MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2013
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 4
TEXT FREE FOR ALL
Dear carilion players, thank you for making the last day before break more bearable. Please play more holiday songs after break.
Joellen Embilderson is my second favorite dunketeer on the Jayhawkers basketball squad.
Imagine Tim Allen in the inevitable next fast and furious movie. You're welcome.
An actual good season for the Chiefs just reminds me how much losses sting.
Where is this 'perfect pooping spot' you're talking about?
They should make something like Instagram, except it's only pictures of your dogs.
Text your FFA submissions to 785-289-8351 or at kansan.com
POLITICS
campus is gonna have a bunch of fresh-faced boys today.
RIP No Shave.
Can we talk about how much I hate the Broncos.
Hold me closer, tiny Dundee
Who is responsible for keeping "Survivor" on the air? Seriously, who has been watching it for 13 years?
'Soldier' is the best Destiny's Child song and I'll fight anyone who disagrees.
I'm a guy and I want to wear yoga pants. What is Title IX gonna do for me?
All in all, my parents did NOT have a good Pranksgiving.
Can we, like, stop scheduling important games over breaks? Really bummed about KU v. Georgetown and K-State.
I like seeing the Broncos lose about as much as I like seeing the Chiefs win, so this isn't going too well.
Family's great and all, but I always feel terrible about leaving my dog :-)
My body is ready for Anchorman 2:
Electric Boogaloo.
Either I need better insulation, or my neighbors need less obnoxious dogs.
Someday, all my friends will have babies and I will have a deleted Facebook account. These pictures are unbearable.
Went home to SoCal for break and reminisced on the days when I didn't even know what long underwear was.
Three more weeeeeeeeeeeeeeks.
I love taking my non-native friends to Gates and watching them break out upon being shouted at.
Kansas voter registration law impedes on rights
For those who aren't aware already, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit against the State of Kansas for a voting law passed by the Republican legislature, signed by Governor Sam Brownback and currently being enforced by Secretary of State Kris Kobach. The claim they make is that the two-tiered voting system created by the law is unconstitutional. While it's possible that the state constitution may not technically forbid such a law, it remains an uncalled-for impediment on the right of eligible state citizens to vote.
The law requires proof of citizenship to vote in state elections, a process separate from registering to vote in national elections (The U.S. Supreme Court ruled a few months ago that states could not require proof of citizenship for national voter registration). Under the law, a person could vote in a
general election for President of the United States and have their vote counted. However, if that same person failed to provide proof of citizenship for a state election — say for governor or secretary of state — they would be unable to cast a ballot. According to the ACLU, the law "divides registered voters in Kansas into separate and unequal classes" and is "based on nothing more than the method of registration the voter uses." There are many registered voters in Kansas whose voting rights are currently suspended because they have not provided "documentation of citizenship as the law orders".
By Eric Schumacher eschumacher@kansan.com
Setting aside the blatant monstrosity of enacting extra barriers for eligible citizens to participate in the democratic process, Kobach's reaction to the suit is, perhaps unsurprisingly, arrogant and offensively dishonest. When interviewed by USA Today,
Kobach commented that he is also trying to "prevent" a "two-tiered system." This defense (if you want to call it that) of the law begs one giant, paradoxical question that the Secretary is either unable or unwilling to answer: if your goal is to prevent a two-tiered system, why install one in the first place? Kobach goes on to say that voters have a "choice" in whether or not to provide proof of citizenship and thus be able to vote. In other words, he wants everyone to know that their voting rights are secure. All a person has to do is cooperate with an unnecessary and unjust law.
Those who have followed Kobach's career shouldn't be at all surprised by this turn of events. After all, it was Kobach who acted as a leading architect
of the horrendous immigration laws permitting racial profiling that were passed in Alabama and Arizona only a few years ago. Incidentally, key provisions of the Arizona law were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Kobach also helped engineer a voter ID law in Kansas that makes it more difficult for voters to cast ballots by requiring certain types of identification at polling places, which certain groups of voters like the elderly and low-income voters are much less likely to carry. This law is intended to prevent voter fraud, which would be a worthy goal, except that the vast majority of nonpartisan research has found it to be a rare or nonexistent problem.
