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University Daily Kansan
Opinion
1
Friday, Feb. 7, 1986
A divisive message
When President Reagan came before the American people Tuesday, they were especially unified after sharing the disaster of the space shuttle Challenger. Reagan wasted no time slashing through that bond by delivering a strongly partisan State of the Union address.
Spouting rhetoric such as "breaking free failed policies" and "real and lasting emancipation" from welfare, Reagan tried to sugar-coat his narrow, uncompromising wish list.
He called for more money for defense, restructuring the welfare system, more foreign aid, prayer in the schools, an end to legal abortions and, of course, no tax increase.
If any were hilled by his flowery words and vague promises, however, they were slapped awake by his budget proposal the next day.
True to his words, he asked
for a defense increase — $15.9 billion to be exact. That translates to a 6.2 percent increase overall and a 75 percent increase in the Strategic Defense Initiative.
Reagan's budget would reduce the number of students receiving federal financial aid by 20 percent —1 million people.
Much of the budget-skewing results of this hike are made up by his proposed cuts in education. The $15.9 billion increase in defense is more than the total proposed education budget, which would sustain a $3.2 billion cut.
From a president who says he wants to "create a ladder of opportunity," who says he worries about deteriorating schools and pins the nation's future on the young, this budget proposal is hypocrisy.
In his own words, Reagan is asking the wrong people to tighten their belts.
Return to the stars
Ad astra per aspera. To the stars through difficulties.
For staggeringly tragic reasons, the Kansas state motoro took on a new and deeper meaning as the whole world watched seven brave astronauts die in the fiery explosion of the space shuttle Challenger last week.
In the short history of space travel, the difficulties have never been so great. But the need for us to pass through those difficulties and head back to the stars is far greater.
The "we" of this is important. Common citizens must not be left out of future space shuttle missions.
With good reason, it seems worse that one of our own, a simple civilian, died on the Challenger. But Christa McAuliffe knew of the dangers, and future civilians will be even more painfully
aware of the terror that can happen in a matter of seconds.
One more highly skilled, experienced astronaut on the Challenger would not have made a difference in the doomed flight.
In her application essay, Mrs. McAulieff said she hoped her voyage into space would help "complete and humanize the technology of the Space Age." The opportunity for that brand of enlightenment, whether it comes from a teacher, a journalist or anyone else, must not be taken from our grasp.
The entire world will hold its breath when a shuttle again lifts from the launch pad, and the anxiety almost surely will overwhelm us. But that day must come, and the common man must be along on that flight to share in the tension and joy as we return to the stars through our difficulties.
Perhaps even more important, a non-astronaut perception of all of the wonders of space travel has to be included as a priority when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration once again turns its thoughts toward the sky.
Catalog shopping
Student Senate's plan to publish a guide to professors and classes is worth endorsing once again.
Plans by KU officials to change drastically the adddrop procedure make the decision to publish the guide even more necessary.
Granted, the University needs to reduce the crush of students who clog the enrollment center adding and dropping classes. But any change should catch only those who are abusing the system.
The University, concerned about students who use add-drop to shop for classes, wants to restrict the number of classes a student can change after enrollment.
The proposed guide to professors, although not a complete solution, could encourage
students to do their shopping long before the classes meet.
The guide, promised for March, would provide course descriptions, a course evaluation and the comments of the instructor. It could also include required texts, essay assignments and tests for the course.
Even if the guide succeeds, there's still no guarantee that it would solve the problems with add-drop.
The Senate needs to solve both problems for the guide to be successful. Professors, in particular, need to benefit by inclusion in the guide.
But if students want to shop for classes, it is far more convenient for them, and the University, if they can make informed decisions before they go to their first class.
News staff
News staff
Michael Totty ... Editor
Lauretta McMillen ... Managing editor
Chris Barber ... Editorial editor
Cody McCurry ... Computer engineer
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
Lori Eckart ... Classified employee
Caroline Innes ... Production manager
Pallen Lee ... National manager
John Oberzan ... Sales and marketing adviser
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Names for hurricanes dealt a blow
The list of names that will be given to hurricanes this year is out. I've always wondered who picks these names and why they pick the ones they do.
For example, one of this year's hurricanes will be named Orlene.
Hurricane Orlene? Orlene isn't even a real name as far as I know.
The same thing happens every hurricane season. A brutal storm will hurtle toward the Atlantic seaboard, threatening loss of lives and millions of dollars of property damage.
