The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.cam

Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 3A

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 3A

NEWS BRIEFS
TEHRAN. Iran
Iran tests new
missile able to
reach Europe
Iran said it successfully test-
fired a new generation of long
range surface-to-surface missile
yesterday - one that could easily
strike as far away as southeast-
ern Europe with greater precision
than earlier models:
The Sajjil is a solid fuel high-
speed missile with a range of about
1,200 miles, Defense Minister
Mostafa Mohammed Najjar said
on state television. At that range,
it could easily strike Israel and go
as far as southeastern Europe.
Solid-fuel missiles are more
accurate than the liquid fuel mis-
siles of similar range currently
possessed by Iran. The country
has had a solid-fuel missile with a
shorter range - the Fateh, able to
fly 120 miles - for several years.
Najjar said the missile was a de-
fensive weapon and not a response
to threats against Iran. He didn't
name any country, but Israel has
recently threatened to take military
action against Iran to stop Tehran
from developing a nuclear bomb.
LANSING
State GOP's Anuzis
to run for party's
top national post
State GOP Chairman SaulAnuz-
is and Republican National Com-
mitteeman Chuck Yob don't like
each other much, and their antip-
athy could be spilling over into a
run for national GOP leader.
Anuzis announced yester-
day he's running to replace RNC
Chairman Mike Duncan, even
though Duncan had indicated he
wants another two-year term. Yob
told The Associated Press yester-
day that he'll decide in a week or
two if he wants to compete for the
job, which he unsuccessfully tried
to win in 1997.
Party leaders from other states
also are lobbying to replace Dun-
can. Under RNC rules, candidates
have to announce they're running
and then be nominated and secure
the support of two RNC members
in each of three states. The 168
RNC members will elect a leader
during their Jan. 23 meeting in
Washington, D.C.
In his announcement Wednes-
day, Anuzis said the next RNC lead-
er has to be familiar with the latest
technology if the party is to rebuild.
Given his familiarity with blogging,
twittering and raising money over
the Internet, he thinks he'd be the
best to move the party forward.
MIAMI
Foreclosures up 25
percent in October
The number of homeowners
caught in the wave of foreclosures
in October grew25 percent nation-
ally over the same month in 2007,
data released yesterday showed.
More than 279,500 U.S. homes

received at least one foreclosure-
related notice in October, an
increase of 5 percent over Septem-
ber, according to RealtyTrac Inc.
One in every 452 housing units
received a foreclosure filing, such
as a default notice, auction sale
notice or bank repossession.
More than 84,000 proper-
ties were repossessed in October,
RealtyTrac said.
NEW HAVEN, Conn.
After Calif. loss,
gays get right to
wed in Conn.
Same-sex couples walked joy-
fully down the aisle Wednesday
for the first time in Connecti-
cut, while gay activists planned
to march in protests across the
country over the vote that took
away their right to marry in Cali-
fornia.
Advocates said they expected
thousands at a demonstration
at Boston's City Hall Plaza later
Wednesday, with gay couples and
families featured to try to keep the
tone positive, said Ryan McNeely,
an organizer for the Join the
Impact protest movement.
"We're not trying to convey
an image of persecution, we're
not trying to attack any specific
group," he said. "The point we
need to be making is that we need
to bring everybody together and to
respect each other, and that hate
breeds hate."
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports

Dems seek loans for
U.S. automotive giants

Paln: Senate next,
if God wants it so

Sen. Levin, Rep.
Frank crafting
legislation aid
WASHINGTON (AP) - Con-
gressional Democrats are push-
ing legislation to send $25 billion
in emergency loans to the belea-
guered auto industry in exchange
for a government ownership stake
in the Big Three car companies.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
D-Calif, and Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., hope
for quick passage of the auto bail-
out during a postelection session
that begins Monday.
Legislation being drafted by
Rep. Barney Frank, chairman,
of the House Financial' Services
Committee, and Sen. Carl M.
Levin, D-Mich., would dip into
the $700 billion Wall Street res-
cue money, approved by Congress
last month, for the auto aid.
President Bush is cool to that
idea. But the White House says
he is open to helping the indus-
try, which is buckling under poor
sales, tight credit and a sputtering
economy.
In an Oval Office meeting Mon-
day, President-elect Obama spoke
to Bush about doing more to aid
the industry, aides said, and Bush
said he was open to it.
Any effort to throw the compa-
nies a lifeline could run into GOP
roadblocks that could derail it in the
Senate. In that chamber, Republi-
cans, including some who believe

