4a
Opinion
Friday, September 1, 2000
For comments, contact Ben Embry or Emily Hughey at 864-4924 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com
Perspective
Support a realistic candidate
During the height of Bill Clinton's and Monica Lewinsky's media extravaganza, PRS's Charlie Press.
organa, PBS's Charlie Rose regularly featured political pundits in a round table discussion of the day's latest developments. One evening, Rose's featured guests were, on the right, the venerable magazine publisher William F. Buckley and, on the left, the enigmatic former governor of New York, Mario Cuomo. I'm not a fan of Buckley's, but I almost felt sorry for him as Cuomo methodically annihilated each of Buckley's anti-Clinton points with a cool sense of reason that was sorely lacking in these otherwise emotionally-charged times. In Cuomo, I saw a man who unapologetically supported the president. I saw a man who based his arguments more on logic than politics. I saw
a man who flaunted his blatantly liberal prejudices. In short, I saw a man for whom I would not hesitate to vote for as president of the United States.
The people whom we most want to run for president seldom do. So, as a card-carrying Democrat who is slightly to the left of Karl Marx, I resigned myself back to the center—back to the New Democrat embodied by President Clinton and Vice
Kirby Fields
guest columnist
opinion@kansan.com
President Gore. But the primaries brought a glimmer of hope for liberals everywhere in Bill Bradley. Again, here was a candidate who emerged from the left wing of the Democratic Party. He supported affirmative action without making "mend it; don't end it" allowances. He openly courted gay and lesbian supporters. He even discussed "universal health care for all," a phrase that those of us in-the-know recognize as a euphemism for "socialized medicine." But Bradley didn't last long. The caffeine in his soda made his heart flutter, which spooked voters. Furthermore, he came across as a thinker — a trait that immediately turns off the electorate, a trait that Gore is going to have to fight and one that should never haunt George W. Bush.
Bush and his running mate, Dick Cheney (whose voting record is ranked lower than Newt Gingrich's and Jesse Helms' by labor groups), actually made us liberals feel better. Next to the Republican ticket, Gore and running mate Joe Lieberman look like famed liberals Ted Kennedy and Barney Frank.
However, a funny thing happened between the Republican and the Democratic Conventions. Growing weary of the Reform Party fiasco, the media began giving coverage to Ralph Nader and the Green Party. Nader's anti-corporate stance strongly appeals to me, and I find that I am actually to his right on some issues (the legalization of hemp, for example). When he speaks of the Democrat and the Republican parties becoming mirror images of one another, I nod my head in agreement. When he contends that we need another alternative, I give him a fist-pumping "hell yes," but when he says that he is that alternative and that we should give him our vote in November, I think twice.
According to recent polls, Nader is supported by about five percent of American voters, a percentage that is not unimpressive, but it is well short of the 15 percent that is needed to get him into the debates in October. With less than five percent allowance for error, Nader's current standing also represents the likelihood that he will actually become the next president of the United States.
Here is the problem facing true liberals in November: Do we vote on the issues and cast one of the million or so votes that will support Ralph Nader, or do we compromise ourselves on the issues and give Gore one of his forty million votes and cast a vote that is as much anti-Bush as it is pro-Gore? Do we vote meaningfully, or do we throw one away in protest? Which vote qualifies as which?
Perhaps this year we should support the men who have a viable chance at victory, and we secretly hope that Mario Cuomo will mount a charge in 2008.
Fields is a Fayetteville, Ark., graduate student in English.
Seth Jones / KANSAN
Heard on the Hill
What has been the effect of the University's ad campaign against binge drinking?
"It encourages not getting wasted. If you don't want to drink, then you don't have to. That's what the zero is for."
Danny Sterling Chicago freshman
"It lets people know if they're being excessive and if they see most people drink zero to five, it might make them re-evaluate their drinking habits." Erika Nilson St. Louis junior
"I don't know how effective it is because it seems to me that people still drink the same amount as before the campaign."
Leslie Kennedy
Lawrence senior
"I think it makes people wonder, but it's not going to make people change if they want to drink. A poster's not going to be on their minds at 11 o'clock at night." Tommy Mathew Olathe junior
Perspective
Lawrence leash law keeps sidewalks safe
Last summer Lawrence passed a leash law. Dogs must be leashed or owners pay $30. This wise ordinance also calls for a $10 fine when hound droppings go uncollected. But the leash law has side effects — good.
But the leash law has side effects — good and bad, that all students need to know.
Students will feel safer knowing that they can
walk on their campus without fear of marauding packs of unrestrained canines (you know, those dogs that supposedly become less vicious simply because their owners tie cute red bandanas around their necks).
Students who like to nap on a sunny lawn can flatten out with confidence, because the grassy areas on campus are likely to be free of mounds of canine excrement.
The law's biggest defect is that it doesn't require owners to be with their dogs. This defect
The new law might benefit pedestrians and property too. I predict that the leash law will reduce costly skate
board crimes. Wayward wheeling skateboarders — whose vandalism includes thousands of dollars in damage to limestone retaining walls and railings — are as terrifying to pedestrians as loose dogs. Fortunately, leashes stretching across sidewalks function as trip lines.
