Eric Planner, Editor, 472-1766
Bob Nelson, Editorial Page Editor
Victoria Ayotte, Managing Editor
Jana Pedersen, Associate News Editor
Emily Rosenbaum, Associate News Editor
Diane Brayton, Copy Desk Chief
Brian Shellito, Art Director
SDI unPatriotic
Bush plan to boost defense imprudent
Impossible or not, George Bush must see Scud missiles in
the Washington sky. What else could compel him to
propose a 55 percent spending increase on Star Wars next
year?
President Bush’s plan, announced during his State of the
Union address last week, comes during a recession, a year in
which the federal debt and deficit are projected to hit record
numbers. Even if the United States could afford Star Wars, it
wouldn’t need to. The threat of nuclear war with the Soviet
Union, three minutes from midnight on the Atomic Scientists’
“Doomsday Clock” in the early 1980s, now seems far-fetched.
Like the United States, Gorbachev and Co. can’t afford an arms
race.
Perhaps Bush thinks the Persian Gulf war makes this a good
rime to sock the American people with the $1.6 billion in
crease. The more weapons we have, the merrier.
That argument ignores the obvious fact that SDI has no
worldly connection to the war in the gulf, quite literally
because Star Wars is to be deployed in space.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been remarkably oppor
tunistic in the variety of weapons he has found. He has opened
up an Israeli front, a cable television front and an environ
mental front. But no matter where he strikes next, it won’t be
in space unless he hijacks a satellite.
And his Scud missiles pose no threat to the United States.
Recently, they have even been falling short of their intended
targets in Israel. The United States docs not need multibillion
dollar space technology to fight weapons modelled after the
World War II German V-2 rocket.
Some of the most expensive U.S. technology, such as the B
1 bomber, doesn’t even work. The B-l has been kept from the
war for fear of the havoc it could cause — not on the enemy,
but on its own crews. A hundred of the $500 million planes
have been built; three have crashed. While the B-l remains
(grounded, 35-year-old B-52s have carried the bulk of the
strategic bombing burden against Iraq.
If B-ls have flopped, U.S. technology has gotten a shot in
the arm from another weapons system — the Patriot missile.
I Supporters of SDI have used the Patriot’s success against
Saddam’s Scuds to argue their cause.
But the Patriot, a ground-based system, has nothing in
common with Star Wars, Sen. James Exon, D-Neb., told The
Omaha World-Herald. The two programs are unrelated.
Even if the weapons were similar, the Patriot’s success
would not be a convincing argument in favor of increased Star
Wars funding. About half of the Iraqi Scuds have gotten past
the Patriots. Half is an acceptable ratio when failure only
means an overgrown noisemaker goes off somewhere, perhaps
causing a few casualties.
But 50 percent success is catastrophic when it means entire
cities still will be wiped out.
— E.F.P.
-LETTERS1^ EDITOR
Student feels unwanted in U.S.
I really appreciate Mr. Biakle (DN,
Feb. 1) for sharing his opinion about
foreign students. I had many wrong
ideas before reading that letter. Now,
I can rectify myself.
I used to believe that I was part of
this university, although I am a for
eign student from India, and I should
take a part in any open discussion in a
student newspaper like the Daily
Nebraskan. Now I know that I am a
guest (you are so humble) over here,
and partially acceptable to the Ameri
can student community.
I also thought that this war is not
only American policy, but a U.N.
resolution in which rny country also
supported the allied force in the Middle
East. So, maybe I have something to
say about this war, too.
Just yesterday I agreed to donate
blood for the people fighting in the
Middle East, not because I support
this war, but because I think that the
people over there arc victims of this
war game. They arc innocent. But
now I am confused, maybe my Ameri
can friends don’t want any foreign
blood in their body.
1 beg your apology for loving this
country and the people over here
Maybe I am not supposed to do so.
Arup Chakraborty
graduate studcni
biochemistry
Islamic women treated well
I would like to make a few com
ments to J.S. Clement’s letter (DN,
Jan. 25). First of all, when people do
not understand something, they will
degrade or make fun of whatever it is
that they do not understand; like
implying that Islamic women are
treated like cattle.
Well, if that is the case, then I
certainly would not mind being a cow.
In Islam, women have been treated
with the highest respect and have
been almost completely equal to men
in every aspect ever since the creation
of the Quran. I can not say that for
America. Women here have been
fighting for respect and equality for
decades: Have we really come a long
way, baby? Islamic women accept
and want the culture they live in. 1 dc
not see them fighting for major changes
in how they are treated in their soci
ety.
And secondly, I must say that in
some of the Middle East countries
they may not use the same standards
of punishment for crimes as the United
States. But you will not find homeless
and hungry people wandering around
the streets, elderly people being stashed
away in rest homes, drug addicts,
drunks, nor high crime rales. Are we
possibly doing something wrong?
