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Tuesday, April 5, 1994
OPINION
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UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Asylum application fee unfair to immigrants
President Clinton's plan to charge immigrants $130 to apply for political asylum would deter many legitimate applicants without reducing the number of applications that must be processed.
Thus legitimate applicants may be denied a fair hearing before they are able to apply for political asylum.
The fee is not being proposed for those wanting economic asylum.
Legitimate political asylum seekers often have to leave their countries with nothing. They qualify for political asylum because their lives are in danger back home. By requiring an application fee, the United States is effectively placing money over human lives.
Moreover, requiring a fee for political but not economic asylum seekers creates a problem when deciding who will qualify to have the fee waived.
Take, for example, applicants from Cuba and Haiti. Because the U. S. government opposes the political regime in Cuba, Cuban immigrants would be more likely to be granted political asylum status, and thus have to pay the fee.
In contrast, the U.S. government would like to portray the situation in Haiti in economic, not political terms. A Haitian immigrant would likely not have to pay the fee.
Charging immigrants who seek political asylum is unnecessary, unfair and should not be implemented. HEATHER KINKWOOD FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
HEATHER KIRKWOOD FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Leaders should be invited to D-Day commemoration
In preparing for ceremonies to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, the Allies are being short-sighted in not inviting four leaders of former Axis countries. Sources reported that German Chancellor Helmut Kohl would like to attend the event but has not been invited.
The ceremony should not only honor those who gave their lives to end the war. It also should recognize the importance of preventing another atrocity like World War II.
By shunning Germany after World War I, the Allied powers created an isolated Germany in which Hitler played upon the bitterness of the German people. We cannot allow that isolation to happen again.
The best way to prevent this is for the veterans of D-Day to recognize the mistakes of the past to ensure that the grandchildren of those soldiers will never have to go to a war in Europe.
Kohl and other leaders of former Axis countries should be able to attend the event if they wish. Their presence should be welcomed by the leaders of countries that profess to hold peace as their goal for the world. And it is in no way disrespectful of the men who fought to free Europe from Nazi rule.
If we are to create a world where people will never have to fear a Holocaust, we cannot let stubborn pride and a false sense of loyalty to the dead get in the way.
The last thing we need is to give validity to neo-Nazi claims that the world will always try to punish Germany and that the only way to keep that from happening is to rise up in a nationalist movement. The neoNazi movement has too many followers as it is.
DONELLA HEARNE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
THE KANSAN EDITORIAL BOARD: SAMANTHA ADAMS, J. J.
ANDRE, MARGARET BECK, RICHARD BOYD, CARSON ELROD, SEAN
FINN, BEN GROVE, DONELLA HEARNE, MATT HOOD, HEATHER
KIRKWOOD, CHRIS LIVINGSTON, COLLEEN McCAIN, NATHAN OLSON,
LATINA SULLIVAN, AMANDA TRAUGHBER, DAVID ZIMMERMAN
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Government must streamline if federal deficit is to be reduced
Although talk of deficit reduction and streamlining government has virtually disappeared in the wave of Whitewater and health-care reform, I decided to look a little closer at the problem. Perusing my local bookstore for something on the subject, I came across a revelation: a small, not very well-written or organized, but nonetheless riveting book called "The Government Racket: Washington Waste from A to Z," by Martin L. Gross. This gentleman has done what few of us, including most of Washington, will ever do. He read the entire 1993 Fiscal budget, all 2,000 pages with its 190,000 entries that explain how the government plans to spend $1.515 trillion over the next year.
The book points to no particular party as an aficionado of waste but simply government itself. For example, we, as taxpayers, now employ 60,000 government farm employees to survey and record the activities of 2.1 million farmers, despite the fact that 60 years ago there were 20,000 government farm employees overseeing 6.3 million farmers. Technology hasn't tightened this outfit. And
that is just the beginning.
Did you know the government has its own civilian airline? About 100 planes are used to fly government officials around the country at a cost to you of $800 million in upkeep. The government also leases another 5,000 private planes a year at a cost of $100 million. It seems government officials like to avoid the crowds of commercial flying.
It gets worse. Did you know Congress has its own chaplain? Two, in fact. One for the House with a salary of $115, 300, and another for the Senate. The Senate Chaplain has a budget of $300,000. It may be God's work, but it's your money.
If you need helium, ask the government for some. It has a hundred-year supply. We need all that helium for our blips — you remember blimps, don't you. Those World War I飞ing machines that were to be the "weapon of the future," as Gross put it. Well, according to him, we haven't stopped hoarding helium, and it costs us $100 million a year to fill a large hole in Texas with $1 billion worth of a gas we can't sell.
This book highlights the inefficiencies of the country's biggest business: government. There are now more people in the public sector — 18.6 million non-revenue producers — than in the entire manufacturing sector. Government revenues exceed any other single industry. Envision a future where there are more people deciding how to spend money than people making money by making things.
I'm not advocating anarchy, though, as society does need some form of government. But it doesn't need one larger than itself. We are not going to see any reduction in the deficit until we see a reduction in the system causing that deficit.
