4A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
MONDAY,OCT.1,2001
TALKTO US
Kursten Phelps
editor
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Leita Schultes
Christina Neff
managing editors
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Erin Adamson
Brendan Woodbury
opinion editors
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Jenny Moore
business manager
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adddirector@kansan.com
Kate Mariani
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Tom Eblen
general manager and
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Matt Fisher
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MATT GERTKEN/KANSAN
EDITORIAL
KU Blood Drive gives students chance to help Victims of the terrorist attacks need blood, but local patients need it too
There has never been a good excuse not to give blood. Now, more than ever, there is a reason and KU students have the opportunity to help.
After the Sept. 11 attack in New York City and Washington, D.C., Americans started giving blood that very afternoon. Many blood centers could not serve so many people at once and asked communities to wait to donate blood until the blood centers could organize blood drives. This week KU students will get their turn to contribute to the community by donating blood.
Both Lawrence Community Blood Center and the American Red Cross are working together to sponsor the drive. Amanda Storm, Lawrence Community Blood Center representative and Judy Green, American Red Cross representative, have worked to make this blood drive a successful one on campus. Organizers of the blood drive don't want Lawrence residents or University of Kansas students and faculty to forget about the people in need in our own community, as well as victims of the terrorist attacks.
Organizers of this year's blood drive have set a goal of 1175 units of blood from this week. It is an ambitious goal, but there is also a strong desire to contribute something to the community because of the tragedy. Giving blood and offering donations are the best way to do help. Giving blood is quick, and relatively painless, and it helps the community more than we think.
It can take a lot of students to generously donate blood to help even one person. A speaker at the Panhellenic council shared her story at receiving 1006 units of blood in blood transfusions. A thousand students donating blood may make all the difference for one person who needs a transfusion — but they may help only one person. For this reason, it is extremely important that all students take a little time out of their day to donate blood.
The contributions that KU students make will be a model for students across the country. There are always people suffering and in need of blood transfusions in Lawrence. It may take a national tragedy to remind people of their civic responsibilities, but the need is always there.
PERSPECTIVE
The KU Blood Drive runs today until Friday at the following locations:
Monday: Kansas Union and Oliver Hall.
■ Tuesday: Kansas Union and McColum Hall
Wednesday: Kansas Union and McColum Hall.
Thursday: Allen Fieldhouse and McColum Hall.
Friday: Allen Fieldhouse and Gertrude Sellards Pearson-Corbin Hall.
McCollum Hall.
Friday, Allen Fieldhouse and
- Hillary Dunn for the editorial board
Local activists affect change in struggling East Timor
On Sept. 10, 1997, the Kansan ran an opinion piece by Matthew Caldwell that became the first in a series to discuss the genocide of the people of East Timor.
Caldwell addressed the motivation for the Indonesian invasion and attack of East Timor, the role of the United States in the invasion, and most importantly, the role of the American company Phillips 66 Petroleum.
Subsequent columns from other viewpoints questioned the effect of calling a boycott of Phillips 66 and the accuracy of Caldwell's accusations. On Sept. 30, the final say on the issue supported all of Caldwell's concerns in great detail.
By 1997, more than 200,000 East Timorians had been murdered despite 10 separate United Nations resolutions that condemned Indonesia's 1975 invasion and confirmed East Timor's right to self-determination. Activists around the world fought for nearly 25 years in a tireless battle to support the UN declarations.
Activists at the University of Kansas joined in the struggle and sponsored speaking tours, including the visit of Constancio Pinto, an East Timorian exile, on March 17, 1998. KU activists also launched writing campaigns to legislators to halt U.S. military support of
Commentary
Breeze
Luetke-
Stahlman
Columnist
opinionkansan.com
There are lessons for all of us to learn from and celebrate. First, on Aug. 30, 1999, almost 98 percent of the East Timorese people defied threats from the Indonesian military and its sponsored militias, cast their ballots in a national referendum and voted for independence. The incredible part of the election was that each of the East Timorians made that decision alone — no one could choose for anyone else to cast a vote for independence. Each person had to decide individually that it was the moment to act if anything was ever going to change.
On Aug. 30, the people of East Timor voted for an 88-member assembly that will become the nation's first parliament. After 400 years of occupation first from Portugal and then from Indonesia, the people will finally have an opportunity to govern themselves. And so a struggle is finished, and this is the second lesson.
Indonesia and called for a boycott of Phillips 66 Petroleum. The activists condemned Phillips 66 for its involvement with students at the heavilyendowed-by-Phillips 66 University of Kansas.
I can't tell you how many people told me my work on the East Timor issue was pointless, things would never change, I couldn't do anything to change a far-off conflict and I was wasting my and their time. While there was some truth in those warnings, the struggle for freedom wasn't futile.
Lueto-Stahlman is a senior in economics and political science from Olathe.
Things did change. I alone might not have been the force that provoked it, but the work of other activists deserves a lot of the credit. Activist Jose Ramos Horta, winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize for his pro-independence campaign for fellow East Timorians, proudly voted last week, saying, "My work for 24 years is done."
This lesson applies to other campaigns, struggles and issues. Battles might be long and difficult, but they can be won. And it is the actions of each individual that will bring about that victory.
