4A the university daily kansan
opinion
monday, november 24, 2003
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I just got done watching the Victoria's Secret show last night and it is obvious to me now that God is a man or at least a lesbian.
perspective
perspective
I also saw a bobcat behind the Dole building. Crazy.
I love KU. It is the only place where someone can walk out in front of a four-ton moving vehicle and think "I am going to be OK."
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To the guy from Texas who said whack: We might not know how to party in Kansas, but at least we are not four years out of the loop. Bye.
We can't stay here. This is bat country.
Did some guy from Dallas just say whack in the Free For All?
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Sometimes when I am really down I listen to Rod Stewart and it makes me happy.
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To all of you people who ride their bikes with no hands: That's really cool.
Why in heck does everybody all of a sudden hate Bachelor Bob. They should be happy for him because him and Estella are cool together and they actually love each other. Kelly Jo will be fine without him. So annoying.
My boyfriend just called me at six in the morning and wanted to argue with me, so I broke up with him. How can you talk about stuff like that at six in the morning?
You are the best wingman ever. I love you, Goose.
perspective
The house is clean. It is about to be messy again.
perspective
I just got a fortune cookie that said that I would make a good lawyer. Should I take that advice and go to law school?
All I want for Christmas is you.
To the girl who wanted to know why men don't commit; It is because they get cheated on if they do.
I just saw a guy eating scramble eggs out of a plastic bag at the movies. Whatever happened to popcorn and candy?
The guy with the scrambled eggs was eating them with his fingers.
My roommate has hemorrhoid cream.
What is going on?
There is a porn virus on my computer and I like it.
reality check
Jennifer Wade for The University Daily Kansan
CBS decision to ax 'Reagans' miniseries empowers censors, cripples networks
Republicans clamoring for "historical accuracy" scored a semi-victory on Nov. 4 when CBS announced it would move its controversial miniseries The Reagans to Showtime. The cable channel, which like CBS is owned by the media giant Viacom, announced last week it would push up the film's airtime from early 2004 to Nov. 30.
So when you park yourself in front of the tube this Sunday night, leftoverturkey sandwich firmly in hand, remember to thank Viacom for this blessed event. That is, if you're one of the 15 million Americans lucky enough to be able to pay for Showtime.
COMMENTARY
CBS's disgraceful decision to cancel The Reagans proves American censorship is alive and well, yet it should come as a surprise only to those who fail to understand how big media work, or how powerful conservatives have become.
As reported in The Washington Post, the controversy surrounding The Reagans began when CBS sent out a seven-minute trailer to television critics. The trailer included a line screenwriter Elizabeth Egloff made up to approximate the former president's view of AIDS victims. Playing Ronald Reagan, actor James
Stephen Shupe
opinion@kansan.com
Brolin says, "They that live in sin shall die in sin."
As they do so often and so brilliantly, Republicans quickly mobilized to boycott the network unless it agreed to cancel the miniseries. On The O' Reilly Factor, Fox's revisionist news show where the answers are presumed prior to asking the questions, commentator Bill O' Reilly went as far to say, "If CBS goes ahead with the film, I believe any company that sponsors it will take a huge hit. as will the network."
Ah, the magic word: "sponsors." Virtually all of CBS's profits come from advertising revenue, so the network can ill afford to make sponsors sweat. Also, Viacom is desperate to please the Republican White House and Congress in
hopes they will pass new media ownership rules, which promise to be detrimental to democracy but lucrative to the company.
Republicans infuriated by a single line of dialogue in a three-hour film none of them have seen apparently haven't read Dutch, either. In Edmund Morris's Reagan biography, the former president is quoted as saying, "Maybe the Lord brought down this plague," because "illicit sex is against the Ten Commandments."
The line has been edited from Showtime's version of the film, but that's not enough for the Republican National Committee. Ed Gillespie, chairman of the group, has suggested filmmakers should edit the film under the supervision of Reagan's colleagues.
