EDITORIAL
Reagan’s Star Wars
finally light-sabered
Good riddance to President Ronald Reagan's Strate
gic Defense Initiative program, which Defense Secre
tary l.es Aspin officially ended Thursday with the
announcement that the United Stales would concentrate
instead on a simpler ground-based anti-missile system.
Nicknamed "Star Wars" by Reagan himself, SD1 was a
thorn in the side of rational, money-conscious individu
als ever since its inception in 1983. In the past decade.
SDI took tens of billions of dollars from the U.S, budget
and yet never progressed past the research stages. Offi
cials gave no specific timetable for its completion — it
could have taken an extra 20 or 30 years, as far as the
public knew.
Fortunately, the Clinton administration realized the
folly of spending S6.3 billion (the amount the Bush
administration had penciled in for 1994) for a hypothet
ical system that may have never progressed beyond
development stages Hopefully, some of the S2.5 billion
savings i an go toward other U.S. programs that could
use the money (little programs, such as health r are,
si bool funding and AIDS research).
The change of focus from space to ground-based
defense makes sense as well. Remember, the Cold War
has ended (according to most reports), and the original
purpose of SDI was to protect Amerir a from a surprise
Soviet missile attack. Therefore, on a purely surface lev
el it is safe to say that the risk is no longer there, and
thus the research is unneeded.
Ground-based defenses, however, can be used effec
tively in today's defense situations. We saw this during
the Persian Gulf War, when Iraqi Scuds wore routinely
extinguished bv Patriot missiles.
But the cut makes sense on a deeper level as well The
government, just like any Ameritan family, must make
priorities in its budget And sometimes a new Ferrari is
jifst too expensive. SDI is not deserv ing. simply because
it isn't concrete enough to merit any more money. Gov
ernment defense officials had a decade to make progress
— their time is up.
Reagan commented Saturday on the cut: "I may not be
a Rhodes scholar, but I do know this: If we can protoct
Amerii a with a defensive shield from incoming missile
attacks, we should by all means do so." Absolutely, but
only if all children are well immunized, all families have
homes, and all citizens have employment. It makes no
sense to fear unsubstantiated threats when there are so
many real threats here at borne.
The final reason to rejoice about the demise of SDI is
that no longer will the public have to put up with the
manipulative posturing of SDI supporters, who seemed
more interested in promoting the "Star Wars" title of the
program than the need for defense. To Reagan, SDI was
more of a fantasy than a reality, which is probably why
he liked it. Fortunately, the public no longer has to pay
for a fantasy that would never come true.
Ore non Daily
Emerald
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Mixed messages at conference
Write
Angles
Mancty Baucum
fter attending tin* Women
on tin1 Movi' Conference
X Jc.t ltm Kugeno Hilton last
week. 1 was morn frustrated with
tlu> state of the woman's move
ment than 1 had heen before I
arrived
It wasn't that I didn't enjoy
the speaker (I was only able to
sei> Anna Quindlen. a columnist
for The New York. Times
because that's all my press pass
would allow) — Quindlen was
great. She articulated her views
on the women's movement very
well I was moved by her words
and her wisdom and entranced
by her integrity and intelligence
Hut what disappointed me was
the irony of what 1 saw outside
of the conference
As soon as I walked toward
Playwright's Hall, waiting for
the room to open up for
Quindlun's speech. I noticed a
row of display tables There was
a table from the University
Bookstore and a local car lot. but
neither of those bothered me
What bothered me were the two
makeup tables that sat next to
the conference room wall, just
waiting for a "woman on the
move” to ask for cosmetic tips
Now, I do not consider myself
a feminist. I believe in complete
equalitv for women, but that is
about as far as my radical views
And \es. 1 do wear makeup
and I don't believe there is any
thing wrong with going to a
Inmuty salon now and then, but
I Ixilieve cosmetic i mutters at a
"Women on the Move Confer
etn e" are a bit ridiculous.
Mavbe I'm overreacting, but I
believe the makeup counter was
contradictory to the purpose of
the conference. Originally. I
wasn't interested in staying
I >ocause 1 got the impression that
organizers would he handing
out free lipstn k If I wanted a
makeover. I would have gone to
Meter & Frank I expected to
learn about things that would
help me succeed and make
tough i hoii es atxmt my role as a
woman in the coming years.
More ironic, however, were
the complementary . bright blue
bags tfiat were handed out to
am h conferviH e participant The
bags read MANPQWKR Tempo
rary Servii es.
Gender equality in language is
a separate issue that I won't
even try to address, but to me.
the vision of 651) women carry
ing these hags was as ironic as
it would he if chainsaws were
handed out to env ironmentalists
at the fores! conference
I recently heard Robin Mor
gan. editor of AG Magazine,
speak at the University and was
refreshed by the consistency she
has learn able to establish at the
new ad-free publication.
Because Ms is free of adver
tising. it doesn't have to i.ater to
its advertisers or deal with a
negative portrayal of women in
advertising, and it can strive for
equality and justice for women
in its editorial and news pages
This is the kind of integrity 1
would have liked to have seen at
the Women On the Move Con
ferem e I'm not criticizing the
use of makeup and I'm not ask
ing MANPOWER Temporary
Services to change its name. I
just believe that for the sake of
running a tac tful c (inference, or
for the sake of avoiding
To me the vision o1
650 women
canrying these
bags was as ironic
as it would be H
chainsaws were
handed out to
environmentalists
at the forest
conference.
hypocrisy, the conference coor
dinators could have at least kept
their messages consistent.
Inside Playwright Hall. Anna
Quindlen urged female enter
tainers to curb the negative por
trayal of women in advertising
and music videos She encour
aged people like Whitney Hous
ton and Marioh Carey to say
"Hey. we don't need this
woman in a bikini!"
Now I don't believe that the
cosmetic counters or the MAN
POWER hags even came close to
the negative connotations one
gels from women in bikinis, hut
I believe the program organizers
should follow Quindlen's advice
and not mix their message of
equality with sexist displays.
The planners should have at
least let women pretend for one
day that the world isn't ignoring
their efforts to t>e taken serious
ly
Mnndy Hiiiicinn is freelance
editor of the Emerald.
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