OPINION w The Michigan Daily Lience Page 4 -Friday, September 19, 19E B0 I Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Weasel by Robert Vol. XCI, No. 14 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of The Daily's Editorial Board Court seals abortion fate, WHATt n+1s? MAco EERFRN. ~J / l: ~ Asa LA S. ConrxsmnI, IE iret that the. Size of Ot~rgs'elrnt i.s becom~ing so vast... ..that a CongressmLan can often ,'lose touch wit~h bi const ittients. The citizenl. Of toa r feels that l~ie i flotbmg r2om .thban a acelesw z.mber fin. a i ge, cz'r1ex achioe. 4 1qOW That's why LIm calling M~r. I'fcfay1 .. s I : pro-choice public W HAT. SEEMED to be a final much zeal curtain dropped on the Hyde voters-ev Amendment controversy nearly three opposed to months ago, when the Supreme Court that Reag decided that Congress was not prefer to required to fund abortions for the poor. tions, has But Secretary of Health and Human sentiment Services Patricia Roberts Harris com- And inI passionately decided to take a curtain didates fo call, refusing to cut off abortion fun- their respe ding until the Court had acted on a efforts of motion to rehear the case. hierarchy, In the interim, the federal. gover- Madeiros nment has been funding about 1,0O wrote and abortions each week for indigent strongly c women. ballots for Wednesday, the inevitable hap- The Ca pened. Harris' noble effort had its last wortis evi( hurrah when the k Court refused to his charge rehear the Hyde arguments, settling posite from the issue for as long as Congress stays in its current conservative frame of The gr mind. Poor women in need of abortions rights eve will have to seek alter- affirmedv natives-possibly dangerous ones-to 1973 is not Medicaid funding. anti-abort The sourc Lightening up this week's news creasingl from the abortion front were two items organized of national interest. In Washington, an suade legi aide to presidential candidate Ronald rabidly op Reagan said Reagan would not stand The trul by a particularly reprehensible plank American in the Republican platform that called private n for federal judges to take a "pro-life" dividually pledge before ascending the bench. basis she1 The plank, part of a platform that practical. Reagan once vigorously and unreser- Some tin vedly endorsed, probably reeks of too on Capitol fights on otry to win the favor of many ven those who are somewhat abortion. It is a healthy sign gan, who most likely would remain deaf to such objec- apparently recognized those s and changed his stance. Boston, two pro-choice can- ar Congressional seats won ective primaries, despite the the city's strong Catholic with Archbishop Humberto at its top. The archbishop id publicized a letter that ondemned voters who cast r pro-choice lawmakers. tholic leader's cautionary dently were either ignored by es or produced a reaction op- rm their intended one. adual erosion of abortion er since the Supreme Court women's right to choose in t the product of any definite ion trend in public opinion. :e of the problem is the in- y well-financed and well- lobby that has begun to per- slators that the electorate is posed to abortion rights. th of the matter is that most s still consider abortion a matter to be decided in- by each woman on whatever pleses-ethical, religious, or me soon, we hope our friends Hill will get the message. . LETTERS TO THE DAILY: Networks faulted on tenns coverage I 'To The Daily: Many are the times that I have borne the frivolous whims of in- comprehensible television scheduling without resentment and without complaint. However, now that insult has been added to injury, I feel that I must com- plain. On Sunday, September 7, 1980, the CBS Television Network televised the finals of the U.S. Open Men's Singles Tennis Match at four p.m. This match was no ordinary match for several reasons. For example, the U.S. Open is the greatest tennis tour- nament in this country and one of the four major tournaments in the world, ranking with the Fren- ch and Australian Opens and Wimbledon as a priceless jewel in tennis' Grand Slam. Next, the two men who competed in this match were Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe who are, respectively, the number one and two tennis players in the world today. They are assured of notching places in the tennis hall of fame as two of the greatest tennis players who ever lived. Indeed, many suggest that Borg has, at age twenty-four, already achieved that status. Also, there was incredible drama in the match -played between these two protagonists. Bjorn Borg has won every major tennis tournament in the world with the exception of the U.S. Open, a prize that he has sought but failed to achieve for eight years. He 'Corvettes'. To The Daily: I am somewhat surprised that The Daily Arts page, usually one of the paper's stronger sections, would print drivel like Patti Dietz' review of the Motels/Nikkie and the Corvettes show at the Second Chance. Ms. Dietz