Page 4 University Daily Kansan, February 23, 1980
Opinion
Issue over-for now
This weekend, Lawrence's five city commissioners met in their second closed session in less than a week.
The subject—City Manager Buford Watson
The verdict—retain Watson, for now.
The issue—whether Watson should be fired after serving as the city's chief administrator for more than 10 years.
As it turned out, though, Gleason decided not to carry out the threat that started all the trouble. He decided not to move to fire Watson.
Instead, the commissioners quietly discussed Watson's shortcomings in their executive session. And, full of Christian charity, they said the city manager could improve his faults.
As Gleason said, his move—or nonmove—probably helped avoid the creation of a "massive division" in the commission. But in some ways, Gleason's move seemed like a retreat, not a compromise. And the Buford Watson issue seems to have ended too quietly.
The commission gave few specifics in its decision to have Watson improve his shortcomings.
What, exactly, are his shortcomings? When will he improve them? And how will the commission measure that improvement?
This month's controversy pointed out several ills in Lawrence city government. But it seems that in their quiet executive session, the commissioners decided that the city should heal itself.
Scientists unearth dangers of colas, coffee, candy bars
It's one of the most widely used drugs on campus, a stimulant that comes in many flavors. Machines are even stocked with it. Caffeine.
Cola, coffee and many over-the-counter drugs, such as aspirin and cold remedies, contain caffeine. Chocolate and tea contain caffeine but they differ in their effects similar to the effects of caffeine.
One reason why caffeine is such a popular drug is that it keeps people awake and alert. That's valuable for students who often find themselves facing all-nighters.
Caffeine is speed, literally. Researchers have observed that people under the influence drink more caffeine than others.
JOLYNNE WALZ
faster, do math faster and read faster than normal, another plus for students.
However, on the negative side, caffeine is addictive. That's not just an old-wife tale. People don't drink lots of cola merely because it tastes good. One of the reasons why people learn to like the bitter taste of coffee and tea is because they are addictive, and the scientific term for that addiction is "Caffeinism."
There is a way to find out if you are a cate-
tonic. Just answer the three questions below.
1. Do you get a headache when you go without caffeine, and does drinking something with caffeine in it cure your headache?
2. Do you have trouble sleeping?
3. Do you feel anxious and tremulous if you do without caffeine for a day?
If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you can cease caffeine regularly, then you must be added.
Incidentally, be careful about how you answered the first question. You may think your headache is unrelated to caffeine or cures it, but many aspirins contain caffeine.
Because caffeine is such a popular—and additive—daily, scientists have started
studying it more closely, to see how safe or unsafe it really is, investigations are just beginning in earnest, but already, scientists have discovered that the lowest every physiological process in the body.
In the past six months alone, studies have disclosed that:
- Breast-feeding mothers pass the ill effects of caffeine to their infants.
- The health of women with fibrocystic bursal neoplasm improved when they quit taking caffeine.
- A study group of middle-aged men who did not drink caffee performed better on a fitness test than a group of middle-aged men who did drink caffeine.
- Patients suffering from chronic diseases
  drink more caffeine than healthy people.
The answer begins with the Renaissance, when traders from the East introduced tea and coffee to the West. Back then, people knew the drinks were drugs, and they considered them luxuries, reserved for the rich and powerful.
Some people may ask why the dangers of caffeine are becoming known only now, even though people have been drinking the drug for centuries.
By the 1800s, coffee and tea had become popular beverages among all social classes and were considered more a drink than a drug. Tea had become an institution in England, and the morning cup of coffee had become one of the most important discussions about caffeinated drinks continued. Children were not supposed to drink coffee because it would "stunt their growth."
Like some South American Indians who are adduced to chewing a hallucinogenic drug that turns their gums orange, Americans are drinking a stimulant that rots their teeth.
Today, when people drink a caffeinated beverage, they may recognize that it contains a drug, but they generally do not take it seriously. Jokes about "shooting up with Coke" are popular among students around exam time.
Although amphetamines, uppers, speed—whatever they're called on the street—are illegal without a doctor's prescription, caution not. It is a drug that has won social approval.
Doe's anybody body have 35 cnts i can bobrow?
Letters to the Editor
KU's Spencer Library a gift of rare worth
To the Editor:
THIS EBOOK
The Foresman Spencer not only "contributed to KU's research library" as your editorial of Feb. 17 stated, she donated the entire Kenneth Spencer Research Library building to the University. She also supported it by her books of and by her continuing interest in it.
An exhibit of a few of the books and manuscripts which Mrs. Spencer gave the library is on view in the north gallery of Spencer Library for the next few weeks. It will open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.
