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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
FRIDAY, MARCH 17.2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
OUR OPINION
Sunshine week notes freedom of information
The time, it is to be hoped, is gone by, when any defense would be necessary of the "liberty of the press" as one of the securities against corrupt or tyrannical government. No argument, we may suppose, can now be needed, against permitting a legislature or an executive, not identified in interest with the people, to prescribe opinions to them, and determine what doctrines or what arguments they shall be allowed to hear.
For those of you who haven't completely forgotten what you learned for your Western Civilization midterm, John Stuart Mill wrote this in his essay, "On Liberty," in 1869. His words, however, remain timely. This week we celebrated Sunshine Week, an effort launched by the American Society of Newspaper Editors to facilitate discussion on the importance of open government and freedom of information.
Forty years ago, the Freedom of Information Act was passed. The Act was intended to give Americans access, with exceptions, to federal records. Paramount to the reporting industry, this act allows investigative stories to happen, including ones published in The University Daily Kansan. Without it, our reporters would not be able to retrieve vital information for stories, such as former reporter Steve Vockrodt's coverage of sex offenders or many of our crime-related and city council articles.
But the freedom of information is not limited just to reporters. Everyone has the right to request documents and should remain vigilant of encroachments upon our right to demand that our democracy run in an open manner.
According to the Information Security Oversight Office of the National Archives and Records
Issue: The Freedom of Information Act and its affect on media
Stance: The act helps journalists and the public uncover important issues.
Administration, the annual number of classified decisions jumped from 8.6 million to 15.6 million between 2001 and 2004.The number of pages declassified dropped from 100 million in 2001 to 28.4 million in 2004.
Critics complain the FOIA is plagued by chronic backlogs, unjustified rejections and inconsistent responses. Others say government officials exploit exemptions in the act that were enacted initially to protect privacy, without a national or constitutional right. When this happens, offenses often occur without repercussions because there are no penalties assessed if a public official fails to comply after receiving the request. Citizens may appeal, but they have little recourse other than to sue.
Not to say the Bush Administration isn't making attempts to rectify wrongs. In December, President Bush issued a directive ordering federal agencies to designate a senior official as a FOIA officer who is answerable to the public. These officers are also assigned to evaluate their agency's FOIA program and make any improvements deemed necessary.
Nonetheless, it is still up to the public to defend its rights to access government information. We are, after all, the ones fighting them for the information in the first place.
Malina Osborne for the editorial board
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Too much emphasis placed on GRE
For those of you who don't know what the GRE is, it stands for "Graduate Record Examination." With a format similar to that of the SAT, the purpose of the test is to predict future academic success of prospective graduate school students. After applying to graduate school this semester, I came to the realization that many schools may rely too heavily on GRE scores. Even though most institutions deny there being any "cut-off" score required for admission into certain graduate programs, GPAs and other supplemental materials don't pull the same weight that they used to. Decent graduate schools recommend students to score in the 90th percentile
on either the verbal or quantitative section, depending on their field of study. While taking the GRE, one may experience mayhem, joy, frustration, relief, or anger. Many people may begin to wonder about their academic future if their scores are only average. I find it hard to believe that a three-hour test is accurate in predicting academic success. Can it seriously outweigh three or more years of college coursework? If so, I suggest you learn the formula for finding the length of an arc and look up definitions for the words "charlatan" and "vituperative."
Eric Tempel Seneca senior
America needs more political options
YOUR OPINION
Editor's note: The following comments were posted on kansan.com in response to Justin LaMort's column, "America deserves political change." The comments appear unedited and unaltered.
"If the two main parts dont make a change for the better theres always the libertarians. Although advocacy for being responsible for your own
actions and life seems to fall on deaf ears in todays entitlement world"
"Promising to do less doesn't get votes, unfortunately."
that makes him so great."
"I'd like to hear one person — one person at all — explain to me what the big deal is about Barack Obama. Help me to understand what he's done that makes him so great."
PAGE 7A
Iranian cartoon contest will cause more problems
COMMENTARY
In September 2005, one of the most controversial events in journalism occurred in Denmark. By now, everyone should know about the cartoons that the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad. This created an uproar both in the Islamic world and the Western world.
According to the Web site that lists the rules of the contest (http://www.hamshaahr.org/images/InternationalCartoonE.jpg), its premise is to find out "What is the Limit of Western Freedom of Expression." Basically, the Iranian newspaper wants to see how far people will go in creating these cartoons. It is also testing the Western world's readiness to see cartoons about the Holocaust.
Now, an Iranian newspaper, Hamshahri, is running a contest in which entrants send in their own editorial cartoons depicting the Holocaust as retaliation for the Muhammad cartoons.
The Lawrence Journal-World published a brief about the contest earlier in the week. It reported that one entry showed Jewish people entering a pipeline. No guessing is needed to understand that this picture is depicting the mass execution of Jewish people in gas chambers.
An immediate reaction to this contest is disgust and horror. World War II ended more than 60 years ago, but that is no excuse to make a mockery out
opinion@kansan.com of an event that killed six million lews.
ERIN WILEY
Some of the people that endured concentration camps lived there for many years. They lived on little or no food, were surrounded by death and disease and were forced to work long hours in any kind of weather.
If these people were sent into the camp in the mid-1930s and lived to see liberation they were in there almost 10 years. I'm 20 years old; that's half my life. The same goes for many of the students on campus. That is incomprehensible to me. These people should be respected, not mocked. There are Holocaust survivors still alive today. Have they not gone through enough already? Is it really necessary to re-open wounds with these cartoons?
