OPINION
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2004
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
www.kansan.com
EDITORIAL BOARD
Vote for pro-University state legislators in election
Here we go again. Only three years into the five year tuition increase plan that will effectively double tuition, students are being asked to give feedback on another proposal to tax us and our families. This time it is a proposal to tack on an additional $30 per credit hour charge for all College of Liberal Arts and Sciences courses.
There is a larger issue which puts the college tuition increase and the five year tuition hike into context. That issue is support for the University in the Kansas legislature, or more accurately, the lack of support.
This problem is best illustrated by an exchange that took place at the first CLAS increase student feedback meeting last Thursday. CLAS Dean Kim Wilcox, an ardent supporter of the differential tuition plan, was asked by an unimpressed student why the state government was not asked to pony up the funds for the new buildings and renovations. Wilcox answered that we didn't bother to ask because we know that the answer would be no.
Although it would be nice to see legislators held accountable for their anti-KU, anti-education sentiments by forcing a vote on the issue, Wilcox is probably correct in his assessment that the idea would be shot down in the statehouse.
These legislators led the charge to smack the University with $19 million of painful budget cuts for fiscal years 2002 and 2003. With rising costs in areas such as health insurance for employees, the University was forced to cut $3.7 million from its base budget for the 2004 fiscal year. Even with a funding increase of $3.6 million for the University in the fiscal 2005 budget, there will still be a $6.4 million budget shortfall because of rising health insurance costs, according to Chancellor Robert Hemenway
There is plenty of blame to go
around for the beating the University has taken in the Legislature in recent years The poor economy, and the overzealous, irresponsible tax-cutting by the Legislature in the 1990s combined to create a crippling revenue crisis for the state in the 2000s.
The cuts can't all be blamed on unfortunate circumstances, even though many in Topeka have been doing just that. Democrats and moderate Republicans in the statehouse have banded together on several occasions to fight for education funding by proposing a wide variety of measures to boost the coffers of the state. Nearly every time, the conservative Republicans blocked them. Though their efforts have not been fruitful, it is pretty clear that the Democrats and moderate Republicans are fighting for the University.
Pro-KU legislators are certain to win all the elections for seats in the statehouse in the Lawrence area. However, the conservatives trounced the moderates in Republican primaries all over the state this August thanks to the closed primary laws. The vast majority of these right-wingers appear poised for victory thanks to the socially conservative attitude that dominates the state politically.
It is certain that a very sizable number of KU students come from families who have helped elect conservatives to the Legislature in districts all over Kansas. These students need to call home and tell their parents the hard truth. The Legislature can't do much more about abortion, and there is no way that gay marriage is going to become legal in Kansas anytime soon. Instead of voting for social conservatives on principle, our parents should be voting practically for their pocketbooks and their children's future by electing candidates who are pro-education, and pro-KU especially.
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so, how many of us are there around town who wear kits?
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this is just a suggestion: I think Arrah Neilsen's columns should probably be in the Tongue in Beak section because it's really hard to kind of take her seriously.
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In the final presidential debate, CBS' Bob Schieffer asked the candidates what part their faith plays in their policy decisions. President Bush said, "When I make decisions, I stand on principle, and the principles are derived from who I am."
'Watch out for false prophets'
GUEST COMMENTARY
The first one is easy: President Bush is a born-again Christian. He has said that when he converses with the Almighty, he can talk back. His principles derive from the teachings of Jesus Christ. Let's examine some of the tenets of Jesus' teachings — taken from the Gospel of Matthew — to see how the president has applied them.
The president's answer begs three questions: Who is the president, what are the principles he ascribes to and how has he applied them?
STEPHEN SHUPE
opinion@kansan.com
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."
Matthew 5:7
Bush approved the execution of 152 death row inmates in the six years he was governor of Texas. This was the highest rate of any state in the Union.
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
Matthew 5;24
The Center for Public Integrity reported in 2003 that the energy company Enron had contributed $736,000 to Bush's candidacies since 1996. This was by far the largest amount the corporation had ever given to a single politician. In 2001, Bush asked Vice President Dick Cheney to "investigate"
the California energy crisis that had sent prices skyrocketing.
Cheney, who had spent the previous spring meeting in secret with Enron CEO Ken Lay to plan the administration's energy policies, told NBC's Meet the Press that May, "We get politicians who want to go out and blame somebody and allege there is some kind of conspiracy, whether it's the oil companies or whoever it might be, instead of dealing with the real issues."
These "real issues" became clear this summer, with the release of taped conversations of Enron employees laughing about gouging "the poor grand-mothers of California."
Last week, Bush signed into law $136 billion in new tax breaks. It was the most sweeping corporate tax overhaul since the Reagan administration, and the beneficiaries included Houston companies with offshore accounts. In the final debate, the president said most of his tax cuts went to "low and middle income Americans." A report released by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in April stated that the top one percent of American households received 54
"Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven."
times the amount of tax cuts given to middle class families.
Mark 10:21
More Americans slid below the poverty line this year, for the third year in a row. According to the Census Bureau, the poor have gotten poorer under President Bush's watch. Twelve and a half percent of the population lives below the poverty threshold, which for a family of four is an annual income of $18,800. The number of children living in poverty rose sharply this year. Of the 1.2 million Americans who joined the ranks of people living with incomes half the amount of the poverty threshold, one out of three was a child.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God."
Matthew 5:9
The president's war against Iraq has yielded more than 1,100 American casualties and many more thousands of Iraqi casualties. Bipartisan reports have discredited the administration's major reasons for launching the war, which included the possession of weapons of mass destruction and operational ties to Al-Qaeda.
"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them."
Matthew 7:15-16
**Shupe is an Augusta graduate student in journalism.** He writes for *daylay*.
Declare independence from corporate rule in America
Dear editor.
Abraham Lincoln envisioned a democracy of, by and for the people. Yet today we live in a country where corporate power has hijacked our democracy and taken control of our major political parties, our economy and our culture.
All mass movements have started with a mobilized citizenry in a struggle for justice — from the populist progressive farmers of the 19th century to the women suffragists, labor unions and the civil rights movement.
Forty years ago I launched a movement against unsafe cars because I believed that a handful of people, if their cause was just, could stand up and defeat General Motors, the most powerful corporation in the world. It gradually became clear there was a common link between unsafe cars, contaminated drinking water, destruction of rain forests, and collapsing job opportunities - etc.- and that link was runaway unaccountable corporate power.
In the 1960's and 70's, the people, prominently including younger
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Americans, channeled their energy against the Vietnam War into a political movement to create the Environmental Protection Agency, to establish the Freedom of Information Act, the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, and to help us found dozens of citizens groups.
Today we are at a critical point in history and you have an opportunity to lead a mobilization that shapes your future. Both corporate-controlled political parties are taking our country over a cliff, the Democrats are just doing it a little slower. There are political pundits who are telling you to accept the lesser of two evils, to support an overall pro-war, pro-corporate globalization party, and put your idealism on the shelf. I, like many of you, have reached a breaking point with the two-party system. It either must be driven toward the people or driven out in the coming years. You have a choice – drop out or drop-in.
This campaign is a call to action for the young people of America.
We need a world where college tuition is free for all, not hiked every semester, politics is activated by vision, not fear, where media is created by people, not corporations, where
energy is produced more from the sun and less from oil, where business is driven by human need, not greed, and where foreign policy is dedicated to justice — not war. No Justice, No Peace.
We need your energy, your passion, and your commitment to help build a more just, equitable world - a world of happiness and the fulfillment of human possibilities. We are developing a 12 year plan to help young Americans to take control of their future and change our political system.
We invite you to join with us in this effort and urge you to pass this message on to all your family, friends, classmates, and instant messaging buddies. Together, we can declare our own independence from corporate rule.
Sincerely,
Ralph Nader
Reform Party presidential candidate on the
Kansas ballot
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