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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 1984)
Oregon daily emerald Car Care Inside Thursday, November 15, 1984 Eugene, Oregon Volume 8H. Number 5.5 Professor blasts American ‘liberals’ Dr. Joseph Ioffe By Paul Ertelt Of the Kmerald U.S. military strength is the key to freedom for the Russian people, but American liberals are thwarting that quest for freedom, a Russian emigre and political scientist said Wednesday. Dr. Joseph Ioffe, who left the Soviet Union in 1977 and now lives in Min nesota, blasted American “liberals” from American Catholic bishops to former President Richard Nixon at a din ner at Eugene’s Black Angus Restaurant. Ioffe was a economics and political science professor in his native Crimea, which he calls the “Russian California.” “Crimea in terms of politics is second to Moscow. It is the summer home of the Soviet government.” Ioffe said he gained first-hand knowledge of Soviet military strategy as an adviser to Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev. That strategy includes subverting one nation at a time, while at the same time gaining nuclear superiority. Supporters of the nuclear freeze movement are help ing to bring about that superiority, he charged. If the Soviet Union can surround the United States with bases and then threaten it with a superior nuclear force, Americans will surrender, he said. The Soviet Union “learned something in Vietnam; they learned an important lesson; they can undermine America by using the American people.” As a youth, Ioffe said he embraced Marxism, but now he sees socialism as a failure economically and morally. He considers American free enterprise the best economic system. Ioffe said he did not fear a nuclear holocaust, because both the Soviets and the Americans know a nuclear war would be suicide. He also rejected the idea that the Soviets would initiate a nuclear war if backed into a corner by the United States. “There is another holocaust which is for teal... that is the communist holocaust,” he said. Ioffe said the Russian people don’t believe in communism, and he predicted that they will overthrow the communist regime sometime in this century. But those efforts are thwarted by Americans who appease the Soviets and do not support governments that are fighting them. Though he admitted that some anti-communist countries, such as South Africa and Chile, do oppress their people, he said we should still support them as the lesser of two evils. Right-wing dictatorships are a local problem, not an international problem, he said, and cited Spain as an example of a right-wing dictatorship that eventually embraced democracy. Ioffe apologized for Minnesota, the on ly state carried by Democratic presiden tial candidate Walter Mondale. He said Reagan possessed the main criterion for being a good American president. “I believe a good American president is one who makes the Soviets unhappy,” he said. Nixon, on the other hand, initiated detente, which, Ioffe said, contributed to the Soviet Union’s advance. Ioffee said he disagreed with a recent statement by Nixon calling for dialogue with the Soviets. Talking to the Soviets accomplishes nothing, and Reagan should not be faulted for not meeting with a Soviet leader, Ioffe said. Atiyeh pushes employment, tourism plans By Diana Elliott and Cynthia Whitfield Of I he Knwtald Gov. Vic Atiyeh was in Eugene Wednesday to an nounce two new programs designed to help ease unemployment and promote more tourism in the state. In Harris Hall Atiyeh pushed a unique program that would place the unemployed in food service jobs and distribute excess restaurant food to the hungry. Hot Foods. Inc., which originated in Portland less than a year ago, is designed to screen, train and place disadvantaged individuals in food service jobs. “The Beauty of the program is not so much that they come off.welfare, but that they feel better about themselves,” Atiyeh said. "Our program "provides the employer with a motivated and dependable worker who has some basic skills," said Paul Mimmelman, president of Hot Foods and manager of the Westin Benson Hotel in Portland. One more chance to change the sign People will have one more chance to offer in put on the fate of the "statement of purpose" sign in the EMU lobby at an EMIJ Board meeting today at 4:30 p.m. in Room 214 EMU. The board has raised the issue briefly in previous meetings but has declined formal discussion of the sign's fate in order to give the public a chance to voice concerns on the subject. The sign raised the wrath of many students last year who believed the sign’s language was sexist because the word "man" appears in a neuter sense throughout the statement. Although many students, including former ASUO Presi dent Mary Hotchkiss, proposed that the sign’s wording be changed or removed altogether, last year’s board voted to keep the statement intact. Removal of the sign may be inevitable, however, as remodeling plans for the EMU’s se cond floor include changes to the wall area on which the sign is painted, board members indicate. The EMU Budget and House committees will also make presentations at the meeting. The public is invited to attend the meeting. Participants are referred to the program by several agencies such as the State Unemployment Division and other government programs that find jobs for unemployed youth and the handicapped. It s almost too good to be true,” Mimmelman said. “The employers get tax breaks for hiring through this program, and they get an employee who wants to work and thus will stay around longer “And the employee gets a job in an industry where there is potential for upward mobility.” he said. Onrp nartirinantc Kaup been screened. Hot Foods trains the employees for food service |gj work. “Of 187 people who have graduated from our training program, 125 have been employed,” Mimmelman said. “And half of those employed came into our program as welfare recipients who needed basic skills training in order to secure jobs,” he said. Another branch of Hot Foods is a project that distributes food donated by the food service industry to the needy. The staff at Hot Foods prepares the donated food and distributes it to agencies that help the disadvantaged. Mim melman said. The Lane County Private Industry Council has recom mended that Lane County adopt a similar program, according to jfl| Laurie Swanson, director of Lane County Employment Training. The program is currently beine oreanized and will ha imnl^mt of the year, Swanson said. Swanson said a program that will retrain the unemployed is a good idea for Lane County where the wood products industry is faltering. "We want to develop a labor force that will meet the needs of the diversifying community," Swanson said. The Lane County community will be very repon sive to a program like this, Swanson predicted. And she is confident that once the program gets underway, in it will be successful. “I’m extremely impressed with the way local businesses have donated time for employment training in the past,” Swanson said. “They are really concerned about the needs of the community.” Earlier in the day, Atiyeh unveiled the state’s new promotion strategy designed to attract more visitors to the state before over 300 people at the Governor’s Tourism Conference held in the Hult Center. “The theme line is ‘Oregon you are more than welcome,’” Atiyeh said. “We’ve got to shed the image Gov. Vic Atiyeh ntoH after t Vi o firet I mai uururaiaic pcu[;ic die 11UI welcome here.” The governor stressed the importance of tourism to the state’s economy, noting that in 1983 visitors spent $2.03 billion on pleasure and business travel. Expansion tourism is an important part of Oregon’s economic development, Atiyeh said. The new plan calls for ex tensive advertising in newspapers, magazines, radio and television in targeted areas across the country. Tours designed to fly business groups and travel agents to the state and familiarize them with Oregon are also planned. • In addition, an Orson Welles-narrated video slide show to help promote the area will travel across the state and be presented to travel agents and trade shows. California is targeted to receive a large dose of welcome to Oregon advertising. A recent survey revealed that 42 percent of all Californian’s think Orego man s aon i warn visitors. To facilitate involvement with the program, com munity members are invited to enter a state contest by submitting promotional advertising ideas. Entries should be sent to the Oregon Travel Division of the state economic development department. People can also help by just being friendly and helpful to tourists they come in contact with, Atiyeh said. The program was presented to Atiyeh through the Department of Economic Development and will go to the Legislature for budgeting.