editorio
Vietnam back to haunt us
The Christian Science Monitor
Another view
In the '50s, Vietnam was one of those
countries you just couldn't seem to find on a
map. By the '60s, every American knew where it
was. Some went there. Some never came back.
Now, in the '70s, we're trying to forget that
little piece of land, which soaked up so much of
the blood and spirit of this country. But it keeps
coming back to haunt us.
Perhaps it is the memory of the strong, proud,
self-righteous country we were before the war
that bothers us so much. We went into Vietnam
as the world's policeman. We came out looking
like Keystone Kops.
Or maybe we are ashamed to remember that
we poured millions of dollars and thousands of
lives into Vietnam for the sake of democracy.
Our investment has gone sour. That country has
trouble holding something as basic as free
elections.
According to a 1972 Department of
Commerce and Census Bureau report, this
country's Vietnam expense account will total
S365 billion by the time disability costs and
retirement benefits for Vietnam vets are totalled.
The Vietnamese called the party. We picked up
the tab.
Perhaps we are trying to forget the old
nightmares of naked, bullet-riddled bodies lying
tangled in a Vietnamese ditch and of other
bodies lying on the campus green at Kent State.
It's a wonder we can sleep.
One other vision haunts us more each day the
vision of Henry Kissinger signing a ceasefire
agreement and promising peace with honor. Our
parents remember another such scene: a
triumphant Neville Chamberlain holding up an
agreement with Hitler and promising "peace in
our time."
Neither promise was kept.
Two years ago U.S. military forces left South
Vietnam. The war, we said, was over. And if we
didn't have victory at least we had honor. Or so
we thought.
Two weeks ago the Viet Cong captured the
capital of Phuoc Long province, only 75 miles
from Saigon. It was the first provincial capital to
be attacked by them since the ceases, ft was
the latest in a long series of skirmishes provoked
by both sides. There have been more since.
President, Ford's response was to tack an
additional $300 million onto his request for
military aid to South Vietnam this year. Congress
cut his total $14 billion request in half. Perhaps
we are learning. For some, it is too late.
What has yet to be learned is that peace with
honor comes only to those who honor peace.
Neither we nor the Vietnamese seem to have
'grasped that.
What will never be forgotten is that while the
wounds of Vietnam will heal, scars will remain.
Wes Albers
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The recent approval by the NU Board of Regents
of an increase in residence hall room and board rates
brings to mind the somewhat nebulous field of
student rights and powers.
In the Student Handbook there is a division called
"The Student in the Academic Community." Section
Three, Point B of that division does not have a title
and is only four or five lines long, yet it deals with
the rather large and important concern of student
government, or more precisely, with student
participation in the formulation of university policy
on student life.
Point B says, "The students should have clearly
defined means to participate equitably in the
formulation of institutional policies or procedures
which affect student life. Student government is the
principal agency for student participation in the
decision-making process of the University."
Nice sounding rhetoric but unfortunately, that's
about all it is. Reading Point B and keeping in mind
the past and present attempts of students to assert
themselves in regard to University policy, one finds
that Point B and similar policy statements do not
reflect reality.
The fact is, student power and participation in the
"formulation of institutional policies" at this
University is, at best, a farce. There is an old adage
about power which accurately describes this: "He has
no power that has no power to use."
In other words, passages like Point B and such
things arc the ASUN Constitution and Constitutional
Amendment No. 1 (the student regent amendment)
are merely empty phrases and statements designed to
lend credence to the belief that students actually do
wield power and have a voice in the affairs of the
University.
Witness the room and board increase mentioned in
the opening paragraph. If it were not for the
invertervention of a snowstorm, the regents would
have probably voted for the rate increase without
soliciting any opinions from students, even though it
is student money and only student money which
supplies the revenue for campus housing.
Witness also the annual attempts to introduce
alcohol on campus, which are invariably vetoed by
the regents. The students could give the regents a
petition with 99.9 per cent of the residence hall
occupants' signatures on it, asking for alcohol in the
dorms, and undoubtedly it would be ignored.
The 20 thousand students who attend this
University, who are most affected by matters
concerning this University, do not determine policy,
but rather, policy rests on the whims and fancies of
the eleven people comprising the Board of Regents.
Eleven people, eight of whom probably attended
their last class 30 or 40 years ago. Eight men who
seem to think University students are mere children,
dangerous and unpredictable if not watched closely.
Of course, now that we have student regents on
the board, the other regents undoubtedly will become
more ' responsive. They might even ask for a few
student opinions' on certain matters, provided these
"certain matters" have already been voted on.
As a solution to this touchy problem, which I call
the "Usurpation of Student Rights by the Regents", I
offer two suggestions. First of all, everyone should
move out of the dorms and let the regents move
in-the dorms are designed to accommodate their
lifestyle, not ours.
And second, the student regent amendment
should be altered to give non-voting status to the
eight "older" regents and voting status to the student
regents.
These are not unreasonable demands and they
should be the next order of business the regents
discuss.
No baths, economy sinks
The happy Arabs are raking in umpteen
billion dollars a month. And our gloomy
economists are currently predicting the doom of
America. Quite rightly, too.
The first problem is inflation. Mr, Ford says
this is caused by Government spending.
Government spending puts too much money in
circulation. We have inflation, then because we
have too much money. No one I know has any.
Of course, the Arabs, by taking $20 billion a
year out of our economy, will cause us to have
less money in circulation. This will cure inflation.
It will also cause a recession. Recessions are
caused by having too little money in circulation.
The Arabs will then tile their bathrooms,
which is the first thing everyone does who gets a
few bucks ahead.
Unfortunately, the Arabs don't have enough
bathrooms to tile. So by 1984, he experts
figure, the Arabs will be stuck with one trillion
dollars worth of too much money. So they are
faced with the grim threat of inflation. Many
Americans feel this would serve them right.
But the Arabs are clever. To avoid this threat,
they are investing their surplus petrodollars in
Western nations, primarily America. (Let us hope
they send them to a Mexican laundry first.)
And they will be richly awarded. For
example, my neighborhood savings and loan is
offering a free combination sandwich griller and
waffle iron for every $5,000 deposit. So if King
Faisal drops by with $100 billion, he'll walk off
with 20 million free combination sandwich
page 4
grillers and waffle irons.
This will create full employment in America
and a lot of indigestion in Arabia.
Now all this is great tor America.
Unfortunately, the experts say the Arabs are also
planning to invest in Lockheed, Pan-American,
assorted Florida resorts and common stocks.
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innocent bystander
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As any American who has ever invested in
Lockheed, Pan-American, assorted Florida
resorts or common stocks could tell them, the
Arabs are bound to lose-jf they wore
shirts their shirts.
Many ill-informed Americans will say this
serves them right. But if the Arabs lose their
shirts by investing in America, we will get back
all those billions of inflation -causing dollars that
we happily got rid of. And we'll all be broke
again.
So now that we clearly understand the
reasoning of our economic experts, there is but
one obvious course of action to forestall our
impending doom: We must send billions of
dollars and thousands of technicians to the Arab
nations to build them mere bathrooms.
(Copyright Chronicle Publishing Co. 1974)
daily nebraskan
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'What have you done for me lately?"
thursday, january 23, 1975
