4A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, January 8, 2001 ale SCii an iIg Cancer sticks: I'll take a French fly instead 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. Students should run for city council seat Itry my best to not hate anything. Really, anything. Those people who know me know that I haven't been entirely successful ... most notably due to my hatred of nearly all vegeta- bles. I get endless ribbing from family, friends and it seems even acquaintances for my patent- ed hamburger-fries- salt-pizza diet, but it y .A works for me. I may be getting up close and personal with an EKG a lot earlier in life than most people, but hey, why not. I like pizza. I love French fries. I enjoy hamburgers. That's right, no cheese. And yes, I'm from Wisconsin. Go figure.i I don't eat celery, much less broccoli, Spahn spinach or any of the yq truly grotesque "good"C foods. And unfortunate-F ly, since I've been spending most of my time at the Daily, my exercise often times consists only of the walk- ing it takes to get to the crappy food I put in my body, negating any possible benefits from the exercise. But I'm trying to get better, and I'm looking for anything that makes me feel just a little bit better about my high cholesterol and ridiculous eating habits. The best way I've found to do this is to give in to one of my other hatreds: Smoking. No, I don't mean that I smoke to feel better about anything, it's actually just the opposite. I focus on the fact that I don't smoke, so at least I'm not readily ingesting tar and other chemicals into my air passages. But then my hatred for smoking just grows. For the record, I'm not one of those people who leaves the room anytime someone lights up, nor do I go around preaching to my friends about the evils of smoking. I don't launch into impassioned pleas when a bar fills with smoke. But every time I see a friend go for a smoky treat, I wonder to myself what possess- es them. I leave a bar and the next morning the only thing I hate more than my headache is the smell on my clothes. Why do so many people willingly do something so gross, unhealthy and just plain nasty? At first, I figured it was the social appeal of smoking. Sure it's nice to go out and hang out for a few minutes with friends and share a common experience. But then I saw the stu- pidity in that logic. Never have I thought it would be fun or cool to go outside in sub-zero temperatures to fill my body with toxins. Frost bite and lung cancer in one sitting -.sounds appetizing. So from there I went to the peer pressure argument. Sure, I was offered a ciga- rettes all the way back in middle school and for a while it was "the cool kids" who were smoking. But anybody who makes life and death decisions based on pre-pubescent logic such as "I do it to be cool" is out of their mind. So with that argument dismissed, I thought maybe the tobacco companies did such a great job of getting to young, impressionable minds with Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man that smokers were hooked before they could ratio- nally make up their minds. But then the reality set in, as I polled a few smokers about why the do it. To my amaze- ment, they actually said they enjoy it. They actually like putting this crap into their body, much the way I enjoy eating my French fries. But at least I get minimal nourishment from the fries, I argued, but to no avail. All of those hor- ror stories, statistics and impassioned pleas that I usually hold back can't pry the Bic lighter out of a smoker's hand on its way to light up the newest cancer stick. Even the most frightening of statistics cannot dissuade a smoker from proceeding down the nicotine line. Tell a smoker that one in five deaths in America can be attributed to smoking, they open their pack. Tell them that smoking costs more than $100 billion for treatment and lost productivity and the lighter hits the end of the cylinder. Talk about the nasty smell, the yel- low teeth and bad breath and a smoker inhales the first bits of their vice. Get practical anO mention everything a smoker could buy with the money spent on cigarettes even in one year, and there's no response. I then launch into stories about my grandpa, who died pre- maturely after taking down a couple packs a day for decades, and nothing. I tell smokers about my uncle, who died before his 45th birthday from cancer, and I get the sympathy backed up by a puff of smoke to the face. So with all of this on the table, I'm still searching. An industry thrives even though it actually kills people with its product. And fo what? There are no benefits as far as I can see, unless of course you're looking to cut months from your life and disgust most people you meet along the way of that shortened path. But I'm not going to tell people to stop smoking. I'mu not going to tell you about the time I wish I had with my grandpa or the time my cousins surely wish they had with their dad. I've got a bit of a liber- tarian sense in me, so I think that's your choice. But I do want to know why people smok So if you can tell me, please write me and opeV my eyes. And while you think about it, don't light one up. Grab some French fries or a slice of pizza. Maybe that way we'll all smell a little better, look a little better and live a lot longer. - Mike Spahn can be reached via e-maiL at mspahn@umich.ed D uring the fall and winter terms, stu- dents make