0 1993 Opinion University Daily Kansan, March 3, 1983 In certain instances... Every so often one reads in various magazines that Adolf Hitler is alive and well and tooling around the Caribbean in a yacht. We laugh. But every so often something so astoundingly repugnant happens that we have to think again: an upsurge in the Klan membership, or parades by Nazi party members. Or perhaps that something is a new bill recently introduced in the Kansas House. Under a bill submitted Feb. 9, guardians of mentally retarded women could petition a district court for permission to have the retarded women sterilized. After a hearing, the court could order that a woman be sterilized if a doctor stated that the woman's life could be endangered if she became pregnant. Why pregnancy would endanger the life of a retarded woman more than the life of a mentally sound woman was not really discussed much. What was discussed was just how specific the bill should be to make it acceptable for a woman to be involuntarily sterilized. So it is left up to the representatives — the same body of people who introduced the bill. Who can decide such a thing? Two mothers of retarded women were brought in as experts — and they disagreed. Doctors could decide, but a few decades ago many doctors thought it appropriate to sterilize ALL retarded women. One can only hope that if the bill becomes law, hospital administrators and employees will take advantage of earlier Kansas statutes 65-446 and 65-447 stating that no person or hospital shall be required to participate in medical procedures that result in sterilization. Favors key to Chicago race By ROBERT KIECKHEFER United Press International CHICAGO — The key to Harold Washington's future is not his race — he would be Chicago's first black mayor — but his attitude toward the patronage system that makes the city's "machine" go. Washington, 60, who is serving his second term in Congress, defeated Mayor Jane Byrne and State's Attorney Richard Daley, son of the legendary late mayor, in the Feb. 22 primary. As the smoke cleared the day after the primary, it was obvious that Washington, simply because he is black, would lose some support in the general election fight with former state Rep. Bernard Epton, 61, who ran unopposed in the GOP primary. Some Chicagoans will work for and vote for Epton solely because they abhor the thought of a black man at the city's helm. But there is a factor more powerful than race operating in Chicago politics. That factor is jobs. And, in the normal course of things, jobs would ensure that Washington would be elected easily in the April 12 general election. In most cases, it works like this: If a Chicago resident wants one of the thousands of jobs the city has to offer, he must present as part of his credentials a letter of recommendation from his ward committeeman. The committeemen, in essence, control the jobs and hand them out to loyal precinct workers. The mayor traditionally does the final "screening" in this process. If, for example, there is a feud going on between the mayor and the commissioner of the 11th Ward, there are likely to be few 11th Ward residents hired by the city. The committeemen would realize that Washington's victory made him the gatekeeper of the jobs. And they would tell their people something like, "Hey. You may not like the idea of one of them moving in at the (City) Hall. But you like your job, and your brother's job, right? Vote for him." And most of them would. More than enough, coupled with Washington's solid support in the black community, to ensure that he would crush Epton April 12. The problem is that Washington proposes to abolish the patronage system. Washington said he knew that approach would weaken the mayor's office and mean a resurgence of the Republican Party. He said he was confident that the mayor would return control of city government to the people. But he may be overlooking one small detail: he hasn't yet been elected mayor. He won only slightly more than a third of the vote in the primary, which means a large majority of Democratic Party voters opposed him. Without any tinge of racism, Epton can take advantage of that. He can go to the committeemen and make a deal. "If Washington won't work with you," he might say in the ethnic wars, "I will." After all, there aren't that many Republicans in Chicago to give jobs to, anyway. He might as well offer them to Democratic committeemen in return for support. Washington remains the clear favorite. The odds are that his stand on patronage will ease — partly because he will realize he needs patronage to be effective as mayor, and partly because his community will expect an increased share of the political gravy. Even if he doesn't completely make his peace with the committeemen, many disenchanted ethnic whites are unlikely to make a special trip to the polls just to vote against Washington. They're more able to stay home, letting the black wards again give Washington the margin. Lies. All of them lies. Damned lies. Dirty lies. Little white lice. Liar, liar, pants on fire. List of lies covers any occasion "The lie you told today." Reverend Washington said as he thumped the pulpit, "will catch up on your mistakes." And so on, ad nauseam. Scenes from America, brought to you by one of the big Ten Commandments, which made it a no-no to tell something not true. Yet most of us still do it . . tell lies, that is, which brings me to the subject of my column. 