4-Wednesday, October 5, 1977-The Michigan Daily
rI ean
Eighty-Eight Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Vol. LXXXVIII, No.X24 News P
it
Phone: 764-0552
idited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Abortion
By GERRY WOLKE must do w
islative res
More than a century ago Henry David unwilling t
Thoreau went to jail because he refused to abortion e
pay taxes to support the Mexican war. The tions. This
logic behind this principled gesture is superb- Governme
ly set forth in his essay, Civil Disobedience. next electi(
Thoreau is no longer with us, of course, but
his spirit has arisen occassionally most re- INTER
cently with the civil rights movement and the heard from
antidraft demonstrations of the '60's. He ap- ject to hav
pears ready to be ressurected once again. thing they
Abortion is not an issue which collectivists Would pas
can easily invoke their myth of "the will of the mass civil
people." Few issues have split the people's substantia
will as much as abortion has recently. governme
Naturally, then, congress has been highly re- Congressv
luctant to treat the issue decisively since con- this were n
gress will only approve a proposal that has considered
substantial public support (think about that people dr
the next time you claim that government with Nur
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and politics
L
hat the "people" won't). The leg-
sult has been that Congress appears
to approve Medicaid payments for
xcept in certain emergency situa-
is certainly no cause for surprise.
nt tunnel vision extends just to the
on.
ESTINGLY, one of the arguments
n abortion opponents is that they ob-
ving their tax money pay for some-
consider immoral ala Thoreau.
ssage of an abortion bill instigate
disobedience or further disaffect a
i portion of the people from their
nt? That is a question I don't think
wants to face. More interestingly, if
not a pragmatic age but an age that
d principle or philosophy, would
aw the libertarian lesson that, as
tmburg, no one should be com-
pelled to support that which they do not ap-
prove of morally? I don't think the govern-
ment will'wait to find out whether the founda-
tions of the welfare-warfare state can be
threatened. They will just plain wait ... until
the session expires or until Congress is sure
that abortion foes become sufficiently few to
be safely stepped on.
David Friedman pointed out that if a man
is hungry and a majority want him to be fed
the government will feed him, but then it's un-
necessary as someone will feed him anyway.
If, on the other hand, the majority will not see
him fed, the government will not either. But
someone willtstill feed him. For those who ap-
prove of abortions as most libertarians do
(and I do not) probably the best advice is the
usual: ignore the state. What is moral is ulti-
mately practical and certainly no province of
politics.
Health Service
Handbook
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A secret' vote is sacred
N WASHTENAW COUNTY Circuit
Court yesterday two University stu-
nts, Susan Van Hattum and Diane
zinsky risked going to jail before
vulging who they voted for in last
pril'smayoral election.
We found their actions heroic and
otionally stirring.
Van Hattum and Lazinsky had beent
Mistakenlyregistered as citizens of the
4ty,, when< they actually resided in a
wnship peninsula' jutting into the
y. They have-clearly done nothing
:rong. They merely registered to vote
bI Ann Arbor, and were told they were
eligible to do so.
No voter, under any circumstances
should be coerced into divulging his
private ballot. The concept of the pri-.
vate ballot has roots in the very basis
of democracy. Their stalwart stand in
the face of coercive questioning by
Monroe County Circuit Court Judge
James Kelley, were the most patriotic
defenses of freedom in this town in re-
cent years.
Judge Kelley had informed several
witnesses subpoenaed in the case, they
would not have to answer questions
pertaining to who they had voted for.
Indeed the lawyers, Robert Henry, and
Robert Grace representing Belcher
and Wheeler respectively, had ap-
parently agreed that no witness would
be asked who they voted for.
B UT HENRY yesterday changed his
tune, citing two precedents in
which the Michigan Supreme Court
had ruled that voters who had cast
illegal votes had to divulge who they
voted for, if asked to do so in court.
Kelley agreed with Henry's inter-
pretation of the case law and the coer-
cion began.
