Slit daiitan aani
Eighty-two years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan
Nixon's Sunday morning positive thinking
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News Phone: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Doily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1972
'Last chance boundaries
MONDAY NIGHT, City Council finally
gave approval to a ward boundary
plan over a year and a half after the job
was begun.
Hassles over the composition of the
Ward Boundary Commission and plans
and counter plans offered by all sides
served to tie up the entire process for
months on end.
Needless to say, it has not been the
sort of spectacle which inspires faith in
the ability of our city government to get
things done. for does it speak well for
the benefits of partisan politics on the
local level.
The plan pdopted-the so-called Last
Chance Plan-is most assuredly a gerry-
mander, and no one is really denying
that. The intention all along was.not to
avoid gerrymandering, but to devise a
gerrymander acceptable to a majority
of council members.
At least the Last Chance Plan accom-
plishes that, and barring a successful
court suit it will allow us to continue
governing ourselves and hold our elec-
tions on time.
HE LARGER question, however, is
whether drawing ward boundaries is
a sensible way to provide for truly demo-
cratic representation in Ann Arbor.
Does HRP'S Nancy Wechsler really rep-
resent the interests of wealthy upper-
middle class families on the east side of
town? Technically she is their City
Council representative.
Does GOP conservative Bruce Benner
truly represent the interests of students
living in neighborhoods running between
State and Packard Streets south of cam-
pus? Obviously not.
Then why continue this empty char-
ade that council members represent the
interests of the districts from which they
are elected? That fact is that HRP
council members such as Wechsler and
Jerry DeGrieck (HRP-First Ward) rep-
resent the interests of left-leaning young
people all across the city and Republi-
cans represent the interests of business-
men, no matter what ward they live in.
WARDS AS politicial entities simply do
not exist in a city of this size. So why
not recognise reality and move to a sys-
tem of proportional representations?
Under such a system, voters could sim-
ply vote for the party of their choice.
City Council would then be composed of
members in each party seated according
to the percentage of the vote their party
received in the city as a whole.
For a student living in a heavily resi-
dential ward to vote for the ward's HRP
candidate is now a rather empty gesture.
Under a system of proportional repre-
sentation, however, all votes would be
equally significant no matter where they
were cast.
If Ann Arbor's unique pattern of tri-
partisan politics is to be maintained, it
is essential that we adopt a system which
accepts political reality and attempts to
equitably represent the diverse interests
of the city.
-CHRIS PARKS
By JAMES WECHSLER
[SN'T IT TERRIFIC to be alive?
When you woke up this morn-
ing, what did you say to your wife?
I hope you said, 'Hooray, it's great
to be alive!' "-From the Rev. Dr.
Norman Vincent Peale's sermon
last Sunday, delivered in the pre-
sence of President Nixon and his
family.
*' * *
Mr. Nixon "clasped his chin and
listened intently,". according to one
press account, as Dr. Peale af-
firmed his gospel of positive think-
ing. The sermon was entitled "En-
thusiasm Sweeps All Before It" and
Dr. Peale left little doubt of what
he has been saying each morning.
"I was born into an enthusiastic
country," he declared, "and it.
grabbed me as a child. Everybody
believed in the future of the Unit-
ed States. We were the greatest
people under God's sun."
His enthusiasm, he added, re-
mains undiminished.
Mr. Nixon's apparent apprecia-
tion of these remarks may explain
something about -the great gaps
that divide Americans.
WHEN I AWAKENED on .Tues-
day and turned on the news broad-
cast (a reflex action in my own
case), the first bulletin reported
that U.S. planes had accidentally
killed 19 South Vietnamese civilians
and wounded 29 others in the course
of dropping several 500-pound
bombs on a populated area south of
DaNang. The U.S. command was
quoted as saying that an investi-
gation was under way.
