41
OPINION
Wednesday, December 2, 1987
Page 4
The Michigan Daily
4
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Let CIA recruit on campus
Vol. XCVIII, No. 58
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
By Noah Finkel and David
Schwartz
Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other
cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion
of the Daily.
Increase day care
CHILD CARE IN THIS COUNTRY is
inadequate. For most Americans, it is
hard to pay for and even more diffi-
cult to find. A $2.5 billion federal
child-care program should be passed
through Congress and signed into law
quickly to break this dilemma.
The plan, sponsored by Represen-
tative Dale Kildee (D-Michigan) along
with Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-
Connecticut), would increase the
number of day-care facilities in
America, improve training and pay
for child-care workers, and help
low- and middle-income families af-
ford child care.
True, in this era of huge budget
deficits, money should not just be
thrown at all of our socio-economic
problems, but this is a much wiser
investment than spending $10 billion
to pay workers to stay home with
their children because of a lack of
proper day-care facilities.
Indeed, there are fewer than three
million day-care slots available na-
tionwide, but more than 14 million
children with mothers who work out-
side the home. The Kildee-Dodd plan
would create more day-care slots and
Reagan's (
EVIDENCE IS accruing to suggest
that Reagan's 1980 campaign staff
made a deal with the Ayatollah
Khomeini to prevent the release of
U.S. hostages before the U.S.
presidential election.
The alleged deal, which was made
in 1980, went like this: The Iranians
would keep the U.S. hostages in
Tehran until after the elections, when
Iran would be repaid in arms for its
cooperation.
Iran needed the arms for its war
against Iraq. Reagan needed to in-
sure that President Carter couldn't
pull an "October surprise" (get the
hostages back before the election) and
dodge the political bullet that killed
him.
Of course, the Reagan administra-
tion does not admit to an "October
Surprise" operation. The following,
however, is some evidence to support
the claim that Reagan did make a deal
with Khomeini in 1980.
Before the Iran-Contra -panels on
August 4, CIA operative Duane Clar-
ridge testified that the Reagan admin-
istration first pursued its unique rela-
tionship with Iran "early in this ad-
ministration, probably going back to
'81, certainly to '82."
This puts the Reagan administra-
tion's first reported contact with Iran
at a time when there were no U.S.
hostages in Beirut, and when so-
called moderates in Iran were in very
short supply. Therefore, while these
motives for dealing with Iran were
lacking, the reputed 1980 deal with
Khomeini would explain the Reagan
administration's early contacts with
Iran.
On July 18, 1981, an Argentine
plane bound for Iran from Israel
thus remove millions from the welfare
rolls.
To insure quality child care, the
plan provides training for day-care
workers and pay raises aimed to lure
potentially qualified workers into the
centers. Currently, day-care workers
earn the second-lowest salaries in the
country; only the clergy are paid less.
If the nation is to hire and retain good
workers, it will have to increase their
pay.
The third benefit of the child-care
bill is that it reduces the cost of day-
care. Right now, the average annual
cost of child care is right around
$3,000. This sum is not affordable
for many Americans. The plan reme-
dies this by giving assistance to
working families who earn at or
below 115 percent of their state's
median income.
Simply put, the welfare system
used now is flawed. Welfare reform
is needed and is favored by members
of Congress on both sides of the
aisle. The first step toward cracking
the cycle of dependency is providing
affordable, quality day care. The
Kildee-Dodd child-care plan does just
that.
)riginal sin
crashed. It was loaded with U.S.-
made weapons. In 1983, Israeli De-
fense Minister Ariel Sharon said the
U.S. Government knew about and
approved-of these arms transactions.
In the Washington Post of Novem-
ber 29, 1986, it is reported that then
Secretary of State Alexander Haig
gave Israel permission to ship $10 to
$15 million in U.S. arms to Iran in
1981. It now seems that this shipment
of weapons was the Reagan adminis-
tration's payment to Iran for keeping
U.S. hostages until after the 1980
presidential elections.
The Miami Herald disclosed that in
1980 the campaign staff of John An-
derson received similar offers from
the Iranians, but the overtures were
reported to the State Department. No
such report was filed by the Reagan
campaign staff, headed by William
Casey.
Further evidence comes from Abol-
hassan Bani-Sadr, who was President
of Iran at the relevant time. Bani-Sadr
said the secret deal was in fact made,
and that one of the Iranians who met
with the Reaganauts was Manucher
Ghorbanifar, a prominent figure in
the subsequent Iran-Contra hearings.
Although this evidence is circum-
stantial, it is enough to warrant a
thorough investigation by the Iran-
Contra special prosecutor, a move
that Senate Majority Leader Robert
Byrd has called for.
If the Reagan administration is in-
dicted for buying the 1980 election
with the prolonged suffering of U.S.
hostages and promises of arms for
Khomeini, it would be a tragic, albeit
fitting cap to a morally bankrupt
presidency.