Former VP nominee
could run if a special
election arose
WASHINGTON (AP) - Alas-
ka Gov. Sarah Palin said yester-
day she would consider serving
in the Senate if God gave her the
opportunity and Alaskans want-
ed her to take the job. The state's
senior senator, Republican Ted
Stevens, held a dwindling lead
as the count resumed in his re-
election bid.
Stevens, who has been in the
Senate for 40 years, led by just over
3,000 votes when the Election Day
count ended last week. His lead
narrowed to less than 1,000 votes
Wednesday as Alaska election offi-
cials counted the first 28,000 of
an estimated 90,000 absentee and
provisional ballots.
Even ifhe is re-elected, Stevens
could be ousted by the Senate for
his conviction on seven felony
counts of failing to report more
than $250,000 in gifts, mostly
renovations on his home. If Ste-
vens loses his seat, Palin could
run for it in a special election.
She also could challenge incum-
bent GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski
OBAMA
From Page 1A
they the event largely agreed with
the panelists.
VOTING
From Page1A
have been unsuccessful so far.
She said the Republican-con-
trolled state Senate has posed an
obstacle so far.
"ThepartythatcontrolstheSenate
doesn't seem to see it in their interest
to help people vote,"Brater said.
Earlier efforts to reform voting
requirements in Michigan have
been unsuccessful.
In March 2007, Rep. Rebekah

in2010.
Palin, who was the GOP vice
presidential nominee, has two
years left on her term as governor.
She told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on
Wednesday that she wants to serve
her constituents the best she can.
"At this point it is as governor," she
said.
"Now if something shifted dra-
matically and if it were, if it were
acknowledged up there that I could
be put to better use for my state in
the U.S. Senate, I would certainly
consider that but that would take
a special election and everything
else," she said. "I am not one to
appoint myself or a member of
my family to take the place of any
vacancy."
Pressed in a separate interview
with CNN's Larry King about
whether she would serve out her
term as governor, Palin said, "I
will do what the people of Alaska
want me to do."
She added, however, "if they
call an audible on me, and if they
say they want me in another posi-
tion, I'm going to do it. ... My life
is in God's hands. If he's got doors
open for me, that I believe are in our
state's best interest, the nation's best
interest, I'm going to go through
those doors."
KevinBradway,afirstyeargrad-
uate student in the Ford School,
said he agrees with Obama's social
welfare strategies, but thought the
financial crisis might make parts
of it unfeasible.
Warren (D-Ann Arbor) introduced
two bills that attempted to repeal
Rogers's Law, which requires that
Michigan residents register to vote
using the address that appears on
their driver's license instead of their
current mailingaddress. Both of
Warren's bills were failed to pass.
Bratersaid effortstoreformvot-
ing laws in Michigan will likely be
just as difficult this time around.
"I don't think it's going to be
very easy to get it taken up right
now," Brater said. "But we're going
to keep trying."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif. backs a pian that would give $251
to the auto industry during a news conference on Capitol Hill yestenday.

their votes for the Wall Street bail-
outhurt,and in some cases doomel,
their re-election bids, are loath to
agree to any new money.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the
minority leader, was noncommit-
tal about additional aid. In a state-
ment, his spokesman said Congress
should move to speed the release of
a $25 billion loan program passed

earlier to help the carmakers devel-
op fuel-efficient vehicles.
"It may be that there are chang-
es that need to be made in order to
expedite these low-interest loans.
Other ideas have been floated
and all will receive a review as
we approach the Senate's return
next week," said Don Stewart, the
spokesman.


