University Dally Kansan, February 18, 1985
Page 4
OPINION
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
The University Daily Kananua - USPS 660-6400 is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Staffer Flint Hall. Lawn, Kananua 660-6400 daily during the regular school year and Wednesday and Friday during the summer session, excluding Saturday, Sunday, holidays and final periods. Second class postage paid at Lawn, Kananua 660-6400 Submissions by mail are $15 for six months or $4 a year in Douglas County and $18 for six months or $3 a year in Douglas County. Mailmaster: KANANUA5STUDENT ADDRESS changes to the University Daily Kananua 118 Staffer Flint Hall. Lawn, Kananua 660-6400
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Sprigs of justice
Justice, a concept not strongly associated with communist bloc countries, prevailed last week in Poland.
Four secret policemen were found guilty of kidnapping and murdering pro-Solidarity priest, the Rev. Jerzy Popielukzo.
Capt. Grzegorz Piotrowski, the acknowledged leader of the Oct. 19 killing, and Col. Adam Pietruszka, convicted of inciting the slaying, each were sentenced to 25 years and stripped of their civil rights for 10 years after completing the sentences.
The other accomplices, Lts. Leszek Pekala and Waldenar Chmieliewski, received 15- and 14-year terms.
Granted, these aren't terribly stiff penalties for first degree murder. But in the past, the whole affair would have probably been swept under the carpet. The officers might even have been promoted.
Soon after the trial, the Polish government embarked on a major surge of the security police.
The fact that the 43-day trial was conducted openly before the free world is another victory.
The trial, convictions and resulting repercussions were a victory for humanity.
Still, the Polish government is not filled with saints. The officials had their motives for focusing so much attention on the trial and convictions.
A look at the reaction from TASS, the official Soviet news agency, sheds light on the trial.
The Soviets determined the verdicts were justified because the murder could have incited dangerous unrest in Poland.
"The killing of the clergyman was a political provocation," TASS reported. "Such acts are dangerous since these might lead only to violation of tranquility in Poland, to conflicts and clashes."
The Soviets approved of the sentences not for the intrinsic value of justice but because they kept the Poles from getting unruly. The communist bloc nations never have been long on tolerance for anti-party types.
Solidarity activists have consistently engaged in nonviolent protest. And they have been consistently met with water cannons and police brutality.
One week after the verdicts were handed down, secret police arrested seven Solidarity leaders, put them in cars and drove them to an unknown destination.
We salute the Polish government for upholding basic human rights freely before the world.
But we also recognize the underlying reasons.
The heat is on
The heat is on for some people and off for others at Wescoe Hall.
The heat in Wescoe sometimes comes when it is least desired — on 90 degree summer days, for example.
And other times, during a cold winter day or on a chilly afternoon, one feels that perhaps the air-conditioning system is finally up and running with full force.
But if all goes as planned, many of these problems should be solved by the fall.
Wescoe's heating and cooling system is being repaired. At last, people using the building should be able to work and study in comfortable temperatures.
The repair project was begun after faculty members and graduated students conducted an energy conservation study on the hall.
Their results showed that Wescoe and several other buildings had inefficient heating and cooling systems.
After the work at Wescoe is finished, Fraser Hall could be the next building to benefit from an improved temperature control system.
The repair project at Wescoe will cost about $192,000 money that will be well spent if it solves the temperature problems that have plagued occupants of the building for several years.
The changes at Wescoe should also reduce heating and air-conditioning costs in the building.
The students and faculty who conducted the study deserve a warm round of applause.
People who have put up with sweating and shivering in Wescoe Hall will at last know that it is possible to dress appropriately for the weather and not be fooled by the temperatures inside the building.
There are many more buildings on campus that could also benefit from changes in heating and air-conditioning systems.
Success at Wescoe and then Fraser could be the key to taking a closer look at the efficiency of heating and cooling systems across the University.
The University Daily Kansan invites individuals and groups to submit guest columns. Columns should be typewritten and double-spaced and should not exceed 625 words. They should include the writer's name, address and phone number. Columns can be mailed or brought to the Kansan office, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit or relect columns.
GUEST COLUMNS
Do most Americans know. who Edwin Meese is, or do they care that the next attorney general of the United States has been embroiled in a controversy over his ethical standards?
Observers in the political arena say probably not. But the issue of Meese's ethics may well come back to haunt him if, as expected, he is confirmed as the next attorney general.
The real question: Meese's integrity
"Mr. Meees's competence is not the issue," said Seen, Max Baucs, D-Mont., in opposing the nomination. "His credentials are adequate, and
JUDI HASSON United Press International
his experience in law enforcement and government is sufficient. The issue with Mr. Meese is integrity."
In three days of grueling Senate confirmation hearings and in the investigations of a special prosecutor, it was determined that Meese did nothing criminal in conducting his plea. He also asked Theodore who reviewed Meese's dealings concluded he had, at worst, an "appearance" problem.
But Meese got special treatment
'I feel that for more than 25 years, every act that I have done,every conscious effort that I have made has been to uphold the highest standard of any position in the public or in private life.'
attorney general nominee
Do most Americans know who Edwin Meese is, or do they care that the next attorney general of the United States has been embroiled in a controversy over his ethical standards?
request comes at a time when the Republican administration is trying to severely limit the award of legal fees.
when he failed to keep up mortgage payments on two, houses for many months and was not evicted. And the men who helped him out with his housing finance problems later got federal jobs.
