4A
Opinion
Friday, August 27,1999
Editorial
Public deserves truth from Bush
Presidential candidates' past drug use provides insight into judgment, character and criminal history
F or months it appeared that the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination
Hope lives on, at least for the moment, with recent queries into Bush's possible past
cocaine use. Rather than being the politics of personal destruction, the question of past cocaine use is valid and deserves to be answered forthrightly
would be rather uneventful. George W. Bush, governor of Texas, has been the clear front-runner, with enormous leads in most surveys and a resounding lead in fund raising. Other hopefuls for the nomination have campaigned tirelessly, in hope that Bush would slip.
Bush has tossed aside the inquiries, saying that they are overly invasive and irrelevant to his campaign. Unfortunately, in the absence of a clear issues platform, past cocaine use
is one of the few issues that Bush has lent to the electorate. Championing the obtuse cause of compassionate conservatism is not enough for the public to chew on.
LIKE it or not, youthful indiscretions become the centerpiece when a candidate lacks a clear platform.
Further, the press has a right to ask questions relating to possible past felonies. Besides giving a glimpse into a candidate's character, the issue of cocaine has become an important area of debate. Much has been made of the inequities in the laws regarding crack and cocaine, and a future president might be asked to decide on this issue. In that case, Bush's possible past indiscretions might play a role in his decision making.
In the age of political mudslinging, Bush has painted these questions as nothing more than ugly, personal attacks, saying, "I've learned that sometimes politics can be unnecessarily ugly, and I'm trying to purge the system of ugly politics."
Bush is unfairly grouping ugly politics with ugly issues. The fact is that past cocaine use is not pretty. With more than
a year to go. Bush must learn to deal with the inevitable obstacles that come with elections. He must not always give the politically right answers, only candidly truthful ones.
The reasons for not disclosing the whole truth most likely stem from political concerns. However, according to a survey conducted by Time/CNN, only 11 percent of the public would consider past cocaine use a disqualifying attribute. This revelation will not and should not adversely affect Bush's campaign. Without full disclosure, though, Bush is only building a relationship of distrust.
Bush has given various responses to the questions that now inevitably dog him. Last week, he offered his thoughts on good parenting say, "I think the baby boomer parent ought to say, 'I've learned from mistakes I may or may not have made.'"
In the end, his answers may or may not stop voters from electing him, but voters deserve an answer so they can make an informed decision.
Lawrence a sight for sore eyes
Jeff Engstrom for the editorial board
Upon returning from nine months spent in the more cosmopolitan cities of New York and Washington, D.C., I had an unexpected surprise: I'm glad to be back in Lawrence. Once a jaded Wichitan eager to flee Kansas, I've realized that this state does have something to offer, even if it's concentrated in a small, hilly town bordered by the boredom of Johnson County and Topeka. There's a lot to love about Lawrence, yes, and I thought I'd begin the year by sharing some of my favorite (and least favorite) things about our town.
Best
Free State. It's a place where you can take anyone, whether it's for lunch with your parents, a meeting with a professor, or just a beer with friends. The stuff is all brewed right there, which is still a novelty for me, and unlike other microbrew joints, the food at Free State is actually quite good.
Liberty Hall. You don't have to hang out at the Tap Room to love its selection of indie and foreign films, both on screen and on video. It puts the Cannes in Kansas (thought that up myself just now, but if the people that run Liberty Hall need a slogan, they can steal it if they want). Go see Run Lola Tonight; it is a good flick.
Clinton Lake. Who needs the beach when we've got our own manmade reservoir with all the facilities for a hike, a picnic or a swim. Try camping, too. Speaking of swimming, how about that pool with all the cool slides downtown? I've never been there, and I'm sure it's choked with obnoxious children, but, wow, where was that when I was growing up?
Penny Annie's Sweet Shoppe. It's just as quaint and old-fashioned as the spelling of "shoppe" suggests, and the endless variety of fountain drinks
adds a splash to any boring afternoon.
Super Target and all those big boxi stores on south Iowa. It's all about multinational exploitation and homogenized corporate culture south of 31st, but it's damn convenient. It's sort of like our own Little Olathe, expanding all the time. When you know what you want and you want it now, you know where to go.
