OPINION
The University Daily KANSAN
October 24,1983 Page 4
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
The University Daily Kansas (USP 602-6480) is published at the University of Kansas, 113 Stauffer-Flinn Hall, Lawrence, MA 60065, daily during the regular school year and twice weekly during the summer months. Mail Saturday, Sunday, holidays, and final periods. Secondary student postage paid through KSU Post Office or ERS at a monthly subscription fee $1.99 for a monthly subscription or £5 for a year outside the county. Student subscriptions are $1 a semester paid through the student activity fee. PRESASTER: Send address changes to the usp@ksu.edu.
MARK ZIEMAN
Editor
DOUG CUNNINGHAM STEVE CUSICK
Managing Editor Editorial Editor
DON KNOX
Campus Editor
PAUL JESS
General Manager and News Adviser
ANN HORNBERGER Business Manager
DAVE WANAMAKER
Retail Sales
Manager
MARK MEARS
National Sales
Manager
LYNNE STARK
Campus Sales Manager
JOHN OBERZAN
Advertising Adviser
Senseless deaths
The U.S. Marines should have been pulled from Lebanon shortly after the first one died there earlier this year. They weren't, and at least 146 of them paid for that mistake yesterday.
yesterday.
They were killed in a suicide bomb raid. Officials aren't sure who was responsible, but the Free Islamic Revolution Movement says it was. It doesn't matter. The Marines are in the middle of a civil war, and regardless of the vile womb that conceived the ghastly deed, those who died yesterday are victims of that war.
that it was, simply, "a disaster waiting to happen," in the words of one U.S. senator.
Now the American public should not be fooled by the war-rallying cries of the Reagan administration, as Reagan attempts to curry the public's favor in the same way he used the Korean airliner incident.
"There are no words that can express our sorrow and grief for the loss of those splendid young men." Reagan said yesterday. "Likewise, there are no words to properly express our outrage . . . at the despicable act."
Hypocrisy. The Marines who died yesterday would not be dead today, had the U.S. government brought them home. They're of no use in
Lebanon. They're supposed to be keeping the peace, but the factional fighting in the country has increased, and their mission has become blurred. They are in a war zone, and some were killed, and more will be killed.
more will be made.
It is sad and it is despicable, but it is no surprise — it is war. And regardless of who was responsible for the killing, it is only logical that people will die in a land where hate and guns rule.
The Reagan administration has already said that the incident will not force American troops from Beirut. It said it would not bow to terrorism of this sort.
But it will bow to public pressure. Not since the Vietnam War has the nation had to mourn the loss of so many soldiers in a single incident. The outcry must be great, unless our conscience has become numb, or unless the lesson of Vietnam has been forgotten.
So be prepared for the Reagan pronouncements that the United States will not retreat because of terrorism. That is not the issue. The issue is whether we are willing to let more Americans die senselessly amid the rubble of Beirut, just as we let them die senselessly in the jungles of Vietnam.
Welcome Hillel House
The dedication Sunday of Hillel House is a promising sign for campus groups.
campus group Hillel, a Jewish organization, plans to use the house, at 940 Mississippi St., as a gathering place for students. Events at the center are to include meetings and religious services; moreover, the center will provide the only public kosher kitchen in Lawrence.
Hillel eventually found a suitable house and purchased it in May for about $80,000. Hillel members made renovations during the summer at a cost of another $80,000.
The new center shows that perseverance can pay off for a dedicated group of students and faculty members. In the case of Hillel, the group had tried to buy a different house in the past but met resistance from residents of the neighborhood. The group, however, continued the search for its own roof.
The new Hillel House should help students survive amid the hustle and bustle of campus life, as well as promote a sense of community among Hillel members.
The new center also will likely prove valuable by showing that campus organizations can successfully undertake expensive, large-scale projects.
Hillel House received a warm welcome during the dedication. The center is truly a welcome addition to the every-busy KU panorama.
Longer life, more pain
Life expectancy is lengthening. But bad news goes with that. Many of the addition years will be fraught with pain, illness and affliction.
The New England Journal of Medicine, which has reported the findings of many government scientists doing research in the area, should provoke some serious thinking. Unless more efforts are made to battle the ills that accompany old age, a longer life span means that people will "spend longer proportions of their lives afflicted by chronic diseases that can make life miserable."
Protections have been built up against the acute diseases that kill people quickly, but less has been done with the chronic diseases that afflict the elderly such as arthritis, heart problems and Alzheimer's. This is where the problem arises.
Institutes of Health, said the goal of science is "not so much an increasing life span, but increasing the quality of life. Nobody wants to live to 135 if the quality of life is horrible."
Edward Schneider, of the National
It is consoling, though, that the problem is recognized and is being talked about. That is always an imperative first step.
