Editorial
Eric Pfanner, Editor, 472-1766
^ L-Jd.liy ^ Victoria Ayotte, Managing Editor
■ \T ^ ^ ^ "J^r ^ Darcie Wiegcrt, Associate News Editor
I H,/ ,lT d. -Ink Cl. .ML 1 Diane Bray ton, Associate News Editor
Jana Pedersen, Wire Editor
.. . Editorial Board Emily Rosenbaum, Copy Desk Chief
University ot Nehresks-Uncoln Um EJ„„,
Bush should lead
President’s stand on deficit isn’t clear
Since Congress began working on a deficit reduction com
promise in May, it has been weighing spending cuts and
tax increases.
As the summer moved along and the end of the fiscal year
approached, President Bush said Congress needed to quit
hemming and hawing and come up with a proposal by the end
of the fiscal year, Sept. 30.
So in August, Congress took a vacation.
They came back, September passed and legislators and the
president failed to push through a compromise as the fiscal
year expired.
So, it’s back to Square One. But this time, the president is
the one who needs to be admonished,
j At a press conference Tuesday, the president said he would
consider a tax hike on upper-income families in return for
democratic support of a cut in the capital gains lax rate. That
has been the stumbling block from the beginning of the nego
tiations. Later that day, after talking with some GOP cronies,
Bush decided he didn’t like the deal after all.
When reporters asked Bush to dispel the confusion over his
stance on the tax issue, he was flippant and noncommittal. His
I response;
“Confusion?”
Bush was asked if he was giving up on a capital gains tax
cut, the item the Democrats supposedly were to trade for his
support of higher income taxes on the wealthy.
“Read my hips,” Bush said, pointing at them as he jogged
by.
“Let Congress clear it (the confusion) up.”
Perhaps Bush doesn’t know that prolonging the political lug
o-war is costing time and voters’ patience.
. On Saturday, Bush was taking this budget thing pretty
seriously, fie vetoed Congress’ stop-gap measure to keep the
government temporarily afloat. He tried to place blame for the
confusion on Congress.
But Congress can’t draw up a budget proposal and expect it
to pass unless Bush makes up his mind.
The deficit reduction budget needs to be addressed in a
I serious manner — immediately. Hypocritical behavior from the
nation’s leader simply slows congressional efforts to work on
the budget.
Unless Bush begins heeding his earlier advice, no one’s
going to read his lips or his hips.
— Lisa Donovan
for the Daily Nebraskan
I I HIM III! ■■■Ill M Ml ■ — ——IIMH UllUftfll"—TTTia'Mraiimi^M~
Number of Bugle Boys
poor measure of support
Well, National Coming Out Day
came around again. As usual, much
of the student body knew nothing
about it. What’s worse is this crap
about wearing blue jeans for support.
It’s not the event but this show of
support that really bothers me.
Who is the person that came up
with this blue jean idea? Docs any
body know just how many pairs of
jeans are worn everyday, especially
here on campus? Jeans are a part of
our culture. Why should those who
don’t support gays/lcsbians go out of
their way and not be able to wear their
favorite pair of Bugle Boys, or SOI’s.
Those who support the activity should
go out of their way. Isn’t that what
support is all about? For example,
wear armbands or a certain T-shirt.
Support is making oneself known and
blue jeans arc too popular for this, or
is this what the supporters want? They
can show their support, but yet re
main hidden in the crowd. Something
to make you say “Hmm.”
I can just imagine how many of
you out there arc calling me homo
phobic. Well, you’re wrong. What
reason do I have to be afraid? AIDS.
Well, I have to tell you that I’ve
gotten the facts on AIDS, and I’ll be
the first to admit it’s not always got
ten from sexual contact. 1 had to get
the facts since I have a friend whose
brother has AIDS. How he got the
disease is beside the point. In order to
talk to my buddy, I had to get infor
mation on the disease. I’m glad I did.
In closing, I’m not against gays or
lesbians. It’s a free country and they
can do whatever they want. I accept
this. I have to, for there isn’t much I
can do about it. I just feel that if
support is going to be shown, do it in
a way that docsn ’t involve the general
population and boost the statistics on
support falsely.
