4A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
TALK TO US
MONDAY, NOV.26, 2001
Kursten Phelps editor 864-4854 or editor@kansan.com
Leita Schultes Christina Neff managing editors 864-4854 or editor@kansan.com
Erin Adamson Brendan Woodbury opinion editors 864-4810 or opinion@kansan.com
Jenny Moore business manager 864-4014 or adddirector@kansan.com
Kate Mariani retail sales manager 864-4462 or retailsales@kansan.com
Tom Eblen general manager and news adviser 864-7667 or tebellan@kansan.com
Matt Fisher sales and marketing adviser 864-7666 or mfisher@kansan.com
KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE
EDITORIAL
Olathe senator recall drive misdirected
About two months ago, Kansas state senator Kay O'Connor, R-Olathe, made some comments about women's sufferage that her constituents disagreeed with. Because of her comments, middle school teacher Ronda Hassig is spearheading an effort to recall O'Connor from office on grounds of incompetence.
tence.
Even though it is admirable that Hassig is following the legal process of recalling an elected official, it would be better to let voters mark their displeasure on their ballots.
The statements that Hassig and many others have taken offence with were O'Connor's personal views of women's suffrage. O'Connor told the Johnson County League of Women's Voters that the anniversary of the 19th Amendment was not worth celebrating. She also said that if it were presented today, she would not support the 19th Amendment. She said women did not need the right to vote if men took care of them and that women's suffrage was a sign that men were not taking care of women.
O'Connor has claimed that her statements were misquoted or misunderstood. She tried to deny making the comments, but they were confirmed by others who were present. O'Connor's term is over in 2004 and she says she does not intend to resign.
Hassig, a middle school teacher from Lenexa, has filed an application to recall O'Connor from office with the Office of the Secretary of State in Topeka. To get a petition to recall O'Connor, Hassig has to get the support of resident electors equal in number to ten percent of the votes cast in the election that put O'Connor in office. After getting the petition, Hassig will have to get the support of resident electors equal in number to 40 percent of the votes cast in the election that put O'Connor in office to put her recall up for a vote.
However, if the voter turnout for O'Connor's recall is anything like the turnout for the primary that made her the Republican candidate for her district, the numbers may show that voters just don't care. Of the 40,098 Republicans and independents that were eligible to vote in the primary, only 8,646 voters turned out. O'Connor won the primary by 252 votes and went on to defeat the Democratic candidate in the historically Republican district.
If Hassig and other constituents of O'Connor's want to make a difference in their representation, they should switch tactics. Instead of going through the lengthy process of the recall, the constituents can make O'Connor aware that they are not happy with the way she has been represented her district and that they are not happy with the views that she expressed on the job.
Donovan Atkinson for the editorial board.
Upset constituents could spend their time better working to keep O'Connor from being re-elected rather than trying to take her out of office.
PERSPECTIVE
Red, white and ... green? America peddles patriotism
NYFD — those were the letters on the Coke man's hat. New York Fire Department.
Since Sept. 11 I have seen more and more references to New York, its people and the tragedies that ended so many lives. Initially, I was warmed. What seemed to be genuine sympathy poured forth from the hearts of everyday people — hearts I had long been tempted to judge cynically as shriveled and hollow.
The willingness to give time, money and energy to help victims under the rubble and the emotional burden created by the events was astounding. Our student body exemplified this spirit by raising more than $20,000 so quickly.
But I underestimated that old lecher Capitalism, who's always looking for another opportunity to make a buck for himself. The letters on the Coke man's cap started me thinking. What started as a badge of honor for the valorous women and men of New York's Fire Department had been turned into a commodity, an opportunity for profit.
And since then my irritation has only grown. Traveling during fall
Commentary
Aaron Proffitt
Guest columnist
opinionkanan.com
break, my wife and I saw lodging place after lodging place, and nearly all had a message like "God Bless the USA" on their lighted signs. Apparently a tinge of jingooism was expected along with continental breakfast and cable in every room.
Radio commercials featured "moments of silence," after which the compassionate-sounding narrator informed listeners that Name-Brand store had a special sale going on for all one's home-decorating needs. Car dealers are telling us to buy a car—not for self-indulgent reasons, but to "help stimulate the economy." Apparently, getting some new wheels is an act of patriotism.
The war (there is no war) has not helped tasks. From news desks, editorial pages and pulpits, the word has gone forth. God is on our side. Apparently, the Supreme Being likes to see innocent people die — as long as they're not American, of course. Put as bluntly as I've said it, such ideas sound almost blasphemous. But don't tell me; I'm just clarifying what others are obscuring.
In our bustle to commemorate the victims by buying flags for our vehicles, pins for our shirts and flag-waving art for our walls, I think we're forgetting something. We're forgetting that the occasion for all this was horrific death and destruction.
I hope we remember the victims by something other than long receipts, patriotic attire and damnable profiteering. I hope we hold on to the grief we felt and saw, the realization that life is short and precious. I hope that we keep at least a little part of ourselves tender and human and that we keep our pocketbooks in our pockets and not our hearts. I hope.
But I fear.
Proffitt is a Lawrence graduate student in English
PERSPECTIVE
Meatless diets are healthy and fair
As demonstrated by a recent column in the Kansan, veganism and vegetarianism, as well as animal rights in general, are still much maligned and misunderstood.
The most common criticism of meat-free diets is that they are not nutritious. This criticism stems from the belief that by denying themselves meat and dairy products, vegans and vegetarians do not get enough protein. However, despite meat and dairy industry claims, only 2.5 to 10 percent of the daily calorie intake of the average human needs to be in the form of protein.
