THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
WWW.KANSAN.COM
TUESDAY. AUGUST 30, 2005
PAGE 5A
EDITORIAL
New law provokes toke
What does possession of marijuana and speeding on the highway have in common? Nothing yet, but if the executive director of the Drug Policy Forum of Kansas, Laura Green, successfully persuades the City Commission at the upcoming Sept. 6 meeting, then getting caught with marijuana would be treated as a speeding ticket. That is if they are caught at all.
Penalties for having marijuana should remain at the State and Federal Courts level and not brought down to the City Courts just because people feel like it's too harsh.
Of course, the majority of the people in Lawrence that took the Lawrence Journal-World's poll asking should marijuana possession be treated as a traffic ticket, the response was predictable. 518 of the 734 votes were in favor of this proposal that should just go up in smoke.
As Green wrote in her letter to the City Commissioners, her reasoning was for the welfare of students. As it stands now, a KU student found in possession of marijuana will be arrested and the case would be held at Douglas County Courthouse. Because the case would be in a State or Federal Courthouse, the student would be denied financial aid because of the drug conviction.
If marijuana possession cases were held in City Court, then a drug possession would not appear on a student's record.
Stud said killing that after
The proposal also asks that marijuana enforcement would become a low priority. Making the punishment less severe for this offense would increase the number of incidents. If there is no incentive to stay drug-free, then the drug problem will rise.
thing that really wide
It's like making all speeding tickets $10 or $50 no matter how fast you were traveling over the speed limit. This would just produce more people speeding because the consequence isn't that great of a punishment.
Green states in her letter to the City Commission, "The long-term benefit will be less young people with criminal records..." This is the line she's used to win over Lawrence's mayor, Boog Highberger, and District Attorney Charles Branson, who handles the marijuana cases for Douglas County.
In August 24, 2005 edition
of the Lawrence-Journal World, Highberger said, "It wouldn't bar a student from getting financial aid...|it's] appropriate because I think that would be a pretty harsh penalty for getting caught with a little pot." What, then, does qualify as a "little pot," Mr. Mayor? The Lawrence-Journal World article says the criteria is "small amounts of marijuana for personal use, not cases involving drug dealers."
So, it's a little pot, that's okay. But what about drug dealers who make money here in Lawrence by selling by the bowl full? They aren't selling it by the bowl, after all.
And what about those students who need financial aid who didn't get caught with pot? This law makes it possible for a student without a drug conviction to get passed up for student loans by a student with a drug conviction.
Green said the penalties would be similar to those already existing: "a combination of diversion, treatment, probation and a maximum fine of $2,500 or a year in jail." the Lawrence-Journal World, Aug. 24, 2005. If the penalties are the same except for the arrest and the drug felony, then this should be a moot point.
If you smoke pot and you get caught, it's simple - you go to jail. Lawrence is not a monopoly game; there should be no "get out of jail" cards here.
Certainly the fines and jail-time remain the same, but the long lasting effects of being caught with an illegal substance become virtually nil for first time offenders, provided they get caught doing the offending at all.
If drug users and dealers in other Kansas towns hear that they can get their first time offenses stricken from the record, won't they flock to a town where they know that there won't be any long term consequences to their record?
Combine that with marijuana enforcement becoming a "low priority," and it's almost a given that marijuana use in Lawrence will increase, and it seems like our law-makers are okay with that.
Well, the editorial board is not. The proposed plan is a complete lapse in moral judgement.
Sara Garlick for the editorial board.
No, kids, this is not the first time, nor will it be the last. The recess nomination of John Bolton to act as the United States' Ambassador to the United Nations is just the latest of many atrocities George W. Bush has perpetrated since taking office. Although recess nominations are not a rarity, it is rare for a position of this magnitude to be filled through a recess nomination.
Why is this man, who obviously possesses no faith in the work of the U.N., now holding a position that will soon be responsible for contributing to the vast changes that the U.N. will undergo in September? John Bolton should be as far away from the U.N. as George Bush is from alternate fuels. Our system of government, which includes checks and balances, is made to prevent extremists — on either side of the political spectrum — from gaining too much power. When the Senate twice rejected the nomination of Bolton, this should have been a clear indicator to our pretentious president that Bolton was not the right man for the job.
Bolton failed to receive Senate conformation, not once, but twice. And perhaps the best reason why Bolton should not be allowed to serve as U.N. ambassador is the cowardice of allowing a man, who has repeatedly referred to the U.N. as a meaningless entity, act in such a powerful position. According to an article by Edith M. Lederer of The Washington Post, Bolton said the following in reference to the validity of the U.N., [There is] "no such thing as the United Nations,' just 'an international community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world, and that is the United States.'" And so the question remains.
Bolt on Bolton for U.N.
Instead Bush acted in typical Bush fashion. He ignored what society and the majority of Senators
KATE KIMBALL opinion@kansan.com
Bush has praised Bolton as the right man for the job saying "Ambassador Bolton believes passionately in the goals of the United
had to say, and did whatever he wants. Senators, both Democrat and Republican, have expressed concerns about the ability of Bolton to carry out his responsibilities in a positive fashion. According to a May 2005 issue of Time, Sen. Joseph Voinovich (R-Ohio), went on record saying "My conscious got me ..." and prevented him from agreeing with his Republican counterparts in supporting Bolton's nomination. Bolton also tripped over his words to Congress when asked if he had been questioned by government officials about Iraq attempting to smuggle arms from Africa before the war. Somehow this little investigation must have slipped his mind when asked if he had been questioned by the State Department. Still, this oversight did not stop Bush from making Bolton his new wingman for the U.N.