Last week, the CIA recruited at the
Student Activities Building. The recruiters
were deservedly greeted with a large protest.
But before the protest took place, many
people thought that the CIA should not even
be allowed on campus in the first place. The
rationale used was that there must be some
moral standards for organizations that use
university facilities, and the University
should prohibit groups from campus who do
not measure up to those moral standards.
The CIA, which falls short on morals, is
one of the groups that these people believe
should be barred.
Noah Finkel is on the Daily opinion staff.
David Schwartz is on the Daily news staff.
Why should it be left up to the University
to determine just what groups are and are not
morally sound to appear on campus? Should
the University play the Orwellian Big
Brother and decide for students what is moral
and what is not? The thought is scary.
Whatever the organization, it should have
the right to distribute its material and solicit
members, and the CIA should be n o
exception. If groups like the PLO, which is
often thought of as a terrorist organization,
want to meet, even they should have the
right to campus facilities, just like UCAR
or any other group should. There should be
no moral judgments made by the University
or any other governing body, because what
one person perceives as immoral may be
perfectly acceptable to someone else.
Nationally, Right to Life groups request
that the U.S. government in every way
possible limit access to Planned Parenthood
and similar family planning organizations.
They consider abortion to be murder. The
rationale used is that groups which do not
measure up to a certain moral standard
should be prohibited from as many activities
as possible. Sound familiar? Yes, this is the
same reason used by those opposing the
one-time campus presence of the CIA.
The point is that no one should start
making moral judgements for anybody else.
As with abortion, there should be a pro-
choice stance on CIA recruitment by
governmental and quasi-governmental
agencies, the University included.
At a university which - supposedly
encourages and embraces diversity, it would
be contradictory to limit access to facilities
for groups with variant ideologies. Were the
University to play Big Brother and impose
moral guidelines to determine which
organizations are acceptable, diversity on
this campus would be severely restricted and
all students would suffer.
I
Fat Al has a turnpike drama
Ohio turnpike in the wee-wee hours. Tape
deck turned up blasting Merle Haggard, my
eyes are bleary from my all night trek back
from the hinterlands. But I'm almost back to
my desk. Shifting my fat self in my seat, I
lean forward. Just can't slack off on this
holiday travel day. Then it happens, just 150
FAT
AL
miles from tree town. I'm in Central Ohio
and I'm running low on gas, after my fat
gamble that I could make the 41 miles to the
next service area. And now I'm stuck in
traffic.
Tarnations and godblameit I'm staring at
miles of red taillights. As the traffic inches
forward I keep glancing nervously at the fuel
gauge on my '63 Chevy pick-up. Will I
make it or have I made a blubbery blunder?
As the gauge continues to drop. I wipe fat
droplets of sweat from my forehead and curse
the fates, the traffic, and Jim and Tammy for
not making good on their promise of good
luck for my 50 dollar donation. It must be
an accident, I figger, thinking of the poor
lost souls who have really run out of gas. "It
ain't so bad fats," I tell myself. "Think of
them poor kinfolk getting a knock on the
door from an Ohio state trooper you selfish
old coot."
So I inched forward, keeping my cool and
slipping a John Lee Hooker tape into the
deck and a pinch of Copenhagen into my
gum. I crawled along for a score of miles or
so until I came up to the scene of what was
sure to be a lane closing, nasty, bloody
mess. What I seen at this point was a truck
fishtailed dramatically on the road's shoulder.
There was an accident alright but it wasn't
blocking traffic at all: the whole 20 mile
backup was caused by that worse sort of
vermin... rubberneckers. I reckon these
folks' lives are so boring that seeing a
fishtailed truck on the side of the turnpike
was the high point of their holidays. You
know, so exciting they had to slow down
and get a right fine look. What a bunch of
boneheads.
After the exciting truck turnover, traffic
picked up again as all them damned
rubberneckers sped up and talked about the
new excitement
- "D'you see that truck boy?" "Yessir,
pa, turned clear on its' side." "Sure was
sumthin', huh boy?" - I rumbled on,
ignoring my gas gauge and made it to the
service area. I filled 'er up and took 16.25
gallons in my 16 gallon tank. Maybe that
donation to Jim and Tammy worked its
wonders....
By the way, the seven members of my kin
who gathered for turkey day, consumed a 22-
pound bird, brought to earth by the barrel of
yours truly's 12 guage.
Your obesity,
O.K. fatso, I've had it. I was going over
some of your old columns lookin' for
material to rag you about, and I noticed that
spot you wrote about the Twins. Well,
maybe the Twinkies are a joke team, but I
saw the play-offs and it looked to me like
the joke was on the Tigers. I still laugh
when I think about it.
But on to what I really wrote you about.
