4
OPINION
I
Page 4
Wednesday, October 7, 1987
The Michigan Daily
Eie atue ant an
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Fat
Al
doesn't
Vol. XCVIII, No. 20
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, Mt 48109
Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other
cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion
of the Daily.
Sign the petition
The People's Campaign for Choice
(PCC) is collecting signatures to put
the question on the state election
ballot of whether Medicaid should
pay for poor women's abortions.
The PCC is trying to repeal a law
eliminating abortion funding which
was enacted through a successful
petition drive by anti-abortion
advocates.
Anti-abortion groups manipulated
a seldom-used clause in the state
Constitution which allowed them to
bring legislation directly to the
legislature by obtaining a certain
amount of signatures. When State
House of Representatives and
Senate passed the legislation
banning medicaid abortions it
became law. Because the Right-to-
Lifers had collected the required
number of signatures, the governor
could not veto the proposal as he
has in the past.
It is easy to understand why the
Right-to-Lifers circumvented used
the petitioned the legislature rather
than going directly on the ballot.
Since 1978, when similar efforts to
cut Medicaid funding have been put
on the ballot in other states, they
failed 21 out of 22 times.
Abortion opponents believe they
are getting closer to ending abortion
through this measure. In reality,
they are cutting off the ability of one
class of women to obtain an
abortion.
Abortion is standard medical pro-
cedure, it is unfair to limit its.
accessibility to middle and upper
income women.
Another danger ignored by the
pro-lifers is that women will seek
back alley abortions. Since abor-
tions were legalized, deaths of
women undergoing the procedure
decreased 75 percent.
Women are still receiving
Medicaid funds for their abortions
because there has been some
confusion over when the law will
go into effect. Still unless the PCC
is successful, poor women may
soon lose the ability to receive
abortions.
The PCC needs 120,000
signatures to put their proposal
before the voters in November
1988. They have collected almost
half the needed signatures. Many
more are needed if this question is
to be decided by the people rather
than the legislature. Those who
haven't yet signed, should.
I don't care what's on your mind. But
please write and abuse me so I don't have
to write my own column next week.
There's lots of things I don't care about.
Things that others seem to care a great
deal about, judging by the amount of
media attention they receive. I'd like to
take this here opportunity to tell all y'all
faithful readers what some of these things
are. I'm right sure that plenty of you don't
care about these things neither. Drop me a
line and let me know how you feel.
FAT
A L
-The Al thing I don't care about right
now has got to be the NFL Players Strike.
These steroid headed, thick necked,
pituatary cases make an average of a
quarter million beans a year. That buys a
lot of Red Man.
Then they go out and walk the picket
lines, asking for sympathy from all of us
red blooded Americans who just want to
see them bash their big fat heads together
once a week so we can work out our
agressions voyeuristically and not bash
heads ourselves.
I don't care about free agency, even if
the present system is an abuse of these
guys constitutional rights. I don't believe
for a country minute that they care about
these here rights themselves. They just
want more beans so they can buy more
Red Man or six inch thick gold chains or
something.
Don't they know that if they get a raise,
the owners, them big fat guys who chomp
cigars and work those poor players like
slaves, are not about to lose any money.
They're going to pass them extra expenses
on to us, the fans. And there ain't many of
us that make a quarter million buckaroos a
year.
-Oh yeah, the Tigers' glory makes the
NFL strike a double who cares. And by
the time the World Series is over
November 1, the Red Wings season will
be well under way and the Pistons' just
beginning.
Heh-heh. NFL Strike. Who cares?
*Another thing I don't care about is the
sex lives of celebrities. I am so damn sick
and tired of hearing about the sordid details
of somebody's bedroom activites. I could
puke on Donna Rice.
-I'm even more sick of sleazeball, two
bit perverts gaining national prominence.
Who are these people and how did they get
so far in life? Who in the hell sends
money to Jim and Tammy Bakker?
If anyone out there is offended and really
feels the need to send cash to some
jackass, then send your money to me, Fat
Al, c/o The Michigan Daily. The address
is in the staff box.
Now, the Bakkers are televangelists and
we expect them to be slimey worms, but
what about the likes of Gary Hart and Joe
Biden? Yeah, they got struck down for
silly reasons and you could argue the point
all day but the real question is how did
they get as far as they got?
Why didn't anyone realize them for the'
two bit, lying, sleazy fools they are long
ago? Or were these traits what got them
elected? I'm getting off track here. The
point is things I don't care about and I
don't care about Gary Hart's sex life.
It's bad enough that we have to suffer
care
through these mini-scandals, which, by
the way, make real scandals look bad, but
do we have to put up with making stars
out of Donna Rice and Jessica Hahn?
"I don't care why Hahn had sex with
Bakker, though millions of Playboy
readers evidently do. She says that having
sex with Bakker was the most painful and
disgusting thing she's ever done. (Or
something like that.) Where I come from,
we've got a name for people who willfully
have sex for money with someone even
when it's emotionally painful and
disgusting. It starts with a w. Y'all with
me?
"I don't care about Gary Hart's views on
I am so damn sick and tired
of hearing about the sordid
details of somebody's
bedroom activities. I could
puke on Donna Rice.'
"Democracy in America." Then again,
neither does he. The guy can't even stick
to a topic.
After he sleazed his way out of the
election, sleeping with what's-her-name
just days after inviting the press to follow
him and see - for themselves if he was
screwing around, letting down a few
million people who were supporting him
with time and/or money.
So how can this irresponsible sleazebag
come to this here fine campus of ours and
charge students five to eight beans a head
to hear his opinion about anything? Oh
yeah, he also left behind a few million in
campaign debts.
