Editorial
__ .| Curt Wagner, Editor, 472-1766
Uglily Amy Edwards, Editorial Page Editor
T U1 ^ ^ ^ne Hirt, Managing Editor
I if | (I Lee Rood, Associate News Editor
J- ' ^ k/A WLJXwMa I. Diana Johnson, Wir* Page Editor
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chuck Green, Copy Desk Chief
Lisa Donovan, Columnist
Decent burial deserved
Pawnee should be allowed to bury dead
The battle over the Nebraska State Historical Society’s
collection of Pawnee Indian remains has gone on
long enough.
Few about two years now, Nebraska and Oklahoma In
dians have been fighting for the return of about 20 percent
of the historical society’s collection of burial remains and
burial goods.
The Pawnee remains were dug up in Nebraska. The
tribe, now in Oklahoma, wants them returned for reburial
in accordance with their religious beliefs.
Members of the historical society’s board of directors,
however, have said the collection is extremely valuable
for its educational and scientific value — a point well
I taken.
But the society has had some of the remains for more
than 50 years. Any research the society intended to do
should’ve have been by now.
Some of the bones, society members have said, are not
theirs to give away — that they belong to the federal gov
ernment. The Indians insist that no one owns their ances
tors.
A bill sponsored by state Sen. Ernie Chambers would
I resolve the problem once and for all.
LB340, introduced Wednesday to the Nebraska Legis
lature’s Government, Military and Veteran’s Affairs
Committee, provides for the return of the Pawnee remains
by Sept 10,1989.
The bill also regulates all unmarked Nebraska burial
sites and mandates notification of the Nebraska Indian
- Commission or people associated with any American
Indian remains discovered in the future.
“In all other cases,’’ the remains would be reburied
following a one-year scientific study period - if a study is
npppccan/
I The bill is fair.
It gives time for the remains to be studied — a sacrifice
the Indians have not been willing to consent to until now
and provides that reburial is somewhat timely.
If push comes to shove, the Indians will most likely
win anyway.
Nebraska Attorney General Robert Spire said at the
committee hearing, “When all the dust settles, the courts
I will determine that the Indians’ First Amendment rights
I will prevail over the rights of the scientific community,”
provided that the scientific community had a reasonable
amount of time for research.
Bob Peregoy, a Colorado lawyer representing the
■ Pawnee Indians of Oklahoma, said that the Pawnee don’t
Want to go to court, but are prepared to do so. This is a
1 warning the historical society should listen to, especially
f after Spire testified that the court “ ... looks at things
with a moral eye.”
ii siaic senators uo not rcsoive me issue, me uugaiioii
could take forever.
The society and the Indians have not been able to
resolve the matter on their own. Further controversy
would only cause additional heartache to those who
believe the remains and goods should be reburied, and
additional impatience of those worried for the future of
the collection.
More is at stake here than just a museum’s collection of
'life controversy has caused anger, frustration and
I public humiliation to two important and respected groups
More importantly, human dignity is at stake. The right
of a person to be put to rest, in peace, should be a given.
I People should not have to fight to take their relatives out
of glass cases to lay them to rest. And it's tii^for the
I
Stephanie Cannon/Daily Nebraskan I
Longsine discusses the Bible I
Columnist says The Good News gives Christianity a bad namem
Ive always wondered it God re
ally talks in all capital letters.
1 'd ask Him but surely He is too
busy to bother with me.
YOU DON’T THINK THAT I
ONLY TALK TO MOSES AND
ART BUCHWALD? WHAT DO
YOU REALLY WANT TO ASK?
NOT THAT I DON’T KNOW AL
READY, BUT YOUR READERS ~
WHO SOMETIMES DO CONSIST
OF MORE PERSONS THAN YOUR
EDITOR AND YOUR GIRL
FRIEND - MAY WISH TO KNOW.
Inspiration. I want inspiration.
WELL, YOU WON’T GET IT,
NOT FROM ME. I’VE SEEN THE
PRISONER TOO, GRAND ENTER
TAINMENT. HAVE YOU TRIED
READING THE UNL GOOD
NEWS?
Honestly? I haven’t touched it for
a pAiinln monlhe I hoAn
to, but I always have assigned reading
that I should do instead. I read Mark
before I went to sec “The Last Temp
tation of Christ,” but other than that,
I really haven’t had lime. I’ll read the
whole thing over spring break, I
promise, or in the summer if I have to
write papers ...