If you’re still not convinced of the excess and inefficiency of government, examine the Superfund. This EPA program, begun in 1880, was initiated to clean up the 1,250 most polluted sites scattered across the country. By 1991 $10 billion had been spent to clean up 65 of those sites. Only 30 percent of the Superfund goes to actual clean-up costs. The rest is spent on administration. The EPA hires out contractors for the work, pays on a cost reimbursable basis and rarely checks estimates. One contractor charged the EPA $4,100 for tickets to Denver Nuggets, Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners games, and $7,700 for drinks. Overall the contractor claimed $19,600 for entertainment. Another contractor charged the government $180,000 for 11,000 hours in excess off time and vacation pay.
And now we want government in charge of deficit reduction and possibly even health care. Brace yourselves.
Jack Fisher is a London senior in Journalism.
National health care not only option
"In all the sparring over how to pay for universal health coverage and contain medical costs, research — an issue that's critical to the U.S. health system's future — has largely been ignored." So said Hilary Stout in a recent Wall Street Journal article. She added that the Clinton's health care plan "doesn't pledge new funds for National Institutes of Health, the government's principal medical-research operation and grant writer."
This is just one of the myriad of problems with national health care. When political appointees on a committee control the purse strings, they get to decide what will and won't be funded. In short, decisions about medical research become political decisions driven by the availability of funds and politicians who base their decisions on their standings in the polls.
And from the perspective of a hospital's comptroller, should a woman in labor be allowed to have an epidural,
Can you imagine such craven political animals as Bill Clinton or George Bush making decisions about what type of research to fund? For instance, should abortions be funded? Should AIDS research or cancer research be funded?
an anesthetic used to ease labor pains?
A woman recently reported in a Wall Street Journal editorial on the plight of her friend. The friend went to a Canadian hospital to deliver her child. Unfortunately, because Canada's national health care system is broke, and the Canadian government is cutting corners to keep the health care system from collapsing, the Canadian ministry of health has announced that it is curtailing the availability of epidurals. In many cash-strapped Canadian hospitals only one anesthetist is on duty. But what if four people in pain show up at a time? There is no money to hire an additional anesthetist. The result?
"It was awful. When I got to the hos
pital [going into labor], I asked for an epidural. The nurse said I had to wait
epathetic. The nurse said I had to wait — there were three people ahead of me. Soon, I was feeling sick with pain. The nurse told me to take a hot shower. I couldn't stand it anymore and begged for the anesthetic. It still wasn't my turn. I was rocking back and forth in agony. Then the doctor arrived and said the baby was coming out and it was too late for anything. Afterward he apologized to me — he said I looked in terrible pain and it was horrible to watch."
Horrible to watch? How could he stand it? I wonder how it feels to have a woman beg you for a pain killer readily available in free market economies.
Our health care system is not perfect; it is far from it. We all need to become more aware of the options available to fix it. To that end, the KU Libertarians are sponsoring a panel discussion, "Three Perspectives of National Health Care," at 8 p.m. tomorrow night at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union. The panel includes Henry Butler, Koch distinguished teaching professor of law and economics; Bob Murphy, a general practitioner in Kansas City; and Frank Kaul, who is knowledgeable
about the pricing of pharmaceuticals.
about the pricing of public institutions. Women could argue that women in labor would get the pain killers they desire if more women were in government making decisions on funding. Gay activists could argue that if there were more homosexuals in government, AIDS research would be well-funded. And they may be right. If the government takes over our healthcare system, health care will become a good whose availability will be determined by tax receipts (Which accounts will be cut during recessions?), and whose distribution will be based on political preferences. But what about pain killers for the terminally ill? After all, they are going to die anyway, and they don't usually get out to vote. Is this how we want our healthcare system managed?
An alternative would allow people to set up their own IRA-style medical accounts. There are more options to be considered. But national health care managed by the government? No thank you. National health care is not worth dying for, or going without anesthesia.
Allen Tiffany is a Lawrence graduate student in English.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Use field house funds for students,not seats
I have no problem with the proposed safety upgrades of Allen Field House. Sprinklers, exit modifications and an enhanced water supply all are understandably high priority improvements that could have been addressed previously.
However, I question the extra half-million dollars ($588,000 to be more precise, or 31 percent of the projected total cost) for additional seating, acoustical ceilings and "miscellaneous."
First of all, installing 200 more
seats will increase present seating capacity by slightly more than 1 percent. Cost, installation, etc. will come to $685 per seat. What are these, La-Z Boys?
Acoustical ceilings likely would reduce noise level in the Field House. Fans likely would yell louder. So people with sensitive ears would go to a game, leaving their cotton balls behind. They'd settle into their La-Z-Boys and still go deaf before halftime.
Lastly, $221,000 is to be spent on "miscellaneous." I'd be curious to know what kind of "miscellaneous" the Board of Regents is buying. (If it
has something to do with toilet seats, we're in trouble. )
The Allen Field House improvements are to be financed by the Kansas Board of Regents capitol improvement fund for the fiscal years 1994 and 1995. Since I am not familiar with the particulars of how this fund is generated, I have a feeling that our taxes might have something to do with it. If that's the case, I'd much rather see the extra half-million dollars go somewhere else. Braille computer keyboards and similar equipment for visually-handicapped students would be a good start. (Whether such appropriations may fall under the category of capitol improvements may be another issue.)
In my book, finances that would help students with special needs are also high-priority, long overdue concerns. To direct attention to such needs, now that's what I call improvement. (Note: Renovation plans are still being considered. That address for the Kansas Board of Regents is: Suite 609, Capitol Tower, 400 S.W. Eighth Street, Topeka, KS 66033.)
Taina Grenholm Lawrence junior