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A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. J. K. L. M. N. O. P. Q. R. S. T. U. V. W. X. Y. Z.
Thursday, October 8.1992
OPINION UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
IN OUR OPINION
Despite big bucks, ego, Perot has nothing to offer
Seven months ago, Ross Perot rode into politics on his big, white horse proclaiming himself as the savior of the common people. Seven days
the savior of the common people. Seven days ago, he once again returned to politics on his big, inflated ego, echoing the same populist sentiments. But the motives that once were confused as a genuine interest in the good of the country are now much clearer.
Ross Perot is a man whose ego controls his actions.
Two weeks ago, when the almighty Ross summoned members of the Bush and Clinton teams to Texas, he couldn't even respond to this question from the media: "Mr. Perot, do you want to be president?"
This didn't seem to be a particularly challenging question for what would seem to be a job that would be quite difficult if you didn't want to do it. But Perot's ego won't let him respond. For if he said he wanted to be president and then didn't win, he would realize that all of the money and power that he has still cannot buy him everything. Instead, his response was that he will let the American people decide.
If there was one thing that we might have expected Ross to decide without consulting us, it would have been his desire to run.
Perot's re-entry into the campaign spotlight is actually of little consequence to the electoral battle. Some theories have him making an impact in California and Texas. Yet, even though his poll numbers might indicate this now, the numbers will inevitably fall off as people will refuse to waste their vote on a candidate that cannot win — or doesn't even care to.
JEFF REYNOLDS FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Speaker distorted the truth
Wiley raised several arguable points about the abortion issue.
I read with dismay the article reporting on the presentation given on campus Sept. 22 by birth female friend, Jili Loesh Willey.
Wiley claims that legalized abortion contributes to sexist attitudes by allowing men to shirk responsibility. When have men not shirked responsibility for children; whether born or unborn? Wiley says that if abortion were not an option, "then men would be forced to face up to their responsibility."
Besides, the issue of choice is not simply about men's responsibility. Reducing the issue to those terms trivializes the whole debate.
The number of single mothers has never been higher in this country and the ever-increasing millions of dollars of unpaid child support make the preceding statement ridiculous.
enemy.
Women are responsible for birth control, carrying the fetus, delivery and then child care. It doesn't make sense that she shouldn't also be responsible for her own body and her own life. Why give her the burden of responsibility for everything except the choice of reproduction? This is an anti-empower stance and an anti-feminist stance.
I admire Wiley's contention that women should think of a fetus not as an adversary, but as an extended part of herself. I've never heard feminists, pro-choice or not, counsel women that the fetus is the
However, when Wiley states that, "90 or 91 percent of women who experience abortions also experience emotional trauma," she is absolutely wrong.
I direct Wiley to look at the study undertaken in the 1980s under the supervision of the widely respected U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. Former President Reagan ordered Dr. Koop to prove that abortion had long-term negative emotional effects on women.
It is true that the potential for negative effects on women's reproductive health exists; but only if a woman has multiple abortions. Even then, it is not in all cases.
After the study was completed,
Dr. Koop (who is strongly anti-
abortion) admitted he was sorry to
report that the government study
showed no evidence of long-term
adverse emotional effects on women.
I believe she has the right to her own opinion, and I am glad to debate this issue. However, when distortions and untruths are perpetuated in a public forum, I have to draw the line.
With the Kansan's recent antiabortion stance, I dare you to print this letter.
Melissa Nolte Lawrence graduate student
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The "Debates"
There are too many moderators!
There are too few moderators!
My lecturn's too tall!
The Three Bears
Military service is a dangerous issue for both political parties
Bill Clinton is being cuffed around daily for having ducked the Vietnam War. When the press isn't demanding that he reveal more, Republicans are clucking that his aversion to rice paddies might be a character defect.
But it's only fair. It sort of balances the political books.
Just four years ago, Dan Quayle went through the same grilling. Only minutes after he was trotted out as George Bush's blank-stair running mate, reporters and Democrats looked at his biography and gleefully said: "Ah-hah! The Indiana National Guard. Now, how did he swing that?"
Although Quayle denied it, the answer seemed obvious: He came from the most powerful family in India. So he had the good fortune to be accepted by the National Guard, and was given a place at the 500 room in invasion by the Yet Cony.
This was a standard draft-sidestep for the rich, the sons of politicians, professional athletes and others with clout.
Every autumn Sunday during those years, superb physical specimens would put on helmets and battle on National Football League fields.
Why weren't these draft-age Adonitypes over there doing battle with the godless commies? Because the wealthy men who owned the franchises greased their way into stay-
MIKE ROYKO
home reserve units.
