4A • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
FRIDAY,DECEMBER6,2002
TALKTOUS
Jay Krail
editor
864-4854 or jkrall@kansan.com
Brooke Hesler and Kyle Ramsey
managing editors
864-4854 or bhiesler@kansan.com and
kramsey@kansan.com
Laurel Burchfield
readers' representative
864-4810 or iburchfield@kansan.com
Maggie Koerth and Amy Potter
opinion editors
864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com
Amber Agee
business manager
864-4358 or advertising@kansan.com
Eric Kelting
retail sales manager
884-4358 or
advertising@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson
general manager and news adviser
864-7667 or mgibson@kansan.com
Matt Fisher
sales and marketing adviser
864.7666 or mfiskers@kansan.com
Free for All
Call 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
Let's see, where to begin? To the person who posted the war on terror, where did you get your information? It must have been on Al-Jazeera TV because there's no way that many Afghan people died in the bombings. We have these nifty little contraptions known as smart bombs now. I wonder how many people died for exposing their ankles or listening to music over the past 20 years under the Taliban regime. If you ask them, I'm sure they're quite thankful to us for freeing them from oppression.
maybe if people would do their research, they would figure out that all these new buildings that we are building are not coming from tuition, they are coming from private funds. So maybe you should think before you speak next time.
maybe if people would do their research, they would figure out that all these new buildings that we are building are not coming from tuition, they are coming from private funds. So maybe you should think before you speak next time.
Oh, and to the person who wishes us all to be starving Somalians, let me remind you that it was the U.S. who tried to overthrow their government that was hording all the food and causing their own people to starve in the first place. Our efforts failed because Bill Clinton and the liberals were too disinterested to fully commit. Had the conservatives been in charge, the Somali people would be a lot better off today.
God forbid if I was a poverty-stricken American. Maybe I'd get off my butt, leave the bottle and get a job a McDonald's. They always seem to be hiring.
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To the person who thought the squirrels were creepy and were barking and hissing at you, here's a tip from me. You need to make friends with the squirrels, and as you walk by, be like, "Hey, squirrelly squirrelly."
maybe if people would do their research, they would figure out that all these new buildings that we are building are not coming from tuition, they are coming from private funds. So maybe you should think before you speak next time.
Speaking of myself, I know I've made my share of mistakes. Past is past, and I know it doesn't matter. By this time in life, we should know something of who we are. I had the blessing of knowing a polite person in a nice way, and no twist of imagination can take that away from either of us.
maybe if people would do their research, they would figure out that all these new buildings that we are building are not coming from tuition, they are coming from private funds. So maybe you should think before you speak next time.
To the person who called in about Donald Duck not being able to fly, that's your biggest concern? Why not get mad that he can talk, yet he's a duck, and he doesn't wear pants, but he wears a shirt. If you're going to get upset about Donald Duck cartoons, let's not nitpick about his not flying, let's go for the whole sha-bang
Ah, there's nothing like a Minnesota girl.
maybe if people would do their research, they would figure out that all these new buildings that we are building are not coming from tuition, they are coming from private funds. So maybe you should think before you speak next time.
maybe if people would do their research, they would figure out that all these new buildings that we are building are not coming from tuition, they are coming from private funds. So maybe you should think before you speak next time.
(coughing) Peanut crumb in my throat.
Don't get up at 8:30 in the morning and fix a big bowl of oatmeal, and when you're halfway through it, change it to the learning channel, because they might be showing the benefits of wound-cleaning maggots. Just like they were showing me this morning. Just thought I'd let you know, don't do that.
maybe if people would do their research, they would figure out that all these new buildings that we are building are not coming from tuition, they are coming from private funds. So maybe you should think before you speak next time.
Man, it's too cold right now. Good thing I'm changing the climate when I drive. I'm gonna go driving, heat this sucker up.
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I just read Eric Boria's column, and he's obviously jealous of Megan Bainum. You're never gonna get a columnist as good as Megan Bainum for the sex columnist's position you're trying to fill. She's absolutely awesome; and I'm sorry she's gonna be graduating soon, but I'm happy for her.
maybe if people would do their research, they would figure out that all these new buildings that we are building are not coming from tuition, they are coming from private funds. So maybe you should think before you speak next time.
