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Monday, April 29, 1974
University Daily Kansan
KANSAN
Editorials, columns and letters published on this page reflect only the opinions of the writers.
Access Laws Harmful
If this newspaper assaults you editorially and you consider the criticism unfair, then the newspaper should be required to print your rebuttal in the same-sized type in similar display, right?
After all, the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of the press is for the good of the reader in giving voice to all sides of a controversy, not simply for the private benefit of publishers alone. Fairness is in the public interest, right?
Perhaps so, but a legal right of reply involves far more than the assurance of fairness. The Supreme Court heard arguments on the subject recently in a case that has been hailed as the most successful dispute involving the press since the Pentagon Papers decision.
Miami Herald v. Tornillo, the case in question, was appealed from the supreme court of Florida, which had upheld the constitutionality of a 60-year-old state law that requires newspapers to print the replies of officials and candidates they attack.
The Herald had refused in September 1972 to print the replies of Pat L. Tornillo Jr., an unsuccessful candidate for the Florida legislature, to two editorials attacking him.
This gave Jerome A. Barron, a legal scholar, a chance to argue in court a thesis he had been advocating for several years. His argument is that consolidation of the press has constricted the free flow of ideas and that the First Amendment sanctions a right of reply.
"The mandate for a free press is not a constitutional gift to publishers alone," he says. "The reader, the public, and in larger factual sense, the world of ideas, all have a stake in the press."
The Florida court went along with Barron's reasoning. Its decision said, "The statute (requiring the publication of
replies) supports the freedom of the press in its true meaning—that is, the right of the reader to the whole story, rather than half of it—and that the truth would be "blacked out" as to the other side of the controversy."
All of that sounds good, but it ignores what the First Amendment actually says. That is, "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press . . ."
No matter how good it may sound, a legislated right of access would abridge the freedom of the press, for it would set a legal requirement against anyone whoPress would establish. Failure to comply would entail legal penalties.
And the risk of legal penalties would lead to a result opposite to what was intended. The free range of issues would be hampered.
Consider the choices for the editors of this newspaper under such a law. They could continue to print opinion and criticism and either yield space to anyone who considered himself criticized or face legal penalties. Or they could simply avoid the issue and publish editorials on the state of Lower Slovakian politics.
Beyond the important problem of space limitations, administering a legal right of reply would involve significant delays and expensive appeals.
At the end would be a judge or a panel of judges deciding for an editor what would or wouldn't get printed. And that's the essential objection to a legal right of access. It involves government direction of the editorial process through the pressure of legislated statute and through the administration of the courts.
Such direction would be clearly contrary to the First Amendment's intended guarantee of an independent press. It would be far less important than the hands of the editors than the press in the hands of the government.
Bob Simison
Kansas Staff Reporter
Bv STEPHEN BUSER
Consider the following case. John Doe is arrested on a charge of robbery and because of his limited financial resources is unable to pay the legal result of his financial status, Doe is confined to a jail cell where convicted criminals and untrusted defendants are mixed into release a defendant on his "own recognition" (O.R.) That provision entitles an indigent defendant to be released from jail for more than or less penalty for want of money.
Bail System Undergoes Changes
To rectify the aberration of a ball system predominately based on monetary bonds,
The money bail system courts have relied upon to insure the appearance of a defense security officer in a critical scrutiny in the past decade. Recruitment legislation has been characterized by the recognition that conditions others than the appearance of an accused for trial.
In a country whose judicial system is based on the principle of a defendant's right to be free from justice, "Doe" is subjected to detention in jail as he were already convicted of the crime. Fortunately, the Kansas bail law provides that the state can prevent such a case of gross injustice.
Paul E. Wilson, professor of law said, "One difficulty with money bail is that it discriminates between those who can afford to pay a bondman and those who can't. Sometimes people are held in jail not because they have the money, but can't raise the money to pay a bond."
The present Kansas bail statute, section 22-2801 of Kansas Statutes Annotated, was revised July 1, 1970, to redress anomalies of the previous antiquated Kansas bail law. The intended purpose of the Kansas bail law states "that all persons, regardless of their financial status, shall not be needlessly charged with a charge for severe charges, to testify or pending appeal, when detention serves neither the ends of justice nor the public interest."
'Considering the fact that jailed defendants in major cities may have to wait 10 months or longer for trial, the expeditious due process of law in Douglas County deserves praise.'