Ms. Spencer was particularly happy that the rare books library which she had built—one of the 10 such libraries in this country—has always been open to undergraduate and private researchers on an equal basis with distinguished scholars, unlike most major rare books libraries.
She wanted the students of Kansas to have the best and did more than to mast this about.
Alexandra Mason
Spencer Librarian
To the Editor
Peace Corps valuable
In the United States, a lot of questions are being raised about the relevance of the Peace
Russia, England, France, the Republic of China, Canada and North Korea all have government-sponsored volunteers overseas. If we can not afford their programs, how can we not afford ours?
The Peace Corps has two basic aims: foreign aid and cultural exchange.
An American living in a Third World nation spending his or her living allowance gives a boost to the local economy without fattening the Swiss bank account of some official.
The cultural exchange breaks down barriers of insequence on both sides.
In "The Ugly American," 1958, authors
Religious fervor clouds secular issues
Cults, Bob Jones University and creation science. Each phrase brings to mind a topic of current public interest and, seemingly, each one is the most important issue. religion is not the most important issue.
*retention is a delicate subject. To attack belief is to attack the believer, or so it usually appears. People become sulken, defensive, even hostile if that their faith is being called into question.
But often, the difficulty in arguing against
TOM
BONTRAGER
Of course, the confusion can spread in both directions. In his essay, "Why I Am Not a Christian," philosopher Bertrand Russell cites instances of cruelty in the name of Christ as arguments against the whole of Christianity. He called themselves religious for the belief itself.
religious groups on public issues is not one of belief but of misunderstanding, a problem of failing to separate the pertinent from the incidental, and reliation from non-religion.
Today, several issues arise in which the complementary mistake is being made: Problems are taken to be religious when they are not.
Russell's own examples, for instance, could be used effectively against cults in which mind control and exploitation of insecure, young people are cloaked in the trappings of religion.
Clearly religious freedom is no defense for
Another case of mistaken identity presents itself in the controversy over creation science. This view, admittedly, is different from the straight creationism taught in Sunday school, yet it falls short of meeting the demands of scientific method.
these groups. The notion that any group calling itself religious is necessarily performing religious duty reeks of the old avant-garde and current musical art of an artist." Saving it just doesn't make it so.
The trouble with bad art is that, sooner or later, somebody will buy it, granting it undue credibility. The same holds true for cults. People subly coerced to join seem to validate the groups' religious standings by their very presence.
Just what is the purpose of the creation "model?" Scientists construct hypotheses in view of observed data. Insofar as a hypothesis explains what goes on in the world, it also should serve to predict future occurrences. What can the creation theory predict? The facts that will be found? That sounds a bit odd—putting the inferential cart before the empirical horse.
Supporters contend that the biblical account of the beginning of the universe can be rendered scientific if evidence is found to support it. They use the creation "model" as a framework for inquiry. The problem is that they rely upon a work of faith as the basis for fact-finding.
None of this denies that the scientific community would gladly pay attention if earth's history had been known. The universe had existed for only a few thousand years. Until that happens, though, science cannot afford to favor one document of faith, however compelling and valuable, over any
Many who interpret the Bible literally will no doubt be offended by this view, although they
"columnist William F. Buckley Jr. argued in favor of the exemptions, saying, "... to tell Bob Jones that it may not receive tax exemption because of its interpretation of the Bible is to arrogate to the Internal Revenue Service the right to interpret the Bible; and this we don't really want to do."
But religious freedom was not at issue in the court's original decision to abolish exemption. The real arrogation took place when President Obama issued the 2013 law, which legal precedent against Bob Jones and company.
In the furor over tax exemptions for two racially discriminatory colleges, most notable for Bob Jones University in South Carolina, religion is clouding a primarily legal problem.
need not be. Their faith is not under attack. Religion and science both hold treasured places in human activity. The point is simply that one should not be mistaken for the other.
The Constitution provides for free thought and for the expression of religious attitudes. But to give biblical interpretation a free hand to invite upon personal rights is absurd.
What if a group called the "New Inquisition" held that, by its interpretation of the Bible, sinners be tortured into a new relationship with Almighty, and then sought to enforce that belief.
in American legal institutions—the IRS, the courts, Congress—would the issue be taken as religious? No, because interpretation is a function of the mind. The practices that result from it are different.
Neither is discrimination at Bob Jones University.
Religion will probably always be a delicate subject. But much offense and injustice can be avoided if we remember what religion is not, and recognize of instances in which religion has no bearing.
One of the most important benefits the United States receives from the Peace Corps is the thousands of ex-volunteers who are filling the ranks of American business and agencies
John Kennedy responded to this unflattering yet accurate picture by creating the Peace Corps in hopes of having a generation of policy-makers familiar with the peoples and politics of the world.
