4 - The Michigan Daily -Wednesday, October 18, 2000 tbe Miigan & ilg Random thoughts for a O'' kay, I admit it. I screwed up. I had this more and kick-ass column all set to go and some- they areg how managed to lose it inside my computer. Gestapo-li So the result is: (drumroll, please!) Back by not the an not-so-popular demand, the hodgepodge, last- be out in f second, thrown-together, this-a and that-a col- have a cri 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 daily.letters@umich.edu Edited and managed by students at thie University of Michigan MIKE SPAHN Editor in Chief EMILY ACHENBAUM Editorial Page Editor Wednesday mc [more seriously. This is good, but going about it the wrong way, as ke tactics and harsher penalties are swer. You can murder someone and ive but drink underage and you now iminal record for the rest of your you kidding me ? Draconian penal- nor offenses are just a way for peo- e themselves into believing they still dards in a violent and lawless soci- Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Dailys editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. umn! Does anyone besides myself wonder how on earth our foot- ball team can be absolutely unstoppable one week and the next week look like the Scott Bakula-led cast of characters from Necessary Roughness? Well, there is one exception - Hayden Epstein in no way, shape or form looks like Kathy Ireland. Why do the Indi- ana University helmets look like some sort of life? Are ties for mi ple to dupe have stand Long fall weekend should be standard Branden Sanz -, ar x With mid-terms approaching, major papers due and a consis- tent lack of sleep adding up, many stu- dents could benefit from a long weekend to alleviate stress and pro- vide some much needed extra study time. Unfortunately, the first break of the fall semester isn't until Thanksgiv- ing--nearly three months into the school year. We need a fall break. Instead, the University should fol- low the lead of other maj or institu- tions that schedule a long weekend earlier in their academic calendar. Schools such as Harvard, Georgetown, and the University of Pennsylvania all have a three-day weekend scheduled in early October. Williams College has two designated reading days in the middle of October just before most midterms. Similar to study days at the end of the semester, reading days give students an opportunity to catch up in classes and study for upcoming mid- terms. While other universities' schedules should not determine the University's academic calendar, the fact that many other colleges have a fall break vali- dates the argument for time off. More- over, the University has a week-long break in February and March. By sup- porting time off in the middle of the spring semester, the University further substantiates claims for time off in the middle of fall semester. If the University instituted a break in mid-October, students who live far from Ann Arbor could have enough time off to justify plane fares or long car trips. On the other hand, students who chose to stay in Ann Arbor could have a chance to catch up on sleep, study without the interruptions of classes or just relax before midterms. Whatever students decided to do with their time off, they would return to classes reinvigorated and more pre- pared for midterms and major papers in the weeks to come. To compensate for the academic class days lost to a long weekend, the semester could start a few days earlier. For example, this year, classes began on Sept. 6th, the Wednesday after Labor Day - a starting date already later than many other public institu- tions. Ultimately, a few days off in October would be more beneficial to students than the later start of classes. Breaks give students a chance to step back from their stressful, academ- ic lives and enjoy what is going on around them. While currently the fall semester seems never-ending at times, a fall break would help end the monot- ony of regularly scheduled classes, and students would return to class more prepared to learn and take midterms. laundry detergent logo'? I want to meet the genius responsible for looting all the tampon machines on cam- pus. If I wasn't so upset about somebody stealing the University's hard-earned money ... Hey! Wait a second! Isn't that the same Uni- versity that's raping me for $11,000 a semes- ter'? In that case, I salute the Tampon Bandit for engaging in her felonious behavior with such precision and derring-do. Between harsher penalties for underage drinkers and the proposal for a new bill which would provide detailed information on people purchasing kegs of beer, it seems that legisla- tors are taking the problem of binge drinking ety. I, for one, was quite happy to see old Bobby Bowden and company at Run-'em-up