4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 25, 2000 14be Litbigun & gilu A bastardly attempt to make Oscar go @#*! himself 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 daily. letters@umich.edu Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan MIKE SPAHN Editor in Chief EMILY ACHENBAUM Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. Primary pinch Candidates unfairly T hroughout the campus hoopla sur- rounding last Tuesday's Republican primary, one event was noticeably absent within the city limits of Ann Arbor. Despite a record voter turnout and an out- pouring of student activism, no Republican candidate held campaign events in the city. Many Republicans may cringe at the liberal connotation the city of Ann Arbor brings, but candidates may have glossed over the area's Republican qualities. Tom Monaghan, former owner and CEO of Domino's Pizza Inc., is a long time Ann Arbor resident and staunch conservative. Monaghan recently founded a conservative law school in the area named Ave Maria, which he calls a "West Point for Catholicism and law." Many University alumni, like former President Gerald Ford and State Senator John Schwartz, have held high governmental positions under the Republican banner. In addition, Ann Arbor's mayor Ingrid Sheldon is a Republican, although a moderate one at that. These elements could have created a support base for those candidates cam- paigning in Michigan while their endorse- ments would have held at least some weight in the minds of area voters. Candidates also failed to acknowledge the full power of University students. Though young adults historically vote less snubbed University than middle age and older adults, dedicat- ed students are often the ones with the time and energy to volunteer to help a candi- date's campaign. Michigan's history of activism and protest may traditionally take a liberal spin, but this does not means the campus lacks a conservative constituency. The organization Students for McCain posted an overwhelming number of signs in supporting their candidate, and all Republican candidates saw representation at tables in Angel Hall. Since the nation has more registered Democrats than Republicans, candidates seeking the presidency must appeal to a wide range of voters. McCain, who has made recruitment of Independents and crossover Democrats a focal point of his campaign, could have demonstrated his ability to appeal to non-Republican voters with a stop in Ann Arbor. Maybe Republican candidates have a right to fear town with as liberal a reputa- tion as Ann Arbor, but by avoiding the University community, George Bush, Alan Keyes and John McCain may have alienat- ed many potential supporters. If the candi- dates wish to win the general election in November, they must appeal to a diversity of voters - Democrats, Independents and Republicans - including the people of Ann Arbor. B ond. James bloody Bond. They say he died with the Cold War, that Brosnan chump is wasting his time. But what the bloody hell do they know? Bond has been the father I never had, the shrink I never opened up to, the messiah I never believed in. He emancipated me from the ranks of that horribly doctri- nal romantic school of thought where young quasi-Wolves like myself live engulfed in Right Guard and edate.com, flinging me into the greener Waj pastures of striking Syed reality: covert oper- ations and overt cleavages.3 ama s. 3 News Flash- Fight Club, the super-casted superthriller ras a chilling look into schizophrenia and its imposing dimen- sions, alongside a retrograde plot of cyn- ical criticism against the artificiality of the materialistic and capitalistic nineties - Not Flashed On News Flash - That it took Fox Pictures Sl00 million movie, two of the biggest names in Tinsel Town and a marketing campaign smart and sexy enough to inspire a perennial bum like moi to drive to the theatre in his S229/imonth VU buy an eight dollar movie ticket, complemented by a S3 Coke and a S5 tub of popcorn, and thus become an ardent proponent of the war against the Evil Globali-ed Economy. O Yes, Commander Bond, my very own Dalai Lama, unflustered defender of the Crown, clad in his Seville Row suit that never wrinkles and tie that never lets him down, showed me the path. You too can see the light. Just look at the signs around you - Car and Driver has been running James' BMW's ad for a couple of centuries now. CNN takes cares of his Nokia commercials. That Fortune mag handles his Omega chronometer, and I know for a fact the Mt. Holyoke News ran an extensive piece on his briefs sanc- tioned by Lizzy II. So, do you feel igno- rant'? News Flash - The Cider House Rules, Golden Globe close call and Oscar prodigy, is a beautifuidly subtle challenge of abortion and racism issues - Not Flashed On News Flash - Indeed, the movie is so beautifully subtle that many low spirited individuals who are not sat- isfied with lifegodloveJbodmoneysex have confessed that if given a chance of being reborn, they would choose to be orphans in the 1940s, preferably placed in the rural Northeast. When and where else could orphans be the Princes of Maine and the Kings of New England, and not the starving, horrid wretches which orphans from other places are bound to be. i'll stop on that note. For those of you who are (still around?) reading this through your last Sammy Adams enhanced afternoon before the Big Break and could not deduce aptly, this whole column has been a bastardly, half-hearted attempt at thwarting the annals and rites of contemporary cinema. Bond has gone