4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, December 9, 2005 OPINION ahbe 3ITCJrbi uiuu JASON Z. PESICK Editor in Chief SUHAEL MOMIN SAM SINGER Editorial Page Editors ALISON GO Managing Editor EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com NOTABLE QUOTABLE 4 I've got money on South Quad." - A Department of Public Safety offi- cer, speaking over the loudspeaker of his police cruiser while passing by the annual South Quad-West Quad snowballfight on East Madison Street; as overheard by a Michigan Daily reporter last night. Christmas Mizuho Securities Secular humanists' war on Christmas pierces to the heart of the Bush White House, whose Christmas cards don't actually mention the holi- day commemorating the Savior's birth. And here we thought President Bush had been saved. Data-entry error causes Japanese firm to sell 610,000 shares for one yen each instead of one share for 610,000 yen. In dollars, that's a $225- million loss; in sushi, it's incalculable. THE THUMBS HAVE IT 0 Homeless for the holidays WHITNEY DIBO ENTER STA3E LEFT When I was a little kid, the idea of homelessness plagued me. I just could not understand why some people had to stand outside in the blistering Chicago winter while I got to live in a warm apartment with my par- ents. In my eight-year-old head, it just didn't make any sense. I was too young, of course, to internalize the socioeconomic reality of this country or the harsh tradeoffs of a capitalist system. I did not yet know the problems of affordable housing, mini- mum wage, employment opportunity and all the other roadblocks to the American Dream. All I understood was that these people didn't have a place to sleep. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a star- tling 37 million Americans currently live in poverty, and the average family is a dangerous three paychecks away from homelessness. These are shameful statistics from one of the world's wealthiest countries. Right here in Washtenaw County, 2,756 people will experience homeless- ness each year, with 41 people becoming home- less in any given week. For me, Ann Arbor is where I go to school, where I have my first apartment, where I go to football games and write for the paper. I have a home here, and I have a home in Chicago where I'll go for the holidays. But for too many people, Ann Arbor does not mean home or opportunity - it means a lack of affordable housing, a tough job market and a really, really cold winter. The familiar faces we see around campus are often not representative of Ann Arbor's larger homeless population. There are many people we never see, living just a few blocks away from campus at the Robert J. Delonis Center. Each night the Delonis Center can accommodate 50 people in its regular shelter and another 25 in a rotating shelter. During the winter months, an additional 50 can fit inside its "warming center" - a room with chairs and blankets but no beds. Shelter director Ruth Shabazz says the shelter is nearly full to capacity every night. I know as well as any University student that it's difficult to make time to volunteer amidst the never-ending demands of schoolwork. But as the perilous Michigan winter sets in, maybe we should all make a New Year's resolution to find the time. The University community has not only the responsibility but also the manpower to really make a difference in Ann Arbor's fight against homelessness. No matter what your interests or how much time you are willing to commit, there are hun- dreds of ways to get involved. Many students aren't even aware that places to volunteer exist right in their own backyard - steps away from the academic buildings, bars and restaurants we all so regularly frequent. The Delonis Center is a good place to start. A truly incredible facility, the shelter provides basics like warm showers, laundry and a place to sleep - while also offering job counseling, sub- stance abuse treatment and on-site medical care. Volunteers go through a short four-hour training session, and then can sign up for shifts almost anytime of the day. There is also the Ozone House - a crisis sup- port and housing agency for youth who have run away, become homeless or found themselves in unsafe or unstable situations. Volunteers can help out around the house or work the crisis hotline after a two-week intensive training pro- gram. The next volunteer training date is right around-the corner on Jan. 9 - perfect timing for anyone who wants to make good on that New Year's resolution. Or if you think you're better off working with kids, SOS Community Services runs the Time 4 Tots program - a daycare center that provides a safe, nurturing environment for homeless chil- dren from infancy through preschool while their parents are searching for housing or employment or getting treatment for substance abuse. These are just a few of the many organizations that need student volunteers. If you want a com- plete list, just go on www.volunteer-connection. org and you'll find a directory of all community service opportunities in Ann Arbor. The possi- bilities are endless. As for day-to-day interaction with people liv- ing in poverty, it's easy to become desensitized when walking to and from Angell