4A
Wednesday, January 25, 1995
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE: PROPOSED HOSPITAL BUYOUT
Hospital should consider offers ideas presented by corporation
Next month the Lawrence Memorial Hospital board will meet with representatives from the Columbia /HCA Healthcare Corporation to hear a presentation about Columbia's plans for the Lawrence area. It would be extremely irresponsible and foolish for the board not to seriously consider any ideas that Columbia might have for LMH.
Columbia has previously expressed interest in buying LMH, and if the desire still is there, LMH should agree.
it is safe to say that LMH is getting by. It also is safe to say that if another more advanced and financially secure hospital came to Lawrence, then a hospital that cannot even keep some of its local residents from driving 30 miles up or down the Turnpike for better health care certainly would not be able to keep them from driving across town for better health care.
It is unfortunate that people are dissatisfied with LMH. The staff and physicians are professional and excel in personal service. But the reality is that if an individual has a choice of going to LMH or a new updated facility owned by the largest and arguably
Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation may offer to buy LMH next month.LMH would be wise to accept an offer.
best health care corporation in the world, the decision will not be based on home town pride.
Columbia already has built a local health-care facility and has said that it wants to buy LMH. Besides,LMH has everything to gain from a relationship with Columbia. Working with this corporation would save jobs, keep local doctors in town and ensure that the hospital is community oriented. It also would ensure that the hospital was financially secure and up-to-date with the leading hospital technology.
If, on the other hand,LMH tries to compete with this corporation, jobs will be lost, doctors may leave the local area or at least join Columbia's staff.
Columbia also has said that if it cannot buy LMH, it will build its own hospital in Lawrence. If LMH goes into direct competition with a hospital backed by Columbia in a community where people already are choosing other alternatives to the local hospital, it will not survive.
CHRIS VINE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
THE ISSUE: LAWRENCE HUMAN RELATIONS ORDINANCE
City commission needs to decide
Last week the Lawrence City Commission decided to postpone a vote on the issue of adding the words "sexual orientation" to the Human Rights Ordinance until after the commission elections. The failure on the part of the commission is twofold.
Similar measures have been successful in other cities, including Ames, Iowa, a university community much like Lawrence. There is no anarchy.
First, the opposition to the measure is based largely on religious rhetoric and paranoia. The ideas of equality and special rights are not synonymous. There is no conspiracy.
Not only that,but for the most part,the issue will effectively turn the debates preceding the elections
The decision to postpone the vote on changing the ordinance will reduce the City Commission elections to a one-issue event.
into one-issue shouting matches. There are many important issues facing the city of Lawrence. The developmental plan "Horizon 2020" and other plans for renovating the city's infrastructure, which clearly needs work, may be ignored. But these are the issues to which the election campaigns should be devoted this year.
There is no doubt. The commission should do all it can to pass this measure before the elections, not because it should be fast-track legislation, but because it's right.
MATT GOWEN FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
STEPHEN MARTINO
Editor
DENISE NEIL
Managing editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
Editors
Robert Tapley / KANSAN
JENNIFER PERRIER
Business manager
MARK MASTRO
Retail sales manager
CATHERINE ELLSWORTH
Technology coordinator
News...Carlos Tejada
Planning...Mark Martin
Editorial...Matt Gowen
Associate Editorial...Heather Lawrence
Campus...David Wilson
Colleen McCain
Sports...Gerry Fey
Associate Sports...Anthley Miller
Photo...Jarrett Lane
Features...Nathan Olean
Design...Brian James
Freelance...Susan White
Tenacious telemarketers lead annoying capitalist charge
Business Staff
telemarketing. Indeed, I've had friends — nice people — who have worked as telemarketers and said their jobs (in long pale rooms with nothing but telephone and supervisors) helped them to better understand their cultural and literary heritage. They noted, specifically, the works of Dante and Milton.
Another plus is that, according to a January 15 article in the Kansas City Star, the demand is strong for telemarketers. By 2005, 185,000 more people will be employed as service sales representatives (a less sinister synonym for 'telemarketer.') That's an increase of 38 percent from 1992. In short, telemarketing is a essential part of our economy's vital and growing service sector.
Clearly, this job growth will not only result in more happy telemarketers, but also — through the little-studied workings of what Adam Smith called "the invisible big toe"—will decrease our annoyance with their calls. There will soon be so many telemarketers doing their telemarketing that we won't even try to do other things in the early evening.
We'll all just come home from our long days of work, take off our coats, and grab a Snickers for dinner. Then we'll sit by the phone and wait for Pam to call.
Campus mgr ..Both Pois
Regional mgr ..Chris Bramanman
National mgr ..Shelly Falewits
Coop mgr ..Kelly Connelys
Special Sections mgr ..Brigg Bloomquist
Production mgr ..JJ Cook
...Kim Hyman
Marketing director ..Mindy Blum
Promotions director ..Justin Frosolone
Creative director ..Dan Gler
Classified mgr ..Lisa Kuleth
Our country is fundamentally flawed.
Chris Reedy is a Topeka junior in English and philosophy.
I know that statement may alienate a few conservatives out there ("Keep talking, Commie-boy. We're the majority now.") but please, read on. You see, the flaw of which I sing is more garish than greed. Indeed, it's more sinister than self-interest. It makes taxation feel like a soft, loving kiss on the cheek.
If you've never received an unsolicited telephone solicitation, you're either one of God's elect or have a really bad credit rating. Maybe both. For the rest of us, the world isn't so rosy. Most often, we're called between six and eight p.m. — a time when decent Americans are trying to engage in basic human activities (eating, sleeping, watching runs).
Yes — you've probably guessed by now that flaw is telemarketing.
