Opinion
United States First Amendment
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
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.
Editorial: Proposed ban is too strict on panhandling
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Nick, you lost your iPhone. I found it. Do you want it back?
It's 1:20 in the morning and I can't stop playing "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" I have class at 8.
FFA, I've called you nearly every day. Do you recognize my voice yet?
I saw a squirrel running with a paper in its mouth today. I guess they love FFA, too.
--accessible parking.
Tiffany Huggard-Lee,
vice-president of AbleHawks and Allies,
spoke up during the
proceedings.
KU needs to fire Mark Mangino right now.
To the guy with that sweet North Face bike with the disk brakes: You should move it, or I am going to steal it because it has been there for two days.
--accessible parking.
Tiffany Huggard-Lee,
vice-president of AbleHawks and Allies,
spoke up during the
proceedings.
--accessible parking.
Tiffany Huggard-Lee,
vice-president of AbleHawks and Allies,
spoke up during the
proceedings.
I just saw a skunk run across Wescoe Beach! What's next?
Thank you Michigan State for sucking ass and making me miss the beginning of the KU game. You suck.
--accessible parking.
Tiffany Huggard-Lee,
vice-president of AbleHawks and Allies,
spoke up during the
proceedings.
Yeah, I heard you guys talking about anal sex outside my window last night.
To the girl whose boob fell out at the bar when Memphis missed the three-pointer: Thank you.
I'm a really hot guy with a kick-ass house with lots of seating and smoking accommodations, but not a single party — just really boring sex.
Why does the FFA forum look like the "Casual Counters" page on Craioslist?
Why's my room smell like sex?
I haven't had sex in here for months!
I wish I was associated with the football team so I could hide behind the Orange Bowl win whenever I did something bad.
--accessible parking.
Tiffany Huggard-Lee,
vice-president of AbleHawks and Allies,
spoke up during the
proceedings.
How do you make a boyfriend bisexual?
I love the people who sit outside of Budig and eat their sack lunches. They just seem so real and down to earth.
--accessible parking.
Tiffany Huggard-Lee,
vice-president of AbleHawks and Allies,
spoke up during the
proceedings.
There are some things shown in porn that should never be attempted in the real world.
--accessible parking.
Tiffany Huggard-Lee,
vice-president of AbleHawks and Allies,
spoke up during the
proceedings.
Did the Baja Men ever figure out who actually let the dogs out?
EDITORIAL BOARD
Handicapped spots should be priority for parking department
Parking on campus is never easy to come by, but for students and faculty who are physically disabled, it can be even tougher. The Parking Department should supply more accessible parking close to classrooms for those who need it, while keeping the prices equal to other student permits.
At a Nov. 11 parking and transit public hearing, members of the University's parking commission and about 20 members of the public discussed a multitude of issues, and one large topic of discussion was handicap-
"We would like to see a better distribution of accessible spaces on campus," Huggard-Lee said.
Handicapped parking should never be an issue for students, and if better parking accessibility is needed, it should be provided. Finding parking space that allows
CONCERNED ABOUT
HANDICAPPED
ACCESSIBLE
PARKING?
Call the Parking Department at 785-864-7275.
easier access to students' education should not have to be a problem. The University should be a safe and welcoming space for all people.
KANSAN'S
OPINION
AbleHawks and Allies released a statement on Nov. 18 summarizing its views expressed during the hearing.
"We wanted to have a concise statement to boil down everything in the hearing into something a little more comprehensible." Huggard-Lee said. "We're hoping to make progress, but progress on these types of things is usually slow."
Huggard-Lee also noted she was under the impression that if closer accessible parking was to be provided in the future, it may cost more money. However, no concrete plans were brought up or discussed at the hearing.
The University has approximately 14,698 total parking spaces, with approximately 390 of them being accessible for physically disabled students and faculty members. Even if this number does not increase, parking spots closer to buildings should be provided. Individuals in need of better accessible parking deserve the correct accommodations needed to enhance their experience at the University.
Parking and transit should listen to the needs of the student body, and ask for recommendations from AbleHawks and Allies. The University promotes diversity, and should stand behind this.
Brett Salsbury for The Kansan Editorial Board
EDITORIAL CARTOON
IS THIS HOW PUBLIC HEALTH CARE WILL SAVE MONEY?
NICHOLAS SAMBALUK
POLITICS
Facts speak for themselves
In a column last week ("Republicans gain momentum with recent wins"), Chet Compton hailed the recent election of Republican governors in New Jersey and Virginia as a prelude to a sweeping victory for his party in next year's midterm elections. He would like to believe that the young, well-spoken president's victory was a fluke, an aberration, the result of misplaced hope that is quickly fading. The story he tells is a familiar one. If only it were 1993
While reading Compton's column, I was reminded of something Sen. Pat Moynihan (D-New York) once said: "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." In this case, the facts don't seem to support the proposition that Republican gubernatorial victories signal any substantial shift in the voters' view of the Obama administration. Nor do they represent any kind of dramatic realignment like we saw in 1994. The results do tell us a lot about the issues voters care about in Virginia and New Jersey: the economy and taxes.
Using off-year elections to make this kind of prediction is much like auguring the future fortunes of the polity by studying the flight of birds. (The Romans actually did this, and elections could be rendered invalid by inaugural error.) It may mean a lot for the birds, but not much for 2010.
For those of you who haven't kept up on recent political
DANTHOMPSON
hostilities, I'll reprise the latest election results. In Virginia's gubernatorial election, Republican Bob McDonald defeated Democrat Cree Deeds, and in New Jersey, incumbent governor Jon Corzine, a Democrat, was unseated by Republican Chris Christie.
