0 4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 8, 2004 OP/ED U Rbewtdtwu~~ 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 Congressman Kucinich is holding up a pie chart, which is not truly effective on radio." - Radio journalist Neal Conan, discussing Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich's (D-Ohio) use of a pie chart during a Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday, broadcast on National Public Radio, as reported by The Associated Press. V N !.J0~fAALI COUN DALY THE MICHIGAN DALY E .i ,. 4 Take two of these; we'll kill you in the morning JOEL HOARD OH YlEH? 0 Capital punishment has always made me uneasy. The idea of the state basing a law on the antiquated eye-for-an-eye maxim and sponsoring the death of a defenseless person, no matter what his crime, strikes me as unnecessary and barbaric. The added possi- bility that the state may execute an inno- cent person makes the death penalty's existence in 21 st-century America all the more detestable. What are you supposed to say if you discover that you've put an inno- cent man to death? "Oops?" But perhaps the most sensitive issue sur- rounding the death penalty is the execution of mentally ill criminals. While the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the death penalty to continue unabated in the 37 states where it is still in practice, it did make one key decision regarding the men- tally ill in 1986 in Ford v. Wainwright. The court ruled that the execution of the mental- ly ill was prohibited by the Eighth Amend- ment's cruel and unusual punishment clause, and it maintained that states could not execute a person incapable of under- standing why he was being executed. Good decision. And it should have ended there. But it didn't. There were still plenty of bloodthirsty and vengeful law- makers and district attorneys with mentally ill criminals on their hands who were, in their eyes, in need of executing. So what were they to do? Lucky for them, the Supreme Court ruled in Washington v. Harper in 1990 that dangerous inmates could be forced to take antipsychotic med- ications. Where the average person might have seen an opportunity to help someone overcome mental illness and be rehabilitat- ed, the aforementioned lawmakers and dis- trict attorneys saw an opportunity to execute more inmates. If they could force a mentally ill convict to take medication for his condition and bring him to a "normal" or "stable" state where he was capable of understanding why he was being executed, then they could kill him, right? It sounds a bit far-fetched, like a bad "Simpsons" joke, perhaps. The American legal system wouldn't allow for something as ridiculous as this, would it? Our law- makers and district attorneys wouldn't really rehabilitate a mentally ill person just to kill him, would they? Unfortunately, they would. Even more unfortunately, they already have. An Arkansas man, Charles Singleton, was convicted of murdering Mary Lou York dur- ing a robbery in 1979, when he was 19 years old, and he was sentenced to death. In 1997, Singleton claimed to be hearing voices in his head and was diagnosed with paranoid schiz- ophrenia. After being forced onto medication for the condition, Singleton's symptoms sub- sided. Now that he had stabilized, he could effectively understand why he was being executed, and therefore, the execution could take place as planned. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals heard his case and ruled that Singleton's only interest was in avoiding his sentence. The state's interest was in having a safe and sane inmate, and the fact that making Sin- gleton safe and sane would make him suit- able for execution was irrelevant. The court declared, in essence, that it would be better for Singleton to be forced to take the medication and then be executed than it would be for him to take no medication and deal with psychosis. Call execution an unfortunate side effect of the medication. Singleton's case caught the attention of anti-death penalty lobbyists throughout the world. Amnesty International and the European Union (there's nothing quite like raising the ire of an entire continent) both petitioned Gov. Mike Huckabee for a stay of execution. Out of options and appeals, Singleton was thrown on the mercy of the governor. But no stay would come, and Singleton was put to death by lethal injec- tion on Tuesday night. 