Page 4-The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, April 10, 1990 Qit 3tril gan aily EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 ARTS NEWS OPINION 763 0379 764 0552 747 2814 PHOTO SPORTS WEEKEND 764 0552 747 3336 747 4630 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. lections *Workers, voters deserve praise for fair campaign "'ft x. THE MICHIGAN STUDENT ASSEM- bly elections are over and they seem to have gone without any major compli- cations. After the travesty of last term, this is a welcome accomplishment. Regardless of the outcome of the elections, all candidates, parties, and voters should be pleased with the cam- paign. 45 percent more students voted in this election than in last spring's presidential election and someschools even set records for voter turnout. Election Director Rebecca Gebes, the assistant election directors and the en- tire staff of poll workers and vote counters deserve praise and well- earned commendations for ensuring fair voting procedures and flawless counting, even with a greater-than- expected turnout. In addition, the 6,500 voters who participated suggest that student apathy is declining. More and more students are realizing the importance of MSA as a representative body of the students and understand that the Assembly is important enough to take the time to elect its members. Hopefully, the new President and members of the Assembly will address the students' concerns and get more students involved and interested in MSA's work. Also, students should keep a close eye on the performance of their representatives and work to in- crease voter turnout in elections to come. WPEi THIAT DIUAAB F R FP F Q0jO /V~,,C9 u f0h Elephants remember, Republicans forget Nicaragua The Contras stillfight; oppose new aid package DURING THE CURRENT PEACE negotiations in Nicaragua, Contra activity - said to be nominal by the State Department and the international press - has increased to the point of civil war. Between January 1 and March 10 of this year, increased Contra activity has been responsible for 78 skirmishes and 54 civilian casualties in Nicaragua, ac- cording to Barricada International (3/ 24/90). The Contras are attacking once peaceful towns such as Yalf, a small town close to the Honduran border. On March 23, 100 Contras invaded this village, ambushing a Sandinista army truck killing 12 soldiers and wounding 8 civilians, including an eight year old boy. Sandinista Military, however, has been ordered not to fire unless under direct Contra attack. The current accords call for the dis- banding of Contra bases in Honduras, which the international press reports to be nearly empty. However, this says little for the situation in the Nicaraguan countryside and mountains, which has become unacceptable. During the last week, all the Contras have in fact left Honduras and infiltrated the Estelf Re- gion, and are preparing a "show of force" around the Chamorro inaugura- tion. There are now several thousand Con- tras arriving by the truckload in the once-peaceful region, who, according to Estelf resident Jos6 Lobo, are equipped with new guns, uniforms, boots, backpacks and infrared scopes. So far, this "show of force" has in- cluded shutting down the Pan-Ameri- can highway to the north and south of Estelf, which is about 4 hours north of Managua by bus, and occupying the small mountain town of La Trinidad, about 20 minutes to the south of Esteli. This has effectively put the town of Estelf in a state of siege, and although as of Saturday the Contras had not opened fire in the streets of Estelf, sev- eral battles have been waged in Yalf and La Trinidad. There may be several reasons for this strategy. First as a "Show of Force," it may be an effort to gain visible hege- mony in the vying for power that has taken place in the past month. How- ever, the Contras may have invaded the town dearest to the revolution and best fortified - in military terms -- to pro- voke a serious battle before the change of power and to destroy the possibility of a peaceful transition. This second option has plausibility on several counts. The Estelf region is the most heavily fortified region in Nicaragua, a zone which the Contras could not simply "walk into." An of- fensive could not happen without prior planning - either by dissatisfied Con- tra leaders or by the CIA, the traditional Contra advisors. Second, Estelf's sta- tus as the political and symbolic heart of the Sandinista revolution (It is the town current president Daniel Ortega is planning to live in after the transition) would make Estelf a prime target for a symbolic attack or for a vengeful mas- sacre. In the event of a shooting war, the State Department could use escalation as a smoke screen behind which they could send in the Marines, claiming Sandinista aggression and refusal to hand over power. It is also unaccept- able that the Contras continue to receive funding as a repatriating, exhausted force, when in reality, they are the single force responsible for destabiliza- tion in Central America Congress will vote on a bill next week which will supply $300 million in aid to Nicaragua. Thirty-two million of the aid package will be set aside for the "repatriation" of the Contra rebels inside Nicaragua. It is important that the money appropriated to peaceful demobilization go through channels already prescribed by the Central American presidents. It is clear, however, that the Bush administration would like to have con- trol over the channels used for the dis- tribution of the $32 million. Currently the bill states the channels shall be the Organization of American States and the United Nations, but this part of the bill will be inevitably challenged by the Bush administration, which would like to channel the money through U.S. or- ganizations, namely the CIA. This would give the Contras no concrete motivation to demobilize, and further destabilize the peace process by making the Contras answerable only to the the CIA, which has no history of exercis- ing control in Contra actions. A reck- less Contra force, even confined to reservations, would continue to hamper the peace process in Central America. Bl.OC NO, M OLtER +E CieSoN J%4(S0W t -r :I lt By Donald N. Unger The elephant, we all know, is the sym- bol of the Republican Party. And the ele- phant, we have been told, never forgets. How ironic. Republican politicians, it would seem, never remember. This has be- come such a commonplace that we rarely even comment on it anymore. Without granting complete absolution to the Democrats, it should be noted that the most flagrantly corrupt presidents the Republic has ever known, have been Republicans: Grant, Harding, Nixon, and Reagan. All ran administrations in which official miscon- duct, ethical conflict, and disregard and dis- dain for the laws of the country were the rule rather than the exception. Grant was a drunk; Harding was a fool; Nixon's escapades are well known; Rea- gan s legacy has been winding its way through the courts and the Congress of late; The HUD scandal, the Savings and Loan