4A -The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 22, 2004 OPINION U 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, Ml 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com NOTABLE QUOTABLE SAM BUTLERTv j\f' Red beat ]blue64 .. gin.e EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 JORDAN SCHRADER Editor in Chief JASON Z. PESICK Editorial Page Editor Man, there are 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. going to be some lawsuits." /1, j i f t' t 1J ,t a ^. r , - . - Quentin Richardson of the Phoenix Suns, referring to the brawl between fans and players during Friday's game between the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers, as reported Saturday by ESPN.com. c. - lb C. S C. I An indecent standard DANIEL ADAMS H±oRSESHOES AND H AND GRENADES Federal Commu- nications Com- mission Chairman Michael Powell has a lot to be thankful for this Thanks- giving. He can start by being thankful that he chairs arguably one of the most powerful and influential government agencies in Washington - the FCC. Not so long ago, this meant little in the way of name recognition. Can anyone honestly remem- ber the name of the FCC chair before Powell? How about the one before him? But we know Powell's name, and for that he can thank Janet Jackson and her right boob. Exposed before 140 million Americans at last year's Super Bowl, that breast has changed the way Americans look at the FCC and its chair. Soon after the incident, Powell rushed in, calling it "outrageous" and announcing that he would be launching an investiga- tion. Jackson, sensing the impending media assault, was quick to apologize. A spokesman offered his version of what happened, calling it a "wardrobe malfunction." Though seemingly well-intentioned and sincere, her explanation and apology would prove unable to withstand the firestorm of brutal condemnation that was to follow. Pow- ell and the FCC led the charge. Before his own investigation had concluded - indeed, before it had even begun - Powell offered his own version of the incident: "Clearly somebody had knowledge of it. Clearly it was something that was planned by someone. She probably got what she was looking for." Powell became the face of an offended America - the voice of parents across the nation convinced that they and their impres- sionable brood had been victimized by the searing image of Jackson's nipple. Whereas his predecessors were often content to qui- etly and passively enforce their congressional mandate, Powell has rarely shied away from commenting on issues that he sees as a viola- tion of FCC standards. These standards, how- ever, are hardly clear on what is and what is not indecent, dubbing indecency "language or material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community broadcast stan- dards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory organs or activities." Powell seems neither confused nor daunted by this ambiguous mandate. Take for exam- ple the most recent FCC flap over the Terrell Owens/Nicollete Sheridan skit on Monday Night Football last week. In the piece, we have Owens, a professional football player, being seduced by Sheridan, who plays a slutty house- wife on the appropriately titled ABC series "Desperate Housewives." At the end of the skit, Sheridan seems to succeed, dropping the towel and jumping into Owens's arms.. Powell was quick to denounce the sketch and express his disappointment. "I wonder if Walt Disney would be proud," he quipped, referring to the Disney corporation's owner- ship of ABC, the network that had broadcast the piece. Nevermind that Walt Disney was a noto- rious anti-Socialist, a willing informant to Joe McCarthy's House Committee on Un- American Activities, and a reputed racist and anti-Semite - if this is indecent, then over the past week, Powell has been asleep at the wheel! Monday through Friday at 3 p.m., just as little Johnny is getting off the school bus., ABC ran "General Hospital" - a soap opera often featuring long sexualized montages with lots of skin, panting and sultry music. This weekend, kids watching Saturday morning network television were treated to endless replays of the Friday night brawl at the Pistons-Pacers game, in which Pacers players Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O'Neal jumped into the stands of a crowded stadium and began assaulting fans. Then they jumped back on the court and, shockingly, continued to assault fans. And at noon this Sunday, FX showed "Booty Call," SciFi "Escape from New York" and A&E "Deliverance" - a lovely think piece in which Ned Beatty's character is raped by a hillbilly. I'm not defending Jackson, nor am I an advocate of abandoning decency standards for broadcast media. But this isn't a stan- dard; standards aren't supposed to be this arbitrary and confusing. No, this is one man, with a microphone, editorializing on issues that he personally finds offensive. One man, using the power of his position to influence what is and what is not allowed on television. When asked to explain his criteria for judg- ing what is indecent, Powell replied, "I don't think you need to be a lawyer to understand the basic concepts of common decency here." Actually, to understand, you just need to be Michael Powell. Adams can be reached at dnadams@umich.edu. eS el LETTER TO THE EDITOR Democrats don't follow Christian values TO THE DAILY: Jeff Cravens wrote in a letter (Democratic Party is the moral party in America, 11/18/2004) that the Democratic Party is the true moral party in America and attempted in vain to portray Jesus as a liberal. Saying that Jesus "gave free health care to the poor," as well as urging people to give their money to the poor does not in any way clas- sify Jesus Christ as a liberal. Has Cravens heard of Medicaid? Furthermore, generosity, as Ronald Reagan said, is "a reflection of what one does with their money, not what one advocates the govern- ment do with his or her money." To say that Jesus was in favor of entitlements is nothing less