4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, November 5, 2004
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ANN ARBOR, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
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.
OPINION
NOTABLE
QUOTABLE
''I earned capital
in the campaign,
political capital,
and now I intend to
spend it."
- President Bush, speaking to supporters
on plans to change Social Security and reform
the tax code, as reported yesterday by The
Washington Post.
ALEXANDER HONKALA Tosv HQGoswoocs
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Blue puddles
ZACK DENFELD8- urTCRiTIC
propose that Ann Arbor
become the home of the
lue Puddle Internation-
al: 24-hour party town that
put politics in the service of
art. If you feel like a puddle
of blue in a sea of red or just
someone who is willing to
drop the corporate media
onslaught in order to build
something better, get in touch.
The Blue Puddle International Manifesto:
We demand that public spaces be erected and
protected. We demand that chance encounters
between varying social groups are promoted
and ensured in all urban design and that no one
is allowed to reinforce his narrow worldview by
erecting gated communities. We demand that cit-
ies are explored and not consumed. We will make
maps and lead tours. Learning needs to spill out of
the classroom and into the streets.
Kids, don't wait for the old generation to take
you there, they can't even vote right.
How do you become invisible?
First of all lose, your name, and make up
three more. In the 21st century, everyone who
is sane will need a few handles they can drop
in and out of.
Be like the ninja who learns "how to shorten
distances by shrinking the earth (Nam June Paik)."
Continue to create our own roads and paths within
and outside the World Wide Web traffic jam. The
war for information democracy is being fought
and won in our own backyard. Keep the tags and
stickers coming. Make hobo signs with chalk for
everything useful to citizens as opposed to con-
sumers. Let's paint bikes white and leave them
everywhere like the Dutch Provos.
Let's have flash mob-generated, city-wide cos-
tume holidays. If half the kids in your class showed
up in costume everyone, can at least rejoice in the
upside-down world we live in.
Make solutions to problems that don't exist
yet. I believe that engineers should not have to
make weapons in order to survive. Let's erect
sculptures of Buckminster Fuller and inflatable
buildings on North Campus. Let your engineer-
ing friends know that you want them to make
stuff that is fun, silly and self directed. They
shouldn't have to make weapons of death for gov-
ernments. How about weapons of self defense for
citizens facing the information onslaught? The
recent invention and release of TVBGone, which
turns off any annoying TV, is a good example of
an engineer helping citizens take control of their
mental environment.
We insist that educators teaching design and
engineering classes challenge students to begin
projects that have no commercial value. Insist on
design that does not make interactions more con-
trolled, but more liberating.
Right now, designers make benches for malls
that prevent people from sleeping on them or from
sitting too long. Who designs benches for parks
that are intended for people to stand on and give
speeches? Who designs for spontaneity, freedom
or reflection?
No one makes money from humans reading
books or reflecting in public spaces. Who will ask
the hard questions if not our universities? Who
will pay for design that benefits human autonomy
if not public institutions of higher education?
If shopping malls have replaced town greens
and parks as the primary areas of interaction,
gathering and discussion, let's bring public activ-
ity to them.
We can go toiRadio Shack and start an electron-
ic drum circle with the keyboards. Bring movies
you've made that won't be screened anywhere else
and put them in the TV monitors and VCR units
that only spit outcommercial messages. Go to Hot
Topic or anywhere else that co-opts and packages
youth culture and host a zine release party inside
or in front of the store. And make sure to text mes-
sage me an invitation.
Date the sons and daughters of the evil empire.
Have so much fun and spread so much love on the
parks in the streets and over the airwaves, they
would never think about continuing the com-
mercialization of every square inch of our world,
because they want to make out in the bushes, yell
from the rooftops and draw on the sidewalks.
Organize an Ann Arbor lay-in on the Diag in
sleeping bags and look at the stars at night. Talk
about the meaning of life. I'll be there even if it
is raining.
Take your damn iPod and turn every block into
a short-wave radio station. Put the station frequen-
cy on the street signs. We'll drive around the city
with your audio as our guides.
We will continue to work toward economic,
social and environmental justice. But in addition,
and in conjunction, our spirits need to be fed,
inspired and revived.
TheBlue Puddle Internationalmovementseeks
to start a 24-hour situationist party in town. We
will make this art-life party so dense and pow-
erful that one drop of blue zaniness into the red
storm will turn it from upside down to right-side
left. Export the revolution locally/globally. And
don't forget... have fun, be silly and make noise!
Denfeld can be reached
at zcd@umich.edu.
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An open letter to America
SOWMYA KRISHNAMURTHY AlUDI ALTERAM PARTEM
Dear America, circumstances, the president-select brought Assuming morality was crucial to politics,
his pattern of incompetence along too. Some Bush still should have lost the election. Bush
as it all a highlights of his term: the highest-ever bud- was a longtime alcoholic arrested for driving
dream?" get deficit, horrendous environmental dis- under the influence and a suspected cocaine
TV muses regard, distortion of Sept. 11 into a conduit user prior to his Christian rebirth in 1985.
