THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2005
WWW.KANSAN.COM
LAYIN' DOWN THE LAWSON
PAGE 5A
Court nominee's views at odds with country
JOY LAWSON
opinion@kansan.com
First of all, let's get something straight: I'm not anti-life. I believe in what's best for the woman and the child. Why put a woman's life at risk? Truth be told, pro-lifers sometimes neglect to regard the woman's life. There was a drop in mortality post-Roe vs. Wade.
Abortions are the most commonly performed surgeries, and death is 10 times more likely for a woman who carries her child to term. Let's face it, abortions are safe as long as they're legal. Nineteen million women undergo unsafe abortions. Because of policies like the global gag rule and a lack of resources — because President George W. Bush won't release UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) funding — 68,000 of these women die. I think we all have the right to choose, the right to safe and comprehensive health care and education. The rate of pregnancies and abortions decreases with proper comprehensive sex education.
Maria Ringuette said it best, "Abstinence has a high failure rate."
We want to be able to take emergency contraceptive if a condom breaks. We want our children to have comprehensive sex education so that they are capable of making healthy, safe and responsible choices about themselves and their futures.
According to Peter D. Hart Research Associates, voters said they believed that senators should vote against a Supreme Court nominee who refused to answer questions on important constitutional matters. Roberts has been refusing to answer or give a stance on reproductive issues. If students look at past decisions and tendencies, it isn't hard to see where he stands. According to documents released in The Chicago Tribune, Roberts held a firm stance against "comparable worth." Comparable worth supports equal pay and gender equality. Roberts also co-authored Rust vs. Sullivan, which insisted that Roe vs. Wade be overturned.
The term "abortion" is weight-
Free for All
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Oliver just beat McColum1 We had the first fire alarm! Someone needs to learn how to make popcorn without setting off the fire alarms.
boat at the
If Uncle Jesse was the chancellor,he'd let us buy beer at the Union.
Let's take a minute to think about this... during the summer, Lawrence has a total of about 12 people in it. Why don't we finish the construction then?
So my friend had a drunk guy tattoo her foot, so instead of a music stand, it looks like something a drunk guy drew
guy drew
Bauer says, "Thanks," and yes, she's single!
So does this mean that Corbin won the prize for first fire alarm of the year?
★
Yo, Brian Wacker was right, Mt. Sunflower is the highest point in Kansas, but it's also near Colorado, the Kansan is on Mt. Oread. Come on
now.
And by music stand, I mean the music staff thing. The treble clef is all messed up.
✩
+
Today my friend and I were parked on the hill on 11th next to GSP, and the parallel parking was a really tight fit, so my friend totally off-roaded and drove down some stairs! Down some stairs!
If you guys watch Quantum Leap, do you ever wonder what happens if the guy leaps into a woman, and then he meets a guy that really likes him, and then he has sex with that guy? Weird!
Did I mention we just went off roading down some stairs?
me today
Jeremy Case just gave me a white chocolate cookie in the elevator! What have you done for me today?
The fate of the free world lies in the readers hands: who would win in a fight, King Kong or Godzilla?
Goozima
Marrying a 14-year-old should be a crime everywhere, and that guy should be punished
Voters across the United States rank privacy as the No. 1 right they want the new Supreme Court justice to uphold, followed by women's rights and individual rights, according to Ms. magazine's most recent issue. Imagine if 60 percent of women wrote a letter to their senator asking that their voices be heard. Add to that the 52 percent of voters who believe women should have the right to choose.
With John Roberts' nomination, these basic "American Values" will be threatened. We have the least amount of power and we need you to hear us. We need you to pass on our message. I guarantee when congressmen are up for election, we're going to remember whether they remembered our rights.
Consumers responsible for economic situation
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
the appointed judge for 35 years or more.
I was enjoying my coffee and laptop time at a local coffee shop the other afternoon, when four nice-looking and seemingly intelligent KU students at a nearby table got into an elevated conversation about the Green Movement and ecosystems around campus. Let me be specific; they thought it would be a great idea if no combustion engine vehicles were allowed on campus anywhere. They even talked of a "no exhaust" bubble around the campus up to four blocks. One of the young women said she really hated those big semi-trucks that smoke so much.
We know a filibuster is possible, but we need 60 senators to filibuster and ensure the checks and balances in our government.
Although I agree that we need to clean up our air, the KU campus isn't the center of the world. Other cities better qualify for the "Big Clean Up" ideas. We tried adding more MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether) to gasoline, which promptly polluted ground water. Methanol isn't much better. Ethanol from our own corn, however, would work great.
I pointed to a pair of the new style rubber sandals that one of the young ladies had on and asked where she thought they were made. "China or the Philippines, I guess," she responded. I asked one of the guys where the leather on his backpack came from. "The same place, I guess," he said.
I couldn't sit idly by while unfounded thinking by smart folks was filling the air. I simply asked one question of the students, "What exactly would their ideas accomplish?" After a little stammering and thought, they all responded to the old guy (Yes, I went to college and got my degree in the yesteryear). They basically said it would help the air and
environment. I told them that it might provide cleaner brain cells on campus. They enjoyed that comment.
