THE Summer Daily So soer Edstiin of T7lE Mf IIIGAN DAILY Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Thursday, May 24, 1973 News Phone: 764-0552 learned its lesson JT IS NOW apparent that the conservative House of Representatives has not yet fully recognized the im- plicit lesson of the Watergate affair as it concerns Presi- dential appointees. When not investigated by the Con- gress, an official's potential for political misbehavior or ineptitude in office can be quite high, as borne out by recent tevelations concerning such top White House staff members as H. R. Halderman and Bob Ehrlichman-both placed in office by the President without Congressional consultation or affirmation. The-House had it's test yesterday when it voted on whether or not to override President Nixon's veto of a bill which would have provided for Congressional ap- proval of presidential nominees for the director and deputy director of the Office of Management and Bud- get. Currently, Congress confirms neither office. By a vote of 236 to 178, the House failed its test, falling 40 votes short of the two thirds majority needed to over- ride the veto. President Nixon had asserted, in vetoing the bill, that the budget director has been a White House offic- ial for 50 years, and served as an intimate advisor to the President. 'WE NOTE, though, that the budget head of the OMB has over the years become one of the most powerful officials in the government, often playing a key role in the direction of OMB programs. The Senate also ap- parently held this view, voting 62 to 22 Tuesday to over- ride Nixon's veto. JT IS unfortunate that the House of Representatives did not follow the Senate's lead. Their action will serve to perpetuate the pattern of Congressional submission to ,he designs of the White House. True equality: Women waging war By JOAN ANDERSON PHE NEW Constitutional Amend- ment which would recognize the equality of rights for both sexes appears at first blush to be one small step for woman and one giant leap for the guilty conscienc- es of mankind. It now appears that we may be taking that step back- wards. After the equal-opportun- ity ideology gets translated into the grim realities of war, women could very well be subject to the draft. The slightest suggestion to draft women embarrasses even the toughest hawks. They awkwardly give all the arguments about wo- men not being strong enough to carry guns and 50 lb. backpacks. Since women are not as strong as men, they are physically unqual- ified to be soldiers. Sweeping away this generalization reveals the ex- ception: the girl who could beat up any boy in the third grade class and knock line drives for the neigh- borhood baseball team now sup- presses her soldier instincts with- in the passive role of metermaid and den troop mother. There exist a few women who, everything else being equal, would make damn fine soldiers. Unfor- tunately, to allow them on the bat- tlefield would, be as incongruous as letting cheerleaders into the high school football locker room. Since the idea of letting women com- mand the brigades and fly the bombers bothers both men a n d women, it isn't clear that the squeamishness stems from innate prejudice. THE CENTRAL issue continues to elude us. Some proponents of the Amendment have criticized t h e draft itself. Does this mean they suoport a volintary U.S. Army that places both men and women in combat? They caitiously shake their heads no while admitting that women have both the right and oolifications to be soldiers. What they fail to admit to themselves is that similar to wrestling matches, rest rooms and girl scouts, war is an activity best conducted with separation of the sexes. F e w people welcome the idea of a coed war. In the past, this attitude was construed to exclude women from all front line participation. In or- der to provide women their long denied right to express themselves in battle, I propose that women be given the right to conduct their own wars. Let's examine the prac- ticability of this suggestion since I expect this proposal will raise some clenched fists from members of both sexes. Special lightweight war equipment could be designed for women. Until now the gear has been designed for men. Each country could begin found- ing its own women's army. The question might arise over which wars should be fought by men and which by women. Would the de- cision be made by a male presi- dent? However, this presents lit- tle problem if the reasons for war are national rather than sexist, for then women armies provide the president with one more possible military strategy short of nuclear war. PRESENTLY THE equal rights discussion is miscentered on the draft issue rather than dealing with the relevant question of whether women should be allowed to con- duct their own wars as men have so freely done in the past. The controversy about drafting women can be postponed by creating a voluntary women's combat division now. Other countries such as Israel and China have already joined the worldwide movement to give wo- men the opportunity to defend their respective nations. As long as peo- ple prohibit coed wars because they are coed and not because they are wars, I believe the equal rigits of women