4
4A - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 11, 2004
OPINION
.u 4140 NMAY\\C) STREET
I e ltcbtguu ad1 thedazly@rnichigaridaily . co
EDITED AND MANAGED BY
STUDENTS AT TlE
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
Need some wood?"
- President Bush, responding to an
allegation by Democratic candidate John
Kerry, made during Friday's debate, that he
owns a timber company. Bush does in fact have
9art ownership in a timber company, according
tofactcheck.org.
SAM BUTLER
Random thoughts on Kerry, Edwards and Bush '04
D.C. LEE BL ACK DIAMONDLS ANt
::> A I
ust last week my
_ Bush-hating room-
mate suggested that
if I really supported
the war in Iraq that I'd
go over there and fight
myself. But if he really
cared about affirmative
action, wouldn't he be
willing to give up his seat
in the Law School in the
interest of "diversity?"
The Law School, coincidentally, recently
sent an e-mail to its students explaining
that the only reason military personnel can
recruit on campus is because the school
would lose federal funding if it didn't. In
other words, the Law School would ban the
military - specifically, its don't ask, don't
tell policy - if it could. And to think, all
this time I thought tolerance and acceptance
meant tolerance and acceptance of all ideas,
not just liberal ideas.
And speaking of "diversity," the Center
for Individual Rights is seeking fees from
the University for successfully challenging
the University's undergraduate affirmative
action policies. The CIR is seeking approxi-
mately two million dollars, which the Uni-
versity claims is too much. The University, it
should be noted, spent over eight million dol-
lars defending its affirmative action policies.
In other news, Democrats continue to
criticize the Bush administration for fight-
ing the wrong war at the wrong place at the
wrong time. Saddam Hussein, they say, had
no weapons of mass destruction and did
not pose an immediate threat to U.S. secu-
rity. But would anyone disagree that there's
an improved chance for peace and stability
in Iraq? When an appellate court reviews a
trial court's decision, it doesn't reverse the
trial court if it reached the right result for the
wrong reasons.
As an alternative to pre-emptive military
action, Kerry has proposed an ambiguous
"global test" to determine whether the U.S.
should defend its interests. Presumably, the
site for this "global test" will be at one of
the many "summits" Kerry plans to organize
with our allies. But does anyone outside of
the U.N. still think group meetings are pro-
ductive?
Summits, Kerry suggests, are a worldwide
panacea. After all, as a popular T-shirt notes,
war has not solved anything ... except ending
slavery, Nazism and Communism.
Talk to a liberal environmentalist and
you'll soon learn that global warming, a hot-
button issue whose costs may not be experi-
enced for generations, is a pressing concern
requiring immediate attention. Talk to a
liberal foreign policy-maker and you'll soon
learn that stability in Iraq, a hot-button issue
whose benefits may not be realized for gen-
erations, can wait on the back burner while
Kerry organizes political summits and sub-
jects relief efforts to a global test.
Kerry, in a July interview with the Tele-
graph Herald (Dubuque, Iowa), said he per-
sonally opposes abortion and believes "life
begins at conception." Kerry said he will not,
however, take his Catholic belief and "legis-
late it on a Protestant or a Jew or an atheist."
Presumably, Kerry will also not endorse any
laws criminalizing murder, domestic abuse
or child pornography, as such laws would
be the equivalent of legislating his Catholic
belief on Protestants, Jews and atheists.
Nineteen years ago, John Edwards suc-
cessfully sued an obstetrician whose negli-
gence in reading a fetal heartbeat monitpr
resulted in brain damage to a child. Accord-
ing to The New York Times, Edwards stood
before a jury and channeled the words 9f
an unborn baby girl. "She speaks to you
through me," Edwards told the jury. "Anol
I have to tell you right now - I didn't plan
to talk about this - right now I feel her'. I
feel her presence. She's inside me, and she's
talking to you." As Douglas Johnson, in an
exceptional column for National Reviev'e
Online, notes, sometime between 1985 and
2004 Edwards lost the ability to hear the
voices of the unborn. "It seems," JohnsbiA
explains, "that nowadays there are voices
that ring much louder in Senator Edwards'
mind than those of unborn victims. After
all, unborn children cannot vote, or regisl
ter others to vote, or distribute brochures, or
make contributions, or do any of the other
things that will determine whether John
Kerry and John Edwards are elevated to the
highest office in the land."
Hillary Clinton, in an interview with
CNBC after last Friday's presidential debate
did some stump-work for John Kerry. Qh,
how it must grate the junior senator from
New York to stump for Kerry knowing tbat
every sound bite hurts her own chancesof
running in '08. For once, though, I thinik
the Clintons and I can agree on something;
Bush '04.
Lee can be reached
at leedc@umichedW
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Cell phones too often a she fails to understand why, which directly under- opinion article by Sravya Chirumamilla (I don't
mines her argument that pointed criticism of Israel stand with Israel and I'm not anti-Semitic, 10/06/04)
distraction is not anti-Semitic. was filled with blatantly incorrect statements.
