01
Page 4-Saturday, February 23, 180-The Michigan Daily
Feiffer
01T zrI'td!an IOatIIQ
Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom
Vol. XC, No. 119
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
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WO STATE representatives, in-
cluding, Ann Arbor's own Perry
Bullard, have proposed legislation that
would bar the sale of marijuana
smoking materials to persons under
the age of 19 (Daily, Feb. 22). While
Bullard's ultimate goal in sponsoring
the bill is to increase the possibility
that marijuana will be legalized for
adult use, the proposal at hand is unac-
ceptable.
Bullard evidently believes that
keeping paraphernalia out of the hands
of young people will ease some of his
more conservative colleagues'. minds
about general legalization. He wants the
move to be interpreted as an indication
of moderation; a sign that he has no in-
tention of making marijuana legal for
use by minors.
But whatever the representative's
good intentions, the bill, judged on its
own merits, is a discriminatory im-
pingement on civil liberties.
No one argues that bongs, pipes,
roach clips, and the like are used to
break current laws. But that fact does
not necessarily justify prohibiting
their sale. The burden of proof ought to
be on the legislature to show that a
given article-in and of itself-poses a
threat to public health or safety. The
legislature tacitly recognizes this: No
voices were heard calling for
prohibition of shot glasses or whiskey
flasks to minors when the drinking age
was lowered.
If Bullard wants to aim for
decriminalization, he is to be com-
mended. But he should not
sacrifice youth's rights while he is at it.
,
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Oppose the dlosed caucus
Sadat'sg'law of shame'
would- disgrace. democracy
T HAT EGYPTIAN President An- ethics to try those who preach
war el-Sadat should be subject to tireligious philosophy, espouse
criticism and abuse for his peace. position to Egypt's economic
initiatives toward Israel is certainly political systems, or dissemi
-disturbing. That Sadat should try to. "false" or "extremist" statem
silence his critics with repressive about the state.
legislation, however, is equally un-
pleasant. Lawyers, writers,. and liticia
Sadat rosed late last month a Egypt have assailed the propose
"law of shame" designed to punish op- as unconstitutional and an attac
ponents of Egypt and its political the functions of the judiciary. Cle
system. The law is intended, Sadat has they are in the right. Repressive
indicated, to silence several dozen suppressive laws are abhorrent in
Egyptians, mostly Nasserites and lef- government, but especially in the
tists, who have been particularly out- democratic Arab state.
spoken in their condemnation of Indications are that Sadat may t
Egypt's peace treaty with Isael. .down from his law of shame. I
The draft of the law of shame in- doesn't, he will be making a sham
cludes provisions that set up a court of democratic laws.
Preserve pesfreedoM
HE LATE Supreme Court Justice of intelligence agents. Thankf
{ IHugo Black maintained that the Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
First Amendment's command that of the bill's sponsors, has com
congress shall make no against this section because of
law... abridging the freedom... of serious restrictions it would im
the press" meant exactly what it "We have almost always decided
said-no law. close cases on the side of acceptin
Black was never able to convince a risks of disclosure as being prefer
majority of the justices to adopt his ab- to any inhibition on the freedom o
solutist position, however, and as a press to publish," he said.
result freedom of the press is not Senator Moynihan is correct:
unlimited. Unfortunately, attitudes in press should retain its discreti
recent years toward the press have such matters because it can ha
been particularly unfriendly and that power responsibly. It did
restrictive. maintaining the silence that all
an-
op-
and
nate
rents
ns in
d law
k on
arly,
-and
n any
only
back
f he'
e of
To the Daily: member by this time you will not
For the past several election be permitted to vote in the caucus
years the Michigan Democratic and therefore will'have no input
party has chosen its delegates to into the Democratic presidential
the national convention through nominating process.
open primary. This primary was We oppose the use of the closed
open to all registered voters and caucus system in Michigan and
did not require any formal believe it will result in a major
declaration of party member- disenfranchisement of the
ship. Under this system, voters of majority of eligible voters in the
one party were free to cross over state. Over 600,000 voters partici-
and vote for a candidate of the pated in the 1976 open primary.
other party. Democratic officials are predic-
The Democratic National ting a turnout of only 70,000 for
Committee recently requested the caucuses on April 26, 1980.
that all state Democratic parties This is primarily due to the
refrain from using open voters' lack of knowledge about
primaries as the basis for the change in the system and the
delegate selection. The commit- February 26 deadline. Also, the
tee claims that cross-over voting Democratic party membership
is undermining the party's ability forms suggest that a fee is
to pick the strongest candidate required in order to participate.
