0 4A - Thursday, January 25, 2007 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com CJbe Iidtii~nan &U I Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 413 E. Huron St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104 tothedaily@umich.edu DONN M. FRESARD EDITOR IN CHIEF EMILY BEAM CHRISTOPHER ZBROZEK EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS JEFFREY BLOOMER MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect theofficial position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. Reading between the lines State of the Union features the same old rhetoric rior to the State of the Union Address Tuesday night, you might have thought that even President Bush would have read about the 2006 elections by now. If you did, you don't know President Bush. Americans are left scratching their heads once again, wondering why Bush spent several minutes sucking up to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (who appar- ently is a woman) while failing to mention any viable solutions to the perennial laundry list of domestic issues he threw out. If this was supposed to be Bush's most important State of the Union yet, he gave the wrong speech. Wolf, Wolf, I simply don't accept the premise of your question. I just think it's hogwash." - Vice President Dick Cheney responding to a question about his credibility in an interview with Wolf Blizter on CNN's "The Situation Room" yesterday, as reported by CNN.com. JACK DOEHRING s IT (1 -M 0 CO M M NT A time for Democ-rati*c values 0 What lasted for 45 minutes was nothing new. It featured the president's same old failure to recognize the flaws of his for- eign policy and his same old reluctance to offer any achievable goals for addressing the nation's domestic issues. He couldn't even bring himself to mention the words "global warming," because as long as you don't acknowledge something, it can't be real. Kind of like "quagmire" or "failure." Bush's remarks on the Iraq mess took up about half of his speech; the language was that of a man who is the last to know that no one agrees with him. He reiterated his decision to add more than 20,000 Ameri- can servicemen to Iraq, but the madness didn't stop there. Bush also announced a plan to increase the size of the active mili- tary by 92,000 troops over the next five years. It's so blindly absurd, but how would it even be done? We certainly don't want to be the ones to throw out the D-word, but is there any other way? And as if that wasn't enough, the presi- dent broke new ground with his announce- ment of avolunteer Civilian Reserve Corps. What is that? From what we surmise, it's like the Peace Corps - with guns. So noth- ing like the Peace Corps, really. Now here's a man who knows what he's doing. As the country continues to pour billions into spreading "democracy" to the Middle East, the president did make sure to throw some vague, lofty goals at the Democratic congress for it to sort out. The man who turned the largest budget surplus in history into the largest deficit in history now wants to balance the budget by 2009 without rais- ing taxes - while continuing to drop bil- lions into his war. Rep. Charlie Rangel's (D-N.Y.) bemused smile said it all: Do you live on this planet, Mr. President? And as if that wasn't enough for the Democrats to chew on, the president kept the vagaries coming. He wants to "fix" health care with a standardized tax cap, but don't bother listening for a cost figure, it isn't there. A year after confessing the country's addiction to oil, Bush reiterated that foreign oil is the pits, while advocating doubling the nation's oil reserves. While he did mention alternative sources (including woodchips and grass, of course), it was all in one windingsentence, without any men- tion of the all-important how and when. Promises were supposed to be central to this year's address, but the president only promised uncertainty. But what would a Bush State of the Union be without uncer- tainty? rom the way Republicans tell it, Democrats are even worse than the elders of Zion. They control the media, hate God, support terror- ists, reject traditional values and eat aborted fetuses in secret secular- humanist occult rituals. OK, I made that last one up, but it does reflect the GOP's borderline hysterical pitch of propaganda before the November election. Judging by the election's - results, the pub- lit didn't buy the propaganda. But the accu- sations continue. The new Demo- cratic Congress has already passed nearly all of the "first 100 TOBY hours" of legisla- MITCHELL tion it promised within its first 50 hours in office, including cutting stu- dent-loan rates, raising the minimum wage and rolling back $14 billion in tax breaks and subsidies to oil com- panies. Despite this success, conser- vative pundits still claim Democrats lack values and are too divided to gov- ern. Do Democrats really nothave any common values? Or are they just bad at communicating them? When the Republican Party faced permanent minority status 30 years ago, it didn't put forth an indeci- pherable sprawl of policy like John Kerry in 2004. It concentrated on a simple "three-legged stool" of values that summed up the best parts of the Republican agenda and sold it to the public: small government, strong mil- itary and traditional values. The mes- sage was so effective that it kept the party in power long after it had sold out every one of these values a hun- dred times over. The Democrats can take a page from that playbook. Although they