OPINION The University Daily KANSAN August 29,1983 Page4 The University Daily KANSAN Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas The University Daily Kansan (USPS 650-640) is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Stuart Flint Hall, Lawrence, KA 60045, daily during the regular school year and Monday and Thursday during the summer sessions. Subscriptions are $15 for six months or $27 a year in Douglas County and $14 for six months or $3 for a year outside the county. Student subscriptions are $13 amply paid through the student activity fee **FOSTMART**. Send MARK ZIEMAN Editor MICHAEL ROBINSON Campus Editor PAUL JESS General Manager and News Adviser DOUG CUNNINGHAM STEVE CUSICK Managing Editor Editorial Author ANN HORNBERGER Business Manager DAVE WANMAKER MARK MEARS Retail Sales National Sales Manager LYNNE STARK Campus Sales Manager JOHN OBERZAN Advertising Adviser Too many grays Twenty years ago, a miraculous event occurred. A man named Martin Luther King Jr. brought more than 200,000 people together to advocate the brotherhood of black and white. Unfortunately, it seems such a miracle can never happen again. It did not happen last Saturday. This was a simple argument, with one main, simple theme. It was, so to speak, black and white. No grays. And people listened. And changes were made. And it wasn't forgotten. The tragedy is not that the blacks of this nation didn't make a single, simple statement Saturday advocating the brotherhood between blacks and whites. They did The real tragedy is that their beautiful and vitally important statement was hidden and distorted by a gray ragtag band hanging onto the coattails of a dead man for legitimacy, sabotaging the voice of a people and undermining the march of a decade. And the blacks, sadly, really had to let them do it. For didn't Martin Luther King believe in the brotherhood of all men? And today, doesn't that mean gays, and feminists, and American Green Party workers, and anti-Reaganites, and U.S. out of El Salvador-ans, and so on? Martin Luther King was a saintly yet simple man who began the great task of the peaceful integration of blacks and whites. He was, simply, a black leader, and did more than any before him toward the completion of that massive task. He was not a gay leader, or a feminist, or a member of the Green Party. Those groups need their own leaders, and must make their own history. So, yes, 250,000 people marched on Washington Saturday, the same amount as 20 years ago — but with fewer blacks and more "grays." When the march ended, the voice of King once again boomed forth from the Lincoln Memorial. But there was a difference — many of the assorted protesters failed to stick around for the recording. They had gotten their share of national exposure. And Mrs. King and other civil rights advocates were left alone with the old words and memories. Taking from the poor The Congressional Budget Office revealed some not-too-surprising statistics last week - low-income families have been the biggest losers under President Reagan's administration. The budget office released a report showing that budget reductions during the Reagan administration have fallen mostly on the poor and middle class. Households earning less than $20,000 a year have suffered 70 percent of the cuts in employment, education and other social programs. Furthermore, those earning less than $10,000 lost most from the cuts, the report said. The study triggered a response from House Speaker Thomas O'Neill, D-Mass., who said it showed that Reagan had "denied millions of American families the basics of the American dream." Although O'Neill's comments were a typical partisan shot at the president, few people can deny that the poor have suffered the most from the Reagan budget cuts, which were for the most part rubber-stamped by Congress. But that can change. Now that the country appears to be on the way to economic recovery, Congress and the president should begin restoring money to social programs even if it means raising taxes or cutting the defense budget. Yet, Reagan continues to call for reductions in education and other programs. Instead of taking more from those who have little in the first place, Reagan should put his hatchet to the Pentagon budget and give the poor a better shot at the "American dream." Just when you thought Interior Secretary James Watt had been muzzled, or at least toned down, he emerges again, like Godzilla in the Sea of Japan. Watt does it again Watt had been relatively quiet of late. Indeed, he was even making conciliatory statements on environmental policy. He said in June that he intended to emphasize statements on environmental policy. He said in June that he intended to emphasize conservation, not development of public lands and resources, in the remainder of his term. This analogy, like Watt's earlier suggestion that environmentalists' commitment to central planning was equivalent to the destruction of freedom under Nazi and Soviet Communist tyranny, is simplistic and gratuitous. Recently, however, Watt did it again. He told a Pentecostal prayer breakfast in California that abortion was "murder," and he likened Americans who acquiesced in abortion to Germans during the Holocaust. The last time Watt embarrassed himself with a shot from the hip, the president gave him a plaster foot with a hole in it. This time the president might try a different maneuver — something on the order of a dropkick. Concord (N.H.) Monitor United Press International The University Daily Kan萨 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 Kan萨 also invites individuals and groups to submit guest columns. The letters may be mailed or brought to the Kan萨 office. 