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A blessing
By JONATHAN MILLER
I'M ALWAYS IMPRESSED by Walter
Cronkite. He's a cool dude. He even
sneezes in a dignified way. And that
night when LBJ kicked, well Walter was
just magnificent. He held up his finger
to the audience as he talked to someone
on the telephone. "Just wait a minute,
America, I've got something to tell you,"
that finger seemed to say.
Well, Walter is all upset these days
about a thing called the Energy Crisis.
And when Walter's upset, I guess we
should all be upset, too.
Hardly a night passes now when Wal-
ter doesn't have something to say about
this new problem, And, as a tribute to
Walter's enormous influence on Ameri-
ca, everyone else now seems to be jump-
ing on the energy crisis bandwagon.
The oil companies are buying space
on the Op-Ed page of The Times to ex-
plain their, peculiar, perspective on the
problem.
On Capitol Hill, our elected representa-
tives are starting to sit up, or rather
wake up, to find that a new crisis is
upon us.
Any day now we will probably hear a
hit record devoted to the theme.
But before we go rushing out to stock-
pile gasoline, we should take a closer look
at this particular crisis.
We must look beyond the immediate
issue, which is the greed of the oil lobby
and the irresponsibility of the govern-
ment's energy policy.
IN A WAY we should hail this energy
crisis as a good thing. As a starting point
for debate there is nothing like a good
crisis.
We should remember that this crisis
finds us in the position of the world's
0 "
in disguise
largest consumer of power. But despite
our massive consumption, we are unable
to cure many of the social ills that af-
flict the population.
While welfare mothers have never had
enough money to heat their homes pro-
perly in the winter time, those of us in
the fortunately affluent majority find
that we have power to spare-power for
8-cylinder cars capable of speeds unsafe
by any criteria, power for electric tooth-
brushes to keep our mouths sexy, power
to air condition our dog kennels and set
our thermostats at 80 degrees.
We leave our porch lights on by day,
we the most energy plentiful nation on
earth, yet we face an energy crisis.
Shouldn't we ask if this energy crisis
is real, or if it is simply a product of our
own inflated ideas for ourselves?
Yes, we use and have more energy than
anybody else. But we waste more than
anyone else, too.
And yet, the oil company ads scream,
WE NEED MORE POWER.
NO. WE NEED no more power. We
merely need to start to respect the limi-
tations of our planet and learn to live
within them.
We need to use the power we have in
a more realistic way, and each and every
one of us should start to become just a
little more aware of what goes on in the
world every time we look at a new car or
turn on a light switch.
We used to laugh at LBJ when he
walked around the White House turning
out lights. But, at least on that issue, he
was a man ahead of his time.
Jonathan Miller, a Daily staff writer, drives
a four cylinder automobile and uses a 'manually
opierated tooth brush.
ti
4
J
iJ
+i
Letters;
To The Daily:
THE EXECUTIVE Council of the
LS&A Student Government deeply
deplores the recommendation of a
Chemistry department committee
that Professor Mark Green not re-
ceive tenure. In every respect Pro-
fessor Green has distinguished
himself and his department - by
the quality of his research, by
the ability and enthusiasm demon-
strated in his teaching, and by his
sensitivity to the moral dimensions
of his calling. It is the considered
opinion of the Executive Council
that improper considerations of
political prejudice and personal
pride has overrriden those stand-
ards of academic excellence which
ought to govern any tenure decis-
ion.
Fortunately, this ill-advised ac-
tion is only a recommendation. The
responsibility for Professor Green's
career rests, as it always has,
with the Dean and Executive Com-
mittee of the College. Pending the
thorough reform of tenure proced-
ures, careful review of all tenure
decisions by the Executive Coi-
mittee is the only check on de
partmental parochialism.
