The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, November 2, 2012 - 3
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, November 2, 2012 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
LANSING, Mich.
University debate
team to host high
school tournament
High school debate students
from about 20 states are sched-
uled to argue government policy
at the University of Michigan.
The University of Michigan
Debate Program is hosting its 17th
annualtournamentbeginningFri-
day afternoon. The program runs
through Sunday at the school's
Ann Arbor campus.
Nearly 700 debaters, coaches,
judges and parents are expected
to attend. Two-person policy
debates will be held in varsity and
novice divisions.
The debate's policy topic will be
"Resolved: The United States fed-
eral government should substan-
tially increase its transportation
infrastructure investment in the
United States."
BOSTON
Man sentenced for
planned terror raid
on U.S. Capitol
A Massachusetts man was
sentenced Thursday to 17 years
In prison in a plot to fly remote-
controlled model planes packed
with explosives into the Pentagon
and U.S. Capitol.
Rezwan Ferdaus, 27, of Ash-
land, pleaded guilty in July .to
attempting to provide material
support to terrorists and attempt-
ing to damage and destroy federal
buildings with an explosive. As
part of a plea agreement between
prosecutors and Ferdaus' attor-
ney, both sides agreed to recom-
mend the 17-year sentence.
Ferdaus, a Muslim-American
who grew up in Massachusetts
and has a physics degree from
Northeastern University, deliv-
ered a long, soft-spoken statement
in which he offered no apology
for his actions but thanked his
family and friends for supporting
him. He said he has actepted his
fate and "can dream of a brighter
future."
LOUISVILLE, Ky.
Officials rush to
contain toxic fire
The blaze that authorities ini-
tially said would end in a couple
of hours instead spewed flames
and smoke from a derailed tank-
er car for a second day Thursday
with no end in sight, as crews
scrambled to prevent it from
igniting railcars loaded with
toxic chemicals nearby.
Hundreds of people have had
to evacuate, including the entire
town of West Point and some peo-
ple from the outskirts of Louisville.
The burning butadiene, a chemical
commonly found in rubber used to
make tires, can damage the central
nervous and reproductive systems.
Workers were hosing down other
railcars nearby filled with another
corrosive chemical, hydrogen fluo-
ride, which can cause severe respi-
ratory damage.
MOSCOW
Putin mysteriously
falls ill after stunt
What ails Vladimir Putin?
The Russian leader whose
image of physical vigor is key to
his success has canceled several
foreign trips in recent weeks, post-
poned his annual live televised
question-and-answer session with
average Russians, and has rarely
left his suburban residence out-
side Moscow.
A respected Russian newspaper
claimed Thursday that a public-
ity stunt during which Putin tried
to lead cranes on their migratory
paths in a motorized hang-glider
aggravated an old injury.
Putin's office denies it was the
flight with cranes, insists it is just a
pulled muscle and spins the situa-
tion, saying that athletes often get
banged up. Besides, it says, Putin's
avoiding the Kremlin office so he
doesn't tie up Moscow traffic with
his motorcade - something that
hasn't seemed to trouble him dur-
ing his previous 12 years in power.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
SENATE
From Page 1
he views as her record of reck-
less spending and neglect of the
economy. After emerging from
a crowded field of candidates
in the Republican primary
election, he has referred to his
opponent as ' "Debbie Spend-
It-Now," and himself as "Pete
Spend-It-Not."
He also launched a recent
effort to name Stabenow Mich-
igan's "worst senator ever,"
building a website that points
to her support for the Afford-
able Care Act, "wasteful spend-
ing" and failure to create jobs
as reasons why he thinks she
should be replaced.
As he sipped hot chocolate in
an interview at Sweetwater's
Cafe on E. Washington St. last
week, Hoekstra compared Sta-
benow to Vander Jagt by deem-
ing her lost in politics.
"I thought that the current
representative, or in this case
the current senator, was part
of the problem, not part of the
solution," he said of Stabenow.
"I think D.C.'s a mess, I think
Debbie's part of the problem, I
think my background and my
experience says that I could
help fix things, and I think I
can beat her in an election."
A poll released on Wednes-
day by the Detroit Free Press
and WXYZ-TV showed Staben-
ow leading Hoekstra 54 percent
to 33 percent. All 13 polls in the
last two months have showed
Stabenow leading, and in 10
of them she had a double-digit
lead, according to the Detroit
Free Press.
In an interview this week,
Stabenow said she is not sur-
prised by Hoekstra's aggres-
siveness in the last few weeks
given his position in the polls
and the increase of partisan-
ship in Congress - a phenome-
non she attributed to the influx
of Tea Party congressmen in
2010.
