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Thursday, December 2,1993
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Rushdie invitation shows Clinton's lack of fairness
The recent presidential invitation to Salman Rushdie, author of "Satanic Verses," was not only ill-advised, but a decision that led to yet another hostile statement by the Iranian government.
Iran deemed President Clinton as the most hated man in the Islamic world. Such a statement is belittling to Muslims and does not reflect the peaceful and rationale side of Muslims. It also perpetuates the violent stereotype of the Islamic world in the non-Muslim world. It's bad enough that Muslims are lumped together, and their different characteristics and opinions are either ignored or misunderstood by others.
Iran's government, which controls a population of about 60 million, cannot speak on behalf of nearly one billion Muslims in the world. It is impossible. Iran's statement therefore should not be considered by the United States as the sentiment of the entire Muslim world.
What should be considered is that Rushdie's talk with the president may have been insulting to Muslims, including those living in the United States who felt insulted by Rushdie's book.
If President Clinton wanted to commend the author and show his support, he could have done so through a phone call or a messenger. No one is saying that Rushdie had no right to write the book, but the visit could have been conducted in a more diplomatic manner keeping the feelings of Muslims in mind.
Whether this was a courageous act on the part of President Clinton or simply a political move is debatable. It has irritated the very government to which we are appealing to remove the death threat on Rushdie. And it certainly does not help build a bridge between the West and the rest of the world.
It is our hope that President Clinton shows his concern and leadership not for a selected few, but for everyone who lives in the United States.
MUNEERA NASEER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Tobacco bill will face defeat without revisions
The recently introduced Tobacco Education and Child Protection Act is in danger of going down in flames. This well-intended bill to protect children from cigarette or tobacco advertising has little hope of passing in its current state.
Most of the bill is reasonable. It plans to force makers to rotate stronger warnings including that smoking is harmful to child development and that it can cause cancer in non-smokers. There would also be warnings on chewing tobacco.The bill would end the distribution of free samples and require cigarette vending machines to be only in places inaccessible to children.Any item that bears a tobacco product logo would also have to contain a warning.
However, two aspects of the bill ensure instant defeat. The bill would ban advertising in sports stadiums, movies, music videos and any place within 2,000 feet of a school.
Also, the bill would prohibit tobacco sponsorship of events such as the Virginia Slims tennis tournament unless the sponsor hands out information about the effects of tobacco.
A similar bill introduced in 1990 failed to pass and this one faces the same fate if it is not amended.
Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders said about the bill, "We must use every means to protect our children." But to pass the bill, the means must be reasonable, and currently not all of them are.
TERRILYN McCORMICK FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
KC TRAUER, Editor
KC TRAUER, Editor
JOE HARDER, CHRISTINE LAUE
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Assistant to the editor ... J.R. Claiborne
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Condom distribution in school won't solve concern with AIDS
The Republican senators warned this country that Joyceylan Elders' policies were extremist, and that because of that, she was unfit to be this country's surgeon general. But the insightful Republicans were ignored, and Elders was confirmed as U.S. Surgeon General. Elders said she would take this country's fight against AIDS into the classrooms of kindergarten across the United States, and she added that girls should always carry at least one condom in their purse and that condoms should be available to everyone that attends a public school. Elders still holds true to this philosophy even though a similar plan that had been tried in the New York public schools was a complete failure. Elders continues to believe that this country's best weapon against the spread of AIDS is the condom, and to the chagrin of a lot of parents in the New Haven, Conn., public schools, this deficient ideology is now being implemented into their schools.
In the footsteps of Elders' ideology, the public schools of New Haven, Conn., are going to be the first school system in the nation to make condoms available to 10-year-olds. School officials claim this action
needs to be taken in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies and the possibility of becoming infected with the AIDS virus. But is this the answer to the problem, or just another reason for parents to pull their children from the increasingly liberalized public schools of the Northeast?
Elders is leading this country down a path that is a proven failure, but even more disturbing, she is clouding up what the real problem is — the family. With a majority of today's kids growing up in broken homes, the school needs to be a place that children can model themselves after. Distributing condoms, which increases the chance that students (kids) will have sex (i.e. New York school system), is not the type of example that schools should be setting for the
impressionable minds that walk through their doors everyday.
Abstinence is a word that most liberals just don't understand, and to the American public's chagrin. Elders is included if that category. The word means self-restraint. This word is repugnant to most liberals because the policy is embraced by the Christian right. And in today's society, everyone knows how evil those God-fearing, morally principled people are.
But a second evaluation of the abstinence policy suggests that this idea could be a viable answer to the AIDS problem in this nation's schools. After all the idea is free, it's not controversial, it's universally accepted, and it is impossible for this proposal to add to the problem like Elders' naive idea would.
