4 - Friday, April 11, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Lbe1Midiigan &aly Edited and managed by students at the University ofMichigan since 1890. 420 Maynard Sc. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu We are not anti-Chinese. Right from the beginning, we supported the Olympic Games." -The Dalai Lama, at a news conference in Narita, Japan talking about the Tibetan government-in-exile's stance on the Games, as reported yesterday by The New York Times. 4 ANDREW GROSSMAN EDITOR IN CHIEF JASON MAHAKIAN GARY GRACA EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR GABE NELSON MANAGING EDITOR E-MAIL MAHAKIAN AT MAHAKIAJ@UMICH.EDU 7 _ Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. The Daily's public editor, Paul H. Johnson, acts as the readers' representative and takes a critical look at coverage and content in every section of the paper. Readers are encouraged to contact the public editor with questions and comments. He canbe reached at publiceditor@umiCh.edu. FR0 THE DAILY A different exit strategy Bush passes war to next president; Congress needs to act L eave itto the nextguy- that's President Bush's newexitstrat- egy. Echoing the recommendations of Gen. David Petraeus, the military's top commander in Iraq, Bush announced yes- terday that he will indefinitely halt troop withdrawals from Iraq in July. After five years, more than $500 billion spent, more than 4,000 American lives lost and an untold number of Iraqis killed, it's about time that we realize that the war in Iraq can't continue this on this course. And if that requires that the Democratic-controlled Con- gress start backing up its rhetoric with action, then so be it. .-7 // f IS& . 4 T G , 1, ' IZOG-HT T, o i~ 1 . I IALVIWII I' X -%J -A% -'IL. f & "I%,- t fZ I Coming on the heels of a two-day visit to Capitol Hill by Petraeus and U.S ambassa- dor to Iraq Ryan Crocker, Bush's announce- ment yesterday virtually guarantees that as many as 140,000 U.S. troops will still be fighting in Iraq when he leaves office in January. Between now and July, the addi- tional 30,000 troops who went to Iraq as part of the flawed "surge" will return home as promised, but the rest will stay. Whining about America's impatience, Bush declared that Petraeus must "have all the time he needs" to throw together some kind of peace in Iraq. Butthis war doesn't deserve our patience. After five years, what does America have to show for its efforts? Sure, violence may be down in Iraq - compared to the anar- chy that prevailed after the baseless and botched invasion. And sure, last summer's "surge" brought uneven security to a few regions. But then again, its goal wasn't just to reduce bombings and roving gangs; it was supposed to open the door for political stability. That hasn't happened. There are two things the war in Iraq has caused, though: an oversized bill and a lot of dead bodies. There are the potentially thousands of U.S. troops and the tens or even hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead. And already, the war in Iraq has cost more than $500 billion. But if you factor in hid- den costs like the future health care and benefits payments that will be paid to veter- ans of the war, the actual cost to taxpayers could climb as high as $2 trillion, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes. The people who are paying for these costs are us - America's youth. The debt will be ours. The soldiers are our friends and fam- ily. The international mess left behind will be the duty of our generation's politicians to clean up. Bush shouldn't be trusted with free reign to further all of these things, and Congress must lend the opposition as it promised it would in 2006. And at the front of the pack has to be Michigan's Sen. Carl Levin, whose position as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee affords him the power to change the war's course. There is no silver-bullet solution to end the war in Iraq. However, it's obvious that what Bush has been doing for the last five years hasn't worked. Allowing him to con- tinue without timetables and with an open checkbook is irresponsible and counterpro- ductive. If Bush wants to guarantee that troops will be in Iraq come January 2009, Con- gress needs to guarantee that Bush's exit strategy isn't just his own exit from the Oval Office. he oth about Alfred old. Williams always d about learnir read, but spe his life as a la in rural Mis had never bee: to afford the ti the money to the alphabet alone words. article was pered with p America's other reality er day, I read an article and, as an inevitable result, the vast surviving below this threshold, and a a first-grader named majority of us has come from soci- U.S. Department of Agriculture survey Williams. He's 70 years ety's middle and upper crust. Most revealed that at some point in 2005, had of us probably grew up in a bourgeois food was not readily available for more reamt haven of comfy suburban prosper- than one in 10 households. sg to ity or trendy urban leisure - but this These are the truths about our nding isn't how most people live. More than country that most of us, with our col- borer half of the population is either work- lege degrees and just-in-case-we-need- souri, ing class or poor. But because of social them parental cushions, will probably n able stratification, our lives have probably never have to confront. Many of uswill me or not led us to the other side of America's maintain our economic status, cradle learn ' tracks frequently enough to teach us to grave. We will never come face to - let that coupons, used cars and factory face with Americans who survive on a The ASHLEA jobs are the status quo - not suburbia few dollars a day, can't read a food label pep- SURLES and suits.We should constantlyremind and have never had a job that doesn't 'hotos ourselves that Salvation Armies are for 0 of the weathered. old man sitting in the classroom sur- rounded by tiny children, making the same crafts and reading the same pic- ture