UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorslals
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Kansan editorial staff. Signed columns represent the views of
November 28,1979
Crisis boosts Carter
President Jimmy Carter's 1980 presidential campaign, seemingly doomed to miserable failure, is being handled by his adroit handling of the Iran crisis.
Carter's admirable restraint and patience in dealing with the Ayatollah Khomeini have won him many supporters. His carefully chosen retaliatory actions have largely satisfied the public outcry for revenge. Those actions—cutting off Iranian oil imports, freezing Iranian assets, reviewing the status of Iranians living in Iran—have been the longshoremen's refusal to load Iranian cargoes—have calmed an outraged nation.
THE AMERICAN public realizes that these actions are hurting Iran but are not endangering the lives of the 49 Americans held hostage in the Tehran embassy. Carter's no-bone-about-talk of military retaliation if the hostages are harmed has the support of much of the country.
Carter's hard line and tough stance will hit home with a public long tired of seeing the country pushed around in the world. The public seems to cheer and applaud every new warning to Iran that comes from Carter's office.
Even Carter's presidential opponents have voiced their support for his course of action, although they will not give him the tunes after the crisis has passed.
While Carter has not had time to hit the trail the past few weeks, he cannot help but be aware that his deft handling of the crisis may be winning him the election. Across the country, from Florida to Kansas, poll are showing a distinct movement away from Kennedy and Beagan and toward Carter.
IN KANSAS, for example, at a straw poll of 200 leading Kansas Democrats last Saturday, Carter received 87 of the votes; twice the number Kennedy received.
Should the Iranian crisis have a happy ending, Carter is likely to ride the rcest of his success to another term in office. If it does not end with freedom for the hostages, Carter will win only if he satisfies the public demand for vengeance. Failure to do so almost guarantees his defeat.
It is unfortunate that politicians often gain considerable political mileage from the suffering of other people. But in this case, Carter's skillful handling of the crisis is indicative of the man, not the politician.
At long last the football season is over. When the cracking of helmets and pads and the swelling of knee ligaments in galavantating will be replaced by the squeak of tennis shoes on wood, the chunk-swift of a tennis racket is gone.
The change will involve not only a move from Memorial Stadium to Allen Field House, but also a shift in action from the intramural fields near Wakirk Hospital to the leaky confines of Robinson Gymnasium, where the basketball intramural season will begin.
For the past three years I have joined hundreds of other would-be Earlvin Johnson or Dr. J's on the courts at Robertson. My Colegiate team, labeled the SSS队 (team established a glorious record of 3-15 in competition during that time).
DESPIECE FAILING in our efforts to build a basketball dynasty, we still manage to have a good time. Our failure can probably be attributed to our own team rule, which requires that team members be under six years old and not have a working knowledge of basketball.
But as much as we enjoy the game, we share one major disgust. You see, the average height on our team is about 5 feet 9 inches. Yet even in CLEARFC, the NCA championship game, we consistently face opponents who measure 6 feet 3 inches or taller. This leads to more than a few mismatches on the courts and increases our opponents margin of victory from a respectable 30 points up to 50 or 60, resulting in passing effect even if you aren't out for blood.
5-foot-10 league needed for shorties
All that excess height can create problems for the shorter players on C-14, but he can still towering 5 foot 6 (and one-half) inches. hardly cut a an-inspiring figure on the court. Nor am I blessed with a birth of the skills of Ricky Ross. Yet I give the game my best effort and when I occasionally face him, I manage to do all right.
john COLUMNIST logan
RUNNING into one of the C-Laurier schools, Mr. Brennan says the least. His a little disqualifying to have 90 percent of your shots slapped away by a grinding plant who swats them as if they were tearing up his shirt.
taken away from you by someone who merely stands flat-footed and reaches over your head. And that's not to mention the hazards of defense. Trying to stop one of the giants was probably impossible. It has me in my experience that waving your hands at your opponent's chest level is a bad move.