filmmaker Michael for attacking Iraq though the nation housed He claims to be pro-human life but shows no
Moore in the documen- no hijackers, weapons of mass destruction or qualms about bombing Iraq and destroying
tary "Fahrenheit 9/11" ties to al-Qaida and squandering billions of countless civilian lives there. Stumping on the
to the outcome of Elec- dollars and countless American lives into the grounds of family values, the wild antics of his
tion 2000. In the wake of mess of Operation Iraqi Freedom. And let's daughters have been well publicized. Did you
President Bush's presidential victory, I won- not forget the multitude of blunders affec- consider this America, or do I detect a case of
der the same thing. Is this all a dream, a case tionately termed Bushisms either. From ask- selective amnesia?
of d6ja vu or maybe an elaborate "punking" ing Brazil's president "Do you (Brazil) have Frankly, the only positive result of Elec-
by Ashton Kutcher? After having the wool blacks too?" to his constant refurbishing of tion 2004 was the unprecedented awakening
pulled over them, how could Americans the English language with the invention of of the American voter. Nearly 120 million
make such a mistake? Sadly the nightmare new words, Bush has no dearth of idiocy. people cast ballots - the highest percentage
is reality; Bush has really been elected into America, what possessed so many of you to turnout since 1968. Thanks to the efforts of
office by the majority of Americans, amass- empathize with this stammering ignoramus? youth voter initiatives like MTV's Choose or
ing 51 percent of the popular vote and 274 According to exit polls by Edison Media Lose, Citizen Change and Voice Your Vote, 21
electoral votes. Research and Mitofsky International, 22 million Americans under the age of 30 voted,
America, you truly amaze me. Instead of percent of voters cited moral values as the with increased turnout in battleground states.
learning from the political gaffes of the past "most important issue" this election year, A tangible effervescence was displayed among
four years, you were swayed by glitter and with the economy and jobs second at 20 the youth as never before. Kudos.
lies. You didn't select the man with intellect, percent, terrorism at 19 percent and Iraq in To first-time voters or Democrats feeling
experience and heart, who defended his coun- fourth at 15 percent. disillusioned from Tuesday's conclusion, I
try both as a soldier and protester, but threw Morality has no place in politics - espe- implore you to remain steadfast. In the words
rationality to the wind for the prettier, albeit cially in a time of war and economic disarray of Citizen Change founder P. Diddy, "Voting
foolhardy, package. - because of its intrinsic basis in religion; our is the beginning. It's afterwards when you get
And for what? The Texas cowboy who has founding fathers made this explicit with the gangster on the politicians' asses." What this
cruised through life with Daddy's silver spoon separation of church and state. Some of our most lacks in eloquence it recovers in truth. Nov. 2
in his mouth? Bush is impressive neither as a celebrated politicians have had skeletons in their was the galvanizing moment, but the revolu-
politician or human being. A self-glorified C- closets, from slave ownership to infidelity, with- tion is far from over. We need to be vigilant
student, he attended Yale University via leg- out reducing the potency of their command. In and hold Bush accountable if he falters from
acy, joined the Texas Air National Guard to fact, the mark of a strong leader is one who puts his promises. This is still our country, and it's
avoid fighting in Vietnam and made a fortune aside her own biases and agendas for the greater up to us to make certain that four more years
in oil with potential Saudi ties. As governor good. Bush and his GOP cronies have failed in of hell are not repeated.
of Texas, he was a national leader in pollu- this completely and seem bent upon warping
tion and executions. Upon entering the White America into a Judeo-Christian haven with no Krishnamurthy can be reached at
House in 2000 under less than auspicious reverence for the rights of their challengers. sowmyak@umich.edu
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
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THE BOONDOCKS AA RON MCGRUDF)ER
LAC(NHiSTORY MONH-.
f~i.
Flu
It is liberals, not Bush
supporters, who actually
need to 'grow up'
TO THE DAILY:
In response to the short viewpoint (Weigh-
ing in on the results; Ohio sux, 11/03/04) in
which Daniel Adams states that the major-
ity of the country (the red states) had a lot
of growing up to do, I say it is the other way
around: He needs to grow up.
I am a conservative and am proud of the
fact that I voted for President Bush. How-
ever, in the wake of a decisive Bush victory,
apparently my vote stands for hate, oppres-
sion and incompetence. While I find those
claims laughable, what I do not find funny
is the lack of political tolerance from the
far Left. After reading the, anger-filled edi-
torials yesterday, peoples away messages
on Instant Messenger and through heated
conversations with my peers, I found out
that if you're not a liberal and do not think
like them, you're either stupid or you need
to grow up.
These generalities offend me greatly,
because quite frankly, I feel like I made
a very informed and smart choice that
reflects my values and concerns for this
country. While I was always interested in
discussing why some of my peers voted for
Kerry through talking about the issues, I
never once stooped to the level of calling
them stupid or idiotic because they don't
believe in the same things that I do. A vote
is one's personal choice, and as long as they
were informed about why they were voting
for their candidate, I wasn't going to insult
them for voting in what they believe in.
I find it very ironic that certain people
of a political party that was powered by a
mass hatred of one candidate, and appar-
ently now the people who voted for him, are
telling me to grow up. Based on some of
the reactions from some (and I emphasize
some) Kerry supporters that America is
going into hell, we're all going to get draft-
ed, the apocalypse is upon us, it appears
that it is they who need to grow up and
stop with the political slander and personal
insults toward the 59,136,494 (as of today)
Americans who voted for President Bush.
Jeff Spencer
Kinesiology sophomore
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