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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1986)
Thursday, November 13, 1986 Pago 4 Daily Nebraskan nitons .1 r l NebraMcan Unlvtrslty of Nbratk-Unco(n Deatltt penalty Decision a victory for good law The complex struggle over applying capital punishment proceeds. Last week U.S. District Judge Warren Urbom struck down as unconstitutional part of Nebraska's capital-punishment statute in an appeal by con victed murderer Richard Holtan. To be understood, Urbom's deci sion needs to be placed in context. The broad restructuring of states' capital punishment laws came about as a result of a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down 39 state death penalty laws. Because each justice wrote a separate opinion, the precise holding of the case has never been wholly clear. But the per curiam holding was that "the imposition and carrying out" of an arbitrary and randomly admin istered capital-punishment sys tem constituted "cruel and unusual';' punishment, violating the U.S. Constitution. ,. , ., .'. . .. Jn . another case,. four years later, Justice Stewart, who announced the judgment of the Court, specified that death penalty laws can be constitu tional if they are authorized "by a carefully drafted statute that ensures that the sentencing authority is given adequate infor mation and guidance." What this means is that death penalty laws must be sufficiently clear so that the law is fairly applied. Those in favor of capital In a paragraph . . . Orr's appointee good news for NU Gov.-elect Kay Orr has ap pointed HansBrisch, exec utive assistant to NU Pres ident Ronald Roskens, as her chief of staff. That could be a plus for the university. Brisch is aware of the problems created by the budget cuts and would be in a good position to make recom mendations. O The Lincoln Star called on pollster Doug Evans of Lincoln's Research Associates to determine the popularity of UNL's mascot, Herbie Husker. Research Associates contacted 449 Ne braskans Oct. 26 through 29 and asked, "Do you think the Univer sity of Nebraska athletic mascot, Herbie Husker, gives a good im pression of Nebraska?" Fifth-two percent approved of Herbie, 21 percent said they didn't, and 27 percent said they didn't know or cared. What the Daily Nebraskan would like to know is how many of those 449 people polled were students? Had the Research Associates con tacted students, the results would have been different. Did anybody count how many times CBS's Dan Rather told the viewing audience that the Demo crats had gained control of the Senate? At least ABC and NBC stuck with most of their regular programming and didn't bore Jeff Korbclik, Editor, 4 72, 1 766 James Rogers, Editorial Page Editor Gene Gcntrup, Managing Editor Tammy Kaup, Associate News Editor Todd von Kampen, Editorial Page Assistant punishment as well as those opposed can certainly agree on that point. That is, the law should be fairly applied in all cases. It is on this point that Judge Urbom found one part of Nebras ka's death-penalty law running afoul. Nebraska law requires that "aggravating" and "mitigating" circumstances be taken into account in deciding whether a convicted murderer should be put to death. One of the aggra vating circumstances in Nebraska law is that the murder "manif ested exceptional depravity by ordinary standards of morality and intelligence." Now that's really not clear enough to ensure fairness. That is, the language is not sufficiently precise to gua rantee that like, crimes will be punished similarly, '.. Urbom held that the Nebraska . Supreme Court, in its interpreta tion of the matter, did not clarify : the unconstitutional language sufficiently td save the provision. So he ruled that part of the law unconstitutional; ! All laws should be clear, and since statutes authorizing the death penalty are the gravest of laws, society needs to be espe cially careful in drafting their language. Urbom's decision need not be categorized as a "victory" for either side of the capital punishment controversy. His decision is a victory for good law. viewers by telling them results after only 2 percent of the votes were in. O The United States is intent on an anti-drug campaign, and the Soviets have a campaign of their own. The Soviet anti-drinking campaign, started 18 months ago, has cut liquor consumption and worker absenteeism by one-third, crime by 25 percent and traffic accidents by 20 percent, a Polit buro member told the Associated Press. O The seat-belt law, referen dum 401, was repeal edin Nebraska a major mistake. Ask law enforcement officers how many dead people they have unbuckled from a car, and they will tell you very few, if any. O Nearly 750,000 copies of the Harvard Lampoon's parody of USA Today have been sold. The parody