I have also found that it is not a good idea when on defense to try to draw a charging
foul by stepping in front of him. The outcome, like the result of a collision between a freight train and a Volkswagen, is in little doubt.
FOR all these reasons, and many painful others, my teammates and I believe that there should be a 5-6ft-10league basketball court. We'll bring进来 intramural basketball season. Only those 5 feet 10 inches or shorter would be allowed to play. The height of each player could be checked by the referee at each end and stand next to a mark made on the gym wall.
doomed to spend the rest of our basketball careers playing guard, to get the feeling of other positions. We might know what it feels like to crash the boards and come away with a rebounds for once, or to be able to actually score in the paint. There is a great deal of variety to the game for us.
The benefits for those of us who have escaped the curse of excess height would be tremendous. A 5-foot-10-inch league would allow those of us who appeared to be
A 5-foot-10-inch league would not be hard to establish and would involve little extra effort. If they want to play the same time the league would attract dozens of those who have undergone the game, who have given up playing because of their injuries, and who don't about it, there are a lot of us out here who do not suffer from altitude sickness, with some size 12 inches. How about it intramurals?
Mr. Inflation claims he's friend, not enemy
By MR. INFLATION
N.Y. Timer Special Features
NEW YORK - OK, America. I just about had it in. It '60, it was the "missile气场." In '88, it was "bring us together." But in '92, it was "a government as good as its people."
I stood silently by while your politics set up each issue and then conveniently shot each down. But with the 1980 campaign approaching, it was important that for your candidates, announced and unannounced, are all announcing one thing in common: They are against infilation. Well, I resent that, really, rebellious it, and I demand to be heard.
I heard rumors of my unpopularity for years—whispers at the office, snickers at the club, that kind of thing, but I chose to ignore them. But the other day, all pretenses melted away. Mrs. Immanuel woke me by placing a headline under "I'm not preoccupying me," the nation's "No. 1 Enemy" according to President Carter.
I rubbed a few mortgages from my eyes, sat down to a hot breakfast of prime rates, and decided to write this letter.
First of all, I am not your enemy. You're thinking of my brother, Mr. Defaion. He's been out of town since 1960, but he ever comes back, you'll tell me. I'll just tell you. Although for all you care, I shouldn't even bother explaining this, but I'm
going to, and I'm only going to do it once,
so listen good.
Say you go to a nightclub. You have a桌桌, see the show. The table comes. You sit there, watch the show. You only buy $60 a few years ago, right? Inflation, right? Wrong! Now, get this. You buy $60, buy it around 40 cents. So that means your $100 tab is actually only costing you $40. You're beating the joint for $60 and they pay for you. You're saving you. Maybe, but all get is absurd.
Recently President Carter made another speech talking about the bad shape of the American man, too. And the members of my family have feelings, just other families. My kids, Double Digit and Uncontrolled, are only four and
So when the president attacks me like he has, they don't understand. They think it is not important to be President, if you truly care about the family, leave this one alone. It's tough enough when you even go out of your way to get involved in a dedicated solitaire to doing away with me.
In 1976, old Jerry Ford tried to whip and run against me. You see where it got there. When I was a child, he didates for 1988—attack me and I will not take it lightly. I will strike back. Because if there's something you should have learned by now, it's it you can't keep
Mr. Inflation's alter ego is Roy Nemerson, a comedy and screen writer.
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Cults thrive a year after Jonestown
By JIM SIEGELMAN and FLO CONWAY Y. Times Special Feature
NEW YORK- We have had a year now to digest the horror of the People's Temple massacre in Guyana; the battered washup of lethal fruit punch, the 900 colorfully clad bodies. The images remain indelible, but the images of suffering concern they produced was short-lived.
Overnight, Jonestown turned the emergence of America's strange new religious frontier into a popular awareness of cult groups and their potential dangers soared to new heights. But, a year later, what has happened to the public outcry? What inquiries have grown over the past few cults now operating in the United States that have displayed similar tendencies toward criminal, violent or self-destructive behavior? What official action has been taken?
