4 University Daily Kansan/ Thursday, April 2, 1992 OPINION Politicians sicken public Lately, there has been much talk in the media of the ugly and foul mood the electorate is in nowadays. People are filled with hate, we are told, whenever Congress, the president, or politicians in general are mentioned. Presidential candidates Patrick Buchanan and Jerry Brown spend their time denouncing the evil denizens of Washington before howling mobs. Yes, the electorate wants blood, and politicians who have trouble balancing their checkbooks had better find other employment. The trouble with all the ranting and raving, though, is that often more important issues get pushed to the side. So, many politicians in Washington are corrupt. Weasels. Scum. What else is new? There has not been much talk or thought on the problems of the economy, homelessness, unemployment, or even AIDS, despite the record number of people dying of the virus. The problems are simply not sexy enough. The check-bouncing scandal may be infuriating, particularly during a period of unemployment and a sagging economy, but let's face it folks, that small potatoes compared with the billions that Congress spends and squanders annually. A great deal of rage has been funneled through the Brown campaign to the powerful elite. Brown accuses it of ruining, in various ways, the economic, political, moral, and Kevin Bartels Staff columnist spiritual health of the country Give itarest. Waterhead talk is not needed. The lack of financing and planning directed toward ending the state of homelessness that now plagues nearly every major city in the country remains the problem. A general disregard for the increasing presence of the AIDS virus by the Bush administration, members of Congress — and by candidate Pat Buchanan, who uttered a brainless summation of the virus, calling it "retribution" — continues to be a problem that could easily balloon into something approaching the Black Plague. It's hard to believe that Buchanan could say something that idiotic. The senile old fool ought to be publically whipped... "Retribution," indeed. Think about that for a minute. When the Plague struck Europe and Asia, it killed as much as two-thirds of the population in some areas. Can anyone deny the potential of AIDS to kill the same number of people? And, needless to say, no politician has given the voters anything more than vague platitudes concerning the economy. Voters have a responsibility to demand that certain issues are confronted by the candidates. There is no law anywhere that says gibberish from politicians must be tolerated. A campaign filled with politicians accessing politicians be a very depressing one. Four years ago, George Bush rode the whirlwind on rumors and innuendo. One war, one recession, and he's ready to do it again. There was an item in the paper Sunday about a pregnant woman in Rio De Janeiro who was kidnapped, induced into labor, and whose baby was then stolen by three "child traffickers." The traffickers could then sell the baby on the black market overseas for as much as $20,000. Golly. There are many fierce and unnatural things that are going on in the world today. Things that turn your stomach. George Bush is one of these things. So is Pat Buchanan. But one of the most nauseating elements of the accusations and counter-accusations among politicians today, and of this sordid campaign for president, is that no one actually knows what anyone is talking about. Kevin Bartels is a Louisville, Ky., graduate student in English. Legislature should help KU Statehouse needs to realize that the University needs the space Hoch provided there haven't been many opportunities recently to praise a decision by Gov. Jean Finner here at KU so her recent I recently to praise a decision by Gov. Joan Finney here at KU, so her recent allocation of $18 million to reconstruct Hoch Auditorium comes at an especially welcome time. It took an unexpected windfall of federal funds to do it, but for whatever reason, Finney finally has delivered on the promise that state buildings are self-insured and that the state will pay for accidental damage to them. It now remains for the Legislature to complete its part of the bargain. With $185 million in unallocated funds just lying around in an election year, the temptation might be great to divert that money into a more popular area, such as property tax relief. The Legislature should resist this. Hoch formerly provided 7 percent of the classroom space at KU, and the need to have that classroom space back is very real. Anyone who has tried to muscle through the crowd of students who have been displaced from Hoch to the Union for class can tell you this. In maintaining that state buildings were self-insured the Legislature made a commitment to the University. It would be unconscionable for the Legislature to engee on this commitment. Its only semi-legitimate excuse, that the state simply didn't have the money to pay for Hoch, is no longer valid with the arrival of the federal money, and there remains no good reason not to finance Hoch. KU should not have to employ a collection agency in order to get its promised insurance money for Hoch from the Legislature. Its members should do the right thing and pay for the reconstruction of Hoch. Mark Coatney for the editorial board Law stifles organ donation Florida law needlessly prevents grieving couple from saving life with daughter's organs Less than two weeks old and lying in a Fort Lauderdale hospital with no skull, Theresa Ann Campo Pearson suffered from a rare condition called anencephaly, which stops the development of the brain past the stem. Theresa needed more than a miracle to live even beyond next week. She died Monday. Her parents and doctors watched her helplessly, waiting for her last breath of air, because Theresa was one of few infants who lived with this condition longer than a few seconds after birth. Yet, Theresa's organs could have lived on to give life to other infants who are in desperate need of organs. The Pearsonse were all for this, but unfortunately, the law was not. Although Theresa's heart, kidneys, liver and lungs could have been used to save others while she was still alive, a 1988 Florida state law forbade declaring her brain-dead. According to this law, the organs could be used after death, but in Theresa's case, the organs would have been useless by then. Her parents stood before the Florida Supreme Court on Monday asking for permission to donate their baby's organs, but the court refused to hear their case. This decision was senseless. A state appeals court recognized that the case was of public interest and brought the matter back to the high court after Theresa had died. Using her organs could have saved as many as five lives. The court should consider that when it rules on the case. That is not to say that every infant born with a deformity