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