for the national election. This is untrue. A voter may pay
In response to this request, the the suggested fee as a personal
Michigan Democratic Party has contribution to the Democratic
instituted the closed caucus party but it is not a prerequisite
system for delegate selection. In to caucus participation.
order to participate in the closed Michigan students for Brown is
caucus, one must obtain formal sponsoring a Democratic Party
membership in the Michigan Membership Drive in the lobby of
Democratic Party by February the Michigan Union. We will have
26, two full months before the a table there until noon on
caucus date. If you are not a Tuesday (Feb. 26). We urge all
Hydrogen not alternative
Bomb implication asailed
To the Daily:
The Daily's Feb. 14 editorial,
"Un-American Radicals' try at
Obnoxious Censorship" attacking
the demonstration sponsored by
the Committee to Drive War
Criminal Sullivan Off Campus
(endorsed by Spartacus League;
Spartacus Youth League;.
Revolutionary Workers Group;
Youth Against War and Fascism;
Roy Buchele, member Ann
Arbor Committee Against
Registration and the Draft;
Campus Labor Support Group;
Detroit area Committee
Against Registration and the
Draft;sClericals for a Democratic
Union; Membership Action
Caucus, a caucus in AFSCME
1583) is an outrage!
The outrageous slander that
the left-particularly the
Spartacus Youth League and
Revolutionary Communist Youth
Brigade-is "implicated,"
(albeit "not directly"!) in a
threat to bomb the Michigan
Theatre can only be viewed as an
attempt to set up local leftists for
prosecution *aand
police/University administration
voters who wish to take part in
the Michigan caucuses to stop by
and fill out a membership form.
After the deadline we will be
circulating petitions to encourage
the state Democratic party to,
return to the primary system. We
need your help regardless of
whether you endorse our can-
didate or not. Since this is an
electionin which students are
going todlay an important role,
we encousge the students of the
Universit~of Michigan to get ire
volved al make their voic.
heard.
-Roi Laxa
Micigan Students
for Lown
Feb. 1
ully,
, one
e out
f the
pose.
those
g the
rable
of the
The
on in
.ndle
so in
owed
-.
_.
A section of an intelligence bill now
before the U.S. Senate would take
another chunk out of this already whit-
tled-down freedom by making it a
criminal offense to disclose the names
six Americans to make a Canadian-
assisted escape from Iran.
Even non-absolutists should see that
Hugo was right in his belief that
protecting the possibility of error by
the press is no error at all.
£
To the Daily:
On the editorial page of your
Feb. 19 issue you published an
article by R. Hamden.
The author promotes use of
hydrogen as a fuel to replace coal
or oil, or nuclear, and as an
alternative to solar. Indeed,
hydrogen is an alternative fuel.
Unfortunately, no appreciable
natural source of hydrogen exists
on this planet, and production of
hydrogen fuel from water as the
author advocates demands more
energy than the fuel releases
when burned. Thus the hydrogen
available does not constitute a
source of energy, only a possible
convenient intermediary carrier.
The author states that
"recently a private
company . . . claimed that ...
hydrogen hydrate can be
produced at 58 cents a gallon."
The claim either is not .valid, or
not pertinent, or would reflect a
fantastic scientific discovery.
The latter is exceedingly
unlikely.
Many of your readers may
have been misled by this article.
All of us want to believe a hidden
miracle will gush forth clean
energy upon us. I ask that you
investigate carefully the claim
quoted, and report whether or not
it is credible. I ask further that
you ask knowledgeable students
to prepare a lucid, well
documented, attractively
illustrated article presenting the
understanding and views of
H hit again
To the Daily:
I will reserve comment about
Raymond Hamden's politics, but
one position in his column (Daily,
Feb. 19) needs correcting.
Hydrogen cannot be found in
free form in abundant quantities
on Earth; production of hydrogen
from water requires electricity
for electrolysis. Generating this
electricity requires as much
energy as the hydrogen fuel con-
tains. The currently. useful
methods of generating electricity
on a large scale continue to be oil,
coal, hydroelectric, and nuclear
energy.
To the Daily:
In its Feb. 14 editorial "Un-
American Radicals ..." the
Daily linked the Revolutionary
Communist Youth Brigade
(RCYB) and other groups to a
bomb threat which interrupted a
speech by former U.S. Am-
bassador to Iran William
Sullivan.
