Page 4
Daily Nebraskan
ujrscay, September 25. 1S86
O
JfiT Koibflik. Editor, W-1766
Jamfs Rntfrrs, Editorial Paip' Editor
(irne Unit nip, Maunyimj Editor
Tammy Kaup, Associate Ken s Editor
Todd vim Kumpen, Editorial ' Assistant
Nebraskan
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Budget melodrama
Delay causes deficit growth
Once again we're seeing
ample proof in the news
from Washington that Sep
tember not only signals the start
of fall and the football season. It
also means the first act of the
annual "governmentbycontinu-ing-resolution"
melodrama.
For those who don't know, a
continuing resolution is a catch
all spending bill that Congress
needs to pass to keep the govern
ment running after Oct. 1, the
start of the federal budget year.
Its contents vary from year to
year, but its purpose is always
the same: t o make up in a matter
of days all the budget work Con
gress is supposed to have fin
ished weeks before. It's another
example of why the federal deficit
is so large over $210 billion
this year and still climbing.
Twelve years ago, Congress
passed a law meant to make
itself pass the budget quickly
and with as much scrutiny as
possible. The House and Senate
are required to pass a non-binding
budget resolution a blueprint
for spending early in the
spring so that 13 bills that actu
ally authorize the spending can
be passed before Oct. 1. With the
entire summer to work on the
bills, it was thought, Congress
could review every spending pro
gram and control or eliminate
deficits.
It hasn't worked. Fewer than
half of the 13 spending bills pass
each year because budget reso
lution debate drags on well into
the summer. This year, not one of
the 1 3 has been passed with less
than a week to go, although the
defense budget bill and perhaps
one or two others probably will
be passed. So Congress has drawn
up another continuing resolu
tion, which has a total value of
about $500 billion half the
overall budget.
There's no better villain in the
budget melodrama than this
practice. Although a few big
ticket spending items may be
debated their identities depend
upon those spending bills that
didn't pass most programs
In a paragraph...
Women filtering into Maryland's politics
two-woman race for politi-
rakoffirp is rvnt iininnp t.n
ill IT" Jfoisfia any mote as more
Ijfvd; japie:;Wmen are, , fino)in&
' their ways'mto the political, tin
! cle. As everyone knows Nebraska
has received national attention
for the fight for governor between
Kay Orr and Helen Boosalis. Mary
land finds itself in a similar
situation.
Women won both party nomi
nations as candidates to suc
ceed Maryland Sen. Charles Ma
thias. Barbara Mikulski, a veteran
of Baltimore politics, won the De
mocratic nomination and Linda
Chavez, a former White
House aide, received the Repub
lican one.
It's nice to see that women
are starting to filter into the
once male-dominated political
simply are renewed for the next
year with little or no change.
Since there's no time to evaluate
the entire bill closely, many
wasteful or useless spending pro
grams go unchallenged.
The continuing resolution also
is a tempting target for election
hungry members of Congress who
want to tack on extra spending.
The strategy works for two rea
sons: the president has no power
to eliminate certain spending
items without vetoing the entire
bill, and the bill's passage is
absolutely necessary to keep the
most vital government services
going.
With the passage of the Gramm
Rudman deficit-reduction law,
another ballet has been added to
the dance card. Congress is tip
toeing around trying to meet the
law's $144 billion limit on the
deficit by selling something here,
raising fees there, but mostly
shifting spending around so that
it falls under this year's budget
instead of next year's. Rep. Mar
vin Leath, D-Texas, brilliantly
described what's going on: "We're
about to pull the ultimate scam.
Everybody's included."
Who will stop this game? Def
initely not Congress; it's proven
it doesn't have the stomach to
kick the spending habit. Cer
tainly not President Reagan; with
out a line-item veto (which Sen.
JJ. Exon, D-Neb., tried unsuc
cessfully to give him last week),
he has no real power to trim back
pork-barrel spending. The voters
could stop it, but that would
take throwing out those in Con
gress who allow the game to con
tinue. And nearly everyone seems
to have some pet program that
those people made possible.
So the melodrama goes on
without a final curtain while
everyone wrings hands and
screams that this runaway deficit
and runaway spending has got to
stop. No one wants to take the
blame for it all, but a careful
look at the budget system sug
gests there's plenty of blame to
go around.
scene.
O Former -pro football tckver
BubM SWfth'tias decided not tb1
uu luiiiiiiciiiaia iui ijiie dcci. ne
became, dismayed, when -he ap
peared at his alma mater's home
coming and the college students
yelled the beer's slogans (Tastes
great, less filling) instead of cheer
ing the team.
The concerns of a prominent
entertainment figure may make
people take note of some of the
problems of alcohol abuse.
O On the same note,
liquor stores have been offer
ing an alternative to beer with
alcohol: a beer with no alcohol.
Consumers can indulge in the
fine beer taste and not worry
about the consequences of too
much alcohol.
Vs Iff rfpfwffl
f , UaK V J Jffiy K4sJ J y
1 j
-1
TonnciiMg9 teauclaer elksiirgedl
How to think: does touching a child constitute sexual assault?
It's rare that a problem about which
I don't know how to think presses upon
me. Now, the question of "how to
think" is quite different from what to
think. There are a lot of everyday events
about which I don't know what to
think. That is, I don't have enough
information to evaluate or have not
carefully reflected upon the problem.
