4A
Tuesday. October 18, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
COLUMNIST
America's role in world affairs not always clear
NICOLAS SHUMP The United States quickly is becoming overbearing as foreign policy becomes foreign policing.
Recently, there's been a lot of talk about restoring democracy. First in Haiti, and now the old enemy of democracy, Saddam Hussein, has reared his ugly head again. I think what I find most frightening about all of this talk is the implied superiority and correctness of the United States' position in this matters. I believe that President Aristide should be returned to power, but I am disturbed by the ease with which President Clinton has moved in to assume control over Haiti's internal affairs.
I also am troubled by the quickness with which the United States' position can change when it suits its interests. For example, we were more than happy to prop up Norgea until he no longer served our purposes. As for Saddam, as long as the Ayatollah continued to condemn us as the Great Satan, we were happy to supply Hussein with everything he needed. And to be truthful, if Kuwait's chief export had been camels, we would have never launched Desert Storm.
I realize that many of you sophisticated students of realpolitik will simply tell me that's the way it works. It's a Machtiavillian world, right?
And what of political philosophy? Why is democracy seen as the apotheosis of political systems. Not all theorists have extolled the virtue of democracy as a political system. Socrates believed that democracy was dangerous, and he advocated a form of enlightened oligarchy with philosopher-kings. He
believed that democracy would inevitably lead to anarchy. He argued for a combination of oligarchy and democracy. Even our founding fathers did not have complete faith in the masses. How else to explain the electoral college?
I am not arguing that democracy is not a good political system. I just believe that we should continue to analyze it and to test its effectiveness. Fidel Castro is considered to be a dictator, yet his country's educational and health care systems rival ours.
Why the sudden condemnation of dictators anyway? The United States has a long history of coddling dictators. A short list of favorites would have to include Chile's Pinochet, Uganda's kidi
Amin, The Shah of Iran, Nicaragua's Somoza, Haiti's Duvaliers, El Salvador's Roberto D'Aubisson, Indonesia's Suharto, and the current favorite, China's Deng Xiaoping.
Some would argue that Bill Clinton is following in the footsteps of Jimmy Carter. Carter, if you remember, decided to base foreign aid on each country's human rights record. It was a good idea, but unfortunately it was sidetracked by the Shah's overthrow in Iran. However, Clinton cannot claim to share Carter's preoccupation with human rights and still justify his courting of China's Deng, the Tiananmen Thug.
So is the United States now the Police man of the Worldby default? Are
we now the geopolitical equivalent of The Lone Ranger? Do we have the right to say that Iraq should never again have weapons of mass destruction, as President Clinton said last week? What about other countries such as Libya, North Korea, Pakistan and South Africa that have been rumored to have nuclear bombs or the capability of producing them? What if they rub us the wrong way, do we invade them?
If we keep this up, this may very well be our country's new tourist slogan: "The United States — Visit us before we visit you."
VIEWPOINT
Nicolas Shump is a Lawrence senior in comparative literature.
Texas has the right idea regarding victim's rights
Texas has taken the lead in the victim's rights arena with a law that allows victims of
violent crimes (or their families, if the victims are deceased) to speak to the criminal after sentencing.
This type of law provides at least some sense of closure and a chance to confront the person who has
VICTIM'S RIGHTS
Kansas should follow Texas in enacting a law allowing victims and their families to confront convicted perpetrators
perpetrators.
tragically changed and e v e n destroyed the victims' and his or her's families' lives.
The first application of the law came last week, as the fathers of two young women who were brutally raped and murdered were allowed to speak to the convicted perpetrators.
It would be
wise for Kansas to follow in Texas' footsteps and enact a law guaranteeing the same right of confrontation already extended to victims in the Lone Star state.
MARK YONALLY FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
Sex offenders' punishment must include rehabilitation
Kansas has taken one good step toward dealing with sex offenders by passing a law that allows
ers also need to be dealt with differently in prison. A mere prison sentence and time served generally do not have much of
the state to retain sex offenders in prison after their time is served, pending the results of a psychological evaluation.
SEX OFFENDERS
Those convicted of sex crimes should be
sentenced to psychiatric treatment and therapy as part of their punishment.
rehabilitative effect on sex offenders.
It is at least a recognition that sex offenders think differently than other criminals and need to be dealt with differently.
Unfortunately, though, lawmakers have not recognized that sex offend-
Studies have shown the recidivism rate for sex offenders is higher than for those who
commit other crimes.
That should be a clue that more extensive rehabilitation, including psychiatric counseling and group therapy, should be mandatory in the sentencing of sex offenders.
