Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, October 3,1983
Latin American refugees
pouring into the U.S.
Obnoxiousness
is easy to spot
By Maxwell Glen
and Cody Shearer
LOS ANGELES — As one reason for
supporting his hard line on El Salvador,
President Reagan has offered the pros
pect of refugees flooding this country to
escape communism.
But if pre-empting uncontrolled im
migration is his purpose, then the presi
dent’s policies are a failure. Central
Americans have fled to the U.S. in the
hundreds of thousands, and a large num
ber — possibly as many as 500,000 —
have come from El Salvador, a nation a of
only 4.7 million people.
Here in Reagan’s former hometown,
some 200,000 Salvadorans are said to live
with 50,000 of them squeezed into L.A.’s
downtown Pico-Union district.
While on Pico Boulevard commercial
symbols of El Salvador’s growing U.S.
presence stare openly at passersby, the
sidestreets overflow with families who
hide in Pico-Union’s dilapidated apart
ment buildings, often in one room.
"The Salvadorans are a frightened re
fugee population,” says Aurora Mar
tinez, a retired nurse who coordinates
health care efforts for Pico-Union’s
Oscar R. Romero clinic.
Origins only complicate the bleak em
ployment picture. Says social worker
Cynthia Anderson, referring to prop
osed federal restrictions on employers
who hire undocumented workers: “With
the passage of the Simpson-Mazzoli bill in
the House, no employer wants to hire an
illegal alien and get fined.”
Few Salvadoran refugees, however,
seem prepared to return home just yet,
or even if and when Central America’s
strife subsides. But, they say, serious
peace negotiations to end El Salvador’s
civil war might encourage more potential
refugees to stay home.
Donald Woods, a South African journal
ist once imprisoned for his anti-apartheid
activities, has formed an organization to
inform foreign journalists and govern
ment officials about developments in his
home country. The new group, Lincoln
Trust, will have its U.S. office in
Washington.
John Tower’s decision to step down from
his Senate seat after nearly four terms has
irked White House officials. Tower, a
Texas Republican and chairman of the
Senate Armed Services Committee, had
already received substantial political
assistance from the administraiton in
anticipation of a tough re-election fight
next year. As an exession of its interest in
Tower’s stand on immigration issues, the
White House is said to have established its
latest task force on border problems, the
Banker renegotiates
international loans
by Art Buchwald
I met a man the other day who has a
very interesting job. He renegotiates
loans for Third World countries.
We shall call the man Jean Valjean,
and he works for the Credit Bearnaise.
He told me, “A loan renegotiator is the
most important figure in the banking
world today. Without him the monetary
system would go under.”
“How do you renegotiate a loan?” I
inquired.
“You renegotiate a loan by not paying
it. The service you perform is to come up
with a legitimate reason why a country
cannot repay a loan to a foreign bank.
“At the moment I just renegotiated a
loan for the South American country of
Santa Busta. Santa Busta is a Third
World country that owes $1 billion to a
consortium of Western Banks.”
“Why did the banks loan her that kind
of money?”
“Because she was willing to pay two
percent more for the loans than other
countries. Besides, at the time, Santa Bus
ta was getting $4 a pound for mining raw
Velcro, its only natural resource.”
“What did Santa Busta do with the bil
lion dollars?”
“Some of it went for roads, some of it
went for Mercedes Benzes, some of it for
scotch, some of it went to pay for tear gas,
and quite a bit of it wound up in num
bered Swiss bank accounts belonging to
Santa Busta politicians in power.”
“Okay, so the money was well spent.
Why can’t they pay it back?”
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Memlvr ot
Texas'Press' Association'
Southwest Journalism Conference
Editor Hope E. Paasch
Managing Editor Elaine Engstroni
City Editor Beverly Hamilton
Assistant City Editor Kelley Snlith
Sports Editor .I”! 111 Lopez
Assistant Sports Editor JoeTindel
Entertainment Editor .... Rebeca Zimmermann
Assistant Entertainment Editor Shelley
Hoekstra
News Editors Brian Boyer, Kathy Breard,
Tracey Taylor, Kelly Miller
Photo Editor Eric Evan Lee
Staff Writers Brigid Brockman, Ronnie
Crocker, Scott Griffin,
Christine Mallon, Michelle
Powe, Ann Ramsbottom,
Stephanie Ross, Karen
Schrimsher, Carol Smith,
Angel Stokes, John Wagner,
Kathy Wiesepape, Wanda
Winkler
Cartoonist Paul Dirmeyer,
Scott McCullar
Photographers Brenda Davidson,
Michael Davis, Guy Hood,
John Makely, Dean Saito
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper
tor students in reporting, editing and photography clas
ses within the Department of Communications.