This difficult deision will test,
as have few decisions during the
present Administration, the depth
of its commitment to academic
freedom. It will also test its re-
spect for and responsiveness to the
strongest- convictions of the Col-
lege's student majority, since It
should never be forgotten that Pro-
fessor Green's cause has the sup-
port not only of his own students
but of Innumerable other students
as well.
-LS&A Student Government
Executive Council
Feb. 3
Oops
To The Daily:
A CORRECTION to The DaIlv's
editorial (Feb. 6) on the rejection
of the LS&A grading proposals.
"The proposals do not force the
strident to' take advanced coures
either pass/no entry or graded. The
choice is left up to the student.
Those planning on graduate stu-
dies are free to elect upper-evel
undergraduate courses on a gad-
ed basis." That is true only in
upperlevel courses which the in-
structor grades; but the instructor
himself has the option of imposing
pass/no entry on his course and
the student then would have no
redress.
This is just one of a number of
booby-traps in the proposals which
raise all kinds of difficulties, not
all of which were discussed at
Monday's meeting. It is why an
overwhelming majority of the fa-
culty, considering proposals which
are interesting in many ways,
nonetheless could not support
them.
-T. V. Buttrey
Dept. of Classical Studies
Feb. 7
Green support
the right of the press to criticize
government. I am also aware that
as a public official I will person-
ally be subject to criticism. How-
ever, The Daily should be aware
that it has an obligation to main-
tain the standards of respossible
journalism. In this instance, The
Daily has violated these standards
and has irresponsibly ignored the
distinction between valid political
criticism and libel.
When SGC commits an act which
the editors of The Daily deem inap-
propriate they waste little time in
printing their opinions. It will be
interesting to see if The Daily
has the courage to admit its own
mistakes and print a full apology
to Dr. Koza, Ms. Miller, Mr.
Schaper, and myself.
-William Jacobs
President, Student
Government Council
Feb. 7
Food co-op replies
To The Daily:
AS CURRENT workers in the
Ann Arbor People's Produce Co-
operative interested in a growing
people's community based on trust,
truth and good food, we feel com-
pelled to respond to the letter in
The Daily (Feb. 6) written by
Cliff Sloane. This letter combined
ncomplete truths, gross falsifi-
cations, disconected reasoning, and
finally a lot of mudslung bull---
mis representing Ann Arbor Peo-
ple's Produce in a devious attempt
to smear David Sinclair's c a m-
paign for second ward councilper-
son.
At the inception of the co-op,
Rainbow House was one of eight
original members. Now, with at
least two hundred active members
it seems obvious that the A2 Peo-
ple's Produce is not controlled by
the RPP. The co-op's policies are
determined in open publicized
meetings, in which all members
have on equal voice.
Ann Arbor People's Produce has
never acted in a competitive man-
ner with any of the co-ops in the
community. Now, as in the past,
People's Produce has made efforts
to work with other food co-ops as
often as possible. We have at var-
ious times shared transportation
with Itemized (Dec., 1972), held
meetings conjointly with Itemized
about marketing, loaned money to
the Grain Co-op for legal aid, and
regularly referred prospective
members to Itemized when their
needs couldn't be met by our own
co-op. In the Ann Arbor S u n
No. 39 Sept. 1-1S, 1972, the Tribal
Council Food Committee, of which
the Ann Arbor People's Produce is
a member, published an article
describing the Itemized Food Co-
op as a shopping list to which all
orders of food by community peo-
ple were added. The co-op then
passed the food along to the cus-
tomers at wholesale prices p u s
5 per cent for expenses.
We see no reason for competition
among the co-ops in Ann Arbor
when the constituencies of each co-
op have different needs that are
being met by these co-ops. We see
the need for greater unity among
the co-ops since only a small frac-
tion of the people's food needs are
being met at this time.
We question the motivation be-
hind Cliff Sloane's letter. It ap-
pears he is trying to attack David
Sinclair and the RPP at the ex-
pense of the food co-op community.