We find the cases cited, and there
application in yesterday's trial ex-
tremely repressive. How can any voter
feel free to express his opinion in a
voting booth, if there is a chance, no
matter how slight that the vote will
later become public?
By SYLVIA HACKER
and NANCY PALCHIK
QUESTION: This may sound
like a silly question, but I have
been wondering about it for a
long time. I have dry skin (e.g., I
"can't wash my face with soap),
but occassionally I get pimples on
my chin and around my mouth
which I always thought were re-
lated to oily skin. What causes
this? What is the best thing to do
about them? Is it bad to pop
them?
ANSWER:' According to Dr.
Albert Girz, one of our physicians
with a special interest in derma-
tology, what often appears to be
dry skin may in fact be a condi-
tion known as seborrheic derma-
titis. Most persons with sebor-
rheic dermatitis have a tendency
to an oily skin and may at times
have pimples. The condition is
even considered by some a sort of
"first cousin" to acne. Yet it also
resembles what we usually think
of as dry skin. The skin seems to
be irritated and is flaky after
washing with soap. Seborrheic
dermatitis may occur in the scalp
as ordinary dandruff. Another
major site of involvement is the
nose-chin triangle (seborrheic
triangle).
In order to answer your ques-
tion a precise diagnosis would
have to be made to differentiate
seborrheic dermatitis from true
dry skin, as the treatment for
each is different. So why not
come in to our medical clinic?
In regard to your question
about popping pimples, super-
ficial pimples may be drained by
"popping." However, it is not
wise to squeeze deep abscess-like
cysts or pimples sinceyou may
spread infection to surrounding
tissues.
QUESTION: I've heard that
it's healthy to take two aspirin a
day, especially if you're a tense
type of person. Somewhere else I
heard that this will only serve to
corrode the stomach lining.
What's the real story? Also I've
heard that the mixture of coke
and aspirin is unhealthy. Is it
bad, for instance, to take a couple
aspirin and have a coke an hour
later?
ANSWER: As with most
things, there is much speculation
on this subject. However, some
researchers feel that low doses of
aspirin (i.e., two tablets per day)
are valuable in the possible pre-
vention of strokes and heart at-
tacks (myocardial infarctions).
This theory is based on the fact
that the aggregation of platelets
(one of the normal blood clotting
factors) contributes to the devel-
opment of heart attack. Low
doses of aspirin appear to cause a
mild defect in platelet function
(reduction of adhesiveness).
However, since many other fac-
tors influence platelets, it has
been shown that platelets can
function suitably for clotting even
in aspirin-treated patients. Fur-
thermore, there is no evidence
yet that taking aspirin now will
prevent heart attack 20 to 30
years from now. Thus, much
more research is needed in the
area.
The topic is of interest of course.
because heart disease plagues
Americans more than any other
disease and there are certain
types of personalities which may
be more susceptible to heart at-
tacks. Tense individuals are
thought to be among those types
of personalities. It should be re-
membered that aspirin has its de-
fects. Although it is the most
commonly used and cheapest
analgesic, it cannot be used by
many people because it is upset-
ting to the stomach due to its high
acidity. Arthritic patients who of-
ten take as many as 20 tablets per
day, know full well the stomach'
distress caused by aspirin, and a
bakavi
To The Daily:
Some years ago, the news of re-
source depletion, environmental
damage and the exploitation of
one people by another caused me
to suspect that there must be a
more appropriate goal for society
than just expanding the GNP. Af-
ter a lengthy study of problems
and solutions as presented by
concerned people, a basic set of
guidelines became evident. The
objectives are:
* To develop an ecologically
sound way of supporting human
life. That is, one in which mate-
rials are managed in continuing
cycles and the energy necessary
to manage those cycles is taken
from continuously reliable sour-
ces.
* To encourage life-based pur-
suits. These would include: inter-
personal relationships, creativi-
ty, co-ordination, appreciation,
and spiritual, intellectual and
psychic development.
* To develop toward technolo-'
gies which do not: 1) require con-
tinual input of non-renewable re-
sources, 2) have a cumulatively
degrading effect on the environ-
ment, 3) require more material
than would be available if the
world's resources were equitably
distributed amongst the world's
people.
