Eighty-one years of editorial freedom,
Abortion referendum:
Edited and managed bys
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
Editorials printed in The Michigan
or the editors. T
students at the University of Michigan
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'his must be noted in all reprints.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1972
Middle East tragedy
S 0O WEEKS ago a small band of Pales-
tinian commandos gunned down 11
members of the Israeli Olympic Team in
Munich. Government officials from most
nations of the earth condemned the ter-
rorists' actions in passionate official
statements. More recently, the weekend
Israeli invasion of Lebanon in response
to the Munich raid has received much,
international consideration.
But the moral outrage governments ex-
pressed is paradoxical indeed when view-
ed in light of terrorist actions over the
past seven years; actions which are gen-
erally viewed with a laissez-faire atti-
tude by the world's governments.
The Munich raid was not an isolated
incident. It was part of the ongoing ter-
rorism synonomous with the Middle East
crisis. The raid received so much affect-
ed international attention because of the
Olympic setting; little publicity has been
given to the central issues which resulted
in the Munich murders.
THE PROBLEM of Palestinian terrorism
is an outgrowth of the 1948 war
which created the state of Israel. There
exist today 600,000 Palestinian refugees
who are still looking for a homeland.
Palestinians talk of a creation of a Pal-
estinian state.
-For Israel, resolution of the refugee
problem Is an issue of great debate. Some
Israelites favor the creation of a Pales-
tinian state as a solution to both the re-
fugee and terrorist problems. Others, In-
cluding Premier Golda Meir, favor more
militant action against the commandos.
But regardless of the action Israel
takes, the terrorist attempt to coerce the
Israelis into a settlement is without
justification. A lasting peace to the Mid-
dle East conflict can not 'be bought with
the blood of terrorist victims. The bomb-
ings and murders only heighten emotions
and blurr the thinking of men seeking a
settlement.
And the terrorists are not the only per-
sons responsible for the raids. Those
same nations that decry the Munich
murders fan the flames of terrorism and
retaliation with weapon supplies. The
commandos used Soviet-made weapons
to carry out the Munich raid. The Soviet
Union directly supplies the terrorist
groups with ordnance to carry out their
raids.
The Israeli reprisals are spearheaded
with American Phantom jets and tanks.
It is time for world powers to realize
that the balance of power strategies they
have adopted in the Middle East are in
reality nothing more than balance of
terror policies.
JT IT DOUBTFUL that there will be a
settlement in the Middle East until
the commando raids against Israel are
suppressed. And responsibility for the
raids does not lie soly in the hands of
a few commando leaders. Much of it lies
on the shoulders' of the same govern-
ments who so passionately condemned
the Munich massacre.
-JIM REUS
By KATHY RICKE
S THE Nov. 7 election approaches, the state abortion
reform proposal is being increasingly debated. Mich-
igan's present 126 year old law allows abortion only if a
court decides the life of the mother is in danger and courts
have been known to take up to six months to decide.
The new law would make abortion available to anyone
not more than twenty weeks pregnant and would be
performed by a licensed physician in a hospital or clinic.
One local group that strongly opposes this reform is the
Right to Life Committee of Washtenaw County, as many
people at the Art Street Fair in Ann Arbor this summer
must have noticed.
There on East University, among the pottery and paint-
ings, stood their display of pickled fetuses. The purpose
of their large collection of color photographs and post-
cards of aborted fetuses was to convince you that a
human life begins at the very moment of conception.
Many present felt this graphic presentation was un-
necessary. It told just one side of the sad story.
If pictures are used to get sympathy the whole story
should be told. Next to every photo of an unborn and
unfeeling person should have been an equally bloody one
of a corpse with a coat hanger hanging out of it.
Or a close up of a slit wrist or head with a bullet blown
through the middle.
Or a picture of the eyes of someone who has spent the
last six years in a state mental institution. Or how about
a housewife and her five children whose ages range
from one month to four years?
Next to that a group picture of children whose faces
and bodies are battered beyond recognition - beaten by
very disturbed people who couldn't cope. Or an eighteen
year old girl whose uterus is so scared that she'll never
bear children.
