4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, November 19, 1999 cbe Sitbguu nagl 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 daily.letters@umich.edu Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan HEATHER KAIrNs Editor in Chief JEFFREY KOSSEFF DA ID WALLACE Editorial Page Editors 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. out of bu s A big shout-out to ETfor keeping it am taking a break from my regularly The perfect balance is a movie like "El." in scheduled unpredictability to discuss a which the selective inclusion of brand-name very important issue. products like PEZ, Coke and Speak-'n-Spell The issue has recently been brought to pub- keep the story believable, the characters easy lic attention by Adam Wilson, a sophomore in to relate to and the scenes true to life (except the College of for that part about the extraterrestrial ) Engineering. In a letter Non-news stories in the paper work the to the editor, he shares same way. The selectiv e and purposeful use of his concern that cer- a friend's name andor characteristics can ben- tain columnists use efit a story. Referring to actual people and their column space to actual things is a reminder that the author is promote themselves 'human and that the story is real. and their friends If my intentions were to promote myself ("Columnists promote yand n friends in the newspaper, I wouldn't selves, friends," even try to disguise it as a story. It would be a 11 3 99). He cites my cross between the 'U' mail section of the 10/22199 column Daily's classified ads and a day's worth of ("Killing centipedes posters in Angell Hall. It would be personal for world peace") as a Jennifer messages, inside jokes, propaganda. It would major example, and Strauss be like it was in Res Rep Summer Troupe asks if we can "get 1999, when we (Josh, Geeta, Ben, Dia, Cliff, some more obvious Dayna, Eric, Vipul, Kellee and 1) would slip 'friend' plugs in a references to our friends into the orientation campus publication." skits if we knew that they would be watching. By "campus publication," he is clearly In the hypothetical event that I would be referring to the Daily and not Michigan using my column space for such obvious Engineer, which has been known to blatantly 'friend' plugs, I would give a big shout out to promote alumni and friends who have made a my housemates (Jen, Mira, Ashleigh, Betsy, difference in the field of engineering. Stacey, Deborah and Rachel), who are all In response to Wilson's (rhetorical) ques- rock and roll princesses, and I would even tion, I would say yes, that we could probably mention their last names (Roth, Freilich, fit some obvious 'friend' plugs in the Daily, if Gersh. Wagner, Schwartz, Bass and he continues to insist. Karabenick). Promoting friends in campus publications I would break the news that we need an is very similar to promoting products in immediate or winter sublet because Demmy movies. Noticeable merchandise plugs in a moved out, and I would tell anyone interested movie can be distracting and annoying (have to call Rachel at (734) 623-2353. you seen "Big Daddy"?). Equally bad are the If I wanted to promote myself, I would low-budget movies that go out of their way point out that I am much cuter in real life than not to feature any brand names. In these, the I am in this picture, which was taken by Daily cans that are covered in construction paper photographer David Rochkind, who is my and labeled "Cola" become just as distracting next-door neighbor. as obvious merchandise plugs. I would make another next-door neighbor Prayer has no place in public schools real thi Steve Krieger) very happy by mentioning that EnAct, the Universit 's emironmental action group, meets exerv Wednesday in the \vISA Chambers (3909 Michigan Union) at 8 p.m. I would recommend checking out Sugar Pill tonight at the Blind Pig. which I would go to even if I wasn't friends with the lead singer. I would tell everyone to sign up for Alternative Spring Break, not only because I did it last year and loved it, but because my friends Eric. Jen, Joel, David and Sharlene are five of this year's site leaders. I would also suggest filling out those applications quickly (from the web at mon ww miedo. -'mst'n'e seve). because the deadline is today. I would express my gratitude to the girl who was sitting next to me at the library yes- terday, and who kept an eye on my backpack and computer during my countless trips to the drinking fountain. I would admit that I wouldn't be so protec- tive of my belongings if Britt Framalin's lap top hadn't recently been stolen, and I would thank Britt for helping to remember the 'rune on sentences rap,' which I shared with my English class on Wednesday. I would probably conclude this hypotheti- cal 'friends' plug with a short list of "shout- outs that wouldn't really have to do with any- thing: to Adam Grant, Monica Sharma, the- Groves High School graduating class of 1998, the three Rachels from ASB, English-* 417.010, the Lloyd Hall Scholars Program Grandpa Lloyd Brett and Utpal, 532 Elrr Street, Rabbi Avraham Jacobovitz, Rory Michaels, the 'disoriented' e-mail list, my Russian class and the entire cast of the 1987 Lathrup Village Youtheater production of "The Chronicles of Narnia." - Jenni e/r Strausz can he reached over e-mail atjstraus:aumich.ediu.