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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 2000)
Opinion Daz/yNebraskan Since 1901 ?| Editor Sarah Baker Opinion Page Editor Samuel McKewon Managing Editor Bradley Davis Defining flaw Amendment includes more than just gay people Over the summer, some of Nebraska’s most conservative and Christian citizens worked on getting signatures in support of the Defense of Marriage Amendment. The amendment states: “Only marriage between a man and woman shall be valid or recognized in Nebraska. The uniting of two persons of the same sex in a civil union, domestic partnership or other similar same sex relationship shall not be valid or recog nized in Nebraska.” \No matter how people feel about the topic of gay rights, this amendment is flawed. Severely. And these flaws will most likely translate into a Nebraska Supreme Court case if the amendment passes. • After talking to three lawyers in private firms and the Nebraska American Civil Liberties Union, one major problem with the amendment becomes clear. The term “domestic partner ship” has already been used in Nebraska state law, but its meaning is very different from two gay people living together. Instead, it refers to two peo ple within the state of Nebraska who have formed a partnership to run a business. In most cases, this form of domestic partnership occurs between a father and a son who enter into a partnership to run the family farms. Technically, the passing of the Defense of Marriage Amendment would nullify such partnerships. So the conserva So the con servative farmers who signed onto the petition to keep mar riage pure may in fact have to go to courts to fight for the part- i nership that runs . their fami ly farms. tive farmers who signed onto the petition to keep marriage pure may in fact have to go to the courts to fight for the partnership that runs their family farm. Another possible court appeal could come from a student at this university. Currently, the University of Nebraska Lincoln offers students the option of purchas ing insurance that would cover their domestic partner. If this amendment passes, the contract the student signed with the insurance company could be deemed illegal. Lawsuits could ensue from that breach of contract. This amendment would most certainly bar public institutions such as UNL, the city of Lincoln and Lancaster County from offering domestic partner benefits to their employees. But the impact that this amendment would have on private businesses is unclear. Qwest, one of Nebraska's biggest telephone companies, currently offers its employees domestic partner benefits. If this amendment passes, they could potentially be banned from providing such benefits. That could cause Qwest to lose some of its workers and hinder them from hiring apt workers. The Chicago Tribune recently reported that nearly one out of 10 businesses around the country offers domestic partner benefits to attract the best workers. Businesses need to be competitive, and this amendment could hin der their ability to compete in Nebraska. Regardless how strongly people oppose gay relationships, the flaws of this amendment cannot be ignored. Editorial Board Sarah Baker, Bradley Davis, Josh Funk, Matthew Hansen, Samuel McKewon, Dane Stickney, Kimberly Sweet Letters Policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes bnefs, tetters to the editor and guest columns, but does not guar antee their publication. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject any material submitted. Submitted material becomes property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be published. Those who submit letters must identify themselves by name, year in school, major and/or group affiliation, if any. Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 20 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St Lincoln, NE 68588-0448. E mail: lettersdunlinfo.unl.edu. Editorial Policy Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Fall 2000 Daily Nebraskan. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nebraska- Lincoln, its employees, its student body or the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. A column is solely the opinion of its author a cartoon is solely the orinton of its artist The Board of Regents acts as publisher of the Daily Nebraskan; poli cy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. The UNL Publications Board, established by the regents, supervises the production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsi bility for the editorial content of the newspaper Ires solely r the hands of its employees. ♦ V ✓ VjHoA, Stow DOWN THKe, MCM RgOYOg-HAPPy PAPER-TOSSEr. YOU WAV HAVE WoaJ pAicy NEBRASKAN"5 WHo-wawts-to gg-A-STAFF-MgAiefR 2ooo Cowrgsr/ ip you* copy of vesTBfidtsi’S FApeR iNcmpgs -me page £and? (tAWe pay FBATO^e, You area maw&p' trust gRlMCr WR /.Ktlcy DM 16 SMR oFpte in me gAsewgNT of me UNION AND YOU CAW 6FAI£S!6N£R pbR A PAY' pOH'TVBUtj PI6- nmm THAT TRASH! anp Be HeRe bi 5. J _U -V" \ 47 NealObermeyer/DN Letters to the editor Oh Neal... Read the cartoon in the August 31 edition of the Daily Nebraskan. I read it five or six times, and I just do not get it Is Neal Obermeyer trying to make fun of Jay Mohr, the university or huskers.com? Jay Mohr is a first-class comedian. He was a cast member on SNL and currently is the star of his own sitcom “Action.” He is the only act that UNL has brought to campus that is capable of exciting stu dents. His imitation of