Finally' how about an extra big picture to include all
the children who are presently or who ever had to live in
an orphanage or juvenile "home". A pretty grim display.
I THINK most people realize that abortion is no ideal
solution to the ever growing problem of unwanted preg-
nancy in a state that doesn't even allow for sex education
in all schools and where only those 18 years old may get
legally prescribed contraceptives.
But equally true is the fact that debate for or against
abortion does absolutely no good for those who need help.
Energy could be spent in a lot more concrete, and I
By STUDENTS IN DEFENSE OF LIFE
A KEEN awareness of the value of human life, catalyz-
ed by the horrors of recent wars, exists today. That
value is again being threatened, by the growing accept-
ance of abortion. Abortion has been offered as a solution
to severe social and personal problems but it is a nega-
tive and destructive solution based on the mentality which
says that the value of a human life is determined by its
context - whether it is wanted, socially productive or
meets up to certain specifications. This is tle racist and
dangerous mentality which says that "they" (the unborn)
are too small or don't look enough like "us" to have the
same rights "we" do.
Students in Defense of Life exists in part to educate
the community abou the November Michigan referendum
which would permit abortion on demand at any-time up to
twenty weeks. But we feel more importantly that the
need for positive alternatives must be met. Not only 'must
abortion be eliminated, but the psychological, social and
economic conditions which lead women to accept abortion
must be eradicated. We must do everything possible to
maintain and broaden respect for human life.
THEREFORE our members are becoming ,involved with
groups which provide financial, medical and legal support
for women in search of an alternative to abortion, e.g.
(Problem Pregnancy help, 769-7283).
We also support reform of the welfare system and the
administrative tangles which surround adoption; heatlh
insurance for unwed mothers and children born defective
voluntary day care centers and more extensive and re-
sponsible education about human sexuality.
Two viewpoints
A vital role concerned people can develop is in the area
of sex education, in their own families and in schools. And
public birth control clinics, medically safe and economi-
{-== cally feasable for everyone.
LET'S TRY to keep in mind when we vote on Nov.
7 that the problem of abortion is a complex one, and
that perhaps the emphasis should be placed on creating
and improving alternatives rather than on a moral issue.
h - -_
A
ABORTION REFORM: A movement brings the issue,
to a vote Nov. 7.
believe, beneficial and realistic ways. Constructive an
well-supported alternatives need to be provided for wome
who want to have their child but don't want to livei
poverty on public welfare the rest of their lives.
Adoptive homes must be opened up more, not only 1
babies, but to the 250,000 children nationwide who nee
homes.
I
id
in
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Letters to The Daily
i
A TV outrage
LAST SUNDAY evening, WWJ-TV Chan-
nel 4 interrupted the climax of "Co-
lumbo" to broadcast a "severe weather
warning."
This action was, in effect, a gigantic,
swindle on the viewing public.
Viewers who watched the plot unfold
for two hours never found out what final
bit of evidence Columbo used to clinch
his case against the murderer.'
WWJ defended its timing by taking the
self-righteous position that they were
Today's staff:
News: Sara Fitzgerald, Meryl Gordon,
David Stoll, Paul Travis, Ralph Var-
tabedian
Editorial: Mark Dillen
Photo Technicians: Terry McCarthy, Rolfe
Tessem
Editorial Staff
SARA FITZGERALD
Editor.
PAT BAUER............Associate Managing Editor
ROBE SUE BERSTEIN' ... Associate Managing Editor
LINDSAY CHANEY..............Editorial Director
MARK DILLEN ... ... ..Magazine Editor
LINDA DREEBEN ,.......Associate Managing Editor
TAMMY JACOBS... .........Managing Editor
LORIN LABARDEE....... .......Personnel Director
ARTHUR LERNER......... ...Editorial Director
JONATHAN MILLER...............Feature Editor
ROBERT SCRREINER .............Editorial Director
GLORIA SMITH...................'...,.Arts Editor
ED .SUROVELL ......................Books Editor
PAUL TRAVIS ..........Associate Managing Editor
NIGHT EDITORS: Robert Barkin, Jan Benedetti,'
Chris Parks, Gene Robinson, Zachary Schiller, Ted
Stein.