from noble to global. The schizophrenics at Fight Club preach, bitch and command us about the absolute nothingness which accompanies our pursuit of marvellous middle-class modality, only at the expense of our greenback patronage. Writers like John Irving defile the reality of their own book to pen out caloric screenplays, pre-cooked for the censors, making underage couples hold hands and sniffle in the back rows of Showcase. Pepsi tries to sell the abstrac- tion that the force will be with us every time we purchase 32 ounces of Jar Jar's favorite thirst quencher. Even the critics, the old guard of art and literature, rave in treason in their glossy weeklies. And it all comes tumbling down, right onto that laser-printed love letter from Visa or MasterGod which reassures me that the riches I am allocating in the quest for self assuring theatrical entertainment are good for my credit, the endangered three- eyed vogapoga bird and Lev KamanevI portrait in the Politburo, just as long as I don't miss my minimum payment dead- line. So then. It's a Ten-Four. The crisis is under control. The American mo-Oie industry has initiated the new world order, defining passages of rite for moviegoers who are willing to live, eat, breathe and maybe sleep with the films they watch. Decrees of society and better living have been printed on celluloid. 8- mm has not only gone digital, its become a bloody delicacy. They're drinking cline- ma with caviar, seducing it in casinos, mining it with diamonds, dressing it in fur (no one dares to say that they are also pimping it on the Strip -- that's against the Cider House Rules). Film, my friends, is not just the toast of the town; it's also the first course.. And the beautiful people need not fret. It's all low-cal. - faj Sved can be reached via e-mail at tajsyeda umh.edu. 4 ENATE YPEKG ..-. -" THOMAS KULJURGIS I Tee wt cr!twMt pF+ ' Identification please Caller ID a positive addition to dorm life University students are quick to criti- cize University housing. Be it com- plaints about the meal service, construction at odd hours, or another problem, the dorm system is a constant target of student deri- sion. But with the proposal and trial of Caller ID in dorms next year, it seems that University Housing is taking a step in the right direction. By providing dorm resi- dents with a Caller ID service, University Housing shows students that they are lis- tening to their complaints and making an effort to meet them. The University Housing Mission Statement states that, "The Mission of University Housing is to create and sustain diverse learning centered residential com- munities that further the goals of the University. Through partnership with oth- ers (University Housing) provide(s) quality programs, services and facilities for those we serve in a caring, responsible and effec- tive manner." By offering Caller ID to res- idents in the dorm, University Housing is providing students with added conve- nience, and, more importantly, a higher level of safety. Although Caller ID is a positive addi- tion to dorm-living, University Housing should have considered spending the money on other areas. Specifically, besides any necessary physical construction on dorm structure, University housing money would be best spent offering a more flexi- ble meal schedule. But provided University Housing can offer Caller ID to dorm residents for the estimated 90-cent additional cost, or for a few more dollars than that, Caller ID is a positive proposal. Administration fails to address concerns TO THE DAILY: It has been over 15 days, and the admin- istration has not adequately addressed the concerns of over 400 students of color on our campus. The four-page petition did not center around Michigamua, but rather included it as one part. Several other extremely important issues have been ignored. If our University claims to be diverse and sensitive to the needs of all students, including minority students, then why in the world does it take so long to get a decent response to a wide-ranging peti- tion? The fact that it is taking so much time and energy just to address Michigamua and the other tower societies is disgusting - and it's not even close to being resolved! If adequate response to student concerns is not on the administra- tion's agenda, then what is? CHITHRA PERUMALSWAMI LSA SENIOR Faculty, staff call for consideration of SCC's demands TO THE DAILY: This is a request that University President Lee Bollinger consider the issue put forth by the Students of Color Coalition regarding the 5th, 6th, and 7th floor spaces to be of utmost priority to this institution. We, as staff and adminis- trators at the University of Michigan, have been working around the clock with all of the students involved in this issue and believe that this has gone on far too long. We are very frustrated and disap- pointed about the leadership demonstrat- ed on this matter. It appears to us that it is you who has the ultimate authority in helping this situation come to a resolu- tion immediately. You have indicated that you will not negotiate with students who are occupy- ing a space, yet. you have negotiated with students who haveoccupied spaces in the past. Hence.,xwhat we ask is that you change your mind on this issue. Please have the conversations with SCC, Michigamua, staff, and everyone who is being severely affected by this matter. The university climate and our ability to get on with the work we are committed to doing is being disrupted by your unwill- ingness to involve yourself and make this a priority at