Friday, September 26, 1986
Page 4
Daily Nebraskan
O ,1
o
Je&Korbelik, Editor, 4721766
James Rogers, Editorial Page Editor
Gene Gentrup, Managing Editor
Tammy Kaup, Associate News Editor
Todd von Kampen, Editorial Pago Assistant
I DON'T CARE
ABOUT
MINORITIES!
Nebraskan
DO YOU
FEEL IT?
VES! EVER SINCE
REAGAN (M IN!
I DON'T CARE ABOUT
TWANIAM!
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Presidential
Visit draws out
There's a good way and a bad
way to protest when a pub
lic figure you disagree with
comes to town. When President
Reagan came to Omaha Wednes
day to campaign and raise money
for Republican gubernatorial
candidate Kay Orr, both ways
were evident.
Not all of those attending the
public rally for Reagan and Orr
at Omaha's Civic Auditorium were
there to cheer for the president.
Disgruntled farmers upset with
federal agricultural policy, la
borers, anti-nuclear people and
people who oppose U.S. policy
toward South Africa made their
point by setting up a "free corn
chowder" soup kitchen outside
the auditorium. Others paraded
through the aisles with signs
saying things like "Farm bill is a
disaster."
But there were also those who
chose to chant at and heckle
Reagan as he spoke. A group of
70 protesters, mostly teen-agers
from Omaha-area high schools,
yelled "We want peace" at Rea
gan and chanted obscenities at
someone nearby who tried to
counter their protest. Three of
the teen-agers were escorted from
the auditorium by police after
being warned twice about dis
rupting the rally.
The incidents show that the
right of people to protest is alive
and well in Nebraska. There's no
question that those opposing the
Reagan adminstration's policies
had every right to be there in
force and make their views known.
The coverage given the protes
Kerrey seeks support
Session is needed, should be called
As is becoming habitual in
Nebraska during the fall,
students head to Lincoln
and so do legislators. Whether
this autumn ritual will be re
peated has yet to be decided.
LP999, the farm foreclosure
law passed last spring and signed
intoTaw, has drawn heated criti
cism from insurance companies
and farm credit banks. They
claim that the law, which allows
farmers and ranchers to keep
their home and 160 acres of land
provided they are able to bid
competitively on it, subjects their
institutions to too much finan
cial risk.
As a result, several of the
companies and lending institu
tions have indicated that the law
is causing them to stop loaning
needed money to high risk
farmers. That is, because of the
law, some the ranchers and
farmers that most need the loans
to keep afloat are unable to get
the needed cash flow and are
failing.
Almost everybody agrees that
the law needs to be amended in
order to help fanners. But Gov.
Kerrey has thrown a wrench into
the call for a special session by
revising to call for one unless at
least 33 of Nebraska's 49 sena
tors agree to support Kerrey's
proposed amendment.
protesters
good and bad
ters in the newspapers, includ
ing this one, and on local and
national newscasts proves that
their voices were heard across
the land.
But the teen-agers went too
far by trying to stop Reagan from
speaking, even if they had little
chance to overcome the power of
the president' microphone. The
issue when the three teen-agers
were removed wasn't that their
right to protest was taken away,
for hundreds of protesters wer
en't even challenged by the
police. The issue was that the
three wanted to deny Reagan the
very right they claimed for them
selves: the right to be heard.
That's the bad way to protest.
As the other protesters showed,
you can communicate your point
very well through non-verbal
devices such as carrying signs,
turning the flag upside down in
distress and lying on the ground
to symbolize a nuclear holocaust.
People are more likely to respect
your point of view if you respect
them enough to let them have
their say, too. The chanting teen
agers could have given Reagan
that respect and still accomp
lished their purpose.
There is one bright spot in the
protests. That's the evidence that
some young people are aware of
political issues and are willing
to get involved in their nation's
affairs. Let's hope they learn that
those they oppose have as much
right to be heard as they do. If
they end up on the other end of
the podium someday, they'll want
that right.
Kerrey's request has drawn
criticism from a number of sena
tors. Sen. Rod Johnson said Ker
rey's precondition for calling a
seesion is "ludricrous," and that
he's "never known a special ses
sion to be called in this particu
lar manner."
The Kerrey administration
justifies the condition by argu
ing that lining up support before
the session will reduce the length
and cost of the session, and will
avoid repeal of the law if no other
compromise is agreed upon.
While Kerrey's heart is in the
right place, his unique require
ment greatly increases the prob
ability that nothing will be done
and farmers will go out of busi
ness. Johnson was correct in
pointing out that "if the Legisla
ture does nothing and creditors
shut off credit, there are going to
be a lot of angry people wanting
this law repealed."
While Kerrey's desire that
clarity to guide the special ses
sion is laudable, nobody ever
said democracy is a process which
is guided by clarity. The session
should be called because it is
needed. And the Legislature
should be allowed to pass or
repeal any bill that it desires. To
wish for anything else is to wish
for the simpicity that doesn't
exist in the hectic world of
democratic decision-making.
IN SOME OF THE
PETTER CIRCLES
PREJUDICE IS
CHIC!
A
AEOT ME!
ft rf V
I
Tike Savior comes to Omaha
Reagan descends in clouds of glittering rhetoric and money
1986 AD.
The band of photographers and
reporters stood in the rain, wait
ing for the arrival. Dark clouds
hung overhead. A warm, humid
wind swept across the slick black
ened tarmac at Eppley Airfield.
