Page 4 --The Michigan Daily- Monday, January 25, 1993 lE iie £11d143UU &UI 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 764-0552 Editor in Chief MATTHEW D. RENNIE Opinion Editors YAEL CITRO GEOFFREY EARLE AMITAVA MAZUMDAR i'" . / r Edited and Managed by Students at the University of Michigan *. >. t !1',4v Unsigned editorials represent a nwjority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. ~!Ali((Al Ago'L ,hEL GY_ fi cap -,4N tDAILY,3 % * . .. . 0I Alcohol punishment doesn't nce again, Michigan's State Legislature has excessive punishment- proposed a bill which would punish minors Many minors need to d in possession of alcohol (MIP's) with a 90-day Taking away this privile driver's license suspension. Previously proposed bearing no demonstrate last session, this bill is largely intended to be a propriate. deterrent to drunken driving. But by targeting "We have a strange s minors guilty only of anti-possession laws as the try," Ehlers claimed, "1 culprits of drunken driving, and good th then assigning a punishment that .... Peo forbids them from driving at all, countr Lansing would be handing down tolerate undue punishment on Michigan's Suc minors. Though alcohol is at the far bey heart of several serious problems to cont in our society, this bill will tackle The none of them. brings Sen. Vernon Ehlers (R-Grand the 21 Rapids) proposed the bill, and the ing ag Legislature is expected to con-fMo sider it Feb. 2. Ehler's stated mo- have d tive for drafting the bill is his yet suf concern about the large number drunke of alcohol-related accidents in associa Michigan. Lansing nearly passed The the bill last term. Thankfully, the low thi end of the legislative session put effectiN off passage. with alt Currently, Michigan law only EVAN PETRIEJDaily driving mandates suspension of a minor's driver's license cation regarding the dar and a $25 fine if they are caught drinking and alcoholism. driving. The constant danger There is no question that drunken driving is a was the primary rea serious crime, and one worth fighting. A minor in government's push for possession may endanger their own body, but age. certainly poses no threat to random drivers, as But it must distingui does someone who drives under the influence of crime - driving under t alcohol. and the relatively minor Moreover, confiscating a minor's license is sion. fit crime - it targets their livelihood. drive to work and school. ge because of an infraction d relation to driving is inap- ocial attitude in this coun- 'People simply think it's a hing to go out and get drunk ople don't do that in other ies and we're not going to e it here." h anti-alcohol zealotry goes yond a reasonable mandate rol drunken driving. debate over this bill again up the question of whether -year-old minimum drink- e is justified. st other western countries rinking ages of 18 or lower, fer fewer problems (public .nness, spousal abuse, etc.) ated with alcohol use. United States should fol- is example and enact more Ve ways to fight problems cohol, such as stricter drunk g laws and extensive edu- ngers of drunk driving and posed by drunken driving son behind the federal the 21-year-old drinking ish between a very serious the influence of alcohol~- crime of underage posses- " ";.tif ::::'::"1":. ..1:":: :"} .... New Daily cartoonist Pro needs Stump's help To the D To the Daily: It's 1 I sympathize with Greg possible Stump.He has a long hard road roommat ahead of him training Terry Rudd spouse, i (if he hasn't started already). "choice. Rudd: Listen to Clinton's The message and look to the future. sanction Quayle's out of office and the been ofc transition was gracious, so lay couse, off the guy, will ya? The joke is would ha -getting old million c dead than Kristin Johnson existence RC sophomore welfare. know wh D lwould ha Daily movie critics Thisi should be less critical freedom. columniE To the Daily: I affirm, I am appalled that the Daily pro-choi rarely has anything nice to say activists about the movies that it reviews. woman' The latest atrocious review ("Film what toc doesn't get outta of here 'Alive,' body. Th 1/20/93) was an unneeded tongue who adv lashing of the movie "Alive." condoms Sarah Weidman attacked the because movie more for the fact that its actors are not able to grow full insignifi beards or even much more than a overlook "scraggly goatee" (which is not a on the sc facial hair "problem" not to be readers t able to grow a full beard, and it is worthwh insulting to assume that only men review it might be able to grow full More beards). know ho Secondly, how is she an expert critics, b on the effect that eating human noted thz flesh would have on the appear- everythir ance of one's teeth? Or how is it deemed possible that she knows that it In fa would be impossible for the rugby say some team to be a good looking bunch? critic. M I wonder if she totally missed the assign th story of courage and survival of are not p the living. Her criticisms of the realize ti <: [!" , :::AlT'NTA1YV TMTMCITT -choicers prevent choice Daily: 993, and it's quite that your classmate, te, even your potential s dead - a victim of " irst victims of legally ed homicide would have college age right now. Of "pro-choice'' activists ve you believe that 30 children are better off n to be leading a pitiful e in poverty, crime and