4A
wednesday, November 30, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Term limits would make Congress more responsive
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments regarding the constitutionality of Arkansas' self-imposed term limit law. This ruling will have a dramatic effect on the American political landscape because 21 other states have similar laws. Despite the dramatic shift in power during the last election, term limits are still a vital step in making Congress more responsive to the public.
Opponents of term limits say that the past election is a perfect example of why term limits are unnecessary. A shocking 90 percent of congressional incumbents won re-election.
The fact remains that the advantages of incumbency are still nearly insurmountable. The combination of political action committee money, free mailing privileges, constant press coverage and excellent name recognition make incumbents difficult to beat. Unless the incumbent has a closet full of skeletons, victory almost is assured.
These enormous incumbent advantages discourage highly qualified candidates from running because failure is typically more than 95 percent guaranteed. Is this healthy in a democratic process?
For those bold enough to challenge an incumbent, the new, prototypical opposition candidate is a Michael Huffington, Mitt Romney or Oliver North. These candidates must be willing to throw millions into the race just to be considered a "serious" candidate. Most people agree that these multimillion dollar mud baths are not a positive addition to American politics.
Another criticism of term limits is that it will fill Congress with inexperienced legislators and create of vacuum of unqualified leaders. First, having members of Congress that aren't used to "the way things are done" would be a refreshing change. As far as leadership goes, the outgoing Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-
TERM LIMITS Constitutional or not?
Maine, was chosen by his peers during his second term. Although people criticized Mitchell's opinions, few, if any, said he was too inexperienced to be majority leader.
If there is indeed a need for term limits — and roughly 75 percent of the country feels that there is then the question of legality must be addressed. While the Constitution only lists requirements for age, citizenship and residency as criteria to run for Congress, these are viewed by some to be merely the minimum qualifications.
In fact, the courts have said that the states have the right to make additional guidelines for office. In Storer v.Brown (1974),the Supreme Court court said, "States have evolved comprehensive, and in many respects complex election codes regulating in most substantial ways, with respect to both federal and state elections, ... (many matters, including) the selection and qualification of candidates."
The right of states to make additional qualifications for federal office is appropriate and agrees with the Constitution. An active role by the states on matters such as this is covered by the 10th Amendment, which states, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."
Clearly, the Constitution does not prohibit term limits. It seems reasonable that under the 10th Amendment, states do have the right to pass term limits.
The current system has shown the need for term limits. The public has said, both through polls and referendums, that they want term limits. And term limits do not appear to be unconstitutional. Now, it's up to the Supreme Court to validate this need and demand and rule in favor of term limits.
RICHARD BOYD FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
KANSAN STAFF
STEPHEN MARTINO Editor
JEN CARR Business manager
CHRISTOPH FUHRMANS Managing editor
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
CAMERON DEATH Retail sales manager
CATHERINE ELLSWORTH Systems coordinator
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
Editors
Editors
News ... Sara Bennett
Editorial ... Donella Heame
Campus ... Mark Martin
Sports ... Brian James
Photb ... Daron Bennett
Mellasa Lacey
Features ... Traci Carl
Planning Editor ... Susan White
Design ... Noah Muuser
Assistant to the editor .. Robbie Johnson
Business Staff
Campus mgr ... Mark Masto
Regional mgr ... Laura Guth
National mgr ... Mark Masto
Coop mgr ... Emily Gibson
Special Sectiona mgr ... Jen Pierer
Production mgr ... Holly Boren
... Regan Overy
Marketing director ... Alan Stigle
Creative director ... Dan Gier
Classified mgr ... Heather Niahaus
Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. Writers affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania are also required.
Guest columns should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be photographed.
The Kansan reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
Maybe I'm an optimist. Maybe my belief that humans are inherently good leads me to trust in the ability of people to change, to act morally if given the chance.
A princess, a toad and a holiday moral
Then again, maybe I'm just an idiot. The story I'm about to tell you is an ultra-modern version of the princess and her toad.
Well, she looked like a princess, any way.
sort of cosmic connection, I just knew it. All is forgiven. A second chance. Her knight in shining Nikes on a cold, November night.
I've worked for a local sporting goods store for more than five years (writing for the Kansan doesn't exactly pay the bills), but I've never once had to confront a shoplifter.
During the Christmas season you have to be the most careful, they say. All those people spending money on gifts, and some just don't have it, so they might resort to the five-finger discount. So I kept my eyes peeled, sort of.
One then evening last week I got my chance. Out of a rusty, dull-blue Ford Escort jumped a beautiful, fairskinned damsel with a mission.
She had long, curly red hair and was dressed in that preppy yet tattered
Rapunzel dropped her eyebrows, threw her bag in her Escort, and simply said "F—you." Then she sped away.
I was instantly reminded of a Hallmark card I got last year:
way. If Rapunzel had worked at Abercrombie & Fitch, she would've looked like this. She glided purposefully past my glassy-eyed stare and into the back room of the store. Naturally, I followed (we can't have customers simply wandering around the store, can we?)
MATT GOWEN
Rapunzel grabbed two Jogbras and a pair of tights from the wall, and turned to me, smiling broadly, and asked, "Do y'all have a dressing room?" Why yes, it's right there," I said in my best DJ voice. I wasn't prepared for what happened next.
She opened the door of the dressing room in a Jogbra and tights, waltzed up to me and asked me if I thought they fit. I was flustered. My sisters taught me never to think of women as bikini-clad sirens, like on beer commercials, but reason took a back seat to reality just then. "Uh, I dunno," I replied professionally. She shrugged, winked and went back inside.
Fully clothed, she took the tights to the counter to pay. But I saw three empty hangers and only one Jogbra. She must have had one on underneath her shirt. I high-tailed it to the front. Thoughts raced. My first shoplifter! But Rapunzel?！ Never, What do I do?
