4 4A - The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 12, 2003 OP/ED Uclie £tdjigau ttnlg 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 LouIE MEIZLISH Editor in Chief AUBREY HENRETTY ZAC PESKOWITZ Editorial Page Editors 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. NOTABLE QUOTABLE Just 50 people a day come for good films. Hundreds come for the romantic' ones. We must go with the market." - Isaam Abdul Kareem, a movie ticket collector in Baghdad where the audience for pornographic films has increased drastically as the films are no longer prohibited, as reported by Reuters. SAM BUTLER Tlu.,.SOAPBOX S Gar &V be~ee\e. mYusic. ~ ~ -~ ~ o~ A~w~ au'1~Ve. AVNe s~ooul6 AeAvec &eoQ( cee vocte aria pwe Ck-~c"Si'able 9cod-S oov Y W. C t5. &l 4 Fear itself DANIEL ADAMS I wI a didn't watch the > Democratic presi- Y dential debate last week. I know that to h some people, these tele- vised sparring matches are important to help determine who they'll support in the coming presidential elections. But for me, pulling the trigger on any one of these fine, highly com- petent politicians will be hard, with or with- out having seen them bicker at each other on live T.V. With a battery of such stellar candi- dates, how can you pick just one? I sure can't. Sigh. These guys suck. Somehow, the best the Democrats have to offer are Sens. John Kerry (Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (Conn.) and former Ver- mont Gov. Howard Dean, each honestly believing that he will lead the working class to the polls in droves. Granted, each candidate is highly qualified, but qualifica- tions alone do not a leader make, and the standard issues Democrats relied on in 1992 will not carry the day in 2004. In their speeches and press releases, the can- didates do show an understanding of issues like health care, abortion and unemploy- ment. Each thinks that this will win them the election, but in reality, none of it will matter. The rules have changed. It's about war. It's about terrorism. Are we safe, are we winning and are we right? To these, President Bush claims all the answers, while the Democrats still don't understand the questions. As a nation, the past two years have seen us plunge into a mentality, not unlike how we spent the decades of the Cold War - tense and anxious, awaiting an event that will probably never come. Few of us have ever seen terrorism touch their lives personally, yet many will vote as if it had. Gone are the social and moral imperatives of peacetime politics. Meeting the threat, Americans want to see strength, charisma and dogged self- assurance, not the vacillation and partisan- ship that haunts each of the Democratic nominees. Americans want to feel safe again, and the GOP makes it happen, by way of the very comforting, but morally dubious policy of moral and international absolutism. Whereas Bill Clinton was a stu- dent of policy and often sought a variety of different sources when debating an initia- tive, Bush is a student of doing whatever the hell he, or his party sees fit. He won't let pesky little things like "other nations" or "operational strength" or "deficits" get in the way of what he deems right. This is, by far, the most partisan administration that we've seen in decades. And America is eating it up. Democrats hope that the hemorrhaging of American dollars and American blood in Iraq will save the election for them. However, the damage isn't being done to the this adminis- tration, which has an uncanny ability to defer blame for its failures simply by having been in office the day America came under attack. It's the ultimate alibi. True to form, whenev- er he needs more money or his polls sag a bit, Bush can just look at the TelePrompTer and orally fart out the following equation: war on terror, plus making progress, plus 9-11, equals Democrats are bad. But when you connect the dots from the past three years - all of the deflection, blame and unilateralism - it still spells "dumbshit." Make no mistake, Bush is highly beatable, but judging by the field of candi- dates, the Democrats don't seem interested in winning. While I hope retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark jumps in, this coalition that the Democrats have pieced together will find itself demolished by the same Texas buzzsaw that walked away with the Oval Office in 2000. This time, there will be no recounts, and certainly no excuses. Years of a muddled message have left the Democratic party noth- ing but Rev. Al Sharpton and the shadow of the Clinton years as their only selling points, and America just isn't buying. Adams can be reached at dnadams@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Daily should stop ranting, provide real solutions for thirsty University students To THE DAILY: The remarks made at the end of your unsigned editorial, Entree Minus (09/11/03), appear to have been made with very little research. I suggest the members of your edi- torial board get down off their soapbox and check their facts. For one, they claim that "It is indefensible that the Big House charge so much money for water when students are not allowed to bring some with them." This is entirely false. As the list of prohibited and permitted items for the stadium clearly states, "Clear, sealed, plastic water bottles" are allowed. Don't want to pay the $3 charged at the Big House? Get your water elsewhere and bring it - either from your grocery store of choice, or from a stand out- side the stadium, or from one of the kids with hand-drawn signs standing by coolers near Elbel Field, who would be more than willing to sell