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Laudable lobby
Both the University and the ASUN Senate Legislative
Liaison Committee should take a lesson in political
clout from the University of California (UC) Student
Lobby, which has influenced the allocation of more
than $8 million. .
California Gov. Ronald Reagan, not known as a
friend of student activists, considers the lobby "one of
the University's strongest assets."
After about two years of work in the California
Capitol at Sacramento, the lobby has a number .of
achievements to its credit. Among them :
-It obtained $1 million to evaluate and upgrade
undergraduate courses and teaching.
-It pushed successfully for $2 million in state
payments for student aid programs to replace those
abolished by President Nixon's cutbacks.
-It secured $1.6 million in additional student
financial aid for the 1972-73 school year and $2.5
million for 1973-74.
As in most successful ventures, the key to the
12-member UC student lobby is money. It operates on a
yearly budget of $50,000 provided by student unions at
each of the university's nine campuses. In contrast, the
20-member UNL Legislative Liaison Committee (in
effect, the NU student lobby) receives a paltry $625 for
the entire year. At that, $100 is allocated for
membership in the Nebraska Student Assoc. and $150
for the National Student Lobby; Granted, the group
does fairly well for what it has to work. with, but it's too
bad more can't be done to influence legislative funding
for the University.
At any rate, student lobbies are a welcome alternative
f to pie in the sky campus demonstrations. As one UC
student lobbyist put it, most student protests have
ebbed because they no longer are effective. "You just
don't get a million dollars by sitting on the governor's
fWshesaid.--
Mary Vobonl
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.... ro "ForJiim jt's a write-off. For me ft'lii'rip-offf. tiowcome?'
Peace in Southeast Asia still just a promise
Editor's note: The following is the Nebraskans For
Peace statement on the first anniversary of the Paris
Peace Agreement on the Vietnam war.
A year ago, Nebraskans for Peace greeted the
Vietnam peace agreement with relief and hope.
And last summer, when the bombing was opposed
by the public two to one, Congress finally ended it.
Nebraskans for Peace said. "We see this as only one
more step toward total withdrawal of our military
and economic involvement in Southeast Asia."
Unfortunately, that note of caution was sound.
Now, a year after the peace agreement was signed,
there ttill is war in Vietnam. And our country still
bean major responsibility for events there.
Briefly, here are some of the ways we are still in
Vietnam:
-We still pay at least 80 per cent of Gen. (Nguyen
van) Thieu's budget. .
-We still have at least 6,000 "advisers in
Vietnam, some working for the Pentagon and CIA
(Central Intelligence Agency) directly, but most
employed by 60 companies on contract to the
Pentagon to do military jobs. .
-We still supply Saigon's Air Force-the fourth
largest in the world-with 22,000 barrels of oil a day.
American planes still drop American bombs daily on
Vietnam, only now the pilots are Vietnamese.
We still pay millions into Saigon's huge police
and prison system.
Almost $1 billion has already been passed for
Thieu this year. And now the administration wants
another $600 million.
It is important to remember that humanitarian
programs like health, education and agriculture are
only about 1 per cent of the total. This year, all the
money generated from th $300 million for Food For
Peace will go into police and military.
For a whole year now, our man in Saigon, Thieu,
has shown his lack of respect for the peace
agreement:
The agreement worked out a way to end the
fighting. But Thieu called on his troops to "attack the
Viet Cong in their own territory."
-The agreement also provides for political
compromise through free elections, but Thieu has just
announced that these elections will never be held.
It calls for the release of prisoners, but Thieu still
holds an estimated 200,000 political prisoners.
Very important for millions of Vietnamese
farmers who had been driven into city slums and
refugee camps, the agreement provides for freedom of
movement. But anyone who tries to put this into
practice can be arrested or even shot under one of
Thieu's decrees.
Neither the military nor the political parts of the
agreement have been respected by Thieu, and by our
government's support for him, we too are in violation
of the agreement.
"The United States will not continue its military
involvement or intervene in the internal affairs of
South Vietnam." That's Article 4 of the Peace
Agreement signed by our government. '
Then why are we spending $2 billion a year for
Thieu? He doesn't have enough popularity to raise
taxes from his own people. Why should we, taxpayers
in another country, pay his bills, especially when our
government has pledged "not to impose any political
tendency or personality on the South Vietnamese
people." That's Article 9.
The way to peace in Vietnam is inspect for the
peace agreement. We must insist our government keep
its promise.
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The Russian system of packing off political dissidents to
rr.cr.tc! hc$pit2!s ha? shocked every good American. It also has
given us a great deal of comfort to know that we live in a
nation where such things can't happen.
Take a typical case of John B. Middlerode. Like many
cautious men over 40 years old, Middlerode recently reported
to his analyist, Dr. Zang Freud, for his annual psychiatric
checkup.
Q-Well, well, Mr. Middlerode, and how are we feeling these
days?
A-Top hole, Doc, Life is a bowl of cherries. When I think
of those poor Russians and the way they're being kicked
around, it makes me realize how lucky I am to be living in a
great country like this.
Q-Yes, it certainly points up the difference between our
two system. Of course, we do have our problems.
, A-Nothing we can't lick though, eh, Doc? Not with our
good old American know-how.
Q-You aren't worried then, Mr. Middlerode, about such
problems as inflation?
A-Gosft, no, Doc. Oh, we've had to pinch a few pennies.
But I had a letter from my congressman just the other da" and
he said he was doing his best to fight it. And if you've got a
fine man like that out there doing his best for you. . .
0 -Tell me, Mr. Middierode, do you believe there's an
energy crisis?
A-Of course, Doc. The government says so, doesn't it?
And we've been doing our part, turning down the thermostat,
taking the bus to work. . . ..
Q-And whom ! you blame for these hardships?
A-Blame? Well, no one, I guess. Oh, I've heard that talk
about it all being a plot by the big oii companies. Bui S don't
believe it. Our government would never let them get away with
that.
Q-Even though they contributed $5 million to the
President's campaign?
A-That's an awful thing to imply. If you can't trust the
President, who can you trust? Anyway, the government's
doing all it can. Look at how it imposed Daylight Savin?; lime
and cut the speed limit 10 m.p.h.
Q-l sea. One last question: what about War "gate? Do you
approve of these burglaries of innocent citizens, wiretapping,
enemies list, doctored evidence.
A-Oh, I see what you're getting it You're saying wo've got
a police state like Russia. Well, I sure don't buy that. The
President said he had to do a lot of these tilings for national
security. And he knows a lot more about the facts than I do.
Like I say, if you can't trust the President. . .
Q-I'm sorry, Mr. Middlerode. But I'll have to tit these
papers committing you to, the Sunny Days Happy Farm. Your
perception of reality is drastically impaired. For example, you
can't distinguish between the American and Russian systems.
A-Commit me I You' can't do that. This isn't Russia.
Besides, I haven't uttered ae complaint about the
government
Q-Exactly, Mr. Middlerode. That's the difference. In
Russia, if you criticize the government, you're crary. And in
America, you're crazy if you don't.
(Copyrl.)l.t Chronic! Publishing Co.)
page 4
daily netraskan
friday, february 1, 1974