Christopher Walken is legendary, . and mocking his brilliance is far from comical. It seems like a good idea to broadcast Jay Mohr’s show on the Internet. If UNL wants to become a first class university it has to try new technologie;, this seems like as good an opportunity as any. For one, I am incredibly excited that UPC has stepped up to the plate and brought in a top flight act, and I can’t wait for Oct 24. The biggest joke in Neal Obermeyer’s Aug. 31 car toon is his poor, confusing, pathetic sense of humor. Jamie Q.Tallman English In the dicir Is America truly a democracy? How can we feel free when there are so many "Americans” doing all that they can to suppress those who are different? In a democracy, civil rights do not depend on whether one’s beliefs or policies are a matter of choice, nor do they depend on how popular those beliefs are. If one’s religious beliefs were ridiculed and sup pressed the public would be outraged. However, pun ishing someone based on his or her sexual orientation must still be morally acceptable. Same-sex sexual behavior has existed throughout . history; however it wasn’t until the nineteenth centu ry that homosexuality became a “problem” to be stud ied and corrected. The ancient Greeks believed that the only true love was a homosexual love, one shared between equals, neither partner having a controlling role. Historically people who are hostile toward homo sexuals will use any theory to justify their wish to elim inate homosexuality, but I never thought our govern ment would take steps to condone these actions. The anti-same sex marriage bill that will be voted on during this year's election is an issue that shouldn’t even be on the ballot. How can we possibly justify denying someone the right to legally marry because we as a society don’t approve of whom they have cho sen? How many heterosexuals would not marry the one they love because society didn't approve? The refusal to allow gay marriages is just as bad as not allowing two people of different races or religious beliefs to marry. If those people were discriminated against society would be outraged. Throughout my life I have been taught to be toler ant of those who hold beliefs different to my own. This includes people of different races, cultures, and creeds. In our fight against prejudice there seems to be one group of people that are consistently over looked, or worse, are being suppressed. If there is ever to be equality everyone must receive the same basic rights, privileges, respect, and opportunities. Vote AGAINST the ban on same-sex marriages and take a?step in the right direction. Kellie Wulf r I Freshman Pro-law Fruits of anger and Prozac She wrote a poem called "Sister Prozac and Carousel Rides.” It was a long poem about dealing with depression. Ever since I heard her read it I've been scared. I’ve been having problems _ with depression. I get negative Dan© and sad. Stickney But the worst part is the anger. I hit walls and slam doors when I can’t take getting hurt, when I can’t take life’s ignorance. But I never get help because I don’t want my par ents to see my depression because I'm still innocent to them. So her poem had extra meaning. It didn’t make sense. It had extended description, and it flowed like a meandering stream, through rocks and vegetation, eventually reaching a cliff where it dropped into the unknown. It scared me, partly because it hit close to home and partly because I didn't understand. So when the creative gray head began overanalyz ing a book report that overanalyzed some poet who committed suicide, my eyes turned to Sister Prozac. The big plate-glass window was positioned behind her, the cheap drapes flung open. The incom ing sun caused her face to look like a shadow, but I could still see her face. The first time I'd seen it without glasses. ane nas a porniea nose, snarp cneeKDones ana stringy red hair. She’s not ugly, she’s just different And small. Her eyes shifted quickly looking side to side. She was fidgeting with some sort of paper. It ripped and she held it high above a plastic container, which safely guarded a warm pink object Out of nowhere, an explosion of crystals fell from her hand. Each particle of sugar caught the sunlight as it fell into the plastic container. I was riveted to the scene. How bizarre, how surre al. The explosion seemed to last forever, leaving me anxious. I felt like I was aboard a roller coaster plung ing down an enormous drop. I wanted to scream to make it stop, but I wanted it to last forever. By now, I had figured out that the warm pink object was a grapefruit. I could smell the bitter sweetness purely on mem ory. It took me back to mornings at home. The simple mornings during weekends, Christmas break and summer. I’d crawl out of bed to smell muffins and coffee, and there would always be a grapefruit cut in half with v A\ a thick layer of sugar on top, made with love from mom. And I'd eat the fruit and celebrate my days of inno cence. That was before the depression. When I came back from my memory, Sister Prozac had picked up a spoon and was planning her opera tion. She tilted her head gently to the left and examined the lifeless pink heart in front of her. Like a surgeon, she quickly thrust her scalpel into the organ and turned it around, scraping out its insides. I squirmed. But she looked to be enjoying it She got a quirky little smirk on her face, which dis appeared each time she paused to look back at the gray head. After the surgery, she lifted the sample to her