Ann Arbor:

(The following is the first of
a four-part series deOling with
the history of the political left
in Ann Arbor.)
By BOB AIFXAN)ER
Mayor Albert Wheelr's recent
one vale victory martin tells
the Atn Ar'r poical left it
has to do somehing quick, if
it wan11-sts - 0 n rem %a iablhe
lternati e fr:a oters here.
That single vote margin de
spite low cmnas VOter lernu
points to to ntajor sitoations:
There is a tragic need for the
left to r ie uiself in order

to politici4e the campus area,
and there is an indication Ann
Arbor voters are listening seri-
ously to more liberal ideas and
programlls.
If the left had aruttsed voter
interest in the campus areas,
which are traditionally Demo-
cratic, it is reasonable to as-
.same Wheeler's victory margin
would have been at least slight-
ly larger than it actually was.
ThAT ANN ARBOR voters
are listening to leftist ideas, usu-
ally phrased within the confines
of the Democratic party, is evi-
dent by larger numbers of vo-

The Michigan Daily
Edited and managed by Students at the
University of Michigan -
Tuesday, May 10, 1977
News Phone: 764-0552

Where's h
rfHERE IS AN interesting
pair of stories concern-
ing the rule of law in this
morning's news columns.
In sunny Los Angeles, Pat-
ty Hearst was given five
years probation yesterday
for firing two machine guns
into a sporting goods store
to provide cover for her
SLA colleagues, who were
robbing the place at the
time.
On the other side of the
continent, in Concord, New
Hamnshire, hundreds of
mostly young demonstrators
still are beine held for their
peaceful, albeit illegal, pro-
test at the Seabrook nuclear
power plant site. The state
Supreme Court has refused
to order their release on
personal recovnizance, so
those who cannot or will
not raise $100 to $500 for
bail have been detained in
five armories.
The two rases don't really
have mneh in common, but
they illttrate some inequi-
ties and imnerfections of'
justice. American style.
The itder in the Hearst
proceedinm offered a novel
rationalization for Patty's
slan-on-the-wrist. The de-
fendant, he said. nosed no
threat to society..It's hard
to remember any compar-
able inatance in judicial
history when the most im-
portant criterion in sen-
tencing was the conse-
quence of letting the crim-
inal go free.
IT'S AN OLD argument,
but it deserves applica-
tion here: Would someone
less wealthy, or less white
than Patricia Hearst have
been let off so easily for
shooting machine guns in a
downtown shipping dis-
trict?
Not as lucky as Patty are
the Seabrook demonstra-
tors, about 770 of whom
have been held since May 1
at a cost to New Hampshire.
of $50,000 a day. Lawyers
for the protestors claim,
persuasively, the constitu-
tional rights of-their clients

he justice?
are being violated.
The lawyers are not seek-
ing the demonstrators' re-
lease (which would seem to
be in order nevertheless,
since the original 1,400
demonstrators posed no
threat to society), but com-
plain there are no provi-
sions for talks between the
defendants and their attor-
neys.
Moreover, food and health
care facilities at the Con-
corn armories are almost
certainly inadequate. A
physician specializing in in-
fectious diseases told a
judge yesterday conditions
at the armories are ideal
for the spread of strep
throat, hepatitis and Ger-
man measles.
It would be a painful
irony if the ultimate pen-
alty imposed on the Sea-
brook protestors, trained in
peaceful civil disobedience,
proves to be more harsh
than the possibly lethal
machine gun attack perpe-
trated by one Patty Hearst.

Letting
ters for Wheeler and other Dem-
oucrats in traditionally non-Dem-
ocratic wards of the city.
Both of these conditions need
to lae takens into accout when
disc sksingthe building of a left
political mos-ement.
For the past three years, there
has not been an identifiable,
united political left in Ann Ar-
bor. The last strong showing
of the Human Rights Party was
in the 1974 City Council elec-
tion. The 1975 mayoral council
election sapped that party's re-
naining strength.
SINCE THEN, a new core
group of political activists has
failed to develop to generate
the issues, encourage and cam-
paign for activist candidates,
and "tune in" the usually unin-
formed students to important
local political happenings.
The truth is, a large unified
movement would be necessary
to politicize the campus com-
munity.That community's lib-
Arledg
By KEN PARSIGIAN
(The cameras pan the audi-
ence, and the announcer opens
the show) "It's 7:00, and time
for ABC's Wide World of News!
Featuring Jimmy "The Greek"
Snyder with What Are the
Odds? - Jimmy predicts to-
morrow's news. Phyllis George
with Under The Covers - a
peek into the private lives pf
the people who make "news,
from movie stars to athletes.
Muhammad Ali and his Kulchur
segment - learn everything
from poetry to classical music
from the man who calln him-
self the world's most cultured
person. And starring the ver-
bose villain of the airways, the
number one anchorman on the
number one news show in tele-
vision Howard Cosell."
(The camera zooms in on
Howard who is in the Dallas
Cowboy'solockerroom.) Howard,
a wild look in his eyes and his
hands raised above his head,
begins in a booming voice):
"Woe is us, woe is us, we're
in a whole lot of trouble. Last
week Roone Arledge, head of
ABC sports, was also given con-
trol of the ABC News depart-
ment and that's why woe is us.
"For most of you, (he ges-