managesto make several misleading or even untrue statements in her first two paragraphs. First, she implies that Martha Davis is the only woman in "new wave" who is both a lead vocalist and an in- strumentalist. Has Ms. Dietz heard of the Pretenders, the B- 52s, the Slits, or Joan Jett? Does she realize that many 'new wave" bands have women mem- bers who play and do not sing? Secondly, and I admit that this is nitpicking, the Motels have been around since 1977 or '78. They were not, contrary to Dietz' asser- tion, "conceived by Davis in 1979." also hoped this year to win the Grand Slam, and with the French and Wimbledon titles under his belt, and appearing in the finals of the Open, his goal seemed within reach. John McEnroe, a 21 year-old fighter, a competitor's com- petitor and the reigning U.S. Open Champion, sought to avenge his five set defeat at the hands of Borg at Wimbledon a. mere two months ago, a match which some already consider one of the finest ever played on England's grass courts. The ac- tors were in place, the stage was set and the curtain was ready to rise on what looked to be the finest tennis match of the year. When the people of Michigan turned on their television sets on September 7, did they see the U.S. Open Tennis Match? No. They saw instead a football game. Oh. Was it a Super Bowl? No. Was it some type of playoff game? No. Then it must have been some type of all-star game or something else important enough to supplant what promised to be the greatest ten- nis match of the year. No. No. No. The people of Michigan saw the Detroit Lions, whose 1979 per- formance of two victories in six- teen games was, to be kind, a joke, play against the Los Angeles Rams, another also-ran team that lost last year's Super Bowl to Pittsburgh. In other wor- ds, CBS televised a couple of third rate teams from a second d reCview hit Dietz further proves her ignorance (or perhaps her absen- ce) when she claims that Nikki Corvette's vocals were over- powered by her band; to my ears, the vocals were out front throughout both sets. Dietz' assertion that Nikki Corvette does not interact with the audien- ce or her band is patently absurd. I did not see the Motels' set so I cannot pass judgmept on Ms. Dietz' observations; however, her comments make it clear that her knowledge of Rock 'n Roll in general, and "new wave" in par- ticular, is extremely limited. I suggest The Daily make sure that its reviewers have at least a rudimentary knowledge of their subject. I doubt, judging from her review, that Ms. Dietz has heard of Gene Vincent, the Shangri-Las, or the New York Dolls. -Mark Michaels September 17 Sit-down campaigning ELL, IT LOOKS like Ronald Regan is back on the hot seat whereas Jimmy Carter has no place to sit down. Reagan has taken to correcting him- self, once again, after several in- credibly faux-pas-free weeks. Unfor- tunately for the Republican presiden- tial candidate, tape recorders rarely lie. On Tuesday, Reagan told a Texas audience of Mexican-Americans that the U.S. should admit Mexican laborers "for whatever length of time they want to stay." On Wednesday, probably at the in- sistence of his campaign aides, Reagan claimed his real remarks were obscured by applause and he actually said he favored temporary work visas for Mexican aliens. Reporters' tapes, however, clearly show that Reagan was fibbing just a bit. While Reagan was equivocating, Carter was celebrating: The League of Women Voters decided Wednesday not to represent Carter's absence at the Sunday night presidential campaign debate with an empty chair. The League's decision-intended to downplay Carter's unsportsmanlike refusal to debate both Reagan and John Anderson-is most unfortunate. But with or without a chair, Carter's absence will be obvious. We hope American voters do not take Carter's reluctance to debate sitting down. rate conference. As the facts reveal, the absurdity of the situation speaks for itself. Not content merely to scar every tennis lover in the state, the Michigan CBS Television Network rubbed salt into the wounds of tennis fans by showing the last sixty minutes of the match at eleven-thirty later that evening. The Michigan network sought to placate tennis fans by showing one-fourth of a four hour match,- failing to realize that unlike football, where the impor- tant, game-winning plays can be reduced to at most a couple of minutes of television time, in tennis every point, every service, every return is important because that one point may spell the difference between defeat and victory. Some may argue that since football is, supposedly, the more popular of the two sports that anytime they conflict, football should be shown. Of course, such thinking completely ignores the A bortion uns To The Daily: Ten years ago an editorial in California Medicine stated, "The traditional Western ethic has always placed great emphasis on the intrinsic worth and equal value of every human life regar- dless