OPINION
Coming Wednesday, September 19...
McNaughton: Hate crimes are still an ugly reality in modern America.
Muselmann: Stopping to speak with religious proselytizers can be an interesting experience.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN    WWW.KANSAN.COM       TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2007        PAGE 7A
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Bush's impeachment an unnecessary discussion Unhappy constituents should look to the polls for a new leader, not the impeachment process.
An online poll conducted by MSNBC reveals that 89 percent of vot-
that 95 percent of voters believe, "between the secret spying, the deceptions leading to war and more, there is plenty to justify putting [President Bush] on trial." Regardless of the situation in Iraq, the impeachment of President Bush at this point would do little to improve either the situation in Iraq or in America."
Impeachment is reserved for those who commit high crimes and misdemeanors. It is a way of holding the president accountable for a specific crime, and there is a certain difficulty in specifying what "secret spying" and "deceptions leading to war" are and just what laws they break (former President Bill Clinton comes to mind; he committed perjury and was impeached by the House). The impeachment process is not a means to remove an unpopular leader (see Andrew Johnson's presidency), but rather a means of holding leaders accountable for their actions. It is an exercise in constitutional authority and should never be a revenge tactic.
President's Bush's popularity aside, he has yet to be charged with any impeachable offense.
564, 166 responses have been
recorded for the MSNBC online poll, (just 350,000 fewer hits than YouTube's "Coach Mark Mangino explodes" video) and it's problematic to see that 89 percent of those participants are for the removal of Bush but are prepared for a Cheney-run White House.
And if Americans don't like Cheney, should the House impeach him too?
What's worse is that most voters probably didn't take the time to think past Bush, because if they did, 89 percent are, by extension, comfortable with a 2008 election featuring an incumbent Republican candidate.
even though Cheney has said that there is no way he would accept the bid for a presidential nomination.
Not only would impeachment be a long and drawn-out process (remember former President Clinton's own lengthy and expensive trial), but also it would only serve to further divide the country along partisan lines and waste yet more tax money on legal fees. There is a time to judge the effectiveness of elected leaders, and it's in November.
DRAWING BOARD
FRUIT FOR THOUGHT
TEA AND CAKE, OR DEATH
Student Senate deserving of wages
Long hours, summer preparation and a large list of responsibilities justifies current pay
As a student who belongs to many student groups, I am cognizant of the concept of spreading oneself too thin. However, out of all the organizations I attach my name to, Student Senate gives me the biggest headache. But I forgot to mention that working in Student Senate gives me the most satisfaction as well.
Surely by now, most students reading this column will have heard or read something about the members of Senate and what they accomplish. I fancy Student Senate as the umbrella organization that bonds all the other clubs and groups together. For example, every other Wednesday, I have to listen to various student organizations as they supplicate my committee, Multicultural Affairs, for general or special funding.
I recently realized the enormity of the influence and responsibility that senators and executive officers hold. To further explain this thought, I couldn't believe my ears at the first Senate meeting when I heard that the president, vice-president, and the executive appointees had to work tirelessly throughout the summer. President Hannah
Love and Vice President Ray Wittlinger met with the Regents Board of Kansas over the summer and had to present reports. Even more so, the Transportation Coordinator, May Davis, effectively helped revamp the entire KU bus system with the help of KU Transit and the Kansas Department of Transportation. I would like to think that was no small task. The SLAB coordinators Rachel Barnes and
Alex Treaster attended several meetings throughout the summer in order to facilitate a good relationship with the city of Lawrence and the University of Kansas.
semester and does not cease. Moreover, the president of Student Senate must correspond with the presidents of the other four Senates, which are: the Faculty, Unclassified, University and University Support Senates. I bet some students did not know that. With that information, it now seems to make sense that there would be some kind of monetary compensation and reduced tuition.
that these elected officials do should not be conceptualized as being facile. I would contend that few officers in most student organizations are mandated by their organization to log in several dozens of hours over the summer. The momentum built by the aforementioned personnel in the months of June and July carries over into the fall
ful, that these responsibilities warrant special attention from the University. And I couldn't agree more. Highly-ranked officials like the president and vicepresident are directly held liable by Chancellor Hemenway and the Board of Regents. I'm fairly certain one cannot make that claim about most presidents of nearly all clubs on campus.
