OPINION
Page 4
Friday, November 13, 1987
The Michigan Daily
. ... .... .. .. ----
4
GOP
candidates
outclass
Dems
By Debbie Schlussel
I read Mr. Noah Finkel'ss knee-jerk
liberal diatribe against Republicans ("Mud
Slung between GOP candidates," Daily,
10/30/87) with great interest. His
description - or rather, distortion -- of
what occurred during the debate between
Republican presidential candidates displayed
his absence of any political acumen
whatsoever and his abundance of naivete.
Most importantly, his commentary does
not at all come even close to a semblance
of the debate that took place, but rather it is
a summary of Finkel's apparent pre-
conceived notions about Republicans.
During the course of his nitpicking,
Finkel cites the Eleventh Commandment
and states that the Republicans have vio-
lated it. Unbeknownst to Finkel, there is
a difference between constructive criticism
posted in a presidential debate and mud-
slinging. The Republicans were, in reality,
very cordial to one another. Having seen
the Democratic presidential debate, this past
summer, I can attest to the fact that if the
criticisms posed in the Republican debate
truly alarmed Finkel emotionally, then the
vicious attacks that took place between his
seven liberal dwarfs might scare him! Oh
no!
Finkel suggests that George Bush should
Debbie K. Schlussel is chairman of the
Michigan Young Americans for Freedom.
begin lodging a torrent of w h i n y
complaints against one of the best Presi-
dents this country has ever seen, the man
who gave him his most important job thus
far. Well, Mr. Finkel, perhaps you liberals
relish stabbing each other in the back, but
we Republicans have a bit more class than
that. Besides, you contradict yourself by
first chiding the Republicans for suppos-
edly violating the Eleventh Commandment,
and then you get upset when you, yourself,
cite an incidence when Bush refused to vio-
late it.
Finkel alleges that Pete Du Pont is a
Republican version of Gary Hart. The last
time I checked, Du Pont's new ideas didn't
include high-hormone presidential mis-
sions to Bimini! Finkel states that Du
Pont's proposal, to administer drug tests to
teenagers who apply for driver's licenses, is
a "turn-off." Does the idea of teenagers
driving, while their brains are frying, and
possibly maiming and killing others, turn
you on, Noah? Perhaps deformed children,
battered and abused people, and a host of
other drug-related maladies, turn you on.
Those of us who obey the law (remember,
drugs are already illegal), and don't take on
the insane habit of french-frying our
minds, don't need to worry about that.
Finkel is also unusually perturbed by Du
Pont's voice, so much so that he makes an
obscene comment about Du Pont telling
people to "piss in a cup," for drug tests.
Finkel must be having problems with his
audio senses. Du Pont's voice didn't pre-
vent him from being elected to the U.S.
Congress and to the Gubernatorial seat of
Delaware, but then, again, Finkel knows
better than those stupid voters! On the
other hand, Du Pont is the one appearing
on the nationally televised presidential de-
bate, whereas Finkel is just a fifth-colum-
nist, "writing" for the Michigan Daily,
certainly not something to brag about. As
far as pissing in a cup goes, at least Pete
Du Pont doesn't tell people to piss onto
the Michigan Daily Opinion Page in the
form of alleged political analyses. Now I
know what they mean by yellow
journalism!
In attempting to lambast Pat Robertson,
Finkel asserts that because CBN University
(Finkel, calling it "Pat U." doesn't even
know the correct name) is "not listed
among the top ten in the U.S. News and
World Report ranking," implying it lacks
importance and educational value. In that
case, perhaps Noah feels that way about the
diplomas of the majority of college
graduates, who did not - by the way -
attend one of these so-called top ten
universities. Needless to say, Finkel, were
there a ranking of morality at universities,
the University of Michigan - a bastion of
advocacy for rampant sexual promiscuity,
homosexuality, feminism, and Marxism -
certainly wouldn't be listed among the top
ten!
Finkel screws his facts up again when he
falsely accuses Robertson of claiming "that
one of his ancestors signed the Declaration
of Independence." Apparently, Finkel
wasn't listening at all when Robertson
stated that his fellow Virginians - not his
ancestors - were among the signatories of
the Declaration of Independence. In
addition, Finkel reports that he is "so sus-
picious" of Americans, such as Robertson,
who believe that our Founding Fathers ac-
tually intended something when they au-
thored Constitution. Furthermore, Finkel
states that Robertson's smiling and laugh-
ing is "most troubling of all" to him. In
'Needless to
say, Finkel,
were there a ranking of
morality at universities, the
University of Michigan - a
bastion of advocacy for
rampant sexual promiscuity,
homosexuality, feminism, and
Marxism - certainly wouldn't
be listed among the top ten!'
the age of television and the mass media,
can Finkel name anyone who ever got
elected to the Oval Office by constantly
frowning and grumbling? Even 1984
Democratic presidential candidate, Walter
Mundane, will attest to the fact that this
campaign method only attracts voters in
Minnesota and the District of Columbia.
