CON CAMPUS 'Merchant of Venice' screening The most recent screen release of Shakespeare's comic drama "The Mer- chant of Venice," starring Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fiennes and Al Pacino, will be shown tonight from 7:15 to 10:30 p.m. at the Michigan Theater. The Merchant of Venice, one of the playwright's most acclaimed and repro- duced works, addresses a range of social issues. University professor and Shake- spearean scholar Ralph Williams will conduct a lecture following the film. Admission is $6.75 for students, chil- dren and seniors and $8.50 for adults. Students to vie for spots on national poetry team The University of Michigan Muse- um of Art hosts the annual Slam Team contest tonight at 8:30 p.m. at Alumni Memorial Hall. Student poets will compete to win a place in one of the four available spots on the University's nationally recognized performance poetry team. The per- formance will be headlined by Jamie Kennedy, a three-time National Grand Slam Champion and host of the vaudeville series Tourettes With- out Regrets. The event is sponsored by the Uni- versity of Michigan Credit Union, Rackham Student Government and University Unions Arts and Pro- grams. Admission is free. Workshop to teach intricacies of Adobe Photoshop There will be a hands-on workshop today for Photoshop Intermediate, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Faculty Exploratory Room in the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library. E The workshop will look at tools to fine-tune selections, alter color ranges and different ways to combine images together. The workshop will talk about a few quick adjustments that can be applied to make images clearer and bet- ter looking. CRIME INOTES Lost and found items lost, not found A caller reported to the Department of Public Safety Tuesday that numerous unknown items have been stolen from the Hutchin's Hall lost and found. Subject falls in Botanical Gardens A subject fell in the Matthaei Botani- cal Gardens Tuesday morning, bumping her head and nose. The subject refused transportation by Huron Valley Ambu- lances and was taken to the hospital by a friend. Discriminatory language found on residence hall A caller reported to DPS Tuesday that someone wrote the word Fag in blue on a wall outside of Mary Markley Resi- dence Hall. There was no report filed. THIS DAY In Daily History Art students hold protest in light of budget cuts March 10, 1983 - Frustrated over the proposed budget cuts the Universi- ty's School of Art and Design is facing, 300 art school students staged a silent rally in protest yesterday. Marching from the Diag to Regents NEWS The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 10, 2005 - 3A Senate panel votes to reject appointment Granholm denounces the first denial of a gubernatorial appointment in 15 years as a partisan move LANSING (AP) - The Republican majority on a Senate panel voted yesterday to reject the reap- pointment of a Democratic nominee to the state elections board, a rare move that Gov. Jennifer Granholm blasted as partisan. It was the first denial of a gubernatorial appoint- ment in 15 years. The Senate Government Operations Committee voted 4-3 along party lines to urge the full Sen- ate to reject the appointment of Dorothy Jones, who has been on the board for eight years as an appointee of former Gov. John Engler, a Republi- can. Granholm recently appointed Jones to another four-year term. The full Senate is expected to vote today on Jones's appointment. It's likely her appointment will voted down, since Republicans hold a 22-16 majority. Granholm, a Democrat who has been frustrated by what she sees as increased Republican partisan- ship, expressed disgust with the panel's action. "It is outrageous. I am furious," she said after the vote. "They abdicated their duty for partisan reasons." Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema and other GOP lawmakers, however, said Jones violated her oath of office last year by not certifying petitions for a gay marriage constitutional amendment or an effort by Republicans to get presidential candidate Ralph Nader on the November ballot as an inde- pendent. They cited a 2004 state appeals court ruling, which said the board breached a legal duty by not certifying the gay marriage proposal even though it was in the proper form and had enough signa- tures. "She attempted to disenfranchise the constitu- tional right of hundreds of thousands of Michigan citizens to place issues of importance to them on the ballot," said Sikkema, who voted to reject Jones' appointment. Jones, of Ypsilanti, is one of two Democrats on the four-member Board of State Canvassers, which reviews proposed ballot measures and other election issues. The board is required to have two Republicans and two Democrats. Jones was first appointed by Engler in 1997 and reappointed in 2001. She told the committee that the board should not be a rubber stamp. The gay marriage amendment, she said, had confusing language. "I always tried hard to do my duty to the best of my ability," Jones said. Republicans said the board's role isn't to decide whether voters will understand the effect of a ballot question. That should be left to the courts after an election, they said. But Granholm defended Jones's actions, saying she upheld her constitutional responsibilities. "She is getting rejected because she