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University Daily Kansan
Opinion
Wednesday, March 19, 1986
Rights losing ground
Ideally, police prefer to interrogate suspects in isolation and immediately after arrest when they are most vulnerable. Last week's ruling sent a clear message to police that they can do what they have to do regardless of a suspect's rights.
Last week's Supreme Court ruling limiting the scope of the 1966 Miranda ruling was a setback for the constitutional rights of suspects — rights recognizing that persons are not guilty before they have had their day in court.
At issue was whether a suspect had the right to consult with a lawyer when one had not been requested. Also at issue was whether police can legitimately use any method, including deception, in order to get a confession out of a suspect.
Police and prosecutors have long been frustrated by the responsibility given to them under the Miranda ruling to inform suspects of their rights to remain silent and to have an attorney present during questioning.
In the case before the Court, police failed to tell the suspect that an attorney had been appointed for him. They also told
the attorney that his client was not being interrogated though he was. The Court ruled that the suspect's confession, made that same night, was valid.
The Miranda ruling was designed to regulate police conduct and to prevent police from using coercion to elicit a confession or other evidence that could be used against the suspect. The rule is part of the system that affords even the worst criminal the right to representation by an attorney.
Police and prosecutors argue that many suspects who were actually guilty have gone free because they were improperly informed of their rights. Whose fault is that? Only that of the police who failed to carry out their duty according to the law.
In their dissent, Justices John Paul Stevens, William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall said the ruling trampled on well-established legal principle and distorted the checks and balances on the criminal process. But these justices are in the minority. Defenders of civil liberties fear that last week's ruling is one more step back in the '30s and '40s, when police behavior knew few limits.
Topple Reagan's dream
President Reagan has pulled out all the stops in his effort to persuade Congress to raise $100 million in aid for the Nicaraguan contras.
He dispatched emissary Philip Habib to Central America to lobby for the plan. He unearthed a poll that indicated more than 90 percent of the people in some Central American countries supported his aid package.
He unleashed Patrick Buchanan, the White House pit bullterrier, to attack the patriotism of those who dare to question aiding the contras.
Best of all, Reagan resurrected Jimmy Carter's human rights stance, attacking dictatorships on the right as well as the left. He has tried to convince Congress that aid to the contras is the logical extension of his born-again rights policy, recently demonstrated in Haiti and the Philippines.
Part of the president's difficulty in selling his aid package can be blamed on the contrasts themselves.
But the appeals don't seem to be working this time. U.S. voters show little interest, and regional leaders are pushing for negotiations to replace military support of the contras.
And if a recent CIA report is accurate, the money would go to a ghost army, whose numbers have dwindled to about 2,500 because of defections and the Sandinista counter-offensive.
Reagan has tried to portray the rebels as freedom fighters, dedicated to liberty and democratic institutions. He even has attempted to lay the
blame for reports of their atrocities on Sandinistas posing as contras.
But the facts elude this convenient distortion of reality. U.S. backing has won more support for the contrasts in Washington and Miami than in Nicaragua.
The rebel forces still rely heavily on Somoza's old National Guard for officers and on mercenary free agents for ground troops. Their campaign of terror, instead of sparking a popular uprising, has alienated the leading democratic opponents to the Sandinista government.
The United States does not need to continue sloping dollars before these thugs. Their ineffective little war does nothing to foster democratic reforms in Nicaragua and only serves to solidify the Sandinistas' fortress mentality.
Worse, continued U.S. financing of the contrast sabotages our national interest in a secure and peaceful Central America.
It recalls the worst days of U.S. intervention in Latin America — a memory not lost on those governments that worry about the Sandinistas but dread a drawn-out war between Nicaragua and U.S. proxies.
With a little fortitude, Congress might hold out against the president on the aid vote. If it does, the administration might be forced to abandon its impossible dream of topping the Sandinistas and look instead for a policy that respects Nicaraguan sovereignty while protecting U.S. regional concerns.
News staff
News staff
Michael Totty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editor
Laurie McMillen . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing editor
Chris Barber . . . . . . . . . . . . Editorial editor
Cindy McCurry . . . . . . . . . . Campus editor
David Giles . . . . . . . . . . . Sports editor
Brice Waddill . . . . . . . . . Photo editor
Susanne Shaw . . . General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Brett McCabe . . . . . . . . . . Business manager
David Nixon . . . . . . . . . Retail sales manager
Jim Williamson . . . . . . . . Campus manager
Eckart . . . . . . . . . Classified manager
Caroline Innes . . . . . . . . Production manager
Pallen Lee . . . . . . . . . National manager
John Oberzan . . . . . Sales and marketing adviser
Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words and should include the writer's name, address and telephone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University, include class and hornetown, or faculty or staff position.