But these activities are cut short by phone calls from chirpy, confidently voiced telemarketers, all of whom are named Pam. And as soon as you tear yourself away from your other responsibilities to say "Hello," Pam immediately jumps in with "Hi, Mr./Ms. (she mispronounces your last name), my name's Pam (as if you hadn't guessed already) and I'd like to tell you about..."
At this point, two things can happen. The first is that — being a good person who believes in, as the bumper stickers say, practicing random acts of
STAFF COLUMNIST
Proposed state bills seen as deceptive
kindness — you don't hang up. The second possibility is that — being a rational person of the '90s — you scream "Why don't you shove that phone up your left nostril and leave me alone!" And then you hang up.
If you keep listen, Pam will tell you about the wonders of electric Jell-O molds or vinyl siding for your car. Whatever her product, you can be assured that she won't stop talking and ask if you're interested until she's told you all about it. And if you start to say no, don't be shy. Please, please, don't be shy. Pam can sense weakness and will start talking about the easy-payment plan.
It may take a while to convince Pam you're not interested. If she seems especially into her work, free feel to fabricate excuses – recent loss of job, recent loss of spouse, recent loss of hair, etc. Anything to get her off your back. If you do this well, she'll eventually sign off with something like, "Thank you for your time, Mr./Ms. (she again mispronounces your last name)."
But let it not be said that I ignored some of the more positive aspects of
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
On this anniversary of the Supreme Court decision granting Americans the freedom to make private decisions regarding reproduction, let us not be complacent in our victory. Two bills due for hearing in the Kansas legislature this week ought to spur us to action. Senate Bill 16 by Sen. Don Sallee states that "preborn human being means a human being in existence from fertilization until birth" and "the term human being shall include a preborn human being." Those against reproductive choice say that this bill has nothing to do with abortion, but that it is a bill regarding vehicular homicide of fetuses. Don't be
House Bill 2083, termed "the reporting bill" by those against choice, calls for all abortions to be reported. Abortions are already reported, so why is the bill necessary? Lines 19 to 24 call for physicians to report abortions performed in their private offices, so what is the hidden agenda? Could it be to prevent the use of RU4867 We all think that when RU486 becomes available, privacy will be guaranteed, confidentiality between doctor and patient ensured, and the violence ended. Think again.
fooled. This is a first-degree murder bill and includes in its list of crimes the termination of a pregnancy. Such a bill, if it became law, would seriously infringe upon the lives of women.
The passage of H.B. 2083 would enable those against choice to
expand their programs of terrorism to intimidate physicians who prescribe medication that terminates pregnancy in its earliest stages.
These bills are clearly attempts to interfere with the private lives and medical decisions of others—decisions reached after painful deliberation.
The agenda of the religious right threatens our freedom. They would have government increasingly involved in overseeing our daily lives. Pro-choice Kansans should heed this wake-up call to fight with renewed vigor to protect our right to choose by urging legislators to expose the deceit in these poorly crafted bills.
Jerelyn Kaesler Lawrence resident
Arguments of Simply Equal opponents are weak; illogical
I guess the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Coretta Scott King wouldn't be welcomed by some people in Lawrence, since both of them support outlawing discrimination against gay, lesbian, and bisexual people.
At least they wouldn't be by the Rev. Leo Barbee Jr., the self-appointed
leader of Simply Equal's opposition.
Civil rights leader Julian Bond, who spoke in Lawrence on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, is no longer on Barbee's invitation list. Upon hearing that Bond confided in Mayor Jo Andersen that he supports the Simply Equal proposal to add sexual orientation to the Lawrence Human Relations Ordinance, Barbee's reaction was one of sheer audacity — that he never would have asked Bond to come to Lawrence had he known his stance.
I'm sure the opposition's intentions, while born out of ignorance and fear, were good at the outset. However, this has gone beyond good intentions with the steadfast refusal to acknowledge the vast evidence brought up to disprove their claims. Perhaps Simply Equal's opponents would benefit by listening to a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.:
"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
Last Wednesday's city commission meeting regarding the proposal was nothing short of astounding. This was a case of local politics at its best — and ugliest. Each side had an opportunity to publicly present its arguments. The room was packed with over a hundred citizens, as well as reporters, news cameras, and microphones.
Simply Equal, represented by Ben Zimmerman, Lynne Green, and Dennis Saleebey, presented examples of discrimination against homosexual people in Lawrence and documentation explaining the difference between sexual orientation and sexual behavior. The group presented evidence disproving the religious right-backed arguments of Simply Equal's opponents and lists of various individuals, agencies, businesses, and organizations that support the Simply Equal cause. As they finished, the meeting had to be called to order to silence the applause that erupted through much of the room.
As Barbee finished, muttering something about how we queers engage in necromancy, a lone pair of hands applauded his presentation.
Barbee then spoke against the proposal.
That the best arguments the opposition has to offer are so completely illogical and inarticulate serves to demonstrate how shabby its entire premise is. Barbee rambled and ranted, quoting the "gay agenda" printed in 1972 by an organization that disbanded a year later. Well, at least he said he was quoting. His creative embellishments were painfully obvious, especially when he referred to AIDS as being in a document written over ten years before the disease even was named. Also quoted were the bald-faced lies of "Dr." Paul Cameron, a charlatan expelled from the American Psychological Association for falsifying data. Cameron's fabricated research asserts that ridiculously high numbers of homosexuals engage in such activities as urinating on one another and rolling in each other's feces.
Sure, that's my idea of a good time! Ranks right up there with "Melrose Place" and Trivial Pursuit.
Chris Hampton is a graduate student in higher education.
HUBIE
By Greg Hardin