4 Tuesday, April 21, 1987 / University Daily Kansan Opinions Surviving tough times Unfortunately, not all people can care for themselves. They need support from their communities and their state and federal governments. Unfortunately, social issues are not a top priority of the state and federal governments. When our federal government sets the tone of neglecting social issues, state governments should not follow that example and shirk their responsibilities. Instead, state governments should make up for the federal government's lack of compassion. Welfare programs in Kansas face budget cuts just as other state programs do. Cuts to welfare programs can result in nothing but harm to a significant number of needy people. The Kansas welfare program may be able to survive budget cuts, but will those who depend on welfare survive? Budget cuts may force Kansas welfare programs to cut assistance to some groups and transfer existing money within departments. Usually, welfare programs don't have enough money to help all those who need it. And the state and federal governments haven't helped ease the situation. So, the responsibility falls on the shoulders of individual communities. Communities must continue to develop programs to care for their own. That's the only sure way of knowing that people will survive tough times. Alley of the dolls Has the greed for a dollar completely replaced all respect for human beings? Apparently in Los Angeles it has. The dolls are dressed in odd socks, old coats and tattered dresses. They wear old straw hats, old shoes or tennis shoes. The latest money-making scheme to hit the toy market is the Bag Lady doll. The dolls range in height from 16 inches to six feet, and cost from $50 to $400. Imagine that, $400 for a doll that does nothing but poke fun at poverty and the misfortunes of others. Unfortunately, the dolls don't come with all the necessary accessories, such as garbage cans for the dolls to dig through or park benches for them to sleep on. Perhaps the manufacturers would have been able to offer such accessories if their research had included more than just seeing how the bag ladies dressed. With anywhere from three million to six million homeless in this country, it wouldn't have Despite protests, Donald Gourley, the president of the family business that makes the dolls, said he would continue to produce the dolls. About 500 Bag Lady dolls have been sold since they hit the market 10 months ago. been hard to do. Gourley said the Bag Lady dolls were a part of the American way of life, just like his company's surgeon or tennis player dolls, and he said he hoped that the public would have more compassion for the real bag ladies when they purchased the dolls. If the company wants to continue its education of different types of people, it could come up with a greedy toy manufacturer doll. Children could lock this doll in a board room while it thinks of ways to milk the public. It would be dressed in a nice three-piece suit or a skirt and suit jacket and have $20 bills hanging out of the pockets. It would, however, be missing one thing — a heart. Comments uncalled for Last week, three new Lawrence city commissioners were sworn into office. The occasion signaled that Lawrence residents had chosen to replace three incumbents with "new blood." He did spend much time reminding the audience of his commitment to the commission and the city of Lawrence — all of which can greatly be appreciated. But appreciation, Unfortunately, the occasion was struck by bitterness from departing Commissioner David Longhurst who chose to go out, not with a bang, but a whimper. His farewell oratory, a mixture of remembrances of commission work and colleagues, was unprofessionally laced with dissatisfaction of voter choices and authoritative personality judgments. commonly known as a reflection of good judgment, can sour when that judgment is put into question. Longhurst questioned the voters' judgment to deny him the opportunity to continue as commissioner, saying, "there is no one, absolutely no one, who loves this city more than I." He also questioned the voters' ability to know what's best for the city. Concerning downtown development, he said "I don't envy you the fight and I can't help but feel you deserve the unpleasantness that will result." If Longhurst loves Lawrence as much as he says he does, he should try to offer constructive comment instead of bitter remarks. After all, the voters he maligned are the same ones who put him in office in the first place. News staff News staff Frank Hansel Editor Jennifer Benjamin Managing editor Juli Warren News editor Brian Kabelline Editorial editor Sandra Engelland Campus editor Mark Siebert Sports editor James Dulmier Photo editor Bill Skeet Graphics editor Tom Eblen General manager, news adviser Business staff Lisa Weems Business manager Bonnie Hardy Advisor Denise Stephens Retail sales manager Kelly Scherer Campus sales manager Duncan Calhoun Marketing manager Lori Coppel Classified manager Jennifer Mienkasani Production manager David Nixon National sales manager Jennie Hines 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 hometown, or faculty or staff position. Guest shots should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The The Kansan reserves the right reject or edit letters and guest shots. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Staffer-Flint Hall. The University Daily Kansan (USPS 650-640) is published at the University of Kansas, *Kansas 118 Stauffer Fint-Hall Law*, Kanse, 60045, daily during the regular school year, excluding Saturday, Sunday, holidays and finals periods, and on Wednesday during the summer session. Second-class postage paid in Lawrence, Kan. 60044. Subscriptions by mail are $40 per year in Douglas County and by county. Student subscriptions are $3 and are paid through the student activity fee. POSTMASTER. Send address changes to the University Daily Kansan, 118 Stauffer-Flint Hall, Lawrence, Kan. 66045. Church priorities confuse Catholics Pope John Paul II's recent trip to Chile illustrates the Catholic Church's growing concern for social justice. This concern has positioned the church at the forefront of the Greg Gideon Guest Shot battle for human rights and constructive social change. It also has created a puzzling contradiction between Catholic faith and contemporary church practice. For many Catholics, this contradiction is well exemplified in the recently constructed, multi-million dollar church to the St. Lawrence Catholic Center. College students are confused by the allocation of resources within the institution of the church. Fiscal policies that appear to place the current needs of the church ahead of the immediate needs of individuals heighten this confusion. That has led to a difficult reconciliation of ele- ment of Christian faith with, for example, church construction programs, These programs have caused some Catholics to perceive their church as a physical "entity" more than as an institution of moral leadership. As an example, I am reminded that the populations of many Third World countries continue to suffer from the preventable