She called Hoekstra an
"extreme" candidate, citing
the fact that he co-founded
the Congressional Tea Party
caucus along with U.S. Rep.
Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.).
Stabenow has campaigned
on her support for President
Obama's healthcare reforms,
her support for higher educa-
tion and her record on agri-
culture while in Congress. She
serves as the chairwoman of
the Senate Committee on Agri-
culture, Nutrition and For-
estry.
She said she heavily opposed
the doubling of interesting
rates on student loans this year,
and noted legislation enacted
protecting the Great Lakes as
her proudest achievement dur-
ing her time in the Senate.
She said the issue of higher
education was personal for
her, recalling that she needed
student loans to attend Michi-
gan State University. She went
on to serve in the Michigan
House of Representatives and
Senate, and the U.S. House
before defeating U.S. Sen.
Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.) in
2000.
For his part, Hoekstra, who
graduated from the Univer-
sity's Business School in 1977
and worked for 15 years as vice
president of.marketing for a
Fortune 500 furniture compa-
ny before challenging Vander
Jagt, said he is not worried
about the polls.
He cited the endorsements of
various Michigan Republicans,
including Republican Gov. Rick
Snyder as evidence of his con-
tention in the race.
"I can read about this horse
race every day," he said. "Every
phone call is about, 'How's the
horse race? How's the horse
race?' The bottom line is, we've
got a plan, we're executing it
- that's the most important
thing. And we think that the
plan gets us over the top at 8
p.m. on Nov. 6."
HAYDEN
From Page 1
that ideas don't come out of one
person's head," he said. "Ideas
are nothing if they're individual
ideas."
He skid the real genius of the
statement was that it unified of
people who already had respect
for each other's ideas.
"(Members of SDS) couldn't
necessarily get over all of their
political disagreements," he said.
"But they knew they had to be
creating the uncreated conscious
of their time."
Humor was prevalent
throughout Hayden's speech,
forcing him to pause multiple
times to let the laughter die down
before continuing.
"I think I'm on emotional
overload, returning to this cam-
pus," Hayden remarked. "I feel
like Barack Obama at the first
debate."
Al Haber, the first president
of SDS, said he's hoping the con-
ference will spurn a new stu-
dent-led movement to address
society's woes, as SDS and other
University students did years
ago. He noted the University's
rich history of activism, includ-
ing serving as the site of the first
teach-ins protests against the
Vietnam War and the birthplace
of the U.S. Peace Corps.
"What I'm particularly press-
ing for is that we see this as
activist and prospective, not as
academic and retrospective,"
Haber said. "Consider yourself
partofthis community, and what
would you put in that manifesto
for now? What are the (issues)
you see as critical?"
Howard Brick, the confer-
ence's organizer, said he was
pleased with Hayden's address
and the crowd's response.
"There was a spirit and enthu-
siasm that I thoughtwas remark-
able," Brick said. "Tom speaks in
a way that's capable of keeping
the spirit alive."
Public Policy senior Michael
Bloom said he thought the event
was phenomenal.
"Tom Hayden was obviously
a revolutionary figure and the
Port Huron Statement was really
a milestone in activism through-
out the country, especially here
at Michigan," Bloom said.
LSA junior Theresa Johnson
said she came to the event after
she read the statement in her
American Culture class, and was
interested in learning more.
"I think (the statement) still
plays a role in today's society
and beingunified," Johnson said.
"Especially with the election
comingup, and havingyourvoice
heard when you want it to be."
SNYDER
From Page 1
Proposal 1, the public vote on the
emergency manager law, and
attacked Proposal 2.
"I doubt if I asked how many
people knew what parts of the
Michigan Constitution could be
wiped out by this provision, that
there are many people in this
room," he said. "I doubt there
are many people that can walk
through the 170 laws and really
understand all the consequences
of what could happen if they get
wiped-out."
Snyder has previously said he
opposes Proposal 3, which would
place renewable energy require-
ments in the state constitution,
because he finds lawmaking to be
a better alternative to a constitu-
tional amendment.
He also opposes Proposal
6, which would establish need
for a popular vote to begin con-
struction of the proposed bridge
between Detroit and Canada, on
grounds that the crossing would
clearly benefit Michigan. He
added that Ambassador Bridge
owner Matty Moroun has poi-
soned public opinion on the
bridge.
When asked how he can be so
assured that Michigan taxpayers
would not bear any taxburden for
the proposed bridge, he deferred
to Roy Norton, Canada's consul
general of Canada in Detroit.
