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 CPS .a /n, a~ ,r qN RiNNY CNWW 10 N 791; QJLFII 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. ' {"~'+'"'''{'} Ir r+}: " .'",', 'G' 7{+'""rG: { s;+{ f;f,. .r ,; "{.;." ".". r "g f r r."." :" " r r " ." "x:.v:.v.v::w::::. . ti:{: :"r::}::}r.r. :.' ," r' ?,' v rr.' .; .CE; r,.; ."."'.vvG~,'"v. r'} ¢ r ":"7,. Gr,}r.{.^r' "$.};. G,{:: .": ";"y,{."G:r.;."¢J ,n,.ir:":yiGr;.r' r r,}'"'"'::${'r' 'r GY.? G}:t:::v:" r G J r., i:": ?r,}rr};G: i: ".v ."r' }{k}{, {:{S{ "Y,.{;."."."'",rj.{;' .:;'rtJ.:" ":.":::. ".v:::. o .r :::: :": :.}}i?:"}:4:":{{ti4:v}}::"i?5i::v: ar rr rS r. " r r " r: .+rrr . v. r r r r"."." r." f " ) .r " Lr ,v{}}r. $~r. r 1: r" rr rrr... "Y' 1 yy rr" r LV J y r 'Y. 1f 1"" ' ' { M" .r "r' vr.:+.C d" . r r r"}x:{ " r :Nrv rri. ".vi'v$.r.;' ":"rr,4" {r. J{r Y } '"j};:;:'"{.G";.wvY ~,."J:"r.{"'"rr?:":.d+ rJ }:qtr " }r:."$} J ,. .r - " rr'' r l.. . . JJr a rrrr "x: d r....: rr{..1.. :.Y.:{v.:"r.v."x "'}.kGSt p"}} rr'x. r.. 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. & };N VM "1.." K A.1.YY"YV M°"V .° L1M 1:hY YK.Y1JYYYvY+ 1111Y111 1.L .Y1:WL.rY.:J.:f"1:JJ:Y.::J J:J. ::: :Y.'.^Y"'..r ..'1V: ..1.* "..t.:.LW::.5 .... 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 :Y::Yr:YJr:":%":' i% : YJ::{"%:{'X{N"%%:T{JJ: J.YJJJ.IL"r "J .1".VJJJJ ."."JtJA r :1111Y.Yr."."r. .Wt.Y.".11Y:."."""""""""""""". " ... .... ..................... ...................... .. ..Y.....1......... r...........L .....................:..:: JJ.Y ".'r:.YJ.YJ:: :"J. i': J:: " "."rrJ.1Y. AYJJ::: J:: J " ": ':.YJ.Y:: J "..Y 1"J:. J V 1 i r:{Y ": r.W%: J.Y. J% r JJr .1YrJ. 1Y ::. ^'':{.i %1%.";'%%%:". :^:"%:':":.":'%:": J%%%:":Yt: J:.Y:.YJ ......... ........... ,. .r. r."::;:;:::j }: ::::: :YY 7?: :: J":"i.'"i:%Y:Ctivii:!tii!"'r:%:;::'r:'{::;$.%{ :'.................. "................... 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 Q.W'RE AWOUT TOp m SQ.T TOUR VASETOMY,\ r. W OW WEDC G OES 'TO MA& HIS FlRST [AAAAAAAAAAH!! I r7F--1r---_. T 7455GUY.