AN
09
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
United States First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2009
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Compton: Last week's elections spell bad news for Democrats
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--winter approaching,
LCS continues to
operate near capacity,
raising concerns about
what will happen if it
cannot house everyone
looking for housing
during inclement weather
If I could meet someone who has changed history, it would be Harvey Milk. How brave that man was!
I screwed my third army boy last night. Nobody can ever say I'm not serving my country.
--winter approaching,
LCS continues to
operate near capacity,
raising concerns about
what will happen if it
cannot house everyone
looking for housing
during inclement weather
I just finished having sex with my roommate's girlfriend with him in the next room.
--winter approaching,
LCS continues to
operate near capacity,
raising concerns about
what will happen if it
cannot house everyone
looking for housing
during inclement weather
Who checked out all the "Molly Maguire" books from Watson Library? Share, dammit!
--winter approaching,
LCS continues to
operate near capacity,
raising concerns about
what will happen if it
cannot house everyone
looking for housing
during inclement weather
Best idea I ever had: Nutella and chocolate chip toaster waffles.
--winter approaching,
LCS continues to
operate near capacity,
raising concerns about
what will happen if it
cannot house everyone
looking for housing
during inclement weather
Spanish is a slow and painful death. No bueno!
Not something fun to wake up to: A spider suspended about a foot above your face.
--winter approaching,
LCS continues to
operate near capacity,
raising concerns about
what will happen if it
cannot house everyone
looking for housing
during inclement weather
Oh. My. God. "Modern Warfare 2" is amazing.
--winter approaching,
LCS continues to
operate near capacity,
raising concerns about
what will happen if it
cannot house everyone
looking for housing
during inclement weather
Drunk on a Monday night. It's going to be a good week.
I like that Obama hasn't done anything but cripple this country and there are still people kissing his ass.
--winter approaching,
LCS continues to
operate near capacity,
raising concerns about
what will happen if it
cannot house everyone
looking for housing
during inclement weather
--winter approaching,
LCS continues to
operate near capacity,
raising concerns about
what will happen if it
cannot house everyone
looking for housing
during inclement weather
Isn't it funny how you pass your Facebook friend and neither one of you acknowledges that you know the other?
If you say "Budig Hall" fast enough it sounds like "booty call."
I've had a good day. This morning my teacher didn't know how to spell "build" and then I overheard a teacher ask a student if it was "hard to blow and walk at the same time?"
--winter approaching,
LCS continues to
operate near capacity,
raising concerns about
what will happen if it
cannot house everyone
looking for housing
during inclement weather
Fun fact 392: Hy-Vee has 158 different roasts of coffee beans.
You may have bested me today blueberry bagel, but I'll have my revenge tomorrow!
Will someone please tell my dorm neighbors to stop having sex all the time? The walls are two inches thick.
--winter approaching,
LCS continues to
operate near capacity,
raising concerns about
what will happen if it
cannot house everyone
looking for housing
during inclement weather
I'm more disturbed about the fact that I now know White Owl's real name.
Snuggie Kama Sutra? I must get to the bottom of this!
--winter approaching,
LCS continues to
operate near capacity,
raising concerns about
what will happen if it
cannot house everyone
looking for housing
during inclement weather
Any guy want to be an orgasm donor? I kind of need one.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Winter housing solution needed for homeless
The lack of a definitive plan to house the excess amount of homeless people in Lawrence is unacceptable with temperatures dropping and winter approaching.
HOW OVERCROWDING STARTED
Chance Dibben/KANSAN
The most recent challenge for Lawrence's homeless community has its roots in the hot, muggy days of June and July. This summer, overcrowding became an endemic problem at the Lawrence Community Shelter, because the Salvation Army center stopped accepting overnight stays for the homeless. LCS has increased its capacity twice this year, including an upgrade to their basement to make it safe for sleeping. With
NO SOLUTION
The increase in capacity that the basement allows has brought overcrowding under control for the time being, according to LCS director Loring Henderson. Still he described the situation as
With colder temperatures, some of which were already experienced during one of the coldest Octoberbers on record, there could be an increased demand on the already limited supply of overnight housing available at LCS. Cities with sizable homeless populations traditionally witness an increase in demand for housing when temperatures drop below freezing overnight.
