4 OPINION Monday, August 30, 1993 UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN VIEWPOINT THE ISSUE On Aug. 21, scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., lost contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft, and as of Thursday, had not restored communications. THE BACKGROUND The $1 billion Observer was to be the first U.S. spacecraft to reach Mars in 17 years. It would have surveyed Mars' terrain and climate. THE OPINION Botched Mars probe must not ground NASA The silence of the Mars Observer has been a tremendous loss for NASA scientists, but the mission was commendable and should be allowed to proceed in some form in the future. However, any further attempts to reach Mars should be made only after a long period of deliberation to find out what went wrong with the Observer spacecraft and to decide the future of NASA and U.S.space policy. NASA's record has been marred by the tragic Challenger explosion, the embarrassing Hubble Space Telescope failure, the overwhelming expense of the space station and increased criticism that the agency is a bureaucratic nightmare. The troubles in NASA may have made lawmakers understandably wary of approving funds for space programs. The approval might be seen as taking away money from competing veterans and housing programs. This year, NASA has come under fire from legislators who want to do away with the expensive space station — a program initiated by President Reagan in 1984 and enthusiastically approved by the House and Senate. On Thursday, Sen. Dale Bumpers, D-Ark., a key member of the committee overseeing NASA'S budget, said the agency's failures will help him "dramatically with killing the space station." The space station, more a jobs program for the aerospace industry than a great scientific endeavor, would not be a terrible loss for science if eliminated. But lawmakers should not use the failure of the Mars Observer as an excuse to quash future missions like the Observer project. The objective of the Observer mission made the project worth the expense. Using highly sophisticated optics, the space probe would have provided the clearest view ever of a landscape rich in history — the history of a terrestrial-type planet; of possible value to the study of the Earth. Moreover, backing away from high-risk missions now would be ignoring a recent success of NASA — the Cosmic Background Explorer, which made important discoveries about the creation of the universe. But money procured for space programs must be spent wisely. In the future, U.S. space policy should, and probably will, support fewer manned missions and more of the smaller, cheaper, unmanned missions. And already, NASA's new boss, Dan Goldin, is addressing the problems of an overgrown bureaucracy by cutting down the size and cost of the administration. Space exploration is difficult, risky, expensive, but sometimes vital. Therefore, activities and objectives of space programs should be stated clearly and supported by relevant arguments if the public is to support space programs along with lower taxes, improved health care and a secure job. CHRISTINA CORNISH FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD Day planners can prove dangerously addictive "You know, if you're going to be that busy, you really ought to look into getting a good day planner. I just couldn't survive with it mine." My friend was right. The semester hadn't even begun, and already, my desk was immined with papers, Post-it Notes and scraps of news clips with notes written all over them. Maybe I did need to get a little more organized. I dipped through my friend's painter. Days, months and even years were all planned out in neat block lettering, along with project outlines, names and addresses of friends and family, lists of people to whom she owed letters and perhaps everything of course, conversational tattoos fullbaked under entries such as "sources," "objectives" and "most important." "I don't think I could use all these headings." I said. It all seemed silly. Why would you want to write down that you talked to John Smith about his kid Bucky with the deviated septum at a company picnic anyway? "Each person's planner is unique," my friend said. "All the good ones can be tailored to your specialized needs." STAFF COLUMNIST I later discovered that my friend's company sent her to a seminar on how time management can be made simple with a day planner. Her persistent maging eventually paid off. Against my better judgment, I went to a local retail outlet in search of a day planer. I couldn't believe how many options lay before me. I settled on one with a ring binder so I could customize it for my every need. Then, Uooked at the price. "Twenty-five dollars! Who were they kidding?" A man standing by me, leafing through refills, defended the price: "Trust me, it's worth it. I couldn't survive without mine." So, $25 poorer, but so much richer in organization potential, I began to transfer my life into my day planner. After three and a half hours, all my phone numbers, schedules, lists of column ideas, notes on my thesis, checkbook balance and favorite pen and pencil were in one easy to reach place. I also had plastic holders to display my successful friends' business cards, a stamp dispenser, a place for My post-I note Notes and a note pad. Soon, I began to realize that organizing my planner was taking up a large amount of my free time. I was canceling movie dates because I had to have time to plan my day each evening. I couldn't afford to go out to eat anymore because I had to invest in a matching wallet and a larger purse — to hold my planner. One look at my list of things to do for the day and I immediately wanted to go back to bed. Why bother doing all these things? It seemed so much more clean and neat just to write about doing them in neat, block