YOU NEED NOT GROVEL,
HEATHEN. ANYWAY, THAT
WASN’T WHAT I MEANT. I
KNOW YOU READ THE GOOD
NEWS, THE MONTHLY CAMPUS
PAPER. YOU HAVEN T FORGOT
TEN?
Oh, the one published by that pro
fessor? Do you chat with hint?
YOU READ THE GOOD NEWS.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? I’M
GOING DOWNTOWN. FIND THE
CURRENT ISSUE. I’M RATHER
EXTENSIVELY QUOTED
THEREIN. IT SHOULD PROVIDE
SOME INSPIRATION. KEEP IN
TOUCH.
Wait! I just found my list of things
to ask about. What’s the meaning of
life7 How do I know if 1 really love
..omcone? Is there life on other plan
ets? Where is Jimmy Hoffa? How
many licks does it take to get to the
center of a Tootsie-Roll Tootsie
Pop?
PATIENCE. MY SON. YOU
HAVE WORK TO DO. WELL
MEET AGAIN.
Thanks, God.
YOU’RE WELCOME.
And the Lord said, Go forth and
read the uoodnews and /nou snail
find inspiration in heaps and bushels.
And behold, the columnist went forth
and did read The Good News and did
find inspiration in heaps and bushels.
After reading every story, save
one, 1 declared excitedly to my lemon
trees, “Perhaps they are growing, at
least there is no gay-bashing article in
the latest issue!”
But I was wrong. “The Company
You Keep” upholds the tradition of
having at least one anti-gay story in
every issue since its first big gay
bashing issue in 1985 or 1986. This is
the latest in a series of testimonials
and editorials that offer advice on
how to quit being attracted to mem
bers of your own gender.
i iwi ia.—-a -jz—i
The thesis of this truly pious ar
ticle is that, as a recovering homosex
ual, one should go to great lengths to
avoid other homosexuals who have
nothing holler to do than to plot and
execute plans which culminate in
rejection of Jesus Christ and rever
sion to the former life of gay love.
This, as all Gtxxl News readers
know, is a heavy-duty sin for which
one can be sentenced to eons, if not
eternity, in hell.
Sometimes, this advice seems to
be general and apply to all sinners.
“Paul is adamant about not wanting
us to have fellowship with .. . sin
ners.”
Is that so? Jesus was always ada
mant aboul things like not judging
others and casting the first stone only
if you arc without sin and things like
that. I wonder if HE knows w hat Paul
is up to?
I know some of The Good News
staff and I hereby declare that 1 am
significantly more adept at sinning
than possibly the whole staff put to
gether. However, none of them has
ever once suggested that I was un
worthy of sharing fellowship with
them. Do they read this garbage be
fore they print it?
A glance at two omer major ica®
lures assures me that indeed no on®
reads The Good News before publi®
cation.
The first of these is a rather inter®
csting, and lengthy piece on ho\®
various groups conspired to keep ih®
undeniable fact of die Bible’s math®
matical perfection from the gencr®®
population. Groups like Catholic®
Jews and Fundamentalist Christiar®
are determined to prevent you IroiW
knowing that the original Greek tex®
of all the Bible’s books arc based o®
the holy number seven. i#
This fact, someone claims (I al®
ways get lost in their touched-u®
reprints because parenthetical edilo®
rial comments arc seldom clearly®
separated from the original work ) can®
be used to prove that portions of the®
Bible were not added later or lam-®
pered with.
Unfortunately, not all of the®
Bible’s earliest texts are in Greek,®
and probably none are the original ®
The crown jewel in the eclecli ®
cism of The Good News is the “pro- ®
phelic message given this last year on M
IVII. v Ullll^l U DllllVIV viim
tian who received it from God" --
presumably in American, the lan
guage of HIS chosen people.
God is going to use Israel to crush
the Kremlin and the Islamic revolu
tion. And out of the ashes of the
nuclear inferno will rise a fountain ol
heart-bursting joy.
I can hardly wait.
Interestingly, I could find no sig
nificant correlation between this pro
phetic text and the number seven.
Presumably, it would appear if it
were translated into ancient Greek.
Psychopathic paranoid delusions
like those in The Good News that
purport to be the true Christianity cast
a gloomy shadow on what’s left of a
religion that for centuries dominated
the world. Sadly, as a people we may
reject the ideas offered by Christian
ity in total - and discard the tangled
mess without looking for the few
golden threads that may have sur
vived the corrosive effects of sell
proclaimed guardians of God’s
Word.
Longsine Is a senior political science
major and a Daily Nebraskan editorial page
columnist.
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