Yeah, I think you're a cretin, but not
because you're killing your own dinner. I
think you owe me a Winchester, jack. It was
a nice answer to my letter and I'd really glad
to know your opinion of me, but my
question still stands: How does an arrogant
pus-head like you know anything about
Suzanne Vega? Anmd why doesn't that make
you an "ignorant homeboy on a high
(wooden) horse?"
-Caspar H.
Caspar boy, I like your spunk. You didn't
like my response so you spit it back on me.
Alright then I'll tell you. I is not an
ignorant pus-head. I don't want to get into
any high-fallutin' explanations here or I will
be a homeboy on a high horse. I do what I
want and listen to what I want. Every once
in a while I give the worn grooves on my
Hank Williams and Muddy Waters albums a
rest and toss on something new. See boy, I
don't worry about what I'm supposed to
like, I just like what I like. Aqd the
Twinkies are still the Twinkies. Heh-heh-
heh. By the way, for a definition of ignorant
pus-head see below.
Dear Michigan's answer to Jabba the Hut,
This is Fat Ash from University of
Florida law school again. So what's the deal,
Chunky, wasn't my first letter good enough
for you to print in your sorry-assed column?
Ifigure you either couldn't read it or you ate
it.
(Fat Al's note: Actually, I burnt it.)
(Editor's note:It's true, I was there.)
So Al, why are you schlocking around
with this second-rate dreg "Fat Al" column
anyway? If you're looking for a resume
filler, I think you're wasting your fat time. I
sure as hell wouldn't admit to having
written for the Daily unless I enjoyed a
career with toilet-bowl cleaner and a 4
toothbrush. But, then again, your column is
about as high quality as the rest of this lurid
tabloid
Yours corpulently, Fat Ash.
Space being at a premium in our lurid
tabloid, I had to cut Fat Ass off here. He
went on in a bitter tirade against the
university and studying and adviced all of
y'all to lose weight, get a fake tan, buy
some fancy duds and suck your way into
law, med, or business schools. What an 4
idjit. Hey, Fat Ass, first of all, no, your
letter was not good enough to print and
second of all, if you're so smart why don't
you go to a real law school? You may find
yourself the one with the toothbrush and
toilet bowl cleaner when you get that highly
sought after U of F law degree. Go Gators!
LETTERS
Headline on CIA protest article unfair
To the Daily:
The Daily has been a n
usually interesting diversion,
but I am amazed at the
reporting of events that
continually takes place.
The most recent example
was "Student gets kicked at
CIA recruiting post" (Daily,
11/30/87). This headline does
not fairly document what went
on.
If we read the body of the
article, we find that the
protesters "knocked" Leo Heat-
ley to his knees, arguably ini-
tiating the violence. The same
article would have been more
fairly titled "Violence erupts at
CIA recruiting post." The
Daily shows its bias by focus-
ing on the regrettable assault
suffered by one man alone.
I would also like to ask what
right the protesters have to
push their way into the build-
ing, knock people down, and
try to disrupt the actions of the
CIA? I applaud the protesters'
attempt at civil disobedience: it
is a right.
However, that right has lim-
its. Physical violence goes be-
yond those bounds, slight as it
may be. The CIA, whose role
is highly controversial to
many, whose excesses continue
to be documented, is nonethe-
less an organization of the
government which also has
rights.
It is wrong to become so
blinded by fervor that one
commits unethical or immoral
acts. I sometimes feel as if I
am the only moderate on cam-
pus.
-Jeff Hamilton
December 1
4
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Letter unfair to Palestinians
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Israel is bashed too much
To the Daily:
Again, the Daily censures
Israel for its human rights
abuses (Daily, 11/17/87).
These are serious violations,
but why must Israel receive the
brunt of the Daily's criticism?
Israel's occupation of the West
Granted, these states are not
much affected by U.S. influ-
ence or media pressure. But
even in Egypt, which, along
with Israel, is the top recipient
of U.S. aid, a Coptic minority
is severely oppressed. The ex-
To the Daily:
I find Dale Goldshag and
Jeremy Sarnat's letter ("Decries
anti-Semitic acts," Daily,
11/20/87) unfairly accusational
and facetious towards the
Palestinian people. I agree with
Mr. Goldshag and Mr. Sarnat's
opinion that anti-Semitism is
wrong and must not be toler-
ated, however I disagree with
the letter's tone which implies
that the anti-Semitic elements
to support the Jews and Arabs
who want to live together in
peace, I don't think pointing
out anti-Semitic graffiti with
the purpose of implicating
Palestinian's is the right way. I
agree with the letter's distinc-
tion between anti-Israel and
anti-Semitism, but not in a
context which tries to attribute
both of these viewpoints, one
of which is a valid political
position, the other of which is
a blatant form of bigotry, to
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