LETTER TO THE EDITOR The Michigan Daily - Monday, July 12, 2004 - 5 Imagine this: "President Kerry" SUHAEL MOMIN AN Au.TRNATIE SPN Israel needs wall to protect itself against terror TO THE DAILY: Imagine that continuously, for four years, your home was attacked by suicide bombers, snipers and bombs. Would you allow this to con- tinue on forever? Or find a safe way to secure your house from attacks? Israel has chosen the latter. One cannot legitimately attack the necessity of the security fence to maintain Israeli security and protects its citizens against the continuous threat of Palestinian terror. However, Fadi Kiblawi seems to think that the security fence doesn't work in keep- ing Israel safe ('U' alum arrested for protest in West Bank, 7/6/04). Howev- er, the fence works very well in pro- tecting the lives of all Israeli citizens from the Palestinian terror that has been destroying the country for its entire existence. The security fence saves innocent Israeli lives, whether they are Arab, Jewish or Christian, from heing blown up in restaurants, shopping malls or at universities. In the year since the northern portion of the Wfence was finished, the amount of completed Palestinian terrorist attacks in that area has fallen hy 90 percent, and the amount of victims has decreased by 70 percent. All this time, the amounts of attempted attacks hy the Palestinians continue to increase. The right of a country to protect its citizens, which this securi- ty fence doesjutifies its existence. While the plight of the Palestin- ian people is a horrible one, and it is unfortunate that they are inconve- nienced by the fence, the poor and selfish Palestinian leadership needs to make a larger attempt at halting terrorism and providing for its own people. Yasser Arafat, instead of providing plumbing, electricity, hos- pitals and schools for his people, lives in a multi-million dollar com- pound, has hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign aid stashed in for- eign banks and has his wife and daughter living on $100,000 a month in Paris. All this while his people starve and resort to terrorism to achieve what their leadership won't give them. Israel has tried to achieve peace with her neighbors for many years, yet the Palestinian leadership has fought back legiti- mate and fair agreements at every opportunity, most recently at Camp David in 2000. Instead of engaging in this peace agreement, they began the newest round of almost four years of Palestinian terrorism on Israeli society. The fence can be taken down in a day if the terrorism stops, and when that joyful day comes, it will be taken down. Until then, Israel will continue its right to protect itself from the daily threat of ter- rorism against all of its citizens. A fence can be torn down, but terror victims can never be brought back. ALANA KUHN LSA ssphsinsre Co-chairAmerica Memrnest // Israel will say it: John Kerry can win this election. Inconclu- sive polls aside, Kerry has some real advan- tages on Bush, not the least of which are his domestic plans and his running mate. If Kerry manages to shift the focus of this election away from the end- less referendum on Iraq and the inane "val- ues debate,' he can hit Bush where Bush is weakest: the domestic policy front. The Bush team has played a smart but risky game. It has taken flashy issues such as war and national security, and elevated them, front-and-center. Commander-in- chief George W. Bush has declared war on terror, liberated the Iraqi people, made America safer and stabilized the world by deposing a lunatic with(out) weapons of mass destruction. This fixation on inter-' national issues, however, has come at a cost: Domestically, Bush hasn't done any- thing impressive. His sole economic poli- cy has been the institution of tax cuts, his major healthcare initiative has been a pre- scription drug benefit that helps pharma- ceuticals more than either seniors or taxpayers and his flagship education plan (No Child Left Behind) isn't even ade- quately funded. His pet project, a Consti- tutional amendment banning gay marriage, is lip service to the loony Right. For Kerry, an opportunity exists to define and promote a John Kerry agenda that can draw support independent of the "Anybody-but-Bush" sentiment. With international policy, Kerry and Bush are at odds about details. Bush want- ed the war in Iraq, Kerry voted to authorize it. Bush was supportive of the June 28 transfer of power, so was Kerry. Bush does- n't like evildoers; Kerry shares a similar sentiment, even though he might refer to them in a more technical manner as "ter- rorists." The finely drawn line between the two is that Kerry wants the cooperation of allies and he thinks he can get it, while Bush wants the cooperation of allies and has shown he can't. The Bush foreign poli- cy has mired the United States in a horrible international mess, but Bush thinks he's right and Kerry has to face reality: pulling out of Iraq unilaterally and immediately would be disastrous. The result, inevitably, is that both plan to stay in Iraq. With Ralph Nader launching his ego trip (candidacy), Kerry has to worry about liberals breaking with the Democrats and tossing the elec- tion to Bush. In the foreign policy arena, if the best Kerry can do is to adopt a subtle rendition of Bush's policy, he has to define himself elsewhere. Case-in-point: healthcare. Essentially, Kerry rescinds Bush's tax cut to all those making over $200,000 a year. He uses this extra $631 billion over 10 years to fund his healthcare plan, estimated to cost a little over $650 billion over the same period. The income threshold for Medicaid is raised, so many working-class families become eligi- ble for government healthcare, and the gov- ernment agrees to pay 75 percent of any healthcare costs in excess $50,000. Paul Krugman, economics professor at Prince- ton and columnist for the New York Times, has argued that the plan will not only drive down everyone's premiums by about 10 percent, but also adequately cover millions of families who make too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford pri- vate insurance. In his own words, "This is a truly good idea ... Mr. Kerry's plan would help far more people than it would hurt." Bush, by comparison, has yet even to artic- ulate a plan for providing healthcare to all. Potential president Kerry also