All of these products contain or were made with dangerous chemicals under primitive conditions. They were shipped over the Great Pacific in container ships, driven by diesel or sometimes by trailer train to distribution points in
The sandals were made from a vinyl and synthetic rubber in Italy, shipped to China, and glued together in a small factory by hand. The glue is illegal in the U.S. because it is a carcinogenic until dry. The leather straps are made from U.S. cowhide shipped from our shores to Malaysia, cut to strips in an open straw hut by kids, assembled with snaps and buckles in a small factory, boxed and shipped to China for final backpack assembly. The buckles were made from melted down old ships in India. You get the idea.
I told them they were like Pogo, from the comic strips.
"When you look for the enemy, you'll find the enemy is us."
So students, I charge you to stop living in an isolated campus bubble. Do your homework about what you say and think beforehand. Be aware that Pogo is right. You are also consumers, therefore responsible. Besides, when the cold winter wind blows, do you really expect to see all us old folks walking to campus?
This is the world economy of 2005. Can you make it better for the people of the world? Or would you prefer to hold your breath and hope the problems just go away?
I am on my second retirement from home construction, and working on tornado and disaster relief with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and the Red Cross. I currently drive one of those big diesels for work. At least I drive a 2005 Volvo when I'm off duty.
the U.S. From there, the products are sorted and sent to your local store of choice (by the dirty diesels, of course).
Sorry for the message down my long nose. Actually, you guys are our future, and I'm proud to be living in such an enlightened age. After all, when we were young, words such as environment and pollution didn't really exist. We hadn't done our homework yet!
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
John Roberts: Supreme Court nominee or evil super-villian?
Respectfully,
Charles Broadie
A regular Lawrence visitor
Lawson is an Olathe senior in women's studies. She is the president of Students for Reproductive Rights.
ed. It has a negative connotation that people are not able to overcome. Laws that regulate abortion also deal with women's privacy and contraceptive rights. For instance, Griswold vs. Connecticut guaranteed married women access to legal and reliable health services. Roe vs. Wade gave these same rights to unmarried women. Roe was recently upheld by a narrow 5 to 4 vote, with Sandra Day O'Connor serving as a key swing vote. Roberts' anti-choice stance
could swing the court in another direction and overturn Roe vs. Wade.
I know that in the past, Kansas senators have voted predominantly anti-choice. But keep in mind that Supreme Court Justices serve lifetime positions. This means we're going to have to live with
According to research by Celinda Lake, a pollster, strategist for progressive groups and candidates and a nationally recognized expert on women voters and women candidates, nine-tenths of voters said believed women should have the right to information about and the means to decide freely and responsibly about their bodies and their reproductive health. More specifically, these voters believe it is their right to decide when and how many children to have. At least 144 women at the University of Kansas utilized emergency contraception in 2004 alone, according to officials at Watkins Memorial Health Center. If those services were pulled, at least that many women would be put in a position they clearly didn't want to be in.
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▼ PORT TI YO ESCRIBO
Corporations out of touch
This summer, I had the wonderful opportunity to explore London. While there, I came upon a stunning find: London's Musical Mecca is under attack. The British have held their 'stiff upper-lips' through Saxons, Romans and Nazi-Germany, but can they stand strong against the likes of the greedy EMI Records? Copy-protection schemes are ruining the ability to enjoy music in Britain.
The Beatles, Muse and countless other musical sensations walked down the very streets that I was walking down. Their music shaped and was shaped by the grand city and country that they loved. Their music spoke of freedom, of change, of "let[ting] it be."
The Beatles, Muse
Now those great messages are being perverted in attempts to squeeze a few more pennies out of retro songs. The great rock band Queen need to be kept
yourself go, stomping and clapping and screaming along to its songs to your heart's content. With its song "Another One Bites The Dust," it brought light to the AIDS
While in London, I purchased "Queen Live at Wembley Stadium" expecting to be
epidemic; something that, at the time, was anything but profit-motivated.
JULIAN PORTILLO
opinion@kansan.com
able to have an accompaniment while singing "We are the Champions" on my next train ride. As soon as I got
back to the hotel, I
bopped in the disc,
hit play and got
ready to rock
out. Unfortunately, no
rocking occurred. The
Discman only said, "Error."
I figured that perhaps my Discman too old and
was too old and
simply couldn't play my new acquisition. Unperturbed, I booted up my computer, popped in the disc, and got set to rock once again. Much to my joy, the rocki
rolling was again put on hold so that the special
player for the CD could load onto my computer. Apparently there would be no uploading the songs on the CD into my computer or onto my iPod (if only I had one).
because the only way to get at the music is by using an incredibly clunky built-in player. The CD won't play in a regular CD player, a car
or on any computer that has a user who refuses to install the player because of fears of spy/adware.
EMI, in an effort to fend off copyright violations, has managed only to vex its normal consumers. Its copy controls did nothing to enhance my listening experience; they merely detracted from it greatly and relegated its CD into being a coaster far too quickly.
Its copy protection scheme did nothing to prevent copying for fair uses. Those who would have gone to the Internet to download songs still will and will have a better listening experience than those who forked over their hard-earned dollars to listen legally.
Music isn't supposed to be solely for the money. It's about the freedom of expression. Unfortunately, EMI doesn't seem to understand that. In fact, its Web site states copyright is there so the "copyright holder is the prime beneficiary of any commercial exploitation of the work."
This is the fundamental flaw in EMI's copyright scheme: music isn't about exploitation and any attempt to make it so will only make consumers less likely to buy its product. EMI needs to listen to their artists. As Queen used to sing: "Fat Bottomed Girls" [and not money] make the rocking world go round.
+ Julian Portillo is a Shawnee junior in business.
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