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November 01, 1990 - Image 4

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Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1990-11-01

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Page 4-The Michigan Daily -Thursday, November 1, 1990
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EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
420 Ma ard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109

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CONGRESS'S THE PRESIDENTS IfOITRY'S T ,A PAN
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NOAH FINKEL
Editor in Chief

DAVID SCHWARTZ
Opinion Editor

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LA U 1-11

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.
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Governor
Even though he's not perfect, reelect Blanchard

IN THE ELECTION THAT WILL DE-
termine who will occupy the Gover-
nor's mansion for the next four years,
the choice to reelect the incumbent,
Democrat JAMES J. BLANCHARD,
seems the best decision of a mediocre
field.
ELE CTION iET
Blanchard has made some tough
choices, such as increasing state rev-
enues in order to slow the amount of
money taken from higher education,
and he deserves some credit for keep-
ing the state from financial disaster.
Still, we give this endorsement
grudgingly. Blanchard has failed to
progress on a number of vital issues,
and he often resembles the pablum-
spewing reactionary he is. Yet the dan-
ger in voting for his opponent, Repub-
lican State Senate Majority Leader John
Engler, outweighs any concern we may
hold.
Since his inauguration eight years
ago, Gov. Blanchard has been a strong
champion in the fight for women's re-
productive freedom. Since the Supreme
Court has granted increased power to
the states concerning reproductive
rights, it becomes of tantamount impor-
tance that we have a governor who
supports choice.
Blanchard has proven his dedication

to the cause. Engler, instead, prefers to
abolish reproductive rights except in
the cases of rape, incest, and the wel-
fare of the mother.
The Michigan voter must take this
election opportunity to set the agenda
for Blanchard's next term of office.
The folly of our insane prison buildup
must be addressed and corrected. We
need to start attacking the source of the
crime, instead of simply building new
houses for criminals.
We devote more than seven percent
of our state budget to a penal system
producing nothing but escalating rates
of crime. This vicious circle can only
be thwarted by bold leadership, imple-
menting a long-term plan for change.
The electorate must also demand
sweeping protective legislation to save
what's left of Michigan's unique envi-
ronment. Tree-planting photo oppor-
tunities do not address the problem.
Only active support of cleanup and
preservationist policies can have a real
effect.
The employment picture in Michigan
poses another matter of grave concern.
The rising unemployment statistics are
accompanied by Blanchard's general
anti-union policies. We expect a gover-
nor to support workers, and implement
progressive policies for maintaining the
economy.
Blanchard's certainly not everything
we want. But he's the best of this
year's field.

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THE REASON FOR AMERICA'S
[CONOIC DECLINE

4

U.S. House

Another lot bites dust
To the Daily:
Recently the University of Michigan's
parking gurus have demonstrated their
amoeba like tendencies by absorbing one
of the few remaining refuges for student-
owned autos. As of Oct. 15 the lot off
Fuller near North Campus has entered the
overabundant ranks of "staff paid." This
vast expanse of asphalt bliss, lovingly re-
ferred to by north campusites as the "free
lot" once housed upwards of 300 student
cars daily. In the past few weeks, however,
since administrative occupation, I've no-
ticed an average of approximately 5 cars
daily.
The change has resulted in vacant meter
spots going from the endangered species
list to near extinction. It has also resulted
in a rash of vandalism on the two huge
meter machines installed in the lot behind
the Art and Architecture building.
In the past 2 years that I've been using
the lot I've always been able to find a
spot, no matter what time of the day. This
would seem to suggest parking was avail-
able to anyone who wished to use it. If
staff wanted to park there, fin,, there was
always a spot. I don't see the logic of re-
stricting the use of the lot to staff when
there was never an overwhelming demand
in the first place.
We all know parking in Ann Arbor is a
great problem. The solution, however, is
not in restricting the few remaining open
lots. There is no logic in preventing peo-
ple from parking in spaces which are not
being used.
Martin J. Woodrow
President
U of M American Institute of Archi-
tecture Students

