VIEWPOINTS
f OlTQRiAi S 0P1WI0MS IfTIfRS 10 IM t fO IT 0 R
Recordings may answer
Watergate questions
■ OUR OPINION Secret
tapes may reveal more
about Nixon's personality
“UH. sir, there's been a
break-in at iho Dnmomtic
National Committee head
quarters at the Wntnrgatn
hotel..."
"What? Darnmit man. lake
ran of II!"
While the nation was (till
mired in the quit ksand of
Vietnam, a conversation like
this undoubtedly took place
at the beginning of what was
to become one of America's
biggest political embarrass*
menu in a long line of
national crises: the Water
gate scandal
If only.
If only Nixon had made a
thousand different choices
long before, up to and dur
ing the Watergate affair.
If only — In what would
have been an otherwise brief
flash of ethical dec ency —
he had told his cabinet to
expose the crime.
That Nixon allowed and
then covered up the break
in revealed that, at best, the
late president was not able
to effectively communicate
with hU own people. At
wont, the fiasco showed
one side of • man who was
obviously too paranoid and
corrupt to have ever been
trusted with the highest
offit» in the land
But none of that matter*
now.
What does matter i» that
Nixon** estate ha* finally
agreed (bending under tne
pteMtire of a maaaive law
suit) to release most of the
remaining secret recordings
the disgraced politician
made in the White House
As early as November,
historians might find them
selves studying a 201-hour
long series of tapes
containing Nixon conversa
tion* from 1972 to 1973 —
recording* that reveal the
president's “abuse of gov
ernment power.**
The tape* might allow
Nixon to explain some of
his action* from the grave,
and they might erven help us
understand a little more
about the man himself
The recordings will defi
nitely help us understand
what happened to a nation
after one man stole its trust.
People are not running
to OCA chief’s campaign
■ OUR OPINION: Mabon is
dreaming if he thinks he'll
gel any real support
Is th*il so?
I .on Mahon. th«t shrill
Oregon Citium* Alliance
chairman not exactly loved
by the entire stale, U cur
rently not getting much of a
turnout when he shows up
to stump fur his hi ram* hid
ii* a Republican contender
for the opm U S Senate
seal
Support (or Mi to
bail, only 20 people showed
up recently to hear the tna*»
speak in the coMHtitivt
m« i a of Medford The
turnout was no better in
Klamath Tail*, another city
known for its conservative
lient.
If Mahon does no tauter in
Grants Pats. Koseburg or
Corvallis, maybe he’ll wake
up and stop kidding him
self. After all. the hike's on
him.
-vs-sr-T-' n-yi
T*f {fCOND llAO^*C
OUM 0» MAW **£>*
•« ******
n GoMfmi
„ Wf SHOULD 0*
UP-IN-ARMS
A*OUT 1UM»
»
AfUMTT WL
AUUA0YO
/
Closed minds reject creationism theory
Why la ll that v™ preach reaped for
diversity of opinion and then ahut
our mind* in any theory (hai con
I flirt* with our personal beliefs? I'm
nol talking about tolling a theory after examin
ing it fair any possible grain* of truth. I'm talking
about complete di*mi»*al as impossible or fool
ish without giving it a moment of thought
Whan the Hrunmid ran an editorial last term
on retugniring that creationist and evolutionist
theories are just that — theories — the mailman
h**l a hentu tlrilvwin#
th« of and Imltg
natim Mo*( of ih« mail
ndu uM ihr editor* for during
lo »ugR'*t that echoed* b*
allowed lo (iimcuM cnwtionict
iim*y
Koforv Darwin. fwnple
m i opted a* fai 1 that human*,
and the rwii of the universe,
aw* created by some dtvtn*
imB
being or being* Tros belief wu
held to be *11 absolute fail. not |u«i • theory
Today. most people accept the theory of evolu*
turn «» absolute mrl and then ignore or ndi* ule
anything that challenge* that belief
When Darwin wrote On the Origin of Specie*.
he did not assert that human* are descended
hum ape* Darwin *« a careful scientist who
developed a theory baaed on ohaervation of the
Wield around hint Since thu»e observation*
contained niching ihai could definitely prove
that human* were descended from ape*, he wa«
careful not to make that assertion
Today we have more evidence that point* to
such a link, but the unanswered question* far
outnumber the answered one* Yet no many of
u* have accepted the theory of Darwin a* gospel
that we close our minds to any other possibili
ties
In mv column last Monday. I offered another
possibility —■ that there may be tangible evi
dence of our human origin* on Mar* and on the
moon Please note that 1 said may be. not it.
There an* indications of the possibility, but it
will lake another specs mission to Mars before
we learn any more In the meantime, let me
throw out another bit of poaaibly related infor
mation
A few months ago. the Hegitter-Guard ran a
short article about a team of genetic scientists
from Yale University who have been conducting
a world wide investigation of genetic patterns
They collected and analyzed a specific chromo
some from 1,600 people in 42 population groups
from around the world, and they found a pat
tern One of the scientists said. "This pattern of
variation suggests that all non-Africans derive
from a single common ancestral population
which migrated out of Northeast Africa." She
went on to say. 'It will be very complicated to
determine how big that migrant population was,
but I would say it was very small Some people
have estimated that it could have been as few as
J .000 Thi» pattern of variation also suggests
that the common ant**try of the non-African
population* is quit* recent." Sh* estimated that
the migration was no earlier than 100,000 year*
ago and could be a* recent as 70.000 years ago
That figure of 70.000 to 100,000 years set off a
little "ding" in the back of my mind.
There is a very old map — sometimes called
the map of the ancient Sea kings — that shows a
view of Africa, the Mediterranean and Antarcti
ca as they woultl be stain from an elevation of
about $.000 miles up. What is most amazing
about this map. aside from the elevation of
view, is that it shows details of Antarctica that
have only recently been identified because they
lie beneath miles of ice. Scientists estimate that
these details would have been visible 100.000
years ago because the ice pack that covered
Antarctica at that time was much smaller than it
is today.
Now add the hypothesis that Richard
Hoagtand made in his book A form merit* of Man
(mentioned in my column last Monday): It is
possible that humans from Mars may have come
to Earth, perhaps about 100.000 years ago
Stir in a bit of creationism (we all descended
from Adam and Eve), add a dash of evolution
ism ("out of Africa"! ami an interesting pattern
•tarts to emerge Enough of a pattern to at least
make a new theory about the origins of intelli
gence on this planet
And that is all we have theories, not Imho
trovertible proofs Creationism, evolutionism.
Martian origins and genetic patterns all share
the same quality They are each a "best guess"
about who and what we are and how we got
here to begin with
Each of those guesses has tangible evidence to
support it. and all of them lack some ultimate,
definitive proof It is only in our minds that con
nections are made between the bits and pieces
wo see before us
Dr. Lilly, the guy who did research on por
poises. wrote a book that contains one of my all
time iavonte quotes: “What one believes to be
true is true, the limits of which are found by
experience and experiment.1' The key to that
statement is in the finding of limits It requires
openness to new evidence and a willingness to
re-examine even the most cherished and closely
held beliefs in the light of that new evidence
There may or may not be artificial structures
on Mars and the moon, humans may or may not
have descended from Martians or monkeys or
both, and there may or may not be some realty
powerful conscious force at work in the uni
verse. W« may never have the definitive
answers, but if we keep our minds open to new
possibilities and take !l» time to examine them
objectively, we may get a lot closer than we are
right now.
iMrry Hafti. a minor out faring in faumaJtim, i» a
colummtt far the Emerald