Lederer and Burdick portrayed the United States as inexperienced and inadequate in the battle for democracy.
These people are in such demand because they speak languages from Spanish to Swahili, can work in cultures with radically different standards, and results where there isn't modern technology.
I do not pretend to be informed in the affairs of Central America, but I wonder if even one unentailed individual intimately acquainted with the people and history of El Salvador was exposed to thoseending military or Or did we depend only on those informal individuals with vested interests?
Volunteers frequently see a different picture of the building that was displayed in our home town newspapers.
Craig Whitaker,
Craig Whitaker, Shawnee Mission graduate student
New Wave normal
To the Editor:
This letter is in response to the recent comments concerning New Wave in Lawrence, Jim and Darrel, there are people in Lawrence with purple hair. I should know, I'm one of them. Slam dunk is exotic. You can ask a friend of who was hit by the stomach with a spiked leather wrist band.
To the Editor:
To Cathy, Jim and Darrel, the Lawrence punk scene is neither closely related to L.A. punk (Cathy) or Mayberry R.F.D. (Jim and Darrel); it falls somewhere in the middle. The music of all three films is very similar only way for anyone to fairly judge its value is to go on to Off-Wall Hall some night and DANCE
If more people would go see what is happening, there would be no need for such articles.
Hey Cathy, next time, why don't you do an article on what's happening at Gammons? We would really like to know what those people who are living in Gammons do for fun. Do they really dance in booty cowbots?
Jane Roberson
Hutchinson jurio
Playboy is prostitution
What people do with their own bodies is their own business, but what the Kansan does with its front page is my business. It is, indeed, the business of the entire student body, since the Kansan receives about one-fifth—$3 out of $14.50—of each student activity fee, making it the largest single user of these student-supplied funds.
To the Editor:
Let me point out, then, that Playboy Magazine is a money-making business and a very successful one at that. If they want an advertisement, let them buy it.
I, and the student body of this University,
should not be made to subsidize their profits—or
the pimping. After all, art is art and business is
business, and Playboy is prostitution.
Anne Wallace
Anne Wallace, Lawrence graduate student
To the Editor
Dan Torchia apparently is less concerned with the crime rate than he is with removing handguns from society. This attitude is detrimental to personal freedom and the light against crime.
I will concentrate on the constitutional and procedural issues raised by Torchia, as I dealt with the ineffectiveness of gun control in a guest room during a visit to an online芳香 anyone interested with a copy of that column.
Present firearms registration systems are riddled with abuse. Appeals systems have not worked, forcing expensive litigation and further contesting the courts.
The ultimate abuse of registration could occur in Morton Grove. The use of state firearms ownership records is a widely discussed enforcement possibility. Residents of Washington already have fallen victim to such use of registration records.
"nearms laws will not prevent people from obtaining handguns. If they were smugged into the United States at the same rate as marijuana now is, 22 million handguns would enter the country annually." There is evidence that people are being drawn in to risks to obtain handguns than they do for drums.
The "exceptional reason" for overturing the Martin Grove program is either the U.S. Government's failure to implement Illinois state laws.
the purpose of the Second Amendment in the Constitution is much clearer than is commonly believed. When one considers the comments of the farmers, the wording of the First, Fourth and Ninth amendments and the changes made in drafting the Second Amendment, it is obvious that the right to keep and bear arms was intended to be an individual right.
The Illinois constitution is even clearer. The official comment to Article II, Section 22 reads, “A citizen has a right to possess and make reasonable use of arms that law-abiding persons commonly employ for purposes of recreation or training must comply to ban such arms . . . would be invalid.”
Law abiding persons own 99.6 percent of all bandguws.
The federal district court judge who upheld the ordinance ignored the Illinois constitution, basing his decision on Crulkshank v. U. (1875). The holding in that case was that a groupid not withstanding a clause in the Constitution had black men by confiscating their firearms, preventing them from voting and killing them.
There is great irony in Torchia's contentions that people want stricter gun laws, but Congress will not pass them in an election year. Although polls tell us that people want stricter gun laws, referendums and elections tell us other-instance. In instance, 83 percent of respondents referendum of the gun control measures was defeated 2.5 to 1. Polsters had predicted that it would pass.
We do not have "a moral obligation to try to reduce crime and death from handguns." We have a moral obligation to reduce crime and death, period! The most effective way to do this is putting more police on the streets and con-
ferring with law enforcement in enforcement of gun laws is conduction to neither.
As always, I would welcome any inquiries on the subject of gun control.
John B. Barrett,
Clearwater law student
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