111 Staffer-Finn Hall. The Kan萨 reserves the right to edit or reject letters and columns. LETTERS POLICY The hemispheric bond CARACAS, Venezuela — Why do we hear about relations between Latin America and the United States only when a tempest looms on the horizon? Why does the United States refuse to face its responsibility for what happens elsewhere in the hemisphere? Stop-gap efforts to calm upheaval in Central America will be of little avail unless we face these questions together and break the demeaning, Just as John Kennedy's Alliance for Progress was the product of the CARLOS ANDRES PEREZ Former President of Venezuela Once again, North Americans have ignored Latin American problems until it is almost too late. And only now — now that part of the hemisphere is on fire — does the United States begin to worry. Cuban Revolution, so the initiative launched by President Reagan and overseen by Henry Kissinger is a late, hasty response to the Central American conflict. What North Americans don't understand is that in the long run both north and south share a common fate - a past and a present that imprecise North America in the past has enabled naval aviations of the rest of the hemisphere. For decades, the United States baffled Latin Americans with its unconditional support for Central American dictators — so much so that many Latin Americans now suspect the word "democracy." Those dictators based exclusive societies based on systematic injus- It was these tyrants who fathered Latin America's revolutionaries, who were a new generation of idealists, offering justice and equality, who care little for international conspiracy. And the idealists are attracted to the promises of Marxism, not to Soviet power. However, the land fertilized by injustice turns out to be ideally suited to superpower games, and the dictators turn out to have been better allies of the Soviet Union than of their protectors in Washington. The United States should be able to see that conflict is inevitable in countries besieged by poverty and political subjugation. Yet, Washington waits for the outbreak of violence. the possibility of understanding may not be lost forever. Kissinger has made several mistakes in Latin American history has given him other chances. Meanwhile, the regionalization of the war in Central America seems all but inevitable, and if it occurs the United States will almost certainly intervene. No past U.S. initiatives formed under the pressure of the conflict have succeeded in Latin America. Latin American problems smoulder, then burst into flame, but one thing remains constant: the unbearable paternalism of the United States and its apparent distrust of any Latin American with a sense of self-respect. Despite statements to the contrary, the Reagan administration undermines and ignores the efforts of the countries of Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Panama — to mediate in Central America. What we need now is a plan for Central American development. The administration is talking about such a plan, but any proposal must offer hope for social and political change and not be marred by unacceptable demeaning conditions that would be placed on the people of the region. this plan must be part of a comprehensive initiative, a vision of the future of all Latin America that reaches beyond one region at war. This time will be no different unless we take this as an occasion to re-examine the very basis of our relationship, our common fate. But That is the only hope for democracy in Latin America. Wherever such governments have been created in this hemisphere, they are irreversible. We are by nature a democratic people. Yet, as time passes and incarnates into our nation, Latin Americans will mistrust and eventually reject anything associated with democracy. There is evidence that North Americans are not indifferent to our common fate — but not yet enough evidence that they care enough to remedy it. The first step is a simple one, a matter of respect. The United States must recognize that the Contadora group is not merely a mediating commission or a product of circumstance. It is a symbol of new Latin American consciousness. Latin Americans have rescued the right to their own identity and are accepting it — accept their dignity and independence — and unify North and South in search of a solution. Copyright 1983 the New York Times. Searching for votes of women - Transportation Secretary Eliza beth Dole and Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler. President Reagan is running into obstacles in his quest for the women's vote. He also named Sandra Day O'Connor as the first woman justice of the Supreme Court and Jeanne Kirkpatrick as the first woman to head the U.S. delegation to the United Nations. He and his aides are puzzled at the negative reaction to what they view as generous efforts to increase opportunities for women. Presidential spokesman Larry Speakes said the president's record of female appointees to high-ranking federal jobs was unmatched in history. The administration's showcases are two