Dave Hint/
scnioi
meteorology
tdatumJUZ .—_
Editorials do not necessarily re
flect the views of the university, its
employees, the students or the NU
Board of Regents.
Editorial columns represent the
opinion of the author. The Daily Ne
braskan’s publishers are the regents
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gents, responsibility for the editoria
I
Some T.H.R.O.-ing is needed
Replacing old congressmen with new faces eliminates waste
His name is Jack Gargan. After
learning about who he is and
what he stands for, 1 have ar
rived at one conclusion.
I like Jack Gargan.
Gargan, a retired financial ana
lyst, is like millions of Americans. He
is concerned about the future of this
great nation. And he is simply fed up
with an incompetent and corrupt
Congress.
Sure, many of us complain about
those whom we elected to the Senate
and House of Representatives. We
complain about the ever-increasing,
largely ignored S3 trillion national
debt. We complain about Congress’
reluctance to perform even its mini
ia. r r \ it j . _ .
nidi uuiy ui pdNMiig d icucidi uuugui,
balanced or not. We complain about
the 51 percent salary increase for its
members that it tried to push through
without a roll-call vole. We complain
that the members of Congress arc
better representatives of special inter
est groups than the people who elected
them.
Yet, this is where most of us end
our bellyaching. And year after year,
term after term, we continue to re
elect these same members back to
their isolated, cushy lifestyles in
Washington, D.C.
Not Jack Gargan.
You sec, Gargan believes in this
political system we call a democracy.
He believes we should have a govern
ment by the people, for the people
And that is precisely why he started
an organization called T.H.R.O. Inc
Throw the Hypocritical Rascal:
Out.
Gargan created T.H.R.O. in ar
attempt to do a little bit of hous^
cleaning in Washington. Hisorgam
zation advocates voting against al
incumbents in the House and Senat<
and voting only for new candidate:
who pledge to strictly limit the tern
of office and to prohibit deficit spend
ing.
Gargan used $45,000 of his own
savings to start T.H.R.O. and to begin
running advertisements in more than
100 major newspapers throughout the
country.
Why would someone want to go to
all this trouble?
The great thing about Gargan is
Mark
Fahleson
that he tells us why. “I’m mad ash!*#
and I’m not going to take it any
more!”
No messy phrases. No political
mumbo jumbo. No runaround. Gar
gan shoots straight from the hip.
He says that he is “outraged” that
Congress even talks about further raises
in our taxes while totally ignoring the
SI80 billion in sheer government waste
documented in the Grace Commis
sion Report.
Gargan says he is tired of all of the
money pouring into incumbents from
political action committees. He’s tired
of paying for the franking privileges
and printing costs used by incum
bents as “blatant advertising disguised
as newsletters.” He’s incensed about
standing in checkout lines behind
people in “designer jeans and SI00
sneakers who pay their bills with food
i stamps.”
Go get’em Jack. More! More!
Gargan said he is insulted that
I Congress has set up its own pension
: plan that will pay a congressman in
i six years what the average American
i under social security must work a
lifetime for. He’s upset that 14 con
victed felons currently draw from these i
pensions.
Gargan has a point. Our system of
government has evolved from one in
which members of the House and the
Senate were citizens who went to
Washington for a few months each
year into a system in which these
members are professional bureaucrats.
It seems as if the only things they are
interested in are eternal tenure, high
salaries and one of the most generous
pensions in the world.
And once they gel to the nation’s
capitol, they stay. Congressman Dan
Rostcnknowski of Illinois was elected
to the House in 1958. He has been an
elected bureaucrat longer than I have
been living.
In the 1986 and 1988 elections,
percent of incumbent members of the
House seeking re-election were re
turned to office. Certainly James
Madison, John Jay and the rest of our
founding fathers never envisioned that
Congress would one day become a
retirement home.
Gargan has recognized that there
is a need for change. Whether that
means voting every incumbent out of
office or simply limiting the terms of
our congressional delegates, some
thing must be done. And Gargan is
trying.
Perhaps the best thing about Gar
gan is that he neither represents nor
endorses a political party. The only
party Gargan said he is for is “the
huge party this nation is going to
throw on election day when wc throw
those arrogant bums out on their col
lective butts!”
Name the time and place, Jack. I II
be there.
Fiihleson is a second -year law student and
a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
klt£f=^ I
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