EDITORIAL
Christopher's past
shows insider role
What did h« know, and when did he know i!;
Those art! (he questions yet to Ite answered by Set re
tary of State-designate Warren Christopher
The question stems bar k 2S veers ago. when (diris
topher was deputy attorney general for (’resident Lyn
don Johnson, During that time, the intelligent •• branch
of the U.S. Army was allegedly conducting illegal do
mestic surveillance of anti war and c ivil rights protest
ers.
Ac cording to memos found in the Lyndon B. John
son Presidential Library in Texas, Christopher was
aware the Army’s I H>th
M i litary Intelligence
(.roup was gathering in
formation on Washington
area dissidents and had
"their own operatives in
the area."
In the margin of that
If this is Clinton’s
idea of ’change,’
we’ve been
reading the
wrong dictionary.
particular memo. oaten
July 2:1. lfitiH, wits scribbled "Noted WC." suggesting
t ihristophor had. in fai l. seen and acknowledged th<■
informal ion in lhe memo.
But during his l‘)77 confirmation hearings ns fun
niy Carter's depots secretary <d slate, Christopher de
med any knowledge of I lie surveillance, known as Op
eration Chaos.
"If it had been brought up. I would have been
strongly opposed to it." Christopher said at the hear
ings.
President -elect Clinton has promised change and a
new ethics in government Christopher fits neither of
these categories, Christopher has been a politic al insiil
er since 1<Mi5, when he was given the job of deputy at
tornev general in the lohnson administration and
helped organize the McCone Commission study of the
t>)(>5 Watts riots
While in the- Carter administration. Christopher
negotiated ensue cessfulh with Iran for the release of
.'>2 U.S. lunbassy hostages Critics blame Christopher
for the fact that the crises lasted for 44-4 days and likely
cost Carter his bid for re-elec tion
Should Christopher's appointment be approveil by
lCongress, he will have served under three of the past
seven presidents and in every democratic administra
tion sine e infi.r>. I low much more "inside" c an one he -'
Whether Christopher lied to Congress may never
be known. Thursday, Republicans on thi* Senate- For
eign Relations Committee said they would not press
Christopher on the- issue at his confirmation hearings
Without that challenge, Christopher can lie ex pec t
eii to sail through the confirmation process without a
sc ratch. But if this is Clinton's iiiea of "change." we've
fit-c-n reading the wrong dictionary.
Oregon Daily
P 0 BOI JlS«. EUGENE OREGON §7403
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the f ^«xaAd «s private property The unlawful removal or use of £*!(*** a protMacutabte
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DUCKS
lliiili
s
Earth power
Him .iusi- we are living ill « re
,ti11\ m which thousands of
spot :t's be I time exiim l mu ii
year, human activities are poi
Milling llii* .11r iiiui water anti
our planets forests are being
dm im,ilcd al a rain far i-xi end
ing growth. Stephanie Sisson
presented a shortsighted tuts
in ln*r i ohniin I.arth vs ill ad
|us| lo catastrophes" [01)1.. Jan
II)
Sisson jails in ret ognize hu
man nxislriu !• as a very rm fill
inlrodui lion to a plant?) dial
has sot’ll Iho riso and f>iIt of
mans i matures, including the
dinosaur, vslin h dominatod Ihe
tuirlh long liefore mammalian
evolution.
