opinion
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greg wasson
a quorum of one
If he'd had his druthers, he wouldn’t be inside
the Des Moines airport. But, it was a welcome
change from the snow and sub-freezing
temperatures outside.
Hitching from Boston to Eugene had seemed
like a good idea but the blizzard had changed an
adventure into a nightmare. Luckily, America is a
land of instant communication and a telephone
call yielded the requisite cash to wing it on home.
Whoever invented mothers gave the world a
blessing
To pass the time till morning, our cross
country traveler parked in front of the pay TV and
stole video from those rich enough to feed the
machine It being that time of day, Johnny Carson
graced the screen.
The 18-minute gap on the damaging Nixon
tape had just been revealed, and Johnny, ob
viously unconvinced by the explanation that Ms.
Wood had unwittingly created the blank, observed
that one had to be a contortionist to get a job as a
presidential secretary
"Jesus,” thought the wayward undergrad
uate, "The Dick is on his way out."
Friday, events at the capitol seemed to spell
the same fate for another Richard, Sen. Dick
Groener, D-Milwaukie. Senate President Fred
Heard told a hushed Senate that Groener was
once again removed as head of the labor com
mittee, effective immediatly. The deed done,
Heard abruptly gaveled the body adjourned, giv
ing Groener no chance to respond
Groener was temporarily replaced five weeks
ago after allegations that he had taken gifts from a
lobbyist. He was reinstated within the week. Since
then, there have been charges that the veteran
senator used the Worker’s Compensation system
to financially reward friends.
At a press conference following his actions,
Heard contended that he hoped that Groener will
be cleared, but that the Senate can no longer deal
under the cloud of suspicion. More likely, Heard
finally has assurance that there are the votes to
uphold his decision.
Groener has promised to appeal at today’s
session, but his efforts will likely prove futile. Facts
already public demonstrate that Groener’s con
duct was less than ethical, if not criminal. The
political piranhas are ready to swarm and the
beleaguered senator provides easy prey.
But,in the words of one reporter, “It couldn’t
happen to a nicer guy."
What’s more uncertain is the effect the
Groener affair will have on Heard’s presidency.
After Friday’s bombshell, eight angry Democrats
met with Senate Minority Leader Bob Smith.
Heard's control of the Senate has been described
as tenuous and Friday’s action may cause major
cracks in his support.
• • •
The political process is filled with actions that
mask the real intent. Consider the oft-made mo
tion to send a bill back to committee rather than
subject it to final vote of all the members. Last
week, Rep. Glen Whallon, D-Milwaukie, attempted
such a move in the House.
Explaining his reason for the motion, Whallon
told the body that the committee had received
word of further testimony it wished to consider.
With that he moved toward his chair, but stopped
in mid-stride and returned to his microphone.
“If you want to know the truth,’’ amended
Whallon, “we don't have the 31 votes needed to
pass the bill.”
yours
Ticket home
In response to Caroline Petrich’s letter
(Feb 16 Emerald): Regretfully, I must say
that you are an epitome of headline
readers or TV watchers. The U S
Embassy seizure in Iran has been a
complex issue for many Iranians as well
as Americans. There were many hidden
factors involved that are now beginning
to unfold We have tried in many of our
teach-ins to raise these questions and
have made efforts to answer them The
following questions were brought up:
What was the role of the U S in Iran?
Why did Carter admit the Shah to the
United States knowing before-hand that
such action would result in fury and
anger and even seizure of the Embassy7
What were the motives behind the
students who took over the Embassy7
Thousands of people were murdered
in the streets of Iran by the Shah's U S
trained army and U S made weapons
Over 20,000 U S military advisers were
working in Iran A CIA coup overthrew a
democratically elected government of
Mossedaegh in 1953 So when our
people kick the Shah out of the country
and the Shah gets the protection and
support of your government, when he is
admitted into New York, what did you
expect from our people . candies,
flowers and thank you cards? Yes, we
rightfully defended the anger and
outrage of Iranian people and explained
why But we also did not condone all the
motives behind those who seized the
Embassy To your surprise not only do
we condemn the suppression of
democratic rights in Iran by the present
government, but we also do not blindly
defend everything that comes out of our
country
To sum up, if there is a hypocrite
between the two of us, it must be you
who ignores the multi-dimensionality of
the issue and confined yourself to a
glance at the headlines and focus on the
"mistreatment" of some of the 52
hostages
By the way, if your standard of civiliza
tion is respect for the rights of others to
freedom and self-determination, wake up
Caroline. Read your history books and
review U S foreign policy and you will
find yourself in the middle of an un
civilized country
People like you who are going to be
our future journalists must exercise more
responsibility when gathering facts. Ca
roline, I don’t sell newspapers on this
campus. Finally, I appreciate a one way
ticket home but that won’t prevent the
truth from being spoken After all, I’m not
alone here
Amin
P.O. Box 3151, Eugene
Power grab
The Reagan administration is only a
few months old, yet there is already a
police-state mentality seeping into the
most sanctified of refuges. A blatant
example of this is HB 2456, a bill before
the state legislature which proposes to
grant campus security guards police
powers. That we need campus security
guard is saddening, but it is a social
reality. The purpose of these guards is to
act as eyes and ears; a way of keeping
everything in the open and honest. The
guards are not on campus to be
enforcers or controllers.
This grab for power by campus secur
ity and their legislative supporters is
horrifying. Traditionally, free thinking is
the greatest enemy of the police state. Is
HB 2456 a first, tentative step by Big
Brother into the enemy camp. In
response to this proposition, it is the duty
of all Oregonians who believe in
freedom, not just students, to raise their
voices clearly, firmly, and in unison, "No
Damn Way!”
Herschel Stern
Graduate, geography
Grassroots
If you are concerned with preserving
our environment, natural resources,
restoring peace in the world, providing
innovative employment opportunities,
preserving the health and safety of
working people and senior citizens; if
you are concerned with the erosion of
human and civil rights here and abroad,
then I invite you to join in revitilizing the
basic institution of social change in this
country, the Democratic Party.
In a special effort to broaden the base
of the Democratic Party in Oregon we are
inviting the membership of all our natural
constituencies; labor, women, blacks,
hispanics, asians, youth, consumers,
environmentalists, farmers, small bus
iness people and others to participate in
Democratic Party affairs beginning with
the Statewide Grassroots Conference
May 15, 16, 17, at Oregon College of
Education (OCE) in Monmouth.
We must all pull together now to make
sure 1982 does not realign the electorate
towards a right-wing Republican majori
ty. Rebuilding the Democratic Party from
the bottom up and insuring the nomina
tion of progressive candidates is the
effective way to combat Reaganism
Write me or the Democratic Party of
Oregon (P O. Box 1012, Salem, OR
97308, 370-8115) to join the Outreach
Committee or come to Grassroots May
15-17.
If the Democrats can be faulted for
anything it is that we let Reagan define
the issues of 1980. Now we must define
the issues and at Grassroots we can
start
David McTeague
Democratic National Committee
Salem