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 iuCtW OAIGO**’* Ih« Dragon Darfy Ewakl » poO»*»fw>d da*y Monda, through F 'Oay dur.ng tha tciwo) w>m otrg Highe* tduc&on Adrn***#&on M#«| Staff Oestw Ait**. Matt Bond* JuStm Brown Sarah Car* Mag DtOOtp* *my Owwxxvt Jen f ilrtkon. Amanda Farrs*. 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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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