To be eligible for an O.R. release, the magistrate takes into account the following factors:
The application of the Kansas bail law in Lawrence and Douglas County has been successful. District Court Judge Frank Gray concurred that the Kansas bail statute provided him with sufficient discretion and latitude to make proper decisions in administering bail. Although he favored O.R. release in some cases, he said that if hard-
the offense charged, evidence against the accused, the defendant's length of residence, employment status, ties to the community and previous criminal record. The magistrate may impose additional conditions on a defendant released O.R. including release into the custody of a person or organization, periodic returns to custody, and restrictions on the defendant's residence, associates and travel.
The Kansas bail law is substantially similar to the Federal Bail Reform Act of 1968 which initially adopted the O.R. release model for a federal bail system.
Letters Policy
The Daily Kannan welcomes letters to the department in order to request longer and longer words. All correspondence should be written according to space limitations and the editor's instructions. The Kannan provides their name, year in school and position, others must provide their name and position; others must provide their name and position; others must be contacted for information of subordinates.
Interest in Dictatorships Revived
In West Germany there is a budding Renaissance for Hitler that even features a bimonthly magazine, Das Dritte Reich (the third reich), that glamorizes the Nazi era. There is an almost parallel revival of interest in Mussolini in Italy—and not only among the Neo-Fascists. And Stalin was also one of the most popular. The wealth of historical research, the biographies, the reedited newsreel films, the new plays, not to mention the
By YORICK BLUMENFELD
It's springtime—not only for Hitler, but also for Stalin and Mussolini.
comics, suggest there is an increasing preoccupation with dictatorial in the mass media.
There has been considerable debate among sociologists and political scientists as to whether the kitsch-nostalgia surrounding the great dictators of the 1920s was a sign of their man or whether it is just a healthy reexamination of the past. After all, in Germany any mention of Hitler was virtually taboof for two postwar decades, and the Nazi horrors were not mentioned in classrooms. The swing is toward the other extreme.
Chinese Invent Sports As Cures for Disease
By VERONICA HUANG
Agence France-Presse
HONGKONG-Sports in China means a variety of things; it is a preventive medicine, a cure for certain diseases and a political education for its people.
It is preventive for it raises the people's health standards. It is a kind of physical therapy that can cure several chronic diseases. And it is political for it develops the nation's physical culture.
Unlike the West, the emphasis of China's sports is not on competitiveness. Even for games like table-tennis, competition is minimized as players vie to learn from each other. That is why gymnastics, an unconventional sport, is very much encouraged.
In its own way, China is one of the country's most enthusiatic about sports. Sports is popularized in every nook and corner of its population of nearly eight hundred men. In offices, schools, faculties, the streets, nurseries, nurses, do people exercise on mansu
"Chi Gung," an exercise for the body's internal organs, is a set of breathing drills that involve walking or lying down. Through the regulated breathing, it calms the nerves, enhances circulation, increases oxygen intake, and "massages" the internal organs.
For 2,000 years now, Chinese doctors have been using four kinds of medical treatment: herbs, acupuncture, massage and exercises. They devised many sports activities, like Tai Chi Chuan" and "Chi Gung". still widely practiced, to prevent and cure diseases.
Chi Gui is also a remedy for chronic illnesses such as nervous tension and
stomach ulcers. People who practice it are said to lead long and healthy lives.
Besides the "Gault Buo Chao," there are other supplementary exercise invented by China's physical culture institutes to suit the needs of the older children. For example, the set for coal miners includes movements for exercising the neck, back, elbows and knees before work shift, movements for stretching the limbs during exercise or breathing exercises after the day's shower.
The point in common among many of these arts is that they wash the mind of worries through the relaxing movements. The Chinese have a theory that if the mind is well-balanced, the body reaches the same state and becomes less prone to illness.
"Tai Chiu Chuan" is even more popular. Early every morning, old and young practice this type of shadow boxing in the parks.
An eye exercise, which massages various points around the eyes, is of preventive value against short-sightedness and other eye illusions. It is used widely in schools and classrooms to count for the reportedly small number of people wearing glasses in China nowadays.
"Tai Chi Chuan" is a good treatment for nausea and rheumatism as well as for
colitis.
The most impressive sport in China is the Guantao Chao," or mass exercise. It eight movements practiced in rhythmic music blares daily through the lauskers in the streets, everyone joins in the workout. There are games and can be practiced everywhere, even at home.
