Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Julie Wood, Editor Brand Byram, Business manager Laura Roddy, Managing editor Shauntae Blue, Retail sales manager Cory Graham, Managing editor Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser Tom Elbon, General manager, news adviser Scott Valler, Technology coordinator
Wednesday, October 6.1999
Dana Summers / TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES
Editorials
Kansan report card
PASS
Hall Center for the Humanities — Center brings evolution proponent Steven Jay Gould to the Lied Center for a lecture. Bringing a well-known speaker to the University in such a timely manner is just the way to get students out for extracurricular learning.
Provost David Shulenburger — As evidenced by his recent speaking tour in Canada, the provost is bringing the University international attention with his expertise in libraries.
Native-American Museum — National Native-
American museum to open in Washington. This
recognition is long overdue.
GOP candidates — Three potential 3rd District Republican congressional candidates have come to the University to speak with students. This interest in KU students shows that they're taking our votes seriously. Now it's up to students to do the same.
FAIL
E-mail spam — Local boneheels forward fake e-mail cash offers to thousands of students. This isn't funny.
**Lazer window bashing** — Someone has been throwing rocks through the radio station's windows. Expressing dissatisfaction in this Neanhardter manner is not going to get anyone to take you seriously.
- Empty scholarship suites at football games — The people paying the big bucks for suits aren't showing up for the games. Money doesn't equal a true fan. Let students take advantage of the empty boxes. They're sure to appreciate the accompanying perks.
Image shouldn't be determining factor
Political campaigning is beginning to look like the Academy Awards more than national politics. In order to be a contender for high political office, candidates need the right image; however, that image too often is at the expense of political substance and issues.
Actor Warren Beatty recently drew a crowd in Hollywood to chide the Democratic Party for drifting from the left. Maybe he did some good, but why does the world take notice when a movie star stands in the pulpit? Beatty is taken more seriously than liberal politicians because he has a celebrity image. People will listen to him because of his popularity, and he has enough wealth and influence to make his opinions known.
Dan Quayle is not that lucky. Before one vote has been cast in a primary, a
Candidates' images are too often taken more seriously than political substance
one-time vice president has quit the race. Few people wanted to support Quayle — at least partially because of his poor public image — so his campaign went broke.
Texas Gov. George Bush hasn't had a chance to embarrass himself on a truly national scale yet, and he's kept many of his political views hushed. So his image has remained unnarrised, and he is the front-runner.
Republican Party and the country. The voters won't know, because the images already have been used to decide our candidates.
Donald Trump calls himself a straight shooter and covets the Reform Party nomination. He has promised to get the economy going and protect us from terrorism. But his plans are as vague as the details of a Trump real estate deal. Trump has name recognition and business savvy but no known political qualifications.
Perhaps Quayle deserves his reputation, and family values may have been his entire platform. Or, maybe he got a raw deal and had something to offer the
Politics naturally places appearance above substance; but, this year things seem to be out of hand. We need candidates who present their ideas, not just their images. We need to know what they are about. Otherwise we will lose substantial candidates and get stuck with superficial ones.
Kansan staff
Brett Watson for the editorial board
Chad Bettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editorial
Seth Hoffman . . . . . . . . . . . . Associate editorial
Carl Kaminski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . News
Juan H. Heath . . . . . . . . . . . Online
Chris Fickett . . . . . . . . . . . . Sports
Brad Hallier . . . . . . . . . . . Association sports
Nadia Mustafa . . . . . . . . . . Campus
Heather Woodward . . . . . . . . . Campus
Steph Brewer . . . . . . . . . . Features
Dan Curry . . . . . . . . . . . Association features
Matt Daugherty . . . . . . . . . Photo
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News editors
Advertising managers
Becky LaBranch ...Special sections
Thad Crane ...Campus
Will Baxter ...Regional
Jon Schlitt ...National
Danny Pumpley ...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
Broaden your mind: Today's quote "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." - Plato
Broaden your mind: Today's quote
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if you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call B64-4924
Ventura keeps promise to tell the naked truth
Perspective
After his much-publicized interview in Playboy magazine, Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura has reinforced his reputation as a simple-minded, loud-mouthed, bald-headed bruit. But that is the beauty of Jesse, and those who cannot love him for the joke machine that he is are missing the essence of the man.
Playboy's November issue reports that Jesse made an off-hand remark about religion after he was questioned about keeping prisons free of consensual criminals such as prostitutes and drug users. He blamed vice laws and religion for exaggerating such crimes.
Jenny Oakson columnist opinion @ kansan.com
"It's because of religion," he told the only nudie magazine to feature Kurt Vonnegut. "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It
tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business. I live by the golden rule: Treat others as you'd want them to treat you. The religious right wants to tell people how to live."
First off, what a gutsy move! Second, I have to renew my subscription!
Whether you agree with Jesse or not, one must applaud his candor. It takes a brave wrestler to denounce the religious right in a pornographic magazine. This is an excellent example of why he's superb: Head up, eyes forward, mouth says the first thing he thinks. One of the lovable aspects of Jesse is that he probably didn't think that anyone religious would see the Playboy issue because of the naked women and all.
But I didn't cover anything in elephant dung,he probably whispered to himself.
The other night, as I tuned into my favorite television program, The 700 Club, I was alarmed to hear that Christian Minnesotans, along with Reform Party bigwigs, want him out. I admit that Jesse, governor of a state that's home to the
Lutheran Brotherhood (and more potluck dinners than it knows how to make casseroles for), was cruisin' for a bruisin' when he insulted organized religion. But he always promised honesty during his gubernatorial campaign.
During my summer job in Minneapolis, I often wondered how Jesse Ventura became governor. Word around the office was that the "magic" started when he centered his campaign around the more rough and tumble citizens and approached them with a down-to-earth sense of politics. He knew first-hand how to get these votes
- free mesh hats, hard issues like hunting and fishing licenses and using small words (which was convenient for Jesse as well).
