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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 1976)
J I Law's sscond p should, be vetoad Nebraska voters should be aware that pro posed amendment six is really two proposals and that one can be added to the constitution without the other. It is important that voters make this distinction because, while part one should be passed, part two should be turned down. Part two of amendment six would allow the Legislature to provide loans or grants to students attending non-public postsecondary schools with the stipulation that the money be spent for non-sectarian purposes only. The difference between this proposal and part one of the amendment is that the latter provides reimbursement for a specific use (special training for the handicapped) which the state has deter mined is every handicapped person's right. Part two would provide 'an unspecified amount to be used for anything bat religious education. It would not be difficult to monitor the use of reimbursement funds for special education pro grams for the handicapped but it would be almost impossible to. assure that money given to a stu dent in the form of a loan or grant is spent only for non-religious pursuits. Optimists need only look at the abuse of federally insured loans and other aid programs for college students. The recipient attending a private college could not be prevented from using the money to buy his theology textbook anymore than the grant recipient at UNL can be prevented from spending the grant money on a winter wardrobe. Absolute nonsectarian use, of the funds would be improbable because, as anyone who has attended a parochial school knows, religious training does not end in theology class. Any effective monitoring system would of necessity be so stringent it could cause some schools to compromise their religious policy or curtail some requirements in order to be eligible for the money. . II : . ' ''l) . p Precautions wnlws could ia! 4W "f avoid nomse al sentences By Theodore M. Bernstein Always read it over. Silly things sometimes turn up in print simply because the writer has not taken the trouble to read over what he has written. Take a look at this sentence: "Dr. Lawrence M. Lichtenstein . . . views the new test as the first step in providing proper treatment for those people who experience severe hives, asthma, shock and even death from the bites of such insects as bees . . bsrnstein on words The Dairy Nebraskan welcomes letters to the editor and guest opinions. Choices of material published will be based on timeliness and originality. Letters must be accompanied by the writer's name, but may be published under a pen name if requested. Guest opinions should be typed, triple-spaced, on nonerasable paper. They should be accompanied by the author's name, class standing and major, or occupation. All material submitted to these pages is subject to edit ing and condensation, and cannot be returned to the writer. Wendy L. Patterson of Wilmington, DeL, who sent in the clipping, asks, "what is the proper treatement for a person who has experienced death?' Here is another example sent in by BiH M. of Wayne, Pa.: "In addition Sue has prepared and frozen a stew and Tony's wife, Nancy, manager of CBS Radio Spot Sales, a noodle casserole called mother's mess." Poor Nancy, first frozen and then called a casserole. Of course editors are supposed to catch ridiculous wordings, but writers should not count on them, capable as most of them are. A couple of up When a commentator says that John Soandso heads up a committee, Alice Van Roekel of Alton, Iowa, is annoyed and she has every right to be. What does the up add to the phrase? On the other hand, she is also annoyed if someone says that Mr. Soandso turned up missing, but that should not be a cause of annoyance because there we have an accepted idiomatic phrase. How can he turn up if he is missing? she asks. She is taking the phrase too literally. What it means is to prove to be or turn out to be. Webster's New Collegiate Diction ary gives us as an example of its use almost exactly the sentence that is paraphrased above: "He turned up missing at roll call " Spelling. Orthography means spelling as a subject for study and heaven knows it is a subject that needs attention these days. Grant 0. Gale of GrinneH, Iowa, in a letter on this topic says, "In the 8 th grade in a rural one room school in Michigan I had a course in orthography. There were 54 kids and one teacher and we had a lot of fun with words. Kids today are missing a lot; the sad part is that they don't realize it." Not only are today's kids missing the fun, but in addition they are missing the edu cation. It might be a good idea to give them a course in grammar in the 7th grade, then a course in orthography in the 8th grade. That would give them the schooling that is lacking in so many places. Perfectly good. Paul Wenograd of Philadelphia writes to BoY-wow to ask wait a minute, I (or we) had better explain what BoW-wow means. We (or I) never know what pronoun or noun to use when this rectangle wants to refer to itself, so your host decided to make it, for today at least, BoW-wow. The official title of the column is Bernstein on Words and that title produces the acronym BoW. Adding wow! to it is too obvious to require explanation. Therefore today you are reading BoW-wow. Getting back to "perfectly good. Paul Wenograd sent BoW-wow a clipping containing this sentence: "Although perfectly healthy, he was given a battery of tests and told to return for visits with specialists." The