The future of the ACLU's legal action is far from certain. Of the barrage of voting restriction laws that have been passed in many states over the past several years, some have been successfully
challenged while others appear to be on the books for the foreseeable future. The best thing we as a state can do is elect leaders who would preserve the franchise and promote democratic engagement. The extremist policies being enforced by Secretary Kobach and others threatens the voting rights of thousands of Kansansand when the rights of some are threatened, so are the rights of all.
**If you are registered to vote in Kansas, be sure to check on your registration status by visiting myvoteinfo.voteks.org/VoterView/ Home.do or calling the elections office in the county you're registered in. If that county is Douglas, you can call the clerk's office at 785-832-5167.
Erie Schumacher is a senior majoring in political science and English from Topeka.
ENVIRONMENT
Media coverage neglects risk of invasive species from tsunami
On March 11, 2011 a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck 231 miles
northeast of Tokyo. A tsunami followed, killing 15,883 people and leaving many more missing. In the wake of 30-foot waves, several nuclear reactors were damaged, causing massive explosions and dangerous levels of radiation to be released. In addition to land and human devastation, millions of tons of debris drifted into the Pacific Ocean.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations estimates that there is 1.5 million tons of floating debris, consisting of everything from boats to buoys and piers to oil cans.
So where has all of this debris gone?
Some of it has sunk deep into the ocean, but much more has started to drift onto American coastlines, with even more to come.
Initially, media outlets such as CNN and Fox News were concerned about the debris having high levels of radioactivity. Major news networks reported a wall of radioactive tsunami debris drifting ominously toward California, Oregon and Washington. However, the NOAA and several other independent research organizations have confirmed that the debris has normal levels of radioactivity.
I'm not sure what constitutes "normal radioactivity," but those
By Gabrielle Murnan
gmurnan@kansan.com
Attached to these floating objects of Japanese origin are organisms that are hitching a free ride across the Pacific. They aren't scary monsters coming to eat our children and take our jobs, but they could cause some serious ecological issues. The tricky thing about ecosystems is that they have to have the perfect balance of life. An organism from Japan may not fit so nicely into the ecosystems of our Western coast. In short, we have a potential invasive species issue on our hands.
words just don't fit together in my mind. Alas, I have decided not to worry about radioactive junk washing up in San Francisco. I've become aware of another problem — one that has not made the headlines quite as loudly as "radioactive walls of debris."
So what's the big hallabaloo about invasives? I mean this is America, land of the free, land of opportunity — everyone is welcome, right? In order to illustrate the ecological and economic issues an invasive species may cause, let's talk about toads in Australia.
The cane toad, native to South America, was introduced to Australia in 1935. Its purpose was to eat beetles off of sugar cane plants. It turns out the toads weren't interested in the bugs,
and they instead began to multiply in large numbers and spread across the continent. Cane toads have unique poisons they use against predators, which caused predatory animal populations to decline, and prey populations to increase. Additionally, cane toads pose a threat to pets and small animals that may touch them and be poisoned. In order to control these pests, the Australian government may have to adopt plans similar to the United States, spending billions of dollars to combat invasive species that threaten agriculture and biodiversity.
The cane toad is just one example of countless introduced species that wreak havoc on native ecosystems around the world. In the United States, there are 4,300 reported invasive species. That number could grow as the Japanese tsunami debris continues to reach our coastlines. More research is needed to understand the effects some of these newly introduced species could have on the ecosystems of Hawaii, California, Oregon and Washington. The lack of media coverage on this potential invasive species problem, compared to the vast coverage of a "radioactive wall of debris," indicates that the mass media's attention lies with the sensational — not the practical.
