4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, December 10, 1,999
cab11 Sidiigtun 3&lg
The '90s: The good, the bad and the
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
daily. letters@umich. edu
Edited and managed by
students at the
University of Michigan
HEATHER KAmINS
Editor in Chief
JEFFREY KOSSEFF
DAVID WALLACE
Editorial Page Editors
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the
Daily' editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect
the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
Will click for food
Website offers easy way to feed hungry
D uring the holiday season, people seem
to be more willing to donate their
time, money and energy to charity causes
and organizations that help to provide better
living conditions for those less fortunate
than themselves. But when it comes to giv-
ing on a daily basis, fewer people are will-
ing to commit themselves to helping others.
But now there is a simple, free and worth-
while way that we can each make a differ-
ence every day - and it is only a click
away.
Every 3.6 seconds, someone in the world
dies of hunger; this adds up to be about
24,000 people each day. Three fourths of
these deaths are children under the age of
five. Contrary to popular belief, famine or
war cause relatively little starvation. Famine
and war make up only 10 percent of hunger
deaths. According to the United Nations
World Food Program, the majority of
hunger deaths are caused by chronic malnu-
trition; that is, people are dying simply
because of poverty. Through a Website
known as www.hungersite.org there is a
way to help reduce these terrifying statis-
tics.
Available to the public since this past
July, The Hunger Site has already provided
billions of cups of food to hungry people
across the globe. Established by John
Breen, a software programmer who wanted
to help both educate and fight against
hunger, this site is a way for people to
donate food literally by clicking a button.
By going to the site and clicking on the
"Donate Free Food" link at the top of the
page, you register with the site's computer
server, which then adds your food donation
to the day's totals. While the server does
limit your donation to once a day, each day
that you click the "Donate Free Food" but-
ton, you donate three cups of staple food
such as maize, wheat or rice to a hungry
person. Recent totals have been more than
one million cups of donated food a day.
What is the catch, you ask? There isn't
one. The site is completely cost-free and
100 percent of the proceeds raised go to the
U.N. World Food Program, the world's
largest food aid organization. From here the
organization distributes food to people in
80 of the most hunger ridden and underde-
veloped countries in the world. The money
that pays for these food supplies comes
from sponsors who pay half a cent per
donation, adding up to one fourth of a cup
of cooked food per click.
In exchange for their donations, the
sponsors receive an advertisement recog-
nizing their company as a food donator on
the "Thank you for your donation" page,
with a direct link to their Website. In return
for their donation, hungersite.org offers
sponsors a direct form of advertising. The
Website is a win-win situation for everyone
involved.
Hungersite.org is a free and easy way to
contribute to helping make the world just a
little bit better each day. By bookmarking
the main page of hungersite.org and visiting
it daily, in only a few seconds you will make
a free food donation that helps save lives.
Think of all the time that you spend mind-
lessly on the Web - now this one click can
save a life.
Well. it seems like lists are all the rage
these days. Everyone and their brother
has a "best of the century" list for things rang-
ing from athletes to motor oil. I've never real-
ly been a big fan of these type of lists, as the
thought of comparing
aspects of unquantifi-
able entities against
each other seems
about as much fun as a $
battery-acid enema.
I mean, how in the
hell can someone con-
fidentlv assure me that
Jack Nicklaus was a
better athlete thany
Secretariat? In case
you missed that
episode of ESPN's Branden
"Sport sCentury," Sanz
Secretariat was a
horse, people! Gee. I Ig
wonderwho wins tha t
40-yard dash.
But, guess what? I gave in. Jumping on the
join 'em if you can't beat 'em" bandwagon,
I decided to come up with my own little list.
Being as this is my last column of the decade,
I will now, for your reading enjoyment, give
you the best and worst things about the 1990s.
The 10 Best Things of 1990-1 999:
10. "Extreme" Sports. It used to be that
people looked at you like a weirdo for riding
a motorcycle. Now, if someone says you're
eccentric because you like to skydive, you can
look him right in the face and say, "Hey! It's
not like I'm one of those street luge freaks!"
9. Country Line Dancing. Created by
men. for men. Where else on earth do all the
girls get out on the dance floor, line up next to
each other and proceed to dance the exact
same dance so you can compare their various
"attributes" to each other. All this for the
viewing pleasure of some drunken rednecks
watching from their tables.
