Edited and managed by students at the
University of Michigan
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual
opinions of the author. This must be noted in all reprints.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1972 News Phone: 764-0552
Charges by Shriver,
Clark deserve reply
IN TWO RECENT events, the Nixon administration has
managed to speak in glib and unconvincing tones on
matters of utmost seriousness - matters of life and
death.
Ramsey Clark's trip to North Vietnam was an at-
tempt to answer some frightening questions about the
nature of American bombing.
"There has been massive inhumane bombing of
cities, villages, churches, schools, hospitals, dikes, sluices,
canals - the very water system which supports the cul-
ture and the life of this country," says Clark. "Whatever
the cause or purpose of that bombing, there can be no
possible justification in the eyes of common human
morality."
The response from Nixon campaign manager Clark
MacGregor: "It is a serious business when a McGovern
advisor and associate broadcasts enemy propaganda, in
attempts to undercut United States' efforts for a just
peace in Southeast Asia."
The fact that Clark was once the attorney general
did not seem to add any to his credibility in the eyes of
the government. Nor did his statement before the trip
that he would go with the "utmost impartiality" and try
to "find out all the facts that are right."
AND LAST WEEK Democratic vice presidential candi-
date R. Sargent Shriver raised frightening questions
about the administration's Vietnam peace efforts. In
spite of Shriver's strong backing from the former Paris
negotiating team of Averill Harriman and Cyrus Vance,
the government showed an alarming unwillingness to
discuss the facts of the matter.
According to Shriver, Harriman and Vance, the
facts show a "golden" peace opportunity was lost in the
early months of 1969 because the administration "took
as its first task the forging of a closer bond with Presi-
dent Thieu." Vance and Harriman say Nixon ignored a
signal from North Vietnam of "willingness to reduce
the level of violence by withdrawing almost 90 per cent
of its troops."
Secretary of -State William Rogers has branded
Shriver's charges as "political fantasy" and "bunk", but
has at no time stated that such a dramatic North Viet-
namese withdrawal did not occur.
And MacGregor responded, "American have not for-
gotten that Mr. Harriman and Mr. Vance managed to
negotiate the shape of the Paris table - and that is
about all."
HARRIMAN AND VANCE were in Paris for a few
months. During those months no American bombs
fell on North Vietnam. Nixon's various negotiators have
been in Paris for four years-long enough for their gov-
ernment to renew the bombing to a new and terrifying
level. And in that time, they have achieved nothing at
the peace table.
Hopefully, in this election year, Americans have not
forgotten those facts either.
-DAN BIDDLE
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Senate bans 'Saturday Night Special'
--News Item
U~ze o eeurscP46
INDIA, ISRAEL AND
THE BOMB
WASHINGTON- New evidence
has come to light that India and
Israel have made the scientific
breakthrough necesary to develop
nuclear weapons.
We first learned of this alarming
possibility in an intelligence re-
port which we saw a few weeks
ago. Although the report offers no
conclusive proof, it quotes reliable
sources who claim that Israel and
India have actually developed
atomic weapons.
We have now uncovered a new
document, prepared by an assoc-
iate group of the United Nations,
that tends to confirm the intelli-
gence report.
The U.N. report states that In-
dia has the material and scientific
expertise available to produce 19
atomic bombs and that Israel is
capable of producing eight.
One crucial step in making these
bombs is converting plutonium
found in nuclear power reactors
for use in atomic weapons. Ap-
parently, the conversion process is
no longer a scientific monopoly
among the five nuclear powers.
BOONDOGGLE CLOSES
DOWN
The biggest construction boon-
doggle in history has quietly closed
down in Vietnam.
Two construction firms, R a y-
mond International and Morrison-
Knudsen, started out in 1962 to
build airfields in South Vietnam.
This burgeoned into a construc-
tion program that transformed
sleepy villages into great a i r -
bases and seaports.
Mountains of lumber, steel, ce-
ment and machinery piled up fast-
er than the construction crews
could use the material. From these
dockside mountains, truckloads of
supplies frequently disappeared in
the night.
The loss from pilferage has been
estimated over $100 million. What
supplies weren't pilfered were of-
ten used to build fancy quarters
for company officials and officers'
clubs for the brass.
THE LOSSESdidn'tcome out
of the profits but were merely
charged to the taxpayers. F o r
the construction firms had a cost-
plus-fixed-fee contract.' This was
clearly the biggest windfall that
had ever blown their way.
In early 1965, two more firms,
Brown and Root and J. A. Jones,
were cut in for a share. Together,
they formed RMK-BRJ, which
signed contracts to complete his-
tory's largest construction job.
It is an interesting coincidence
that the Brown and Root firm,
whose owners helped finance the
political career of Lyndon B. John-
son, was dealt into the contract
after Johnson became president.
With the profits quaranteed un-
der the contract, the giant com-
bine never spared the taxpayers'
money. It went through nearly two
billion dollars in government green
like a cow through clover. Now,
the big construction boys are quiet-
ly packing their tools and going
home.,
THE DIRTY DOZEN
The environmentalists have all
but given up hope that they can
nake ecology a major issue in the
;presidential race this fall. So
they are concentrating on the elec-
tions in the House and Senate.
They have singled out 12 con-
gressmen dubbed the Dirty Doz-
en - for defeat. The number one
target of the environmental move-
ment is Wayne Aspinall, the chair-
man of the House Interior Com-
mittee.
At 76, Aspinall probably has
more influence that any man in
America overgovernment 1 a n d
policy. His critics charge that his
record is the dirtiest one in Con-
gress.
