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Wednesday, February 8, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Congressmen shouldn't be wimps,should take raise
But congressmen deserve the raise and should have courage to say so publicly.
Congress' rejection of its $45,500 pay increase wasn't simply a matter of money. Constituents' concerns were on the line and so were the legislators' jobs.
of their convictions to say so publicly.
The congressional pay raise was recommended by a bipartisan commission — a fail-safe, responsibility-free way to boost legislators' salaries from $89,500 to $135,000 — and would have gone into effect without congressional action. Yesterday, the House of Representatives concurred with the Senate in rejecting the raise.
Many legislators who wanted the raise wanted to avoid the vote and the inevitable wrath of constituents who would be upset about it.
They could've waited until the day after the voting deadline, just as they did two years ago, the last time they were confronted with the pay issue. Congress voted against the raise then — a day late but definitely not a dollar short. They were $12,400* richer and relatively blame-free.
Not this time, however. Legislators displayed some backbone when they persuaded House Speaker Jim Wright to call for a vote. But when the constituents raised a fuss, members of Congress couldn't stand up for themselves and vote for their raise.
Pay-raise politics is petty when the congressmen's jobs are on the line. Letters of opposition flooded their offices. Legislators shuddered to think what the letters would say if they had voted for the raise.
But those facts are useless unless legislators do something about them. Pay raises will never be popular with the electorate. Congressmen shouldn't be wimps. They should vote according to their convictions.
But congressmen say they need raises. Congressional pay hasn't kept up with inflation, and the cost of living in two houses has to be considered, too. Some argue that a better salary would entice higher quality candidates to run for Congress.
Would the 475 legislators who voted against the measure have given back the $45,500 if the increase would have taken effect without a vote?
Probably not, but they know they deserve it.
Probably not, but they know they deserve it. jolic Adam for the editorial board
Secure Cab idea still one that could benefit students
You stumble out into the cold, searching for your car keys. The bartender had offered to call you a cab, but you decline
- you spent your last $1.25 on another bottle of Bud Light. The roads are icy and your vision's blurry, but you have no choice. You climb into your car and start the engine.
Once, you would have been able to ride free, and secure in the "tipi-paxi" But no more. Secure Shuttle — a derivation of Secure Cab — ceased operation recently because the contractor, Corporate Coach of Lawrence, filed for bail.
Corporate Coach of Lawrence, filed for bankruptcy. The Student Senate-sponsored Secured Cab began in 1986 as a free taxi ride for students who were too drunk to drive or did not feel safe walking home. The service was an apt example of how student money could be spent on the well-being of students.
Last year the program switched to the Secure Shuttle, which was a free van that ran a specific route every night, stopping at area bars and campus locations.
However, the shuttle program was inefficient compared with the taxi arrangement. The Senate last year decided not to pay the increased cab fare of $4 per ride and substituted the program with the shuttle. But because only 11 to 15 students each week rode the van, which cost the Senate $17.25 an hour, the Senate paid an average of $37.50 a rider.
The shuttle also ran a specific route, leaving many students waiting for rides. The taxis were a demand-response system, and were more cost efficient and user friendly.
Senate has said that it is studying options for another service, more like the original cab service rather than the shuttle.
Now is the perfect time for Senate to re-evaluate the program. Students need the service, but deserve a return on their money. The taxi rides are more cost efficient and more convenient for students.
Jill Jess for the editorial board
News staff
Julie Adam ... Editor
Karen Boring ... Managing editor
Jill Jess ... News editor
Deb Gruver ... Planning editor
James Farquhar ... Editorial editor
Elaine Sung ... Campus editor
Tom Stinson ... Sports editor
Janine Swiatkowski ... Photo editor
Drive Fames ... Graphics editor
Noel Gerdes ... Arts/Features editor
Tom Eblen ... General manager, news adviser
Business staff
Debra Cole ... Business manager
Pam Noe ... Retail sales manager
Kevin Martin ... Campus sales manager
Scott Frager ... National sales manager
Michelle Garland ... Promotions manager
Brad Lenhart ... Marketing manager
Linda Prokop ... Production manager
Debra Martin ... Aast. production manager
Kim Colman ... Co-op sales manager
Cari Cressler ... Classified manager
Jeanne Hines ... Sales and marketing adviser
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Snow job deserves cold shoulder
T here is more than snow blowing in Alaska these days. A little political smoke also is in the wind. In a dog political move, Steve Cow
in a tent poffettish. The record, Alaska, was thirteen last week's record-setting freeze to be a state of emergency Federal money was forthcoming. But was it necessary?
In a land where a "cheechako" like me has camped under under the northern lights a time or two in 72 degrees below zero. I find the following more than coincidental:
In a fiscal year during which the state lost its gambit for Winter Olympic sponsorship, during which Anchorage, the largest city and home to one-half of the state's population, is bankrupt, and during which the state economy is at a low level, Alaska decides that the Arctic is too cold.
But Alaska is synonymous with cold. Its people have developed their culture around it. Remedies, and even the language itself, are devoted to the issue.
Tom
Wilhelm
In Kotebue, an innapa village north of the Arctic Circle, an Eskimo told me that "koch" would keep me warm. The batch of the pungent stuff was burbling in a Folgers coffee can on the
Staff columnist
Another time I met a wisened Athkabascan near the village of Minto. He ran a trap line by himself throughout the winter, so I figured he would be a good source of information on keeping warm. He said that as long as you kept your jacket up, you were safe; however, he gave the "kuluk" an Arctic寒流. He was right, as I later learned. More than 30 percent of your body heat is lost through your appendages.
stone, so I figured to give this arctic remedy a try. Although it is difficult for us non-natives to keep down a swig of boiled seal fat, the Eskimos have learned the cold survival lesson of keeping the body's core hydrated with warm liquids.
