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Wednesday. June 24,1992
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FROM THE EDITORS
MTV's Clinton interview convinces ex-Perot fan to join Democrat's camp
or the past year I have had virtually no respect for Bill Clinton. When Ross Perot jumped into the picture, despite my unanswered questions, I felt sure the pushy billionaire would make a perfect president.
That is until Sunday evening, when Bill Clinton took the stage for an MTV special presentation.
For about 30 minutes, the presidential candidate subjected himself to random questions from a studio audience of young adults. He talked about his beliefs, his reasoning and his plans for the future — if he were to become president.
Within those 30 minutes, my vote for the future changed.
Clinton bared his soul on all issues. He answered all questions easily and clearly, regardless of how blunt or subjective they were. He did not evade any question, and he treated each one with great respect and importance, as they should be.
For the first time, I began to see past the alleged adulterer, which was the cloud I saw hanging over his head, and I listened to him. And I began to realize that the problem with Perot was that there was nothing to listen to, even if he is slowly beginning to open up. The only two things I know about Perot for sure are that he is pro-choice, and that he wants comedian Dana Carvey to campaign with him. And although I am tempted by the thrill of the unknown, I'm not willing to take big of a chance with Perot.
I might not agree with everything Clinton says he stands for, but at least with him I have that opportunity.
-Jennifer Bach
Young athletes should be aware of Title IX and appreciate its benefits
Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of Title IX. I did not know it then, but Title IX would greatly affect my life. It gave me, a female athlete, the privileges and rights of male athletes. Title IX gave women who excelled in sports the opportunity to participate in collegiate athletics. Title IX was a sort of emancipation proclamation for women athletes. Before Title IX, female athletes practiced wherever they could, often under horrid conditions. While the men's team team would train on the clean indoor courts, often the women's team would train on public courts in the wee hours of the morning or very late at night.
CONSISTEN to the weWork for you mission. As a female athlete, I can appreciate the importance of Title IX. Without it, there would not have been any financing to give talented women athletes college scholarships for their sports. Many of the great athletes we will see in Barcelona would not have participated in athletics after high school had it not been for Title IX.
Women often do not reach their athletic potential until they are out of college. Without Title IX, these women would not have been able to train intensively for their sports while attending college. Women were treated like non-persons. In a day and age when equality is of the utmost importance, I think it is horrible that young athletes haven't even heard of Title IX. I know it, and through three years of collegiate swimming I have learned truly to appreciate it.
I appreciate it even more every time I look down at the 1992 Big Eight Conference Championship ring on my finger. Thank you, Title IX.
Derek Nolen / KANSAN
The University of Kansas flag flies upside down in front of Strong Hall. The flags hang upside down Monday by the housekeeping department of facilities operations, Phil Endackson, associate director of housekeeping, said that up close the size of the flags made it hard to tell which side of the flag should go up the pole first.
Go UK Javhawks?
Garfield's birthday marks 14 years of unfunny jokes, overused gags and recycled story lines
Garfield the cartoon cat celebrated his 14th birthday last week. As the late pet-food pit-pich-man Lorne Green would have said, "That's 9$ to you and me."
Unfortunately, it seems like Garfield has been around for nearly a century.
Sure, I can remember when the strip was funny. But then again, I can remember several things from my early childhood.
Garfield has gotten old, and so have his jokes. Some strips, such as the "Far Side," often run classic strips when the cartoonists go on vacation. However, Jim Davis is not returning Garfield, he is simply recycling him.
How many fat cat jokes can you make? How many times can it be funny for Garfield to beat up on Odie, the world's stupidest dog? How long can it be humorous for Garfield to wake up his owner, John, or eat John's food?
Not for 14 years.
Davis has done nothing to keep Garfield fresh and interesting. Fat and lazy jokes have been his staple for more than a decade. Yes, we have seen this all before.
Many strips introduce new characters and story lines as time marches on. Berke Breathed continually sought to keep his all too short-lived "Bloom County" fresh. When the well went dry, Breathed quit while he was ahead and left his readers begging for more.
characters to complement the main characters, Opus the penguin and Milo Bloom. One such character was the inarticulate Bill the Cat. No, Bill could not speak, but his actions were more humorous than anything Garfield ever said. However, when Bill came on the scene, Opus was not impressed.
"I'm a Garfield fan," he sarcastically said as he read from a book entitled "Garfield Geus Old."
Yes, even five years ago, the fat foline had overstayed his welcome. Maybe Garfield never was funny. Perhaps it only amused me in its original because I was a naive child. Even the most humorous things cannot be funny day after day.
Even "Blondie" has changed with the times. A recent story line made America's oldest homemaker into a working woman. Garfield slept right through it.
Of course, Garfield is the only offender. Bill Keane's "Family Circus"
has used the old Not Me gag more times than I’ve inhaled. I don’t even want to talk about “Peanuts,” which is older than my parents.
On Monday, Garfield ran through the kitchen, put a cooking pot over John's head and beat the pot with a spoon. Wait—here comes the punch line. Garfield takes the pot off John's head and says, "You're not laughing." Neither was anyone else.