-. EEE y et again. the Constitutional separa- Constituti tion of church and state is being entities of threatened as the Supreme Court reviews by using s the debate over prayer in public schools. phones, a Last Monday, just in time for the turn whether it of the century, the debate over religion in violation o public schools reopened when the high Last Fe court agreed to review the policy on stu- studentsc dent-led prayers at high school football resulted in games in response to a recent case hailing school dis' from Santa Fe, Texas. A decision is Traditi expected by late June. tion as a n In 1962, the Supreme Court banned not only a teacher-led prayer in public schools. In But using 1992 the court deemed clergy-led prayers prayer is 'at public school graduation ceremonies religious b unconstitutional. So what makes the Santa a football Fe Independent School District think it is a specific the exception to the rule? outsiders i In 1995, the school district's policy Constit allowing student-led prayers or invoca- nents of1 tions over the school's public address sys- argue that tem at home football games and gradua- to the pra: tion ceremonies was challenged by four seriously. students and their parents. public add The court decided that non-religious can make "nonsectarian non-proselytizing" conse- Attendi crations were acceptable at graduations, a requiren but school football games were deemed especially the wrong venue for broadcasting prayers. often lau In Galveston County, Texas, where pre- should fe game prayer is a widespread tradition, the communit ruling provol ed a strong opposing reac- cially whe tion. making th The school board argues that by leav- their Cons ing the choice of pre-game prayer to the There i students,-the school district is not endors- prayer in ing the iaea gnd 'thereby not violating the forced upc Io Mintaining U.N; unding should be u I1XJhen Bill Clinton assumed the presi- ing healt dency in"1993, one of his first prospectiv actions was th& rescinding of a 1984 exec- about safe utive order maide'y President Reagan ban- Providi - nin y federal money from going to fam- tries is an ily planning organizations that performed could now or promoted sbottions in foreign countries. most of th WI the seven years since, President Clinton zations pr :bas never wavered in his support for a Taking aw woman's right to choose until now. for women Since taking control of Congress in a group i 1994, a small group of Republicans have totally ind attempted to codify Reagan's old executive Only a order into law using the tactic of refusing to planning o pay back dues owed to the United Nations the promo unless the abortion provision was agreed and that im to. Clinton steadfastly refused to sign any other tha U.N. dues bill with the abortion rider Parenthoo attached, but after years of being the U.N.'s organizatii biggest debtor the United States was in one perce danger of loosing its seat in the U.N. services. General Assembly. While the General The ab Assembly seat is only symbolically impor- the budget tant because of the U.S.'s permanent seat on ident if a f the U.N. Security Council, its loss would be total famil a major embarrassment. dent is ex In response to Secretary of State deal becor Madeline Albright's pleas to avoid such a Clinton w humiliation, as part of this year's budget year and t negotiations the president agreed to allow friendly to Reagan's executive order to officially Family become federal law. the US This capitulation to the demands of a increased small group of anti-choice lawmakers is a reduced th major mistake and will be detrimental to cies and he international efforts in family planning, Transmitt population control and sexually transmit- of the wor ted disease prevention. While many fami- of their v ly planning organizations are pro-choice, amount ti their primary focus is not on abortion, but activitiesi preventing unwanted pregnancies in the health and on's requirement of keeping the church and state separate. But chool property, such as micro- religious prayer, regardless of is led by students, qualifies as a f the First Amendment. bruary, school officials and six challenged the policy, which more stringent policies for the trict. onal pre-game words of inspira- neans to invoke school spirit is cceptable, but are often helpful. school property to lead a public unfair for students of varying )eliefs. Forcing all spectators at game to listen to the prayers of religion makes people feel likej n their own communities. utional matters aside, propo- pre-football game prayer may no one is being forced to listen yer as it is broadcast or take it But it is difficult not to hear a tress system broadcast, and this people uncomfortable. ng football games, although not nent, is very much part of life, in Texas, where players are ded as local heroes. Nobody el uncomfortable in their own y or among their peers, espe- n the law specifies the very acts iem uneasy are a violation of titutional rights. s nothing wrong with pre-game a private venue. But when it is n students action must be taken. choice inconditional th care and information to e mothers and educating people sex. ng these services in poor coun- incredibly important task that v be severely curtailed because e largest family planning organi- omote a woman's right of choice. ay this vital source of health care in third world countries because deologues is against abortion is efensible. small portion on any family )rganization's funds are used for tion or performing of abortions ioney can be raised from sources in the government. Planned d, the biggest family planning on for example, uses less than nt of its total budget on abortion ortion provision, as agreed to in deal, can be waived by the pres- inancial penalty is taken from the ly planning funds and the presi- pected to invoke the waiver if the nes law. The problem with that is ill only be president for another he next president might not be as wards abortion rights as he is. planning programs funded by government have dramatically the use of contraceptives, he number of unwanted pregnan- elped slow the spread of Sexually ed Diseases in many poor regions id. To take away the funds for all work because of the miniscule hey spend on abortion related is absurd and dangerous to the d well being of countless women THOMAS KULJURGIS ADVANCES IN COMMWUNI~CATION, Letter ignored important evidence of global warming TO THE DAILY: Glenn Kelly's letter ("Climate con- cerns should be addressed voluntarily," 11/12/99). raised some issues that need to be addressed. Kelly's letter was written in response to the Ozone Action Coalition's campaign for the University to divest from members of the Global Climate Coalition - specifically, GM, Mdbil