Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Julie Wood, Editor Brandi Byram, Business manager Laura Roddy, Managing editor Shauntae Blue, Retail sales manager Cory Graham, Management Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser Scott Valler, Technology coordinator
Wednesday, October 27, 1999
Seth Jones / KANSAN
Editorials
PASS
Kansan report card
Make a Difference Day — Hundreds of students came out to help with projects to improve the community. Thanks for your good work and volunteer spirit.
**Encyclopedia Britannica** — Print-volume mainstay jumpship to create free, Internet encyclopedia. Another nail in the coffin for door-to-door salespeople but a welcome change for students.
We like Ike - Old Executive Office Building in Washington is renamed to honor famous Kansan and former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
- Free drinks — Lawrence bars offer free soft drinks to designated drivers. We needed another reason to get to the bars.
FAIL
- **Conversion-theme haunted house** — A church-sponsored haunted house in downtown Kansas City shows various graphic sins to scare folks into conversion. If you really want to scare 'em, bring in the Rev. Jerry Falwell, not a haunted house-o'sin.
■ Hawk Night — Alcohol-free alternative Halloween party was held in the Kansas Union on Friday. You probably weren't there because you probably didn't even know about it.
Rudy Guiliani — Free-speech bully made KKK members march without their masks. Come on, Mayor, we're no fans of the Klan, but free speech is free speech.
- **Campus vandals** — Smart guys spray paint “Stop Police Brutality” on Anschutz Library. Is the library the best place to reach violent cops?
When money talks, candidate walks
Last week, Elizabeth Dole announced her withdrawal from the Republican presidential primary, citing fund-raising difficulties as her main reason. Dole's fund-raising problems parallel an issue recently debated in Congress: campaign finance reform.
Because of Dole's action, campaign finance reform once again pushed itself into the limelight with a real application. Congress should take Dole's departure from the race as testimony as to why campaign spending should indeed be limited.
The fact that elections are still a year away should cause some alarm in Congress. Dole's excuse wasn't multifaceted or unclear; it was simply that, come primary time, she thought she just wouldn't have the necessary funding to compete. Nobody has voted yet, and a widely-respected candidate already has thrown in the towel — even though public opinion polls showed Dole in second place after Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
Congress should take Dole's departure as another signal to limit campaign spending
Campaign finance reform must focus on allowing a fair opportunity for all. Those that possess merit may encounter the unfortunate circumstance of being squeezed out of the race because of money. The merit of the candidate, which should be the obvious determinant, does not get fair play. Instead, candidates prove their worth through their pocketbooks, showing that money indeed can buy clout.
Losing Dole as a candidate has undermined the presidential race, especially its credibility. Her departure raises the question as to whether the best candidate actually will win. Even though Dole had a large base of support, her political agenda will not be heard by most of the public. Instead, she had to
bow out to Bush, decreasing competition in the Republican race.
Once again, money rears its ugly green head as an end-all. The race is determined by it, and as a consequence, the public misses out on the opportunity to vote for Elizabeth Dole.
Kansan staff
Chad Bettes ... Editorial
Seth Hoffman ... Associate editorial
Carl Kaminski ... News
Juan H. Heath ... Online
Chris Fickett ... Sports
Brad Hallier ... Associate sports
Nadia Mustafa ... Campus
Heather Woodward ... Campus
Steph Brewer ... Features
Dan Curry ... Associate features
Matt Daugherty ... Photo
Kristi Elliott ... Design, graphics
T.J. Johnson ... Wire
Melody Ard ... Special sections
News editors
Becky LaBranch . . . Special sections
Thad Crane . . . Campus
Will Baxter . . . Regional
Jon Schlitt . . . National
Danny Pumpelly . . Online sales
Micah Kaftiz . . Marketing
Emily Knowles . . Production
Jenny Weaver . . Production
Matt Thomas . . Creative
Kelly Heffernan . Classified
Juliana Moreira . Zone
Chad Hale . Zone
Brad Bolyard . Zone
Amy Miller . Zone
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Broaden your mind: Today's quote
Broaden your mind. Today's quote
"There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life." — Frank Zappa
How to submit letters and guest columns
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 hometown if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
Guest columns: Should be double-
spaced typed with fewer than 700 words.
