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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 1988)
Editorial J Nebraskan S University of Nebraska-Uncoin Curt Wagner, Editor, 472 1766 Mike Reillcy, Editorial Page Editor Diana Johnson, Managing Editor Lee Rood, Associate News Editor Bob Nelson, Wire Page Editor Andy Pollock, Columnist Micki Haller, Entertainment Editor Use time more wisely Tax system should be issue at session The Nebraska Legislature’s current special session has been laid back, to say the least. Take Monday, few example. State senators met for less than an hour before taking off for a reception. Thirty three senators spent last weekend at a retreat at Platte River State Park, where they participated in a program called New Horizons. According to The Lincoln Star, the program is aimed at developing a visionary approach to dealing with the state’s problems and getting private citizens to join with senators in finding ways to solve them. I It’s not exactly the most intense material in the world. The special session was called this month for a good reason — so the state senators could discuss their long overdue salary increase. But in the meantime, they’re left with a lot of spare time — time that could be spent dis I cussing otner important issues. One of those topics is the state’s income tax system, which will definitely pop up when the regular session starts in January. Sen. James McFarland of Lincoln has pushed to have the issue solved at the current session, but so far has found only seven other senators willing to expand the session to discuss his resolution. Why the rush? McFarland hopes to adjust the income tax rates before the first of the year. If passed, his pro posal would credit the new income tax system being implemented this year with raising income tax liability for Nebraskans by $60 million, accoiding to an Omaha World-Herald article. ««» « .• i « « t * « . j . _ j tir. Irus uiA vcsmuuun snutuu uc ucuuuxi uuuay ui cuu&a* day. Although waiting until the 1989 session would give senators more time to look at the overall picture of the tax system, they would be wise in following McFarland’s lead and start putting the legislative mechanics in motion. — Mike Retliey _ for the Daily Nebraskan - DN ignores UNL bowling team Football, baseball, volleyball, swimming, basketball. What hap pened to bowling? What I mean is that whenever you read the Daily Nebraskan sports page you always hear something about how well all the other teams are doing. I have only seen one small article about the University of Nebraska Lincoln bowling team, and that was right after tryouts. There are quite a few people out there who don’t even know we have a bowling team. I agree that all the other UNL teams are great but wc also have a great bowling team. Starting the sea son, the team was ranked 2nd in the nation. Even though I didn’t make the bowling team, I would still like tc pick up the DN and read about ho* the team is doing. Eric Kirchnei frcshmai business managemen Equal rights: Equal combat After reading the story about equality in the military (DN, Nov. 10), I have only one thing to say: Bull! ♦ Military service will never be truly equal until women are forced to serve in combat positions just like men. 1 realize that federal law prohibits this, but in my eyes, this law makes abso lutely no sense. To all females out there who are still trying to prove that they can do a job as well as a man, try this: If you ever decide to join the military, demand a position that may, in ih< future, require actual combat. If yoi feel that you have the same ability a a man, prove it. All the women who demand equa rights without accepting the equa responsibilities that go along will them are just practicing reverse sex ism. Andrew Meye freshmai pre-me< Signed staff editorials represent the official policy of the fall 1988 Daily Ne braskan. Policy is set by the Daily Ne braskan Editorial Board. Its members are Curt Wagner, editor; Mike Reilley, edito rial page editor; Diana Johnson, manag ing editor; Lee Rood, associate news editor; Andy Pollock, columnist; Bob Nelnon, wire page editor; and Micki Haller, ottertatnment editor. the students or the NU Boaid ol Regents. Editorial columns represent the opin ion of the author. The Daily Nebraskan’s publishers ar< the regents, who established the UNI Publications Board to supervise the dail] production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents responsibility for the editorial content o Dukakis lost election because ... He played the political game like he’d play a game of heanhag idge in Fori Worth, Texas, has immed up nicely the reason hy Mike Dukakis flopped as the Democratic candidate. As the judge pul it: “He