4 Tuesday, October 20, 1992 OPINION UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN IN OUR OPINION Students forced to pay more for fewer services With all the talk of raising residence hall and tuition rates to stay competitive with the other Big Eight Conference institutions, stu dents are missing out on basic services that they already are paying for. Residence hall and tuition rates this semester have seen an increase of almost 15 percent, and school officials already are discussing another major increase for next semester. The funds are to be tunneled toward projects such as campus lighting and the new Lewis Hall cafeteria conglomerate to service all of the residence halls on Daisy Hill. Lighting this campus effectively is projected to take four or five years. Until then students leaving dimly lit sections of campus at night, such as behind Fraser Hall, are left in the dark. Then there is the mega-cafeteria being built at Lewis Hall that is ultimately designed to serve all residence halls on Daisy Hill. In addition to saving KU money, this plan will provide students with more food choices and longer service hours. But when? Its grand opening was scheduled for next semester. But now the cafeteria will not be completed until Fall 1993 — supposedly. The residents are getting something from the plan though—the early morning noise and racket from construction crews. There are fewer resident directors, professors and other personnel in an effort to save money. KU has consolidated so that now some directors supervise two halls, such as the Lewis-Templin director and the Gertrude Sellards Pearson-Corbin Hall director. Because of consolidation and other cutbacks in our system, we are losing professors, esteem and a clear focus on students' needs. FRANK WILLIAMS FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD Christopher Columbus has been blamed for most of what's gone wrong during the past 500 years: war, genocide and slavery. INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE Foreign victories don't excuse domestic troubles It is interesting to note that his "discovery" of America is being discussed at the same time as America is searching for a new president. 11 Columbus could indeed defend himself, he would probably choose the words George Bush used in his first presidential debate: "It's not my fault." Bush blames the bad status of the U.S. economy on the worldwide recession, the social problems on the declining moral. The voters, on the other hand, blame him. George Bush runs a nation in decline. During the past four years, everything has turned worse, even though the United States simultaneously won historical battles overseas. The victories in Panama, Kuwait and Eastern Europe cannot, however, balance unemployment, AIDS, drugs and breakdowns in U.S. cities. Heroic achievements on the battlefield is not what voters want and it's not what Europe wants from the United States. Eight out of 10 Americans believe the economy is the most important single question. And on this field, Bush has a bad record. EXRESSEN STOCKHOLM KANSAN STAFF SCOTTIHANA Business manager BILL LEIBENGOOD Retail sales manager JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser ERIC NELSON Editor GREG FARMER Managing editor TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser BILL SKEET, Technology coordinator Asst. Managing Almee Brainard News Alexander Bloemhof Editorial Stephen Martino Campus Gayle Osterberg Sports Shealy Solon Photo Justin Knupp Features Cody Holt Graphics Sean Tewls Business Staff Campus sales mgr .. Angela Cleverman Regional sales mgr .. Meltisa Tet拉 National sales mgr .. Brian Wilkes Co-op sales mgr .. Amy Stumbo Production mgrs .. Bred Bron Marketing director .. Kim Claxton Marketing director .. Allison Squire Valerie Spicher Classified mgrs .. Judith Standley **Letters** should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. Writers affiliated with the University of Kansas must include class and homework, or faculty or staff position. **Guest columns** should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be The Kauai reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kauai newown, 111 Staffer Fint Hall. Political insults might just lead voters to the real truth Because many Americans are turned off by vicious politics. They want discussion of the issues. "I don't understand why people are complaining about the dirty politics of the city." "Not me. I think this is truth-slinging." You mean mud slinging. "Well, you call it mud-slinging. But to me, all the rotten stuff they say about each other sounds true, so I call it truth-slinging." "I ain't heard nothing that sounds unfair. Bush keeps saying that Clinton is a slippery character who keeps the draft, and that's true, ain't it?" You believe the reckless and unfair allegations they are making? I don't know if it is fair to call him slippery, but I suppose he's changed his mind a few times. However, so has Bush. Are we to believe that Bush didn't know about Iran Contra? "No, I think he knew. So that means that both of them are slippery characters. And that's what I mean about truth-slinging being good. Now we know that we got to choose between two slippery characters." "No, I think he's his kind of slippery, too. Except he's better at pretending he ain't slippery. That's the advantage you get when you're short and got big ears and talk like a country yokel. People forget how you got rich." You exclude Ross Perot. You mean the mud-slinging about his use of clout. "Truth-slinging. He made his fortune with government contracts. He grips about political insiders, but where did he make his bundle? He's as big an insider as Bush." MIKE ROYKO So you do concede that Bush has had a privileged life and career? then you must admire Clinton's humble origins. "Sure. That's some more real truth-slinging, when they say he don't understand ordinary people, which is why he can't figure out why so many of them are mad at him. How's he supposed to understand problems of ordinary people? When he started his oil business, his family gave him a stake that I figure would be almost 2 million in today's dollars. My old man gave me the help wanted ads. His pa was a