Then the weatherman tells me it's *Hurricane Tamara* that's on the way, and I find it hard to be concerned for those poor people. I think something named Tamara could only be a light breeze, wafting in from the ocean.
A spokesman for the National Weather Service in Miami said it has lists of names, which are repeated every six years. This year's list will come up again in 1992.
These names are confusing. Who came up with this system of naming?
The only change to the list comes from a "memorable" storm, such as Hurricane David in 1979, which killed 1,100 people. These storms have their
The names are selected so as to have an international bent and not to offend anyone, he said.
Chris Barber Editorial editor
But it seems that the weather service really stretched for some of these names. A look at a few of this year's proves that just about anything goes.
There are few rules governing naming of a hurricane. Since 1979, every other one has to be a male name.
The World Meteorological Society in Switzerland coordinates the naming process. The hurricane season begins June 1.
Lisa, Mitch, Nicole, Otto (Otto?),
Paula, Richard, Shary (why not
Sherri, or Sherry, etc.? Who decides
these things?), Thomas, Virginie
(why not Virginia?) and Walter.
Hurricanes for the Eastern Pacific: Agatha, Blas (This is a Spanish first name, okay, but Blas? Why would you pick this name? Who made this decision?) Celia, Darby (Darby?) Estelle, Frank, Georgeette, Howard, Isis, Javier, Kay, Lester, Madeline, Newton, Orlene, Paine, Roslyn, Seymour, Tina, Virgil, Winifred (nothing needs to be said about these last four).
Are these appropriate names for potentially deadly forces of nature? This system of naming is wrong. Hurricanes should get names that give people an idea of what to expect.
Hurricane Fifi struck Honduras in 1974, killing 2,000. These people probably all were sitting in their homes still giggling from finding out the hurricane was named Fifi.
I also would find it hard to be frightened of Hurricane Fifi. The same goes for many of the storms that may come this year, such as Hurricane Seymour or Hurricane Virgil, no matter what the weatherman says.
A person who buys a big, snarling Doberman doesn't name it Karen or
Alfred.
They give it a name that fits its personality, like Snarling Killer Beast. The same should go with hurricanes! A weak hurricane could be called Paradise Sammartha. Who besides could be Dirk, or Butch or Bertha.
Really bad ones could be Hurricane Jesse James, or Hurricane Attila the Hun. The strongest ones could be Hurricane Lou Ferrigno or Hurricane Charles Atlas.
Then we would know what to expect
Weathermen would then only have to say, "Hurricane Dirk is on the way," and everyone would know to run for cover.
If he said, "Hurricane Percy is op the way," everyone would know to take their umbrellas.
Actually, we may never get to see Hurricane Winifred or Virgil. There were only enough Atlantic hurricanes to get about halfway through the list last year. The leftovers are just put on hold for six years.
But the names at least should let us know what to expect.
You just don't look at a storm with 80-mile-an-hour winds that is about to wipe out your home and call it "Mitch."
Maybe they should just call the wind Maria.
THE BANK? MY
MONEY? GONE?
ARE YOU SURE?
I'M GOING TO THE BANK TO WITHDRAW DONE OF MY SAVINGS AND BUY A — PIG NEW CAR!
THE BANK WENT
S! IT WAS ALL
JOSE LOANS TO
MEXICO! WHEN
THE BOTTOM
DROPPED OUT
OF OIL, THE
DEFAULT!
Space may bring hangover's demise
The suggestion of Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, that too little is being done to reduce the traffic toll caused by drunken motorists certainly will draw no quarrel from me.
Clearly, we need to make the roads safer for sober speeders, senators and reckless drivers. I am wondering, however, whether the Utah Republican, head of a Senate space group, realizes that one of the space program's spin-offs may be counterproductive.
1 refer to studies of space sickness by a Canadian astronaut-trainee.
This project, as previously reported here, could lead to the development of hangover-free alcoholic beverages.
I hardly need point out the consequences such a breakthrough could have. If spared morning-after maladies, more motorists might be tempted to down a few too many
Dick West
United Press International
before getting behind the wheel.
Anyway, after hearing Garn's comment, I undertook a more careful reading of the magazine article in which the original material appeared.
This time I learned that both space sickness, of the type Garn experienced during his shuttle ride, and inebriation, which he deplored, have something do with the inner ear.
Granted that only in extreme stages are you or a drinking companion likely to pour a cocktail in your ear. But the alcohol goes there just the same.