Imagine the world Gillespie envisions. In his censorial world, Charlie Chaplin would have been required to show footage of The Great Dictator to Hitler as he cut the film together. The director's famous rally sequence would never have been seen by the public, in which the Little Tramp's satirical version of Hitter pours a glass of cold water down his pants to stifle an erection. Surely Hitler
became aroused at least once while screaming his propaganda to the masses, but with no sources to prove that, Chaplin's gag would have been cut.
Of course, it's unfair to compare Republicans to Nazis. Hitler, through the Final Solution, directly contributed to the deaths of millions, while Reagan, through his seven-year silence concerning the AIDS epidemic, indirectly contributed to the deaths of merely thousands. Consider the Great Dictator scenario an extreme example of Gillespie's ideal world.
But, extreme or not, this world is becoming a reality. After the Reagans debacle, networks are bound to avoid touchy material for fear of Republican reprisals. That's no small shift in seas, either, considering that major networks offer the only venue where virtually every American has the opportunity to view a program. As The Great Dictator demonstrates, when a single ideology wields that much power, the system must be reexamined and then rebuilt.
Shupe is an Augusta graduate student in journalism. He is associate editor of the opinion page.
perspective
Benefits for same-sex couples about civil rights, love and people
A recent Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling has returned a hot-button political issue to the center stage of political discussion. Last week, the court ruled that the Massachusetts Legislature cannot deny civil marriage benefits to same-sex couples. Immediately, the news networks were flooded with commentators, some of whom denounced the decision while others praised it.
COMMENTARY
Travis Weller opinion@kansan.com
Self-titled, conservative, "pro-family" advocates were quick to mention how the idea of gay marriage will destroy the "institution of marriage" in America.
In the days since the decision, most people who argue about same-sex marriage focus on this idea of the institution of marriage.
Instead of focusing on this abstract concept, consider some of the concrete issues at stake. Gay marriage would provide significant, tangible benefits for loving couples and families.
Let's discuss a hypothetical couple: Steve and John. Steve and John have been committed to each other for 10 years. They had a commitment ceremony after being together for two. The couple enjoys playing basketball and dreams of adopting a child some day.
Imagine that Steve is in a car accident. He is rushed to the hospital, and
although the doctors do all they can, Steve enters a vegetative state with no brain functions. He must rely on a respirator to breathe.
Steve and John are in a loving and committed relationship, so John wants to wait at Steve's bedside and pray for his recovery. Because they were never allowed to marry, John is not allowed emergency family leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. John's boss could fire him for missing work.
Before the accident, Steve told John that he did not want to be kept on life support. Because Steve and John were never allowed to marry, John's opinion does not matter. Although he has been in a relationship with Steve for a decade, he is not officially a family member and he cannot make any medical decisions
about Steve's treatment.
What happens if Steve dies? He was still young and never expected a car accident, so he did not have a will. All of his material possessions will revert back to his biological family. Because they weren't allowed to marry, John would have no say in what happens to any of Steve's belongings. As far as the law is concerned, John is just a friend, a roommate.
These are just a few material, tangible problems that same-sex couples face when confronted with family tragedy, because they were never allowed to marry.
There should be a debate in this country about gay marriage and how it fits into the tradition of marriage. There should be a debate about civil rights and how and when we will apply them to homosexuals. We cannot forget that we are talking about individuals who are just as in love and just as committed as straight couples. This is about who is qualified to make emergency decisions in hospital rooms. This is about who inherits the house when a partner dies. This is about love and people.
Travis Weller is a Garden City senior in sociology.
submitting letters and guest columns
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The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length, or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Louise Stauffer or Stephen Shupe at 864-4924 or e-mail at opinion@kansan.com.
Opinion staff is now accepting applications for editorial board, columnists and cartoonists for spring semester. Stop by 111 Stauffer-Flint for an application.
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