contains a variety of fic tional news stories and photos. Pick one up if you have the chance. O You know it's getting to be that time of year when you see red and green decorations next to the orange and black Hallo ween ones. Christmas seems to be getting closer every year at least the retail stores feel that way. Don't they know that eve ryone puts off Christmas shop ping until Dec. 24? Is tine nuclear winter v&M? Scientists lost credibility when politics influence research . . quite despair of setting the pub- "Liesandnottruthprevaihnthe prof George Rathiens of MIT lie record straight. . . . Who wants land." andchairmanoftheCouncilforLivable to be accused of being in favor of Jeremiah 9.3 $ Nuclear uteris the wors nuclear wars?" Democracy is based on faith. Citi- example of the misrepresentation . is astounding given zensobviouslycannothaveaccess 0f science to the public in my the press play ofthe issue at the hands to all primary information sour- memory. " of scientists such as Carl Sagan. Rus- ces necessary to discharge their respon- item: The leading British scientific sell beitz nas done an inestimable ser- sihilities.Thev need to rely on experts. Thus the integrity ofthe expert is fun damental to the commonweal of the republic. If those with primary access to facts distort or fabricate those "facts," the very foundation of responsible demo cratic decision-making is shaken. Politicians have distorted informa tion so often that they no longer enjoy a widespread perception of integrity flmnne the American DeoDle. Even if most politicians are honest and for- thright, abuse by the few has destroyed the perceived integrity of the many, Scientists traditionally have enjoyed a much higher credibility rating than politicians. But some scientists seem intent on destroying this reserve of good will. Just like politicians, even if only a minority of scientists abuse the reserve of trust invested in their pro fession, the fallout would cast a pall over the entire group. The proximate cause of this risk is the widely heralded, but false, specter of the "scientifically" modeled conse- quences of nuclear war a nuclear winter. There's no reason to take my word for it. After all, I'm not a climatologist, meteroiogisv -computer scientist or physicst. But Russell Seitz, visiting scholar at Harvard University's Center for International Affairs, has done an admirable job of uncovering the opin ions of the experts. His valuable article is published in the fall issue of "The National Interest," and parts of that article were republished last week in the Wall Street Journal. The following startling items were taken from his Americans don't consider ideologies if candidate has charisma, Big Mo Does anybody remember Big Mo? Sure you do. He was a character who was introduced to America by George Bush in 1980. That's when Bush hoped to be the Republican candidate for president and after every primary he would prat tle about how Big Mo whose full name is Mo Mentum was behind him. As it turned out, Big Mo was with Ronald Reagan, and Bush had to settle for being as George Will describes him a lap dog. And Big Mo has been with Reagan since, no matter what he said or did. With Big Mo behind him, Reagan could do no wrong, even when he didn't know what he was doing. At least that's the way it was until Tuesday, when the Democrats took control of the U.S. Senate. It happened so suddenly and deci sively that I had to wonder: Had Big Mo abandoned Reagan? So I went outside, put a wet finger in the air to see which way the wind was blowing, and, sure enough, I soon found Big Mo sitting on a park bench. What's up? I asked him. "1 assume that you're talking about Tuesday?" he said. Of course. It looks to me like you have changed loyalties. He shook his head. "That's because you don't understand. Sure, I, Big Mo, was with Reagan. But that doesn't mean I'm with all those other charac ters." You mean the Republican senators who were beaten? "Sure. They were on their own." But what about the rest of the Republican Party? "Look, I don't have time to mess around with every rinky-dink in a blue suit and a power-red tie who goes on 'Meet the Press.' " So it was only Reagan all along? mat?az ne Nature in its Jan. Z6 issue Jim Rogers noted the demise in scientific objectiv- ity and lamented: ' Nowhere is this more evident man in me recent iiieraiurn un iuiiru. "khi, research which has become notorious for its lack of scientific inquiry. " Item: National Center for Atmos- pheric Research scientists Stanley Thompson ana oiepnen ocnneiuer in the Summer, 1986 "Foreign Affairs": . . . on sciennjic grounas me demise of expert integrity. After all, global apocalyptic conclusions of the Reagan adm inistration's moves sim the initial nuclear winter hypo- piy confirm an already cynical