All the work
Additionally, while I am enamored of the Kansan, I would assert that nominating the Kansan as the only source of Senate oversight is fallacious. The Vice Provost for Student Success, Marlesa Roney, and the Associate Director of the Student Involvement and Leadership Center, Aaron Quisenberry, often sit in on the full Student Senate. This may seem ridiculous to others, but I seriously doubt that such important liaisons to the University would allow Senate improprieties. I care to note that all the senators, myself included, are fine and upstanding students or we wouldn't have been voted into or appointed for a position in Student Senate. At this point, I feel as if I'm brow-beating the reader into submission, so I will end on this rhetorical question. Would you rather accept the responsibility of the President of the Knitting Club, or be the President of Student Senate and kiss the majority of your summer break goodbye?
Williams is a Coffeyville junior in English and pre-law.
Think twice before making an online apology Relying on Facebook and Myspace impersonalizes the message
In this ever-changing, goog world of technology, certain ways of communicating have adapted. You can now post your résumé online and receive an e-mail an hour later requesting a job interview. You can text message, "I love you" and actually mean it. You can display our generation's own form of electronic graffiti and anger a lot of people in the process. There are some ways of communicating, though, that should keep with convention.
Life as any college student with any major is like a slow-
moving car wreck. You always have the option, though, of what you want to do and how you want to accomplish your goals before the wreck can
commence. You have control. There are some events, though, that occur and make you lose control. That slow moving car wreck turns into a ten-car pileup. One of these events is a death of someone close.
I am not going to write about the meaning of life and why we are all here. I want to discuss how innocent bystanders of this pile-up should respond to such an event in this ever-changing world of technology.
Facebook and Myspace are great forms of entertainment in which you can spend copious, unproductive and mindless hours doing whatever your heart desires. There are some actions on these Web sites, however, that are taboo and in my opinion should never be adapted with technology.
or her own insecurities by announcing to world that he or she cares about a friend, but honestly, the suffering party is the only person's opinion he or she should care about.
Going through a death of a family member or a good friend puts your entire world to a stop. The last thing you want to see, trust me on this, is someone's sympathy plastered all over your wall on Facebook or comments on Myspace. It's tacky. No, wearing socks with sandals is tacky. It's rude, offensive and inconsiderate.
I've been there and
This is where technology has failed us. It is entirely too easy to express feelings via written text. Death is something we are going to all deal with eventually or have already dealt with, and friends' actions can contribute positively or negatively to the experience.
I'm not sure if it is a person's way of vindicating his
seen there and done that,
and here are some guidelines that I've come to develop by being on both sides of the equation. Don't ever sympathies on a friend's public wall or
comments. Not to be too Emily Post-esque, but a hand-written letter via the US Postal Service makes a world of difference. It may be 41 cents more costly, but its effect is long lasting.
To that effect, I'm not even completely sure if a private message is all too appropriate either. It may not be displayed to the public, but its meaning can still be lost in translation.
And lastly, just call the person! Hearing sympathy is a lot more comforting than reading it and it shows that you care enough and have thought enough about your friend to make the effort.
So the next time you click "Write On ___'s Wall" on Facebook or "Add Comment" on Myspace in a time of tragedy, think twice. Maybe that person does not want all of their friends to read how sorry you are or how your friend is in your prayers. Maybe that person just needs a good friend.
Hirschfeld is an Augusta junior in journalism.
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Is it bad to have holes in your thumb?
You're not a princess. You don't rate a knight in shining armor.
Facebook is a monster. It is consuming our society one teenage mind at a time!
To the fat, effete guy in my western civilization lecture: Shut the hell up! I'm trying to learn.
To the guy one post below this, you are so sweet I'd let you in my pants anyway.
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