"Say, Jim-Bob, check out the moves on
Number Three.'
"You're right, Cody, but No. I I has quite a
rack."
I think I hear the Diamondback calling my
name.
8. The Explosion of Sex/Violence in
Movies and TV. "Friends" would have been
too racy for prime-time in 1985, and "Starship
Troopers" would have been rated X for vio-
lence alone. We've come a long way. baby.
7. The Endurance of Bond. Even Timothy
Dalton couldn't kill everyone's favorite secret
agent. Brosnan may not be Sean Connery, but
even Nicholas Cage would look cool if he got
to drink martinis, hook up with supermodels
and kill a lot of bad guys. Well, maybe not
Nick Cage, but you get the point.
6. Pro Wrestling. Modern pro wrestling is
nothing more than a soap opera on steroids.
The acting is no worse and the storyline is cer-
tainly a lot more fun (mmm ... Nitro Girls).
Besides, I'll bet you a million to one that
Stone Cold can kick Lorenzo Lamas's ass.
5. The Wonderbra. I think we can all see
the logic behind this.
4. The Internet. You can check football
scores, purchase a new suit and watch porn -
all without leaving your favorite chair. Hooray
for progress!
3. The Resurgence of Alcohol. Alcohol
once again overtook cocaine as the social
drug of choice in the '90s. Hey, it tastes better,
kills you much slower and looks a whole lot
cooler. So the only question is this - why did
it take an entire frickin' decade for people to
figure this out?
2. 1997 Michigan National
Championship. Greise, Woodson and the
rest of the Jedi Knight Defense gave us one
hell of a run. I'm glad I was here for it.
And the best thing about the '90s is ...
1. SportsCenter. Yeah. baby!! It may not be
the "Big Show" anymore, but it's still the best
hour on TV there is. Cooler than the other side
of the pillow, indeed.
And now for the fun stuff. The Worst
Things of 1990-1999:
10. New York Yankees. Team of the
Decade, blah, blah, blah. Nobody cares.
Professional baseball is a dying sport, poi-
soned by overinflated salaries and even bigger
egos.
9. Wimpy Heroes. Nicholas Cage and
Leonardo DiCaprio are now action herds?
You've got to be kidding me. Maybe Stallone
and Arnold were bad actors, but at least my
little sister couldn't beat them to death with
her bare hands.
8. Supermodels. Why should the world
care about the activities of some 16-year-old
truly awful
anorexic girl just because she wears DKNY
on the runway? Our ridiculous fascination
with these people is one of the driving forces
behind the starvation look I like to call "Third
World Chic." Eat something, girl. I promise
you'll be okay.
7. Devolution of the NBA. In the '80s we
had heroes. We could look up to Magic,
Michael and Lamy. Who do kids look up to
nowadays? Dennis Rodman? Latrell
Sprcwell? And people actually are surprised*
when their kids turn into assault-prone, tat-
tooed body-pierced crossdressers. I can see it
now: "Be Like Spre!"
6. Gangsta Rap. Here's an idea - let's
make songs glorifying drug abuse. rape and
murder. Then we'll sell millions of records
and get rich while gullible kids who think
these things are cool tear apart our neighbor-
hoods.
5. Extremist Groups. Can't we all just get
along?
4. Frivolous Lawsuits. As Nike said,"Just
Sue It" was the rallying cry for millions dur-
ing the '90s who, firmly convinced that "per-
sonal responsibility" was just one big conspir-
acy by Da Man - hey wait! I already wrote
that column.
3. Scandal Fetish and the All-Pervasive
Media. Why does anyone care who in
Washington is sleeping with whom as long as
they are doing their jobs?
2. Grunge. This fad was created by ugly*
people, for ugly people. Really. You could line
up the Prom Queen and the Village
Troglodyte and be hard pressed to tell the dif-
ference when they both have no makeup, ratty
hair and are wearing dingy, oversized flannel
shirts. Three cheers for the ugly individual.
who figured this one out. They really leveled
the playing field.
And the Worst Thing About the '90s is ...