When voters in Virginia and New Jersey were asked if they were voting to express their opinion about President Barack Obama, clear majorities in both states said it was not part of the decision, according to exit polls reported by ABC. Among those who did say that was an important factor, the majority claimed that they supported the president. These races were decided upon local issues, and in both cases, the Republicans had the better candidate and ran the better campaign.
In Virginia, Cree Deeds' bid for the governorship seemed to solely consist of attacking Republican Bob McDonald as a right-wing ideologue based upon a thesis he wrote two decades ago in graduate school. Contrary to Deeds' negative, one-dimensional campaign, McDonald emphasized
a positive message based upon improving infrastructure and the economy.
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Governor Corzine, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, was extraordinarily unpopular going into the race. The only way he stood any chance at all of re-election was by running an especially negative campaign, which, among other things, featured an ad hinting that his overweight opponent "threw his weight around" to get special favors. Christie, a former federal prosecutor, ran an effective campaign highlighting the state's property tax rate - the highest in the nation - and its poor economy.
In the last five gubernatorial elections, New Jersey and Virginia have always voted for the same party, and always for the party that is not in control of the White House. In 1997, the last time Republicans won the governorships in those two states, the Democrats picked up five House of Representative seats the following year.
Many conservative pundits, including Compton, have divined a connection between these races and an impending realignment in national politics, but I think the facts speak for themselves. This election was anything but extraordinary.
Thompson is a Topeka senior in economics.
CONTRIBUTED COLUMN
Get busy on health care
For evidence that a strong public option is all that is needed to reduce costs, one need only to read the letter to the Senate by the presidents of America's Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, which stated that a government plan would have "built-in advantages" that would allow it to "take over the health insurance market" because of its inherent efficiencies.
The current commentary on the news consists of attempts to discern how best to hold back the rising health care costs. Despite the many intellectuals, the position maintained by the public - that of a strong government health insurance plan like single-payer, Medicare for all, or a robust public option paying Medicare rates — is always notably absent.
In light of America's existing democracy — where it's no secret that a special interest group can kill even moderate health care reform despite, and with no regard to, the preferences of the American public — it's no surprise that authentic health care reform is not being proposed. The reason is quite obvious: It doesn't reflect the interests of the Washington's real constituents.
The cost inefficiencies are no accident. Negotiations behind closed doors — despite campaign promises — between the Obama administration and industry representatives, through the Senate Finance Committee, reflect the relations of power. The pharmaceutical and hospital industries made deals with the administration to limit their cost reductions to $80 and $155 billion, respectively, during the next 10 years.
In addition, details of the PhRMA deal have been leaked. The contents of the leak outline the dictations of the
pharmaceutical industry.
The White House would oppose any legislative effort to repeal a generous rebate awarded during a Republican Congress, oppose importation of cheaper drugs, oppose repeal of the law disallowing negotiated drug prices, oppose moving "infusion drugs" to Medicare D where they would get paid less and impose the above mentioned cost reduction limit. Then the reform would be suitable, nay, even beneficial.
Change that we can believe in is possible. A good solution sits idly in a room filled with grandiose debate. But it doesn't seem as if the proper way forward can be paved without the resolution of our current democratic crisis, where the affairs of the country ought to be directed to "protect the minority of the opulent against the majority," as James Madison once said.
Until we can improve upon our state of democracy, politics will stay, in the words of John Dewey, "the shadow cast on society by biie business"
It's also worth keeping in mind that real change is not granted from above, but rather comes from organized popular pressure, much of which has been student-led in recent decades.
To take one recent example, the United Students Against Sweatshops recently forced apparel company Russel to rehire Honduras workers who had been fired for organizing into a union. This, however, did not happen overnight; rather, it resulted from 10 years of building a movement. As Bill Moyers would say, don't just get mad. Get busy.
— John Kenny is a 2009 graduate from Leavenworth. He was a columnist during the spring semester for The University Daily Kansan.
Pro-choice protection
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Recently adopted by the House of Representatives, the Stupak-Pitts Amendment makes it virtually impossible for private insurance companies that would participate in the new health care system to offer abortion coverage to women, even though more than 85 percent of private insurance plans cover abortion services.
"In other words, the Stupak Pitts Amendment forces plans in the exchange to make a difficult choice; either offer their product to 80 percent of consumers in the marketplace or offer abortion services in their benefits package," according to a press release from NARAL Pro-Choice America. "It seems clear which choice they will make."
The Stupak-Pitts Amendment forbids any plan offering abortion coverage in the new system from accepting even one subsidized customer. Because more than 80 percent of the participants in the exchange will be subsidized, it seems certain all health plans will seek and accept these individuals.
Stupak supporters claim
women who require subsidies to help pay for their insurance plan will have abortion access through the option of purchasing a "rider," a false promise. In the five states that require a separate rider for abortion coverage, there is no evidence plans offer these riders, according to the National Women's Law Center.
Nothing in this amendment would ensure rider policies are available or affordable to the more than 80 percent of individuals who will receive federal subsidies in order to help purchase coverage in the new exchange.
But it's not too late. Something can be done to stop this amendment from becoming a part of health care reform. Join the Commission on the Status of Women at the University in calling Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kan.) at 202-225-2865 or the Capital Switchboard at 888-423-5983 (tell them what state you're from) and demand that our government protects our reproductive rights.
— Jessica Harman is a sophomore from Topeka.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Breanna Hawley, Jessica Saina Baird, Jennifer Foster, Carlin Thinburgh, Carlthin Rothwell and Michael Holtz.