4 4A -The Michigan Daily -Thursday, January 22, 2004 OP/ED Ule Itdtlnnmx ag 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 opinion. michigandaily .com 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 We will double federal funding for abstinence programs, so schools can teach this fact of life: Abstinence for young people is the only certain way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases. President Bush in his State of the Union address Tuesday. r h* YOUR gefle(D Y©V SHALL. MOT WAN... yTO(Jfra yu w j4oul h~ ~AYY OP TH SHAbt OF o i*AhYou wit-VVEWf WO FVlLi FOR r A w" $You; w Y iUNS NNb Bombs iK. C4 CMPOMT-~U 4 COLIN DALY TfE MICHIGAN DALY f oTHN EUADE4S 1B6ORe ME How to tell a 10-year-old her president sucks JOEL HOARD OH YEAH? Dear Ashley, During President Bush's State of the Union address on Tuesday night, the presi- dent read the following from a letter you wrote last month: "Dear George W. Bush. If there's anything you know, I, Ashley Pearson, age 10, can do to help anyone, please send me a letter and tell me what I can do to save our country." Sweet, sweet Ashley. I almost cried when I heard him read that. If only we had more children like you. Your doe-eyed stare could melt the hardest heart, and your inno- cence and faith are adorable. Which makes what I am about to do all the more difficult. Brace yourself, my child, because I am about to open your eyes and shatter your world. I think it would be easiest for both of us if I just came right out and said it: Your presi- dent sucks. He is a liar and a moron. He is irrational, stubborn and incompetent. He relies on equally irrational, stubborn and incompetent advisors and baseless faith instead of reason and common sense. He uses half-truths and scare tactics to promote his agenda. He is turning the world against us. He is single-handedly destroying the country. He still can't pronounce "nuclear" correctly. As I'm sure you are aware, Ashley, on Tuesday night the president described the war in Iraq thusly: "Combat forces of the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Poland and other countries enforced the demands of the United Nations, ended the rule of Saddam Hussein and the people of Iraq are free." He went on to claim that "From the beginning, America has sought international support for our operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we have gained much support." He implies that the efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are truly international ones. But this so-called international coalition is nothing more than the United States and a handful of toady countries that are too afraid not to commit troops to the cause. The president thinks that because you're young and naive he can trick you into believing something that's simply not true. Don't let him. Sadly the president's crimes go beyond simple lies. Tuesday night he also outlined several policies that he claimed were aimed at protecting children like you, Ashley, when in reality they only seek to promote his not-so-hidden Christian agenda. He called for increased funding for abstinence programs and drug testing in high schools. Because you will be in high school in a few short years, let me warn you: He wants only to invade your privacy and force his beliefs on you, Ashley. Don't let him. This next part may be a little confusing to you, but I will do my best to explain it in such a way that you can understand. You know how much your mommy and daddy love each other, right? They love each other so much that they made a promise to spend the rest of their lives together. It is a very special bond that they share. There are lots of other people who share this special bond, and sometimes instead of a mommy and a daddy it's two mommies or two daddies. That doesn't mean that they don't love each other all the same. They should be able to promise to spend the rest of their lives together just as your mommy and daddy did, right Ashley? Well the president doesn't think so. He wants to prevent these people from marrying each other in spite of their love. With rationale based on archaic notions of love and marriage, he uses words like "sanctity of marriage" and "moral tra- dition" to try to confuse you into believing that even though these people love each other very much they shouldn't be allowed to get married. Don't let him. But please don't lose heart, little one. There is still hope. You asked your president what you can do to save our country. He replied, "Study hard in school, listen to your mom or dad, help someone in need and when you and your friends see a man or woman in uniform, say, 'thank you.' " It sounds well and good, but the president's requests are tan- tamount to slapping a "God Bless America" bumper sticker on your mom's minivan or wearing a "United We Stand" T-shirt. Let me tell you what the president should have asked you to do. He should have asked that you tell your parents to vote for John Kerry, or John Edwards, or Howard Dean, or Wesley Clark - hell, even a third party candidate. I beseech you: anyone but George W. Bush. Otherwise, my dear Ashley, we're fucked. Hoard can be reached atj.ho@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Do not interpret Dean's poor Iowa showing as a rejection of the anti-war position To THE DAILY: Howard Dean's primary surge since last summer proved that a lot more people opposed the war in Iraq than the media previously showed. But unlike Dean, most Americans didn't adamantly oppose the war when it hap- pened. A large percentage of the people who are now dissatisfied with the war were on the fence when the war began. And like the non- Dean candidates, they have slowly drifted to the stance that war was a poor decision. So it's easy to see why Dean's message isn't raising him to the electoral