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What others think
Plan to find oil alternatives comes late
In his state of the union address last week, President
George Bush mentioned something that seems largely to
have gone unnoticed, although its ramifications to this
country arc extremely important.
Bush said a new energy policy would be initiated to, among
other things, explore other energy alternatives besides oil.
This is a long-awaited policy coming a bit late.
Former President Jimmy Carter originally initiated such a
policy after the OPEC oil shock of 1979. When former Presi
dent Ronald Reagan took office in 1980, government plans to
explore new energy alternatives were abolished.
Alternatives to oil, especially imported Middle East oil, is
something this country is in dire need of. The Persian Gulf war
is a testament to that. Americans are fighting there today to
secure U.S. national interests, which mainly concern oil.
— Daily Kent Staler
Energy policy must include conservation
Three major oil shocks in the past 17 years should have
taught us something by now. In the long term, the
United States simply cannot continue along the wcll
i trodden path of petroleum dependence.
A long-term policy must include significant conservation
measures such as increased auto efficiency standards and a
I renewed emphasis on public transportation. Any new energy
policy must also include a commitment to developing so-called
“alternative” or renewable energy sources such as solar, hydro
electric, geothermal and wind power— all of which cost less
per kilowatt-hour than oil. Funding for such energy sources,
f however, was cut by 80 percent under Ronald Reagan. The
§ paltry $194 million spent annually on all energy-efficiency re
search and development wouldn’t even dent the cost of half a
day of Operation Desert Storm. Clearly, this country’s priori
ties arc elsewhere. _ ..
— The Minnesota Daily
!j Environmental terrorism hits home
While Saddam Hussein is being labeled as an environ
mental terrorist, the Pentagon is doing a little environ
mental terrorism of its own.
The White House recently announced it has waived the legal
; requirement for public environmental reviews after weapons
testing by the Defense Department.
The National Toxic Campaign Fund, a national environ
mental group based in Boston, has expressed concern that the
Pentagon may push this one concession into many more.
Our environment here in the United States should not be
; sacrificed for victory halfway around the world. We will cvcn
* tually withdraw from the Middle East, but we can’t escape
from our own environmentally terrorized homeland.
— Iowa Stale Daily
Energy plan lacks conservation
On Feb. 20, President Bush un
veiled his energy policy. The DN
failed to cover this important news
and the Lincoln Star put it on page
five along with a story entitled “Most
Americans Now Live in Urban Ar
eas.” I should think that when such a
momentous policy that will affect the
future so prominently comes out, the
news media could do a better job of
putting the story somewhere that most
of the public would pay attention to it.
For those of you who missed it,
here are the main points of Bush’s
policy: 1) Increasing domestic oil
production, including drilling in the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in
Alaska; 2) Easing regulatory barriers
for construction of nuclear power plants
and the disposal of atomic wastes; 3)
Streamlining regulations for building
natural gas pipelines as well as other
actions to make natural gas a more
viable energy source; 4) Overhauling
the regulation of the electric utility
industry to increase competition.
Do you sec a pattern here? This is
not an energy policy, it is Bush’s
attempt to help his friends in the oil
business. Bush’s “policy” promotes
uncontrolled consumption by Ameri
cans of fossil fuels, doesn’t advocate
conservation, promotes deregulation
(which worked so well for the Sav
ings and Loan industry), and docs not
consider the future.
At this li ne, 63 percent of petro
leum use in this country can be ac
counted for by transportation. Bush
could have called for an increase in
CAFE (Corporate Automotive Fuel
Economy) standards. If CAFE stan ■
dards were increased by 40 percent
(the 1986 standard was 28.2 mpg for
an average car, and this has not changed
since then), and we have the technol
ogy to do this, we could save 2.8
million barrels of oil each day! This
also would .significantly reduce the
carbon dioxide emissions into the
aunospherc (w hich is a leading cause
of global warming). Bush suggests
that opening up the Arctic Reserve is
a good energy option. Doing this would
bring only 0.29 million barrels per
day and a lot of environmental dam
age to one of this country’s last pris
tine areas.
Another of Bush’s brilliant ideas
is to case restriction on the construc
tion of new nuclear power plants. The
waste resulting from these plants is a
great legacy to leave for future gen
erations. There are alternatives to
Bush’s suggested plans, and groups
such as the Union of Concerned Sci
entists are working very hard to try to
influence our leaders that short-term,
consumptive strategics are not the
answer.
I urge each and every student,
faculty member and staff to write to
your representatives to express your
dismay over Bush’s proposed energy
plan. We cannot afford to accept a
proposal that compromises the envi
ronment for the sake of convenience.
Too soon it will be too late to do
anything to stop the destruction of the
planet.
Anne Pitsch
graduate student
political science
Editor’s note: The Daily Nebras
kan published an editorial in re
sponse to the first draft of Bush’s
energy policy released Feb. 10.
