OPINION
7A
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16,2008
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
COMMENTARY
Aborted fetuses on giant signs distract from actual issue
What keeps me from going onto campus or Mass Street with giant signs of men having sex with a horse, my soap box under my feet, proclaiming how bestiality is ruining our children along with our families and core value systems?
It's the realization that it doesn't get people to focus on the problem;it gets people to focus on the way I'm protesting the problem.
This is my basic parallel to anti-abortion signs that display giant aborted fetuses.
I'm not here to discuss whether or not abortion is wrong—if you want to read an article about that please look at college newspapers from the past 20 years.
I'm here to discuss giant aborted fetuses on protest signs.
I should point out that fetuses aren't that large in real life. Fetuses aren't 20 feet tall. I know you're thinking I'm a liar. I know, I'm no scientist, but I think I'm right.
These signs make me uncomfortable. But I'm not going to argue with those who would reply, "Well, since their appearance on a sign makes you uncomfortable maybe that means you have a problem with abortion."
I'm going to stick with what I came to this page to discuss:
no double standards, no giant aborted fetuses on signs, no more distractions from real issues, no debate about it.
I shouldn't have had to sit at my desk thinking of a polite way to say "to have sex with a duck."
Instead of discussing abortion, we find ourselves discussing the means to protesting abortion. These aren't conversations we should be having. This column shouldn't have ever needed to be written.
I needn't go to the extreme of getting a sign of a woman pleasuring a goat to prove my point.
These signs do not add anything to the debate; they only distract us from the real issue. Instead of discussing the obvious moral problems and the overall ramifications of abortion, we discuss the use of giant dead fetuses on signs.
The use of signs that incorporate aborted fetuses must stop in order for our society to discuss abortion appropriately—until then nothing of importance will be said and no debate will be worthwhile.
If I were to protest gun violence with signs of dead men shot to pieces, there would be an uproar. If I were to protest homosexuality with signs of men sodomizing one another, there would be an uproar. There's a double standard here, and it should no longer be allowed.
Stewart is a Wichita junior in journalism.
editorials around the world
Olympics and politics separation impossible
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Olympic torch relay is not meant to be a political weapon for the host country of the Olympics or its critics. However, separating sports from politics, in line with Olympic ideals, is seldom successful and on the part of the Beijing games it has utterly failed.
The nationalistic riots in Tibet and China's clumsy way of relating the events have inflamed the situation to
such an extent that protest against the torch's trip are certain to continue as it travels through 20 countries to China.
The International Olympic Committee has good reason to meet this week to evaluate the desirability of continuing the torch relay. But it won't be solved by simply directing it only to those countries where demonstrations would not be allowed.
Helsingin Sanomat, Helsinki, Finland
April 9
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Better to receive? Not for Senate
In the face of powerful lobbying from special interest groups, the Student Senate has lost some of its autonomy. Senate needs to adopt rules that will increase transparency and limit the amount and type of gifts it can receive.
Last week's election offered students the opportunity to yield their
most powerful check over the governing body that represents them — a vote. Not surprisingly, turnout was low. Only 4,207 students voted for president and vice president. The
first step in reviving interest from students is making sure the issues they care about most passionately are the ones their representatives are focused on. Although ethics reform isn't a hot-button issue, it is the first step in re-centering Student Senate around the students.
All gifts senators receive need to be publicly documented, allowing constituents to evaluate their senator's interests. The senate could look to the United States Congress for guidance on what gifts are acceptable. Under congressional rules, all gifts must be unsolicited, cannot be valued at more than $50 and congressmen cannot receive more than $100 in gifts per calendar year. Whether Student Senate adopts the congressional guidelines or simply publishes a document of all gifts received, transparency needs to
OUR VIEW
increase to ensure that students are being represented and not special interests.
Starting in Fall 2007, executive leadership in the senate received scholarships from the University administration. Kansas Athletics Inc. has, at the same time, continued to offer senators free tickets to games, with out-of-state trips and access to the chancellor's box at Memorial Stadium for some executive leaders.
