THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN OPINION
THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2005
WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE CROSSWORD CAN WAIT
PAGE 5A
Veterans neglected by same politicans who rely on them
Thousands of soldiers will return home from Iraq and Afghanistan in the next few years, and some of them will be added to the 300,000 veterans currently without homes.
MATT SEVCIK
msevcik@kansan.com
Does this surprise you?
Does it even faze you? Are you
even still reading my column?
the words "without homes" and "veterans" and decide that this column doesn't apply to them.
"After all, we have those cool magnets on our car to make sure everyone knows how much we support veterans and soldiers! How dare you imply that we're not fazed by disheartening information about veterans."
E 1904
The Department of Veteran's Affairs said that one out of four homeless males in America have spent time in the service. In addition to the 300,000 homeless veterans out there on any given night, in any given year, half a million former service members will report being homeless.
The truth of the matter is regardless of how much you detail your car, there are going to be service members that return to America with real problems.
I'm talking about real issues like grown men and women sleeping in alleys because they don't know where to get help, or help just isn't available.
Many organizations try to downplay the causes of this homelessness, and imply that they are not militarily related. Even if that were true, does that mean we shouldn't take care of men and women who volunteered to go get shot at in a foreign country because politicians told them they were defending America and her interests abroad?
Let's take a look at our politicians, and more importantly, their track records concerning veterans.
"But Matt! I voted for this certain candidate who said he loved veterans, and he wanted to give them all houses and baths."
important. A House budget proposal of $726 billion in tax cuts will trim veteran's healthcare and budget by nearly $25 billion in the next 10 years. Luckily, Senate cut the $726 billion tax cuts in half.
Someone remind me again what the difference between our current Senate and House is? I think it's about 20 extra Republicans.
In 2002, a federal appeals
I know how tax cuts are important for Americans. We might have to settle for an above-ground pool instead of an in-ground one. Or worse yet, no pool at all. Wealthy corporations and citizens deserve the best lives that veteran's budget money can buy them.
court ruled that World War II and Vietnam veterans could not receive their promised free life-time healthcare for serving 20 years.
healthcare for serving 28 years Congress' response? Not its problem. The Supreme Court won't even hear the case. Is this what soldiers deserve? Veteran's Affairs hospitals all over the country are shutting down.
We have hundreds of thousands of veterans on waiting lists trying to get healthcare appointments, so we shut down hospitals.
I'm not going to say who was in charge when all this went down, but I will tell you it's the same guy who dressed up in a flight suit and told terrorists to "bring it on" against troops abroad.
rorists to "bring it on" againstogoepersons to bring it on
The first method that springs to mind would be to vote for candidates that are truly concerned with providing a practical and financial means to give them healthcare and a place to stay.
Something you could do would be to get out and volunteer, or at least donate to programs that help the homeless. There are shelters and programs looking for volunteers right here in Lawrence. Go to the Drop-In Center, the Lawrence Open Shelter or the Salvation Army for opportunities to pitch in.
Ideally, we would work to end poverty and homelessness in the United States, and eventually the world. But now, you can help one person, possibly a veteran, and it would mean the world to them.
♦ Sevcik is a is a Leavenworth junior in English. He would like to thank Kim and Chris White for contributing to this article.
AUSTIN, YEAH BABY!
Student Senate blitz coming to a Wescoe Beach near you
It's time to stock up on Mace and start planning ways to avoid Wescoe Beach.
The Student Senate election is less than a month away, and we all know what that means: Start looking over your shoulder for stalkers.
Here's a tip from someone who has never voted in a
AUSTIN CASTER acaster@hansan.com
Student Senate election: Leave me alone and I'll actually vote this year.
actually vote this year.
For those of you who are freshmen, every April Student Senate hopefuls stand in front of Wescoe Hall and the Kansas Union. They will shove fliers in your face and chase all the way to your next class. They give you their coalition's button and flash their smiles until you lie to them and say you'll vote
Some passers-by pretend to talk on their cell phones as they walk by, but sometimes even the craftiest students forget and get caught off-guard.
Last year a candidate told me, "We do it because we care." If you didn't care, why would you run for office at all? Student Senate might look good on a resumé, but it does take up a lot of time. Otherwise I wouldn't see advertisements in the paper seeking replacement senators at the beginning of every semester.
beginning of every What candidates don't realize is that they turn off more voters than they sway in their favor. Only about 14 percent of the student body voted in the
election last year. The University of Missouri's student government attracts more than 20 percent of the student body during election season, Anton Luetkemeyer, student body president at Mizzou, said. Candidates at Mizzou do not resort to following people to class, but
Candidates who want to attract new voters should change the way they campaign. Why not set up a table and let people come to you? No one likes stalking. It's like a telemarketer calling your house during dinner.
opt instead to speak in lecture halls before class begins and Greek houses during dinner, he said.
