sie 3 ir41!zn DWaI! Eighty-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Jim and Pat: Political antithesis Friday, October 15, 1976 News Phone: 764-0552 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Politics infect selection of newest Nobel Prize winners By KEITH RICHBURG FOR FOLLOWERS OF the struggle of liberal versus conservative, New York is proving to be the cru- cial battleground. Vying for one of the state's Senate seats there is a moderate to liberal Democrat, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and there is the incumbent, James Buckley, who makes Ronald Reagan look like a Mc- Governite. Buckley, as expected due to the inherent advantage of incumbency, is starting out ahead, but a close race is expected. "Pat" Moynihan is the battered and bruised survi- vor of a rough and tumble primary. You see, every time a Senate seat comes up for election in New York, IN THE FIRST day of Nobel Prize awards, the United States made a clear sweep, receiving the prizes for both economics and medicine. The recipients were Dr. Baruch S. Blum- berg and Dr. D. Carleton Gajdusek, and Milton Friedman, respectively. We congratulate the three recipi- ents for their noteworthy achieve- ments, and are thankful for a little extra salve to apply to our national pride. However, the tumultuous con- troversy involved in Milton Fried- man's award reflect the central prob- lem presently infecting the Nobel awards: politics. We shall reserve judgment here on the economics of Professor Fried- man which have been the object of much recent controversy and which probably rankle a good part of the Economics Department here at the University; that is not the object of our concern. What irks us is the hit- and-miss selection of Nobel Prize candidates and recipients that has become apparent over recent years. Normally the process of granting a Nobel is a mere formality; how- ever, the selection of Mr. Friedman took a full two hours of political wrangling and co troversy. Granted, the eminent economist and author has the gifts of noteworthy intellect and high principles. However, his ac- tivities in conservative politics and journalism (he is a regular column- ist for Newsweek) apparently irked some of the members of the Nobel committee. Thus the judges engaged in the unprecedented and heated de- bate. Friedman himself realized that the award was less than scholarly. "I would not myself choose the partic- ular seven people who make these awards as the jury to which I would want to submit my scientific work," he commented. Rather, he preferred that his work be judged by "differ- ent people from all over the world." The dean of the Chicago economics school of thought has put the Nobel prizes in their proper perspective. Politics is involved in the awards all too often. Regardless of his views on politics a scientist, statesman, or author should be judged entirely on the merits of his work in the partic- ular field in which he is a candi- date for an award. We do not argue with the selec- tion of the influential economist as fitting for the Nobel Prize for eco- nomics. We do object to the unschol- arly process of that selection. It be- trays the will of Alfred Nobel and the trust put in the committee by that will's trustees and the Swedish Cenral Bank, which set up the eco- nomics award in 1968. It also makes the award less one of meritorious achievement and more one of politi- cal popularity. With such a trend, the value of the Nobel Prizes can only decrease. Before long, the major issue in the selection proceedings may become one's articles or col- umns in Newsweek. Perhaus the Swedish Royal Acad- emv of Sciences should take the hint of Mr. Friedman and reform the No- bel Prize committees to reresent a concensus of world academic opinion. Certainly an international prize should have international input. TODAY'S STAFF: News: Elaine Fletcher, Robb Holmes, Jav Levin, Rob Meachum, Karen Schulkins, Liz Slowik, Bill Turque. Editorial Pae: Michael Beckman, Steve Kursman, Rob Meachum, Jon Pansius, Keith Richburg, Tom Stevens. Arts Page: Lois Josimovich, Karen Paul. Photo Technician: Scott Eccker. As U.N. Ambassador, "Pat" is famous for his vigor- ous defense of Israel against the Arab states, which would account for his heavy Jewish vote block. Liber- als are suspicious of him, however, because of his close affiliations with Nixon-Ford, and he is not liked by Blacks for his proposal to Mr. Nixon that the Govern- ment institute a policy of "benign neglect" in race relations. The theory itself was sound-that is, leave Blacks and minorities alone instead of forced integra- tion - but Moynihan's poor choice of wording - "benign neglect" - has turned the Black voters off to his candidacy. ... And in this corner, we have James Buckley. First of all, let it be clarified that Mr. Buckley's distorted sense of reality is not entirely his own fault .