Editorial
Snubbed FEMA idea
was good, gutsy call
Oregon recently declined to participate in the Federal
Emergency Management Agency’s nuclear war
preparedness plan — or "national insecurity exercise.” It
was a gutsy call and a good one on the part of Gov. Neil
Goldschmidt.
The federal government has threatened to withhold $1.5
million in state emergency planning funds if the state balks
at the exercise, but this is blatant bureaucratic arm twisting.
The federal government legally cannot deny emergency
planning funds. The annual comprehensive cooperative
contract signed by the state and federal government does not
stipulate FEMA can withdraw funding if the state refuses to
participate in their exercises.
This is the stand the state is prepared to take if the issue
ever comes to litigation. But chances are it won’t. States that
have refused to participate in the past have received their
funding despite so-called federal warnings.
FEMA claims the exercise is necessary to ensure
preparedness in the unlikely event of a nuclear war.
Moreover, it insists some sort of plan is needed to provide
services for those unfortunate souls who would survive a
nuclear attack. This is absurd. Emergency planning funds
are designed to help states deal with naturally occurring
disasters, i.e., floods, volcanic eruptions, avalanches, etc.,
not nuclear holocausts.
An overwhelming majority of Oregonians opposed the
FEMA plan from the beginning. It’s comforting to see the
state follow the wishes of the people and snub FEMA’s
heavy-handed, coercive tactics. Hopefully, the federal
government will realize Oregon is not a playground for
superpower politics.
Tri-state coalition plan
could net a Super Collider
C'.ov. Neil Goldschmidt demonstrated sharp initiative
last Saturday when he announced Oregon, Washington and
Idaho should unite to secure a Northwest site for the federal
government’s proposed $4.4 billion Superconducting Super
Collider project.
This Super Collider which would be the largest in the
world—would hurdle subatomic particles at one another
along a 53-mile-long subterranean “track.” This may not
sound like much to the layman, but the discoveries this pro
ject could yield have been likened to those born from the
discovery of electricity.
The more tangible benefits from having the Super Col
lider in the Northwest would be the estimated 4.500 con
struction jobs, 2,500 professional positions and the $200
million annual operating budget the project would bring to
the region.
However, there are a lot of “ifs” involved with this pro
ject. Questions have been raised whether this project will ac
tually receive congressional funding. But the possibility that
it might be funded provides a lucrative carrot at the end of
the stick.
Goldschimdt’s proposed tri-state coalition would be an
inventive way of getting this carrot. A regional voice speaks
louder than a single state’s plea. The Northwest could use
this mega-project, and with our neighbors’ cooperation, the
region just might get it.
J
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RBfIEMBER, JUST PHOTOS
RDM THE WNST OP. .
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'JikiL i, I
Letters
Euphoria
I can’t prove that unicorns,
leprechauns, Santa or the Master
Bunny do not exist, whether by
logical argument or scientific
method. However, belief in
their existence is certainly "ir
rational and unscientific,"
since the existence of these en
tities also can't be proved.
No evidence (an outward
sign: proof) exists that
unicorns, for example, do exist.
Of course, one may choose to
believe anything she or he likes
based on faith (firm, unques
tioning belief in something for
which there is no proof), and
this may be necessary for some
individuals to establish a sense
of identity and purpose.
Because of the mind-altering
nature of religious experience,
religious beliefs create feelings
of confidence and euphoria.
These same experiences and
feelings can be created by using
euphoric and hallucinogenic
drugs.
But no drug or idea has
historically been responsible
for. or is presently the cause of.
as much human suffering as are
religious ideas throughout the
world — not the least of which
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Sandra Francisconi
Atheist
Correction
In two recent front-page ac
counts of IFC budget hearings
which addressed the budget of
the Office of Student Advocacy,
the Emerald incorrectly
reported that this office ac
cumulated a $5,000 deficit dur
ing the current fiscal year. The
first report described this deficit
as having arisen in October and
November of 1986, while the se
cond misquoted ASIJO Presi
dent Steve Nelson as referring
to an Office of Student Ad
vocacy deficit arising “this
year.'' Actually, the deficit in
question involved an overrun of
the office’s 1985-86 budget.
Perhaps the confusion involves
the delay in the funding of the
1985-86 deficit until this year.
In any case, on discovering
the first erroneous report, I
made a written request to the
Emerald for the printing of a
correction, and, in fact, receiv
ed assurances that such a cor
rection would be printed. No
correction has appeared to date,
and the error has been repeated.
In order to keep programs sup
ported by students’ incidental
fees accountable, students must
receive accurate information
concerning budget management
in these programs. One piece of
that information is surely the
year in which a particular
budget overrun occurred, since
such information is indispen
sable to the analysis of whether,
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over a period of time, problems
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Lucille R. Kaplan
Director, Office of Student
Advocacy
Freedom
I am absolutely appalled by
the mindless rubbish presented
in the name of entertainment
these days. That television con
tains too much violence is a
gross understatement of the
facts. Now we are faced with
propaganda which would have
us believe that the Soviets are
nothing hut a bunch of thick
skulled bullies whose sole in
tentions are to bring American
values (weep, weep) to their
knees. I refer, of course, to that
soggy, sentimentally na
tionalistic mini-series
“Amerika.” That nonsense was
no more than the paranoid
masturbation of a few sick,
dangerous and uneducated
minds, as a quick glance into
any recent newspaper will
reveal.
Not only did “Amerika” pre
sent an extremely slanted and
pathetically inaccurate view of
Soviet culture, but the makers
of this trash also made a tragic
maistake by under-estimating
the intelligence of the American
public. Let me get this straight:
We were supposed to consider
this entertaining? Perhaps it
was in a perverse sort of way,
however, it was propaganda in
the truest sense of the word. It
was designed to influence
public thought in support of the
policies of our current ad
ministration. And much like
foreign policy in the past six
years, it was the attitude
presented in “Amerika” which
serves to bring us ever closer to
nuclear confrontation.
Let us learn of Soviet culture
in other ways than through such
propaganda. As American
students, we have an obligation
to use the freedom to educate
ourselves.
LET’S DO IT RESPONSIBLY.
Nina Johnson
Anthropology