CHEATING 'U'
PLAGIARISM ON CAMPUS THE STATEMENT
FROM THE DAILY: WHAT PFIZER'S CLOSING
MEANS FOR MICHIGAN
OPINION, PAGE 4A
'DREAMGIRLS' BIGGEST
OSCAR SNUB IN YEARS
ARTS, PAGE 5A
EIie Iidigan haij
, Michiga
www.michigandaily.com
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
SEPT.11 CONSPIRACY THEORISTS
The gov't
did it,
speakers
to argue
College Republicans members watch President Bush deliver his sixth national address to Congress at Pizza House last night. Rob Scott, the group's chair, said, "The Presic
was about goals. It was less ideological in nature than his previous speeches."
STATE OF THE UNION
Bush defends Iraq
plan to Congress
Calls for 20 percent
cut in gasoline
consumption
WASHINGTON'(AP) - A politi-
cally weakened President Bush
implored a skeptical Congress last
night to embrace his unpopular plan
to send more U.S. troops to Iraq, say-
ing it represents the best hope in a
war America must not lose. "Give it
a chance to work," he said.
Facing a political showdown with
Democrats and Republicans alike,
Bush was unyielding on Iraq in his
annual State of the Union address.
He also sought to revive his troubled
presidency with proposals to expand
health insurance coverage and to
slash gasoline consumption by 20
percent in a decade.
Democrats - and even some
Republicans - scoffed at his Iraq
policy. Unmoved by Bush's appeal,
Democrats said the House and Sen-
ate would vote on resolutions of dis-
approval of the troop buildup.
"We need a new direction," said
freshman Sen. Jim Webb, picked
by the Democrats to deliver their
TV response. "The majority of the
nation no longer supports the way
this war is being fought; nor does the
majority of our military," said Webb,
a Vietnam veteran opposed to Bush's
invasion of Iraq.
Republican Sen. Norm Coleman
of Minnesota, also took issue with
Bush. "I can't tell you what the path
to success is, but it's not what the
president has put on the table," he
said.
It was a night of political theater
as Bush went before the first Dem-
ocratic-controlled Congress in a
See SPEECH, page 2A
Campus politicos
react to speech
Dems relish Democratic Speaker (sitting) behind
the president."
acknowledgement During the speech, Bush spoke
of his plans to reform immigration
of new majority policy and reauthorize the No Child
Left Behind Act. He also spoke of his
By ALESE BAGDOL desire to decrease American depen-
Daily StaffReporter dence on foreign oil and help make
health care affordable.
The leaders of the College Repub- Bush began talking about Iraq 20
licans and College Democrats had minutes into the speech, calling the
different perspectives on President war a "decisive ideological strug-
Bush's sixth State of the Union gle." He reiterated his motivation for
address last night. increasingthe American troop pres-
Bush began his speech by con- ence in Iraq but included few details
gratulating Pelosi and the new Dem- on future plans for the Middle East.
ocratic majority in Congress. "I think that what was most inter-
"It was a moving moment when esting about his speech is that he
the President congratulated the spent so little time on foreign policy
Speaker of the House," said Jamie matters," Ruth said. "His speech
Ruth, chair of the University's chap- was a confirmation of his weakness
ter of the College Democrats. We with regards to foreign policy."
were keenly aware of that fact that Bush cited recent successes innation-
this was the first time we saw a See CAMPUS REACTION, page 3A
Three theorists
scheduled to
speak at League
By LISA HAIDOSTIAN
Daily StaffReporter
A group of scholars.
who argue that the World
Trade Center towers were
destroyed by a controlled
demolition - not by passen-
ger jets piloted by terrorists
- will speak in the Michigan
League Ballroom Sunday.
Ann Arbor 9/11 Truth,
a recently formed group of
Ann Arbor residents who
dispute the government's
version of what happened on
Sept. 11, 2001, hope to per-'
suade people that the gov-
ernment is lying.
"We're concerned citizens
that would like for the truth
to come out," said University
alum Michael Yi, a member
of the group.
In order to achieve this
goal, Ann Arbor 9/11 Truth
has joined forces with Schol-
ars for 9/11 Truth, a society
of more than 300 scholars
and students dedicated to
using scientific and prag-
matic means to determine
what "actually happened" on
Sept. 11.
The groups describe the
attacks as an "inside job,"
perpetrated by the govern-
ment.
Three members of Schol-
ars for 9/11 Truth will pres-
ent their research at the
event at 6:30 p.m. in the
League.