eral-to-radical politics has giv-
en Ann Arbor it's reputation
as a progressive, modern town.
Without the collective energy
of a left movement, much of
the human services energy gen-
erated in the early '70s has dis-
sipated, and several key elec-
tions have been lost.
REPUBLICAN victory in the
traditionally Democratic First
Ward last year prevented the
formation of a Human Services
D-nartment, a police weapons
policy, and other progressive
Cooncil actions. Ed Pierce's con-
gressional effort (the most left
Democratic campaign to date,
considering issues and campaign
organization) lost by less than
one vote in each precinct. Stu-
dent apathy regarding local elec-
tions was a great factor in that
loss.
It is ironic the leftist Human
Rights Party votes which put
Wheeler in office in 1975 were
virtually absent in 1977, even

e's alleged news

the left rot

though similar issues were em-
phasized.
Significantly, Wheeler's recent
win was due to his ability as
Mayor to convince moderate
Democrats his programs are
worthy of their support. He got
their support-which he did not
have in the 1975 election.
IN THE LIGHT of Pierce's
narrow loss to Wheeler's slim
victory, clearly the left has to
be more effective if it wants
to elect progressive candidates.
Apparently voters are not re-
pelled by more radical issues
as much as they once were.
Now voters seem to be wait-
ing for Democrats and other
leftists to get down to work, and
devolop solutions to the issues
such groups cite just prior to
elections.
A left political movement is
not only part of that effort, but
could cause that development to
come together.

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"I'm mad as hell, and
I'm not going to fake it
anymore."
-Howard Cosell
tyres to the h'indreds of view-
ers in the audience) we are the
only news you know. You don't
read newspapers, you don't read -
magazines, all you do is rely
on this silly little tube to tell
you what's going ow in the
world. And when the man who
thought the 1972 Olympics were
more newsworthy than Water-
gate, the man who thinks Presi-
dent Carter most distressing act
so far was his refusal to throw
out the first baseball on open-
ing day forsthe Atlanta Braves,
is controlling the main informa-
tion source for several million
Americans each day, who knows
what sort of shit will be paraded
as news?
"ABC is telling everyone Ar-
ledge was promoted to put some
fire under the News department,
which had been the least suc-
cessful of the three networks
in the ratings, but that is not
the real story. Actually, the
move is all part of a master
plan which began when a gaoup
named Conglomerated Investors
(CI) gained control of ABC by
means of a proxy fight at last
month's stockholders meeting.
And do you know who CI rep-
resents? Probably not, because
they won't say who is behind
the group. The reason they won't
say is that CI is a front for
all the athletes in the four ma-
jor professional sports. With $1
million salaries becoming com-
monplace, and ticket prices sky-
rocketting, the athletes realized
fans were becoming disenchant-
ed, and would soon stop attend-
ing sporting events if drastic
action wasn't taken. To insure
continued interest in sports, they
are slowly but surely gobbling
up stock jn the three major net-
works so they can control the
news! If they succeed, the na-
tional .news hour would be de-
voted almost entirely to sports.
And to top it off, players' sal-
cries would be reported to be
less than they actually are so
fans wouldn't think the players .
are greedy. A picture would be
painted of athletes as the com-
aonman, struggling to ,get y_.

on the paltry salary his hard-
nosed capitalist employer pays
him.
Only you, only -the American
public can stop this insanity.
But the question is how? Well,
I don't know how, exactly. I'm
not going to tell you to write
your congressperson because I
wouldn't know what to tell you
to write, and I'm not going to
tell you to call the president
because I wouldn't know what
to tell you to say. But I do
know that before we can do any-
thing about this deplorable situ-
ation you've got to get mad.
(Howard rises from his chair,
and in a commanding voice con-
tinues) You've got to say 'I'm
as mad as hell, and I'm not
going to take -it anymore.' (He
walks out into the audience,
and with increasing volume and
power in his voice says) I want
you to get up from your seats,
go to the window, stick your'°
head out and holler 'I'm as
mad as hell and I'm not go-
ing to take it anymore.' (How-
ard's face gets red, as he con-
tinues to shout 'I'm as mad as
bell and I'm not going to take
it anymore.'
As he shouts, the people in
the audience join in. First just
a few, but finally everyone is
standing and shouting with How-
ard. Howard grabs a towel, and
heads for the showers, while
the audience gives him a stand-
ing ovation. Then the announcer
breaks in):
"That was Howard's commen-
tary for the evening, and now
it's time for news!
(Howard returns, and calmly
sits down behind a standard
newscaster's desk) "Tonight's
big story is football. All across
the country people are buzzing
about today's NFL college draft,
and Tampa Bay surprisedl no
one by making running back
Ricky Bell the first pick in this
year's draft. In other world
news, the Russians won the
world cup hockey champion-
ships, Jimmy Connors defeated
Stan Smith in the finals at Wim-
bledon, and President Carter de-
clared war on Japan. Now on
to Jimmy The Greek for a look
at tomorrow's news."
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Stu McConnell, Ken
Parsigian
Editorial: 'Jeff Ristine, Linda
Willcox
Photo: Alan Bilinsky .
Arts: David Keeps
Sports: PoulCampbell R,