4a Opinion Monday, November 27. 2000 For comments, contact Ben Voosen Embry or Emily Hughey at 864-4924 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com Perspective Election 2000 sparks epic polling frenzy I walked into my apartment Monday night after my evening film class and found my roommate watching the Monday Night Football game on TV. As I was getting a Pepsi out of the fridge, I asked him what the score was. He said 262-246. I can't take it anymore. The 48 hours surrounding Election Day and the aftermath the day after that left everyone emotionally drained. The political harping, twisting of facts and pseudo-patriotic garbage that have appeared in the media in the days since have given me a migraine the size of Bill O'Reilly's ego. There's so much that's idiotic and aggravating, I could rant and groan for weeks. The controversy, as we all know, centers on a recount of the ballots in four Florida counties. The pumps and spinnelsters cram the TV talk shows and begin their half-lays with their bogus nonpartisan compliments of both George W. Bush and Al Gore. They're both patriots, they say while they put their right hand on their hearts as the Star-Spangled Banner plays in the background. Gore thinks that we live in a monarchy where he is the rightful heir to the presidency because of the political lineage of his father and grandfather. Pass out the shovels. were economically better off than 99 percent of the population. They each received an Ivy League education and benefited politically from their families' names. Pass out the shovels. Of course they're patriots. Both candidates were raised in wealthy and powerful families that Bush sauntered into the Texas limelight when he bought the Texas Rangers baseball team, which at the time owned the rights to hall-of-fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, arguably the Lone Star state's favorite baseball player ever (and rightfully so). George W.'s father's is the ex-president who was the director of the CIA when his son got the DUI in Maine in 1976, an angle that the media chose to ignore. His father's friends helped get him elected as governor of Texas, where he has served for five years. That's one year less than a term in the United States Senate. The man could've worked for Jim Henson. Ryan Dolan guest columnist opiner@kansan.com The press has focused most of the hubbub in Florida on the butterfly ballot of West Palm Beach County. As opposed to some of that county's voters, most everyone had seen the ballot online or in print or had heard a description of it beforehand. Although Pat Buchanan's name does appear second on the ballot between Bush's and Gore's, the public seems split on the ballot's fairness, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted Nov. 12. Thirty-nine percent said it was a "fair" ballot. Thirty-six percent said it was unfair. And 23 percent didn't see it yet. Isn't there an injunction that bans all polling for the rest of the year? First, the majority of the polls statistically predicted in the days preceding the election that George W. was going to win. Second, they inaccurately stated that Gore was way ahead in the state of Florida the day of the election. I guess the Post and ABC thought that five days was the proper cooling-off period before resuming their polling addiction. The Washington Post-ABC News Poll was based on 762 "randomly selected adults." I haven't taken statistics, but TNS Intersearch, which conducted the poll, must have some awesome engineers and software programs that can produce an accurate representation of 205 million adults from 762 people (with a 4 percent margin of error — not that anyone knows what that means). The best factoid in the poll was that 56 percent of the respondents were "worried" that "people might lose faith in this country's political system." All pollsters, as well as the producers, editors and reporters who choose to use polling data for the next two months, should be arrested and thrown into the federal prison system for 30 years like the other nonviolent drug offenders. Is that 56 percent of the 100 million people that voted? Or is that 56 percent of the 100 million that were too apathetic to vote? Dolan is a Lawrence junior in film studies. Steve Sack / TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES What effect has the Florida election mess had on the country? Log on to www.kansan.com to cast your vote on this issue. Perspective Give Student Senate your $428,000 worth The holiday season is almost upon us, it is a time for being with family and friends and to give to those less fortunate. Althoughhe motive may not be the same, Student Senate at the University of Kansas also is in a giving mood. Its reserve account has accumulated nearly $428,000 during the past several years. Now that's a pretty hefty sum of student fees that has filtered through the financial system to find itself in an account that gains interest, not for the students, but for the State of Kansas. Student Senate, behind the initiative of Ben Walker, student body president, has decided to set a goal of spending much of the reserve account before the school year is completed in May. How would you spend $428,000? Corey Snyder columnist opinion@kansan.com Before we explore that question, let's look at exactly how