What if McDonald's sold macaroni and cheese? What would they call it, McMac?
maybe if people would do their research, they would figure out that all these new buildings that we are building are not coming from tuition, they are coming from private funds. So maybe you should think before you speak next time.
I don't think smokers have any idea of how badly they stink. I think their nostrils have been burned out or something. They just have no clue that they reak.
maybe if people would do their research, they would figure out that all these new buildings that we are building are not coming from tuition, they are coming from private funds. So maybe you should think before you speak next time.
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Growing up in a small town, I was led to believe that squirrels eat nuts. That's all they ate. Now with winter approaching, I don't see very many nuts left hanging in the trees. I'm not going anywhere without a jockstrap from now on.
they be destroyed through usual methods such as sterilization."
You know you're stressed out when you go to class in order to avoid your job.
they be destroyed through usual methods such as sterilization."
For all you nonsorority girls ripping on us,
just because you got rejected doesn't
mean that we're stupid or ugly or
anything else you want to call us.
I got robbed over Thanksgiving break, and they took all of my CDs except for *Dream: This is Me* the remix. I was just wondering, is Dream really that bad?
For a billion dollars, yeah, I'd do a sheep.
they be destroyed through usual methods such as sterilization."
Yesterday I was borrowing a shirt out of my roommate's closet, and I found a Swedish penis enlarger. It floored me. And I don't know, I've never seen anything like that before. That was a first
they be destroyed through usual methods such as sterilization."
I was just wondering if you guys have caller ID, because if you do, I'm very embarrassed.
I love my SUV, and I love changing the climate. Go SUVs! Woo woo wool
they be destroyed through usual methods such as sterilization."
To the person who called in about the gun-toting conservatives, that was the best Free for All I've ever read.
they be destroyed through usual methods such as sterilization."
--they be destroyed through usual methods such as sterilization."
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STAYKAL'S VIEW
'KANSAN' REPORT CARD
Pass:
Gene Stayskal/Knight Ridder
Dennis Dailey. At a time when many sex ed. classes don't tell high schoolers about anything but abstinence, Prof. Dailey's logical advice and positive attitude about sex are always a breath of fresh air.
Locking down the house. After the rash of robberies over Thanksgiving break, investing in that home-security system doesn't seem like such a bad idea.
On-line voting. This spring, students will be able avoid the obnoxious canvassing on Wescoe Beach and still vote in Student Senate elections. Now there's no excuse not to vote.
Fail:
Curbing enthusiasm. You may not agree that protesting is the right way to address problems, but students in the 60's and 70's had to be doing something right if they could get that many KU students involved in anything that didn't involve beer.
Overzealous fans. If you are at the point where you are willing to be buried in a KU casket, now might be a good time to seek counseling.
Closed doors. Govenor-elect Sebellius is keeping the media out of her task-force meetings. She should know better. Informed news services mean informed citizens.
PERSPECTIVES
Maggie Koerth/Kansan
Meat eaters beware: the flavor of meat doesn't outweigh risks
GUEST COMMENTARY
I love beef. There's nothing better than a thick, juicy steak slathered in A-1 Steak Sauce. The trouble is I don't consume beef, or any kind of animal products, anymore.
I know, you think I'm trying to save the animals or tout some other glorious animal rights crusade. Actually, I'm just trying to avoid getting sick.
On Monday, The University Daily Kansan ran a story about Michael Greger, a doctor who spoke about the dangers of eating meat.
Greger spoke mainly about the possibility of contracting Creurtsfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), also known as "mad cow disease."
Patrick Ross opinion@hansan.com
He told students the way cows are raised in the U.S.is dangerous.
This assertion is backed up by Eric Schlosser in his book, Fast Food Nation.
According to the book, 85 percent of all beef in the U.S. is processed and包装ed by huge corporations that either raise cows on huge corporate farms or lease them to farmers to raise until they're ripe for the slaughter.
