OPINION
Coming Friday, August 24...
Editorial: University-mandated study abroad programs may not be feasible options for many students.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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
Petterson: Despite a veneer of international cooperation, the 2008 Olympics in Beijing may be a human rights sham.
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2007
EDITORIAL BOARD
PAGE7A
More mine regulations, still more mine collapses
Governmental promises to 'review' safety regulations too slow to prevent tragedy
Miners put their lives in danger every day and we are supposed to protect them, so why are we throwing in the towel when they need it the most?
People put themselves in jeopardy to help protect, serve and provide for our society. They "choose" to do so and as the saying goes, 'Someone's gotta do it.' Although some of these dangers and hazards are imminent, what else can and should we be doing to further protect those people who are doing the jobs that we don't want to do but 'someone's gotta do it?' Some people say, "Should we be surprised when an accident or even a death occurs on a hazardous job?" We respond with a definite yes we should. We should be surprised and appalled that accidents continue to happen. Any accidents, or even preventable deaths, deserve a second thought, perhaps even three or four.
It is well known that coal mining is a very hazardous job and it has received ample news coverage regarding and acknowledging those hazards. That coverage
reached a peak in 2006 after the Sago Mine explosion in West Virginia in January that left 12 miners dead. More recently, the fate of the six miners who have been trapped in the Crandall Canyon Mine since Aug. 6 is growing dim. "It's likely these miners may not be found," is the statement from officials that should haunt our thoughts as we continue to watch the status of the miners day after day. As a society, we should find it disturbing that because of our needs and necessities, men have put their lives in danger and we are telling them and their families that we are going to do nothing more in terms of rescue or even recovery.
Since last Thursday's rescue attempts resulted in the death of three rescue workers, further attempts have been suspended as the mine has been deemed too dangerous to risk further injury or death. Thursday's events cast an even gloomier shadow over the small community in Utah. However, the rescue workers who perished were volunteers and knew the dangers of their job, some saying that they felt they had to be there. Miners follow a code, somewhat similar to that of the military, in which they decree "No miner left behind." Officials are stripping them of following that code by not even attempting to retrieve the bodies if indeed they are deceased.
Across the world, families in China are experiencing the same feelings of lost hope and grief, as officials there have done little to comfort or keep them informed of the status of the 172 miners who remain trapped due to excessive rains and flooding. All families are outraged, in China and Utah, feeling that officials have given up on their loved ones. They could still be alive, and by not attempting to answer that question, the mining companies are abandoning all hope. USA Today contained a story regarding six men who had been trapped for 10 days in 1968 in a flooded mine in West Virginia. The men had been assumed dead, and rescuers were surprised during the 'recovery' to not have found corpses, but the men still alive. They didn't give up and neither should those in Utah.
these 'accidents' is that some have been caused by human error. Everyone makes mistakes, but not everyone's mistakes could cost another human being their life. The Crandall Canyon Mine shouldn't have even been operating because of the extreme hazards and violations that inspectors had issued. On Aug. 19, the US Government 'promised' to review the Federal Mine Safety Rules, again. Again because they 'reviewed' them after the Sago Mine tragedy; however, obviously that review didn't not accomplish or change enough. How many men need to die and forever become entombed in these mines for there to be obvious steps taken to prevent these atrocities? Should we be surprised? Yes, and we should continue talking and writing about it until something is done. No accidental or preventable death should ever be acceptable.
The most sickening thing about
FREE FOR ALL:864-0500
New rule: Greek girls can only wear one piece of clothing advertising their sorority.
Free for All, you can stand under my umbrella.
I'm a boy who is also desperate as hell. I'm available Friday night.
Kerry Meier and K-State support terrorism.
I'm as happy as a dead pig in the sunshine.
Damn it, I just got sour cream on my stick. No, really. Eating Taco Bell while you drive stick shift is hard.
Free for All, I go to Kansas State University, and I just wanted to say that I read the Free for All every day,and I really like it.
I really believe that the Parking Department supports terrorism.
They say one in four Americans didn't read a book last year. I think most of them were college freshmen.
If I wore boxers, they would be backwards.
Guess what? Your Facebook application is not there. I've looked for it. It does not exist. I've searched under
"applications". You need to fix that shit.
I didn't even break a sweat on the way to class today! Yay.
Free for All, I just wanted to apologize for yelling at you last night. I didn't really mean all that stuff I said. I'm sorry. Let's hug it out.
My roommate might possibly be Satan.
I just got done peeing in the nude, and there was a spider on the toilet roll, and I jumped and peed on my face a little bit.
I just made it in the UDK
Hey Free for All, lose the editor's notes. They're funnier without it.
Free for All two days in a row. Boo-ya!
Balls, balls, balls, penis, penis, balls, balls.
To the girl who wrote the editorial in the Kansan about bar fights: I can tell you what happened that caused your
fight. It's called alcohol! Drunk people are stupid. You didn't realize this?
With all the squirrels on campus, have you ever seen one take a poo?
BURRITO-MADE EPIPHANIES
Sporting a hat? Careful not to 'cock' it.
One would think that men would like being compared to a penis. In an ideal world a nickname for a man that also doubles as a nickname for
ing them "that stupid looking guy wearing his hat cocked to the side" and agreed that a name like cockhead is apt at doing justice to an individual that wears a hat in that
a penins has the chance of being held up as a national treasure and could one day have a museum built in its name somewhere in the San Francisco Bay area. But I'm slowly coming to realize that this
is not an ideal world and that people really do know when you're making fun of them. Strangely enough, cockheads have enough intelligence to know that their nickname is not a term of endearment.