THE ATTEMPT to understand what happened in Jonestown was limited to two government inquiries, one by Congress, the other by a previous last May, both reprimanded a number of federal agencies for having ignored reports from Jonestown, and the State Department's specifically criticized itself in error, efforts to inform of information itself regarding the threat facing California congressman Leo Ryan and his entourage, who were slain at
Arnough both inquiries uncovered
evidence of bribes, collusion and other improprieties involving United States and Guyanese officials, no one was held accountable. Much was made of the claim that concern over violating the First Amendment rights of People's State members in the state system resulted in the state separation as a major cause of inaction on the part of our officials and agencies.
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THEY CLOSED the book on Jonestown, disregarding its implications for America's other cults, many of which are larger, richer and have demonstrated a violent response to critics, investigators and others. Glauca events instantly affected groups such as the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the Church of Scientology and a smaller religious and therapeutic cults.
OREDIENT CULT members by the hundreds, including busloads of Unification Church members, descended on Washington. Members of Congress were
Even before Jonestown, many of these groups had become the subjects of heated public debate over questionable fundraising and business practices and intensive training. This led to a new sense of urgency and thousands of anxious inquiries. Sen. Robert Dole (R, Kan) called a one-day "information hearing" on the cult phenomenon in this country. The event raised awareness, for senators and congressional involvement, a political disaster.
visited in their offices and urged not to attend. Ad hoc committee religious leaders and civil libertarians issued statements condemning the hearings. A coordinated effort by the Dole's legal alliance, Dole's "illegal hunt-hunt." The combined effort was overwhelmingly effective. Soon after, all public inquiry ceased as officials, tearing political repercussions, dropped the investigation.
Cults in America are now doing better than ever. Some, partly exposed, have altered tactics or changed cover stories. Others have just stepped up public relations efforts.
A number of cuts, looking more like budgets than religions, seem to be based on the perceived need for business and political arenas, distributing millions of dollars and thousands of people.
With Congress and the administration in retreat, the task of clarifying the issues has been made more difficult. A few criminals and "hit men" have been brought to trial, cattal attempts at capital punishment have occurred.
EFFECTIVE GOVERNMENTAL scrutiny seems unlikely and undesired. One glaring example: The last year has seen no increases in the number of requests that the Justice Department establish an inter-agency task force to investigate the Unification Church for alleged violations of currency, immigration, health care, registration and arms-export control laws.
THE ACHILLES SYNDROME
backstage, and in one landmark verdict an former astronaut was sold a million to a formidable Scientologist who suffers emotional distress" in that group. But no case has had lasting effects on any major industry.
UNLIMITED CULT defense funds virtually insure eventual victory by attrition or escape on some fronts, and it can be hard if not impractically clear: The cult issue has nothing to do with any question of religious freedom. Without religious protection, there are violations of criminal laws or the growing mental health problem of the impact of cult techniques on members' freedom; choice
Since Jonestown, this question of cult techniques and their effects on the mind has become the stickiest one of all. This is in part because cults have attempted to stifle the debate on First Amendment grounds and these protests have tapped a deep fear in the public.
In our travels around the country in the last year, we have found that many Americans are desperately unwilling to question their own religious beliefs and practices. It is as if those beliefs or spiritual practices are more important than that the slightestudge might pule them.
NEVER BEFORE have Americans enjoyed greater religious freedom or diversity, yet never before has the religious freedon enshrined in the Constitution been so widely accepted that it has been so unsure of itself. Thus this ditherism is confronted soon and realistically, not just by the government but also by individuals, families and America's traditional organized religions, the catholic phenomenon, the Protestantism, which may ignite more—and larger—disasters.
Jim Siegelman and Flo Conway, who have spent the last six years studying the psychology of marketing therapies, are ce-authors of "Shipping: A Medicine of Sudden Death" and "Adaptive Resilience."
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