UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorials
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Kansan editorial staff. Signed columns represent the views of the editors.
September 6.1979
Draft protests return
America's moviemakers have spent millions of dollars trying to pluck us out of the dolphins of the 1970s and drop us into the supposedly carefree world of the high school and college students of a decade ago.
But those millions haven't gone half as far as a simple event scheduled this Saturday on the steps of the Kansas State Building, where life really was like in three days.
On Saturday, a group of anti-draft protesters will take up positions on the Capitol's steps to demonstrate against the military draft and registration bills in the U.S. Congress. That demonstration is one of many planned nationwide to mark the first day of National Anti-Draft Week Sept. 8-15.
The protesters are justly concerned with a bill being sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Robert Byrd, D-WA, and Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., which would require all males between the ages of 20 and 30 to register for the draft in 1980.
The protesters are justly concerned about the implications of a military appropriations bill now in the House, and that it would set aside money to pay for registration.
Those bills return today's college students to the stark realities of the 1980s and serve as a notice that we soon be a very real part of our lives.
The idea that American youth might once again be issued draft cards was enough of a possibility to some Kansas to cause formation of the Kansas Anti-Draft Organization this summer, and it will protest Saturday in Topeka.
The Kansas Anti-Draft Organization has been recognized and endorsed by the American Civil Liberties Union chapter in Topeka. They also are working to establish a Lawrence law school chapter at the University and get support from the Associated Students of Kansas, a student lobbying group.
The members of that organization already have achieved one goal. Just by forming their organization, they have reminded us of the history of the 1960s and warned us of the danger of reeating it.
At a time when we are being swamped by 1960s hype, a little reminder of that fact is welcomed and supported.
Nuclear waste poses serious future threat
Because of a growing U.S. energy crisis, the federal government has moved more and more to address energy problems. But negative public sentiment and the Three Mile Island incident have blackened one of nuclear weapons by reducing their continues to be knocked about by protesters.
The public is afraid that what almost happened at Three Mile Island very easily could become reality. The thought of a "China Syndrome" is mind-boggling and its possibilities more real after Three Mile Island. But nuclear scientists think that by improving the safety of power planters, these possibilities will be only themes for future science fiction books.
Nuclear power may be the only way the United States can survive the energy crisis because alternative forms of energy are much more productive, the nuclear plants in use produce about 12 percent of the nation's electricity and save the United States from importing more oil for our needs.
Nuclear waste disposal problems pose just as serious a threat to mankind as the possibility of a core meltdown—a frightening scenario that is too often left unconsidered.
But while the proponents and opponents of nuclear power, they often about the nuclear power, they often about the power most important issue of nuclear energy—what to do with the high radioactive toxic waste.
Ever since the first experiments with nuclear power during World War II, government and industry have failed to deal with the nuclear waste problem.
Scientists continue to experiment with ways to store the radioactive debris as it builds up in temporary depositories.
More than 3,000 metric tons of radioactive waste from nuclear power plants and about 74 million gallons of waste from nuclear plants are being stored in temporary deposits.
Government officials appear to be sitting in the room that would be important for them to impact thousand of future generations, since radioactive waste can remain highly toxic for thousands of years.
There still are many questions that need to be answered, such as where the waste will be stored, how much it will cost to establish a side disposal program and who will pay
John COLUMNIST fischer
And there is little doubt that politics and
Several states are being used as dumping grounds for radioactive waste, including the Rio Grande Valley, Lima, and government officials in those states, becoming more concerned about the dump. Carolina has refused to have his state accept the waste from the Mile Island nuclear site.
aucereuratic red tape will enter into the decision-making when the government does start to act on this problem, causing delays and other problems.
And the residents who are living in states that are being used as repositories are concerned, too. In Washington, where most of them were born, a poll was taken of residents and about 43 percent of the respondents said they did not want nuclear waste to be stored in their homes.
Iran deserves no U.S. weapon aid
Another concern for state officials, besides dump sites and public opinion, is that a small number of people will walk through their states to a deposit site. Many officials are wary that the danger of humping into an accident or a terrorist attack while nuclear waste was being transported near a dump site.
And that threat is brought close to home with talk of the possibility of waste material from Three Mile Island being transported in an unconventional way on its way to a dump site in Washington. If a terrorist group were to capture a truckload of debris near Kansas City, it could mark the destiny of thousands of people and cause much harm to the truck and release the deadly radiation.
The question of nuclear waste disposal is serious and one that needs the immediate attention of the public. It has been ignored by the government, and the American public, for far too long. It is something that needs to be conceived in any other nuclear programs are set forth.
The story that continues to unfold in Iran is perplexing to those of us who have tried to maintain an objective view on the rise of the Islamic State. The Patience is beginning to wear thin, however.
This is an alarming thought, but some businesses happen. There are currently about 300 million made each year, and it is estimated that by 1985 the shipments will increase to more than
The downfall of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, a Western supporter and ally of the Qajar dynasty, came because of the declared animosity that the revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, endured.
