Page 4-The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, April 3, 1991
Wbe £t4han &ult
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Edited and Managed
by Students at the
University of Michigan
ANDREW K. GOTTESMAN
Editor in Chief
STEPHEN HENDERSON
DANIEL POUX
Opinion Editors
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Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board.
All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
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rater
New mayor should deliver on campaign promises
he work is just beginning for Liz Brater.
Though she has accomplished a near miracle
in defeating incumbent Republican Mayor Gerald
Jernigan in Monday's city elections, she now faces
the challenge of delivering on her campaign prom-
ises.
Indeed, the Brater platform left much to be
desired. Despite her idealistic approach to the
mayorship, she offered very little in the way of
concrete plans during her campaign, and has left
voters largely in the dark as to how she will
accomplish her goals.
But now that she has won, it is important that
Ann Arbor residents - and specifically students
- hold her to her ideals, and ensure that they
become reality.
One of the most important planks in the Brater
platform addressed the issue of solid waste in the
city. During Jernigan's two terms as mayor, Ann
Arbor's landfill has become full with' non-city
waste, and now city tax-payers must provide in-
creased revenues for garbage disposal.
Brater plans to increase recycling efforts in
order to alleviate some of these problems. But
adequate facilities for the type of recycling Brater
proposes will be costly in the short-term, and
Brater will be hard-pressed to actually come up
with the funds to implement her plans. Ann Arbor
desperately needs to address its solid waste prob-
lems, but lofty expenses will not be popular with
city council or residents - and they may not even
be feasible.
Brater also plans to address the insufficient
availability of low-income housing in the city.
Throughout his tenure as mayor, Jemigan did little
more than to sweep this problem under the rug, and
the city now faces a growing problem of
homelessness.
Brater--unlike Jemigan- aspires to increase
access to affordable housing for the city's less
fortunate. She proposes to establish an affordable
housing trust fund using interest banks, but the
probabilities of such a venture are questionable.
Bad timin
The city itself must work to eradicate the problem
of homelessness, and should not rely solely on
banks or other private corporations to do so. Brater
and the council must make affordable housing a
priority in the coming two years, and should allocate
whatever resources are necessary to deal with the
problem.
Perhaps one of the most important issues B rater
will face during her term is the proposed $9 million
parking structure for Kline's department store
downtown. Though Brater has floundered several
times on this issue in the past, she did come out
very strongly against the project during her cam-
paign, and should be held accountable for this
position.
There are numerous ventures in Ann Arbor
which are far more deserving of these funds than
the parking structure, and residents should watch
Brater and the council closely to ensure they make
the right choices on this issue. Many now view the
Kline's parking lot as a done deal, and it is up to the
mayor and the council to refute this assertion.
The one issue of paramount importance to
students in the Brater platform was her promise to
protect student rights on campus. Incidents in
which students clash with city residents or officials
- such as the South Quad macing incident of last
term - clearly merit Brater's attention during her
tenure. This was an issue largely ignored by
Jernigan, leaving students with very little recourse
in City Hall. Brater should make herself accessible
and open to student concerns, and attempt to combat
some of the existing tensions between students and
the Ann Arbor community.
Liz Brater did not acquire the Daily's endorse-
ment for this year's mayoral elections; indeed no
one did. Admittedly, however, she has several
strong planks in her campaign platform that take
aim at some of Ann Arbor's most pressing dilem-
mas.
Brater must now reaffirm her commitment to
her platform - and to the community - by taking
whatever steps arenecessary to fulfill her promises.
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Thanks to
pro-choice
To the Daily:
I would like to thank the "pro-
choicers" at the rally (3/27/91) for
clarifying the complex predisposi-
tions of pro-lifers.
I had no idea that each and
every one of us is an "anti-choice
terrorist" who would not hesitate
to bomb an abortion clinic given
the opportunity and a molotov
cocktail.
I would like to thank them for
exposing the facade behind which
we pro-lifers stand. It is obvious
that we are ALL oppressive
fascists who throw plastic fetuses
and assault women outside
abortion clinics, and that NONE
of us actually care at all about the
children or the women.
We all just want to burden
them with a blob of cells for
which we want to force them to
care for eighteen or more years.
I want to thank them all for
making this abstract issue so clear
with a simple blanket generaliza-
tion. It is obvious that them all
know more about what is on the
heart of every pro-lifer than we do
of ourselves. I would like to thank
them for letting people know just
how uncaring and oppressive pro-
lifers really are.