University lose a week ago, but I almost wish it had not been at the hands of the Miami Hur- ricanes. Those lifelong college football fans among us remember all to well the dark years of the late '80s and early '90s when the Evil Empire reigned supreme over the college foot- ball landscape. One the other hand, now that the 'Canes are good again, I can feel good about hating them again. I wonder if there is a single Republican out there that voted for George W. Bush over John McCain that isn't kicking himself in the teeth right now. When someone who claims to have invented the Internet routinely makes your candidate look like an ass during debates, you probably picked the wrong guy. Oh, damn! I just remembered that Sweetest Day, that most loathsome of all Hall- mark Holidays, is nearly upon us again. I guess that means that the Second Annual Man Day is also nearly upon us, to the triumph of testosterone everywhere. Save the cards and flowers, folks. Lets go up North and get dirty. Co'mmune with nature and all that. The recent outbreak of violence in the Middle East is truly sad and not something I would ever make light of. However, I am an w ning eternal optimist by nature and can't help but find the silver lining in this cloud: Majoring i Arabic Studies just got a whole lot more mar- ketable. Not only did the two men who hijacked a plane bound from Saudi Arabia to London on Saturday land without incident and surren- der peacefully to the authorities, but apparent- ly some passengers didn't even notice the plane was being hijacked until it landed in Iraq. Talk about pathetic. I guess good terror- ists are hard to find these days, or maybe the were all just hard at work in Yemen. On that note, if you accept the proposed theory that the terrorists responsible for the attack on the USS Cole atrocity were acting under the fundamental Islarm-versus-the-West ideology, their method of attack seems quite ironic. Sinking or blowing up ships using homemade bombs, delivery by man-powered raft and near-suicidal mission planning was first mastered (almost to the point of an art form) by the Israeli Haganah back in the early 1940's. November 7th is coming fast, so pleas do your part on that day. Seventeen sailors died this past weekend, like countless others have before them, to insure you the right to choose your government. These were not highly trained combat soldiers, lovers of violence or war-mongers. They were very simply young people, much like you or I. The only difference is that they put themselves in harm's way for the interest of their country and they died for it. The least we can do is take an active role i determining who decides when and where they lay down their lives. If we don't, we might as well just spit on their graves. - Branden Sanz can be reached via e-mail at hamrhead@umich.edu. ^..:. :',Y nkW EtA 's L .?miA2: If/ r1M?4' i+ , .. 1 .. .. .. 'It doesn't seem to serve a purpose, except to give information that Is already available through the Free- dom of Information Act.' - LSA sophomore Eric Buckstein on the reasons behind a failed MSA resolution that would have called on the University to disclose its "investments using student tuition/fees that support Israel or Palestine." Minor offenses New draconian MIP policies help no one he United States government .. trusts 18 to 20-year-olds to do almost anything. At 18, you can vote, drive a car, sign a legally binding contract, or pay someone to tattoo or pierce your body. You can be tried as an adult and even be executed if you commit a serious crime. You can become a bartender, waiter, or wait- ress and fix and serve drinks to oth- ers. All of you are expected to pay taxes. But you can't be served in a bar and best of luck if you're caught with a beer in your hand - especially if you happen to live in Ann Arbor. Last week, the Ann Arbor City Attorney's office made a slight adjustment to its minor in possession of alcohol policy that made the penalties for getting caught tipsy much more severe. First time MIP offenders are still able to "get off the hook" if they are willing to take a $100 educational course and pay $50 in court fees; doing this will erase the charges from their permanent records. The policy shift will not allow second-timers to get off so easily; their drivers' licens- es will be suspended for 30 days and the criminal convictions will forever stain their permanent records. What this means is when a student gets charged with a second MIP, he will be forever doomed to check the "yes" box when asked on grad school and job applications if he has ever been convicted of a crime. And most McCaffrey wil airry McCaffrey has decided to call it quits. Monday McCaffrey announced his resignation, which will be effective Jan. 6- two weeks before the next