— Scranton (Pa.) Tribune
The University Daily Kanan welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced and should not exceed 300 words. They should include the writer's name, address and phone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University, the letter should include his class and home town or faculty or staff position. The Kanan also invites group members to submit entries to column. Columns and letters can be mailed or brought to the Kanson office, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kanzen reserves the right to edit or reject letters and columns.
Imagine Ronald Reagan as king
Ronald Reagan will soon announce his re-election candidacy. Before he commits himself, here's a proposition: Royalty for America.
Most Americans, whether Democratic, Republican or other, would agree that there are men better able to lead our nation than Ronald Reagan. The problem is that Reagan was a woman. It would be difficult or perhaps impossible to run a less charismatic candidate against him successfully.
Couldn't this country use a statesman instead of a character actor playing the role, even if he didn't have B-movie star looks and the allure of a great communicator? How big a bipartisan majority would think so.
imagine Reagan as king: King Ronald I, Duke of California. He could return to California to set up his Royal Court, perhaps at San Simeon. He could attend funerals of foreign dignitaries. He could travel throughout the world, spreading good will and joy.
But those of Reagan's brand will continue to be elected to the presidency, unless they are offered a more lucrative position — king.
LETTERS POLICY
for royal dinner parties; No more MX missiles, taxes, budgets, war powers, Lebanon, El Salvador or build-down plans.
King Ronald's biggest decision every week would be the guest list
There would be just yards and yards of purple velvet, studded with diamonds; a royal scepter with an eagle on top; and a crown cast from
JESSE BARKER
Staff Columnist
melted-down Susan B. Anthony dollars.
Of course, King Ronald would be handsomey paid. Few would begrudge him his salary. He would draw the country back together, and provide America with an inspirational figurehead.
But he would be a figurehead only, not the chief executive.
The English love their royalty
Or do you remember Prince Andrew and his escapades with blue movie star Koo Koo "Wouldn't it be nifty if Ron Jr. started stopping them?" The answer is yes, the press could follow them as they frolved through the Bahamas.
Remember the royal wedding?
Remember the celebrations, the festivities, the happiness brought to Prince Charles, the marriage of Prince Charles finally married?
And now we come to the Royal Family: Queen Nanley. It has a nice ring, doesn't it? And one would be impressed to find a more regal lady.
Bonnie Prince Ronnie Jr. would have to forsake ballet and learn to play poie, of course. But when he fell off his pony, he would land far more gracefully than his English counterpart.
**Princess Patti Davis, Reagan's actress daughter, could marry one of the young Kennedy. The country is under the standards of both parties.**
Although it would be only a minute fraction of the national budget, American Royalty would be expensive. To finance King Ronald and his Court, the federal government could enter the souvenir business.
King Ronald T-shirts,bumper stickers, buttons, stuffed toys, cologne sets, needlepoint kits and toilet seat covers would abound. Royalty just might make money for the United States.
At the funeral of the King of America, the redwood throne in California — as far from Washington as possible — would not be passed on to Nancy or any of the Royal Progeny. No, indeed. This is America, after all. We fought a war about this sort of thing once.
An election would be held. And a new Royal Family would ascend the throne. The old family would reap the benefits of an attractive pension.
Not only would Royalty for America solve the Reagan matter, it would eliminate problems in the future with similar politicians. There has been speculation that Robert Redford and Alan Alda will someday enter politics. They are fine actors, but presidents?
Royalty would also provide more suitable employment for other government figures. Almost every one agrees that damnation of the interior he would, however, make an excellent Court jester.
A Jackson bid could create political benefits for blacks
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Rev. Jesse Jackson's interest in the Democratic presidential candidacy reflects the growing maturity of Afro-American politics. Although it is unlikely that a Jackson bid can either gain or significantly influence the party's nomination, a cardinal's vote in this state would have a momentous 'c' act on electoral politics in the future.
Those spin-offs — primarily voter registration and the encouragement
MARTIN KILSON
Professor at Harvard University
of black leaders to run for federal, state and local office — could generate political benefits infinitely superior to those produced by black leaders before. No one is more aware of this than Jackson: "My running," he says, "will stimulate thousands to run; it will make millions register. If you can get your share of legislators, mayors, shiffs, school-board members, tax assessors and dogcatchers, you can live with whoever is in the White House."
Today, there are about 5,200 elected black officials, whereas the potential is probably two or three times that figure. This is proved by
the growing ability of black candidates to win office in white majority constituencies.
Jackson's appeal among white voters suggests that the demonstration effect of a candidacy among middle- and upper-middle-class blacks could be enormous, undercutting a longstanding apathy toward investing time, energy and resources in running for office.
Nationally, some 41 percent of 17.6 million voting-age Afro-Americans are unregistered (compared with 34 percent of voting-age whites), and in the South whose electoral votes will be crucial in 1984—the situation is worse still: In five key states Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas—only about 50 percent of voting-age blacks are registered. Equally重要的是 the situation in big states like New York (55 percent unregistered blacks), Pennsylvania (41 percent), New Jersey (41 percent), and Ohio and California (both 35 percent).