Howard Scully
Engineering sophomore
Good riddance...
To the Daily:'
I am writing in response to the
comments made by outgoing
Michigan Student Assembly
President Jennifer Van Valey in
the Daily ("CC's Green wins
MSA presidency," 3/28/91). Van
Valey says, "I don't understand
why someone like James Green,
who hasn't done anything for
students, would get elected. What
are people thinking?"
It is obvious that Van Valey
has trouble dealing with reality: a
majority of those with an opinion
disagree with her and want a
change. It is just this kind of
insulting statement that shows
Van Valey for what she is: a
petulant, sniping political coward,
afraid of the same student voice
that she presumed to speak for.
She continued with, "MSA
does a hell of a lot," and, "The
extent to which things don't get
accomplished comes from people
like James Green," and I must say
that even if Green doesn't
accomplish a single thing as MSA
President, it will be an indescrib-
ably vast improvement over Van
Valey's regressive reign, under
which MSA's credibility eroded
with the administration, and
apparently with all the students
but the 13 percent (considerably
less than last year) who voted.
It is just this kind of partisan
bickering that has made MSA a
joke to most students. Let's hope
that it can end now that Van
Valey is out of the picture. I will
not miss her.
Brian Kalt
LSA first-year student
Klip kiop...
To the Daily:
The appalling noise of klopity-
klsp of footwear on women or
men is most jolting anywhere, but
it is particularly shocking in
places where quietness is known
to be expected - such as in
hospitals.
When it occurs in libraries
where people are trying to
concentrate, it is amazing that
anyone would have the thought-
less audacity to clomp around
here and there.
In the halls of the music
school, where people deal
exclusively in sound, it is unbe-
lievable that there are those who
assault the ears of others with the
echoing sound of their footwear.
In the library of the music school,
how can anyone be so inconsider-
ate or thoughtless as to wear
rackety footwear and attempt to
justify it?
Both men's and women's
footwear are available in noiseless
styles leaving no excuse for the
disruption of another's thoughts.
In a library - a music library
no less - how can anyone justify
imposing such raucous sound on
others?
Leila Riley
Ypsilanti resident
Why play games?
To the Daily:
I thank Don Demetriades
("Real jobs?" 3/27/91) for the
occasion to clarify the point of my
original letter - a point that had
been edited out.
Of course I believe that the
work of a teaching assistant -
teaching - is real, hard work. I
was sincere in suggesting Mike
Fischer might be better off with a
real, good-paying job.
The point of my letter is
simply this. In deeming himself
among the exploited wage-owners
of the world - a false conception
of teaching - Fischer accepts
(and for his own purposes
promotes) the false conception of
education as a business and
consumer product, a conception *
embraced with equal ardor by the
administration.
The result of this faulty
conception by class and economic
analysis is of course, the perpetu-
ation of rancor, hatred, and
division proper to class-warfare,
and alien to the work of teaching
and learning.
I'll put the point another way.
The game that ends up with
Fischer and President Duderstadt
professing that we benefit from
averting a "strike" is one properly
played out at GM, where real,
good-paying jobs are to be had.
My query is a simple, if radical,
one: why play this game?
Leo McNamara
English professor
The Daily encourages re-
sponses from its readers.
Letters should be 150 words or
less and include the author's
name, year in school, and
phone number. They can be
mailed to The Michigan Daily,
420 Maynard, Ann Arbor,
48109, or they can be sent via
MTS to "The Michigan Daily."
The Daily reserves the right to
edit letters for style and space.
Pentagon releases real bombing statistics - after the war
ast month, as the dust settled in Baghdad and clean and flawless an operation as it was packaged
Kuwait, the Pentagon finally released the to be. This was not a war of only "surgical strikes"
military's bomb accuracy statistics. Unfortunately, - it was a war of unprecedented amounts of dumb
itis often our first impressions that endure -these bomb tonnage lobbed at the enemy.
