Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, December 10, 1986
Opinion
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Cathie Anderson, Editor
Kirsten Dietz, Managing Editor
Loren Steffy, Opinion Page Editor
Frank Smith, City Editor
Sue Krenek, News Editor
Ken Sury, Sports Editor
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper oper
ated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Sta
tion.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial
board or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions
of Texas A&M administrators, faculty or the Board of Regents.
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students
in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Depart
ment of Journalism.
The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during
Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday and examination
periods.
Mail subscriptions are $17.44 per semester, $34.62 per school
year and $36.44 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on re
quest.
Our address: The Battalion, Department of Journalism, Texas
A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4111.
Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battalion, De
partment of Journalism, Texas A&M University, College Station
TX 77843-4 111.
IT S PEELING, RUSTING,
LEAKING OIL, ANP
SINKING IN THE MUP...
mr
Bench SMU
’Jnite^FeatureSynit^ |
ANP NEEPS MILLIONS
UPON MILLIONS TO
REPAIR,,,
The SMU Mustangs need to be roped, tied and just plain saddle-
broken or they’ll continue their record-breaking probation status,
tainting the image of the already tarnished Southwest Conference.
Last August, Southern Methodist University’s football program
was placed on probation by the National Collegiate Athletic Associa
tion for the fifth time — more than any other college football team.
Despite the NCAA’s ruling, SMU continued to break the rules
and allegedly has continued supporting at least two of its athletes
with cash allowances and free room and board.
Other college football teams around the nation probably are in
volved in shady deals, but continuing to violate the rules shows a
complete lack of respect for the rules and the teams in the confer
ence.
The worst part is that the odor from SMU’s barn is stinking up
the entire Southwest Conference. Albeit other schools aren’t acting
as much of a deodorant. But the result of all this is that more honest
football teams in the conference are getting manure thrown on their
jerseys by other ever-critical football conferences.
Why do donations make
people feel satisfied?
In all fairness, the NCAA needs to focus its spotlight evenly on all
schools. But SMU’s flagrant disregard for regulations cannot go un
punished. It’s time for the NCAA to shut down SMU’s football pro
gram and rid the Southwest Conference of this saddle sore.
Hopes and fears
Clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli troops have been
going on for days in the little town of Bethlehem on the Occupied
West Bank — yes, that Bethlehem.
The violence spread to within 100 yards of the Church of the Na
tivity, a site that was nothing more than a manger until a rather spe
cial child was born there.
While giving a
lecture on the rap-
idly growing
world population
and world hunger,
my science profes
sor showed the
class a slide of a
starving African
child holding an
empty dinner pail.
mr-
^ -mKm
the child and the class of about 70 stu
dents, my professor began speaking
about the boy and his unfortunate situa
tion.
The naked
boy’s leatherish
skin was stretched
bones, and his
Mike
Sullivan
A few of the students gasped as they
learned of the child’s hopeless future.
But like myself, most of the students
seemed unmoved by the picture and
perhaps bored with the professor’s ser
mon.
He’s frequently called the Prince of Peace, but, 2,000 years after
his birth, the frequent fighting that surrounds his birthplace serves
as a painful reminder that few people have gotten the message.
er his stick-like
eyes were sunken deep
into his skull. His dry mouth hung open
and there were flies on his teeth. That
he was standing on his own was nothing
short of miraculous. If he hadn’t been
standing, I would have thought he was
dead.
Trading glances between the slide of
Weapons
Reagan’s
deal with Iran was
last shot at credibility
I’ve seen pictures of starving children
many times before. I’ve seen their pic
tures on TV, in magazines, and I’ve
heard about the starving children on the
radio. The message always is that, “The
children are starving to death and they
need my help now.”
But for me the pictures have lost their
shock value, and I’ve never really paid
much attention to the messages. I’m
aware of the starving children all over
the world. I know about Live Aid, Band
Aid, etc., but I’ve never donated to the
cause. And, though I believe it’s a
worthy cause, I probably never will con
tribute.
gible evidence” argument. Tki
ask me to help out, but it’s usualvi
form of a money donation. Ho»
really know they need my money
what, exactly, will it bespentonili
ceedingly difficult to prove to iw
somebody else needs my SlOmort
I do. It’s even harder to connntt
over a phone or through an adiei
ment.