We feel that this kind of dirty poli-
tics only serves to divide our peo-
ple and is not in the best inter-
ests of the community. We also feel
that the Daily's headlines, "Food
Co-op Feeds Power Hungry", is an
.insult to anyone who has partici-
pated in the food co-ops in Ann
Arbor.
Sloane's comments about the
munity recently. We feel that these
scare tactics only serve to divert
the community's attention from
the real issues in Ann Arbor. We
should be concentrating on unifying
and building our community.
-Members of Ann Arbor
People's Produce
Co-operative
Feb. 7
To Nixon
Dear Mr. Nixon, c/o
The Daily:
WITH THE ENDING of the war
in Vietnam our country is bound to
go through socially significant
changes. Redistricting of priorities
and the like. However, there is
one very real problem that h a s
surfaced with the culmination of
the war; how to handle the so-
called traitors that refused to serve
in the military. You, Mr. Nixon,
have already come forth and stat-
ed "there will be no amnesty."
Not knowing your mind, I can only
rationalize the reason behind this
statement. The conclusion I have
reached is this: the draft resistors
are as much the enemy as the
North Vietnamese! If this is so, I
would like to raise a point forsyou
to consider. How? Mr. Nixon can
you considerddividing this enemy
we fought during the war (the
North Vietnamese and our, Ameri-
can resistors') into two groups; and
furthermore consider sending aid
to the -foreigners who were o ui r
enemy, while condemning t h e
enemy who is the American re-
sistor!
Essentially Mr. Nixon, I see you
rewarding the destructive abilities
that reside in the aggressive man,
thus encouraging future happen-
ings; whereas I see you punishing
the spirit in the conscious man,
thus thwarting the future develop-
ment of man's conscience.
-Edward J. Skurtu
Feb. 6
Basketball woes
To The Daily:
I HAVE BEEN reading w i t h
great interest the reports of the
Michigan-Iowa basketball fracas on
Jan. 29th in Iowa City. There is
no doubt that Iowa City is not
a pleasant place to visit if you are
trying to win the Big Ten basket-
ball championship. Minnesota can
certainly testify to that.
One cannot help but reflect back
on the aftermath of last year's
"Incident" in the Big Ten - the
Minnesota - Ohio State fight. Don
Canham, Michigan's Athletic Di-
rector, and Johnny Orr, Michigan s
Basketball Coach, two people who
had nothing to lose by taking cheap
shots at the Minnesota players in-
volved and also Minnesota Basket-
ball Coach Bill Musselman, d i d
their very best to further incite
public opinion in an already explos-
ive situation. That is, had noth-
ing to lose until about 9:30 the
night of January 29th, 1973.
It is clearly true that Coach
Musselman. failed to sprint 120
feet and subdue 6'10", 225 lb. Ron
Behagen and 6'9", 220 lb. Corky
Taylor in the split second avail-
able to him before the fight was in
full stride, but then he didn't at-
tack the referee either. I'm afraid
that basketball players will, on
occasion, lose their tempers - at
least as long as there are c o s e
games and human referees. Coach-
es are supposed to know better.
If, as the country's press thought,
Canham and Orr were on the
right track last year when demand-
ing career suspensions for Behag-
en and Taylor, plus sanctioning of
Coach Musselman, then certainly
their brilliant reasoning must still
be valid. The only question remain-
ing is whether the Big Ten is go-
Future-Yesterday
By DICK WEST
TODAY'S REPORT deals with alternate modes of transportation,
which may be needed sooner than you might think. For it recently
was revealed that gasoline rationing is one of the steps being contem-
plated by the Office of Emergency Preparedness in event the fuel
shortage worsens.
With .that in mind, I paid another visit to The Future Is Yesterday
Corp., a prominent research center and "think tank" that is meeting
the energy crisis head-on.
"There's no reason we have to depend on gasoline-powered vehi-
cles," Harry McErst, one of the research assistants, told me. "Take
a look at this."