COPY EDITORS: Diane Levick, Jim O'Brien, Charles
Stein, Marcia Zoslaw.
DAY EDITORS: Dave Burhenn, Daniel Jacobs, Jim
Kentch, Marilyn Riley, Nancy Rosenbaum, Judy
Ruskin, Paul Ruskin, Sue Stephenson, Karen Tink-
lenberg, Becky Warner.
ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITORS: Susan Brown, Jim
Prisinger, Matt Gerson, Nancy Hackrneter, Cindy
Hill, John Marston, Linda Rosenthal, Eric Schoch,
Marty Stern, David Stoll, Doris waltz.
Photography Staff
TERRY McCARTHY............Chief Photographer
ROLFE TESSEM................ ..Picture Editor
DENNY GAINER...............Staff Photographer
TOM GOTTLIEB ...............Staff Photographer
DAVID MARGOLICK ............Staff Photographer-
Sports Staff
JOHN PAPANEK
Sports Editor
ELLIOT LEGOW
Executive Sports Editor
BILL ALTERMAN..........Associate Sports Editor
BOB ANDREWS .............Assistant Sports Editor
SANDI GENIS..............Assistant Sports Editor
MICHAEL OLIN...........Contributing Sports Editor
RANDY PHILLIPS ......."Contributing Sports Editor
NIGHT EDITORS: Chuck Bloom, Dan Borus, Chuck
Drukis, Joel reer, George Hastings, Bob Heuer,
Frank Longo, Bob McGinn, Rich Stuck.
ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITORS: Marc Feldman, Rob
Halvaks, Roger Rossiter, Theresa Swedo, Debbie
Wissner.
acting to "possibly save lives." The as-
sistant general manager noted that
"some people who were planning to go
out might not have been aware of the
storm."
This argument, however, does not hold
water.
The only people to benefit from this
weather warning at the climax of the
program were those who: 1) Were watch-
ing "Columbo"; 2) were planning to leave
their homes with five minutes left in the
program; and 3) were not aware that a
storm was in progress outside. Such peo-
ple, if they existed at all, were certainly
an infinitesimal fraction of the total
audience.
FURTHERMORE, such people, if they
existed, must have had an extreme-
ly urgent reason to leave their homes at
the climax of the movie, and it is next
to impossible that a "severe weather
warning" would have deterred them.
The statistical probability is astrono-
mical that no one at all benefited from
this weather warning. No lives were
saved.
At the same time, it is a certainty that
thousands of viewers were irritated and
harrassed by the timing of the weather
bulletin, which could just as easily have
been aired a few minutes later.
WWJ's action was clearly not in the
public interest, and was in fact against
the public interest. A television station.
which exhibits such callous disregard for
its viewers does not deserve a broadcast
license.
-LINDSAY CHANEY
Editorial Director
Consisteney
IN SUPPORT of those who have criti-
cized George McGovern for not faith-
fully adhering to his original campaign
stands, credit must be given to President
Nixon, who, in one specific case, has been
unflinchingly solid on his stand.
Case in point. In a New York Times'
article, dated April 20, and entitled
"Nixon Clarifies Position On Asia," Nix-
on is quoted as saying that the United
States would seek an "honorable and
peaceful settlement" in Indochina, but
would oppose outright surrender to the
Communists. He also warned that if
Indo-China fell, Southeast Asia and Ja-
pan would be jeopardized and the balance
of power in the world "may have shifted
so that ... the Kremlin would think it is
time for a world war."
The amazing consistency of this stand
Ad-nauseum
To The Daily:
AS WE all know, a newspaper
needs money to survive. The two
major sources of financing are:
-The selling of the newspaper;
and,
The selling of space in t h e
newspaper for advertising.
