From: Bill Strom [william.strom@yale.edu]
Sent: Sunday, October 20, 2002 11:34 PM
To: marxists.and.moderates@yale.edu
Subject: all the liblong week
all the liblong week
the *new* whipsheet of the liberal party of the yale political union
huit
week of: 21oct02

For those of you who don't know me very well at all, I spent last summer working as a fundraiser for Greenpeace. That's right, I was one of those people annoying you every time you got out off the bus, came up from the subway, or strolled down the street, minding your own business. "Hi, do you have a second for Greenpeace?" That was me. So you can only imagine how delighted I was when we chose this week's debate topic. To get an idea as to the sort of more inflammatory line I was hoping to take with the debate, check out the "exit music" section. Any questions? I'd love to answer them for you.--}:-{)

*undercard*
21oct02 1730: Lib Dinner, Commons Dining Hall
Join us under the portrait of Bush the Elder as we partake in discussion, debate, and delicious delicacies from campus's grandest...er, LARGEST dining hall. See you there!

*steel cage match*
22oct08 1930: Meeting of the Yale Political Union, LC 101(Room subject to change)
Tuesday night, the YPU welcomes David Keene, Chairman of the American Conservative Union, America's oldest and largest grassroots conservative organization. He will be speaking in the affirmative on the resolution: "RESOLVED: 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is Good Policy." Come out to tell Mr. Keene how wrong he is, and how the policy serves merely to reinforce societal prejudice. Alternatively, come out to find out just how it is that "grassroots" and "conservative" can both describe the same organization without oxymoron. (I'd offer a balancing alternative here, but I don't know any defense for this resolution--fill me in if you do). Contact Floor Leader of the Left bradley.lipton@yale.edu to be docketed to speak. This is a closed YPU debate, so there has never been a better time to purchase your membership than today!

The Yale Political Union (www.yale.edu/ypu) was formed in the 1930s in order to provide a forum for rollicking debate among its six member parties. Our Liberal Party is the oldest of these six. Each year, nationally and internationally recognized social and political leaders visit the union to speak about political philosophy, current events, and policy issues. For more information about the YPU, contact william.rogel@yale.edu. For arcane and trivial history about the YPU, contact jonathan.khoury@yale.edu.

*main event*
23oct02 1930: Debate, Jonathan Edwards College Common Room
Wednesday night, in a debate near and dear to my heart, we will discuss the resolution, "Ban automobiles." Yes, we know, it sounds like a Tory Party resolution--but we remain unapologetic. Is the American love affair with cars inextricably in conflict with any kind of environmental ethic? Do we need to turn to public transit as the exclusive alternative? Or is human culture too destructive to begin with for a policy change like the ban of automobiles to make any difference? Come and be heard.

*exit music*
"Q: Wasn't agriculture developed as a response to famine?

A: Agriculture is useless as a response to famine. You can no more respond to famine by planting a crop than you can respond to falling out of an airplane by knitting a parachute. But this really misses the point. To say that agriculture was developed as a response to famine is like saying that cigarette smoking was developed as a response to lung cancer. Agriculture doesn't cure famine, it promotes famine--it creates the conditions in which famines occur. Agriculture makes it possible for more people to live in an area than that area can support--and that's exactly where famines occur. For example, agriculture made it possible for many populations of Africa to outstrip their homelands' resources--and that's why these populations are now starving."

from The Story of B, by Daniel Quinn