editorial
Reagan’s priority —
building more bombs
The budget recommendations sent by President Ronald
Reagan to Congress on Monday, if passed, will continue to
take this nation down the road of social despair and increas
ed militarism. Framed in the ever-handy talk of a growing
Soviet military threat and American vital interests, Reagan
has sent forth a budget that ignores the national deficit, sky
rockets military spending, attacks social programs, and
leaves the American people on their own to grapple with
growing financial problems in an unstable economy.
Small-scale farmers are being told to tighten their belts
and face up to foreclosures. Students are being told that
despite the rising costs of education, they must take cuts in
financial aid. Medicare patients are being left with rising
hospital bills and less assistance. Rural development pro
grams in poverty-striken areas like Appalachia are on their
way out. The list goes on.
Translated to the grassroots level, the recommended
budget cuts mean a loss of the equivalent of 4,800 police of
fifcers and 5,500 teachers in New York. In the Northwest, it
means the termination of Amtrak passenger service. Nation
wide, it means that approximately 500,000 students will be
cut out of the Guaranteed Student Loan program and
150,000 will lose eligibility to receive Pell Grants.
Where is all the money from these budget cuts going?
It’s going to 48 more MX missiles, 48 more nuclear-tipped
B-l bombers, another Trident missile submarine, 13 new
navy ships, 840 new M-l tanks, 716 Bradley fighting
vehicles, 144 Apache attack helicopters, and, along with
other military “necessities,” it’s going into continued
reseach and development of new weapons systems, in
cluding the President’s “star wars” plan. In short, Reagan
has once again asked Congress to appropriate money for the
largest military build-up in peace-time history (a record
defense budget of $313.7 billion), while telling the
American people to accept many of the largest cuts ever
made (excepting Reagan’s 1980 budget) in social improve
ment programs.
As Sen. Mark Hatfield rightly put it on Monday, Reagan
has submitted a “fantasy budget in a land of never-ending
deficits.” But unlike a fantasy, if Congress grants most of
Reagan’s requests, then America will be led down a road of
economic and military chaos, as our nation enters military
conflicts abroad and experiences social turmoil at home.
Parking lot idea offers
only a partial solution
The news that the Alder Street tennis courts will soon
be the site of a new University parking lot brings mixed feel
ings. But it should not be greeted with total despair. Parking
has been a chronic problem at the University, and the com
promise to turn the tennis courts into a parking lot during
the school year and then return them back to tennis courts
during the summer is not the worst idea that has been
presented. Still, the plan is at best a partial solution that will
only work if the University keeps its part of the deal by mak
ing sure that the tennis courts are properly prepared for sum
mer use. While not solving the parking problem entirely, if
done carefully and with guaranteed student access to the
new parking site, then it can help. What concerns us more is
the future plan to create a two-story parking garage in the
same place with a tennis court on top. Such a building and
the added traffic it would bring would make this scenic part
of Alder Street less attractive and possibly more dangerous
to bicycles.
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■reverentt
Not right
How effective is the political
cartoon in its parody of vigilan
tism? Let’s look past
Doonesbury and Bloom County
and see the results of this hate.
It’s not funny. Last week Darrel
Cabey, 19. who has been in a
coma for three weeks, was
operated on. Doctors removed
part of his ribs to drain infected
pus from his lungs. He is par
tially paralyzed, has brain
damage, and breathes with the
aid of a respirator. He is near
death. I realize Doonesbury and
Bloom County are trying to
make us see how stupid this
type of violence is, yet
something is not right. I
laugh... but I don’t feel right.
Would we use this type of
media vehicle for the starving
masses in Africa? 1 have heard
those who say he got what he
deserved, and I wonder just
where their heads would be at if
they grew up in a New York
ghetto.
I realize that this is no excuse,
but it must be taken into con
sideration. The bottom line is
that only justifiable force may
be used to stop a crime. Ber
nhard Goetz’s act was far from
justifiable; Darrel Cabey was
shot in the back as he tried to
flee. If Goetz is allowed to get
away with this, it will be a
signal to all the crazies who
have somehow been keeping it
together that now they can act
out their fantasies.
As for the cartoons, I don’t
know the answer. To me they
are more entertainment than a
consciousness raiser. Those that
see the horror of this act already
realize it, and those that haven't
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will only laugh with a deeper
satisfaction at this sad event.
Danny Suire
History
Wrong meaning
1 feel compelled to make a
small but important correction
in Lori Steinhauer's article
“Male issues explored" (ODE,
Jan.21). During the Men and
Masculinity Conference, I at
tended a workshop in which
many women expressed feel
ings of frustration and anger
about their relationships with
men. There seemed to be a con
sensus among these women that
men were primarily motivated
by sexual desires, rather than an
interest in developing intimate
friendships. As a parallel, Ms.
Steinhauer also reported that
according to me “many of the
men feel women are primarily
after a free dinner or a free night
on the town.”
Never having been interview
ed before, I find it very in
teresting how two independent
ly stated but related thoughts
can be misunderstood and com
bined to convey the wrong
meaning. I doubt that many
men feel that women are strictly
out for a “free lunch.” What I
said was that many of the men
at the workshop expressed
strong feelings of resentment
that women often automatically
expected men to pay for dinners
and dates. In fact, one man com
plained that over a period of
several years and perhaps hun
dreds of dates, none of the
women had ever offered to pay
their own way.
It seems to me that what is im
portant to our psycho-emotional
survival in the '80’s, ’90’s, etc.
is the development of an in
creasing sense of equality,
understanding, and trust be
tween men and women. To
reach this goal we need to en
courage attitudes and behaviors
that are indicative of coopera
tion and mutual respect.
Steven Hymen, Ph.D
Eugene
r
Wrong men
In her letter (ODE. Jan. 28),
Cheri Snell points out that men
are as much to blame for abor
tion as women. Her point is
well taken, although 1 think that
she is directing her fire at the
wrong men.
Male pro-lifers are not ad
vocates of the immoral and ir
responsible Playboy sexual
philosophy — "Sex. go for it!"
— a philosophy which has
undoubtly contributed heavily
to this nation’s explosion of un
wanted pregnancies. On the
contrary, it is the male
purveyors of the Playboy men
tality who are probably the most
unabashed supporters of abor
tion on demand, for two
reasons.
First, with legalized abortion
available as a backup to concep
tion control, more women are
less inhibited about engaging in
promiscuous sexual activity.
Thus, men who are interested in
making sexual conquests now
have a larger pool of "easy”
women to choose from.
Second, legalized abortion
has effectively removed any
need for men to be responsible
about sex. Women, of course,
have always borne the greater
risks when engaging in sex.
However, our society has im
posed at least some sanctions
(i.e. shot-gun weddings, child
support payments, etc.) on the
sexually irresponsible male.
Now, however, men may
copulate to their heart’s con
tent; and if they get their part
ners pregnant, so what? “She
can always have an abortion.”
Thus, men who, in the process
of recklessly fulfilling their own
lusts, get a woman pregnant
and then encourage her to have
an abortion have made
themselves willing accomplices
to a heinous crime.
Tom Visoky
Jounaiism
1
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