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Thursday, October 23, 1986 / University Daily Kansan
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Cutting financial ties
Where are the Reagan administration's priorities?
Next year, 900 KU students who received Guaranteed Student Loans as their only financial aid will be considered ineligible, thanks to a new assessment procedure that considers a family's assets as well as its income.
True, other forms of state and federal aid already take a family's assets into consideration, but this hardly will make any difference to those 900 students, who weren't eligible for those forms of aid last year anyway.
Technology gains more of a hold on our society every day, workers jobs that require workers to analyze complex
problems, write clearly, and think logically; workers with more than a high school education.
The government has expressed concern before keeping up intellectually with Japan and Europe, but all the government white papers in the world won't do anything if the money to support education isn't there. It starts with money to keep qualified teachers in education instead of private industry; money to provide up-to-date equipment such as computers and modern textbooks for the students. And it continues with grant and loan money to get qualified students to enroll in universities and complete their degrees.
The newest stamp act
Here's one for the folks at Ripley's.
Those clever lawmakers up in Minnesota have made it illegal to sell marijuana without tax stamps. That's right, if a dealer wants to push drugs in the Golden Gopher state, he must report to the special taxes division of the state Revenue Department and purchase, for $150, a minimum of 15 stamps for 1.5 ounces of marijuana. Otherwise he might get in trouble for tax evasion. Believe it or not.
The law was designed to give state officials a way of prosecuting dealers for evading taxes as well as pushing pot. The Minnesota legislators never really expected anyone to comply with the law.
Imagine the surprise of the clerk at the Revenue Department when someone actually
came in and purchased 15 of the stamps. This guy may have been a dim bulb, but he was no scaffold. Well, no scaffoil.
The law is not intended for a set-up or sting operation, and the purchasing of drug stamps is completely confidential. The purchaser was not reported to the police. One can't get arrested for obeying the law in Minnesota.
The constitutionality of it,
however, is already being challenged. The challenger is a man who was assessed $113,600 in "grass tax" after police made a search of his home and uncovered a sizeable stash.
This idea could really catch on, especially in Kansas. Why, we could enact all sorts of laws that no one would expect to obey. On the other hand, maybe we have too many of those laws as it is now.
The Speaker steps down
Tip O'Neill's retirement Saturday marked the end of an era in the U.S. House of Representatives. After 50 years as a legislator, 34 years in the House and the last 10 as Speaker of the House. O'Neill is leaving behind a legacy as one of the most distinguished public servants in U.S. history.
Thomas P. O'Neill Jr., 73, D-Mass, earned great respect in Washington as a man who held fast to his principles, even when confronted with hopeless battles and vehement opposition. And he faced plenty of both in the early years of the Reagan administration.
Assuming the mantle of leadership for his party, O'Neill didn't back down from the challenge of repeated confrontations with the most popular president in recent history. In time, he galvanized the House into a body that often forced bitterly contested compromises out of a president who was reluctant to yield.
O'Neill was no diplomat. Candor was his style, not quiet acquiescence. When President Reagan called congressional leaders to the White House earlier this year for a talk on the budget, O'Neill became incensed at what he heard. He objected loudly that the president's statements were "a bunch of baloney that I will not sit here and listen to."
The veteran legislator was never in awe of the president, in contrast to some Democratic congressmen whose convictions frequently proved lukewarm when Reagan got down to serious arm-twisting. But O'Neill never wavered in the heat of battle.
Allies and adversaries alike honored O'Neill with several lengthy standing ovations on the day he retired, Jim Wright, D-Texas, will exert the speaker's gavel in the 100th Congress. But filling O'Neill's shoes will be much more difficult.
Editorial correction
Due to an editorial writer's error, the editorial "Increased fine is dandy" misrepresented the penalty for violating a new city ordinance on overcrowding. While the maximum
penalty for overrowding is up to $2,500, city officials said it was unlikely that the maximum would be levied against violators, except in cases of extreme or repeated violations.
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Opinions
Summit aftermath is squabbling
The selling of the Iceland summit as a big success for President Reagan has been time consuming. All other official business was put on hold for the massive public relations blitz.
Deputy press secretary Larry Speakes said that in the final hours of the summit he realized it would be necessary to counter a "first impression."
Helen Thomas
That impression, from what was written immediately after Reagan's last meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, was that the summit had collapsed, that Reagan had picked up his marbles and went home, and that he had given up a historic chance to reduce and eliminate within a decade the superpower offensive nuclear arsenals.
Secretary of State George Shultz set the tone Sunday night in Reykjavik after the final meeting when he expressed "deep disappointment."
UPI Commentary
Oddly, the Soviets have torn a page out of the White House book and they too embarked on a campaign to sell their view that Reagan had blown it, giving up a bird in hand for two in the bush.
But within hours, the White House PR machinery was reved up to erase any impression of defeat.
As long as Reagan hangs on to a dream of U.S. invincibility in space and the Kremlin leader sees the Star Wars concept as an all-encompassing threat to his land, there will be little compromise.
Sources said that the president went into a trivade aboutLeninism and the threat of communist expansion. He was also an ardent mormon with congressional leaders.