Now what would happen if some
enterprising young newspaper ex-
ecutive came up with the idea of
supplementing the newspaper in-
come by also selling the space in
the paper designated for n e w s
items? If this were to happen, the
story about the Israeli invasion
might have appeared something
like this:
ISRAELIS INVADE GUERRILLA
CAMPS
Last Saturday, Israeli forces,
wearing Levi jeans available at,
your local department store, in-
vaded southern Lebanon and pro-
ceeded to attack the Lebanese
guerrillas, using the air and land
invasion technique.
The land invasion was possible,
because all trucks used were sup-
plied with Champion spark plugs,
which never let them down. One
Israeli general was quoted as say-
ing, "We might not have made it
to Lebanon in these trucks, if it
weren't for using Super S h e 11
with its extra milage additive, for
there are very few gas stations
along the way."
The Lebanese resistance, how-
ever, was quite surprising, as one
could plainly see if one flew TWA
to Lebanon. TWA gets you to more
exciting places than any other air-
line. The United Nations ambassa-
dor from Lebanon, Edouard Ghor-
ra, submitted a written protest to
United Nations Security Council
using a Flair pen, the pen that
writes the way you feel.
Meanwhile, Lybian head of state
Col. Moammar Khadafy had be-
come very much aware of the sit-
uation because he had bothered to
telephone. Talking to someone on
the telephone is the next best thing
to being there, so Khadafy decided
that he would be ready to send in
Lybian troops to help Lebanon. Bet-
ter living through chemistry pro-
vided Israel with the means to wipe
out 130 houses in Lebanon almost
as fast as Comet wipes out blue-
berry stains in your sink.
This news article was m a d e
available through the use of news-
paper products by the Canadian
National Paper Company. This is
your reporter, Sol Green, wearing
a Botany, 500 suit and eating a
Dairy Queen, signing off for now.
-Jerry Nanninga, '76
Sept. 18
Irate
To The Daily:
NOT ONLY was last Saturday's
football game boring to watch but
hard to get into. Several thousand
people were kept from seeing part
of the first quarter because of the
inept ushers at the gates to the
stadium. Many of us waited close
to 30 minutes to get to our seats
which were already occupied.
In my section, section 28, it was
particularly bad. The ushers kept
close to a thousand people wait-
ing outside in the heat before let-
ting them in. When the band came,
on to the field, the ushers let no
one in, and this was 15 minutes be-
fore the game started. Consequent-
ly, most of those who waited miss-
ed the kickoff, several minutes of
the game, and their seats as well.
There is no reason for such in-
eptness at the stadium. If the ush-
ers cannot handle the crowd, t h e
University or the athletic depart-
ment should either hire more ush-
ers or get some new ones. No one
with a ticket to the game should
hive to stand and wait a half an
hour to see the boring Wolverines
play. If only 71,000 showed up for
this game, what will happen when
the Ohio State game rolls around?
Will we have to get there at jix in
the morning to make the kickoff or
will everyone miss the entire first
half?
-Charles Bloom, '74
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o Students in Defense of Life is a local student group
d campaigning against the Nov. 7 proposal, but is distingt
front the Washtenaw Co. Right to Life organization.
At a celebration'
y LORIN LABARDEE could have had the crowd in the
PEOPLE came amid threats streets smashing windows rather
bomb an a rivig rin.than listening to speeches.
bombs and a driving rain
ng and cheered, danced and After what seemed an eternity of
ed and all for the right to singers, theatre groups and speak-
ree and legal abortions in ers, the stars of the show made
in. a the grand appearance, Ms. Gloria
Steinman and Ms. Margaret Sloan.
cting a staid audience which L
need hours of sales talk to looking more like Hollywood's
to the pro-abortion army, latest Jayne Mansfield than t h e
moters of Sunday's abor- editor of Ms. magazine, Glo pre-
erowere greeted -sented an interesting speech but
'ith hundreds of enthusiastic reoid h had xrimstone
is who have been fighting rhetoric which I had expected. She
men's rights all along related her first introduction to
men' rigts al alng. women's- lib, an event called the
f course the crowd was more "night of the redestockings."eand
ist 18-24 year old militant with the rain and the bomb threat
ts. Here and there were her excuses speculated that this
Township socialites 'drawn too would be a page in the an-
chance to see the likes of nuls of the American Women's laib-
Bergen, Marlo Thomas, eration Movement.