But it is hard to argue with the support that Khomein carried in the early part of his reign. He went from exile from the mobs who hung his picture in the streets of Tehran and shouted for the death of the shah showed that he had become a man of rebellion and Khomein brought back to his homeland.
david
Account after account from Iran has portedKhomeneh as a dictator—in effect, just another shah, but worse. He has been supported by the leaders of the countrymen who initially supported him, as one who is more concerned about the welfare of his government than he is against it.
Khomeini has been a bitter leader. several humiliated people have been executed because of their refusal to attend. Those who were executed were condemned even before their mock trials in the 1970s.
But it is interesting to note that the
COLUMNIST preston
But enough is enough.
The very organization of the revolutionary government is confusing. It is confusing because a majority of Iranians had supposed that Khominei's return would be a political one, not a political one. Before he returned to Iran, Khominei spoke of himself as the spiritual leader who would restore adherence to strict Islamic traditions. The shah, Khominei said, was selling out the Moslems to Western technological and social advancement.
executions did not stop there. In the middle of the summer, at least six persons who were not at all linked to the shah were counter-revolutionaries who allegedly were "counter-revolutionaries."
Khomenie, clinging desperately to his ever-eroding base of support, has resorted to the oppressive measures that were taken by the former regime. The freedom of Khomenie has been curtailed to the shah has been curtailed for the sake of the security of his own government.
The Ayatolah spoke of a new government that he would help set up, and observers assumed that Khomeini then would retire to
the holy city of Qum and become the state's religious leader. But this has not occurred; nor is it likely it will ever.
Instead, Khomeini has kept a firm grip on the government, setting up his own komitets, which are committee of his own men that have easily bypassed the political system in their region. Bazargan Bazargan. The problem is simple. The church is controlling the state, and although most Iranians loved Khominei as the religious leader who would restore Islamic rule, they have seen nothing but suppression and corruption in his political system.
The country is still in a state of despair. Presently there are 3.5 million unemployed women and 400,000 men. The economy remain visible, but production in nearly every other phase of the economy is under threat, especially for women, businessmen and other Mosaic seects challenge the way Khomeini is run.
Against this background, Koneimil last week demonstrated the consumate failure of a coalition of foreign forgetters that he had banned from Iran a large number of U.S. and Western allies. The United States and had inadvised in daily degradation of this country and its involvement in foreign af-
And despite his criticism of the shah for buving arms from the United States to put
The uprising that he wants to put down is one of the most violent incidents in western Iran to establish an autonomous nation. It is a noble task that was first undertaken several centuries ago by the Kurds under Shah Mozambique, and now a weakness of the Iranian military to occupy towns in the region, but they have thus far been under control.
down rebel uprisings, Khomeini now wants the United States to supply him with arms as he seeks to protect his government.
Khomenei, however, is not confident of his own power and wants weapons from his self-reliance. He has requested to the State Department should go unheeded. The weapons the government had in its possession and the two governments had since the early '60s and on the amount of oil we could afford.
Perhaps this rationale seems dubious, but there is no rationale for giving supplies to a hypocritical dictator who has cut our oil supply. The US government's previous involvement in Iraq affairs
Unless Kohmeini releases his strong grip on the political affairs of his country and allows more freedom for Bazargan and the other government leaders, I will remain crippled and disordered. The United States should倚到 the Ayatollah's pleas for help from the U.S., such a cry would help further the bloodbath started by the new dictator in Iran.
Profits of big oil companies assailed
To the Editor:
I can't imagine why, but it always irks me to read reactive conservation and laissez faire economics espoused by a writer on the staff of a modern, enlightened college university. I don't think Preston's recent column concerning big oil companies and the windfall profits tax.
This tax, which just might provide some relief to the poor and needy, search and development, worries Mr. Presston because it "smacks of socialism." Does Presston realize that socialism that socializes income into an integral part of American life since the passage of the Federal Income Tax Act and Roosevelt's
Does Mr. Preston realize that he participates in socialism every time he attends an event, or does he participate in educational institution, every time he drives on state-supported (socialist) highways, every time he beats off his (socialist) intolerance and is angry with America almost as long as it has been in Russia, and anyone who was not still living in the McCarthy era would have realized that Mr. Preston
Parking service fines a "blessing"
As for the big oil companies, they've been reaping windfall profits for years now at the expense of American consumers and tax.
The fall semester at the University of Kansas is two weeks ahead of it, and students are required to return our classes on end of a long day of classes to find the windshield decorated with an imposing tan coat.
The immediate reaction to receiving one of these calling cards from KU Parking Services is to decry with vulgar epithets the work of these held civil servants.
Ves, too long have the faceless men and women of the KU Parking Services, their management is unrecognized. It is good to know that when we violate one of the halowed parking spaces, they will be charged.
But truly, rather than be angry, we should be thankful. Thankful that the University, the finest educational institution in the world, has provided our service to teach our academic caliber.
John COLUMNIST logan
And isn't it good to know that the parking themselves are so fast, for all, isn't it? No, they aren't. The wrong area must pay a minimum fine of $75, while aliens and guests who park in the wrong section will get laughed it off? Never mind that the student may have only $4 in his bank account, while you have $20.
persons is right there to hand out the punishment we so justly deserve.
