SPEL Opinion United States First Amendment United States First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Boultinghouse: Pearl Harbor remembered through stories WWW.KANSAN.COM COMING MONDAY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2009 FREE FOR ALL --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. To contribute to Free for All, visit Kansan.com or call (785) 864-0500. --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. Someone needs to cast a level nine fireball up in this bitch. --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. Hey Susy Sorority, I bet those leggings are keeping you really warm today. To the girl with the poop stain sweatpants: gross. --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. I love that little number one beside Kansas on the scoreboard. It never fails to make me smile. --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. Fraser Hall, why do you smell like a hospital? PAGE 5B --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. To all the Johnson County kids who think there isn't life west of Lawrence: People do exist. Thank you. --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. I wonder what would happen if you smoked potpourri. Why am I on eBay bidding for Easy-Bake Ovens when I should be studying? --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. When a girl says she's "very traditional" about dating, it usually means she's high maintenance. --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. Fun fact of the day: Nun porn existed 700 years ago. I'm bribing myself to write this paper. For the first page I got to masturbate. For the second page I'll get to play "Animal Crossing." My reward system is skewed. --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. Coffee + sex = great combination. My roommates and I just googled, "Do birds have penises?" What has my life come to? --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. I'll skip basketball players; I want the jazz band drummers. --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. I just saw a girl with a blue and red nose warmer. I think I have now seen everything. --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. Winter decided to be fashionably late this year. Apparently, the 53rd Asphalt Paving Conference was held in the Union yesterday. I don't even know what to say to that. --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. My cat just woke up from a dead sleep to start washing his face. Psychopath or psychobath? --said he would like to see it implemented by Fall 2010. Doing so would be ideal, but also ambitious. EDITORIAL BOARD Textbook program shows potential Photo illustration by Weston White/KANSAN FILE PHOTO A major coordination between bookstores, faculty and the University administration is needed to implement a new textbook rental program that would ultimately benefit students. Last month, Student Senate voted in support of creating a textbook rental program. The program would begin by focusing on renting textbooks for larger, introductory courses. This idea is admirable, and any effort to save students money should be applauded. However, coordinating the cooperation of all influenced parties will be difficult. Student Senator Michael Wade Smith, Goodland junior and strong advocate for the program Though it has already been approved by Student Senate, it now must be passed by University administration, and be coordinated with KU Bookstore, which Student Senate has not met with yet. Problems also arise when coordinating with faculty who could potentially lose money from textbook royalties, although the associate chair of the mathematics department, Margaret Bayer, expressed her support of the program. In a Kansan article from Nov. 30, Bayer said, "I would encourage every means people can have for bringing down those prices." Possible benefits to faculty members include more students wanting to take their classes with cheaper textbooks. However, The Kansan reported that Bradley Bridges, bookstore manager at the KANSAN'S OPINION University of Illinois said he has problems coordinating the university's textbook rental program with faculty "We still can't get any commitment from faculty so it's pretty much a gamble on the bookstore," Bridges said. There should be a solid guarantee of commitment from faculty for a designated number of semesters before the program is started at the University to ensure that students and the bookstore are not taken advantage of overtime. If a department or faculty member was to withdraw from the program before the allotted time, the bookstore could lose money or students could end up having to pay the full amount. It is admirable that Student Senate has taken this program on in order to help students save money. The program will also help KU Bookstores sell their products as opposed to students looking for cheaper, used prices on line. If the program is implemented Student Senate should work with KU Bookstores to work out logistical problems that could arise from operating a system like this. Policies will need to be discussed to handle other situations such as a student damaging a book or deciding to keep a rented textbook. The University Administration should support this program and work with student senators and KU Bookstore to implement it quickly, in order to help students save as much money as possible. POLITICS — Caitlin Thornbrugh for The Kansan Editorial Board "Kid, just get out of here while you're still alive..." Hopes for health care reform JAMES FARMER Sad as it may be, the semester is winding down. Even sadder is that political sadder is that political goings-on will continue ... going on over winter break, without me to rant about them within these hallowed pages. There have been plenty of things to talk about this semester, but none as significant as the debate over legislation that will hopefully introduce dramatic reforms to the American health insurance industry. After several months of arguing, chaotic town hall meetings, and death panels — not that those ever actually existed — health care reform legislation is nearly complete. By calling it "complete," I mean that some kind of bill implementing a major shift in the way health care is covered is going to be voted upon fairly soon. How good it is depends on the Senate, which just began debate on their version of health care legislation. Despite its flaws, just as with the current Senate version, the House of Representatives passed its health care bill. I've already written about a section of the Senate legislation in which Orrin Hatch (R-Uutah) proposed funding for abstinence-only education programs. (The term "education" is used loosely here.) The House version of health care reform has a clause, added by Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), that would effectively prevent any insurance plan from covering abortion, a weak-willed attempt at compromise which will hopefully not make it past the conference committee. The need for an overhaul in American health care coverage is a point which has been beaten into the ground during the last few months. Insurance companies are concerned almost