a
Page 4-Friday, March 14, 1980-The Michigan Daily
Nine. - Years o f Ediforial FreedIoml
Why today's class boycott is
necessary to preserve peace
Vol. XC, No. 128
News Phone: 764-0552
a
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Of windfalls and taxes
AH, WHAT a windfall! The benevo-
lent House of Representatives
watts to give us poor, beleaguered
Ariericans a long-awaited tax break,
at'the expense of those big, bad oil
companies.
It's such an ideally simple solution.
The windfall profits tax on oil com-
pAnies, approved yesterday by the
House, will bring in about $227.7 billion
over the next ten years. On Wed-
nes ay, the House decided to use fully
60' per cent of this income for income
tak reductions, Two major complaints
of: the American public - high taxes.
and excessive oil company profits -
have therefore been addressed by the
House, which comes out sweet-
smelling - and vote-getting.
'n fact, this tax rebate plan is a win-
dfull for American taxpayers only in
the true sense of the word: it is a sud-
den, but short-lived, gain. The ad-
ditional money in our pockets will last
until about November - when we have
thanked our legislators for this gift by
re-electing them - and then the real
consequences of this short-sighted plan
will begin to surface.
A tax-cut is always a politically
popular action, especially in these
days when people are struggling just to
'pay day-to-day expenses. However, in
aft inflationary economy, a tax-cut is
undesirable, because it encourages
more spending, which in turn fuels in-
flation. This problem alone is reason to
oppose the House plan.
The tax-cut plan is dangerous for an
even more important reason, however.
The $136.4 billion allocated for tax
relief has been diverted from planned
energy production and conservation
funds.
Until the House decision Wednesday,
many had hoped and expected that the
House would earmark 50 per cent of
the windfall profits tax income for
energy research. Alternative energy
programs, such as solar power, would
have received a great financial boost;
we could have taken great strides
toward reducing our energy dependen-
ce and the inflation which in part is
caused by outrageous oil costs.
Now, energy programs will receive
less than 15 per cent of the windfall tax
revenues. We will take no great steps
toward solving the energy crisis. And,
we can expect even greater inflation in
the future because we did not have the
foresight or fortitude to change our
energy habits today.
Even if the oil companies pass their
new tax costs on to the consumers, as
appears possible, the windfall tax is to
be favored - but only if its revenues
help provide the lasting benefits of
alternative energies, not the short-
lived benefits of a tax cut.
This poor House plan promises only
to make all of us poorer. Let's look this
gift horse in the mouth.
The Cold War is heating up. There are fifty
American hostages still being held in the
Iranian embassy. Their captors have decided
not to obey the recognized government of Iran
and will instead continue their vigil calling for
the return of their deposed ruler.
There are an estimated 80,000 Soviet troops
inside the borders of Afghanistan. They now
occupy the capital city of Kabul. The U.S.
supplies arms to the Afghan rebels and has
resumed massive weapons funding to
Pakistan-a country that has been on verge of
developing nuclear weapons and may already
have them.
THE U.S. HAS assembled a strong naval
armada sitting at the mouth of the Persian
Gulf, the hottest military spot in the world
for the superpowers. The Soviets now have
ships in the same waters and are sending
more. As tensions in these three areas heat up
there exists a background of eventsthat
amounts to no less than a state of Cold War.
In response to what he misperceives as a
threat to world peace and to the "vital in-
terests" of the U.S., President Carter is at-
tempting to reinstate draft registration. He
has imposed economic sanctions, he has in-
stituted an Olympic boycott, and he is
proposing a sizable increase in the defense
budget despite earlier promises to the con-
trary.
Notonly has Congress refused to ratify the
second Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty
(SALT II), but the U.S. has committed'itself
to station a string of nuclear missiles right on
the Soviet-NATO border. Negotiations have
resumed with Turkey to re-install missiles
there also. Such increases in world militarism
intensify the dangerous world political
situation and threaten world peace.
THERE IS A real possibility that the Soviet
Union and the United States will meet
militarily, whether directly over the Persian
Gulf or by way of mutual desires to control
Iran.
War is in the air. The U.S. government has
admitted its predisposition and supposed
need to use ''tactical'' nuclear weapons
against the Soviets in certain situations.
President Carter has gone as far as to order
1,800 troops to occupy the Arabian Peninsula.
In this light, how can we help ensure the
preservation of peace in the world?
