Editorial
Passing on Panama
was right reaction
Panama s renegade leader (am Manuel Noriega is
u ithout a ill mill itm* "I tin* greatest scourges hi this
hemisphere Ills im nlvemeut in tin- mlcin.ilinii.il drug
carte! undermines I In ■ seituilv "I tins n.ilmn lint
slioulil tin- 1 S jump a! mu oppoilunitv In depose
him. Not nei essurilv
\iu iega is still m puvvei m Panama .diet Ins tniops
pul down .m .illempled (imp In .1 small retiel lone
I nesil.n I lie (imp was in.liked In short, sharp fight
ing |tisl iilllt yards from I S troops stationed in the ( a
n.d /.one
rln end result ol the 1 otip appears to lie a 1 rushing
virlorv lor Notiega He and Ins i routes have survived
the (imp mini I and his enemies jmostlv junioi army
ollii eis) have heen 1 uplmod 01 tier mi.tied
Xon, with the sulciv ol hindsight. several mem
bers ol (amgress have taken il upon themselves to i rtli
I i/i. the Hush administration's inai lion during the
coup attempt David Horen (t)-()kla ). Senate inlelli
cent e 1 ouilllltlee ( h.lirtnau. s.iid that Hush should have
sent troops in lo help the rebels
It's hard lo lake Horen's 1 iiln isiu seriously I irsl
Noriega’s lories handled the roup attempt so s vv tills
and surelv lli.it I S assistance would most l etlainlv
have meant mote than simple aid to the rebels an in
vas'on would seem more neinssaiv and ibis country
doesn't have the right grievam.es lo go lo war with
I'.mama
Also Hush is hardlv the man lo jump on instant
oppoi111 nilles six h as a breaking coup lie is hv na
lure a cautious man I his is perhaps esper tails true
with I’,mania I he wool in Washington cm les is that
Noriega lias something dniv on Hush, perhaps con
M ining an involvement in Contra arms supplv or CIA
drug innnmg II Hush pushes to hard, it could lie pole
Inal sun nle and that would explain the ongoing Ke
public an re 111 1 -i 11 e lo do anvthlug loo demand in g with
Panama
I mallv I s intervention in Central \meiiia
would not have imploved the situation Ibis 1 imp was
attempted hv the mildarv Whv replaie one mililarv
dii lalor with anothei.* I he I i.ileil Stales Ii.is a sorrv
II ,it k lecmd of being all too w illing lo deal vv ill) mill
larv leaders and vv e should he glad lh.it lor 0111 e the
government passed on the nppoilimilv
While Horen looks li.uk with hindsight il's also
worthwhile lo I eiuemhel that Noriega lumsell lame to
power through .111 unpopular mililarv regime that had
the good grai es ol the I lilted Stales Kelallons vv ill] the
I'anamaniaii people and a severing ol the lies in the m
ternation.d ill ug ( ommiinilv will not hihii d vv e i on
tmile our lies willi ihe Panamanian mililarv Instead
vve 11II1 si slip pul I a popul.il I iv ill.l II ( and l dale
" I DUHNo, hi^> ASSURED \fc IT WAi JUST A PAIR °P PffCNT-LEMHER PUMPS"
Marcos' body could bring more turmoil
There hasn't been as nun h furor raised
ovei .t corpse sinc e Alfred Hitchcock's I hr
I'nnihlr With H.irrx
Kver sine e ex Philippine president Per
dinand Man ns was forced to leave his conn
try with angry and oppressed Pilipinos hot
on Ins heels in Pebruarv 1‘tHli. he had tried
repeuledlv to gel hat h home from exile in
I Innoluln
first he tried overthrowing Ins succes
sor Troops sympathetic to Marc.ns took over
the Manilla Hilton in June ItIHti. and a r.echo
television station in January ll(H7 Both
limes Marcos was ready to leave Hawaii to
rec hum the government il the attempts had
sue.tied, and both times the coup at
tempts were put down In the Philippine
army
Ills hostile attempts swatted. Marcos
tried a different strategy first, he needed to
tome home to tend to Ins ailing mother,
then, as his own health tailed, he recpiested
permission to die in his homeland.
And even time, current president ( ora
/iiii Aquino denied his requests, believing
(wisely) that eithei Marcos or Ins mere pres
ence would entice Ins followers to mutiny
again
Now Marcos is dead, and his supporters
in the Philippines are trying once again to
have him brought home — for burial.
Yes. it's true tb.it Marcos can't do much
in his ( urrent state of health, and that sup
port for Marcos hus dot lined. Rallies for the
ex-president are becoming smaller and more
infrequent as time passes.