They stood, eyes glued to the
sky, poised for "The Coming. "
Everybody had read about it
for days how this figure would
enter Omahafrom the skies above
and swoop down on the desperate
human folk below, bringing rhe
torical comfort and promises of
rebirth.
And then, almost instantly, the
clouds dissipated. Prayers were
answered. A bright sun emerged
and shined on the land below.
And the Savior landed in his
gleaming white jet.
I didn't make it to Omaha for the
second coming Wednesday. I guess
I missed quite a show all the
pompous circumstances, all the deca
dence. Yes, sir, Omaha played host
Wednesday to a circus. The day had a
little bit of everything protest,
human drama, violence, wealth, glitter
and glamour.
Reagan's brief visit to help cam
paign for Nebraska GOP gubernatorial
candidate Kay Orr was decadent. It was
laced with sad irony.
Case in point: Before the rally, Orr
and other GOP bigwigs sponsored a
money-raising reception that provided
the humbled masses a chance to talk
with their president. Anyone could
Madonna brings romance
to the pregnant and unwed
Let me say right up front that any
time Madonna decides to have a
baby, she can count on a pair of
booties from me. I'll even throw in a
year's supply of Pampers and a "Baby
on Board" sticker just for kicks.
I have no problem with a real-life
pregnancy for the pop star, although I
sort of hope she has a daughter instead
of a son. The male offspring of a mother
named Madonna might have a bit of a
problem in the schoolyard, let alone on
the couch.
But Madonna is, after all, 27 years
old, not to mention married. Further
more, as your basic two-career couple,
she and Sean Penn pull in enough of a
weekly paycheck to keep any kid in
strained peaches and diamond-studded
diaper pins.
What gives me a touch of morning
sickness is the stereo and video mater
nity of Madonna. Every time her new hit
single passes through my car radio or
my cable-television screen, I find myself
wishing her an advanced case of vari
cose veins, or perhaps two months tak
3
9 v-v.-- s jt-x r Mir
J I
t
attend, as long as he had $1,000. Nearly
$200,000 was raised.
But the true highlight of the day
came later, when some people got the
chance to touch the Almighty. The
price for this honor? $10,000. But, hey,
it came with a handshake and "hello"
from Ron, as well as a chance to have a
photograph taken with Him. Maybe
some of the fortunate people got to
have their picture taken with Orr, too
dressed in her lovely green and
black suit.
Ad
Hudler
SUV
"Isn't that Gucci?" a friend asked
me. "Maybe it's Armani."
Dallen Peterson of Omaha told the
Omaha World-Herald he thought it
sounded like a good deal. His reaction
to the spiritual encounter?
"Fabulous."
And all for just $10,000.
I heard a rumor that for $1 million
Reagan would restore the sight to a
blind Democrat. No takers, though.
There was more irony laced in with
Reagan's speech in the Omaha Civic
Auditorium. That proved to be amusing
in its own right.
About 50 high-school students
punkers, if you will lav on the floor
with American flags, protesting the
ing care of triplets on a welfare check.
The song, as you may have already
guessed or heard, features an unwed
pregnant adolescent begging her father
to bless her decision to keep her baby
and marry its daddy. Madonna may be a
matron, may have given up her lingerie
and the black roots in her blonde hair,
but in "Papa Don't Preach, " she sings
a girlish voice to a girlish audience
about a girl in a pickle.
Ellen
tboodman r
"Papa don't preach, I'm in trouble
deep,
Papa don't preach, I've been losing
sleep,
But I made up my mind, I'm keeping my
baby,
i
iff
AMERICA IS BACK!
build-up of nuclear arms. Members of
the National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People (the
NAACP) and several Nebraska farmers
also reportedly aired their gripes.
The President took the loud bursts
of protest to heart. He countered with a
remark of something like "Well, I've
got the microphone, so I'm the one
who's going to be heard." It's good to
see a leader with true compassion and
a mind that's accepting of dissent.
Reagan preached prosperity. He told
the group the record-breaking finan
cial plight of Nebraska's farmers has
"begun to get better." Several more
farmers would have attended his speech.
But gas costs money.
The Republican party, we're told,
stands up for the common man, for
equality and conservative fiscal poli
cies. No room for glitz and glamour, no
sir.
Actually, I'm glad Reagan visited our
fine state. I'm sure our punkish protes
ters and fanatical farmers opened some
eyes across the nation. When America's
heartland yells, it's got to be bad.
There is unrest in the Heartland.
Farms are dying, and some of us are
spending $10,000 for a photograph with
the president.
In the past two years, Reagan in
creasingly has been heckled by crowds.
Maybe people are starting to catch on
to his fancy antics.
Maybe he's starting to lose that
godly hypnotic image that has jaded
our views of reality for the past six years.
Hudler is a senior news-editorial major
and Daily Nebraskan Sower editor.
I'm gonna keep my baby, mmm . . ."
The video is one of those emotional
slice-of-life vignettes that work bril
liantly in commercials. The Droblem is
that this a commercial for teen-age
pregnancy. Madonna not only has a
lover as sexy as James Dean "the
one you warned me all about" but a
father ultimately as understanding as
Mr. Rogers. By the video's end, she has
won the love of both in the family way.
The happily-ever-after image has
about as much to do with the reality of
adolescent motherhood as Madonna's
figure has to do with pregnancy. It's
artifically inseminated with romance.
By now, I should know better than to
get worked up over rock. Blame it on
the beat if you will. Madonna herself
predicted that this is a "message song
that everyone is going to take the
wrong way. Immediately they're going
to say I am advising every young girl to
See GOOD F.IAN on 5