view of thesis can now be relegatea to a vanishingly low level ofprobab- lity. Item: At a meeting organized to present the findings of the nuclear- winter model, Dr. Kista Tsipis of MIT quotes a Soviet scientist as saying: "You guys are fools. You can 't use mathematical models like these to model perturbed states ofthe atmosphere. You 're playing with toys. " Item: Physicist Freeman Dyson of the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton said this about the nuclear winter model: "It's an absolutely atrocious piece of science, but I "You got it. And now it's time for me to start looking around for someone else." I see. You're already looking ahead to '88. "Sure. It takes me, Big Mo, a while to build up a head of steam. It's not like in the old days, before TV and primaries, when I could save my energy for a con- Mike Royko vention. Now I have to hoof around New Hampshire with all those mopes." Then give me a tip. Who's it going to be? Dole? Bush? Kemp? Laxalt? Robert son? He shook his head. "Forget it." But what other Republicans are there? "Who says Big Mo has got to be with a Republican? I'm non-partisan." You mean it could be a Democrat? He leaned forward. "Let me tell you a secret. I'm not a winner. "Right, I looked at him and told myself, this guy has got it. When he talks, people listen, even if he's not really saying anything. When he makes a speech, he can bring a lump to your throat, a tear to your eye, and he doesn't look like he used a blow dryer on his hair." What does a blow dryer have to do with it? "Blow dryers are out. Big Mo is never going with anybody who tries to look and talk like a cousin ofthe Kennedy clan." Then that rules out most of the Democrats. V L ( 17 0 mw i T -jt &. . m w.Fiwu6t.u?upICSMVeinaict ment against the scientific veracity of tne nuciear winter nypothesis. The question isn't one of whether the world should avoid having a nuclear war. Rather, the question is one of intentionally representing bad infor mation as "scientific" in order to advance one's political beliefs. That's wrong no matter what the cause is. All in all, this has been a terrible fall for truth. The Reagan administration began the steep dive to the bottom of the barrel with its "disinformation" campaign about Libya. ("Disinforma tion" is the Orwellian term for lying to the press and the public.) Additionally, the recent Iranianterrorist debacle simply has added insult to insult. The administration should be ashamed. But the revelations about nuclear winter greatly deepen disgust over the politicians. But scientists are supposed to be different, they're supposed to be more objective, and thus their opinions are supposed to be more trustworthy, Scientists are supposed to be like Joe Friday: "Just give me the facts, Ma'am." One central foundation of the scien tific enterprise is the claim to be engaging in a dispassionate investiga tion of the truth. That one claim osten sibly divides the scientific community from the community of the politicians, Erasing that line bodes ill both for society and science. Rogers is an economics graduate and law student and the Daily Nebraskan editorial page editor. "Not all of them. There's one Demo crat who has everything Reagan has -that lump-in-the-throat, tear-in-the-eye sincerity. The fatherly manner. And he's got something that Reagan never had. Brains. Of course, Reagan never really needed any. In politics, if you've got charisma, you can always hire brains." So, tell me, who is this ideal Demo crat? "Mario Cuomo." You've got to be kidding. Sure, he's dynamite on TV. He looks mature and strong. But what about ideology? It's just the opposite of Reagan's. "Forget ideology. The Democrats have wised up. They've picked over the Republican ideology and are taking what they can use themselves. Their mainstream ideology is not going to be much different than the Republicans' mainstream ideology. And they're not going to let themselves get McGov erned or Mondaled again. At their next convention, all the extremist special interest whackos are going to be stash ed in the back row or standing in the alley. It's the Republicans who are going to have those problems." Republican extremists? "Sure. You know what the single most powerful group in the Republican party is today? The religious funda mentalists. Wait'll they really get going, giving everybody the fisheye who they suspect of being a humanist, and say ing that it's sinful for a kid to see 'The Wizard of Oz' because only God could give the Cowardly Lion courage. 1 mean, how would you like to be a Republican candidate when the litmus test is whether you think the Tin Man could have a heart?" 1986 By The Chicago Tribune Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc. Royko is a Pulitzer prize-winning column ist for the Chicago Tribune.