Kaiser columnist opinionkansan.com
However, a great challenge of government is to craft a policy without bad side effects that undermine the policy's purpose.
Hounds are tied to trees and bike racks while their masters sit through 90-minutes of air-conditioned lecture. Unattended hounds are vulnerable to theft, mating, teasing, heat exhaustion, sunburn and dehydration. According to the Humane Society, thousands of pets are stolen each year.
jeopardizes the safety of students and hounds.
"Dogs don't sweat, and they don't have an efficient way to cool themselves down," he says. "If they are panting, it may be because they need oxygen because they've been exercising, or it may mean that they are trying to get rid of built-up heat in their bodies."
At this time of year, dogs also may be susceptible to heat exhaustion. Every dog is a potential victim of summer heat, says William Fortney, a veterinarian at Kansas State University's Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.
In high temperatures, dogs become unstable. But dogs aren't the only victims. Barks and yelps — which may signal a desire to bite or kill students — contribute to noise pollution. Ultimately, we are all at risk of being attacked by exhausted, angry, unattended hounds.
Dogs should be treated better at the University of Kansas. Unlike the fickle feline, canines are man's most loyal animal companions.
One exception to any leash law: Dogs should be allowed to exercise their God-given right to chase down and destroy cats.
We need an amendment that requires dogs to attended at all times. Without it, there will never be peace on the sidewalks and lawns of our city.
Kaiser is a first-year law student from Overland Park.
Editorial
Students should cut water use
The University has done its part to conserve water; now it's students' turn.
As record heat continues to scorch Mount Oread, the University and students should seek to conserve water when possible. With new Lawrence records for usage of this precious resource set this week, it is pleasing to see restrictions on water consumption being implemented at the University. Students should follow this example.
To see the lawns on Daisy Hill being watered during high-noon, 100-degree heat was disappointing. Adding insult to injury, a large amount of water would land on the sidewalks rather than on yards. These are practices that would result in fines in areas where water usage is restricted by law.
Last Wednesday, the city of Lawrence's inhabitants consumed 24.6 million gallons in the stifling heat. No immediate relief is in sight. Although a true shortage is not occurring, the time for everyone to conserve water — the University included — has arrived.
Although it is important to maintain a healthy-looking campus, there comes a time when the importance of resource conservation outweighs that of preserving lush greenery. That time is now, and the University should be commended for reacquaint this.
Responding to a request by the city of Lawrence, Provost David Schulenberger has announced several measures intended to reduce water usage on campus. These include shutting down water to fountains and discontinuing the watering of lawns where possible, from the Campanile to Daisy Hill. Understandably, watering some areas of campus, such as athletic fields, must proceed. The steps being taken, however, are the right ones.
Students can also contribute to the water-saving effort. Although everyone should drink plenty of water during this heat, consider shutting off the tap while brushing your teeth or shaving. Make every load of laundry a full one. For the duration of this heat wave, it is vitally important for students and the University alike to conserve water when possible.
Andy Miner for the editorial board
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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 comments, go to www.kansan.com.
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(Wednesday) night's blackout made me realize what I appreciate in the absence of technology: absolutely nothing.
--the KU add/drop system is a bunch of crap. They need to make it like Fort Hays or K-State: first come, first served.
Why is Metallica suing Napster? They suck too bad for anyone to steal their music anyway.
the KU add/drop system is a bunch of crap. They need to make it like Fort Hays or K-State: first come, first served.
There is no such thing as a safe abortion. Somebody ends up getting killed every time.
I just want to comment on all the people bringing the hate against the Clintons in the opinion section. And I just want to say that there needs to be more love in this country, and these haters just need to stop their ways.
KU football this year has me the most excited I've been since my character gained four dexterity points in Dungeons and Dragons.
I'm tired of boring KU half-time shows. Let's have Bob Hemenway dancing with the Crimson girls.
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In response to the Burge (Union) in the newspaper ... People get tired of the Burge incident and tired of the paper bringing it up. It's been almost a year. Let's get over it and move on.
Wescoe Hall is scary-looking.
The parking department claims that all their revenues go toward building new parking lots and garages. Then, when I go into the parking office, I see they have new flat-panel monitors. What's the deal with that?
the KU add/drop system is a bunch of crap. They need to make it like Fort Hays or K-State: first come, first served.
the KU add/drop system is a bunch of crap. They need to make it like Fort Hays or K-State: first come, first served.
Does anybody know where my socks are?
You would think that for $120 a year, the University could buy some newer, air-conditioned buses.
How can they expect more KU students to actually go to the football games if they do not sell beer at the stadium?
I'd just like to say that after five drinks, I'm on the floor.
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If George W. Bush is elected president, he is going to screw up the environment just like he did Texas.
If people think that the weather is hot in Lawrence, they should try hanging out in Pearson or Stephenson Scholarship Hall, where there is no air conditioning, KU Housing needs to get with the program and install air conditioning, something that humane living establishments have had for years.
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