AIDS is a problem that won't go away for a long time. Handing out condoms to little children against the will of several parents' wishes will not change the dire situation that our society is in because of the current spreading of the AIDS virus. Abstinence, even though it can't end the AIDS epidemic, can certainly stop the spread of it. However, there is just one trick to the magical idea of abstinence — you have to teach it for it to work.
Handing out condoms to 10-year-olds is not only stupid, but it could be potentially dangerous as the people in New York are already aware. If 10-year-olds have free access to condoms, it is only logical that, even if the students are taught about the dangers of sex, the students' curiosity to have sex will be facilitated by the distribution of condoms from the people they are supposed to look up to. The distribution of condoms in schools only increases the sexual activity of the students that the program is designed to protect. Inevitably these students will start to experiment with sex without the condom, and then the Connecticut schools will find out what others already know — this policy won't work.
Elders' policy is completely bankrupt, but in the face of a terrible epidemic, she is willing to risk the lives of America's children. With some public schools starting to come on-line to Elders' ideology, the only question left is, "Can America continue to endure the ideology of the left?"
Lance Harby is a Wichita junior majoring in political science and Journalism.
Toys For Tots saves children from cheerless Christmas Day
Christmas is around the corner, and many of us will have packages to open on Christmas Day. But what about those who will not have any gifts? Particularly, what about the thousands of children in our nation whose parents are unable to purchase gifts? Christmas can be detrimental to children, and every child should have an opportunity to have a merry Christmas.
The fact that a child's parents are unable to buy gifts at Christmas is no reason for a child to go without presents. There are enough people in our nation to ensure that every child is happy on Christmas Day. In fact, there are many organizations that distribute gifts to children in need.
Toys For Tots is an international
organization that collects toys, gifts and cash donations for children. The U.S. Marine Corps Reserves is the organization's Lawrence representative. This year, the Marines unite with Sunflower Cablevision once again to ensure that the children of Douglas County have gifts on Christmas Day.
Sunflower Cablevision will host its Fourth Annual Benefit Telephone, "Toys For Tets — Remember the Feeling!" from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12, in its local studio. The telethon will benefit infants through 18-year-olds, and the toys will be distributed by the Salvation Army.
Last year, more than 300 local businesses, organizations and individuals participated in the campaign, which was successful in reaching the children of Douglas County.
Individuals or organizations who wish to participate in the program may donate toys, gifts or cash via the telethon or the distribution sites throughout Douglas County.
Campus organizations providing
drop-off sites include the association of University Residence Halls, facilities operations and the Jayhawker Towers Tenants Association.
Toys or gifts donated to the campaign must be new and unwrapped. All cash donations will be used to purchase gifts. Those who are registered with Douglas County social service agencies are eligible to receive gifts.
This Christmas, let us remember that it is better to give than to receive. Let us ensure that someone else will have a merry Christmas also by donating some of our time and money to the Toys For Tots campaign.
Tiffany Hurt is an Overland Park senior majoring in Journalism and English.
NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Term limit vote shows voters' dissatisfaction
The voting results on term limit proposals would lead one to suspect that those most dissatisfied with the way government does business are the voters themselves.
The most significant vote took place in New York, where voters, by a 2-1 ratio, limited the number of terms elected officials can serve. In the Big Apple, nearly every organized interest that spoke out on the measure — government workers, unions, even Common Cause and the Chamber of Commerce — spoke out against it.
The voters chose limits anyway. Indeed, voters across the country have been saying "yes" to limits almost every time they have been the chance to voice their opinion.
The voters favor term limits for the same reason politicians and special interests oppose them. Both understand that term limits will drastically change the way things are done. With members of Congress limited to two or three terms, the idea of professional politician will be well on its way to becoming a thing of the past.
would benefit one category of constituents.
More important is what that will mean in terms of how term-limited lawmakers see their role. Knowing that they have only a short time in office, they will be much less under the control of special interest groups, be they federal lawmakers, contractors, farmers or welfare recipients. That should make it easier for a member of Congress to consider what would be good for the country as a whole — what would be the "right" thing to do — than what
One hopes so, anyway. What is more certain is that under the rules of the current system, government cannot act responsibly.
Ruling will end denial of harassment issues
The Times Union Albany, N.Y.
The high court's unambivalent ruling on (sex) harassment in the workplace) comes as a breath of fresh air. The issue of sexual harassment has festered in the national psyche ever since the hearings on Clarence Thomas' confirmation to the Supreme Court, whatever the truth of the allegations and denials in that
depressing matter.
The Supreme Court's latest ruling, prompt and to the point, should go far to dispel whatever national tendency there might be toward denial of the problem.
The court's newest justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in writing a brief concurring opinion, sought to move sexual discrimination to a position of concern equal to that of racial discrimination. This could presage some interesting developments in the court — and for the country — over the next few years.
The Providence Sunday Journal Providence, R.I.
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