Wait, the word "hornetown" is capitalized.
The word "faculty" is capitalized.
The word "staff" is capitalized.
The word "position" is capitalized.
Let's re-read the first line again.
"Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words and should include the writer's name, address and telephone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University, include class and hornetown, or faculty or staff position."
Yes, it looks correct.
One more check on the spacing:
`Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words and should include the writer's name, address and telephone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University, include class and hornetown, or faculty or staff position.`
Okay, I'm ready to transcribe.
writer will be photographed.
The right to recontact or edit letters and guest shots. They can
The Kansan reserves the right to reject or edit letters and guest shots. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
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On Feb. 27, 28 and March 1, more than 300 KU students presented the Rock Chalk Revue to nearly 10,000 students, parents and community members.
Rock Chalk deserved better treatment
This campus-sponsored philanthropy grossed over $50,000 for the Lawrence United Fund.
The people who staged this performance spent thousands of hours in script and music writing, set construction, vocal and coach daaming and other intense preparation. The living groups that sold tickets to the performances also put in staggering amounts of time in phone calls and door-to-door sales.
Doesn't it seem a bit odd that such a large-scale production, which affected so many KU students and so greatly benefited the Lawrence community, received only a two-inch story on March 3 in the trivia section of Kansan?
The Kansan's front page that day included a 10-inch story about the effects of painting wastepaper receptacles in University neighborhoods.
The first thing that comes to the reader's mind is that the Kansan must think this highly successful production is of little importance.
Mark Weis
Guest columnist
Is dumpster art really more newsworthy than dedicated students who are working diligently to improve the University and the community?
After all of the seemingly unimportant articles I consistently find in the Kansan, I would think that a page of the newspaper could be dedicated to informing the University of the positive influences on its students and the community.
What makes an activity worthy of interest in the eyes of the Kansan anyway?
The running documentary on the food service at Hashinger Hall sug-
goes an important activity affects a large number of students.
Then why not Rock Chalk? This activity fulfills that qualification and more. Did the Hashinger food boycotт take six months of intense prepara- tion organization? Was it successful? Did it have a positive influence?
It seems quite obvious that the Rock Chalk Revue should have received substantial coverage, yet it received almost none.
I would hate to think that the Kansan did not cover this activity because most of its participants were greek. In light of the Hashinger Hall and dumpster art stories, however, artists must be a reasonable conclusion.
If that was the Kansan's reason for not devoting more space to Rock Chalk, it should have considered the attempts of the Rock Chalk Revue committee to incorporate more non-greek acts. The Lawrence Journal-World devoted 32 column inches to this attempt.
Since the Kansan article incompletely listed the awards won, I would to give groups their deserved recognition.
Best Overall Production: Delta Upsilon/Kappa Alpha Theta.
Most Charitable Production: Kappa Sigma/Gamma Phi Beta.
Signal/Gamma/Ph. Bda:
Best Original Song: Kappa
Best Production Number: Kappa Sigma/Gamma Phi Beta.
Best Script: Phi Delta Theta/Kappa Kappa Gamma
Best Original Song: Kappa
Sigma/Gamma Phi Beta
Best Use of Sets and Costumes:
Delta Chi/Alba Delta,Pl
Best Female Lead: Delta Upsion/Kappa Alpha Theta.
Best Male Lead: Phi Kappa
Psi/Albia Chime Omae
Mark Weis is a Manhattan senior majoring in human biology.
That's progress, Margaret. It's out with the old and in with the new. Forward into the 1980's!
90-year-old players may pass for 55
Ueberroth ignores anti-aging drugs
Some current players, as we know, have agreed to drug testing, doing community service and other penalties imposed by Ueberbroth, such as collecting $900,000 for the
In a quiz published in the current issue of Omni magazine, Ubererbth passed up an opportunity to forecast that the use of anti-aging drugs would be prohibited in baseball by 2010.
Of more interest to me, considering his recent disciplinary action against baseball players accused of using narcotics, was the commissioner's reaction to the prospective introduction of anti-aging drugs.
Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberoth predicts that in the year 2010 the oldest player in the major leagues will be 55.
In 2010, will Ueberroth or a successor be dealing with 90-year-old players who, thanks to anti-aging drugs, will be able to pass for 55? It could happen.
season instead of the $1 million salary to which they are so justly entitled.
According to Omni, "Experts predict that soon anti-aging drugs will improve older athletes' reflexes and increase their stamina."
I am told that certain players, not necessarily pitchers, think their performance on the diamond is improved by a few puffs of marjurana or a little cocaine before a game.