Despite Dr. Peale's counsel, it is
hard to imagine thereupon exclaim-
ing to Nancy Wechsler, as my first
words of the day, "Hooray, it's
great to be alive."-
Nor would that joyous outcry
have seemed exactly fitting yester-
day. The initial news item report-
ed that a South Vietnamese emis-
sary was in Washington to tell Mr.
Nixon why Gen. Thieu wanted a,
private audience to punch holes in
the proposed peace settlement.
* * *
INDEED, THE odds on almost
any given morning are that any-
one who follows Dr. Peale's verbal
prescription will be subject to com-
mitment by his wife, unless, of
course, they jointly throw out the
radio and TV andrstop delivery of
the morning paper.
Some of my journalistic c o 1-
leagues occasionally appear to be
trying to get into the Peale spirit;
there seems no other plausible ex-
planation for James Reston's Tues-
day .rediscovery of hope in Presi-
dent Nixon's pledge not to let his
second term go "downhill" and
in his Cabinet reshuffle. But Res-
ton usually relapses into reality
before many days pass.
If I find Dr. Peale's morning
eunhoria difficult to emulate, con-
sider how it must sound to many
who do not awaken in well-heat-
ed, middle-class sanctuaries. In
that "other America" where 25,-
000,000 live under the official no-
verty level, it would surely require
more than organized cheerlead-
inq to produce the recommended
"Hooray" etc. at the dawn of each
new day. Such places could be
found not too many blocks from
Dr. Peale's church.
These remarks may indicate that
I rise onthe wrong side of the bed.
Nevertheless I suspect that the
harshest verdict history will offer
on the Nixon era is that it was
a time when the comfortable and
complacent were given a steady
diet of supportive Administration
therapy.
In one of his final campaign
sneeches Mr. Nixon presented an
elaborate series of self-ijstifica-
tions for those who feel they have
made it and prefer to forget about
those who are left out. That was
essentiallv the theme of his pre-
election interview in which he lik-
ened the American people to child-
ren who can be easily "spoiled"
by generous attention. What more
hanal rationale could be offered
for turning our backs on human dis-
tress?
IT MUST be acknowledged, how-
ever, that there is an apparent
ambivalence in Mr. Nixon's choice
of spiritual counselors. For even
while he seemed entirely respon-
sive to Dr. Peaple's optimistic en-
thusiasm, he is also known to lean
heavily on the guidance of the
Rev. William Franklin Graham.
v
Yet it is a persistent theme of
Dr. Graham's preachments t h a t
"the last days are coming," pre-
sumably regardless of who inhab-
its the White House. Indeed, the
proposition that life is primarily a
preparation for an approaching uni-
versal doomsday intrinsic to the
Graham crusade.
I am admittedly at a loss abo=!t
how these rival doctrines are re-
conciled during periods of reflec-
tion at the White House. In a
sense, of course, they have one
unifying element. When Dr. Peale
tells us the United States is the
greatest show on earth and Billy
Graham warns that the apocalypse
is imminent, both are disparaging
any effort to change things here
and now; the first says we a r e
thriving as we are, the 'second
that we had better work on im-
proving our individual credentials
for the day of reckoning.
Skeptics may allege tat Mr.
Nixon values both men's constiti-
encies and is playing it safe. Per-
haps he is groping for a middle of
the road between these prophets
of happy days and doomsday, but
I am damned, if the phrase will be
forgiven, if I can imagine where
he will find it.
James Wchider is edfwrial page
editor of the New York Post.
Copyright 1972, The New York
Post Corporation.
*
1
Apollo launch TV spectacle
TELEVISION HAS crept into, every
facet of American life. We buy what
we see and we see what the networks
want us to see. Sporting events are
played at the whim of some executive
in New York. So should the space pro-
gram be any different?