may not have realized it yet, they have their own three-legged stool: social progress, environmental stewardship and a full-powered defense. Social progress propels humanity to greater freedom in greater num- bers. It includes civil rights, labor law, women's equality and every other extension of liberty since the Decla- ration of Independence declared that "all men are created equal." It is as much cultural as political, demand- ing that all people be treated equally both before the law and in society at large. At home, Democrats could start by giving gay people long over- due rights, including equal marriage., Abroad, they could recommit to the United Nations to spread freedom and democracy. Bombing develop- ing countries just doesn't seem to straighten them out. Environmental stewardship means knowing that the planet doesn't belong to America; it belongs to future generations and all other nations too. It means respect for nature and a rev- erence for God's creation. It means a rejection of the idiotic notion that economic progress and environmen- tal health are somehow born enemies. It's an idea whose time has come. I visited a businessman friend of mine over Christmas, a backwoods Christian conservative. His latest venture? Community-owned biodie- sel power plants. America should launch a "Green New Deal," as New York Times columnist Thomas Fried- man proposed. There can be no more excuses. Full-powered defense means rec- ognizing that America's security is strengthened when it relies on more than mere military force. A national security policy that takes advantage of America's full power - diplomatic, economic and only then military - is far superior to the "explode it first, ask questions later" policy that char- acterizes Bush's Iraq action-adven- ture. Gen. David Petraeus is already teaching Army officers at Fort Leav- enworth that future wars will be won by avoiding large-scale destruction and by protecting and supporting the civilian population to help secure their cooperation. The Democrats ought to make sure that the president doesn't fire him. All three Democratic values follow an underlying moral logic that anyone can understand without knowing the nuts-and-bolts details. Every problem facing the country - from terrorism to economic instability to environ- mental degradation - is global. None Taking a page from the GOP's playbook. of them respect national boundaries. None of them will yield until America yokes its power to the global common good, and this will not happen unless Americans understand the need to care about non-Americans as much as they care about themselves. The Democratic Party's moral challenge is not to discover com- mon Democratic values or to emulate Republican rhetoric, but rather to hold to the values they already have. They must speak them clearly and often - stand united under the moral imperative that has driven liberalism since it's inception - the imperative to care for the world as a whole. Toby Mitchell can be reached at tojami@umich.edu. GAVIN STERN Of mice and homeless men Oh, the smell! It hit my nostrils the second I opened my apartment door. The hallway was inundated with a rancor the likes of flesh-eating athlete's foot. I stepped into the hall and saw a pair of feet on the floor. A sensible source. But these feetwere attached to a gentleman sleeping on the floor. A smelly, sleeping homeless guy. Now what? First, I locked the door. Then I checked it twice. Smart. I fled to the better ventilated but colder outdoors. How the hell did he get in there? I checked the exterior door - locked. I remembered the landlord saying something about three recent homeless per- son incidents on the fourth floor. But not on my floor. This sort of thing just doesn't happen on the third floor. Besides, this is supposed to be a nice little top-of-the-hill apartment building. My mom would have a breakdown if she heard about this. Please don't tell her. I'm taking enough risk as it is. God forbid she tells my grandma in New York. So what choice did I have? I called the police (on the way to lab, of course). Then I left the landlord a message and made sure to include that the stove also needs repairing. I assumed that the homeless problem would be easy enough to fix. I'm still waiting on the stove. A week later, I forgot all about the home- less purging. That morning in the middle of my Cap'n Crunch-ing, I heard voices outside the door. Was I finally losing it? I knew I had a few screws loose (what can I say, I needed the bolts) but figured I ought to investigate before coming to any rash conclusions. I peered into the hallway and came upon not one but two sleeping homeless guys. I imagined the smell of alcohol. Maybe that's why their feet didn't smell quite as bad as last time. What do I do now? Should I give them a sandwich? No, too early. A breakfast sandwich, perhaps - something on an English muffin? Maybe they could stick around. No reason to evict them; I hardly use the hall anyway. It could be a whole social project. Be a revolu- tionary, man. The other tenants and I could fit a dozen homeless guys in the hall and still not ERIN RUSSELL trip over them. And I know from biopsychol- ogy lecture that we wouldn't notice the smell after a few weeks. It's science. Am I, crazy? Safety first, pal. You don't know who these people are. It might be unfair to kick them out, but it's just not safe to have them here. Even if these two men are perfectly nice people, the next one you let stick around could really harm