thursday, november30, 1978
page 4
daily nebraskan
opinioneditorial
Conserving energy
a holiday concern
Thanksgiving is just barely over and the
Christmas shopping spirit is now upon us.
Holiday advertisements are popping up every
where and downtown Lincoln's atmosphere is
condusive to getting consumers into the buy
ing spirit.
Lights have been put on trees downtown,
despite the Lincoln Electric System's sugges
tion to conserve energy. LES has been suggest
ing since 1 973 that consumers place their holi
day lights inside their houses rather than string
light bulbs outside. This way the homes retain
some heat that would otherwise be lost.
In this instance, we are not talking about
conserving a large amount of energy by not
putting up the lights. Rather, we are talking
about promoting a spirit of conserving energy.
We are asked to conserve energy in driving
cars and heating homes. The problem is real
and we must face it.
Downtown merchants on 13th and O streets
pay for the lights and the Lincoln C enter Asso
ciation coordinates the task, according to a
Lincoln Center spokesperson.
Merchants should show a responsible atti
tude towards conservation. In the tradition of
the Christmas spirit, we should be thinking
about the next generation in all our daily
dealings with energy.
Prior warnings of Guyana ordeal ignored
Washington -The nation is still in shock over the
bizarre suicide-killings in Guyana, South America. More
than 900 disciples of the Peoples Temple joined their fa
natical leader, Jim Jones, in an orgy of poisoning and
shooting.
The brutal slaying of California Kep. Leo Ryan and
four others touched off the death orgy. It has also stirred
a bitter controversy in the backrooms of Washington.
The congressman's staff told us that the State Depart
ment failed to give Ryan adequate warning of the danger.
Spokesmen for the department, in turn, insist they per
ceived "no physical danger" to the congressman and his
delegation.
FBI received complaints
Yet dissident members of the cult had complained to
the FBI about threats of violence. The dissidents had told
about gun-toting guards and harsh physical beatings. As
early as last July, one dissident gave her attorney an
affidavit, describing rehearsals for mass suicide at the
Guyana colony.
The FBI, however, accepted the advice of the U.S.
attorney in San Francisco, who claimed the FBI had no
jurisdiction over the allegations because "no federal laws
had been violated."
Now, the FBI is belatedly investigating allegations that
the cult had a plan to kidnap or assassinate prominent
people in the event of Jones' arrest.
The State Department also received complaints that
cult members were held at the colony against their will
and that they had been subjected to abuse. Consular
officers visited the colony but could not verify the charges.
Attorney's letter
The murdered congressman also received a prophetic
letter from Jones' attorney, Mark Lane. "You may judge,
therefore," wrote Lane on Nov. 6, "the important conse
quences which may flow from further persecution of (the
1 1 1 . ...-til -iti1 K a r-
cult) anu wnicn may veiy wen icauu in me creation ot a
most embarrassing situation for the U.S. government."
Rep. Ryan personally underlined those lines from
Lane's letter. But the congressman responded that the im
plied threat "did not impress (him) at all." The State De
partment gave Ryan the green light, and he flew to
Guyana to his death..
jack andersen
The leader of the Peoples Temple, Jim Jones, was a for
mer San Francisco housing official. His church started out
helping people in trouble. His disciples used to write to us
frequently. "Brother Jones," they would write, "urged us
to pray for you and your work." Once, the church offered
to send us SI ,000 to start a scholarship fund.
Give it to charity
We turned down the money and suggested that
Jones donate it to charity.
Deadly brew. For decades, the chemical companies
have been burying their wastes. These forgotten chemi
cals have combined in some places to form a deadly
witches' brew.
In several cities, the chemical solutions are seeping
to the surface. They are appearing in areas where homes
and schools have now been built.
The deadly ooze has produced a host of hazaids. Brith
defects are showing up in children who were born in the
contaminated areas. The cancer rate has risen. Animal life
has died off or deserted the areas.
One of the worst sites, ironically, is Niagara Falls, the
honeymoon resort in upper New York. But the surfacing
chemicals are making it a dangerous trysting place.
Suicide and burritos meshed with same old songs
Random Gonzales is generally pretty
erratic. On this particular day though, he
was being pretty specifically erratic.
