Opinion Page 4 University Daily Kansan, June 29, 1981 Is there no Justice? If Elizabeth Dole is the best woman that President Reagan can think of for the newest Supreme Court vacancy, then the country, and American women in particular, would be better off with a feminist-thinking male justice than a Republican, female crone of the Reagan administration. But, since Reagan is unlikely to appoint a moderate to liberal woman justice, just as he is unlikely to appoint anything but an ultra-conservative male to the post, it matters little whether the new justice to the Supreme Court is male or female. What really matters is the impact that Reagan's appointment will have on this country long after he leaves the presidency. Former President Supreme appointed four justices to the Supreme Court. Nixon-haters, and there were many, noted that Nixon's real revenge was not the moral devastation that he gave to the office of the presidency, but the long-standing impact that his appointed justices would have on the nation and its laws. Chief Justice Warren Burger and justices Harry A. Blackmun, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., and William H. Rehquist, all Nixon appointees, have significantly altered the tone of the Supreme Court. Members of minorities, prisoners, the press and women are among those who have suffered legal backouts in the conservative Burger Court. When Reagan became the front-runner in the presidential races last fall, there were those who noted that if Reagan were elected, he might have the opportunity to appoint five justices to the Supreme Court. With Justice Potter Stewart's resignation, this number could be increased to six, since early speculation on Supreme Court vacancies had been based upon the age of the justices and Stewart is only the sixth oldest justice. Chief Justice Warren Burger and justices Brennan, Blackmun, Powell and Marshall are all in their 70s. Since old age and ill health often precede retirement, Reagan may very well appoint six justices before his presidency ends. The result could be a conservative swing in the Supreme Court that would take at least one-quarter of a century to reverse. Justices of the Supreme Court and their particular legal philosophies far surpass the tenure of the president who appoints them. Justices Stewart and Brennan were appointed by President Eisenhower. Justice Byron R. White was Kennedy's only appointment and Justice Thurgood Marshall was Johnson's. In the year 2000, when most of today's college students have reached middle age, Reagan's justices would still control the Supreme Court. Reagan's appointments will give him far more influence and long-term control over this country and its legal direction than one election, with a low voter turnout, should warrant. Reagan may have won the presidential election, but his views on abortion, the ERA, aid to the poor and the aged, gay rights and federal involvement in social reform do not reflect the majority viewpoints of this country's citizens. There is a popular political button which states that "The Moral Majority is Neither," yet, the political thrust of the conservatives is in evidence everywhere, particularly in Washington. The majority of this nation does not support the views of the new Moral Majority, yet we may have to live with their political and social philosophies well into the next century, if Reagan has the opportunity to pack the Supreme Court with justices who see the world as he does. Letters to the Editor Trailer residents had no time to run To the Editor: I beg to differ with Phil Leonard's statement that, "The people in the trailer court had enough time to go to their bunkers." His terminology is correct, but his assessment of the time involved is incorrect. In coming out of my trailer after the tornado had passed, I certainly felt like a bomb had been dropped. I wish I could have been in the room," he but had to ride it out in my trailer instead. the storm hit. All happening just that quickly. I killed him. I turned the storm, but I cried didn't hear any news. Mr. Leonard may wish that we had had time to get to the shelters, but those of us on 31st Street didn't have time for anything except to get under the most accessible piece of furniture and pray. Because Channel 9's weather, about 7:30 p.m., mentioned severe thunderstorms in Jefferson County, but no mention was made of Douglas County, my husband and I were not particularly worried. From the time I noticed the sky turning blue, it was a force of the storm hit was, at the very most, five minutes. I noticed the sky turning yellow, began quickly shutting windows, the T.V. went out, and The storm seemed to come upon us so quickly that I don't feel anyone is to blame, not the Emergency Preparedness organization, not the National Weather Service. Freak, fast storms are a way of life in Kansas, as any long-term weather problem this one just got out of hand. But for Mr. Leonard, who has our "bunkers" is sheer hogwash. I can only say, I wish he'd been there! Disastrously yours: Lisa Berry Lawrence To the editor: U.S. aids violent apartheid regime On June 16 we commemorated the tragedy and heroism of five years ago. Beginning on June 16, 1976, in the black township of Soweto and spreading from there throughout South Africa, thousands of black people dared to protest against the racist apartheid system. Many hundreds of protesters—many of them school children—were shot down in the streets by security forces of the white minority government. Soweto was front page news all over the world. But in South Africa, then and now, violence and death are visited upon the black majority, day in and day out, without hesitability, day in making international headlines. And the sad fact is that the United States aids and abets the apartheid regime in its rule of terror. This country furnishes the South African army with military