someone. Imagine how you'd feel then, smarty-pants. They could be mentally disturbed, too. But even if I did have a doctorate in psychology it's not like I could just whip out a prescrip- tion pad and help them. Not that a prescrip- tion would do any good since they'd never get it filled. Don't be a hero. Do what that nagging mother-knows-best voice tells you. It speaks with a Bronx accent so it must know what it's talking about. So, what can I say. I called the police before my cereal got soggy. A knock at the building door. With one foot still firmly planted in my apartment, I pushed the door open and leaned across the hallway corner. "Hey buddy, how'd you get in here?" The officer's speech was only half-friendly. I heard a moan. "We got to go?" "Yeah, you sure do!" Cheery enough. OK, problem solved. I packed my bag and scurried out unnoticed, barely looking at them on the way out. Did they know it was me? Doesn't matter, I did the right thing ... right? The last time I excised a homeless guy it was unseasonably warm outside. But this time, when the door opened, an unforgiving chill hit me right in the chest. I saw the condensed cloud of exasperation leave my lips. It's true. They were warm and secure and I went out of my way to screw over the disadvantaged. That's where the logic breaks down. "Well, I'm sure there's someplace they can go." I couldn't think of any. Gavin Stern is an LSA junior and a member of the Daily's editorial board. SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU A good article about Iraq still tant is how to( lyrics and spo furthers negative stereotype eardrums. I lo technology ha TO THE DAILY: every once in I want to commend a very good article about the up and funct toll of having a loved one in Iraq (They also serve, kids growing 01/22/2007), but I have one gripe. Why mention that too much tim: the woman wants to go to classes with wet hair and no becoming an i makeup? All it does is further promote the idea that all women should primp themselves to go to class. By itself Ed Dawson it has a small effect, but each time something like that University staff is put into print, the social expectation of such behav- ior gains more and more momentum. Blair Willcox e c Engineeringsenior creditfoi TO THE DAIL In regard t Are we looking at an iPod nation of milli nation ofpod people?gained momen ferent perspect TO THE DAILY: does seem to b It's interesting that Caroline Hartmann opens and player and onli closes Tuesday's pop culture column with references ment couldn'th to 1984 and Big Brother (An iPod nation of millions, other technolo 01/23/2007). For many people, we have less to fear control over th from some capitalist dictator tracking our every move es. But the co: than from the tsunami of mpegs, jpegs and mp3s that architectural s digital devices swamp us with. we now are se In the foreword to his 1985 book, "Amusing Our- the iPod's succ selves to Death," Neil Postman compared two pos- Apple would n' sible futures: "George Orwell feared those who would without Toshil deprive us of information. Aldous Huxley feared those hard drives. who would give us so much that we would be reduced We see ApI to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth should Apple tf would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth change of strat would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared rior productst we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we that most succ would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some mixture of var equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy and the cen- Apple's rivals trifugal bumblepuppy." ucts are simply Although Postman's book was written about televi- sion, it applies just as easily to today's digital devices. Daniel Shin Apple versus IBM is a minor issue. Much more impor- LSAfreshman deal with the deluge of stock prices, song :rts scores that are being IV-ed into our ve the convenience and information that s given us. But I don't think it hurts to a while turn off, shut down or just hang ion. Many people already worry about up with nature-deficit disorder due to e spent online. I hope we don't wind up Pod nation of pod people. nnot take all the r iPod's success Y: o Caroline Hartmann's column (An iPod ons 01/23/2007), I agree that Apple has tum in the past few years, but I have a dif- tive on the issue. On the market side, Apple e dominating in the computer, multimedia ne media service sectors, but such develop- have come without Apple's partnership with gy-based companies. In the past, Apple had e hardware productions of its Macintosh- mpany has admitted the Intel processor's uperiority over the old Mac processors, and eing the new "Intel Macs" in stores. Even ess is owed to a partnership with Toshiba. ot have had the capability to make the iPod ba's ability to produce small, large capacity ple's dominance all around us today, but ake full credit for it? Maybe. A radical new egy allowed the company to produce supe- that everyone wants. But we should note essful Apple products are a technological 'ious companies (some that are considered in other markets), and today's Apple prod- not 100-percent Apple. MY PEILOW AMEICANS, ILL PUT THEM INVNC/9LSE MY NEW PLAN TO WIN T HE I MOPE, IVE T HCEM WAP IN PAQ IS TO SENO I UNLIMIT EO AMMUNITION, MOPE TPOOPS. ANO THEN L L- WHAT 010 YOU SAY" ... rEG YOU1 PAPOON. CH ENEY HAS OUST INFOPMEfI ME THAT rPEAL WAPS PON'T WOP LIKE VIOE (AMES. POE5 AYONE ELSEHAVE A PLAN THEN' 0 MUM --Awd si