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Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, May 11,1988 Opinion What can we expect from the Reagan phenomenon'^. ▼ i r i." f** _ _ .. * cr 1 l 1 X A n a n «■ A tiv'-i/'tlfl nwH^i I have never been a follower of astrology. When someone asks me what sign I was born under I am likely to answer: “This space for rent.” When someone reminds me that the moons of Saturn are in the patio of Jupi- Lewis Grizzard symbolize the reassertion of family va lues in our society. He has carried the flag for the religious revival in recent years, yet he doesn’t attend church. He has become the embodiment of the na tion’s warlike spirit, this man who spent World War II making training films. He is probably the worst performer at a press conference of any modern presi dent, yet he retains his title of “Great Communicator.” scientific as a man who believes in Social Darwinism but not in evolution can be. And it works. He seems destined to leave office the most popular president since Eisenhower. He could walk through an “Animal House” food fight in a white suit and never pick up a stain. The Force is with him. way from coast to coast. A New York Times reporter aboard the train wrote that it was ‘the most remarkable demon stration in American history of affec tion, respect and reverence for the dead.’ ” ter, my eyes glaze over. “How does he do it?” I kept asking myself. “What’s his secret?” But I’m beginning thoughts. to have second The revelation that President and Mrs. Reagan are deeply interested in as trology and sometimes consult astrolo gers before scheduling important events should not be dismissed lightly. It might very well be the key to explaining the Reagan phenomenon; certainly nothing else does. Now we know. Astrology. He finds himself in a jam and gets Ed Meese on the blower and says: “Ed, take a look at the stars, cut up a frog and tell me what the signs say.” A few minutes later Meese calls back with: “They say it’s a bad time to fire people.” And that’s that. President Reagan doesn’t remind me of any single president; he reminds me of two — Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge. He combines Harding’s intel lectual awareness with Coolidge’s almost total disinterest in governing. Mr. Reagan is a creature of exquisite paradox. A divorced man who rarely sees his grandchildren, he has come to Or he’ll call his personal astologer and say: “Merlin, the leader of Libya is giving me a headache; what should I do?” And Merlin will say: “That bum, Khadafy?” Reagan hangs up and says: “Bomb Khadafy!” It’s difficult to remember now, but Harding was immensely popular at the time of his death, which occurred shortly before the great scandals of hs administration were revealed. William Shirer, the great World War II journal ist, in his memoir “20th Century Jour ney,” remembers the Harding funeral train passing through his hometown: Frederick Lewis Allen in his classic, “Only Yesterday,” wrote: “ . . . every where people felt that a great-hearted man, bowed down with his labors in their behalf, had died a martyr to the service of his country. The dead presi dent was called ‘a majestic figure who stood out like a rock of consistency’; it was said that ‘his vision was always on the spiritual ...” This of a man who once wrote his mistress: “I love you garb’d, but naked morel” phy, ‘is measured almost exactlylnl amount of'“hard work that is put® This seemed strange from a mac was reported to nap at least two after lunch and to spend muchticj his rocking chair, apparently notei| meditation. It seemed to me, pondered the reason for the um tioned popularity of this anemic| man, that it was due mainly tohisp! I AUS1 from A1 federal ■otentia I The of keeping the government’s hacc business and encouraging the bud man to do his damnedest tomaW money . • . tried re] trimetre pneumc f^ fo And we thought he was being capri cious. He was being scientific; at least as “The scene in Cedar Rapids, where 15,000 citizens, a third of our popula tion, turned out to express their grief as the funeral train passed through, was repeated in scores of towns along the Of Coolidge, Shirer wrote: “No doubt, he fitted the times. He still be lieved, as most of his successors would, in the country’s outworn myths . . . that you got ahead in this world, or at least in America, by hard work, frugal living, impeccable morals and devotion to reli gion. Coolidge preached that gospel. ‘The success which is made in any walk of life,’ he would state in his autobiogra- icy “Business . . . w-as enthronedr land and businessmen had beco®& se |y m arbiters of public opinion andtasiti tribute above the statesman, the philosoj|®.dmini the poet, the pastor, the priest. Coolidge believed in them. 'Busiw the business of America,’ he country on becoming President, that remind you of anyone? Harding gave us Teapot Dome idge the Great Depression; botl they’d left office. Buckle up your seat belts. Copyright 1988, Tribune Media Service,li < Mail Cali 1 Listen to a guy who knows EDITOR: After the two letters about Mr. Chicken in recent issues, I would like to suggest a difference of opinion. I have been on both sides of the issue, one listening to the speech and crude tactics of Dan Canter and two, having the police write a ticket for a minor in possession. One must first realize that the people in question were breaking the law. I would much rather listen to the man who calls himself God in his own place than receive a ticket and possibly be arrested. Paul Threadgiil ’89 A victim of doublespeak EDITOR: The recent article by Timm Doolen concerning Star Wars showed very clearly just how susceptible young minds are to governmental double talk and the “newspeak” that Orwell warned about. His first problem is thinking “SDI” is somehow a more correct way to refer to the futuristic weapons program than is “Star Wars.” But we should remember that the Department of Defense is just as capable of using euphamism as any of us . . . “Strategic Defence Initiative” sounds very impressive, but if we referred to it as “Laser Beams from Outer Space” we would be describing it much more accurately and suddenly it would sound a lot less peaceful . . . also less rational and well-thought-out. The next issue Mr. Doolen mucks about with is the question of bringing the arms race to heaven. He makes the absurd claim that present missiles already fly through the heavens, so