Page 4
University Daily Kansan, November 13, 1981
Opinion
Unfortunately, Nixon is unforgettable
The Rev. Billy Graham made the news again the other day, oh, he wasn't saving Cleveland or Peoria of his cruades. He was just speaking charitably of Richard Nixon.
Richard Nixon. He, he dared to speak those two forbidden words. And what's more, Graham says we should welcome Nixon back into theBecause because of his knowledge of foreign affairs.
Graham also suggests we forget all about that nasty, nasty business of Watereg. Put it all behind us. It's all history, right? Why, the breakin' that started it all happened almost a decade
Graham was quick to point out that "I can't excuse what he did—the language he used on the tapes. But you don't hold things like that forever against people."
Of course not. He's paid his debt to society and then some. he had to go on national television and make a humiliating speech. He cried and everything. Then he spent several tortuous years getting sunburned on lonely stretches of California beach. Rarely could he pick up the paper without someone saying something nasty about him.
Isn't that penitence enough?
Graum, I guess, is optimistic that during this period of seclusion, Nixon's cleaned up his vocabulary, as you'd think any good Quaker would. But for some reason, I don't think they'll be remembering Nixon in future years as the president who used naughty words.
Despite the language, Graham pointed out Nixon's good points. Nixon, Graham says, "is one of the most charming persons I have ever met. He is so thoughtful."
No argument there. Nixon's thoughtful enough. Why, he thought of slandering Alger—or, Adel. Stevenson. He thought of bombing Iraq. And the FBI against each and everybody else. He
thought of picking up the phone—and in half an hour, "90 million Russians will be dead."
All this considered, why in the world has the name of Rufus himself Nixon become someone who had never been.
Perhaps it's because Nixon didn't mind destroying someone else's reputation as long as his stands on his own career. Perhaps it's because it stands on political issues, such as the SST.
DON
MUNDAY
were dependent upon who gave the most to his campaign chest. Perhaps it's because he thought the Constitution applied to everyone but himself, and promised on two separate occasions to unhold it.
And—a possibility that should be of interest to Graham—perhaps because he repeatedly bore false witness against his neighbors, who were, in this case, 220 million Americans.
Now, Graham's always had a soft spot in his heart for Richard Nixon. Once upon a time, a lot of us did, too, because we voted him into office. But I get the impression that Graham believes a little sin here and there shouldn't keep Nixon from making a comeback.
And yes, as a former president who helped open doors to the Soviet Union and mainland China, Nixon obviously knew a lot about foreign affairs. Again against all odds (and promises), he managed to drag on the Vietnam War for four more years.
All this considered, if he'd only run an honest presidency perhaps Nixon today would be able to keep it going.
But that small condition—an honest presidency—was just incompatible with Richard Nixon the man. Clear back to his entry into politics and his rapid rise through the House and Senate, he himself more through deception and dishonesty and dirty tricks than through legitimate means.
The way Graham talks, it's our fault for turning on the poor man. But anyone who spent any time in the '70s knows America didn't turn on Nixon as a child scorns a used toy. We turned on Nixon because he forced us to, because he turned our own system against us.
Graham might be one of those who believe Nixon's downfall came because he surrounded himself with bad advisers. But his advisers were themselves little Nixons, willing to throw scruples to the wind to further immediate goals. The Nixon administration was proof that a house with every room smoldering must inevitably burn itself to the ground.
Given the smoldering Nixon White House, it's no surprise that seven years after he took the helicopter ride into banishment, we still feel burned by Nixon and his Watergate.
But Graham thinks we dwell on Watergate too much. Water does seem to be the bane of emperors, whether it be "doo" or "gate." Perhaps in deference to Graham, we should all promise not to hold parties next June 17 and all vow not to tape our doors. And we'll all stop wearing Nixon masks on Halloween, WE'll? (They're too scary, anwav.)
But no, we won't forget about Watergate, no matter how many years pass or how lonely Richard Nixon gets. The lessons are just too important to let pass into obscurity.
Still, you'll right about one thing. Billy. You don't want us to just forget about the Ridon Xikon.
Well, we won't. Rest assured, we'll never forget about Richard Nixon.
'1984': it'll be here before you think
FDR had his fireside skits and playful puppies. Jimmy Carter had his toothy grin and peanut farm. Ronald Reagan, following in the footsteps of Mr. Obama, has his layer-look wrinkles and jelly beans.
But, there is another Reagan tradition mark that is beginning to take shape, manifesting itself in the president's actions and those of his administration as a whole. Paranoia, it seems, is running rampant in the nation's capital. As a response to this epidemic, the Reagan administration last month submitted to Congress a proposal "restricting"—more like straight-jacketing, blindfolding and gagging—the Freedom of Information Act.
The Oct. 15 proposal, if passed, would draw the drapes on much information currently considered public by the grandfather of the "Sunshine Laws." Not only does the proposal limit the information currently available upon request, but it also reduces governmental obligation to provide the minimal information that would still be open to public inspection.