money accumulates in the reserve This money comes from an account specially dedicated to special funding requests. This account differs from the account that funds student organizations that go through annual funding procedures. It serves those organizations that are newly developing or existing organization that have special projects that need funding. At the end of each year, the money that is given to an organization but isn't spent goes into the reserve account. In time, the reserve account grows, some years more quickly than others, depending on how much student organizations spend. But $428,000 is excessive, and now is the time to give back to the students their investment in activities at the University. account. Every time students enroll, they pay as a part of campus fees, money to support organizations on campus. Each year, Student Senate and the Finance Committee distribute money to student organizations and groups to benefit their activities if they request it. Now back to the query: A small group of people representing the entire campus have a lot of money, so what do you spend it on? My first thoughts were that we could have one heck of a party with that kind of money. We could throw it in the football stadium, admission would be free, live music would be provided and just think about all the — quick, someone pinch me! No point in fantasizing about something that could never happen on a dry campus. However, the most sound concept behind spending the reserve account may not be that far off from that fantasy. In a utilitarian way, Student Senate needs to do something that benefits the largest number of students. So it seems that what needs to be developed is an investment in students' needs, not just a wanton expenditure for a party or a water slide at Potter Lake. This is where the Reserve Account Task Force — a group of Student Senators, including myself, who Walker appointed — comes into play. The task force will make the "best" proposal to Student Senate about how to spend the reserve account. Earlier in the year, a very narrow list with suggestions of possible ways to spend the money was made. Everything from a water slide to a student-run youth hostel was put on the list. Students expressed a significant number of tangible ideas, but those that do not follow the philosophy of making the largest number of students happy should not be considered. Think about it for a moment: Are you going to be happy that several hundred thousand dollars are going to be spent on campus beautification? Isn't that the University's job? Would you be happy with a $5 refund at the end of the semester or a student-run book exchange? Regardless of what happens, let's hope a worthwhile investment is made with what is essentially your dollar. I encourage you to let the Reserve Account Task Force know what you think is a wise investment of the reserve account money. Please contact me at csnyder@eagle.cc.ukans.edu if you have a suggestion. Your opinion matters. Snyder is a Topeka senior in pre-physical therapy. Editorial Drug war disaster demands cease-fire Kansas, other states should follow California's lead in focusing on rehabilitation. Named Proposition 36, it is perhaps the most significant drug reform program in the United States to date. It puts nonviolent offenders in treatment programs rather than jail. On Nov. 7, while the rest of America deadlocked in the presidential race, California voters passed an overhaul of the state's drug laws by a decisive 61 percent to 39 percent margin. This idea is likely to be controversial, especially in conservative Kansas, but if effective, the proposition should become the model for other drug-reform programs across the country. Proposition 36 allocates $120 million a year for five years to set up drug treatment programs, counseling and job training for offenders. Experts estimate that this initiative will divert 36,000 drug users into treatment and save taxpayers $200 million annually. Although saving taxpayers money is an advantage, better still is the chance to rehabilitate offenders. Modern incarceration offers little hope of rehabilitation. A staggering number of repeat drug offenders pack this country's jails. Many of these are drug offenders who possessed drugs — people who are only a menace to themselves, not society. Proposition 36 will rehabilitate instead of incarcerate these nonviolent offenders who, without their addiction, could and should become well-functioning members of society. If Proposition 36 is effective, Kansas and the rest of the country should follow suit. The so-called "war on drugs" has spawned immense casualties, caused both by the drugs and the war itself. Rehabilitation programs for nonviolent offenders could help bring some type of closure to this long, costly, absurd drug war. Eric Taylor for the editorial board 864-0500=864-0500 Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. The Kansan reserves the right to edit submissions, and not all of them will be published. Slanderous statements will not be printed. To read more, go to www.kansan.com. - - Hey George W. Milosevic, just see the whole election recount through. What's the plural of Jesus? Jes? Like syllabi? - Nose-picking is starting to become more accepted on campus. 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