Editorial
■ Daily
I Nebraskan
Editorial Board
■ University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Erie Pfanner, Editor, 472-1766
Victoria Ayotte, Managing Editor
Darcie Wiegeit, Associate News Editor
Diane Bray ton. Associate News Editor
Jana Pedersen, Wire Editor
Emily Rosenbaum, Copy Desk Chief
Lisa Donovan, Editorial Page Editor
Quibbles ’n’ bits
Political solutions, not rhetoric, needed
With issues such as the budget deficit and homelessness facing
candidates during this election year, one wouldn’t think Re
publicans would be worried about words.
But recently GOPAC, a conservative political action committee,
distributed suggested words and phrases that could boost the GOP’s
image while dogging its opponents.
About 6.000 Republican officeholders and candidates across the
| country received copies of the list.
Some of the words that could be mentioned in a speech include
“strength” and “hard work” when referring to Republicans, while
Democrats could be referred to as “sniveling” and “liberal.”
j Maybe some of these grand old politicians need something to do.
I They could start by formulating some practical ways to tackle the
nation’s problems - not its rhetoric.
j New name doesn ’ t erase old reputation
It’s got a new name, a new assignment and a new life. Now if only
this reincarnation could leave behind the reputation of the oil
tanker Exxon Valdez.
Almost 1 1/2 years after the Valdez, now die Exxon Mediterranean,
spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William
Sound, the tanker is ready for active duty.
The Exxon Mediterranean, with a new coal of paint, a new crew and
a new skipper, left San Diego Wednesday -- setting out on it’s new task
of hauling crude oil from Turkey and Egypt to France.
But it wasn’t completely smooth sailing.
Members of Greenpeace, an environmental activist group, tried to
block the ship’s exit from the harbor. To Greenpeace, the repairs on the
i tanker weren’t enough to cover up the memories of the tanker’s March
1989 spill.
Who does Exxon think it’s kidding?
Time reported this summer that Gus Elmer, president of Exxon
Shipping Co., said the ship’s new assignment had nothing to do with
I blotting out memories of the spill.
Good thing. For the victims of the spill, the memories might never
be blotted ouL
•• Lisa Donovan
for the Daily Nebraskan
Impartial examination
needed in AS UN crisis
In retrospect, having learned of
the underhanded dealings of Associa
tion of Students of the University of
Nebraska President Phil Gosch and
the Bowman/Buhrdorf cabal, last
spring's ASUN elections really ap
pear to have been too good to be true.
I remember how much serious
debate occurred over real issues. An
almost unheard of event in the previ
ous ASUN elections that I’ve wit
nessed in my time at UNL. The very
absence of a major joke party gave
this election some credibility. Per
haps though, a joke was played on
those of us who supported STAND.
This party had some very high
ideals, and realistically I knew many
of them were too utopian to be
achieved. Somehow it never occurred
to me that under the allegations of
Bowman toward Deb Fiddelkc lurked
an entirely new strain of corruption.
I can’t say I’d agree with Vice
Chancellor for Student Affairs James
Griesen’s opinion that Phil Gosch did
the “honorable” thing in admitting
his mistake. He took the First step
toward regaining the trust of the stu
deni body and purging himself of any
guilt he may have had. I think serving
his term with this blemish on his
record has rather a light punishment,
but I cannot rationally advocate any
thing further.
If there had been a really signifi
cant reason for this pact that these
three joined into, I still wouldn'thave
approved, but I may have understood
a little better. There just has not been
enough credible evidence pul forth
publicly to justify the allegations
against Marlene Beyke.
Still, the numerous quotes defend
ing her character are of course the
opinions of those who have had pre
vious working relationships with her
and may in fact be biased. If ASUN is
to survive this crisis, any allegations
and evidence regarding these allega
tions must be brought forth and scru
tinized by impartial examination. If
this doesn’t occur ASUN risks being
characterized as elitist and as secre
tive as the regents.
James A. Zank
junior
arts & sciences
ed itosaln :
p: j cc - i_i_ __ n » .■ • _r *• i
J l^lltAI 3U1II VUIlUIIOiS
the official policy of the Fall 1990
Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the
Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its
members arc: Eric Pfanner, editor;
Lisa Donovan, editorial page editor;
Victoria Ayotte, managing editor;
Diane Brayton, associate news editor;
Darcie Wicgert, associate news edi
tor; Emily Rosenbaum, copy desk
chief; Jana Pedersen, wire editor.
Editorials do not necessarily re
li^VI lilt vitwa UI lilt/ UIII Vti *ny, Ii:
employees, the students or the Nl
Board of Regents.
Editorial columns represent the
opinion of the author. The Daily Ne
braskan’s publishers arc the regents
who established the UNL Publica
lions Board to supervise the daily pro
duclion of the paper.
According to policy set by the re
gents, responsibility for the editoria
I 1 | !
Time for some political awards
Observing politicians can be an enjoyable, yet enraging hobby
I consider myself to be an ama
teur political observer, with
emphasis on the word “ama
teur.” My problem is that, while I
don’t know enough to be considered
an expert, I do know just enough to be
dangerous.
All 1 could handle as an under
graduate was a minor in political sci
ence because there’s only so much I
can lake of a slanted, one-sided per
spective — can you say “liberal?” —
on the world’s politics. So I simply
resort to reading the nation’s newspa
pers and magazines, and watching
“Crossfire” in an attempt to famil
iarize myself with what is going on
around the world.
