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Sacred cows
There's better entertainment
in your paper over the past few
weeks than in any movie
around
First, Matt Meyer resurrects
the moldy idea of a ‘ moral
standard" in his review of
“Making Love " Where have
you been Matt? You seem to
forget who you're writing for we
reasoned our way out of that
"God’’ stuff long ago Your atti
tude may make it in the real
world, but around here homo
sexuality is a sacred cow
And now. shades of Moral
Majority!, we get a prize pair of
movie reviews (Feb 25): first
you gush over a film (“Chariots
of Fire”) — about some pie-in
the-sky Christian who’s too
stingy with his sexuality to share
it with the competition, unlike
the two liberated sisters in
“Personal Best" (which you
panned). Of course you
dressed it all up in convincing
film-review prose, but your
straight-laced slip is showing
Next we’ll probably start getting
sermons about saving defense
less babies from the abortions
letters policy
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Publication is dependent
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that guarantee free sexual ex
pressions to our sisters, or
closing down the adult book
stores which offer us such a
good outlet for all our child
rape-and-dismemberment fan
tasies
Thanks for all the amusing
journalism, friends-of-Falwell.
but I prefer the ivory tower
Brian McDonald
ROTC no
We support the move to ter
minate the ROTC program, and
call on other University groups
and organizations to voice their
support The University is not
the place to encourage the un
enlightened militarism of the
Reagan administration, nor is it
the place to support the cold
war demeanor of this regime s
confrontation foreign policy
We can rather, discourage
this senseless world wide trend
toward military build up. and the
gross over-expenditure of
American tax dollars for
wasteful hardware, not to men
tion Reagan’s false promise to
end draft registration
Should the University faculty
support the motion by Prof
Bayard McConnaughey to ex
punge the ROTC program from
the University?
Emphatically, yes
Only in this way can we send a
small but important message to
the military complex in this na
tion that we cannot support
their efforts to drive the world
into yet another conflict
Richard Mathisen, Pres.
Political Science Student Union
Dick Schoonover
Junior, political science
Coverage
Thank you for the front-page
coverage for student honoraries
and their new Oregon Hall dis
play case. The groups merit the
attention and acknowledgment
because of the outstanding
people they are and their
achievements Similarly, Dr
Shirley Wilson of the Office of
Academic Advising and Student
Services should be acknow
ledged for having the idea for
the display case True, I did
work with others to bring the
idea into being but Dr Wilson is
the idea person I am sorry that
the reporter omitted this fact,
but please accept the thanks of
everyone for your thoughtful
coverage
Bob Bowlin
Dean of Students
Heterosexuals
I d like to respond to the cries
for justice and understanding
put forth in the Emerald's Let
ters column by Michael Patrick
Lysne (“Disturbed." Feb 26)
and various other angry white
male heterosexuals of late
Perhaps it would actually be a
good idea to start up a minori
ty'' interest group which would
push the white male hetero
cause You'd have to define that
cause in a way that other people
could comprehend (if not agree
with), and let's be realistic: I
doubt that many would |Oin you.
or that funding would be easy to
come by Still, it would be an
unparalleled educational ex
perience Members of the group
would have the opportunity to
feel first-hand the intolerance,
viciousness, and refusal to lis
ten or understand that inevitably
issues forth in reaction to the
pleas of a given minority group
You'd be asking for recognition
and receiving invective based
on stereotypes There's nothing
that encourages growth, or
reconsideration of one's own
limited bigoted values faster
than to be on the receiving end
of inexplicable hatred People
would take you all wrong based
Nuclear cargo law
Last month the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council
approved a new set of regulations regarding the shipping of
nuclear material across and inside the borders of Oregon
Under the old regulations officials had little — if any —
knowledge of the radioactive material being transported
inside the state. That's rather frightening
The new regulations, which will become effective July 1,
were developed by the state Energy Department after public
hearings Under the rules, shippers are required to carry
printed descriptions of radioactive cargoes and report any
accidents to the state Emergency Services Division in Salem
The ESD would then notify the Energy Department and state
Health Division The Health Division would then relay an alert
to local emergency agencies
One of the feature of the new regulations is the requiring
of a permit by transporters This permit, costing $40, will act
like a bill of lading for state and local agencies so a cargo will
be known incase of an accident
The $40 permit fee will be used for beefing up regula
tions and fire-fighting and rescue efforts in the event of an
emergency spill.
The only exemptions from the new regulations will be
low-level radioactive materials shipped through the state to
hospitals, shipments of fresh enriched uranium intended as
nuclear reactor fuel and shipments accompanied by federal
by federal security forces, such as the Army or Navy
The new regulations will also allow state officials to stop
a shipment if they believe there are violations of the regula
tions
While the tightening the regulations concerning ship
ments of radioactive materials through Oregon is essentially
a positive step — there seem to be a number of dangerous
holes in the revised regulations
The permit fee — at $40 a shipment — is adjusted way too
low A more realistic fee would be around $100 or more
While the fee can be considered valid revenue for the state,
that money more importantly could be used to pay for the
cost of clean-up if an accident occurs A policy of reimbur
sement of half the total permit fees collected from a shipping
company might be used to reward transporters with a
spotless record for the year The price of the permit and the
reimbursement possibility will act as an incentive for ship
pers to transport the volitile cargo safely
Some of the exemptions seem too loose, especially
those allowing shipments of fresh enriched uranium to
nuclear reactors Freshly enriched nuclear fuel is almost as
volatile as nuclear waste Much stricter precautions seem in
order than those in the new regulations
Lastly, a policy of liability should be enforced by the state
for the instances of nuclear accidents The property damage
and personal injuries involved in a nuclear accident should
be the responsibility of the transporter
The state's new regulations are a step in the right
direction toward ensuring the safety of nuclear shipments
inside Oregon — yet, they are not as strict nor as strong as
the cargo being shipped demands
on their own perverted priori
ties, and you'd feel relatively
powerless to set them right
(The most amazing example of
this, to me, is the way most in
tolerant heteros deal with the
revelation that someone is
homosexually oriented The ini
tial reaction is always con
cerned with an image of sexual
activity, and usually such activi
ty is pictured in a base way Do
these people look at everyone
through such eyes? If so, they
had better concentrate on get
ting their own perceptual ap
paratus out of the gutter Per
haps gays should launch a
campaign at the straights, ad
monishing, "Is that all you ever
think about?").
As a WASP hetero male my
self, I'm working on frying to
fathom the roots of intolerant
thinking why it arises in and
controls some minds, but not
others I think it has something
to do with feeling called upon to
change and be flexible or even
accepting — and either resisting
or responding to that call I
agree with Lysne's self-assess
ment that he is "seriously dis
turbed,” but I tend to doubt that
he's really figured out what is
causing disturbance However,
if any of the angry, miffed white
heteros who contrubute
regularly to the Emerald can
add to my understanding,
please don't hesitate to contact
me.
Vip Short, D.C.
Chiropractor, Eugene
staff
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