than uneducated blasphemy, as he also preached that we should teach the man to fish, not just give him one. Speaking of education, does Cravens know that liberals including U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D- Mass.) helped to shape the No Child Left Behind act, voted for it and then in the campaign lime- light bashed it again and again? Is opportunistic dishonesty a moral, Christian value? Furthermore, Cravens has continued the ongoing ignorance of liberals everywhere in his skewed description of tax policy. A primer in that field would teach him that everyone got tax cuts, and it only makes sense that those paying more taxes would get more back. That's only fair. Addi- tionally, Cravens can quote as much Scripture as he wants, but it doesn't prove his point when the Scripture is misused. One of the Ten Command- ments says "Thou shall not kill," but I see the Democratic Party constantly push for the murder of unborn children in the name of "choice." Even in the case of partial-birth abortion, in which an educated person would tell you that the child is half-delivered, a needle is jabbed into his head and his brain is sucked out. Is this Christian? It's also a known fact that liberals in the Democratic Party have relentlessly pushed for the elimination of "God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. That's a fantastic way to win Christians back to the Demo- cratic Party. The 2004 election proved one thing if nothing else: When pressed with two opposite viewpoints, the American people chose the party of moral val- ues to lead them in, effectively, all three branches of government. For that, I am truly grateful. Kyle Burleson LSA senior bers of Students Allied for Freedom and Equal- ity support terrorism are totally baseless and lack integrity. He substantiates his claims by employ- ing the use of selective quotations and drawing dubious conclusions that were never in anyway articulated by Tarek Dika in his letter (Unified Palestinian Leadership critical to Mideast peace, 11/15/2004). Wolfe's later claims, that members of SAFE have "something significantly wrong" with them border on the lines of libel and renders uncertainty on whether polite campus debate is possible when one side composes their discourse with such disrespect. As for Yassir Arafat, while I have problems with many of his ill-conceived decisions, blaming him for the outbreak of the present Al-Aqsa Inti- fada would be historically incorrect. This Intifada began weeks after Arafat rejected Ehud Barak's alleged "generous offer" (which would still have placed sovereignty over the West Bank and Mus- lim holy sites in East Jerusalem in the hands of the Israelis). The Intifada started the day after Ariel Sharon and his crew of police guards entered the grounds of the Haram al-Sharif and violated the third holiest site in Islam, hence the name the Al- Aqsa Intifada. Resisting unwanted military occupation is a natural human desire; no one wants to see his life and his land controlled by foreigners. Palestinians have the same right to resist Israeli occupation now as the French did German occupation and the Algerians did French occupation. SAFE has never on any occasion, whether at an event or in the Daily, advocated for attacks on Israeli civilians or terrorism of any kind. Mohammed Elghoul LSA senior The letter writer is the vice chair of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality. A 'closer look' at election results still necessary' TO THE DAILY: Joel Hoard's column (A call to surrender 11/18/2004) makes several very valid points that anyone left of evangelical fundamentalism should take to heart when deciding what to do now. He rightly criticizes the "whining" of the past four years, advocating an honest evaluation of the current state of affairs in the country. The outcome on Nov. 2 proved that many of us need to rethink our perception of the "American people" to vote. This they did with Malicious vigilance. In some polling places, they physically removed voters; in others, they took advantage of Spanish- speaking voters, convincing them they must speak English to vote and in perhaps the most deplorable example, challengers donned official Election Pro- tection shirts and stood outside a polling location saying it was closed. All of the above are unquestionable violations of state and federal law and reveal an acutely flawed system. As for Ohio, the Libertarian and Green parties have joined forces in asking for a recount, showing that the Ohio outcry is not simply partisan denial. With as many as 250,000 provisional and discarded ballots in question in a state where Bush won by little over 130,000 votes, I think a closer look is worth it. I need not say that those ballots come from precincts that overwhelmingly sup- ported John Kerry. International monitors have said that this elec- tion fell farther below standards for fairness than the notorious 2000 vote. In addition to disenfran- chisement, failure of electronic voting and com- puterized ballot tabulation machines has been widespread. As a country that parades its vision of "democracy" abroad, it is somewhat embarrassing that we cannot even live up to the very basic stan- dards of that concept at home: It is our duty to make sure the results are beyond doubt, and it is the duty of publications such as the Daily to champion the cause of voter inclusion and fair elections. If we do not hold accountable those responsible for electoral violations, we have no reasonable expectation of fairness in the future, and we will continue to live in a democracy in which 59 percent involvement is considered "outstanding." Matt Hollerbach LSA senior The letter writer is a member of the Michigan Student Assembly. 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 University affiliation. The Daily will not print any letter containing statements that can- not be verified. Letters should be kept to approximately 300 words. The Michigan Daily reserves the 0 a 0 ............ ................. ... a