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4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, February 12, 2004

OPINION


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EDITED AND MANAGED BY
STUDENTS AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SINCE 1890

JORDAN SCHRADER
Editor in Chief
JASON Z. PESICK
Editorial Page Editor

Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of
the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters ard cartoons do not
necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.

NOTABLE
QUOTABLE
"The greatest threat
before humanity today is
the possibility of secret
and sudden attack with
chemical or biological or
radiological or nuclear
weapons."
- President Bush, over-inflating the
terrorist threat while ignoring other
threats yet again, in remarks yesterday, as
reported by CNN.

COLIN DALY 'THE MicHIGAN DALY

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Let's make a deal
JASON Z. PESICK ONE SMALL VOICE
ens of thousands of have joined the strengthening movement against responsibility to protect Michigan jobs. The
jobs are leaving the trade as economic and job growth remains less problem is, as Deardorff pointed out, is that the
country, and many than robust. But these individuals ignore the pri- benefits of trade are more difficult to detect than
of these jobs were in mary reasons why free trade is a far more com- the negatives. Former Treasury secretary
Michigan. CNN host Lou passionate policy path than protectionism, or, Lawrence Summers has said, "No one ever says
Dobbs brought attention to what politicians have now named "fair" trade. on Christmas morning: Without trade with
this trend. On his business The jobs that leave the United States China, I'd only be able to buy half as many toys
show last Friday, he had don't disappear. When Levi Strauss moves for my kid." In fact, according to Feenstra, U.S.
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D- 15,000 jobs out of the United States, thou- domestic prices would increase if there were
N.D.) on his show to sands of Mexicans get jobs that can help lift more protectionism, and domestic companies
announce to the American people which com- them out of the abject poverty that is all too would have more market power inside the coun-
panies have taken their jobs out of the country. common in developing countries. As Eco- try, putting important markets into the hands of
Levi Strauss has taken 15,000 jobs out of the nomics Prof. Alan Deardorff, the Universi- a very small number of companies. For exam-
country, Motorola has eliminated 7,000 Amer- ty's leading expert on international trade, told ple, the higher price of steel that resulted from
ican jobs and moved them to Mexico and me, developing countries are less able to the steel tariffs President Bush enacted at the
5,300 Fruit of the Loom jobs have left the cope with unemployment than the United beginning of his presidency hurt a number of
country. When Gov. Jennifer Granholm was States. When a worker at Levi's loses his job other steel-consuming industries, such as the
on the show, she mentioned a Michigan com- in Georgia, the federal government can pro- auto industry, causing them to lay off workers.
pany named Electrolux that moved 2,700 jobs vide him with unemployment insurance, edu- The United States and Australia just
out of the country. Dobbs has been building a cation programs and can help him find a new completed a free-trade agreement that elimi-
list of companies that have taken jobs out of job. I realize this is not of much solace to a nates tariffs on almost all manufacturing
the United States, and the list includes pretty 55-year-old former textile or manufacturing goods the countries trade. The United
much every U.S. company I can think of worker with only a high school diploma, but States, however, would not agree to stop
Granholm used her State of the State address he's still in a much better situation than the protecting its agricultural producers from
to promote trade restrictions as well. She said, jobless worker in a developing country who Australian sugar, beef and dairy products. It
"As your elected leader, I would not be doing lives in a shack and can't feed his kids. might have something to do with the sugar
my job if I did not force the question upon According to a paper by the economist lobby's donations of over $20 million to
Washington and upon you, the Legislature: Robert Feenstra, foreign countries lose billions both political parties since 1990.
How can a state so reliant on manufacturing of dollars a year because of U.S. protectionism. But protectionist agricultural policy does
compete with countries paying $1.57 an hour, The New York Times has run a series of editori- more than help a few American farmers
usually without health care or environmental or als chronicling the United States's efforts to (more likely, agribusinesses) and keep for-
labor standards? convince countries like Vietnam and the Philip- eign farmers impoverished. It also maintains
"In this election season, all of us must pines to open their markets and trade with us, artificially high domestic food prices. So
specifically call on all those who seek the presi- while we've poured enough into farm subsidies parents struggling to make ends meet, many
dency on both sides to stand up for robust trade, to keep the foreign farmers in poverty. of whom live in Michigan, will have a hard-
lots of it, but fair trade, so that our outstanding But these international arguments do not er time buying items like cheese and beef
companies and hardworking people will have promote Americans' individual well-being over for their families. Where's Granholm's