Gumby's Pizza and the Burrito King
Just don't try
— there's no going back
The beautiful campus of the University of Kansas. Yes, it cheesy to say, but so is a column about the best and worst of Lawrence, so I'll say it: Few colleges can compete with the scenic beauty of Mt.
Mark McMaster columnist
opinion@kansan.com
Oread. Enjoy the campus — go running, play frisbee, make real all of the images you first saw in a KU viewbook.
Worst
That "outlet mall" downtown. Its prison-like facade looms over the Kansas River, sucking the natural beauty from the wooded shore across the way. Soon, the J. Crew will be gone (sadly, the Big Dog Sportswear Outlet already has closed its doors), and the mail will serve little purpose for students except space for Sprint's telemarketing office, the last-ditch employer for desperate locals in need of cash. (I spent a week working there myself, but I managed to find a decent job by the end of training.)
The kids who cruise Mass on weekend nights. Turn down your bass, herd
your greasy friends back into the pickup bed, and go back to Ottawa! This is a college town!
The local renters market. Where else in Kansas would you pay $400 for an apartment with lead paint peeling off the walls, a kitchen out of Little House on the Prairie and no parking? And for those gullible enough to trust the evil Mastercraft empire with their deposit, kiss your money goodbye.
Super Target and all those big boxi stores on south Iowa. On the other hand, the Delta Force hippies have a point: It doesn't get much more banal than a corner occupied by Kmart, Target and Wal-Mart. The big stores also attract hordes of parents outfitting their freshman kids for dorm life, which has been especially irritating in the past couple of weeks.
No more dollar theater. I don't care if the popcorn was recycled off the floor and the air conditioning didn't work. How else will I indulge my guilty pleasure for talking-animal films unless I can pretend to be mocking them at the dollar theater?
*Deb Tolar.* Dedicated, knowledgable,
experienced, insidious queen of self-
promotion.
Lawrence traffic. No city the size of Lawrence should have the kind of congestion experienced on 23rd and Iowa. A trip across town can be as frustrating as the late night drive-thru line at Taco Bell. Or when they give you a taco with no meat on it, thinking that you're too drunk to come back and complain. I hate that.
Well, there it is: the best and worst of Lawrence. Next time I'll do some research and write a real column, honest.
McMaster is a Wichita senior in journalism, political science and humanities.
Feedback Dean's motives shouldn't be questioned
Your article discussing the search for a law school dean mentioned that the students had low morale because Mike Hoefflich, dean, was still here after submitting a letter of resignation.
I don't think there is a question that his heart is still in it. The man is not held captive here. He very well could have left in May. He took it upon himself to stay so that the school, and the students, could have a dean. In my opinion that's like saying a drowning person is going to have a low morale because the lifeguard who throws them a life preserver was supposed
to be off duty.
To question the motives of Dean Hoeflich's decision to stay in my opinion is ridiculous, I, for one, am ecstatic that he is still here. As a student in my last year of a four-year JD/MBA program, I thought my dean, professor, mentor and friend was not going to be here when I crossed that stage in May. I am a law student whose morale has been boosted, as opposed to lowered, by his decision to stay for one more year. When I cross that stage in May I can now receive my degree and shake the hand of a man who has been the most influential person on my professional career.
Preston James IV New York graduate student
Congratulations to Provost (David) Shulenburger for identifying sidewalk scribbling as "extraordinarily discourteous" (Daily Kansan, Aug. 26). In addition to adding expenses to an already limited campus maintenance budget, it is disrespectful to the concept of a public community for individuals to deface the environment with advertising messages that generate business profits for some entrepreneur who regards the University as his marketplace.
Provost's sidewalk policy is right on the mark
personal dignity and the dignity of this beautiful place to commercial advertising — as long as it's all in the name of earning money for college
Furthermore, the degree to which some students willingly subvert their
— seems astonishing in light of this generation's current circumspection towards the "system." Is becoming a capitalist pawn so hard to detect anymore?
