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Tuesday, October 5, 1993
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE
Thousands of American women are denied the right to an abortion because they cannot afford the procedure.
THE BACKGROUND
On Sept. 28, the Senate voted to uphold a 17-year-old ban on Medicare's ability to fund abortions.
- The Opinion
Funding would ensure equal access to abortion
In 1973, the Supreme Court made a promise to the women of America. In the case of Roe v. Wade, it guaranteed the option of abortion as a fundamental right. This ruling is still the law of the land in the United States, but for hundreds of thousands of women, the promise is empty.
Although these women are legally empowered to have an abortion, they are economically constrained from doing so. The right to an abortion has become an entitlement of the rich in America. On Sept. 28, the Senate demonstrated their continued approval of this desperate situation by blocking a move to lift restrictions on the funding of abortions by Medicare.
Senators in the majority on this vote relied on two arguments. First, they contend that American abortion opponents would be forced to pay for abortions, something to which they are morally opposed. But such a position ignores the fact that Americans do not have a personal veto over every item in the federal budget. Many Americans held moral opposition to the Persian Gulf War, but their tax dollars still subsidized B-52 bomber upkeep and Bradley fighting vehicles.
The deeper concern that opponents of Medicare abortion funding harbor is that abortions are being subsidized at all. This constituency feels that they should prevent every abortion they can, regardless of the means. But activist abortion opponents must be careful not to catch poor women in their crossfire. America has made the decision that abortion is legal now that decision must be supported by Medicare funds. Anti-abortion advocates should take issue with Roe v. Wade itself, not the legislative protections the decision must engender. But for now, abortion is considered a fundamental right by the Supreme Court, and Medicare funding is necessary to actualize that right.
The issue of abortion funding will take on added significance in upcoming months as the Clintons' health care plan is debated. The bill, as originally proposed, covers abortion funding by Medicare. However, a heavy debate is expected, and correspondence with your legislators could be influential at this important juncture. We must fulfill the promise our Supreme Court made in 1973, because a right which cannot be executed is not a right at all.
KIRK REDMOND FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
United States sending no clear signal to world
On the evidence of his speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations, President Clinton still lacks "the vision thing."
No incoming president would have found it easy to replace the simple verities of the Cold War with a complex foreign policy. But the charge of incoherence neverless wounds. Given America's superpower status its presidents need to cut a dash in the world. Judged by the standards of Clinton's own intellectual pretensions his world vision appears decidedly hazy.
Clinton praised the U.N. humanitarian effort in Bosnia and pledged American support for a peace agreement. What that promise of support means is still unclear.
Clinton has called for a NATO summit in January to clarify the alliance's role. There were no pointers in his speech. Will NATO extend its security interests eastward from its core area? Will it take in new members? Will America really police a peace agreement in Bosnia? The hungry sheep look up and are not fed.
THE TIMES LONDON
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Variety of right-wing candidates ideal in leading the nation in '96
Although the next Presidential election isn't for another three years, I don't think it's too early to look at the possible field that is building. Unless things go really bad, instead of just bad, Clinton will probably get the Democratic Party's nomination. What about the Republicans? Jack Kemp has been mentioned, and he's moderate enough to scare me. But there are others who may run as well. What follows is a list of my choices for the Republican Party nomination in 1996.
1) Jesse Helms, I could go on and on about his 1990 Senatorial campaign, when the weekend before the election he ran blatantly racist television ads to defeat Harvey Gantt; or about his philistine approach to art; or his fervent support of tobacco growers; or his hatred of homosexuals. But the event that clinched my love for Helms occurred this summer. Carol Moseley Braun challenged an amendment Helms sponsored that would have renewed a design patent that included the Confederate flag. When she won, he got his revenge by whistling "Dixie" to her in an elevator until she
STAFF COLUMNIST.
put Christianity back in our schools
cried. It's this kind of compassion for the causes of others that makes him an obvious candidate.