Nations Charter, to advance peace and liberty and human rights," according to The Washington Post. Maybe the President was off vacationing on the ranch when The Post also quoted Bolton as saying that it, "wouldn't make a bit of difference" if the top 10 floors of the United Nations — which include the secretary-general's office — vanished from the 39-story headquarters building. Although the majority of Senators saw right through John Bolton and his series of lies and blatant disregard for the U.N., he will now act as Ambassador to the U.N. until January of 2007.
Instead of finding out just how much damage Bolton can do in New York in the next year and a half, citizens must hold Bolton accountable for all actions he takes in his new office while advocating that he is not now—and will never be—the right person for the job.
As for the president, it's hardly a surprise that George would pick someone as dishonest as John Bolton for a position that requires a great magnitude of respect for the other 190 nations of the world. After all, it takes a liar to love a liar.
- Kimball is a Newton junior in political science and journalism.
BROWNIE POINTS
Chuck Kennedy / KRT Campus
Assimilated students lose culture
Public schools teach students more than the curriculum. Interactions between different cultures, races and classes can be far more educational than what the teachers put on the board. When many students come to the University, these lessons become more acutely noticeable. These lessons are also incredibly valuable.
HUMAIRA FAREED
opinion@kansan.com
When I refer to myself as being a "brown person," nine times out of 10 the person I'm talking to, who, needless to say, is white, starts laughing at me because I am categorizing myself as a color. I do not find it offensive to refer to myself as brown, nor do I find it offensive when people refer to me as being brown.
After I classify myself as being brown, the [white] person I'm talking to asks what the criteria are for being a brown person. The guideline I use is that they have to be Indian, Pakistani, Afghani, Bengali or originally from somewhere in that region. And of course, they have to have a skin tone that matches a shade of olive-brown.
The real question is, as we
start to lump people of the same skin color into groups such as black, white and, more recently, brown, does it make people forget that their peers, as well as themselves, have an original heritage?
have an origin.
It is obvious that within secondary schools, both public and private, the value of culture is not presented to the degree it should be.
characterize myself by my skin tone, I can say that I have forgotten the little things that I took into account while I was living at home with my brown parents, who exposed me to Pakistani and Indian culture every day.
True, this is a terrific movement to end race and gender discrimination, but there has to be some way to conserve culture and feel open to talk about it before getting to a big university. I know first-hand that it has always been hard to refer to myself as being Pakistani, because some people do not know where or what that is.
The same is true for white people and African Americans, who are referred to as black. Honestly, when is the last time you asked a Caucasian person where they or their families were from? The term "white person" has been around for much longer than the term "brown person" and it is noticeable that American white people of our generation do not know too much about their original heritage
Therefore, I have started to classify myself as being brown. But as I continue to
If we continue to use colors instead of countries to represent people, it will lead to a mixing of cultures that may offend some people. We must find a way to balance our culture as an American white, black, Asian or brown person while maintaining the more acute aspects of our heritage.
Fareed is a Lenexa junior in biochemistry.
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I'm pretty sure that Army officer isn't fighting for my voice, he's fighting so Donald Rumfield can have more money for his oil company, Halliburton. (Editor's note: Dick Cheney has stock in Halliburton, not Donald Rumfield.)
It's funny how the so-called liberal open-minded people on our campus are too close minded to let people choose whether they want to serve our country on our campus.
The bus map has the key in black and white. You suck.
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Oh my God. Cruel Intentions is on ABC Family. ABC Family?
Are you kidding me?
Enforcing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights would require the abolition of prisons within the United States. I wish John Brown was still alive.
Please don't breast-feed your children while ordering food at Quizno's. It's gross.
Did anyone else find the picture of the three linebackers a little gay?
When Tracy told me that Hanson was playing at Liberty Hall in November, I couldn't believe my ears!
That's what I love about these freshman girls, I get older, they stay the same age.
I just want to say Lewis 516 ain't got nothing on McColum 353.
Travis Robinett's article on the new woman gyncologist at Watkins rocked!
Is it an all-time low if a professor calls you dumb to your face?
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So I just saw this chick get an M.I.P at "On the Border"
How lame is that?
We are the music makers. We are the dreamers of dreams.
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To all the freshman sucking up the Free For All, stop calling.
With the increased popularity of the Free For All, I hereby make the claim that it has become the new crossword puzzle.
You know it's over when your girlfriend changes her status from "In a Relationship" to "Single."
This is a question for Bauer, with Wisconsin in the Big 12 now, are they projected to win the Big 12 championship? (Editor's note: Bauer had nothing to do with the headline)
This guy used the word bereft in one of my classes the other day, and it made me want to jump his bones.
My girlfriend just told me that she cheated on me.
She told me after we had sex.
To the guy I almost hit on 15th and Naimish on Friday night, I get so sorry!
This is the guy who's girlfriend cheated on him. I'm gay now.
Dear KU, if maintaining the highest collegiate rank isn't a top priority, then you can at least let some hotter girls in the engineering program?
A piece on the Red Cross and homosexuality is the last thing I would ever read, but as soon as I saw Megan Logue's picture in the opinion page, believe me, I read the whole thing.
Is it just me, or do the Union bathroom stalls get narrower and narrower every year?
I would like to announce that I just joined the facebook.com.
I think Wal-Mart has the most handi-capped spots ever! That's it, I'm going to Target.
I have a gas leak, which means my girlfriend and I can't have sex. Thanks Aquila.
M. I.P. at O.T.B? W.T.F.I
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Brandon Ringwood's brief have been front-page material. Grow a pair, Kansan.
To the people at 12th and Ohio, sorry that we just stole your key.
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