OPINION
7A
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 10,2008
Find cost-effective way to blow whistle
The administration's decision to kill a tradition, only to bring it back from the dead after outcries from alumni, exposes a lack of leadership.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
University officials said in an interview Wednesday with The Kansan, that the whistle would not sound again. Senior Vice Provost Don Steele called this "the final decision." Yet two days later, Chancellor Robert Hemenway said the whistle would be back after complaints from every corner of lajyhawk Nation.
The University must latch onto innovation to bring itself out of trouble. With a little foresight, the whistle could have been a fundraising triumph.
Administration put forward the issues it has with the whistle, pointing out that it is wasteful to blow $3,000 to $7,000 a year on steam. This should be a challenge for alumni and students to step forward with funding, and more importantly, new ways to blow the whistle.
Originally, the whistle was a way to connect a university that did not have the luxury of emergency text messaging or e-mail, but now it can
become our response to maintaining old traditions in environmentally friendly wavs.
The administration's initial silence shows that it lacks relations skills. Sending out leaders who offer up quotes like "I'm not one of the major fans of the whistle" only spark the fire. Impartiality in admin-
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The University burns natural gas to boil water to produce steam for the whistle. Admittedly, this is a wasteful process. Comments on The Kansan's and Journal-World's stories show widespread interest in the problem. The University could turn to engineering students who could develop new plans for the whistle as a class project. It will cost money, time, patience and vision to devise a
istrative decision-making also disappears quickly when you have officials complaining about how a tradition interrupts their meetings, while on video, like the Steeples did in the interview with the Journal-World.
The University should work on something people are concerned with. Continued oversights might not be corrected as easily as just turning the steam back on.
Alex Doherty for the editorial board
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Graphic images force us to confront abortion
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Rarely is the cost of a destructive choice brought to light as effectively as it was last week in front of Strong Hall. The graphic displays depicting the actual results of abortion generated much controversy among the student body. Yet, these pictures must be viewed for they bring what is a distant, mostly rhetorical debate to a human level.
If these pictures jar us, ask why. The pro-abortion faction seems especially to object to this mere advertisement of the abortion industry. But isn't an abortion just a medical procedure, like removing a malignant cancer? If a child in the womb is a human being, then the legalization of abortion is the condoning of murder. If it is just a medical procedure, then these pictures do nothing more than show what an effective treatment it is.
The horrific pictures of the ruins and disfigured people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led many people to reconsider the morality of atomic warfare. Would this reassessment have come about if the horrors were nothing more than words? If the government killed as many people yearly with the atomic bomb as it permits with abortions, would the opposition to depictions of said actions be as vehement as the pro-abortionists' was? Tragically, it seems true that people view the death of one person a tragedy, and the death of millions of unborn children a statistic.
Everyone needs to know the reality of the largest social, if not human crisis in our history. Ignoring justice is not an option for anyone, but especially for the people of this nation, which is founded on principles liberty and justice for all.
— Daniel Obermeier is an Olathe freshman
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Why the U.S. meat industry hasn't had a cow about feces
Feces, for example.
lot of people, not eating meat is a great way to avoid harming their bodies and to not support the meat industry. But not eating meat is a huge step for most people, especially Americans, who would lose the centerpiece of their meals if meat were off the menu.
Somewhere between the glowing fast food menu and driving up to Window Two to make sure they gave you extra ketchup packets, Americans forgot what and how to eat. Eating seems simple enough, until you realize what people are willing to eat nowadays.
I've eaten many things in my life. I've eaten food off the floor well past the five-second rule, and I've been duped into eating creatures that were still alive.
Despite my adventures, I draw the line at feces.
I'm going to assume you do, too. However, Whole Foods learned the public has a distaste for feces. On Aug. 8, Whole Foods recalled ground beef sold over the past two months that may have been contaminated with E. coli.
Occasionally when a cow is slaughtered, some of its feces get into your burger, chill cheese fries or taco meat. Puts a new spin on the term "cow patties," doesn't it?
The type of E. coli toxic to humans lives in the intestines of animals such as cattle. In order for E. coli to contaminate your food, it must be defecated.
But here's the rub: Just because it's local doesn't necessarily mean it's safer. It just means that you know just where it came from, and the closer you are to the source, the easier it is to make sure they're keeping it clean.
Instead, look to local meat suppliers. The community holds local businesses accountable, which is a far more than what the USDA claims to do.
As nauseating as it sounds, a little feces doesn't seem to disgust the major meat suppliers, which control 80 percent of the market. What does disgust them is the price tag of running a clean operation that minimizes the risk of toxic bacteria getting into your meat.
Shouldn't the USDA be regulating and scrutinizing the entire meat processing system? Yes, but it isn't. Meat recalls are voluntary, not mandatory. According to
Marion Nestle, author of "What to Eat," the USDA doesn't track food poisoning outbreaks either. The USDA backs down when the meat industry expresses its discontent with policy.
