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daily nebraskan
Packers ' fate fitting finale for conservative team
Coming off a successful hunt in the 1980
election, members of the National Conservative
Political Action Committee have mounted their
horses again for the continuing charge of the
Right Brigade.
Last year, the committee dubbed NIC-PAC by
the medias targeted several senators and congress
men for defeat because of their liberal philo
sophy. The country needed a change, they said
and the best way to accomplish their goals was to
rid the Senate and Congress of people not in step
with Republican proposals.
Last year the group established itself as perhaps
the king of the political action committee hill by
defeating five of the six senator they had targeted
for defeat.
Of the Gang of Six targeted, George McGovem,
John Culver, Frank Church, Birch Bayh and
Warren Magnuson were all dumped in favor of
conservative candidates. Only Alan Cranston of
California survived what many Democrats
thought was liberal Armageddon.
This year's targets of political extinction are
Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Maryland and congressmen
Jim Jones of Oklahoma, Jim Wright of Texas and
John Brademas of Indiana.
All are Democrats and all apparently have their
own ideas about what is best for the country.
Hence, in NIC-PAC logic, they must go.
Jones is the chairman of the House Budget
Committee and has been unwilling to follow the
Reagan administration's proposals down the
yellow brick road to economic bliss. Hence, he
must go.
The group plans to spend millions in its
attempt to defeat the 1982 version of the Gang of
Four.
It's no secret that politics is becoming be
holden to special interest groups. These groups
offset grass-roots political movements in favor of
those who can contribute large sums of money.
M.-C.ovr-rn formed a group called Common
Sense to help make the groups like NIC-PAC
more accountable to responsible campaigning. Hc
has said they distorted his and other candidates
records in the campaign.
This time around people will be smarter than
to blindly follow the NIC-PAC group. They will
realize that the money coming in is from outside
interest groups, not from people in the state of
the targeted candidates.
Perhaps the faction that the NIC-PAC repre
sents will suffer a political backlash from its 1 9X0
election successes.
The NIC-PACers, like the Green Bay Packers,
agree with Vince Lombard i philosophy of
"Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing."
It is hoped the NIC-PAC group will suffer the
same fate that awaits the Packers this year a
losing season.
rom Prentiss
Gun purchase topping list
of easy things to do today
What a day! First, had to go to super
market. Hate shopping. The missus had
given me a list:
"2 lbs. potatoes." Old potatoes'? New
potatoes? Sweet potatoes? Frozen french
fries? Bagged assortment. Check.
sn r
oppe
"1 cube marg." What brand? Who
knows? Check. "Doz. eggs." Large?
Jumbo? Super? Who cares? Check. "1 head
let." Iceberg? Romaine? Butter? Why not?
Check. "1 gun."
Guns? Where did they keep guns? Never
can find anything in supermarket. Up one
aisle, down the next. Ahah! "Aisle 15 -Pet
Foods, Cake Mixes, Guns, Sundries."
Pushed my cart down aisle to shelves
where guns rested, each in its own little,
plastic-wrapped Styrofoam tray. Which
gun? .22? .38? .45?
Picked up .22. Label in corner read:
"Price per lb. $24.79 - Price, S3 1.65."
Now was that a better buy than the .38?
("Price per lb., $16.42 - Price, $42.55.")
Hate comparison shopping. Hefted .38.
Clerk came up. "Please, sir," he said,
"do not squeeze the triggers."
Asked clerk if he had any specials.
"Well, there are these Saturday Nights
for only $29.99," he said. "Just got a fresh
shipment in from Florida."
Asked him which gun he would recom
mend. He frowned. "That depends," he
said. "What did you plan to use it for?"
"To kill people," I said testily. Such a
dumb question! Is there any other use on
earth for a handgun?
The clerk smirked. "Anyone in parti
cular?" he inquired.
"Mind your own business!" I snapped.
Really, talk about nosy! If I were buying a
leg of lamb would he want to know whom
I was having for dinner?
I must say that put him in his place. Me
retreated quietly. I picked out a nice .38,
placed it in the cart and headed for the
checkout counter. "A double bag, please,"
I told the clerk. "And don't put the gun on
top of the eggs."
"Sure thing," he said.