—and in our homes, our beds and probably even our refrigerators. Those who aren't Christian need not apply. On a special edition of William F. Buckley's "Firing Line," Robertson said that if elected President, he wouldn't appoint non-Christians or non-Jews to public office. When asked why, he replied, "Would you like to have Muammar Qaddafi as Secretary of Defense?" I didn't know Qaddafa represented all Muslims. But what put Robertson on this list is his famous quote that the proposed equal rights amendment "is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians." Toward the remark, Patricia Ireland, the head of the National Organization for Women, replied, "Four out of fiveain't bad." Robertson's open-mindedness should be embraced by everyone.
2) Bob Dole. The New York Times seems to be obsessed with him. And for good reason: The day after the 1992 election, he groubled that Clinton better watch out because he had been elected by only 43 percent of the people. It was certainly the best way to make new friends. Time and again, Dole has proven himself to be abrasive and mean-spirited. And who knows? Pat Buchanan's antagonism surely helped the Republicans in 1992. Maybe Dole's antagonism will help in 1996.
4) Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh delights in, as he puts it, using the logic of his opponents to expose their illicit. But what Limbaugh does —
3) Pat Robertson. Robertson will
and what I've seen very few liberals do — is quote one person and apply it to all liberals. Using Limbaugh's logic, I could take an old quote from David Duke, one from his Ku Klux Klan days, and say that this kind of fascist thinking is just what those damn conservatives are all about because Duke claims to be a conservative. While not opposed overly to minorities, Limbaugh reserves most of his anger for those who say they are treated wrong in this country. What put him on this list, other than the wacky calls for him to run in 1996, is that his fans are fond of saying, "Rush is right." Back in the 1930s, there was a similar saying, "Mussolini is always right."
Any one of these four would be a good choice for 1996. All represent singularity in thought: A desire to turn the clock back to the 1950s. It is a desire, as I recently read on a bumper sticker, to return to what made this country great: guns, guts and God. And it is a sure ticket for another Democratic president in 1996.
Nathan Olson is a Chicago graduate student In English.
Elvis was too much of a trendsetter to do his shopping in a'60's jumpsuit
A woman named Louise saw Elvis Presley at a Grocermart in Oklahoma City, Okla. He was wearing a white polyester jump suit and gold chains and was thin. Another sighting was reported five minutes later in Dallas, Texas. This time he was sporting a terry cloth jogging suit and sixty extra pounds. I was amazed that not only was Elvis alive and fluctuating in weight but that he was an extremely fast traveler.
The "supposed" death of Elvis occurred on August 16, 1977. Thousands of people still question whether he is really dead. These are just a few of their reasons: Elvis's middle name "Aron" is spelled wrong on his gravestone, his life insurance policy was never claimed, and his death certificate has disappeared. Also, the weight listed on his original death certificate was 170 pounds even though
he weighed 250 pounds when he died. These facts may raise some doubts about his death, but do they really confirm sightings? No.
1) Would Elvis really go through the hassle of hoaxing his own death and then show up at the local grocery store?
2) And if he did go to the grocery store, would he appear in his trademark jumpsuit? Not only would the
I don't believe every Elvis sighting is a con. I think a lot of people actually think they do see Elvis. The ever growing number of Elvis imperson-
Every Elvis sighting seems to occur amid strange circumstances, and it usually revolves around a jogging suit, a jumpsuit and a grocery store. The people in the grocery stores that report the sightings remind me of Peggy and Al Bundy on the T.V. show "Married with Children" when they claimed Al's sweat stain was in the shape of Elvis. I would like to read about an Elvis sighting somewhere else, like maybe at Dairy Queen.
ators could be the reason. There are impersonators from the ages of five to the mid-70s. These people actually make a living off of this. They do benefits, birthday parties and even Las Vegas.
I don't believe he is making appearances at every local grocery store in the United States. I would imagine he has other means of obtaining groceries, but I could be wrong.
Who knows? Maybe Elvis is still alive. If so, he is making a very wise business decision by making more money being dead than he did alive.
He could be living with Jim Morrison in Oklahoma, singing and hanging out waiting for their neighbors Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix to come over.
jumpsuit draw attention, it would be out of character for him to be wearing one 16 years later. Elvis was a trendsetter.
For the Birds
Tisha Heyka is a Leawood senior majoring in psychology and creative writing.
3) Is Elvis so phenomenal that he can travel from Oklahoma City to Dallas in fifteen minutes? Probably not.
by Jeff Fitzpatrick