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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 14, 1986)
Daily Nebraskan Monday, April 14, 1986 Page 4 Editorial Neraa&kan Univtrsity of Nebraska-Lincoln Bydoe! wetoes Education threatened Minutes before announcing his line-item vetoes last week, Gov. Bob Kerrey spoke to a group of school child ren touring the capitol. It's ironic that Kerrey would take time to talk to the children just before proposing a $3 mil lion NU budget cut, which would jeopardize quality education in the state. Kerrey's increasingly inconsis tent behavior should concern all Nebraskans. For example, Kerrey made his vetoes on the basis of a revenue forecast he says he doesn't be lieve in. Kerrey based his vetoes on a $13 million shortfall, which most legislators expect. Kerrey, however, says he expects a $25 million shortfall. Apparently, Kerrey does not care about the difference. He told Nebraskans that if the Legis lature wants to go over the edge, he is willing to go with them. Kerrey's attitude is not what one should expect from a state leader, regardless of the number of days he will remain in office. Waverly Sen. Jerome Warner today will recommend that legis lators override Kerrey's univer sity vetoes. If Warner and his supporters can muster the neces sary 30 votes, programs such as Morrill Hall, the Bureau of Busi Dereouiatioo Phone plan needs careful study Sen. John DeCamp of Neligh has proposed deregulation of Nebraska's telephone in dustry. The bill passed its first vote 31-14 five more votes than necessary tor passage. Although the bill basically seeks only to extend the nation wide deregulation revolution in telecommunications to Nebra ska, the step should be taken with caution. This proposal hasn't received the attention it de serves. No one doubts that a tele communications problem exists under current Nebraska law. As a result of vastly increased com petitiveness of the long-distance telephone business, local ex changes no longer are able to subsidize local telephone ser vice through higher-than-cost long distance phone rates as they have done in the past. Rates have not been allowed to increase with the requisite speed required by local exchanges to recoup the losses they are experiencing. The Legislature needs to think long and hard about any pro posal it seeks to place into law and a radical measure such as DeCamp's requires double the concern. First, telephones are a neces sity in the modern world. Conse quently, universal access to phones has been the established policy of Public Service Com missions in phone regulation. The economic and social impact of rapidly rising phone rates must be carefully considered by Vicki Ruhga, Editor, 472,1766 Thorn Gabrukiewicz, Managing Editor Ad Hudler, Editorial Page Editor James Rogers, Editorial Associate Chris Welsch, Copy Desk Chic ness Research, some Nebraska ETV Network programming and the NU School of Technical Agri culture at Curtis could be saved. Kerrey claims the university could survive more budget cuts. But the issue is not survival. NU President Ronald Roskens reminds Nebraskans that "dam age done to the university will not be quickly or easily repaired. . . Denying adequate resources to the university at this juncture may seem an attractive, short term option. But it is one that will inevitably jeopardize the quality and scope of education available to our children and grandchildren." Kerrey is wrong. His $32.6 mil lion in line-item vetoes are not in the best interest of the state. The vetoes would save money this year, but imagine how much it would cost Nebraskans to re build the education system Ker rey's cuts would destroy. Nebraskans and the legisla tors should ignore Kerrey's ram blings and save state programs and education by raising sales and income taxes. If the state follows Kerrey's budget-slashing plan, it would forfeit all chances to attract new businesses and keep promising young scholars in Nebraska. the Legislature. Social alienation especially afflicts those who would be most affected elderly and the handicapped, who live on fixed incomes. Also, because of obvious mobility prob lems among this group of people, the phone is a needed link to emergency services. Secondly, phone deregulation at the national level was accom panied by a significant increase in vigorous long-distance com petition. The market acts as the regulator of long distance rates and quality. The extension of deregulat ion to the local level cannot be accompanied by such an increase in competitiveness. Because of extremely high fixed costs and other structural problems, com petition at the level of the local exchange has proven itself his torically unworkable. If deregulation is allowed to occur in this atmosphere the already-present local monopolies will not break down (or be broken down) as they have at the nat ional, long-distance level. Con sequently, these monopolies will not be exposed to the regulation of the market, and will be able to act without PSC oversight: lower quality and quantity at higher prices. These problems must be ad dressed by the Legislature before it takes action. The Legislature still could opt for deregulation, but at least the risks will have been taken into consideration. r--4l fTlMy? tier- Colored shorts It appears that men are taking a new interest in appearance. The trend was in evidence in fashion magazines, hair salons and skin-care centers all over the country, but now it's official. Newsweek's cover story last week was, you guessed it, the fop fad. In growing numbers, men are getting their hair permed, their pores per meated and their ears pierced, News week reports. The magazine explains that because men no longer are the sole holders of power, they are finding better grooming and dressing is neces sary to compete. When men alone were the bosses, women had to compete for their