Went home. Missus sore. I forgot "1 qt.
mlk." Always forget "I qt. mlk." Hate
mlk. Put groceries away in kitchen. Put gun
away in pocket. Had to go to get driver's
license renewed. What a day!
Long line for renewal applications. Long
line for written test. Lucky I'd studied the
laws. "On approaching an oncoming car at
night, you must dim your lights within (a)
800 feet? (bj 500 feet; (c) who cares?"
Missed five.
Had to stand in line for eye test. Had to
stand in line to have picture taken. Did I
want to be fingerprinted? I did not. "Look
here, young lady," I said angrily, "you
have put me though three hours of rigma
role to make sure I know the laws, can see
what I'm aiming at and will be identifiable
to the authorities the moment I take a
steering wheel in hand. Why?"
"Because, sir." she said snootily, "auto
mobiles can kill people."
Such a dumb answer! Who on earth
would want to kill anybody with an auto
mobile? (c) Chronicle Publishing Co. 1981
: large sums of money. lomirer
Removing coed bathrooms
t t 1
a repressive school policy
Spring has come to the college campus- coed bathrooms.
es, and at least one university the students
are protesting and rallying against a policy
they consider to be unjust, repressive and
unfair.
It's not the presence of U.S. advisers in
Fl Salvador that bothers the students at the
University of Massachusetts, in Amherst.
Mass. It's not the prospect of a new
military draft. It's not the Reagan admini
stration's proposed cutbacks in social programs.
irecnc
The U. of Mass. students are up in arms
because the university wants to make male
and female students stop using the same
bathrooms.
For about 10 years, the coed dorms at
the university have featured bathrooms for
use by members of both sexes. Men and
women wishing to use the toilet facilities
or to take showers had curtains lor privacy.
Now, though, the university administration
-under increasing pressure from parents
who disapprove of the coed bathroom
policy has announced that the bathrooms
will be converted to single-sex status. If the
university gets its way, men will use one
bathroom, women another.
The policy change has caused an outrage
on the campus. Students are protesting the
idea of using separate bathrooms. In a
campus-wide referendum, 94 percent of
the voters said they wanted men and wo
men to share toilet facilities.
The students wanting to keep coed
bathrooms issued a "Coed Coalition Mani
festo," which began:
"Coed living, including shared toilet
facilities, is a valuable part of the educa
tional experience here at the U. of Mass.,
for it helps all of the participants to learn
to relate to each other as individuals, and
helps to break down fear and sexism ram
pant in today's society. Further, and even
more important, the coed tradition here at
the U. of Mass. helps to foster a feeling of
'family'; of being part of the floor, which is
an invaluable asset to the students, whether
freshman or senior, in coping with the
strains of life here at the U. of Mass."
The university has remained unimpress
ed by the students' protests. An admini
strator announced that the new single-sex
bathroom policy is "non-negotiable."
But the battle continues. The student
newspaper, the Daily Collegiate has
editorialized that the idea of bathrooms
being confined to use by one sex is "ludi
crous and untenable." The Coed Coalition
has gathered more than 3.300 signature on
petitions demanding a continuation of
Anu stuuenis interviewed ny tne press
have reacted with shock and indignation
that anyone should want men and women
to use separate bathrooms.
"I'm all in favor of coed bathrooms."
said Lance Wallace, a freshman. "People
here are mature college students. 1 don't
see any reason to change."
Karen Brooks. 18 said: "I think it (the
proposed change) is dumb. So far every
thing has been fine. I don't mind being
next to guys. They don't peek."
The residents of one coed dorm wrote
the college paper to say:
"Those who waste their thoughts on the
'evils' of coed bathrooms are escaping limn
reality . . . At some time in our lives, most
of us will be living with members of the
opposite sex . . . We pay to live in these
dorms. Why should we be inconvenienced
due to someone's overly prudish parents'.'"
Bob l.u, a resident assistant in a coed
dorm, raised the issue of possible danee;
facing women students who have to go to
another Hoot to use a women-onl h.iih
room. "In toda's society." l.u said, "ulicie
violence against women is such a nni"'
problem, the administration is asking me
force the women on my floor to climb
these unlit, dangerous stairways, sometimes
clad only in bathrobes, to use a public
facility."
Continued on Pane 5
UPSP 144-080
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