Will 90-year-olds seriously think they can play better if they feel 55? Now is the time for baseball's hierarchy to start fielding such questions.
Dick West
United Press International
If they wait until anti-alging drugs are as plentiful and as readily available as pot and coke are now, it will be too late. Some 99-year-old will have stolen all the bases.
The effect on society at large, as the non-playing public also is known, may be ever more severe.
It is common knowledge that most street crimes today are committed by young men, mostly in their teens, who can outrun even 55-year-old pedestrians.
Small wonder that President Reagan's Commission on Organized Crime recommended last week, aka Ueberethro, that federal employees, like certain baseball stars, be required to take drug tests.
The commission, in a 455-page report, said illegal drug use has become this country's most widespread criminal activity.
Its proposed remedies, in some cases, such as authorizing the military to conduct "airborne, amphibious and overland" raids against drug dealers, went even beyond those imposed by the baseball commissioner.
Nuke 'em back to the bullpen,
say.
Dictators topple from inside out
Dictatorial rule is not over in the world. Far from it. But a dent has been made in Haiti and the Philippines where Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier and Ferdinand Marcos were overthrown in a relatively peaceful way in the past month.
The effect was stunning. Entrenched rulers who appeared invincible fell like tempins when they began to slip. The United States moved in to do a little shoving at the end and turned up on the side of the people.
In policy, it bowed to the inevitable but was wise enough to see the storm coming and to move with the crowd. And the human rights over political expedition.
But the administration would like to lend its military support to defeat the Sandinista government in Nicaragua and the Marxist-led government in Angola.
One thing is clear: It is easier to do from the inside than the outside.
Former President Jimmy Carter said President Reagan's one big goal was to get rid of the Sandinista government before he left office.
So Reagan is asking for $100 million in aid to support the rebels who want to depose the Marxist-style government of Daniel Ortega. The rebels, or contras, include many former Sandinistas who broke with the government because of its
repressions and anti-democratic system. It also includes many of the followers of Anastasia Somoza, the dictator who was overthrown in the Nicaraguan revolution.
Most of Reagan's arguments for wiping out the Sandinista government are based on what is best for the United States. He raises the spectre of a second Cuba on the North American mainland.
Helen Thomas
United Press International White House correspondent
He has warned against hundreds of thousands of refugees streaming across the U.S. border as the Nicaraguan government persists in its oppressive rule.
He also has declared that Harlingen, Texas, is only two days driving time from a privileged sanctuary for terrorists and subversives. Reagan spoke recently of the possibility of a Soviet base on America's doorstep, and a threat to the security of the Panama Canal.
His rallying cry is for Americans to beware and to support the contras in their struggle to overturn a government that is viewed as a threat to the United States.
The aid will be hard to come by in Congress because few believe that $100 million will knock off the Managua government. Vietnam was a lesson in that exercise.
It is difficult to see how Reagan plans to force the issue militarily since he would be the first to acknowledge that the Russians and the Cubans are ready to up the ante in terms of military supplies and sophisticated equipment to match the U.S.-sponsored threat. As long as the threat is there, the Sandinistas can ask for increased support from the communist world.
The question of overthrowing a government is best answered from the inside. When the Nicaraguans in Nicaragua get fed up enough, and while there still is some room to have an effect, then there will be progress.
In reality, the United States should be willing to talk and keep on talking to save lives, and even perhaps with the help of the United Nations bring about new elections in Nicaragua to learn the will of the people.
The other side of the coin is negotiations — something the Latin American countries want and keep urging the United States to undertake. The administration says it has made concessions but wants the two sides to talk directly.
Mailbox
Religion chosen freely
I was shocked by the bigoted editorial "Church hand too heavy" in the March 5 Kansan.
The church is not harassing dissenters; discussion of important Catholic issues is probably at its freest. The problem lies in the fraudulent anti-Catholic teachings of these "theologians." Wood u keep kep english teacher hoo spelled like this? Open-mindedness is one thing, empty-headedness is another.
Religion is chosen freely. Once chosen, the church is authoritarian, not democratic, and is supposed to be the final word on Catholic doctrine! If not, chaos would reign within the church and the word Catholic would be devoid of meaning.
Whose courage are we then applauding? The theologians, for trying to impose their views upon a church where they no longer claim membership? Or is it the tilting-at-windmills mentality of the American Catholic Solidarity Club, living in delusions of democracy?
Finally, who are you to smear Catholicism with your bigoted anti-Catholic rhetoric? If you insulted Jews or blacks, they would label you anti-semitic and racist.
Mark Angles Overland Park medical student