Shultz, by this time, received new marching orders to put a positive label on the accomplishments of the mini-summit that turned into a full-fledged summit. Adm. John Poindexter, the national security adviser, who had a lower profile before the summit, went public in a big way, and so did White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan.
Shultz, Poindexter and Regan told Speakes they were available for the whole week following the summit to present their side of the story and to win over public opinion.
Reagan was quoted as saying, "They're nothing but a bunch of expansionists and they want to take over our country."
Still, some agreements were reached and once detached from Star Wars, U.S. officials believe there is a
When told that some scientists did not believe in the "Star Wars" concept, Reagan was quoted as saying, "I wouldn't give up the fans. I wouldn't give up." for them."
chance for forward movement.
Poindexter, out of whose shop came the "disinformation" memo against Libya, said on NBC's "Today" program, "I have no credibility."
He probably meant to say, "I have no credibility problem."
White House chief of staff Donald Regan said, "When I don't win, I get angry."
Reagan told television anchormen and commentators that Gorbachev is
"He's totally dedicated to their system, and frankly I think he believes sincerely their propaganda about us; that we're beholden to industrial and military complexes and
so forth."
When the session was over the president turned to Communications Director Patrick Buchanan, who was staging the media drive along with Speakes, saying, "The boss says I'm through here."
Secretary of State George Shultz was less gracious to taking orders. He told the anchorman: "The president called him boss, but I won't do that."
Deputy press secretary Larry Speake's credibility came into question during the Iceland summit and afterwards over the issue of the news blackout.
Speakes denounced Poindexter in a public briefing during the summit for breaking the news blackout by telling reporters in passing that the sessions were "businesslike." He also took off on a Soviet commentator.
For those who attacked his credibility, Speakes said he would discuss it privately in his office. He obviously does not want the transcripts that go into history books, and perhaps his own future book, to reflect the animosity that sometimes goes into the briefings where he rules the roost.
Power dressing same as good grooming
Andres Cavelier Colombia freshman
The inscription, not the wall.
WASHINGTON — When I first came to the capital, the Washington manager of United Press International had a framed inscription on his wall that was a parody of Kipling.
Finally, after five days in prison, she was deported to Colombia. Not a very happy end, for the United States or Colombia. Next time, remember the "freedom of the press," that Lara is not communist and that Colombians are very nice guys.
I was reminded of that message — bumper stickers hadn't yet achieved a high degree of popularity — by a poll of business executives conducted by Guardsmark Inc., a security services firm.
"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs," it said, "it means you don't understand the situation."
Mailbox
Inhospitable actions
I am Colombian. And I am glad that you have acknowledged in the editorial on Monday's Kansan the terrible attitude of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service agency against the Colombian journalist, Patricia Lara, who was charged to be in subversive activities here in the United States.
The survey indicated that U.S. executives adopted a "business as usual" policy after the outbreak of terrorism around the world.
Last week, when she arrived in New York City, she was arrested. There was no reason. The only reason the U.S. Immigration gave was that she was on a list of foreigners suspected of communist, subversive or terrorist activity. It is known that she wrote a book profiling Colombian guerrillas in which she criticized the U.S. policy in Central America. "Maybe they didn't like that," she said.
No, she wasn't. She is a reliable journalist for the leading Colombian newspaper, El Tiempo. She was coming to the presentation of the Maria Moors Cabot Prizes at the University of Columbia School of Journalism, where she got a master's degree in 1980.
It found that only about 31 percent changed business travel plans to overseas countries because of terrorists.
Although almost a third said they intentionally avoided commercial airlines that had been involved in terrorist violence, the majority chose the most convenient flight.
Maybe the small percentage who
turn back neglected to pack a li-
lion.
According to another survey of the same group, this one conducted by Delsey of Paris, a French luggage manufacturer, up to 50 percent of the leaders of America's top companies forget to take along a toothbrush when they travel.
It does little good, apparently, for an executive with dirty teeth to try to feign anonymity. The same survey shows that sunglasses are second to
Dick West
UPI Commentary
Executives might go to bed without brushing their teeth, but only 10 percent forget to pack pajamas.
toilet articles on the list of forgotten items
I don't know whether Michael Korda, editor in chief of the publishing house of Simon & Schuster, was among those polled, but in a recent magazine article he addressed the subject of "power dressing."
His secrets included never carrying a pocket calculator, a visible pen or pencil, a wallet bulky enough to be mistaken for a pistol, as many keys as a prison guard or a pocket knife large enough to serve as a weapon
Nor, Korda says, should a power dresser wear a belt with a fancy buckle big enough to set off alarms at airport security checkpoints.
I have never dressed for power myself, but I agree with most of those strictures. They appear to fall under the heading of good grooming.
If I may offer some additional grooming tips for the powerless, I recommend the following guidelines:
Never, but never, wear riding boots for a stroll on city streets.
Don't put a 10-gallon hat on a 9-gallon head.
Don't dress in the dark
Avoid mixing plains with stripes.
Don't build an airport terminal smaller than a security checkpoint.
Business executives, apparently, need have no fear of setting off airport alarms with belt buckles. Ten percent of those responding to the Delsey survey said they frequently forget to pack belts.
Of course, that also rules out absent-minded business travelers trying to tough it out by tightening their belts.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate