0 OPINION Page 4 Wednesday, October 28, 1987 The Michigan Daily I Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Vol. XCVIII, No. 35 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 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. Dying for representation TOMORROW THERE WILL BE A funeral march at 2 p.m. from the Union to U.S. Representative Carl Pursell's (R-Plymouth) office. The purpose of the march is two- fold; to publicize and eulogize civilians killed by the Contras in Nicaragua, and to demand that Representative Pursell oppose any future U.S. aid to the Contras. The facts of the matter are simple. Public opinion polls have consis- tently demonstrated that the majority of citizens in the Second District oppose aid to the Contras. In spite of this, Pursell voted for lethal aid to the Contras in June of 1985, March of 1986, and June of 1986. Only in March of 1987 did he slightly alter his stance, when he voted to delay the delivery of $40 million he had voted to appropriate. What kind of message does Pursell's inconsistency send to his constituents? At best, it sends a message of spineless political fence- riding, at worst Pursell' flip-flops are a sign of blatant political op- portunism. Although his constituents have repeatedly called on Pursell to meet with them, he has never held a town meeting with Ann Arbor to discuss Central America. Apparently the only Ann Arborite with enough clout to get such an audience is Domino's magnate Tom Monaghan, who wants to deliver pizza to Hon- duras in 30 minutes or less. By ignoring the views of his con- stituents on the issue of Central America, Pursell fails to do his job of representing the people who put him in office. He has also been conspicuously silent of late on the Arias regional peace plan. After an initial endorsement, all the excite- ment seems to have left him. Coin- cidentally, this happened just about the time the Reagan administration declared the plan "fatally flawed." According to Kim Groome of the Ann Arbor Sister City Task Force, the task force sent Pursell a letter on August 28 urging him to restate his support for the Arias plan. After numerous follow up letters and phone calls, they still have not re- ceived a reply. If Representative Pursell truly supports the Arias plan with its call to end all U.S. military aid to the Contras, now is the time for him to speak up. President Reagan will ask Congress for $270 million for the Contras before Thanksgiving, de- spite the opposition of all five Cen- tral American presidents who signed the Arias Plan. The five presidents realize that any future aid will defoliate the flowering peace process and lead only to more death and suffering by the Central Ameri- cans. Carl Pursell needs to realize this as well. Representative Pursell has got to know that his constituency will not allow him to quietly imple- ment his own agenda in direct con- tradiction to theirs. The silence must be broken. That's the least we can demand of our "representative." Stop w Our fair institution recently was rated eighth in the country. After the past week, I'm wondering if this means the number eight best whiners in the country. I'm sick and tired of people bitching, bitching, bitching about how much they have to do, and trying to out-whine each other. "I've got two midterms and a paper and I AL haven't slept in two days." "Oh yeah, well, I've got three papers, an anorexic housemate, and my car's broken down. I haven't slept in three days." Wake up and smell the bacon lards! Life ain't that bad around here. The Twinkies are the world champion baseball team. A team that plays in a place with air conditioning, a huge Hefty bag in right field and a hockey wall in left, is the champion. Why didn't they just play the whole damn thing on Atari? Twinkies? World champs? Heh-heh-heh. Enough of my humble opinions, let's hear from the readers. I've received lots of mail this week. Dear Fat Al, A smart-aleck friend of mine who attends U of M had the "kindness" to send me one of your articles. In answer to the question, "Does the S on the East Lansing football teams' hel- muts (sic) stand for state, Spartans, or both?" Have you ever thought that possi- bly it would stand for SUPERIOR?! We think so, and I bet your football team does too! Sincerely, A Devoted Spartan fan Go MSU!! Rosebowl?! It's a possibility!! Helmets, huh? At least the alecks are smart in tree town. So you took it to us on the gridiron for a change? Any decent team would have crushed a team that handed them seven interceptions. The only roses you'll be smelling will be at the wake for the George Perles era. He never should have left the Steelers. By the way, I love your use of exclamation points though I thought they went out in fifth grade. Dear Fat Al, I have afew questions for ya. I read the hining, says 4 Al Daily today and on the Opinion page it said to write you a