forgot the first rule of knife fighting — there are no rules.” The judge also summarized the reason why George Bush was suc cessful: “He appealed to traditional American values — bigotry, envy, greed, chauvinism and fear.” That’s as accurate an analysis of this election as I’ve heard, and it’s probably more precise than most of the phony reasons people gave to exit pollsters. Dukakis’ problem is that he never did understand what George Wash ;ngton Plunkett, an old New York Tammany Hall political boss, meant when he said: “Politics ain’t bean bag.” He thought he could glide along playing Mr. Nice Guy, slaying above the fray, loftily ignoring the kicks in the shins he was getting from Bush. That might have worked if he had a forceful magnetic personality. But he doesn’t. Zorba the Greek talked of having “fire in his belly,’’ which gave him his burning zest for life. Dukakis the Greek acted like he had vanilla yogurt in his belly and a zest for reading lime sheets and production reports. Mario Cuomo might have pulled 1 off the nice guy role because, as an L orator, he has the magic gift. But I doubt if Cuomo would have just stood there, as Dukakis did months ago, letting Bush get away • with the cheap, irrelevant shots on i prison furloughs, the pledge and the i ACLU. Cuomo has a short fuse, as New i York reporters have learned, and it i wouldn't have taken him long to slam 1 Bush in the head with the huge ■ federal prison furlough program, with conservative George Will’s descrip tion of Bush as a “lap dog” and with r Bush’s feeble claims that, gosh, he i didn t know whal was going on dur ing the Iran Arms deal. Bui Dukakis and his inept advisers thought he could gel away with drop ping words as dry as dust and keeping that dopey, Steve Martin smile plas tered on his face. Had Mayor Daley been alive, he would have sat Dukakis down and explained the basics: “When some body hits you, you hit them right back. If you don’t, you look weak. Hit ‘cm and him ‘em now.” Or as another Chicago politician put it: "Two things you can’t let an opponent get away with — telling lies about you or telling the truth about you.” _ _I—-L Instead, Dukakis let charges splat ter against him and stick like glue, aid he look* a weak and, at times, foolish During the debate, when the clod fiom able TV asked Dukakis how he would feel if his wife was raped and murdered, there were any number of effective responses he could have made. He could have turned on the re porter and barked: ‘‘That is a disgust ing, inappropriate question.” Every body likes seeing wise-guy reporters pul in their place. Or he could have glared and said: “If that happened, I would have tried to kill the guy with my own hands, as any man would have done. You know lltat. But it doesn’t alter my position on capital punishment, although I respect the views of those who feel otherwise.” Instead, he showed as much fire as if he’d been asked how he would feel M nis wiie naa oecn pmciicu mi un elevator. Maybe he should have spent less time reading about housing pro grams in Sweden and more time watching pop-culture movies like Charles Bronson’s “Death Wish.’ Meanwhile, Bush got away with the biggest blunder by either candi date — the selection of J. Danforth Quayle, draft-dodger and airhead, as his running mate. He got away with it because Dukakis couldn’t say much, having spent the fighting years of the Korean War in college on a campus defer ment. And Lloyd Bentsen couldn’t say much because his kids managed to get into reserve units, just as Quayle did. But by walking the high road, they chose not to use surrogate hitmen to do the job on Quayle. There are Democrats who served and fought and they would have dogged Bush and Quayle on the war wimp issue. They could have clobbered Quayle on his family’s close tics to the John Birch Society, which has far less to brag about than the ACLU. And Quayle’s wife’s family’s devo tion to one of the nation ’ s looniest far right preachers. But, no, Dukakis went on acting as if politics was indeed the game ol bcanbag. It turns out dial an old newspaper friend of mine, who has taught for many years at a Massachusetts col lege, was right. He wrote me last year and said that I should not be fooled by Dukakis’ pose as a “true ethnic.’ He had watched Dukakis up close and said: “He’s what I call a limousine ethnic. He’s a cold fish and before it s over, that’s going to show.” Dukakis lost because he was a poor candidate and had lousy advisers and ran a second-rate campaign. But he’s a modem Democrat, so what else is new? C19SI By The Chicle Tribune 1 Campus Notes by Brian Shellito SefcmiHo Tw&t>, iwt WWOASSMW«S imiSK H0 «tv#HTk -Y StYMUC, CtaMerre / V HMv. ? 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