"Moods man, I mean what can I say?"
he said as he belted down a shot of some
cleaning fluid or another he bought from
the non-committal man behind the bar.
1 nursed by Coke and stared at my
shoes. What can you say? A half hour ago
he was suicidal, now he was considering the
risks involved in eating at a local beanery.
That was the conversation for the af
ternoon, suicide and burritos, and
somehow the two jived.
To break the silence I got up to feed
the jukebox. More blues. You can only go
to Kansas City so often before all those
chops sound the same.
'Have mercy'
"Have mercy," I muttered under my
breath as he raised his eyes to mine. Fvi
dently the conversation was at a standstill.
We'd been over the same old blues time
and time again, switching roles whenever it
swung to an extreme. Now it was getting
old, and we both knew it.
"The more things change, the more they
stay the same," he offered. At least he
wasn't quoting RodMcKuen at me. I raised
my glass in partial recognition, and added
without malice, "Just the way we want
them."
It was time to leave.
michael zangari
I left my coat unbuttoned and walked
out into the cold air. I wanted to do some
thing physical-chop wood maybe, or just
run.
Tension spreads
I was mad, but at what I couldn't begin
to explain. My body felt very constricted
and the tension was spreading in familiar
patterns. I was a live wire.
Having no place left to go but home, L
got in the car and cranked it up. The radio
was on, but not for long. Same old songs.
Strum and drang, strum and drang.
I took the phone off the hook at home
even before I removed my coat. I had no
thing to say to anyone, and wasn't about
to attempt it.
Sifting through the afternoon's fun
and games, I couldn't find anything that
was particularly upsetting.
Early death is passe in this crowd, and
has very little to do with reality. Reality
in turn, was evidently a nice place to visit,
but not a healthy place to stay.
Grand overdose
It finally happened. The grand overdose.
We were all tired of listening to the sound
of our own voices, and it showed.
Breathing a resolved sigh I put the
phone back on the hook and it rang
immediately.
"Listen man, we've got some things to
talk about "
"I know," I said.
Down to zero without a word
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The democratic, non -sectarian Palestine still lacks full
clarity and elaboration, but this is the best that can be
done at this stage of the arduous liberation struggle. The
Palestinians have outgrown their bitterness and prejudice
in the relatively short time through armed struggle.
The Palestinian revolution is determined to tight tor
the creation of the new democratic and non-sectarian
Palestine as the long-term ultimate goal of liberation.
Annihilation of the Jews or of the Palestinians and the
creation of an exclusive racist or theocratic state in Pale
stine be it Jewish, Christian or Moslem is totally unaccept
able, unworkable and cannot last.
The Israeli racists are greatly irritated by the idea of
Zionism and bares the moral schizophrenia that besets
world Jewry since the creation of Israel. The adoption
of several significant progressive Jews of the new goal
scares world Zionism. Israeli Jewish Professor Loebie and
French Jewish writer Ania Francos were threatened and
molested by Zionists for their sponsorship of the demo
crat ic raiesune as tne ultimate goal ot liberation.
The Zionists are stepping up their campaign to discred
it the idea, especially among the Jews. The force of logic
and the effect of years of persecution in exclusive socie
ties on the hand of racists are opening the eyes of Jews
and others in the world to the only permanent solution
that will bring lasting peace and justice to Palestine.
From the above, it is clear that Israel is not a Jewish
state, but it is a state of the racist Zionist movement,
which has been supported and helped by the world imper-ialists-to
be the seed of the Neo -Colonialism in the Ihird
World.
Sadat's meeting with terrorist Begin and the soolled
peace treaty at Camp David are destroying the new
acclamation by the people of the world and by the United
Nations in many occasions which stated the rights of the
etters
Palestinian Arabs in their homelands which were taken
by forces of the aggression with the help of world imper
ialism.
We. the Arab students at UNL severely condemn the
Camp David Summit Agreements which are an ultimate
conspiracy against the Arabs in general, and Palestinians
in particular. It is a brainwashing move against all the
concerned people in the Third World. Our final goal is
the establishment of a Free Democratic Arab Palestine
State in which Christians, Jews, and Moslems live to
gether in peace and harmony.
In the end. the just cause will prevail and the fighters
tor justice and freedom will be victorious. Long live
Palestine.
The Organization of
Arab StudentsNebraska
Continued on Page 5