Is this your way of paying off that debt,
Gary?
LETTERS:
Daily's conservatism hurt
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The Daily Opinion page is starting a watchdog column on
housing issues such as Landlord-tenant problems and the
University dormatories. Anyone with an interesting problem
or insight is encouraged to call the Opinion page at 747-2814,
ask for Cale.
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Y
To the Daily:
It must have been a slow day
in the news room, right? Earth
Festival '87 was a three day
event devoted to environ-
mental, social, and economic
awareness, and direct action
preparation. Sponsored by the
Michigan Student Assembly
(MSA), SANE, The School of
Natural Resources, and Green-
peace, this event drew approx-
imately 3500 people for the
three days in which it was held.
From Hawaii, California, New
York, New Hampshire, Ver-
mont, Pennsylvania, Quebec,
and the Upper Peninsula,
people came to participate in
the festivities and workshops.
How did these people from so
far away find out about Earth
Festival? They sure did not read
it in the Daily.
Earth Festival was an inter-
national event, therefore publi-
city was not solely targeted
towards University students.
Once again the Daily's
conservatism does not allow it
to look beyond State Street,
and participate with the rest of
society.In the beginning, the
organizers of Earth Festival
hoped to .achieve one goal, that
being to reach out to at least
one person and involve them
directly in one of the issues.
Undoubtedly, Earth Festival
succeeded in reaching at least
3500 people, the energy and
consciousness created during
those three days will go a long
way in improving the people
who were involved.
"PIRGIM (Public Interest
Research Group in Michigan)
didn't show up," in reality,
PIRGIM missed the boat. The
real reason PIRGM failed to
take an active role in Earth
Festival was because they had
no personnel available over the
summer to participate in the
planning meetings. The
Daily's accusation that a MSA/
PIRGIM feud drove PIRGIM
away is ludicrous.
Where was the Daily? If the
Daily is now so concerned
page article. Also just in case
your radio was on the wrong
station, WIQB broadcast free
public service announcements,
plus an interview, for two
months preceding the Festival.
Unfortunately, the student
Students si
ink
news paper failed to live up to
its duties, and report an
important issue. Where was
the Daily? Maybe in its old
age the Daily is slipping,
hopefully that's not right.
To the Daily:
I found it very disturbing-
yet somewhat typical-that a
group of incoming freshmen
were recently forced to move
into converted dormitory loun-
ges (Daily, 9/16). It seems to
be part of the same campus-
wide movement I have noticed
and come to term the "sardine
effect." Basically, it runs as
follows: "The more people that
are placed in any given space,
the less room-and hence the
less importance each receives."
Simple, yes. But why then do
we continually see more and
more cramming of students
into already overcrowded sit-
uations? 112% dormitory oc-
cupancy rate? 40-student "dis-
cussion" sections? Wait lists
that are longer than the initial
class sizes? The bubble is
growing larger...
"Why not leave then if you
don't like it?" But the truth is I
do like it here. I feel t h e
university, like the city, has
much to offer. I feel lucky to
have studied here and believe I
have received an excellent
education. Only now, when I
read about such incidents as the
lounge room conversions, I
question the future of this type
of experience. I wonder whether
the incoming class will be able
to look back, as I am doing
now, and feel the same
satisfaction with the uni-
versity. I truly hope they can
in the face of the current (and
surely there are more to come)
problems.
I don't have a quick cure for.
this dilemma; that is not the
purpose of this letter. I only
mean to bring to the attention
of the university that students
are not fish, and that if it wants
to continue to produce well-
educated graduates more room,
and consideration, should be
given to all.
-David Wysack
October 6
Daily sucks
To the Daily:
After reading two of the three
titles of letters to the editor
today (Daily, 10/2), one
stating "Daily picks wrong
remedy for rents," the other
saying "Daily prints one-sided
rape stories," I immediately
searched the page for a title
saying "Michigan Daily, as a
newspaper, sucks." Face it,
Daily, you suck. The paper is a
joke. There are so many
spelling mistakes, grammatical
errors and typos that it's
-impossible to take the Daily
seriously, especially anything
you might attempt to say in
the editorials. The liberally
biased reporting is enough to
make one puke. Why should I
respect the opinion of the
editoral staff when the rest of
the paper only proves to me
that a bunch of bozos are
running the paper?
To close on a positive note,
I like the Bloom County comic
strip. Perhaps you should
devote the entire paper to
comics. The way the Daily is
now, it wouldn't be too drastic
a move. --Sean O'Connor
October 2
arthfest
-Mike Phillips,
Chair Student Rights
Committee
Michigan Student
Assembly
October ,2
I
I
in University
ocean
Make
sports
a major
To the Daily:
Regarding Scott Shugar's
"Semester in PE402" (Ann
Arbor Observer, 9/87) and your
reaction to it, I note that
nobody accused him of
falsifying observations. I also
find it refreshing to see such
problems brought to light for a
change, rather than left hidden
behind the wall of incredulity
which devides many of our
schools and pervades the public
perception of scholastic
athletics.
Athletes generally do not get
an education comparable to
other students. Since antiquity,
the value of education of body
as well as mind has been an
imnnrtant the~me.In cuirrent
general), I suggest we follow
the School of Music's model
and create the degree of
Bachelor of Athletics, overseen
separately from Literature,
Science and the Arts, to clarify
the distinct needs a n d
requirements of these students.
--Matthew H. Fields
September 30.
I
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Wasserman,
THE NEXT INSTALLMENT
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