Hall. When I visited the Delonis center earlier this week, I asked volunteer coordinator Jennifer Crippin what she does when panhandlers ask for money: "Whether you give a dollar or not," she said, "passing along information about the shelter in your neighbor- hood is important." It's a personal choice whether or not to give, but pointing a person in the right direction (in this case, toward the Delonis Center) could make a world of difference. Time, however, can be a more valuable cur- rency than money. Interaction fosters under- standing, and in working closely with the homeless community we can begin to break- down stereotypes surrounding homelessness in Ann Arbor. As most will find in their first few hours of volunteering, these people are not stereotypes or statistics. Shelter director Ruth Shabazz said it well: "The challenge in life is to get beyond stereotypes and get to know people as people." Maybe we should put that on our New Year's resolution list too - right above volunteering time in Ann Arbor next semester. Why have parents. Parental notification critical before abortion Dibo can be reached at wdibo@umich.ed In Tuesday's Daily, our colleagues opined against a New Hampshire law requiring minor women to noti- fy their parents at least 48 hours prior to an abortion (Her Body, Her Choice, 12/06/2005). Our colleagues believe that women, when able to bear a child, obtain independence from their parents, and parents have no right to notifica- tion of this life-changing procedure. We believe the Daily has lost credibility regarding family values. Parents go to great lengths to support their children through financial and emotional means, but according to the Daily, they should have no legal role in their daughter's abortion. Why, then, should parents bother raising their adolescent children? We agree with our colleagues that parental notification is a lower hurdle to jump than parental consent, but think of all the other activities that require leaping over an even higher hurdle. A minor in school must obtain parental consent, regardless of maturity, to par- ticipate in field trips. Before obtaining a driver's license, parents or guardians in some states must sign off on their child's driving ability. The state entrusts par- ents with the right of child-rearing, but according to our colleagues, that right ends at the abortion clinic. Obviously, those who favor abortion have an incentive to dehumanize its moral implications by treating it as a medical procedure. If abortion is noth- ing more than a medical procedure, it should adhere to the same regulations as any other medical procedure performed on a minor. Currently, the law exempts minors from obtaining consent for emer- gency, life-saving medical procedures because of implied consent. Abortion is a choice and by definition premeditated. Minors must obtain parental consent for other premeditated medical procedures such as root canals, appendectomies, tonsillectomies and heart transplants. Why is consent mandatory for these procedures while mere notification of an abortion is too much to ask? Our colleagues also expressed concern that U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts will lead the Court in a more conservative direction and "chip away at the legacy of Roe v. Wade." As conservative Chief Justice William Rehnquist's successor, Roberts does not add another anti-Roe vote to the Court. The Court still consists of four liberals, three conservatives, two mod- erates and a partridge in a pear tree. This minimal change to the Court's ideological makeup should not cause abortion advocates to fear an overturn of Roe. Even the most adamant supporters of "reproductive freedom" have issues with the legal foundation of Roe v. Wade and its affirmation case Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Nowhere in the Constitution is there textual evidence of the "right to privacy" the court derived in the Roe decision. It would take nothing less than a secret Con- stitutional Decoder Ring to find this reasoning in the Constitution. We should allow our legislators, as the elected voice of the people, to determine the merits and regulations of abortion and the role a parent has in his daughter's rearing. Is there any logic in requiring parental consent for a root canal yet preventing parents from knowing if their daughter will undergo an abortion? Apparently, our colleagues believe there is. As a gen- eral principle, we believe parents are responsible for the upbringing of their children and should, at a minimum, receive notification of potentially life- changing events. Reggie Brown and John Stiglich are LSA juniors.Will Kerridge is an Engineering junior. All are members of the Daily's Editorial Board. Like him or hate him - spare Tookie BRIAN SLADE GLo.v'BAL CURRENTS highly publi- vincing argument - that granting clemency to if more inmates took Tookie's actions to heart cized clemency an "arbitrary" case will weaken the deterrent and used their time to earn high school or col- earing was value of capital punishment. The more fun- lege degrees? Instead, prisons are serving as held for Stan "Tookie" damental question of whether capital punish- graduate schools for