4A the university daily kansan
opinion
tuesday, november 4,2003
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I met a girl this weekend at a party who just got engaged, and she flashed her ring and she was so excited because the diamonds were huge. I really didn't have it in me to tell her that they were fake.
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Up to 20 percent of the nations work force may be functionally illiterate. Idiots. I can make fun of you because you can't read this.
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Pi Phis send out angel love to the University of Kansas,
Did somebody actually T.P. Ellsworth Hall? Come on, guys. We are not kids anymore.
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All right, dumbass. There are fission bombs and there are fusion bombs. They are both nuclear bombs and they all kill a lot of people. So why don't you get your facts straight?
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Is that a really old man or a little kid in a mask?
I just want everybody to know that I need to get seduced to music.
You are about to die.
What is wrong with the *Free For All!*? Is it broken? To all of the ladies at KU; I want to thank you for going to Wal-Mart and being so hot. You have given me a new reason for be there.
sach's view
GUEST COMMENTARY
Mr. Bush, please respect world
Tyler Longpine and Ethan Nuss opinion@tusan.com
Steve Sach for KRT Campus
perspective
Dear Mr. Bush.
To date, 379 American soldiers have been killed in a combat that most of the world deemed unnecessary. The Christian Science Monitor has recently reported as many as 10,000 Iraqi civilians may have died in the conflict. You claimed a quick and easy war was inevitable. The war against Saddam was originally estimated to cost between $150-$200 billion. To date, you've exceeded that amount and you're asking for $87 billion more. Where did you go wrong, Mr. President?
Was it your willful deception of the American public? Time and time again, you made the assertion that Iraq was in possession, in pursuit of and developing weapons of mass destruction. In the State of the Union, you explained the importance of intervention in Iraq. You said, "The British Government has recently learned Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." That statement was a lie. Both the CIA and British intelligence had already invalidated the forged document on which you based your statement.
Was it your reluctance to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to determine the intent and scope of Saddam's military programs? You made the case against the United Nation's International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors by stating, "Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun." You have provided us with neither "clear evidence" nor the "gun," much less a "smoking" one. Further, you have failed to establish Saddam's intent to use said weapons
and have only made baseless assertions. Currently, David Kay, the CIA inspector who has replaced Hans Blix, is insisting more time is needed to determine if weapons programs exist. Your own inspector is making a familiar request that you would not tolerate less than a year ago.
Was it your confidence of a Saddam/Osama link? You lead Americans to believe that Saddam collaborated with Al Qaeda, allowing you to piggy-back your case for war on Sept. 11 fervor. Your most "condemning" claim was that Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, an Al-Qaeda operative, was once provided with medical attention in Baghdad. This is circumstantial and far from conclusive proof of any collaboration. As you have since admitted these claims were faulty, you are left without the cornerstone of your justification. You made the claim that a victory in Iraq was imperative to a victory in the War on Terror. Quite to the contrary, our actions in Iraq are only fueling terrorism as they pour into the destabilized nation and attack our troops. Every civilian who loses a home, family member or limb by fault of U.S. bombs is now a possible recruit by terrorist organizations. This war is fueling the fires
of anti-Americanism and is a major setback in the War on Terrorism.
Was it your failure to secure international support? The International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors had the blessing by an overwhelming majority of the international community. Today, you've lost the support of the international community and decreased our ability to cooperate with them. Now every day more American soldiers die as the United States bears the weight of Iraq on our shoulders alone. You recently returned to the United Nations to plead for international troops, but you made it clear that you would continue to exclude them from the Iraqi decision-making process. Therefore, your ultimatum contained no incentive to lend assistance and only exacerbated our alienation. This blind unilateral approach hurts the diplomatic cooperation needed to stabilize Iraq and undercuts our foreign policy across the board.
Therefore, Mr. President, in the future please respect established international laws and norms, explore peaceful means of resolution and secure international support prior to conflict in order to share the burden faced by American troops and taxpayers. In the meantime, approach the United Nations to gather support from other nations, and be willing to incorporate it into the decision-making process. The shame of admitting error will be less than the shame of another 379 dead American troops and countless more Iraqi civilians.
Longpine is a Hays senior in political science. Nuss is a Salina sophomore, who has not declared a major.
Senate bypassed rules to bring Moore to campus
perspective
On Oct. 15, the Center for Community Outreach secured $15,000 from the Student Senate's reserve account in order to bring the filmmaker and political activist Michael Moore to campus this spring.
