The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, June 22, 1983, Image 2

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    Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, June 22, 1983
by
MX issue splitting party, causing revolt
Frustrated Democrats attack leadership
| Gov. Mi
Friday wh
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ai
Dr. Ai
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by Patricia Koza
United Press International
WASHINGTON — A revolt is brew
ing among Capitol Hill Democrats over
the MX, and the issue may erupt into
open rebellion during the next crucial
vote on the giant nuclear weapon.
Two recent events indicate the depth
of frustration among opponents with the
refusal by the party leadership to take a
position on the MX. Democrats express
ed their concern at a 2 1 /2-hour party
caucus June 14, called on a petition
signed by 112 members and circulated by
a freshman from California.
The issue: why the House leadership
broke with the majority of Democrats
and supported President Reagan in a cri
tical MX vote last month. The second
event occurred barely an hour later at an
anti-MX rally on the Capitol steps, when
both Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.,
and Gary Hart, D-Colo., chastised those
who endorsed MX.
“Any Democrat who thinks we can
purchase peace by voting for MX ought
to be ashamed of himself,” Kennedy de
clared.
Democrats, who consider themselves
the party of arms control, last month
forced Reagan to adopt a more flexible
“Any Democrat who thinks we can
purchase peace by voting for MX
ought to be ashamed of himself ”
— Sen. Edward Kennedy
arms control policy as part of the deal for
deploying 100 of the 10-warhead
weapons in existing Minuteman missile
silos.
Les Aspin, D-Wis., Norman Dicks, D-
Wash., and Albert Gore Jr., D-Tenn., led
a group of moderate Democrats who
obtained a written agreement from
Reagan to seriously seek arms control.
The president wrote a similar letter to
several similarly concerned senators. In
return, the House and Senate voted to
release $625 million in engineering and
flight-testing funds that had been
“fenced” in the 1983 budget.
But now some Democrats are begin
ning to feel as if they’ve been flim-
flammed — both by the leadership and
by the moderates who led the turnar
ound from December, when both houses
had put the skids on MX.
Both Aspin and Dicks have indicated
they will reevaluate their positions if
Reagan does not moderate his position
on arms control beyond the sketchy out
lines provided for the new round of
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks in
Geneva.
It fell to a freshman, Jim Bates of
California, to circulate the petition that
convened the caucus.
“If we weren’t going to take a position
on defense as a party, I wanted to know
w
ONrnRD. CUR1S1WJ
Letters: dual education system
an insult to black community
Editor:
The State of Texas is being deprived
of the services and contributions of black
faculty, staff, and students in the Texas
A&M University System because of an
inadequate, uncoordinated recruitment
and retention process.
This process lacks essential safe
guards, including involvement of blacks
throughout, and outreach into the black
community. As a result, qualified re
spected blacks like the Warners, Perrys,
Johnsons, Dunsons, etc., are lost and
many others never gained.
UNIVERSITY should begin so poorly,
and continue to languish in enhancing
the black presence in the Texas A&M
University System as part of its mission to
serve the great state of Texas.
Consider the fact that as of Nov. 30,
1981, blacks represented less than 1.5
percent of all workers in each of the
seven EEO-6 job categories except ser
vice and maintenance personnel, where
they were almost 40 percent of the work
force.
It is incredulous that a system of high
er education headed by a FLAGSHIP
In point of fact, black faculty, adminis
trator and professional non-faculty, and
students constituted less than 2 percent
of the workforce or student body respec
tively. Further, black faculty were only 15
of 2,358 faculty members, of whom only
six were tenure track, again of whom
four are leaving or have left.
This vestige of a dual education system
must be redressed. It is an insult of the
first magnitude to us in the black com
munity, the Texas A&M University Sys
tem, the Bryan/College Station area, and
the state at large.
Surely this is a tarnishment in the striv
ing toward excellence or preeminence
that is both unacceptable and at the same
time removable, especially in view of the
abundant resources at hand locally and at
state and national levels.
We in the black community stand
ready as always to facilitate this effort.
Erma Faye Jefferson
College Station
The Battalion)
for students in reporting, editing and photography clas
ses within the Department of Communications.
Questions or comments concerning any editorial
matter should be directed to the editor.
USPS 045 360
Letters Policy
Member ot
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
Editor Hope E. Paasch
City Editor Kelley Smith
Sports Editor John Wagner
News Editors Daran Bishop, Brian Boyer,
Beverly Hamilton, Tammy Jones
Staff Writers Scott Griffin, Robert
McGlohon, Angel Stokes,
Joe Tindel
Copy editors .... Kathleen Hart, Tracey Taylor
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Photographers .... Brenda Davidson, Eric Lee,
Barry Papke, Peter Rocha
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting news
paper operated as a community service to Texas A&M
University and Bryan-College Station. Opinions ex
pressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or the
a’ pfor, and do ndihecessarily represent the opinions of
i exas A&M University administrators or faculty mem- ■
bers, or of the Board of Regents.
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper
Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in
length, and are subject to being cut if they are longer.
