4 4A -_The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 29, 2004 OP/ED aUle Eitc Wx &d 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com opinion. 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 NOTABLE QUOTABLE It turns out we were all wrong, and that is most disturbing" 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. Wr " ESTIMAE ALL WRJC1.a BVr R~sT Ass uRPE E WoRLD s A . SABE LAcE, W ThQI0m~n "T MNEY~r~. COLIN DALY TiE MICHIGAN DALY 4 - Former weapons inspector David Kay on the fact that U.S. intelligence has been unable to find any Iraqi weapons programs, as reported yesterday by CNN. 60, gumi(hI.eAu 14- Democrats give unnamed special interests a bad name JASON PESICK ONE SMALL VOICE The Democratic Party clearly thinks Presi- dent Bush is vulner- able on the issue of special interests. Here's an excerpt from John Kerry's speech following his victory in the k. New Hampshire primary: "I have spent my whole life fighting for what I think is right and against powerful special interests. And I have only just begun the fight." And here's part of Howard Dean's speech: "We can take ... our government back for the people who built it instead of corporations and special interests, and we will. And Wesley Clark's: "I responded to a call for change ... from an administration that puts politics above principle and special interests above national interests - that we must change." And John Edwards': "We shouldn't have two tax systems, one for the special interests ... and one for all those families who just work hard every year and pay their taxes and carry the tax burden in America." And finally, Joe Lieberman's (I'm not wasting column space on Dennis Kucinich): "(Our cause) is for a politics that puts the national interest above special interests or partisan interests." These "special interests" must be pretty awful. They sit in high-backed leather chairs at the top of their dark office towers, smok- ing cigars and drinking scotch, planning how they can ruin America and harm little chil- dren - all while grabbing as much money as they can. They're all graying white males who spend their free time sitting around a pool or, even worse, playing golf. And even though all the candidates lamented the influence of special interest groups on government, they offered scant evidence when it came to details. Let's take a look at some of the best-known special inter- est groups to see if maybe the candidates have gone a little overboard. AARP, which serves the interests of America's oldest citi- zens, has more than 35 million members, according to its website. Among other objec- tives, AARP works to improve health care and economic security for Americans over the age of 50. So, yes, even grandma has her hand in the cookie jar. Maybe the most powerful special interest in the country - and probably the most effective - the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. It exists to pressure gov- ernment officials to support Israel. So, if you support Israel - and I know there are a lot of you out there who do - you might want to take a more favorable view of special inter- ests. Or, if you're not an AIPAC fan, there's also an Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Arab American Institute, headed by John Zogby. Maybe you believe in a woman's right to choose. Then you would probably be heart- ened to know of the existence of the National Organization for Women, NARAL and Emily's List. There's the Sierra Club, which fights to pro- tect the environment. Almost every press release on its website attacks President Bush. I wonder if the Democrats will make a special exception in their passionate opposition to spe- cial interests for the Sierra Club. In fact, I bet they'll use some of these special interest groups in their campaigns to unseat Bush. Another powerful special interest is the AFL-CIO, which advocates on behalf of its unions' members. The members of these spe- cial interests groups spend their days in fac- tories, not smoking cigars in skyscrapers. Even your kindergarten teacher is a mem- ber of the evil web of special interests. The NEA is definitely a special interest, and it has fought any kind of education reform every step of the way. And your friendly pediatrician belongs to a special interest group. The American Medical Association is an advocate for physicians. One of its top priorities, howev- er, is to enact tort reform. If you can't stand the idea of tort reform, you might want to look into the American Bar Association, led by the nefarious former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer. It's gotten some bad press recently because it opposes limits on the right to sue people. But if you're a good populist, you should probably oppose tort reform, too - even if that means aligning yourself with a special interest group. America's legal sys- tem allows anyone, including the union member who makes a living wage because of the work his special interest group has done, to sue the world's largest corpora- tions and the federal government itself. Wow, that is special. I admit that the Democrats do have a point about money and influence in politics. But they have to admit their inherent con- nections to special interests groups: John Kerry is married to the woman who controls the Heinz fortune, and John Edwards is a trial lawyer. Howard Dean deserves credit for obtaining so much donation money from individuals making small contributions. However, individ- uals are always more effective at advocating their viewpoints when they band together. Aren't presidential