ho knows, maybe even Jane
rella" Fonda might show AND THEN it was Marg's turn
at the bat. Homerun on the first
the possible exception of pitch - speaking on abortion and
uld be jet setters almost all contraception - she slyly began
isappointed by Candy. She her first sentence with, "it's in-
her speech with, "I really conceivable that," and the crowds
now what I'm going to say," roared. Armed with more women's
ver did think of anything. libby jokes than information, Marg
nately for the majority of was a satiating climax to the abor-
idience the rest of t h e tion rally.
entertainment was very
Fhe first singer of the pro-
was a young, curly-haired,
ooking thing recently re-
from the streets of Miami
eemed like the type who
Nixon's gambit
By JACK ANDERSON
WASHINGTON - President Nix-
on was elected on a promise to
end the war and win the peace in
Vietnam. He is now trying to keep
the war issue under control until
after the election. But military in-
telligence reports from Southeast
Asia idicate there may ibe trou-
ble ahead.
When Henry Kissinger made his
celebrated transworld journey for
peace just before the Republican
convention,,.many interpreted it as
mere political window-dressing.
The President, so the theory went,
was just trying to dramatize the
search for peace with no r e a I
hope of achieving it.
But we have learned at t h e
highest level that the President be-
lieved the Kissinger mission had a
good chance of succeeding. Both
Moscow and Peking were urging
Hanoi to settle the war.
Nevertheless, the initiative failed
and President Nixon responded
with some of the most hawkish
language in his acceptance speech.
Now Kissinger has again been dis-
patched abroad, this time to Mos-
cow. Success is considered a long-
shot this time.
BUT THERE is good reason for
Kissinger's continued frantic ac-
tivity. The intelligence reports
from the war zone say North Viet-
nam still packs the punch for one
more major offensive. The Presi-
dent is convinced it could come
any day now, just in time to stir
up the Vietnam War issue before
election day.
-POW PREPARATIONS-
The date remains uncertain when
the 528 American prisoners of wear,
return home. But the Nixon Ad-
ministration has made sure it wjn't
be caught unprepared when the
prisoners are finally released.
A special government task force
- using the code name "Operation
Egress Recap" - has already set
up medical centers around t h e
country to receive the POWs. Once
they arrive, each will be assign-
ed a special counselor who has
been thoroughly briefed on t h e
prisoner's background from h i s
eating habits to his sex life.
The difficulty of readjustment is
expected to vary widely. A team
of doctors, who have made ex-
haustive studies of POW problems,
have told the Pentagon that some
POWs may be surprisingly healthy
despite their ordeal. Others, say
the doctors, will suffer from what
is called the "concentration camp
syndrome." The symptoms include
fatigue, fits of depression, me-
mory loss and temporary impot-
ence.
The Defense Department has oe-
gun to brief families on what to
expect when their imprisoned lov-
ed ones come home. Wives are
warned to expect a tremendous
emotional letdown a few weeks fol-
lowing the return. This will come
once the wife realizes that h e r
husband's presence does not solve
all her problems.
At the medical centers, c a r e
will be taken not to force the
prisoners to readjust to American
life too ouickly. Each prisoner
The Editorial Page of The
Michigan Daily is open to any-
one who wi s h e s to submit
articles. Generally speaking, all
articles should be lessthan 1,000
words.
But not all who came spoke. Good
old HRP was there behind the
scenes in the form of Barbara Hal-
pern and there she steyed through-
out 'the entire program. After a
series of "yes, you, can speak"
and "no you can't speak" the op-
position finally won° out' with the
age old weapon of women, a flurry
of girlish tears.
Lorin Labardee is Personnel Di-
rector of T/& Daily.
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