of its stage of develop- ment." The editorial went on to warn that this ethic was in danger of being destroyed under the guise of improving the quality of life by changing attitudes toward abortion which "is becoming accepted by society as moral, right, and even necessary." That this prediction has come true is evident in a recent letter to The Daily (Sept 11). The writer tells of the many problems un- wanted pregnancy can cause and insists that "right-to-lifers" have no right to defend the unborn un- til they relieve every problem of every woman caught in such a pregnancy. The alternative our correspondent offers is for the unborn children of these unhappy women to bear the brunt of their problems all their lives. The Supreme Court has made this A poem fo To The Daily: In reading of the uprising in Guatemala, as well as in Nicaragua and El Salvador, I wrote the following verses. I am aware the lines are imper- fect, but this is the second ver- sion, if not the third. As for being a poet, I have for some years read at West Park and the Guild House and have published privately five books of verses. At a retired professor of history at Eastern Michigan University, with a Ph.D. in history, and a one- time Rhodes Scholar from North Carolina in 1914, I have lived in Michigan for 57 years. 0, GUA TEMALANS, GUATEMALANS My countrymen mistreat your lands, Spanish and Indian folk, A nd gain from labor of vnur hand "c rights of millions of American tennis lovers who should be able to see their favorite sport oc- casionally. But football embodies, more than any other sport, those values which Americans have come to regard as sacred: brutal, aggressive, contact violence and a rigid adherence to the clock Tennis, it must be admitted, can- not offer these sacred values. As an afterword, the people of Michigan, amid much jubilation and celebration, saw the Detroit Lions defeat the Los Angeles Rams. By so doing, the Lions pulled to within one game of equaling last year's sterling record. Perhaps, in time, they will win two or three more games, but it will be a very long time before they can approach the drama and excitement of a U.S. Open Tennis Final. .-Robert A. Chamberlain, Jr. September 11 Fund solution human sacrifice legal. We all have an obligation to , support and help our suffering fellow humans;. few of us are willing to give of ourselves and our material goods to the extent needed. Yet, it is difficult .to see how pro-arbortionists can point an accusing finger at right-tq- * lifers when they themselves would put the full burden of such relief on the unborn child. To ° them, abortion is an efficient, ef- fective way to end the problem the presence of a child might cause and is the ultimate manifestation of their care and concern. Over a millionsbabies a year pay with their lives for this. kind of loving concern. To use the writer's words, "Can society's exacting such a price from them be called compassionate?" Outlawing abortion may not right all of the social ills that plague our country, but it will restore to the most helpless, in- nocent segment of humanity the protection of the law that has been denied them since the 1973 decision of the Supreme Court. -Patritia Rose September 11 I //U5 A -srJF fECONOMY ~&f 4' INYOUR FUTURE WITH JOBE' AbFO EVERYONE AND NO ~ SI NFLATION .!kTHAT'LL3BE ~ONE VOTE PLE:AlUE! r * /W1. A <7; Canham called 'selfish' To The Daily: Don Canham is definitely one of the most successful businessmen in college athletics, but he is also the most selfish, arrogant, and obnoxious. His recent remarks against the University's Marching Band con- firm this. The Michigan athletic department is guaranteed another phenomenally successful year, thanks to a sellout football season, and by no surprise, another increase in ticket prices. Canham has exploited Wolverine fans to the maximum, but then he . .rt n .. a t m lrc n v n _ n cidence that, in 1973, when Michigan's team stayed home af- ter losing to Ohio State, the band still travelled to California, selec- ted from all the bands in the country to perform at Super Bowl VII. Michigan leads the Big Ten and the country in athletic in- come, but its band has one of the smallest budgets in the country. Canham has already done away with one band tradition-Band Day-because he couldn't bear to give away tickets to high school band mem- bers that he could otherwise sell at $10 a head. Now, rather than share that incnme he 2rrniZantlv r Guatemala To Boston spread the word! "Your fruit flag for bananas roams Which has our spirit stirred. "Your millions of dollars can speak With bullets and the drum, From Puppets' chains we seek Our much diminished freedom. "A hundred years before our day Garrison tried to free the slaves, But you have long forgot his way; Our lands are filled with graves. "Men are worth more than property, These central countries hear, V1f.. - .o , - 4 .L .. L. A M [x"777 Ll4t E i f i'J~I VI r//1 1 Ar/i ///lRA 1 I