Opinion
riday, July 12,1991 The Battalion
i
U.S. should help
Baltic republics
a
jL JLs Yugoslavia and its seces
sionist republics Slovenia and Croatia
maintain a shaky peace, the United
States continues to do nothing to help
these two groups avoid a bloody con
flict.
It seems ironic that the United
States would not support a small
republic trying to break free from a
forced union with a country where
ethnic or national ties are no longer
shared. Didn't this nation do the same
thing 215 years ago?
The lack of U.S. interest seems to
contradict President Bush's vision of
the United States leading all nations to
a peaceful "new world order."
Ironically, the United States acted
swiftly to restore the Kuwaiti govern
ment — a royal family that offers no
voting privileges to its citizens.
Yet, Bush and congressional lead
ers ignore two struggling republics'
uest for democracy and freedom,
lovenia chose independence under a
new democratic government by a
nine-to-one margin in a general elec
tion, but Croatia and Slovenia remain
under the United States' indifferent
shadow.
At least the European Community
managed to withhold $1 billion of
financial support if violence erupts,
but no meaningful effort has been put
forth by the United States to end this
civil unrest. Although Slovenia and
Croatia have agreed to suspend its
declarations of bidependence for three
months, negotiations could break
down quickly. Slovenia said it was
withdrawing its deputies from the
Yugoslav national legislature, and
Croatia told the national legislature to
"work so the disassociation process
may unfold in a peaceful and demo
cratic way." Obviously, independence
won't be compromised, whicn makes
war a stronger possibility.
Further, as Slovenia's parliament
agreed to a European Community plan
to avoid war in favor of more negotia
tions (a plan Croatia already
approved), the secessionist republics
and Yugoslavian government still
traded threats of violence. Indeed,
war stil is lurking.
If the United States insists on sup
porting current borders over a strug
gling people's quest for freedom, then
at least give the dispute the attention it
deserves. It is wrong for the United
States to passively observe a nation
Todd Stone
Managing Editor
stand precariously on the edge of vio
lent conflict.
T
JL n fairness, the answer to solv
ing the ethnic and political conflicts in
Yugoslavia seems elusive, even to
experts. European Community repre
sentatives have been hesitant and
sometimes doubtful of a peaceful set
tlement being reached. The problem
surrounds the origin of these current
disputes. Yugoslavia is a country
made up of several different ethnic
groups, many of which have been
ancient rivals. They were strangers to
one another with no interest in unity
for hundreds of years, and it was post
WWI negotiations that forced these
groups together. To expect these fac
tions to stay together is not logical; to
insist on it is silly.
To his credit. Bush has softened
his pro-Yugoslav stance by saying he
may support the independence of
Croatia and Slovenia under peaceful
bilateral processes. But breaking up
parts of a country is a tricky ana often
violent business. Bush's "new order"
vision for this country could be perma
nently tarnished if violence breaks out
and the United States has done noth
ing to help avoid it.
Certainly, indifference is not a part
of any equation for developing a
peaceful international community. I'm
not suggesting military intervention
similar to Desert Storm would work,
or that the United States must serve as
a worldwide police force. However,
the United States could assist the
European Community in arbitration.
Unfortunately, President Bush and
congressional leaders seem content to
sit on their hands, keep their distance
and hope that Yugoslavia and its inde
pendence-minded republics can avoid
conflict. So much for the United States
being a "new world" leader for inter
national peace.
Todd Stone is a graduate student in
business.
WE SHALL OYERTDRU URN,^,
WE SHALL OVEfiTURNT A J
SOMEDAYAAAAY! '
Mail Call
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look to an issue previously discussed on the Opinion page.
Research supports vegetarians
EDITOR:
It's easy to make fun of Michael Worsham's column on
nutrition (Battalion 6/25/91). After all, he refers to "whole
wheat grain" as one of the new four food groups (wheat is
only one of the grains, Mike, you mean whole grain cereals
or simply whole grains); he asks supposedly rhetorical
questions like "Ever seen a fat vegetarian?" (of course we
have — take a nutritionally adequate vegan diet, add a six
pack of beer and a pound of potato chips per day, and you
/will jget a fat vegan); and he cites, as his only empirical
source, John Robbins' weakly documented and sensation
alist book, "Diet for a New America."