books. It also included photos of him standing in front of the ramshack- le hut that he called home. I thought about how much courage it must have taken him to shallow his pride to reg- ister for elementary school at that age. I wondered how many other people out there are facing the same struggle but don't - or can't - address it. I looked it up and was stunned. According to the National Institute for Literacy, 13 percent of English-speak- ing adults were "functionally" illit- erate in 2003. This means that these individuals are unable to "comprehend and use written material." Tobe sure, we've made great leaps in terms of teaching our country to read, but we remain miles off the mark of universal literacy. There's still a huge percentage of our country that can't read a news- paper, let alone a medical statement or a parking ticket. I had no idea. And I imagine you probably didn't either. This is one of the most prestigious and pricey universities in the nation more than just theme-party costumes and porch couches. Illiteracy is an ever-present scourge in this country, and high school diplo- mas aren't things to be taken for grant- ed either. Presumably, many of us were funneledhere fromcommunitieswhere more schooling was the inevitable next step after high school. But the reality is that about 15 percent of Americans over the age of 24 in America hasn't received a high school diploma. And, while we're breaking into cold sweats and gettingthe hives over finding a job after graduation, the roughly 73 per- cent of citizens over the age of 24 who aren't lucky enough to boast a college degree is managing as best they can. How's that for perspective? Not only is education not as ubiqui- tous in our society as you might have thought, but, on top of this, a hefty portion of Americans is scraping by below the poverty line. The U.S. Cen- sus Bureau considers a person under 65 years of age living on less than $10,787 a year to be "impoverished." This amount equals roughly one semester of in-state tuition for us. Currently, about 12 percent of the population is Remembering those who aren't so privileged. make their bones ache at the end of a day. But even if we don't see them, we must know that they're there because they compose the majority, not us. But despite this, we the college educated - the kids from the bubbles of wealth and well-being - are the ones who are most likely to hold the Senate seats, shape policies and be in positions that will give us the money and means to affect change. We have an obligation to, at the very least, know what this country truly looks like beyond our fertilized lawns and outside our cars' power windows. By all accounts, we lead charmed lives. But let's do society and ourselves a favor and never forget that. Ashlea Surles can be reached at ajsurles@umich.edu. BEN CALECAT"._.EWPIN T Aliens, cults and pranksters 4 I Celebrities can be weird people. There are always rumors about one celebrity or another floating around some blog, but for the most part, I tend not to follow such trivial "news." However, I was intrigued by a leaked video of Tom Cruise ranting and raving about the Church of Scientology. He was babbling almostincoherently, suggestingacleansweep of those who oppose Scientology and hinting that no other religion can help humanity like Scientology can. Like many, I was confused, but the video had a much more important effect: It revealed the dark side of an organi- zation that relies on controlling information to survive and thrive. Scientology's attempts to remove this video from the Internet led a group called Anonymous to make a video warning, saying that Scientology was now at war with them. The crimes they attributed to Scientology were severe, severe enough to catch my eye. What I found surprised me. Documents from dozens of sources - the New York Times, Time magazine, indepen- dent reports and reports from former Sci- entologists - tell stories of a cult-like group whose "technology" created by the group's founder, L. Ron Hubbard, seemed tanta- mount to brainwashing. Its teachings are based on the now famous Xenu story, a tale of an alien nuclear holocaust kept confiden- tial to all but high-level Scientologists until it was leaked to the public several decades ago. Even the German government has clas- sified the group as a cult on the grounds that it is more of a pyramid scheme than a true religion. Apparently, to reach a higher spiri- tual plane requires that you pay exorbitant amounts of money, including in excess of $300,000 to become an "Operating Thetan," a high state of being that apparently grants superpowers and success. The aftermath of Anonymous's threat was a mass organization of protests against Sci- entology in 14 countries and dozens of cities, even Farmington Hills, Mich. Many protes- tors wore masks to hide their identities from the Scientologists, who have been known to harass those who oppose them. They chose to protest on Feb. 10, the birthday of Lisa McPherson, one of Scientology's most nota- ble victims. The details of McPherson's death are gruesome, but the shortened version is that she died after being locked in a filthy room for 17 days without proper care or nourish- ment. Scientology settled out of court with her family. McPherson's case apparently isn't the only one. Many others associated with the group have committed suicide or died in mysterious accidents, and the strict resistance to psychiatric help has led some people with schizophrenia under the par- entage of Scientology to commit violent acts, even murder. To add another insidious quality to Scien- tology, it apparently committed one of the largest infiltrations of the U.S. government in history. "Operation Snow White," as it was called in documents seized in an FBI raid, was meant to place as many as 5,000 Scientology operatives in 136 agencies that were chosen because they either opposed Scientology or could be used to further its agenda. The plan included wiretapping, documentation theft and full