3. "T'll respect you in the morning." Don't lie him, Booise. If you hear this lie, the At one time or another, we we've all heard about the "Three Greatest Lies." These are the lies 2. "The check is in the mail." Caught off-guard by a creditor, this used to be the easiest way out for a debtor. Now it's the easiest way into a debtor's prison. At least one of the big three can't be printed. It's too obscene, even for me to write. But you're unsure as to what it is, ask a neighbor. Everyone knows someone that knows it. One day, I decided to chronicle the big three. I got a little carried away, though. I ended up with 17, not counting the unprintable one. So, here it is, HARRY'S LIST OF THE SEVENTEEN GREATEST LIES OF LIFE, LOVE AND COMMERCE. 1. "Let's have lunch sometime." Numero uno for a good reason. Personally, I've never had lunch with someone who asks me to have lunch sometime. unprintable one is usually not far behind. 5. "I really had a great time tonight." If she had such a great time, how come she won't speak to me any more? HARRY MALLIN 7. "Oh, that's only a cold sore." This he is imported from California. It's not one number one. "I. "love you." Don't believe this one on its face. Get some proof like a diamond or a ring." 9. "It’s a standard deal." This is a classic, used-car salesman lie. The so-called "standard deal" means that it doesn’t come with a radio, a beater or a front seat. 10. "I read it somewhere." The 'qualifier' fe. This is what you say when someone says you're wrong. It doesn't work with teachers, usually. Excent, of course. HDFL teachers. 11. "That's the way we've always done it." Probably not. In fact, they started doing it that when they saw a sucker like you walk in the door. 12. "That's not my department/table." A favorite of the sunny salesmen and waiting waitresses. If you hear this one, you can count on a good half-hour wait while your salesman or waitress finishes talking to their lover on the phone. 13. "I just checked and we don't have any in back, either." I used to say this all the time at work. It means either "I'm too lazy to look," or "I can't remember where I put it." 14. "I just sold the last one." Sorry, but there are two cases of them behind the thing you couldn't find in number 13. 15. “I’d do it myself, but I’m busy.” I used to say when this was I was busy putting things away in my And finally, number 17 is for those of you who remember when Mel Torme was called the Velvet Fog and Packard was the king of the road. It's a classic. 17. "I have some marvelous etchings upstairs, if you'd care to look." Letters to the Editor Keep this list handy and maybe in the future, when it becomes standard material in children's schoolbooks, you can show everyone that you read it here first. South African reform must go slow To the editor. In response to the column by Bonar Menninger on South Africa, there are several important issues that he failed to recognize. The problem of having a mass of illiterate blacks is not going to be solved overnight. It will take time to educate the black population to be able to govern themselves adequately. One of the big problems in this effort to educate the public is that when a black does mriage to gain a good education, the last place he goes is among other blacks. He leaves as soon as he possibly can. Although I can't blame them for that attitude, that attitude will have to change before any changes can happen. After living in South Africa for four years and traveling extensively throughout countries in Southern Africa, I believe that blacks in South Africa are more likely than blacks in the new hungered-cut Zimbabwe. People in the United States, as Menninger's column makes clear, do not understand the vast cultural differences that exist between blacks in America and blacks in South Africa. A rapid change would probably bring a situation similar to what the Shah's attempt at rapid modernization. I agree that a change in South Africa — a change to allow the black to participate in government — is necessary and inevitable. However, the change must be allow to ensure not only that the country has the capacity to run a country, but also to ensure the stability of the government and economy of that country. If a radical change is adopted to allow the black to rule themselves before they are adequately prepared, South Africa will almost certainly turn into another Uganda