Shawnee, deals directly with these issues. Cox sits on the Chancellor's Advisory Board on Athletics where he meets with Lew Perkins, Athletics Department representatives and the chancellor twice a semester to discuss Student Senate and its relationship with the Athletics Department.
In the past, Cox said he was able to obtain tickets to a football and basketball game through this relationship and that he was "afraid to lose such awesome perks."
Thomas Cox, senior student senator from
Cox went on to say "it hit me that I was completely failing to serve the student body like I was elected to do, because I put something else before the students."
According to Cox, none of this is against any current Student Senate rules, as the senate does not have any rules governing gifts.
Cox said these perks and the fear of losing them led him to not think
or act independently in regard to the Athletics Department.
Cox is currently preparing to present legislation that would ban any gift from the Athletics Department to senators.
Burdett Loomis, professor of political science, indicated this situation was "definitely in a gray area."
Although Loomis voiced concerns, he also pointed to benefits that gifts can have. For instance, "it's not illogical that the student body president or student body vice president come to these [events]. That's what you do in politics," he said in regards to executive leadership having access to the Chancellor's Box at Memorial Stadium.
Loomis pointed out that having student representatives speak to leaders, such as the governor or chancellor at a game, can move the often slow wheels of bureaucracy forward and perhaps bring benefits to students.
Although moving the slow wheels along is important, ethics should not be sacrificed for expediency. A senate that runs on this principle is best-suited to lead itself back to a representation of the students and not special interests.
Alex Doherty for the Editorial Board.
Clinton's plan would save money, lower prison population
>> LETTER TO THE EDITOR
It's good to see that Hillary Clinton is thinking about America's crime problem.
More than one in 100 American adults, more than 2.3 million people, are in prison.
For young adults, the problem is much more severe: One in every 53 people between 20 and 24 years old is in jail. The high number of people our age who are in prison should make this issue important to us as we consider who we would like for our next president.
Clinton hopes to lower the number of repeat offenders by a two-fold strategy. First, her plan
would offer extra help to people who wanted to come clean and lead responsible lives. Second, it would make penalties for those who violate their probation more certain, giving ex-convicts an extra reason not to break the law again. Her plan would also afford communities more police officers and help to hire "community-oriented prosecutors."
Clinton's plan isn't cheap. If implemented, it would cost about $4 billion, which would come from eliminating "unnecessary and outdated corporate subsidies." But keeping so many people in jail
isn't cheep, either. The states spend almost $1 billion each, more than $49 billion total, on prisons and other forms of corrections every year. In context, Clinton's plan seems like a guarantee money saver. However, the real benefit of Clinton's plan isn't the money it would save. Clinton's plan would make America a better, safer place to live and would offer help to young people who need a second chance.
Thomas Whitson is an Olathe freshman in pre-pharmacy.
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Since when did giant headphones make a comeback? They don't make you "hip"
--vote.
--vote.
KU wins the Final Four and the Orange Bowl all in my freshman year. How awesome is that?
Dear 83 percent of students you have no right to complain about fees being too high since you're too damn lazy to log on to a computer and
My fellow scootarians: There is a rule that you may not ride on the sidewalk. At all. Even to get from the bike rack to the road. So stop doing it.
--pass.
--pass.
God, everyone on here is really fucking annoying.
KU parking also sucks! Thanks for not making enough parking spots in the towers and charging me so much for a
--huge deficit...
--huge deficit...
Twenty-three days until stop day! Add your finals' days and summer is almost here.
You think KU parking sucks?
Why don't you go to Iowa and try to park? Yeah freakin right.
--huge deficit...
--huge deficit...
Do you support the "war" in Iraq? You're funding it whether you think it's worth the while or not.
No, I don't support the war,
and that is why I'm going to
vote for somebody that won't
allow its continuation — the
same thing you would do for
Universal Health Care if you
ended up not liking it. As far
as KU On Wheels having a
everyone has to pay to save it,
even if you don't use it.
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Mild Monday madness. Baby I'm drunk.
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I've got your $5 foot long right here.
Let me see if I have this right:
We all pay for something that not everybody will use, or that we might not use. Tell me where I got it wrong.
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I hate when guys say they'll call and then they don't.
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@KANSAN.COM
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