In denigrating Jack Kemp, Finkel ex-
presses his disdain for Kemp's rhetoric,
which he states is "the same rhetoric he has
employed for the last ten years." Make up
your mind Noah! Regarding Du Pont, you
say new ideas are "stupid," but now you
don't like old ideas either. Just what do you
like? Besides, unlike certain liberal Presi-
dential candidates, we conservatives are
honest. We don't suddenly transform our
beliefs because it may be in vogue to do
so, or because we're running for President,
for that matter. Furthermore, who says
"supply-side economics is a thing of the
past?"' Finkel, now also an economics ex-
pert, must know better than Dr. Milton
Friedman and other scholarly architects of
an economics policy that has given us our
greatest peacetime growth and lowest na-
tional unemployment rate in several
decades.
In conclusion, Finkel also states explic-
itly that he does not believe that "full em-
ployment with no inflation," Kemp's goal,
is possible. That's the major difference be-
tween you liberal Democratic henchmen
and us conservative Republicans. You are
the party of yesteryear, thriving on pes-
simism-the party of the Old Deal, of No
Deal, of languishing in the sixties and be-
fore. We are the party of the future, of op-
timism-the party of opportunity and
growth. Because the only barriers to growth
are one's own limitations, anything is pos-
sible, including "full employment with no
inflation," but only if Jack Kemp or one of
our other pro-growth candidates is elected
Chief Executive Officer of the United
States of America
ie I madibWde an i ai
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
LETTERS:
'Funky Black Bitch'
is clearly racist
Vol. XCVIII, No. 47
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.
Passing up is a cri-me
W HEN THE DAILY MAKES a mis-
take, it always helps to have readers
offer constructive criticism. The
Daily's editorial ("Stop Passing
Up," 10/22/87) was in need of such
criticism, and Terry Calhoun's in-
formative and well reasoned reply
(Daily, 10/27/87) has convinced the
Daily to reevaluate its position on
this issue.
Calhoun was correct to call atten-
tion to the Daily's unduly mild
treatment of what is actually a form
of assault, generally sexual assault:
the "passing up" of women at Uni-
versity football games. The assault
begins when a woman in the stands
is grabbed and involuntarily passed
overhead through the crowd. In the
course of this abuse, women have
been sexually groped, battered, and
thrown from overhead to land on
concrete.
While the Daily called for an end
to this practice, the serious nature of
the crime was not given as much at-
tention as it deserves. In particular,
the editorial said that arrest was too
harsh a penalty. This was wrong.
An assault that takes place at a public
event is no less a crime than one that
occurs on the street. People that are
caught participating in these criminal
actions should be arrested.
Of course, the problem will not be
eliminated through law enforcement
alone. Like other forms of sexual
assault, it stems from a sexist culture
in which women are not seen as en-
titled to have control over their own
bodies. Educational efforts, both at
the games, and throughout the cam-
pus generally, will have to play a
major role in combatting these atti-
tudes and should be supported. In
fact, the entire phenomenon of
"passing up" provides another ar-
gument in support of a mandatory
course on sexism (and racism),
which UCAR (United Coalition
Against Racism) and 'other con-
cerned campus groups are demand-
ing.
To the Daily:
"Funky Black Bitch". isn't
racist??? Well what about
"Funky White Bitch" o r
"Funky Jewish Bitch?" Damn
right they're racist; all three of
them.
The claim by Lawrence
Hamann that the statement
"Funky Black Bitch" isn't
racist is not only incorrect, it's
immature, short sighted and
just plain ignorant. Hamann
tries to support his view with a
grammatical analysis of the
phrase "Funky...". But that is
exactly the point where his
rhetoric sinks into the scum of
racism and insensitivity. His
attempt to view the statement
as just a string of adjectives
Protest was
To the Daily:
Thanks go to Mr. Kotcher
for providing an excuse ("Uncle
Joe Must Be Smiling," Daily,
11/2/87) to make some re-
marks about the Contras' ap-
pearance at the University and
about political speech in gen-
eral. It's hard, though, to take
very seriously his whining
over his audience's rambunc-
tious response. If the College
Republicians want to invite a
trained lion and a dancing bear
to town they shouldn't be sur-
prised when people show up to
turn the event into a circus.
Yes, we booed the two
speakers, we heckled them, we
asked embarassing questions.