pres- ident is sworn in. McCaffrey and his approach to the "War on Drugs ' won't be missed. During his tenure as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, McCaffrey aggressively fought efforts to legalize medical marijuana and promoted drug testing programs for athletes. Other efforts included shady deals with televi- sion networks that allowed McCaffrey's office to review shows' scripts for anti- drug messages and overseeing the United State's $1.3 billion aid package to Columbia to fight drug trafficking. Despite the suffering the War on Drugs perpetuates, it is still politically popular so it is unlikely that the next organizations won't distinguish between a student's 19-year-old Sat- urday night partying and, say, robbing a bank. They will probably see the check in the "yes" box and dispose of his application without a second look. This policy change is little more than a public relations move on the part of the City Attorney's office: An attempt to ma ke it appear as though they are tough on crime and con- cerned about the "problem" of col- lege drinking. Never mind the fact that that this Tegislation will do noth- ing to deter illegal activity;. what it may do is cut down on the number of students who walk home from frat parties. The message it sends is less 'don't drink" than "don't get caught." In other countries around the world that have no legal drinking age, there are far fewer problems with drunk driving and alcoholism. Chil- dren are taught to respect alcohol from a young age. By labeling alco- hol as forbidden, these laws practical- ly scream to be broken. It is because of them that we see people attempt- ing to do 21 shots on their 21st birth- days without throwing up or dying of alcohol poisoning. When something, anything, is withheld from a group of people, it only enhances their desire to have it. If the government wants to see more responsible behavior with regard to alcohol, perhaps it should re-evaluate its current policies. not be missed president will support any type of legisla- tion that will put it to rest. One way to influence the War on Druos without much political risk-taking wou d be to appoint a less hard-line suc- cessor to McCaffey. This would by no means be the best way to remedy the problems the War on Drugs has created, but it would still be a good start. If neither Al Gore nor George W. Bush are courageous enough to stand up to the interests promoting the War on Drugs, then the least they can do is pri- vately recognize its harmful effects and replace McCaffrey with someone a little more moderate: From the irrational pro- hibition on medicinal marijuana to racist mandatory sentencing laws to the govern- ment's attempts to review televisions show scripts, the War on Drugs has done nothing but promote despair. Palestinians' plight cannot be ignored TO THE DAILY: I write in regards to the article on Prof. Kleiman's presentation at Hillel on Wednesday, Oct. 11, regarding the situa- tion in Israel and Palestine. At this event participants saw Kleiman deny basic objective facts about the cur- rent situation in the Middle East. It is a fact that Israel is one of the largest mili- tary powers in the world and is using tanks, helicopter gunships and missiles against Palestinian civilians either lightly armed or armed with stones. It is a fact that Israeli military tactics, such as shooting at areas above the stom- ach, inflicting eye injuries and other inci- dents such as the shooting of children, the shooting of medics and the blocking of hospitals in occupied East Jerusalem, have been condemned as excessive by respected international human rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch. Physicians for Human Rights, as well as Israeli human rights groups like B'Tselem, Gush Shalom and Rabbis for Human Rights. The United Nations Security Council, with the exception of the United States, has also described (and condemned) Israel's tactics as excessive. Kleiman chose to deny (or not mention) these facts and, it seems to me, to attempt to prevent others from speaking these truths at the event. It is sad that so many in the Jewish community on this campus and in the United States overall choose to turn a blind eye to the injustices inflicted by the Israeli government and military on Pales- tinians, within Israel and within occupied Gaza and the West Bank. How many years of Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, how many years of officially-sanctioned discrimination within Israel against non- Jewish Israelis, are we Jews willing to accept? And why do we continue to act surprised when, after the Palestinian peo- ple have been stomped upon for 50 years and we American Jews refuse to listen to their legitimate demands for international- ly recognized