-he comes from a family of conservatives who are all demented. Jim Buckley's infamous brother Bill is called the rapier of the right, and the two Buciley sisters oncetstarted a movement to drive liberals and "reds" off the campus of a woman's college. One of the sisters assaulted a member of a women's lib group for "insulting God and His mother." ONCE IT IS established that Jim Buckley's con- servatism is not entirely his own fault, it must also be clarified that he won his U. S. Senate seat in a fluke. The Senator ran on the "Conservative Party" ticket, and the Republican party was too divided over its own candidate, Charles Goodell, to pay him much attention. Buckley is listed in the Congressional Direc- tory as a "Conservative-Republican," as he allowed the Republican Party in New York to absorb the Con- servative Party after his election (Or as Jimmy says, the Conservative Party offered the New York Republi- can Party a chance to survive!). The relationship be- tween Buckley and Senator Jacob Javitz is cool at best. Javitz even opposed allowing Jimmy into the Republican Party, saying that he had spent years trying to make the party more progressive, and Buck- ley was too much of a reactionary-extremist. Now that that is out of the way, a little about Jim Buckley himself. Basically, the man is sick in his con- servatism. (His campaign manager was Barry Gold- water's campaign manager in 1964, which should tell something in itself.) During his successful fluke of a campaign, Jimmy appealed to the middle-class Whites of Forest Hills by promising that there would be no public housing for middle class Blacks. He was staunchly against gun control and abortion, and ad- vocated a "get tough" policy on crime and against foreign countries that shipped narcotics into the United States. In the Senate, Buckley continued along the same lines of twisted thinking and advocated a more vigor- ous prosecution of Vietnam, opposed the admission of China to the U.N., and proposed to cut off all foreign aid to any country that was a supplier of narcotics, like France and Turkey. Jimmy also adheres to the mandatory conservative mandate to stop "federal meddling in our lives." It's strange how a man who wants to stop federal meddling in our lives could support federal laws pro- hibiting abortion. Charles Lam Markmann, author of the book The Buckleys: A Family Examined, quotes Charles Good- ell (whom Buckley beat for Senate) as saying "If Jim Buckley were President of the United States for a year or two and carried through his basic philosophy . . . it would reverse the trend to conservatism or de- stroy this country in very fast order." hANIEL MOYNIHAN SAYS that his opponent "never got over the horror of the New Deal." Normal people tend to laugh off James Buckley, while some liberals think that once a conservative is elected, the people will see for themselves how de- mented thir philosophy really it. That is, it is believed that the conservative will destroy himself. Charles Markmann in his book, however, cautions Jintes Buckley Daniel Moynihan Democrats opting for it have a tendency to end up destroying their party in the primaries so that the pri- mary winner has no chance in November. It happened in 1968, when Jacob Javitz was elected for the Repub- licans, and it happened in 1970 to Buckley's fortune. At any rate, Moynihan won by a scant 1 per cent of the vote over five contenders, which is hardly a vast majority. Moynihan did well in the primary with the Jews and Catholics, and he captured the conservative dem- ocratic and the while middle-class vote. His closest rival, Representative Bella Abzug (known for her char- acteristic floppy hats) crushed Pat with the liberal Democrats, and left him only eight per cent of the Black vote. And all through the primary campaign, Bella painted Moynihan a "Nixonite in Democratic clothing," referring to Moynihan's post as an advisor to Nixon and United Nations Ambassador under Ford. DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN'S career is in- deed wide and varied, and he has combined intellect with public service like naught since Adlai Stevenson. He is the author of a book and co-author of another. He is a Harvard Professor when he is not campaigning, he was White House advisor to Nixon and, later, am- baddasor to India. Keith Richburg is a member of the Editorial Page staff. against this attitude, and warns his readers to take this extremist nut very seriously. "Neither Nazism or Facism fell for internal reasons. . . . There, is no reason to suppose that conservatism or reactionism necessarily implies its own suicide, and that is pre- cisely why the Buckleys, who are its extremely talent- ed and attractive leaders, must be taken with utmost seriousness." ... Look how close Ronald Reagan came to being the Republican nominee for the Presidency of the United States . . CHARLES GOODELL CALLED Jimmy Buckley's philosophies nonsense, but a "very persuasive-sound- ing form of nonsense." The voters of New York clearly have a choice. Jim Buckley is trying to paint his opponent, Pat May- nihan, a "liberal" who is out of Ystep with the