lettering. I was in trouble. In simple English, I had become a plenantic. I had seen these people before. Once in an airport, I saw a man frantically searching for his planer. "Please," he shouted to anyone who would listen. "I'll pay a reward! Has anyone seen a black leather planer? It's got my life in it." I have to thank my friends for making me see the light. "You need therapy! No one in her right mind should spend so much time planning on her life!" said one well-meaning individual. Others tried shock treatment. They would hide my planner and watch me scuttle around the room searching for it. I now realize that no one should put so much into something so small. It makes life look too easy. I haven't given up my planner, but I've quit writing down things "to be done" five minutes before I do them. Well, it's a start. Just the other day while I was at the bookstore, I noticed someone flipping through a day planner with ring binders. "Forty dollars!" I heard him say. I knew he had to do something. "Trust me, it's not worth it," I said and directed him to a spiral version for $3.25. If I can save just one ... Val Huber is a Lawrence graduate student majoring in journalism. NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE Flood insurance should reflect risk People along the Mississippi River are trying to put their lives back together after massive flooding. They deserve sympathy and support. should, and all American taxpayers will bear the brunt of the cleanup and rebuilding. At the same time, the nation has been shown, again, the folly and ineffectiveness of our flood-insurance program. But American taxpayers should demand a change in our flood-insurance approach. The flood has left more than 70,000 homeless and has done more than $12 billion in damage. It may sound cold-hearted, but there are simply places people should not build homes and businesses, and if they do, they should bear the risk. the federal government will bail them out. Instead, our flood-insurance program provides insurance at a cost that does not match the risk. Worse, many in the flood areas do not carry insurance or drop it. If disaster strikes, those in flooded areas know It is profitable to build on beaches and near rivers, so development is hard to stop. But flood insurance should reflect the risk in its price. It should be required. If it is not paid, then there should be no bailout. American taxpayers must come to the aid of the flood victims, but there should be a serious overhaul of the flood-insurance program to prevent future misery. JACKSON, MISS. THE CLARION-LEDGER Congress is rushing to help, as it Liberals still believe in helping the forgotten I come from a long line of political left-wingers. My great-grandfather was a Socialist who followed Eugene Debs. A few of my grandmother's relatives were card-carrying Communists. My grandfather was harassed by the Ku Klux Klan because he was vocal about getting the drinking water of New Orleans fluoridated. My mother marched against the Vietnam War in the 1960s and with Cesar Chavez in the 1970s. I guess you could say that liberalism is in my blood. STAFF COLUMNIST To some people, that label makes me the enemy. It makes me one of those awful people who want to murder unborn children, expose children to homosexuality, fund disgusting art with taxpayer money and abolish the death penalty. Because I'm guilty as charged, I should explain what I think a liberal is. My purpose for doing this is not for people to agree at least to understand the liberal philosophy. social liberalism is even more difficult to define. Reluctant to define conservatism, Russell Kirk, in "The Conservative Mind," nevertheless gives six of its tenets. In that spirit, I offer a list of my own on liberalism. Like conservatives, liberalis are not always unified; therefore, a coherent definition of liberalism is tricky. Economically speaking, liberalism, especially its more leftist elements, is wary of capitalism. Economic liberalism sees how in practice capitalism caters to the rich and omits the poor. Tolerance and individual freedoms. Liberals believe that many of the complexities of the world are best worked out by individuals. The differing ways that each of us use to work out the complexities deserve tolerance and respect. Liberals do not care what two consenting adult men do in the privacy of their bedroom, but they do respect the men. Liberals also believe that the question of whether a fetus is a life should be answered by the women who get pregnant not by overpaid white men. *Enbracing a dynamic world.* The world is far from static. Liberals embrace change because it is often necessary. The civil rights acts of the 1960s showed us that it was becoming impossible for a country that considered itself free to continue to oppress people because of their skin color. Equal opportunities for all. Liberals believe that all people should have equal opportunities to everything. Where opportunities are not equal, the government should be allowed, in some fashion, to balance the scales. The conservative response is that we are all on a level playing field. When the playing field isn't level, opportunities are not equal. Government's function. Government should be for the people. It should focus on those who are underprivileged or oppressed. It is not for those who, for whatever reason, have made it. Essentially, it is a way of ensuring that the voiceless, the powerless in this country, have a voice. Simply put, liberalism involves listening to the people who are all too often shoved aside by the government or society. Liberalism is not something to curse. At the very least, it's something to think about. Nathan Olson is a Chicago graduate student majoring in English. KANSAN STAFF Assistant to the editor J. R. 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