1. Political Correctness. Let's get rid of
quick, accurate terms for things and substitute
long, complex terms, which are actuall4
incorrect but appease a large portion of the
"historically oppressed" voting block. Guess
what, folks? Protection against being offend-
ed, insulted or degraded is not a constitution-
al right. Deal with it.
Happy Millennium.
-- Branden San: can be reached over
e-mail at hammerheadumich.edu.
ALOK BACK
MATT WIMSATT
Read 'em®.noth ing
Preserve the Miranda warning
f you ever watched a police drama or One of the nation's most basic
movie then you probably are familiar Constitutional principles is that suspects
with the Miranda warning. Read to suspects should not be compelled to provide damag-
prior to arrest and processing, the Miranda ing testimony. By reading suspects the
warning is a critical part of a suspect's basic Miranda warning, police do a great deal to
rights. Despite the past 30 years of use, the ensure that suspects retain their
Miranda warning is now coming under Constitutional rights. The 1968 statute goes
attack, placing citizens' rights in serious directly against the spirit of the Constitution
jeopardy. and the previous Miranda ruling. It thus
The U.S. Supreme Court's 1966 deci- violates two important precedents. As such,
sion in Miranda v. Arizona forces law it should be overturned immediately. The
enforcement officers to inform suspects of statute has not been enforced in 30 some
their right to remain silent, their right to years, having been ignored by courts, law
speak with an attorney and their right to enforcement officials and attorney gener-
have an attorney present during question- als. There is absolutely no reason to begin
ing. Suspects are also warned that anything enforcing the statute after all this time,
they say can be used in court, that they will especially considering its questionable
Enforcing drinking
laws will prevent
crimes at the 'U'
TO THE DAILY:
What's a university to do when members
of some of its most prominent student organi-
zations are stripping each other down to their
underwear as part of a bizarre initiation ritual?
Nothing, really. A student should be allowed
to parade around in front of-whoever he wants
to, and in whatever kind of weather.
The real question is, what's the University
Department of Public Safety to do when
somebody gets shot at point blank range in the
genitalia, or when someone gets alcohol poi-
soning because of a criminal initiation activi-
ty conducted by a prominent student organi-
zation? Clearly, DPS must investigate the
events and enforce all applicable laws. Such
laws exist to punish those who commit
crimes, and to deter others from committing
the same crimes again, even if the crime hap-
pens to be part of a tradition of "community
service and.brotherhood" or other such
mumbo-jumbo.
Whenever somebody gets alcohol poison-
ing, whenever someone gets,-hurt during a
hazing activity and whenever someone is
involved in a sex crime involving underage
drinking, the University ought to be held
strongly accountable due to its flagrant under-
enforcement of underage drinking laws.
These kinds of events would not occur so fre-
quently if the University was less passive in its
stance on underage alcohol abuse.
The Greek system is appropriately consid-
ered by the University to be a kind of student
organization. The problem is that most stu-
dents assume that student organizations are
going to be relatively safe and that participa-
tion won't involve excessive health risks or
criminal behavior. By neglecting to have DPS
officers enforce underage drinking laws, the
University makes itself an accomplice and
should be held accountable by the University
community.
MATTHEW MURPHY
LSA SENIOR
Hazing victims get
what they deserve
TO THE DAILY:
I am of the opinion that any of those fel-
lows that want to hang out in their drawls,
waiting to get shot in the penis, should be
promptly shot in the penis. As many times as
they wish. The same is true of anyone who
wants darts thrown at their crotch or who
would freely have their testicles detonated.
Fennvnne -wmn ha-, a a;ke in t
SO'ES At.lt'\PiLSlIC. CRA1'URE$
YSf? KILL 1NG GACN OTHER OVEV TI'tS
UL-lE k3N~pV S-TWF LAND ALL IN TOS
IfNiS REL G ON MUST' Be
A UR' UFL 1't!4C2
YES, INA'rS RIGHT'
C 'HAI3 WHAf1
GE't L I0
i
be provided with an attorney if they cannot
afford one, that special rules apply if they
are under the age of 18 and are asked
whether or not they understand these
rights.