There are many people who be-
lieve that it is essential to develop
along these lines if we are to sur-
vive. It is our intention to ask this
question as widely as possible in
search of public support to influ-
ence decision-makers.
For convenience, this question
has been named the Bakavi Ques-
tion. The word bakavi has been
selected from the history of one of
North America's native people; it
refers to a vehicle used to survive
problems brought about by
people so caught up in their own
creations that they acted without
regard for the non-human crea-
tion which makes life possible.
Further information on the
Bakavi Question has been pub-
lished in the book Change the
World, I Want to Stay On avail-
able for $3.75 from:
Bakavi
P.O. Box 2011
Station "D"
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Mike Nickerson
va
To The Daily:
An article in the September 29
issue of the Daily and an experi-
ence in my own life could be a
possible basis, in my opinion, for
a "yes" to the urgent request of
Filipina Narciso and Leonora Pe-
rez for a retrial in the VA nurses
tragedy.
I refer to a well researched
story in the Daily by Keith Rich-
burg, "VA Article Gives Only
One View - Author." Richburg
details the purchase by officials
of the Ann Arbor VA, of 1000
few unfortunately develop'
gastric ulcers attributable to this
treatment. Sometimes this prob-
lem can be avoided by drinking a
full glass of water with the
aspirin or by taking it with food
or antacids.
Coca-Cola is also highly acidic
and the combination of coke and
aspirin can therefore be very irri-
tating to the stomach. As you
Letters to The Daily
suggest, it is best to avoid con-
suming them at the same time.
Please send any health related
questions to:
HealthEducators
University Health Service
Division of Office of
Student Services
207 Fletcher
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
copies of an author-admitted bi-
ased/slanted anti-Narcisco/Pe
rez article and the action by these
officials in distributing the artie
cle as "balanced, accurate,'
careful and objective." The arti-
cle appeared in the Ann Arbor
Observer and the author, Donald
Hunt is insisting that the VA put
his piece forward out of context,
stating, "I think they (the VA.
hospital officials) are misguid-
ed."
The Ann Arbor Observer ac-
count, according to Hunt, was
only intended to present the VA
case from the perspective of the
jurors who found Narciso and
Perez guilty of poisoning five pa-
tients at the Fuller Road hospital
during the summer of 1975. His,,
article obviously does not present
both sides of the case.
It is frighteningly, revealing
therefore that VA hospital offic
ials should hail the Observer ac-
count as "the only publication"
that "tells the whole story," as'
reported ir the Daily story. This
reveals the alarming bias of
these officials, that defense law --
yers have maintained from the
start existed, in the higher
echelons of hospital administra
tion at the VA. The defense
claimed that the FBI and hospital
leaders worked hand in glove to
convict the Phillipine nurses as
scapegoats in order to get the
hospital itself "off the hook" in
the public eye.
I am a disabled veteran (as
well as a grad student at the
University of Michigan) and re-
ceive treatment at the Ann Arbor
VA Hospital. Several days ago
this one sided and biased article
arrived in my mailbox in an of-
ficial VA envelope and postage'
paid by the United States govern-
rnent. I strongly resent this use of
government funds and the VA
computer list of outpatients to
ram down my throat the opinion
of certain VA officials that Nar-
ciso and Perez are guilty of mur-
der and the hospital is free of any
responsibility for the deaths of
the patients. I happened to be
convinced of the truth that these
overseas nurses are totally in-
nocent and the victims of an FBI-
VA frameup.
Further, I visited the VA'
Hospital today and learned that
this Observer article was distrib-
uted a few days ago to every em
ploye tagged "must reading"!
I believe strongly- that in this:
case we have a right to expect"
from VA officials a scrupulous
neutrality and "let the chips fall
where they may." Thanks to the
Daily for revealing that such a
neutrality at the VA has been
totally absent. A retrial is the
only path to justice for the VA
nurses.
Rev. Craig S. Wilder
September 29
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