"difficult" and admits that he "doesn't have a plan B" for looming concerns over emergency housing in the winter.
Not having a definite plan at this stage of the year is concerning, but after two expansions that have increased LCS capacity from around 30 in the beginning of the year to 76, it is easy to understand that the shelter likely cannot offer any more space on its own. This makes problem solving the responsibility of the larger homelessness community and city officials.
Where additional housing might come from is a question that remains to be answered among these leaders. According to Katherine Dinsdale, member of the Community Commission on Homelessness, a city advisory board, "conversations are planned between Lawrence Community Shelter and other service providers who may be able to help with temporary emergency housing during severe weather."
Dinsdale also points out that the community has faced the issue of winter housing before, but admitted the closure of the Salvation Army shelter operations will alter the situation.
City officials acknowledged that the situation was difficult but insisted the city was taking action in recognition of increased
NO DIRECT ANSWERS
demand for homelessness services. Margene Swarts, city liaison to the Community Commission on Homelessness, pointed to the city's use of stimulus money to further the commission's goal of finding permanent housing for the homeless, the recent approval of permits for new sleeping facilities at LCS and the funding of case workers to work with homeless individuals.
When asked more directly about the city's policy on this issue, Mayor Rob Chestnut said it is something he is considering carefully. He offered praise for Family Promise, a new group that has stepped in to serve families who have been recently displaced, as well at LCS's plans for a new shelter. Chestnut said "there is some element of that population that tends to be transient," indicating that it can be difficult to estimate the demand for housing in the winter. When asked if he saw the city stepping in directly, Chestnut said, "To me, I think we need to stay focused on the goal, which is providing permanent housing."
DANGEROUS SITUATION
Ideally, city and homelessness leaders would always be focused around a housing vision, moving individuals from emergency shelter to permanent housing. Operating in the ideal can be dangerous though, especially for those without the luxury of waiting for commission
ATTEND THE
FUNDRAISER TO
HELP LAWRENCE
COMMUNITY
SHELTER:
**Who:** Everyone is welcome.
**What:** Benefit for LCS sponsored by the KU Bachelor of Social Welfare Group
**When:** 6-10 p.m. Thursday
**Where:** Abe & Jake's, B E.
6th St.
"visions" to run their course.
Just ignoring the problem, and hoping it will solve itself at this point in the year is unacceptable. While the community at large is ultimately responsible for the wellbeing of all its members, it relies on its leaders to act.
Homelessness community leaders should act by engaging in a well-publicized discussion of this issue, perhaps under the auspices of the Community Commission on Homelessness. At the same time city officials should do more than stand behind meaningless visions and be prepared to move quickly on any plans that present themselves.
Alex Doherty for The Kansan Editorial Board
EDITORIAL CARTOON
NICHOLAS SAMBALUK
CONTRIBUTED COLUMN
Photographs speak the language of war
When University alumna Julie Jacobson embedded as a photographer in Afghanistan, death was written in the contract's fine print. On Aug. 14, Jacobson's unit was ambushed, and while crouching under fire, she captured with her long-distance lens the fatal injury of Lance Cpl. Josh Bernard, producing a photo that would spark harsh criticism of its publication.
jacobson's image is hazy, obscured and unreal. The scene is painted in a washed-out palette of dusty brown and dull gray; a scraggly patch of grass leans limply toward a narrow gully of muddy water. Two blurred Marines in dirty desert fatigues crouch beside Bernard while applying preliminary first aid. In the center of the photograph, starkly contrasting with the grimy background, is a chilling, vibrant spletch of deep crimson where Bernard's leg has been blown off by a rocket-propelled grenade. The injured Marine still clutches his rifle.
The 21-year-old's face is inescapable, his mouth gaping open in a frozen expression of
Froma journalistic perspective, society needs images like these; the color, the quality, the raw emotion blurred by distance and chaos — the kind of image that sears itself in your memory. It speaks the convoluted language of war, screaming all at once millions of words and feelings and split-second stories that a 1,000-page book could never begin to tell.
pain and shock. As I looked at the picture for the first time, I wondered if he heard his buddies yelling forceful reassurances, and if he could, whether he believed them. I wondered if images of his childhood flickered across his vision like old-fashioned home movies on a projector screen as he lay there, and if he knew his hourglass was shattered, the sand fluidly gushing through the broken shards as time ran out.