to wage war will inevit- able' be established. While we are in the process if equalizing rights, perhaps we might consider taking away the inalieni- able rights of oten to conduct anv war. This could, after all, prove to be the best solution. loan Anderson, '73, is a sest wri/er for The Daily who claims to be a non-violent person tho last marched ith Troop 1053 as a irl s scout in a 'ourti of fitly parade. Some pleasant thoughts on spending summer in Ann Arbor By MICHAEL THORYN T'S NICE to be in Ann Arbor during the summer. Move your mind away from whether it is real, just understand that it is nice, that you don't need to feel pressure, and that most are ready to smile even as they seem to maintain their distance, Last summer was my first in the city and I am looking forward to this one. Already there is a feel- ing of space - thousands of people have left. The people who like the town stay around. Dilatant students who were always talking about get- ting away or going home, go there. Some highlights - the weather, praise to God - will get warm. Lazy days can be spent on the Summer Staff ROLFE TESSEM Editor MARTY STERN Editorial Page Editor OAN BORUS Sports Editor 4t k 4 S{! E E - f i diag, in the arb, on bike rides, and on longer trips to beaches and campgrounds. As a corollary of fewer people, rents will be lower for persons here only for the summer. More people will discover that almost no movie will sell out and no one will stand in line. Libraries also will be largely vacant, quiet, with cur- rent magazines likely to be on the rack. LOTS OF PEOPLE will be com- ing through town. Ann Arbor is on the national circuit of places to go if you are traveling for the sum- mer. Some are on bike, some with knapsack-passing through on their way to New York or the west coast. There will be park concerts where the community from 15 or so to maybe 30 turns out for drinks and tokes and Republicans try not to notice. And Bars. Well if you aren't with friends and want to be: see some- one you want to talk to - go over and do it. Say something like, "My, do you come here often?" No guarantees. The town away from campus is like most others you've seen, resi- dential areas, shoping centers, pub- lic schools - affected but n o t shaken by whatever is the current excitement -on campus. And I wouldn't bet on any big excite- ment this summer. I do, however, expect it to be nice. The biggest thing coming up is in'September; after all the students returns; the Second Annual Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival. Take it easy. It's good advice, though sometimes hard to follow. Michael Thoryn is a guest writ- er for The Daily. I Letters to Media confusion To The Daily: IT HAS COME to our attention that some confusion exists, par- ticularly in the University com- munity, regarding the terms on which the Media Access Center ex- tends free (subsidized) access to video equipment, videotape and production services. The primary source of this con- fusion seems to be a free video workship MAC was conducting with the Pass It On Freedom group, arranged by and at the initiative of Martha Wade, a par- ticipant and spokesperson for the Ann Arbor Cable Coalition. The issues concerned the pur- pose of MAC's free work, which is 1) to lend needed assistance in the production of video program- ing for the community channels in the Ann Arbor cable system, and 2) to help in documenting events and projects in Washtenaw Coun- ty which receive inadequate or in- accurate coverage by the dom- inant corporate media. Any additional or different appli- cations of the video information whose production we subsidize must be subject to prior mutual agreement between MAC and the participating groups or individuals. The purpose of our free work has stood for more than a year of service to Washtenaw C o u n t y, unchanged. The further definition of the terms on which we will The Daily render that service was necessi- tated by contradictions which arose in the process of the workshop with Pass It On Freedom. It happened that materials pro- duced with MAS subsidy were pre- sented without our agreement in the context of the Future Worlds Conference, whose participating sponsorship included the federal government's National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Ford Motor Company. MAC policy is to avoid any sit- uation in which our work functions to support, directly or indirectly, any agency of the federal govern- ment or any private profit-making corporation; unless specially com- pelling reasons apply. Thus, MAC policy was comprom- ised by Pass It On Freedom and Ms. Wade so that it might appear that we supported the institutional goals and values of the Future Worlds Conference. CONTRARY TO any reports, MAC has not unilaterally suspended sup- port for the Pass It On Freedom video ,workshop, nor did our dis- cussions with Ms. Wade touch con- cretely on any other matter than the concerns expressed in this let- ter. Subject to the terms defined above, Media Access Center stands ready to lend free needed media support to any positive community interest, as we are able. -Media Access Center May 16 Well, I just hope you don't get one of those a wful criminal coddling judges, John.'