Chirumamilla writes, "If Palestinians had Although I was not an integral part of AMPlify,
TO THE DAILY: wealthy, large and powerful lobbying groups in I did understand it to be a day to "Amplify Your
While walking down East University this Washington, there is little doubt that support for Culture," not just Middle Eastern ones. I am part
Saturday, I saw a young mother with two little Israel would diminish. The ADL and similar pro- of the Persian Students Association, so I did help
girls exiting a ballet studio. The mother was Israel groups have the lobbying funds to sway our out by serving food and explaining to other stu-
chatting away on her cell phone, oblivious to leaders and the prerogative to call all opposition dents my culture and my history. Mortar Board
her excited little children. anti-Semitic." This is a false understanding of why and the Persian Students Association along with
As the children danced circles around their the United States supports Israel. other groups spearheaded the creation of AMPli-
mother, one slipped and fell on the sidewalk. She Washington maintains its policies on Israel fy, and whoever wrote the campus notes clearly
scraped her knee badly and began crying. The regardless of lobbyists, especially because many did not do any research about what is going on.
little toy horse she had been prancing around with of these groups differ on the policy on a Palestin- The Lebanese Students Association did not host
skittered across the sidewalk to my feet. ian state. Some are more to the right and some are the event, nor did the Jordanian or Arab Student
As I and the other passers-by gathered more to the left, while the United States keeps a Associations sponsor it. They were there as part
around the crying child, and her sister brushed consistent stance. of the day to "amplify" their culture. You need to
off her knee, what did the mother do? She kept This stance is taken for reasons of its neoconser- give credit where it is due. Many students worked
on chatting. Even as I reached the corner of vative post-colonialist policies that dictate that the night and day to bring this wonderful event to us,
South University Avenue, she was still talking United States needs a strong foothold in a region it and not only was the headline wrong, but the mis-
and ignoring the crying little girl at her feet. seeks to control. The United States controls Israel information is very upsetting.
This disgusts me. Cell phones are a ubiqui- policy for its own purposes in the Middle East, not Furthermore, Chirumamilla's article titled, "I
tous part of our society today, and it would be the other way around, as Chirumamilla falsely don't stand with Israel, and I'm not anti-Semitic,"
foolish of me to suggest that they just disappear. asserts. It is one thing to be wrong, but wrongly was injustice to the Daily and its 'excellence' in
Knowing that, I have a simple message to all the accusing Washington of being played by the pup- journalism. First, I could not find any article from
cell-phone chatters on and around campus: Pay pet masters of the Zionist lobby is, sadly, an anti- a dependable news source supporting this voting
attention to what is around you! Don't let your Semitic myth. issue. I would like to see where this was based
cell phone become your little security blanket from. Right now, the Palestinians are fighting
against the real world! Let's all try not to let cell Ari Paul amongst themselves, and I see that as the major
phones control our lives to the point where we Alum problem. The Palestinians need to get their act
can't comfort a crying child. The letter writer is a former Daily columnist. together before we can criticize Israel. By the
Dan Bertoni way Sravya, you might want to check out a map,
LSA sophomore Dail lumnist fLl of maybe even a course on the Middle East, because
a y, Ciguess what - Jerusalem is in Israel. That isn't a
factual errors mistaken premise, just your lack of journalism.
U. S. support of Israel not I don't necessarily agree with all of the actions
due to lobbyists TO THE DAILY: Israel has taken, but you should look at the people
Today was the first day in three years that I felt living in Israel - they are very torn themselves.
TO THE DAILY: much contempt for the lack of journalism and Please report factually and accurately. As mis-
While Sravya Chirumamilla has rightfully news reporting by this established paper. guided as student population is, we do not need
observed that the United States maintains a one- First, on reporting on campus events, you had incorrect facts reported to us on top of it all.
sided policy on the Middle East conflict (I don't four mistakes regarding AMPlify (Middle Eastern David Golbahar
stand with Israel and I'm not anti-Semitic, 10/06/04), cultures to be AMPlified on Diag, 10/06/04), and the LSA Junior
VIEWPOINT
On National Coming Out Day
4
BY WAYNE TING
Today is National Coming Out Day.
Granted, it may not be New Year's Eve, St.
Patrick's Day or even Homecoming, but for
many of your peers, it's much more impor-
tant.
Beyond the public expression of sexual
orientation, National Coming Out Day is
also a time for all gay, lesbian, bisexual
lesbian (though you may not know it). And for
these people, coming out of the closet remains
a long, difficult and emotional process; I speak
from experience. We face fear, discrimina-
tion, harassment, rejection and even violence
by revealing our sexual orientation. And this is
why we need your support.
The easiest way you can support your gay
and lesbian friends is by creating an accept-
ing environment, not just on your campus,
of Marriage Act in 1996. And he passion-
ately opposed the discriminating "Don't Ask,
Don't Tell" policy. Additionally, John Kerry
supports the passage of comprehensive hate-
crimes legislation and the Employment Non-
Discrimination Act, so GLBT people can work
in environments free of discrimination. Kerry
has a long record of supporting gays and les-
bians, and he understands that the real threats
to America are not the expressions of sexual
nnuers Ken. ~n
ar1es an eP u roun or rax cums.
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