With this significant allocation having been passed by the Student Senate, nearly ninety percent of Moore's overall fee has now been accounted for. Moore's appearance would be a part of a bigger week-long CCO event called Into the Streets Week. But wait a second, what is Into the Streets Week?
GUEST COMMENTARY
According to the CCO Web site, Into the Streets Week is "an annual weeklong event in the spring that highlights volunteer activities throughout the Lawrence community." So why did the CCO decide to spend a large amount of Student Senate money to try to bring Michael Moore for Into the Streets Week? Another unanswered, and just as serious, question is why did the Student Senate bypass reserve account rules 7.5.5.2.2 and 7.5.5.5.3 in the Senate Fides and Regulations in order to
John Byerley
opinton@kansan.com
Rule 7.5.5.5.2 states that "allocations will not be made for normal operations or special events of student organizations." Rule 7.5.5.5.3 states "allocations will be used for projects that benefit a substantial number of students or that leave a lasting mark on the University community" according to The University of Kansas Student Senate Rules and Regulations revised August 2003.
allocate the money to the CCO?
After reviewing the events of last Wednesday, I felt obligated to expose the lack of action and debate on the part of the Student Senate in questioning the
motivation behind the CCO seeking Michael Moore for Into the Streets Week. What does Michael Moore have to contribute to the University of Kansas? The executive officers of the CCO insisted that Moore would be able to motivate students on campus to get out into the community. However, many simply overlooked the way in which Moore would be going about motivating students: by spouting off his erroneous political rhetoric.
Michael Moore, probably best known for his grossly inaccurate and ridiculous documentary Bowling for Columbine, is the last man the University needs to be associated with. Moore has used his political humor and rhetoric in his books and movies to gain increasing popularity in Hollywood and around the country. Unfortunately, like many in Hollywood and apparently here at the University of Kansas, Moore puts his political agenda above everything else. The tremendous inaccuracies and blatant falsehoods expressed in his movies and books are even more
troublesome. Michael Moore has absolutely nothing to offer Into the Streets Week except making a week of community volunteerism into a week of left-wing political activism.
Putting political agendas and interests in front of the fair and right choice to make for the University needs to stop now. This is clearly why the executive officers in the CCO are seeking Michael Moore. In the interest of everyone attending this University, we need someone willing to present both sides of an issue and give straight talk about politics. In this case, we do not even need a political speaker; we need someone to talk about volunteering here in the Lawrence community. Finally, ask yourself, will Michael Moore be able to "benefit a substantial number of students or leave a lasting mark on the University community" like computers, renovations or new building projects have in the past? The answer is clearly no..
Bverley in an Overland Park freshman in Russian and East European studies.
editorial board
Safety issues fall on both students, department
The Sept. 12 death of Mount Prospect, Ill., freshman Eric Wellhausen drew attention to the safety of ledges located on residence halls. In response to this incident and in the interest of preventing further incidents, the Department of Student Housing took a closer look at what needed to be done to increase safety. The department will place stickers on windows and seals on the screens in residence hall rooms.
The department should be commended for settling on a course of action after a relatively short amount of time. Parents concerned with their children's safety can be comforted by the fact that the department acted quickly to prevent further incidents. The stickers also send the message to students that the department puts a high priority on residents' safety.
In addition to the stickers, residents who remove their screens will have to pay a fine of $125. The fine will be imposed on the residents of the room, not on the individual who removed the screen. Any money collected will go to the recovery account, the same account residents contribute to when paying the department for broken furniture.
Other universities impose fines for removing screens, but they are not as hefty as the one proposed by the department. Kansas State University fines students $25 for removing screens, as does Iowa State. By imposing a higher fine, the department showing how serious they are about students leaving the screens in place.
While the new stickers are a step in the right direction, it is still up to individuals to exercise personal responsibility for their actions. Students should not exit their rooms through the windows and go out on to the ledges. The ledges were designed to act as sun screens for the rooms below, and are not level with the floors of the residence halls.
By placing the stickers next to the latch on the windows, the warning is in a place that is immediately visible and informs students of the dangers of removing screens.
Students still need to take responsibility for their drinking. Students should not drink to excess, which can impair their judgement. However, officials should bear in mind that student drinking is not the origin of all reckless behavior.
The department must also continue to monitor the issue, and not rely on the warning stickers to circumvent accidents.
The issue of complete residence hall safety is not resolved, but the actions of the department bring the University one step closer to safety.
A
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Downever Atkinson for the educational board.