Meese also got special treatment and was granted a jump in rank in the Army Reserve—a position that will give him a larger pension when he retires. He declined to give it up even though he acknowledged others skirted the rules in getting him the promotion.
In every case where ethics became an issue, Meese denied that he did anything wrong and insisted that he was an ethical man who could meet the highest standards of attorney general. He pointed to the special prosecutor's report that cleared him of any criminal wrongdoing.
Meese now is petitioning a special court for reimbursement of $720,924 in legal bills incurred in defending himself in a criminal investigation in which he was cleared by a special prosecutor.
A footnote in the law allowing the award of fees in certain cases was added two years ago with the support of Republicans. Ironically, Meese's
"I feel that for more than 25 years, every act that I have done, every conscious effort that I have made has been to uphold the highest standard of any position in the public or in private life." Meese told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
But Democrats on the committee remained skeptical, and most showed their doubt by voting against him. Only two Democrats joined the Republicans on the committee, who
unanimously supported Meese's nomination.
On a 12-6 vote, the Senate Judicial Committee sent the nomination to the full Senate, which will consider later this month whether to confirm the controversial White House aides and longtime friend of President Reagan.
Most Americans probably don't know what the attorney general does as head of the Justice Department or people who are called "people's lawyer in Washington."
Most people probably don't know that the next attorney general will have to decide whether to bring criminal charges against Teamsters President Jackie Presser, one of the highest ranked supporters, in a case involving no-show employees on a union payroll.
Most probably don't realize that the future of civil rights enforcement will be in the hands of the new attorney general or that carrying out controversial new criminal laws are in his domain.
And most are probably unaware the myriad of other legal issues, free school prayer to abortion to breakup up American Telephone & Telegraph Co., that fall into the atorne general's domain.
While there are unanswered questions about Edwin Meese and what his standards will be in the job perhaps Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., leading opponent of the nomination summed up it best.
"The attorney general, unlike anyone other than possibly a Supreme Court justice . . . (is) supposed to be . . . the beacon, the citadel of what young lawyers of the country should aspire to. And I would expect more."
In this case, strength not in numbers
Ordinarily I would not concern myself with what is on an editorial page, but an ethnocentric pomposity seems to cloud many people's understanding of international and human relations.
Like most Americans, I share in a love for freedom and hope in America's productive future, but I feel that an obsession with military might, and with the Strategic Defense or SDI, in particular, should not let set the kingdom to communist defence and world freedom.
Yes, our nation must be strong to maintain an effective international negotiating position, but strength must be combined with finesse and cannot simply be measured in numbers of missiles, superiority of armaments, and defense spending. American's political influence has traditionally been based on our economic rather than our military prowess.
During the Cold War era, America's status as the dominant world economic power allowed our nation to exert its military muscle abroad without much regard to both debilitating expense and to the economic and political freedoms of other people. Today, a glance at the record $123.3 billion U.S. foreign trade deficit must make us recom-
sider a "peace through strength" doctrine based on exorbitant military expenditures.
The trade deficit is largely linked to our $200 billion domestic deficit, which by pushing up interest rates, attracts foreign investments in the dollar, increasing the dollar's value and making it harder to sell American goods abroad. Simultaneously, American purchases of imports goes
ASHLER-TRAVIS CASSIDY
Guest Columnist
up, government borrowing rises, and long-term economic growth is undermined. At the current rate of foreign trade imbalance, the United States will be a net debtor motion by 1886, for the first time since the turn of the century. Furthermore, the huge deficits threaten to push the American economy into long-term inflationary trends.
program, an unfeasibility which is recongnized by the Soviet Union, we must carefully question the tremendous expense that our nation would incur with such a project.
Even at 90 percent effectiveness, an anti-ballistic missile system would still let through 100 of every 1,000 missiles. A back-up system of first-strike and second-strike nuclear armaments would still be necessary, adding to the net costs of future military expenditures.
To help remedy the situation, the deficit must be lowered, and it is not only farm subsidies, student aid and social welfare programs that should be victimized in the pursuit of fiscal austerity. Given the unfeasibility of the Strategic Defense Initiative
The Reagan Administration's SDI is an extension of the belief that the United States can outspend the Soviet Union in an arms race, although the Soviet Union has displayed a dislike for war. Over the times, surpass us in producing new forms of weaponry. By establishing a clear weapons superiority, the Administration feels that it can intimidate the Soviets into moderating their foreign and domestic policy behavior. However in our efforts to tax the capacity of the Soviet economy, we will seriously cripple our own. We must bear in mind that communism has expanded more by preying on economic instability than by using sheer military power.
A foreign policy based on military strength has reached a point of diminishing returns, succeeding more in eroding America's world political and economic status than in containing communism. The Soviet resolve to share equal power status with the United States has only been achieved through policies and Soviet setbacks, where they have occurred, have been more the result of their own blunders than of American power politics.
Some suggest that the Soviets fear the SDI program "because it renders all other first-strike and global domination intentions obsolete." A senior Soviet official and Americanologist, Geori Arbatov, recently commented that he doubted if ever Reagan thought that the SDI program was a resilient challenge, but that the United States would use the proposal as a bluff to force the Soviets into making concessions on existing armaments.
Should the Soviets call our bluff, I fear that subordinating our economic interests to protect our military egg would endanger the future progress of our nation in the international arena.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Ashler-Travel Cassidy is a graduate student in political science. He is from Ashland."