Despite the Court's ruling, it took only
two years for the Miranda warning to
come under attack. Congress issued a
statute in 1968 saying that any statement
made voluntarily by a suspect will be
admissible in court. This does not protect
suspects from police interrogation meth-
ods that are designed to elicit "voluntary"
statements. Luckily, this obscure statute
has not been enforced in the past 30
years. Until now.
Last February, the U.S. District Court of
Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in
United States y. Dickerson that the 1968
statute effectively overturned the Miranda
ruling of 1966. This means that police do
not have to read suspects their rights; as a
result some suspects may be unaware of
their rights. and may incriminate them-
nature.
Proponents of the 1968 statute claim sus-
pects already know their rights and that
there is no reason to read them. This may be
true in some cases, but it certainly is not true
across the board or even for a majority of
suspects. Not all suspects are aware of their
rights, and they should be informed before
any action is taken against them.
Without the Miranda warning, rights in
this nation would take a serious blow. The
United States has long existed at the oppo-
site end of the spectrum from police states
such as the Serbia, Iraq and China. By elim-
inating the Miranda warning, the nation will
have taken a large step towards opposing
ideologies.
Unless the nation wishes to turn its back
on its most cherished ideals, the 1968 statute
must be overturned. It is of the utmost
importance that suspects retain protection
from overzealous law enforcement officials.
If the United States is to continue in its place
as the land of the free, it must preserve the
You see, no one who is into having their
penis fired upon should be granted the privi-
lege ofTcarrying around fully-operational gen-
itals. The threat of them passing on their
defective genetic information is unfair to the
rest of us. -So I say, "Shoot away, frat-broth-
ers!" May your aim be ever true! You are the
proud defenders of our precious gene pool!
ROSS HUNEFELD
ENGINEERING SENIOR
Letter writers
should lighten up.
TO THE DAILY:
I will be leaving Ann Arbor in a few
weeks after spending the past four years
here, and there are just a few things I want
to get off my chest. There have been a few
amazingly intolerant articles and letters
printed in the Daily recently. In the issue
from Dec. 7, Jesse Herzog wrote in com-
plaining that the Bell Tower was (gasp)
playing music! ("Bell tower music dis-
tracts and annoys") It's a Bell Tower,
that's what it's for - you have four more
years here, so get used to it. In the same
issue, Maury Bricks was complaining
about the poor language skills of people
working in fast food restaurants ("Store
clerks should improve their grammar").
These people aren't running for public
office, okay? It's fast food - lighten up.
Also, several weeks ago a staff member
whose name slips my mind wrote an
entire article complaining about people
who complain too much. Anyone else see
the irony here? And one last thing - I've
read over the raging affirmative action
debate in the letters section for over four
years now. Here's a piece of advice: Drop
it. You aren't going to change anyone's
mind- so i;i-%taree to ;kagree
Chlorine-free paper
is a worthy cause
TO THE DAILY:
I was pleased to see that MSA has addee
their support to EnAct's efforts encouraging
lTD's switch to non-chlorine bleached papers
("MSA to eliminate paper polling sites,"
12/1/99).
The use of chlorinated chemicals in paper
bleaching produces dioxin, furans and a host
of other chlorinated organic compounds
(organochlorines) which are discharged into
the waterways and collected in paper sludge.
Many of these compounds are known to
toxic to wildlife and humans, causing canc
and reproductive and developmental prob-
lenms. Dioxin and other toxic organochlorines
are of particular concern because they are
very persistent in the environment and have
the ability to concentrate up the food chain, so
even the release of small amounts may be
harmful.
Alternative bleaching methods include
oxygen, hydrogen peroxide and ozone. U.S.
paper manufacturers have been slow to adopt
the least polluting paper making method*
though cost competitive and effective alterna-
tives exist.
Concern about the effects of dioxin and
other persistent toxins led the International
Joint Commission on the Great Lakes to rec-
ommend a phase out of industrialF uses of
chlorine. The LJC is charged with overseeing
the implementation of the Great Lakes Water
Quality Agreement, which calls for "zero dis-
charge" of persistent toxic substances into th
Great Lakes. Creating a demand for environ-
mentally preferable products is an important
aspect of working toward zero discharge.
Chlorine-free paper is currently available
at the computing site at the School of
Education. I certainly hope that EnAct is suc-
cessful in their efforts to make chlorine-free
naner available a tal rTr sitec
I