But we'll never actually hat kind of lives they ave led, will we? is in the name of ,"of "reproductive ." Well, as a former Daily st once wrote, and which "Pro-choicers are not ce!" Abortion-rights proclaim that it is a s choice (and a man's) do with her (and his) own hese are the same people ocate distributing s everywhere you look young men and women cant details cause her to what is really happening creen. I offer to the Daily hat this movie is actually hile despite the poor t received. in general, I do not w the Daily chooses its ut I think that it should be it critics need not judge rig severely in order to be a "critic." ct, it is possible to even ething nice and still be a aybe the Daily needs to he reviews to people who prima donnas and who hat the last decade has are going to have sex anyway, and they can't be expected to control their urges. Then, when an unwanted pregnancy results, "pro-choicers" want to expunge the mistake by compounding it with murder, telling a woman that she can't possibly go on with her educa- tion, career and life the way she wanted to, and therefore she has no choice but to have an abor- tion. This convenient solution also absolves the father, who is just as much at fault, of his responsibility. So, when the choice is before you, men and women alike, whether or not to have sex, remember that youare not dogs in heat. If you have the "reproductive freedom" to control your own body, you also have the freedom to control your reproductive urges. And this choice, as does all freedom, comes with respon- sibility. Howard Scully Business School senior produced some worthwhile films (reading the Daily one would begin to believe that the'last decent film was "Citizen Kane"). I suppose the Daily motto is, "If you don't have anything nice to say, write a review." Paul Tackett LSA senior The Michigan Daily encourages its readers to voice their opin- ions. All letters must be 300 words or less. Send sumbissions to The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard, Ann Arbor, Mich. 48109. aking auto safety jo No. eginning in 1995, all cars manufactured in the million dollar lobbying contracts, coupled with United States will be equipped with anti-lock enormous campaign contributions that allow them braking systems and airbags. The automobile in- to, for all intents and purposes, write their own laws dustry, which has historically fought safety regu- and regulations. With this power, the Big Three lations tooth-and-nail, has agreed to take action have long been able to block legislation that, while and install these critical safety devices. This is a helpful to consumers, may take money out of their welcome, albeitlate, step forward for the industry. pockets. The success of airbags and anti-lock brakes is Hopefully, along with the apparent shift in atti- indisputable. Because the two safety features are tude of the car companies, the government will becoming more common, the number of deaths by begin to take a more active role in ensuring con- automobile accident is decreasing. Fewer people sumer safety. For years, a federal law has been died in automobile accidents last year than in any necessary to force the automobile industry to shape year since 1962. However, many of the 39,000 up, and politicians have failed to act quickly. lives lost may have been spared had an airbag or With a new administration, and a new Congress anti-lock brakes been installed. Proven to increase devoted to destroying the status-quo, consumers driver safety, these devices have been left out of can hope that their safety will be a higher priority too many cars for too long. than money from political action committees. Both the automobile industry and the govern- Including airbags and anti-lock brakes in every ment are to blame for allowing the production of automobile offers maximum safety to all consum- cars that could have been made considerably safer ers. Until now, most auto makers have only made had available and affordable technology been in- air bags available in more expensive models or stalled. Foryears, car companies have been claim- offered them for a substantial fee. Wealth was a ing that installing airbags and anti-lock brakes on prerequisite to automobile safety. a massive scale was not feasible. These were the Now, the auto companies have acknowledged same arguments that the Big Three offered against the unfairness of this policy. In more general terms, installing seat belts in their cars. Luckily, these the industry, faced with criticisms of poor quality ridiculous claims have finally been refuted. and inefficient management, has stepped forward Furthermore, this development is a hint that the and proved that it is willing to make the necessary Big Three may change their ways when it comes sacrifices to turn things around. to government interaction. General Motors, Ford Hopefully, this is a trend that will continue in the Motor Co. and the Chrysler Corp. all have multi- future, especially when driver safety is concerned. Diffusing the population explosion 0I : ..I~1'4I :::1 ::'L1 Enforce international law consistently by James Piazza D uring the past 20 years, the world has wit- nessed an unprecedented level ofpopulation growth. From Asia to the Americas the population explosion continues. In an attempt to remedy this global problem, President