Monologue
Idle Hands
By J. Dana Haynes
Israel, one of the few foul-weather allies the United States
ever had, has become the focus of a great deal of bad feelings
lately. Not only in the States but all across the world.
The question is, why? It all started with Israel’s invasion into
Lebanon and culminated in the much publicized massacre of
Lebanese refugees.
As a result, a wave of anti-Israeli (not necessarily anti-
semetic; there is a difference) sentiment has swept the Western
world. And the people of Israel have staged mass no-confidence
rallies to protest the Knesset’s hand in the massacre.
Finally last week, several members of the United Nations, in­
cluding Libya and Kuwait, proposed barring Israel from the
General Assembly. In response, American Ambassador Jean
Kirkpatrick announced that, whither goest Israel, so goes the U.S.
This despite a recent Associated Press/Harris pole indicating that
popular support for Israel is waning in this country.
This lack of confidence is truly unfair. The massacre of inno­
cent refugees is, admittedly, a terrible event. But what the rest of
the world seems to forget is that Christian Philangist soldiers were
responsible, not Israelis. The evidence now indicates that the
Jewish military was aware of the slaughter and could have in­
tervened. To fail to do so was a gross error, and the blame must
rest squarely on some of the highest brass in the Israeli military, in­
cluding Defense Minister Ariel Sharon.
But to blame the entire country is ridiculous. Sharon should
be replaced, perhaps. And even Prime Minister Menachem Begin
is not without fault here. However, Begin, like Ulysses S. Grant,
has been a superb military man who isn’t of much value in peace
time. That does not make his entire country bad, anymore than
Richard Nixon’s corruption made America corrupt.
Part of the blame must fall on the television news medium.
The recent war in Beirut was cursed by being readily televisible.
How many filmed accounts of the North/South Yemen war do
you remember seeing?
The American audience was spoon-fed miles of footage
showing the shattered and gutted wreckage of Beirut and the con­
clusion was drawn that this was the handiwork of the Israelies.
What the people and the press seemed to forget was the war
which raged in that city for the past seven years. Not even half of
the damage inflicted on Beirut was the work of the Jewish army.
TV news isn’t the only culprit, either. One Associated Press
story that ran on the front page of the Oregonian this summer
told of the Israelies raining bombs on Embassy Row in Beirut. The
headline screamed the fact and the first column of paragraphs told
of the various outraged delegates.
In the second column, the writer mentioned the street in front
of the consulates was lined with Syrian-owned, Russian built
rocket launchers.
It is this sort of editorial neglect that has thrown so much
suspicion and ill will on the people of Israel. True, the current
government may be too militant for its own good, and certain
members of the military did indeed sit idly by while refugees were
being obliterated by Philangists. But this does not make the whole
country less worthy of our trust and friendship.
Next time someone thinks the entire country of Israel is
tainted, one should make note of the anti-government rallies in
the streets of Tel Aviv and ask oneself; when was the last time the
citizens of any Arab country protested over the killings of Jews?
THE PRINT, a member of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers
Association, aims to be a fair and impartial journalistic medium
covering the campus community as thoroughly as possible. Opi­
nions expressed in THE PRINT dojiot necessarily reflect those of
the College administration, faculty, Associated Student Govern­
ment or other members of THE PRINT.
Office: Trailor B; telephone: 657-8400, ext. 309,310
Editor In Chief: J. Dana Haynes
News Editor: Doug Vaughan
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Staff Writers: Victoria Archila, Shelley Ball, Kari Gassaway, Doris
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page 2
Draft rider discriminatory
By Doug Vaughan
“I have just got a feeling that it
will become some kind of
nightmare,” the College’s
Financial Aid Officer Scott
Fischer said.
The nightmare he is talk­
ing about is the financial aid
rider, or amendment to a bill,
that was passed by Congress
last month. The bill requires
that all males between the ages
of 18 and 24 who apply for
financial aid must be registered
for a potential draft. The bill is
not only discriminatory against
a small group but it is also going
to cause a lot of confusion.
The biggest burden is go­
ing to be in the hands of finan­
cial aid offices. Even though
the rider is supposed to put as
little load as possible on the of­
fices the early signs are not in­
viting. Fischer feels that, at the
moment, no one knows what is
happening. He also thinks the
government might come up
with a simplified plan but at this
time he doubts it.
One main concern is that
the federal government is using
the financial aid offices as a tool
to single out the non-registered
students. If the government is
going to try to single out non­
registrants, then they should do
it through the courts in a legal
manner.
One other problem that
arises is the verification of the
student’s registration. The bill
does not state how a student is
supposed to prove he is
registered. It also fails to state
how the financial aid offices are
suppose to confirm the registra­
tion. One way that they can
verify this is to have the student
sign a document saying that
he is registered. This plan
has a flaw when you consider
that the non-registered
students failed to cooperate
with federal draft laws in the
first place. Who is going to pre­
vent them from lying on an af­
fidavit? The only way that is
foolproof is to have the Depart­
ment of Education do a com­
puter check with the Selective
Service and compare with the
financial aid records which will
cause confusion in the financial
aid offices.
The bill also discriminates.
It singles out males and goes on
to single out males attending
college. Furthermore, it
decreases the group to males
attending college and applying
for financial aid. In other
words, it affects low-income
students.
“It is at the expense of a
group of people who do not
deserve to be singled out any
more than any other grou’«-”
Fischer said.
The only reason the
government has singled out
this group, Fischer feels, is
because it is easy. He said that
this is one of the few areas over
which the government has
authority.
Whether or not their
authority is enough reason to
enforce the draft in this manner
remains to be debated. The bill
will not only single out a minute
group, but it will also cause
confusion for a lot of people in
financial aid offices nationally.
I am 18 and registered. 1
do not work in a financial aid
office, but I agree, it will be a
nightmare.
Dialogue
Anger, embarrassment assail Nastari
To the Editor:
I’m writing this letter in
hope that I might get the atten­
tion of a particular group of
students. The type of student
Fm referring to can be found in
the Community Center Mall
eight days a week (or so it
seems). I realize that probably
30 percent of them are sincere,
polite individuals. The other 70
percent, I believe, are majoring
in MTV-101.
It isn’t anybody’s business
how these students (adults?)
waste their time, and they will
let you know it too. The prime
example (fiasco) I must point to
was the October 18th Can­
didates Fair in the Community
Center Mall. The (your) stu­
dent government sponsored
this event as a service to
students or anyone who was
interested. We did not try to
force anyone to listen, in fact, it
would have been nice if people
would have just left if they were
bored.
The list of speakers includ­
ed: John Heubusch (speaking
on behalf of Congressman
Denny Smith), Senator Ruth
McFarland, State Represen­
tative Joyce Cohn, and Dr.
Andy Moschogianis (Orego­
nians for Clean Air). These
people took time out of their
busy schedules to meet with
Clackamas’ students (probably
for the last time).
I could not bring myself to
believe that anyone could be so
rude to our public servants that
mean so much to all of us.
Students (like myself) often
wonder why they don’t have
the representation they need.
The answer is simple; most
students aren’t willing to listen,
or shut-up so others can.
I was also distressed to see
that the newspaper media were
there to write all of this down. I
don’t like to see this type of
abuse leveled at anyone, let
alone our state and national
representatives. I apologize to
the few people who wanted to
listen but were unable to do so.
P.S.: If I get a response from
this group, then this letter has
served its purpose.
Sincerely,
Paul Nastari
President
ASGCCC
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