heights it seemed he was destined for a month ago. Democrats got excited initially by Dean's anti-war stance, but as soon as they realized that almost all of the candidates were adopting an anti-war stance, they moved on to other issues like health care and taxes. Therefore, we shouldn't take Dean's loss as a loss for the anti-war position. We should take it as resounding reinforcement. It's become so accepted among Democrats that the war was a terrible idea that its primary-election rele- vance is waning as I write. JOHN HONKALA Alum Diversity most compelling reason for affirmative action, but must extend beyond race To THE DAILY: Recently I heard a BAMN representative explain to National Public Radio that people needed to prevent the affirmative action ques- tion from appearing on the state ballot this fall. He indicated that if it was voted on it would pass and affirmative action would become ille- gal. This comment struck a chord in me. In our republic, minority positions are well supported. Agents in both parties are free to filibuster to prevent the majority from passing popular proposals. Lobbyists wield tremendous power. The U.S. Senate and House were set up to address the small vs. large state issue. These are good things. Many who support race-respecting admissions contend that it is due to the strong correlation between race and educa- support very few different cultures and ethnici- ties - badly at best. A truly diverse policy would not be based only on skin color, but on several other factors - faith, ancestry, ethnicity and a host of other formative forces. However, race is the only method used to bias admissions and attempt to attain some skewed form of diversity. The real solution requires much more work. Until we remove the flawed, but easy path, they will have no reason to bring real diversity to our school. ADAM DAvis Engineering senior Edwards works to unite nation by exposing two sepa- rate Americas TO THE DAILY: In assessing the post-Iowa political land- scape, Louie Meizlish begins to make the case for presidential candidate John Edwards (Inter- preting Gephardt's Demise, 01/20/04); however, he does not fully elaborate on the reasons why Edwards is the best candidate to beat President Bush in November. Beyond offering the most detailed policy proposals on issues ranging from national security to homeownership, Edwards has presented the most cohesive vision for the future of the country. The foundation of the Edwards campaign is a desire to change the two Americas that have developed under the Bush administra- tion. Edwards wants to put an end to the two educational systems we have in this country - one for people in affluent communities and one for children in less fortunate areas. Edwards wants to change the two govern- ments that currently operate in Washington - one for the powerful insiders and one for the underrepresented American people. And Edwards wants to adjust the two tax systems that are currently on the books - one tax code for the wealthy littered with loopholes and tax breaks and an increasingly burden- some tax code for working people. As someone who has not spent his entire adult life in politics, Edwards is uniquely suit- ed to unite the country. Edwards grew up in a middle-class household, he was the first per- son in his family to go to college and he worked part-time to pay his law school tuition. There is no better candidate to debate Bush on empowering the middle class and valuing work over wealth. Edwards' campaign of hope and opti- mim ha h i,'w na w rnm Rmr.frthe Cagers need an offense that puts the ball in the net To THE DAILY: In his column, Worst of times awaits unless men stabilize, (01/20/04) Chris Burke quoted Michigan basketball player Bernard Robinson as having said, "We don't run a specific offense like (Michigan State). We run a more open offense so everyone gets ample opportunities." While such a sentiment is admirable - equality is a great value for all communities - it has no place in Big Ten basketball. Robin- son's quote should instead be seen as an indict- ment of Tommy Amaker's coaching. What kind of basketball team doesn't have a struc- tured offense that accentuates the strengths of its best scorers? What kind of a coach doesn't teach his players how to recognize good shots and then show his players how to get them? Within the story's context, Robinson almost sounded defiant while explaining away another ugly loss. God forbid that Michigan employ such a rigid system like the one Michigan State does. What would happen then? Would Michi- gan stop looking disorganized on offense? Would senseless passing and dribbling give way to efficient execution? Most importantly, would the Wolverines lose their spot at this summer's Andl Tour open run? It certainly seems as if that is the only tournament for which this team's offense is designed. Amaker should be ashamed that his team is mediocre, inconsistent and underachiev- ing. Whether it's too many missed free throws, too many mistakes at important times, too many defensive lapses or too many wasted possessions, Michigan bears all the hallmarks of a poorly coached outfit. More structure and less equity would likely equal more victories. If Amaker cannot understand and teach that, then maybe the University should find someone who can. JOEY LiTMAN Alum LETTERS POLICY The Michigan Daily welcomes letters from all of its readers. Letters from Universi- ty students, faculty, staff and administrators will be given priority over others. Letters should include the writer's name, college and school year or other University affiliation. The Daily will not print any letter contain- ing statements that cannot be verified. Letters should be kept to approximately 4 E. i Piniw rglngn AItn:n :n wc i nuhtb transnQitlatQn..t x 1 < I