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BOB NELSON
Hunting philosophy twisted, logical
If you read this month’s issue of
World Bowhunters magazine,
you saw Shermane Nugent’s
“Rock-A-Byc-Baby” prenatal and
exercise information video for only
S29.95.
Shermane Nugent is the wife of
Ted Nugent. Ted Nugent is editor and
publisher of World Bowhunters
Magazine, as well as being a national
spokesman for hunters’ rights.
Ted is also the greatest rock ‘n’
roll superhero of all lime.
The advertisement includes a pic
ture of Shermane holding her swollen
belly, which is covered by a leopard
skin maternity dress that you can also
purchase through the magazine.
There’s a warning on the ad. It
says: “Caution: Music by Ted Nugent
may cause excitability!!”
If you hadn’t figured by now, Ted
isn’t a Rhodes Scholar. He’s a full
throttle, back-country, rock ‘n’ roll
killin’ machine. He’s proof that igno
rance is bliss.
Ted became a spokesman for
hunters because he can talk fast, and
because he’s the greatest rock ‘n’ roll
superhero of all time. Here’s a para
graph from one of his editorials in the
magazine:
“OK. I think I can talk about it
without spazzing completely out! WAS
THE 5TH ANNUAL WHIPLASH
BASH OUTRAGEOUS BEYOND
OUR WILDEST EARTHLY
DREAMS OR WHAT??????!!!!!!”
The W'hiplash Bash was a rock
and-hunting jamboree that included
“elk whackin’” (elk shooting), “fire
works from hell” and “the insanity of
two bands on stage at once....” It was
another attempt, Ted said, to have a
good time and to inform the press and
others about bowhunting and wildlife
conservation.
And then there was this from Ted:
“National Meal Out Day (March
20) is an attempt by the country’s
vegetarians to let us meat eaters know
just what rotten people we arc. So
let’s join the celebration. Get out a
package of succulent back straps, cook
them delicious loins up, and enjoy
Ifs better to love the
kill and the meat
than to love the
meat and abhor the
kill. To hate killing
but love meat is hy
pocrisy. That's the
logic of Ted.
our natural omnivorous lifestyle.”
Ted’s enthusiasm for killing and
eating animals probably is disturbing
to most people, but I’ve begun to
develop something of a twisted affin
ity toward it.
The reason? I love to cal meat, but
1 don’t have the stomach to kill. I let
people at the packing plant do my
dirty work. I’m a coward.
My first “whack” — as Ted calls it
— came in Colorado three years ago.
I shot a marmot with a .22-calibcr
pistol.
Two friends and I were camping
on another friend’s land near the
Continental Divide. We drank, fished
and shot empty cans. We drank and a
marmot came to drink or cat late one
night. Half joking, I called him a
worthless scavenger and shot at him.
He was far enough away that I
should have missed. I definitely should
have missed his head. But I didn’t.
Marmots arc more or less rodents.
This guy was big though—the size of
a stuffed animal — and I am still
embarrassed and disgusted by my
actions.
On the front of World Bowhunters
is a picture of Ted and his big stupid
smile, posing with a ram he had just
killed with his “Whackmasicr” bow.
The meal was delicious, he said.
And it probably was.
Humans no longer have to kill to
cat meat. We can go to the store and
buy flesh wrapped in plastic like candy.
Maybe it’s simply a matter of con
venience, but I feel like I’m hiding
from something.
I want to work at a meat process
ing plant for one day. I want to know
if I’m twisted or strong enough to
lock a cow in the eyes, slit its throat
and then chop off its head.
I have a friend who learned to
slaughter pigs in a class on East
Campus. She said that in class, while
a slaughtered hog was tumbling in a
vat of hair-removal solution, the pro
fessor often whistled the theme song
to “The Flintstoncs.” She said he w as
funny. I want to be conditioned enough
to whistle “The Flintstoncs” to a dead
Pig
If I can’t whistle to dead pigs,
shoot a sheep or lop off the head of a
cow, then maybe I shouldn’t be eat
ing meat.
It’s better to love the kill and the
meat than to love the meat and abhor
the kill. To hate killing but love meat
is hypocrisy. That’s the logic of Ted.
I think the stupid bastard may be
right.
So Ted has left me with something
of a moral dilemma: Either I’ve got to
cal only vegetables, w hich I’d hate to
do, or I’ve got to kill furry animals,
which I’d hate to do.
Or, I could continue to poke fun at
vegetarians, continue to mock blood
thirsty lunatics like Ted and Shcr
mane, continue to avoid killing and
continue planning my big hamburger
and hot dog cookout March 20.
Nelson is a senior news-editorial major,
the Daily Nebraskan editorial page editor
and a columnist.
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