Questions or comments concerning any editorial
matter should he directed to the editor.
Letters Policy
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.
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is published Monday through Friday
during Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holi
day and examination periods. Mail subscriptions are
$16.75 persemester, $33.25 per school yearand $35 per
full year. Advertising rates furnished on request.
Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald
Building, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
77843.
The Battalion is a non-profit, sell-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 ot the editor or the
author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of
Texas A&M University administrators or faculty mem
bers, or of the Board of Regents.
United Press International is entitled exclusively to
the use for reproduction of all news hspatches credited
to it. Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein
reserved.
Second class postage paid at College Station, TX
77843.
Southwest Border States Working
Group.
Philippine opposition leader Benigno
Aquino’s brutal assassination at the Man
ila airport last weekend should have
fueled the imagination of anyone who
remembers the Nicaraguan revolution.
In 1978, a similarly charismatic opposi
tion figure, La Prenza editor Pedro Cha
morro, was gunned down on the streets
of Managua. As is likely in Aquino’s
death, Chamorro’s killers were never
identified but were nonetheless linked to
the nation’s long-ruling dictator (in
Nicaragua’s case, Anastasio Somoza De-
bayle).
It’s generally concluded, too, that Cha
morro’s death served most to unite all of
Nicaragua against Somoza’s rule. Time
will tell whether history repeats itself in
the land of Ferdinand Marcos.
British disarmament activists are appa
rently finding rock bands reluctant to
play benefit concerts. One reason seems
to be that some of the more outspoken
groups — The Clash, The Specials and
Peter Gabriel, for example — have re
cently disbanded. Another reason,
however, is more telling about Britain: At
two recent “rock the bomb” festivals, divi
sions among concert-goers led to mud-
hurling and minor skirmishes.
Obnoxious people can be defined in
many ways: Howard Cosell, Joan Col
lins, Don Rickies, Jerry Lewis.
Everyone encounters at least one
obnoxious person. I happen to have en
countered several.
Most people will usually agree that a
person who uses his index finger as a
Kleenex is obnoxious. But obnoxious
ness goes deeper than disgusting per
sonal habits.
Personally, I find a person who skips
his 8 a.m. statistics class when I have to
get up and go to it, obnoxious.
I also find anyone who understands
his 8 a.m. statistics class obnoxious. To
tell the truth, I find statistics class obno
xious.
Any girl who says she is on a diet and
then eats three desserts, or any girl who
wears' size 5 jeans and complains about
being fat is obnoxious.
People who also can be classified as
obnoxious include couples who, when
parting before class, kiss each other so
passionately that they could feasibly
conceive a baby in the middle of the
MSC.
Anyone who treats a student working
as cafeteria and bookstore help as “two-
bit minumum wage help” is not only
obnoxious, but also rude. I would much
prefer to say that I helped support my
self in college by working or earning a
scholarship than say, “Mummy and
Daddy are paying for everything.”
People who put you on hold, when
you only want to find out how rad
pizza costs, can usually be dassifii
obnoxious.
Anyone who gets an averageoflj
letters and one package a weekori
one who makes his bed within twoj
of getting out of it usually aren’tn
to high in my book. Nor is anyonei
complains about noise at 11:3
a Friday night.
I find people who go to lot
games only because they gettokisil
dates after touchdowns extreij
obnoxious, as is a freshman wholl
he or she is the hottest thing to hilll
Anyone who has the attitude!
professor is senile just because I
over 50 is obnoxious.
I guess all is fair though. Therep
ably are some people who find coliij
writers, w ho write about peoplewht
obnoxious, obnoxious.
SCHEDULE FOR WALTER MONDALE
“Last year the price of raw Velcro tum
bled to 10 cents a pound and the country
went bankrupt.”
“So that’s when you were called in to
renegotiate the loan?”
“Right. Both Santa Busta and the con
sortium of banks asked me to come up
with a plan that could justify them not
paying the loan back. I talked Santa Bus-
ta’s leading families into announcing a
tough austerity program, which they
were more than happy to do, since most
of them live in Florida. Then I went to the
banks with the austerity program, and
asked them to renegotiate the loan by not
demanding principal for seven years.
The banks accepted this providing Santa
Busta pay interest on the loan.”
“Where could Santa Busta get the
money to pay the interest?”
“I persuaded the consortium to do it so
they could keep the Santa Busta debt on
their books as a viable loan. If Santa Busta
couldn’t pay the interest, the banks would
have to tell their stockholders that a ma
jor loan client was in default, and then
everyone would be in the soup. As far as
the banks were concerned it was just an
accounting transaction. They put the in
terest money they loaned to Santa Busta
in one computer and transferred it to
another computer in the same office.