Whether 1 donate or not
difference on a world level, but my ai
tude toward local problemsisdfai
I’ve tossed change into cans*:
stopped at stoplights. I’vedonatec 1 )
to local drives, and I’ve even
blood. But donating to causes
home requires little effort,andH
never see exactly where my doit
goes, I generally feel good aboti
contributions.
In the vast ca
thedral called
Washington, the
policy monks
scurry around
murmuring dire
warnings about a
presidency adrift.
Nothing could be
worse, they wail,
no outcome of the
present scandal
more dangerous
than a Reagan administration too weak
It will hardly matter if Regan is pro
ven to have known nothing about Lt.
Col. Oliver North’s one-man foreign
policy. His credibility is not the issue; his
competence is. He has to go so that oth
ers can be let in.
Richard
Cohen
to implement its foreign policy. This is
the dirge of fools.
It would be one thing if the Reagan
administration was on a foreign-policy
roll. But in this area, the administration
is bereft of successes. Its most glorious
triumph, trumpeted time and time
again, was the invasion and occupation
of Grenada — a dot in the Caribbean
that, unfortunately, set Reagan on a col
lision course with reality.
What followed was some stirring mo
ments — the bombing of Libya, the
sending of Marines to Lebanon, the
downing of an Egyptian airliner taking
terrorists to freedom — but they all
seem to have been to no avail. The Ma
rines died in Lebanon and while the
bombing of Libya was brutal, it neither
ended terrorism nor freed our hostages.
In the end, the president had to do what
he pledged he would not: barter for the
lives of Americans. Whatever that epi
sode might be — a scandal, an outrage
or a wholesale violation of the law — it
can hardly be called a success.
All this is by way of saying that the
drone of the soulful policy monks
drowns out the gleeful rubbing of more
than a few hands. Some in Washington
see the present crisis as nothing less
than a wonderful opportunity. This is
the moment to force the president to
seek a bipartisan foreign policy. This is
one of the reasons why important sen
ators are calling for the heads of key
presidential aids, including Chief of
Staff Donald Regan.
The turning point for both Reagan
and Regan probably was their joint
belly-flop at Reykjavik. There, with Re
gan looking on, an ill-prepared presi
dent faced a boned-up Soviet leader.
American conservatives were appalled
at what Reagan put on the table — ei
ther the complete elimination of all bal
listic missiles or all nuclear weapons —
and breathed a sigh of relief when the
talks collapsed. Liberals, on the other
hand, were appalled that Reagan
walked away from so handsome an of
fer.
Reagan won the post-Reykjavik pub
lic-relations battle. But he left too many
important people convinced that some
thing was terribly amiss at the White
House. The president and his staff
seemed inept — poorly advised or,
worse, not advised at all — and af
terward unsure of what, in fact, the
United States had offered the Soviets.
The public opinion polls showed that
the spin doctors succeeded in convinc
ing the people that Reykjavik was a tri
umph. Official Washington, doing a
double-take, concluded otherwise. It
was a debacle.
The current scandal of guns for hos
tages for Contra cash was both the last
straw and a chance to make some
changes. Whatever the policy’s ultimate
intentions, what astonishes Washington
is the sheer amateurishness of the effort
— its reliance on dash and daring at the
expense of wisdom. To implement the
policy, those who know most about for
eign affairs — including the State De
partment — were kept in the dark. Also
ignored were the key foreign-policy
players on Capitol Hill. The disaster
that followed was predictable — and
could have been predicted by knowl
edgeable people.
Nicaragua remains the greatest dan
ger — and the best lesson. That foreign-
policy effort entails the creation and
funding of a counter-revolution to
topple the Sandinista regime. The result
appears to be a war without end and one
with unintended results. Already — be
cause the Nicaraguan adventure lacked
support in Congress, and the White
House acted on its own — it has pro
duced a major domestic scandal. But
that is nothing compared to what might
lie ahead. As with Vietnam, the war
threatens to spread. A thoughtless ef
fort to stabilize by force may destablize
the entire Central American isthmus
and ultimately require the use of U.S.
troops.