DONELLA HEARNE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
KANSAN STAFF
STEPHEN MARTINO
Editor
CATHERINE ELLSWORTH Systems coordinator
JEN CARR Business manager
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Editora
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-- Region Owry
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Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. Writers affiliated with the University of Virginia may use a hyphen or period.
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The Kansan reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer Flint Hall.
Matt Hood / KANSAN
We should just accept what we can't change
The other night, while I was attempting to get through my math homework, something snapped. I was only on problem 13, with something like 40 or 50 more to go. It was getting late (scratch that—it was late), I was tired and not in the best mood.
"This is so stupid!" I said, chucking the book on the ground. I went downstairs to get myself something to drink, thinking about how much I hated math. And when I say I hate math, I mean I hate math. There is no other activity more pointless to me than finding out what X is when Y equals whatever. (I'm one of those classic straight English-major types.)
If it were up to me, I wouldn't need any math credits to graduate. I'm sure that there are some of you out there that, left up to you, wouldn't need any English credits to graduate. Or any foreign language credits for that matter. Or any science credits.
But as I was fixing my coffee, I realized something. No matter how much I hated math, I needed six hours of it to graduate. That was the simple fact of the matter. There was no getting around it. So, having gotten over my snit, I trudged back upstairs and finished my homework, hating every minute of it. (Actually one story problem was almost fun... well, not really.)
BRIAN ENGLAND
When I was in the third grade, I saw the movie "The Day After," which depicts the world after a nuclear war, set right here in good'le Lawrence.
But the fact is that we don't make the rules. And if we want to play the game, we have to stick to the rules.
I still can remember my mom tucking me into bed, trying to soothe me. I remember exactly what she said.
It freaked the crap out of me. I thought the world was going to end that night.
"There are some things in life that you are going to have no control over, Brian. Since you have no control over them, it does no good to worry about them."
I don't think, at the time, I totally
understood what she was saying to me, but it was one of the most important things my mom ever taught me.
Which is exactly my point: There are some things in life that we have no control over and just have to get through. There are times that we just have to accept that things are out of our hands.
There are classes that have to be taken in order to graduate.
There are dentist appointments that have to be kept to maintain nice teeth.
There are rainy days that spil baseball games (although this year it was the players themselves).
There are funerals that have to be attended.
There are speed limits to obey and traffic signs to follow.
There are bills and taxes that have to be paid.
There are any number of things that happen in life that are simply out of our hands. Once we realize this, we can only try to deal with them and move on. Sometimes that's just the way things go.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have some math homework to do.
Brian England is a Lenexa sophomore in English and theater.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR Hemp has many productive uses
I'm writing in response to Matt Hood's editorial cartoon of Oct. 11 depicting "The many uses for hemp." He chose to draw three — paper products, clothing fibers, and a "crutch."
He is quite right that hemp is good for clothing. Hemp fibers can replace petrochemical synthetic fibers and reduce the use of fossil fuels and their by-products.
According to the U.S. Agriculture Department, one acre of hemp can make as much quality paper as 4.1 acres of trees that take 20 years to grow.
On his third point he is drawing a conclusion about the recreational use of hemp and drug dependency. There is no evidence to support that assertion.
Every major medical drug study has concluded that the use of marijuana is not addictive. Studies have repeatedly shown that tobacco and alcohol are addictive, not to mention destructive. There has never been one death attributed to the use of marijuana. However, tobacco kills 400,000 people each year.
I am not advocating drug use by anyone — let's just get the facts straight and stop perpetuating ignorance and discrimination.
It is disappointing that Matt did not include the medical use of marijuana in his cartoon.
From 1850 to 1937, cannabis was used as the prime medicine for more than 100 separate illnesses. The president of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Lester Grinspoon of Harvard Medical School, reluctantly came to the reform movement after watching the effects of marijuana on his son who was dying of cancer.
He has since written several books on the subject and is dedicating his life to changing the laws so others can legally obtain marijuana for treatment of asthma, glaucoma, tumors, nausea/cancer therapy, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, back pain, cystic fibrosis, arthritis, AIDS and many other illnesses.
The Drug Enforcement Administration's own judge, Francis Young, concluded in 1988 that "marijuana is one of the safest therapeutic active substances known to man."
There are hundreds of other uses for hemp, including food, energy, land and soil reclamation and bringing back economic stability to our farming communities.
Don't take my word for it, get the facts, and draw your own conclusions.
Laura Green Academic Computing Services
HUBIE
By Greg Hardin