Opinion,
Freshman supports
Initiative 402
In regard to Janies Sennett’s col
umn (DN, Nov. 2). Well, how can a
person with enough brain power to
write for a newspaper write some
thing as ridiculous as “the issues are
too complex to discuss here, but Ini
tiative 402 should be defeated?” This
comment brings rise to such thoughts
as “you must be too stupid to exist.”
Let’s say I had no idea what Initia
tive 402 was. Name recognition alone
could lead to my negative vote. As a
journalist of any integrity at all Sen
nett should discuss it or not mention it
at all. Initiative 402 just gives the
power back to the people. It docs not
automatically mean our withdrawal
from the compact.
In 1980, Congress adopted a low
level nuclear waste compact policy. It
divided the United States into 13 dif
ferent com pacts. N ebraska ’ s com pac t
includes Missouri, Arkansas, Louisi
ana and Oklahoma. One representa
__u .i_*_.
vi tv/ Hum vttvii ouuv/ in uiv
belongs to the compact’s board of
directors. It is this board that selects
the state to have the site. Our compact
selected Nebraska. Our compact is
the first one to have moved so far so
quickly. The policy stated that a
minimum of three sites were needed
for the whole country.
If 402 fails and we get “dumped”
on, the other 12 compacts,can pay our
compact to take up to one-third of the
country’s waste. Our compact will
divide this payment five ways —
Nebraska receiving one-fifth of the
money; 100 percent of the waste. The
side against 402 has over $1 million to
spend on its campaign, 95 percent of
this money comes from outside Ne
braska. The ads this money pays for
arc rather misleading. Many claim
that the waste is purely medical.
In reality only 2 percent of the
volume is medical and that would
equal only 1 percent of the overall
potency. The word low level is mis
leading. It includes every part of a
nuclear power plant except the fuel
rods. Low level doesn’t mean it’s
much safer than high level waste.
The argument I’ve heard most
commonly against 402 is the money
we would lose is the cost of building
and maintaining a dumpsite. Sec
ondly there is more to expenses than
money. What if our ground water gets
contaminated? The government,
which has employed a company to
build the dumpsites, has a most unim
pressive record as far as safety is
concerned.
More importantly, if each state had
to deal with its own waste instead of
shipping it off to some “distant” state,
that many non Nebraskans confuse
with Alaska, they would be more
inclined to cut down on their produc
tion of this low-level garbage.
Life is complex, Sennctt, but that
doesn't mean we should hide our
heads in the sand of irivialixation.
Nell Eckersley
freshman
education/social sciences
member of EARLY WARNING!
and human rights activists
Washington needs
Sen. Dave Karnes
As the elections draw near, 1 ques
tion the logic of the people in Ne
braska. Polls indicate that Republican
candidate George Bush is leading
Democratic contender Michael
Dukakis and former Gov. Bob Ker
rey, the Democratic candidate, is
leading Republican incumbent Dave
Karnes.
In both of these races, the leaders
are widening their leads. The people I
want to target in my letter are those
who are planning to vote for both
Bush, a Republican, and Kerrey, a
Democrat. I would ask you, if you
were boarding a plane that had an
apparent destination of New York
City, would you or the pilot benefit
from a navigator that had never flown
to New York but rather he is familiar
with and has brought his flight maps
for the flight to Los Angeles. This
would be the situation if Bush and
Kerrey won.
I have worked in Washington
D.C., on the floor of the House of
—i
Representatives for nine months. Let
me assure you that there are only two
sides of the aisle: the Republ ican side,
the Democrat side and there is no
independent side of the aisle that
consists of congressional representa
tives that they were likeable, charis
matic and so on. Indeed, charisma,
likability and other such traits do not
by themselves guarantee effective
ness as a leader. Kerrey may have
been the most charismatic person
ever to occupy the Governor’s Man
sion. Yet few governors got as little
done.
Take heed from senate minority
leader, Bob Dole, when he said,
“Docs it make any sense to give
George Bush a mandate in Nebraska
and not send someone who will sup
port his policies?”
Kerrey did not have a good track
record while he was governor. The
Legislature was in turmoil, the budget
for higher education was repeatedly
cut and efforts were made to cut entire
IVI AAAftArniA A^/Vtn*k mrtr n*
Miaxsaato, vwuvmiv Tf MO Ml
a standstill and Commonwealth de
positors lost a substantial amount of
money. Kerrey spent more time in
California than he did in western
Nebraska, and the list goes on.
Sen. Dave Karnes has accom
plished more in his short term in of
fice than Kerrey did in four years.
Karnes has been the first senator to
visit western Nebraska since I can
remember and he seems to really care
about the state. I question Kerrey’s
dedication to the stale when a large
portion of his campaign funds have
been raised outside the state.
I encourage you to rethink your
logic as the election draws near and I
encourage you to vote.
Nathan Geisert
senior
ag honors
and 1st vice president
Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska
Sennett’s selection
disgusts student
James Senncu’s endorsement of
i
George Bush both saddens and dis
gusts me. It seems that Sennett has
gone along with the media addressing
only the narrow agenda that Ronald
Reagan and staff have set. He has
foregone his responsibility to the
people to bring the truth; the things
that make a difference.
Sennett says that he thinks Bush is
a safer choice than Michael Dukakis,
since he and his administration will be
nothing more than a weak facsim ile of
the Reagan administration. The same
administration that brought us the
Iran-Contra scandal. And what ex
actly was Bush’s role in that crime?