With the exception of our enemies,
no one wants a paralyzed presidency.
But a humbled one is another matter.
Based upon what has happened and
what could lie ahead, taking the Reagan
presidency down a peg or two is far
from a tragedy. When it comes to this
administration and foreign policy, a
weakened presidency is the next best
thing to a wise one.
Copyright 1986, Washington Post Writers Group
It may sound like I’m inhuman, but
I’m just honest. I’m being honest when 1
say that it’s easy for me to ignore the
persistent cries of the starving. I’m be
ing honest when I pliantly say, “No, I
don’t have 42 cents a day to feed a hun
gry Ethiopian child.” And I’m being
honest when I say I can sleep just as eas
ily at night.
I’ll bet that 99 percent of the students
on this campus can ignore the cries, ra
tionalize their excuses and sleep just as
well as I can. After all, ignoring a prob
lem that never has and most likely never
will directly touch our lives is really quite
logical.
Perhaps my apathetic attitude toward
world problems stems from a lack of
tangible evidence. I’ve never actually
seen a starving child in person, nor have
I ever heard one cry. There’s a lot of
things I’ve never seen or touched, and
most of those things don’t rank very
high on my list of concerns.
Or maybe I think I can afford my in
difference because I know that inevi
tably somebody does care enough about
a problem like starvation to try to help
it. Of course. I’m smart enough to know
that that person or group probably
could use my help.
But not getting involved can be again
rationalized away with my “lack of tan-
After recently donating a oil
beans to a food drive, I thoughts
about why donating to local i
makes me feel good, and
world causes has never interestedi»|
Apathy is the easy answer,
an answer that is more realisM
probably quite universal.
Though there are sometruhfl
ous people in the world, moslf
are in this game for themseM
large extent. Considering the'f
little, get a little” ideal thathastel
stilled in all of us from childhood 1 !
lows that people donate, or giq
cause they hope to get somethi!
return.
Maybe they hope somebody up
is taking notes, or maybe they woi
a little recognition — or a lot, dtp
ing on the size of the contribuj
from their friends and peers.!
haps those who donate are looii
ward to the nice tax break theyl j
their generosity. Whatever it it :
has to be something in it forthetf
utors.
That would explain why the<
starving children doesn’t bothj
Unless I told everybody aboutni'l
tion. I’d get no recognition,and
too concerned about tax breaks
As for whoever’s watching J
from above, I’m sure my cant
good enough in his all-acceptingt'l
Mike Sullivan is a senior JO'S-
major and a staff writer forUt"
ion.
Mail Call
Good tunes, poor transmission Don't give a spit
EDITOR:
The A&M radio station KANM, 99.9 EM, has some of
the best alternative music I’ve ever had the pleasure of
listening to. All the disc jockeys have spirit, intelligence
and discriminating tastes.
However, the sound quality is totally ragged, fuzzy,
and distorted. Where is the pride in putting out a quality
audio experience? I know there is a budget problem, but
so far no one at the radio station has responded to my plea
for technical improvements. Why?
The mindless pop-pop on commercial stations is awful,
but the hissing fizz on KANM is worse. Does anyone care?
Will Aggie pride give us a radio station to listen to? Help!
Russ Newsom
EDITOR:
Will someone please explain to me why so manyp
here at Aggieland spit? One can’t help but notice the
disgusting little blobs lining the walkways from Kyleff
to the Zachry Engineering Center. I don’t care if it is fq
season — carry a tissue, go to the bathroom, oratleasi 1 -
for the grassy areas.
Nobody likes somebody else’s bodily fluids. As Wl
Carlin so memorably noted, “You’d wipe it on flarain?
wood if you had to.” Gotta run — time for class. Here
slip-sliding away.
Paula DeForest
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editc
serves the right to edit letters for style and length, hut will maht ntr f ■
maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must he signed and mustinduir 1
sification, address and telephone number of the writer.
>fl
HOI
Hth th
littee
le rur
publica
even th
andid;
conven
But
C