Equally and more immediately consequential is the effect of a Jackson candidacy upon the voting behavior of blacks — especially working-class and lower-class blacks.
The charisma and populist appeal of Jackson as a candidate would
smash black voter apathy and thereby affect the outcome of a bid by President Reagan for a second term.
Surely Jackson knows he can't win many, if any, primaries, and at best he will end up at the Democratic National Convention with fewer that 300 of a total 3,933 delegates. So why? Victory for a Jackson candidate should not be measured traditionally. Jackson seeks new notions of what is politically possible among Afro-Americans while gaining new respect from the established political parties.
Blacks can no longer allow the Republicans to reverse federal responsibility for basic needs of blacks in areas such as voting rights, food stamps, affirmative action, job training and employment, about placing a bill. If it could help blacks in these matters, a Jessica Jackson presidential candidacy would surely be worthwhile.
Copyright 1983 the New York Times,
Martin Kissin, professor of government
at Harvard University, is author of
the forthcoming "Neither Insiders Nor
Outsiders: Blacks in American Society."
U.S. must respond with caution
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
To the Editor:
Iran recently announced that as part of its war effort with Iraq, it may shut off the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. Such a move would pose a serious threat to many nations, including the West, while import 8 million barrels of oil from the region.
President Reagan has made it clear that the United States would take military action to protect this interest should it become threatened. There are basic risks, objectives, time and response needed that must be assumed before any U.S. military action takes place in the region.
One basic risk is that there is a
real and serious possibility that a conflict between the United States and Iran could spread into neighboring areas, with the forces of other nations becoming involved. U.S. forces could eventually become involved in a direct conflict with the Soviet Union. Such a confrontation would obviously pose a threat to the whole world.
America's clear dependence on Midearth oil appears to justify the use of military force to protect its continued flow, despite the threat of escalation. But there are measures that can be taken to contain a contagious outbreak of warfare within the Gulf area and to avoid a U.S.-Soviet confrontation.
Before any U.S. forces enter the
area, there objective must be clear, and there can be only one objective: to insure that the flow of oil through the region is protected. Clear limits must be imposed on the extent and nature of U.S. military involvement. Battle itself must be limited to acts in defense of the U.S. fleet.
Iran may never try to prevent the flow of oil out of the gulf. Such a move is unlikely. But if it does, any American response must be carefully planned with underlying need to prevent regional escalation. Failure to take such caution, in any modern military action, could lead to destruction and loss of life like humanity has never seen.
Kevin K. Kelly Lawrence junior
Fighting in Sri Lanka was costly
bitlinan The tribe started because a small group of Tamil extremists, who contended their race accounts for 11 percent of Sri Lanka's population of 15 million, wanted a separate homeland in northern Sri Lanka. The Tamils have long resented control by the Buddhist Simulasee.
Hatred between segments of the population in Sri Lanka has proved costly for the country this year. At least 150 people were killed and 50,000 were left homeless by Sri Lanka's worst ethnic riots since the nation won independence from Britain in 1948.
The plan was to cause a conflict between the Sinhalese and the Tamils, the Sinhalese and the Tamils, the Sinhalese and the Tamils. The Christians, Jawardweave said.
If the iriologists have been successful, President Junus K. Jayswardone's government would have been blamed for a war that could also have given his political opponents in the military an chance to take over the government.
He said that "local things" had been recruited to carry out the plan and that prime target areas were then earmarked for the attack.
But the government moved swiftly
KALPANA
TRIVADI
Staff Columnist
to quash any hopes the trouble-makers might have of overtaking the government
"From a humanistic point of view, the crisis was totally unnecessary," said Anura Wickramasinghe. Sri Lankan junior studying computer science and philosophy at the University of Kansas
By amending the constitution, the president and the Parliament established a comprehensive set of sanctions against attempts to esthish a separate state within the territory of the sovereign state of Sri Lanka.
The Tamils, originally from South India, have made Sri Lanka their home, and Jayawardené has said that they have as much right to live in the country as the Muslims, the Christians and the Buddhists.
The Tamis do not need a separate state. If granted one, the other segments would clamor for one too. And that would cause border problems he said. As Lakla, the mayor of LaKala, he said, "there is no point dividing it."
The Sri Lankan government responded to the riots promptly and sternly, unlike the Indian government when pre-election violence erupted in Assam, a northeastern Indian state. Then, the Indian government should have called off state election protests because of petition, butchering, millions of Bengals, who had sought refuge in the country in 1961 and in 1971.
It was a cry for separation that ended in a blood bath in Assam. Since the Indian government did not move quickly enough in dealing with the Assamese conflict, the result were more than 2 million people were killed.
there is no excuse for such inhumane behavior. Peaceful coexistence should be the pattern of human life. That may sound a tribute but it's pointless to shred blood for its safety and sensationist causes.