infiltration of organizations - most notably the Internal Revenue Service - to further its interests. Scientology has negatively affected many of its members and cannot be left unaccount- able. On April 12, the protesters from Anon- ymous have promised to target those who they feel need the most help: the families that have disconnected members in Scientol- ogy. Dubbing their newest round of protests "Operation: Reconnect," they hope to get alienated Scientologists back in touch with their families. I will be the first to admit that Scientol- ogy is not a massive threat to our livelihood. However, the group has largely gone unno- ticed in America, despite being granted tax- exempt status as a church more than a decade ago. People should not be upset by the beliefs of Scientology but aware of the practices of organizations that abuse their members, as well as those who stand up against them. Ben Caleca is an engineering sophomore and a member of the Daily's editorial board. ARIELA STEIF E-MAIL STEIF AT ASTEIF@UMICH.EDU ~~~~~~ ~ ~ _- ..._ (.Y" 8. Leaving your legacy behind, 'm sure most people come to this university with a few basic goals: get a degree, get a job, get high, get laid or whatever it is the kids are into these days. And then I bet there are those of you who came here hoping to effect change or at the very least, leave a mark here. I know I did. I thought I was going to start one DAVE million different student groups a MEKELBURG la Jason Schwartz- man in "Rush- more." I was even close to starting a (gender inclusive) Gentlemen's Pipe Smoking Club. I'm OK with not having done that. Obscure, poorly attended clubs wouldn't have brought me the same fulfillment as my eventual choic- es: a short-lived rugby career and a job at the Daily. If you bear with me for another paragraph, I swear this won't turn into a sappy, I-love-the-Daily good-bye party. You have my word. Thank goodness for the sprained ankle that kept me off the rugby field and prodded me into the Daily, where I spent two years looking at the under- belly of campus politics, especially the Michigan Student Assembly. There is so much institutional memory in these organizations and so much immobile tradition that sometimes I felt like I was watching the faces change while everything else stayed the same. In these student groups, leadership lasts for one year, and almost no one works during the summer so realisti- cally it'smore like eight months. Maybe some hot shot has a two-year stint, but that's all you get: eight months and a pat on the back. Because of this, the battles here aren't just against a person who's been in charge too long. A person is tangi- ble. A revolving door of bodies and an unwritten history are not. Add those realities to the fact that we are stu- dents with a ton of other priorities, and effecting change is a monumental task. Luckily, through the muck, I found the changes I wanted to make. When I became an associate news editor, I wanted to do two things: improve recruitment and retention at the Daily and improve the Daily's relationships with campus multicultural groups and minority groups. I failed at both. I also succeeded at both. I guess it depends on how you look at it. It wasn't until I started talk- ing to people inside and outside of the Daily, that I realized what I was up against. Ideas, opinions and concerns are passed down from year to year and from generation to generation. It's the same reason I look at the Michigan Action Party and see its predecessors, Students 4 Michigan and Students First!. That's why problems in the Daily's past affect it today: People - as they probably should, to some extent - pass them down. You can't let this fatalism get you down. As a diehard pessimistic fatalist, I had to work hard to pretend I could leave my mark on the University. But that's the only way you can get any- thing done. Breaking down a flawed culture doesn't have the same instant gratification that high-speed Internet has taught us to expect. To be truthful, maybe my legacy of change will be this column. Maybe you will read my recommendations and actually get something done. If that's true, here's the game plan as far as I can tell: First, you need to accept that your name will die. Whatever you do won't be attributed to you. This is good.Your change shouldn't fade away with your memory. Second, focus on a few things at a time. A simple mantra is: Be Moham- mad Dar. The former MSA president did more than anyone on MSA -maybe ever - because he went after tangible goals with thought-out plans. Third, accept that you need to take baby steps. A tiny step in the right direction should be a cause for cel- ebration. Avoiding a step in the wrong direction should bea cause for a small- er celebration. Last, and most importantly, find other people. The teensy steps of prog- ress weren't my own - far from it. Peo- Change takes a lot of work and a little bit of selflessness. ple younger can keep your idea alive. Institutionalizing it by writing it down or formingalastingbody. When I look at the Daily, it has improved in the areas I had hoped - not by leaps and bounds, but it's get- ting there slowly. That's all I could ever ask for. Even if my name isn't attached to these changes, I'm just as happy as if I were. If you want to change some- thing - even if you're an egomaniac like myself - you have to care about the change more than your legacy. I didn't leave a mark on this univer- sity. But maybe,justmaybe, I left alittle bit of change. Dave Mekelburg wasa Daily fall/ winter associate news editor in 2007. He can be reached at dmek@umich.edu. 0 Ia EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Emad Ansari, Harun Buljina, Anindya Bhadra, Kevin Bunkley, Ben Caleca, Satyajeet Deshmukh, Milly Dick, Mike Eber, Emmarie Huetteman, Theresa Kennelly, Emily Michels, Arikia Millikan, Kate Peabody, Robert Soave, Imran Syed, Neil Tambe, Matt Trecha, Kate Truesdell, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder, Rachel Wagner, Patrick Zabawa. f, k" I