Until the USDA and the meat industry make sure business is done well, you'll have to make sure your next burger is well done.
Fortunately, the Center for Science in the Public Interest has stepped in to protect consumers while the USDA is busy licking the meat industry's boots. According to the Center's reports, since 1990 there have been 30,000 people who sat down to dinner, took a bite and ended up consuming toxic bacteria.
Meat packers don't care about those 30,000 people, though, because to them, those 30,000 people lack the common sense to cook their food properly. They think that by slapping a label on their products that tells you to cook your meat thoroughly before consuming they've passed the responsibility on to you. It's not their problem there are feces and toxins in our food — they say it's your problem that you didn't cook the feces enough so that it won't harm you.
The meat industry and the USDA are not looking out for you. If this matters to you, the least you can do is pull your money out of the major meat market until it cleans up its act.
It would be really easy to just tell you to go vegetarian. For a
McConnell is a Dallas junior in English.
The top four solutions to fixing our corrupt politician problem
Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the nation's longest serving Republican senator, has been indicted on seven charges of failure to disclose some $250,000 worth of gifts and services from an oil consulting firm. The Associated Press reports that Stevens sent a note to a supporter saying he paid $130,000 in bills forwarded to him, but that's still $120,000 off.
MARIAM SAIFAN
Seeing as I believe that all politicians are corrupt, lying vermin, this doesn't really strike me as surprising, especially in Alaska (Google "corruption Alaska," and you'll see).
But what is most disturbing to me is Alaskans actually voted him through their senatorial primary. Either someone has spiked Alaska's drinking water with psilocybin, or there is a problem with the system. I'm pretty sure it's the latter.
I understand that people are innocent until proven guilty, but politicians should be the exception. Should people working on the behalf of the people even put themselves close to a situation such as bribery? No.
1. No longer will the indicted be allowed to use campaign money to fund their legal fees. The reason for this is it hits these bastards where it hurts the most: their bank account. It'll make them think twice when accepting those briefcases in dark parking garages when your donors can't battle your misdeeds.
Here are some steps that will control wayward practices by people who "work" for the public and help fix the "system."
repay all donors. If they can't, then they must serve an hour per dollar given to them as that donor's butler.
2. When indicted, they must
3. If indicted, they must spend the entire duration leading up to the trial as a waiter in their district's busiest coffee shop. That way they'll have to meet and see and interact with the very people they were supposed to "serve" while wearing a sandwich board that reads, "I AM CORRUPT!" Picture Sen. Sam Brownback at La Prima Tazza struggling to get the espresso machine to work and bumbling around the cash register.
barista's wage. Maybe then they'll see that there are people that make a living without Range Rovers and $600 haircuts and that life can be ruthless sometimes.
4. They will no longer be on public salary. Imagine a senator trying to make ends meet on a
While the above scenarios probably won't happen soon, it's far better than two years in a resort class prison. The best way to prevent illegal actions by politicians is to make certain they know that if they do, they will be embarrassed, humbled and punished by their own constituents, instead of the other way around.
Graham is a Columbus, Ohio graduate student in exercise physiology.
To contribute to Free for All, visit Kansan.com or call 785-864-0500.
Sugars, you mean the world to me, and if this gets published then I beyond know that we are meant to be. What do you sav. Free for All?
couple weeks ago
When did we give KU permission to sell our e-mail addresses to spammers? Guess I missed that when I signed over a check for $14,000 a couple weeks ago
The guy whining about the bicycle path: you could slow down and merge into traffic like the rules of the road dictate. You don't need to break the law and veer into traffic.
I'm single. I live in Lawrence, and I'm not a sex-obsessed slut
What is the deal with the KU vs. MU game only having 3,000 student tickets and being sold out by 10?
--you
You act surprised that we got screwed over on tickets. Did you already forget what happened last year?
Free for All, who would win in this royal rumble: Jackie Chan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Van Damme, Stallone, Mr T, Steven Seagal, Jet Li or Bruce Willis as John McClane?
--you
Tyson would attempt to bite Mr.T's ear off.Mr.T would bite Mike Tyson's head off. Once again, PKO
I would love to see T vs. T. Mr.
T. vs. Tvson!
--you
I've decided that I'm the only gay guy on this campus who is not an uptight, prissy where.
--you
Non-prissy gay guy, I salute you!
--you
Mr. T would pity every last one of them into nothingness. He wins by PKO
--you
You're the most gorgeous man I've ever laid my eyes on
--you
To the kid with the red hat: Do you seriously have to wear it every day?
--you
I wear a blue hat every day. Is that bad too?
--you
To the girl that is so happy on the McCollum bus today:
I don't know what was funny but keep smiling. It works for
I heard the whistle today.
@KANSAN.COM
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