Stephen Grabow Professor of architecture
How to submit letters and guest columns
**Guest columns:** Should be double-spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run.
All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, not to length or reselect all submissions. For any questions, call Chad Bettes or Seth Hoffman at 864-4924.
**Letters:** Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number, school class, and hometown if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4810.
Broaden your mind: Today's quote
Hacktivism, no matter how deserved, not right
"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." —Thomas Jefferson
As a general rule, bad things that happen to the Rev, Fred Phelps don't upset me. One of my professors once referred to him as a wart on the nose of the fair state of Kansas, and I've yet to find a better description.
For those of you who don't recall the man I'm talking about, he was the charming fellow who picketed the funeral of Matthew Shepard, the address at Allen Fieldhouse last year by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and a host of other events that anyone with the moral judgment of a lobotomized bullfrog would avoid disrupting.
Loader columnist
opinion@kansan.com
His website, maintained by grandson Ben Phelps, a KU student, has the
URL of http://www.godhatesfags.com. That pretty much sums up the man and his putrid message.
Visitors to his site last week found something unexpected. Instead of Phelps' animated depiction of Shepard roasting in Hell, they instead found themselves rerouted to www.godlovesfaas.com
Normally, I'd be delighted by o! Fred getting a black eye. I'm neither gay nor atheist, but I take an automatic dislike to anyone who tries to tell me whom to hate.
Had Phelps changed his mind about gay folks? Nope. His site was taken over by an enterprising hacker.
Because Phelps' lawyer supposedly asked nicely ("Give it back or we sue."), the site was returned to its rightful, if bigoted, owners.
However, this particular case falls under a topic near and dear to my heart — that of backtivism.
The older, less fancy word for it is vandalism. And that's what it is, plain and simple. Giving it a nifty-sounding name doesn't change it. It is the digital equivalent of heaving a brick through a window or spray-painting slurs on a wall. We do people a disservice when we mask its meaning with a buzzword.
What's that? Quite simply, it's the rather grandiose label the media and the underground have applied to attempts to invade or damage a computer network for political or doctrinal reasons.
It is an attractive form of vandalism. You can do it in the privacy of your own home, feeling safe and secure. Any half-decent computer science student can think up a few ways to crack a network — and you really don't even need knowledge, just a good hacking application. "Script Kiddies," as these tool-lien hackers are called, can break into a carelessly secured server with relative ease. It's a natural sort of crime for college students to gravitate to.
There is no romance attached to people who spray-paint crude slogans. The hacker, on the other hand, is often portrayed as a sort of mythic figure. And if we don't like his target, we often cheer him on. This is a mistake.
Fred Phelps is, in my opinion, a hateful, dim, malignant little pimple of a man. However, he does have the right to put up a Web site stating his opinion. Even when it happens to be, in the eyes of many people, offensive. The First Amendment was not created to protect popular opinions. The man has a right to air his views, just as I have the right to mock those views in print.
This is a bit of a fringe issue at the moment, but it's growing. Much of the world now depends on computers; their involvement in our lives will only grow as we enter the new millennium. And hacktivism will likely make headlines with increasing frequency.
Just remember that censorship, vandalism and terrorism don't suddenly become OK because you use a computer to perform them. Such acts are wrong. Even when aimed at the likes of Saddam and Fred.
In short, hackers going after the enemy could get people killed when the enemy retaliates. Terrorism is never a good idea because your target tends to respond in kind.
The attack on his site was vandalism aimed at stifling his right to speak, and I condemn it. Electronic vandalism has been on the rise recently, and I expect it will continue to flourish. It's a bit frightening in a way. During the recent U.S. bombing of Iraq, a group of hackers gathered on an IRC channel (a sort of virtual meeting space) and decided to launch their own private war against Saddam. The meeting, ably covered and documented by security clearinghouse AntiOnline, impressed two things upon me — that these people weren't terribly stable and that they probably could make good on at least some of their plans. It was the first terrorist planning session I've ever sat in on.
They were eventually persuaded to call off the war by respected members of the hacker community.
So who cares? Good for them if they can give Saddam problems, right?
Loader is a Henderson, Nev., junior in journalism.
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