Norton told the audience that
he would have preferred the state
gather the fundsto split the fund-
ing for the bridge, as did Maine
and New York.
However, after Snyder's attempt
to allocate the funds died in the
state Legislature, the Canadian
government decided the project
was importantenoughforittofoot
the entire bill, Norton said.
"We aren't in the habit, I
should say, as a country, of
offering free infrastructure to
developed countries, but in this
particular case it's so important
that we ... had no choice," Norton
joked.
Support for the six ballot ini-
tiatives has fluctuated over the
last several months. Proposal
1, the referendum on the emer-
gency financial manager law, has
earned support from 35 percent
of Michigan residents and disap-
proval from 43 percent, accord-
ing to a poll released Thursday by
WXYZ-TV and the Detroit Free
Press.
Meanwhile, Proposal 4, which
would establish a limited collec-
tive bargaining agreement for in-
home health care workers - and
which was only lightly discussed
Thursday night - is too close to
call, according to a poll from the
two news organizations. The poll
reported that 44 percent of likely
voters oppose the proposal, while
42 percent approve of it and 11
percent are still undecided.
The closeness of the vote on
some of the six ballot propos-
als, and what Snyder said was a
wealth of misinformation, have
pulled Snyder across the state in a
campaign to boost his "Say Yes to
One, No to the Rest" stance.
On Thursday, Snyder stopped
in Livonia, Sterling Heights and
Lake Orion and held an online
web chat with The Oakland Press
before arriving here. The stops
were part of a bus tour named for
his perspective on the six propos-
als.
At the governor's final stop
in Detroit, Stephen Clark, the
WXYZ-TV anchor, praised Sny-
der for his transparency, telling
members of the audience that he
did not know another governor
who was as open with the citi-
zens of their state.
University alum Jacob Cohen,
a part-time University Law stu-
dent, came with what he called
"instincts" about his voting deci-
sion. He said he left with more
resolution about how he would
vote, pointing to Snyder's clarity
on his positions.
Cohen said he came to view
the referendum on the emergency
financial manager law as the less-
er of two evils between an emer-
gency financial manager installed
by Snyder - an elected official -
and a federal bankruptcy judge.
He said he also sided with Sny-
der's caution in deciding whether
initiatives have a place in the state
constitution.
"It was great to hear really sub-
stantive answers from someone
when all you see on TV are tag-
lines and things that don't make
much sense," Cohen said in an
interview after the event. "You
have to talk about these issues in
long-form to understand the actu-
al issue underlying the proposal.
You don't get that from TV ads."
Still, some attendees of the
townhallsaid they were unmoved
by Snyder's arguments and unim-
pressed by his willingness to
answer audience questions.
Sarah Grieb - a fellow at Chal-
lenge Detroit, a group that has
worked to educate voters on the
proposals and emphasizes the
facilitation of democracy - said
she was unimpressed with Sny-
der's answers.
"He was telling people how to
vote," Grieb said in an interview
after the event. "I don't think
that people got more informed by
coining here tonight."
Jacqueline Smith, a West-
ern Michigan University alum
and another fellow at Challenge
Detroit, added that she hoped
attendees would seek an alter-
nate perspective on the ballots,
whether or not they were per-
suaded by Snyder.
"I just think it's important that
people do their own research,
because it's easy to just look at
the ads and not really inform
yourself."
RZA
From Page 1
his upcoming film, which enters
wide release on Friday.
"All of these different ways of
expressing myself is like what
Bruce Lee would say, 'express
yourself fully,"' RZA said, giving
a big-smiled laugh. "And that's
what I feel like I'm doing. I'm not
gonna let anybody stop me from
doing that."
Growing up in poverty in New
York City, RZA digested count-
less hours of martial arts films.
Though separated by thousands
of miles and several millennia,
RZA discovered himself spiritu-
ally connected to ancient Chinese
culture.
More than entertain-
ment - more. than escapism
- these movies provided a spiri-
tual framework within which he
learned to express himself, he
said. He draws inspiration for
his music and "The Man with the
Iron Fists" from the "same well."
"Sometimes, I think of being
ferocious like a tiger, but nim-
ble as a crane. As deceptive as a
snake, you know what I mean?,"
he explained. "These types of
ideas I apply to music, I apply to
my daily life, you know - I live
martial. Bruce Lee would say,
'forget the form, be like water."'
As a child, RZA was a zealot for
martial arts films. It wasn't until
he met Quentin Tarantino dur-
ing the filming of "Kill Bill: Vol.
1" that RZA became a student of
the art. Under the tutelage of the
mind behind "Pulp Fiction," he
was exposed to film that wouldn't
have otherwise been possible,
that would only add to his "well."