mouth and quickly swallowed it How could she swallow such a powerful piece of fruit, so quickly? She then moved in for another and yet another sample until she was satisfied. She then picked up a blue lid and sealed off the contents of the container, leaving a hollowed out cav ity. As I came back to life, I looked to my right at the gray head, still analyzing poets. But he had missed the real poem. Sister Prozac had just done something incredible with such precision, such detail. But he missed it I looked to my left and the student with earphones missed it, too. He had his eyes closed. I looked back at Sister Prozac, and she was looking at the gray head’s paper. She had missed it, too. \ They had missed the moment of beauty that keeps the aging star of life from collapsing on itself, causing a black hole - a gaping space of nothingness. They had missed one of life's beautifully subtle and blatantly honest g \ moments. \f i it \ Their igno rance made me want to hit a wall j or slam a door. Jake Gillespie/DN Using liberty as an excuse for stealing You, your friends, your par ents and your children, all have one purpose in this life. io live ior others. It’s as if there was an IV directly Jake Glazeski from your young, vital veins, into the arteries of the failures of society- the old, the poor, the sick. The government takes money from every paycheck you earn and gives it to others - others who haven’t earned it, who don’t deserve it. And you simply don’t have a choice. The ethic of the unearned runs through our society as an unsaid social more: What, you don’t think children deserve health care? You don’t think the elderly deserve to have their debts repaid? And we nod and we nod, yes, yes, implicitly giving into the ethic because it comes as second nature. That’s how politicians get away with their promise packages; that’s why we elect diem into office. We believe, secret ly and deep down, that we live for the dying. UU1 gUVCIlUUClll 11U lUllgCl CllolUCo the liberty of the individual. It does not care so much any more about ensuring the sovereignty and security of person and property, upon which any rational set of laws must be based. Now it serves as a way to take your money and give it to other people, that can’t or don’t have as much money as they “need.” The only question politi cians face these days is, how severely can they restrict your rights while bleeding you for society’s dregs? They get away with it because we have accepted the ethic of the unearned. We think that individuals “deserve” a cer tain base-level quality of living. All deserve an education, health care, to have enough to eat, regardless of their ability to pay or their commitment to taking on personal debt It is a part of our everyday mind; the elimination of poverty, by whatever means, is seen as ultimately “good.” What we don’t think of is the price of this “goodness.” Poverty among the eld erly is bad, its elimination is good, so we build a large entitlement program called “Social Security.” But at what cost? A seventh of every paycheck, a day out of every week, a month and a half out of every year. Hundreds of millions of vital, working Americans have no choice but to give a portion of their life to the old, those that have come before, that have shaped the system to their own optimum advan tage. People scoff. They say: “It ain’t that bad.” But the assumption at the base of it is supremely atrocious. No one deserves to be shackled into slavery from birth for the unearned benefit of others. No one should be taught that he or she has an inherent original debt which cannot be erased, cannot be fulfilled. Indeed, for our generation, our debt to society will increase as a generation retires. Jefferson was onto something, but he stopped short of what could have assured us liberty to this day. I hold this truth to be self-evident: No man should live for the means of another man; no man should live in a system of unre quitable debt and interminable servi tude. Where Jefferson stopped short, government has blossomed, like the egg white through the cracked shell of a hard-boiled egg. nv nave me ucuuum ui apccui — iu a point. We have the freedom to bear arms - to a point. These freedoms are con stantly infringed upon by our govern ment because we have accepted the fun damental assertion that we live for the community’s end. Your freedom to earn, which is fun damental to a free society, is already gone. The constitution was never meant to delineate our rights - it was meant to limit the government’s. But now we are pushed constantly to the final borders of the Bill of Rights, fooled into thinking that our stranded isolation to these few amendments constitutes “liberty.” It does not, and we must speak now before this country is destroyed under its own gluttonous weight. We tap the rich to help the poor - we bleed the healthy to feed the dying. And this process will lead to this country’s collapse. When are you going to wake up to it? When our nuclear subs begin to crash on the Pacific Ocean floor? When we can’t put out a fire on top of the Sears Tower? When Microsoft is replaced by a bunch of sniveling software companies in a court-mandated, government approved antitrust move in the realm of the “free market?” The only way to avoid the grim future the Republicrats are leading us to is to vote and to become active. The only way to ensure your freedoms is devote your self to them, and to notice when they’re being infringed upon. We must do it, if we want to live. 4