and Exxon. This is part of a nationwide cam- paign"targeting the GCC, including cam- paigns on campuses such as Stanford, UCLA and the University of Washington. Kelly, executive director of the GCC, doesn't seem to give students of the University enough credit, nor does his organization. Apparently they didn't think that we would realize that his letter glossed over the issues. They didn't think we would be con- cerned that he failed to address the over- whelming body of evidence presented against the GCC in the article. No men- tion is made of the 2400 scientists from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and the 2,600 scientists, including over 20 from the 'U,' that say that global warming is a fact. This is quite dissimilar from the GCC's assertions. They claim that there is simply not enough evidence to make such a statement, in fact there may be evidence to the opposite effect. Unfortunately. these statements are based on the research of an isolated few scientists, mostly known climate-change skeptics, whose research is typically not reviewed by their peers. Similarly, the 2,500 economists, including 6 Noble Laureates, are not dis- cussed. These experts have stated that there are policies that can be implement- ed to slow global warming without harm- ing American living standards. This is, again, directly contrary to the statements of the GCC. Never mentioned is the sup- port of the 1,000 students, the 13 students groups and the 43 professors who are calling on the University to divest from these corporations. Instead, the letter seemed to be an attempt to make the motives of the GCC sound admirable. The Global Climate Coalition's policy of "voluntary actions" to reduce global warming emissions allows corporations to continue to pro- duce incredible amounts of greenhouse gases, while hiding behind a few small, voluntary actions that are frequently unverifiable. For example, the GCC has praised automakers for designing and marketing alternative energy vehicles, but makes no mention of how few of these are truly sold. They are able to improve their pub- lic image by mentioning such actions, but continue to mislead the public by not pro- viding sales information. We will be the first to applaud these corporations for the steps that they have taken, however these token voluntary _. _ _A .. - .i.... .,,t.. IHL TAPAT (rT SA 1-1 I iI Welfare recipients should be tested for 4 drug use TO THE DAILY: This letter is in response to Scott Hunter's column on stereotypes ("Welfare and drugs - A lesson in stereotypes," 1115/99). Hunter speaks in stereotypes himself, but doesn't realize it. He speaks in broad generalizations and never men- tions any politicians who might have spo- ken against this bill. I wish that he actual- ly looked at both sides of the argument, rather thanafromhis side alone.Then, he makes an untrue stereotype that the law- makers made this law, as well as others, "because it was based on false stereo- types." Let me make a stereotype on my own behalf, and this is sarcasm. Scott Hunter is just another black man calling everybody racist. Now see howdstupid that sounds. Let me go farther, and attempt to back up my own opinion like he has. Many African-Americans are the first to shout racist at anybody else. This is shown by the fact that those people who are against affirmative action will not speak up. Hunter also makes intelligent compar- isons which he thinks are stupid. He sug- gests a comparison of "administering drug tests to each student who applied for a stu- dent loan." I would not mind this. They have another method of doing this called grades. If a person is doing too much dope in college, his grades probably go down. Then, he suggests testing "your parents or grandparentsybefore forking over their social security checks." This is kind of funny' If the people are old enough to col- lect social security and have made enough money in their lifetime to be able to keep their house, eat and do drugs from just their social security, let them. Personally, I like the bill of testing wel- fare recipients for drugs. I do not want to pay somebody who is close to my age to sit around doing drugs, when I could be doing the same thing. I do not mind giving out welfare, in fact I am all for it for short periods of time. However, if somebody uses it as a constant and primary mean of Z1STANT M YE A' SENT uI h a u need ~SIP TAR W people who apply truly need it for a while,. and I am glad to give, as long as it is only" for a little while. Next time, I hope that Hunter, and anybody else writing,-:.. columns, will look at both sidesof t* issue and try to present both sides. not bash one and love the other, CHRIS CORONADO ENGINEERING FIRST-YEAR STUDEN Bush, Connerly are not anti-diversity TO THE DAILY: I was dismayed reading Jeffrey Kosseff's column on Wednesday stating that Jeb Bush and Ward Connerly "have fought vigorously to halt diversity" ("Leadership transcends. political affiliation" 11/17/99). People can be.. against affirmative action, while still pro- moting other methods to encourage diversity. Without agreeing or disagreeing with the. actions of the two men who were criticized, I feel it is unfair to say that they have "fought vigorously to halt diversity" just because they do not support affirmative action. Bush's recent Top 20 percent initiatives. strikingly similar to the 10 percent plan f Texas whose creators freely admit is in place not to raise (or keep) academic standards, but solely to increase diversity. Connerly oppos- es affirmative action because he feels minorities are capable of being accepted on their own merit and he does not want themto feel they were admitted for reasons other than theirfown achievements. While they may not favor affirmative action, they dog favor diversity; they are just trying new ways of achieving it. MAURY BRICKS LAW STUDENT MSA campaign tactics are shallow TO THE DAILY: - On the second day of voting for MSA elections I received four candy suckers Mn' my way through the Diag. How appropriate.-