Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Jodie Chester, Editor Marc Harrell, Business manager
Gerry Doyle, Managing editor Jamie Holman, Retail sales manager
Ryan Koerner, Managing editor Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser
Tom Ehlen, General manager, news adviser Justin Knupp, Technology coordinator
4A
Thursday, November 19, 1998
Clay McCuistion/ KANSAN
Editorials
Smokers should put packs down during Great American Smokeout
Today marks the American Cancer Society's 22nd annual Great American Smokeout, an event that encourages smokers to quit just for one day. In recognition of this day, smokers should consider making a small yet important sacrifice, leaving behind those cigarettes.
Tobacco smoke is dangerous, both to the smoker and to those who can't help inhale secondhand smoke. Each year, about 120,000 people die of cardiovascular diseases related to smoking.
Moreover, almost 200,000 die of cancer attributed to tobacco smoke; the types of cancer involved are most commonly of the lungs, larynx, mouth and
According to the American Cancer Society,400,000 people die each year from smoking.
esophagus. According to the American Cancer Society, 400,000 people die each year from tobacco-related diseases; that number is greater than the number of deaths each year from AIDS, alcohol, heroin, murder, suicide and automobile collisions combined.
Although most smokers start before reaching 18, it is imperative that students at the University of Kansas not make smoking a habit. KU students
who do smoke should be aware of the risks they are taking; for example, they're more than 22 times as likely to develop lung cancer.
For those who aren't ready to quit or just don't want to, quitting for just one day can be good. Being able to go an entire day without a cigarette, despite the cravings, reveals a lot about one's will power.
Because the benefits of smoking are few, quitting for any amount of time aids in setting a needed example to the youth of America, who represent the most rapidly growing group of smokers.
Leave those cigarettes alone today.
If you do, you'll be better off.
Chris Borniger for the editorial board
Smoke-free Policy needed in city
Returning home with smoky clothes and sore throats is a regular part of an evening for non-smoking students when they go out in Lawrence. Because there are no regulation on smoking in public places, all who patronize coffee shops or bars inevitably return smelling as if stale cigarette butts and feeling like they have just smoked a carton. No nonsmoker should have to endure secondhand smoke just because he or she chooses to go out for coffee or drinks. Lawrence and the University of Kansas should implement the Smoke-free Policy.
Compared to Boulder Colo., students in Lawrence can smoke wherever they please.
In places where the Smoke-free Policy is instaled, such as Boulder, or the University of California at Berkeley, public places are off-limits to tobacco products. Because of the health hazards involved with tobacco smoke, the Smoke-free Policy in both Berkeley
Lawrence should have restrictions that would protect people from secondhand smoke.
and Boulder states that smoking is not allowed in any public place other than in the areas designated.
While smoke-free facilities are a blessing to non-smokers, prohibiting tobacco products may be more detrimental to business than helpful. Melissa Davis, Wichita junior and waitress at the Yacht Club, said that some of the bars revenue comes from the cigarette machine inside the building.
The Boulder code states that there are ways for restaurants and taverns to allow smoking without harming the non-smokers.
She said, however, that the smoke irritated her eyes and throat.
closed smoking room with a ventilation system independent from that of the main building.
The Surgeon General of the United States has determined that smoking is the leading preventable cause of premature death and disability in the nation.
Businesses must have a separate,
Unfortunately, most smokers do not consider the significant effect on the health of non-smokers. According to a 1992 Environmental Protection Agency study, secondhand smoke causes coughing, phlegm production, chest discomfort and reduced lung function in bystanders.
Students should not have to sacrifice the functional capacity of their lungs to go out on a Saturday night.
