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Wednesday, September 29, 1993
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE
The Kansas Board of Healing Arts is holding hearings on whether to allow Kansas physician Yolanda Huet-Vaughn to retain her license to practice.
THE BACKGROUND
Huet-Vaughn refused to serve with her Army Reserve unit in the Persian Gulf, stating that when she joined the Reserves, she did not expect a war to break out and that she objected to the war on moral grounds. The Army punished Huet-Vaughn by dishonorably discharging her and sentencing her to eight months in prison.
THE OPINION
Huet-Vaughn has done her time. Her poor record in the military has no bearing on her ability to practice medicine, and that ability is the question in this case.
Huet-Vaughn did time shouldn't suffer twice
The Kansas Board of Healing Arts should not revoke Yolanda Huet-Vaughn's license to practice medicine. It has no reason to do so. Huet-Vaughn paid her debt to society and should not be forced to pay twice for her crime.
Make no mistake; what Huet-Vaughn did was wrong. She enlisted in the Army Reserves and took the government's money, but when it came time to do her duty, she backed out. In the face of war, her moral beliefs suddenly appeared.
To punish her again for a crime she has already paid for is unnecessary. The Kansas medical board's pursuance of Huet-Vaughn smacks of a political witchhunt for a person who held an unpopular view. The Kansas Board of Healing Arts should stick to medicine and leave military discipline to the military.
While the rest of Huet-Vaughn's unit reported for duty, she remained behind, a deserter. The Army court-martialed Huet-Vaughn and found her guilty. She was issued a dishonorable discharge and an eight-month prison sentence, which she has served.
One may wonder why she joined the Reserves in the first place. According to Huet-Vaughn, she did not think a war was likely. As an adult, she was expected to know the rules. She saw no moral conflict until Desert Shield began.
MIKE SILVERMAN FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Harvest of Arts festival downtown is place to be
Downtown Lawrence has been buzzing with activity. The Harvest of Arts festival has taken over Lawrence and will continue through Sunday, Oct. 3. The festival is a great way to support local artists. It also provides an avenue for experiencing diverse and entertaining exhibits and shows. Most of the festival events are free or have nominal fees and range from a street dance to alternative theater. The festival will culminate Sunday with the unveiling of the Community Mural on the north wall of the Johnson Furniture building.
Festival organizers and local businesses have spent a great deal of time coordinating the week-long celebration. Take a break from your busy schedule and go to the festival. Even if you can only attend one exhibit or show, your contribution will be appreciated. For information about events, call 865-0114.
Too often, we take for granted the diversity and talent that the University and community have to offer. Support the festival. You might be surprised how much you enjoy the arts.
MANNY LOPEZ FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
There is such a thing as a stupid question
People all over are stupid. The best time to see this stupidity is during a crisis of some sort. Real or imagined, large or small, it doesn't matter. Well, actually, come to think of it, you can see it anime.
Take, for instance, this Kenny Draymond thing last week. Remember? The guy who played football here at KU and then went to prison in Arizona for rape, sodomy and comma misplacement? Well, the police put fliers up in the dorms, and since I live in a dorm, I got to hear what people had to say about it.
Here's how it works: The higher the
I strategically stationed myself near the front desk because the front desk is a very important looking fixture in the lobby where people usually take all their stupid questions to the person sitting behind it. I sat with pen and paper in hand — in the interest of journalistic accuracy — and recorded all I saw and heard. Later, I went back to my room, and through a very complicated, technical and accurate — acrit, as we say in Wyoming — mathematical formula, found the exact Stupid Quotient (SQ) of each response. I have prepared my report, and will be submitting it to a congressional task force subcommittee's members' secretaries' assistant, at which point its impact should be felt far and wide. So remember, you read it here first. All these are actual responses I heard to the fliers on the walls — just ask me.
SQ, the stupider the question or comment. Please excuse the technical jargon. It's unavoidable in a report of this significance. Here are the results:
"Why is he coming here?" This one was quite common and could be seen as a legitimate question if the information wasn't so easily obtained from more appropriate sources than the person they were standing next to, which was usually whom they were asking. SQ: 106.32.
"What's sodomy?" Not very stupid. Some people just don't know what the key words in many front-page type news items like the Bottoms ruling and all its after effects mean. SQ: 220.
"Are you guys serious about this?" Now we're getting into some of the stupider stuff. This is a stupid question no matter how you look at it. It was asked mostly of the desk assistant and security monitors, who, while they may have given the tape to the cops to put the fliers up, obviously are not responsible for the actual filers and their content. I suppose the people asking this question thought
something like this: The desk assistant or security monitor comes home from a hard day at class and checks his or her answering-machine messages. Lo and behold, there's one from the Arizona Cops, personal friends of theirs, saying that their mutual arch enemy, Kenny D., has escaped and is headed for the Lawrence area. Could they please warn everybody. After a bite to eat, they go to Kinko's, make some fliers and hang them up...or is it all a joke? Even if the proper people had been around to ask, it would be a stupid question. How often does KUPD play pranks like that? Assume it wasn't KUPD at all, just some prankster kids, and it's still a stupid question. What does it hurt, after all, to play it safe anyway? SQ: 3,457.
