Page 4
Daily Nebraskan
Tuesday, January 12, 1982
Editorial
Crossed signals sent
to American people
When President Kcagan decided to continue peacetime
draft registration last week, he may have done himself
more harm than he realizes, as the move cuts into his
credibility with the American public.
Edwin Mecsc, the presidential counselor who got stuck
with the task of bearing the news of the draft decision to
the television cameras, said Reagan based his decision on
two factors. First, he was advised by Defense Secretary
Caspar Weinberger and Secretary of State Alexander I laig
that to discontinue registration would send "the wrong
signals" to the Soviet Union in the midst of the turmoil in
Poland. Second, according to a report filed by a
committee of which Weinberger was chairman, peacetime
draft registration could save up to six weeks of prep
aration time in the event of war. Neither of these excuses
is good enough to continue the peacetime draft resist rat
ion. "Sending signals'" is a time-honored tradition of both
the Soviets and Americans which is as ineffective as it is
commonplace. In this case, the sabre-rattling gesture of
peacetime draft registration will be easy for Moscow to
ignore. No less of a spokesman on the subject than Reagan
himself said so when President Carter first introduced
peacetime draft registration at the outbreak of the Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan. How the same gesture that was
meaningless then has become meaningful now Reagan has
yet to explain.
The other excuse, about how peacetime draft registrat
ion could save the United States six weeks of preparation
time in the event of war, was hailed by Mecsc at the press
conference as the "new evidence" that swayed Reagan to
retain the peacetime draft. Here again, is the same ration
ale President Carter used when he introduced peacetime
draft registration, so the evidence is hardly new.
What Reagan failed to do when pondering his "new evi
dence" is weigh the time saved in the event of a possible
war, with the absolutely certain waste of time, money and
manpower involved in tracking down the over 800,000
young men of draft age who have failed to register.
Asked repeatedly whether there were any plans to
actually prosecute people who did not register for the
draft, Meese could only stammer that there would be a
grace period during which they could register, and that
the penalties" for failure to do so would be a maximum of
5 years in prison andor a S 10,000 fine. Obviously, he did
not want to say that yes, they would prosecute 800,000
people, which would be the judicial nightmare of the
century; but in so doing he implied that if that many peo
ple failed to register, the government might try very hard
to look the other way. In either case, this is a question
that should not have been left to Meese to answer, but to
Reagan.
Love him or hate him, everybody admits that Reagan
has introduced the changes he said he would in his
campaign; beefing up defense spending, cutting back
social programs and cutting back income taxes. While
these moves may not have delivered the results he promis
ed in his campaign, he cannot be accused of abandoning
his program. The retention of peacetime draft registration
is another matter; a clear reversal of a campaign promise
on very shaky grounds. In his desire to avoid sending "the
wrong signals" to Moscow Reagan seems to have forgotten
about the signals he sends to the American people.
MOW
Peect Tim
Draft Rcgstratfcci
is ncCtssary
m. U Alii i
1 U iww
V w v.; v
Peace Time
Droit Roqistrotiotl
is Futile antj
Ads, sales pitches come to life
"How sad it is, my dear Ilalsey, that our lives are so
dreadfully influenced by advertising," said Mrs. Harley
Davidson III during an afternoon tea party.
Ilalsey Taylor (Lady Vapo-Rub), sighed profoundly as
she poured a generour amount of bourbon into her tea
cup. "I couldn't agree with you more, dear. It's positively
disgusting and there ought to be a law against it. By the
way, did ilarley get that new Whitewash laundry bleach
I sent over? I read in the Daily Blurb the other day that it
gets clothes cleaner than the leading brand."
y Mary Louise
f Knapp
Mrs. Davidson looked perturbed.
"Why, yes, darling, 1 believe he did. In fact, I hear llar
ley's motor running now!" She glanced toward the laun
dry room, taking a few discreet swigs from the bourbon
bottle as she did so.
"However, my little cherub," she resumed, "ever since
he has been using that stuff I've been worried that - well
- his relations with our laundress might not be all that
clean. He's been dipping into the suds more often, too."
"Don't give it a second thought, sugarpie," said Har
ley airily. "Why, I remember when my Reginald started
using that Static-Free laundry spray you gave me. He had
to be dragged out of the laundry room by force! I had to
get rid of it when he began spraying the cat with it,
though."
Mrs. Davidson sipped delicately at the bottle.
"How is little Esoterica these days, Ilalsey7" she in
quired. "I understand she's looking quite a bit faded late-
ly."
Ilalsey turned a brilliant green, and hastily seized the
bouTbon from her neighbor's grip.
