Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MCCONNELL: FISH FARMS RAISE REAL CONCERNS
United States First Amendment
COMING THURSDAY
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2009
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
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--what's going on, and they want to know now. The University isn't doing enough to keep students updated.
Thank you, KU Web site for not working this morning so I had no idea where my class was.
Awesome.
Do we really have to block every entrance to the residence halls for every stupid football, basketball, or whatever game? I hate this!
--what's going on, and they want to know now. The University isn't doing enough to keep students updated.
What weights six ounces, sits in a tree, and is very dangerous?
A sparrow with a machine eye.
--what's going on, and they want to know now. The University isn't doing enough to keep students updated.
Obama for mankind Inauguration Day 2009!
--what's going on, and they want to know now. The University isn't doing enough to keep students updated.
Am I the only one who's tired of people treating Obama like some kind of messiah?
--what's going on, and they want to know now. The University isn't doing enough to keep students updated.
Is it sad that I wish my boyfriend didn't have to go to basic training?
It's too cold and too early to be up already. Stupid class.
--what's going on, and they want to know now. The University isn't doing enough to keep students updated.
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--what's going on, and they want to know now. The University isn't doing enough to keep students updated.
Wake me up when it is May Thanks.
--what's going on, and they want to know now. The University isn't doing enough to keep students updated.
My president is black, my Lambo's blue, and I'll be goddamned if my rims ain't
I really wanted a crunchy chicken wrap this morning for breakfast only to be disappointed when they weren't even open yet. My heart cried a little.
I think this inaguration was may too religious for a country founded on separation of church and state. Keep religion out of this, please.
You can't have it both ways. Some people are pissed that early on Obama showed a lack of religion; now people are pissed that this event was religious. No one is ever going to be happy. Just get over it.
I hate my roommate with the intensity of a thousand burning suns.
I wish the weather would make up its freakin' mind! Either be cold or be warm because this back and forth stuff is crap!
--what's going on, and they want to know now. The University isn't doing enough to keep students updated.
We're in Kansas; get used to it.
If 99 percent of women wouldn't fall for a-holes, they wouldn't exist, yet here we are Ladies, try dating a nice guy for once
I wish that we hadn't elected a president just because he's black. Don't get me wrong, I love Obama, but I love him for what he promised us, not the color of his skin.
EDITORIAL BOARD
University leaves students in dark about construction
Tyler Wauoh/KANSAN
There's a great mystery in front of and across from Watson library this year: large-scale construction and larger-scale holes that don't seem to move. It's a mystery that never should have been. The construction next to Bailey Hall was completed recently, but students and faculty are sill in the dark about plans for remaining construction projects. The University should be more forthcoming with information pertaining to the construction at Watson and other construction jobs around campus.
The current line of information about construction comes from the Department of Construction Management. University Relations puts out whatever info DCM shares with it. University Relation's medium for communication is a bi-monthly magazine, The Oread.
From the April 7, 2008, edition of The Oread, one learns that the current construction is a three-phase project that will cost $8.9 million and last until 2010. Depending on what phase we're in, different roadways are closed. That's about all the information that has been published, so even students who are inquisitive and resourceful can't get the full scoop
Though DCM plans to provide University Relations with more information by the end of January, some students want to know
Here's a late effort from The Kansan: The purpose of the construction is to repair and modernize steam tunnels that
were built in 1900. DCM Director Jim Modig described them as "arteries" for the university: housing steam pipes, electrical cords, and data cables.
Phase one is "virtually complete," and all that remains to be done is to reconstruct the landscape. Completion of this phase has been delayed. Modig said the contractors waited too long into autumn to begin this last process, so now seasonal conditions aren't
conducive to replanting the lost flora.
KANSAN'S
OPINION
The other phases deal with
EDITORIAL CARTOON
steam tunnels that are under other parts of the campus. Phase two won't come into effect until the summer, when it's less of an inconvenience to
close campus roads. Phase three will come later and will close the sidewalk between Watkins Memorial Health Center and Robinson Center.
The line of communication is long and filtered, but it doesn't have to be. If delays occur in either phase two or three, where will the information come from?
- Joe Scott for The Kansan Editorial Board
MARIAM SAIFAN
POLITICS
Governor lacks leadership
Governor Kathleen Sebelius released her plan to fix the state's budget woes last week, but unfortunately the governor offered the Legislature few options. Her plan has the potential to lead to a $1 billion shortfall next fiscal year if a serious cut in spending doesn't happen soon.
The governor's budget proposal does not address the real problem, which is the excessive spending, that will continue to plague the state unless serious cuts are made. The current Fiscal Year 2009 budget, after the adjustments made by the governor's budget recommendations, is still a $247 million increase from the Fiscal Year 2008 budget expenditures. The attitude of unaccountable spending needs to end. The government needs to track each dollar spent to make sure every dollar is working for Kansans and not special interests, which have been popular with previous budgets. During the last ten years, the state general fund has ballooned more than $2 billion according to the governor's budget office and can no longer be sustained. With this in mind, the legislature
Unfortunately, education funding needs to be part of the discussion. It accounts for almost 50 percent of all state revenue dollars spent. This means that the legislature needs to be accountable for each dollar spent. Estimates from the Legislative Research Department of dollars spent at the state level project that only about 60 cents of every dollar make it into the classroom. An increase in accountability of our state dollars should not be a short-term audit, either, but a permanent part of the budgeting process. This initiative could produce large savings for the Kansas taxpayer.
should keep all parts of the state budget on the table for cuts.