One of the speakers, Kevin
Barrett, has garnered nation-
al headlines in July for his
Sept. 11 conspiracy theory.
He is an associate lecturer
at the University of Wiscon-
sin at Madison. He teaches
an introductory course on
Islam that includes the Sept.
11 attacks, but an internal
probe found he kept his per-
sonal opinions out of the
classroom.
James Fetzer, a professor
at the University of Min-
nesota at Duluth and the
group's founder, said he has
committed himself to lead-
ing the group in refuting the
government's account of how
and why the World Trade
Center towers fell.
"We have proven in every
significant respect what the
government has told us is
false," he said. "And in my
judgment, that's not, even
controversial anymore,"
Fetzer cited a poll con-
ducted by The New York
Times and CBS that found
that 53 percent ofthe respon-
dents thought the Bush
administration was hiding
something about Sept. 11,
while 28 percent believed
the administration was out-
right lying about the terror-
ist attacks.
Although the claims seem
audacious, Yi said the gov-
ernment had every incentive
to orchestrate the catastro-
phe. He said that the attacks
of Sept. 11 gave the United
States justification to wage
on Iraq invade Afghanistan,
both to access oil. He said the
attacks also justified the pas-
sage of the Patriot Act and
the Military Commissions
Act - two pieces of legisla-
tion that many argue strip
Americans of fundamental
rights.
"They couldn't have done
any of those things if 9/11
hadn't happened," Yi said.
The conspiracy group is
not sponsored by the Univer-
sity and is paying to use the
Union Ballroom.
Despite the controver-
See CONSPIRACY, page 3A
Most infamous alum
in fight over papers
More
Kaczynski could
give writings to
the University
By KATHERINE MITCHELL
Daily StaffReporter
Ted Kaczynski, better
known as the Unabomber, is in
a court fight over the future of
a collection of his letters.
While a Sacramento judge
has approved a government
plan to sell edited versions of
the writings of the Universi-
ty's most infamous alum in an
online auction to raise money
to compensate the victims of
his 18-year bombing spree,
Kaczynski has other ideas.
He wants to donate them to a
library.
That means they could end
up in the Labadie Collection,
which is on the top floor of
the Hatcher Graduate Library.
The collection already holds
much of Kaczynski's work.
The Labadie Collection
houses thousands of works
related to social protest and
radical policy. Kaczynski
donated a compilation of let-
ters, books, and various writ-
ings and other effects to the
library two years after his
1996 arrest.
Kazcynski is currently
serving four life sentences in
a super-maximum security
prison in California.
The donation would include
drafts of his 35,000-word book
titled "The Unabomber Mani-
festo: Industrial Society and
Its Future" as well as letters
written by Kaczynski during
his mail-bombing campaign.
Many of the letters are corre-
spondence between Kaczyn-
ski and his brother in the years
leading up to his arrest. In
TED'S LEFTOVERS
Some of the Unabomber's personal
items that may be auctioned off
or could end up in the University
library:
* Samsonite briefcase containing the
Unabomber's University of Michigan
degrees
" Montana driver's license
" "Count Your Calories"
* "The Last Days of Hitler"
* "The Psychology of Women"
" "The Scienceof Fingerprints: Clas-
sification and Uses"
Source:nCourt documents posted on
thesmokinggun.com
others, Kaczynski speculates
about the mental and emo-
tional state of his victims.
The courts have the docu-
ments as government prop-
erty since they were retrieved
upon Kaczynski's initial arrest
in 1996.
See UNABOMBER, page 2A
joining
campus
fr at s
IFC calls dry rush
period a success
By MOLLY BOWEN
Daily StaffReporter
The University's Interfra-
ternity Council saw a small
increase in rushees for its
fraternities this fall, the gov-
erning body of some campus
fraternities announced.
About 500 male students
pledged fraternities this fall,
including about 16 percent of
male freshmen. The previ-
ous fall, only about 14 percent
of male freshmen joined the
Greek system.
IFC representatives said
See GREEKS, page 3A
Approximate number of male
students who pledged Inter-,
fraternity Council fraternities
this fall
Percentage of male freshmen
who pledged IFC fraternities
in the fall of 2005
Percentage of male freshmen
who pledged IFC fraternities
in the fall of 2006
LSA senior Carlos Moncada and Kinesiology freshman David Schiavone
play mini-golf at a rush event at Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity last night.
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