He pointed to an open field beyond the visitors' parking lot. Moving
across it was a large two-wheeled conveyance pulled by four horned
bovines.
"We call that an oxcart," McErst said proudly. "As you can see,
it provides a means of transporting cargo, in this case a bundle of
flax, without any sort of motorization. We believe it will eventually re-
place the trucking industry."
"Jimmy Hoffa would . love it," I said. "But hauling freight is
only part of transportation's function. How are people going to get
around when the gasoline is gone?"
McErst raised a hand in a gesture of reassurance. "We here at
The Future is Yesterday are fully cognizant of the need for personnel
carriers," he said.
On a test track in the rear of the plant, to which we now repaired,
technicians were assembling a two-wheel carriage from which extend-
ed two thin wooden shafts.
"Imagine a whole fleet of these on the street,"' McErst said. "One
or two persons ride in the carriage; someone else propels it by jogging
along up front."
"It looks like a real breakthrough," I said admiringly. "Individual-
ized mass transit."
"Thanks," my guide responded. "Technology got us into this mess
and technology will have to get us out."
Dick West is a special feature writer for the United Press Interna-
tional news service.
I
Eighty-two years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
4'
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
News Phone: 764-0552 I
Editorials printed in The Michigan Doily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted il all reprints.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1973
Griffin's politics
Brando returns
Responsible journ
To The Daily:
AT A TIME when the bas
dom of the press is being
ened by the more fascist e
of the country, it is totally d
ening to see a journalist fl
ly abuse. the power of th
I am referring to the taste
cuse for a feature article
Daily by Robert Barkin enti
new secret plan for a United
(Daily, Feb. 6).
. To say the least, the arti
personally insulting and c
as well as sexist. Moreove
absolutely disgusting to se
The Daily had the unmitiga
to print such sarcastic driv
by side with an editorial in
of the freedom of the pres
alism
ic free-
threat-
lements
isheart-
lagrant-
he pen.
less ex-
in The
tled "A
I SGC".
cle was
hildish,
r, it is
ee that
ted gall
vel side
defense
ss.
RICHARD NIXON - "Na- ROBERT GRIFFIN - "We
tion of sheep". have heard from the special
interests, now let us h e a r
from you."
By CHARLES HERRINGTON
THE U.S. CONGRESS has traditionally been the voice of
the people. In a representative form of government such
as ours, the Representatives and Senators are supposed to
safeguard the interests of the general public, and not, as
President Nixon himself phrased it, "The Special Inter-
ests".
This task is not easy. There are many hurdles in the
path of a congressman that may, in various ways, push
him off course. Temptation comes in many forms, but power
and prestige are the most prevalent.
Our own Senator Robert Griffin is a case in point. It
seems that in his quest for power and influence at the White
House, he has forgotten his constitutional duties as a de-
fender of the public trust.
Griffin did not support any "end the war" legislation.
His voting record of pollution and social welfare laws leaves
much to be desired. He has even supported Nixon's latest
and most outrageous powerplays; that of not spending funds
that Congress has appropriated.,
However, there may still be hope for Robert Griffin.
It lies in directing his talent and ambition in a more
productive direction than has been the case in recent years.
He has climbed high in the Republican party, but only
at great cost to both himself and the people he represents.
Michigan has in effect lost a Senator and gained a marionette
controlled by Richard Nixon.
SEEN IN THIS LIGHT, it would be fitting that Nixon
himself be responsible for a new-found hope in Griffin. At
a recent press conference Griffin parroted Nixon's line about
the special interests, saying, "We (Congress) have learned
from the special interests, now let us hear from you."
That statement can be taken as a challenge. Griffin
mimeha ~nmrnrad +nt ta ,,,hln ; -_;_+-+-A- .n
By PETE HAMILL
After all, it is no more sur-
prising to be born twice than it
is to be born once."-Voltaire.
MARLON BRANDO was the
great New York actor of the
g9s. He came to New York, and
lived among us, and he gave us
back something quite important.