Crisis, the Iran-Contra Affair, the ongoing scandals in Defense Contracts, to name but a few. And these latter two presidents have brought to modern times a defense, recently deployed again by Ronald Reagan, in video- Unger is a Rackham graduate student. taped testimony for the most recent Iran- Contra trial, that of former National Secu- rity Advisor John Poindexter, which is cur- rently in the hands of the jury. Should we call it the Nixon Defense or should we call it Alzheimer's Disease? In the late 1970's, when he spent a lot of time on Saturday Night Live, comedian Steve Martin did a routine about how to avoid paying taxes. Just don't pay them, he advised. And when the government comes to ask you about this omission? Two words, Martin said. A simple response. No guilt. No problems. I forgot. When Martin said this it was comedy. When Nixon - and his band of merry men - said this it was innovative. By now, Reagan's most recent use of this ploy amounts to the exercise of a tradi- tion. Poindexter, and most of the other Iran- Contra defendants, have taken another tack: The Nuremberg Defense. They say they were just following orders. Funny how that line has been rehabilitated. When the Ger- mans used it to explain their actions during the war, we scoffed at such callous and cyn- ical attempts to evade responsibility. Now we swallow this answer without a second thought. First Reagan said he didn't know about the arms for hostages deal that routed the profits to the Contras. Then he said he did know - in fact, that he had come up with the plan himself, Now he says he doesn't remember. The question has been asked before but bears asking again: How can someone like that be fit to hold public office? If he did know about these things he's a criminal; if he really didn't know what was going on in. his own administration, he's a fool. And where are the honorable people on the Right, while all of this is going on? Are their heads just as firmly in the sand? Apparently so. It would be refreshing to hear a Repub- lican elected official, present or former, simply tell us the truth. "I knew what I was doing. I knew it was illegal. I felt it had to be done. And I'mO willing to face the consequences," that's what I'd like to hear. Would I sympathize with this position? No more than I sympathize with the Nazis, who felt that genocide was a reasonable and necessary thing. Still, there would be something at least consistent and straight- forward about such a response, a refreshing change of pace. It's more than $25 Don't attack music To the Daily: I was in the Church Street computer center the night of the city elections when the election results regarding Proposal B were announced. I heard a guy walking near my station respond "Hey, it's only $25." How wrong he was. It's not just $25. It's a loss of personal freedoms. It's a criminal record. It's up to $500 and 90 days in jail. And if you think it won't happen to you, just talk to any- one who has ever been outside the city limits of Ann Arbor. Almost everyone knows of someone who has served jail time for mere possession of marijuana. Now it can and will happen here in Ann Arbor as well. To those of you who did not bother to vote, or who never bothered to change your registration from your parents' ad- dress to your Ann Arbor address, you have foregone the right to voice your opinion on issues that directly affect you. Think about how much time you have spent this year in your parents' town in comparison to the time you've spent in Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor is where you live. And it is under Ann Arbor's laws that you will be sentenced if caught with marijuana in your possession. When you find yourself in court facing charges of possession, remember your apa- thy on election day. What? You say it probably won't matter to you when you pay your $25 fine out of your parents' wallet? You're probably right. But the second or third time it happens and you find yourself sleeping in the Washtenaw County Jail, you'll remember with nos- talgia the days of the $5 pot law, and your election day apathy. You chose to forego your right to vote on the laws of the city you live in. Be- cause of that Ann Arbor, once a national leader in sweeping liberal reforms, is mov- ing backward while the rest of the nation mnvc. fnrwr,,rAl o,.nl nnri..A vaiv To the Daily: I was glad to see Peter Shapiro's letter defending the Velvet Underground against Forrest Green's mindless bashing, but after reading it, I was disappointed that he could not resist indulging in some bashing of his own. The Velvet's music can well stand on its own; Shapiro's vicious attack on the Art-Rock movement was totally unneces- sary. Genesis, Yes, and other Art-Rockers produced some of the most creative music in the history of rock. To write their music off as "pretentiously weird" is to ignore the beautifully complex structure of the mu- sic, and the original, poetic lyrics that are rich in imagery and reach a level of pro- found meaning that few musical styles have had before or since. While this music may not be appealing to some people, Shapiro was wrong to dismiss the musical visions of these artists as pointless masturbation, regard- less of how he personally feels about it. ing there, it traps them and prevents them from escaping unharmed. Since the appli- cations were begun, the Humane Society has rescued and tried to save many small birds, including small owls, purple finches, and pigeons. If the birds can fall to the ground they are mangled and covered with the tar-like material, left to be further mutilated by predators or the weather. Last Spring, the Humane Society asked the Ann Arbor City Council to modify the building ordinance with a 45 degree ledge requirement. The Council did not even bother to answer this fine group. At least a repelling substance other than the ineffi- cient and cruel tar-like substance could cer- tainly be found if it were considered "too costly" to replace the current ledges. It is disgusting that building owners and legis- lators will not expend a little energy to create a saner atmosphere. Instead, nature lovers and other decent people spend hours attempting the cleaning and healing or each animal, assuming it survives. A lot can be said about an individual or organi zation's humanity after observing how he she, or it treats animals. The inhumane1 society? Adam Gara giola first-year Residential College student Jennifer Zaft Rackham graduate student i Inhumanity to birds To the Daily: The inhumanity displayed at the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska upset me. the needless suffering of the wildlife tore at most heats. Recently I discovered similar senselessness close to home. I halted outside the University Tower Apartments on South University Drive. A mangled pigeon lay at my feet, covered with a black substance, aware of his pain but helpless. He was unable to move as his wings and feet were torn up. The Hu- mane Society of Huron Valley picked the bird up from my house a few hours later. Disagree? Agree? 0"