PERSPECTIVE
Ignorance is America's biggest threat
Last week my friends, Guy and Rex, and I were sitting around watching television and discussing the invasion of Afghanistan. (My friends' names have been changed in the interest of national security.) I said that we would have to invade through Pakistan, and Guy said that we could go through Iran.
We discovered that Afghanistan is bordered by not only Iran and Pakistan, but also Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and one of those other "stan" countries. We promptly phoned this information into Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser, and spent a good half-hour laughing at our own ignorance.
The room split between those who thought that Iran bordered Afghanistan and those who did not. We debated this for about ten minutes, and then somebody had the paradigm-shifting idea of going upstairs and checking Guv's wall-map of the world.
We were not making light of the Sept. 11 attacks. We were just attempting in vain to remind each other that we were still alive. As it turns out, laughing with your friends is an excellent way to do that. (Thanks, guys.)
John Audlehelm
Columnist
opinionkanans.com
But Guy, Rex and I are fifth-year seniors. That means we know a lot, but more importantly, it means we appreciate how much more we don't know. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people in this
Commentary
country, and on this campus, do not.
Ignorance recently hit closer to home. My grandfather, who is Jewish, was standing outside the Jewish Community Center in Louisville, Ky. A man, who obviously knew more about international politics than Guy, Rex and I put together, drove up and screamed that it was because of "your people," the Jews in Israel, that the United States was attacked by terrorists. Then, my grandfather said, the man drove off, "like a coward."
This campus is supposed to be filled with educated and tolerant people, yet belligerent and racist comments find their way into the Free for All and reports of attacks on Arab students still find their way onto our nation's news pages.
Foreign terrorists may be able to end our lives,but they can't touch our way of life.The real threat to our freedom is much closer to home.
things that his administration has done well in dealing with the attacks
Fortunately, President Bush has repeatedly called for tolerance of minorities. This is one of the many
We as a country are very willing to drop bombs on people in other countries and to find scapegoats in our own. We have the "courage" and the "moral conviction" to do "whatever is necessary" to make ourselves feel better. Whether any of this will make us safer seems irrelevant to everybody except Bush and his advisors.
I am kind of glad that the people of this country aren't really in charge of developing the United States' strategic response. If Americans were, I fear that they would go the way of a caller to the Free for All, who called for dropping nuclear bombs on all residents of the Saudi Arabian desert.
A harsh course of action may provide cool TV footage and make some Americans feel better, but it may or may not actually make us safer. Bush is taking the level-headed, measured steps required to do the latter. But he is also calling for harsh action with excellent speeches, symbols, and leadership.
As for making people safer, I hope the extra security at my grandfather's Jewish Community Center is up to the task.
Audelhelm is a senior in political science and journalism from Des Moines, Iowa
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.
I just turned in my graphic design project and now I'm going to sleep until Monday.
Our campus smells like soup.
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Am I the only shy person on campus or does it just seem that way because all the other shy people are off somewhere being shy?
Since the Kansan is a smaller newspaper, does that make my butt look smaller or bigger?
So today I was thinking, who would win a fight between Clint Eastwood and John Wayne? And I think John Wayne would. Because when they meet, John Wayne would pull out his hat and be like "I'm John Wayne, the legendary duke." Clint Eastwood would shake his hand and that's when Wayne would shoot him right there and win the battle. Oh yeah.
I killed your mom's dog because it would bark when I came around the house. I mean, what else could I do but kill it?
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After these messages, we'll be right back. (sunc)
What's this smell in my dorm room? It smells like this all the time!
Can anyone tell me what the YKK on zippers mean?
I think it's pretty cool how we can all park in Lot 119 across from the Towers and we parked right next to Drew Gooden. And we'll get a ticket and he won't. I guess the Parking Department plays favorites with the basketball players too. Right on.
My buddy and I have never gotten in Free for All.
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Yeah, props to the guy who designed the McColum-Ellsworth parking lot. There's over 1,000 people there and only 100 parking spots.
I just paid for a haircut with quarters
A girl in one of my classes today was talking on her cell phone during class. Can you believe that?
If they're going to make a Spanish article in the Kansan, they should take the time to edit it and put accents where they need to go, and make sure the title actually translates into something into English.
Taking a stand against bandanas. Girls don't need to wear them.
I bet my roommate that I could get onto Free for All, so put me on.
I bet my roommate that I could get onto Free for All for 5 consecutive days so we'll keep you guys posted.
I have no idea what happened last night.
Maybe Carmen Sandiego knows where Osama Bin Laden is.
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If John Cusack was a woman, then there'd be one good woman in the world.
I was riding my bike, staring at a fine girl,
and I almost ran into another fine girl.
Is it a coincidence that the number of greek community members that come to KU is inversely proportional to the number of Merit Scholars? I don't think so.
I just wanted to clarify something. My roommate called about my whistling nose. It whistles, but it's not shaped like a missile. It's shaped like a stop sign, if you will.
If your girlfriend asks you to go on Jerry Springer, she's a man.
Instead of serving real food like the Union, Wascoe Terrace serves quick shop food. What's up with that?
Does anyone else wonder why it smells like poe outside of Watson Library?
Listen, I'm confused. I know he's called the chancellor, but what exactly does he chancel?
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How come everyone in Hash is a psycho?
I saw this ninja guy running around last night. I don't know what was going on, but I just thought it was weird that I saw a ninja.
Does anyone else wonder why it smells like poop outside of Watson Library?
I am the singing telegram.
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