Julie Jacobson, in a statement about the photo, said, "Death is a part of life and most certainly a part of war. Isn't that why we're here? To document for now and for history the events of this war?"
Whether this particular image should have been released is a moot argument. It was released, and now the question is what to
take away from it.
Valuing images of death in war isn't obligatory only to remember the fallen; it's crucial for us to remember those who survived: the two Marines who knew Bernard's death was imminent but never stopped in their efforts to save him, make him comfortable, safe, and most importantly, make sure he knew he was not alone.
When I look at the photograph of the beginning of Bernard's final hours, I not only think of the young lives cut short by war, but also the men and women who were forced to push on, continue the mission and stifle the grief for the sake of each other. I think of the families gathering at Arlington National Cemetery, and the veterans sitting alone, fingering black or silver KIA cuffs and remembering the friends they lost. And I think of my husband, a thrice-over combat veteran, and if my views would be different if the dying Marine had been him.
I wonder, if this portrait of war had been of someone else, what Josh Bernard would have thought of.
- Betsy McLeod - Cutliff a Lenaeza
senior in journalism. She is currently a copy
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LGBT
Second-class citizenship
In ten years, I like to think I will have settled down with some amazing, intelligent, beautiful woman who loves me for me and whom I love just as much. I also like to think I'll be able to take care of her in sickness and health, for better for worse, because that's what we promised each other in our marriage vows.
But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself — marriage isn't federally legal for same-sex couples. What is there to fear? That gay marriage will deface God or one's religion?
We in the gay community are fighting for recognition from our government. You know, the government we all pay the same taxes for? The one that I thought defended everyone's rights until I found out loving the same sex means I do not have the 1,138 rights and benefits allowed to heterosexuals. This includes: Medicaid, income tax deductions, right to inheritance of property, making spousal medical decisions, permission to make funeral arrangements for a deceased spouse and much more
Can you imagine the love of your life having a heart attack, and even though you've lived with that person for the past 30 years, you don't get to know how he or she is doing even if you're the closest person available? Can you imagine having to fight to remain living in the house you resided in for more than 50 years because the family of your dead spouse is more recognized by the government to inherit the house than you are?
Our founding fathers separated church and state for a reason, so no one religion could discriminate against citizens. The people who founded our country fled Europe for the very same reason: They were being discriminated against for who they were and didn't want future generations to suffer in the same way.
So why does the current federal government not do what it was created to do? Why does it not prevent the church from affecting the state or vice versa? Why does it not protect and offer all of its citizens equal rights? When did religion become a determining factor in what rights we allow or deny citizens? I'm not asking for anyone's God to love me. I am simply asking our federal government to recognize that as long as it continues to involve itself in marriage and offer rights, protections and benefits to heterosexual couples, it must, under the Constitution, offer those same rights to all its citizens.
@KANSAN.COM
We are all Americans. Why do homosexuals have to continue paying tax dollars for these 1,138 rights and benefits if we can't utilize them? That's neither fair nor constitutional. I was raised in America and taught that every American is equal. So why am I and millions of others treated as second-class citizens?
If you don't believe me, look to the 14th Amendment, which states, "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States."
Bornstein is a Lawrence senior in women's studies and sociology.
Check out Lauren Bornstein's blog at kansan.com/weblogs/beyond_queerly_speaking.
Jessica Sain-Baird, managing editor
684-4810 or jessicasain-baird.com
Jennifer Tortline, managing editor 864-4810 or jtortline@kranjana.com
Brenna Hawley, editor
864-4810 or bhawley@kansan.com
Haley Jones, kansan.com managing editor 864-4810 or biweekly@kansan.com
Michael Holtz, opinion editor
564-4924 or mholtz@kansan.com
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are
Bernice Hunt, Justice Sain-Baird, Jennifer
Tortline, Hayley Jones, Thornton Llewrshire,
Mary Holtz.