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Wednesday, November 10, 1993
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Perot's homegrown logic overshadow NAFTA facts
Ross Perot is wrong. He claims it only takes a minute to kill a snake. Yet instead of fading away, he continues to gain support for his anti- North American Free Trade Agreement campaign
Unfortunately, Gore's success might be too late.
With only seven days left until the House votes on the trade agreement, Clinton unfortunately is 30 votes short of passing NAFTA. And Perot's fear campaign is mostly to blame.
Throughout his anti-NAFTA campaign he has gained support by manipulating the American people. His campaign of fear only works because he is smart enough to target what scares Americans most — the threat of lost jobs. This threat is unsubstantiated by all Nobel Prize-winning economists, all living presidents and all living secretaries of state.
But facts don't matter to Perot, homegrown rhetoric is his specialty.
Last night, he managed to evade most questions asked by Gore, Larry King and callers by sidetracking the debate with nonrelated issues and ludicrous coinages like "guerrilla (gorilla?) dust."
Gore proved throughout the open conversation that NAFTA was not a job killer, environmental threat or human rights abuser. He was able to address the issue and remain on target in answering questions.
Perot may excel at delivering his down-home quips and put downs. He might be successful at scaring people about losing jobs. And he may be able to personally finance his million-dollar anti-NAFTA campaign. But he has not been able to successfully refute the facts of NAFTA.
NAFTA is good for the American people. Perot, "It's just that simple."
And to quote Perot, "It's just that simple."
TERRILYN McCORMICK FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Restricted road access will limit congestion
A proposal by the Parking Department rules committee to extend restricted access on Jayhawk Boulevard is an excellent proposal that would help eliminate congestion and illegal parking.
Currently, service vehicles, buses and faculty with blue parking permits have access to campus between 7:45 a.m.and 4:45 p.m., Monday through Friday. The new recommendation would lengthen those hours to begin at 7 a.m. and end at 6 p.m. This would eliminate the traffic bottleneck that results when campus is opened at 4:45 p.m.
Opening campus to unrestricted traffic at a later hour would help solve congestion problems. Traffic jams after 4:45 p.m. cause safety problems when faculty and staff are trying to get off campus, and other people are trying to enter campus on Jayhawk Boulevard. There are still many students on campus who are walking or riding bicycles among this traffic.
The other problem this proposal would solve is the illegal parking by some students who have 7:30 a.m. classes. These students often park in blue lots and inconvenience faculty who have paid to have access to campus. Under the new proposal, the only way these students could park on campus would be if they entered campus a half-hour before their classes began. The parking department then would have more time to ticket and possibly tow these offenders.
Implementing this recommendation next semester as planned is the best way to improve traffic safety on Jayhawk Boulevard.
TOM GRELINGER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Supernatural events are common for some
Today, class, we shall talk about the "scary" supernatural. This is timely in that we had Halloween two weeks ago, and we are just now getting around to writing our column.
As we all know, Halloween is a very important federal holiday. Most federal holidays are not nearly as fruitful as Halloween, such as National Stamp Appreciation Day or Get Rid of Your Favorite Unethical Senator Week. And most federal holidays have nothing to do with the supernatural, except, of course, the Day Before Taxes Are Due Day. This is when most Americans would eagerly perform the supernatural ritual of "sacrificing your kids" rather than pay the IRS.
We all have come into contact with the supernatural, especially during finals when "weird" and "strange" things happen, such as "studying." Some of us, however, because of some twist of fate, are more prone toward supernatural experiences.
There is this friend of ours, you see, who suffers from a serious supernatural disease known as "We Get All The Mail The Post Office Loses When People Move."
Most people have, at one time, received mail from people they do not know. No matter, because we have all had mail delivered to that belongs to someone else. This, of course, sends us in a panic shrieking such things as "What if this is important?" or "What if this letter is from a dying grandmother?"," or "Can I get in trouble if I open this?" (ANSWERS. (1. If it's important, why do you it?; 2. A follow-up question would be, "Do you think she sent money"?; 3. Only if you get caught.)
But my friend, whose supernatural code name is Winchell, gets a lot of
COLUMNIST
mail. For some reason, the hardy, proud, we-wehave-a-natural-tendency to-go-berserk postal workers think Winchell is some sort of collecting agency for lost mail. Just ask him. The friendly postal worker drops off bags every day at Winchell's apartment. Winchell protests that these people don't live here and, for all he knows, might not even be members of this planet. The postal worker says, "Sorry bub, but this is where it goes. And don't give me any grief, because I have semiautomatic weapons tucked underneath my dashboard. I'm not afraid to use them. Just try me. Also, can I interest you in some lovely Sally Struthers stamps? They're really quite nice and depict her at the height of her career when she was still an embryo."