Yet, l'l of the seats in the country's 200
member House of Representatives are held
In lawmakers that are in favor of a Marios
all\ coming to power Admittedly it is a
small number, but something to consider. In
a country as turbulent as the Philippines,
any hint of returning to the old government
could bring about disaster.
Something else to consider: While mil
lions of I 'i I i pi nos lived lives of despair and
povertv. Man os was a leader of the rii h His
followers are well-linanced and still wield a
lot of power, as many of them are in the mil
itary
l or the time being. Marcos' appearance
in the Philippines, living or dead, could
threaten the still fragile Aquino government,
and the desperately needed reforms it has
promised
Letters
Archetypes
I .im somewhat of tended l>\
Hert Trvlm's letter ''Theology"
[ODE Oct 2) lie s.ivs 'Cod is
im more nidi than 'Superman'
or 'llalman.' and similarly, ac
commodates inf<intili* imagina
lion."
As someone who believes in
"(aid.' 1 lake offense Certain
It, "Cod is not a i oni rctf oli
jci I w Im li von ( an put voiii
hands around and grasp It is a
( om opt, hnl one that is real be
i ause ol peoples heliet in ihe
( OIK epl
l or me. 1 require the exis
lent e ol some higher force in
the universe (wliii h I i house lo
i all "Cod'') to explain a varietv
ot phenomena uhu h tail to t o
incide with how I feel nature
should operate Sue ll things in
i lode the existent e of life, the
speed of light, anti the number
pi Without some guiding
force. I tail not otherwise ra
tnmalize the present e of these
things to myself
As someone who believes in
"Superman" and "batman.'' I
Ilki'WI <• take nltellse \ 1 > I ilo
not believe in them .is i om.rete
beings waging private little
wars against < rime somewhere
on the Kastern Sealxiard Mow
ever. the\ are important arc he
types tor our modern age. es
pousing litith tenturv ideals
something that < lassii an lie
tvpes i annot do
The\ evisl hei ause the i ol
lei live mu oiisi ions linds them
net essarv even as the similar
an hetvpes ot King Arthur )oh
and OiKsseus were land per
haps still are) net essarv So
yes. I believe ill them as well
I think that I represent "the
average person” well enough
it sni h a thing truh ovists And
I i ertaink do not i onsider mv
sell to have an "infantile imagt
nation.''
lames Drew
(omputer Sciem e
Good News
At a time when some stu
dents are i losed out ot i lasses
.mil everything seems to he go
mg wrong, it is .1 good time to
give credit to .1 University of
lice whit It Inis developed
something that will help stu
dents chart then wav through
w hat often seems like a maze ot
graduation requirements
I he Registrar's ()ffi( e 111 re
i ent vears has made available
to cat h student a tree unoflii 1.1I
eopv ol his her transcript and
an Official Progress Report
The Progress Report is partic u
lark useful for monitoring pro
gross 111 satisfying general odu
ration requirements Students
( an pic k these doc uments up at
then major department
A careful review of these
doc uments w ill enable students
to spot problems earlv For e\
ample, it would prevent a stu
dent from needing to take three
upper division sc ienc e' courses
m the last term of the senior
vear. only to find one of the
courses e losed or not taught
that term
It is amazing how many stu
dents don't take advantage of
this tipportunit\ to better man
age their edui at ion
Barbara \ii hulls
Academic Advising and
Student Services
Disturbed
I am disturbed .it the Enter
aid's sense of responsibility
i on< erning student groups and
student funding In their Oct 4
editorial .iboilt the ANIO IXei •
utive dei ision to freeze the
funds of certain groups, the
Emerald illustrated an igno
rance on the handling of stu
dent monies
According to the Aug 25
memo that notified student
groups. Hi groups, ranging
from the Black Student Union
to the Oregon Commentator.
had their funds frozen due to
detii its in their fundraising a< -
counts for the fiscal
year The Emerald's editorial
implies these deficits occurred
in the overall budgets; this was
wrong
The Emerald also seems to
think the ASUO shouldn't
meddle in student groups' id
t.nrs The defic its in question
ranged from Slot to over
SH.OOO. St ott Wvt knit turret 11\
acted when he froze those at
counts: students do not luted to
defit it spend
Some of these deficits were
due to accounting errors, anti
these errors are being correct
ed Were it not for the ASl'O 's
at lion, these errors may never
have been noticed by the >tu
dent groups
The IFC claims that the
freeze t reated "bail feelings
Of course it did: the lit s
funds were among those Iro
zen.
Students .ire spending stu
dent inonev through the inci
dental fee system, so what’s
wrong with a watchdog that
keeps spending in line? The
ASUO Kxeculive handled the
matter professionally, but un
fortunately. some students pre
fer anarchic control over all our
money
Patrick Perkins
journalism