Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, March 30, 1983
opinion
Don’t lie to me —
take polygraph test
by Art Buchwald
The President has issued an executive
order requiring every federal employee
with a security clearance to sign a non
disclosure pledge and submit to lie detec
tor tests if asked.
Mr. Reagan’s given reason was to pre
vent leaks of classified information. His
real reason was to stop leaks that make his
administration look incompetent or bad.
Will this stop leaking in Washington?
“Not on your life,” said Stanley Fin
cher, chief coordinator of Leaks for High
Government Officials. “But the govern
ment will now have much better control
over what is leaked to the press and what
is withheld because it would give us a
black eye.”
“What constitutes a good leak?”
“Top secret information about the
nuclear superiority of the Soviet Union.
We want that leaked out as fast as possi
ble, especially while Congress is debating
the defense budget.”
“What, in your opinion, is a bad leak?”
“Top secret information of sweetheart
deals with U.S. defense contractors on
weapons now in production that don’t
work and cost three times as much as we
said they would.”
“I can see why you wouldn’t want that
kind of information leaked,” I said. “The
lie detector will be a great help in stop
ping whistle blowers from ratting on the
administration.”
“It may not stop all unofficial leaks but
it will certainly have a chilling effect on
anyone who leaks to cover up wrong
doings.”
“How does your department op
erate?”
“We have a National Council of Office
Leakers, which meets every Monday
morning. It is composed of senior offi
cials from all the departments and agen
cies, and is chaired by a very high White
House source. Each official presents the
leaks he would like to pass on the the
media that week. If, for example, the
Cross National Product is going up,
Commerce will ask to leak it, and if un
employment is going down we’ll let
Labor leak it.”
“This is all nuts and bolts stuff. The big
leaks, to have any credibility, have to
come directly from the White House.”
“Would you give me an example?”
“Well suppose it’s decided that Secret
ary of the Interior James Watt will have
to go because of the EPA scandal. I’m not
saying we have decided it yet — but we
can’t rule out that he is becoming a poli
tical liability. A White House aide will tell
a reporter ‘This is off the record, but the
President has no intention of firing Jim
Watt.’”
“The very fact that the White House
aide denied it without being asked im
mediately alerts the reporter that some
thing is in the wind. He reports it and the
rest of the media pick it up. When Watt
reads about it he calls the President and
asks him if he wants him to resign. The
President says of course not. Watt can
have his job as long as he wants. This
private conversation is also leaked to the
press, and pretty soon the only question
is not will Watt resign but when.”
“It’s the old ‘leak by denial’ trick,” I
said. “They’ve used it on me a hundred
times.”
“It never fails. The trick of leaking
when it comes to firing somebody in the
administration is not to push him out the
window, but make him jump of his own
free will.”
“What about unauthorized leaks? Is
that where the lie detector comes in?”
“That’s correct. As soon as we read a
leak that we didn’t okay, we send F. Lee
Bailey and his technicians over to the de
partment to take the tests. Anyone who
refuses to have the electrodes attached to
his chest will automatically be dismissed.
If he takes the test and Bailey decides he’s
lying, the leaker is pushed out the
window.”
“But isn’t it true that lie detectors are
very unreliable and can’t even be admit
ted in court as evidence?”
“The President was aware of it and the
lie detector was not his first choice. He
preferred to have an employee swear on
the Bible he wasn’t a leaker. But to his
chagrin he discovered this was unconsti
tutional.”
USPS 045 360
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Reagan disagrees with clergy
by Wesley G. Pippert
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President
Reagan, addressing a group of cheering
evangelicals in Orlando, argued against a
nuclear freeze and declared communism
may be the focus of evil in the modern
world.
A few hours earlier, in the Capitol, a
group of ministers, using equally strong
moral language, charged that Reagan’s
budget shows a nation “intent on a selfish
and dangerous course of social stinginess
and military overkill.”
Who was right? Who was making the
truly moral statement? Both appealed to
the Bible and were not modest in assert
ing their point of view was in synchrony
with it. Was Reagan worshipping at the
shrine of civil religion? which tends to
equate American culture with Christian
ity. Were the ministers going beyond
their proper mission by engaging in poli
tics?
Reagan, speaking to the National
Association of Evangelicals, which repre
sents groups with about 40 million mem
bers, laid out a tray with many of the
items important to social conservatives —
parental notification when teenagers re
ceive birth control information, restoring
prayer to public schools, abortion, infan
ticide.
Then Reagan said: “There is sin and
evil in the world, and we are enjoined by
Scripture and the Lord Jesus Christ to
oppose it with all our might. Our nation,
too, has a legacy with which it must deal.
The glory of this land has been its capac
ity for transcending the moral evils of our
past.”
It left no doubt that in the minds of
Reagan end the evangelicals, what the
president had cited were among the na
tion’s worst sins.
Reagan saved his most fervant charges
for the nuclear arms issue. He said a nuc
lear freeze would reward the Soviets for
their military buildup.
“Let us pray for the salvation of all who
live in totalitarian darkness, pray they
will discover the joy of knowing God,”
Reagan said.
“But until they do, let us be aware that
while they preach the supremacy of the
state, declare its omnipotence over indi
vidual man, and predict its eventual
domination of all peoples of the earth —
they are the focus of evil in the modern
world.”