And isn't it good to know that a student must pay up within 10 days or have his fine increased by 167 percent? And if he doesn't
And aren't they privileged to have an outstanding parking ticket appeals court manned by KU's junior legal eagles? They are so good that they made people wait months to see them. Students who complain about the stakes in a little game between junior lawyers can only be called troublemakers for trying touck such a fine system.
(or can’t) pay, then it isn’t fitting that he should not be allowed to re-enroll? This should teach us to pay our debts on time. Never mind that University faculty and staff members owe more than $30,000 in fines, some more than two years overdue.
Yes, we are fortunate to have such a great parking enforcement system at KU. So the next time you go to your car and find that it is not on the road, be angry. Remember, this is good for you.
UNIVERSITY DAILY letters KANSAN
Howard Paster, whom I met in Washington, D.C., in 1976, is the chief legislative aide to Sen. Birch Bayliss of Indiana, who has for many years been a Republican legislator, my Professor. Mr. Paster does not think the U.S. government and people have been unairy to the big oil companies. Rather, it's the reverse that Paster believes. And Paster believes that corporate national interests into oil company practices.
Allow me to quote a few things Paster said on April 1, 1976;
payers. The oil companies have put the squeeze on us, quite systematically, quite intentionally.
"Energy is as essential to the well-being of the human race, right now, as air and water. And it was as if I had to tolerate an environment controlled by a small number of companies."
"It's as if to say the auto companies owned the iron ore and the steel mills from which the fenders came, and therefore could afford them. You would have wanted for their iron ore, make whatever money they wanted in the steel mills, charge themselves whatever they wanted for the finished steel and then turn around to buy the car, price whatever they chose to bill you."
This anatology accurately describes the "vertical integration," as Paster calls it, that allows the oil companies to get away with robber baron profits. But Paster has
"During the spring of 1975, refineries operated at 85 percent of capacity, below their standard 92 percent average. As a result, there were about 30 million barrels of 1975 about a possible gasoline shortage. Then, the first week in July of 1975, the oil companies, using what was available to them under the prince-control system, laid down about a four-cent-per-bottle minimum gas pump. It was uniform; all the major companies did it, and they were able to make that price increase stick. By holding back on their own refinery operations, they created a supply-demand imbalance that prevented supply and demand forces from working."
Despite oil company denials, the same
tissue happened recently during the Iranian crisis. Oil problems were in the news and they had a feasible excuse. So the oil companies cut back gasoline production during a peak demand period (the summer vacation period) and they pressed again. And they got with it again.
So this year, Exon, Mobil and Standard are reporting 100 percent to 200 percent increases in profits over last year. And even if the company had 12 percent inflation, that's a hefty benefit.
Fact is, what we have is worse than an oil monopoly. We've got an oil oligopoly. Rather than just one company controlling oil supply and prices, we have a few companies that are just like us, controlling oil supply and prices, without the slighter hint of competition.
Mr. Preston is probably a firm believer in free enterprise, of which competition is a necessary ingredient, and yet he sees nothing wrong with the current state of affairs in the oil market. Mr. Preston should realize that the only way to bring free enterprise into the oil industry is to divest it or breakup, of the oil companies, as proposed by Sen. Birch Bayh.
Otherwise, in a few years a desperate government, prompted by a desperate public, will choose the path Mr. Presson seems to take. He will walk, and will nationalize the oil companies.
I don't advocate the nationalization of the oil companies, but unless diveshuttle happers are involved in such a situation them-or us situation with few choices: nationalization of the oil companies or national
Ronald Bain
Lawrnece senior
Energy proposals offer more harm than good To the Editor
Lynn Byczyski's column, "Drawbacks Limit Hope for Oil Shale," is timely but speaks to only one aspect of the energy related machinations occurring in the nautilus. This project, funded by $88 million in 10 years of the synthetic fuel project is to be allocated through an Energy
This corporation, as proposed, will be insulated from voter control and primarily dedicated to dubious high technology projects like oil shale.
Security Corporation and funded through the highly touted and yet-to-materialize windfall profits tax.
The twin to the corporation, and potentially more dangerous, is the Energy Mobilization Board. Composed of presidential appointees, the board will select energy projects and will have the power to wavily virtually any procedure or law in the project's path.
The result of this blantain subversion of process could be a project that would do more for the community than public health, a Three Mile Island façade of immense scale. The proposed board could waive clean air and water standards, abrogate strip mining laws and legal jurisdiction.
There is also the possibility that protection for national parks and wilderness areas would be lost (a geothermal plant in Yellowstone?). The Energy Mobilization Board has proposed a new environmental protection laws of the past decade without any public involvement.
The only way to refute the high-priced, oil company backed schemes to its urge our legislators to consider the environmental and societal consequences of these proposals. Our only letters can show that we are not willing to trade our environmental and societal contributions to a highly indebted solution to the energy crisis. This time we must be heard. Too much is at stake.
Chris Dippel
Chris Dipper Lawrence graduate student