My roommate and I have coined a new nickname for those guys you see running around with their hats "cocked" to the side. They are now called "cockheads" or in the instance of a female cockhead, a "cockette."
The term "cockhead" came to existence after he and I attended a party our second day in town. We went to a rather large house party in the student ghetto and I had a moment of culture shock; I had never seen so many grown men wearing their caps cocked to the side in one location. I lost count (yes, I was counting; sue me).
I asked my roommate what he thought about this. He and I have about the same stance on such people, who do so look like idiots, though I seem to take it a step further with my opinion that if there is a draft, people who wear their caps cocked to the side should be drafted first. But hey, that's just me.
We had both grown tired of call-
manner.
I think I missed something, probably around the time I was in 8th grade, when it became in style to cock one's hat to the side, even
if one was not a gangster hustling for dough on the corner. Maybe I just don't watch enough MTV; I don't know, we don't purchase cable at our apartment.
I considered imploring my fellow cockhead students to mend their ways and come back to the normal side of living, the less idiotic-looking side at least, but have come to realize that it is best not to argue with fools.
So, cockettes and cockheads, I won't ask you to come back to the side of reality that does not look like a fool. I'm just going to laugh at you every time I see you on campus. This goes as well for the guys who wear those girlie bug sunglasses that cover half of their faces. I don't stifle my laughter well.
I guess we'll see how cool you cockheads are when the time for a draft comes along, that is as long as the government gets wind of my genius idea and implements it in time. I can see the questionnaire for the draft at the post office now: "Please check here if you are a cockhead."
Stewart is a Wichita junior in journalism.
Sam Walton: Crusader for freedom and equality
We live in a town in which it seems everyone bears some kind of
animosity towards
Ministry toward Wal-Mart. Be it because you find their business practices a little dubious, or you are just more of a Target person, most Lawrencians feel reluctant about stepping into that Coliseum of Consumerism, as evidenced by the
highly credible fight over the intended second store on the north side of town. Heck, we would be surrounded.
But then there's that special Lawrence-residing, university-attending, left-wing, attempted counterculture kind of argument against Wal-Mart, and other such mega-chains, with which I am forced
to disagree. And that is the view that these corporations are perfect examples of capitalism failing, and thereby
some sort of justification for every Marxist belief thought to be awesome when 15 years old. But this is simply
unfair.
Now Wal-Mart is evil; evil as the dickens. But just because it demoralizes its employees, destroys local businesses, and seems to have launched a personal crusade on the rights of millions of people and all things good and holy does not justify the denunciation of an entire economic system, no matter how much
you want to believe in a 19th century German freeloader in bad need of a brush. In fact, Wal-Mart stands for hardly any kind of capitalistic qualities at all. I mean, sure they've got the whole supply and demand thing down, but what about the whole self-interest and power of the individual thing? And if they impersonally crush not only the interests but the will to live and the dreams of everyone they touch, all to further the profits of the corporation, it seems selective in their interpretation of the philosophy. It would be like being a great figure in Christianity yet only ever talking about or practicing the parts with Jesus and Paul talking about washing peoples feet, however numerous those particular passages may be.
A point further: I currently work at Dillon's. I work at Dillon's as a cashier, which could probably be done by a child, some higher apes, and most assembly line automata
in Detroit. Now it has never been, is not, and will never be in my own interest, in any possible meaning of that word, to use my movable arms to push eggs over a laser towards a mentally challenged bagger. And the fact that I am doing that is an insult to myself and our world, and that sentiment is assuredly shared by everyone who has ever been in my position, which is probably why employee theft is a larger cause of loss for stores that any other source (so claims my training video).
While on the other hand, the local businesses that fill and maintain the vitality of our downtown, the ones that are thought by the intended audience of this column to snub their little noses at the capitalist establishment, are the ones that are truly carrying the soul of our favorite laissez-faire Scotsman, Mr. Adam Smith, because it is they that use their special skill to work for themselves, and not some heartless,
DRAWING BOARD
brainless core that has replaced the mercantilism that Smith was speaking against. And what's more they enjoy doing it. And that's why it's them that are the true capitalists. And that's why capitalism is about awe-inspiring freedom. And not politicians' rhetoric freedom, but letting women wear pants freedom; side-of-the-road firework stands
MAX RINKEL
freedom; 96-crayon box freedom;
real American freedom.
White is a Colorado Springs, Col., junior in journalism.
TALK TO US
Erick R. Schmidt; editor
864-4810 or eschmidt@kansan.com
NOW THAT YOU'VE READ THE OPINION PAGE, HAVE AN OPINION?
Bryan Dykman, associate opinion editor
864-4924 or bdykman@kansan.com
Erie Jorgensen, managing editor
48-410 or ejorgensen@kansan.com
Darla Slika, managing editor
48-410 or dellpkke@kansan.com
Kelsey Hayes, opinion editor
48-424 or khaves@kansan.com
Jackie Schaffer, advertising director
864-4358 or jschaffer@kansan.com
Katie Abrahamson, sales manager 864-4477 or katiea@kansan.com
Malcim Golson,general manager,news adviser
864-7867 or mqlbonja.kansan.com
Jon Schitt, sales and marketing adviser 864-7666 or jschitt@kansan.com
SUBMISSIONS
The Kansan welcomes letters to the editors and guest columns submitted by students, faculty and alumni.
The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length, or reject all submissions.
For any questions, call Kelsey Hayes or Bryan Dykman at 864-4810 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com.
General questions should be directed
to the editor at editor@kansan.com.
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The Editorial Board
Erick R. Schmidt, Eric Jorgensen,
Darla Silke, Kelsey Hayes, Bryan
Dykman, Brandon T. Minister, Angelique
McNaughton and Benjamin R. Smith