4A the university daily kansan opinion friday, September 26, 2003 talk to us Michelle Burhenn editor 864-4854 or mburhenn@kansan.com Lindsay Hanson and Leah Shaffer managing editors 864-4854 or ihanson@kansan.com and lshaffer@kansan.com Louise Stauffer and Stephen Shupe opinion editors 864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com Amber Ages business manager 864-4318 or addiction@kansan.com Taylor Thode retail sales manager 884-4358 or adaales@kansan.com Malcolm Gibson general manager and news adviser 864-7667 or mjgibson.kansan.com I would just like to let everybody know that closed-toe shoe season has officially started. I went out in my closed-toe shoes. Have you? Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded. For more comments, go to www.kansan.com Matt Fisher sales and marketing adviser 864-7666 or mfisher@kansan.com Free for All Call 864-0500 Does anyone find it ironic that Munch E's is in the bottom of Hash? I don't. perspective So the Jayhawk mascot is a really good kisser. I just wanted to call and blame my freshman 15 on my homework, because all I ever do is eat while I do my schoolwork. perspective I got the munchies real bad. I just ate some dog food. Have you ever slapped your cat with your monkey? I can survive an alien anal probing. perspective If cheap drinks lead to binge drinking, then does cheap food lead to obesity? My God, down with Dillons triple-coupon days. Ladies, are you ever dancing and you are not sure whether you should drop it like it's hot, shake it fast or back that thing up? My solution is do all three. Multi-tasking is the best. You tried your best and failed miserably. The lesson learned is to never try. The love of evil is the root of all money. The Theta Chi boys are hot. Personally, I don't feel like I am an alcoholic. I just like a beer with my doughnut. perspective I have a question. Would you eat the moon if it was made of spare ribs? I sure would, and then I would finish it off with a taff glass of Budweiser. I'd just to say that I would like to have Jack Black's love child. Christina Aguilera, you are not ghetto. I want my genie in a bottle back. Thanks. If you are riding your bike, you should be on the road, not on the sidewalk and not on my toes. Only pansies ride their bike on the sidewalk. perspective I don't care if you smoke on campus, but please have the decency to not, burn me with your cancer stick. I was late to class because I had to stop, drop and roll. It seems like half of campus has a Mustard. Did you not get the memo that Mustangs are creep? stinson Follow courageous student's lead, combat sexual assault out loud What a brave woman. COMMENTARY Because of Alexa Redfords, Prairie Village senior, courage to speak out about her attack,victims of sexual assault are no longer faceless and nameless, easily forgotten. Redford could have been any of us women at the University of Kansas. But Redford took her attack experience a step further than many victims have. She was willing to talk to the The University Daily Kansan about her experience in yesterday's article "Victim of assault raising awareness," by Johanna M. Maska. Redford was attacked last Wednesday at 2:30 a.m. as she was walking home from work near 11th and Tennessee streets. She was also willing to express her anger at the attacker, and at the fact that women should not have to be afraid to walk alone at night. I know I am not the only woman on campus who is scared to walk alone after dark, who locks her door when home alone, who keeps her drink close to her at all times for fear of being Louise Stauffer opinion@kansan.com drugged and who lowers her eyes when passing a group of men on the street at night for fear of some kind of comment, some kind of harassment. According to the Lawrence Police Department, from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31,2002, there were reported 33 rapes, 46 forcible fondlings, 252 aggravated assaults and 926 simple assaults. Those numbers are astounding, but many more of these incidents go unreported. But Redford has been the first area woman in a long time who has put her safety on the line and expressed her anger at the attacker and women's lack of safety in Lawrence. She said what I have thought for a long time. Maybe, if more attack victims report their crimes and come forward like Bedford did, these cowards will stop. If you see someone being attacked or harassed in any way, don't ignore it. Don't wait for someone else to help. If you do,you are part of the problem. All of us have heard advice about walking home alone: Just don't do it. We are told to stay in groups at night or walk with men. But what if you're the last one out of work? What if you feel like walking to the gas station to get a Slurpee? What are you supposed to do, call a male friend? That advice is a poor excuse that ignores the real problem. And as women, we have to be able to rely on ourselves. We have to scream, kick, take self-defense classes, carry Mace, report the attacks when they happen and let the attackers know that we are going to call them on their actions. Let the reports speak for themselves. We can do this. Redford did this. It may be scary, but anything is better than an unreported crime. Stauffer is a Holland, Mich., senior in journalism and English. She