First, we must educate ourselves on the
critical issues of U.S. foreign policy and in-
creased world militarism. We should do it
now: the present global political situation
demands it. What is needed is "Peace an'd
Politics'in the 1980's: A New Understanding."
This is precisely the title of the four-day
teach-in that started yesteixday and will run
through Sunday. PIRGIM has put a great deal
of time and effort into the Teach-In along with
the People's Action Coalition (PAC), Peace,
Education and Action Collective (PEACE),
the Committee of Vietnam Era Veterans, the
Committee Against War, and the Guild
House.
AH WIDE RANGE of workshops,
discussions, films, and forums is being of-
fered. They are aimed at improving under-
standing and awareness of the rapidly
deteriorating hostile world political situation.
From Jim Bristol, a jailed WW II conscien-
tious objector, to former U.S. Attorney
General Ramsey Clark, knowledgeable and
experienced people are being brought
together to offer an expert field of speakers.
More than a dozen University professors,
special guest speakers, and many
organizations and students are participating
in this sincere effort to concern and educate
ourselves with these important, impending
issues. We can no longer afford to allow such
important decisions to be made exclusively
by our political leaders.
Students are of special importance because
no group can more appropriately lead such an
educational effort. Students are considered
the most active sectors of society;
historically they have been leaders in
political participation, especially when a
check on government is the call. But since
academics demand students' daily attentions,
it will examine, receives the attention and at-
tendance it deserves. It is necessary to im-
prove everyone's awareness, education and R.
participation in the political arena if there is d
going to be any substantial attempt by the Gd
people to steer this country clear of war. ,4-
THERE MAY BE a few course lecture
schedules that will need to be reworked due to ry
the Teach-In. But for the sake of such an j6
educational effort and the urgency of the or.
issues involved, let's take one day out of our i.
"schedules" to address the current "State of
the World" and the implications. We need to ,.
recognize these issues as above our routine. '
As concerned as we should be with our
academic futures, we must also realize that .
our entire futures are subordinate to whether
peace or war is prevailing in the world.
Everyone's schedule will be indefinitely, ;
and perhaps permanently, delayed if war .
does break out.
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Dily rnuoo
PARTICIPATION IN TODAY'S class boycott and teach-in is an effective follow-up to
Miller prosecutor needed
recent campus demonstrations against registrat
S ECRETARY OF the Treasury G.
William Miller-has repeatedly
denied that he kn1ewof bribes paid out
by employees bf' the Textron Cor-
poration when he was its president.
Some of his denials have been made
under oath..
Senators and representatives of both
parties have repeatedly demanded
that the Carter administration appoint
a special prosecutor to investigate
what many believe is strong evidence
that Miller was aware of corruption in
the middle and upper echelons of Tex-
tron.
There is no question that bribes were
paid. They are on the record. Miller's
assertion, however, that he was
unaware of those bribes is
qiestionable. Miller was appointed to
lMs post precisely because he has a
Pputation for excellence in
pianagement. This would inclue
Igreping a sharp eye out for corrupt
dealings that went on among his
subordinates.
If the Carter administration had shown
itself in the past to be willing to
scrutinize its own house for. murky
goings-on, the need for a special
prosecutor would be less pronounced.
But on several occasions cited recently
by New York Times columnist William
Safire, the "Georgia Mafia" has
proved to be less than meticulous in in-
vestigating allegations or wrongdoing.
Remember: "'I'm proud of you, Bert"?
Remember the Abscam investigation,
which pulled up short of testing the
honesty of Newark, N.J. mayor Ken-
neth Gibson, a Carter ally?
Justice will not beserved until the
Justice Department turns the in-
vestigation over to an independent
prosecutor, who can operate free of
any restrictions the executive branch
might want to impose. Attorney
General Benjamin Civiletti should
meet that obligation, and soon.
too many students are ignorant of the current
world situations. They know little beyond the
incomplete and partial picture painted by the
American mass media. A clear, deeper un,
darstandingis needed.-
HOW CAN THE attentions and energies of
students and the University be captured and
focused on issues so remote from their
everyday lives but yet so undeniably impor-
tant? A class boycott today was the answer
the Committeee Against War (CAW) found.
Though the group recognized that a title such
as "Alternatives to Scheduled Class" would
be a more precise description of the program,
members cited the need to raise a few
eyebrows. They felt it was necessary to jolt
the attentions of students and faculty, to in-
terrupt the collegiate routine. They con-
sidered it vital to challenge the status quo to
insure that the Teach-In, along with the issues
ion and the draft, manly believe.
