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.
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Jay Janner, Art Director
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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
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