The question of what to think is pre
ceded by the approach to the question
the "how to think" problem. There
are many problems for which I don't
have a defined approach. Problems in
physics, chemistry, etc., raise ques
tions about which I don't know how to
think. But those questions don't press .
themselves upon me; I don't feel as
though I have to think about those
problems.
There are some problems, though,
that press themselves upon me and I
also don't know how to approach them.
These are mainly phenomena that per
sonally affect me. For example, I recall
that when philosophy professor Hardy
Jones a teacher for whom 1 had great
respect committed suicide several
years ago, I didn't know how to think
about the event.
My father, following popular advice
on suicide survivors, told me not to feel
guilty. But that advice was inapplica
ble because if I felt guilty I would have
had an approach and would not have
been struggling over the "what to
think" question. As it was I hadn't even
gotten to the stage of thinking about
guilt. (Of course, I never felt guilty, I
didn't shove him off the building, after
all.)
Last week the feeling of psychologi
cal anomaly reasserted itself with the
conviction of my eighth-grade music
What candidate could possibly lose
witki Mod as
in
ii. t5 ur.t tti.HI iiiv
S lats Grobnik looked up. from his, .,
newspaper and said: "Boy, I'd sure
like to get out there in the streets
and work a precinct for this guy."
"This Rev. Pat Robertson, the televi
sion preacher who is thinking about
running for president."
I didn't know you were part of his
flock.
"I'm not, but I like politics and this
Robertson has really got some heavy
clout going for him."
What kind of clout?
"He says that God wants him to run.
How can you beat that for an endorse
ment?" That is impressive.
"You bet. The way Robertson talks, it
sounds like God is his campaign man
ager, his pollster and fund-raiser. And
" that's heavy. You can say what you want
about the backing of the AFL-CIO, or
teacher on one count of sexual assault
on a child (He was found not guilty on
two other counts).
The entire event is fraught with
problems of how to approach it. When I
think about the event I just come up
with, "on the one hand," "but, then, pn
the other hand..."
You see, the problem is that my
teacher was a "touching"teacher. When
speaking with students he was always
quick to put an arm around the shoulder
or provide a reassuring touch. The
touches always seemed to be an expres
sion of concern and not sexual in
nature. We all know lots of people like
that. That is, people for whom physical
contact while communicating is part of
their communication.
Jim
Rogers g
The charge on which my teacher was
found guilty was the count where he
had stuck his hand in the back pocket
of the child (which everyone admitted
occuring) and "wriggled his fingers"
(which was in dispute). There's no
question, at least in my mind, that
sticking one's fingers in another's back
pocket is an intrusive act. The question
is, though, was that the first step along
the road to serious sexual molestation,
or was it simply an intrusion based on
the misjudgment of an individual for
whom physical contact while commun
icating is natural?
'i jr it'll' v i. i v
bit ! Diisuiessj ot :this . or. Ihat . ethnic;
leader. But when you get the All Poweii-fc
ful behind you, hey, there's been noth
ing like that since Dick Daley has been
gone."
Or even Tammany Hall.
Mike
Royko
"Right. Robertson could do a radio
commercial, and at the end, when the
voice says, "This commercial paid for by
the citizens for Robertson and
endorsed by God Almighty,' that is
going to make ears wiggle."
a
There is no question that my teacher
shouldn't have done what he did; the
question is whether the guy simply
went beyond the limit of polite society
(for which he needed to be rebuked
and firmly told of expected social lim
its), or whether the intrusion was so
wrong that only the judicial system
could adequately mete out the penalty.
I don't know.
An additional factor to consider is
the rumor circulating the police depart
ment and I don't vouch for its verac
ity that the children who testified at
the trial were coached to paint a
molestation scenario.
So any approach to the problem
seems fraught with substantial diffi
culty. How should I think? Sexual
assault on children is an ugly specter
that has cast a pall over American
society. There is no room in civilization
for those who prey upon children. But
did it happen? Or was a man's lifelong
vocation destroyed because he pressed
the limit of socially acceptable touch
ing even though he never dreamed
that the touch could be interpreted
sexually.
On the one hand, society couldn't
afford to wait and see if sexual abuse
was really on the mind of this teacher.
To do so would have been to risk per
manent injuiy to the children under his
care. On the other hand, where the
activity stopped seems insufficient to
argue that the next step of molestation
actually would occur. But on the other
hand .... But on ... .
My mind hurts, and my soul aches;
whither be the path of truth?
Rogers is an economics graduate, a law
student and Daily Nebraskan editorial
page editor.
imanager?
r would think 'sa" '
, Especially ;ii tney get anannouncer
with a real deep voice and put him in
an echo chamber. And I wonder, you
think maybe Robertson could do a TV
commercial with God in it?"
I don't think God has ever done a
commercial before. Not even for Amer
ican Express.
"Well, then if he can't get Him in
person, maybe he could do one like
those old DeMille movies, where the
sky has got all those big clouds and Pat
Robertson is standing on a mountain,
and a voice rumbles down from the
clouds and says: T want all of you down
there to vote for Pat Robertson, under
stand? You don't want no floods, do
you?' "
Could be very effective.
See ROYKO on 5