The writer must be willing to be photo-
graphated for the column to run.
All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stuaffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Chad Bettel or Seth Hoffman at 864-4924.
If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4924.
Perspective
'Bon appetit' isn't just for French cuisine
M y host brother José recently told me that food without fat wasn't worth eating. After living with his family for 2 1/2 months, I might have to agree.
Six nights a week, Jose holds true to his philosophy at his small restaurant, the Soda Santa
It's when José cooks for himself and friends that his love for the heavier side of life becomes apparent. A sandwich assumes Dagwodesque proportions: layers of bread, butter, refried beans, cold cuts, bacon, fried beef, tomatoes
Matt
Merkel-Hess
columnist
positioning at kansan.com
cheese, lettuce, ketchup, mustard, mayo and whatever else may be fresh. The width and height of these sandwiches can be a jaw-busting experience.
In the house, stove-up cooking is the norm — our oven rarely is used. Rice and beans are standard with almost every meal, as is fried steak, fish or pork. Anything Fried usually involves manteca, a solid vegetable oil that looks like lard. On the side is pasta salad, cooked veggies, potatoes, avocado slices and yuca, a starchy tuber similar to a potato. Standing guard over the dinner table in my house are 5 or 6 bottles of hot and Worcester sauces, as well as other spicy supplements.
Located around houses are useful food plants—coconut, papaya, orange, lemon, pineapple or plantain. Other common fruits for sale that you won't find in your supermarket include pejibaye, cas. guanabana and guajava.
A watchful eye in the jungle or on the beach has no trouble finding something to eat, especially where a human hand may have sown some seeds. On hikes, I've had lemons, oranges, mangos and pipas (fresh coconuts). A swift slice with a machete opens a hole from which you can drink the translucent coconut milk. These are also a
popular streetside treat, chilled, with a straw popped in. Coconuts rarely are kept for the flesh inside, but I have had a tasty no-bake cookie made from ground coconut, nutmeg and dulce, a brown sugar product that comes in solid cakes.
An interesting jungle treat is the fruit of the cacao tree, which is definitely a non-chocolate experience. The large pod splits easily, revealing 30-40 seeds surrounded by milky-white flesh. To get cocoa, the seeds are fermented, roasted and ground, but it takes little effort to clean a fresh seed of the sweet flesh for a succulent snack.
The cacao plant, Theobroma cacao, has a long history of use before European arrival in the new world. For the Aztec and Mayan people, cacao was used in a frothy, bitter drink consumed by the upper class. The seeds were used as coinage, a practice that continued through colonial times in much of Central America.
Besides the variety of fresh fruits here, I've also been spoiled with ocean-fresh fish. At least once a week, the fried eyeball of a small fish stares up at me from the plate. It was a bit disturbing at first, but the tender meat is excellent.
A fresh delicacy found only in bars is huevos tortugas, or turtle eggs. The intact yolk of an egg is mixed with tomato juice, hot sauce and other spices for a non-alcoholic, protein-filled shot. It goes down easier than you might think—the only thing that really hurts is the conscience. The harvest of sea-turtle eggs is legal in one place in Costa Rica. Begun as an experiment in sustainable development to discourage poachers and provide a nearby village with income, the program recently has been questioned for lack of monitoring and scientific data.
While Costa Rica may not be famous around the world for its cuisine, I have enjoyed sampling as much as possible. For the most part, the food is similar to the states, but little differences keep me coming back for more. And with the smell wafting from José's restaurant every night, it's hard to say no.
Maybe that's why I recently moved my belt out a notch.
Merkel-Hess is an Iowa City, Iowa, junior in journalism.
Exchange student juggles life,the value of a dollar
Without my parents' economic support, I wouldn't be here today. Although I received a scholarship to complete my bachelor's degree at the University of Kansas, I still needed money for daily expenses, books, health insurance, food and other details that I had never thought of before. Throughout the two and a half years that I've been living here, my parents have made my life as easy as they could.
