4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, December 4, 2001 OP/ED 4 The Iawrbig-un- u 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 daily. letters@umich.edu EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 GEOFFREY GAGNON Editor in Chief MICHAEL GRASS NICHOLAS WOOMER Editorial Page Editors NOTABLE QUOTABLE ( So the days of Democrats and Republicans standing on the steps of the capital side by side singing 'God Bless America' are over, at least for now." -Jonathan Karl, CNN congressional correspondent in the CNNcom chat room in reference to an end of the bipartisanship that Sept. 11 created. The issues he cited included tax cuts, civil liberties and homeland security. 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. v tO~ S tu M1 JVreV-a1. aA ae~~iVr ti l s- 4 WA~T 4 Frienemies: WhoCan You Trust? DUSTIN J. SEIBERT THi MANIFESTO 4 (phone rings) "Hello?" "Hey, what's the deal Dustin?" "Hey, ... umm ... who dis?" "Yo, it's such-and- such. How you been?" "Oh, whassup? I'm fine, and yourself?" (point- less small-talk ensues) "Yeah, so, uh, can you give me a ride to Central tomorrow afternoon?" (click) Having been one of the few cats with a vehicle my freshman year, I stayed in the Rolodexes of many friends, associ- ates and others who didn't hesitate to pick up a phone or stop by if they needed to be shot down to Central Campus or something. Now, I am not a stingy individual, and I often go out of my way to accommodate people who need a help- ing hand. However, when I started noticing a pattern of people calling on me only when they needed a solid, and never otherwise, I started politely telling them to do like Spike Lee says and get their asses on the bus. I have serious issues with "frienemies" who form convenient "friendships" with peo- ple who they would otherwise disassociate themselves from. Common victims of such bloodsuckers? Lonely people who yearn for attention. My strong conscience prevents me from taking pleasure in people's insecurities as such, and so it invokes a passion within me when I witness others do so. That line between a user and someone with genuine interests is so paper-thin that it is often diffi- cult to tell who is what in the beginning. This is exactly why the number of people whom I call "friend" is scores different than the number of people who I associate with on a regular basis. I strongly believe that people give the word far more blase treatment than it deserves. A friend is something more than someone who you simply exchange greetings with on a daily basis; a friend, much like an intimate relationship, is a commitment. To give a part of yourself to someone is damn hard, but that is exactly what constitutes a genuine friendship. If you are reading this, chances are you are at an age where friendship actually means something to you. This isn't high school, where so-called friends are represented by the politics of peer pressure. Though we con- stantly make transitions in life, the measure of a friend is their resolve to stick out said tran- sitions, even if they get unbearable at times. I believe that college is the period in where one can firmly establish a lifelong bond with another, while also cementing an idea of the type of individual that one would wish to dis- tance themselves from. Why? Because this is the period of transition between childhood and real life that largely defines who we are, and what is truly important to us. Much like finding a partner, searching for compadres gets increasingly more difficult as you get older, or so I am told. I used to follow a list of "requirements" for friends that I thought everyone should hold to, but I came to realize that all of my real friends don't have similar characteristics across the board. Each of my closest friends are drastically different from one another, and for the most part, they are much different from myself, but the truth remains that I would rip my left arm off for any one of them if I had to. The fact that such differences can exist between friends is absolutely incredible, because there is that hidden, unspoken under- standing that the bond goes so much deeper. People vastly underrate the value of the whole concept. One of my biggest fearsis that I don't maintain the truly important bonds that I make in my tenure at the univer- sity; sure we all go our separate ways, to dif- ferent states, to lives and careers that vary vastly, but is that supposed to be it? I refuse to believe it. Despite how often I identify many human emotions as weaknesses, I gen- uinely believe that everyone needs someone. Jumping headfirst into the world can be diffi- cult without the support of friends ... they help weed out that negative influence designed to bring you down. Being the paranoid chap that I am, I always keep one eye open for that snake in the grass that has no reservations about smiling in my face while brandishing that proverbial knife while my back is turned. The concept of trusting your fellow man seems to be largely accepted in the society in which we live, so every once in a while I let my guard down and see where it gets me. Surely enough, I repeatedly get let down by people who take my trust for granted, thus implying that they feigned the respect that allowed me to let them in to begin with. Now I am not suggesting that everyone walk around with a constant air of suspicion for everyone else, as that is an uncomfortable way of life. Should the spirit move you though, take a moment to closely re-evaluate your relationships with people; I'll bet that you surprise yourself by finding something that you didn't want to find,- or perhaps you will have a positive revelation about someone that you didn't previously give much merit to. Of