when gi
ggies.
‘The main pin
udents to keep
and to keep the a
■Texas A&M frier
I]
Jackson, howdy w<
Howdy Week
H to unify the st c
r the summer a
udents for the f c
Jackson said.
The spring 1
omes at a bad ti
ents are worriec
apers and finals,
‘It’s a lot m<
Reader’s Forum: View from
then the fall Hov
ffi tause it comes at
A : students need it,”
/, Howdy Week i-
nptudents ’ can rela
I and do something
self-proclaimed ‘zero percent
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77843.
It has been my privilege to attend this
institution over the last two years of my
academic career. Over this period of time
I have learned a lot about my field of
study, but I’ve also had the opportunity
to learn something about the likes and
dislikes of a breed of people known as
“Aggies.” My most valued source of in
sight has been this very section of the
newspaper you now read. It seems to me
that there are certain problems which
Aggies simply cannot overcome.
These problems are expressed in
terms of recurrent themes in the Letters
to the Editor section of this periodical.
For some reason, which is unknown even
to myself, I feel the need to express my
opinion on a variety of these problems.
Let me start by listing, in descending
priority, the three types of people whom
most often incur the wrath of “Good
Ags.”
These people are: bicyclists riding on
the sidewalks, pedestrians getting in the
way of bicyclists and all other “2 percen
ters.” By “2 percenter” I mean any damn
yankee (like me) who doesn’t say “how
dy” when meeting strangers in the street,
doesn’t believe that stepping on the foot
ball field during a game should be a capit
al offense (without benefit of due pro
cess), feels $8 million is a bit much to
spend on a football coach, doesn’t believe
students should be trampled on by “c.t.s”
during running drills and worst of all
couldn’t care less who wins the “Texas
game.” Of course there are other
offenses against the Aggie Spirit which
would classify a person as a 2 percenter.
All in all, almost everyone outside the
Corps of Cadets (and some Corps mem
bers too!) fall into the category of 2 per
center according to some Good Ags’ high
moral standards. Everyone except me
that is, as I am a self-professed zero per
center. Being a zero percenter, I cannoi
indulge in the clear tones of self righte
ous indignation concerning the subject
of my letter that a Good Ag would. But 1
would like to offer some radical sugges
tions for solving some of the more pres
sing issues on this campus.
For one thing, if you’re on a bicycle, in
not to scare am slow-footed pedestrians
by coming very close to them al high
speeds. On the oilier hand, if you’re a
pedestrian and you see someone riding a
bicycle in a manner which instills fear in
the very marrow of your bones, don’t
panic. Simply get out of the way. 1 think
this is preferable to jamming umbrellas
in the spokes of speeding bicyclists (as
one pedestrian suggested in this column)
or breaking the necks of pedest rians who
dismount a bicyclist in any abrupt man
ner (as one bicyclist suggested in ibis
column.)
Perhaps the best way to deal with two
percenters is to ignore them. If someone
doesn’t say “howdy” to you don’t be up
set, just go on your way. If you see a
bunch of cadets running toward you in
formation, why not move to avoid trou
ble? II vou're a bunch of cadepil
in formation w in not alter youni
now and ihen to avoid killingsonitl
born pedestrian? And finally, Gnf
vou ever need lodraw a lethalneap|
a bunch ofc lieerleadersagaii
should be sure you know howtmisJ
avoid an embarrassingdefeat.Eill™
or just let (hem live.
1 know these suggestions are
different than most that havebefnj
ferred In better “Ags” than 1
if poeple would just exercise ami
courtesy toward each other as (li
they spurt superficial howdvs,99ft|
of the conflicts which are debm
death in this column would neveij
Aggies pride themselves on beim
ly, so d you really are friendly (Lei
teous) toys arc! one another in thelul
don’t think any traditions will bejfi
dized or that the Aggie Spirit wP
minished in any way. Of onirse.j
we’d be faced with a new problem j
yvill we write letters to the editonll
Thomas M
Genuine 1
uppers
insoli
Gonipai
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