If the new Student Voice coalition could get the KU Public Safety Office to patrol Wescoe Beach and keep me safe from Delta Force and KUnited, I would vote for it.
The student body read about your campaign platforms on the front page of the Kansan last Tuesday. In the coming weeks, the coalitions will be on the front page every day. I know what the coalitions stand for. It will be their character and actions during the coming weeks that will help me decide who I want to vote for, if I do at all.
Caster is a Shawnee senior in journalism. He is a copy editor and designer for The Kansan.
▼ SACK'S PERSPECTIVE
Steve Sack/STAR TRIBUNE
EDITORIAL BOARD
Missouri police show how far Border Showdown has gone
When University of Missouri police officers grabbed and arrested one of the KU students who made a sign highlighting recent controversies of the naming of Missouri's sports area, it was one more signal that the longtime border rivalry has gotten out of hand.
Three KU students made a humorous, yet appropriate sign to display in Mizzou Arena during the basketball game in Columbia, Mo., March 6. The sign particularly highlighted the controversy created when Wal-Mart heirs Bill and Nancy Laurie, who sponsored the new arena, named it Paige Sports Arena after their daughter. As the punch line, the sign declared while you "can call it whatever you want, it will always be Allen Fieldhouse East."
The university's police chief, Jack Watring, attended the game off-duty and took it down. The KU students who brought the sign tried to stop him. According to a complaint filed by the students, Watring proceeded to grab one of the KU students by the collar. Police on-duty at the arena got involved, but the incident ended with the arrest of a KU student.
Watring overstepped his bounds by making the decision to take action against the KU students and their sign. The decision to hang the sign was out of his jurisdiction. It was up to the usher, who had already approved it. Watring did not have any right to intervene
as an ordinary citizen. But he did not have a right as a police chief either.
As a public figure, Watring should realize that how he acts as a civilian has consequences on his image as the police chief. Getting into a fight with KU students is not appropriate. It sets a horrible example not only for the officers he supervises, but also to fans. It also creates bad public relations between the public and the police as a whole, causing the public to become more fearful of the police rather than confident that they provide protection.
The incident reflects poorly on the Mizzou police department because the KU student was wrongfully arrested. This shows bias within the department. Mizzou police officers will follow the influence of their chief, even if he does not advocate the right actions.
This hint of corruption in the Mizzou police department shows how out-of-hand the Kansas and Missouri rivalry has become. Even though it's fun to get involved in the game and support your university's team, the border rivalry can and has gone too far. At the next game, both the officials and the fans should remember that going to the basketball game is supposed to be all in good fun.
- Anne Weltmer writing for the editorial board.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
'Screw Mizzou' T-shirts imply sexual violence, not to mention unoriginal
Aside from being classless and tragically unfunny, these shirts make a mockery of sexual violence and even lend a level of credibility to the act of rape. The message sent is that sexual violence is fine when it is perpetrated against an enemy, in fact it is something we should all do and with pride as an affirmation of the superiority of our side.
Sports rivalries are an inherently silly business, there is no denying that. Nontheless they should be acted out with a sense of class and light humor that I find is missing as of late. I point to a scourge of t-shirts that feature a Jayhawk perpetrating a gross violation against a tiger on the front while the back urges, "Screw Mizzou!"
We live in a society that still attempts to blame women for sexual crimes perpetrated against them. Further, we live in a world where rape is a tragic reality of war and women's bodies become battlegrounds.
I trust that the makers of these t-shirts do not wish to lend their consent to these realities. Regardless, the t-shirts and those who wear them do send this unaccetable message.And if that is not argument enough, it's something Missouri fans would do.
Seriously, they had the reverse image on a shirt years ago. Let's ditch the "Screw Mizzou" shirts in favor of something a little less offensive, something original.
Kim Coughlin Lawrence senior African American studies
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To all of you Christian survey-takers on campus, there's only one guy who's gonna convince me of God. His name is Wayne and he can hit a 15-foot jumper.
Have something profound and meaningful to say? What better place to do it than your away message on Instant Messenger?
Last night I had a dream that I ate a 10-pound marshmallow and in the morning my pillow was gone.
Whatcha gonna do today, Napoleon?
I am hating classes and school right now. They're interrupting my sex life.
Just wanted to say thanks to all those drivers who drive around with
their ipod headphones on who can't hear me honking when they're coming into my lane or when there's an ambulance behind them. Keep wearing those headphones.
If I'm white, am I still allowed to watch BET? Because according to the opinion page, I'm not.
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