blue-blood senator himself. Bush knew theirs and outs and the way was greased for him." "Hey, spare me. The way he talks, you'd think he was aBae Lincoln, but he didn't have it bad, and it didn't take him long to find some political clout. Now he's some kind of jukebox." "That's what he reminds me of. You push a button and it plays a song. Then you push another button, and it plays a different song. Him and his running mate, the pretty boy." You didn't like Al Core either? "He's like one of those big mechanical puppets at Disney World. His mouth opens and out comes the same stuff. Him and Clinton are going to do this, and they're gonna do that. Why don't he just come out and say they're going to juice up the taxes?" "Nah, I know who I'm gonna probably vote for. But I'm still undecided about one thing." You have fallen for the Republican mud-slinging about tax-and-spend. "What, you think they won't tax and spend? Where are the Democrats gonna get the money to pay for everything they promise, by sending their wives out on the streets in hot pants?" "Sure, and that's true, too. So they're splattering each other with the same truth. No matter who's in there, our money ain't safe." Ah, but what about all the Republican taxing and spending? Are you leaning toward Perot? "I thought about it until I heard this admiral he put on as his running mate. I know he was a great hero, and I respect him for it. But the only time I understood him was when he said he forgot to turn on his hearing aid. I'll say one thing for him, he ain't slick." But today, all politicians must be somewhat slick. The voters expect it. That is right, we have to winning. He's slicker than Bush." It sounds to me like you are still in the ranks of the undecided. "Whether to use my fingers to hold my nose closed or a clothespim." Mike Royko is a syndicated columnist with the Chicago Tribune. LETTER TO THE EDITOR Students should take time to recycle the impression that if one does not want their *Kansan* insert, its OK to simply pull it out of the paper and stuff it back into the bin. I an not a rocket scientist, nor do I claim to be, but I think that I can figure out that the wind is going to blow this all over campus. Next time you see that insert, keep it and recycle it. If this is too difficult to comprehend, just throw it away. I've noticed that around most paper bins there are trash cans. While I'm on a roll, I might as well COMMENTARY Oct. 7, 1992. This was the day I finally reached my limit. As I walked to class that beautiful morning, I decided to pick up my own copy of the University Daily Kapsan. Shaun Battles Overland Park senior bring up aluminum-can recycling on campus. Obviously, there is some confusion as to where and how this can be done. In buildings like Fraser, the recycling bins are not trash cans. Look for those big yellow barrels near the elevators. In Wesco, there are plenty of places to conveniently recycle aluminum cans. Let's all try to make use of these as well as many others on campus. Not to my surprise, surrounding the paper bin were hoards of waste. You know what I mean. Coupons, filers, comic books, you name it. Apparently, some people are under DAVID MITCHELL Armageddon prediction is as unsettling as it is stupid Last week I received a flier in the mail with a very disturbing message. It seems the end of the world is coming. Next week as a matter of fact. I was unsettled by this doomsday prediction, but just to be safe I took my midterm exam anyway. I didn't study, but I took it. Hey, if we're talking Armageddon, I'm not going to waste my time with academic pursuits. There are more important things to do. like sleep. We must realize some important facts if the world is truly taking its last gasps this week. For example, cancel that Halloween party. I must admit, however, that all the apocalyptic signs are in place. Wars are raging, the environment is shot to hell, massive earthquakes are shaking the globe and the Kansas football team is atop the Big Eight Conference standings. But surely it is not true. How can the end of the world be pinned down to one specific date? The end has been predicted many times, and yet here we still are to wage war, pollute the planet and rebuild in the wake of natural disasters. Have we really been so bad that God is ready to pull the plug? I doubted it. Predicting the exact date of the final judgment is like predicting when, if ever, the Kansas City Chiefs might beat the Denver Broncos in Denver. Sure, we keep thinking it's going to happen. We have been on the brink several times, but we have never actually seen it happen. It's true, my love for humankind has taken a beating lately, but not my faith. I was certain the human race was still of some value. We are not all bad. I was confident — even in an election year. Then I watched late night television. If anything can shake your faith in human morality, it's the crap on late night TV. In fact, I can sum it up in three words: "Rodeo Bloopers 2." Sometime back in junior high, Dick Clark, the ageless wonder, found it necessary to inundate us with the mistakes of half-witted celebrities. Then Marv Albert delivered the wild and wacky from the world of sports. Bloopers were everywhere. It was mindless, harmless fun. Bob Saget, please get a life. However, bloopers got a little more mindless and a little less fun. "America's Funniest Home Injuries" is lame. The biggest casualty each week is some slob that gets nailed in the crotch by his own golf ball. But "Bodeo Bloopers 2?" This is not fun. It is "Faces of Death" revisited. The commercial highlights for this sadist video includes horses trampling cowboys and bulls impaling clowns. Yes, it's fun for the whole family. Little Billy will laugh all the way to the psychiatrist. The chilling aspect of this video is not its mere existence. It is the realization that "Rodeo Bloopers 2" was obviously preceded by "Rodeo Bloopers 1," which must have sold enough copies to merit a sequel. Don't panic about this awful prediction of doom. I don't think we've run out of words. But if you see a commercial for "Bodee Blooper3"—duck. Associate editorial editor David Mitchell is a DeSoto senior majoring in Journalism. Grace By David Rosenfield