OPINION

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Page 6

The Michigan Daily

Tuesday, June 7, 1983

Reagan and the 'War to End Mankind'

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Christopher POtter and communications systems.
By opWhen detached from the ac-
Buried deep in assorted companying mass of technical
dark corners of the Pen- Jargon, these items add up to a
tagon's 1984 research and single unnerving conclusion:
development budget (projec- Ronald Reagan is prepared to
ted cost: $26.3 million) are a commit billions of dollars to
series of proposals which, the notion that we can wage -
taken as a whole, are enough and win - an extended nuclear
to scare the daylights out of war.
the whole human race. What's more, recently
Speckled throughout this leaked documents from the
huge document are selective Defense Department and Ar-
references to improved air- ms Control Agency frankly
borne and mobile strategic state (despite Administration
command centers, nuclear denials) our ambitions to
explosion detectors, computer achieve a nuclear first-strike
The Michigan Daily
Vol. XCIII, No. 13-S
93 Years of Editorial Freedom
Managed and Edited by students of
The University of Michigan
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the
Daily Editorial Board

capability within ten years,
with the MX missile
The proposed budget's victory
scenerios are hardly novel. Ever
since the dawn of the Cold War,
the Pentagon's armchair
warriors have amused them-
selves sketching and re-sketching
vast, complex "what-if" scripts
detailing step-by-stepprocedures
for waging and winninga nuclear
conflict. Previous ad-
ministrations would lend a brief,
bemused ear to these sweaty
visions of global triumph, then
serenely turn their attentions to
saner matters.
In 1980 Jimmy Carter doled out
a few paltry millions to such
doomsday schemes. Today, the
Reagan Administration repor-
tedly stands ready to spend up to
$8 billion to transform
speculative theory into apocalyp-
se now.
The Reagan White House and
surrounding territories are
packed with professional commie
haters - driven ideologues who
would positively love blowing the

Russians to oblivion if there
seemed the slightest chance our
side might win the "War to End
Mankind."
That's the scariest aspect of
Mr. Reagan's doleful presidency,
which most likely still has a
frightening 5 and % years to run.
To his credit (or perhaps his lack
of imagination), the president
has generally ignored the
bleatings of the far right on
domestic issues, delegating
authority instead to a braintrust
of prudent, mainstream conser-
vatives. The majority of national
policy-making has been
dominated by button-down
pragmatists the likes of Meese,
Baker, and Stockman.
Not so with foreign policy.
Hard-line, anti-communists like
Nitze, Weinberger, and Kirk-
patrick dominate our inter-
national dialogue, hammering
away at the "evil" enemy across
the sea - an enemy who will
scourge us if we display the
slightest "weaknes" in resolve.
Sweaty machismo rules the

rhetorical roost. If America's not
the toughest kid of the block then
America is surely doomed. And
so the misiles proliferate. It
seems as if we don't even want
arms limitation - it doesn't fit
into our survival plans. Since the
bad guys are so unmittigatedly
rotten, why negotiate? Why hold
a summit meeting? Why talk
about anything? Instead, let's
build, build, build - and once
we've got enough toys to
obliterate humanity ten times
over, maybe then the Ruskies'll
know we're not yellow.
Mr. Reagan's High Noon Syn-
drome reflects a fundementally
and frighteningly altered ap-
proach to world diplomacy. We
don't talk peace at all anymore -
SALT II is dead; detente is a dir-
ty word. In word, if not in deed,
America has become this
planet's aggressor, recklessly
bullying a fragile world, and ar-
med with the absolute conviction
of our own righteousness.
Potter is a former Daily editor.

Scholarly crime
COPYRIGHT VIOLATORS beware. Book
publishers recently have been seeking
legal action against copy shops and college
professors who fail to comply with copyright
laws when duplicating publishers' copyrighted
work for college coursepacks. Hopefully, this
will force violators on this campus to finally
obey the copyright laws.
For far too long, many University professors
and Ann Arbor copy shops inexcusably have
ignored these laws.
The professors and copy shops hide behind
the "Fair-Use Doctrine," - a section of the 1976
Copyright Act which allows a small amount of
copyrighted material tosbe copied without per-
mission from the publisher - most material
used in coursepacks, however, exceeds "fair
use" limits.
Admittedly, "fair use" provisions are un-
clear and need to be clarified by our judicial
system. This is no excuse, however, for
professors and printers to shirk their legal
responsibility, and totally disregard the law.
Moreover, many professors claim that
without lengthy coursepacks students will be
stuck with the high cost of buying several
books.
This could be averted by making the copied
material and the books themselves more
available at University libraries.
Finally, we realize that not all professors and
copy shops violate copyright laws. Some copy
stores, for example, are cracking down on
University professors, requiring them to sign
and submit written permission from publishers
before copying course material. We applaud
them for their efforts.
Unfortunately, many professors and copy1
shops continue to break the law. By doing so,
they only encourage lawsuits for themselves
and the University, something we all could do
without.

Wasserman
VF MUSTrW NO ICS- TS PoucES of TC tSlt) TA X, woMusST icti W(tl
SGO) US BACK To 1110 'SPE NO ?SPEND iE NEW POUCY I SF; ND) tSEND
?oulCiOE OFTOEI PAST- 11>PUT iN PLACE
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Co ursepacks aboveboard

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To the Daily:
I am writing in response to the
article in the Daily ("Copy
shops clamp down," Daily, May
21, 1983) about the copyright suit
in New York that took place
recently. I would like to address
myself to anyone who may be
hesitating about making or pur-
chasing copies at Ann Arbor's
copy shops for fear of breaking
the law.
The copyright laws have been
in effect for many years now, and
most of us are aware of their
meaning. The publishers who
brought suit in New York were, in
my opinion, greatly overreacting
to a threat of rather limited
dimension. The production of
course packs by a copy store in no
way resembles the kind of whole
sale bootlegging of plagiarized
material that might pose a real
threat to the publishers.
The distribution of material for
academic purposes by
organizations other than book
publishers has a long tradition -
public libraries are one striking

example of this. As businesses,
the publishing houses in New
York have a right to protect their
business interests. That is why
they have legal staffs sniffing
out possible acts of plagiarism.
On the same token, xerox
businesses should not be held un-
duly responsible for accepting
material from their customers
that might possibly be in
violation of copyright laws, since
there is no practical way of
judging the legitimacy of a
copying order. To hold copy
stores responsible for the in-
discretions of their customers is
just another example of blaming
the messenger for the message.
The more blatant forms of
illegal copying, such as the
copying of dollar bills are so ob-
vious as to not merit comment.
The copyright laws themselves
are vague, and repeated attemp-
ts in recent years to clarify them
have not really succeeded.
It is unfortunate that the Daily
has taken a sensationalist stance
on this issue, by emphasizing that

course packs might be of
questionable legality, and that
businesses and customers are
risking imminent legal action, if
they buy and sell them. Irrespon-
sible journalism like this will only
cause honest people to cease
engaging in a perfectly legal ac-
tivity and will unnecessarily take
business away from Ann Arbor
copy stores.
As far as anyone can know at
this point, the lawsuit in New
York may be the last we will hear
of this entire issue. After all,
most of the publishing companies
in the U.S. are located in New
York and they were, in a sense,
only protecting their own turf. I
would hope, as an Ann Arbor
merchant of longstanding, that
students and faculty of the
University will continue to
patronize my and other
businesses with a clear conscien-
ce, and maintain the valuable
service that we have performed
as an educational adjunct.
- Phil Zaret
President, Accu-copy

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