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Tuesday, September 22, 1992
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
IN OUR OPINION
Risk of arms sale is not worth short-term gains
G George Bush wants to sell $11 billion worth of F- 15 fighter jets to Taiwan and Saudi Arabia. Additionally, he wants to give advanced tech-
Technology to Israel. Bush's promise to create jobs for Americans should not cloud the lessons that history has taught about selling arms to foreign nations. He is having a yard sale that will put millions of lives at risk.
Selling arms to these nations is not smart, no matter what the international benefits Bush claims. The real benefits are the ones Bush will reap at the polls.
Special importance is attached to these issues so close to the presidential election. Americans can easily dismiss this proposed plan as a good swap for Bush
— technology for votes. But can Bush convince the American people, especially soldiers in Desert Storm who faced enemies armed with American weapons, that selling F-16's to Taiwan and Saudi Arabia is a good idea? As the world's police officer, the United States could very easily be forced once again to send troops into battle and face its own weaponry.
Selling arms for jobs is not the answer, just as selling arms for hostages, as the Reagan administration found out, was not a solution. Bush's decision to propose this plan is just another knee-jerk attempt to gain votes. Without this sale, thousands of people will lose their jobs and be less likely to re-elect the President. Bush, known for his questionable international policies of the past, seems as if he would do anything to be re-elected, even sell away the technology that makes us a superpower.
American involvement in international problems does not originate in a vacuum. U.S. government intervention, more often than not, causes the problems. Selling technology to trouble spots in the world, especially the Middle East and Pacific Rim, is unacceptable.
FRANK D. WILLIAMS FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE Candidates promise voters the impossible
Presidential election campaigns have never been known for the disinterested pursuit of truth and good government, and perhaps it's only an illusion that they get worse every four years. But this year, when it comes to the economy, both candidates are living in fantasyland, far away from the nasty reality of a $330 billion deficit and $4 trillion national debt. And they are promising goodies that would get us deeper in the hole.
George Bush pledges to cut taxes. He also says he wants to cut spending. If the spending cuts matched the tax cuts, the debt would keep on getting bigger.
Bill Clinton does talk about raising taxes on the rich. But the proposed tax increase wouldn't pay for his other proposals of lower taxes and higher spending.
Both candidates have decided that there are more votes to be lost than won by proposing a realistic plan to reduce the deficit. And they're probably right ...
Over the long haul, the deficits and debt comprise the greatest single drag on the U.S. economy, and one that is definitely the government's fault. It dries up private investment in industry, and forces the government to pay out more of its income just to pay interest — an estimated $214 billion worth next year. To put forward long-range plans for the economy without tackling this issue is plain irresponsible — and, unfortunately, politics as usual.
THE DAILY GAZETTE, SCHENECTADY, N.Y.
WELL, YES, THEY ARE JELLO CUBES. WE'RE KIND OF SCRAPING BOTTOM IN THE AMMUNITION DEPT.
Making lawyers society's scapegoats ignores reality
Though the public may not accept recent attempts to blame trial lawyers for the country's economic problems, lawyers are still susceptible to increasingly popular lawyer-bashing based on distortions and myths.
One frequent form of lawyer-bashing relies on the frivolous lawsuits myth. We have all heard stories about claimants suing and receiving huge monetary settlements for simple common-sense violations like sticking their hands in lawn mowers. But lawyers will be punished if they bring frivolous cases to court.
STAFF COLUMNIST
Another image of a lawyer is one of an ambulance chaser who wins huge malpractice suits that, in turn, account for the high price of medical services and insurance. But promulgators of this myth forget that ambulance chasing is illegal. The Supreme Court supports the right to prosecute any lawyer caught doing so. Furthermore, before a malpractice case can go to court, another doctor must declare that malpractice has occurred. The medical profession itself is culpable if unwarranted malpractice cases are tried.
Before people blame lawyers for our declining competitiveness in manufacturing, they should know that most tort cases of product liability are jury cases. While we complain that huge product liability settlements swallow up to 20 percent of product prices and cause insurance prices to rise, we forget that most of these cases are voted on by juries. So if there is fault, the public at large also is responsible. In Kansas, where there has been a cap of $250,000 on intangible suffering since 1988, insurance
ANN JURCYK
prices have stabilized.
Besides the frivolous lawsuit myth, lawyers are also blamed for the litigation explosion. A deeper exploration into litigation makes this just another sound bite. For example, the President's Council on Competitiveness released statistics in 1991 that stated that 18 million new civil cases were filed in state and federal courts. But the rest of the story was that 95 percent of these cases were non-tort actions such as wills, divorces, real estate and small claims.
The president adds to the problem by insisting that citizens could file cases, enroll in law school and pass the bar in time to defend themselves. But in Kansas, the average civil case lasted just 83 days.
In addition, caution should be exercised in making qualitative judgments based on quantitative statistics such as the number of lawyers or law suits. The Civil Rights Act, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Gideon Act and sexual harassment measures all formally give citizens more rights. While few people would want to abolish this type of legislation, the complain about the rise in litigation. New laws designed to defend rights increase citizen awareness. As a result, they are more inclined to call on lawyers to defend them. For example, in the six months before the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, 3,100 sexual harassment cases were filed nationally. In the six months after the hearings, 4,800 cases of sexual harassment were filed.
