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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 1987)
_ Editorial . —-_ i Nebrayskan University of Nebraska-Lincoln Mike Reilley, Editor, 472-1766 Jeanne Bourne, Editorial Page Editor Jann Nyffeler, Associate News Editor Scott Harrah, Wight News Editor Joan Rezac, Copy Desk Chief Linda Hartmann, Wire Editor Charles Lieurance, Asst. A & E Editor Nebraska stumped Karnes, Daub ‘Kerrey \i ’ away in campaign More than a year before the next election, two Nebras ka Congressmen are al ready in the campaign arena, jousting for the Republican Senate nomination. The early campaigning by Rep. Hal Daub and Sen. David Karnes, both of Omaha, is like two knights lancing without an audience, or opening the Christmas season j before Halloween. Nebraskans just aren’t ready for the stumping yet. Rather than worrying who will be the next U.S. senator, Nebraskans probably have their minds on such events as FarmAid and Husker football. But Daub and Karnes are probably worried; if former Gov. Bob Kerrey runs for the U.S. Senate, they will have a tough battle ahead of them. Most ev eryone knows Kerrey, but con siderably fewer know the two present congressmen. That’s why we have seen both Karnes and Daub running paid commercials on local television stations, traveling around the state, attending fairs, local cele brations and even greeting Husker fans outside of Memorial Sta dium before last Saturday’s game. Perhaps there is another rea son for their early start: They need to raise money for the campaigns. John Comer, a University of Ne braska Lincoln political science professor, said both Daub and Karnes must start early in order to gain financial support for the costly campaigns, expected to cost as much as $1 million each. Daub may have gotten a little uneasy after Gov. Kay Orr threw her support toward Karnes, and started campaigning. The campaigning will get a little old before the election, although Kerrey and another po tential candidate, Rep. DougBer euter of Utica, might add some spice to the senatorial race. Bereuter has yet to decide whether he will run against Daub and Karnes. Kerrey has said he will decide whether he will run for the Democratic nomination for the Senate in October. Kerrey has said he would "eryoy being in the Senate,” according to a recent article by The Asso ciated Press in the Lincoln Star. If Kerrey runs, Comer said, he will get the Democratic nomina tion with few problems. There are no contenders for the nomi nation yet and it is unlikely any will appear if Kerrey does run. With Kerrey in the senatorial race, Comer said, the campaign ing would get exciting. In the meantime, however, it’s boring. The excitement died shortly after Daub decided in May that he would challenge Karnes for the nomination. Karnes, appointed to the Sen ate by Orr on March 11 after the death of Sen. Edward Zorinsky, has said he doesn’t want the campaigning to start so early. Since polls indicated that few Nebraskans knew who Karnes was, he has made an effort to let them know him. He has traveled around the state, spoken in sev- I eral communities and even went to Honduras to visit the Nebraska military reserves. While trying to gain name recognition, Karnes has done some campaigning on the side. Daub is rather up-front about his desire to be the next U.S. senator from Nebraska. His com mercial, which has run for the last three weeks on TV stations outside Omaha, say* he has worked hard as a four-tei i n iuse member and concludes by tell ing voters that he has “earned it." Karnes’ adv ertisement says “he hit the ground running." His ad ran when President Reagan visit ed North Platte in mid-August. While those politicians solicit support for the May 10 primary, which is more than eight months away, Kerrey bides his time. But he’s not the only one biding time — so are Nebraskans who are hearing the Karnes and Daub commercials. Quibbles & bits State ditch-weed war is police placebo • The war on "ditch weed” continues. Nebraska law enforcement officials announced this week that they killed more than 11 million wild marijuana plants with a potential value of billions of dollars. Although they have a noble goal of ridding Nebraska of the "evil weed," the authorities are still kicking down the wrong door. What they’re killing is nothing more than "ditch weed" — no one in his right mind would smoke it. Anyone who did would be confusing a headache with a high. Instead, authorities need to concentrate more on trafficking of hard drugs. That’s where the action is, not in the ditches. • DN Advertising Manager Marcia Miller and former DN ad representative Patricia Miklos became $ 125 richer this week by winning a first-place award in the 14th annual Nissan Student Advertising contest. Their win ning ads will be published in America magazine, a publication distributed to every college and university campus in the United States. New ‘Billyscopes’ predict presidential Cltaro scandal Scorpio, Thursday, Sept. 10. “What appeared lost is due to be recovered,” was the first line of my horoscope. Great, I thought. My sense of humor is coming back. You can twist these things around any way you want. “Individual who ‘serves you’ will perform favor, could locate object in question," it went on. I won’t even hazard a guess on that one. My favorite personal horoscope of all time was: "Romance could flourish and you could be planning a trip.” Notice the use of the word could there. In other words, romance could flourish, or you cou Id be stuck at home watching “As The World Turns.” In one of the Lincoln papers the horoscopes are written by psychic Jean Dixon. Isn’t she the one who predicted in the National Enquirer a few years ago that Elvis would return as a Mick Jagger impersonator? That J.R. Ewing would marry Elizabeth Taylor? That a front-running presidential candidate would blow his chances by having an affair with Charo? We’re to put our faith in this woman? Let’s face it, if I had opened the paper and read ‘‘You will wake up at 6:30 a.m. with a horrible hangover and not be able to go back to sleep. Your parents will write you a letter telling you they can’t find a place for you in the family tree, sorry. You will finally get to sleep at 2 p.m. and then be awakened by a research company wanting your opinion on feminine protection, you give it to them,” then 1 would have more faith in the stars. Because that’s how yesterday went. Bill Allen As it is, all I know is that a Pisces will play a key role. Just for the heck of it, I’m writing UNL’s horoscopes for today. These are horoscopes you’d like to read, but never will. And please, don’t just read yours. It’s nice to know what’s going to happen to the other sucker, too. Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) ASUN will do nothing for you today. Your girlfriend will call your apartment today and the woman you live with will answer the phone. Several small welts will appear on your body, ruining an otherwise pleasant bath. No one will believe you when you tell them how good you were at sports in high school. Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Indian time-travelers will throw skins over “Old Glory” and move in for a week. You will discover your phone number on the bathroom wall at Chesterfield’s under “FOR A GOOD TIME CALL. . .” which will explain everything. ASUN will do nothing for you today. Your mother will call and say she is going back to school and wants to be your roommate. Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) You and a “sister” will fall in love with the same Phi Psi. Your only hope is a new war drobe and Ultrabrite. Charge it. Be sure to stock up on hair spray, makeup. AXO, Fiji, SAE play key roles. Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) A hard rain is gonna fall. Someone you don’t know will die and leave your name in a suicide note. The health center will call with bad news. Your little sister the nun will become preg nant, marry a man named Joseph, etc. Lied Center construction will continue, ASUN will do nothing for you today. Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) The Lincoln Police Department will return something that was stolen from you years ago. It will no longer work. The UNL Police Department will respond to your call about the theft of that item. A Moonie will play an important role in your sex life. See ALLEN on 5 The REAL poilitical heroes: Koop and Kris Kristofferson Like most of America, I was dis gusted and amused by the Kukla, Fawn and Ollie show this summer. (Ollie: the pompous, toothless dragon. Fawn: wholesome, level-headed, right thinking sex symbol. Pick your favorite silly clown and let him be Kukla.) I’m not going to dredge up the tired absurdities of Irangate again. But 1 bring it up because the hearings showed something scary about the character of American in the 1980s. (Actually almost every thing about the hearings revealed somet hing scary about the character of America in the '80s, but I’m only going to talk about one.) I mean the peculiar new definition of the word "hero." Lots of heroes were running around this summer. Oliver North was a hero. Richard Secord was a hero. The presi dent and the conservative congress men were quick to dub any accused Tom, Dick or Harry a hero, but nobody ever stopped to explain what they did to deserve the name. None of these heroes had ever rushed into a burning building to save a child or rotted 20 years in a gulag somewhere for their principles. It is confusing. Just what makes a hero? After watching for a while I came up with a working definition: A hero is someone who puts the ideology of his particular political faction above all other concerns of law, ethics and mor ality. This isn’t really a new definition. The left wing used it extensively in the '60s and 70s — particularly organiza tions like the Weather Underground and the Symbionese Liberation Army. But I don’t buy it. In fact, for me the definition is completely opposite. A political hero is someone who follows his own reason and conscience without regard to any social, political or reli gious “party line." The biggest heroes are those whose conscience leads them between two or more established doc trines, because anybody who embraces parts of two radically opposed ideolo gies is probably going to be rejected by both. It takes guts to stand up for something when nobody stands with you, and guts are what heroism is all about. Chris McCubbin Let me give a couple of examples: I consider Kris Kristofferson a bad actor and a worse singer, but his ideol ogy impresses me. He’s no sociopolitical saint. His biggest stumble from ideological pur ity was starring in the jingoistic mini series “Amerika." He claims he did it so he could be a moderating influence on the show’s politics. Sure, Kris, that and the money. But Kristofferson more than re deemed himself from the “Amerika" sellout when he went to Nicaragua to perform to an all Sandinista audience. This concert was a much-needed affir mation that some citizens of the United States are willing to cooperate wit h the lawful government of Nicaragua, des pite ideological differences, in the name of peace. A lot of Kristofferson’s time is devoted to playing benefit shows for peace and justice, and that’s admirable. What makes Kristofferson heroic is that a lot of his remaining time is devoted to performing for U.S. soldiers. As a vete ran who believes in peace, I have often become irritated at the way many peace activists seem to hold each indi vidual soldier responsible for every missile in the world. Most soldiers are confused kids declaring their inde pendence from mom and dad or victims of Reaganomics trying to feed their families. Kristofferson, also a veteran, understands this and so he supports soldiers without supporting militarism. And if that alienates him from some factions of the peace movement, fine. My next example is C. Everett Koop, the U.S. surgeon general. Before he became surgeon general Koop co-wrote the book and film series “Whatever Happened to the Human Race" with the late Christian moral philosopher Francis Schaeffer. "Whatever Happened to the Human Race" is one of the most thoughtful and complete popular works dealing with the social dangers of abor tion and euthanasia. Because he is one of the most visible and well-respected pro-life activists in the nation, Koop seemed the ideal man to promote Reagan’s conservative a genda in the surgeon general's office Then the AIDS plague hit. While many conservatives were babbling alxmi “the judgment of God on gays" and how sex education really encouraged pro miscuity, Koop was advocating inten sive scientific research to find a cure and education on safe sex to keep peo ple alive in the meantime. Throughout the crisis Koop’s at ti tude has been non-judgmental, afford ing the same dignity to a victim of gay bathhouse decadence and to the hemophiliac schoolchild who received a contaminated blood product. Koop’s stands on abortion and AIDS may seem contradictory to some, but they aren’t really. Koop is a physician, and he believes a physician has a sacred trust to, first, preserve life; and, second, protect the quality of life. If Koop sees human beings dying from abortion, he will try to save them — legally and responsibly, without bomb ing any clinics or terrorizing pregnant, desperate women. If he sees human beings dying from AIDS he’ll try to save them, and he’ll treat them with com passion and respect. If either of these actions isn’t “liberal" or "conserva tive,” Koop doesn’t care, and that makes him a hero. McCubbin In a Nenior EngliMh and philo Nophy major.