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University Dailv Kansan
Opinion
Thursday, April 3, 1986
That's the message the coordinators of the new SecureCab project are hoping to get across to KU students, and it is a message that should be well-received.
Call it the Tipsy Taxi or the Wino Wagon, but just make sure you call.
A safe alternative
Campuses across the country have similar programs, all of which focus on cutting down the number of drunken drivers on the road. Drunken students now have no excuse to get behind the wheel. With a phone call and KU L.D., a safe, free ride is readily available.
Last week, SecureCab, a project put together by the Transportation Board and the Student Senate, began operation. Under the new program, taxicabs will pick up students from any on- or off-campus building and take them home . . . for free.
The cabs aren't available only to people who find they have had a few too many beers,
either. Anyone in trouble who needs a ride at night can call on the SecureCab service.
The service operates Monday through Thursday from midnight to 3 a.m. and Friday through Sunday from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. while school is in session.
The telephone number for the service is 843-2401. Write it down and tape it to your KU I.D.
But the program will work only if students swallow a little pride along with their beer and feel free to call for a ride.
The SecureCab program is a great idea that has been put in action, and as the student body president said, "Tangible results are not easy to get, especially in the Senate."
Having your L.D. and that phone number will come in handy the next time the beer flows too freely or you find yourself in a bad situation and in need of a ride. Call.
An unlikely invasion
The Nicaraguan invasion of Honduras came at a very opportune time for the Reagan administration, preceding the Senate vote on the contra military aid package by mere davs.
But a lot of facts about the "invasion" rang hollow, conjuring up memories of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which provided the impetus for an escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam and that later proved to be highly suspect.
House speaker Thomas P. O'Neill remembered the Tonkin resolution on the day of the House vote on contra aid but was quickly suckered in by the news of the so-called Honduras invasion. He denounced Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega as a "bumbling, incompetent Marxist-Leninist communist" in his complaints about Ortega's poor timing.
Perhaps Ortega would be so stupid as to mount a massive offensive against the contras within days of the Senate vote, but it doesn't seem very likely.
Despite the administration's supposed proof, the evidence we've seen so far indicates the invasion was simply another minor border skirmish like the hundreds of other raids that
Certainly, any action by the Sandinistas was aimed at the contra bases near the Honduran border and not at the Hondurans themselves.
have been taking place for years.
Adding to the suspicion that the invasion was blown out of all portion by the State Department was the original denial by the Honduran government that an invasion took place. This denial was quickly retracted when $20 million in emergency aid was approved. Suddenly, the Hondurans acknowledged that they were, indeed, under attack.
In all likelihood, the current hostilities between Nicaragua and Honduras were artificially heightened by a U.S. administration intent on pursuing its own political goals.
We could achieve a lot more by working to end the violence in Central America, which creates hunger and poverty, according to visiting Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel. Supporting a motley band of rebels, mercenaries and children will only get us embroiled in a no-now situation that will prolong the suffering.
The less visible hungry
It appears hunger in the United States is a greater problem than we thought.
The country's 13.5 million rural poor are seriously undernourished, suffer disproportionate rates of infant death and stunted growth, and get less government help than the urban poor, says a Washington lobbying group.
A yearlong study concluded that the rural poor outnumbered urban poor and had greater nutrition problems.
the study.
Vitamin and mineral deficiencies result in a chronic, marginal kind of anemia that slows children's ability to learn and develop, according to a nutritionist who directed
It has taken time for this country to realize that hunger is not a problem confined to Third World countries. Now it seems the problem runs deeper than we thought.
As the people of the United States spend money to feed the hungry elsewhere, we must not ignore the problem on our home front. Furthermore, efforts to raise money for this nation's poor must look beyond the poor and homeless in urban areas.
There is a serious problem right under our noses and it extends beyond our city limits.
People are starving right here in the land of plenty.
News staff
Michael Totty ... Editor
Lauretta McMillen ... Managing editor
Chris Barber ... Editorial editor
Cindy McCurry ... Campus editor
Sport Glitter ... Sport editor
Wilfredo Lee ... Photo editor
Susanne Shaw ... General manager
Business staff
Brett McCabe . . . Business manager
David Nixon . . . Retail sales manager
Jim Williamson . . . Campus manager
Ecklor Larkt . . Classified manager
Caroline Innes . Production manager
Patten Lea . . National manager
John Oberzan . Sales and marketing adviser
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Cute children just a propaganda tool
WEEK 0 WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4 WEEK 5 WEEK 6 WEEK 7 WEEK 8 WEEK 9 WEEK 10
Samantha also hoped we would get to "know each other better," for then
She is reminiscent of Samantha Smith, an American peace emissary who traveled to the Soviet Union in 1983 on a similar mission. Samantha, who died last year in a plane crash, received the quick-fix political science indoctrination course of a lifetime, as Katerina is now.
