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 -~k - - - - INU--- - ~- - - Nr6r 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.