ROVER
From Page 1A
tions during the landing in 1998.
"Not only was I involved, but
there were 60 (or) 70 engineers
who analyzed all aspects of what
could go wrong," Mehta said.
One ofNASA's maingoals for the
project is the search for life outside
of Earth. Experts agree that for life
to exist, there must be a source of
energy, carbon-based compounds
and liquid water.
"The goal was to look for water
on Mars, but to really think about
liquid water, because that's one of
the requirements for life to devel-
op," Renno said.
From experimentation and data
collection on the atmosphere of
Mars, Renno predicted that the
rover would land on surface lay-
ers that consisted of salt and ice.
A NASA orbiter detected hints of

ice on the Red Planet in 2002 and
the Phoenix mission confirmed its
presence. I
Renno also proposed that the
motion of landing would blast dirt
away from underneath the rover
and churn up the layers of salty ice
and dirt, splashing the.rover.
"The evidence is clear that we
have droplets of liquid water under
the Phoenix lander," he said.
Renno said finding liquid water
underneath the rover has many
implications for past or current life
on Mars.
"If my idea is right - if we really
found liquid water - this would
be the first place outside Earth we
found liquid water to surface," he
said. "And for bacterial life to devel-
op,you don't need much -just a few
drops of liquid water is enough."
From its position further north
on Mars than any prior spacecraft
had been, the lander also observed
snow falling from clouds.

Though the lander didn't find
any evidence of life on Mars, Renno
said the central question was more
about the conditions that would
lead to life.
"We only know of one place
where life exists - Earth," he said.
"But if you have the right condi-
tions, would life evolve on most
places or not? Is there anything
unique about life on Earth?"
The University's team also pre-
dicted how the jets on the lander
would affect its surrounding soil
after touching down, assisted in
getting soil samples from the Mars
surface to the lab inside the lander
and used numerical testing to pre-
dict the lander's endurance.
Renno's team has already con-
tracted with NASA for the -next
mission to Mars, which willlaunch
in October 2009 and will continue
examination of many of the same
components of the Red Planet
from the Phoenix mission.



TICKETS
From Page 1A
the Michigan team can return to
its winning pre-scandal ways.
LSA junior Eric Ralph, who
attended Tuesday night's game
against Northeastern, agreed.
"They have to get the fans to
believe again," he said.
For the upcoming season, stu-
dents with valid MCards will be
able to attend 12 basketball games
for free, though this doesn't
include Michigan's games against
Duke, Ohio State and Michigan
State. Already, students could've
attended last week's exhibition
game with Saginaw Valley State,
Tuesday night's season-opener
against Michigan Tech and last
night's game against Northeast-
ern for free.
The Athletic Department plans
to use the MCard information
from students who attended the
free games to market basketball-
related offers and ticket deals.
Athletic Department spokes-
man Bruce Madej said Athletic

Department officials are trying
many plans to increase atten-
dance, with mixed results.
"Some things will be good, some
things won't succeed," he said.
Among those efforts have been
attempts to make the atmosphere
of notoriously cavernous Cris-
ler Arena more upbeat. During
the off-season, the department
invested $1.25 million in upgrad-
ing the light and sound systems
there, Madej said. The size of the
pep band has also been doubled
from 35 members to 70 this season
in an attempt to increase the noise
level in the often-hushed arena.
"Students and fans will contin-
ue to see changes in the arena to
improve the atmosphere," Madej
said.
Complaints about the atmo-
sphere of Crisler Arena have
become common among students,
with several citing that factor -
and not necessarily the team's
performance - as their main rea-
son for not going to games.
"Crisler doesn't make you want
to spend time there, especially
when the team isn't playing well,"

said Zack Burwell, an LSA senior
who has held season tickets since
he was a sophomore.
After years of mediocrity, stu-
dents said they are looking ahead
to the team's second year under
head coach John Beilein. Still,
they're cautiously optimistic
about the future of the program.
Athletic Department officials
said the goal is not just to fill Crisler
Arena, but also to energize the next
generation of University students
about Michigan basketball. Madej
said busy students have found
fewer incentives to make the trip to
Crisler because "each game isn't as
important as it used tobe."
Despite these obstacles, Ath-
letic Department officials remain
optimistic about the basketball
program and student attendance
at games, and have more plans in
the works for future ticket spe-
cials. Bus service will soon be
offered from dorms and Greek
houses directly to Crisler Arena,
eliminating the long, cold walk to
and from games.
"The key," Bodnar said, "is to
try to make it fun for everyone."

H,o.KU

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