LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The Michigan Daily - Monday, July 10, 2006 - 5
There's no place like Michigan
TINA HILDRETH WEI COME To My BUBBLE
Palestinians should
address enemy within
TO THE DAILY:
picturesofthisfamily. Couldtherenotbe
a little girl crying here, too? The intense
rivalry between Fatah and Hamas is per-
haps exposing children in the territories
to more violence than any external force.
The Palestinian struggle is no longer
In the June 12 edition of the New only with Israel, bu
York Times, under the headline
"Errant Shell Turns Girl Into Pales- M
tinian Icon," an article told the story
of a little girl enjoying a sunny day
out with family, only to learn abruptly 'U' must b
the harsh reality of war. Her portray-
al is graphic: She is grasping some with arChit
bloodied pants, her head tilted back as &Cisions,
she screams out into the sky. Simply
put, there is a little girl crying on the To THE DAILY:
beach, trying to contemplate the death
ofmore than a dozen family members, I just returned
including her father and siblings. beloved campus
Butthisgirlisnottheonly childinthe hold back tears af
Palestinian territories that has received strosity that is the
the abhorrent honor of being an image ing. I hope that th
of the Palestinian struggle. Do not for- pay any money for
get the boy who, withhis father, became When I left my
stranded in the middle of a gun battle a 17-year-old, I wa
between Israeli forces and Palestinian from factories and
militants some five years ago, making idea that any insti
for one of the more memorable war such refined gem
photos ever. That incident, caught on building and Hill
video, showed the boy cowering behind actively pursue the
the arm of his father, crying and, after al-quarter look as t
a barrage of bullets, lying lifelessly in to have done with
the dust. After watching the incident Building. I have n
on television, I realized I was playing behind this mistak
into the drama of the news, watching that they, like ma:
the gunfight as if it were in a western. awards from oth
The truth is, an innocent child should than creating build
not have to be in the middle of a war. people who use the
A father should not have to worry about leaves me wonder
protecting his child from flying bullets. allow this kind of t
The unfortunate happenstance in the The Social Wo
caseofbothchildrenisthatthroughtheir frightening as w
pain, peoplehave sought to immortalize imagine the archite
them. But no child should be chosen as names for themsel
a symbol of a struggle that they had no innovative. The ma
part in creating. Because both incidents sively complex an
with these children occurred during a accordion with the
fight with the "enemy," they are con- The building, like
sidered extraordinary. But what about projects at the Uni
those children hurt during the fighting brick and entirely t
within the Palestinian territories? Curves and arches
In an Associated Press article, "Pales- thetics. Just ask the
tinian Brings Aid: $20 Million in Lug- But just when
gage," the infighting between Fatah, into total despair,
backed by Palestinian President Mah- Ford Public Policy
moud Abbas, and Hamas, which controls a campus landmark
the Palestinian Parliament,became clear. in that elegant at
The article tells of an incident in which Maybe traditional
the commander of a pro-Fatah Palestin- for central campus
ian Police force was shot in the legs by pus for the architet
Hamas militants, the latter then setting
the commander's house ablaze after
removing his family. But there are no
RYAN JABER j:UT MAEl MU .
t with itself as well.
arie Cunningham
Alum
e careful
ectural
ask Romans
for a visit to my
and am laboring to
ter seeing the mon-
Life Sciences Build-
he University didn't
it.
native New Jersey as
as trying to get away
warehouses. I had no
tution that possessed
s as the Rackham
Auditorium would
Jersey City-industri-
the University seems
h the Life Sciences
ot met the architects
ke, but my sense is
ny architects, sought
er architects rather
dings that inspire the
em. The whole thing
ing how the Regents
hing to happen.
rk building is fairly
ell. Once again, I
ects wanted to make
ves by being overly
ain entrance is exces-
d congested, like an
air sucked out of it.
several of the recent
versity, is dense with
oo linear in its shape.
do wonders for aes-
Romans.
I was ready to sink
my eyes set upon the
School project. I see
k in the making there
nd stately structure.
ism is the way to go
s. Leave north cam-
cts' experiments.
Scott Kashkin
Alum
f I had a quarter
for every time
I have heard
complaints about
Michigan weather,
I could probably
buy Washtenaw
County. In the win-
ter, it's too cold,
' too icy. In the sum-
mer, it's too humid or somehow too
cool. Fall is too windy and spring, too
rainy. Saying these things is almost a
rite of passage; you're not a Midwest-
erner until you complain daily about
atmospheric conditions.
Until last summer, I was among the
large number of Michiganians who
resolutely promise they will one day
move to "somewhere warm." That all
changed when I actually moved to that
somewhere.
Orlando, Florida. They call it the
City Beautiful, located right in the mid-
dle of the Sunshine State. What more
could I ask for? It seemed the vibrant
city had it all: Not only was it sunny
every day, but there were six different
sandy beaches within an hour of my
apartment. Finally, I thought, I'll leave
the blasted Michigan weather behind.
But three weeks after suffering 95-
degree heat and 100-percent humidi-
ty, I reconsidered. Not only was it hot,
it rained every day at 3 p.m. sharp.
No matter what the time of day, my
skin would turn clammy-the instant
I stepped out of the well air-condi-
tioned refuge of my apartment. On
top of all that, there was a hurricane
headed toward us. Keep in mind, this
was less than a year after three con-
secutive hurricanes wreaked havoc on
this paradise, and damage left over
from the storm was still visible along
the roads and highways.