“I can now see the value of what you
do. What do you get paid for this sort of
thing?”
“A nice percentage of the loan, which
the banks are only too happy to pay any
one for getting them off the financial
hook.”
9 : 00
AM
National Catfood Distributors
endorsement. Speech.
11:00
AM
Gay Dentists endorsement.
Speech.
3:00
PM
Norwegian Moonies endorsement.
Speech.
5:00
PM
Press Conference. Deny you are
pawn of special interest groups
’III
Sarah Marie Bui
and Alison Burt
ler best to corisi
at the Brazos V
Tb&g
| The follow
jorted to tin
Jpartment o
THEFTS:
A black
§|c)de from tl
'lick.
1 wo tree
fAMU-TV.
Jj* A wallet
Kt unattendc
Jwt lounge
Indent Cen
Tit into Run
glenn gaii
/Jmr***^
Gymnast advises young athletes
by Children’s Express
United Press International
(Editor’s note: Children’s Express, a
privately funded news service, is real
world journalism reported entirely by
children 13 years of age or under whose
tape-recorded interviews, discussions, re
ports and commentary are edited by
teenagers and adults.)
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — When the guest
athletes were introduced at the opening
ceremonies of the Sears National Junior
Olympics, they all got big hands. But
when Kurt Thomas was introduced, the
audience went wild. All the girls and lots
of people with cameras and autograph
books came running.
Kurt Thomas started out in the Junior
Olympics and now he’s the Junior Olym
pics spokesperson. We were really look
ing forward to meeting him because he’s
an excellent gymnast and we’ve seen him
in commercials and newspapers. Kurt
Thomas is a success story. In the Pan
American Games, he won gold medals
and became quite famous. Now he has a
gymnastic school, a camp, and a book
called “Kurt Thomas on Gymnastics.”
He’s also a sports commentator for ABC.
score a certain score, or hit a certain
routine, I did. That was good for me.”
But Thomas also said that it’s very bad
for coaches and parents to put the win-at-
all-costs attitude into their kids. If it’s
more like a dictatorship and a threat, it
makes the kids feel scared.
At his gymnastics schools, sometimes
the parents want their kids to do so well
that they bribe them with money, the car
keys, or something that the kid wants.
They get angry if they don’t do good.
Thomas says it’s very selfish. “The pa
rents put a lot of pressure on their kids to
excel so that ultimately it’ll come back to
them,” he said.
“A kid wants to be pushed to the ex
tent that he knows the parents support
him,” he added, “but not to the point
where they want him to do it for them
instead of himself.”
On TV, Thomas looks much younger.
When we saw him, he looked young, but
more mature. We went to dinner with
Thomas and his wife, Leanne. He doesn’t
seem like some stars whose outside is dif
ferent from their inside — he’s really
nice. We also went to an interview with
him about competition and pressure on
young athletes.
He told us that he put pressure on him
self. He really wanted to succeed in gym
nastics. He said that pressure was good
for him — it sort of gave him a kick. “In a
non-pressure situation, I kind of slacked
off,” he explained. “But when I had to
Thomas thinks that a child should feel
like he can do it on his own, “that it
should come from within.”
He also told us that “a lot of the
coaches push kids very far.” So if some
one in some sport feels that his coach is
pushing him too hard, he should say,
‘Back off a little. Pretty soon this is not
going to be fun for me. And if it’s not fun,
I’m not going to participate.”
Thomas pointed out that he didn’t
want to win because his opponent fell
down or slipped. He wanted to win when
his opponent did his best.
The win-at-all-costs attitude can get
kids away from sports. “You win, and
then at the next meet you don’t win. You
feel like, ‘The whole world’s collapsing on
me,”’ Thomas said. “You’ve got to get to
the point where you accept failure,
although it can be one of tne hardest
things to do.”
Thomas feels that the kind of encour
agement young athletes need from their
parents, coaches and friends is “nol
pushed to win, win, win, but lose!
towards winning.
“When I was in my firstJuniorO
pics,” he told us, “I was 13th out of
dead last. But that really motivated(
train harder. T he next year I p
fourth. I saw that if I could move
13th to fourth, I could move fromfo
to first. So I worked real hard and!
become first. T he next year 1 slacld
and placed third, but it was another?
experience.”
Thomas was saying that you sfc
have good sportsmanship, yoush» :
start yelling around, and you sh
think about your mistakes. After
mess up, try to make it workoutsfl
won’t mess up the next time.
“Accept failure,” he said, “build
failure teach you something. TuU
failure into success.”
Slouch
LC
\by Jim 6
Features: 2!
• B
ii
“Now mind you I don’t r
say that classes on cutting logs
the bonfire is bad •••• ’’