RA
Monday, September 11, 1995
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Third party would be 'ajoke,' Gingrich says
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Newt Gingrich urged retired Gen. Colin Powell to give up any idea of an independent candidacy, saying yesterday that having a president outside the current party system is a joke that could lead to disaster.
In an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Gingrich also revealed some details of the GOP plan to restore fiscal integrity to Medicare, including a proposal to apply means-testing to couples earning more than $125,000.
Powell, in his new autobiography, said he was comfortable with neither party and the time may be ripe for the rise of a third party to represent the political center in the United States. He makes no commitment to lead such a party.
Gingrich, R-Ga., strongly urged him against that course. "I think it's frankly in the long run a joke," he said. "This country is a party country ... There is no magic independence of people who are just able to stand up and magically produce a government."
An independent presidency would be a disaster for this country, he said.
If Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ran as a Republican, he would immediately become the chief rival to GOP front-runner Sen. Bob Dole, Gingrich said.
Gingrich, like Powell, says he would make no announcement of his own presidential intentions until the end of the year. He has said that he would pass if Powell were to run as a Republican, but, in any case, is leaning against entering the race.
"But I think that there is frankly just enough of a desire for somebody who is aggressive and articulate and willing to lay out boldly where we need to go that I can't quite close the door at this stage," he said.
Gingrich said it was inevitable for there to be some sniping among the declared GOP nominees, but it was important they made sure their political battles didn't disrupt the Republican agenda on tax cuts, and welfare and Medicare reform.
The Associated Press
Huge flag has yet to fly
HUTCHINSON — If anyone has a plan for flying an American flag that weighs seven tons and is 21 stories high, officials at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center would love to hear it.
"There's this sort of albatross element to the thing," conceded Ken Quimby, a Cosmosphere vice president. "If somebody out there has a wav to put it to use, we all ears."
The gargantuan flag has become such a problem that Cosmosphere officials set up a booth at the Kansas State Fair to solicit ideas on what to do with it.
The flag was made in 1980 by companies in South Carolina and Indiana. It stretches 411 feet long and 210 feet high. Each stripe is 16 feet high, each star 12 feet. It's longer than a football field, taller than all but the tallest grain elevators.
The General Services Administration kept the "treasure" in a Maryland warehouse until 1990. Eventually it was part of America's surplus.
But by 1983 it became clear the flag couldn't be flown continuously because its weight threatened to pull down anything it was hung from.
Cosmosphere officials long have collected surplus items from General Services Administration. Going over one such list earlier this summer, Cosmosphere director Max Ary noticed that the flag was available.
For about $1,800 — mostly the cost of trucking it from the East Coast — the flag was headed to Kansas.
"We wanted publicity," Quimby said, "and we've got it. Now if we could just figure out what to with this."
Rather than being noticed for their bad hair, Jane and Rita opted to go incognito this semester.
There is a better solution.
708 W.9th Street
842-5921
Black Student Union General Assembly Meeting Monday, September 11,
Burge Union Pidneer Room
The time is now to be a part of the new era of
V. S.H.
West Coast Saloon
25¢ pool
841-BREW 2222 Iowa
FINALLY, A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO WORSHIP ERROL FLYNN.
215 ROBINSON TUESDAY AND THURSDAY 5:30 p.m.
SPECIAL BEGINNERS SEMINAR TUESDAY SEPT.12
The St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center welcomes the entire University community to a lecture on "THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSITY"
by His Eminence Pio Cardinal Laghi Vatican Prefect of the Congregation on Education and former Ambassador of the Vatican to the United States
Tuesday, September 12
5:30 p.m. Lecture in the Kansas Ballroom at the Kansas Union
7:00 p.m. Reception in the Kansas Union
For further information contact Fr. Vince Krische or Sally Hudnall at (913) 843-0357