She turned and smiled at me again as she gave the money to my unaffected female coworker. It was a knowing smile. I stepped outside the front door and waited, hangers in hand.
As she strode by, I said "Three hangers, one Jogbra." She turned slowly and looked almost shocked, raised her eyebrows and said "What?" (it sounded like "Moi?")
"Merry Christmas," I said, grinning wrilly. We were about to make some
It read: "Once upon a time, there was a beautiful peasant girl who lived with her poor peasant father in a squalid peasant hut. One day, as she was eating dirt and gravel in the front yard, a handsome prince rude up on his magnificent steed. 'Wanna marry me?' he asked. 'Sure.' said the peasant girl. And off they rode to the palace, where they lived happily ever after."
The ending? Flip to the inside:
"Then she dumped the prince, took all his money and moved to another village to set up the old 'peasant girl' scam again."
Yep. I'm an idiot.
Matt Gowen is a Lawrence senior in newspaper Journalism.
Jeff MacNelly/CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Winter's chill serves as cold reminder of death
Fall, for me, is a time of death. The rich palette of leaves that adorned the trees in early fall will soon be replaced by a sterile, colorless blanket of snow. And life will lie hidden and dormant, waiting for the first signs of spring. But how is one to think of spring in the middle of fall? Why should it be necessary? As the temperature drops lower and lower, my thoughts turn to the wintry chill of death.
For more than a decade, the fallen leaves and bitter autumn winds have reminded me of death. I can still vividly recall the occasion that this connection was established. I can hear the somber tones of my high school English teacher as she told us of my friend's accidental death. I remember the shock, the disbelief and most of all, the questions.
COLUMNIST
Questions that poured forth as easily as tears. Bitter, angry questions that searched vainly for answers. Why did he have to die? How could this happen? After all he was only 19. Teenagers aren't supposed to die, right? Death is for old people, I thought.
Ten years later, I find myself still trying to define old. Is 30 considered old? Or perhaps 40? And last year when another good friend died at the age of 39, we all shook our heads. He was so young, we said. And still the same questions, the same frustrations, the same pain and the same loss.
NICOLAS SHUMP
Somehow the disparity in ages made little difference when it came to mourning. Nothing was more disturbing than the swiftness with which death struck. The last time I saw my friend was at a wedding that took place less than a month before he died. In less than a month he had died. Less than a month. How could this happen? Thirty-year-olds aren't supposed to die, right? Death is for old people. I thought.
Another leaf slowly fell to the ground. And once more I mourned. Once more I grappled with questions without answers. Once more I racked my brain looking for a reason. I tried once more to make sense of death. And once again I am reminded of the fragility of life. I had seen my friend three days before he died. It doesn't seem possible. It doesn't seem real.
Last month I had to say goodbye to another friend.
If I could make these words bleed, then perhaps you could appreciate the loss. And if I could open up my heart, then perhaps you could feel the love. For in the end, it is the love, it is the memories of these friends that I will carry with me. And with those memories and with that love, perhaps I can remove some of the bitter sting of death.
But there is no right age or right time to die. Death humbles all. For more than 10 years I have been learning this lesson. Nothing has humbled me as much as death. Nothing has forced me to accept so many unanswered questions. Nothing has shown me just how powerless I am. As I sit here to write these words, I realize their limitations. They have no power against death. If they did, I would gladly exchange them for the lives of my friends.
Instead, all that my words can do is to convey a sense of the love and affection that I have for my friends. Merely a sense because it is beyond my ability to fully express these feelings.
Nicola Shump is a Lawrence senior in comparative literature.
Most of all, it doesn't seem fair. He wasn't supposed to die. My god, he was only 60. How could this happen? Sixty-year-olds aren't supposed to die, right? Death is for old people, I thought.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Kansan mistakes should be avoided
As a student of journalism, I have been noticing a general decline in the standards of your newspaper. The editorial views have been intellectually numbing at times. Reporting and copy editing leave much to be desired.
Stories on international events, or about different international student organizations on campus, have displayed a lack of homework on the part of the reporter. Errors have gone past the copy desk. The story on Diwali night had the festival spelled in lower case. Also, one would be well advised to attribute the concept of Buddha being the 10th avatar of Vishnu to local folk tradition and not mentioned as a statement of fact — attribution was called for.
One hopes that you will make an earnest effort to improve and keep up the name of the School of Journalism.
Aloke Thakore
Journalism Graduate Student
Newspaper critic should be grateful
This letter is in response to Brad Caldwell's letter, printed Nov.28. His letter strikes me as part of a disturbing trend among today's students — complaining. It appears that nothing is good enough for some people.
Caldwell initially complains about the misspellings in the Kansan, asking "you don't see misspellings in USA Today do ya?" First of all, Mr. Caldwell, you do. Nobody's perfect. Secondly, while the staff of the Kansan should of course strive to do its very best, it is unreasonable to expect a group of college writers and editors who have plenty of other responsibilities to perform at the same level as the full-time staff of a national paper.
Caldwell goes on to whine about the lack of NBA coverage in the *Kansan*. Perhaps Mr. Caldwell failed to notice the price of the paper. It's free. Anyone can simply grab an issue out of a box without paying a dime. I don't know the details, but I'm sure this puts a certain constraint on how much the paper is able to cover. If Mr. Caldwell wants the kind of coverage he's talking about, perhaps he should just buy a national newspaper.
In short, I feel very fortunate to have access to a college newspaper such as the University Daily Kansan, and I hope others do too. It's too bad some people don't appreciate what they've got.
Mark Stover Lawrence junior
MIXED MEDIA
By Jack Ohman