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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 3, 1982)
E v du an :oi ‘g or lo re ) c du du th mi it] ler le tir :o rn at ati :h ?v< ;h aa e\ la^ >b g z !g E 3 1 VO >f ir« nt 11 10 VI, o u jf >r ii I :>l ! vi: ni ! m n 1 e ' ,1 ,VJ n »V] di :h m rn opinion Battalion/Pages June 3,1982 By Jim Earle “Okay, I can see how it would work for this weekend, but do you really think you can wear it and get excused from class before every weekend trip.* 9 No itsy-bitsy seals, only great ones by Dick West United Press International WASHINGTON — The Great Seal of the United States, which is 200 years old this month, was put together by a con gressional committee. This may explain why the Great Seal has two sides, one of which has never been used to seal anything. If a congressional committee had de signed our postage system, we probably would have to lick both sides of the stamps. Let’s just be thankful the Great Seal doesn’t have six sides, like Rubik’s Cube. Incidentally, to save you the trouble of asking, the name given to the Great Seal is a bit redundant. There are no Petite Seals, Midget Seals, Peewee Seals, or any other kinds of lesser U.S. seals. The seal whose bicentenriial we are celebrating could simply have been called the Seal of the United States, leaving off the adjective, had the committee been so inclined. But you know how committees are. I don’t have the text of the commit tee’s deliberations before me, but I would be willing to bet the Great Seal was the result of a compromise. Most probably all committee members except one favored a seal showing a bald eagle, symbolizing self-reliance, support ing a shield whose stripes symbolized the original 13 states and whose blue top symbolized Congress. In one talon, the eagle held an olive branch while the other talon clutched 13 arrows. (You can make up your own sym- the small society mwas'S tsaa BILBUsI isna c3 et by Brickman Woo-$oYl what X X CAti WAIT F*2|ZTHI£ PA£T Op MT UF&TO /^TAU2IA~ Cim King FMturw Syndicat*, Inc. World rights rossrvd. Reporters hear Reagan show Se by Donald A. Davis United Press International WASHINGTON — Picture this, stu dents of political fantasy: Jim and June Citizen have put in a tough week at their offices. They sleep late Saturday morning, have scrambled eggs for brunch, toss a frisbee with Jim Jr. and pet the dog, probably a mixed- breed terrier named Dutch. The hands on the clock point straight up to noon. “It’s time,” says Jim, “to tune in Presi dent Reagan’s weekly radio chat to the nation.” June, Jim Jr. and the dog look as if Dad suddenly has been taken ill in the head. But Jim is a Republican, a political junkie and concerned with what his pres ident has to say, for there are major issues to be explained. He learned over the airwaves last week, for instance, that Americans are out there demanding a federal budget be passed by irresponsible Democrats. Then there was the stirring Armed Forces Day speech about American fight ing men and their wives, and the talk about how to protect the peace by build ing more nuclear weapons. He has learned about the Caribbean Basin In itiative, the trouble with Social Security and a lot about the budget. At 12:06 p.m. EDT each Saturday, President Reagan talks to directly to mil lions of Jim Citizens, without having to filter his comments through reporters. Straight from the shoulder stuff. Oval Office to your living room. Right? Wrong. There is no known nose, or ear, count of how many people actually listen to the five-minute radio show each week. One or 100,000 — it makes no real difference. For the audience the president wants to reach is never far away. The smooth delivery and baritone voice is aimed at the same reporters the administration claims to be bypassing. Saturday is what is known in the jour nalism trade as a slow news day. By springing a surprise address — the sub ject is never announced in advance — Reagan is guaranteed time on the nightly network news shows, and importantly, big stories in the Sunday morning news papers across the land. It has provided him a springboard to regularly attack his Democratic oppo nents, and they have hardly laid a glove Te> Mark W leaker orther (T on him in return. The Democratsi had a few winners — such as Sen. Bumpers and Rep. Mo Udall—butJ h 011 ® 1111 their lucid responses could notoven«^ M to the momentum the president ha$S^[ ner week by speaking out first and fromp yh e White House. l os t e d b Reagan has only allowed reporta 0 f Calve see him once after giving a speech,ill khe 17 he entertained a cluster of them inalf Oval Office session to allow photom to be taken of him at the micropli That means no questions areaskedal his assertions. It is finely-tuned show business, lored in the White House for gettiitfi the president’s message withaminin of fuss and response. The series was supposed toil shows. But administration spokesiBjjinai a are hinting it has been a successandi uled be extended. Appoint Jim Gitizen and the handful of required i ters who have Saturday White Hilpf ^*8 duty may be the only ones whoacti listen to the live broadcast, but will see and hear the president’s word! Sunday morning. And it’s doubtf ul that even Ji catch each and every show. as Un: aus: bolism for that.) The lone dissenter, for his part, likely favored a seal showing a pyramid, sym bolizing heaven knows what, topped by the Eye of Providence, which may have symbolized Ben Franklin’s optician. Although outnumbered, the dissent ing committee member also happened to be chairman of a subcommittee that handled pork barrel projects. So a com promise was in order. The result was the two-sided Great Seal now displayed in the State Depart ment’s Exhibit Hall. If you don’t have time on June 20 to visit to the Exhibit Hall to pay your re spects, you can see replicas of both sides on the back of any dollar bill. Either way, the bicentennial of the Great Seal is an important milestone and it behooves us all to give some thought to how we can best celebrate it. A formal celebration is being planned by the State Department, and the U.S. Postal Service is issuing a commemora tive stamped envelope with glue on the inside of the flap only. But that doesn’t mean we, as private citizens, can’t crank up our own festivities. My inclination would be to tie in the Great Seal observance with the demon strations against the slaughter of baby Harp seals in Canada. There is plenty of symbolism in this linkage. Naturalists warm that continued kill ing off of Harp seals could threaten the entire species with extinction. Which is exactly the plight of the bald eagle seen on the front of the Great Seal. :he firs irocess. A cc ailed tl ion of t :he rul eadacf The ofAlbei :onvicte d,S. Cc pire th ;ents w icy to s< leyond Ayal; ittorney he Cou - the si he app< a! cases The a >ut saic vithout “This irable £ ve write Lass&ifiecrmsmm.MWSMwmspim, THEN WE REAP FROM!? TDfM,.N0m U6HT INCENSE A® POHARE KRISHNA CHANTS,.. WEN WE... Democratic party needs agreemen on alternative to Reaganomics The Battalion USPS 045 360 T „ Letters Policy Member of Texas Press Association Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in Southwest Journalism Conference length, and are subject to being cut if they are longer. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for Editor Diana Sultenfuss style and length, but will make every effort to maintain City Editor . BernieFette the author’s intent. Each letter must also be signed, show Sports Editor Frank L. Christlieb the address and phone number of the writer. News Editors. . . Tracey Buchanan, Dan Puckett Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, and Diane Yount are not subject to the same length constraints as letters. Staff Writers Cyndy Davis, Susan Dittman, Address all inquiries and correspondence to: Editor, Terry Duran, Colette Hutchings, The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M Uni- Hope E. Paasch, Joe Tindel Jr., ^eraty. College Station, TX 77843, or phone (713) 845- Rebeca Zimmermann Cartoonist Scott McCullar Photographers David Fisher, Peter Rocha, John Ryan, The Battalion is published three times a week — Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday — during Texas A&M’s summer semesters, except for holiday and ex- Edltonal Policy amination periods, when it is published only on Wednes days. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester, $33.25 The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting news- per school year and $35 per full year. Advertising rates paper operated as a community service to Texas A&M furnished on request. University and Bryan-College Station. Opinions ex- Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald pressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or the Building, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of 77843. Texas A&M University administrators or faculty mem bers, or of the Board of Regents. United Press International is entitled exclusively to The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited for students in reporting, editing and photography clas- to it. Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein ses within the Department of Communications. reserved. Questions or comments concerning any editorial mat- Second class postage paid at College Station, TX ter should be directed to the editor. 77843. by David S. Broder When the House of Representatives rejected all the alternative budget prop osals last week, the country was denied the show of fiscal discipline it needs from government in order to have any chance of crawling out of this crippling reces sion. But if there is any solace to be found in the House’s budget fiasco, it is this: The voters saw a clear demostration of where the problem lies. Part of it lies in President Reagan’s stubborn resistance to a “mid-course cor rection” in his own policies — a resistance which inhibits most of the congressmen of his own party from supporting any such change. But a larger problem is the inability of the Democratic Party to forge an internal agreement on an alternative to Reagano mics. The House was, as always, a near perfect reflection of those external reali ties. By March of this year, Washington Post-ABC News polls showed a shift in public opinion from the earlier broad support of Reagan’s policy. By a 2-to-l margin, those polled said Congress should make “substantial” changes in Reagan’s budget. A follow-up poll in April found most saying his tax cuts and domestic spending reductions were too deep. The House votes last week reflected that judgement. First, a majority amended the Reagan-endorsed budget to shift $4.8 billion from defense to health care — a straight-out Medicare vs. military test. Then, the House rejected the overall Republican plan, which still sacrificed domestic spending to defense needs and the scheduled tax cuts. There were cheers from the Democra tic majority on that vote, for never once in all of 1981 had they been able to derail the President’s legislative express train. But the cheers were short-lived. Hav ing cleared the agenda, at least tempor arily, of Reaganomics, the Democrats failed, on three tries, to find a majority for any plan of their own. They could not muster a majority for a plan devised by five of their brightest young members, in conjunction with a handful of moderate Republicans. Nor could they unite be hind either the original or a modified version of the Democratic budget re ported by the House Budget Committee and presented by its chairman, Rep. James R. Jones, D-Okla. In abjectly failing to meet their legisla tive responsibilities, the House Demo crats confirmed another finding of that March poll. The voters — who are rarely fooled — said that as far as they could see, the Democratic alternatives were not bet ter or worse than Reaganomics; there were no alternatives at all. The seriousness of the failure is heightened by the fact that, this time, the Democrats really did give it their best shot. Rep. Richard Bolling of Missouri, perhaps their most skilled parliamenta rian, devised rules for debate designed to give every faction in the party a dean on its pet provision — in hopes tl would support, and not disown, theft product. The agenda guaranteed Democrats would have the last chan« assemble a majority. That they could not do so shows ft politicallly divided and intellect® bankrupt they really are. They are"®' off, in both respects, than they werf year ago, when Reagan was riding hi? Last spring, the Democrats were ablt ; get 176 of their members to support^ Jones budget against Reagan’s prefen* plan. This year, Jones could mustero 1 171 votes for his product. Last week, the defections came both ends of the Democratic spectrum not just the conservative wing. Ba® half the 63 Democrats who voted aga® the Jones budget were southern weevils.” Most of the black Democrats" angered by what they regarded as 11 attention to their own budget propos* — also balked, as did a dozen or so wh"' liberals. The conventional answer of Den 11 crats is to say that if only they had in 01 members in the House, they would better. But the voters will not be satisfied"i 1 that. They will want to know: Do wha 1 That question ought to be at the top 1 the agenda for the Democratic Part) mid-term mini-convention in Philad<l phia at the end of this month. Reagan* mics is in trouble. But Democrats s® have to learn that you can’t beat sott f thing with nothing. shop collet