Thursday, April 27, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Student Senate should not set rules and then break them
Rules were meant to be broken. right? Wrong.
Because of a dispute about Common Cause's spending in the recent Student Senate elections, Senate is having to reconsider
A notice submitted to the Senate office states that Common Cause coalition overspent its limit by $337.50. According to Senate rule 6.7.2, "a group of candidates running together as a recognized coalition must limit their combined expenditures to $25 or $.03 per represented constituent, whichever is higher."
That doesn't seem ambiguous. But Common Cause interpreted the rule to mean $35 a candidate instead of $35 a constituency or school. For example, the coalition had two candidates in the School of Architecture and spent $70.
The rule clearly states that the limit applies to each constituency — in this case, the architecture school — not to each candidate. Regardless, Jane Hutchinson, Student Senate Executive Committee Chairman said the regulation historically had been interpreted to give each candidate a $35 limit. StudEx interprets Senate rules.
Nothing in this election will change from the current discongruity. The Election Committee has validated the election. It would take a hearing at the Senate level to oust the coalition, which is not likely. If the coalition was forced to give up its seats, the second-place coalition, Certain Impact, would take over.
Nevertheless, Senate needs to re-evaluate its regulations to make them clear, concise and enforceable. Rules that the insiders know can be broken shouldn't be rules in the first place.
Furthermore, when rules are ignored by those charged with their implementation and enforcement, they are worthless. If Senate does not do the job it's appointed to do, it is obsolete. Rules were meant to be followed.
Grace Hobson for the editorial board
Doctor's stability properly questioned, despite outcry
A physician in Ottawa has some interesting religious beliefs, and he has chosen to spread those beliefs over the radio, television and The Weekly World News, a supermarket tabloid.
He believes in UFOS. More specifically, he believes that UFOS are actually angels. That might not seem so strange to some people, but he also believes that St. Peter speaks daily to a woman in Russell. St. Peter's last prophecy was that Bob Dole would be the next, the greatest and the last president of the United States.
The Kansas Board of Healing Arts has suspended the physician's license to practice medicine and has ordered him to undergo psychiatric treatment. The action has his patientserving that their physician's rights are being violated.
But although the physician might be simply expressing his religious beliefs, there is cause for concern. The board has the right and responsibility to question this physician and to, at least temporarily, suspend his license.
A physician, who is entrusted with the lives of others, must be questioned more closely than Joe Citizen. His patients have not complained, but it is not their responsibility to decide who is stable enough to practice medicine. The board is legally and morally responsible for that physician.
Although he might be completely sane, his actions have put his stability in question. He should be examined and kept from practicing medicine until the evaluation is complete.
Jill Jess for the editorial board
The editorials in this column are the opinion of the editorial board. The editorial board consists of Julie Adam, Karen Boring, Jeff Euston, James Fuarqh, Cindy Harger, Jennifer Hinkle, Grace Hobson, Jill Jess, Mark McCormick and Mark Tiltford.
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Contra opponents lost Nicaragua Liberals in Congress continue to fall for Daniel Ortega's lies and deceit
W
ell, the sellout of the freedom fighters
in Nicaragua is nearly complete. President George Bush recently signed a biannual agreement with
Congress that seems to have put the final nail in the contras' coffin.
A time for celebration? Hardly
Congressional liberals, though, following years of support for the Sandinistas, have finally gotten their most cherished wish: an unopposed communist government in Nicaragua. They have fought to the bitter end to stop military aid to those fighting for freedom. And they have convinced themselves that Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega is truly, in his heart, a man of democracy and a promoter of individual rights — if only we'd give him a chance.
But Ortega had his chances. In fact, Jummy Carter sent five times more aid to the Sandinistas in 1979 than Somoza received in the four previous years combined. And, in 1982, Ronald Reagan offered to help disband the contras if basic democratic principles were adopted. Also seemingly forgotten are Ortega's numerous promises under the Arias agreement that remain
The fortunate fact is that Ortega and his communist conspirators have had almost 10 years to institute the basic freedoms that they wanted, including abolition and the Organization of American States.
That's right. Ortega seized power in 1979 under
Christopher Wilson
Staff columnist
That's right, Ortega seized power in 1979 under the flag of democracy and liberty, only to change his tune once he was in control.
the flag of democracy and liberty, only to change his tone once he was in control. He proclaimed his Marxist-Leninist convictions and said that elections would "in no way, like a lottery, decide who was going to have power. For this power belongs to us."