voters. Moynihan, who gladly accepts the role, is painting Buckley as an extremist, elitist reactionary basket case, and all the while, Pat is attempting to reach across the political spectrum and scoop up the mod- erates who are afraid of reelecting James Buckley. (As a freshman Senator, he wasn't largely a real ef- fect. ) Both men are intelligent, witty, and very literary. In a campaign that will largely consist of light humor and multi-syllable words, with Daniel Patrick Moyni- han in his polka-dot bow tie and James Buckley with his crew cut, the voters of New York will clearly have a choice for a change. Milton Friedman Letters: Pro and Con Business Staff Beth Friedman ............... Business Manager Deborah Dreyfuss .......... Operations Manager Kathleen Muihern ... Assistant Adv. Coordinator Don Simpson . . ................ Display Manager David Harlan............... Finance Manager Dan Blugerman ................. Sales Manager Pete Peterson.. Advertising Coordinator Cassie St. Clair ............ Circulation Manager Beth Stratford.............Circulation Director Photography Staff Pauline Lubens............ Chief Photographer Brad Benjamin ........... .Staff Photographer Alan Bilinsky.....Staff Photographer Scott Eccker............... Staff Photographer. Andy Freeberg..............Staff Photographer Christina Schneider..........Staff Photographer on Editorial S# Rub Meachium Taff To The Daily: ONCE AGAIN the irresponsi- ble editors of a newspaper have tried to mislead the public. I refer to the unsigned editorial of The Michigan Daily. These are usually written by "ideal- ists" who have no responsibility to any one or any thing. The September 16 editorial on nonreturnable containers (not throwaways) is, to say the least, disturbing. First of all, a little research on their part would tell them that there are very stringent laws against false ad- vertising by licensed compan- ies so the cost figures being released by soft drink and beer companies are fact. Do you ex- pect the companies and stores to absorb the extra cost of handling? Not on your life - the consumer will pay it. That includes you, Mr. and Ms. Stu- dent. You say that this law would clean up litter, but in the same breath you say that kids can make extra money picking up bottles. You talk about.ynatural re- sources and energy. It is ob- vious that it is only talk be- cause you don't mention an in- crease in the use of the scarc- est resource on earth-oil. The increase in oil will be used for the extra trucking, plus heat- . Bill Turque Co-Editors-in-Chief Jeff Ristine..........Managing Editor Tim Schick.................Executive Editor Stephen Hersh...............Magazine Editor Rob Meachzum .............. Editorial Director Lois Josimouvich. Arts Editor STAFF WRITERS: Susan Ades, Susan Barry, Dana Baumann, Michael Beckman, Philip Bo- kovoy, Jodi Dimick, Chris Dyhdale, Elaine Fletcher, Larry Friske, Debra Gale, Tom Go- dell, Eric Gressman, Kurt Harju, Char Heeg, James Hynes, Michael Jones, Lani Jordan, Lois Josimovich, Joanne Kaufman, David Keeps, Steve Kursman, Jay Levin, Ann Marie Lipinski, George Lobsena, Pauline Lubens, Stu CcConnell, Jennifer Miller, Michael Norton, Jon Pansius, Ken Parsigian, Karen Paul, Stephen Pickover, Christopher Potter, Don Rose, Lucy Saunders, Annemarie Schiavi, Kar- en Schulkins, Jeffrey Selbst, Jim Shahin, Rick Noble, Tom Stevens, Jim Stimson, David Strauss, Mike Taylor, Jim Tobin, Loran Walker, Laurie Young, Barbara Zahs. ing of steam or water to clean returnables. What about cleanliness? A re- turnable bottle may be handled as many as 14 times. In addi- tion, it may come in contact with rodents, lice, roaches, etc. A nonreturnable is seldom, if ever, touched by anything but a machine. Oregon-a costly failure. The documented facts are avail- able. For the amount of mon- ey spent for clean up, it should be clean. If you want to com- pare it with Michigan, why don't you compare the arrest and conviction rate for litter viola- tors. There are state police rec- ords; why don't you print them? As far as Oregon's economy not suffering is concerned, why don't you tell the people who lost their jobs at the Portland Owens-Illinois glass plant there. There never was a beverage can plant in Oregon, but the American Can plant in Wash- ing closed on September 3, 1976. What about the hundreds of thousands of out-of-state tour- ists who come to Michigan each year? Do you expect them to wait until they get to Michigan so they can pay the higher prices for beer and soft drinks, and then stand in that return line to get their money back? I think they will buy out of state where they can have a choice of container at a cheap- er rate. Because they can't turn them in for deposit, they'll de- posit them wherever they can. Because I am the father of five children, I resent being penalized at the market be- cause some slob violates the law by littering. Because I work at a glass factory, I again re- sent being penalized by losing my job. We all hate litter and we all agree that we must recycle our waste. I mean total waste, not just a small percentage. I would suggest that the students who wrote the editorial use the education they are getting (which is the state's largest ex- pense) and help develop a total solid waste system. I'm not afraid to sign my name. Gary D. Wilmore Charlotte, Michigan October 11 Editor's reply: In the case of the highly vola- tile issue of "throwaway" bot- tles, it was felt a reply would be most in order to help clarify the chargesrmade in Mr. Wil- more's letter. 