asked tough questions and fought for clear and understandable wording on a ballot proposal on behalf of the vot- ers of Michigan," Granholm said. "What she has done is uphold the law and refuse to be a rubber stamp for anyone's partisan point of view. For that, she is about to be dismissed, which should offend every person in this state." Along with Jones, Granholm also made an appointment to the board of canvassers for Repub- licans. She said the GOP did not submit names of potential nominees by a Jan. 10 deadline, so she picked Lyn Bankes of Livonia, a former state law- maker. Sikkema spokesman Ari Adler said the moderate Bankes was not acceptable to some Republicans, but denied the vote against Jones was retribution for Bankes' appointment. The panel didn't take action Tuesday on Bankes' appointment, but it's expected to take effect in 60 days since the Senate won't reject the appointment. In defending Jones, Democrats noted that Repub- lican Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land refused to accept Nader's nomination by the Reform Party of Michigan after a second group also claimed to be the legitimate state Reform Party. They also said voters were misled by language in the since-approved gay marriage amendment that could strip public employees of same-sex ben efits. Democratic Sen. Buzz Thomas of Detroit said Jones,.who is black, reflects diversity on the board, He said most of the board's decisions were unani7 mous. "It does seem unfortunate that we're questionin& two out of 100," Thomas said. Kim Trent of Detroit told lawmakers she was concerned that the first board nominee to be rejet±, ed in years was black. . "That's very troubling," Trent said during the committee hearing. "Our state should project the importance of unity." Four Republicans voted to reject Jones' appoint ment: Sikkema and Sens. Jason Allen of Traversec City, Bev Hammerstrom of Temperance an< Nancy Cassis of Novi. The Democrats voting to approve the appointment were Thomas, Minority Leader Bob Emerson of Flint and Gilda Jacobs of Huntington Woods. According to Senate Secretary Carol Viventi, the last rejection of a gubernatorial nominee came in 1990, when the Republican-controlled Senate blocked Democratic Gov. Jim Blanchard's attempt to appoint several people to commissions and boards near the end of his term. Senate votes in favor of legislation to bar sypware According to the three bills, violators could be found guilty of a felony and spend up to five years in prison, pay a $10,000 fine or both LANSING (AP) - The state Senate unanimously approved legislatidn yesterday aimed at barring the unauthorized spread of spyware, pesky software that can track Internet users' personal information without their knowledge. The legislation, which passed 37-0, heads to the House. The three bills would bar anyone from willfully copying software onto a computer and using it to col- lect personal information without the user's permission. They also would make it illegal to modify Internet set- tings or disable antivirus, anti-spyware or other secu- rity programs. Violators could be found guilty of a felony and spend up to five years in prison, pay a $10,000 fine or both. Someone affected by illegal spyware could obtain an injunction to prevent further violations and $10,000 in damages. Republican Sen. Cameron Brown of Sturgis, who sponsored the legislation, said people have a right to privacy. "We're trying to correct deceptive activity," he said. The most common type of spyware is more accu- rately called "adware," a source of pop-up ads. Adware usually invades when users download free software, but users often unsuspectingly consent to getting the ads by not reading licensing agreements. An America Online survey found that 80 percent of home computers are infected with some type of spy- ware, which can slow down and crash PCs. More troublesome forms of spyware track key- strokes to capture login names, passwords, Social Security numbers,- credit card and bank account information. They reset Web home pages, install new code, co-opt PCs to send out spam and trick users with Trojan-horse tactics such as offering to syin chronize the computer's clock. Just two others states have anti-spyware legislation! Utah and California. Some experts say legislation won't do much to curb spyware, noting that federal legislation didn't prevent e-mail boxes from being flooded by spam. Pradeep Khosla, dean of engineering at Carnegie Mel lon University in Pittsburgh, said it's extremely difficult to find out who's installing some forms of spyware. "What legislation does is acknowledge the fact that we are aware," he said. "It will reduce it some but not stop it totally." While the vote was unanimous, the Republ=' can-controlled Senate rejected Democrats' earlier attempts to modify the legislation to require employ- ers to tell employees if they're monitoring their com' puter activities. Democrats said people deserve privacy in the work- place, but Republicans countered that employees expect their work to be monitored. Sen. Martha Scott, D-Highland Park, was absent and didn't vote. The Senate's vote came on the same day a congres- sional committee passed anti-spyware legislation. The federal legislation would prohibit the collection of per- sonal information from a computer without notice atd consent. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., co-sponsored the leg- islation. "It is serious and spreading scourge," Dingell sait of spyware. "These antics are costing businesses and consumers dearly." Changes to system create slower bud I A LANSING (AP) - House Speaker Craig DeRoche (R-Novi) said yesterday he doesn't expect the Legislature to move forward on funding proposals for another six weeks as law- makers work through a new way of deciding how to budget the state's money. Lawmakers who support the new system agree it's slow, but argue it will help them make better decisions for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. But critics say the change has significantly delayed the budget process. Few hearings have been held so far on actual budget bills in the month since budget director Mary Lannoye presented Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed fiscal 2006 spending plan. "Generally, by this time in the budget pro- cess, we've done some substantive work and we've reported out budgets. But we haven't done any of that yet this time," said Rep. Gretchen not lobb PIRGIM It claims Continued from page 1 mention for five years for this vote. We believe tion, the that this vote can happen faster with- vote on out settlements." sponsorl As a result of the aborted settle- MSA ment, the trial split into three parties unsure - Students For PIRGIM, MSA and would 14 Wells-Reid. sure tha At the beginning of the trial, would. Wells-Reid asked the CSJ to sever If MS MSA from Students For PIRGIM PIRGIM and consider them separately. to regai CSJ did not deny the motion, but MSA decided to hold the full trial and dur- but only ing the discussion to deliberate on go towa the suggestion that MSA and PIR- PIRGIM GIM be separated. allotted If the motion to sever is granted, percent the results of the trial will be incon- $20,000 sequential. period. Whitmer of East Lansing, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Com- mittee. She said the new process outlined in the book, "The Price of Government," is better fit for the executive branch than the Legisla- ture. Michigan lawmakers are the first in the country to use the big-picture way of thinking about the state's finances. Republican leaders in the House and Sen- ate said they're not worried about taking their time on the new budget process. "It will make it easier if we can go forward to the public and say that we spent the bulk of our time talking about what we wanted the government to do with your taxpayer money and what value we placed on those things before we tangle ourselves up in dollars," said DeRoche. R-Novi. DeRoche said he doesn't expect lawmak- ers to make any decisions on spending until after the May 16 revenue estimating confer- ence when economists lay out projections for the current and upcoming budget years. Gran- holm has proposed spending $8.9 billion from the general fund and nearly $12.8 billion from the school aid fund in the next fiscal year. House members recently wrapped up two weeks of goal-setting meetings that laid out what information lawmakers should consider when making spending decisions. They agreed that decisions on state econom- ic development should be based on the unem- ployment rate, weekly earnings and consumer debt, and that road and transportation decisions should be based on data that rate the condition of Michigan roads and bridges, congestion and safety. That's according to a copy of the recommen- dations obtained yesterday by The Associated Lget process Press. House Appropriations Chairman Scot Hummel (R-DeWitt) was scheduled to presedt the recommendations today at a Capitol news conference. Instead of using one bill to fund each depart- ment, DeRoche said he wants to cut the number of bills in half to nine by combining similar funding areas such as education and health care. For example, funding for universities, con- munity colleges and K-12 schools could be combined in one bill. "If every department is a silo protected froim other departments, you don't get to see where there is overlap or efficiencies that could be had by crossing over," he said. Ari Adler, spokesman for Republican Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema of Wyoming, said the Senate is just beginning to compile information from its goal-setting meetings. y if the proposal is approved. s the group has eliminated all of lobbying from its resolu- e document that MSA would when it decides whether to the group. and Wells-Reid say they are whether Student PIRGIM obby, but they want to make at there is no chance that it A's tax-exempt status is lost, A argued, it would be difficult n it. can fund lobbying groups, y 5 percent of its budget can rd that function. If Student A is approved, the $20,000 to it would be just under 5 of MSA's budget. But that D is only a one-year trial -. -- 1 the next year would cost MSA an estimated $60,000, 12 percent of MSA's budget. MSA also wants to establish some kind of influence on Student PIRGIM that would ensure it will never be involved in lobbying in the future. "It frightens me that there is no MSA jurisdiction over whether they'll lobby," Leung said. If CSJ approved a vote, the soonest it could take place is next Tuesday's MSA meeting. - Eric Sweeney contributed to this report FOOD FOR THOUGHT Vietnam/Iraq Comparisons Lcj' NOW ~4Q4~KA v0fr a£ su N euhl et ^1 N ; C)l 'C Cai t('3 to10 Wa GS Ls0 n ) C) (f n' a a a 5. C7 'a1 a.i