In other words, if the proposal is passed,
Americans would not be as free as they are now
to request information from the government,
and information supposedly available upon
request could be denied anyway. Pretty slack.
Will Americans need the Stars and
Strikes to a hammer and sickle?
Besides limiting the general scope of the act, Reagan's proposal would give the attorney general the authority to keep secret selected information concerning terrorism organized crime and foreign counterintelligence investigations.
Undoubtedly it is necessary for national security that some types of information be kept confidential. However, for one individual to have complete and arbitrary censorship power over this wide range of vaguely defined material is an important task and institution and an insult to the American public.
With this fear of public awareness furthering it, the presidential paranoia has spread from the White House to several government agencies. Consequently, in addition to the stifling proposal already submitted, the administration announced plans to further tighten the FOI gag.
These agencies can then gather personal information about private citizens without the citizens having access to the files concerning them. In fact, if Big Ron gets his way, the agencies could deny the very existence of the files.
The additional proposal would completely exempt from the FOI Act the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Why don't we just skip the next couple of years and install the home view screens a little early?
The current act allows some access to what many big businessmen term "trade secrets." With the revised form, this problem would be eliminated. Company officials would only have to assert that certain information in their files could hurt their interests if made public. The government would then be obliged to keep that information from the public.
Washington officials assure us that the restricted form of the FOI Act would in no way endanger U.S. citizens, but rather would aid him in the pursuit of the Great American Dream.
Then Big Brother can have a little practice
time to time perfect his technique before
lift off.
CORAL BEACH
Just think, that multi-national corporation you own would be safe from all of those industrial spies in your backyard. Aren't you glad that you拿 has the interest of the average Joe in mind?
This one feeble excuse offered by the government officials as justification for the restrictions on the POI Act do not get them off the book for any reason. If the effects the bill would have if passed by Congress.
In 1974, when the original 1968 act was losened in spite of former President Ford's veto, it became a law. In 2015, he
Thus, not only the press, but the judicial system and private citizens would all be deprived of information that is now public. In essence, the proposal would void the right to governmental accountability that the public has since the 1974 form of the act went into effect.
Journalists would not be the only group to suffer hardship in performing their duties if the proposal gains acceptance. The proposal would also prevent persons involved in judicial proceedings from using the act to gain information and would allow the government to charge for documents concerning commercial market value information.
The Senate is expected to make its decision concerning the proposal this fall and the House will probably act on it next year. If the American people allow their legislators to vote in favor of this proposal, they deserve the "restricted" lifestyle that will undoubtedly prelude under it.
concerning health and consumer issues, not to mention governmental scandals and illegal intelligence operations. Those days of public protest are better for good if the Reagan proposal is adopted.
Letters to the Editor
Guns only means for violence
I am writing in response to the Nov. 5 story by Kari Elliott that condemned the future of the American gun-owning populace to an early and unnecessary death.
To the Editor:
Although there were some good statements made in support of her argument, including the sad murder of the young boy in Louisiana, there was a sense that she owned her ownership and use that should be brought to light.
I am a registered life member of the National Rifle Association, the largest organization of gun owners and users in the United States. I have owned a gun for nine years. I therefore believe I am qualified to put forth a few facts about guns, ownership, etc.
First of all, what is a gun? It is an intricate piece of machinery and workmanship, a precision instrument of cold, hard steel. But it is dead, lifeless, inert. It is neither good nor evil until placed in the hands of someone capable of using it. It can then become either a deadly weapon or an enjoyable sporting instrument. Guns do not kill. The wrong people with guns kill.
Throughout history, man has devised countless ways to do away with his fellow man. The gun did not even come onto the scene until a few hundred years ago. The gun was merely one more useful invention that man turned on himself.
Suppose there were no guns. What would have stopped the man in Louisiana from returning to his door with a kitchen knife and stabbing that boy to death? Perhaps we should outlaw silverware? Even a monkey wrench in the wrong hands is capable of taking human life.
If someone desires to kill, what is to stop him from using a baseball bat, screwdriver or his knife.
I agree with the idea of gun registration. I have already done this with my own firearms. I also think that a harsh sentence should be imposed for crimes involving guns. Perhaps a thorough check of a person's background for any criminal record or mental illness should be required before a person is allowed to purchase a gun. Maybe there should be a law against a person to pass courses in gun safety, handling and storage before a purchase could be made.
You see, it's the people that need controlling, not the gun.
David Cowan
Topeka freshman
Bird with a mission
Comes now a young whippersnapper out of Topeka to tell us that a mythical bird is not worthy to carry the colors of the people of Kansas. What does he know?
Is nothing sacred?
Does he think that because he comes from a long line of head shrinkers, he can put the rest of
Let Bonar Meninger look in his Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and he will discover that there is nothing mythical about the name from which school's mascot came. Let me look it up for him:
us on the couch and analyze our fondest traditions out of existence? If so, he has another
"Jayhawk often cap; a member of a band of
Missouri and Missouri and Missouri"
before and during the Civil War.