letter, that you're "waiting." Why do you want to hear from me, a lame student who pays more money to rent a hole in the wall in Ann Arbor than most people in the world make in a year; and I still don't go to a rent control meet- ing. Why, Fat Al, oh guru of the refrigerator, master of the 12 ounce curl? Since you know how to write that slick column of yours, I figger you must be wicked smart, so I thought I'd ask you what I should do about my philosophy midterm. The prof asked us "What is it to see life, or your life, as absurd?" When he handed out the question, I thought that it was pretty absurd that I was taking his class, and paying him to give me an arbi- trary grade on my answer to this question. What do you think? How should I answer this question, Al? I need help! By the way, I don't think it was very nice of you to make fun of some guy who wrote to you as "Dick Smith." I actually 'If you were one-half the journalist that Tom Bradford is... well, I don't know. What were you doing that night anyway... watching the Brady Brides on your VCR? Huh?' -Luka know a Dick Smith. I'll tell you another funny one: I know this guy who has two first names, for his first and last name. Bizarre, huh? Anyway, some folks have weird names, and ya just gotta appreciate that. After all, how many of us could be so lucky that we might get a first name like "Fat" anyhow? One last question, your obesity, are all the folks who are trying to go to kMw school now the same people who couldn't hack chemistry 123 asfirst year students? Take care and keep eating, Skinny Paul Great to hear from you, you old bag of bones. Yeah, them folks Stanley Kaplaning their way into law schools are the very same ones who flunked out of your Chem class. I figure that if I live long enough, everyone I know will be a lawyer. And that cuts to me my quick cuz some of my best friends have become ambulance chasers. A couple of them were even semi-decent human beings before they grabbed for the old juris doctorate. f As for the philosophy prof, you spit ii the buffalo's eye, boy. The question is absurd. I think you ought to let him know that if he doesn't think life is absurd he$ must not leave his ivory tower very often., Tell him to pick up a blamed newspaper and figure it out for himself, if he cail think that concretely. Oh yeah, and make sure there's a coffee stain on it. Why do I want to hear from you? Yeah, you're silly and clueless but so are we all around here so I figure the best way to point that out is print everyone's silliness; and then jag them off about it. It's right plain and simple. Dear Fat Al, All right you two-bit no-good Bob Talbert rip-off, how dare you insult the "Eight is Enough" family reunion? Just what do you know about good ol' love and down-home family togetherness? If you were one-half the journalist that Tom Bradford is...well, I don't know. What. what were you doing that night any- way-.watching the Brady Brides on your VCR? Huh? Another thing fatso, I really hate the way you write "heh-heh-heh" every time you laugh. Just who laughs like that, anyway? I tried it, I'll have you know, and all my friends thought I was choking on a fruity pebble. But, on the lighter side (as you would say), I like looking at your picture on the editorial page. But if you really wanna complain about something, how 'bout those Mervyn's commercials? Dontchi hate them? What a sad excuse for a theme song, all those goofy people rapping while.the camera moves around. Are those camera people supposed to be drunk or what? Sincerely, Luka. Heh-heh-heh. So, here she blow , someone who takes their name from i song about child abuse telling me abort "good ol' love and down-home together- ness." I don't know what I was doing thMt night, sweet pea, but probably working dn my 12 ounce curl. And, I never heard of The Brady Brides until you brought it 6 my attention. It takes someone like you tM know such things. Yeah, Mervyn's com- mercials are pretty lame but y'all should know by now not to expect artistic beautificness from TV commercials. By the way, to clear up misconceptions, all letters are the real thing, received atthe. Daily's office. As sure as Custer's dead, I don't write these things myself. Fact is always much more bizarre than fiction. Just ask Skinny Paul. Taxes and Wall St. panic IN THE WAKE of the crash of the stock exchanges last week, there has been a tremendous increase in concern about the government's budget deficit among so-called ex- perts (the same ones that thought the stock market would keep ris- ing). While this concern about the deficit is not justified, there are some areas where Congress could raise revenue and cut spending. The so-called experts assert that the budget deficit is the cause of the nation's massive trade deficit, and say that the problem can only be dealt with through tax increases. Such claims cannot be supported by an analysis of