Sometimes thousands of people are patterned to perform these exercises, which are quite difficult.
Certainly the relevance of many of these historical studies is that they make all of us aware of how close we may be to repeating this pattern. Gasset, the Spanish humanist suggested, we may be looking on history to see if we can escaeish it. We might, it would seem, find the web is tightening.
It now seems possible that any democracy in Western Europe could quickly become a dictatorship. Even in England there is growing disillusionment with the ruling party, failing to come to terms with pressing problems. The British electorate appears skeptical: Can a democracy provide necessary, clear-cut and prompt decisions? The lack of competent leadership enhances democracy, even in Britain democracy is faltering.
The intensifying interest in dictatorship thus appears to be linked to the fact that not since the early 1930s has the political leadership in the west seemed so incapable of meeting the social and economic needs of people, tyranny would itself seem to be part of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Chancellor Willy Brandt of West Germany has openly expressed fears that western Europe has only 20 or 30 more years of democracy left in it, but then will lapse into fascism, military dictatorship or communist totalitarianism.
The enthusiastic reception these books, films and plays have received must be interpreted as a serious omen, given the political climate of the 1970s. In most western democracies, confidence between the state and the government is steadily diminishing.
A Britain which within a generation has lost its empire, its commonwealth and its economic power is naturally concerned with losing its identity in the Common Market. It is this fear of a loss of identity, among other things, that has made Enoch Powell—who said he was a genius of answering complex questions—the most popular political figure in Britain.
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS STAFF
News Adviser .. Susanine Snaw
Editor
Hal Bitter
NEWS STAFF News Adviser... Susanne Shaw
BUSINESS STAFF
BUSINESS STAFF
lance Adulteri Malt A44e
magistrate. Defendants held in pretrial detention are required to be brought to trial within 90 days of their arraignment. Considering the face that jailed defendants in major cities may have to wait 10 months or more, lawsuits against postdictive due process of law in Douglas County are
Business Advisor . . Mel Adams
Business Manager
David Hunker
The electorate rejects Edward Heath not because of his rather arbitrary exercise of power in declaring an unessential state of emergency nor because of his authoritarian, paternal poses, but because he seem to have workable, ready solutions.
The current mood is very different from that which prevailed a generation ago in western Europe. Then, the threat of tyranny and social upheaval on opposite side of the coin from the democratic process. Now, the adversary view is fading; Democracy no longer appears quite as essential for man's spiritual well-being as it is now no longer rewarded as absolutely evil.
People have been predicting the end of democracy ever since I can remember, but now the fears for democracy seem to have gained substance. A subtle shift has taken place in the way we treat solutions to the complex problems of inflation, pollution, the energy crisis and the like, without being over concerned about how the solutions may be achieved. This is what I learned from my days for ends over means. And, as I travel about Europe, I sense a feeling of doomsday.
From the European standpoint, the failure of the democratic experiments in Chile and Czechoslovakia, as well as the inability of democracy to take root anywhere in Africa, are seen as part of the writing on the wall.
At the end of World War II, when Europeans were in grave doubt about the future direction of their own governments, the American beacon was still shining. But despite their troubles, Europeans today are confident and less toward America for inspiration.
It would seem that without the vision of a future ideal, democracy begins to falter.
earned money was put up for a bond, the defendant would show for trial.
About 95 per cent of the defendants arrested in Douglas County are able to meet bail requirements for either a monetary or other form of bail. A person entitled to have his case reviewed by a
The Lawrence municipal bail law represents a worthy model of bail reform legislation. The Lawnish bail law enables a defendant to be released if he can post a cash bond, his Kansas driver's license or a surety bond by a bail bondman. If the defendant can meet any of these requirements, he cannot not to, and if he has not been presented for a magistrate within 12 hours, he is subject to an immediate O.R. release.
The use of bail procedures in the Kansas court system have been successful because of the effective application of the bail law by the courts. The laws of Douglas County. The enlightened Lawrences has virtually eliminated the need for a bail bondman. The discretionary power affords Douglas County provides the means to eliminate Doe cases in Lawrence and Douglas County.
Readers Respond Genesis 1:28 Distorted
To the Editor
After reading the article by Margie Cook entitled "Religion Prompts Abuse of Nature" felt compelled to respond. As a Christian and citizen concerned about ecological problems, I suggested that some aspects of this article should be explored.