0 The absurdity of Charles Singleton's case shakes my faith in the American legal system. For the system to say, in essence, "Hey, Charles, we want you to get better, but then we'll have to kill you" flies in the face of reason. But then again, maybe it takes a case as absurd as this to force Americans to reconsider the death penalty and question their government. In a nation that so often cries foul over human rights violations abroad, it's the least we can do. Hoard can be reached atj.ho@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Rahim nai/e, America more safe because of Bush To THE DAILY: Hussain Rahim is exactly the naive kid he tries not to be (Go back to your country, 01/07/04). Rahim is nothing near the world traveler he thinks he is. His world is fresh with academic ideals and ripe with concern for people whose strife he has only seen on TV. But in the mean time he and his family are safe at home, perhaps not free of fear, but definitely more safe from terrorism than they were pre-Sept. 11. While there are no guarantees about what will happen tomorrow and if and when terrorists will strike again, I definite- ly feel somewhat safe knowing that at least something is being done. So, while Rahim sits around bitching and moaning about the oppressive Bush regime, I have a hunch that he would be twice as angry if the government did nothing. It is some- what unwarranted to criticize the "rainbow vision of the Homeland Security Advisory System," as it has been effective at thwart- ing another Sept. 11 catastrophe. ISRAEL NOSNIK Alum Piskor's column without merit, Dean's education plans lacking substance To THE DAILY: The Daily staff should be commended for its ongoing coverage of the ways in which the state's fiscal crisis and the resulting budget cuts directly affect stu- dents' lives. However, after reading the front page story about budget cuts, it was ironic to see Jess Piskor's column, The media award Dr. Dean an honorary Ph.D. (01/06/04). In the column Piskor rehashes old election news and notes that much of Dean's support comes from young voters. One would hope that since so much of Dean's support comes from people under 30, Dean would have a solid strategy for dealing with the rising costs of higher edu- cation. Upon reading Dean's "College Commitment," however, I found it to be a cruel joke played on his supporters. Dean offers nothing to address rising costs of offers just a hollow promise of loan money. The rest of his solutions are along the same lines. The most unbelievable Dean promise is called "10 years and you're done." Here Dean assures graduates, "Those who make payments on a standard 10-year schedule will pay off their loans in full." Of course graduates can still stretch out their loans to 20 or 25 years, but then they would not be paid off in 10 years. Yes, it sounds crazy and yes, you read that correctly: If you have a 10-year repayment schedule and you make allayour payments, you'llabe done paying after ten years. I'm quite cer- tain this is nothing new and again does nothing to address rising tuition costs. In contrast to Dean's hollow promises, John Kerry's "plan to make college afford- able for all Americans" will give states $50 billion to fund higher education. Additionally, Kerry's plan provides tax credits for the first $4,000 in tuition paid. In other words, it provides tax credits while students are struggling to pay for school, rather than the minimal tax credits Dean offers on loan payments. This is meaningful as the immediacy of Kerry's plan may encourage more people to attend college. There is a stark difference in the pro- posals of these two candidates. Kerry may be part of the establishment that Piskor disdains, but his plan offers real solutions. Dean's "College Commitment" is worse than just a bunch of hollow promises,because Dean is trying to fool his strongest supporters. Piskor appears to have taken the bait. Let's hope the rest of the Daily has the courage to do a little more research and report honestly about how the candidates' higher education pro- posals will affect Michigan students. STEPHANIE PILAT Rackham Students for Kerry Daily loses credibility after 'Return of the King' review To THE DAILY: After "The Return of the King" review (Bow to the King, 01/06/04), you have officially lost any credibility both as a source for intelli- gent, non-biased, accurate reviews, but also any idea of "editorial freedom." skipping classes (Website woes result in first-day scheduling gaffes, missed classes, 01/07/04). The Registrar's Office website, www.umich.edu/-regoff, contains the com- plete time schedule of classes which includes class times and locations. As a last resort, students could have braved interaction with another person and con- tacted their academic departments by phone or in person. DANIEL SMITH Rackham Students too dependent on Wolverine Access To THE DAILY: While the delays of Wolverine Access yesterday were indeed annoying and pre- vented many people from adding or drop- ping classes, it was hardly a national disaster (Website woes result in first-day scheduling gaffes, missed classes, 01/07/04). After all, it was working again by the evening, which is darn good response time. I think the real concern from your article has more to do with students' reliance on this one website. After all, it is possible to go to the Registrar's Office to add or drop courses, though I wouldn't be surprised to find out that many students may not even know where that is. Also, do students not know about www.umich.edu/-regoff/timesched? It has the full listing of all classes for all the schools, and usually for the next term as well, and that site was working fine yes- terday. Not to mention printed schedules of classes that are available. There's no sense missing class just because the web- site is down. ADI PESHESS Rackham 4 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 d