advanced degrees in drug Williams yesterday ment should continue to be legal is much too dealing, giving young dealers the opportunity to decide whether the complex an issue to delve into here. However, to network and swap business tips. It is no convicted murderer study after study of the deterrent effect of the coincidence that most convicts are re-arrested and founder of one of death penalty has shown an incredibly weak within three years of release due to the over- America's most notori- correlation between executions and murder whelming rate of criminals returning to crime. ous gangs should be put rates. Considering that of the hundreds of thou- Most have simply had no training in any legiti- to death next Tuesday. sands of murders committed since the death mate career field, and the only life they know The hearing's outcome was not yet available as penalty was reinstated 30 years ago only 4,315 is that of crime. this column went to press. But regardless of the individuals are currently on death row or have Some argue that by sparing Tookie, Gov. outcome, this is an important symbolic hearing been executed, it seems that not only do many Schwarzenegger threatens the sentencing power for convicts across the country. Unlike in most murders go unsolved, but the sentencing of the of juries. Instead, Schwarzenegger will be send- clemency hearings, Williams is not blaming an death penalty is also rather arbitrary. Such a ing a message to incarcerated criminals every- unfair trial, manipulated evidence or racism for low probability of actually being sentenced to where that reform is an option. The highly public his death sentence. In fact, his plea for mercy is death sends an equally dangerous message to case of Tookie should serve as a wake-up call not even based on his guilt or innocence in the potential murderers. for a redirection in funding to more construc- murder of four people over 24 years ago - though The more important issue in the Williams tive uses of prison time. Let us also consider he still maintains his innocence. case is his story of reformation. The fact that a that our prisons are overflowing with predomi- Instead, Williams and an army of supporters man condemned to death has decided to use his nately poor black prisoners - often products of are arguing that he has not only reformed during experiences to help steer young people away from the abysmal inner-city environments in which his time in prison, but that he has become a posi- the mistakes he has made demonstrates a value they were raised. Most didn't have the option of tive influence on society. Since being in prison, that should be the basis for our penal system: the receiving a decent K-12 education. Isn't it possible the former leader of the Crips gang has writ- opportunity for reform and rehabilitation. Prison that many of this country's prisoners are decent ten several children's books; brokered a respite terms give inmates plenty of time to consider their people steered astray by unfortunate environmen- between the Crips and another violent gang, crimes and an opportunity to change and make tal factors? Shouldn't everyone have the chance the Bloods; and has been nominated for several amends by being a positive influence on society. to change? Many will not, and for those we can awards - including several literary honors and It is important to hold onto the notion that Tookie agree that perhaps they should be locked away the Nobel Peace Prize. We certainly shouldn't will serve as an example to inmates serving non- where they can't pose a danger to society. My condone Tookie's actions 24 years ago, but we life sentences. case for clemency for Williams is not based on a should recognize what he has done since then. Instead of demanding Tookie's death, we personal fondness for the guy, but on the hope that Some skeptics maintain that Tookie is tak- should be embracing the idea that people have his life in prison will serve as a beacon of hope for ing us all for a ride, while others simply believe the capacity to repent their actions and change young inmates around the country. that murder is murder, and he deserves the pun- their ways. Reformation and subsequent parole ishment to which he was sentenced. Still others should serve as incentive for inmates to better Slade can be reached at believe - and this is perhaps the most con- themselves while in prison. Wouldn't it be great bslade@umich.edu. LETTER TO THE EDITOR Israel/Palestine debate accomplishes little TO THE DAILY: Too often, attacks are thrown back and forth in this publication with little respect have been shopping in that marketplace with his friends, obviously something that does not warrant being murdered. This Palestin- ian suicide bomber who murdered those five people did not do it accidentally - he did it with the intent to murder as many Israeli tion to condemn all acts of terrorism against Israeli citizens. The Israeli leadership has also made it a priority to stop all unwarrant- ed attacks against Palestinians. The Pales- tinian people should follow their leader and condemn suicide bombings by Palestinians "In Dissent" opinions do not reflect the views of the Daily's editorial board. They I ii