It was so rare for a pro jock to be drafted that when one of them actually went and saw combat, Hollywood made an inspirational movie about him.
Like any self-serving son of a politician, one of George Bush's sons spent the war in the Texas Air National Guard. Not once did the Viet Cong violate Texas' airspace, so the lad must have done his job valiantly.
But Bush now drops sly remarks about Clinton's college deferments. Well, if Clinton's daddy had been as rich and influential as Bush, maybe Clinton could have cleaned windshields in the Arkansas Air National Guard.
So if true military service (the kind in which you might actually get your butt shot off) is going to be a political
litmus test, it's a risky one for both parties.
There are many prominent conservative Republicans, such as Rep. Newt Gingrich, who took the same route as Clinton, using student deferments to save their skins. Unlike Clinton, many were hawks who thought the war was really great, so long as some farm boy or ghetto kid was doing the fighting.
That's one of the reasons the war went on so long and at such great cost. Those body bags didn't contain the sons of senators and their wealthy chums. Their sons were in stay-home reserves units or on campus. If the draft had been fair and without loopholes, the war would have been won or abandoned many years and many lives earlier.
Actually, military service is a silly issue. On the one hand, we had Ronald Reagan, who was in World War II—sort of His admirers thought of him as a real macho guy.
In reality, the Army made him an officer and a gentleman, then he spent the war in Hollywood making propaganda films. Women who worked in defense planes were in greater physical danger from falling rivets.
On the other hand, we had George McGovern, a liberal who was viewed as a real weenie by Reagan conservatives. Yet McGovern was a combat
pilot and a genuine hero.
But Reagan's soft Hollywood duty didn't diminish his public popularity, just as McGovern's tough combat experience did not improve his. And Quayle survived all the questions about his family's clout. If anything, Quayle now talks as if his Indiana unit almost stormed Hanoi.
So to most voters it doesn't matter. If it did, the presidential candidates would be Republican Sen. Robert Dole, who was almost shot to pieces as a World War II grunt, and Democratic Sen. Robert Kerry, who lost a leg and gained a Medal of Honor in Vietnam. But the primary voters of their parties turned them down.
Mike Royko is a syndicated columnist with the Chicago Tribune.
In time, the national press corps, which grabbed the draft issue because it is bored with speeches about the economy and jobs and medical care, will tire of asking Clinton about his deferments. He's already ready to want to go and did just about everything he could to avoid going.
I'm sorry I mentioned that. It will probably be the first question at his next press conference.
What more do they expect him to stay? That he was contemplating a
Staged classroom stunt illustrates irresponsibility
A friend and I were sitting in a second floor hallway of Robinson Center when the purse snatcher slammed open the door, knocking students over, and ran down the hallway. Seconds later several teachers and students came running behind him yelling, "Stop him. He stole a lady's purse." At the end of the hallway a student arrived. The student. So she arrived, the police were called and a teacher tied his hands together with the snatcher's shoeelace.
On Sept. 30 the Kansan ran a front page story about a simulated purse snatching. I was a witness to this event and have a different point of view.
The whole event was for Denise Monroe's safety class. She asked
KELYHARMON
Robert Crane to be a pursue snatcher so she could see how observant her students were. What she didn't realize was how dangerous this situation was. First of all, it was dangerous for the snatcher. Secondly, it was dangerous for everyone in Robinson that day. The snatcher ran and knocked
into several students. Everyone who ran after him was a risk. The student who tackled him, a KU diver, was also in danger. Luckily the only injury he sustained was a ripped sweatsuit. If he had been tacked a few seconds later, they would have landed in the middle of an aerobics class.
Monroe's demonstration for a safety class was obviously not thought out. It was very dangerous and very irresponsible. Before she or any other teachers stage this type of demonstration, they should think through it first.
Crane, the snatcher, made a comment to the Kansan which was absolutely absurd. "I felt like Rodney King."
We all know what happened to King and the reasons behind it. What hap-
peneted to Crane was completely different. The treatment he received as the snatcher was completely fair and appropriate for the situation. Crane's comment was offensive and disrespectful to Rodney King and to everyone who supports him.
Everyone who witnessed the scene, teachers and students, were very angry to find out that this situation was merely a demonstration. Being put at risk and learning that their efforts were for nothing was very disturbing.
Denise Monroe owes everyone at Robinson and the police an apology. Perhaps next time she will take her teaching position more responsibly.
Kely Harmon is a Lawrence junior majoring in physical education.
Grace
By David Rosenfield