equipment, computer, automotive and high technology supplies. American investments help shore up the economic strength and self-sufficiency of the white elite. Only last week it was reported that North Korea had forced the door to resuming arms sales to South Africa. It was the Soweo uprising which more than anything else inspired an international movement to halt Western investments in South Africa. Over 25 American universities have divested in whole or in part from corporations doing business in South Africa. The list is growing almost monthly. Since the start of the academic year last fall, at least seven universities have closed their doors. Partly in response to the divestment movement—which encompasses churches, unions and state and local governments, as well as universities—several corporations have disengaged from South Africa. Polaroid and ITT are two of the most prominent to have done so. Given these developments, wny does the University of Kansas stubbornly refuse to face up to its social responsibility and cease investing in infrastructure should be put on the agenda at KU. Laird Okie Graduate Student and member of the KU Committee on South Africa] Graphoanalyst distressed by article The article 'Graphoanalyst Evaluates Personality Traits' in the June 18, 1911, issue of the Kansan, confused me in how graphoanalysis can be used. A person who wants me to find out what is wrong with their personality—they have problems with their mother, with their boss, with a friend, or with everyone in general—seems to have a problem. To the editor: Since I am Victor Clark, the graphoanalyst in the office, I thought I should know something about it. When I study their personality, as projected by their handwriting, though, I usually find their biggest problem is that they always think they have a problem even where there is none. My problem is trying to tell the person with the person and the person without problems that he has! A person who doesn't think he has any problems, none whatsoever, usually that's the problem. Do you have trouble dealing with your d's? Now that's a problem I can handle. A real short d-stem shows a writer who could care less about what other people think of him. He does his own thing and is independent in his way of thinking. A moderately high d-stem shows a writer who wants other people to think well of him. He takes pride in what he does and wants others to appreciate his work. An extremely high d-stem shows a writer who wants all the attention. He thinks very highly of himself and feels everyone should think so highly of him. How high you make your d-stems shows something about how much attention you want from others. Personality—nor handwriting—is as simple as a single stroke of your d. A graphoanalyst who interprets personality from the strokes of a person's handwriting must personally study the handwriting to see the inference character of the writing and the personality. Victor Clark Graphoanalyst Reagan's America not like Roosevelt's By ROBERT S. MCELVAINE New York Times Special Features PROVIDENCE, R.I.- Soon after taking office, Ronald Reagan informed us that the nation is "in the worst economic mess since the Great Depression." It had become fashionable, even before he made his pronouncement, to point out the current economic situation and that of the 1930s. This is nonsense. At the time Reagan spoke, unemployment stood at 7.4 percent. In 1933 the jobless rate was perhaps more than three times higher. Our economic woes today are real enough but are of an entirely different order from those of the Depression years. Today, people may fear that they will not be able to continue to eat well; in the 30s, people were afraid that they would have to eat (at least for a few days) to the poor in our society by Reagan budget cuts). More ludicrous than talk of similarities to the Depression are comparisons of Reagan and Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR's supporters rode in freight cars, Reagan's travel in Lear roes; FDR's people stood in soup lines, Reagan's stand at cocktail parties; FDR's hackers sold applies on street corners, Reagan's are more likely to sell real estate in Orange County, Calif. Women who wear heels (and sometimes coats); by comparison, in 1935, a New Jersey woman wrote the following to Eleanor Roosevelt: "As it is coming nearer toward colder weather I have nothing for my body to keep me warm and can't see where I will be able to get it." perhaps you might have some things you want me to have." Thousands of such letters were sent to Mrs. Rosevelt in the Depression years. The imagination steps short of picturing communications addressed to Nancy Reagan. The fact is that, whatever his shortcomings, Roosevelt was a champion of the poor. Reagan makes little attempt to hide the fact that he favors the rich. "The taxing power of the government," President Reagan declared in his February economic address, "must not be used to regulate the economy or bring about social change." Nearly 46 years before Roosevelt had sent his own tax message to Congress. In he said: "Our revenue laws have allowed in many ways to the unfair advantage of the few, and they have done little to prevent an unjust concentration of wealth and power." Reagan has threatened to veto the tax-cut bill if it does not operate to the unfair advantage of the few. Many other examples could be offered to demonstrate that Reagan is the first president since Calvin Coolidge to unabashedly align himself with the rich. It was fittingly symbolic—one more instance that Reagan had Thomas Jefferson's portraits in the East Room replaced by that of Coolidge. Accordingly the people who made up the Roosevelt majority adopted values based upon morality, not simply the unrestricted forces of the marketplace. They rejected the acquiesitive, epistolial individualism that had peaked in the United States