The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 3, Ed. 1 Friday, August 22, 1980 Page: 2 of 12
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Rice University Woodson Research Center.
- Highlighting
- Highlighting On/Off
- Color:
- Adjust Image
- Rotate Left
- Rotate Right
- Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
- Cropping Tool
- Download Sizes
- Preview all sizes/dimensions or...
- Download Thumbnail
- Download Small
- Download Medium
- Download Large
- High Resolution Files
- IIIF Image JSON
- IIIF Image URL
- Accessibility
- View Extracted Text
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Conventions proved
almost nothing
The Republicans and Democrats have finished their
quadrennial orgies of self-indulgence and, to no one's surprise,
have nominated Reagan and Carter as their presidential
candidates.
The other product of the conventions, the party platforms,
produced some dramatic contrasts between the two parties.
The Democrats support ERA, energy conservation, jobs
programs, and health insurance. The Republicans reject ERA,
jobs programs and health insurance and support tax cuts, an
anti-abortion amendment and energy production.
The platforms provide the most striking left/right
dichotomy since the Goldwater-Johnson race. Unfortunately,
no one will pay attention to the platforms after Labor Day.
Indeed, the candidates have already begun their slow drift
towards each other. Reagan has de-emphasized many of his
right-wing stances and has tried to court traditionally
Democratic voters. Much to the chagrin of his more fanatic
supporters, he even picked a "moderate" running mate. Carter,
before the ink was dry on his party's platform, was already
rejecting some of its strongest statements.
Since the platforms are built to be forgetten, there is very
little substance to be drawn from the two conventions. Even the
two stars of the shows — Ford and Kennedy — though not
forgotten, have already lost whatever impact they had.
In the end, these conventions only told us that the modern
political convention is nothing more than a long TV show. But
even that isn't news anymore.
—Richard Dees
Editorial policy
It is a newspaper's job to print the news and to raise hell.
—Chicago Tribune
Traditionally, space has been devoted in the first Thresher
of the year to explain the "Policy" of the Rice Thresher,
whatever that is.
The old Chicago Tribune motto is perhaps applicable to
the type of paper the staff and I intend to produce. We will
cover the news, we will tell what happens, but we will also
report what lies behind what happens. We will dig into stories
and find all that can be found. And, when necessary, we will
raise hell.
Editorials will continue to be signed. That doesn't score
good points with journalism purists, but it does give a more
realistic view of reality. There have always been enough
divergent views within the staff that to produce a "consensus"
has been impossible.
Finally, since my name will probably appear most often at
the bottom of these things, let me emphasize that I do not
pretend to represent the student body, nor even the Thresher
staff. I only hope to force the students at Rice to think about
what they believe about Rice and the world and to think about
why they believe it.
Indeed, that is the whole purpose of this newspaper.
—Richard Dees
FELLOW REPUBUCWtS, ITSTIME VI*
RECOGNIZEPTHE MW WHO SINGLE-
HMiKtty brought our p*ray .
BKCKFMMTMEBNNK OF EXflNCTKN!
FROM THE MRK, BLEAK tWS THAT
FOLLOWED THE HWOH CMAfityfiM,
THIS MAM m K5TED IMERMNfity' TO
WILD THE WENt, SHATTERS) KEMHAW5
OF TOE REPUBUCWWRjy BACK INTO.
k MlfiWy FORCE IN NMIOMN. Foumcsf
SO LET ME PW GRACEFUL TRIBUTE
TO THE MAN WHO ACCOMPLISHED WW
SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE TASK-
©isboTie A«sU -5teb=*a<i
Oi'iW Fwtuie
Pi
SPANNING THE HEDGES/by David Dow
By moving the Prime Minister's
Office east of Jerusalem — the
part where the Arabs live —
Menachem Begin dramatized the
Israeli government's rejection of
the United Nations' call for a
divided Jerusalem. Begin
approaches the matter biblically,
not politically. With the Old
Testament in hand, Begin argues
that since King David's time,
Jerusalem has rightfully belonged
to the Jews. Just check the
Scriptures. This orthodoxy is not
new. In arguments for Israel's
sovereignty over the West Bank
and the Gaza Strip, Begin refers to
the lands by their biblical names,
Judea and Samaria.
No amount of reasoning can
alter the fervent religious mind.