attention with appearance. Men could get by with limited wardrobes and Dial soap because they were cal ling the shots. This dress-up business is a boon to the fashion industry and a bane to slobs like me. who still like tennis shorts and jeans (although I admit to owning three ties, all costing more than $(i). It would seem more reasonable if, as they ascend in power, women stop dressing up so much. That way we could all be more comfortable and less concerned about appearance (and power plays). I see nothing good coming out of the new trend. Fashion costs a lot of money that would be better spent elsewhere, it detracts from important issues and takes too much time. Luckily for all of us, the trend hasn't hit Nebraska in full force yet. Here on campus, men's fashion still consists of tacky Hawaiian shorts and Oil price drop hurts real people, a fact U.S., Texas officials ignore At last, the truly needy have sur faced. They are not the hungry, about whom the evidence is only anecdotal (say, have you heard the anecdote about the starving kid?) or the sick, or those chislers still on wel fare. It is the domestic oil industry that is hurting plenty and, in the name of national security, it is singing a version of the old Sophie Tucker torch song: One of these days, you're gonna miss me, baby. George Bush has cited national secur ity. So has Texas Gov. Mark White. Neither man would dare plea for an industry that was thrilled to match the OPEC nations dollar for dollar as long as the price was rising. When oil was at $35 a barrel overseas, it was $35 a barrel here. Now oil is selling for as low as $10 and the domestic oil indus try is loathe to go along. It cites national security. Save the oil industry in styleforspilling blood in Libya sun glasses on strings. For some rea son, men's fashion on campus has always run in favor of other geographic areas. Remember mountain boots? Flip flops? No doubt, when the fop fad does hit home, men will strut around dressed like Parisians and New Yorkers, look ing just as out of place as ever. On a lighter note, the United States appears ready to enter war with Libya. I don't expect many response to my Chris Welsch curiosity, but I wonder how many regis tered UNL students are willing to spill their blood on the beaches of Libya's gulf coast (where brightly colored cot ton shorts would be apropos). Please take a minute and respond. Drop a note in the campus mail to the Daily Ne braskan, or write to Chris Welsch, Daily Nebraskan, Km. 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 K St., Lincoln, XE 68588-0448. Explain why you would or wouldn't want to die in a war with Libya in 5 words or less. If I get two or more responses, I'll run the best ones in a special column. President Reagan's military man uevers in the Gulf of Sidra in March have locked us into a reactive situation with Khadafy. Our intrusion, be it internationally legal or not, was a chal lenge Khadafy had to meet lest he lose face in the Arab world. He met it, gain for when you really need it. In Washington, whenever anyone cites national security, it is time to reach for your wallet. National security is at stake when some congressman cries about the closing of a military base in his district or the loss of a Richard Cohen contract to a firm that what a coin cidence happens also to be in his district. The same coincidence com pels the two Texans, White and Bush, to take the long view when it comes to oil. Better pay a little bit now to ensure that you have oil when you need it, national security says so. ID' VH H y "JT IT'S M ing face, and innocent American civili ans are paying the price in terror. Now Reagan is preparing to react militarily to the recent terrorist slay ings of Americans, which will, of course, only exacerbate the terrorist attacks. We have set ourselves up as a straw man for the Arab world. As a blind supporter of Israel, we are viewed as evil embodied. And our attacks on Libya seem to give that view credence to other Arab nations. The Arab view of the United States is no more simple-minded than our view of the Arab world, which is hopelessly tilted toward Israel. I'm not saying we should show com passion to Khadafy. He is, undoubtedly, a dangerously unstable man. But our attacks on his puny count ry makes him a hero an image he needs to survive. Reagan should let things cool down a little. Then he must take steps toward recognizing the Palestinian prob lem as the source of unrest in the Mid dle East. Reagan must deal with repre sentatives of the Palestinian people and must not side blindly with Israel in every dispute. Palestinians are not becoming rec onciled to their homeless condition. To the contrary, many of the people are becoming more radical. Until they have a home, or are wiped out, the extrem ists among them will continue resort ing to desperate means to their end. If a home could be found for the Jews, then one can, and must, be found for the Palestinians. Welsch is a senior English and journal ism major and a Daily Nebraskan copy desk chief. In truth, there is something to what they say. But just as surely as oil is down, it will someday go up, This has been the historic pattern of this com modity ever since we discovered it in Titusville, Penn. A year after the first well was brought in, the barrel price was $20; a year later it was 10 cents. Western Pennsylvania produced a pat tern and an expression to describe it: The bottom fell out of the market. It took only a short time for the oil indus try to learn that the only way to make money was to control production. John D. Rockefeller pioneered in the manip ulation of the market. The Texas Rail road Commission, the Seven Sisters and OPEC merely followed. It is only a matter of time until production will again be restricted. In the meantime, the real loser is not national security or some entity called See COHEN on 5