the economy, or re- cent history. While the massive trade deficit is a problem (approximately 170 bil- lion dollars per year, and growing), its link to the Federal budget deficit is very questionable. According to the theory "the experts" claim to use, a budget deficit will push up interest rates by excessively stimu- lating the economy. This would mean that the economy is operating at too high a rate of output. Since nearly six percent of the labor force is still unemployed and another 12 percent are being forced to work part-time when they want full time employment, it's difficult to see how anyone can seriously maintain that the economy is operating at too high a level. The second step to this argument is that the high interest rates cause foreigners to deposit their money in the United States to take advantage of these high rates, thereby forcing up the price of the dollar against foreign currencies. This makes our exports more expensive to foreign- ers, and their exports cheap to us. The result is that we buy a lot of collapses. Even if, as noted fifty years ago by Keynes, the arguments that are usually advanced about why the budget deficit is a problem are wrong, it may be a problem simply because people perceive it as one. In other words, even though spec- ulators in financial markets may all be wrong about the realities con- cerning the effects of the budget deficit, because they are important actors in the economy and perceive the deficit as a problem, it will not be possible to restore stability to these markets until something is done about the deficit. Rather than rushing to raise taxes, Congress should first look at where the deficit came from. When Rea- gan took office and the deficits were typically 1/10th their current levels the government was spending ap- proximately 150 billion per year on the military. It currently is spend- ing in the neighborhood of 320 bil- lion. This is the only major cate- gory of government spending that has been rising more rapidly than inflation (excluding social security and medicare, which are self-fi- nancing). It is undeniable that this increase in military spending is a major cause of the current 180 bil- lion dollar budget deficit. The overwhelming majority of these expenditures goes toward policing the world: things like counter-revolution in Central America, Reagan's adventures in the Persian 'Gulf, or maintaining U.S. troops in Europe. Major cut- backs can therefore be made with- out damaging our real national de- fense needs. The other place to look for the source of the deficit were Reagan's tax cuts, which primarily benefitted LETTERS- U racism contributes to status quo 4 To the Daily: This letter is in response to the Daily article on 10/16/87 concerning the Black University worker who is being allegedly harassed by her supervisors because of her labor union oganizing. The United Coalition Against Racism (UCAR) wishes to express full support, in spirit and in practice, of Ms. Clark's efforts to stand up to University Building Services. For it is the racist hiring practices and policies of the University which maintain the status quo with Black women in the lowest-paying, least prestigous job positions and white men in the decision- making positions. U C A R views the struggle of Ms. Clark and other Black workers on this campus as intimately linked to the students' fight against racism. We also realize that it would not be unlike the University to silently condone this type of racist behavior and write it off as an isolated incident, as it attempted to write off student issues last spring. This incident is not unique. Racist and sexist attacks of this type happen frequently and and are often used as intimidation weapons of the system. The only distinct aspect of this incident is that Ms. Clark had the and faculty would be up in arms and calling for immediate action. We believe that this situation demands immediate action. Therefore, UCAR is consulting with the campus workers' union to determine the ways in which students can most effectively aid the workers' struggle. There will Homecoming To the Daily: Please vote in the Home- coming King and Queen election today until 5 p.m. in front of the Undergraduate Library and in the Fishbowl. -David Sternlicht October 27 be a rally against racism in solidarity with campus workers and the community on Wednesday, October 28 at noon in front of the Fleming Administration Building. If you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the problem! -Trayce Matthew4 Kimberly Smitlh October 2' 0 i The Daily welcomes letters from its readers. Bringing in -letters on personal computer disk is the fastest way to publish a letter in the Daily. Readers who can not bring their letters in on disk should include their phone numbers for verification.Call 747-2814 for details. 4 Zinn No UNIVEMITY NG PLEASE TAKE: M&r-& . \\ ._.I .mot r----