or Angola. Apartheid will lose Leroy Mergy Spring Hill sophomore I was quite impressed by Bonar Menninger's article "South African strife escalating" mainly because the South African problem is one that has attracted my attention in the past and finally To the editor, someone wrote something about it in the Kansan. In a way, I find it hard to imagine how much longer the South African government thinks it will be able to control South Africa. What do you think about this? Is it possible later the day will come when justice will be done. South Africa will remain a dark spot in history, a reminder of the cruel past of the slave trade, and of the injustice of the genocide. Is it a crime, I sometimes wonder, to be different from the Western world, to have a culture or color or whatever that is (foreign to the West? Why can South Africans not be treated as equals? Why can they not rule their own land? Why not wipe off the last remaining dark spot of the world's cruel unjust past and try to live in a peaceful world of colorless people? Nagla Abdel-Razik. The fact that amazes me most is that we are no longer living in the dark ages when some people were regarded as superior to others. It amazes us that humans still control South Africa in this modern age. Cairo, Egypt, sophomore Blacks must remember During the month of February, black America participated in the national celebration of its unique history and its contributions to this country and to the world. At KU, we, too, have re-examined ourselves and have found pride, inspiration and motivation in our black essence. Yet when February has come and gone, what will happen to our concern that the recognition of black self, black truth — blackness — go unnoticed for another 11 months? Twelve months out of the year we are black; therefore, we must not place any self-imposed limitations on the celebration of our Afro-American heritage to one-twelfth of our lives. To the editor We, black students of KU, have something important to say to this university and to the nation. We, black Americans, have something important to say to the world. But most of all, we are American citizens. That is that our most important words we must say to ourselves. Martin's dream, Malcolm's fire, Nikki's fury, Margaret's vision, Garvey's pride and the legacy of all our black patriarchs have given us not only confidence and pride, but also a window looking toward the future. We bestow upon the children of tomorrow the inheritance of today. Thus, we must honor our forefathers and think of our children, not only during Black History Month, but throughout the entire year. Beiva Wilson, Leavenworth junior Belva Wilson. Forum opinions open To the editor. I would like to respond to Dan Parelman's column "Morals of few being fished on many" (Feb. 8). I have often heard the KU Conservative Forum being associated with racism, fascism and Nazism by so-called liberals who either don't know better and evidently don't care for the truth or who are purposely trying to slander conservatism. Now, I read in Parelman's editorial that we are "die-hard moralists who want to re-kill the Equal Rights Amendment, deny women their right to choose abortion and intrude on the privacy of teenagers who seek contraceptives." This is not the truth. Although individual members have their own opinions, the KU Conservative Forum has never stated a position on these matters. I would think the Kansan editors would verify such creations of Parelman's imagination before printing them. Parelman's letter smacks of McCarthyite guilt by association. It is often a tactic in attacking conservatism to use innuendo or false association, but to perpetrate this in a newspaper is especially outrageous. The KU Conservative Forum is a forum for the open discussion of all areas of cultural and socio-political concern. We strive for greater political awareness on the KU campus by providing interesting speakers from diverse fields for our free-of-cost lectures. I believe that Dan Parelman and the Kansean owe the KU Conservative Forum an apology. RU Conservative Forum member, Charlotte N.C. senior Letters Policy The University Daily Kansan welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced and should not exceed 500 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 Kansan reserves the right to edit or reject letters. The University Daily KANSAN The University Dayak Kanan (USPK 80-640) at the University of Kansas. 118 Flm Hall, Lawen, Kan. 60045, dailies during the regular school year and Monday and Thursday during weekends. Subscriptions are $19 per month or $24 for six months in a through mail account at Lawrence, Kan. 60044. Subscriptions by mail are $19 for six months or $24 for seven months in a through mail account paid through the student activity fee *POSTMASTER*. Send address changes to the university mail center. 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