Winchell's tribulations do not end there, however. The phone company has decided that his number is the one you reach when you dial the 555 prefix. Really. Befuddled people call all the time, asking for — and we're not kidding about this — such names as Spoon, Peaches, Sunshine, Jamie, Louise's West, Roy, Bong-ho Kim, Ismael Yusavi and Harry Brunell. This sounds like the cast of a Broadway show entitled "Winchell Wants To Know Who The Hell You Are."
Another important supernatural experience most humans have in
common is called Alarm Snoozing, wherein law-abiding citizens prefer the peaceful, sleepy world of "coma" instead of the boring, tedious world of "classes."
Where we get this habit from we do not know. One scientific hypothesis is that it has evolved from the hibernation tendencies of our animal ancestors, namely Polar Bears.
But why is this supernatural? you might ask. To which we would respond, "Because this is our column and we say so, and if you don't like it, we are sure there are some interesting 1-900 numbers on the back page."
At any rate, there are various levels of Alarm Snoozing as measured by the Dukakis & Gore Snuz-o-meter. Two of the snooze levels are meticulously described below:
Snoooze Level 0: This is for abnormal people who shoot right out of bed once their alarm sounds. People who fit this category are usually overachievers and are commonly known as "morning breath" people who follow the clever motto, "The early bird gets worm."
Snooze Level 1-10: (Insert your own creative ideas here.)
Snooze Level Get Hacked at Alarm and Throw It Across Room, Hitting Roommate Squarely In The Genitals: These people tend not to have many roommates.
So as you can see, there are many inexplicable facets of the supernatural, most of which we have not covered, especially Mentos commercials. If you would like to tell us of any supernatural events you might have experienced, please call Winchell.
Todd Puntney is a Manhattan senior majoring in Journalism.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Difference of opinion not the same as hate
Scan down to the fourth paragraph of Tisha Heyka's Nov. 5 column about tolerance. In the first sentence she says that people should not associate a difference of opinion with hate. Then, just one sentence later, she says that homosexuals often deal with prejudice
and discrimination, "which are forms of hate." It would appear that she's contradicting herself, but maybe I can clear up the confusion.
If two people have a difference of opinion about what to do on a Sunday afternoon, then that's just a difference of opinion. These two people can say to each other, "I respect your right to have a differing opinion." However, if I believe that government funding of AIDS research
is disproportionately high, then that's more than a difference of opinion. That's prejudicial and discriminatory, which is the same thing as hate. And since "hate should not be seen as an opinion but as a character flaw," I am therefore flawed and excluded from the debate.
David Wilson Kansas City, Mo.,
David Wilson
Overcrowded Field House may be lost for students
Well, it's almost the start of another basketball season. Once, again, expectations are high after yet another Final Four season. As I was walking through Allen Field House to pick up my first set of basketball tickets, thanks to our new and improved ticket distribution system, I couldn't help but wonder how much longer the students will call the old building home.
The demand for basketball has become so great that any seats that become available are auctioned off to the highest bidder in the Williams Fund. Those not lucky enough to have several thousand dollars to donate are just out of luck.
I'm sure this causes members of the Athletic Department and the Williams Fund to visualize two things: how much money the 7,064 seats reserved for the students would be worth on the open market, and how nice a new 20,000-plus seat basketball-only arena with plenty of parking would look on West Campus.
Adding the facts that the state fire marshal is attempting to reduce the seating capacity and that Allen is one of the older basketball arenas in the nation, it is clear that its days are probably numbered, although no one is admitting it yet.
It will be a bad day when the last game is played in Allen. It will be sadder still if a great basketball building is replaced with a mediocre one. That's what happened at Kansas State. Most of you probably never got to see a game at Ahearn Field House. I was lucky enough to see five KU — K-State games there.
It was an odd-shaped building. Most of the seats were temporarily built over the track. In fact, it seemed that most of the seats were along the baselines. The building was built too long and too narrow for basketball.
Ahearn was closed after the 1988 season. The state fire marshal had declared it a fire trap. He was right: it took at least 30 minutes to get out after a game. K-State's new building, Bramlage Coliseum, is no comparison. It has no character.