Professors, take a single day and devote tho
class discussion to the current dilemmas
facing our nation. Students, illustrate yoiw
recognition of the exceptional importance qf
such impending questions by attendipg
workshops today: Everyone, take-. his
weekend to educate and participate in the
future of peace for this nation and the
world-and don't stop after Sunday!
The Public I.nterest Research Group in
Michigan (PIRGIM) addresses a number
of consumer and student concerns in i
weekly column on this page. This artic
was written by PIRGIM member John
Leone.
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
0
Cohen'-s censorial attitudes
To the Daily:
As one who has followed closely
the Daily's coverage of the
Israel-PLO conflict, I find myself
disturbed by the implications in a
recent letter (Daily, March 11)
written by Carl Cohen. In his at-
tack on the columns of H. Scott
Proterman, Mr. Cohen is seeking*
to cut off views, which are ap-
parently not his own, through
claiming that the Daily is in-
judiciously granting one-sided
editorial opportunity to Proster-
Registration
To the Daily:
There are a few things that
must be said in response to your
editorial entitled "Who's tipping
the scales in favor of
registration?" (Daily, Feb. 27).
The first argument mentioned in,
opposition to registration is the
great economic cost of servicing
man and his opinions.
Aside from disagreeing with
his accusations (The Daily has
indeed countered Proterman's
views on the editorial page), I
must also take exception to Mr.
Cohen's tactics which are as
devious in their attempts at cen-
sorship as they are shallow.
Rather than confront his dif-
ferences with Prosterman direc-
tly, Mr. Cohen presents us with,
a virtual diatribe in which we are
told that Prosterman is a "nasty"
self-hating Jew with poorly fun-
ctioning powers of reasoning. I do
not know where Mr. Cohen stands
on the question of Palestinian
self-determination, but surely he
must see the folly of his own
reasoning when he automatically
equates the protest of the con-
tinued subjugation of the
Palestinian people with an anti-
Israel stance. Anti-hawkish ex-
pansionism, yes; anti-Israel, no.
assailed
Surely Mr. Cohen must be awary
of the growing number of Israei
citizens. who are making the'
same all-important distinctior2
Would these Jews also be thy
target for Mr. Cohen's embit='
tered epithets? I hope not.
I would like to take this opporf-
tunity to commend the Daily for'
maintaining the editorial wisdon
to print that which sometimes
falls away from mainstream
media analysis. Your readership
is certainly informed enough to
recognize editorial imbalance
when it occurs, and thus far, thi
simply has not been borne out.
~-J.cAlle
March11
Cohen :laude4O
scales should be balanced
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a draft. This simply is not sound
economic argument. The costs of
registration and a draft are far
less than the costs of maintaining
a volunteer army.
The reason is that the armed
forces must attract prospective
soldiers in a volunteer army, and
by doing so, incur great costs.
Wages are inflated to higher
levels than a draft institution
would pose, while pensions and
benefits are also increased. In
addition, a volunteer army faces
the high costs of advertising in
the national media and mailing
millions of letters to young people
each year. Every branch of the
armed forces does this in-
dividually, increasing the
already great costs. The logic of
all this is simply that a draft
situation does not require the
lucrative and somewhat roman-
ticized attractions that we now
see. The mere enforcement of the
law fills the quotas.
-David Bizer
Feb. 27
To the Daily:
i
Hubbard attack unjustified
To the Daily:
There is no proper place in the
government of public affairs for
dishonesty or irresponsibility.
Unfortunately, First Ward
Republican candidate Donald
Hubbard appears more intent
upon making political points than
in adhering to the higher prin-
ciples of public service.
In his attack on Susan Green-
berg, the Democratic incumbent
seeking re-election to City Coun-
that period suffers from seven
absences.
The city of Ann Arbor deserves
better from those who would
represent it.
-RobertG. Faber,
Chairman, Ann Arbor
Democratic Party
March 10
Three cheers to Carl Cohen for
his rebuke of H. Scott Prost4r-
man (Daily, March 1X).
Professor Cohen said things that
many of us have long thought but
weren't able to articulate. I
His reprimand, though, cou'ld
have been stronger; perhaps
something along the lines of 1V
Prosterman's heroes, Arafat ap
Khomeini; instead of getting lgis
hands slapped, maybe he should
have had them cut off.
-David Hol el
March 11
cat killin
Clarification of quote on
i, 11 UU 1