T Editorial NelSaskan
A Ifcr^Lw A- A1ML Jl Monday, February 26,1990
(Daily
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Amy Edwards, Editor, 472-1766
Bob Nelson, Editorial Page Editor
Ryan Steeves, Managing Editor
Eric Pfanner, Associate News Editor
Lisa Donovan, Associate News Editor
Brandon Loomis, Wire Editor
Jana Pedersen, Night News Editor
Court denies rights
Religious input should not be restricted
Nebraska’s highest court expanded its jurisdiction
Friday onto the sacred ground of religious expres
sion.
Upholding a Douglas County District Coitrt ruling, the
Nebraska Supreme Court voted 6-1 to restrict Edward
LeDoux from exposing his children, who are in the
custody of his ex-wife Diane LeDoux, to discussions and
activities related to his Jehovah’s Witness faith. Diane
LeDoux is raising the children in the Catholic faith.
District Court Judge Robert Burkhard concluded that
exposing the children to two religions would be injurious
to them. This decision came after Burkhard heard testi
mony linking the troubled behavior of one of the children
directly to Edward LeDoux’s attempt to include the child
i in the activities of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The Court ruling stated, “When a court finds that
! particular religious practices pose an immediate and
substantial threat to a child’s temporal well-being, a court
| may fashion an order aimed at protecting the child from
that threat.’’
II he majority said that the order “is narrowly tailored
in that it imposes the least possible intrusion upon Edward
LeDoux’s right of free exercise of religion and the custo
dial mother’s right to control the religious training of a
child.”
The minority, Judge Thomas Shanahan, saw the ruling
differently.
“What the majority has characterized as a ‘narrowly
tailored’ visitation order is, in reality, a judicial strait
.* jacket, constricting Edward LeDoux and preventing him
from discussing with his children any religious belief or
practice which may contradict or conflict with the Catho
lic doctrine.” - , •
Shanahan correctly goes on to state that the ruling thus
prohibits the father’s free exercise of his religion in
reference to his children. This form of restriction, Sha
i nahan said, “constitutes a denial of religious freedom
protected by the state and federal constitutions.”
But along with infringing on the rights of Edward
| LeDoux, the court inadvertently has infringed on the
| unwritten rights of the LeDoux children.
The ruling restricts the free flow of religious input to
the children. Any restriction on an individual’s opportu
nity to learn and evaluate the varieties of religious experi
I ence should, ideally, come solely from the individual.
Less ideally, those restriction should come from family
| members, and least ideally of all, from the state.
Bombardment with conflicting ideologies is innately
“injurious” in the short run. However, the psychological
turmoil — the injury — associated with questions of faith
I can serve, in the long run, only to strengthen that faith or
i the quality and relevance of the subsequent synthesis.
Blinders keep the horse from distraction, but they also
| keep the horse from reality. The court’s ruling is both
unconstitutional and immoral.
- Bob Nelson
_• .- for the Daily Nebraska*
Column offers quips, not facts
Henry tsattistom gels halt-inch
headlines and a respectable position
on Page 4. Is this supposed to be
commensurate with the value of what
he writes? Can I be on Page 1?
“Staying the course carelessly
brought us here,” Batlistoni wrote
concerning the Central Interstate Low
Level Radioactive Waste Compact
(DN, Feb. 22). Slaying what course?
You’re not making sense, Batlistoni.
“Turning back solves nothing.” It
doesn’t? Never turned back to correct
an error, did you? I’m sure glad I
don’t know you personally.
It seems you arc aware, Henry,
that state Sen. Jim McFarland did
introduce legislation withdrawing
Nebraska from that compact, but it is
also evident that you didn’t pay much
attention to it. You neglected to list
the sub-choice under your “second
option’’ (wherein Nebraska withdraws
from the compact) that Nebraska can
contract with another state, as New
York has done, to take our radioac
tive waste - withdrawal from the
compact docs not necessarily mean
that we would still have to radiate our
neighbors in Boyd County.
Nothing would do more to moti
vate Nebraska to limit its waste pro
duction than being responsible solely
for its own.
Let me guess, Henry — you’re a
Republican? You tried to defend Gov.
Orr by saying, “(She) correctly has
taken exception to our weak posi
tion.” What she said to Lowell Fis
cher (published in the Lincoln Star
recently) was that there was “nothing
I could do.” That’s quite right, you
know - there is nothing she can do
WITHOUT OFFENDING HER
SUPPORTERS.
I have no use for a governor who
cares more for her supporters’ inter
est than for the people of the state, nor
for a columnist who writes more
foolishness than fact and offers quips
instead of clarity.
Fran Thompson
sophomore
sociology
I
Reagan commits political suicide
Chance to appear on Mount Rushmore, become God lost forever
Ronald Reagan always has had
to try really hard to get any
sympathy from me. He did it
nine years ago by getting himself
shot. He did it last week by shooting
himself.