Indeed, he must have earned his election after campaigning in thick Brainard forests, vast lakes of Itasca State Park and dark, smoky St. Paul pubs. He promoted his honest tongue and his nonnonsense approach to funding and budgets. Sure, maybe he'll never be the spokesman for duct tape, but Jesse isn't afraid to say what's on his mind.
More insulting than Jesse's own constituents resentting the monster they made is Reform Party chairman Russ Verney asking "The Body" to renounce his party affiliation. How loyal! Without Jesse, these people would still be defending Ross Perot and the half-dead running mate he brought to the debate in '92. Verney stated that Jesse's comments in the interview did not represent the values, principles and ethics upon which the party was built. Which values are those? Money, lunacy and air time?
No wonder Pat Buchanan's interested. I'm no history major, but the only thing anyone remembers about the dawning of the modern Reform Party is a crazy midget with a Southern accent holding up pie graphs on his own infomercial.
In reality, neither Minnesota nor the Reform Party would be what they are today without the help of Jesse Ventura. As a rule, pro wrestlers are very vocal. Whether it's embarrassing, quirky or just plain dumb, anyone can smell that "The Body's" cooking up major publicity.
Oakson is an Overland Park senior in journalism.
Nation's greedy interests harmful to world's poor
Recently I traveled to Manhattan to attend a Noam Chomsky lecture at Kansas State University. Chomsky is a respected and well-known linguistics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has gained attention from academic audiences throughout the world in the last years for his work as a political activist. He has been largely ignored by the American mass media.
He discussed many points of U.S. foreign policy during his lecture, and he touched on some points that really can lead to curious conclusions. Those
Chomsky thinks that U.S. foreign policy is mainly guided by commercial and economic interests and that human rights almost always are used by the country's leaders as mere excuses to accomplish commercial and economic goals.
Cássio
This theory can be perfectly applied to what happened early in the year in Kosovo and also what now is happening in East Timor.
Casino
Furtado
columnist
opinion@kansan.com
conclusions can be applied to many relevant situations we see now throughout the world.
East Timor was a Portuguese colony until 1975, when it was invaded by Indonesia. At the time it was invaded, many world powers, especially the United States, gave clear instructions that they wanted to take military actions then. But they didn't do anything, and Indonesia, a relatively powerful country in Asia, took control of East Timor.
For the past two and a half decades, the Unites States has been building strong relations with Indonesia, mainly commercial relations. Indonesia is a prosperous and rich country by Asian standards, while East Timor is extremely poor, without industry and with few natural resources.
The country gained media attention in 1966 when two of its leaders, Jose Ramos-Horta and Carlos Belo, received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts toward an independent East Timor.
The relations between the United States and
the United States toward independence East Timor.
The population chose independence, and this started a huge conflict that has been extended for months. Months of suffering, pain and death have been endured by the population of East Timor. The Indonesian government seems to be innocent when it talks about the militias that have killed and brought pain to thousands of citizens, and the world doesn't seem to care very much. Why is that?
Indonesia got even stronger last year when the dictator Suharto stepped down. He passed the power to his successor and present Indonesian President B.J. Habibie.
By doing this, the U.S. can assure that major actions will only take place directly through its army, since the United Nations will not have money to form one. The United States controls NATO military operations, and it has veto power at the United Nations. So, what can you expect?
Habibie opened a door to democracy early in the year, when he declared he would let the population of East Timor decide whether it wanted independence or autonomy within Indonesia.
According to Chomsky, you can expect interventions in Israel or in Kosovo, places where American interests already were given shape or where they will start to take place. If you live in Rwanda or Sierra Leone you can start to worry, because no help will come, as it will not come to East Timor as much as it should.
Because the United Nations has no army and because any of the five counties in the U.N. Security Council can veto a proposal, the United Nations is very weak. Chomsky thinks that the United Nations is falling apart because the United States refuses to pay its debt to the world organization constituted of 185 members.
For Chomsky capitalism and democracy can't live together. What really matters in our extremely capitalistic world is money. If you are rich, you can kill people, and world powers will continue to trade with you. However, if you are poor or not willing to be conquered by capitalistic interests, your death can come really soon. Who knows the answers? Maybe Chomsky does.
Furtado is a Pelotes, Brazil, junior in political science and journalism.
Feedback
I was dismused with the cover story in Monday's Kansan concerning the Homecoming Day parade. My concerns do not just stem from the fact that a living organization thinks that it is acceptable to lie to University officials, but also at the gall of the ACLU and its vain attempts at constitutional exploitation.
Let's start with this whining "my first amendment rights are being violated because I lied to the parade committee and wanted to offend the crowd with a lewd expression" argument.
Float was wrong
Are you serious? I hate to be the logic officer here, but if the group didn't think that its float
would cause problems, why did it find it necessary to fabricate multiple stories as to the uses for the paper mache middle finger?
Second, why is the ACU fightin for a group that has shown that its sole intention was to slander the university, its alumni and Homecoming tradition. Sure, you could say that first amendment rights were violated. Of course they are violated on television everyday when inappropriate language and gestures are censored. Need I remind these "crusaders of freedom" that Hilltop Daycare care is along the parade route and that children should be sheltered from such obscenities?
I didn't say that the float couldn't be used, just not within the forum that has been created for Homecoming and certainly not after being surreptitious with organizers who spent long hours arranging the parade so that it would be a first class event.
It is a shame that groups on campus have nothing better to do than to defame the university and its events by using poor judgement. This lack of integrity shows of a dismal time in student responsibility, to the community, to the university, and to the society that has made it possible for these exploitations to occur.
.
Casey Connealy Leawood junior