cent students.
Exactly what did the student do to lead
to his handcuffing? In the picture, there
was a knife lying on the ground - for all
we know, the student may have been try-
ing to hurt or kill another student. Al-
though I am not necessarily for the deputi-
zation of campus security, misleading cap-
tions make the situation worse. Instead of
blowing the situation out of proportion,
why doesn't the Daily concentrate on how
this police force will realistically affect the
university and its students. Maybe then
the Daily will act more like a newspaper
and less like a gossip column.
Jennifer Starrman
First-year Engineering
Remember the 'Rock'
To the Daily:
Does anyone remember Slippery Rock
and what it means to the University? Once
upon a time the Slippery Rock score was
announced at all home football games. No
one remembers how the Teacher's College
in Pennsylvania became the "Pet" college
of the University, but they would cheer for
the college with the weird name always.
Now, hardly anyone has even heard of
Slippery Rock and the score has ceased to
be announced at the games. Not even dur-
ing Homecoming did they resurrect the
Slippery Rock tradition.
Don't let the Slippery Rock tradition
die! Cheer for Slippery Rock. Put Slip-
pery Rock back in the Griddes. Make
Slippery Rock our "Pet College" once
again. After all they need all the help they
can get!
Lori Tower
Architecture and
Urban Planning Senior

and refuse to listen to you. People who re:
act to the expression of your views in that
way are not doing the right thing - they
are not respecting you as a human being;
which is something we all deserve.
Use of blue jeans as the symbol for
support of lesbian and gay rights is in-
tended to provide an insight, however
small, into the difficulties faced by homQ.
sexuals every day. You say you wear blue
jeans every day. Well, a gay man is a gay
man every day.
If you must make a conscious effort
not to wear blue jeans on a particular day
because of a stigma attached to it, think Qf
the conscious effort a gay man must make
every day to hide his homosexuality be-
cause of society's stigma about it.
If you feel inclined to say "gayness is a
choice"or "you don't have to be gay" (are
you reading this, Deane Baker?), think
about this: "I have some options here -
I can choose to be sexually attracted to
people of my own sex, people of the op-
posite sex, or even both. Let's see, I think
I'll choose to have my heart flutter when
someone of the opposite sex walks by.
Thus, I choose to be heterosexual." If you
can't tell me when that moment occurred
for you - and I bet all my money against
a dime that you can't - then why do yo;*
hold gay men and lesbians to that stan-
dad?
I suggest that you think about this
whole issue more carefully, and avoid the
trap of allowing your personal feelings
about sexual acts to define other human
beings. Your life is not defined by what
you do in bed, and neither is a homosex-
ual's. What's being requested isn't much
to ask for -just basic human respect. *
Am I gay? That's none of your busi-
ness.
Mike Pelletier
Engineering Junior

Don't vote for Pursell
THE RACE FOR THE U.S. HOUSE of
Representatives in Michigan's 2nd
,Congressional District is a testament to
fie sorry state of U.S. politics. In a
system dominated by only two major
parties and ever more staggering sums
of money, the possibility that voters
will be offered a real choice shrinks
with every successive election.
Of the three candidates running lo-
cally - incumbent Republican Carl D.
Pursell, Democrat Elmer White, and
Paul S. Jensen of the Tisch Indepen-
dent Citizens - we can find none
worthy of an endorsement.
The largest problem with this race
involves the general lack of information
surrounding both the two challengers
:and incumbent Pursell. Pursell's re-
fusal in the past to engage his campaign
opponents in principled and informative
4ebate contributes to this problem.'
This lack of information breeds apa-
thy, both in Michigan and throughout
the rest of the country. Voters in the
*dark will likely vote for the incumbent,
rather than carefully examining where
each candidate stands. In an election
year during which Political Action
Committees have contributed $55 mil-
lion to incumbents and a mere $2 mil-
lion to challengers, it is probable that,
once again, 98 percent of incumbents
running for reelection will succeed.
When voters don't know what is
going on, the candidate with the most.

or anyone else, either
money for advertisements and placards
is likely to win while most of the voters
stay home. White's no-show campaign
in this particular race simply com-
pounds the problem.
As incumbents continue to enjoy
such a distinct political advantage, op-
posing parties will have an increasingly
difficult time finding good, viable can-
didates who are willing to sacrifice
their time and effort in futile attempts to
get elected.
Though the Democrats had such a
candidate, Lana Pollack, opposing
Pursell in 1988, her stellar record in the
state Senate on issues such as choice
and her intimate knowledge of the dis-
trict could not offset Pursell's built-in
advantage as an incumbent running in a
Republican-dominated gerrymandered
district.
Some hope is offered by the redis-
tricting that will take place between this
election and the one in 1992. But re-
districting happens with every census,
and it hasn't helped in the past.
As we have been saying for some
time now, the real hope for genuinely
fair and contested elections rests upon
proposals for electoral and campaign
finance reforms. Until Congress ac-
cepts this and regulates itself, the vi-
cious cycle of incumbent reelection will
continue - and voters in districts like
this one will continue to be offered
what amounts to no choice at all.