While the RCYB proudly pleads
guilty to the charge of being "un-
American radicals" to link the
Brigade to a bomb threat is 'a
clear case ofaattempting to slan-
der a revolutionary organization
by portraying it as a band of
informed persons, and that you
publish this artice as prominent-
ly as the Harpden article.
-Weston E. Vivian
professor of electrical
and computer
engineering, institute
of Public Policy Studies
Feb.19
harassment. foes the Daily
really want to dche dirty work of
the Red Squad nd the strike-
breaking, red-taing University
administration??
The phrase "Li-American"
has a history: iirecalls the
thousands of .tde union
militants, black activists,
communists, and lust plain
liberals who were wch-hunted,
jailed, ostracized, )revented
from earning a living driven to
suicide and sometin executed
as "Un-Americans" l Is this the
tradition of "free neech" th
Daily associates itselwith?
We the undersigneqprotest the
Daily's despicable ttempt to
witch-hunt the campuleft.
Spartacus Youth Lague
(Irene Rhines th)
December Fou,4h
Committee (Bi
Hampton)
Mike Canjar
Jeff Martin
' Phil Carroll
Revolutionary Workrs
Group
Ruth Lopez
Ron Patterson
Youth Against War aid
Facism
Jenny Patcen
Joel Samoff
Young Sociaist Alliance
William Alexander
Louis A. Heal
Patrick L. Mason
Feb. 16
Christerdom
To the Daily:
Carter has the whoe world in an
uproar-at a nuchar brink. Is
this what born-agaii Christianity
is all about?
-Henry Ratlifi'
Feb. 19
Bomb implication hit again
terrorists.
The RCYB and its' parent
group, the RevolutionaryCom-
munist Party (RCP), stand for
the armed overthrow of the
capitalist system in this country
by the uprising of the masses in
their millions. Our work today is
to raise the masses' political con-
sciousness in order to prepare for
this. Our strategy has never in-
cluded the assassination or threat
of assassination of individuals.
-Randy Schwartz
Revolutionary
Communist Youth
Brigade
Feb. 20
Hebron settlements are desirable
To the Daily:
The editorial in the Feb. 12
issue of the Daily joins in and en-
dorses criticism of the Israeli
Cabinet's preliminary action on
allowing Jews to settle in the an-
cient city of Hebron, calling the
move a 'stride toward
hawkishness.' A more careful
analysis of the issue reveals that
permitting Jews to settle in
Hebron would be a rational and
progressive action, one that is
long overdue. Jews live in har-
monious existence with a
majority Gentile world in coun-
tless cities as disparate as New
York, Bucharest, Cairo, and
Caracas with no restrictions on
their residence. In the Jewish
Homeland, in Israel, a Jew is to
be restricted from where he may
choose to make his home?
This question, deserving of a
resounding NO, is answered af-
firmatively by some, claiming
that Hebron is an Arab city.
These responses reflect
an ignorance of Jewish ties to the
years, and including Jewish
inhabitants of Hebron as recently
as 1929 when brutal riots, resulting
in the senseless murder of a num-
ber of innocent Jewish citizens,
forced Jews to flee from the city
against their will. Jews have
maintained close ties to the city
and its ancient shrines and have
set up a flourishing settlement,
Kfar Arba, on its outskirts, so as
to live near the city that holds a
heritage thousands of years long.
Allowing Jews to settle in Hebron
would be totally consistent with
the fact that it is a Jewish
Homeland and that Hebron is a
city with many ties with the
Jews.
What, though, of the Arab
citizens? How can Arabs and
Jews be expected to live as
neighbors? One only has to look
throughout the remainder of
Israel to see again and again con-
firmation that Jews and Arabs
can peacefully coexist. In fact,
settlement of Jews in Hebron
could even result in a lessening of
and Jews can mix, evn on the
West Bank. Not a mov towards
hawkishness, but a move towards
rational coexistence. Wih a more
careful analysis of the issue, the
Daily Editorial Board vould hay
seen wisdom in such anove.
-Joel Kahn
Feb. 19
Beer prim id
To the Daily:
We would like to cmgratulate
Susan Vera-Hampshre on her
successful completion of a cubic
equation in her Feb. 7letter "Too
Much To Drink?" However, I
formula to calculate the numb'T
of beer cans in the pyramid as it
appeared in your article "852
Beer Cans On The Vall" on Jan.
31 was incompletely quoted. The
formula that appeared would
only compute the nuriber of beer
cans in a perfect pyamid. The
cans in an uncompletd row must
be added on. The numoer 852 was
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