Clinton this week reversed a restrictive policy dating back to the Reagan administration forbidding U. S. funding of any program that advo- cated birth control - the chief method of popula- tion management - or made abortion services available. Clinton has opened the way for Con- :gress to fund such population programs (which President Bush repeatedly vetoed) and address the clear link between population growth and eco- nomic stagnation. Countries at one time had stable populations because birth and death rates were roughly equiva- lent. Most development strategies aim to raise life expenctancies by improving living conditions. But while these worthwhile programs allow people to live longer, healthier lives, few focus on reduc- ing birthrates and raising infant mortality. can reduce the number of children born and slow population growth. Clinton's election has made it easier to rally Congressional support for these endeavors. The effectiveness of such programs is obvious. The few programs that do exist have been success- ful. Only a need for more funding has kept them from making greater strides. Family planning programs are also a preferable alternative to the immoral population control pro- grams, such as coercive family planning. China has implemented such programs, which include forced sterilizations and coerced abortions. The United States is most responsible for sti- fling international family planning services. Reagan withdrew U.S. support from the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), prefer- ring to placate the religious right and impose its anti-abortion anti-contraceptive sentiments on the poor. Reagan succeeded in constraining family plan- ning programs around the world, spoiling the As a new presidential adminis- tration enters the White House, the American public has promptly re- ceived not only an endorsement of former President George Bush's punitive actions against Iraq for Saddam Hussein's refusal to com- ply with the cease-fire tenets of U.N. Resolution 687 by President Bill Clinton, but also a proposal, from President Clinton, to continue the present policy. It seems that the Clinton admin- istration expects foreign countries to abide by the U.N. resolutions and intends to confront those "outlaw" regimes that respect neither inter- national law nor human rights. Since the Ba'athist regime in Iraq has a history of brutalizing its Shi'i and Kurdish citizens and has not complied with the demands of the U.N. Security Council, the United States is morally bound to militarily ensure the safety of Hussein's victims and enforce in- ternational law. Overthe last summer, the Ameri- can public was curtly informed by former Secretary of State James Baker that the Bosnian people should not expect any significant intervention by the United States to halt the Serb invasion and brutal- ization of their populace simply because, "The United States is not the world's policeman." The rn .. ,,..rnrnent of ground forces with air support. Yet in spite of all this, President Bush did not feel that the United States should be expected to help with the enforcement of interna- tional law and the halting of naked aggression in this case. The Ameri- can people have yet to receive a definitive commitment on the part of President Clinton to pursue an active policy with regards to the illegal Serbian invasion. The hypocrisy is striking. Both the Iraqi and Serbian situations present similar, although hardly proportional, violations of interna- tional law and human rights. But the U.S. policy displays not even policies of oppression, human rights abuses and outright mass murder are currently being under- taken against the people under re- gimes such as the ones in Mynmar, Haiti, India, China, Guatemala, Syria, El Salvador and many oth- ers. Where is the Presidential out- rage, or popular outrage for that matter, for the peoples of these countries? Why isn't there a will- ingness on the part of the United States to militarily coerce these regimes into adherence to the 1948 U.N. Declaration the international community adopted, and which many of the previously enumer- 0 0 Both the Iraqi and Serbian situations present similar, although hardly proportional, violations of international law and human rights. the pretense of consistency in deal- ing with Mr. Hussein and Mr. Milsejevik. Although Bush did pub- licly condemn the Serbian invasion and the sponsorship of brutal re- prisals against the citizens of Bosnia and Croatia, no definitive policy or enforcementof the U.N. resolutions has materialized. The Serbs continue to flaunt their disregard for the "no-fly" zone and the arms embargo, refuse to sus- pend their sponsorship and organi- zation of rape and genocide. They remain virtually unhindered in their activities, despite the token imposi- ated countries endorsed? The ironies of "realpolitik" are disturbing, especially upon thecon- sideration of the past and present first-hand accounts of oppression and genocide. It may be true that the United States cannot, and should not, be expected to solve all of the world's problems. Would it be therefore possible for the President to drop the offen- sive public pretensions that the United States finds unacceptable and will confront all violators of human rights in light of the fact that we are not even close to con- 01