Tuesday, April 17, 1C34
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Daily Nebraskan
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As of April 9, sexism, hunger, proverty, unem
ployment, racial discrimination and "Parson E.
Sileven" were done away with in Nebraska. And it
was all done with one ingenious legislative stroke.
A resolution was passed by the Legisla
ture. The sponsor was Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers,
Surprisingly, the resolution met no opposition and
was passed unanimously, according to a Thursday
Omaha World-Herald article.
Chambers' resolution says the Legislature should
emulate the Reagan administration. Reagan and his
staff have, at various times, denied the existence of
hunger, poverty and the "gender gap," and have
denied a job shortage by indicating the number of
positions available in the want ads of the Washing
ton Post and New York Times.
Chambers' said in the resolution that the Legisla
ture should "learn from and emulate the Reagan
administration's ingenuity and creativity," and de-
U.S. tyranny Ixmfta.
It hurts to see the land of freedom I've ben
taught to love since childhood impose tyranny
on another nation.
It hurts to see the home "of the brave, reeling
from red paranoia, throwing vast amounts of
its resources into nuclear death devices while
its tired, its hungry, its poor sleep rag-clad in
the streets and eat from rubbish cans.
Christopher.
Burbach
It hurts to see the land of liberty and justice
for all lace lead-shod boots onto bloody ogres
determined to tread on pursuers of those
principles.
It hurts to hear American guns rattle and
see innocent children's blood leap at the noise.
It hurts to see a nation forged from a colony
which knew well the pain of servitude to
imperialism strap onto bony backs in its own
colonies, the very yoke it once shod.
It hurts to see a people who wrenched their
freedom from foreign dictatorship and built
themselves and their children a home employ
rank terrorism to shatter another people's
effort at home-building.
It hurts to see the great melting-pot become
a forge for shackles, balls and chains, bayonets
and bullets, taskmasters' iron rods.
It hurts to see the shining champion of peace
become a mere pawn in the blackguard forces
of war.
It hurts to feel the heart-swelling pride of my
fathers turn to gut-wrenching shame in myself.
America, once a beacon of hope, now deals
despair. The principles our nation was built on
are crumbling - a time may come when only
dusty words remain. How can the ideals of
liberty and equality, freedom and justice, hon
or and freedom, survive the abominations we
are .committing, in their names, in the Third
World? How can a marriage with peace survive
a reckless affair with military might?
Beware. We cannot blatantly disregard the
freedom and human rights of Salvadorans,
Nicaraguans and other peoples without threat
ening our own freedom. We cannot loose a
bloody flood of oppression on foreign lands
without eroding bastions of liberty at home.
Tanks, missies and territories purchased
with the blood and sweat of poor people are
not stone on which to lay a foundation for
peace; they are weights pulling a people and a .
world into a murky pool of violence and
destruction. Unless we the American people,
dedicate ourselves to the principles we claim
and force our rulers to conform to our will, we
will drown along with our victims.
The price of American military voyeurism in -
Central America and elsewhere is not just $01
million, or any sum. It is not just the loss of the
respect, of .fellow wealthy nations and con
tinued hatred cf poor nations. What is at peril
today is our dignity, car principles, out hope. ';
; Will we be the people that szvs the world or
the leeches th-t it-bed it?
clare Nebraska's major problems solved.
The reason Chambers' resolution slipped through
the Legislature with such amazing ease was that no
one read it.
The resolution passed with a group of other reso
lutions adopted en masse in the waning minutes of
the 1984 session.
It's fitting that the Legislature should pass resolu
tions and bills without reading them in this Orwel
lian year.
The resolution should serve as a reminder to all
the senators who did not read it. I'm sure they were
embarrassed if they read the paper last week.
If they did read it, they should realize how stupid
it is to pass laws and resolutions without reading
them. It's dangerous. This resolution was harmless
satire. Another might not be.
One hopes the senators do not pass all legislation
on hearsay and deal-making. It can't be denied that
the massive number of bills and resolutions make it
hard for senators to read everything they vote on.
But isn't that what senators are there for?
The fact that senator's often don't read bills is not
made up for in any way by a bill's "final reading."
The Clerk of the Legislature "reads" each bill aloud
before the senators pass it into law or vote to kill it.
Read aloud quickly, it sounds like this: "Ibiddab
viresatiinto law bedashbat stappa foredgbnn." Final
reading is a waste of our Legislature's valuable time.
Our senators deserve more money and more time
so they can devote themselves to studying the laws
they pass for the people ofthis state. But even with
out more funds or a longer session, our senators
owe us the courtesy of reading what they vote on.
Chris Welsch
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. Letters
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Greek music 'gross '
This is an open letter to those in the UNL Greek
system.
It is easy to tell when spring arrives on campus by
the behavior of those residing in fraternities and
sororities. While most of your actions are fine, there
is one thing that you do that annoys me.
Now it is cool, awesome and tubular that you guys
hang around your house shirtless, yelling at the
passing women. It's groovy that you girls put on
bikinis and grill yourselves in the sun. It's even okay,
great, fantastic that you get drunk and play frisbee
in the streets. But the music is not cooL Not that I
mind music, mind you, but you all have your stereos
cranked real loud to different radio stations and or
albums. I mean, it's really gross to hear Bruce
Springsteen on one side of the street and Barry
Manilow on the other, or to hear Pat Benator clash
with The Clash. This has to stop.
I suggest that you get together and pick one radio
station to play. That way, our whole campus will be
united by the same music.
Arnold Grin vale! 3
junior
English
Women categorized
Murder, rape and swindling old people have been
going on for thousands of years. Should we expect
one society to attempt to break such traditions?
Sexist advertising has prevailed through the years
because nobody attempted to prevent or rectify it.
Women are not sexual toys, mere appendages or
domestic slaves. They are whole beings and should
be portrayed as such in every aspect of life, includ
ing advertising. This is what we are fighting for.
Perhaps those women who believe such portrayal
should be allowed to continue need to examine how
they are catagorizing themselves.
We do not ask for baseball (a man's game), hot
dogs (they cause cancer), or Mom's apple pie (so
why didn't dad bake it?). We simply want women to
be portrayed as vital, essential, contributing mem
bers of society. Is that nonsense?
Sherrie Hanneman
senior
- advertising
Cindy Douglas
freshman
English
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