I The Michigan Daily Edited and managed by Students at the University of Michigan Thursday, July 21, 1977 News Phone: 764-0552 Inrese in retirement age helps U.S. workers A bill passed last week by the U. S. House of Repre- sentatives Education and Labor Committee would raise the standard retirement age in private industry from 65 to 70 and would eliminate it completely for federal agencies. The bill, strongly supported by Rep Carl Pursell (R- Ann Arbor), is good, nct just because it eliminates the inflexible and often unfair retirement age of 65. The real reason to support the proposal (HR 5383) is demographic -- namely, the population of the U. S. is growing older very quickly. By 1985 the percentage of the population over 65 will jump from 10.5 per cent to 12 per cent, and between now and the year 2000, the over-65 population will increase 37 per cent, comoared with a 15 per cent growth rate for the rest of the population. And some population research- ers estimate , hte U.S. median age could rise from its present 28 years to as much as 35. That's a lot ,f old people, spawned by the high birth rate in the Fifties and better medical technology which allows people to live longer. The current generation of college students will be among them. An older population has significant neaning for the mandatory retirement age. If the retirement age remains at 65 while the population grows older, there will soon be a mass of "dependent" retirees - a much larger mass than the smaller workir.g-aae population can support. Increasing the retirement age would ease this bur- den, although, as University researcher John Knodel points out, it could cause problems when younger workers try to break into a labor market crowded with older people. Still, the present system discriminates unfairly against elderly workers, as does much in our "think young" society. They should be given equal opportunity in th'e job market. TODAY'S STAFF: News: Stu McConnell, Ken Parsigion Barb Zahs Editorial: Linda Willcox Photo: Alan Bilinsky Sports: Paul Campbell Arts' David Keeps I Letters to The Daily I abortions To The Daily: Last week I was talking to a 45-year-old wom- an. On the day before I saw her, she and her 20-year-old daughter had spent the day in Lan- sing where the daughter had an abortion. This was the daughter's third pregnancy. She has borne two children who are now in foster homes as wards of the court. The daughter has been into drugs and has run afoul of the law and at least for now has been deemed an unfit mother. The abortion was paid for by medicaid. Uder current proposals passing through Congress and under consideration in our state legislature, this young woman would not have had her abortion in a decent medical manner. Medicaid funds could not be used. Icanunderstand how some people can con- clude that the fetus's rights are greater than the pregnant woman's and therefore want to reverse the constitutional interpretation of the Supreme Court's 1973 decision. Working for a constitutional amendment to assert the rights of the unborp is proper and may succeed. But I cannot understand the recent legislative ac- tions which will make it impossible for the poor to abort safely while allowing the rest of us to do so. It's a punitive, nasty action toward those who have the least power in our society. I deeply regret that Congress has taken this action and will do what I can to see that the state government does not follow suit. Edward C. Pierce, M.D. anti-anti-porn To The Daily Perhaps the recent anti-porn campaign waged by the Ann Arbor News may ultimately distin- guish our own Washtenaw as Michigan's Dade County. At any rate, it shows thatyou don't have to be gay to"have a dirty diaper thrown across your face. The articles merely underscore the fact that virtually all the "dangerous" "crim- inality" and "obscenity" of acts and desires essentially natural, human and harmless, with the obvious exception of child porn, is due to their being declared illegal in the first place by dictatorial, sexually paralyzed tight-asses, and to the national terror of providing adequate sex education in the public schools. Rarely does journalism of this nature point to other than legalistic, punitive remedies to the problems it helps create. Therefore, may I offer a few prac- tical suggestions generally overlooked by the anti- porn establishment, in the hope that' they will touch on the true causes of this misfortune-our own diverse, incredibly puzzling and pleasing sexuality. * A national campaign must be designed and promoted, ideally by someone with proven lead- ership credentials, say, Anita Bryant, to eliminate all volition, desire, attraction fantasy and urgen- cy from the performance of the sex act thus re- storing it to its original deodorized, mechanical PG rating. * Outlaw the sale of all materials that aid sexual behaviors, such as cars, vans, beds, blank- eta, pillows, underweur, mirrors, toothpaste, soap, perfumes, hair spray, motels, Kleenex, beer, tele- vision, telephones and patent leather shoes. * Close down all public swimming pools and ponds; or require of bathers full military dress or body-length swim suits woven of an opaque, metallic fibre. * Require all dogs and cats to wear clothing, to use birth control devices, and to be subject to strict fines, los-of license and/or imprison- ment of up to five years for engaging openly in either carnal acts or expressions at any time of the day or night. * Ignore any and all questions pertaining to sex asked by children, and punish said children severely for continuing to ask . them after the first hard slap is administered. * Abandon the 4eaching of reading in public schools. * Gradually phase out the current, outmoded system of a two-sexed humanity, perpetrated on us no doubt by a cruel and unjust god, either by means of transplants, castration, mastectomy, hairstyling, prayer or the election of a genetic engineer to the highest public orifice in the land. Paul B. Weiner violence To The Daily: It is appalling that The Daily finds amuse- ment in human suffering and violence. The un- happiness expressed by the man who conducted a nude protest and the terror and hurt created by the thief of Muehlig's hearse (incidents re- ferred to as "Cop Chuckle No. 1" and "Cop Chuckle No. 2," respectively, in the July 9th edition) hardly to seem to warrant such "cute" treatment. I am sure that the police who finally appre- hended the felon in the latter incident, after ministering, en route, to the accupants of the automobile which he smashed on his joyride to glory, found little in the event to make them feel mirthful. Nor did those occupants - his victims, my friends - enjoy their brush with death, their ambulance ride to the hospital, the personal bodily injuries to one (the driver, mere- ly an "unidentified" woman), and the loss of an automobile. Like them, I am grateful they are alive; but, also like them, as I contemplate the entire event, I feel anger toward not only the aggressor him- self but also toward the mentality epitomized by The Daily reporter. Such thoughtlessness and insensitivity seem altogether too representative of a larger societal pathology which somehow makes the perpetration of cruelties by some hu- mans upon others in real life the literal equiva- lent of those depicted by make-believe charac- ters in the entertainment media. The maintenance of our collective basic hu- man dignity demands more compassion and re- spect for those within our ranks who are vic- timized by other member transgressors from those who are responsible for chronicling the events of our daily existence. I am not chuck- ling. Frank E. Heger HAVE THEffE4ANJ, 10 AV F idT b Mulwcc() OF W '"A H A14 AIIO . a- ok, 4)00 HAWW/6 jc~ /;ir \ ..'d TKI (( JCie' 6 7ore6.