impressions were distorted by the U.S. The Pentagon's late-coming bomb statistics are
government's information policy. We now know only one piece of the network of censorship that
that a significant amount of targets were missed in has successfully warped the nation's perceptions
the inaccuracies of "strategic bombing." of this war. The pool system - which required
The American public was led to believe that the reporters at the front lines to travel in small packs
accuracy of all bombing in the Persian Gulf War of six or more while accompanied by military
was similar to that of the "smart bomb" which the correspondent-made it impossible for the media
Pentagon maintains was approximately 90 per- to report anything but a one sided story. Govern-
cent. However, the military tried to obscure the fact ment instituted "security review" of all inform a-
that many more "dumb bombs" were used in this tion coming out of the Gulf region ensured that
war - which have less accuracy. The Pentagon television viewers saw all hits and no misses on
maintains the accuracy for "dumb bombs" is a their screens - shadowing the number of Iraqi
mere 25 percent. When totalled, the over-all accu- civilian casualties. And new government policy
racy rating for Iraq and Kuwait's bombardment even kept us from seeing the U.S. casualties as the
comes out to be 30 percent, with more than 60,000 body bags arrived in Delaware.
missed targets. As more new information becomes available, it
More important than the actual numbers is the is important for Americans to re-examine their
insidious manner in which this information was notions aboutthis conflict. Thenational impression
withheld from the American public in order to ofa perfect 100-hour war where everything worked
bolster public support for the war. Americans were and Iraqi civilians were somehow missed by our
fed vague and incomplete information, while they bombs is an illusion that must be reconstructed.
were dazzled by pool footage of smart bombs History must clear the record and depict this war
precisely zoning in on their targets. But this new for what it is - not what Pentagon spokespersons
information indicates that the Gulf War was not as say it is.
ROUNDUP Law demands change
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Conde ned to repetiltion
When common sense won't change University of
New Mexico's (UNM) mind, when a sense of what is
morally right has no effect on the people who govern
this place, count on the law to make heads turn.
A federal court ruled last week that withholding
campus crime reports is unconstitutional under the First
and Fifth Amendments.
UNM has a practice of withholding campus police
records from the public. Those that are made available
have important information marked out with black pen.
Common sense dictates that information relevant to
the safety of persons on campus should be available and
accessible. But common sense is uncommon at UNM
among those who make the rules campus police must
follow.
That's right-it's not the police who should be held
Nuts and Bolts
to account for the state of campus safety. Most officers
would be more than happy to do their work properly. It
is the unholy alliance of President Richard "I believe in
students - quiet ones" Peck and Vice President for
Student Affairs/Head Censorship Officer Orcilia Zu-
niga-Forbes that have hog-tied and taped the mouths of
campus police officers.
Peck and Zuniga-Forbes are accountable for every
assault, every rape, every petty larceny and other crime
that occurs on campus. Their unwillingness to do what
is right unless the law forces their hands should be cause
for their removal from office.
March 21, 1991, New Mexico Daily Lobo,
by Geoffrey White
University of New Mexico
by Judd Winick
As an Arab-American, watch-
ing the United States indiscrimi-
nately bomb Iraq had an all-too
familiar feel. Western powers -in
their drive to control the Middle
East's re-
sources -
have never
had much
patienc e IERS
with Arab
peoples and
leaders who
actually had
the audacityb
to imagine Tom
that the
region's Abowd
wealth
could be
used for and by the region's people.
It is this audacity - and not his
invasion of Kuwait-which caused
Saddam Hussein so much trouble.
Iraqis; many more are surely buried
under the rubble of Baghdad and
Basra.
Doctors working in Iraq report
overcrowded conditions as they try
to tend to the "collateral damage"
which is Washington's euphemism
for Iraqi civilians. In addition to the
hundreds of thousands who are dead,
many thousands more are seriously
injured. Someno longerhave limbs.
Others are now paralyzed for life
after living for days beneath the
rubble of their former homes.
A U.S.-led blockade of Iraq
which - did not exempt food and
medicine - even though this is
against the Geneva Conventions
which Washington has signed -
has produced a variety of other se-
rious complications. So serious that
before the war even started, there
were no vaccines in the country.
The Iraqi hospitals are still lacking
these epidemics in the making will
only grow worse.
For those of us with family in
the Arab world, the war on Iraq and
its civilians will leave permanent
scars and spawn endless trauma -
a trauma which extends beyond the
present war to a fear and helpless-
ness associated with a past which is
also, paradoxically, our collective
future.
As in the Occupied Territories
in 1948 and again in 1967; as in
Beirut in the summer of 1982 and
the camps of Shabra and Shatilla
that fall; so, too in 1991 Iraq: Arab
history and Arab peoples are con-
demned to repetition by the cruel-
ties of a system which denies them
their independence and their dif-
ference - both from the rest of the
world and from each other.
The people of the Arab world
understand the meaning of U.S.-
41
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