We should also remember that lawyers were behind many crucial landmark cases, such as Brown vs. The Topeka Board of Education which led to the integration of public schools. Where would we be without such cases? To fully answer that question we must ask ourselves where we would be without lawyers?
Lawyers do compassionate and invaluable services. Last year in Kansas there were: 204 pro bono, no charge; 653; 818 reduced fee cases; and 948 advised cases. The Kansas Bar Association awards scholarships, provides the Lawyer Referral Service and publishes free informational pamphlets on specific areas of the law. These educate the elderly, the young, the physically challenged and those victimized of their rights.
If myths thrive in darkness, it is time to shed light on the real culprits of the economy and on the positive side of the legal profession. We need to take a hard look at the economy for the deeper and more complex variables that affect it. We should also take a fuller and more honest look at the traditional advocates of justice — the lawyers of this nation.
Ann Jurcyk is a Kansas City, Kan., graduate student majoring in liberal arts.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Memphis morons no worse than Kansans
Kate Kelley's column Sept. 14 pointed out the illogical thinking of adults, but trust me, these adults are not only from Memphis. A lot of these adults live in Kansas. A couple of summers ago, the Topea Zoo had a dinosaur exhibit. It was entitled "Dinosaurs Alive." Sure the title is a bit misleading, but come
on, most adults or, for that matter, most children who are past kindergarten, know that dinosaurs do not exist anymore. All the promos had the disclaimer that these were robotic dinosaurs, but most people do not bother to read anything that is not in large print.
The exhibit was at the zoo for just three months, but during those three months we were asked the stupidest questions. One of the dinosaurs "hatched," and some people asked us what we were
going to name it and if we were going to sell it. After they left, people asked if the dinosaurs died.
Valerie DeHaven
Topeka sophomore
Yeah, about 65 million years ago.
Note that these were grown adults,
not kids. The zoo had a lot of complaints
that year and they still continue
because we got rid of the live
dinosaurus. I bet the people who
complained in Memphis were from
Kansas!
STAFF COLUMNIST
KATE KELLEY
Leaving the dog alone puts home in jeopardy
The baby in our house is a 5-year-old springer spaniel named Emmett. I know, by dog-year calculations, he really is not a baby. But we usually treat him like one, but he basks in the attention willingly.
So of course, it is with much guilt and worry that I leave him home alone all day while I am at school. He does not help matters by looking at me with those big, sad, droopy-lidded, brown eyes, which seem to say, "You aren't leaving me, are you?"
I feel much the same as I used to when leaving a child with a babysitter. Only the dog does not do that annoying whining and pleading that sometimes made me secretly relieved to be escaping.
Emmett follows me around all morning as I am getting ready to leave. He is literally at my heels, and I often trip over him if I turn around. It is no small surprise that he will answer to either "Emmett" or "Damn it", as both terms are used around him equally.
If I try to ignore him too much, he starts his sighing routine. This involves dropping himself as heavily and noisily as possible to the floor at my feet and releasing an audible sigh. He will do this two or three times in succession until I acknowledge his misery.
"Oh, poor Baby, left alone all day!" I will croon in a disgusting baby-talk voice. To this, his little tail stub will quiver with joy as he stares up from the floor with a look of hope.
Really, I think it is all a scam. Certain clues found around the house recently indicate that he is having a far better time alone all day than he would like us to believe.
We find the food wrappers. Though the garbage can is never found tipped over, various wrappers and containers once buried deeply into the trash reappear behind chairs, under beds and inside shoes.
Sometimes, when he is feeling more festive, we come home to a house decorated with chewed tissues, cotton balls, half eaten Q-tips and any other potentially embarrassing items he may have found in the bathroom trash cans.
The fuzzy brown-and-white hair all over my pillow innerves me the most. Either my husband has an extremely hairy girlfriend who is shedding badly, or Emmett is breaking his lifelong mandate of staying off the furniture, particularly my bed. One day, I even found the TV remote on the middle of the bed. I could have sworn I had left it on the bookshell.
Now, I am rather suspicious of his morning please-don't-leave-me act. I think he wants me to believe my presence is desired. I think those eyes are really saying, "You are leaving, aren't you?" He have plans. Joan Rivers' dog is guest hosting today."
Dogs. You just can't trust them!
Kate Kelley is a Fort Leavenworth junior majoring in English.
KANSAN STAFF
ERIC NELSON
Editor
GREG FARMER
Managing editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
BILL SKEET, Technology coordinator
Asst. Managing...Almee Brainard
News...Alexander Bloomhof
Editorial...Stephen Martino
Campus...Gayle Osterberg
Sports...Shelly Solon
Photo...Justin Knupp
Features...Cody Holt
Graphics...Sean Teuls
SCOTT HIANNA
Business manager
BILL LEIBENGOOD
Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES
Sales and marketing adviser
By David Rosenfield
Business Staff
Business Staff
Campus sales ... Angela Clevenger
Regional sales mgr ... Natalie Tellepir
National sales mgr ... Brian Wilkes
Co-op sales mgr ... Amy Stumbo
Production mgr ... Brad Breton
Kim Claxton
Marketing director ... Ashley Lungford
Creative director ... Jake Rutherford
Classified mgr ... Judith Standley
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