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Friday, October 9, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Party picks
One by one, democratic candidates for president are dropping from the field — either by choice or by necessity — into the abyss of political oblivion
And with each departure, the democratic hopes for victory in 1988 grow more faint.
Gary Hart was the first to self-destruct. His involvement in the so-called "tail-gate scandal" sent him packing his political bags while Donna Rice made No Excuses.
Then Sen. Joseph Biden pulled his own plug by doing his best Neil Kinnock impersonation without announcing it and by confusing the bottom of his law school class with the top of it.
Rep. Pat Schroeder bowed out of the race before officially entering it, citing the vicious nature of the modern campaign trail and the stiflingly intense media scrutiny. The media had the last word, however, viciously attacking the emotional delivery of her non-candidacy announcement.
Gov. Michael Dukakis was next on the hit parade, stung by revelations that his top campaign aide, John Sasso, provided the telling footage of Biden's faux pas. Dukakis is now fighting the rap of playing dirty pool due to his aide's unsightly exposure of the truth.
Dukakis is still in the race, however. This fact can be attributed to a page torn from Ronald Reagan's book of tactics. The script reads something like this: "I take full responsibility even though I had absolutely nothing to do with it. Really, I didn't."
Who will be next? Did the protectionist Rep. Richard Dephalus buy a Toyota? Are Sen. Paul Simon's bow ties not union made? So severe is the attrition rate that Jesse Jackson is the current democratic front-runner, according to recent polls. Jackson is a courageous and able man, but he lacks broad popular support. His position at the head of the pack is less symptomatic of his own gains than his rival's losses.
Let us hope that the candidate who survives the cut-throat battle for the Democratic party's nomination is truly the best, not simply the most boring. Otherwise, the 1988 election may not offer much choice for the large number of voters who are already disgruntled with the selection offered by two-party politics.
Tom Paykos/KANSAN
Operators on duty
As if you haven't heard enough from Jim and Tammy Bakker, you can now call them and hear all you want — provided you pay.
The Bakkers have a new 900 number that people can call to hear the Bakkers' side of the story concerning charges of misusing funds from PTL, formerly Bakker's television ministry, and of Jim Bakker's trust with Jessica Hahn.
but wait, that's not all. You also get to hear them talk about their future plans, Tammy's latest record and her recipe for sloppy joes.
The price? It's only $1.50 for the first minute and 35 cents for each additional minute. Of course the Bakkers get a cut of all revenue.
It is easy to get angry with the Bakkers for exploiting their plight. But the Bakkers are not stupid — they know what they are doing. The real idiots are the people who will call and support this never-ending flow of gimmicks to generate pity and money, not necessarily in that order.
So unless you have a craving for scandalously hot sloppy joes, don't waste your time or money. Plenty of other people will.
Editorials in this column are the opinions of the editorial board.
News staff
Jennifer Benjamin ... Editor
Jul Warren ... Managing editor
John Benner ... News editor
Beth Copeland ... Editorial editor
Sally Streff ... Campaign editor
Brian Kabertine ... Sports editor
Dan Ruettmann ... Photo editor
Bill Skeet ... Graphics editor
Tom Eblen ... General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Bonnie J. Hardy ... Business manager
Robert Hughes ... Advertising manager
Kelly Scherer ... Retail sales manager
Kurt Messersmith ... Campus sales manager
Greg Kripp ... Production manager
David Derfield ... National sales manager
Angela Clark ... Classified manager
Ron Weems ... Director of marketing
Jeanne Hines ... Sales and marketing adviser
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AIDS march fosters compassion
In January, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said that AIDS had been diagnosed in 29,000 Americans.
As of Aug. 24, the same number had died from the disease.
And that's just the beginning. AIDS is widespread on the African continent and in Haiti and is being discovered in more and more countries.
A threat of this magnitude to the world's population breeds fear. Fear breeds hatred. Hatred breeds prejudice.
"Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand," wrote Neil Peart in the song, "Witch Hunt."