Gabrielle Murran is a sophomore majoring in environmental studies from Pittsburg.
AMERICA
'Chiefs' have no home in national anthem
Dost mine ears deceive me? Perhaps it was an early on-set of finals brain,' but I could have sworn at the last basketball game in Allen Fieldhouse I actually heard the word "brave" during the national anthem. Bravo, Allen Fieldhouse, bravo.
Before starting this article, I had to do a quick search to make sure I wasn't writing a broken record, because chants and general audience noise in Allen Fieldhouse are hotly debated topics. Rightly so, I say: as the loudest college basketball arena in the country, the words we sacrifice our voices for at the top of our lungs are important.
But let me be honest: my real motivation behind this article is my father, a U.S. veteran who specially requested I write about this topic when he heard I was in need of ideas. I, of course, was going to write yet another article spinning in countless references to Disney, or Steven Spielberg or Harry Potter in the hopes of achieving that great humor that somehow always evades me. But this seemed equally as important. Maybe a little — a lot — more important.
Bill Self recently made a request that fans in Allen Fieldhouse respect the national anthem's last word and all that "home of the brave" stands for; in other words, the king of Allen Fieldhouse has spoken, everyone.
But in all seriousness, this is an important topic that often gets kicked to the side because of its lack of locality. When you spend your life living in a relatively peaceful place, the repetition of the national anthem can become second-hand and lose its meaning and significance. It's easy to forget that the words you sing when you cross your hand over your heart are the substance to an oath of loyalty and respect for a nation
CAMPUS CHIRPS BACK
that, while flawed, has still given you every privilege and right you have to be standing in this country, enjoyning basketball.
So like my father and Bill Self himself, I agree that, as fans in Allen Fieldhouse — and honestly, fans anywhere — we need to drop the "Chiefs" yell at the end of the national anthem. Words are powerful, and when we replace "brave" with "Chiefs," we are not forget the subtle racism that such a chant implies, when you actually stop to think about the culturally insensitive branding of the Chiefs, with their red and gold colors, living horse mascot named "Warpaint" and stadium entitled "Arrowhead." I mean, come on, Kansas City. But that's another article entirely.
those final words, "home of the brave," are words that honor every man and woman who has volunteered and sacrificed for this country and the rights that we have. You may or may not agree with the military actions of this country, but that doesn't change the fact that there are men and women who give their lives so that the rest of us can exercise our freedoms and go about our business. And whether or not you agree with the actions of this country, you should respect those who are willing to put your life before their own.
Tasha Cerny is a senior majoring in English from Salina.
I should really get back to the gym, but I think I'm gonna milk this tryptopha excuse for a few more months.
Follow us on twitter @KansasOpinion. Tweet us your opinions, and we just might publish them.
What do you do after KU loses a basketball game?
@baileybelles
@KansanOpinion pout.
@Ben Samson
Ben_Samson
@KansanOpinion I like to watch my phone
explode with notifications from Twitter and
GroupMe.
HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
LETTER GUIDELINES
Send letters to kansanopdesk@gmail.com. Write LETTER TO THE EDITOR in the e-mail subject line
Length: 300 words
The submission should include the author's name, grade and hometown. Find *aur* full letter to the editor policy online at kansan.com/letters.
Trevor Graff, editor-in-chief editor@kansan.com
Allison Kohn, managing editor akohn@kansan.com
Dylan Lysen, managing editor dlysen@kansan.com
Will Webber, opinion editor
wwebber@johns.com
Motlie Pointer, business manager
mpointer@johns.com
Sean Powers, sales manager
spowers@johns.com
Will Webber, opinion editor
wwebber@kansan.com
CONTACT US
Brett Akagi, media director & content strategist bakag@kansasan.com
Jon Schitt, sales and marketing adviser jschitt@kansasan.com
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Trevor Graff, Allison Kohn, Dylan Lysen, Will Webber, Mollie Pointer and Sean Powers.