fm 4A - TheMichiganDaily-_Thursday,_September_9,_2004 Opinion S e 9Ulirk i ttt ttilg 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 tothedailyrmichigandail. I 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 pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. NOTABLE QUOTABLE ... you have chosen ... lies and obfuscation over the truth and the political technique of character assassination ... " - Former President Jimmy Carter, in a let- ter to Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.), on the sena- tor's controversial speech at the Republican National Convention, as reported Tuesday by the Associated Press. COLIN DALY Ti ,._ this young man is suffering from A PA TIH Y . even though apathy can strike anyone at any age, college students are at particularly high risk. nobody knows what causes apathy, but some doctors believe marijuana and inactivity may accelerate its onset. symptoms of apathy include: - a listlesslook in one's eyes . increased guitar playing " decreased studying " moral degradation " reduced hygiene " not voting although apathy can be lethal, it can be cured. increasing your awareness of history and current events, exercising regularly and eating a diet rich in dark, leafy greens should reduce crippling indifference. i ,&h. or- Al N44 \lw I do ... No you don't. JOEL HOARD OHl YEA 1A ? D espite all of the cosmos that strictly defines marriage as the on preserving the comfort of the majority, advancements union of a man and a woman. To them homo- blacks and women would have never earned made in the area sexuality is unnatural and immoral, and thus the right to vote. The issue shouldn't even be of civil rights over the homosexuals themselves should be treated an issue. past half century and a as second-rate citizens. They claim to have Though gay marriage proponents have relatively socially liberal the best interests of the American family in found allies in San Francisco Mayor Gavin culture, gays and lesbians mind, and only by banning gay marriage can Newsom, who issued marriage licenses to have remained a margin- they preserve the moral fiber that is holding same-sex couples beginning earlier this year alized group in America. this country together. In the end it serves as in defiance of state law, and the Massachu- Their rights have been yet another example of the moral majority setts Supreme Judicial Court, which struck trampled by oppressive attempting to use the government to inflict its down a ban on gay marriage this past Novem- laws and unsympathetic courts, and many beliefs upon society as a whole. ber, unfortunately the right to same-sex mar- people would prefer it if they weren't even a The truth of the matter is that opponents riage remains in limbo. part of our society. of gay marriage seek not to eliminate just However, in the midst of the heated gay So it comes as no surprise that when same-sex marriage, but homosexuality itself. marriage debate that has surfaced over the homosexuals had the nerve to try to exercise They act as if a ban on gay marriage will stop past year, an unlikely voice of reason spoke their right to free association and marry, homosexual behavior in its entirety. No longer up in defense of gay rights in the form of they were met with heavy resistance. Leg- will homosexuals be associating, cohabitating shadowy and enigmatic Vice President Dick islators on both the state and federal levels and engaging in consensual sex in the United Cheney, whose daughter, Mary, happens to be scrambled to draft bills banning gay mar- States as they have been for decades. a lesbian. Cheney stated, "My general view is riage, including a proposal banning same- If only they could put aside their personal that freedom means freedom for everybody sex marriage in the state of Michigan, which or religious beliefs and look objectively at the ... People ought to be free to enter into any voters will decide on this November. Some issue, they might see the inanity inherent in a kind of relationship they want to." His state- politicians, President Bush among them, find ban on gay marriage. Homosexuality is a nat- ment contained none of the usual noncommit- the idea of same-sex marriage so offensive urally occurring phenomenon that has been tal language or political rhetoric we've come that they attempted to amend the U.S. Con- around for millennia. Its existence does not to expect from politicians. I never thought I'd stitution to outlaw gay marriage throughout negatively affect our culture in any fashion, find myself applauding anything that Cheney the entire union. Apparently their passion on and there has been no evidence suggesting ever did, but making such a statement took this issue runs deep enough that they would that raising a child in a family with same- some serious guts. To defy popular opinion, be willing to change the most sacred and sex parents will adversely affect the child's his party and even his boss was a bold move powerful document in our nation's history. development. Despite the efforts of the moral on his part. It will take more people like Fortunately for the reasonable among us, the majority, homosexuality has existed, exists Cheney in order to see this issue through to amendment never made it past the Senate. and will continue to exist. The only possible its rightful end. While the steadfastness of their opposition negative affect that gay marriage can have is unquestionable, their reasons for oppos- on Americas society is