It seems that dizziness, nausea and disorientation can be caused by an unusual motion of the fluids in the inner ear's semicircular canals, which are the balancing organs.
Zero gravity permits fluids to slush against the canal walls and much the same thing happens when a person gets sloshed. Alcohol that is lighter than the liquids we normally have in our inner ears mixes with the heavier canal fluids, resulting in a certain amount of sloshing.
"Both the astronaut and the drunk feel as though they are moving, even though their eyes tell them they are not." The magazine Omni reported.
That's putting it mildly. I've been in taverns where all the barstools seemed to be moving and the occupants along with them. No wonder the occupants missed their mouths and poured highballs in their ears instead.
In theory, the magazine said, if the alcohol and a heavier liquid mix in the right proportions, their effects on
the inner ear might cancel each other out.
Hear! Hear! Three cheers for the right proportions. But what are they%
right proportions. But what are they? Until such time as there is an ant-hangover drug on the market, ask the bartender to serve you deuterum oxide as a chaser. Any well-stocked bar should have a good supply.
We all know that water, the most commonly used chaser, is composed of hydrogen and oxygen.
But deuterium has twice the mass of ordinary hydrogen and should compensate for the oxygen imbalance in ordinary water.
It could be, of course, that all this scientific jargon makes your head swim. In that case, you are on your own.
Today's Philippine election is garnering almost as much attention in the United States as in the Philippines.
A Marcos victory would only ensure that the widest strong man the United States has ever backed would remain in power. A victory by Corazon Aquino would give control of the strategically vital Philippines to a woman who has no practical political experience whatsoever.
As the first serious challenge to Ferdinand Marcos' autocratic rule, the election will yield only an incompetent government head no matter who wins.
While Marcos has the financial support of his cronies and a political machine long adept at shenanigans, Aquino has behind her great public sentiment because of her enormously popular husband, Benigno Aquino was killed on the tarmac of Manila's airport upon his return from self-imposed exile in August 1983.
News reports confirm that Marcos organizers are paying the unemployed and ordering the military to appear in multi, or civilian dress, in "spontaneous support" at Marcos rallies. Aquino, capitalizing on accusations that Marcos ordered the killing of her husband, draws large, enthusiastic crowds at all her appearances.
Paul Campbell
Staff columnist
Under a previous agreement with Marcos, the United States must provide about $900 million in economic and military aid through 1989 for the use of the Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base. Since the Philippine economy is, by State Department reports, in its worst shape since World War II, the winner of the election will not be able to ignore the possibility of asking for more aid in return for continued operation of Clark and Subic Bay into the 1990s.
Marcos has said he would permit its continued use, but Aquino has said she would put the issue to the voters in a plebisite.
Despite reports to the contrary, Marcos contends that the NPA is surrendering in droves. Aquino has said that she would allow communities in his state to use the police violence. Should the insurgency succeed, the United States naturally would lose its access to the bases and its strategic presence in the region.
In addition to a faltering economy, the new government will have an entrenched communist insurgency to contend with. The New People's Army is reported by a recent issue of Commentary magazine as being one of the must brutal communist movements ever.
Because of increasing unsteadiness with Marcos and the growing threat of the NPA, Pentagon specialists are spotting other locations for the Air Force and Navy bases should the climate in the
An issue of the election itself is fairness. Marcos certainly will attempt to interfere with the voting and tamper with the tallying. The Commission of Elections is widely regarded to be stacked with Marcos loyalists, Should Marcos win, detractors in the administration and Congress will have ammunition against further support of Marcos.
Philippines deteriorate. Guam Thailand, and Australia are mentioned as possibilities.
Sen. Paul Laxalt, R-Nev., who gave Marcos a letter last year from President Reagan urging reform dismisses the Pentagon's apprehensions as unnecessary worrying.
Opinions are divided as to the out come of today's election. Marcos' initial prediction of a complete rout have been scaled down to "comfortable victory." Salvador Laureo Aquino's politically astute vice presidential running mate, claims that the moderates will come out in such force as to guarantee an Aquino victory despite election tampering.
Regardless, the future of the U.S. facilities at Clark Air Base and Sibue Bay Naval Base hangs in the balance, with the United States waiting for the results, hoping for a fair election. Untempered U.S. support of Marcos in his past years in power may result in a search for a new home by the 13th Air Force Command and the 7th Fleet.
The election, regardless of the outcome, will not ease the situation in the volatile Philippines.