question raised is whether perfectly is correctfy used in that context. Pre sumably what the questioner has in mind is that a person is either partly healthy or is healthy and that perfectly healthy contains a superfluous word. It isjtrue that per fectly means completely or fully so that in the strictest sense the word is extraneous. But in the quoted sentence it is being used as an intensive, akin to very or completely or fully, in order to add emphasis to the word it modifies and m this case it is helpful. Word oddities. Talking about BoW-wow, you may be inter ested to know that one dictionary says that wow is an exclamation of pleasure or pain among other things. Take your choice. (cj 1376 Thaodor M. Csmstcin Spatial Features Generation doesn't give 'hoot in hell' about election By L. Kent Wolgamott "Who is going to explain in 1976 that all the people who felt they got burned in "72 should try again for another bogus challenger? Four years from now there will be two entire generations between the ages of 22 and 40-who will not give a hoot in heS about any elec tion, and their apathy will be rooted in a personal exper ience. Four years from now it will be very difficult to convince anybody who has gone from JohnsonGoMwater to HumphreyNixon to NixonMcGovem that there is any possible reason for getting involved hi another bullshit election. Hunter S. Thompson summed up Campaign 76 four long years ago. Apathy is running wild during this campaign, pro jected voter turnout is the least in history, for good rea son. The. least productive age group, without a doubt, will be those 18-25. But we are (lisillusioned. The UJS. was involved in an immoral, unjust war in Southeast Asia for the most pert of our Eves, and our early political memories are bkak-assssmsation of our great leaders, urban riots and decay, unrest on the campus. . . This generation has yet to see and live throh any of the "greatness of this country's history, we have been given nothing to be proud cf, no great national accompli- . la the 1960s the young people called for a charge ia this country, but they wsre dsnisi. Instead of tayt!!3 pcs2ss we were ghea Eschnrd.. lsca rrocee-;d to xlTy the cfUce cf the Presidency and destroy tie fh cf the jstriaa pttTIc ia their gsmmcit. Ills dowcM was not the end of the Nixon lZ7-1 continues ia the farm cf cnbinet officers, and in the greatest abortion of justice in American history The Pardon. The damage done by the Nixon Administration in the area of enemies civil rights and to the moral spirit of the country as a whole cannot be accessed today that is for history to decide but the record is starting to come in. This election can provide a change. It can turn the path of a country which is sti3 divided by the unrest of the 60s and the political turmoil of the early 70s. Gerald Ford has said he is running on the record of his administration. If I was forced to have that record I would run, too, and fast. Mr. Ford is hard-pressed to explain his cruel vetoes-of a school lunch bill, a strip mining bill and his lack of handling foreign policy. Mr. Ford has not shown dynamic leadership, evidenced by the GAO report on the Mayaguez sfiair and his indecision on the Earl Dutz debacle. He has shown us no vision of the path of the future of the nation, managing the government by res ponding to a crisis and not setting a policy. Four more years of this do-nothing, govenunent-by-veto leadership wO prove disastrous for the ration. We need a vision of this country and a government whichwill be responsive to the needs of the majority of the people and not a gov ernment which exists to assist the elite of our society. We need a government which will help the people who need fcdp-the elisify, the unemployed and the EL We need government which will operate on a fcrefen policy basil on, the values of this notion and not on ex pedncy. We need a government which win restore the faith of the Amsrksa public in itself and in its govern ment. If we cannot have this type cf government this nsitsa w3 est sunire esy. Ckr cities axe rapsi! be ccn3 retted end dscsjsd to the point of no return, our govsnnncnt end-r l&xa and Ford has msnssd to .veto most cf the "people" kIlioa as inCiibnery, yet the infhtioa rate cf this administration is one of the greatest ia history. XI e have more people unemployed now than at any time since the Great Depression. And the Ford administration is running on its record. I don't see any quick and easy solutions to these pro blems. People are not getting invohed in politics today and ther results could be fatal. Beth Carter and McCarthy grownups 'game offer a positive alternative to the record of the past. However, as a minority candidate McCarthy may do more harm than good. If he receives a substantial percent age of the vote he could take enough votes from Carter to cost him the election and give us four more years which is a very frightening thouit. Jimmy Carter is somewhat cf an unknown quantity on the American political scene and perhaps that is what this country needs some one to come ia and chrs the things which need to be changed in order to mike this country Foud agasi. Genii Ford is usmg this as his campaign s-ogsa but I am not proud of our country and its action n the kst few years, I am not proud of the unespby ment; the lack of health care, and the gcaersl kck cfccn pssion of our pvexnznent. I am not rrsdl cf a farea pcicy run h secrecy andby Ideal see how anyone eis coiii be pmsd. Us ibsd chs in ts country, we need kciss ta, tcccn3 xzSsdi twn the apathy and degredstbn of this nztbn wil continue.