should be used as an organ donor. But in Theresa's case, when she had no chance of living more than a few weeks, granting an exception could have saved many other lives. In the Pearson's case, justice could not have been served through the current law. The law stood in the way of the Pearson's hopes for bringing life from Theresa's death. Julie Eileen Litt for the editorial board Members of the editorial board are: Alexander Bioemhof, Jim Brown, J.R. Clarborne, Mark Coatney, Amy Francis, Tiffany Harness, Tiffany Lashurt, Kate Kelley, Julie Eileen Litt, Stephen Martino, David Mitchell, Chris Moeser, Beth Randolph, Martin Scherstuhl, Julie Wasson, Frank William and Sarah Zercher. Editonals reflect the majority opinion of The University Daily Kansan editorial board. Opinions expressed in letters, cartoons and guest and staff columns are solely those of the author or artist. Views expressed in columns and cartoons are not necessarily shared by the Kansan. Don't tax the unborn If someone were to receive a loan for $100,000 and then call a press conference on the bank steps to donate $50,000 to charity, such a person would be hailed as a humanist. However, if the fact was that a 5-year-old child had been somehow obligated to repay the loan, then, appearances to the contrary, the humanist would be a cheat, stealing recognition from the person who pays the bill and bankrupting that child from the chance to be charitable. Such is the national debt, and also the character of persons who propound welfare or health care-financing with deficit spending. Deficit spending is a tax upon unborn generations without their representation — not democratic — meaning that the economic burden United States are not an indictment of democracy. Persons who say that they care about the poor don't care if they don't pay the bill, and there is a moral void when welfare travels under the cover of deceit. Generically, to rape is to take pleasure by hurting defenseless people, the children yet to be. KUgraduate, Lawrence Read meters carefully I guess Don could have taken it a step further and installed meters that don't reveal remain- Letters to the editor I refer to the operation of the meters. Read carefully: "Insert coin. Turn handle as far as possible after each coin." "Get it? After EACH coin. If you fail to follow directions, you can insert a large quantity of quarters, dimes and nickels, turn the handle at the end, and receive only the time alloted to the last coin. Don Kearns, parking king of the Hill, has done it again. With assistance from Duncan Industries, rip-off parking meters now populate the campus. I'm not alluding to the increased fare of 35 cents per hour. With residence hall rates up 14.8 percent, a 40-percent increase in parking fees comes as no surprise. versity Relations ing time. But please, don't mention it to him. Robert Lewis University Relations Don't regulate speech In response to Patrick Dilley's March 23 letter to the editor: Your list of forbidden words may clarify the matter for John Altevogt, but you've got me more worried than ever. The court definition of harmful speech that you cite has a hole in it big enough to drive a tractor-trailer rig through: "... any word, saying or phrase ... which is not necessitated to truly express one's idea or comment." As a writer, I find "allegations of impropriety" or some other such innocuous, noncombative phrase inadequate to truly express my idea. Case in point: In my opinion, the Los Angeles police officers who assaulted Rodney King are a bunch of club-wielding thugs. Some (and I emphasize the word "some") police officers in this country think they can get away with running electricity through people's bodies and beating people with clubs without any regard for just cause or proper restraint. Thus "thugs" is the word I chose to use. It's deliberately hurtful, as much as any of the words on your list. But it's the word I find necessary to make my point. But how about if I called them "club-wielding pigs"? Now, I'm using a hateful term directed specifically at police officers rather than clubwilders in general. How does this change the meaning and intent of what I said? Do you see how swiftly your restrictions disintegrate into bickering over semantics? All I ask, Mr. Dilley, is that the human relations committee give some thought to the extent of its policies before it pursues this any further. You aren't going to stop the hate by legislating the language. So all you establish by regulating speech is the government's "right" to tell people what they can and cannot say, and to Cunton-Brown a joke Once again, the Kansan insists on putting humor on the Op-Ed page instead of next to the Far Side, where it belongs. Referring to Kevin Bartels March 25 column, "A Clinton-Brown ticket could defeat Republicans," would it be the Republicans in danger of defeat or the Democratic Party? Despite Clinton's credentials, or lack thereof, the man does not inspire leadership. One of the reasons he is the forerunner of the Democratic Party is that all of the other candidates, including Jerry Brown, inspire people even less. The only thing that is a Clinton-Brown ticket would accomplish is to send the chance of a Democrat in the White House into a faster tail-spin than it currently is in. Water Bryan Whitehead Kansas City, Kan., graduate student KANSANSTAFF Overland Park senior TIFFANYHARNESS Editor VANESSA FUHRMANS Managing editor TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser Editors News Mike Andrews Editorial Beth Randolph Planning Lara Gold Campus Eric Gorski/Rochelle Olson Sports Eric Nelson Photo Julie Jacobson Features Debbie Myers Graphics Alimee Braindair/Jeff麦瑟 JENNIFER CLAXTON Business manager JAY STEINER Retail sales manager JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser Campus sales mgr ..Bill Leibengood Regional sales mgr ..Rich Harbarger National sales mgr ..Scott Hauna Co-op sales mgr ..Arne Johnson Production mgrs ..Kim Wallace ..Lisa Keeler Marketing director ..Kim Claxton Corporate ..Leanne Woolf Classified mgr ..Kip Chin The Kansas reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansas newroom, 111 Saffer-Flint Hall. Business Staff Leaders should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. Writers affiliated with the University of Kansas must include class name and hometown, or faculty or staff position. Guest columnists should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be pho- Guest columns should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 100 words. The writer will be photographed. Loco Locals I NEVER THOUGHT CINDY CRAWFORD- SUPER MODEL-WOULD EVER ANSWER MY LETTERS. SAH, ADAM, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MY TUX? PROBABLY SAID SHE WOULD LEAVE HER HUSBAND RICHARD GERE - JUST FOR YOU... KRISS, YOU KNOW TODAY IS APRIL 2ND AND YESTERDAY WAS APRIL 1ST by Tom Michaud