up about one-third of the residents of the city of Ann Arbor. Despite this, there are no students serving on the city council. In the past, students have played an active role in city politics - the city's lenient marijuana laws are due to student members of the R council in the - 1970s. Many issues considered E U by the city councils affect students - from taxation and- parking policies to3 alcohol and noises ordinances - and students should play a role in mak- E. MAE ing these deci- sions. In November, tA Chris Kolb was " elected to the Michigan State House, freeing up one seat on the city council. Although he rep- resented the 5th Ward - an area extend- ing from central campus west to 1-94, including parts of Ann Arbor's down- town business district - a student should run for this position and students should support a student candidacy. After the city's wards were re-drawn in the 1980s, students were effectively shut out of city politics. The University campus was divided among the five new wards each radiating out from Central Campus. The census this year will pro- vide the data for possibly changing the ward boundaries and if the wards are re- drawn, the student population should be concentrated in a few wards, instead of gerrymandered into many to reduce stu- dent political clout. The wards are not the only factor lim- iting student participation in city politics.- In recent years, student voter turnout has been extremely low. Because University students have unique housing, parking, safety and other concerns, there should be a ward R 1X encompassing a primarily student- inhabited area. In recent years, Q students have not been absent from local and regional politics. In 1999, two students N ST. unsuccessfully ran for city council as Mu, STLibertarian candi- ID dates; in 1998, then-LSA senior Jeff Irwin success- fully ran for District 11 Washtenaw Coun- ty Commissioner, and he now sits on the 14-member board which makes adminis- trative and budget decisions for the coun- ty. This fall, an unprecedented three students ran for seats on the University Board of Regents. Although Ann Arbor encompasses much more than the University, students play a large and unique role in the eco- nomic and social texture of the city. Stu- dents deserve political representation in determining the policies and laws that affect them. The solution is threefold: More students voting in city elections, wards that do not split the student vote and student candidates for Ann Arbor city council. 'It Is Impossible to have a longer winter break if we want to start after Labor Day, finish fall term before Christmas and have three full terms.' -University Registrar Tom McElvain responding to complaints about the short winter break. No more secrets Government needs to end 'secret evidence' In the past five years, 50 people have been arrested under regulations from Anti-Communist Acts of 1950. The use of secret evidence to deprive someone of his or her liberty is hypocritical of the American system of justice. Yet that is exactly what is happening to aliens picked up on an immigration charge, sus- pected of an association with terrorism but so far not charged with an actual crime. Classified evidence, usually in the possession of the FBI or other govern- ment agencies, is used to detain the defendants. The issue of secret evidence involves vague notions of national securi- ty, but the evidence is generally used to keep detainees in the dark about their own legal status. The public, including the defendants and their lawyers, are not given the opportunity to see the evidence against them, thus making it practically impossible to defend themselves. The use of secret evidence is not per- mitted in criminal cases, including national security cases such as spy trials. However, the decades-old law allows such evidence to be used in certain immi- gration proceedings. The Illegal Immi- gration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 broadened the range of proceedings where secret evidence can be used against an immi- grant. The result has been pure injustice. Government agents present a judge with secret evidence, upon which the defendants are charged and told that they - ca - Representatives passed an amendment offered by Rep. Tom Campbell (R-Calif.) to cut federal prison funding in the amount of the cost of a secret evidence detention. Furthermore, both houses of Congress are currently in support of leg- islation abolishing the use of secret evi- dence. Campbell and Rep. David Bonior (D-Mount Clemens) introduced the Secret Evidence Repeal Act, which already has more than 90 cosponsors and would completely abolish the use of secret evidence. Numerous civil rights groups and groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Arab- American Anti-Discrimination Commit- tee have spearheaded efforts to fight secret evidence. By ignoring the calls of the people and the representation of the people, the Justice Department has effec- tively taken the law into its own hands. Of those detained with the use of secret evidence, all but one have been Arab, Muslim or both. These numbers speak for themselves and there is no doubt that the use of secret evidence is nothing more than racial profiling. No person should be held for three years, not allowed to see their family, while trying to defend themselves against unknown charges. However, that was the experi- ence of