Editorial
Presidents apology
to nation falls short
In his State of the Union Message Tuesday. Reagan
finally admitted "serious mistakes were made" in the sales
of arms to Iran to secure the freedom of hostages in Leban
non and establish contacts with moderates in Iran. "We did
not achieve what we wished." he said.
This announcement is not news for anyone who has
watched the Iran arms-deal affair unfold. The news is that
Reagan has finally admitted error in the action, and is now
taking "full responsibility."
Unfortunately, his message fell far short of what the na
tion. its foreign policy in the Middle Hast destroyed, and the
new hostages captured this weekend deserve.
Reagan fell far short of explaining who committed what
mistakes and when the mistakes actually occurred. He did
not explain how he would take responsibility, or how doing
so would ease the severity of the conflict between Iran and
Iraq — or the plight of hostages being held in the Middle
Hast.
Once again, although Reagan may believe he was pursu
ing "worthy goals," faulty logic and administrative
misdirection, or non-direction, worsened a crisis much
more serious than Reagan's limited apology recognizes.
Congress should pursue
catastrophic illness plan
President Reagan omitted a detailed plan for
catastrophic illness insurance from his State of the Union
Message Tuesday; Congress should now take; the re;igns on
the; issue; and run with it.
1 he plan would e;ase; the; disastrous economic burden
that accompanies catastrophic illnesses in this time of
skyrocketing health care and hospital costs, which e>fte;n
prove; to he; too much for ordinary insurance coverage.
Although Reagan advanced the; program with his sup
port of the; ide;a in last year s State e>f the Union Message, he;
has now failed to me;e;t his own dealine, leaving congres
sional le;aele;rs more; e;age;r to face the; issue than his ad
ministration. which is split on proposals for the plan.
Congressional committees have been hearing testimony
on the; financial devastation wrought on people by short,
severe medical ne;eds, or long-te;rm chronic care, and con
gressional leaders of both parties say the;y are; now re;ady to
tackle the; issue themselves.
The current proposals center around a report calling for
coverage of an unlimited number e;f days of hospital care,
with the; beneficiary’s out-of-pocket payments limited to
$2,000 a year.
The ejuestion is whether these benefits should be;
organized federally, which would cost an additional $4.92 a
month in Medicare premiums, or privately by giving incen
tives to insurance companies.
Whate;ver solution Congress finds, Sen. John Heinz,
R.-Penn., is e:orre;e:t in saying it must be truly comprehen
sive;, providing a blanket of protection for those finding
themselves in a desperate situation medically and
financially.
6
5QJMBALL!
J
Letters
Theoretical
I for one am tired of having
theories (a plausible or scien
tifically acceptable general
principle offered to explain
phenomena) twisted to fit some
ideological theo- political
dogma.
Though not a specialist in
evolutionary theory, it may be
helpful to the debate if the pro
tagonists read Manfried Kigens
thoughts on evolutionary
processes.
One point of Mr. Frary's and
Mr. Richards’ that I would like
to discuss is their sophomoric
interpretation of the second law
of thermodynamics. Their
caveat assumption states that
since the entropy of the system
can only increase and that
biological entities represent an
astronomical decrease in en
tropy, then life could not have
originated from inorganic
material.
If we look at a scientifically
stated second law (1): The en
tropy change of an “adiabatical
Iv isolated system” is always
positive for a natural process.
The essential point is in quotes.
Adiabatic systems are those
in which energy cannot enter or
leave the system's boundaries.
Obviously, the earth's surface
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(the system) receives energy
from the sun was well as the
earth's interior. Therefore, the
second law, by itself, is unable
to deny evolution as a theory.
One last philosphical point:
Science and faith are not ex
clusive of one another. My
scientific knowledge serves to
make my world more exciting
and wondrous. Witnessing the
birth of my daughter, the begin
ning of an intelligent life, was a
wondrous transcendental ex
perience that helps me to ascer
tain if their is a benevolent
supreme being. Who is to say
who is right and who is wrong?
Certainly not 1.
Dennis kallimanis
Graduate, chemistry
Jogging
After some thought, I’ve con
cluded that the reason 1 jog
about 30 miles a week is that my
brain is holding the rest of me
hostage, and there’s within me
a cover trade of fatique for en
domorphines. the latter ensur
ing the thrill of the treadmill.
Oh well.
Tim faques
Undeclared
The beginning
Literal biblical scholars set
the age of the earth and universe
at around 6,000-years-old using
genealogy. Astrophysists set tin*
age of the universe at more than
1 0 -bi 11 io n y e a r s using
measurements of elec
tromagnetic radiation left over
from the creation event.
Geologists set the age of the
earth at about 4.5 billion years
using properties of the atoms
that make up the earth. Paleon
tologists have found very sim
ple fossils that are 5.5 billion
years old.
Upon hearing the discrepan
cy between science and literal
biblical interpretation, some
biblical scholars insist fossils
and physical artifacts were
created by God to fool
scientists.
Considering such a sense of
humor, could God be above
pulling the legs of a few' zealous
interpreters of the Bible? All
people are imperfect, if you
believe in original sin. Is it like
ly that the imperfect people
who have received revelations,
and the imperfect people who
have copied, translated, and in
terpreted those revelations for
many generations have brought
to this day a perfect Bible?
In the fossil record, simple
forms always appear in older
(deeper) strata before more com
plex forms. The debate over rate
of evolution (gradualism vs.
punctuated) is not a debate over
the fact of evolution. If literal
interpretation of the Bible sug
gests that the earth is not very
old. and that evolution did not
occur then it is likely that either
the Bible or the interpreter is in
correct. In either case, Mr. Frary
and Mr. Richards, $400 sounds
good to me.
Walter Dodds
Visiting assistant professor
Biology
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