It came from all-night parties at
Eddie Jaffe's on 48th St., and
from afternoons at Stillman's Gym
with Graziano, and from the
streets of the town itself.
He gave New Yorkers a style,
the way Cagney gave us one in
the '30s, and it happened because
Brando did not mock us; he em-
braced us; he loved us. With a
handful of others, including Sina-
tra, he taught the generation of
the '50s how to feel.
And then Brando went away. We
never saw him again on a stage.
He made movies that seemed more
and more indifferent; through the
'60s, he seemed to stomp on his
own talent. Those who cared for
him, who respected his craft, who
cherished his great gifts stopped
going to his movies.
It was too much like watching
Joe Louis after the war, when fat
and time had strangled the beauti-
ful skills. Sometimes, late at night,
you would see people leave saloons
to watch "On the Waterfront" on
a late show or "Zapata" or
"Streetcar." But otherwise . . .
well, Brando just didn't matter
much anymore.
the film was written by Bernardo
Bertolucci and Franco Arcalli; but
nobody except Brando could have
made the dialogue, could have
drawn so confidently on the com-
mon language of Americans (a
language so infrequently used in
movies that it surprises us with
its freshness and invention). It
comes directly from his .autobio-
graphy.
But movie stars of the magnitude
of Brando have double biographies:
first, the lives they have lived
(Brando) has finished almost a de-
cade of life in a flophouse hotel
run by his wife. Now she is dead.
Flophouses are not whorehouses,
they are hotels of dismal medio-
crity.
And Brando, like the character
he plays here, had wasted t o o
much time in dull safety of medio-
crity. It takes death to free him
from the circus and the zoo.
He expresses this in the film with
a bitter, searing monologue beside
the casket of his unfaithful wife,
her face waxen, engulfed in flow-
ers. And he curses her, curses all
mothers and all wives, using the
vilest language to debase her and
death itself, defiantly slaying all
the creatures of macho nightmares,
driving the stake into the heart of
the bitch-goddess, the words as vio-
lent as any overt act, until he ac-
chieves catharsis through violation,
and is free.
In the film, Brando is free to
love again, but it is too late to love
his own golden youth, and the re-
sult is tragedy. The girl Jeanne,
played by Maria Schneider, sees
him as just an aging man; she is
too young, too invulnerably middle-
class to ever understand him.
There is one brutal scene at a
Tango Palace, when Brando lap-
ses into his bogus Fletcher Christ-
ian mannerisms to cover up his
need and his hurt. He runs after
her through the gray daylight of
Paris, and ends up dead at her
hands.
The girl reverts to her middle-
class origins and begins to frame a
lie to cover up the killing. But
before dying Brando tucks a wad
of gum under the railing of a bal-
cony, a wager on survival and
the possibility of hope.
In this film, Brando breaks free
again. It is a performance t h a t
other actors and movie makers
will learn from for years.
But it has also broken into the
encysted feelings of all of us, al-
:
f
Marlon Brando
And then, the comeback.
started last year with "The
father." Suddenly, there
It
God-
was
Brando on a screen chest, showing
how it could be done. Like his
great performances of the 1950s, it
was so powerful that it immed-
iately invited parody.
Brando had walked back into
the again, alive, breathing, an
Archie Moore, with his arms fold-
ed across the room, and there was
nobody there who could handle
him. And now comes "Last Tango
on the screen, all those roles which
have combined to make the image;
and, second, their real lives. "The
image," as Kenneth Boulding has
said, "develops as a result of all
the past experiences of the posses-
sor of the image."
So Brando talks in this film about
a variety of previous lives: as a
boxer (Terry Malloy), a bongo
player, a voyager to Tahiti (Flet-
cher Christian), among others. Old
lions must remember great hunts,
including those that failed.
But there are also references to
Brando's actual life, or at least, to
his career. In the film, Paul
k
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