an Egyptian, Nasser Ahmed. He was kept in solitary confinement for three years after refusing to act as a trans- lator for the FBI. After being denied bond and kept in prison based on secret evidence, he was finally released after all tte ctiAr-n- --A^ ci-.A A A n- Dec. 26 was an appropriate start for snow emergency TO THE DAILY: It is my opinion that the city of Ann Arbor did the right thing in declaring a snow emergency starting Dec. 26 ("Ann Arbor slips up," 1/5/01). Thereason the snow emergency was declared when it was because there wouldn't be a large number of students get- ting in the way of the clean-up. The timing of the snow and how close it came to the end of month I'm sure did not make their decision any easier. Also, the fact that while we did get a large amount of snow beginning Dec. 11, the snow continued well iito the next week. I understand that many out-of-state stu- dents were upset that they weren't informed about the emergency until they were home, but, quite frankly, a student living hundreds or thousands of miles away shouldn't be leaving their cars parked on public streets for upwards of two weeks without being there to supervise them. Keep in mind that snow removal cannot be an easy task for the city of Ann Arbor, given the amount of snow we have had, and I applaud the city for doing the best possi- ble job with the resources they had. Keep this in mind as well: If the city had declared a snow emergency, say a week earlier, how would you have reacted to that? Would you have liked all that added hassle during finals week? I would tend to think not. PETER SUSALLA ALUMNUS Concealed weapons law helps 'good guys' To THE DAILY: The Daily's editorial "Safety Under Fire" (1/5/01) came out against the change of the con- cealed weapons regulations. Yet, on the front page is a story about a spate of robberies at gun- point. Perhaps, if these victims had concealed weapons at the time of being robbed or mugged, they would be able to protect them- selves. I believe the regulations in place with this new law will allow the option of law-abid- ing citizens to protect themselves on the streets of Ann Arbor from the thugs who seem to be terrorizing the University community. Will any- one cry if a mugger gets shot in the act? Isn't it better that the robber get shot than the innocent person walking back to their place late at night? Bad guys will find and use their guns for bad things anyway. This law allows the good guys to protect themselves. DAViD TAUB ALUMNUS Legal recount of Florida votes ended appropriately TO THE DAILY: I read with interest the Daily's editorial "Republican Coup" (1/4/01) on the election results. I was disappointed that the Daily did not have arguments which were more ratio- nal and well thought out. An example would be the Daily's state- ment that President Clinton could continue in office while a "complete and accurate" recount could be completed in Florida. That of course, would not be consistent with the Constitution, even if it was a good idea. It raises some serious questions. Who would decide that President Clinton should continue in office while a recount wa@ underway? Who would decide the recount was finally complete and correct, and that the time had come for the former president to hand over authority to the new president? Since these would be violations of the Constitution, would they require a Constitu- tional Amendment, or do we want the Supreme Court actually changing the United States Constitution? Or perhaps Congress could suspend the Constitution, just this one time, until the outcome was felt to be appropriate. ' Perhaps President Clinton could be the, one to make these decisions? The Constitution and laws were devel- oped to avoid these obvious problems which could result in very real usurpations of power. The results of an election are never absolutely precise and we never will know the exact vote count, but the legal procese set up prior to the election at least makes th process as fair as possible and results in a peaceful resolution. Suspending the laws and the Constitu-' tion is much less likely to have that result. RICHARD TAYLOR ALUMNUS DANE BARNES DISTURBED SLEEP t& r R~E'S vfO SON -4 1 ( { DAR J Qt If" Y Zoc1 At least 'Temptation Island' is truth O By Paul Condra The Daily (U. Washington) I never watched "Survivor." I was in Spain when "Big Brother" premiered there last year and what a bore. I have no wish to find out "Who's the Mole." Yet I can't wait to watch "Temptation Island." Here's why. "Temptation Island" doesn't try to mask itself as an intelligent show. It doesn't claim to and in a time of ultra-sickening PC sensitivity, being honest for once is admirable. How absurd to think one dumb voyeur show is the catalyst that will irrevocably plunge soci- ety into an abyss of blackness? Soap operas have been doing what "TI" proposes to do for decades - and truly, what makes "TI" more real than a scripted show? Nothing. It's all just TV. Americans are not any more or less stained in advertising for a few bucks. If Monica Lewinsky, the WTO, Elian Gon- zales and the presidential election have show America anything, it's that our culture has its own unclean underbelly in which many Amen-- cans want to indulge. So where do we go from here? The same way we always have, trying to teach the youth right from wrong, always with a keen eye on a reality that continually assaults our morals.