We were rude. However Mr.
Kotcher confuses rudeness with
the suppression of speech.
While we did offer loud com-
mentary, the fact of the matter
is that both men had their full
say. If this were not the case
then it's very odd that the
speaker thanked the audience
for our attention, specifically
addressing his gratitude to his
detractors along with his sup-
porters. He also was quoted in
the Ann Arbor News as saying
that "actually, it was a very
good audience."
And as Mr. Kotcher himself
admits, nobody ran the Contras
off the stage, as occurred earlier
at Wayne State. Our outcries
opened up the dialogue, how-
ever crude the level of discus-
and a noun without considering
the attitude of the individual
behind it is bogus. Can one
truly regard that phrase without
gaining a feel for the hatred and
disrespect associated with it?
Hell no!! The statement and the
attitude expressed with it are
inseparable, and both are
equally offensive.
The fact that there are such
backwards thinking individuals
in our society such as Hamann
is no great revelation. We see
evidence of it everyday in such
asinine views as his. However,
what is truly disturbing is the
fact that the Michigan Daily
would not only print Hamann's
letter but print his contention
in big, bold letters across the
appropriate
larly when ideologies become
polarized. Factions of Eng-
land's House of Commons jibe
and cheer while a colleague ad-
dresses the body, and it's not.
unheard of for a member of
Commons to be jeered off the
floor. We tend to elevate Peri-
clean Athens as the birthplace
of Western democracy, yet the
young Demonsthenes practiced
his oratory with pebbles in his
mouth so he could learn how
to enunciate clearly enough and
loudly enough to be heard
above the catcalls from the as-
sembly of citizens.
The egg incident,. on the
other hand, which did not come
from the crowd but from a side
exit attached to the stage, was
clearly out of line. Besides try-
ing to disrupt the proceedings
(one rabid anti-communist used
the act as an excuse to start a
fight), such actions play into
the Contras' hands. They pre-
sumptuously like to cast
themselves in the martyr's role
and this tends to give their
camouflage an appearance of
credibility. While they may
style themselves as loyal
patriots betrayed by the
Nicaraguan revolution, the
Contras have openly sided with
the same power that propped
up the Somoza dictatorship and
are fighting for their claims to
political power by murdering
their own people. The rightists
might call them "freedom
editorial page. I agree that the
Daily should print the views of
the public, but it should print
responsible, well founded
views which do not insult the
readership. Hamann's analysis
is shallow, inciteful a n d
unworthy of printing by the
Daily.
But why did the Daily staff
print Hamann's letter? Were
they trying to gain from the
sensationalism at the expense
of the Black population? The
answer may become apparent
when one examines the photo
layout of the staff published in
an edition of the Daily some
weeks back. There is not one
Black individual on the
editorial staff. In fact, there is
virtually zero minority
representation on the staff as a
whole. Why not? In order for
the Daily to present well
rounded views, and to
understand and appreciate the
public interest shouldn't there
be a cross section of the
university populace on the
staff? If there were I'm sure
such insensitive and
irresponsible views such as
Hamann's would be more
prudently considered before
being published. So I .say to
you, the staff of the Daily, in
order to present more credible
and conscientious journalism
how about rounding out your
staff. It's something that is
obviously needed because in
this particular instance you
sank to the depths of the
Enquirer.
-Gary A. Christian
November 4
Women's committee sorry
To the Daily:
The M.S.A. Women's Issues
Committee would like to make
a formal apology for the ad-
vertisement we ran on
November 11 advertising our
committee. Upon reviewing
our ad we realize that this may
be interpreted as discriminatory
against certain races of people.
Our intent remains to
emphasize the point that there
is a perception in our society
that if a woman is not
completely covered in clothing,
she is somehow "asking" to be
assaulted. While we apologize
for seemingly singling out one
particular race, we had no
intention of appearing t o
denegrate another culture.
Please accept our apology.
- M.S.A. Women's
Issues Committee
November 12
Zinn'
NEW5WEK CAUSES CAMPUS-WDE
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Allow Gulf reporting
A SHIP OF JOURNALISTS covering
the Persian Gulf a week ago were
turned back at gunpoint by the U.S.
Navy. Considering that the Reagan
administration claims the purpose of
the U.S. presence is to keep interna-
tional waters free, it is ironic that
they are driving out reporters.
The journalists, who had rented a
private ship, were observing a por-
us wonder who is protecting who in.
the Gulf. The navy should only take-
action against ships they have clear
reason to suspect plan hostile ac-
tions.
Just as when reporters were barred
from the Grenada invasion in 1984,
the Pentagon's current restrictions
on the press in the Gulf deny infor-
mation to the American public.
I
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