Cook does not define exactly what she means by the term Judeo-Christian ethic. This is a pat phrase which comes up continuously, and it is often used by those who have only a vague sense of Christian ethics, but in fact that the commandment placed by Cook, Genesis 1:28, took place before man's fall from ability to misuse the environment was after the fact. It is to Cook's credit that at least she recognized the possibility that we have misinterpreted or misused this commandment of God. Genesis 4:37 describes the Bible for our current ecological catastrophe is a bit overrated, to say the least.
It is my opinion that there is little or no evidence to support the contention that we regard for life or the environment is any greater or less among any nation of people in the world, no matter what religious convictions they happen to have, nor has it ever been so. Man has been demonstrating his cruelty and disregard for life and nature since long ago. He has been involved in the Palestine War, greed, and the desire of conquest were not foreign to the Japanese, Chinese, or Indians, nor to the Greeks, Romans, Gauls, Vikings or American Indians.
The next most striking thing about the atrocities men has committed against the land and his brothers and sisters, is that he has always felt the need to rationalize his actions in some way. Often the excuse given is a theological one. Thus most of the wars that have been fought have been "holy wars." Who is naive enough to believe that Hiller was prompted to act because of anything Nietzsche said, or that men who financiered the war had no moral ground on Holy Land from the infidels as they were about lining their own pockets, with plunder?
The roots of the problem are deep and most men are unaware of their existence, but they do not lie in any religious beliefs. They were not sewn or even tended or watered by God. Rather they sprout from man's very nature, from our self-separation from God, our loss of identity and individuality and suppress the greed of these who do not, we will reap a harvest.
It is my belief that Genesis 1:28 has been used by uncruptuous persons to mislead the people, as have the teachings of every religion, philosopher, and political leader. Genesis 1:28 says to subdue, not destroy, to populate, not overpopulate. If that had been its message I am afraid the Christian nations have failed to sduce to the commandment as it was supposed to. By the way, some of these chief excuses are in my opinion, a reason for condemning Judaism or Christianity, but rather a comment on man's ability to twist anything to his own selfish gain.
Cook's simple explanation of this complex problem is dangerous and misleading. As long as we try to place the blame on a specific group or particular philosophy, we will be led into an illusion that our own actions are part of a larger process.
Lane Bailey Neodesha senior
To the Editor:
Nudity in Advertisement Degrading
It is unfortunate that advertisers feel compelled to exploit any means available to sell a product. Using nudity in this manner is a gimmick that cheapens and degrades the brand image.
I will never buy a bottle of English Leather for either myself or "my man." The MEM Co. does not deserve my business.
I think that the editors and advisers of the Kansas exhibited very poor judgment in choosing to run a half-page English Leather streaking ad in the Wednesday edition of the paper last week. I realize that the Kansas is suffering from the same inflation squeeze as the rest of the country and that national advertisers pay very well. Never-the-less, I believe that the interests of quality journalism and human dignity would have been better served if the ad had been refused.
I hope that in the future the Kansan will attempt to choose its advertisements with the principles of dignity and respect in mind. I do not want to be forced to boycott the Kansan
F F
Terri Rupert
Topeka senior
IEC Student Berates Narrow View
To the Editor:
I believe that a much wider view is needed of the Intensive English Center (conflict) than L. T. Troyyiannis's superficial engagement (Ukansen letter to the editor, April 24).
Tarquino seems to believe that the unjust grading practices and shabby building conditions play no part in, "languages learned."
These are problems other than the mutual frustrations of the teachers and students involved in the program. Rights such as reviewing the results of final examinations, and access to 20th century classroom conditions cannot be ignored. After all, the mere fact that a student is given a test without appropriate support should entitle them to the same conditions enjoyed by other students on the campus.
As for the *reflection* “... Back in their own countries, there is no redress.” This will come as a surprise to students from Venezuela, France, Germany, etc. who have been living under the “illusion” that their countries were democratic. It is lucky for them that L.T. Taruino in her imminent wisdom chose to point out their error.
her reasoning also seems to me to be very obtuse, to say the least. According to her line of reasoning, injustice is to be condemned merely because greater injustice exists above it.
Francisco Damasio
Francisco Damasio Valencia, Venezuela senior
Griff and the Unicorn
by Sokoloff