Waiting for Hurricane Dennis to
make landfall somewhere far away from
Orlando, I found myself missing Michi-
gan weather. Sitting on my porch at 2
a.m., still drenched in the day's sweat, I
reminisced about hot summer days and
cool nights of a Michigan July. I missed
lightening bugs, deciduous trees and
regular grass. That's when it hit me
- the Midwest has the best summers
in the world, and I was missing it.
As I headed back to school that fall,
I found my love of Michigan weather
stretched into other seasons, too. I was
amazed at how many different col-
ors appeared in tree leaves, and I was
delighted to feel a cool breeze on my
back en route to football games.
Even when it started to snow, I was
delighted. Living away from temper-
ate climates for just three months had
changed my perspective completely.
I realized that four true seasons only
actually happen in a few climates of
the world, and ours is one of those.
Suddenly Michigan's erratic weather,
famous for snowing and steaming in
the same day, became a welcome part
of my life.
This summer is merely reinforcing
that fact. Now in Indiana for a sum-
mer internship, I watch daily reports of
weather catastrophes across the country
- from wildfires in the west to raging
floods in the east. It seems nature has
inflicted horrendous abuse on almost
every other area of the country in the
past few years. Trying to remember bad
weather catastrophes in Michigan, I can
only come up with a few tornados that,
at most, swept roofs off barns.
Although I know I will probably
still move to that "someplace warm"
after graduation - weather has no
effect on the state's economy, which
undoubtedly can't employ most of my
graduating class - but that doesn't
mean I won't try to get back as soon
as I can. Sure, it'd be nice to be swim-
ming near a shore on a warm February
day, but that's what vacations are for.
There's littleI'd trade for a chance to
spend every night in a cool backyard,
listening to crickets and catching
lightening bugs. Even if that means
dealing with the snow.
Hildreth can be reached at
childret@umich.edu.
A prescription for healthcare
JOHN STIGLICH STlIA-Y SxxS
W hen was
the last
time
you saw a doc-
tor? For millions
of Americans, the
price of healthcare
and health insur-
- ance keeps climb-
ing with no end in
sight. Recent polls show that health-
care is approaching the importance of
the war in Iraq and the economy in the
minds of voters this November.
In April, Gov. Mitt Romney (R-
Mass) - a 2008 presidential contend-
er - staked his claim as a healthcare
reformer by announcing a program that
would insure every Massachusetts resi-
dent. While Gov. Romney's plan is more
free-market oriented than HillaryCare,
it still reeks of the "something for noth-
ing" mentality that voters possess and
politicians capitalize on to win.
Currently, government does not
require hospitals and care centers across
the country to list the prices of proce-
dures and treatments available at their
facilities. Why? It's quite simple: if you
actually knew the price of the treat-
ment you seek, the odds are greater that
you won't seek treatment. For example,
when you feel the common cold coming
on, would you choose to buy a $10 bottle
of NyQuil at CVS or would you schedule
a $100 appointment with your doctor?
Enter the ambitious politicians
across the country. Voters love politi-
cians who promise to lower the cost
of healthcare with minimal impact on
their checkbooks. Which brings me to
a second observation - ever wonder
why the Medicare tax is automatically
deducted from your paychecks rather
than you sending a personal check into
the Department of Treasury?
Politicians realized a long time ago
that the more personal the relationship
between tax collector and taxpayer,
the less people liked handing over
their money. As a result, opposition to
tax increases grew. And without tax
increases, big government programs
cease to exist.
Some on the left will tell you that
universal healthcare is the answer to
our ills. Empirically, universal health-
care is one of the worst ideas in the his-
tory of man. Government-controlled
healthcare inevitably leads to ration-
ing. The system operates by control-
ling the price a healthcare provider can
charge the government. As is often the
case with price controls set below the
free-market price, less efficient, poorer
made products result.
When every citizen can receive
healthcare at anytime he pleases, gov-
ernment creates surplus demand. The
price controls give producers no incen-
tive to increase supply to meet demand
and the quality of the product suffers.
If you don't believe me, go into any
hospital in Buffalo, and count the num-
ber of Canadians fleeing their utopian
universal healthcare system to seek
treatment in America.
The most promising solution to
reducing the cost of healthcare is to
make the system more free-market ori-
ented. To accomplish this goal, Ameri-
cans must understand that healthcare is
not a birth right - it is a product they
must pay for. By making price a more
relevant factor in the decision to seek
healthcare, market forces will correct
over-consumption, reduce costs and
lead to more efficient healthcare.
First, Congress must expand the abil-
ity of Americans to save money without
being taxed in health savings accounts,
which allow people to pay out of their
pocket for treatment without the she-
nanigans of government and health
insurance companies. Because Ameri-
cans will pay with their own money,
they will ideally invest the same time,
energy and decision-making skills that
they currently utilize when purchasing
important items like automobiles.
Second, we should require that hos-
pitals and treatment facilities list their
prices in a publicly accessible venue,
like the internet. This will allow con-
sumers to compare prices for treat-
ments in a manner similar to auction
sites like Buy.com. Florida already has
such a website, and within a year of its
establishment, hospitals noticed a dra-
matic shift in patient movement based
on the relative prices of treatments.
Third, we must continue to reform
our tort laws to prevent jury shopping
and frivolous lawsuits from raising
the cost of healthcare. One of the least
popular jobs in America is that of an
obstetrician. Because mothers sue their
obstetricians so frequently, the cost
of medical malpractice insurance is
through the roof. The higher malprac-
tice insurance premiums result in high-
er child-birth costs and in a decreasing
number of obstetricians graduating
from medical school, Do we really
want mothers giving birth under the
supervision of mid-wives?
Stiglich can be reached at
jcsgolf@umich.edu.
Sc. -I- x555
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