course, if you don't have any friends alto- gether, then perhaps you should consider bathing on a regular basis. Knowledge. Dustin J Seibert can be reached via e-mail at dseibert@umich.edu. Just go home already PETER CUNNIFFE ONE FOR THE ROAD 14 F:<< rying to allay con- cerns that he was not bowing to Republican demands fast enough to avoid being labeled a traitor, Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), appear- ing on "Meet the Press" on Sunday, professed confi- dence that both an econom- ic stimulus bill and a "terror insurance" bill, measures meant to help prop up the economy, would be passed soon. He also canceled a planned fundraising trip next week so he could be in Washington to shepherd these bills through the Senate. But he should take that trip, or a vacation, or just go home. Because staying looks like it will just mean more handouts to people who don't need it at the expense of those who can't afford it. "Terror insurance" sounds like a good idea, right? But the bill isn't what you might think. It provides $100 billion in loans to the insurance industry should they need to cover the cost of future terrorist attacks, but the loans wouldn't have to be paid back if the administration chose to let them off the hook. And should the insur- ance industry's lobbyists prove as effective as in the past, guess who gets to pay those bills. The same taxpayers who so gallantly "insured" the airlines to the tune of $15 billion last month. One would assume that those in the insur- ance industry are aware of and accepting of the possibility they will have to make large payouts from time to time. That's why there.are reinsur- ers after all. But this bill does more than add to the bal- looning corporate welfare system. While mak- ing sure insurers get all the money they want, it puts serious obstacles in the way of individuals seeking terrorism-related damages in court. Insurers and other businesses would have their liability severely restricted, all actions would have to be filed in federal court and punitive damages would be eliminated. Attorney fees in such cases would also be limited. These burdens could make it nearly impossible for a plaintiff to ever resolve such an action. Plaintiffs are still in court seeking damages from the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing under the current rules. New restrictions could kill the possibility of legal redress for future victims of terrorism. This is an old trick to prevent compensation to victims. Republicans were doing the same thing to the Patient's Bill of Rights a few months ago when they tried to use the same tac- tics of limiting punitive damages, restricting lia- bility and forcing all cases into the already clogged federal courts to effectively block enforcement of many of the bill's protections. They also tried to restrict attorney fees in that situation because Republicans love free markets, except when in comes to lawyers. And corporate welfare of course. A prime example of that is the economic stimulus bill. It looks to be as galling an exam- ple of corporate pork as the terror insurance bill. To his credit, Daschle has been working hard to include more help for workers in the bill in the form of unemployment insurance and health benefits, but because of the Republican adminis- tration and House of Representatives, any eco- nomic stimulus bill will almost certainly be just a sop to big corporations and the wealthy with a few pittances for workers that Democrats can say constitute a victory. The House has already passed its bill and it's an almost freakishly elitist assemblage of tax breaks for people with high incomes and the nation's biggest corporations. Most notable is a retroactive repeal of the corporate alternative minimum tax (which ensures companies can't use creative accounting and tax write-offs to avoid paying any taxes), meaning that the large companies subject to the tax don't have to pay in the future and get back what they paid in the past. The budget deficit Republicans put us into with their earlier tax cuts for the wealthy (and isn't the economic growth those stimulated just great?) wasn't enough. They've decided to dig the hole deeper because why ask people to pay now when they can just leave the bill for future generations with interest? Of course it's possible we'll have to pay now too, especially if the economy stabilizes anytime soon, as administra- tion economic forecasters predict, because the budget deficits (projected to last for years even with an economic recovery) will lead to higher interest rates, which we all get to pay for. The only winners appear to the corporations getting back billions of dollars even as the workers they shed are finding it more and more difficult to get new jobs. As interested as he is in not being accused, as he assuredly will be anyway, of not doing enough to help the country in a time of war if he doesn't pass these bills, Sen. Daschle shouldn't hold out for a few virtually meaningless conces- sions to workers, but should just go home and let these almost farcical corporate giveaways die. Keeping down deficits and interest rates, leaving terror victims with legal remedies and not having gobs of money to businesses and the bill to taxpayers would be far more helpful to the country than any of the small concessions he can win. Peter Cunnife can be reached via e-mail atpcunniff@umich.edu. V LETTERS TO THE EDITOR NJ. drivers not so bad, but watch out across the Hudson REG ISTER FO0R A .n 1 ~' 3 o NNOLNERINE ACC E BUT YOU CAN W«T 1$} 1~x TV ~Iv.~v rrir~ TO THE DAILY: Being from New Jersey, I under- stand that we are considered a suburb on New York and columnist Steve 1 qtr, tx. .,«« .5 _.. . :, >z r; , ., ", ' i