Tonight will be the first and last prime
telecast' of an Apollo launching. Num-
ber seventeen in the somewhat success-
ful series of moon explorations, the cov-
erage of this one was obviously planned
by the tri-network coalition to attract
Today's staf f:
News: Prokash Aswani, Mike Duweck,
Tammy Jacobs, Judy Ruskin, Ted
Stein, David-Stoll, Ralph Vortabedian
Editorial Page: Arthur Lerner, Kathleen
Ricke
Arts Page: Herb Bowie
Photo technician: Rolfe Tessem
Editorial Staff
SARA FITZGERALD
Editor
rAT BAUM ...........Associate Managing Editor
GINS$AT CHANET ............. Editorial Director
MARK PZLLEN ................. Magazine Editor
LIDA DDEEBEN ........ Associate Managing Editor
TAMMY JACOBS ................. Managing Editor
ARTHUR LNER .. ............ Editorial Director
ROBrRT SOMEINER ............ Editorial Director
GLORIA JANE SMITH ................. Arts Editor
ELP SuEYov3LL ...... ............... Books Editor
PAUL TRAVIS .........Associate Managing Editor
NIGT EDITORS: Robert Barkin, Jan Benedetti, Di-
*no Levick, Jim O'Brien, Chris Parks, Charles
Stein, Ted Stein.
more viewers to a boring and repetitive
event.
Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harri-
son Schmitt will gain immortality as the
last Americans to touch the surface of
the rock we call the moon; at least for a
long time to come. They will be traveling
to a place called Taurus-Littrow, which
sounds like it has more possibilities as an
astrological corporation than as a geo-
logical gold mine.
They will be back December 19 in time
for Christmas which is NASA's gift to
their families.
INTEREST IN this final shot will be
limited as in the past. Such adven-
tures have become so commonplace that
unless something goes wrong, nobody
cares. Television ads for the launch are
selling hard. "If you miss this one, you'll
miss them all," or "See America's last
space shot - there'll never be another
one!"
Still, there is something about watch-
ing a rocket flame toward the heavens
that holds the interest of millions of
Americans. It's much like the crowd
watching someone standing on the ledge
of a building. Somewhere deep in our
hearts is the fear and thrill of disaster
which Apollo has already experienced.
Moreover, just watching a rocket dis-
appear into the sky is on the same excit-
ing level for many of watching a golf ball
soar through the air.
So if you want to see a good American
show, tune in to any network around
eight or so. If this doesn't interest you,
maybe you can catch the late show on
Channel 9.
-CHUCK BLOOM
Letters
To The Daily:
I HAVE WITHDRAWN from my
position as member-at-large of the
Student Government Council and
announce my resignation from RAP
(Responsible Alternative Party).
Admittedly, I've been the m o s t
silent member, but not because of
apathy. I attempted, rather, to lis-
ten objectively to all sides of an
argument before forming my own
opinion.
SGC, to me, is not the matire
decision-making body it should be.
To be more precise - it's a circus.
Meetings have become a time to
trade witticisms, exchange sar-
cast, insult opponents, and see
who can "screw the other guy the
most."
I'm not placing the sole blame
of the chaos on the members of
my opposing parties; much of it
can be attributed to members of
my own party. I feel that RAP has
been just as narrow-minded as
Group and Integrity on many is-
sties. I formerly supported the RAP
platform because I believed they
were an answer to the dishonesty
on SGC, but have since come to
realize that they themselves were
a contributing factor. RAP is not
the "responsible alternative" it
claims to be, but instead merely
another party echoing promises,
coining slogans, and is just as cor-
rupt, if not more so, than the
other parties.
In short, my resignation is be-
cause of my disgust with the con-
duct of the Student Government
Council. SGC could more appro-
priately be titled KGC (Kiddie Gov-
ernment Council), since meetings
are a time for members to mimic
the wheeling-dealing techniques of
the "big time" politicians. To the
many students who voted for me
-I thank you. But by maintaining
my position on the council and as
SGC
a member of RAP, I feel I would
only be supporting the corruption.