But these strips are merely unamusing. Garfield is annoying.
Fortunately, the average life span for a cat is just 15 years. We only can hope Garfield's life is as average as his humor.
Though some may have wished Jim Davis well on the 1st birthday of his meal ticket, I cannot. In the words of the great Bill the Cat, "Aak. Phubt."
David Mitchell is a DeSoto senior majoring in journalism.
TO THE EDITORS
tory.
Map's placement of Macedonia is misleading
Macedonia is found in only one place of the world, and this is Greece. Macedonia constitutes the largest division of Greece's northern part. Any effort to use the name Macedonia other than describing this part of Greece is malevolent and only serves propagandistic and imperialistic purposes. People should know that historically, Macedonia has always been a Greek terri-
On page three of the June 17th Kansas. In noticed a map that depicted the troublesome area in Bosnia and Serbia. This map gave the name Macedonia to the southernmost part of what was until recently known as Yugoslavia. Although the source for this map is the Great World Atlas, (no blame for the Kansan team) the name which was assigned to this small south division is misleading.
Macedonia, as presented in the map, does not exist. Although there has been a controversy on this issue between Greeks and Yugoslavians, Macedonia is still one, and it is Greek. I would appreciate if you would publish this note so people can be aware of the truth.
Andreas Maheras is a graduate student from Athens.
Mary Kelly is a graduate student in sociology
Troops must withdraw from independent states
Recent articles on President Boris Yeltsin's visit to the United States have neglected to mention one important fact — that there are still former Soviet troops in former republics of the Soviet Union. I am writing in particular about the plight of Lithuania.
had assumed that they would have been withdrawn as soon as Lithuanian independence was officially recognized. A Lithuanian I met there informed me that there had been 40,000 Soviet troops before Lithuanian independence. Since that time, only 300 troops have been moved out. There is no excuse for the former Soviet army continuing to occupy a free country.
Last month when I was in Lithuania, I was surprised to see former Soviet troops everywhere I went. I
Any U.S. aid to the Commonwealth of Independent States should be contingent upon the removal of former Soviet troops from independent countries. If we give financial aid without such a stipulation, we will be supporting the continuation of Soviet occupation, even when there is no longer a Soviet Union.
Spend money on projects, food for homeless, not on dining video
Now there's a video available that instructs the homeless on how to forage through dumpsters for food. I'm not kidding, I just read this in the paper. My first question, if you have no home, do you have a VCR? Or is the video edible? Yes, I do know no one expects the homeless to buy a video. It's to be shown in shelters. But I have a hard time believing this conversation might occur. "Say, if you're not engaged this evening, why not pop over to the soup kitchen. I hear they're showing that new 'Dining flick'." Why, yes, I've been wanting to see that. Ebert gave it a thumps up, but then, it was about food."
Linda Dunlap, who produced the video, says she is trying to "help the homeless survive a little less painful." The video carries 54 warnings to avoid eating from trash bins, as it can be hazardous to your health. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe not eating at all is somewhat hazardous to your health. Homeless diners are shown how to choose fruit and vegetables with skins that are thick and
Kate Kelly
Guest
Columnist
broken and can be washed. Who throws that out? In my house, unless it is growing blue hair, food doesn't go in the garbage.
People don't eat out of garbage bins by choice. Of this I'm fairly certain. When you are that hungry, a few insects, wood chips or cigarette butts are the least of your worries. I have been blessed to never have known real hunger. But once, a couple of weeks of self-induced dieting, I was experiencing such a raging chocolate craving that I ate two M&Ms found under my refrigerator, giving no thought to the dirt, dust, dog hair and
possible bug poop that may have been stuck to them. Now, I don't mean to infer that a chocolate craving is anywhere as serious as real hunger, but it does illustrate the point that when you're desperate, you eat anything.
Ms. Dunlap's heart may have been in the right place, however it's like putting one of those little quarter-inch Band-Aids on a huge gap, spurring head wound. It's an effort, but it really doesn't help any. The money and effort used to produce this video might have gone to better use to provide real food for some people or into social projects working to change the circumstances of the homeless.
As a certified fitness instructor, I'm concerned that many of the homeless aren't getting the necessary cardiovascular conditioning that they should have. But I don't think I'll be coming out with the "Cardboard Box Stepping and Sewer Grate Lift Work-Out" video any time soon.
Kate Kelly is a Ft. Leavenworth junior majoring in English
KANSAN STAFF
JUSTIN KNUPP Editor
JENNIFER BACH Managing editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
KIM CLAXTON Business manager
by Tom Michaud
Editors
Campus ... Gayle Oterberg
Ast. Aest. Campus ... Doug Flahack
Copy Cheff ... Alex Bloomhof
Contributing ... Mitchell Davi
Photo ... Derek Nolan
Graphics ... Alimee Brainard
BRIAN WOLF Director of Client Services
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
Business Staff
Special Promotions ..Melissa Teresa
Production mgr ..Brad Bran
Retail Support mgrs ..Ashley Langford
Hilary Wilcox
Regional Support mgr ..Jane Henderson
Classified mgr ..Kate Burgess
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