4 - The Michigan Daily -Tuesday, October 19, 1993 E £idligaU alu 420 Maynard Ann Arbor, MI 48109 JosH DuBow Editor in Chief Edited and managedS G ST by students at the SAM GOODSTEN University of Michigan FLINT J. WAINESS Acting Editorial Page Editors Unless otherwise noted unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Daily editorial board. All other cartoons, articles and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. Housing homeless youths Congressional priorities remain in the gutter A Q ARE! OUC6ONN N : pus L A LET My FRIEND PLAY 'p V r l)3 OR NOT? 0 H eadlines about reduced national spending, lim- ited federal aid and denied or diminished stimulus packages are not hard to find in newspa- pers today. Usually, these headlines seem foreign to students at the University. But the effects of these spending cuts can now be felt here in Ann Arbor. Last Friday, Miller House, a facility for home- less teens, was forced to shut its doors to young men and women looking for a bed to sleep in. Just a few weeks ago, the staff was informed that the $120,000 federal grant they were promised no longer exists. This action is indicative of the dan- gerous shift in congressional priorities that results from a skewed system of campaign financing that has taken the power away from the people and given it to big business and special interest groups. While funding for the Superconducting SuperCollider in Texas remains intact, while count- less dollars continue to head towards the develop- ment of a space station, children - the future of our nation - are increasingly being ignored. Many of the programs Miller House offers will still function, at least on a reduced level. But the six beds that gave homeless teens a place to sleep will no longer be there, and twenty-four hour supervi- sion won't be available. Previously, teens could live at the house itself for six months-where they would receive counseling, attend workshops and skilled training around the clock. Now, after being placed in alternative housing such as the YMCA or foster homes, teens can still access these programs, but on a more limited basis. The staff was fortunate that they were able to place the residents of the house elsewhere on such short notice, but, unfor- tunately, teens looking for help in the future will simply be left out in the cold. The idea behind Miller House is to train and prepare homeless youths for independence. They are taught everything from nutrition to how to balance a checkbook, in the hopes that they will eventually lead healthy, stable lives - and won't show up in another shelter down the road. By cutting their funds, the federal government has increased the likelyhood of spending more on them in the future. Without help, homeless teens turn into homeless adults. And that's a problem that is not only morally troublesome, but also becomes an economic burden in the future. Pre- vention not only saves lives, it saves money. Ironically, while the federal government can't keep track of its funds or find room to help out a bunch of kids, private organizations are able to more reliably fill in some of the gaps. The staff at Miller House is now actively pursuing grants from other, private foundations. As one worker ex- plained, "If you get a grant from one of these foundations, you know the money's there." Wouldn't it be nice if we could count on our own elected officials in the same manner? 40 Not all vegetarians are hippies My uncle laughed as he flipped the burgers on the grill. "What do you mean, you . don't eat red meat?" he asked me. "You won't eat a hamburger with the rest of us?" My Uncle Bud didn't mean this as a slight (yes, I E really do have an PEN Uncle Bud - Jean Twenge true to bordering on "military intel- ligence" - I went back to eating poultry and fish. "Red meat," in case you're wondering why I got such a laugh out of the lady in Texas, is defined not by its color but by being the meat of a mammal.) Even though those Little Caesar's "Meat Lovers Pizza" commercials are gone (they bust in on a bunch of hippies and chase them around the room with a pepperoni pizza), vegetar- ians still encounter a great deal of prejudice. Even in a liberal Univer- sity community like Ann Arbor, mis- understandings still abound. Last Friday, for instance, the Daily quoted a nurse who warned vegetarians of the dangers of pro- tein malnutrition. "If you like your hormones, you might want to learn it," she said. "I've seen women who have so little estrogen that they have facial hair." As we say in Texas, this is horsepucky. According to a doctor contact of mine, it would take malnuitrition on the order of Soma- lia to lead to an effect like this. Second, the sex hormones are de- rived from cholesterol, not protein (which is why the reproductive bi- ology professor I TA'd for always said, in his great German accent, "Dis is why cholesterol is not to- tally bad fors you.") More likely what we're seeing here is what statisticians call com- pounding. These vegetarian women, close to the earth as they are, prob- ably just don't go to the trouble that the rest of us do to wax away our facial hair. Actually this is a stereotype I've been trying to fight for awhile - somehow people have the notion that you have to