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Retiring admiral issues startling warnings
Retiring Admiral Hyman Rickover, the pioneer
of the nuclear Navy, has issued startling warnings
for the Congress and the nation. Addressing
Congress for the last time Rickover said the
Defense Department should be abolished and
predicted the world will probably destroy itself in a
nuclear holocaust.
Rickover has served in the Navy for nearly 60
years and in that time gained a reputation for
being outspoken. He was the mastermind behind
nuclear-powered submarines and ships, and
many other innovations that modernized the Navy.
The cail to abolish the Defense Department
and the dire prediction that a nuclear holocaust is
near isn’t the ramblings of senility Rickover’s
experience and expertise leads us to believe that
his statements have more than just a ring of truth
"To increase the efficiency of the Department
of Defense you first have to abolish it. It's far too
large,” Rickover told the Congress.
More than too large, the Defense department
is bloated by ever escalating transfusions of
dollars into its budget, too much waste and inef
ficiency in operations, and too many defense
contractors knowing the ways of the system
Rickover observed that defense contractors
have learned how to circumvent the rules that
prevent them from exploiting contracts and reap
ing excessive profits. He told the Congress that he
submitted recommendations to Budget Director
David Stockman on ways to improve efficiency
and economy in the Pentagon. It’s interesting to
note that Rickover says no action has been taken
on his recommendations.
Allied to Rickover’s concern for the Defense
Department is his stem warnings about the grow
ing power of corporate America and its threat to
the society.
"Through their control of vast resources,
these large corporations have become, in effect,
another branch of government," Rickover told the
Congress “They often exercise the power oi
government, but without the checks and balances
inherent in our democratic system."
Rickover is echoing a long-standing criticism
of what used to be called “The military-industrial
complex." The way many of the multinational
corporations work with international dealing and
diplomacy is certainly like a shadow government.
Finally, regarding nuclear weapons and nu
clear power, the man often called the father of the
nuclear Navy calls for nuclear weapons and nu
clear power to be outlawed
Why such a turnabout for Rickover? Has he
had enough years in the military hierarchy to
perceive the present direction as dangerous?
Amazingly, Rickover is reciting the sentiments of
contemporary nuclear arms and power pro
esters. That's something to ponder for those who
haven't an opinion on nuclear issues or the
defense establishment
I
letters
ERA dead
The ERA is obviously dead,
but it did not perish with Mor
man judge Marion Canister's
decision He ruled against the
legality of extending the rat
ification deadline because
there is no clause for it in the
Constitution His probable bias
against the ERA does not
diminish this
The real causes for its failure
are these: 1) Supporters of the
ERA (including many men) were
not able to bridge the
ideological gap between
housewives and “working
women They were unable to
develop common ground even
though there is much at hand 2)
Supporters failed to exploit the
liberal political climate of the
mid-70's A great fanfare of
publicity — especially a large
scale media blitz — could have
turned the tide then and there
And 3) supporters failed to un
derstand that their opponents
(including many women) would
fight as long and as hard as it
took to continue the
centuries-old discrimination
against half the population And
so, even though polls have
continually showed the majority
of Americans favoring the ERA.
it has lost
Some truly effective wording
in the pending Reenactment of
the Civil Rights Act of 1965
would help save face but the
future issues for proponents of
sexual equality remain the ones
mentioned
Kevin Querdros
Women raped
Recent weeks have seen the
publication of a number of let
ters related to the adult book
stores raided in Eugene and
Springfield Local media cover
age has provided the public at
large with the erroneous im
pression that Reverend Brooks
and his group of fundamental
Christians are the only dis
senters
Reverend Brooks is not the
only dissenter We dissent, and
have no connection with
Brooks Many other community
members like us reject the idea
that free speech is at issue
We are enraged about the
violence towards women that is
represented by the existence
and materials of such an enter
prise No one of us can allow a
business to be made based on
the sale and display of materials
that tell us that it is okay” to
overpower and abuse women
One in four women in the United
States is raped That means that
the next time you are with, or
one of, a group of four women,
one of those women, maybe
you. has been raped Rape is a
crime of violence, of over
powering; no one asks for it
Adult bookstores symbolize
this same theme women,
whether in live or pictorial form,
are to be used for the pleasure
of men Now comes Stacy Lar
sen (Jan 24, Eugene Register
Guard), not yet old enough to
vote or consume alcohol, ad
vocating a pleasant attitude of
indifference '' We cannot be in
different to violence Germany
was once, a mistake for which
6,000.000 Jews paid Our
mothers and sisters and
daughters pay for our indiffer
ence, now and until it ends To
allow the existence of adult
bookstores in Eugene and
Springfield would say that
150,000 people cared not at all
about the many daily abuses of
women, from rape to al
coholism
It's not just Reverend Brooks
Frank J. Mar one
C Street, Springfield
Made in USA?
Following President Ronald
Reagan's speech of Jan 26 a
most disturbing commercial
was aired on NBC Sponsored
by the Grace Corporation, it
went something like this
The scene is a Japanese
baseball game The camera
zooms on the high technology
scoreboard which is depicting
an antimated oriental figure hit
ting a baseball with terrific fury
It also dwells on the proud play
ers as they hit home runs, the
advertisements on the fence
and on the tens of thousands of
screaming fans An announcer,
speaking in the same locker
room-pep-talk tone as Reagan
used, begins to speak Unfor
tunately, according to him, we
are losing The Japanese have
developed a stronger industrial
sector than ours On the bright
side, they were able to do this
only through technology
stamped Made In USA'' But all
is not lost By pulling together
and increasing production we
can still defend ourselves and
even go on to victory
Two cliches Man fears
nothing more than the un
known There is nothing to fear
but fear itself Recent history
The reaction to the hostage cri
sis proved that there is a seg
ment in our society that is ready,
indeed eager, to rush where
angels fear to tread to label a
nation enemy," to spread hys
teria through fear And spread it
did
Most of us knew almost noth
ing of Iran before the incident It
was the unknown Is Japan
different? Having studied Japan
for four years I am in a good
position to judge and I have
found that most people know
very little of the Japan that ex
ists today This ignorance com
bined with the successes of
Japan makes her the perfect
scapegoat for our failures
Shouldn't we really emulate
the Japanese'? Better that the
message be let s pull together
like the Japanese" than we
have to pull together to stomp
those sneaky yellow bastards
Brian Bray
Junior, Eaat Asian languagas
staff
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