Nowadays, corporate cows are fed a steady diet of corn that has been enriched with such yummy things as pork and chicken byproducts (read: animal goo). This fattens them up much quicker than allowing them to graze languorously upon fields of green grass.
The problem, though, is that cows are ruminants, animals that regurgitates their food and chews it several times.
Their stomachs were made to ingest grass and "ruminate" on it. They certainly weren't meant to digest animal proteins.
This is were the danger from vCJD comes in. According to a story on the Ameican Medical Association's Web site, www.amaassn.org/ama/pub/category/4207.htm l, when cow's stomachs are forced to digest this "meaty" corn, the pH level of the stomach changes and becomes more acidic in response to the new type of food.
Because of the increased acidity the protein, called a prion, that causes vCJD becomes more resistant to stomach acids, those of humans as well as cows.
The American Medical Association says that prions "cannot be detected before someone is infected, nor can
Extreme temperatures and radiation have nothing on this puppy.
Creurtsfeld-Jakob Disease destroys your brain over a period of months and this leads to death.
There is no cure.
Although there have been no reports of mad cow disease in the U.S., this doesn't mean U.S. beef is safe.
As Greger pointed out in the Kansan, cows in the U.S. are fed the same sort of food (the animal goo I mentioned before) that put cows in Europe at risk. In addition, the AMA said vCJD can remain dormant, and undetectable, for some time. There could be people who have it in the U.S. and just don't know it.
As if prions weren't bad enough, enter E. coli. E. coli is also transferred to humans through animal meat, usually meat that hasn't been cooked long enough.
It has symptoms including bloody diarrhea, vomiting, stomach cramps and skin rash, to name a few.
So call me a raving hippie call me what you will, but until animal products are safely processed, I'll be having the Boca Burger with soy cheese and a cold glass of water.
Ross is a Topeka freshman in pre-journalism.
Christmas shopping season has world-wide consequences
The Christmas Season has surfaced again. But I think this year, these holidays, for all their travel and relaxed break time, are special.
I think this year, during Christmas, we can't help but think about a new kind of reality behind our current state as University of Kansas students and Americans.
One contemporary novelist, Jonathan Franzen, put what I'm trying to say well, borrowing the title of Aldous Huxley's popular work, Brave New World. He said that as 21st century Americans we live in something more akin to a "brave new McWorld." This obviously points to ubiquitous
American commerce.
Despite the rampant, mindless slamming of the Christmas holidays for all the superficial scrambling after Tickle-Me Elmo dolls and hoards of electronics, commerce and Christmas have a certain inevitability, just like our country and its founding capitalism.
Criticizing American commerce seems to me like harping on Christians for still preaching the gospels.
GUEST COMMENTARY
Sean Pauzauskie opinion@kansan.com
Is it any surprise that our national motto rings during the holidays like it does for the 364 other days: Get Stuff!
However, it seems to me that while we as students can see the "brave new McWorld" for its intensifying materialistic nature, we're also faced with the
unique challenge of making our way into it.
Our new challenge is realizing that the consequences of the holiday buying boom reach far beyond wads of wrapping paper and American holiday spirit.
Mainly, despite our president's abundant rhetoric about freedom, our
I love Christmas and I think every one should love their winter holiday.
Don't get me wrong I think the holiday season should mostly make that psychology professor's unnecessarily long and boring final a distant memory. However, this year, as our country's talk of war grows more prevalent (Sadham has until Dec. to declare all Iraqi weapons), so should our knowledge of what this war would mean and the underlying jealousy that so many countries have for the present-fraught season we are about to enjoy.
current enemies hate us for our economic superiority. Using moral superiority as justification for violence, our enemies give our Christmas obsession with stuff a new kind of meaning.
However, I also believe that knowing our enemies will make us more apt to deal with them, and I hope our leaders make prudent decisions based on the knowledge that we should fight a war on foreign poverty first if we wish to fight a war on terrorism.
As students,becoming more powerful in the "Brave New McWorld" will mean becoming more informed of its issues and causes.
I urge everyone to give this smaller 21st century world some thought over our long holiday break. We'll all be better off for your efforts.
Pauzaunkie is a Topeka junior in biology and English.