They didn't like the idea of me moving off campus, but they let me do it when I said I had a job that would help pay for some of the new expenses.
But because I am an international student, I cannot work off campus or for more than 20 hours per week. As much as I want to help my parents, it's almost impossible to be completely economically independent.
My economic relationship with my parents became strained after the Brazilian economic crisis in January because the value of the real dropped significantly compared to the U.S. dollar.
Since then, my parents send e-mails telling me to be
Mariana
Paiva
guest columnist
opinion@kanan.com
reasonable with my checks and credit card. "The real is $1.80," my mom wrote me last time about the poor currency exchange rate. Among the Brazilian community someone always tells the group how much the real is worth that day. We cannot escape this reality.
This nightmare reminded me of 1992, when, at 16 years old, I decided to be an exchange student in the United States. At that time, Brazil still had a high inflation rate. I knew the bills and coins that I had brought with me to the United States by mistake wouldn't be worth anything once I got back home a year later.
So, instead of buying farewell gifts to all my friends. I gave them $200 and $500 in Brazilian
bills. They really appreciated it and were really surprised that I was giving "that much" to them. I tried to explain that those bills weren't worth a lot anymore, but some of them did not quite understand the concept of how my money could devalue so fast.
I haven't heard any Brazilians saying that they need to go back home because of the crisis. Most of us found jobs and are trying to help our parents as much as possible. However, after 10 months of economic crisis, things are ugly in Brazil. I recently read an article that said that the country wouldn't be able to meet the requirements made by the International Monetary Fund.
I was pretty desperate in the beginning, but then I realized that this would be a good lesson for me. I've never had control of my finances, because all my credit card bills went directly to Brazil. This budget has forced me to learn how to better manage my accounts.
In response to this 10-month crisis, my parents decided to set a budget for me. To pay for school, I've used up all the money that I earned from my summer internship, and I'm currently working two jobs.
I'm thankful to my parents and all my friends who have supported me. And I am looking forward to going back home and using all the good things I have learned here to help improve the social conditions in my country.
But it is scary to know that journalists, in the beginning of their careers in Brazil, don't earn more than $500 per month. And it's scarier to know that with the high rate of unemployment, I may not even find a decent job through which to apply all the knowledge I have accumulated in my KU years. All these economic problems taught me not to take anything for granted, to learn as much as I can to be able to find a good job, and definitely it helped me to take a step forward to achieve my economic independence.
Paiva is a Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, senior in journalism and Latin American studies.
Feedback
Confederate flag OK
I am writing to respond to the editorial concerning the Confederate battle flag flying over the state capital of South Carolina. The "southern cross" as it is affectionately referred to, only symbolizes a history of racial hate because ignorant fools like yourselves continue to see it this way.
Have you ever taken an unbiased history class? The war between the states came about because of proposed changes to what this country was founded upon, our rights. In particular, states rights, as the northern states, having congressional control, repeatedly tried to control tariffs and taxes that were
being implemented in the South. Thus most of the South felt that their rights were being compromised.
When South Carolina and the
Slavery was not the issue, no matter how many movies you've seen glorifying the abolitionist cause. I completely agree that the "peculiar institution" was a barbaric way of life, yet the vast majority of southerners owned no slaves. Slavery was one small part of a larger problem, yet the northern abolitionists created a society that only saw the southern states as something straight from hell. It was this attitude that caused the conflicts between our states to escalate, eventually turning 'brother against brother.'
I will be the first to admit, that the flag has been, and is currently used, by some elements of society that are seen as completely immoral if not damnable. Yet that is their right, as implied in our Constitution.
few other states that still fly the Confederate Battle Flag over their public buildings, it's a symbol, not of hate, but of heritage. It stands for states' rights, and it remembers those who died for those rights — very much like the American flag, as when it flies its honoring our dead.
John N. Martin
Yates Center senior
at Kansas State University,
originally from Charleston, S.C.