that it would am ke Hoard can bg reachgdgt ing gay marriage are. They claim that there a certain portion of the populace uncomfort- j.ho@umich.edu. is some unwritten law somewhere out in the able, but if we were to legislate based solely LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 4 01 Cheney's coiment reveals that he has no shame TO THE DAILY: Yesterday morning, in between a mouth- ful of pancakes, I opened up the paper only to learn that Vice President Dick Cheney had sunk to an all-time low: He spoke unabashedly about the danger of elect- ing John Kerry on Nov. 2. In his remarks, Cheney said that if the country elects Kerry, then " ... we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the Unit- ed States." Well, once I reread the remarks to make sure it was Cheney, the vice presi- dent of what was once the most respected country in the world, I hit the floor. The Bush administration's campaign strategy seem simple: Let's scare the Amer- ican people into re-electing Bush. Karl Rove is brilliant because he has crafted a campaign in which he need not defend Bush's failures in office. Rove has essen- tially transformed the face of a traditional American re-election campaign, for it is no longer a referendum on the president's first term in office, but a wonderful opportunity to scare the American people into resisting a power change. While I will not name the other individuals who have used this tactic throughout history (Bush might brand me "unpatriotic"), I assert that they were nei- ther Democrats nor Republicans, but totali- tarians. Cheney's comments cheat the American people out of a constructive debate about America's future. We are hearing very little from Bush about his plans for stabilizing the economy, providing health care for all Americans and balancing the budget. But, we are hearing an awful lot of talk about an imminent attack, which promises to befall the nation if someone other than Bush were elected. The terrorists' most potent weapon is fear, which stalls governments and paralyz- es nations. This is the weapon reserved for those who hate America, not for those who are so privileged to lead it. MATTHEW FORGOTSON LSA sophomore Communications director, Students for Kerry the press and the people as to his reasons for avoiding the debate, or called a coward. LUIs VAZQUEZ Rackham Bookstores and 'U' need to provide more planners TO THE DAILY: Yes, I'll admit it. I'm a proud carrier of the M-Planner, have been for two years in a row. As Jerry Seinfeld would say, "Not that there's anything wrong with that." However, this year I went to Ulrich's, Michigan Book and Supply and the Union Bookstore where all three were sold out. The response that I received was that the University under-ordered the M-Planner for sale to the students. This is pretty frus- trating because they should probably know how many M-Planners are usually bought and given away for free to the freshmen. The size of the freshman class has been reported to be the largest ever for many months now so that shouldn't be an issue, especially because they are free. What I'm wondering is why so few planners were ordered to the bookstores for sale. It's the first day of class and they are all sold out. The University under-ordered, ha? Well, who exactly is the University? The Office of New Student Programs is my best guess, but I couldn't tell you - neither could the workers at the bookstore. In their defense, they do offer the planner online to download or print off. I mean I know that's what I want to waste 240 pages of ink on. So will someone please step up and admit some responsibilty/ clear things up for us, order more immediate- ly, maybe even give us a break on a price for this mistake? Thank you. KEVIN ORR LSA junior Voters should participate in five minutes of silence on Election Day TO THE DAILY: Many voters face a dilemma on Elec- tion Day. They are against the war in Iraq, minutes as you remember the hundreds of U.S. servicemen and women and the thou- sands of Iraqis who have been killed in a needless war. The five minutes of silence will begin at 11 a.m. because the United States is in its 11th hour. Do we allow war and violence to per- petuate, or do we take actions, both simple and complex, to reverse the ticking clock? It's up to you. Five minutes can change the world. Send questions and comments to fiveminsofsilence@yahoo.com. MARC CATONE Reader Freeville, NY LETTERS POLICY The Michigan Daily welcomes letters from all of its readers. Letters from University students, faculty, staff and administrators will be given priority over others. Letters should include the writer's name, college and school year or other Uni- versity affiliation. The Daily will not print any letter containing statements that can- not be verified. m Letters should be kept to approxi- mately 300 words. The Michigan Daily reserves the right to edit for length, clarity and accuracy. Longer "viewpoints" may be arranged with an editor. Letters will be run according to order received and the amount of space available. Letters should be sent over e-mail to tothedaily@michigandaily.com or mailed to the Daily at 420 Maynard St. Editors can be reached via e-mail at editpage.editors @umich. edu. Letters e-mailed to the Daily will be given priority over those dropped off in person or sent via the U.S. Postal Service. 0 0 LIKE To wRrrU? DAILY OPINION MAY BE JUST THE PLACE FOR YOU. i r%&e "}1A at mmie* r a - L ',J*''~A'-.L ~ *~* - v v -'7+ __