the arms race is already there. This is of course ridiculous because there is an enormous difference between weapons systems based on earth and those that orbit it. The latter will require a huge increase in spending to develop the technology for it, and anyone who can’t see that this is a huge leap in the arms race is avoiding reality. In fact, this is the most glaring example of Mr. Doolen’s lack of perception because his pet word for something that shoots the arms race to even more insane levels is a “bargaining chip.” Talk about newspeak! The Soviets themselves couldn’t have come up with a better word to hide behind. And if THEY had by some horrible stroke of luck come up with a weapons system that WE had no defense for, I doubt very much that we would refer to it so calmly as a “bargaining chip.” Now, someone might object that this remark is unfair, because our system would only be for defense against missies. But will it stop there? Anyone who is naive enough to think so should think about the vex y title “Department of DEFENSE,” and how capable the DOD is for OFFENSIVE measures. Why think that the DOD will stop with defensive capabilities? Who can think of single advance in the arms race which was not used for offensive weapons? It is very hard not to see that Star Wars will open a whole new battle ground for the arms race. As soon as the Soviets develop their own system (on their own or by spying), then both systems will have to protect against each other. They will also have to protect the communication satelites our military relies on, so that inevitably our planet will be surrounded by Star Wars weapons that almost make the “Death Star” sound like a picnic in comparison. Is this the legacy that Mr. Doolen and Mr. Reagan are so blindly inflicting on our children? Mr. Doolen doesn’t even addi ess the issues of how few scientists working on Star Wars believe it will ever work against missiles and how many ways there are to reduce even the low effectiveness it could hope for. He also igxxoi'es the fact that massive cuts in basic research have been made to help pay for this fiasco. These are serious flaws with the concept that need to be considered elsewhere because they are vital to the issue. Do we really want to give Star Wars this chance? Charles Albert graduate student. Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, hut will make every effort to maintain the author's intent. Each letter must be signed and must include the classification, address and telephone number of the writer. The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Richard Williams, Editor Sue Krenek, Managing Editor Mark Nair, Opinion Page Editor Curtis Culberson, City Editor Becky Weisenfels, Cindy Milton, News Editors Anthony Wilson, Sports Editor Jay Janner, Art Director Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspa per operated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board or the author, and do not necessarily rep resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, fac ulty or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography- classes within the Department 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 request. Our address: The Battalion. 230 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-1 111. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battal ion. 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, Col lege Station TX 77843-4 111. ~ VMMWER HAPPENS, god^Txjh'teVERijetme Become one of those IDfWESONVE, DESPICABLE - OKA/- MAKE THAI JUDICIAL ACTW15K' BR()\ Hse hre Hs man bi.in rel m\d a nt tesiimor R Steve filed a $ tion law man Bi owns Archdic P re g ar - I Wool ar ma bet ause tween f Mary K to Our ! Port Is mid-191 l He a knew o behavit >> The nun ha Mrs. \ :ading Redford a movie ’s newest try is not jusl , it’s a really boffo flick I rarely recom mend movies in this space because I do not consider myself a real critic. For instance, I call movies “mo vies.” Real life movie critics refer to movies as “films.” Donald Kaul I also rarely pay attention to who the director is in a movie, and I’m still not sure what a “dolly-grip” is, not to mention a “best boy.” (Next time you go to a movie, watch as they roll the credits: Every movie has a dolly-grip and a best boy. You know how strange they are in Hollywood.) Yet, I think I recommended some movie winners for you over the years. Receixtly, I pushed a wonderful sleeper called “Belizaire the Cajun,” and it was me, remember, who said to go see “Fatal Attraction” before you fooled around on your wife or bought a pet rabbit. I’m here today with a new movie I recommend heartily. It is “The Milagro Beanfield War,” which doesn’t have any bigtime stai's un less you think Christopher Walken is a bigtime star. This time, I did notice who the direc tor was. Robert Redford. I’m not sure when he got out of acting, but if this movie is any indication of his directing abilities, we certainly won’t miss him in another “Legal Eagles.” “The Milagio Beanfield War” is a movie about Milagro, New Mexico, a little dump of a town whose very exis tence is being threatened by the bulldoz ers of a large recreational developer. Even the water has been cut off to lo cal farmers in an effort to run them out. But one brave soul decides to irrigate his beanfield with illegal water anyway. From all that comes a classical con frontation between little and good and big and evil. There’s an old man who speak; gels in the movie. He has a pet pig will love the old man and the pig. I copied what one real critic about “Milagro”: “I loved this film” —Joel Si “Good Morning America.” (See what I mean about real saying “film”?) What I say is we need more like “Milagro” that praise old value! standing up for what’s right, stickil gether, and learning to cherish ai spect babbling old men with pet p. They’ll never use any of this “Milagro” ad in the paper, but if did, here’s what I would like forth say I said: “The last time I felt this goodie 1 a movie was when me and Katli' Loudermilk went to see ‘Franck talking mule) in the Navy’ and sat| back row of the balcony. “That child flung a dolly-grip ail my neck and I never heard awordf; cis said.” Copyright 1957, Cowles Syndicate Lai LU BLOOM COUNTY HARLAN r 15 WAT YOU, PRAR? smjte 5AIP you've aezN seen Auve wese AT HO MR FA5T FOURTEEN R6AP/N' YRAR5. in we V gfl peN. r M ijm 3 | S I i % by BerKe Breatir F met son $ isMflxme 3 Memni& f 3