Until Lawrence is smoke-free, smokers should recognize who they hurt when they light up, and non-smokers should write to city officials urging them to examine the possibilities of a smoke-free city
Kansan staff
Ann Premer . *Editorial*
Tim Harrington . *Associate Editorial*
Aaron Marvin . *News*
Gwen Olson . *News*
Aaron Knopf . *Online*
Matt Friedrichs . *Sports*
Kevin Wilson . *Associate sports*
Marc Sheforgen . *Campus*
Laura Roddy . *Campus*
Lindsey Henry . *Features*
Bryan Volk . *Associate features*
Roger Nomer . *Photo*
Corie Waters . *Photo*
Angie Kuhn . *Design, graphics*
Melissa Ngo . *Wire*
Sara Anderson . *Special sections*
Laura Veazey . *news clerk*
Emily Hughey for the editorial board
News editors
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Brandi Byram ... Campus
Micah Kafitz ... Regional
Ryan Farmer ... National
Matt York ... Marketing
Stephanie Krause ... Production
Matt Thomas ... Production
Traci Meisenheimer ... Creative
Tenley Lane ... Classified
Sara Cropper ... Zone
Nicole Farrell ... Zone
Jon Schlitt ... Zone
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Matt Lopez ... Zone
Brian Allers ... PR/Intern manager
Advertising managers
Broadon your mind: Today's quote
"Life's like a movie. Write your own ending. Keep believing. Keep pretending."
Letters: Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and home-town if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
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All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 1113 Staffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Ann Premer (premer@kansan.com) or Tim Harrington (tharrington@kansan.com) at 864-4810. If you have general questions or comments, email the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4810.
Perspective
The role Newt played will be missed by many
Newt Gingrich is leaving the House of Representatives. I crushed.
It's not that I ever particularly loved Newt — my political views can best be
Clay McCuistion
opinion @ kansan.com
New! - my political
described as bleeding-
heart, commite-pinko libe-
ral. But there was someth-
ing about the man one
had to appreciate.
Perhaps it was the way Newt had no fear of appearing goofy, despite the situation.
There was the book he wrote in 1996 titled 1945, a paperback describing what would happen if the Germans had gained an upper hand in World War II, complete with sex scenes and breathless descriptions of Nazi weaponry.
There were the hints he made in 1996 that the federal government shutdown was because of him getting a poor seat on Air Force One.
Maybe the best example is the way he predicted to fellow Republicans that the party would gain 20 to 30 house seats Nov. 3 — because of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. At the last moment before the election, Newt authorized TV ads harping on President Clinton's zipper problem. He was poised to lead the House into another two years.
And then it all crumbled.
Voters decided that one man's sexual dysfunction didn't taint every member of his political party. Republicans lost five seats in the House — virtually unprecedented for a midterm election.
Absolutely not. But politics is seldom fair, and Newt set himself up as a target. He was the leader of the "Republican Revolution." If that revolution bit the dust — as it did — he had to be the scapegoat.
Democrats who rejoice in Newt's hurried exit should reconsider. The next Speaker of the House might not be such a convenient punching bag. Republicans endorsed someone warm and cuddly in Louisiana Republican Bob Livingston. The front-runner in the selection, Livingston is widely considered a lowkev and effective legislator.
Newt was proved wrong. After mulling it over for a few days, he decided to step down as speaker and resign his seat this January.
The Georgian's departure really wasn't just about this one failure in judgment or his other goofy episodes. He couldn't unite the differing factions of the Republican Party. He couldn't make his own party work together in the House. Conservative Republicans saw him as too moderate. Moderate Republics saw him as too conservative and nasty.
The GOP was waiting for the opportunity to oust new Newt. They finally found it.
The public didn't like him. Democrats successfully used him as a symbol the same way Republicans unsuccessfully tried to use Clinton. Newt Gingrich was the symbol of everything wrong with his party.
I'll miss him, not only because of his willingness to act strangely but also because he played the perfect villain. Democrats realized that and used it to their advantage in nearly every election since the speaker was elected to his post in 1995. It was "evil Newt" who represented the Republicans; he shut down the government, wanted homeless children shipped off to orphanages and visited his cancer-ridden first wife in the hospital to discuss the terms of their divorce.
If the Republicans get their act together in the house — and Livingston looks like the man to get it done — the Democrats might have more to worry about than their president's missteps. They might face a serious challenge in legislative elections in 2000.
Was this fair?