Nobody knows since ail the records of
Bush’s involvement have been frozen
in court until after the election. But
hey, how much safer can you get?
Sennett says that Dukakis might
get in office and start pushing buttons
and pulling switches until this coun
try goes down the tubes. The problem
is, we’re already there. Many people
say that the third world war will be
economic and that we’vealready lost,
lllWMjy UV-CdUSC WCUUM UUlVCdpitM
dent dynamic enough to get thiscoun
try to deal with world problems.
In Europe, there’s a thing called
“Project 1992.” It’s a comprehensive
plan that drops all trade barriers be
tween European countries. It will
. unify all the countries of Europe into
one massive economic Goliath.
Since 1940, when we were the
world power, the balance has shifted
far to the East. Japan already outdoes
us in most technological production .
fields, and the twin tigers Korea and
Taiwan can undersell anything we
make, but they are being quickly
eclipsed by the awesome production
powers of industrialized China.
And how will America respond to
this all-encompassing shifting of the
world? ... with the 8-year-old stale
agenda of a cold-war actor.
What about the population explo
sion? It hasn’t stopped you know. And
it’s not just “their” problem, it’s
everybody’s problem. By the year
2000, the population of India will be
2 billion. That’s higher than the world
population of 1910. Remember that
India already has nuclear power and
will most probably possess nuclear
weapons by 2000. How stable will a
country crammed with 2 billion walk
ing skeletons be?
What about South Africa? How
long will Bush continue to bloody the
hands of liberty with support of apart
heid? What will be his pathetic ex
cuse for the death of our brothers and
sisters?
What about the START treaty?
The Pentagon has said that the only
reason they went along with the
scrapping of missiles in the first place
was so that they could update their
weapons systems. Their “needs” in
clude. 50 MX missiles, 136 Stealth
bombers and more Trident subma
rines. Never mind that so many of
these Reagan administration weap
ons don’t w ork, in spite of the fact that
we’ve sunk 33 percent of the federal
budget into it, and created a high
deficit in the process.
Europeans celebrated the START
treaty because they thought it would
make the NATO countries safer m
r>!>cp r\f u/ar rvnlv it \i/r»n’t T want vr»n
to think about the nuclear power
plants in Europe — all 120 of them.
They are all prime military targets in
a conventional war and extremely
vulnerable. In the event of any large
scale aggression, the least one could
expect is 3 0 or 20 Chernobyls.
But, back to the United States.
Will Bush continue, as Reagan has
done, to ignore the growing homeless
problem? Will he also squash the
educational budget of the nation? He
will most certainly outlaw abortion,
die only question is how many years
in the federal penitentiary those
women will face. How much further
will he entrench the classes, making
the rich richer, the poor poorer, and
the middle class smaller? How much
Longer will America continue to ig
nore its own people and the world, and
how safe will anyone be if we keep
unquestioningly marching onward to
oblivion?
Joseph C. Bowman
'SdjJhomoif
ariihropotogf
-r
1 Like The Natural Look
Of My New Contacts”
Minr'l— I—— ;
“...And They Were Free!"
Purchase any eyeglasses at regular price and get a pair of
CooperThin daily-wear soft contacts absolutely free! You'll iove
the look and comfort.. as well as the incredible savings!
Or Select Free Eyeglasses
If you'd prefer glasses, you can select a free pair with clear
single-vision lenses, with purchase of any other pair in stock!
Eya aaam not rndudad Contact* to po*#** ol t*0 othat brand* *v*ilabl* Fra# ayaglaaaaa muat b* tram*,
ot aqual or la** v*lua Nc othar diacnunt* apply So# optician at participating location* lor datarlt
Offer good through November 22no
Dulingf tptkal
‘We’ll Change The Way You Look At Life!’
East Park Plaza 3923 & 48to 8t T]»*
468-1924 466-3106 476-9bbv |
(Opsn Sunday) ^
The many facets of
Richard Hamann's
Diamond Design
Size Shape Description Our Price ComPare ^ymlnt
.25 ct. Round Fine White $399 $595 $14.16
.25 ct. Marquise Beautiful $495 $18.07
.33 ct. Round Brilliant $489 $675 $17.70
.38 ct. Marquise Beautiful Proportions $715 $9/5 $25.84
.46 ct. Marquise Dazzling Fire $1,179 $ 1,560 $42.61
.47 ct. Round GIA Certificate $996 $ 1,000 $35.15
.51 ct. Emerald Clean, White, Beautiful $1,175 $1/495 $42.92
.71 ct. Marquise Beautiful Shape $1,758 $2,395 $63.75
.90 ct. Marquise Wow! $2,595 $3,775 $93.99
1.26 ct. Marquise Exceptional Beauty $3,995 $6,775 $144.60
1.39 ct. Marquise Big, Big, Big $3,850 $7,250 $139.18
This is a small listing of our vast and varied inventory. Many other sizes and shapes arc available.
Come see our beautiful custom settings. ’Financing based on 36 moa. 17.9% A P R.
No down payment with approved credit.
/ . Ribwd HamanrVs/ Monday 9to530
\ lit fU/l i I Tues., Weds., Thurs., 9 to 8
\ Friday 9 to 5:30
\. f m \/ • Saturday 9 to 5
INCCall 466-6747
Third floor • Greentree Court 210 Gateway North • Lincoln, NE 68505