As a spm It’s Homo sapitms
till a specific ft ologii al niche*
We hast? tin; powor to manipu
late our environment in wavs
if Iff) unchecked iti.it w ill
fVfiiltiallv threaten human sor
v is al
Vos. humans an- not power
ful enough lo obliterate Ihe
earth And it does, over time
have vs ass of mending itself
The earth will l»- here, but will
svi'7
Holly Gryte
Anthropology
Basic facts
Slephame Sisson s column
"Karth will adjust to catastro
phes'* [ODE. Jan It) is another
impressive example of man's
ability to dens unpleasant
truths Is mankind really "not
big enough or powerful enough
to destroy the earth"' Are our
concerns onls because of a
"panii ked, environmentally
aware era ' I'm afraid not
lust lo review some basic
fa< Is
In on 1 x a few dei ades our
civilization will use up natural
resources that have accumulat
ed over millions ot years
New species used to evolve
at a rate of (verv roughly) one
new species per IDO years lo
ll.iv we extinct a species even
some hours
f liese pro; esses are absolute
ly irreversible, and their pai e is
still not slowing down What s
gun*? is gone ami it s going fast
Of course mankind has the
right to influent >• and i flange
tl ■ earth to i certain degree
licit the cihal orosystems .in
cut infinitely stable \nd wher
e \ c-r the limits lie. the examples
show that we have long sur
passed them Quite frankly, a
little bit ol re< v(,ling here and
some energy etfii leiw y there
won’t help
Id survive our sim lety must
profoundly <hange We will
have to learn to lead a fulfilling
life without i onsuming whatso
ever at an ever faster pare YVe
must understand we have re
sprmsihillties that go hevond
our own lifespan And, first of
all. we've got to have the guts
to fare the harsh ecological re
.tidies Denial won't do It
Chnstof Romahn
Graduate student
Physics
Take care
In response to the recent
Stephanie Sisson column
"Ivarth will adjust to catastro
phes ((>/)/.. Jan. 11). 1 would
like to sav that Sisson is gravely
misleading readers
Sisson would have us believe
thi' human race is "not lug
enough or powerful enough to
destroy the earth," and the
planet is fullv r apable of restor
ing dselt after man-made disas
ters Furthermore, she asserts
Ainerir ans are "too cautious '
with the environment, and the
onlv wav to preserve the earth
is to eliminate man.
Humans mav not t>e powerful
enough to destrov the Karth.
but we most certainly are capa
ble of destroying ourselves
That, in essence, is the whole
point of the environmental
movement the preservation
of existing spec ms Ivarth crea
ture humans cause to tier orne
extim t — and vve do cause the
extinction of manv species
brings tis one step closer to de<
{mating our ecosystem and thus
human existence
Humans are harming the en
vironment at a faster rate than
the planet can recuperate How
manv oil spills will it take lie
lor-- all or ean life is irrevoc ablv
damaged? It's irresponsible to
assume this planet i an survive,
as a living planet, despite man
made disasters
As far as being too i autious,
i ontinued life on earth depends
on our responsible steward
ship We i an t be too i .ireful
The more care we take of our
planet, the better chance we
have of assuring th.it life will
remain lor generations to t ome
Erik Larson
Biology
Embarrassing
Regarding the artit le by l am
my Bntev on fraternity break
ins (OlH- |an. 12). I was rather
embarrassed upon seeing my
name attached to a quote claim
ing we keep doors unit* ked in
an effort to somehow convint e
people that students are living
there during breaks
While naivete takes a promi
nent position among rnv char
at ter faults. I < an assure Hates
it tiiM's not stretch quite that far
into the realm of fantasy Please
allow me to ( lari f \ . not so
nint h tor the huge multitude no
doubt hankering for this infor
mation. but to preserve what
little reputation I have left.
In the past, we left doors
open bei ause everyone knew
no one was there, and we grew
tired of shelling out hundreds
of dollars every time we re
turned to s< hooi and had to re
plat e shattered doors and door
frames
Today, the outer doors of our
house are reinforced and fea
ture combination key pad
lot ks, but our policy remains to
keep interior doors unlot ked
for two reasons There are no
valuables left in the bouse dur
ing breaks, and people will get
into the house if they really
want to. so we make sure they
find nothing to steal, nor any
thing to break 1 don't want to
at cuse Hatev of misquoting, but
I hope I wasn’t that unclear
w hen we spoke tin the phone
Jamie Bakum
Kappa Sigma
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