A charming smile, an infectious laugh, eyes wide with discovery . . . innocence abounds in the media coverage of the recent peace child from the Soviet Union.
Katerina Lycheva has arrived in the United States to help promote peace between the Americans and Soviets, and the media have jumped upon the new celebrity with their usual fervor.
All the while, she mystifies her audience with an eerie emotional blending of Americans and Soviets. If we only understood each other better, there would be no arms race and we would somehow see that we really want the same things.
See Katerina ride in a lunar rover. See Katerina attend a fashion show. See Katerina meet with President Reagan. See Katerina eat tacos and sundaes. See Katerina turn green with nausea . . .
Staff columnist
the assembled, many of whom are pleased to have their infant fantasies played out by a child. True, the Bible advises that a shall lead, but who directs this child?
we would ask, "What are our countries really arguing about?"
What some adults understand — unfortunately not enough — is that our countries are not really fighting.
The marketing of Katerina indicates that our society should, according to the media, accept her naive delusions as realpolitik gospel. This charade, so well played up by the media, only fuels the misperception that the world can be viewed with a Care Bear mentality — we'll
The United States is content to sit agog listening to a pint-sized mouthpiece who could be uttering verbatim the past year's worth of Soviet Embassy press releases.
"Anti-Imperialist Solidarity and Friendship. The participants were spoon-fed the latest drivet that the propaganda mills could produce.
Katerina is bringing such drivel to the United States in person. One young girl at an early press conference asked Katerina whether or not Soviet children play with dolls. Katerina replied that they do.
One of them is — the Soviet Union. The United States, on the other hand, is content to sit agog listening to a pint-sized mouthpiece who could be uttering verbatim the past year's worth of Soviet Embassy press releases.
Youth is a valuable tool for the Soviet Union. As insidious a toxin as heroin, propaganda is fed into the minds of young people all over the world by the World Federation of Democratic Youth, the International Union of Students and other known Communist-front organizations.
just hug each other real hard and our troubles will go away, noo!
The atmosphere is circus-like. The trained seat takes the center ring to the delight and amazement of the audience. Her every bark and toot of the horn brings unrestrained joy to
So do children in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the dolls left behind by the Soviet soldiers are booby-trapped grenades, needed to rid the countryside of anti-imperialial elements no doubt.
a conference sponsored last summer by the Federation had the theme
Katerina could have gone to play with the surviving children there, but as the burned-out towns and twisted corpse testify, Afghanistan is well on its way to being . . . pacified.
The innocence of children like Katerina and Samantha is an exploitable tool for the Kremlin's media-minded moguls to use on the simplistic desires for peace without security.
For a while, our attention is diverted from such trivial matters like the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, which has cost one million lives and displaced two million more.
But my, what a cute little girl.
Mailbox
Racists visit camp
"Apartheid forever; the niggers deserve it!"
The seven students spending the night of March 27 camped out for KUEA divestment from South Africa heard this garbage screamed out at 1:30 a.m.
The two young men who screamed it from a dark blue Scirrocco confirmed that racism is alive at KU. And those two hypocritical racists have been cheering in praise of the skill and demeanor of KU's black basketball players.
This incident has not been the first at Tent City. At 4 a.m. March 22, two carloads of males slowly cruised the parking lot until a camper crawled out of his tent. Perhaps these juveniles have been inspired by the destructive right-wingers at Dartmouth. The students who destroyed the shantytown at Dartmouth are no longer in school.
Most of our shelters are not made of plywood and cardboard as were those in Hanover. They are expensive tents (several borrowed from sympathetic supporters, including an Olathe attorney), the value of which qualifies their destruction as a felony.
Campus security officers have assured us they will keep a watchful eye for suspicious cars cruising west campus. And the campers have begun taking down license tag numbers and descriptions of late night visitors. If any violence against campus students occurs, the numbers will be given to campus security to aid in identification of suspects.
Of course, the final responsibility for this situation rests with KUEA. Their divestment position has made us campers the victims of a forced relocation policy. Camping at Youngberg is inconvenient and sometimes wet and cold, but we have no choice.