Take Sunday night. I was flipping
through the channels on my televi
sion when I came upon an Iowa Sen
ate debate.
I have never been much of a fan of
Iowa politics for the simple fact that
I’m not from Iowa. The only time I
even thought about Iowa politics up
to Sunday was when Fred Grandy,
former star of that intellectual hit
series “The Love Boat,” was elected
to the House of Representatives.
I used to lie awake at night won
dering what they would refer to him
as on the floor of the House. Mr.
Gopher? Congressman Gopher? Oh
well, back to the debate. It featured
Tom Harkin, the Democratic incum
bent, against Republican challenger
Tom Tauke.
The two differed on virtually ev
ery issue. With every question posed,
Harkin literally had the “million-dollar
answer.” Energy, the environment
and education: Harkin had mulli-bil
lion-dollar plans for all three. The
federal deficit? That seems to be the
only question he didn’t answer.
Harkin’s approach reminds me of
a quote by everyone’s favorite rosy
cheeked, shoe-banging communist,
Nikita Khrushchev, when he said,
• “Politicians are the same all over.
. They promise to build bridges, even
where there are no rivers.”
j But I don’t mean to pick on Tom
Harkin. There is certainly no short
age of idealistic, opportunistic, cor
rupt or hypocritical politicians to go
around. And with less than two months
■ before the upcoming elections, I feel
as if I should commemorate this elec
tion year. I hereby announce the
winners of the First Annual Lousy,
Lying, Thieving Politican Awards.
I Drumroll, please ...
He is a former presidential candi
date known for his ability to take
credit for authoring previously pub
lished materials and wins this year’s
“Pinnochio Award’’ hands down. And
who am I referring to? Why Delaware
Senator Joe Biden, of course.
Recently, Biden began saying he
had been cleared of all plagiarism
charges while attending Syracuse
University law school. During a C
Fahleson
SPAN interview last week, Biden
proclaimed, “I never plagiarized in
law school.’’ Hmm? Not too smart,
Joe. Some people actually watch C
SPAN.
Reporters from the Washington
Times began gathering evidence to
prove that Biden was not only a fab
ricator but a liar, the National Review
said. The Times reprinted passages
from a May 1965 law review article
and from a supposedly original re
search paper written by Biden in
October 1965. Almost verbatim.
But give him some credit. He did
take the time to renumber his foot
notes to make it appear that he gath
ered the citations himself. And now
Biden heads the Senate Judiciary
Committee, which this week began
probing whether David Souter has the
integrity to serve on the U.S. Su
preme Court. Sec, boys and girls,
cheating gets you nowhere — except
on Capital Hill.
Winner of the “Willie Horton
Achievement Award’’ is California
gubernatorial candidate Dianne Fein
stein. Certainly you remember Hor
ton, the object of television spots for
which George Bush was so heavily
criticized. The Horton advertisements
were entirely accurate: Horton was a
rapist, a murderer and was furloughed
by Massachusetts Governor Michael
Dukakis. Yet the advertisement was
called “negative campaigning.”
Maybe so. But during Feinstein’s
hotly contested primary, she had a
heyday with opponent John Van dc
Kamp. Her television ads showed the
bagged body of a victim of the Hill
side Strangler, a serial killer of a
decade ago. The commercial staled
that the deaths resulted from Van de
Kamp’s failure to prosecute the Stran
gler.
It worked. Feinstcin won the pri
mary. But was she criticized for
‘‘Hortonizing” Van de Kamp? Hardly.
Observers applauded her tactics and
labeled her “feisty” and “charis
matic,” according to the National
Review. I believe the term “double
standard” comes to mind.
How does one commemorate being
ousted from the position of federal
judge due to bribery and corruption
charges? Why, one throws a party to
announce one’s candidacy for Flor
ida secretary of state. And that is why
the “Let Bygones Be Bygones Award”
goes to Alcee Hastings.
The National Review reported that
Hastings justified his candidacy by
staling, “Floridians are tired of ordi
nariness, and if there’s nothing else I
bring to an experience, it is not ordi
nariness.” Huh? Things like this make
me thankful I’m from Nebraska.
Considering that Hastings’ campaign
advocates legalized casino gambling
and his opponent is a newspaper col
umnist and former Grand Dragon of
the Ku Klux Klan, as Time reported,
he might just win. After all, the only
thing worse than a corrupt politician
is a newspaper columnist.
Last; but certainly not least, the
“Don’t Say No, Just Say Entrapment
Award” goes to Marion Barry. Only
Barry could be seen on nationwide
television smoking a pipe of cocaine,
charge that he was the victim of a
racial vendetta, allege that the FBI
tried to kill him and get an acquittal
and a mistrial ruling. And he even
ticked off the entire country of Co
lombia to boot.
But let’s show some respect for the
mayor of our nation’s capital. He’s
now running for city council.
Did I forget anyone? What about
Jesse Jackson? Certainly the former
presidential candidate/minister/
shadow senator/talk show host could
qualify for some award. But in case
you haven’t heard, folks, Jesse is a
now a journalist. He traveled to
Baghdad to be the first to interview
Saddam Hussein, only to be beaten
by Dan Rather. Not all is lost, how
ever.
At least he now has a job to put on
his resume.
Kahieson is a second-year law student and
a Dally Nebraskan columnist.