You’ve probably heard the term
“political suicide.” It’s when a poli
tician says or does something that
either enrages the public or makes it
doubtful of his or her competence.
Such an action makes a politician
virtually unelcclable.
Ronald Reagan spent eight years
as president of the greatest nation on
earth. One might assume, therefore,
that he has no future ambitions, de
spite his desire to eliminate the maxi
mum term of eight years. But I’ve
always had the suspicion that Ronald
Reagan was running for God. Cer
tainly, then, his campaigning doesn’t
end upon leaving the White House for
the ranch house.
During his presidency, Reagan did
things which, I think, he honestly
believed were in the best interest of
the country. You might have spit up
when he successfully reduced taxes
fnr lhr. rirh in 1QR1 »nil nonin in
198^, but I really believe he was
doing it because he thought it would
stimulate investment and therefore
jobs. Never mind that what it stimu
lated was the national debt; it’s the
thought that counts.
But I don’t believe that Reagan's
motives were entirely altruistic. Yes,
he wanted to improve America, but I
think that desire came more from
resume-padding, as they say in ASUN,
than from anything else. Reagan wants
that all-elusive prize -- the Academy
Award for Best President.
Last week, Reagan missed hiscue.
In ease you haven’t heard it al
ready, let me read you a little excerpt
from the script of Reagan’s testimony
-- now on videocassetlc - in John
Poindexter’s Iran-Contra trial. The
text comes from an Associated Press
story Friday.
~ ‘ 7.9 this the first time... that you
came to realize in fact that a diver
sion had actually occurred?' ’ asked
(Prosecutor Dan) Webb.
"Yes,' ’ replied Reagan.
Webb asked whether Reagan ex
pected Poindexter to report such a
diversion to his boss.
"Yes," replied Reagan. "Unless
maybe he thought he was protecting
me from something."
At that point Reagan seemed to
lose his train of thought, saying, "But,
•
Brandon
Loomis
no, I don't understand. This is very
confusing to me about this.”
Thai docs il. Reagan will never
appear on Mount Rushmorc.
Last summer, some idiot, proba
bly paid by Reagan, started a group to
get Reagan’s face carved into that
majestic and inspiring rock. I never
really believed it could happen, but
the suggestion was sufficient to put
the fear of Reagan in me. Just a little
more uncertainty would have prompted
me to make one last trip to South
Dakota.
I don’t mean to suggest that Re
agan is the worst president who ever
lived. History, or time, distorts real
ity. For all I know, Millard Fillmore
might have abused congressional
pages. I simply don’t know.
But of the era I have lived through
— LBJ through GHWB - Reagan gets
none of my Oscar votes. And if we
want to compare him with the faces in
the Black Hills, or at least what his
tory tells us of them, we’re compar
ing apples and vanilla beans.
But let us compare. We ’ 11 use great
quotes as the standard.
We’ll first consider our first presi
dent, George Washington: ‘‘I cannot
tell a lie.” A pretty lofty claim, in
deed, but it’s catchy. We learned that
quote in kindergarten and - we hope
- it has a profound effect on our lives.
Abraham Lincoln. Many consider
him to be the greatest of all time. I’m
of the school that believes Abe freed
the slaves for reasons not hinging
entirely on humanitarian concerns,
but I would be the last to question the
intellect, integrity or greatness of the
man. “Four score and seven years
ago, our ancestors blah blah blah.”
We learn that one a few years further
into our educations, and it makes us
feel good to be in America, the land
of the free and the home of the brave.
Teddy Roosevelt: “Walk softly
and carry a big slick.” I only agree
with half of that quote, but boy is it
catchy! I think it’s my favorite quote.
It’s easy to paraphrase.
Thomas Jefferson: “That govern
ment is best which governs least.”
Ronald Reagan: “But, no, I don’t
understand. This is very confusing to
me about this.”
Perhaps it will catch on, or maybe
I m just loo crass lo sense the beauty
of such a philosophy, but I don’t ever
want to see those words etched in the
walls behind the Reagan Memorial in
Washington.
To be fair to Reagan, that isn’t the
only quote that has been attributed to
him, just the most typical. He said
things like, “We will begin bombing
in five minutes” about the Soviet
Union, and told us that if we were
worried about the eroding ozone layer
we should wear bonnets. It’s hard to
decide which is the most fitting epi
thet.
Reagan has committed political
suicide ~ he will never be God. He
will never be on Mount Rushmore.
Fof these things, I thank him. Then
again, maybe if Reagan’s face were
on that mountain, the area would re
turn from the depths of the tourism
hell that it has become to beautiful,
billboard-free Black Hills. Only his
tory will tell.
Loomis is a senior news-editorial major,
the Daily Nebraskan wire editor and an edi
torial columnist.
Fz I
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