The secret was its volume. They packed 11,000 students into a building that must have been half the size of Allen. The noise when K-State was playing was incredible. As much as I hate to admit it, Ahearn at its best was louder than Allen. No wonder that K-State's record there was 378-87, including 10 Big Eight championships and four Final Fours.
Forty-five years ago, when Allen was planned and built, most of the mistakes that were made in the construction of Ahearn Field House were corrected. That's why Allen is still useful and Ahearn is mothballed. Let's hope that lesson is repeated when a new Allen Field House is built.
The building is not very loud, the aisles are wide as the seating sections, and it seems as though you're a mile away from the court. It is an average building that has been occupied by average teams. But maybe that's no coincidence.
Jim Kimmel is a McLouth junior majoring in history and sociology.
COLUMNIST
KANSAN STAFF
Reporters
KC TRAUER
Editor
JOE HARDER, CHRISTINE LAUE
Managing editors
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
BILL SKEET
Technology coordinator
Editors
Assistant to the editor ... J.R. Clairborne
News ... Stacy Friedman
Editorial ... Terrilyn McCormick
Campus ... Ben Grove
Sports ... Kirsten Fogler
Photo to ... Klip Chin, Renee Knoober
Features ... Ezra Wolfe
Graphics ... John Paul Fogel
Wire ... Alexander Bloemhof, Vicki Bode, Kevin Butler
Assistant Editors
Associate editorial ... Colleen McCain
Associate campus ... Dan England
Associate companies/planning ... Jess DeHaven
Associate sports ... Todd Selfart
Associate features ... Almee Estrada
Copy Chiefs
Alexander Bloemhof ... Allison Lippert
... Tracy Ritchie
News Clerk ... Teresa Veazey
Coov Editors
Elizabeta Beath ... Craig Boxx
Kevin Butter ... Dan Carver
Jane Coulson ... Jesse McNeil
Dan England ... Jack Fisher
Matt Hydeman ... Stephen Martino
Stacy Morford ... Sarah Nagl
Munera Naseer ... Beena Schultz
Todd Smith
Scott Anderson...Sara Bennett
Mark Button...Trol Carl
Chesley Dohl...Matt Doyle
Anne Felatel...Gerry Fey
Christoph Führman...Donella Haime
Kristi Hoffhold...Karla Haima
Liz Klinger...Shan Schwartz
David Stewart...Kathleen Stolle
Carlos Tejada...JL Watson
William Alix ... Valerie Bontner
Julia Clarke ... Richard Davidh
Juan Garcia ... Donnell Reagan
Paul Kotz ... Mellissa Lacey
Tom Leininger ... Holly McQuenon
Saman McKean
Jave Campbell James Frederick
Micah Leaker Dan Schauer
John Paul Fogel...Stacy Friedman
...Will Lewis
AMY CASEY Business manager
AMY STUMBO Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES
Sales and marketing adviser
PAT BOYLE
Business coordinator
BILL THOMAS Production
Business Staff
Campus sales manager...Ed Schager
Regional sales manager...Jennifer Perrier
National sales manager...Jennifer Evenson
Co-op sales manager...Blythe Focht
Production managers...Jennifer Blowey
...Kate Burgees
Marketing director...Shelly McConnell
Creative director...Brian Fusco
Regional marketing...Gretchen Kautzman
Special sections manager...Judith Standley
Teamsheet manager...Jacquelyn Pang
Retail assistant...Triole Bumpa
Creative assistant (photographer)...Andrew Amone
Zone Managers
Zone Managers
John Carlton...Jason Eberly
Justin Garberg...Josh Heln
...Robin Kring
Retail Account Executives
Mindy Blum...Chris Bulgren
Chris Butler...Kelly Ceftrey
Jennifer Carr...Jennil Goorke
Laura Guth...Jill Hogan
Allison Kaplan...Jason Kort
Syandra Kunto...Mark Mastro
Chris Morrissey...Frank Muller
Pugla Ostrowski...Heather Richetto
Jenny Schwab...Andrew Shriver
Dave Smith...Stacey Stricklin
Campus Account Executives
Keri Kimmel...Beth Pois
Shannon Reilly...Troy Tarwater
...Jeanne Toohey
Regional Account Executive
ARville Crawford...Alex Kolb
Brian Platt...Paulus Probomo
Interns
Shelly Falevits...Bradley Felnberg
Dean Houndd...Lyn Hul
...Matt Spett
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