be a hippie, on drugs, or both to be a vegetarian. There's not a one-to-one correspon- dence here. For instance, Shaggy and Scooby certainly weren't veg- etarians ("They must've been on drugs," one friend of mine always says. "Cuz, man, they always had the munchies! And they kept seeing things ...") But seriously, I've seen the most radical of modern-day hip- pies chowing on bratwurst, and on the other side, I'm not close to hip- pie or even grunge (though I did One more time Clinton continues to fight for oppressive military policy O n October 8th, the Pentagon temporarily sus- pended its new "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue" policy in light of a ruling of the Federal district court in Los Angeles. The court decision, which was in response to the Navy's discharge of openly gay sailor Keith Meinhold, stated that the Defense Deptartment could not "take any actions whatsoever against gay or lesbian service mem- bers, or prospective service members, that in any way affects, impedes, interferes with, or influences their military status.. . based upon their sexual orientation" What this amounts to is a full, albeit temporary, reversal of the military's ban on homo- sexuals. However, in a curious move that directly contradicts the progressive campaign platform Clinton presented, the Clinton Administration be- gan preceedings in court to have the decision overturned. It wasn't that long ago that Gov. Bill Clinton vowed to overturn the oppressive military ban if he were elected. When he reached office, he opened up the issue with Congress and the military, but compromised in the end with the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. With the Federal court ruling, it would seem that the President has the oportunity to get what he wants. Why is he fighting the decision? Senior administration officials were quoted as saying that the President is "standing by the policy he and the Defense Department have en- dorsed." However, with the current court ruling, President Clinton gets the policy he originally wanted and publicly doesn't have to take the heat for it. This leads us to the question: What does the President truly want? It would seem that he is satisfied in taking the blame from both the military and civil rights groups for sticking by his "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which neither group was particularly fond of. Some have suggested that the President would lose support from Congress and military leaders if he did not stick to his compromise. With many controversial issues coming up for debate in Con- gress (health care reform and NAFTA being the most prominent) and the unpopular military de- ployments in Somalia, President Clinton needs all the help he can get. As well, many expect the military ban issue to go all the way to the Supreme Court. It could be suggested that the President may want this issue to go to the Supreme Court, antici- pating that the military ban will be unilaterally struck down as unconstitutional. But it would be extremely naive to expect the reactionary Rehnquist court to engage in any sort of judicial activism or to cast its vote against oppression. Unfortunately, Clinton continues to hide be- hind a quilt of compromise. He continues to cater to the archaic attitudes of southern Democrats like Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), who support keeping the ban. By doing so, the administration is not only ignor- ing its own commisioned study by the conserva- tive Rand Corp., which reported that ending the ban would have absolutely no effect on troop cohesion. And it's not only mirroring the bankrupt arguments put forth years ago by individuals that wanted the armed forces to remain segregated. But it's doing something much worse. It's setting aside the courage of its convictions, something candi- date Clinton never would have done. Bradley and Hardaway can play ball To the Daily: In response to Ken Sugiura's column ("Making Big Bucks With a Straw and a Penny 10/11/93), I have one thing to say: He obviously does not watch college basketball outside of the Big Ten conference, and if he does, your writer is not paying much attention. In his column Mr. Sugiura stated that NBA draftees Shawn Bradley from BYU and Anfernee Hardaway from Memphis State were "unknown commodities. He emphasized the fact that Bradley could pass for a pipe cleaner" or double as "a bendy straw." Only once did Mr. Sugiura mention the fact that Shawn Bradley was 7'6". Let me repeat that SEVEN-FOOT- SIX. Never in the history of the NBA has a player of this stature been drafted. Mr. Sugiura also mentioned that Bradley's collegiate competition and abilities were questionable. Let's look at this logically. Shawn Bradley did not fall out of the sky and into the 1993 NBA draft. In his freshman year at BYU, Bradley proved to the country that he possessed coordination and last spring in pre- draft mini-camps he proved to the NBA that he could play. Even Michigan's own Chris Webber commented on Bradley's superior talent after competing against him last spring. Imagine yourself as the 76ers in the 1993 NBA draft. Chris NCAA tournament since its formation. Hardaway has been the star of this conference over the past two years. With