Although Worsham sometimes seems to thrive on look
ing outrageous, good empirical research by sober nutri
tionists has verified some of the claims that graduate stu
dents writing in response to Worsham's column have den
igrated.
First, while it is true that "Animal products are the main
source of vitamin B12" (Rober Hagevoort and Jon Moritz,
Battalion 6/28/91), numerous studies of people on vegan
diets (which exclude both flesh and animal by-products
like eggs and dairy products) have found that vegetarians
only develop deficiencies when they develop absorption
problems which are unrelated to their diets. This suggests,
contrary to the received wisdom, that vegetarians get
enough B12 by microorganisms in the human ileum. See
the comprehensive review of available literature by Alan
Immerman, "Vitamin B12 Status on a Vegetarian Diet,"
World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics 37 (1981), pp. 38-
54, at pp. 45-47; and the case report. Anonymous,
"Vegetarian Diet and Vitamin B12 Deficiency," Nutrition
Reviews 36 (1978), pp. 243-44.
Second, it is an oversimplification to say that
"Osteoporosis is diminished, not caused by, milk products
mainly while young, but also through life" (Hagevoort
and Moritz again). Although studies have shown that cal
cium consumption during childhood and adolescence
affects bone density decades later during menopause, fre
quency of osteoporosis is positively correlated with calci
um consumption, at least at the national level. Countries
that, like the United States, consume the most calcium per
capita also have the highest incidence of hip fractures per
100,000 people. Individuals raised on low-calcium diets
utilize available calcium more efficiently, whereas long
term adaptation to high-calcium diets decreases efficiency
of utilization and eventually increases the risk of osteo
porosis. See D.M. Hested, "Calcium and Osteoporosis,"
Journal of Nutrition 116 (1986), pp.2316-19.
Finally, Worsham is hardly guilty of "misinfbrm(ing)
the public" (Max Alleger, Battalion 7/3/91) about the
general healthiness of a vegetarian diet. A major study of
the nutrition and dietary habits of 6,500 rural Chinese,
who eat very little or no meat or daily products, confirms
that men and women can live healthier lives on a vegetar
ian diet. The study concludes that consumption of meat is
not necessary to prevent anemia, that adequate calcium
can be obtained from plant sources, that U.S.
Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) of some B vita-
inins are set much too high and that peoplenn vegetarian
diets run significantly lower risks of heart disease and
cancer. See J. Chen, et al., ’"A Preliminary Study of the
Dietary, Lifestyle and Mo«rtality Characteristics of 65
Rural Populations in the People's Republic of China"
(forthcoming from Oxford University Press).
So contrary to what we've been told for years, vegetari
ans probably don't even need to use vitamin B12 and iron
supplements, and even if a contemporary, middle-aged
American women needs 800 mg of calcium a day (the cur
rent U.S. R.D.A.), this is only because she has become
"hooked" on calcium. In light of all this it's understand
able to suspect, as Worsham does, that the Department of
Agriculture was being cap tured by the beer and dairy
industries when it developed the original four food
groups publicity campaign in the 1950s.
Myself, I'm not one to susipect conspiracies where there
are simple explanations, and in this case there is one. The
research cited above was all done in the 1970s and 1980s,
so the Department of Agriculture could hardly have been
expected to have known what we know today when it
began publicizing the now traditional four food groups.
In doing so, it was just reflecting the received wisdom of
the time.
But now we know better.
Gary Varner
assistant professor, Department of Philosophy
and Humanities and Center for Biotechnology Policy and
Ethics
NAA.CP must face difficult discrimination issues
T
JL h
his week the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) held its
annual convention in Houston.
Despite gradual improvements in civil
rights in the United States, such as the
recent designation of Martin Luther
King's birthday as an official state holi
day in Texas, tne NAACP had a full
agenda.
Typical of the problems the NAACP
faces, such as the racist police brutality
which sickened the nation in the
Rodney King incident, is the following
shocking story reported by Alice
Bailey of The Evergreen Free Press.