-Valda McClain, '75
Dec. 4
Ecology reply
To The Daily:
THERE ARE a number of points
of fact, assumption, and analysis
in Willard Miller'sarticle on "Rad-
ical Ecology . . ." in Sunday's is-
sue that I feel are in desperate
need of rebuttal, or at least of
questioning.
In the first few paragraphs of his
article, Miller aptly points out the
obvious fact that businessmen use
advertising to influence the con-
sumer. This advertising comes in
three basic types. First of all, there
is the simple, fact-giving, test re-
sults-/reporting, honest s o r t of
commercial. While these may be
few and far between, they do exist
and they serve a useful, healthy
function.
Theisecond sort of commercial is
the downright, out and out lie or
misrepresentation. This sort of ad-
vertisement, when discovered, is
quite rightly driven off the air-
waves.
The third type of commercial is
the sort which Miller said "played
on insecurities and anxieties . ."
of the public. His solution for this
sort of commercial is the same
as that for the outright lie, name-
ly - take it off the air through
the use of governmental powers.
This approach can only lead to
more and more governmental in-
tervention and censorship.
A little later on, Miller a 1 s o
quite aptly points out the ill ef-
fects of governmental interference
in the economy. Each day we are
all screwed by the government and
the screws, in the forms of wage-
price freezes and a tax rate which
tember A
presently takes out almost 50 per
cent of the average person's in-
come, are getting tighter and tight-
er.
Unfort-nately, for the ad-ane-
ment of logic and reason, in the
verv next naragranh, Miller s'vs
that what we should do is "to nlace
industrv in the hands of the govern-
ment." I don't know about vo'i, b>t
I'd just as soon Richard Nixon,
Maurice Stans, and John Connllv
et al kent their greasy, little hands
olit of the e !ono-nv and as much as
possible, oat of my life.
What we need is not the com-
plete merging of State and Econ-
omy, byt their complete and total
separation.
Miller then goes on to support
a policy of "no growth" in t h e
economy. A few words seem to be
in order here: No growth (sug-
gested substittion: stagnation) was
what was going on in the D a r k
Ages, and, even more gloomy, the
only way for no growth to occur
is for the government to forcibly
suppressall new ideas and inno-
vations in production which might
lead to that ghastly crime of rais-
ing productivity.
THE AUTHOR spends a great
deal of time on "private property"
and his contention that the free en-
terprise advocate's ideal of "pri-
vate property" must lead to en-
vironmental desecration. This is
simply not so. While the, true ad-
vocate of free enterprise does in-
deed advocate allowing all people
to do as they please with their own
lives and their own property, he
always adds on the important
clause so long as they are not in-
terfering forcibly with the lives
and property of other people."
Herein lies Miller's biggest er-
ror. It has been governmental in-
terference (strip mining permits
etc,) or inaction (allowing internal
combustion engines to continue pol-
luting etc.) which had led to the
most harm to the environment.
What government should do is to
step out of the economy and only
interfere when someone's r i g h t s
have been violated (eg - pollution
of a lake, fraudulent advertising,
etc.)
Miller then makes a distinction
between "private" and "personal"
property, and says that we can
have the latter without the former.
This is blatantly untenable: if I
can't own the property on which my
house is standing, how can I be
said to own the house?; if I don't
own the land on which my garden
is located, then how can the flow-
ers I planted be said to be mine?;
and if neither of the above are
mine then the government can tell
me to move out of my house, what
to plant in my garden, and ulti-
mately how to run my life.
Also, it seems to me to be pain-
fulynhvisninc tat wme is vrnnc
ference in any form, except where
the Human Rights of life, liberty,
property, and pursuit of hanviness
are being infringed upon."
-Alan Klein '75
Member, Libertarian Party
Dec. 3
Salary hassle
To The Daily:
ON THURSDAY, November 30,
The Daily printed an article about
the Legal Advocate program spon-
sored by Student Government Coun-
cil. The article stated that t h e
legal secretary, Vic Gutman, re-
ceives a salary of $4,000 a year
and yet has no legal background.