A hawk is just another bird. But a Jayhawk has a tradition that says the truth will prove true.
Let me tell Menninger, and any followers he may have accumulated, that if he thinks the Civil War is over, he just hasn't been observing the current condition. The undersigned daymaker (class of 1893) can tell him that the border of invaders time KU and MU meet on the field of combat.
Of course, not everybody has seen a Jayhawk. There also may be somebody, where someone, who has not seen a hobbit or CSPO. Does this make them any less real? Where will Menninger's journalistic scalpel turn next to the Kansas state bird, the meadowlark, whose purest tones' heard even in Missouri, bring memories of the Kansas prairies? Will Boran inform us that this bird is bad because he has been seen eating Kansas wheat?
Can't you journalism professors bring some respect for joy and beauty and imagination in the classroom?
Well, Bonar, I guess it's up to me, a former teacher of Journalism at KU. Take a look at the Jayhawk and you will realize that for our alma mater, no other mascot will do.
R. Edwin Browne
K. Eubank Browne
Independence, Mo., resident and KU graduate
Baby-blue bathrooms
To the Editor:
A colleague and I recently had the pleasure of doing some office filing in Spencer Research Library. My co-worker, returning from a "biological break," told me that the women's restroom on the second floor was painted hot (feminine) pink. Being somewhat of a skeptic, I did my own research and indeed found the room is a dark brown, though the男's room is a drabt light, brown.
As a male, I am personally offended and strongly implore facilities operations to correct this injustice. If a woman of the 1980s is able to enjoy the atmosphere of "pinkness," males must have the equal pleasure of a "baby-blue" environment.
I ask, in how many other restrooms around
campus is this discrimination occurring?
Mike Lubbers
Mike Lubbers Lawrence graduate student
"There's something of a mini baby boom over the last few years," Campbell said.
The birth rate in the Lawrence area is up, according to Bob Campbell, community relations director for Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
Pot Shots
Birth announcements are big in the news recently. In fact, we may be on the threshold of a
Although it's certainly hard to imagine that knitting baby bootees could supplant hot tubbing and roller skating as trendy activities, both local and international celebrities are expecting new
It's anyone's guess, but as fashion-crazy as
Americans are, making babies could be
beyond them.
Lady Diana, the new Princess of Wales, was probably still unpacking the royal china after the
Nothing is wrong with their hearing. There just seems to be short circuits between their ears and eyes.
People don't listen any more.
People have always mispronounced my first name, but recently the number of mispronouns
I admit that I have an unusual name. It's pronounced car-ee, as in Carl not Carrie. However, the distinctive pronunciation should be easily remembered rather than orally mangled.
Kari is a simple name with only four letters and two syllables. But the number of mispronunciations could fill a "Name Your Baby" book.
To help a person's inadequate listening ability, I pronounce my first name slowly and pause, then repeat.
honeymoon when she learned that she was a lady-in-waiting. Anglophiles everywhere are
Closer to home, Gretchen Budig, wife of Chancellor Gene A. Budig, revealed her own pregnancy last week. The couple's baby Javhawk is due in early July.
Lady Di and Mrs. Budig may be trendsetters of the new baby craze, but even their influence is limited. However, if Nancy Reagan, America's First Lady, were to shock the country with an August christening, designer diapers and sterling baby spoons would soon be the rage.
also give the supposed listener ather mind aids on pronouncing my name - it rhymes with
my name probably sinks about as far as the earring and then bounces back.
If the person has fundamental listening skills, he may catch the distinctive pronunciation and ask me about my name. Is Kari a nickname? No. Is my national name? Yes. What is its origin? Norwegian.
After discussing my name for five minutes, Carl
after lighting friends say, "See you later, Carle."
Letters Policy
The dimwitted jerk wasn't listening at all.
The University Daily Kansan welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced and not exceed 500 words. They should include the writer's name, address and telephone number. If the writer is afar away from home, they should include the writer's class and home town or faculty or staff position. The Kansan reserves the right to edit letters for publication.
KANSAN
The University Daily
USS 8596 (446) Published at the University of Kansas daily August through May and Thursday during June and July except Saturday, Sunday and holidays. Second-class postage paid at Lawrence, Kansas or by a BSA or by a county student. Student subscriptions are # 6 a semester, paid through the student activity fee. Postmaster: Send changes of address to the University Daily Kanana. Fint Hall, The University of Kansas.
Editor... Business Manager
Scott C. Faust... Larry Leibengood
Managing Editor... Robert J. Schaud
Campaign Editor... Fanny Perry
Editorial Editor... Kathy Brusell
Associate Campus Editor... Ray Purmanek
Assistant Campus Editors... Kale Peschenk-Lewes
Assignment Editor... Cynthia L. Carrie
Art Director... Scott Hooker
Retail Sales Manager... Terry Knoeber
Campaign Sales Manager... James Goldwell
National Sales Manager... Marcee Jacobsen
Sales Marketing Advisor... John Oberst
Sales and Marketing Advisor John Obernan
General Manager and News Advisor Rick Mc-