The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, December 01, 1986, Page Page 4, Image 4
Daily Nebraskan Monday, December 1, 1986 o n o i Jeff Korbelik, Editor, 472,1766 James Rogers, Editorial Page Editor Gene Gentrup, Managing Editor Tammy Kaup, Associate News Editor Todd von Kampen, Editorial Page Assistant Nebrayskan University of Nebraska-Lincoln Page 4 f NB1IILBEIW2NEQ A tV(,f --X J US 60THN AUTRE -cA SINCE VDUR e I PW3S CONFERENCE Imagnmairy treaty SALT II can't be broken L ast week headlines screamed clear before his 1984 re-election that, with the deployment that he had no intention of abid of the 131st B-52 bomber, ing by the terms of the unap- the United States had "broken" the 1979 strategic arms limitation treaty (known better as SALT II). Congressmen and foreign officials alike bemoaned the event. Yet, irrespective of what one believes about the merit of arms limitation attempts (the histori cal record on such attempts is not encouraging about the suc cess of such agreements), the simple fact is that no treaty was broken. The U.S. Constitution is quite clear. Article II, defining execu tive branch powers, reads that the president "shall have power, by and with the advice and con sent of the Senate to make trea ties, provide two thirds of the Senators present concur." It is only this way that, according to of tne lack of acceptable alter article VI, "treaties made . . . natives, but the status quo itself under the authority of the United is unacceptable. The status quo States, shall be the supreme law n . i a or tne land. . . No treaty ever existed the Senate never ratified SALT II thus no treaty could be broken. Elected officials should stand or fall on the policies they advocate. You can't blame poli ticians for doing what they said they would do. President Reagan was always clear in his opposition to SALT arms system. Either policy would II. He claimed that arms limita- probably be safer than the cur tion talks simply institutional- rent muddle-headedness evi ized the arms race and thus were denced by the continual sniping a poor proxy for real arms reduc- at the president for arms reduc tions. Reagan also made it quite tions proposals or arms increases. Letter 'Drunk' Native American image is unfair I'm writing a response to an article dealing with Indian substance abuse, (D.N., Nov. 17). As a freshman here at UNL, I try to be aware of topics and events that are interesting and available. There are definitely some important resources here to learn from. I am also a Native American, which gives me an added interest since some of the common occurences here are first-time expe riences for me. I appreciate very much the people I've learned from in ex changing cross-cultural information, and I want to thank people who have good intentions of being aware of our Native American culture. Right now I want to experess how angry I feel, because it seems that the "cultural" exposure about Native Amer icans is always alcohol-related. In the one short year I've been here, there have been quite a few programs about and for Native American awareness, but the spotlight always seems to fall oh the alcohol problem of our popu lation. The overtone of the article projected an image that is constantly accented. I regret that I didn't hear Grobsmith's seminar. I'm sure she had a great deal to report which did not appear in the article. Her statement "The Indians feel no shame in being drunk," is very proved treaty proposal. The American people have gone into this pjt-SALT II pos ture, as it were, v ith both eyes open. It makes no sense then to berate the president for "break- ing" a non-treaty he never agreed with. Additionally, the reaction of America's Western European allies is most ironic coming so closely on the heels of their neg ative reactions to the Iceland summit's potential. It's obvious that they do not know what they want. But that's not new for modern Western European democ racies. The problem, in both Europe and America, is that the status quo is being maintained because arms control posture is iunaa- m s t t rt 1 1 r n rili ! n U ny-i m I - I ?n ' mentally schizophrenic. We're in a never-never land where real arms reduction is opposed and so is the acceptance of treaties. The West lacks a coherent vision on how to grapple with the Soviets. It's the worst of all pos sible worlds anything would be better: a cogent arms reduc tion posture or a clear-minded pursuit of a forceful strategic difficult for someone like myself to read. (How many reports are being done about the generations of Indian people that have been colonized and the mental and physical damage that has been done to us in that process over the decades?) The problems of our people are deeply rooted and there are no easy answers. Many of the studies done by outsiders come to conclusions that hardly have any impact on the centur ies of problems that have been culti vated since our transition from our society too this one. Another quotation was, "More Indian youth use drugs and alcohol than American youth." This surprises me because I've always thought of myself (and still do) as American when I was a youth. This type of statement becomes overwhelmingly alienating and I'm so tired of it and related statements. On campus, if you see an Indian you will probably find a respectable, sober, hard-working student similar to your self. There are other events concerning Native American culture that you might want to be aware of. The public is welcome. Laskot Harden freshman English Tine bloom is offfffioii9 (p)roe Iranian affair marks the end of the permissive presidency I was never keen on the description of the Reagan Years as a Teflon presidency. When historians go searching for a label to mark the first six years of this administration, they won't find it in cookware. It's in that other domestic art: parenting. The 1980s will go down as nothing less than the era of the Permissive presidency. How often did Ronald Reagan warn us about the evils of the permissive society? No rules, no brakes, no disci pline, anything goes. It turns out the man was absolutely right. Throughout his formative early years as President, Ronald Reagan was a hapless victim of a politically permissive upbringing. Consider