Because I have suffered s o m e
embarrassment from this mislead-
ing. information, I feel that I should
clarify the facts regarding my job
with SGC. I was hired as a ful
time employee to work for only one
semester at a salary of $1,800. My
duties are "to spend as much time
demanded by the legal advocate in
researching information pertinent
to his cases, sipplying information
about the various University offi-
ces and student governments on
campus, and helping his clients
muddle through the tiresome Uni-
ve'sity bureaucracy.
The other half of my time is
spent on several major projects re-
garding student organizations be-
ing sponsored by SGC and Organi-
zational Services.
On November 31 The Daily at-
tached an editor's note to the end
of a letter written by Bill Jacobs,
president of Student Government
Council, stating that "Jacobs is cor-
rect that SGC has so far allocated
only $1,800 for Gutman's salary.
However, the per-hour wage is
based on a $4,000 annual salary".
This is also not true. The legal
secretary position, as budgeted by
SGC is to be a half-time job with
a salary of $2,000 per semester. I
am working full time at a salary of
$1,800 for one semester only.
-Vic Gutman
Dec. 2
Harassed Arabs
To The Daily:
I)RAGNET INVESTIGATION, in-
terrogation, and surveillance of
Arabs living in the United States,
by federal agents, is an outrage.
It is an intolerable invasion of the
rights of those Arabs, and a threat
to the liberties of every citizen.
The American Civil Liberties Un-
ion is doing, at the national level,
all that we can do to bring such
activities to a halt, and to cause
the attorney general to give puulnc
assurance that they will n")t be re-
commenced.
Terrorist incidents abroad create
genuine concern in this country fOr
all persons. Jews and Arabs es-
have a clear obligation even to
avoid creating the impression in
the Arabic community that public
statements of support for the Ara-
bic position in the Arab-Israeli dis-
pute will be reason enough for fed-
eral officers to take an official in-
terest in the spokesmen of those
views.
Instances of such harassment or
intimidation, deliberate or inad-
vertent, should be reported locally
to the American Civil Liberties Un-
ion. (See ACLU telephone listing.)
Official acts which, however in-
tended, chill the political atmos-
phere and cramp free discussicn
are damaging to us all.
-Carl Cohen
Chairman
American Civil Liberties
Union
of Michigan
Nov. 30
Prostitution
To The Daily:
IT WAS interesting to notice that
the criticisms of Michael Castle-
man's article on prostitution came
from males.
It is also interesting that most
of the anti-abortion speakers I've
heard have been men.
As a woman, prostituted in many
ways, I find many good and sal-
ient points in Michael's article -
points that many men seem to fiud
it in their best interest to miss.
-Kathleen Cook, Grad.
Nov. 28
Housing Policy Board
To The-Daily:
THERE WAS one interesting
sidelight to the debate by the O.S.S.
Policy Board as to whether the
University Housing Council (the re-
presentative student body elected
directly by students) or the exist-
ing Housing Policy Board (con-
taining only non-residents of Uni-
versity Housing) should make pol-
icy for the students living in Univ-
ersity Housing.
One member, in fact the chair-
man, of the Housing Policy Board
is an appointee of the Tenant's Un-
ion. This member opposed letting
the residents of University Housing
set policy on matters concerning U
Housing tenants, and went one to
say that neither he, his board, nor
the Tenant's Union favored tenant
control of housing.
This incident not only shows the
extent to which the organizational
shell known at the Tenant's Union
has abandoned all its original prin-
ciples, but also the unfailingly way
the University manages to fill un-
elective students seats on Univer-
sity committees with Uncle Toms.
This, of course, is the best of
reasons why the non-elective Hous-
ina n- fnrr ohnnlA ha ranlnr.
IcClain resigns
11
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