1. We call them throwaways because most people throw them away. That's simply being real- istic and unambiguous. 2. Yes, the law will clean up a lot of litter - and Oregon's bottle bill isa resounding suc- cess - but some will still throw deposit bottles along the road and children can then pick them up to earn pocket change. 3. We are aware that there exists strong laws against false advertising, but experience has taught us that those laws mean little and are subject to easy manipulation by corporations. 4. Several Michigan state ag- encies have predicted a con- servative 4,000 extra jobs if the bill passes. We think Michigan state agencies are a whole lot more unbiased than the Com- mittee Against Forced Deposits, a shabby front for the soda and beer industry. 5. The savings in resources by using returnables will prob- ably more than enough make up for the extra oil used to power cleaning plants for the bottles. We should have been using solar energy by now, but that has been suppressed and that's a completely different subject. Also, cleaning facilities use extremely hot, high - pressure water to cleanse bottles. "Ro- dents, lice and roaches" are of Perspective by W. L. SCHELLER By W.L. SCHELLER EARLY IN the morning a group of men meet in a predetermined E location. They have their weapons ready and proceed to their target. After a fexi moments of violence they've reached their goal. Sometimes it is kidnapping a diplomat, holding hostages for political ransom or otherwise it is simply murdering an adver- sary. This scene could take place just about anywhere: Munich, Amsterdam, Athen's airport, Rome Ma'alot, or Los Angeles. Names have become familiar too: Al Fatah, Black September, the Japanese Red Army, the Symbionese Liberation Army and others. What links all these groups together? It is what we have come to know as terrorism. No matter how terrorists attempt to legitimize their actions, they are extremist groups that try to force their will on the major- ity of people. Terrorism is a crime not only against a nation or a group, but against all of humanity that believes in settling dis- putes by negotiations rather than conflict. The increasing power of terrorists is also alarming. They are divising new ways to infil- trate areas sand slip by security at airports or other public facili- ties. Only recently have we had to face what is possibly the most alarming possibility; that terrorists could get hold of nu- clear weapons. Terrorism has been the topic of much debate at the United Nations, unfortunately with almost no concrete results. What is even worse is that Yasir Arafat's Palestinian Liberation Organ- ization, probably the world's largest terrorist organization, has been recognized as the only legitimate spokesman for the Pales- tinian people. Israel was the first to act against terrorism by declaring that they would not bargain with terrorists. This policy was widened this year by the raid on Entebbe airport in Uganda. The Nether- lands have also refused to deal with terrorists, as in the siege of a Dutch train last year. The growing threat as well as the continuing damage, both human as well as property, caused by terrorism mandate that positive action be taken internationally, if not unilaterally on the terrorist problem. On the international, as well as the national level, we need a working definition of "terrorist" and "terrorist act." It should also be a widely held policy not to bargain with terrorists or give them safe passage. Finally, apprehended terrorist should receive a fair trial and if convicted be put to death as quickly as is legally little consequence except but to turn the public off to the re- turnables. It is doubtful that any of these creatures come in con- tact with the bottles. If any do, they would be ants, and ants are nutritious, if you want to look at it that way. 6. Other state surveys indicate that if prices do change on bev- erages, they may go down a few cents. We need the bottle bill. It is at least a step in the right di- rection and we regret that the industry has seen so vital the protection of its vested interests. If the bottle bill represents "idealism," then that's what we need more of. 5 ARTED IT . w / " . f- ; i d t V Contact your reps Sen. Phillip Hart (Dem.), 253 Russell Bldg., Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. 20515. Sen. Robert Griffin (Rep.), 353 Russell Bldg., Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. 20515. L.A 7 1I'"- F / v- 'ill 0