the words of no less an authority on child-raising than Dr. Spock. Unfairly accused of being pedi atrician to a permissive generation, the doctor himself warns: "A child, like an adult, knows when she is getting away with too much naughtiness If she isn't corrected, she's likely to behave worse and worse. It's as if she were saying, 'How bad to I have to be before somebody stops me?' " Does heshe have to be shipping arms to the Ayatollah? Appparently. It took the Iranian arms deal to get the American people to finally say "no" to their favorite son. For the first time, the overwhelming majority of Americans in this week's Los Angeles Times poll said they didn't believe the President when he denied trading arms for hostages. In the United States, people are supposed to be custodians of the ward called democracy. But they have been unwilling to hold the president they love accountable for his actions. Maybe there was a little law-bending here, a Proposed gay committee explained There has been much attention lately to the proposed addition of a GayLesbian Programming Com mittee to the City Council of the University Program Council (UPC). The aim of this letter is to give some Guest Opinion background information so informed decisions can be made by students. Since gaylesbian students are not an American ethnic minority, which is what constitutes the Amer ican Minority Council of UPC, the proposal came before the City Council. Two months ago, UPC-City Council began discussion on the written proposal submitted by mem bers of the GayLesbian Student Association (GLSA). The discussion that followed centered around two considerations; First, was there a need for programming to the UNL students about gaylesbian issues bit of diplomatic lying there, gun- running in Nicaragua, disinformation in Libya, tale-telling over the KAL 007, disorder in Reykjavik. We allowed an escalating series of events to be treated as if they were well-meaning acts or "misspeaks." Merely a stage he was going through. Many chose to trust Ron rather than the evidence or, certainly, the evidence- Ellen Goodman bearers. Like a fond family, we melted each time he came striding open-faced and cheerful into the living-room tele vision greeting us, "Good evening . . . you know my name." We were, to put it simply, overindulgent and relentlessly approving. Of course, the more we allowed his dubious behavior, the more the boun daries were pushed. It's textbook stuff. What do the child psychologists call it? Testing. The final test came when the man who promised he would never deal with terrorists got caught dealing and he couldn't quite charm his way out of it. From my vantage point, permissive ness either in the body politic or in parenting bears a strong resemb lance to another P-word in the case- books: passiveness. Parents who pre- maturely resign as family rulemakers often delude themselves with the idea that their offspring are old enough to and culture? Secondly, could this need by met by our current struc ture? After the proposal to create a programming committee on the City Council passed, it then moved to the Executive Board of UPC. The proposal was then altered by the Executive Board because it was a new programming area We wanted to enter this new field cautiously and pay careful attention to the reaction by the campus. This was the justification for proposing fund ing for one year and to evaluate its successes and failures at the end of the first year. We have used this approach before, in the case of the Asian American Committee on the American Minority Council. The reality of the committee receiving funding is far in the future. The first step, after it has passed Executive Board, is the Nebraska Union Board. Currently this is its status. If it passes Union Board, UPC will begin to formulate this commit take care of themselves without "a watchdog." There is some personal value in this self-deception. These parents free themselves from the responsibility of overseeing the behavior of their kids. Their young are either emancipated or neglected; the parents are off the hook. It's the same with permissive polit ics. The eagerness to totally trust the President, to ignore any early warning signs, any notices that get sent home, allows us to go about our lives without paying attention. We actively want to be able to leave our public wards on their own. In all this, there is yet another P word: powerlessness. The most permis sive parent s or citizens I know are peo ple who don't believe in their ability to have an impact, to effect change when things or people go awry. They go through Parent I neffectiveness Training. But what happens when the misbe havior keeps escalating? Let me return to Dr. Spock: "Eventually (his) behav ior becomes so provoking that the par ents' patience snaps." The President offered a rationale of the Iranian arms deal that was about as convincing as a teen-ager's tale of how the family car got banged up. The coun try's patience didn't snap, but it is more than a bit frayed. How do you prevent this generation from falling back into our permissive ways. There's a new and trendier way for raising politicians these days. They call it "tough love." 1986, The Boston Globe Newspaper CompanyWashington Post Writers Group. Goodman is a Pulitzer prize-winning columnist for the Boston Globe. tee's budget on a program by pro gram basisand will submit it to the Committee for Fees Allocation (CFA). If it passes this committee, the request proceeds to ASUN, then to the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and then the final decision will rest with the Chancellor. As you can see, this proposal has a long way to travel before it becomes an actual, functioning committee of UPC. If formed, the GayLesbian Program ming Committee will become the 31st committee on UPC, the 13th on the City Council and will join the ranks of over 300 members of UPC. We have written this letter in the hopes of informing students about the actual content of the proposal and the basis for our decisions. UPC will strive to meet the needs of stu dents in the future and we hope that students can now make an informed decision. Mark Whitacre Executive Board Coordinator University Program Council