Cabinet women But the White House is learning that the problem is much broader HELEN THOMAS United Press International More than a year ago, Reagan ordered a review of all federal statutes that might include discriminatory language. and that Reagan's opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment hurt his image with the modern-day American woman who believes there still is discrimination in many areas. The Justice Department has conducted the intensive search, calling on all agencies to point out laws that discriminate against women. So far, three quarterly reports from the White House, but no action have been taken and the reports have not been made public. Barbara Honegger, a Justice Department special assistant, delivered a blow to the administration when she described as a 'sham' Reagan's efforts to eliminate discrimination in the law. She said the president should interpretation of existing statutes forbidding sex discrimination. Reagan went out of his way two weeks ago to apologize to members of the Federation of Business and Professional Women after they were turned away from the White House gates. Reagan sought to make amends by putting in a personal appearance, but his remarks offended some of the women. Reagan's political advisers are aware of the problems. They are soliciting the advice of some prominent Democrats and a better appeal for the women's vote. Columnist Ann Landers has been asked for advice. Maureen Reagan, the president's daughter and an activist, also has been recruited. With the elections more than a year away, Reagan still has a chance to make many affirmative moves to improve his image with women, but it may require a philosophical change of direction. Yard sales are bargain hunter's dream It could hardly be called a "grasse matinee" On a warm Saturday morning the last thing on your mind would probably be a bargain. Yet, somewhere in Lawrence, a block away or maybe more, are yard sales that provide necessities at down-to-earth prices. It's a great deal for everyone on a shoestring, student budget. Garage sales, yard sales, porch sales or tag sales — what could be a better bargain than buying a desk, a fan, a radio, utensils or knick-knacks for less than one-tenth their original price. Your apartment could have everything it needs at more affordable costs. But it takes a smart shopper to know how to get a good buy at a garage sale. The trained shopper can distinguish a veteran salesman, who regularly holds sales, from the amateur. The amateur's yard is a more exciting place to shop. There are more freebies, and many more items are thrown together in cardboard boxes that cost only 25 cents to $2 apiece. It's a steal. Veteran salesmen allow little bargaining. They set a price — the buyer pays it or goes without. They don't waste time hagglings over quarters and pennies. Yard sales are addictive, too. Some shoppers go to them out of sheer habit and return with a handful of items that they probably could do without. Others can't pass by yard sales without looking over all of the items on sale. An imaginative sales person last Saturday even dressed a bit out of the ordinary and it worked. The man wore a toga, and his head was shaved. He was pleased. Pleasant tempered and willing to cut prices, he sold a lot that day. Anything goes at these sales — be it a uiseless radio that has a sticker saying "does not work" or a faulty toaster that either burns bread or a microwave, just a little bit of tinkering can bring broken appliances to life. New and old desks, book shelves and books, boots and cloats, wall posters and records — everything be found at garage sales. And shopping at them is a smart and thrifty person's way of life. It is, by no means, being "penn wise and pound foolish." Unless you lose all sense of proportion and collect more junk. But remember, everything costs — even rusty nails and a four-legged stool with a stump leg. A note of caution — never mention your new apartment and your efforts at a lived-inlook for the apartment. Some polished salesperson could sweet-talk you into buying a brown-bag full of dust, just for the corners and behind the doors. It's a bargain, for only to cents. So, while you acquire a sun tan, probably even blisters on your feet, and trade on a petty-cash level, you might end up with everything you always wanted but never wanted to pay dear for. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Add/drop needs changing To the editor: Something is rotten in the state of enrollment. To be precise, the University has once again, demonstrated a bureaucracy's inability to solve problems efficiently. Apparently, the students must pay for their smoother, faster enrollment system by standing in half-mile lines every other morning to add or drop classes. Of course, these are only the first of two lines a student must endure. Only a bureaucracy would think of requiring a Whatever happened to the simple triplicate forms from a couple of years ago? The whole process usually took less than an hour, and the lines were rarely longer than 100 feet. I suppose the office of admission and records failed to meet their red-tape quota during those years. form for the "right" to stand in a line. Thomas Long Overland Park junior If the chancellor is truly interested in improving this University, I suggest he add this to his already long schedule of necessary changes.