AIDS definitely has scared many people despite advice from the world's leading doctors and scientists that the virus isn't transmitted by contact or even by sharing toothbrushes or toilets.
Already, there are numerous cases of violence and discrimination against those with AIDS. A Florida family with three AIDS-afflicted children had their house burned. An 84-year-old woman in Evansville, Indiana, was denied admission to a hospital. She was then married the deadly AIDS virus but not the disease.
The disease also has been a factor in legal battles concerning child custody, prison conditions and employment.
There is some good news. A recent Supreme Court ruling condemning discrimination against handicapped individuals included those people with contagious diseases.
Also, a bill introduced in the House by Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., would ban discrimination against people with AIDS or the AIDS virus.
The Court's decision and Waxman's bill, if passed, will help protect AIDS victims against a mobile, illegal drug.
It will not do anything to protect homosexuals and lesbians, who have become even more persecuted and discriminated against than they were before the discovery of AIDS.
AIDS has been labeled a disease of the gay community because the majority of the carriers of the disease are bisexual men, homosexual men
or intravenous drug users.
The best way to dispel that myth is by increasing education and public awareness about AIDS. An additional way is to reach out and show support for AIDS victims.
This weekend, thousands of gay men and women will gather for the National March on Washington.
The purpose of the march is to present the government with a list of demands from the country's gay organizations. The demands include laws against discrimination against gays and lesbians, legal recognition of homosexual relationships, and more sanctions against South Africa.
The march has been supported by the AFL-CIO, the War Resistors League, Mobilization for Survival, and others.
Several people from northeast Kansas are going to Washington to participate, including members of Gav and Lesbian Services of Kansa
Heterosexual support of, and participation in the march will go a long way toward battling the prejudice of those ignorant of the realities of AIDS.
Tim Hamilton is a Wichita senior majoring in journalism.
K·A·N·S·A·N
MAILBOX
Take a look
The Oct. 2 issue of the Kansan contained a column that caught my eye and raised my blood pressure a little. As one who has had a great deal of experience with the press over the years, I understand it is sometimes necessary for fledgling journalists, such as Jon Gregor, to employ hyperbole to get noticed. However, in his attempts to be noticed, Mr. Gregor displayed a lack of knowledge about Kansas and Kansas tourism.
I would assume that as a student at the University of Kansas, he has noticed that it is among one of the most beautiful campuses in the
country and could hardly be confused with a post-nuclear wasteland (yes, "The Day After" was only fiction). Furthermore, while the Flint Hills are burned every year, one would have to be totally insensitive to ignore the beauty of those hills. One of the reasons I don't mind driving to Wichita is that I never tire of the ever-changing landscape.
I agree that it is unrealistic to ever expect tourism to carry our economy, but the fact is that it is our third-largest industry. If there were any truth to Mr. Gregor's column, that wouldn't be the case. Fortunately, while Mr. Gregor finds it difficult to find anything worth seeing or doing in Kansas, thousands of others have discovered such nationally recognized sites as Fort Scott, the Eisenhower Library and the Kansas Cosmosphere, which contains space artifacts not even found at the Smithsonian. Kansas offers the sports enthusiast some of the nation's best hunting and fishing. If Mr. Gregor would check the activity beyond Stauffer-Flint Hall, he might also notice the thousands of people who spend
weekends on any one of our many lakes and reservoirs. Kansas is also acquiring a reputation as having golf courses that can hold their own against those found in resort communities.
own against those found in resort communities. Unfortunately, Mr. Gregor's column is representative of one of the biggest problems we have as Kansans in terms of selling our state to outsiders — we are our own worst enemies. We think that because we don't have the Rockies we are inferior. It is especially tragic to see comments such as Mr. Gregor's in a student publication since students — in-state or out-of-state alike — have so much to lose from misperceptions. Correcting inaccurate images can improve perseverance along the line of what a responsible journalist looking to get some attention should be interested in doing.
John Carlin, Topeka resident and former Kansas governor
BLOOM COUNTY
bv Berke Breathed