An Aleut from Cold Bay once described how his tribe managed the stormy winters, which claimed more causalities than those in nihisese in the war of World War II. He explained that seal-skin suits kept the body dry
and that was key. Modern polyprolene clothing and good 'ol New England duck shoes have replaced the more traditional garb. But he was right, too. Dry is key.
Finally a young pipeline worker told me how he managed to stay alive out-of-doors in Prudhoe Bay when the "hawk flew." He said that he wore everything he owned or could borrow, but not enough to cut off his circulation. And the concept of a prisoner who had been accepted as correct, dress for winter survival.
So with timely and time-proven techniques of living in the Arctic, or in Kansas, I'm not sure where the relief money is going. It can't be going to the folks in the banana belt of Anchorage who have finally experienced a taste of normal Fairbanks weather; it can't be for the sour-doughs in Fairbanks whose normal routine includes preheating cars and equipment, making sure the refrigerators are cool and that it can't be for the natives out on the tundra who would, no doubt, astound the Juneau bureaucrats with their ancient warning that translates, "When it's cold outside, stay inside."
- Tom Wilhelm is a Lawrence graduate student in Soviet/East European Studies.
Reagan's legacy
I find it most disturbing to see that Christopher Wilson feels Ronald Reagan should go down as one of our country's great presidents (Jan. 31 Kansan). In order to judge Reagan's presidency, one must examine all the legacies left by our 40th president, not just those Wilson chooses. There are moments that Wilson and Reagan would like the United States to forget.
Wilson suggests that Reagan was a president who came in and single-handedly beat inflation. Why is it that in Wilson's discussion of Reaganism, he failed to give any attention to the economic problems Reagan caused, primarily the defect? Wilson would like everyone to believe that this is the fault of tax-and-spend liberals in Congress, but Reagan must take equal blame for that mess. Reagan has left a debt we all will be paying for long after Reagan has hidden off into the sunset. There are universities under Reagan, the United States has become a prosperous country. They cannot explain, however, how we are going to pay off our huge national debt. Even David Stockman, Reagan's own budget director, found this unlikely.
of valuable forest land for timber and fuel.
Wilson suggests that since Reagan has come
and gone, patriotism has been made into
something you can feel in your heart. Unless
he sees patriotism as Reagan does: "I got
mine; you get nothing." That patriotism is
only for those who would force the coining of
the term "slueza factor."
Reagan also will be remembered for the tremendous lack of ethics in his administration. Wilson assumes that we can easily forget the names Anne Gorsuch Burford, Edwin Mankoff, Michael Penn Doxter and James Watt and their abuses, such as Wedtech, Iran-contra, misappropriation of the Environmental Protection Agency's slush fund, influence pedding and the selling
Who is Wilson to say that, thanks to Reagan and his unbending confidence in constitutional principles, we are now more patriotic country? Perhaps, but only if you measure patriotism by how many flags are sold and how often we are forced to pledge allegiance to them.
It galls me to see Wilson comparing Reagan to F.D.R. and then to shrug off the failures of the Reagan administration as merely meritorious criticisms. If those are meritorious criticisms, you would not have attempted to ignore them in hopes that we would have as well? Naah!
Gavin Fritton Topeka law student
Gavin Fritton
Environmental priority
In reply to the editorial "Soup and smoke don't mix" (Feb. 2): It often turns out that one can't see the forest for the trees. Or to change that slightly, the way our air is headed, you won't be able to see the smoke for the trees. If you look at a factory, it looks like an air-polluting industries, automobiles, buses, trucking lines, and generators and try to do something about them?
The Environmental Protection Agency is more concerned with wooing big business than watching the air, as demonstrated by the lowering of standards. If all the people who are demonstrating their indignation at smokers were to unite, maybe they could get
something really significant done with the governmental agencies that are supposed to be guarding our environment. But then it's easier to pick on a minority than to tackle business and government. However, if something's not done, we'll all be breathing souplike air — not just smoke.
Source: Steinbuch
Joyce Steinbuch Olathe graduate student
Embarrassed fan
He was embarrassed to be at Allen Field House on Feb. 1. I was not ashamed of the Kansas basketball players, nor of the coaches. No, it was the KU fans and the unsportsmanlike conduct they displayed during the Kansas-Missouri game.
Granted, it is upsetting to be losing to a rival, and worse, to have that rival bring with them a rather vocal and demonstrative group of fans. However, chanting obscene phrases at the team and their fans only makes the Jayhawk fans look childish and silly. After all, it is ridiculous to chant phrases describing how bad Missouri is, or how badly we are going to beat them, when they are beating us by a huge margin!
Calling Missouri players names and yelling obscene phrases at the referees is uncalled for. Although it may be true that referees miss some calls, they are doing their best to be fair.
I have been a big fan of Kansas basketball for many years. I think the field house is a wonderful, exciting place to go see great basketball. I think it would be a lot more beneficial and encouraging to our team if we support them in a positive manner, instead of resorting to negative, childish chants whenever the game isn't going our way.
Donna Gullett Lawrence graduate student
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed
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