THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2004
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
3A
CAMPUS
Law student group collects food for needy
The University of Kansas Black Law Student Association is nearing the end of its 14th annual Thanksgiving food drive
"We have already had overwhelming support from students," said Kristin Conwell, St. Louis second-year law student and association president.
The association worked with community service organizations to help local families in need during the Thanksgiving holiday. Organizations include the Salvation Army, Pelathe Community Resource Center and First Step House. With help from students, faculty and staff and community service organizations, the association will be able to help feed an estimated 1,500 people.
"Thanks to students, faculty and the community we've been able to exceed our expectations every year." Conwell said.
The association plans to buy 150 turkeys this year,which will be given to families along with the donated food. The association may buy more turkeys, depending on how much food is donated.
Donations of canned goods, non-perishable goods, money, gift certificates and food preparation items will be collected by the association until 5 p.m. tomorrow. Food items can be dropped off at Green Hall, east of the Burge Union. Grocery carts are located inside the entrance of the hall for food drop-offs. Money and gift certificates should be delivered to Robin Miller, administrative specialist in the law school, at room 202 Green Hall. To arrange a pick up of donations, contact the association at 864-9277 or e-mail konnwall@ku.edu
Community service is part of the law school's purpose. Conwell said.
"Lawyers serve the community, and that is what we are trying to do," she said.
Nikola Rowe
Republicans to attempt labeling repeal
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Telling consumers where their meat, fruit and vegetables came from seemed such a good idea to U.S. ranchers and farmers in competition with imports that Congress two years ago ordered the food industry to do it. But meatpackers and food processors fought the law from the start, and newly emboldened Republicans now plan to repeal it before Thanksgiving.
As part of the 2002 farm bill, country-of-origin labeling was supposed to have gone into effect this fall. Congress last year postponed it until 2006. Now, House Republicans are trying to wipe it off the books as part of a spending bill they plan to finish this month.
House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, (R-Missouri), said he expected the Senate to agree to repealing the measure, whose main champion two years ago was Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, (D-South Dakota).
"F or republicans to deny
Americans the opportunity to buy American' at the grocery store is anticonsumer, anti-farmer, and anti-rancher."
Tom Daschle Senate minority leader
President Bush never supported mandatory labeling. Chances for repealing the law improved when Daschle, still his party's leader in the Senate, was defeated for re-election Nov. 2.
"I can't find any real opposition to doing exactly what we want to do here." Blunt said.
"For Republicans to deny Americans the opportunity to 'buy American' at the grocery
He and other Western senators were making an effort to keep repeal of the labeling law out of the wide-ranging spending bill Congress plans to pass before it leaves. Democrats acknowledged there was not much of an appetite to wage a battle over it.
store is anti-consumer, anti-farmer and anti-rancher," Daschle said yesterday.
"Everybody realized it was going to cost a lot of money, and ranchers were going to have to bear most of that," said Sen. Jim Talent, (R-Missouri), chairman of a Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry subcommittee on the issue.
Those who want the repeal say the labeling system is so expensive that it far outweighs any benefit to consumers. The Agriculture Department has estimated the cost could range from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars in the first year alone.
Opponents of mandatory labeling say they are amenable to voluntary labels.
Grocery Manufacturers Association spokeswoman Stephanie Childs cited the government's voluntary standards for labeling organic food and said, "That's the sort of thing we should be looking toward."
Supporters of the labeling requirement says opponents want the repeal so producers will not have to spend money getting ready to follow the law. The House Agriculture Committee approved legislation this year to substitute a voluntary system for the current law.
Producers in favor of mandatory labels believe consumers will prefer U.S.-grown food over foreign imports. The law requires companies to put country-of-origin labels on meat, vegetables and fruit.
The issue divides cattlemen and other livestock producers. Many of the bigger livestock and feedlot operations, as well as food processors, do not want mandatory labelling.
"We really feel that country-
of-origin labeling is one of the key things we need to keep ourselves competitive in that market. I understand the trade-offs," said Doran Junek, a rancher in Brewster. Junck also is executive director of the Kansas Cattlemen's Association, an affiliate of R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America.
Consumer groups say the issue is whether buyers have a right to know where their food came from.
"When nutrition labeling was suggested by advocates 25 years ago, the industry kept saying, 'Oh, we can't do that,'" said Carol Tucker Foreman, director of food policy for the Consumer Federation of America. "Look, they've done it. They love it. Consumers use it."
The wrangling does not affect fish because Congress did not include fish last year when it delayed the mandatory labeling. Fresh and frozen fish will be required to carry labels beginning in April.
Russia developing unique nuclear weapons
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOSCOW — Russia is developing a new nuclear missile system unlike any weapon held by other countries, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday, a move that could serve as a signal to the United States as Washington pushes forward with a missile defense system.
Putin gave no details about the system or why Russia was pursuing it, and it was unclear whether the Kremiln's cashtrapped armed forces could even afford an expensive new weapon.
But in remarks that could also be aimed at a domestic audience, he told a meeting of the top leadership of the armed forces that the system could be deployed soon, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
"We are not only conducting research and successful tests on state-of-the-art nuclear missile systems, but I am convinced that these systems will appear in the near future," Putin said. "Moreover, they will be systems, weapons that not a single other nuclear power has, or will have, in the near future."
"We'll continue our efforts to build our armed forces and its nuclear component," he said.
ITAR-Tass indicated the new system could be a mobile version of the Topol-M ballistic missile, which have been deployed in silos since 1998. But Alexander Pikaye, a senior military analyst with Moscow's Institute for Global Economy and International Relations, said Putin seemed to be referring to the Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile, a solid fuel missile
that had its first test in September.
"Putin apparently wanted to boast the success of his military reform effort ... to both the military and the broad public," Pikayev said. "His statement also intended to show that Russia is regaining its status as a great power which can't be ignored."
Russian officials had stated earlier that the Bulava could be developed in both sea- and land-based versions and equipped with warheads capable of penetrating missile defense, Pikayev said.
He said if the Bulava proves capable, it would represent a major success because it would show that Russia has succeeded in modernizing its missile forces despite the shortage of funds.
"It will ring the bell for the Americans, forcing Washington to reassess its estimates," Pikavev said.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said it wasn't news to the Bush administration, and that President Bush and Putin had discussed the issue previously. He emphasized there were agreements in place to reduce the two countries' nuclear arsenals and noted Moscow is now a partner in the war on terrorism.
"This is not something that we look at as new," he said. "We are very well aware of their long-standing modernization efforts for their military. We are allies now in the global war on terrorism."
McClellan suggested that close ties between Bush and Putin makes alarm unnecessary
— but doesn't eliminate Washington's concern.
"We have a very different relationship than we did in the Cold War," he said. "The fact that we do have a good relationship enables us to speak very directly to our Russian friends."
Christopher Langton, head of defense analysis at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies, said it appeared to be the first time that Russian officials had spoken publicly about a new deterrent, though he has no idea what the system might be.
"He said it was, firstly, unique and, secondly, capable of defeating any space-based defense system, which is clearly putting the spotlight on the anti-missile of the United States," Langton said.