campaigns just anoth- er form of special interest groups? Pesick can be reached'at jzpesick@umich.edu. 4 LETTER TO THE EDITOR Extremist Christianity, as supported by Bush, is the threat, not all Christianity To THE DAILY: It is not Christianity as such that should concern us. In its 2,000-year history, Christianity has been the cause of much good, and it has not seriously inhibited the development of liberal values. However, there exists a form of extremist Christiani- ty that seeks to attain political power to destroy our liberal, secular democracy. The radicals have already had substan- tial victories. President Bush supported legislation giving millions to fund Christ- ian abstinence groups such as Silver Ring Thing, which is led by a man who believes the end of the world to be imminent. The message is overtly religious, and they irre- sponsibly teach that contraception is essentially useless. Our president believes that he is on a mission for God and that the war in Iraq had divine sanction. The fundamentalists seek every opportunity to infect the minds of impressionable chil- dren with the divisive message of the Ten Commandments. This extremist movement, supported by Bush in his State of the Union address, would change the Constitution to institu- tionalize discrimination against homosex- uals. They would divide the American people by entrenching a separate, state- funded education system that includes reli- gious instruction. Bush asserts that those who do not believe in God are incapable of living moral lives. They would make us second-class citizens, subject to suspicion and unworthy of public office. The extremists advocate a Christianity of hatred, prejudice, division and fear. They must be resisted and defeated if we are to save the spirit of our democracy for future generations. The other Christianity - of love, compassion, peace and hope - can be an ally in this struggle. EIuc MOBERG LSAjunior SUrPPoR ThE FRESH AIR FUND. 4 4 VIEWPOINT An open letter to President Coleman on SAPAC BY ANGELA GALARDI, MONIQUE PERRY, JASON MIRONOv AND ELLIIOT WELLS-REID Dear President Coleman, Years ago women on this campus fought in order to establish the Sexual Assault Pre- vention and Awareness Center. Women fought for this center in order to create a safe space for students to grapple with sexualized violence on our campus. This process includes services for students who are sur- vivors of sexual assault, harassment and related crimes. As student leaders on this campus we were disturbed to learn that today the administration plans to transfer these ser- vices away from SAPAC. While we were glad to see that you are also planning an increase in resources for education and pre- vention programming, increases in aware- ness of sexual assault and related crimes does not eliminate the need for an on-campus program to counsel and advocate for the sur- vivors of these crimes and their families. As a champion of women and the presi- dent of this university, we call upon you to stop the elimination of SAPAC's counseling services and on-campus Crisis Line. The Division of Student Affairs plans to transfer or police other than the Department of Pub- lic Safety. These statistics reflect only what was actually reported. The Crisis-line is an invaluable resource to University students, staff and faculty. Cri- sis-line staff provide telephone counseling to discuss these traumatic experiences and will accompany individuals to community hospi- tals and other locations to provide support and assistance. Crisis-line volunteers provide access to legal, medical and academic advo- cacy specific to the needs of students, staff and faculty who are survivors of sexual assault and related crimes. A line run for students by their peers makes this vital service more accessible to students who might otherwise feel intimidat- ed or alienated by talking about these deeply difficult experiences with people outside of our campus community. Additionally, removal of the Crisis-line will make it impossible to compile campus-specific statis- tics on sexual assault crimes, creating a false sense of security and hampering institutional initiative to make our community a safer place for women. By supporting an on-cam- pus Crisis-line, you demonstrate your com- mitment to building a community that does not tolerate violence against women. Student Affairs, under the leadership of E. Royster Harper, has seen its funding cut by $700,000, as reported in the Daily. This year Student Activities and Leadership faced a 27 percent budget cut, resulting in a reduction of the number of student lead- ership retreats they are able to sponsor. The Offices of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Affairs and Multi-Ethnic Stu- dent Affairs have also dealt with a serious reduction of funds. Additionally, the Divi- sion of Student Affairs has attempted to re- organize Greek life. All of these changes have been made without student input. Cutting and reorganizing student services are alarming on their own; however, con- sistently reorganizing student services without any student voice in the process is completely unacceptable. The resources and support provided by programs in the Division of Student Affairs need to remain accessible to students and informed by the needs of the students, not mandated by the budget and arbitrarily altered without dialogue involving all of the campus community. President Cole- man, we call for an end to the rollback of student services. Keep the SAPAC Crisis- line on campus and counseling services 4 4 'u a~~dLI~ ~jv~~iiu ~vaz1,It a