the University of Michigan. - This letter was written by Jackie Simpson and over 40 other faculty and staff members. I Ptter ignored WeLL.) SOm eomEJ.GOT u s SY vk "llEWM 'IN KAW. t . ,;' ;.. fi ' s._ ', < <> . ' \ j r, v ., \J Lam. y Ic.. Click to save Visiting website will help save the rainforest ers who made sure that the new world being built would be one worth living in. If history can teach us anything, it is that progressive social action will be as neces- sary in the age of globalization as it was in the age of industrialization. Janego is thinking too small to see the alternatives as being either miserable unemployment or miserable sweatshop labor. There is a third possibility: Decent labor, at a decent wage, in a decent facto- ry. And with University President Lee Bollinger's decision to join the Worker Rights Consortium following SOLE's sit- in, that third possibility may soon become a reality for the many workers helping to fund our educations by making University apparel. BILL ABRESCH LSA JUNIOR SCC occupation based on flawed argument TO THE DAILY: The Students of Color Coalition have made a mockery of the University. No organization no matter how "grand" the cause has the. right to break the law. Yet the SCC has committed several acts that are illegal; breaking and entering, theft of private property and slander against Michigamua. The SCC claims theseventh floor is public space, but it has been reported the University gave an unlimited lease on the seventh floor to Michigamua. Even if the space is in fact public, that doesn't give the SCC the right to break in. Protesters don't storm the White House or the Capital building when they feel they have a worthy cause. The most amazing thing about the SCC attack on Michigamua is how the University is coddling groups like SCC and SOLE. Leaders should not give in to terrorist orga- nizations, or else a small group of extrem- ists will always be able to force their opin- ions over the rest of the student body. The SCC argument really comes down ,o Mehiria'.c n-e of Ntive Americann along with drums and daincing. PAUL LANKHEET ENGINEERING FIRST-YEAR STUDENT SOLE's actions an embarrassment to the University Every day, more than 100 species become extinct. The single greatest cause of species extinction in the next century will be tropical deforestation. Scientists estimate that roughly five to ten percent of tropical rainforest species will be destroyed per decade if current rates of tropical forest loss and disturbance con- tinue. So what can we do to help? Simple - click a button. Visit http://rainforest.care2.com, run- ning until Earth Day on April 22. You can go once a day and, with the click of a but- ton, make a donation to protect rainforest land free of charge. Supervised by Care2, an organization dedicated to the improve- ment and preservation of the environment, every day that you click on the site button each of their sponsors donates five cents. Each person's individual impact is charted and students should also trv to get their ..-, -, Following Earth Day the names of the top 100 rainforest saving participants will be disclosed on Care2.com and an addi- tional 1,000 acres will be donated for their efforts. All of the money raised by the Website will go directly to the Nature Conservancy's Adopt An Acre program, which focuses on preserving two to three imperiled forest sites each year. Currently this program is working to protect Brazil's largest wetland, covering more than 68,000 square miles. Over the last decade, 113 million rain- forest acres have been destroyed. Of the 3,000 plants that have anti-cancer proper- ties, 70 percent grow in rainforests. More than 50 percent of species live in tropical rainforests. By making the minimal effort to go to this site each day for the next few months, you can save lives, preserve species and guard valuable ecosystems for TO THE DAILY: To the members of SOLE: Have any of you been to Washington, D.C. lately? There are thousands of groups lobbying for ideals, which arguably, may be,. more crucial to our nation than your cause. But what do these groups do when the rep- resentatives don't do what they want? They° send letters, talk to their politicians, and get support from their fellow constituents. But they never trespass the office of anyone on- Capital Hill and refuse to leave until their demands are left. Your idea of taking over an adminis- * trative office is childish. I thoughtaI woald just ignore this and let it go by as° one of the daily protests that students hold at the University. But when I heard that you were preenting the Dean of LSA from accomplisching their job I was appalled. There are 30,000 plus other stu- dents here who are focused on their edu- cation. How ignorant are you to prevent their access to to an administration that is able to work effectively and in the stu- dents' best interest? I doubt may of you have been to class lately to see this but there are many prob- lems with this University that need to be addressed imnvediately: Lack of new tech- nological resources, GSI shortages, affir- mative action/racial issues, and much more. Sadly, but obviously (to everyone but you), the Urniversity does not have time right now to deal with global problems. I realize that sweatshop labor is important to you and if you'd look around you would find many channels at the University for.2' expressing that concern. . That was a lovely picture in last Friday's Daily of you guys reading about yourselves in USA Today. Here you are nooiinpte ,nffice f o eone who has I