Farewell, Newt. The man might not have commanded a successful revolution, but he tried. He never managed to change his image to a soft, lovable teddy bear, but he took his place on the national and world stage and spoke his mind. I may not have agreed with one word he said, but he worked for what he believed.
A man could do worse things.
McCuistion is an El Dorado sophomore in pre-journalism.
Glenn is the 'hero' NASA America have needed
W when I was in the first grade, a favorite topic for discussion among my young friends and I was what we wanted to be when we "grew up." Two common responses
are president and astronaut. Being the president, thanks to its emotionally adolescent officeholder, probably would not be such a popular choice with today's children. But being an astronaut is experiencing something of a revival in part because of the mission of a political ally of the president's.
For those of you who have been living on Mars for the past month, John Glenn, retired Democratic senator and the first American in
Andrew
Marino
opinion@kansan.com
orbit, reprised his astronaut role at the age of 77. NASA's stated goal was to conduct research on aging and weightlessness in space. The real mission—and it was accomplished—was to give the agency a public relations boost and renew interest in the space program. Unfortunately, this is the public relations equivalent of putting a tiny Band-Aid on a gaping wound.
Two missions are useful in explaining the reasons behind NASA's decline. The first was NASA's two-year presence on the Russian space station Mir. Virtually everything that could go wrong aboard the station did go wrong, such as: inadequate training manuals, defective oxygen masks, ceaseless repair work, toxic leaks and poor communication links. A February 1997 fire raged for 14 minutes and almost forced an emergency evacuation (part of the problem could have been the bolted-down fire extinguishers).
The director of the shuttle-Mir program, evidently schooled by the White House at the art of spin, said that one of the main achievements had been to give NASA the ability to work on problems together with the Russians. The second mission flew 96 baby rats into space for experiments. Your reaction — who cares? — is
exactly the point. NASA spends millions on boring, scientific experiments whose benefits are distant, unclear and perhaps minuscule. The space program used to be a place to find heroes not brainy veterinarians. People don't throw ticker-tape parades for scientists. The thirst for heroes within the program is so acute that the shuttle commander on the rat mission referred to a colleague who had nursed the rats back to health after their mother refused to feed them as a real hero. The problem with NASA doing crisis training, marginal scientific research and other insipid tasks is that it does not defeat the classic argument against the space program—that NASA's mega-budget could be better used if it went to (fill in your favorite liberal social program here). The intangibles are what make the space program worthwhile. It gives us heroism, hope and nationalism.
John Glenn has been on the ground for more than a week, and the lessons on where to go from here already have been taught. NASA should focus less on unappealing and inefficient science and more on exploration, with an eye toward more manned missions to destinations beyond the moon.
An early 21st century trip to Mars is already in the works and should be more heavily publicized. In executing such a mission, NASA will no doubt be tempted to include other countries for the sake of international goodwill. A joint venture would destroy the expected rejuvenation of national unity.
Nobody really knows or cares about what scientific knowledge we will come away with as a result of Glenn's mission. Instead, we were reminded (some for the first time) of that point in 1962 when a nation's hope and pride rested on his shoulders. No one wishes for a rebirth of global rivalry. There is a startling difference between the bland thought of a UN flag protruding from Martian soil and the spine-tingling imagery of the Stars and Stripes planted by a future American hero.
Marino is a Prairie Village sophomore in political science.
Feedback
Mastery of foreign language important
One of KU's greatest policies is to require four semesters in a foreign language. Learning a foreign language is much more than ordering tacos or bratwurst. It is a mind opening experience. It's not only about traveling, but about getting in touch with a different culture, different people.
Once you have this experience, you become a more enriched, interesting person.
The University of Kansas wants to build well-informed individuals, who will be able to contribute to society in various ways.
1
If its students are bilingual, they are more prepared to enter the work force, to adapt to new situations, and to have intelligent conversations.
Therefore, we cannot agree with Carrie Johnson's column on Monday. You already had the opportunity to learn three foreign languages, and it looks like you are underestimating their importance.
Diana Victor
Rio de Janeiro junior
Fernanda Brasileira
Rio de Janeiro junior