But when the paths of reason have
been tried and exhausted,
Americans condone the forceful
subordination of religious beliefs
to more pragmatic expedients. Our
courts allow doctors to give dying
children vital blood transfusions
even if their parents object because
they are Jehovah's witnesses, and
the same American judiciary has
held that the most devout Amish
parents must send their children to
school instead of limiting their
education to religious in-
doctrination. Even the strongest
faith cannot be allowed to topple
reason. That's acceptable. Before
leaping from that conclusion,
however, to the position that
Begin's relocation of Israel's
\w
LIFE JACKET
capital is a move which threatens
the pragmatic ends of peace and*
must therefore be opposed, the
Israeli action must itself be
analyzed pragmatically. For surely
there is more to this than religion.
Why would Begin assert his
biblical rights at such a precarious
moment? His apparent rashness
contrasts vivedly with Egyptian
President Sadat's desperate
pursuit of peace. Sadat abandoned
his truculent Arab allies only to
have Begin dangle the carrot of
peace but stubbornly refuse to
accede to many of Egypt's
demands. Sadat believes, as do
many of Begin's detractors, that
Israel wants peace without having
to compromise.
That view is thoroughly
untenable. True, Israel mocked the
UN's vote, affronting not an ally or
guardian of justice, however, but a
pernicious body which is
dominated by an anti-Israeli bloc
and which has done little to
support the Jewish state since
creating it 32 years ago. Israel's
imperious shunning of a so-called
"international" resolution aside,
the Jewish occupation of
Jerusalem is infinitely justified.
Unlike the Arabs who controlled
part of the city until 1967, the
Israelis allow all religions complete
access to the entire city; no one is
restricted or quarantined.
Christians go where they please, as
do Moslems; indeed, armed
Moslem guards, not Jews, oversee
Islamic mosques. Compare this
freedom to the period from 1948 to
1967. The Arabs violated a UN
mandate calling for Jerusalem to
remain an international city. Their
attempted seizure of the whole
area compelled the Israelis to move
in and control the Western half. In
the West there was justice. Quite a
different story in the East. The
Arabs avoided offending Christian
religious sites, but they destroyed
Jewish synagogues; erected a
mosque on the most revered
Jewish cemetery on the Mount of
Olives, actually using gravestones
to build houses and latrines, and
denied Jews access to their holiest
monument, the ancient temple's
Western Wall.
Begin needs no more
justification than history.
Unfortunately, since most
Americans cannot even conceive
of a struggle for survival, Israel's
refusal to compromise away its
very existence has obscured the
return of the Sinai to Egypt and
Israel's efforts to find a solution to
the refugee problem. Americans,
smug in the immense power of the
United States, find it easy to harp
about Israeli dependence on
American arms and the alleged
rigidity of Israel's position. But a
massive enemy has never vowed to
annihilate the United States as the
populous Arab nations armed with
Soviet weapons have promised
Israel. More than having
promised, the enemy has tried: on
the battlefield against soldiers, in
the streets against helpless
civilians. The attacks are heinous
and indiscriminate. Many of
Israel's policies — including
strengthening their hold on
Jerusalem — seem inexplicable in
themselves, but make very good
sense against the spectre of a
smoldering, leveled Israel
populated only by Jewish corpses,
a gruesome spectacle which is the
admitted goal of the non-Egyptian
Arabs.
1HRESHER
RICHARD DEES
Editor
DAVID ROSS
Business Manager
Anita Gonzalez Newi Editor
John VanderPut Production Manager
Carole Valentine Advertising Manager
Steve Bailey Sporti Editor
John Heaner Fine Arts Editor
Laura Rohwer Photography Editor
Bob Schwartz Back Page Editor
David L. Butler Senior Editor
Assistant Editors Bruce Davies, Ruth Hillhouie
Staff Donald Buckholt, David Dow,
Michele Gillespie, Thorn Glidden, Ken Klein, Pam Pearson, Tami Ragosin,
Geoff Spradley Karen Strecker, Michael Trachtenberg
The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper of Rice University since 1916, is published
Thursdays during the school year, except during examination periods and holidays, by the students of
Rice Univerrity. Editorial and business offices re located on the second floor of the Rice Memorial
Center, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77001. Phone 527-4801 or 527-4802. Advertising information
available upon request. Mail subscriptions: $15.00 per year. The opinions expressed herein are not
necessarily those of anyone except the writer. Obviously.
*1980 The Rice Thresher. All rights reserved.
The Rice Thresher, August 22, 1980, Page 2
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Dees, Richard. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 3, Ed. 1 Friday, August 22, 1980, newspaper, August 22, 1980; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245443/m1/2/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.