A prominent black South Carolina
legislator named Luther L. Taylor was
convicted of "selling his vote" to a con
fessed cocaine trafficker working for
an FBI sting operation code named
"Operation Lost Trust."
Ron Cobb, the trafficker, is a former
legislator, and was given total immu
nity in exchange for attempting to
bribe legislators. Cobb says that Taylor
acceptea a campaign contribution in
exchange for favorable treatment of
parimutuel betting legislation.
The FBI claim of impropriety is pre
posterous, since Taylor sponsored
such legislation five years before the
supposed bribe occurred, and has a
long record of support for parimutuel
wagering.
After Taylor's arrest, he was threat
ened with total personal destruction
unless he lied against other black legis
lators. He refused to plead guilty or to
lie against the others, and demanded a
jury trial. Denied bail, pending appeal,
Taylor was clapped in manacles imme
diately after sentencing on Dec. 3,
1990.
Taylor is being held in a local
rison, while the secret police still
ope he will give perjured testimony
in the upcoming trials of three other
black legislators. Taylor says that after
he turned down the government's ini
tial "deal" to turn state's evidence
against his colleagues, he was warned
by an FBI cooperative, that he has not
seen anything yet. Taylor says he was
told that " ... tney were going to slam
me major style if I did not go along
with their program ..."
The FBI operation comes as a redis
tricting act is prepared which should
result in increased black representa
tion in the state legislature. With
Taylor and other targeted black lead
ers gone, the redistricting results will
be less threatening to the Eastern
Michael Worsham
Columnist
establishment, Bailey-says.
Here are some excerpts from a Nov.
12,1990, statement by Luther L.
Taylor:
"For almost four months, I have
remained silent... With an unalterable
belief in the fairness of the judicial sys
tem of our nation, I bided my time
while the judicial processes were at
work. Even after conviction ... I am
faced with the continuation of a pat
tern of harassment by the government
that began prior to my indictment ...
The dehumanizing efforts by the gov
ernment led me to surmise that I am
merely a human soccer ball to be
viciously kicked, from every possible
direction time after time, after time.
I sincerely believe that the FBI and
the U.S. attorney are trying to punish
me for refusing to lie against my col
leagues ... Whue I suffer under the
burden of a guilty verdict on six
counts and the threat of others to
come, two known cocaine traffickers
are cloaked in immunity from prose
cution for their crimes ... The govern
ment's carefully planned destruction is
cutting a wide path across this nation.
Who will hear the cry before the dark
ness is upon us?"
If you are like me, the first time I
read this, you are shaking your head
in disbelief. However, if you find can't
believe this could happen in the
United States, in 1991, remember
which country just killed an estimated
150,000 people in Iraq for oil and then
held scores of military parades con
gratulating and glorifying itself for
having done so.
That massacre, by the way, was
made possible partly through the
unfortunate participation of many
black Americans, victims of the United
States’ economic draft, euphemistically
called the "volunteer” armed services.
When you can't get into college or
away from drugs and crime, you are
not really a volunteer.
So as you can see, the NAACP really
does have its hands full. Another high
priority item the NAACP will consiaer
is the nomination of Clarence Thomas
to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Nominated as much for his conser
vative philosophy as for his race,
Thomas is met with skepticism. His
record on civil rights is mixed, and
must improve to match the stellar civil
rights legacy of Thurgood Marshall,
whom he is replacing. Perhaps if
David Souter and Clarence Thomas
had both been black and at least mod
erate in outlook, then maybe the
NAACP might have had something to
get excited about.
Having graduated from very racial
ly mixed schools, I have difficulty
understanding any racism, especially
the vicious racism which riddles the
U.S. criminal justice system. I believe it
may take another period of intense
activism like the 1960s to install the
kind of racial equality synonymous
with true democracy.
It was the opposition to black segre
gation in the South, not opposition to
the Vietnam War, which sparked the
1960s revolution. The spark next time
may come instead from the environ
mental movement, but wherever it
comes from, something must provoke
change. If South Africa continues to
dismantle apartheid, and racist police
brutality and the apparent frammg of
Luther Taylor continue, maybe one
day South Africa will place sanctions
on the United States.
Michael Worsham is a graduate stu
dent in environment engineering.