HE HAS opened wilderness areas
to mining operations. He has sup-
ported- an amendment that would
repeal the President's authority to
establish national monuments. He
has spoken out against establish-
ing a big redwoods national park.
Once, he even supported a dam
that would have backed water into
Grand Canyon National Park.
He devoutly believes that Amer-
ica should exploit 'its natural re-
sources rather than preserve them.
Aspinall boasts that he has. never
lost a committee bill on the House
floor. But he suffered a m o r a 1
setback this summer when the Col-
orado state Democratic party re-
fused to endorse him and instead
endorsed his opponent, law profes-
sor Alan Merson.
IT'S BUGGING GOP
The confident smiles around Re-
publican campaign headquarters
these days quickly turn to nervous
frowns at the mention of one sub-
ject: the bugging of the Demo-
cratic National Committee. No one
knows what turn the bizarre epi-
sode will take next, but the signs
always seem to point toward the
White House.
The most damaging disclosure so
far is that a $25,000 check, intend-
ed for President Nixon's re-election
campaign, somehow ended up in
the bank account of one of the
men arrested in the bugging inci-
dent. What's more, two officials of
the President's campaign organiza-
tion left suddenly after the FBI
began investigating.
Adding to the intrigue, a White
House consultant named Howard
Hunt was listed in the address
books of two of the men arrested
in the case. Hunt, meanwhile,
dropped out of sight when his name
became connected with the case.
Officials now are trying to play
down Hunt's White House connec-
nections but embarrassing details
keep popping up. I have learned,
for example, that Hunt and his
wife were present at a White
House soiree last year.
The bugging caper has not yet
exploded into a major, election-
year scandal. Butthe ingredients
are all there and they are making
the Republicans extremely nerv-
ous.
dlisa bled
Each year, UAC, either alone
or in a joint fund-raising venture
with various student organiza-
tions, sponsors dozens of rock con-
certs and other cultural events. By
sponsoring this talented company
in a local appearance, UAC could
simultaneously serve a number of
interests in the University com-
munity.
Theatregoers would be treated
to such fare as Dylan Thomas'
"Songs from Milkwood" per-
formed by an unusually talented
innovative troupe of young actors
and actresses, and come, away
with the double satisfaction of hav-
ing witnessed a fine piece of en-
tertainment and, at the same time,
gained a more profound under-
standing of their fellow man.
Proceeds from the performances
could be utilized by the Commit-
tee for Disabled Students to es-
tablish a much-needed campus of-
fice to provide essential services
for disabled students whom the
University, to the detriment of its
public image, has for too long ne-
glected.
To sum up, UAC sponsorship of
a local appearance by the National
Theatre of the Deaf would, in the
short run, result in a refreshingly
different exercise in human un-
derstanding and provide funds for
the long-range purpose of encour-
aging other able talented disabled
to come out of the back rooms and
into the world via the University.
Yvonne Duffy is a senior
majoring in English at the
University. She is a -member
of both SGC's Costmoittee for
Disabled Students and the
c ty's Committee on Problems
of the Hrndica bed.
Relating to the
By YVONNE DUFFY
RECENTLY ON the local public
(a misnomer since most of the
public never watches it) TV sta-
tion, I watched a performance of
the National Theatre of the Deaf.
The one-hour melange of' short
pieces interspersed with biogra-
phical sketches of each of the doz-
en or so performers was good the-
atre. Because most of the actors
and actresses are unable to com-
municate vocally, they h a v e
learned to utilize to the fullest
their eyes, facial expressions,
hand gestures, their whole bodies
to convey a message with all the
subtle nuances within the broad
spectrum of human emotions.
Their sign-language was so elo-
quent that the voice-over interpre-
tation soon became an irritating
intrusion into the delibate web of
communication between actors
and audience.
Dal ust ter .
The National Theatre of the
Deaf was formed in 1967, and was
the first resident company of the
Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in
Waterford, Connecticut. S i n c e
then, it has made ten national
tours and visited several countries
in Europe and the Middle East.
Not only does the company pro-
vide excellent theatrical enter-
tainment but it offers an all too
rare glimpse of the ways in
which the disabled and non-dis-
abled view of each other. In one
piece called "Sideshow," two
"normal" people were displayed
in cages as freaks brought back
at great expense from some
strange land where people were
limited to communicating through
their mouths and ears. As the
citizens of the deaf world stared
at these crippled captives, they
curiously fingered the artifacts of
this other world - a telephone,
earphones and a small box that
mysteriously caused the two
freaks to jerk and sway whenever
a switch on it was turned.
Like the black man who has so
recently begun to exist in the eyes
of the white man, the handicap-
ped suffer because the social con-
sciousness of most people is not
developed sufficiently to allow
them to imagine what someone of
another social group really feels.
How many disabled people can you
say 'that you know well enough to
understand their hopes and fears,
their desires and ambitions?
Due to a curious combination
of architectural barriers, lack of
convenient housing, a suspicious
admissions policy and consider-
able administrative apathy about
same, there are few students with
any type of visible disability on
campus. So unless there's a han-
dicap-in-residence back in your
old hometown your chances of be-
coming aware of us either as a
group or as living, breathing in-
dividuals are quite slim.
The obvious way to change this
situation is to increase the oppor-
tunities for contact between the
disabled and non-disabled. This
was begun last winter when, at
the invitation of SGC's Committee
for Disabled Students, a number
of Regents and administrators ex-
perienced for a day what it is like
to work from a wheelchair. An-
other significant step could be
made this year by bringing the
National Theatre of the -Deaf to
Ann Arbor for one or more per-
formances.