NEWS
Friday, October 20, 2006 - The Michigan Daily - 3A
ON CAMPUS
I Painter to chat
about craft, life
Artist Chuck Wilkinson will
speak on the mechanics and philoso-
phy of art, including the foundations
of aesthetics and the intersection of
faith and beauty, today from 8 to 10
p.m. in room 2105A of the Michigan
Union. The event is sponsored by the
Socratic Club. Refreshments will be
provided.
Hellenic group
to show Greek
D film in Angell
The Hellenic Student Association
will sponsor a free showing of the
Greek Film "Hard Goodbyes" today
from 7 to 9 p.m. in Angell Hall. The
film follows a young boy in Athens
who overcomes his father's death
and watches man's first landing on
the moon.
Ford to stop
making Taurus
Company to retire
car that Changed
AmeriCan auto market
DEARBORN (AP) - Some-
time next week, the assembly line
at a Ford plant near Atlanta will
come to a halt, signaling the end
of a family sedan so revolutionary
that its 1985 debut changed forever
the way cars look, feel and drive.
Say goodbye to the Taurus.
After 21 years and sales of near-
ly 7 million cars, Ford Motor Co.
is giving up on what some call the
most influential automobile since
Henry Ford's Model T. The Taurus
is credited with moving America
away from boxy V-8 powered gas-
guzzling bedrooms-on-wheels to
aerodynamic, more efficient cars
with crisper handling.
To many, the Taurus's death was
slow and painful as Ford in recent
years abandoned the car that saved
the company, focusing instead on
high-profit trucks and sport utility
vehicles.
"When that thing came out,
it was a big deal," said Robert
Thompson, professor of popular
culture at Syracuse University. "It
so much became kind of the tem-
plate of what a modern car was
going to look like."
The Taurus, so futuristic that
critics called it a "jellybean" or
a "flying potato," made its debut
late in 1985, with 1979 gasoline
shortages still fresh in consumers'
minds. The U.S. economy was just
pulling out of a downturn when the
scalloped Taurus,initially equipped
with V-6 and four-cylinder engines,
hit showrooms. It was an immedi-
ate hit, with buyers snapping up
more than 263,000 in 1986, its first
full year on the market.
It became the best-selling car
in America in 1992 with sales
of nearly 410,000, unseating the
Honda Accord just as Japanese
imports were starting to take hold
in the U.S., and it held the top spot
for five straight years until it was
supplanted by the Toyota Camry in
1997. Even near death in Septem-
ber, it remained Ford's top-selling
car.
Ford also sold another 2 million
Mercury Sables, the Taurus's near-
ly identical twin.
"It was really the last full-size
American passenger sedan to dom-
inate the segment," said Jim San-
filippo, senior industry analyst for
Bloomfield Hills-based Automo-
tive Marketing Consultants Inc.
Ford was losing billions in the
earldy 1980s when Taurus was just
an idea. Philip Caldwell, chief
executive at the time, challenged
designers and engineers to come
up with a radically different car
that would return Ford to profit-
ability.
"We were in terrible condition
financially," recalled Jack Telnack,
chief designer on the original Tau-
rus who retired in 1998. "He said
"Look, we need something really
different, really new, that will kind
of set the pace out there."'
If Dems take House,
Lecturer to delve m
into inspiration
for architectureo
The Center for Middle East-
ern and North African Studies
will host a lecture on women and
architecture in Central Asia today
at 4 p.m. in room 180 of Tappan
Hall. Discussion will focus on
buildings inspired by powerful
women of the age.
CRIME
NOTES
Thousands of
dollars worth of
wire vanishes
About 2,500 feet of wire was sto-
len from the fifth floor of the Henry
F. Vaughan Public Health Building
sometime between 5 p.m. Tuesday
and 6 a.m. Wednesday, the Depart-
ment of Public Safety reported. The
wire was valued at about $6,500.
Police have no suspects.
Dingell will stick
to Center to protect
auto manufacturers
WASHINGTON (AP) -
They're mostly a liberal bunch. Yet
the would-be chairmen in a House
under Democratic control promise
to rule from the center. They'd have
little choice, given the likely bal-
ance of power they would confront
if elected.
George W. Bush would still
occupy the Oval Office, and no
one thinks Democrats could win
control of the House by more than
a few seats next month. And that
would include three dozen or more
moderate "blue dog" Democrats.
The dynamics ensure thatdespite
the overwhelmingly liberal cast of
the chairmen-to-be - as measured
by liberal interest groups such as
Americans for Democratic Action
- the early agenda would consist
of bills that could garner Republi-
can support.
Those include legislation to raise
the minimum wage, empower the
government to negotiate lower pre-
scription prices from drug compa-
nies for the Medicare program and
end tax breaks for companies that
move U.S. jobs overseas.