Those in the United States who oppose the contrais fail recognize that any concessions made by the Sandistas to this point are due to pressure applied by the rebels, not because of
the Panama Canal and discounted the potential of a Soviet base in Nicaragua
out tuberals in Congress have continued to fall for Ortega's deceitful promises and have succeeded in defeating the only real hope for democracy in Nicaragua — the contras.
Another point liberals have disregarded is the strategic importance of Nicaragua. They've mocked the possibility of a combined Cuban-Nicaraguan fighting force, denied the threat to
But what is completely unforgivable is their blindness to the fact that the Sandinistas continue to funnel weapons and supplies to leftist insurgents throughout Latin America. That type of activity, backed by $500 million a year in Soviet military aid, is extremely destabilizing to the region's fragile democracies, including our neighbor, Mexico.
An obvious example of what Ortega's support can do comes from El Salvador where Sandiina-backed rebels violently disrupted the recent elections there. And it is clear that left-wing rebel leaders in El Salvador provoke the right-wing reaction that U.S. liberals are so quick to condemn.
In fact, I find it thoroughly disgusting that many in Congress will challenge the legitimacy of contra efforts in Nicaragua, yet in the same case, Mr. Rubio and rationalize leftist activity in EL Salvador.
But then again, that's what we've come to expect from Sens. Kennedy, Dodd, Metzenbaum and the bunch. They attacked President Reagan with a failure, without giving it a chance to succeed
It is the short-sighted liberals of this country who should blame themselves for the consolidation of communism in Nicaragua. But then again, I doubt if they would see it as a problem.
- Christopher Wilson is an Oatle senior majoring in political science and personnel management.
Wright benefits by making the initiative
Speaker evaded income limit by selling his book to would be friends
initiative is a wonderful quality, part of what made America great. Keep it going.
For example, there used to be a cop on the South Side who made a practice of carrying a couple dozen wood pencils in his pocket while on duty.
When he stopped a motorist for a traffic violation, he would explain the seriousness of the offense. Then, in a friendly manner, he would give him a five-star rating and sell a $5 penclip, a $10 pencil and a $22 penclip.
Depending on the degree of the violation, he would then tell the motorist what kind of pencil was appropriate. A speeder might need a $25 fee and a low-light jumper might require only the $5 model.
Such nostalgic memories of initiation came back to me while thinking about House Speaker Jim Wright and his remarkable book deal. I know that he's accused of a wide variety of hanky-panky, but as a writer myself, I'm most intrigued by his literary career.
That cop sold a lot of penials, since $5, $10 or
$15 supermarket than taking a day off work and
going downstairs.
If you have followed the Wright case, you know that a few years ago, he tossed together some of his old speeches, idle thoughts and tidbits of wisdom, and a friend of his in the printing
It has been hailed by critics as being useless,
Mike
Royko
Syndicated columnist
A standard book contract gives the author between 10 percent and 15 percent of the retail price of the book, depending on how many copies the author paperbacks, the writer gets as little as 5 percent.
banal and not worth reading. But what made
this unusual was the deal he got from
his publisher.
in speaker Wright received 55 percent of the sales, and may be the best royalty deal in publishing history.
When this came out last year, I wrote an open letter to Wright's publisher, pleading with him to handle my books. He never responded, which made me sad. Instead of hand, I could understand what he ignored me.
Unlike Wright, I don't have a campaign committee with a big financial war chest. So my non-existent campaign would you couldn't throw in the same printing business to the man who printed Wright's book.
Another fascinating aspect of Wright's literary career was that he didn't bother with bookstores,
where books are usually sold. His books were sold at political rallies and to people who wanted to be Wright's friend, or when you are speaker of the House of Representatives, one of the most powerful jobs in America, boy, are there a lot of folks who want to be your friend.
And it has also turned out that a Texas
bought a big batch of the books.
However, there is a legal limit on how much a congressman can receive in a year for blah-blah an audience. And when Wright made the university speech, he had reached the limit
That happened after Wright gave a speech at the university. As we all know, congressmen often receive something called an "honorarium" for giving a speech. Or for just having breakfast with rich influence-seekers. Some call it a "fee". Others, less charitable, call it a bribe.
but there was nothing to prevent the university from buying a briskload of Wright's dust-covered
And as Wright keeps pointing out, there's nothing illegal about selling books.
So what does all this tell us? It tells us what initiative can do. The pencil-scoring cop book helps you draw a picture for yourself.
The same instincts. The only differences are the products and the customers. And the price.
BLOOM COUNTY
Mike Royko is a syndicated columnist who writes for the Chicago Tribune.
bv Berke Breathed