This contest is not being run at a very appropriate time. There will probably never be an appropriate time for a contest like this one.
"I would hope the world is never ready for cartoons like that, the genocide and murder of any people, be it Jews in the Holocaust or anything else," Jay
Lewis, Executive Director of KU Hillel said. "It's disappointing that some people have chosen to equate the other cartoon depictions of Muhammad with cartoons depicting the mass murder of Jews. It's disappointing and offensive."
The next question is, how is this contest and the winning cartoons going to affect the future? Free speech is the root of the issue with these cartoons. Even though it may be one person's opinion that it's funny to see a cartoon mocking the Holocaust, it's not everyone's. Like the protests and outbursts of the Denmark cartoons, I believe equal, if not larger-scale, retaliations will occur.
Like the opinion page of a newspaper, editorial cartoons are also open to anyone's opinion. The topic of the Holocaust is different. It is one thing to mock a President's foreign or domestic policy, but it is quite another to mock an event that nearly destroyed a population.
It is apparent that the Iranian newspaper learned nothing from the Denmark cartoon incident. After the contest ends in May and the winning cartoons run, don't be surprised if the world angrily backlashes just like it has done once before over something as simple as a cartoon.
Wiley is a Silverlake junior in journalism and geography.
Free All for Call 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
I just want to say good job to the clean up crew who spent all of their Sunday and Monday getting our campus so it's semi-normal again. Good job guys.
So I'm confused, Kansas.
Kansas wins the Big 12 Conference for the first time since
1999 and there's no article in the paper about it? Come on, guys. (Editor's note: The article about the conference championship was published in the Monday's Kansan.)
Nerve gas doesn't kill Jack Bauer. Jack Bauer kills nerve
Yeah, I'm going to need an editor's note on this. I'm trying to join the Kansan Tournament Pool onYahoo and I need a group ID number. Thank you.
gas.
OK, so I just saw a guy eating pie off the ground on Jayhawk Boulevard with his ears stuffed with cake. What's the deal with that?
(Editor: Sorry. The tournament pool is closed now because the tournament has
the deal wit
Chuck Norris counted to infinity.Twice.
startet
I was just wondering if it makes me a bad person that Iiggled a little bit when I heard that Ms. DeafTexas died because she was hit by a train that she didn't hear
Joshua Bickel, managing editor
884-4854 or jbickel@kansan.com
coming
Jason Shaad, opinion editor
864-4924 or jhaad@kansan.com
Nate Karlin, managing editor
884-4854 or nkarlin@kansan.com
suck at Cryptoquipping.
How are you not going to print that stuff about Peter Pan?
The Cryptopquip is put in newspapers all across the nation. That being said, I don't think they're going to let false clues make their way into their puzzles, so shut up. You just
Jonathan Kealing, editor
864-4854 or jkealing@kansan.com
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Jonathan Kealing, Joshua Bickel, Nate Karlin,
Jason Shaad, Patrick Ritchy, Ty Beaver, John
Jordan, Malinda Osborne
SUBMIT TO
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Lawrence, KS 66045
(786) 864-4810, opinion@kansan.com
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For any questions, call Jason Shaad or Patrick Ross at 864-4810 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com.
SUBMISSIONS
▼ COMMENTARY
State must consider tribal casinos
The Kansas Senate is considering the creation of two state-owned casinos — one in Kansas City, Kan., and one in southeast Kansas. The Senate is also considering the introduction of slot machines at other venues across the state. This bill has not yet been passed, but with a court-ordered education budget increase of $500 million and no clear alternative path to collecting this money, it is a very real possibility. If it does pass, it will raise a question of social responsibility that we cannot shy away from.
JEFF VINCENT opinion@hansan.com
Vincent is an Overland Park senior in English.
There are currently four casinos in the state. They are run by the Kickapoo; Prairie Band Potawatomi; Sac and Fox; and Iowa tribes under the Indian Gaming Act. It is important to note that not all tribes benefit from these enterprises. In order to participate, a tribe must be federally recognized, and many are not. Many other tribes have no interest in running gambling operations.
Nonetheless, money from these existing casinos is funneled to a variety of projects, including the development and maintenance of reservations, tuition assistance for college students and startup capital for small business initiatives.
I am no expert, but it is my estimation that the introduction of state-owned casinos in major metropolitan areas will dramatically undercut these more remote, already existing casino's earning potentials. The state government needs to take this into account before proceeding with its current course of action.
If the state goes ahead with this gambling initiative, it is imperative that studies be conducted to forecast the financial impact it will have on all of the state's citizens. Furthermore, if it is found that there will be substantial undercutting of these pre-existing casino's potential earnings, then it is the responsibility of the state to provide some sort of transitional financial cushion to these people.
The proprietors of already existing casinos do not, and ought not, have exclusive rights to the running of casinos in the state. However, as the proposed casinos will be state-owned entities, it is the responsibility of the state to recognize the potential displacement of pre-existing casinos. More importantly, we must consider the people whose lives may be dramatically altered for the worse as a result.
Renee Johnson, a member of the Mississippi Choctaw Tribe and a manager at the KU Bookstore, knows the situation firsthand.
"All tribes handle the proceeds from their casinos differently, but that money generally goes to funding all kinds of programs on reservations — everything from day care to affordable housing to college scholarships for the kids on the reservation to health care," Johnson said.
General questions should be directed to the editor at editor@kansan.com.
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