"If we do take back the House,
there will certainly be a Republi-
can president and there may well
be a Republican Senate, so we're
well aware of the constraints," said
Rep. Barney Fran (D-Mass). "But I
think there are some things that we
can put out that will put some pres-
sure on: minimum wage, negotiat-
ing with drug companies."
What won't be seen is any seri-
ous move to impeach Bush, even
though the top Democrat on the
Judiciary Committee, Rep. John
Conyers of Michigan, has intro-
duced a bill calling on Congress
to determine whether there are
grounds for impeachment over the
government's warrantless wiretap-
ping program.
Conyers already has been over-
ruled by Democratic leaders
including would-be Speaker Nancy
Pelosi of California, who dismiss
any talk of impeachment.
And there's no talk of gun con-
trol measures - anathema to the
40 or so pro-gun Democrats in the
House - nor even much specula-
tion about steps to curb greenhouse
gas emissions thought responsible
for global warming. For starters,
would-be Energy and Commerce
Committee Chairman John Din-
gell (D-Dearborn) is a staunch
supporter of his state's automobile
manufacturers.
Instead, the Democrats' "Six
for '06" agenda is studded with
items designed to attract broad
support from Democrats and also
win over plenty of Republicans.
Besides the minimum wage, they
include: making college tuition
tax deductible, boosting produc-
tion of biofuels and improving
military readiness.
Democrats do promise to use
committee posts to step up over-
sight of the Bush administration.
They would be likely to hold
hearings into the conduct of the
Iraq war, the National Security
Agency's wiretapping program,
Hurricane Katrina contracting
abuses and the influence of indus-
try lobbyists on environmental
rulemaking.
David Enders
Public Lecture
Friday, October 20, 3:30PM
Angell Hall, Aud B
WHAT I LEARNED AT UM - AND WHAT I DIDN'T
David Enders, the author of this year's freshman book, Baghdad Bulletin,
went to Baghdad to start an English-language news weekly in May 2003.
On a shoestring budget and with an incredibly young staff, the Baghdad
Bulletin published through the summer of 2003 until the dangers got too
great and the funding ran out. David's book is a record of his experiences
during that adventure. David will talk about how his UM undergrad
experience prepared him (and didn't) for his work as a freelancejournalist,
how his parents reacted (or how he thoughtfthey did), and what has
happened since.
Expensive Tribes seek to
machine sufferTr
in transport
A piece of equipment was dam-
aged while it was being moved
Wednesday at about 8 a.m., DPS
reported. The machine, a gas
distribution cabinet, is valued at
$800,000. The cost of the dam-
age done is unknown.
THIs DAY
In 'U' History
Budget crunch
triggers review
of LSA programs
October 20, 1973 - LSA is
placing 15 of its programs under
review this term in a crusade to
reduce the college's budget.
The budget cuts are expected
to reduce the number of teaching
assistants and rein in the spend-
ing of off-campus programs,
including the University's Bio-
logical Station, purportedly the
best station of its kind in Amer-
ica.
Some evaluations can result
in recommendations for either
budget increases or cuts, while
some programs will be reviewed
specifically to find ways to cur-
tail the budget. In extreme cases,
the committee could also recom-
mend that a program be reviewed
for elimination.
For instructional support units,
such as the Alice Lloyd Pilot
Program, the reviews present an
added danger. These programs
have no tenured faculty mem-
bers, which means the adminis-
tration can dismiss the staff with
as little as 30 days notice.
Comprehensive reviews would
have taken place even without
the budget crunch, but this year
program heads are particularly
wary.
David Schoem, director of
the Lloyd pilot program, said he
expects his unit won't sustain
any major cuts but added that
there is nothing his program can
gain from it.
LSA officials wouldn't say
how much the school is trying
to save or when they expect the
reviews to be completed.
diversify business
MANISTEE TOWNSHIP
(AP) - American Indian tribes
in Michigan are looking for ways
to extend their business activities
beyond casinos.
Representatives of several tribes
met this week at the Little River
Casino Resort for a conference on
seizing entrepreneurial opportuni-
ties.
"The casino is nice, but it's just
not sustainable long-term," said
Steve Parsons, council speaker
with the Little River Band of Otta-
wa Indians.
"People talk about minority-
owned businesses, but how do you
set them up? What do you do?
We're trying to jump-start that."
Dennis Archer, former Detroit
mayor and CEO of The Diversity
Network, moderated the program
Tuesday.
"My observation of the tribal
members is they're outstanding
in the business they do," Archer
told the Ludington Daily News.
"They're associated with casinos,
but they are able to produce out-
standing business and do business
with anyone. They just haven't
taken that step."
Tribe members could establish
a consortium of companies pro-
viding related services and partner
with one another, he said.
Many speakers at the confer-
ence emphasized the need for trib-
al members to become certified
as minority-owned businesses so
they could gain access to govern-
ment assistance and contracts.
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