national and human rights, they rise up against the Israeli government and military, and even commit atrocities against Israeli civilians? We need on this campus to have an open debate in which those defending the status quo in Israel truly listen to the argu. ments of those they oppose, and acknowl- edge the basic facts of the situation. Kleiman's presentation was not such a debate. AARON STARK LSA SENIOR Students should protect Diag 'M' from Michigan State TO THE DAILY: Listen up all you Michigan fans. I am for those of you who would rather cuddle up in bed and dream of Saturday, I have one demand of you. We will Defend the Diag at night, you defend it during the day. Nobody, and I mean nobody should be able to color our Diag green and white while students are going to class. That is all I ask of you. It's time that somebody other then the football team shows some heart. This is your chance. We will be victorious on Sat- urday and we will succeed in defending our home. BRIAN GROESSER LSA SOPHOMORE Drilling in Alaskan wildlife reserve is nothing to fear TO THE DAILY: I was dismayed that Al Gore's rhetoric trumped the truth for a majority of the Daily's editorial board in "Fuel for thought" (10/10/00). As an Alaskan, I feel that many of the facts concerning the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve have been obscured by rhetoric. First, I doubt very much that many peo- ple realize that ANWR is a desert. Merri-. am Webster's Dictionary defines a desert as an arid land with usually sparse vegeta- tion receiving less than 10 inches of spo- radic rainfall annually (paraphrased). Barter Island WSO Airport (located at Kaktovik, which is roughly in the middle of the Arctic Preserve coastal area) received an average of 5.05" of rain per year from 1982-1988 according to the National Climate Data Center. In compari- son, Baghdad and Kuwait receive respec- tively 5.5 and 5.1 inches of rain annually. The "North Slope" of Alaska is an arc- tic desert north of the treeline. No forest, no trees, just arctic desert. You don't hear people objecting to drilling in the Sahara, instead you hear them telling OPEC to drill more. Why not drill our own desert (albeit an arctic one)? Caribou herds are another concern, however, according to a 9/22100 Washing- ton Times article, the Central Arctic Herd (which roams in the Prudhoe Bay area) seems to be thriving. It has increased from fewer than 100,000 in 1976 to more than 450,000 today. If oil drilling was detrimen- tal to caribou, then the herd numbers should be declining. The fact that they are increasing is a testament to how environ- mentally friendly oil production is. Finally, I keep hearing about how ANWR oil won't make any difference. The 1998 U.S. Geological Survey and May 2000 update put the amount of oil in ANWR anywhere from 3 billion barrels to 16 billion barrels. Compare that with th Strategic Petroleum Reserve, whic according to the United States Department of Energy Website only has the capacity for 0.7 billion barrels and currently only holds 0.571 billion barrels. Even if the lowest yield proves to be reality, ANWR contains over five times more oil than our strategic reserve. If allowing a little oil out of our strategic reserve has as big of an effect on oil prices as is being reported, imagine what five times the entire capacity of the reservx would do to oil prices. I've visited Prudhoe Bay, which is something I doubt many on the Daily's editorial board can say and I was impressed every minute I was there at the extraordinary measures the oil companies take to make sure that when they leave, no trace of them ever being there will be left. Far from destroying "the nation's most beautiful landscape," ANWR can b drilled effectively and without damagin the environment. PETER GIESSEL ENGINEERING GRADUATE STUDENT Proposed keg registration law is 'silly,' not terrible 0 1 TO THE DAILY: This letter is in regards to the Daily's editorial about a proposed law regarding kegs ("Where's the keg?" 10/17/00).3 I agree, keg registration seems pretty silly but they can't be more dangerous than guns, right? I must disagree with the stated disadvan- tages, though. The addresses would likely used by cops to cruise by the parties and:;1 they saw, say, drinking on the lawn or loud music emanating from the house then they would pursue it further. I don't think anyone expects that the cops are going to start breaking down doors of places where kegs were recently bought for. Secondly, getting someone's personal info doesn't take much time at all and cer- tainly is less of a burden than -- I don't know - being compelled to store moun- tains of returnable bottles and cans f recycling. DAVID GUBBINI LAW STUDENT MATT WIMSATT K ::'.:: ,. r- - t -. - " r r a " . " i Ia1n JllDTU i