Severely handicapped class arrives - The Lowell

.POLITICS
•Defense— Are ihe Soviets sincere
overspending examined in their peace proposals?
M*ny people are beginning to
wooler why the Dcparoncni r»f
Defense has such i larje oudget.
The Gcncrkl Accountinf Office
(OAO) has st'imattd that over tea
percent of the defense budget is the
rrtuh of waste or fnud. A Pentagon
•itf* Emitted Cut shoddy workmanship
eta mil up lo 30 percent to the
costs of the mU&fy
A luge portion of the wane acctAiwal
for by Ac GAO estimate
cocxs from fraudulent or frivolous
claim* by defense contractors.
y alFdolT
(cheat the U.S.
government) ... "
One of the oast iimous CASCI of
a&^cd frivolous cbhra was the i500
hammer. The military does provide
an explanation for such seemingly exorbitant
prices.
"There is i lot of paperwork involved
in everything the miliu-y
buys." eiplaincd one Pentagon official.
"We have u pay fot a'J the
paperwork, as well as the product."
"The military has to makr *ur: the
product will work." reported
aA-ther.
This seems like an inappiopriaie
•tatoncm when one ccnuden the
spending of $17.59 for an jnlincrv
bolt or 51,600 for a refrigerator.
Many defense contractor* have
been cited tor fraudulent claims by
Defense Department saditon.
General Btctric (CE) w^; Miked n
tcturn $169 million in dishonest
clatnu in March, and three cx-OE ex*
ecutivc* were charged in a fraud
Vandal in July.
Several Wc*tinjil>otuc employees
«erc charged with using federal
tunds to create a "Uu»h fund." a pu4
of money used for retirement
"They all in fi reheat die U.S.
, Kovjrnwni),' remarked in-
*en>t»i jve ccJumrust Jick Andcnoo.
"But wh.it can we do about ir?"
Oo October 15. tnc *ufT of the
Senate Armed Services Cw^-nicec
released a MS-prjc repori ih*. icvl
over two years to compile.
It recomnended. a.nong other
tMnjj. that the office of the defense
secretary be streamlioco. a-jdito;* in
the departmeni be given more power
to »earcn thiot'ph contracts few
iraudulcot ;cqucu, and the Joint
Chiefs of Staff be eliminated.
In response to the report. Pentagon
spokesman R.*ert Sin*j said. '•The
decision-making machinery is running
smoouily; our civilian and
military fcadcrihip meshes as rarrly
in the put."
"We think we've rnaric major improvement:.
We have put in force a
whole range of management improvement*
thtt v>cre Ions overdue."
continued Sinu. "There's no need for
drauic, fundamental
ByStidBodcn
Soviet !e*>r Mikhail GcrUcIxrv
mac's an announcement en Jaly 29
that ten* tnock vmve* through tnc
United Sutcs.
"... the Soviet Union ha* dccJcd
** skrer than the j.crjgc
Italun. a finding which pan:cutorl>
offended Driton^ who have not taken
Italy seriously a> a ru'ion-*ute.
Whilt Japan ard the United Sisie*
vie in science and tcchnoli>£y. British
research ii sarved f.u furvl*.
Sir Han* KiMTil>erg. one of the
world'* lc*img biiKhemut*. \i*}
recently tha: L'IC ainltiy ol Bntt\h
wicntivts 'o contnbuic w the *tudy of
cancer ornl ether dlveJ^e» ho.\ already
After six years of Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher's attempts at promoting
recovery, Britain remains a
nation in decline.
ropect for civ J imtiRtiior.t and by the
mounting incidence of valence,
squalor, and Jrug*ukin£ in inncr-ctty
neighborhoods.
Poor economic performance has
persiited dcipite Britain's status a*
ooe of Western EuropcS two major
oil producers.
Petroleum prouuetton. which i*
now Dear peak kvc!s. has created
jobs and helped ihc halanc? of trade,
but by mr cad of the century, its impact
will be slight.
"Britain has grown much poorer
undergone "2 horrifying d^-clme."
The need :o upgrade cduoiion.
housing. a-Td cmploynicnt opp^f"
. runitics in the declining inner-city
artaA is made all iSc more Apparent
by the despair -imong teerugen w ho
have been ai the cere of the la:esi
vtolcntc and for whom cxpecutwns
for * responsible, employed
adulthood are shockingly rvmote.
Acco/ding to a Bradford social
worker, youths leading school
""... may as w«U forgci about fmtkng
3 job in thii life and «a« worrying
Grants, Scholarships,
Fellowships, Loans
from
Private Foundations
A Rcuarch Servkt
Scholarship information Scnicc
P O. Bo» 7333. Balclcy. CA **?07
415"M067J
about the nc\l.*'
Picket-line Mnfc jnj ihc eruption
o r lootinr and burning in 4 do/en
aim in 19H| sn>l JgJin U\t month
ru\r jltcrcd the w-> Britons »i:*
themselves.
Tlie aflccud nci([hSirhinxl* ui(fcr
at teavt twxe J\ niu-.h uncnipJiiJment
a« the nationwide A\crjge of 13 \xrcent,
jivtltunemplmntfnt i^cU'c h»
S> percent.
Ilriui.i't auc. Jte not z\ uru.nly
M.;;-r pvHMhlr stolen |^xxl«. In
T>itlcAham. north London, vhotgun
pel'ev* had to lv fifed into a cmud
of iK*cn uhich a:tJtl.rtl a polkcmcn
ai«J hocked him to dciuS with a
truchctc
Although Britain'* ;rm»e me renutm
much IOHCT th.t: the
teil turpruc in the prupoul was a
pprpined ban on all future development*,
including Hricmifk research,
of hnh Star War* and L*>C American
ontiutcllitc pcugram.
Supponer* and foes of a moratorium
agree that rux enough infomutwin
1* yet known about the 50 peritrru
rrducticn tc nuke valid judgments.
"We can continue to say that
e\erything a nrupaganda Therr't no
value in uriting something off a*
propaganda unless you don't want to
deal with it." Wem concluded.
Lowell irudcnb contacted by this
wriicr did not know much about the ,
le*t ban or ibe 50 percent reduction I
proposal, but once they were in- (
FRAMERS WORKSHOP
5 GALLERY
415//S2-5874
formed of t!*; situation, they expressed
siroag opioions.
"We DCvcr know what thcy'ie doing.
It's all proparandi... they (the
Soviets) only give u- what they want
us to know." cununcasJ a freshman.
Ajunkrfihoxired, "Whocaixsif
its propaganda or not? The point is
that now we have a chance to stop the
arms race before a nuclear war occurs.
If we really Ke'ievc its prop*ganda,
then the only wiy to fini nut
for sure i* m call their bluff."
A senior commenied. "I don't
think the Russian* are bad people, but
their government ctn't be trusted on
•he issue of arms cxitrul."
"Of course it's propaganda. Gorbachev
is full of it...he'* juu trying
to trick us into a state of falic •ccurity
so be can take over our country!"
a sophomore rctponJcd.
A freshman noted. "It** a good
step toward better relation* between
the United State* anJ the 5o*ict
Union. It r.iijiht le\*en the chance of
a World War III."
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BEAKXYOUCANBE.