"Look. Porcclana, I value your friendship as much as I
do my shiny, clean dentures, but this time you have gone
too far," she said. "Lsoterica will never be the same again.
After she used that Fade-All cream you bought her, even
her own mother, and that's myself, didn't recognize her!"
The door opened, and a pale, literally featureless girl
walked in.
"There! There! Look what your insidious purveying of
commercial products has done!" shrieked Ilalsey, fling
ing her arms around the girl.
Mrs. Davidson stared in horror, aghast at what her
salesmanship had wrought. The girl's face was nothing but
a pale blur, with subtle indentations where the eyes and
mouth should have been, and a barely distinguishable
lump in place of the nose.
"My dear, I can't tell you how sorry I am," said Mrs.
Davidson, tears running down her face. "But, honey, you
did it to me. too!"
"No!" cried Ilalsey.
"Do you recall that new Oven Bottom stuffing you
brought over for little Lorenzo?"
Ilalsey swallowed manfully and tried to recollect.
"Darling, it pains me to reveal this terrible fact, but I
must. When Lorenzo first tasted that stuffing, he boycot
ted potatoes forevefmore. Now, since he is the owner of
the largest potato-producing farm in the country, this has
very nearly caused an economic disaster! He is letting the
potatoes sit in the fields, rotting away, while he forces his
workers to produce a stuffing that will put Oven Bottom
out of business!"
Continued on Page 5
Eejagan turns loss of Richard Allen into gain
The resignation of President Reagan's
national security adviser Richard Allen,
and his replacement by Deputy Secre
tary of State William Clark, are being
scored in Washington as a victory for
the? State Department's relative "moder
ates" over conservatives nearer the presi
dent. Fate has a way of playing dirty
tricks on schemers, however, as we shall
see. '. -
William
Rusher
' Meanwhile, Allen's forced resignation
must surely set off warning bells in any
orderly mind. Here is an able man set in
a high post who was suddenly confront
ed with obscure allegations about a
thousand dollars in an envelope, a
couple of Japanese watches and a mis
statement on a job application.
The Washington press corps, accus
tomed to feasting on fresh meat, played
the story for a good deal more than it
was worth, padding it out with damag
ing remarks by unnamed "White House
sources." The Justice Department went
over everything with a fine-toothed
comb and found Allen guiltless of any
wrongdoing.
The White House conducted its own
independent inquiry, focusing on
whether there were any ethical lapses
below the level of actual wrongdoing,
and likewise exonerated Allen complet
ely. Whereupon Allen, clearly under
pressure, resigns. The operation was a
success, but the patient dies anyway.
What's going oh here? Allen had un-,
questionably been feuding with Secre
tary of State Haig, and had probably
incurred the dnmity of one or more of
the White House's Big Three (Meese, ,
Baker and Deaver) as well.
In the end, President Reagan seems
to have concluded that he just could not
afford the expenditure of personal cred
it that would have been necessary to re
coup and rehabilitate a man so damaged
(however unfairly) in the public eye. So
be it - though Mr. Reagan must know
that throwing meat from the sled is a
highly debatable tactic for assuaging
wolves.
In reshuffling his foreign policy team
under duress, however, the Gipper may
(as already noted) have arranged to have
things more his own way in the long
s run. The key here is the long and close
relationship between Reagan and Wil
liam Clark. In the early days of Reagan's
first term as governor of California,
Clark was his executive assistant, or
highest-ranking aide. (Later "Reagan ap
pointed him to the bench, and ultimate-v
ly to the Supreme Court of California.)
Clark hails, therefore, from the very
highest levels of the old California Rea
gan entourage, and he has never lost
the confidence of his old boss. One year
ago, casting about for someone to be his
personal eyes and ears at the State Department,-
Reagan summoned Clark
from his high judicial post to become
deputy secretary of state - the second
lughest -ranking position in the depart
ment. In moving him to the White House to
succeed Allen, Reagan also upgraded the
job of national security adviser to give
Clark "direct access.' This means that
Clark will report daily, or more often if
necessary, to Reagan himself, rather
than going through Meese, as Allen was
required to do. . " v
But the biggest impact is likely to be
one the tensions between the State De
partment and the national Security
council staff that Clark will now head.
Instead of pleading State's case to the
president, which has been his job for a
year, Clark wfll henceforth inevitably
find himself disagreeing with some of
State's recommendations. And he will
have the matchless privilege of i'direct
access" to Mr. Reagan to help him carry
the day. Before long, therefore, the'
boys in Foggy Bottom may be wishing
they had Dick Allen to kick around
again.
(c) .1982 Universal Press Syndicate