you their water for $1. For that price, you might as well buy three. As long as the bottles are sealed, you won't have any problems; I personally have done this for both games so far this year. The editorial also states that "The admin- istration should consider allowing students to bring empty containers to fill up at designated stations", presumably for free. Although empty containers may not be allowed, there is free water at the stadium; near Gate One there is an Absopure "Hydration Station" at which anyone can get glasses of water for free, which you could then refill your water bottle with if you like. It may be a bummer that Entree Plus is no longer allowed at the stadium, but there are easy ways to have water at the game without paying the Big House's exorbitant prices. Instead of just making angry, drawn-out rants in your editorials, please consider also giving students viable solu- tions for the problems you complain about! JOHN HARVEY Engineering senior Aninistrution should epki n where tuition is being spent TO THE DAILY: As an out-of-state student and graduating senior, I would like to thank the Daily for including an article relating to increased tuition, Bil may penalize colleges for raising costs of tuition, (09/11/03). Under this newly proposed federal bill, LSA could face government sanctions due to the now annually tuition hikes. It is important to note, however, where this money goes. As students, we peruse through the "fishbowl" hurrying to find a vacant computer, or at least one that we know how to use. This is clear in the University's latest edition of Windows XP on most work stations; it has caused more computer prob- lems than it had hoped to alleviate. Printing problems, coursetools problems, Adobe Reader problems, the list goes on. Let's put this money elsewhere. Why doesn't the University take the enor- mous amount of money it receives, and ask the students what they would like to see different on campus. Instead of the latest flat screen mom- tors, which take up an iota less of space, I am wiling to bet that we could come up with excel- lent (and legal) ideas. It is important to ensure the increase in tuition goes to the appropriate resources and is allocated for with the utmost of care. After all, the students on this campus are what make it such a wonderful place to be, so let's flesh out just what's on our minds. DANNY AGHioN LSA senior Kudos 'Opeaon Pussycat,' best polit ccatoon in memory To THE DAILY: I'd like to congratulate Steve Cotner and Joel Hoard on "Operation Pussycat," one of the best Daily political cartoons in recent memory. REUEL KENYON Reader 0 01 VIEWPOINT Roadmap to failure BY ERic SINGER AND JASON TAMAROFF Since the end of major combat operations in Iraq, President Bush has tried to broker peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians by insisting that both parties adhere to his "roadmap to peace." While this attempt by Bush to gain stability in the Middle East by quelling Israeli-Palestinian tensions was brought to the table with good intentions in mind, it is now clearer than ever that the President must rethink U.S. policy with respect to Israel. It is now time for Bush to put the "roadmap" on hold and let Ariel Sharon proceed with security measures with no U.S. restrictions. In light of recent terrorist attacks against Israel, it is clear that the Palestinians have no intention of crack- ing down on the terrorist groups that preside in the West Bank and Gaza. Until the Palestinian Authority makes real attempts to eradicate rather than negntiate with terror gromes the gained with. They must be dismantled and destroyed," DeLay understands the harsh reali- ty of the situation in the Middle East. It makes no sense for the state of Israel to give away more concessions without the Palestinian Authority destroying terrorist groups. The new revelations regarding the depar- ture of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas should force Israel to expedite its security initiatives since Yasser Arafat will once again reclaim all of the power in the West Bank and Gaza. Arafat, who has proven himself to be a corrupt ally of terror- ists, is not a figure that Israel can trust in its quest for a peaceful resolution in the contest- ed territories. America must continue to treat Arafat as an irreverent figure and insist on a change in the Palestinian leadership before continuing with the "roadmap." Israel's fight against terror should be seen as no different from America's fight against terror, as both Ameriea and Tral are free demncratic Likud government led by Sharon. His refusal to deal with Yasser Arafat and his belief in Israel's right to defend itself should remain in the minds of all Americans when they think about which political party can be the strongest defender of Israel. Americans would be naive to believe that the Democratic Party could suf- ficiently protect Israel, as one imagines the sentiment toward Israel that would be seen at a rally for presidential candidate Howard Dean. In addition, throughout the primary season no Democratic candidate, even those who claim to be supporters of Israel, has taken a position on the Middle East conflict that would be regarded more pro-Israel than the current pres- ident's position. With the renewed hostility in the contested territories, and the resignation of Abbas, the Middle East will become more volatile in the coming months. During this time, it is impera- tive that the United States respect Israel's riht tn self defense and maintain its current 0 Imn e h ........... tilf, ft) .:N... W- MMMma innmIMe - Ar