this size of a forward, and the quickness of a guard, "Penny" possesses basketball instincts and court awareness that cannot be taught in practice drills. Like Bradley, Hardaway has also proven himself to scouts in mini- camps and against the Dream Team (the best of the NBA). Orlando, a team on the rise, envisioned Hardaway at guard and Shaq underneath on draft day. Why wouldn't you give Anfernee Hardaway a long-term deal with ,those prospects? On a personal not to Mr. Sugiura: I would not advise you to enter the 1994 draft. It takes talent, skill and much hard work to achieve the level of an NBA lottery pick. Also, for the future, please do a little more research before slamming the achievements of players. JENNIFER LAY LSA junior the folly of Fascism To the Daily: After reading Jody Marshall's letter of 9/28, it became obvious that she understands politics about as well as she understands history --in other words, not very well. She invokes the eternally useful specter of Hitler without considering the associated history. Many left-wing groups in Germany during Nazism's rise, most notably the Communist Party,thought they almost run over a group of them on State and Thayer the other day.) Things are getting a little better for vegetarians. The alternative "vegetarian meal" at events still translates to "a plate of side dishes," but many restaurants are beginning to offer salads andschicken sand- wiches. Six years ago when I first gave up red meat, Arby's offered nothing but beef, McDonalds had only just introduced Chicken McNuggets, and no one had ever heard of ground turkey or "turkey bologna." Salads were rabbit food, and people would have laughed if you'd said that McDonalds would soon put salads on their menu. Within the last few years, how- ever, the medical community finally realized that Americans are so over- weight and unhealthy because we eat so much high-fat red meat (as I used to say in third grade, "Well, duh!") More and more people are realizing the benefits of eating less meat, and misunderstandings are fewer and farther between. My mother, who at first went ballistic that I wasn't. eating her cooking, now makes the same dishes with ground turkey. And my uncle who laughed at me for not eating his hamburgers? He had a heart attack two years ago. This summer, we ate our chicken sandwiches together - hot off the grill. supposedly defends human rights to take. But I suppose Marshall would agree that the ends justifies the means. There can be no doubt that the actions of the federal government in regard to such issues as abortion and womens' rights are much more important than that of fascist groups. However, the AACDARR cannot physically attack the members of the government whom they dislike. In its need for an easier target, the AACDARR has decided to use the fascist movements as a substitute in their need for an enemy that is easy to hate, and which simultaneously enables them to release their anger in ineffectual public displays of violence. This exploitation of a scapegoat is comparable to the Nazis' own anti- Semitic policies which arose when a comfortable villain was needed. Marshall's letteris peppered with examples that make this desperate search for enemies clear. The USA Nationalist Party is accused of crimes against various groups across the country merely because Marshall believes that all people holding similarviews must be collectively guilty. She claims that the AACDARR is providing "self-defense for those who are their targets." Have any members of the Auburn, New York organization personally attacked her? Self- defense is exactly that, not violence in the name of anyone whom you decide needs your protection. Of course, Marshall's statement that fascists are "white middle-class college Roundup Banning books is counterproductive The young, in days gone by, were allowed to develop their minds with the help of books. These books shaped cl ildhoods. Books like "A Light In the Attic," b} Shel Siverstein, was one book that most children ached for when it came time for birthdays or bedtimes. Not only could Siverstein put a smile on a 9-year-old face, but he showed that the little things in life were sometimes most important. "The Catcher in the Rye," by J.D. Salinger was definitely one of those books that would never Books Week was a couple of weeks ago, but certainly bears reflection. All over the Unites States, these books and many others have been banned for reasons that seem ridicu- lous. For example, "A Light in the Attic" was banned in 1989 by a South Adams Ind., school because it was seen as "very vile," and was restricted in Duval County, Fla., schools be- cause "it features a person whose behind has been stung by a bee." It seems that to a 9-or 10-year-old this wouldn't seem too disturbing, but have the same chance their prede- cessors did. Books like these are there to help kids grow and realize that not all of life is simple and perfect; the books are there to teach a lesson. So why are they being banned? That answer is up to the school boards. Unfortunately, some adults believe that one bad word or one bad situation could ruin a child's learning. but is this right? Sometimes the bad things that happen in books are what teach the child the best les-