The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for
style and length, but will make every effort to maintain
the author’s intent. Each letter must also be signed and
show the address and telephone number of the writer.
Columns and guest editorials also are welcome, and
are not subject to the same length constraints as letters.
Address all inquiries and correspondence to: Editor,
The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M Uni
versity, College Station, TX 77843, or phone (409) 845-
2611.
The Battalion is published Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday during both Texas A&M regular summer
sessions, except for holiday and examination periods.
Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester, $33.25 per
school year and $35 per full year. Advertising rates
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Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald
Building, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
77843.
United Press International is entitled exclusively to
the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited
to it. Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein
reserved.
Second class postage paid at College Station, TX
77843.
e 1M3 by NEA. Inc
“At the office, I'm thought of as a sweet, gentle,
sensitive man. At home, I'm considered a cruet,
heartless ideologue."
why,” he said.
“As a freshman. I’m not accustomed
to questioning the leadership. But in this
.case, we were frustrated and dis
appointed, and felt we had to question
them. It seemed as though they were out
of step with the party on this issue,” Bates
said.
Several sources said seven or eight
Democrats who voted to release MX re
search funds last month will switch their
ieriment
vote would be needed to turnJ r ( had the an
yet again. Aspin, formerly an Institute I
nent, warned rejection of ik
program by Democrats
party of an opportnnity touse::
campaign issue next year. ram
“If we give him this, then it's jKCpiiity
president to get an arms contt r
ment and we can hold himaccocBlNVEP
Aspin said. ate jobs it
Technoloj
has been
Novembet
to the
“If we weren’t going to take a posi
tion on defense as a party, I
wanted to know why. ” — Sen. Jim
Bates
Among the prominentpartvuL° <lut ' ^
10 supported the MX last nrE-
ff
positions on a vote scheduled in mid-July
* ' " ‘ for 27
to authorize production funds
missiles.
At least 25 or 30 of the 91 Democrats
who joined 148 Republicans in the May
who supporte
Democratic leader James Wng
Texas, and whip Thomas Foie)
“I thought it might havebeena
the Democratic leadership
partisan stance and had been
structing the‘defense of the
Wright said.
But other Democrats
whether the party has notalral_ re in ( ,
up that spot oy failing to takeam v ^ ,
particularly when its leadingpraHj ce man
contenders oppose MX. C ai on a
Unite*
IMMI
Pet rocks replace
by ‘computerockr
apparent
len shot
An ai
arillo
Vaughn h
lided wit!
north of
midnight
showed 1
by Dick West
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Alas, kind sir, or
madam, as the case might be, it is time to
put away the “Pet Rock” that some gener
ous and understanding benefactor gave
you a few years ago and that has since
become almost like one of the family.
Truly “with it” households — those
whose members pride themselves on pil
ing up enough faddish sandbags to avoid
being inundated by the mainstream —
are going to be switching to high technol
ogy stones.
According to a recent ad in the Wall
Street Journal, it already is possible to
“plug into the future” with a “personal
Computerock” made by a Philadelphia
company.
For as little as $13.95, plus $2.50 for
shipping and handling, the modern man
who has everything can add a solid state
pebble to his desk top collection. The
beauty of a Computerock, apart from the
price, is that it doesn’t process words, re
trieve data or perform any of those other
complicated functions.
“So easy to use, you don’t even have to
turn it on,” promises the manufacturer.
Land, what a warranty!
.“If your personal Computerock ever
works, we’ll replace it free of charge.”
Moreover, the Computerock is
guaranteed “modularly upgradable.”
This means a proud owner who wishes
“to extend its non-functionality” can, for
a mere $6.95, purchase “peripheral peb
bles” that hook onto the “mainrock” to
form a sort of mineralized daisy chain.
Although I have only a nodding
ac-
Hund to
quaintance, at best, with theelrhis service
age, I can foresee a bright toniDl
the breakthrough that has(
miniaturization “to its logical
sion.” Rock technology, we am
“millions of transisitors shrunk! '
they no longer actually exist."
About time. A word ofi
however.
I can foresee trouble al
corner-cutter who tries tol
investment by wiring up“PetR(
double duty.
Insist on the real thing.
For the conservation-mindi
many new uses that today’se
turning up for rocks mustbeei
heartening. Like the silicon
video games and other hi tecl
ment, rocks are among the i
ance of Earth’s natural resouro
have only to plow up asmallgardt
in your back yard to uncover
rocks to last a lifetime.
Despite their availability, 1»
rocks have never loomed largf
daily life patterns. Until someo# „
vered a few years ago that rod
good pets, very few of us for® s.
emotional attachments to them **
To the contrary, the wort
appeared in terms of denie
the expression “You must nave:
your head.’
Clearly, the advent of Comp-
is a giant step forward. A few mo:
ressive developments of "
rocks will have equal status wd
places.
Berry’s World
Slouch
Byjimi
shop
“I think you shouldn’t be riding a bicycle with the hail
lebars set so low. ”