During this time, RZA became
acquainted with Eli Roth, the
acclaimed horror director of
"Cabin Fever," and discovered
that both their fathers attended
the same public school. Togeth- classic '70s and '80s -era Shaw
er, they turned an idea into the Brothers movies.
screenplay that-would eventually "I wanted to make sure I cap-
become "The Man with the Iron tured that essence," RZA said.
Fists," marking RZA's transfor- "But at the same time I love Spa-
mation from kung-fu nut to kung- ghetti Westerns, and I love the
fu filmmaker. sounds they make, and the weird
"It took a lot of preparation, things Morricone would do with
a lot of studying, a lot of focus his soundtracks. I wanted to add
and it was very rewarding, but some. of that flavor. Then, at the
it wasn't difficult," RZA said. "It same time, I'm a big, big hip-
was almost like a natural musi- hopper, so I had to get hip hop
cal progression, you know what I in there. And the Black Keys -
mean? I got to one level, one level, they're bringing me some nice
and my mind and my energy was indie rock and shit, you know
just going further and further, what I mean?"
and now, I see directing is the "This is something that melts
medium where I can accomplish cultures together," he added.
all of my skills at once." RZA explained that because
Having composed scores and stories must also be grounded ina
soundtracks for videogames and non-fiction world, the universe of
films, most famously Tarantino's "The Man with the Iron Fists" is
"Kill Bill" series, RZA knows aware of the social and historical
what sounds should populate the issues of the period it portrays.
off-screen world of film. But as "During the period the film
someone who loves kung-fu, he takes place, there was a big opium
adheres deeply to the music of the
plan that would reduce tuition
during spring and summer terms
to encourage students tograduate
early as well as maximize facility
use throughout the year. 6 _ 5
Horning echoed Steele and said
the University must make bet-
ter use of the campus year round I 7
by encouraging students to take
summer courses and offer them 2 3
reduced tuition for those terms.
Horning added that he plans Ig
to lower tuition costs by finding
alternatives to compensate for
reductions in state appropria--7
tions, such as increasing donation
initiatives and pushing for reallo- 2
cation of the endowment.
While he said he would always 30
be pleased to see increased state_ _
funding, he emphasized the
importance of not relying on the
state government.
"The state simply does not 7 I
have the money ... if the money's
not there, I don't think we ought * S"
to assume the extra money's com-
ing our way," Horningsaid.
war in China," RZA said. "This
was when the British were able
to come through and spread the
opium, startwars - all these dif-
ferent types of confusion they
brought. And we touch on that a
teeny bit."
After all this time, from kung-
fu music sampling to the his-
torical accuracy of his upcoming
film, martial arts continues to
bleed through the layers of RZA's
diverse career "like water."It con-
tinues to change and be changed
by his creative endeavors.
This idea of "expressing your-
self fully" is his end-all goal. Per-
haps then, all that he will do, as
everything he's done before, will
be but a series of apprenticeships
- he "lives martial."
"This film feels to me like my
first album, 36 Chambers (felt).
And I look forward to making five
more classics," RZAsaid, smiling.
"At least."
5-M
BOARD
From Page 1
dent Mary Sue Coleman in 2002.
Looking ahead to the possibility
of a new term, he said he wants
to make finances a primary focus.
HorninggrewupinEastGrand
Rapids before studying political
science and English at the Uni-
versity, where he also served as
a student manager of the football
team under Bo Schembechler.
Since graduating in 1982, he has
worked in private financial ser-
vices and is currently the man-
aging director for Northwestern
Mutual.
Horning added that he would
be a conservative voice to what
he deems a liberal-leaning board,
adding that he would provide a
unique perspective as the only
candidate for regent hailing from
West Michigan.
Republican candidate Rob
Steele said if elected, his primary
focus would be providing funding
for in-state students and encour-
aging them to stay and work at
Michigan companies after gradu-
ating.
One of Steele's biggest ideas is
a plan that would make students
majoring in science, technology,
engineering or math eligible for
a tuition refund program if they
decide to stay in Michigan for more
than five years after graduation.
"This is a way that the Univer-
sity can pay back this 150-year
investment by the taxpayers."
Steele said. "In part (the endow-
ment) should be used to improve
the return investment to the state."
Born and raised in Greenville,
Mich., Steele, a cardiologist,grad-
uated fromthe University's Medi-
cal School in 1981 and served as a
clinical assistant professor in the
School of Medicine for more than
20 years. He also ran for Congress
in 2010, losing to U.S. Rep. John
Dingell (D-Mich.).
Steele said he also supports a
t