has a trump card: Senator John Edwards. Repub- licans have good reason to be scared; Cheney vs. Edwards is an unfair fight. Edwards revels in front of cameras, Cheney dislikes campaigning. Cheney is associated with Halliburton; Edwards is associated with the working class. Edwards has energy; Cheney has heart problems. Already, Edwards has invigorated the tick- et: Kerry has been seen laughing at recent campaign stops! Republicans are panicking - Edwards was clearly a good choice. With the President on the defensive about Sept. 11, the CIA and the Iraq war, a Democratic victory in November seems possible. Riding last week's wave of good press, it is now up to Kerry and Edwards to find their issues, sell their plans and fight this campaign on their terms. Momin can be reachedat smomin@umich.edu. No friends in City Hall ELLIOTT MALLEN IbATNAlI EXUBERANCE LETTERS POLICY The Michigan Daily welcomes letters from all of its readers. Letters from University students, faculty, staff and administrators will be given priority over others. Letters should include the writer's name, college and school year or other University affiliation. The Daily will not print any letter containing statements that cannot be verified. Letters should be kept to approximately 300 words. The Michigan Daily reserves the right to edit for length, clarity and accuracy. Longer "viewpoints" may be arranged with an editor. Letters will be run accord- ing to order received and the amount of space available. Letters should be sent through e-mail to tothedaily@michigandaily.com or mailed to the Daily at 420 Maynard St. Editors can be reached via e- mail at editpage.editors@umich.edu. Letters e-mailed to the Daily will be given priority over those dropped off in person or sent via the U.S. Postal Service. SAM BUTLER T fE SOAPBOX Americon po ies Cam no longer sulfer --he. + ppings 6P - i-eres- commerci a/ Cash." For 6or y ~ 4 r Ann Arbor City Council. A harmless little enclave that deals with harmless little issues. Why should we, as students with busy schedules and no intentions of staying here after graduating,. care one damn about what they do? We have no interest in heated debates about when garbage pick-up day ought to be. Few among us have fiery opinions about the Machiavellian maneuverings of the City Joint Caucus (aside from the obvious jokes its name provokes). I'd venture to guess that most students here don't even know who our mayor is, let alone how to pronounce his name. Local government is for the aged, the feeble, the trivial and the dull. The sad fact is, City Council members take advantage of this student apathy by passing legislation that negatively affects students without fear of reprisal. The recent proposal banning porch couches is one example of how the Ann Arbor City Coun- cil pushes an anti-student agenda with rela- tive impunity. The voting districts of Ann Arbor are gerrymandered to ensure that students will never get a seat on the City Council. The city is split into pie-shaped wedges, with each containing a sliver of the student- dominated downtown and a much larger chunk of the surrounding homeowner strongholds. Each wedge elects a City Council member, meaning students never have enough numbers in any individual wedge to field a pro-student candidate. A homeowner's most valuable asset is his home, and he will fight anything that could potentially lower the value of that asset (like living close to rowdy, unkempt stu- dents). Members of the Council all favor the more permanent homeowners over transient students, leading to legislation like the ludicrous couch porch ban. The idea that students can't even get their own City Council member suggests that they are but a small minority, and this simply is not true. Of Ann Arbor's 114,024 citizens, 39,031 are students. Renters out- number homeowners 55 percent to 45 per- cent, putting homeowners in the minority. The college feel of Ann Arbor is further reflected in the fact that the 45 percent home ownership rate is significantly lower than the Michigan average of 74 percent. The relatively small number of property owners in the city makes their domination of the Council all the more absurd. There's no doubt that Ann Arbor would not be nearly as prosperous if it weren't for the University. Without students, there would be no South University. There would be no football games drawing tens of thousands of fans into the city in the fall. Sprawl would surely have taken a much greater toll if there weren't thousands of students liv- ing and spending money in the city center. Property owners would have you believe that students are a blight on an otherwise pure city. In reality, we're a blight that's holding this town together. The students vs. homeowners divide is not the expected Democrat versus Republi- can battle we've come to expect between the young and the old. The very people who want to ruin what little pleasant Michigan weather we get in the summer by taking away our porch furniture are the same people who most likely have a "Jobs Not War in 2004" sign in their immaculate- ly manicured lawns. They'll gladly vote for Kerry, march in one of the more main- stream peace rallies, and support striking Borders workers. Just don't ask them to sit idly while their student neighbors enjoy their upholstered furniture outside, poten- tially driving their property values down for living in close vicinity to such riff-raff. Any sense of camaraderie between stu- dents and homeowners that comes from shared liberal values is overridden as soon as property values come into play. Seeing as students lack the power to vote City Council members out of office, more creative methods are required if stu- dents are to defeat the proposed ban. One person I talked to suggested we camp out on couches outside the next City Council meeting on July 19. Others have suggested burning these couches on the steps of City Hall - East Lansing riot-style. One jittery, shifty-eyed man I spoke with at the Fleet- wood fervently suggested we burn the City Council members themselves. Whatever students decide to do in response to the pro- posed ban could be prevented if students had the ability to vent their frustration with the homeowners' associations through vot- ing. Until that day comes, students have no choice but to find other ways to vent. Mallen can be reached at emmallen@umich.ed.