Caption is misleading Blue jeans are a good

To the Daily:
This is in response to the picture of the
police officer handcuffing a man lying on
the ground that appeared under the editorial
"Safety Concerns? 'U' actions go beyond
task force's suggestions" (10/29/90).
The caption, which asked "Can similar
police treatment be expected from Univer-
sity of Michigan cops?," suggested cam-
pus police officers would mistreat inno-

symoi ofg ay sUpport
To the Daily:
This letter was spurred by Mark Perin's
letter "Don't use jeans to show gays sup-
port" (10/23/90) regarding the nature of
the letter "Blue Jeans Day" (10/11/90).
Don't worry, those of you who share
Mark's views, I won't brand you as
"ignorant, narrow-minded homophobes"

Get th Facts -
Dail

0

.More band supporters respond

Supreme Court
Return Justices Boyle and Cavanagh to Lansing

TWO INCUMBENTS ARE RUNNING
for reelection to eight-year terms on the
Michigan Supreme Court, and both de-
serve to be returned. Justices PATRI-
CIA BOYLE and MICHAEL F. CA-
VANAGH have both served the state's
highest court and the people of Michi-
gan with honesty and ability, and have
earned the Daily's endorsement.
Justice Patricia Boyle was a U.S.
District Court judge in Detroit when
Gov. James Blanchard appointed her to
fill a vacancy on the state court. She
then proceeded to win the soecial elec-

attorney Clark Durant and former Barry
County prosecutor Judy Hughes. Du-
rant, who lost the GOP senatorial
nomination to Rep. Bill Schuette (R-
Sanford), is one of the most outspoken
leaders of the ultra-conservative wing
of the p arty.
As irector from 1984-1988 of Le-
gal Services Corp., an independent, yet
federally-funded agency which pro-
vides attorneys to low-income litigants,
Durant worked to defund the program.
Judy Hughes has good trial experi-
ence but no orior bench exoerience.

Gill, Stick to football
To the Daily:
. Whenever I write an essay or paper, I
find it helpful to know something about
the topic which I'm writing about. I
would think you at the Daily would feel
the same. It would be ludicrous to have
someone who knows nothing about foot-
ball cover the football team. Yet every
Monday, Mike Gill writes his "Band Cor-
ner" when it is obvious he knows nothing
about marching, or about the musical as-
pects of marching band.
Following the Michigan State/Miami
Sound Machine show, Gill criticized the
band's choice of music saying that the
music "does not come across." I can un-
derstand not liking the Miami Sound Ma-
chine, but the arrangements played were
up-tempo, with lots of brass and percus-
sion. In what ways is this not suited for a

and his staff work very hard to provide the
fans with entertaining shows. They have
done a fine job. Mike Gill, stick with'
football.
Ron Fuller
First-year Engineering
Edit unfair to band
To the Daily:
As members of the Michigan Marching
Band, we were shocked and disheartened by
the editorial entitled "High Steppin' -
Don't compromise Michigan Band Tradi-
tion" (10/26/90).
The article stated, "Recently, a most
egregious policy has been implemented ...
which will go a long way towards erasing
... halftime tradition." But the current
style of high-step implemented by Eric
Becher has only been in use for 11 years,

sake of high-step.
Your comments about the Miami
Sound Marching show presented at the:
Michigan State game simply bewildered
us. Although, performers learn quite early
that critics are better accepted with a grain
of salt, we could find nothing rational at
all in your statement. The Michigan
Marching Band has never claimed any
credit for the victories of the Wolverine
football team, why should it be responsi-
ble for its losses?
Your editorial attempts to lay all the
"blame" for these changes on Gary Lewis.
But a careful observer of the Michigan
Band would realize that corps-style march-
ing has been present in our halftime per-.
formances under the tenures of both Eric
Becher and Jerry Luckhardt. Gary Lewis
has simply improved the execution of
moves that this group has been using for
nearly a decade.

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