He concluded by linking morality and
military strength: “So I urge you to speak
out against those who would place the
United States in a position of military and
moral inferiority.”
To the north, in a tiny room in the
Cajhtol, the religious leaders, rej>resent-
ing bodies with 50 million members, took
a different view of what was evil. Two
denominational presidents, Kenneth
Teegarden, of the Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ), and Avery Post, of
the United Church of Christ, were pre
sent. Others religious executives, mostly
mainliners, signed the statement.
Calling the federal budget “the most
important moral statement the govern
ment will make this year,” they asked
Congress to refuse any more cuts in sur
vival programs for the poor, to jxiss the
jobs and emergency relief legislation, to
cancel the MX missile and B-l bomber
and reduce military spending.
or
They said Reagan’s budget “rejecisi
rights of the poor . rejects the
the unemployed . rejects therightsoj
human beings to live their livesinp(
and security.”
“We are profoundly disturbed b]
vision which emerges from this
1984 edition of our statement
purpose, they said. It is a visiono nment
nation intent on a selfish and dangen
course of social stinginess and
overkill.”
bt;
T
As
dies,
So, was Reagan or the ministersbfi ebehind-tJ
jn'ophetic, condemning like Amos
Jeremiah of old the real illsofthei The five st;
ues
Neither? Or perhaps both?
The message of the Bible isthatak,
it chooses life over death, alwaysitcoii
down on the side of the poorandi
oppressed. From Genesis to Revelatb
admonishes people to care for thewido ademic aff
the orphan and the stranger. The real es,externa
of the Bible is that it also allows tre« gulations ai
dous diversity in how to accomplishlin
tasks — there is no ordained economit
political system. But always the Biblf
sists that whatever the philosophy,!)'
ever the system, it must be measin
against the plumbline of justice
righteouness. T he Bible isn’t so a mbody.
cerned as to whether a person is liberi
conservative, a capitalist or a sodalist,I ittee repre
whether he is just and righteous.
Maybe Reagan and the mini
should have done a better job of lisiei
to each other.
The same Bible that Reagan
to also suggahve rese ai
is the
ministers appealed
rather bluntly that jiride
grievous sin, and in that sense there
no shortage of guilt to go around
Orlande) and Washington.
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Letters: Pondering Aggie
Editor:
I recently read President Vandiver’s
indictment of our graduate program in
the Bryan-College Station Eagle and his
comment that “the quality of our gradu
ate students leaves a good deal to be de
sired.” His remarks have serious implica
tions for the undergraduates because
many freshman, sophomore, and even
junior-level courses are taught by gradu
ate students. In effect, President Vandiv
er is saying that many of our undergra
duates may not be receiving a proper
education at Texas A&M.
An equally disturbing and truly ironic
aspect of this is that a large percentage of
Texas A&M professors have graduate
degrees from Texas A&M. Many univer
sities will not hire their own graduates
because the intellectual growth of a uni
versity depends on a constant influx of
new ideas as well as a wide divergence of
views. Yet perhaps 20 percent or more of
the present Texas A&M faculty have
Texas A&M degrees. If, as Dr. Vandiver
suggests, Texas A&M graduate students
are not as bright as they should be, is he
also implying that faculty members with
Texas A&M degrees are not as bright as
they should be? The implications of his
remarks are sobering.
Dr. Robert Scott Kellner
Department of English
Aggie hero
Editor:
I wish to relate a story about one of this
University’s students, a story about an
Aggie. I feel that this story embodies the
spirit and tradition of Texas A&M Uni
versity’s students, and I will try to relate it
as best I can for the credit and recogni
tion that this student deserves.
My grandmother is a very active indi
vidual, in spite of the fact that she will be
94 years of age in June. She is a published
author; she keeps busy with her poetry,
music, church activities, weekly newspap
er column and garden.
My aunt and uncle live with her. Last
weekend, they had to make an overnight
business trip. The weather was very bad
so they insisted that Mama must not go
outside to work in the garden in their
absence.
Shejust wanted to look around; Mama
was out of the house the minute they got
out of the driveway. The ground was
very wet, and before long she had a foot
stuck in the mud. Soon she was up to her
knees in mud struggling to free herself.
She didn’t have the strength to crawl out
or to pull herself out. She was alone. No
one would be there till the next day.
She was quite a distance from the high
way that went past her house. However,
this was her only chance of getting any
help. She started waving at the passing
cars; no one could see her and it was
going to be dark soon.
education
It was a miracle that he even sawjnI
He is a student at A&M; he wasetti
back to College Station. Did hecattii 1 !
glimpse of something in the rear'i il |
mirror? I don’t know. Somethingm* I
him turn around. He found my gr® I
mother. He carried her out of then" 1 1
He heljoed her to wash her handsel
feet. He stayed to see that she was'I
right. He probably saved her life.
She insisted that he take the®I
money that she offered; nothing can® I
truly repay his kindness.
He is an Aggie. He took the time T
help another person. His name is^ I
Griffith.
Marilyn ClemT
Lost bracelet
Editor:
On Monday March 28, around 9^ I
a.m., I lost a gold serpentine bracelet
lost it somewhere between the postofft
at Northgate and the Academicbuildkj
If anyone finds it please call me; H
mother gave it to me for GhristiW
There is a reward for the return oftl>
bracelet.
Dawn Ml
260-2’