4A -The Michigan Daily - Friday, October 17, 2003 OP/ED UIj Irdimatd 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com s" 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 The middle-finger jerk has survived for over 2,000 years and is still current in many parts of the world, especially in the United States." - The U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Austin, in a ruling where the "shooting the bird" hand gesture was found not to incite an immediate breach of the peace, as reported by the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday. 94efs oVui clt-Paj ',l "! - .- ~1 - 1 ,-. ra SAM BUTLER TEi SOAPBOX 0. Hillary's fashionfauxpas SRAVYA CHIRUMAMILLA WrAVING THE HANDBASKET uning into "The person cares and is making an effort. An a role in political fashions. Shriver's Daily Show autobiography that claims both a love for clean-cut and bright outfits during the Cal- with Jon Stew- the Yankees and a life as a feminist leader ifornia elections offered her and her hus- art" last Wednesday beaten up on by the Republican heavy- band more time in the spotlight. In a night and "The View" weights in Washington will not suffice to classic Jackie O.-styled outfit at the victo- this Monday morning, change the minds of the countless millions ry celebration, Shriver brought to Califor- I was shocked and dis- who opted not to buy the book. nians a hope of a return to Camelot. appointed to see for- The book was a main focus in both Clinton understands the importance of mer First Lady Hillary interviews, providing Clinton plenty of her appearance - the hoopla over her hair Clinton don the same opportunities to diverge from the usual has accustomed her to this scrutiny. Thus, it outfit and with it, a rhetoric. Unfortunately, she failed miser- is even more disappointing for her to com- tired message. Sauntering onto the couches ably to capture either audience and even pletely disregard her outfit. What could of both the Comedy Central and ABC shared the same stories. Both television have been a celebration of her appearance show, Clinton sported a black pinstripe shows gave Clinton free access to two and somewhat entertaining interview (due suit with a white shirt and pearls. very different voters: the increasingly more to Stewart's wit than Clinton's pres- The problem arises not just because Clin- more informed young adult and the soccer cence) last week is now just a reminder of ton wore the outfit on national television less moms of suburbia. However, by not cater- yet another moment marred by homogeny. than a week apart but since it was inappropri- ing to either group, she wasted five to 10 Discontent with political leaders, ate for both situation. While Jon Stewart and minutes of prime television plugs for her (known to the Germans as politikverdrossen- colleagues wear suits, the show's guests are book, political career and party. heit) has been rising, especially with those expected to wear an outfit that would endear It might not be fair to judge Clinton's who fail to change with the times or with them to the young audience. Similarly, "The outfits when male politicians' fashions varying situations. Al Gore was not even View" is organized around five women dis- (except for her husband's tie collection) able to carry his own state in 2000, because cussing things ranging from the violence in are not as strictly scrutinized. However, his constituents felt he had spent too much the weekend's box office hit, "Kill Bill" to years of reading fashion magazines time in Washington, losing touch with them, the sexiest man in America contest. Their ingrains in my mind the need to analyze and since he was providing the exact same outfits range just as widely and include print and notice the outfits of our leaders. rhetoric (repeat "lockbox" about 400 times). dresses, pants-and-sweater combos and For example, Saddam Hussein emerged If the party is not able to spice things up and Barb's infamous suits. on the scene wearing khaki fashions simi- provide alternatives with fresh voices, 2004 Clinton missed an opportunity to dress lar to those showcased at DKNY and can be written off as yet another lost cause. for the job she wants and in turn could not Christian Dior, which brought back mili- Maybe if we vote into power a novice with combat the label of a cold and unimpres- tary garb and tilted berets. Also, his ability few ties to public office, the Democrats will sive person who rode into office on the to display his opulence in three-piece suits get the message that we're sick of the same merits of her husband. Dressing well, sent the message to the residents of Iraq of ol' Washington politician. made simple for men who can throw on a wealth, importance and stability. tie, even if it is a Calvin and Hobbes- Even trophy wives - as Maria Shriver Chirumamilla can be reached themed one, is a direct indicator that the has been cornered to represent - still play at schiruma@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Reader would rather be bigot than sensitive, dead TO THE DAILY: Every week I read Ari Paul's opinion piece, and as time goes by, the content of his pieces surprises me less and less. This week was no exception (U.S.A. uber allies, 10/15/03). I knew that time would come when he would basically equate the Republican Party with Adolf Hitler. It's almost credible: Both discriminate, both marginalize, both manipulate public opinion using generally accepted ideas. The only difference is that Hitler was wrong. Before Hitler came to power, how many Jews ever screamed "death to Germany?" How many Jews took up arms against German landmarks? How many Jews were ever a threat to the German national secu- rity? The answer to all three is zero. Now, fast forward to today: To what nationality did the hijackers of you-know-which day in the calen- dar belong? To which nationality do the ones who today shout "Death to America" belong? What region of the world poses the greatest threat to national security? I think that all who are reading this piece get the point. Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote in a U.S. Supreme Court opinion: Due to safety issues, one cannot yell "fire" in a crowded theater. This decision has greater implications: When human life and civil liberties conflict with one another, guess who wins? If there is no life, what difference does it make whether or not there is liberty? The Bush administration has every right to detain those of Middle Eastern descent to prevent future attacks. Due process of law may be suspended, discrimina- tion may be used and freedoms of religion, speech and press may be suppressed if the practice of all three runs the risk of putting human life in jeopardy. Paul may be an American that cherishes his liberty, but I'd much rather be a bigot and a tyrant than be sensitive and dead. SLAVA GOLDSTEIN LSA senior Contrary to Paul's claims, no association between Manhattan Institute, Nazis TO THE DAILY: Although Ari Paul's comparisons of Republicans to Nazis are deeply offensive, To set the record straight, the Manhattan Institute was founded in 1978 thanks primari- ly to Sir Antony Fisher, a British economist (and mentor to Margaret Thatcher) who wished to spread free-market ideas in public policy. (Note that libertarianism is the eco- nomic polar opposite of National Socialism.) The institute's first chairman was William Casey, a lawyer and businessman who would later - in 1980 - become the director of the CIA (his prior experience in the intelligence world was mainly limited to his work for the OSS, the CIA's predecessor, during World War II). No doubt Casey's involvement with the institute is the sole basis for Paul's claim that it was "CIA-spawned," a claim that is plausible only if one believes in time travel. But Paul's predilection for tenuous guilt by association is also seen in his bizarre claim that the institute has Nazi or fascist leanings. I have virtually no idea where he gets this idea from - surely it's not from reading City Journal, the institute's well-respected maga- zine - but my guess is that it also stems solely from Casey's involvement with the institute. Although Casey played a central role in infiltrating agents in Nazi Germany during the war, he was later accused of being too friendly with Nazis in the post-war peri- od, when he was motivated by Cold War strategizing. Even if this last claim is true, he was never attracted to Nazism, and indeed spoke of the horror he personally witnessed at Dachau. Moreover, Casey's purported unsa- vory involvement with Nazis implies absolutely nothing about the ideology of institute, whose leadership happens to include numerous Jews. In sum, Paul's charges about the insti- tute's Nazi leanings are preposterous, base- less and irresponsible. Indeed, the real question is why the Daily allows such poten- tially libelous claims to be printed at all. JUSTIN SHUBOW Rackham Second-hand smoke outside will not kill non-smokers; reader needs a smoke TO THE DAILY: Second-hand smoke outside? (Keep your distance, 10/15/03). You have got to be kid- ding me. Smokers, one of the only groups it is politically correct to persecute, have been banished from all buildings save for select bars and restaurants. Now people want to take away the outdoors? Maybe I should just move to France. Non-smokers, take a deep breath expressed his anger at Steve Bartman, the Chicago Cubs fan who arguably caused the Cubs to lose their playoff game by interfer- ing with a foul ball when saying "He won't get a pardon from this governor." While he probably was not 100-percent serious, Blagojevich fueled anger towards Bartman with his statement, forcing Bartman to live in fear of physical and verbal assault. As the great leader of Illinois, Blagojevich owes better to his constituents. We outside observers are appalled by the Blagojevich's statement and pity Illinois citizens. They must be terribly embarrassed by their governor. While Blagojevich has shamed Illinois with his comments, Cubs outfielder Moises Alou has shown the honor and respect that we would expect from a governor. Alou, who would have caught the ball if Bartman had not interfered, says he feels sorry for Bartman because every fan would act as Bartman acted. Normally we tolerate immaturity from our athletes but expect our elected officials to act honorably. The situation has been reversed here. In the future, I hope Blago- jevich will show the same decency that Alou showed us. SCOTT SCHLIMMER LSA senior Definitions of stem cells must be better explained TO THE DAILY: As a graduate student in Biology, I was disappointed in the article Stem cell research: Funding to 'U' concerns gov't, student groups (10/07/03). Scientific terms were used with inadequate explanation, and it seemed the author did not have a strong grasp of the con- cepts involved. Dictionary.com has four definitions for "clone" and the first is: "To make multiple identical copies of (a DNA sequence)." One of the other three definitions addresses mak- ing an artificial replication of an existing animal, like Dolly the sheep. But, for the average biologist cloning is replicating DNA or cells with identical DNA. Cloning of the embryonic stem cells would involve putting them in a dish to multiply. Bear in njind that people (and all multi-cellular organisms) are actually a collection of clones. Each cell has the same DNA and came from a single cell, the fertilized egg. Now, what is a "stem cell?" Biologists don't actually agree on this definition. The one I hear most in classes states that a stem I I ............ I