is opinion editor. perspective Name calling dumbs down democracy, lowers American political standards Howard Dean, in his remarkable early presidential campaign, has described George W. Bush as "King George" and compared him to the English tyrant of the 18th century. This was not all that surprising, considering that none of the Democratic field has done much besides sling mud. Nearly any of the latest stump speeches or sound bites from the mouth of a politician serve as a reminder of just how idiotic the political banter in this country is. On the night of the 2000 election, I was sitting in my room in Templin Hall. A group of guys had gathered in our suite to watch the results unfolding on the networks as the exit polls and final counts rolled in. Naturally, the conversation focused on politics. Who voted for whom was soon quite apparent and we found ourselves embroiled in a mostly good-natured argument over the relative merits of the candidates. There was no intelligent evidence posed to suggest Bush shouldn't win. There was no discussion of his environmental policies, plans for the surplus, his economic policies or the like. Instead, all the Gore supporters in attendance confidently assured me that Bush was "an idiot." When I pressed GUEST COMMENTARY Matthew Pirotte opinion@kansan.com them for specific details as to why they disliked Bush as a candidate, I was once again reminded that he was "an idiot." The Right is guilty of similarly base criticism. Gore was a "robot." The entire Clinton presidency was reduced in the minds of many conservatives to nothing more than an image of a sexcrazed satyr lusting after interns. Conservative talk-radio hosts and pundits in particular have made a silly game of ascribing semi-descriptive derogatory titles to perceived enemies. My personal favorite is Michael Savage's recent "9th Jerk Court of Schlemiola." What we are hearing when we hear slurs like "King George" and the previous Savage quote is the dumbing down of American democracy. We do not even The worst is yet to come. I believe the 2004 presidential race is going to be embarrassingly vitriolic. Both sides have long since discarded gentlemanly and ladylike conduct. So we can look forward to a degraded and debased clash. The contestants will be the "cowboy, speech-impaired, frat-boy idiot from Texas" incumbent and the "treacherous, terrorist-loving, military-hating, tax-and-spend" Democratic candidate (whomever that may turn out to be). Curiously, both will manage to be on the side of the American people. demand that our political icons and our personal political dialogues operate above a junior high level. Instead, we discuss politics in the parlance of the playground and allow politicians to do the same. We are supposed to be university students. We should ignore this nonsense for what it is and apply critical thought to the real issues. Our analysis of political figures should exist on a level above name calling. If it does not, we should do the republic a favor and sleep in on election days. Zach Stinson for The University Daily Kansan Pirate is a Joplin, Mo., senior in history. He is an editorial board member. editorial board Sunday liquor sales will benefit everyone Sunday liquor sales will be allowed starting Sept. 28 thanks to a newly adopted Lawrence ordinance. In the past few months, Wyandotte and Shawnee counties have both begun to allow Sunday sales, sparking the Lawrence change in policy. Score one for the progressives. The state law that prohibits Sunday liquor sales is based on an archaic law left over from a time when almost no businesses were open on Sunday because of greater religious emphasis. There is no reason liquor stores should be treated any differently than food or cigarette sales. Prohibition of liquor sales one day of the week does not stop its consumption any of the other six days, nor does it prevent Sunday drinking. Restaurants are allowed to sell alcohol on Sundays, with no fear of reprisals, and so too should liquor stores. Despite the positive effects of allowing Sunday liquor sales, the Lawrence ordinance has drawn some minimal objections from liquor store-owners. Some owners are opposed to the additional day of sales because they don't want to have to stay open another day of the week. True, this change will mean more work hours for a few employees,but in a struggling economy,that's a good change. Most businesses in the area must stay open seven days a week to be competitive and liquor stores should be no different. It makes all logical sense to allow liquor sales on Sundays. The decision to allow Sunday liquor sales is going to benefit everyone involved. Liquor stores will be making more money and won't be losing sales to stores in Missouri. Lawrence residents will waste less gas money because they won't have to drive 45 minutes to buy beer. It's actually surprising that Lawrence has waited to subvert the state law until recently. Much of the Lawrence economy is based on University of Kansas students, who, quite honestly, consume copious amounts of alcohol every weekend. The demand for alcohol sales on Sundays is certainly here. So cheers to Lawrence and Sunday liquor sales. May we all be in high spirits, all seven days of the week. Stephanie Lovett for the editorial board 1 δΈ­ --- 2