disease of leprosy. For pennies a day, vaccinations can preclude individuals from suffering the effects of this debilitating disease. A regard for justice requires that this enduring problem be recognized and effectively addressed. There must be, however, the recognition that something can be done when the the exterior packaging of the church necessary resources are targeted to the problem. Social justice requires sustained action if we are to satisfy the basic requirements of both humanity and Christian faith. The Catholic Church, however, along with a host of other religious institutions, has determined that both God and the community of man are better served through the creation of grand facilities for worship. These facilities consume significant amounts of available resources and stave programs that could alleviate vast amounts of human suffering. This need does not mean that the church needs to be materially divested; but it must remember that a spartan existence was the example set by Christ. Moreover, it must be questioned whether God, as chief architect of the entire universe, is moved by activities that celebrate wealth in the midst of so much social, physical and spiritual despair. This type of resource allocation by enlightened members of the spiritual community does create confusion. College students continue to recognize the contradictions that inhere in these efforts. The general public also is suspicious of, and at times hostile toward, this apparent emphasis on Pope John Paul II recently has criticized the "cafeteria Catholic" for selectively following only attractive aspects of church doctrine. Selectivity, however, is reflected in church policies that extend the hand of justice incomplete. The church cannot assume a "cafeteria" approach to the moral and social dilemmas extant in the world today. This is precisely what occurs when scarce resources are channeled into costly building programs instead of impoverished lives. This contradiction does indeed create confusion. Barge story illustrates trashy way of thought Poring over the newspaper the other day, I found a story that seemed to sum up one of the biggest problems in the United States today. The event in question wasn't that important in itself. Its importance comes in the way it illustrates an all too common way of thinking. Brian Kaberline Editorial editor A barge with a cargo of more than 3,000 tons of garbage was sitting in a Louisiana port with no place to go. The garbage came from Islip, N.Y., on Long Island, because the community's landfill is running out of room. The barge originally was bound for North Carolina, but they didn't want it. Next stop, Alabama. But the barge would not come indole about 1,500 tons of trash a day. Next, the barge tried to relieve itself in Louisiana and, surprise, they wouldn't take it either. So some fortunate families in Venice, La, were treated to the tantalizing smell of month-old garbage. Think about most of the big news stories from the last year, and see how many of them are the result of a similar scene. People come up against an unpleasant situation and, rather than dealing with it, they send the problem down the line for someone else to worry about. The result is almost always the same: Somebody not involved with the source of the problem gets dumped on. On a large scale, the United States recently dumped on Canada when President Reagan failed to offer substantive proposals dealing with acid rain during his visit with Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Maybe pollution from the United States stops being a problem Reagan should worry about once it leaves our borders. And what happens when the government of Kansas finds itself a little short of money? The governor proposes a 3.8 percent across-the-board budget cut for all state agencies. That way, the responsibility is barged down to the agency directors and employees at the people who depend on state programs that already are financially pressed. If that sounds melodramatic, think about how a little more planning by the state and the University might have altered some of the University's recent financial problems. The urge to pass the muck extends to individuals too. It may manifest itself in a small act like tessuring out of the car window. Or it may be as an accidental knock on a seat, about sickness, poverty, war or injustice, and keeping quiet about it. Maybe if more of us thought about the consequences of our actions, or inactions, some of these loads of social and political trash could be sent back to their original owners. Mailbox Leaders duck job Many thanks to Benjamin Hall for his report on my talk at the University Forum on Wednesday. While Hall did a fine job in most respects, there is one point I like to clarify and stress. I was quoted in the article as saying that "government leaders shouldn't rely on bureaucats to carry out their policies" and instead of implementation of public policies that government leaders should leave to their administrators. What was scandalous about President Reagan's behavior is that he left the making of public policy to the National Security Council bureaucracy. That is a critical point in my thesis and it is one I'd like to stress. I don't think the abdication of responsibility for making policy is Reagan's alone. We see the same thing occurring at all levels of U.S. government and in other major institutions, including universities. That is the lesson of the tran contra affair: don't blame the bureaucracy for making decisions when they are doing nothing more than filling the vacuum of responsibility elected officials are supposed to assume. Mel Dubnick associate professor of public administration interstates, the biggest national joke since Prohibition will be history. The 55 mph speed limit was passed in 1974 in order to save fuel. When the price of oil began to fall and the supply of oil increased, different groups used filmys arguments to support 55 mph. The end of a joke Supporters of the 55 mph speed limit base their argument on the premise that it saves lives. This argument could not be further from the truth. The fact is that a lot of people needed to take vacations over major holidays, or they now fly to their destination. These changes have occurred in order to avoid the extra time of driving at 55 mph, the strict enforcement of the speed limit east of the Rocky Mountains and high fines for speeding. With less people driving on the highways, the death rate on the highways will decrease. The lower fatality rate is because there are fewer people on the road, and not because of the 55 mph speed limit. Many people in the United States are ready for 65 mph. The outrage has come from excessive fines for driving at 65 mph. The highway patrol is not a profit organization, and should spend its time fighting the real criminals. Sixty-five mph will save time, money from fines, and hassle from highway patrol cars. Sammy Hagar said it best, "I can't drive fifty- ffiiiiiivvvve!" On May 1, 1987, or when the Kansas Legislature raises the speed limit to 65 mph on rural M. Alan Smith St. Louis junior BLOOM COUNTY by Berke Breathed 3