exclusively with expanding profit margins, at the expense of Americans who cannot afford medical costs any other way. Rates go up and more things are tagged as preexisting conditions to either prevent or at least severely limit the ability of people Though many conservatives have complained that health care reform would harm insurance companies, I'm going to go ahead and say that maybe they need to be harmed. Loving free industry is one thing, but letting it blatantly trample over the well-being of American citizens is just a bit too laissez-faire for my tastes. to receive coverage. One of the most recent problems classified by some companies as a preexisting condition is domestic abuse. Though I don't object to thorough discussion of such a major issue, here's to hoping that the Senate can get a substantive bill out soon enough and that the obvious flaws, faux-compromises and general lack of death panels (it upsets me that, after all that complaining, they don't actually exist) get worked out. I really want something new to write about next semester. As we labor through finals and enjoy the chance to sleep in during winter break, the U.S. Congress will be hammering out a new way of covering health care. Cohen is a Topeka senior in political science. HEALTH A chiropractic reformation Human history has always been innervated by the ubiquitous presence of medicine, from spiritual healers and shamans to surgeons and pharmacists. Accompanying cultural and technological innovation, the competition between these methods of healing for centuries have evolved into modern medicine today The totality of medical advancement is due entirely to a historical move from medicine based on supernatural ideology to one reliant upon scientific evidence. The best example of the importance of this transition is the parallel history of chiropractic and osteopathic medicine. Both chiropractic and osteopathy were created in the late 19th century, focusing on the importance of the musculoskeletal skeleton in human disease. Both were created by Americans:D.D.Palmer invented chiropractic and A. T. Still invented osteopathy. Although both were similar in their origin and philosophy,they diverged quickly as conventional evidence-based medicine gained ground in the 20th century. Chiropractic is based on vitalism, the idea that there is an "innate intelligence" or life force behind human health. This supernatural philosophy still penetrates chiropractic today, as the practice has been divided into two subsets, "straights" and "mixers." Chiropractors who are straightts adhere to Palmer's original philosophy of innate intelligence, believing that all illness can be treated with vertebral manipulation. The mixers add other methods to their approach to illness, often including other alternative medical ideologies such as homeopathy, acupuncture and naturopathy. The extent to which these mixers use these different approaches varies greatly, but chiropractic still remains outside the realm of modern medicine. Osteopathy has had a much different evolution. Although osteopathy still maintains a small emphasis in musculoskeletal manipulations in some treatments, it has fully embraced evidence-based medicine and entered the same level of medical professionalism as traditional M.D's. Why has osteopathy entered mainstream medicine while chiropractic remains on the fringes? It has to do with its transformation into evidence-based medicine. Once medicine becomes based on science, it constantly evolves to bring better care to patients and develop novel treatments that are constantly being tested, evaluated and improved. This expansion and improvement of care historically allowed the practitioners of evidence-based medicine to become mainstream providers. Modern chiropractic practice needs a revolution. D.O's have joined M.D.'s in delivering the primary source of health care for the public, and chiropractors have been pushed to the side. This marginalization has forced them into the dichotomy of straights and mixers, either embracing an antiquated approach to medicine or including others. The only way chiropractic can be legitimized is if it embraces evidence-based and science-based medicine and rejects supernatural ideology. Modern medicine only exists as it is today because its practitioners were willing to admit that old practices can be ineffective, and thus work to constantly improve. Doctors of chiropractic should move away from a medicine based on vitalism to one based on science. Folmsbee is a Topeka senior in neurobiology. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT? Nosy about grades There's a right and wrong way to ask others about their grades. If you received a high grade, you should only ask someone that you suspect earned the equivalent. A person not to ask: The guy who shows up to class bimonthly and wears backwards hats with the Harvard insignia, despite pulling a 0.76 GPA. After asking the question, if you find that your interview subject received a substantially lower grade than what you originally thought, then it's palte to lower yours by a couple of percentage points if the question is posed to you. Or you could just be the epitome of my column's title and brag. Boulinghouse is a Girard sophomore in journalism and history. You might say this makes me lazy, and you'd be 100 percent correct. I just don't want to exert the effort necessary to see something I might not even want to see. And we all know that old expression: "A watched grade never goes up." I just know that the moment I actually check my grade, it will fall from my assumed A+ to depths previously unknown. Honestly, I'm not even nosy about my own grades. If a professor or instructor says, "E-mail me if you want an update on your grade." I think, "Really? I have to write a whole e-mail? I don't want to have to do a whole new assignment just to see my grade." — Nichols is a Stilwell junior in creative writing. HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR LETTER GUIDELINES Send letters to opinion@kansan.com Write LETTER TO THE EDITOR in the e-mail subject line. Length: 300 words The submission should include the author's name, grade and hometown. Find our full letter to the editor policy online at kansan.com/letters. Jennifer Torline, managing editor 864.4810 or ittoline@kakran.com Brenna Hawley, editor 864-4810 or bhawley@kansan.com SENIOR TITLE: managing editor 864-4810 or jorline@kansan.com HALY LONES kansas.com managing editor Jessica Sain-Baird, managing editor 864-4810 or jessica.baird@kansan.com Haley Jones, kansan.com managing editor 864.49.101 or email kansasan@kansan.com Michael Holtz, opinion editor 864-4924 or mholtz@kansan.com CONTACT US Caitlin Thornbrugh, editorial editor. 864-4924 or thornbrugh@kansan.com Lauren Bloodgood, business manager 864-4358 or lbloodgood@kansan.com Maria Korte, sales manager 864-4477 or mkorte@kansan.com Malcolm Gibson, general manager and news advocate Jon Schlitt, sales and marketing adviser 984 7665 www.jonschlitt.com THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansas Editorial Board are Brenna Hawley Jessica Sain-Bairn, Jennifer Torine, Hailey Jones, Caitlin Thornbrugh and Michael Holtz.