Another area that needs to be addressed is spending on transportation. We are fortunate to have good state highways and roads, but this has come at a
steep cost to the state. Kansas spends about $1.4 billion per year on all aspects of the state transportation network, the large majority of which is spent on roads. This is consistent with the Comprehensive Transportation Plan passed by the Legislature a decade ago. The Long Range Transportation Plan, the replacement to the CTP that expires this year, will request spending increases of more than $1.5 billion, leaving total spending at $2.9 billion per year.
With little direction from the governor, the Legislature will have many tough budget decisions this year. Programs from education funding to health care to transportation will be exposed to painful cuts, directly influencing the lives of many Kansans. The legislature must take the lead and reduce the size of our state government to weather the economic downturn. It will be important for the state to make sure the solution is appropriate, realistic and addresses the real problem: excessive spending.
Patton is an Olathe junior business and finance.
ECONOMY
Bailouts not the answer
Now that President Obama has taken office, one of his biggest economic challenges will be handling the bailout of the financial industry. He has indicated that he will continue the bailout, a program initiated by the Bush administration. Though the recovery of financial markets would help the struggling economy, bailouts are not the proper means to accomplish this end.
Bailouts are detrimental to the economy for a number of reasons. First, they reward failure. The United States is a capitalist country. In capitalism, if one firm fails it is forced out of the market and replaced by another that is able to perform the function it could not. When these failed firms are sustained by bailouts and not forced to exit the market, failure is rewarded. As a result, firms are less motivated to succeed because they face no consequences for failure. Additionally, because failed firms are not forced out of the market, the market as a whole is weakened and prospects for future growth are diminished.
Second, bailouts allow firms to shirk responsible business practices. A prime example is Citigroup, a former financial services giant that was crippled by the global financial crisis. Citigroup became deeply involved in high-risk investments. Though these investments were successful for a time, they eventually cost Citigroup billions. The risk managers at Citigroup should never have allowed the company to obtain such a high stake in risky investments. However, Citigroup's senior risk officer was a friend of the man who oversaw the buildup of these high-risk investments. As a result, the risk officers were hesitant to put a stop to this massive build-up. This was quite clearly a conflict of interests. To bail out such companies is foolish, as it sends
the message that companies will not be punished for shady business practices, but will instead be saved by bailouts when they fail.
Next, bailouts create far too much governmental intervention in the economy. When the government pours billions of taxpayer dollars into private firms, it is going to demand input on how those funds are used. Unfortunately, the government is almost never successful when it involves itself in the economy, as evidenced by the current recession. Simply put, government is more likely to create additional problems than it is to solve the ones that exist.
Finally, bailouts serve to punish successful companies. A company that has succeeded, whether by a wiser allocation of resources, smarter investment policies or better business practices, is effectively punished when the government bails out its unsuccessful competitors. Because bailouts force successful firms to continue competing with businesses that should be out of the market, they discourage good firms and thereby inhibit future growth.
Future growth is important to economic recovery, and because bailouts inhibit growth they are not the means to a long-term solution to our problem. Rather, what we need is a return to more capitalist policies. Weaker firms need to be allowed to exit the market, to be replaced by stronger companies that will increase growth prospects and lead the economy on the road to recovery.
O'Neill is a Topeka junior in economics and history.
Why I'm rethinking Barack Obama
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
I know that the president is given money to refurbish the living quarters of the White House. I'm also aware that this
As a loyal Democrat, I voted for Barack Obama; a decision I've lately been second-guessing. It began when he picked a polarizing figure — a man who misquoted Obama in order to deny American citizens their rights — to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. Then came the revelation that he sold out gays by supporting only civil unions for gays and lesbians, after he once promised to support nothing other than marriage for all.
Now the Obamas have hired an extremely expensive designer to the stars to decorate his new digs, to the tune of $100,000. I wonder: was this decision made before thinking of the millions of children who will sleep in shelters tonight? What about the $10 trillion (and counting) national debt?
president's campaign billed him as bucking tradition. Would it have been that hard to say, "Thanks, but no thanks," to the tax money he is allotted to redecorate the recently decorated private portion of the White House, when Americans are barely making ends meet? No, for the Obamas nothing less than the best will do, at all costs.
What about his campaign's criticism of Republican wardrobe expenditures during the campaigns? And consider this dismaying observation: Obama has been championing an $800 billion stimulus package. As he begs Congress to send us money, with only a prayer that it might help the economy, every penny we don't have to pay in taxes would help.
Already Obama's arrogance has cost us. First it was pride, then people's very rights, and now cold hard cash. What will the President's arrogance cost us in a year or two — or eight?
A. Bryce Myers is a senior from Overland Park
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Brenna Hawley, Becka Cremer, Mary Sorrick, Kelayes Hayes and Ross Stewart.
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