If the few facets or campus wish to confront us, they will be met with nonviolence. Our very presence here is present against continuing racial violence.
KUEA's intransigence and refusal to heed the voice of all KU governing bodies has forced us to exercise this
option. The First Amendment is the only tool left to us.
I believe that the racists in the auto are only a small percentage of KU students. And I can't believe that they truly subscribe to the position of black blacks who live in Africa on March 26 deserved their brutal fate.
The words of these two racists will remain etched in my brain as a constant reminder that America and South Africa have more in common than they do elsewhere. I remember those two young students and others like them in my prayers.
Dwaine Hemphill
Manhattan law student And the other divestment cammers
Don't throw the book
I could not agree less when the editorial "Libraries cracking down" (Kansan, March 27) concluded: "Anyone who would intentionally steal a book from a library deserves to have the book thrown at him."
First, I detest objects — whether books, bombs or stones — being thrown at human beings. Second, I can't imagine that books being thrown would resolve libraries' existing problems or avoid new ones.
A stolen book might even be read and used; a thrown book would only be damaged or destroyed. Handle with care! Instead of your proposition, I'd recommend that any book thief should make a compulsory book donation to that library, at the value of .sav. $50.
Jorg-Ulrich Fechner
Max Kade distinguished
visiting professor of German
Action over sympathy
I would like to express my gratitude to the students, faculty and staff who have supported the South African movement against the plight of apartheid. Thanks also to those who have helped to organize and had to try to increase the level of awareness on the issue of apartheid in South Africa.
I also would like to raise this issue to those who are not aware of the grave situation that still exists in South Africa.
We have now and again tried to educate people on campus about apartheid. But very few people seem to realize that the apartheid issue seeks not only sympathy, which is practically all we seem to be getting so far, but sincere participation in activities trying to solve the major problem of our 20th century civilization.
Those of you who wonder what you can do to help, please come by the front of Strong Hall between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Friday. This will be National Divestment Day. We will show you what people like you are doing or have done to help change the situation in South Africa.
We shall appreciate all the help we can get. And remember, South Africa has a dream, too!
Nana L. Ngobese Durban, South Africa graduate student
Offended by GUPS
We would like to bring to the attention of the University of Kansas the incredible acts perpetrated during the last week by the Palestinians. We not referring to the Middle East, although they are threatening Israel, do day there, but their insulting deceitful actions on our very campus.
The root cause of this treachery is the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS). This student organization, a widely recognized, voting branch of the infamous terrorist group, the Palestine Liberation Organization, is freely and willingly deceiving the students of KU.
Even Jordan's King Hussein declared in 1881, "The truth is that Jordan is Palestine and Palestine is
First of all, Palestinian Land Day is a fallacy, since the land that they claim already is known by every freedom-loving, democratic nation of the world as the state of Israel. The Palestinian homeland is legally recognized as Jordan, as set in prece- nature of the 1948 partition of Palestine.
In one week alone, they managed to have their Palestinian Land Day, the PLO observer to the United Nations Hatem Husseini speak at our University and litter the information booth with libelous posters.
Jordan." And speaking of Palestinians who are Jordanian citizens there is the matter of Hater Hussein.
He is the spokesman for the U.N. PLO delegation. He has become a leader in a group that has made "terrorism" a household word. It's his organization that has hijacked dozens of civilian planes and now ocean liners and has in the last decade needlessly gunned down innocent civilian passengers.
Husseini's purpose at our campus is to sway our opinion to his maniacal cause. We hope that you, the American students and perhaps future victims, are not fooled by their deception.
On the topic of deception, we would lastly like to mention the 'misinformation' booth in front of Stauffer Flint Hall. The booth is scandalous. It's filled with half-truths; misdocumentation, altered images and downright lies. This collection of trash is meant to twist reality in the minds of American students.
America's best ally, Israel, is the focus of this slander. Israel was one of only two countries to publicly support the United States in its conflict with Libya, the PLO's most ardent supporter and backer.
As Americans, we are outraged that GUPS, an organization that can be found on the PLO's organizational chart, can operate on our campus. Unfortunately the freedom of speech, our most cherished freedom, sometimes protects the rights of lies and hatred to be uttered.
It is our purpose, as American students, to report the truth so we are not blinded, confused and ultimately victimized by our enemies whom we mistakenly call friends and then turn our backs on the falsely accused, our friend Israel.
Adam Hermann
New York senior
Michael Geller
St. Louis senior
Malek Bouzid
Lawrence graduate student Members of Total Response Agenda