Karen Lawren?
senioi
recreation and park management
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I
1 ■■ ■ mm Ml I Min I —W—Ham --—>
JANA PEDERSEN
Policies discourage individualism
Don’t dress your cat in an apron
Just ’cause he's learning to bake.
Don’t put your horse in a night
gown
Just 'cause he can't stay awake.
Don't dress your snake,in a muu
muu
Just 'cause he’s off on a cruise.
Don’t dress your whale in galoshes
If she really prefers overshoes.
— Dan Greenburg
from "Free to Be . . . You
and Me”
My favorite book as a kid was
“Free to Be You and Me,”
compiled by Mario Thomas.
When I was a kid, I liked the book
because it had a bunch of neat songs
and fun poems. I even had the album
so I could sing along.
But 1 never realized how great the
book was until I’d grown up. All the
poems, songs and stories in “Free to
Be... You and Me” say just w hat the
dock cover says, jqsl in a way kids
can understand.
Freedom is a big word with an
ambiguous definition. But “Free to
Be” is about breaking stereotypes and
building self-confidence. And through
the book’s words, those are things
kids can understand.
1 he book also is highly acclaimed
by educators, so it’s ironic that some
educators are quick to undermine the
book’s teachings.
Grand Island Senior High School
has barred 17-year-old Kurt Stoppkottc
from participating in extracurricular
activities unless he cuts or pins up his
long hair. Stoppkotte also was sus
pended from school for a day for
wearing a bandanna on his head.
The school’s policy bars bandan
nas and prevents boys from partici
pating in extracurricular activities
unless their hair is above the shirt
collar in back and above the earlobes
on the sides.
On the other end of the hair-length
spectrum is 11-year-old Donvannah
Brown, who walked into his fifth
grade class at Vernon Price Elemen
tary School in Mesquite, Texas, and
was sent to the principal’s office for
having hair that was too short.
Brown said he accidentally trimmed
his hair to less than a quarter-inch
The same educa
tors who imple
mented hair-leneth
policies probablx
also decrx the use
of illegal sub
stances bx students.
But hair-leneth
Policies Qnly en
courage students to
“'Just Say Yes” by
insisting they con
form to group stan
dards.
with his father’s battery-run mous
tache clipper but that he liked it that
short.
School officials suspended him from
class for three days in January, saying
he violated a school ban on “startling
and unusual” appearance.
The policies may have been de
signed to allow education to occur in
an undisturbed environment, they may
have been made to discourage the
formation of gangs or they may have
been instituted because the policy
makers just don’t like unaverage hair.
Whatever the case, the policies are
destructive not just because the First
Amendment says Americans should
be able to express themselves how
ever they feel, but also because youths
in particular need the opportunities to
assert their individualism.
The same educators who imple
mented hair-length policies probably
also decry the use of illegal substances
by students. But hair-length policies
only encourage students to “Just Say
Yes” by insisting they conform to
group standards.
Telling students to turn away from
friends who use drugs or alcohol
encourages them to be assertive. But
requiring students to cut their hair
when it drops below their earlobes
sends the opposite message.
Obviously, Stoppkotte is assertive. |
He’s filed suit against Grand Island
school officials to challenge the pol-1
icy’s constitutionality.
The attorney for Grand Island school
officials said the policy doesn’t pre
vent boys with long hair from partici
pating in purely academic programs,
just extracurricular activities.
The logic behind that is twisted.
Perhaps school officials reason that
participation in extracurricular ac
tivities is by choice, so students can
be forced to play by different rules.
But keeping them from playing at
all just reinforces negative stereotypes
/* _ • _ _ _ A A. m M /»^/\ m ■ f /I
Ut WI1U SlOilU WUl III « viv/nu,
And hairstyles, like any other part of
personal appearance, should not be
stereotyped to particular behaviors.
The stereotype of boys with long
hair is that they are disruptive or
“troubled.” Yet a traditional way to
get troubled youths out of trouble is to
encourage them to participate in ex
tracurricular activities.
But the Grand Island policy en
courages boys with long hair to stay
away from extracurricular activities,
giving them all the more reason to
turn to activities their stereotype pre
scribes.
If Stoppkotte or Brown are disrup
tive in school, their hair is not the root
of the problem. They should be pun
ished for being disruptive, not for
having particularly long or short hair.
If the boys aren’t disruptive, they
shouldn’t be punished. Period.
And if policy-makers can’t figure
that one out, they oughtta go back to
school.
I know a good book they could
start with.
Pedersen is a Junior advertising major, a
Daily Nebraskan associate news editor and a
columnist.