upon which they blamed the Depression. The Reagan majority today is not, despite the name taken by a portion of it, a moral majority. The basic economic problem for these people is inflation, not unemployment. People in the middle strata today identify their interests with those of the upper class. Acquisitive individualism is the very stuff of which the Reagan coalition is made. How can we account for Reagan's popularity? The answer lies in the immense differences between the era of the Great Depression and our own time. The basic economic problems of the '80s were, of course, unemployment and the lack of sufficient employment, and the serious threat of it, crept up the social ladder, a majority of the population identified its interests with those of the poor. The Democrats, through their New Deal and later social programs, created much of the middle class as we know it today. Many of the members of that group, now sufficiently well off to have adopted selfish individualism, have turned not only on the Democratic Party but also on the values of cooperation, equity, and compassion that helped them rise. President Reagan seems determined to follow Andrew Mellon's policies. If Reagan continues traveling along his current path—causeway?—he might yet make his words about the Depression accurate. Then, perhaps, the values associated with the '30s would be restored. That would be a terrible price to pay for a renewed sense of compassion in this country. (Robert S. McElvain, associate professor of history at Millspass College, Jackson, Miss., and currently a visiting fellow at Brown University, has completed a manuscript, "Down and Out: Letters From the 'Forgotten Man' in the Great Depression.") Tornadoes elicit memories of past tragedies Ed Blair, the old-time local poet and historian, wrote in 1912 that: "With the extension of civilization westward; the cultivation of the soil, which enables it to retain more moisture; the planting of trees, and irrigation of district once barren, destructive growing now less frequent, and it is probable that in a few years, they will be a thing of the past." Sorry, Ed. The present day local folk would be too disagree. You should hear the stories they tell. "It came up on the horizon." "It looked like rain coming down between us and the sun." "It shook the house just like a dog shook a rabbit." For each of the people speaking, "it" was a "Where it hit the wires, sparks would fly." Judy Crawford tornado. The wide open rural skies provide ample opportunity to watch these "whirligigs in the sky," and when the twisters come, everyone remembers and no one forgets. Nearly 25 years ago, Pumpkin Center was hit by a big tornado. And whether people were bailing hay, fixing dinner, feeding the calves or to go in a movie, they still recall what they and those around them were doing when the twister came. The local plumber's wife, a rather large woman, took cover in a nearby culvert. The tornado led and went, passing by, but the plumber's wife stayed put. She was wedged in Another lady heard the warning over the radio, then grabbed her bread, her hot dogs, her mustard and her pillow, and headed for the collar. When she later told her young son that she was getting lost, he felt the monotone in their home, the little boy mournfully applied, "I'm sorry I cried!" Old Mr. Scheutz the sheep shearer was parking his pickup at the end of his long muddy lane when he saw the tornado bearing down on his house way back in the field. The funnel passed an eighth of a mile from where his wife was waiting for him at home. The twister hit the local cemetery, pulling up gravestones and throwing trees "all which a woman would have been to kill." By a trailer home, a couple with two young children tried to escape in their car. They didn't make it. Cousin Irwin, oblivious to the tornado, passed a large truck on the highway through town. The driver of that truck was later pulled from his vehicle and died in slow agony from his injuries. Yes, no one forgets. Ed, you were wrong. But a lot of folks wish that you'd been right. The University Daily KANSAN USPS 65408) Published at the University of Kansas daily Augtong through May and Monday and Thursday during June and July except Saturday, Sunday and holiday. Second-class postage paid at Lawrence, Kansas 60454. Subscription fee $12.95 for each order $35 for monthly or $3 a year under the county Student subscriptions are #2 semester, paid through the student account or $5 a semester. Postmaster: Send changes of address to the University Daily Flank, Kintai Hall. The University of Kansas Editor Judith Galas SUMMER GRADES Managing Editor Catherine Blakey Ed Hickcock Associate Campus Editor Chase Hawkins Assistant Campus Editor Neale Needel Wire Editor Marissa Brinka Copy Chiefs Kathy Noble, Rob Stroud Staff Photographers Martin Frumhoff, Wendy Curtiss Editorial Coordinator Jay Curtiss Staff Writer Achel Mcalm Staff Artist Pat Trouvé Business Manager Marcee Jacobsen Poli Retail Sales/Treasurers Manager Judy Caldwell Campus/Classified/National Sales Natalia Judele Bank/School Director Annette Minker Staff Artist Pam Role Staff Photographer Steven Marcelli Ebis Sales Representatives Sharon Bodin, David Gast, Ann Hormberger, Karen Keney, Mike Payne, Brett Russell, Kim Weyland Sales and Marketing Advisor Oli Oberdan Kohn Advises Admin Mike Kanscho By DAVI Staff Rep Although economic press has country's Bialy, Poald duur Universi Bialy with fac conjunct program Universi BIALY to quote American necessary Soviet inti He sa standard countries Ireland were tre while evi Despit Kremlin solving that let calmer America 809 Ma Lawren WITH at Bydog of the Solidarii Bialy Commu shown Also, When Soviet such country has has hat office ht decreases requests Letters Policy The University Daily Kansan welcomes letters to the editor. 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