Given this requirement, vegans and vegetarians have no trouble getting adequate amounts of protein. Soy foods, for example, contain all eight of the essential amino acids and are high in protein. The Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences has even weighed in on the issue, calling the health and nutritional status of strict vegetarians world wide "excellent."
Vegan and vegetarian diets are also healthier than meat-based ones. The average American meat-eater will consume more than three times the required amount of protein daily. Excess consumption of meat can causes calcium depletion that results in osteoporosis.
Meat-based diets also drastically increase the risk of heart disease. The average meat-eating male has about a 50 percent chance of dying of heart disease. Vegan males, on the other hand, have about a 4 percent chance of dying from heart disease.
Sean Whittier
Guest columnist
opinionkanansan.com
Commentary
Another objection to meatless diets is that humans are at the top of the food
chain and should eat other animals. But humans, because of our technological and agricultural skills, don't fit into the typical biological food chain. We are capable of killing and eating other animals, but this is not because of our physiology but to our ability to develop and use tools.
To determine where humans would fit in the traditional food chain, we should look at what we are capable of eating with our bare hands and without the use of tools. We would quickly find is that humans do not function well as carnivores. We are physically weak and slow when compared to other carnivorous animals. If we were fortunate enough to catch another animal, we would find ourselves ill-equipped to kill and eat it.
There are many people who think it is not cruel to eat, exploit or experiment on animals, provided that it benefits humanity. The rationale given for this is that animals are far less intelligent than humans and lack complex emotions.
From a biological and physiological viewpoint, humans are not carnivores by nature and instead fall into the herbivore/insectivore category of the food chain.
If degree of intelligence and emotion is the criteria for deciding who has the
right to live free of cruelty and suffering, not only should animals be lined up for slaughter, but so should small children and people with severe developmental disorders. Chimpanzees are often more intelligent, aware and communicative than toddlers and the mentally handicapped.
Yet, I am confident that no one who supports eating meat or vivisection would also support eating human infants or letting cowboys ride people with Down syndrome. It is obvious that intellect and level of emotion are not the true reasons why cruelty to animals is condoned.
What is the true justification for the mass killing and exploitation of other animal species? What remains is the cold, hard fact that animals are drastically different from humans, both physiologically and behaviorally. They look and act nothing like us. These drastic differences have created a chasm between humans and animals that many people use to justify overwhelming cruelty and abuse.
If you are truly affected by the unnecessary pain and suffering in the world, you must also be concerned with the suffering of animals. The issue is not whether animals have feelings or emotions, but whether they suffer. A brief tour of any slaughterhouse, factory farm or animal testing laboratory leaves no doubt that they do.
Veganism and vegetarianism are not irrational. They are health and logically consistent ways to support animal rights and to reduce the overall amount of unnecessary suffering in the world.
Whittier is a Lawrence sophomore
FREE for ALL 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Not all of them will be published. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
You know it's a Saturday when you get up,
lay around for a couple of hours, take a
shower and put on clean paijamas.
r think that answering machine is the only person who works for KU Info.
I'm masticating right now and that's why I hate all of you people.
B
Normally I don't exalt people. However, in light recent situation, I'd like to give accolades to Meghan Bainum in the name of free speech. Thank you Meghan.
To the girl in my history class, you rock my world, because the bogyemen said so.
Yeah, I just said the girl in my history class, but I meant the girl in my Spanish class. But it's still because the boyemeye said so.
Seriously, we have a hockey team? Where exactly do they practice?
free for All is now number 19 on the speed dial on my cell phone.
Yeah, I just wanted you to know that I'm in the Navy and we're doing stadium cleanup and it really sucks and I'm having to hang out with this guy who just got his under-wear ripped off through a super-wedgy known as the rear admiral. If you could print this it would really make my day.
I'm really tempted to harm my roommate
But I won't.
图
It's Trading Spaces, you half wit. Just wanted to clarify, thank you.
free for All is now number 19 on the speed dial on my cell phone.
Everybody talks about how bad KJ's football team is this year, but with this record, at least we'll have a good draft pick next year.
You know you should probably just break up with him when you are seriously considering calling Miss Cleo for advice.
I'm trying to fill a scrapbook with all my Free for all quotes, so if the editors could start putting in more of my comments or using a larger font that would be great.
My bra is on the front page of the Kansan.
it's my birthday and I'm stuck in my room and can't find my friends.
B
1.
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My cat just peed on my laundry
Put some chili on it.
number party 2001. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Slumber party 2001. Three frat boys and three sorority girls in a 10 by 12 room. Go sooning.
That's funny cause like, I'm going to this party and I was looking through my phone book and there was this girl named Freed and I thought it would be cool and stuff. But it turns out to be Free for All so I guess I'm not going to call you anymore because you're not a girl.
number party 2001. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Hey Free for All, I'd just like to wish Meg Ryan a happy birthday and congratulate her for being the perfect woman.
I just wondered if anyone else thought this university was run by idiots?
I cannot say this enough: When you go to 7th Heaven, or Creation Station or the Phil Zone, take your ID. please.
I just watched our Jayhawks lose to Ball State. I can't help but wonder why we agreed to play a game in conditions like that. It's hot, it's humid, its not air conditioned. It just sucks.
Get your money for nothing and your chicks for free.
How come you can twist off a bottle cap,
but you can twist it back on?
rude, we went to Quinton's this weekend and got on hit by a 58-year-old lady.
This is down to everybody who is down on Mario Kinsley and the rest of the football team: if you ain't out there on that field then you need to shut up.
Yeah, I know that women's volleyball is over but I really like the pictures you guys have been putting in the paper, so if you guys could keep those coming that would be great.
There are three things you should never tell a girl. 1. She should take three Advil for her body weight. 2. She has swimmer's shoulders. 3. Does your back hurt?
I'm talking with my mouth full. Pardon me I'm sorry.
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