good jobs in the years ahead." Granholm, foreign workers'. So, while the internationalists sense of duty to help them?
Dobbs and Dorgan have done a good job should promote free trade for these reasons, not
explaining the downsides of free trade. A num- many U.S. politicians will use this as a justifica- Pesick can be reached at
ber of politicians and political commentators tion for free trade. Granholm says it's her jzpesick@umich.edu.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Don't like LSA requirement? doesn't exactly stand out as the most challeng- SDS 'insulting;' why Nation
ing. You don't like the foreign language
Try engineering program! requirement? Major in engineering! I guaran- of Islam speaker is
tee that the substantial difference in workload
To THE DAILY: between LSA and Engineering more than important is 'eyond' rea r
TI jst wattsay:makes up for the lack of a foreign language
I just want to say that I'm sick of every- requirement.
body crying about the LSA foreign language JASON GOLDSTICK To THE DAILY:
requirement (Estoy enojado, 02/11/04). I'm Ljunior Once again, The Michigan Daily has dis-
always hearing about people lobbying to played its profound lack of journalistic integri-
have the requirement shortened to two terms, Convenience no justification ty. I find it insulting that speeches by an aging
or even doing away with it entirely. Well, ex-college activist - whose militant student
guess what, almost any four-year school in for illegal music do vnloads group folded more than 30 years ago due to
this country has a very similar type of internal squabbling - and a minister/activist
requirement: fourth-term proficiency in a - who belongs to one of this country's most
language. Are people so lazy that they want TO THE DAILY: racist and anti-Semitic organizations - war-
to sacrifice much of this great school's Like Ari Paul, I download music (One ranted front page coverage (SDS founder hopes
integrity by eliminating a requirement that fallen tower I'm not crying about 02/11/04). for new revival on campus, 02/11/04).
even the nation's worst colleges endorse? I also believe the idea that Tower Records Since when did a talk by Alan Haber, the
One argument used by many against the for- went bankrupt because of online file-shar- first president of Students for a Democratic
eign language requirement is that our full ing is a laughable notion. However, I am Society - a student group known for its
matriculation as adults in this society does not as self-satisfied with my file-sharing uncompromising socialist ideology and violent
not necessitate knowledge of a foreign lan- activities. Be the license-holder a two-man scare tactics - deserve above-the-fold cover-
guage. Well guess what, that's not the point outfit or a major corporation, without their age? Additionally, I do not see how the Uni-
of the foreign language requirement. The investment of time, labor and money I versity's NAACP chapter is commemorating
point of the foreign language requirement is would not be able to listen to the music I its parent organization's 95th birthday by invit-
to prove to an employer or a graduate school have downloaded. I personally have not ing Nation of Islam minister David Muham-
(or yourself, as hard as that may be to fathom yet decided what their rights as intellectu- mad, who claimed yesterday that the U.S.
for some) that you have the capacity to learn al property owners are. It appears to me government "(does) not want to see the rise of
anything, including something as complex as that many who defend downloading music the black man, the black woman (or) the black
the intricacies of Spanish (or some other lan- are couching ease and convenience into a family," and is engaged in a "conspiracy to
guage's) grammar. moral argument. I find this behavior dis- destroy the black man." As for why this con-
I'm an LSA student and I don't like the gusting done by anyone, whether a busi- spiratorial rant also received front-page cover-
language requirement any more than most of nessman justifying his actions in the age is beyond me.
you do, but LSA, or LS and Play as it has language of free-market capitalism or the ELI SEGALL
been affectionately termed by many of this consumer aggrandizing his savings of LSA senior
school's non-LSA students, needs a tough $16.95 into a crusade for the free flow of
requirement to maintain some level of diffi- information. S IND LETIRS TO
culty. Let's face it, when compared to many BRIAN WIER
of the other colleges at the University, LSA LSA junior
VIEWPOINT
Strange Bedfellows? Israel Activism and V-Day

BY SAMANTHA WOLL
Tomorrow, something unusual is going to
happen on the Diag. Although this seems
nearly impossible due to the variety of
preachers, communists, LaRouche support-
ers, random playground furniture and the like
that tend to adorn the center of campus on

Movement for Israel.
While the Jewish feminist tradition in
both America and Israel has long been estab-
lished as a strong and powerful voice in con-
temporary political discourse, it is not
common to see pro-Israel communities and
feminist communities working together on
campus within the auspices of official stu-
dent groups, broad-based coalitions or stu-

nent Israeli feminist speaker come to visit
campus, it would be very reasonable for both
communities to work together on that event.
But what about something a little more con-
troversial? What would be able to be contro-
versial and a conversation-starter on the one
hand but at the same time is welcomed by
two already polarized and extremely com-
plex communities? The answer to this can be

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