"He's in a lot of trouble when they catch him." No kidding? They don't just give you a slap on the wrist for those these days? Boy, times have changed. SQ: 4,000,14159.
"Have you seen him?" What kind of response besides "no" can be given to this one? Uh, yeah. I saw him in the bathroom on your floor. Was I supposed to say something to somebody about it? SQ: 5.643.
"How are we supposed to recognize him? All black guys look the same." SQ: incalculably large.
Conclusion: People can be stupider than I thought.
Ryan McGee is a Worland, Wyo., sophomore.
NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Television encourages our culture of violence
Congressional efforts to curb violence on television received a dash of cold water with the testimony of Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, who dismissed media violence as primarily reflective of a pervasive problem in American culture.
Her description of television as a passive agent, however, is in contrast to numerous studies that have linked violent behavior among children with what they watch on television.
preoccupation with violence, but help promote a culture of violence. To limit the effect of television violence on children, some congressmen have recommended the use of existing technology to allow parents to block out violent programming on their television sets at all times. Others have suggested federal laws that would require the medium to diminish its level of violent programming.
The point is that the violent acts dramatically presented on television not only reflect the nation's
In her testimony, Dr. Elders described violence in America as a "critical public health issue," and urged that its root causes be dealt with. No one would suggest that television is solely or even largely responsible for violence in this
nation. Yet there is wide agreement by researchers that television plays a significant role in promoting violence.
So far, the industry has taken preliminary steps to reduce the pervasive level of violence on television only under the threat of congressional intervention. Despite Dr. Elders' lack of enthusiasm for those efforts, Congress should keep up the pressure. If the administration wants to cozy up the industry by downplaying the importance of this issue, Congress shouldn't.
The Post and Courier Charleston, S.C.
JIM KIMMEL Government lacks needed trust to fix health care
We are beginning to seriously talk about health care. As usual we are somewhat late in addressing the issue. One of the biggest problems that we have as a nation is a refusal to confront important issues until they become crises. For 12 years the Republicans talked about wasteful government spending while the presidents signed budgets that created the largest deficits in history. The Democrats were no better, gladly helping the Republicans increase the deficits. Now when they tell us that in order to solve the federal budget problem, spending must be cut and taxes raised. Since they have been telling us for so long that we didn't really have to do either, their credibility is gone. Small wonder their talk of shared sacrifice finds a skeptical public. Now a new president along with the old Congress is attempting to improve the way we handle health care. But many of us are skeptical.
Our national government has lost our trust. Most Americans no longer believe that it acts in their best interest. However most people like their representatives and senators, they see them as the lone good servants looking out for their voters' interest. When people no longer believe in their government's ability to make their lives better, then it is a very short step to believing that they would be better off without it.
The problem can be fixed with some reforms that have already been suggested. First and most important, term limits for both senators and representatives. I hate to quote Ross Perot, but we do need people who serve and then go home.
Second, campaign finance reform. Contributions should be limited to $100 for both individual and groups. Contributions should also come only from the area that the representatives and senators represent. Is it really necessary for people all over the nation to contribute to Bob Dole's reelection in Kansas, or Bob Kerry's in Nebraska? Third, the free trips that political action committees and other groups provide in exchange for speeches should be eliminated. Some members of Congress travel on these free vacations almost every weekend. It's called buying access to the system, but it is really buying votes. After all, if someone had just bought you and your family a expenses-paid weekend in Aspen, and told you how much they wanted you to come back next year, their side of an issue could make a lot more sense.
The national health care proposal has the potential to have the greatest impact on all Americans since social security was created during the 1930s. For the first time all Americans could have their health care guaranteed, just as we now try to guarantee financial security in retirement. This is an important contract that we are making. Without that trust it will be very difficult for any plan to gain the public support necessary for passage. It will be very unfortunate if a program that could do so many of us so much good is ruined because we have a political system that no one is willing to trust.
Jim Kimmel is a McLouth junior majoring in history and sociology.
KANSAN STAFF
KC TRAUER, Editor
STAFF COLUMNIST
JOE HARDER, CHRISTINE LAUE Managing editors
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
BILL SKEET, Systems coordinator
editor
Assistant to the editor ... J.R. Clairbome
News ... Stacy Friedman
Editorial ... Terrilyn McCormick
Campus ... Ben Grove
Sports ... Kristi Fogler
Photo ... Kip Chin, Renese Knoeber
Features ... Erza Wolfe
Graphics ... John Paul Fogel
TOM EBLEN
Business Staff
by Joel Francke
Business Start
Campus sales mgr ... Ed Schager
Regional Sales mgr ... Jennifer Perrier
National sales mgr ... Jennifer Evanson
Co-op sales mgr ... Blythe Focht
Production mgrs ... Jennifer Blowey
... Kate Burgess
Marketing director ... Shelly McConnell
Creative director ... Brian Fusco
Classified mgr ... Janice Davis
AMY CASEY
Business manager
AMY STUMBO
Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES
Sales and marketing adviser
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