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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 23, 1992)
Opinion Jana Pedersen, Editor, 472-1766 Alan Phelps, Opinion Page Editor Kara Wells, Managing Editor Roger Price, Wire Editor Wendy Navratil, Copy Desk Chief Brian Shellito, Cartoonist Jeremy Fitzpatrick, Senior Reporter Health... Right? Plan could revolutionize medical care Minnesota lawmakers have taken matters into their own hands. Faced with federal inaction on the nation’s termi nally ill health care system, Minnesotans have committed themselves to what they call HcalthRight, a state-subsidized insurance policy that will be offered to some 370,000 unin sured people. The plan will be financed through a tax on health-care providers, a 5-cent cigarette tax increase and a sliding fee scale for participants. HealthRight will cover those low-income individuals who are not eligible for the federal Medicaid program. Because tuvLia^V/ i» vuiunuuj miivi ///lc** •**"/ <*<*-*.<*****iu/j/q, the policy requires the o • o t> sliding-scale payment, vIij i 0 ° ° “/SJCIk officials expected about 160,000 Minnesotans to sign up at a cost of $315 million. Opponents of the plan called HealthRight a step toward socialized medicine, but Minnesota governor Arne H. Carlson, a Repub lican, said passage of the plan proves slates can deal with the gridlock that has thwarted federal attempts to shore up the nation’s health care system. “Passing this bill /a — ^ # shows we can crack 'VX—^ through that kind of opposi """" tion,’’ he said. David Badder»/rN Legislators in other state capitals across the country arc looking into other health care proposals. Officials arc finding that states — with their more responsive govern ments and healthier financial situations — arc belter-equipped to provide the insurance that so many poor Americans lack. The Minnesota plan is not socialized medicine. It is a voluntary insurance plan that participants help pay for, along with a tax on one of the nation’s greatest health problems. If HealthRight works, it could be the successful model from which a national plan could be built. It’s a shot in the arm for health care, and something of a miracle cure for those Minne sotans who — until now — were simply out of luck if they were out of money. Lawmakers in St. Paul have diagnosed the problem cor rectly. Time will tell if their medicine works. But anything is better than standing around, watching the patient bleed. -LETTER EDITOR Columnist ignorant of feminism Haying the devil s advocate, as Chris Halligan admitted he was doing in “Feminism robsmasculinity”(DN, April 15), isn’t difficult when sim plistic arguments arc used. Even the headline lacked depth. What docs he mean by feminism and masculinity? A 1992 sociology textbook defines feminism as “advocacy of social equality for the sexes.” We doubt if Halligan is aware of this meaning. He staled that feminists have attempted to “empower themselves over men.” This is not what equality means and is not the purpose of the feminist move ment. What he means by masculinity is anyone’s guess. He mentioned the “power of men to be men.” Docs he mean the stereotypical male? Most research indicates that this isn’t even healthy! Instead, men enlightened by feminism are capable of caring and compassion for all human beings ... certainly worthy qualities. Besides “robbing masculinity,” his main concerns seemed to be that the feminist movement (made up of both women and men incidentally) caused the increased divorce rate and has now put the “destiny of a man ’s life” into the hands of any woman with whom he has sex (referring to rape). Any knowledgeable student of social science knows that the increase in the divorce rate during the 1970s and 1980s was related to a number of factors, such as changes in laws (championed as much or more by men than by women), societal accep Lance and, lor a while, by the scars ol the Vietnam War. Also, the 1970s was known as the “me decade,” and just as many men as women chose divorce as a way to find personal happiness. The feminist movement did enable women to gain more fi nancial independence and self-esteem. Would Halligan propose to go back to the so-called “good old days” when women could easily be trapped in loveless marriages? The part related to rape left us wondering about his point. He de cried rape, then hinted that men arc often wrongly accused. In fact, many rapes still go unreported, and almost all victims become further victim ized. The feminist movement seeks to protect both sexes from violence and false charges and to aid victims. Empowering humanness and sup porting equality arc worthy purposes of true feminism. Perhaps Halligan could benefit by understanding a phrase popular a few years ago: Men of quality arc not threatened by women for equal ity. Sharon L. Hanna Lincoln Lyn K. Patterson senior business management Susan P. Brown senior advertising J&L PAUL SOUDERS Public has short attention span IIike so many others of the twentysomething, TV genera ^ tion, have an attention span in length somewhere between music videos and “The Brady Bunch.” Not even my friends can finish reading my articles, and most of the time, I can’t either. To do so would require actually performing the task of reading for a period of time up to 20 minutes long, much longer than Taster’s Choice ads. So I have decided that I would just chop up my article into tiny, easily digestible chunks. This not only makes my workload lighter, but entitles you to skip the bits you don’t like, while reading with frothy-mouthed interest the bits you do like. Sort of 1 ike MTV. • We have had about 25 inches of snowfall in the 1991-92 season, just a few inches shy of average. Ironically, absolutely none of it fell during winter. There’s a sort of mutant symmetry in having all of our snowfall one month before and one month after the actual snow season itself. • In ease you wouldn’t have come to class anyway and so didn’t notice, f classes were cancelled this Tuesday iui uk iiim nine 111 live years, wnen I was a freshman (you know you’re in trouble when a story starts “when I was a freshman”), it was something ungodly like 50 below zero with windchill during the dead week be fore Christmas—with about a fool of snow. It wasn’t this wonderful, wet, per fcct-for-snowmcn snow, but nasty, crunchy, dirty, blowing-in-your-facc on-lhc-way-lo-finals snow. And there was an inch of well-polished ice on the road. And we had to walk 10 miles to school uphill with no shoes. The mercury never dropped below 20on Tuesday and they called classes off, which leads me to believe thal deep down, the administration musl be all right. After all, they’ll call oil classes when it’s obvious that mosi everyone is able to come to class bui won’t because it’s the perfect day foi sledding. You kids these days have ii so easy. • In response to charges that hi lacks direction, George Bush's cam paign has taken a new turn: the Issut We have had about 25 inches of snowfall jg the. 1991-92 season, iust g few inches shv of average. Ironically, abso lutely none of it fell during winter. of ihc Week. I’m not kidding. This approach is only filling as ihc man, during his presidency, has gen erally lakcn ihc Position of ihc Week to placaic ihc masses. • Yesterday was Earth Day. George Bush’s Issue of ihc Week during Eanh rV»n \1/aaL iiiat t rA/^A 0 »» wn nu> • • • iiiivi iiuuv/iiui u uvjv- . The president still hasn’t decided yet if he’s going to the Earth Summit in Brazil, Ecology groups arc giving the president a “D” for environmental action. If 1 were gelling D’s for the last four years, today I’d be wearing poly ester and asking ‘‘What would you I ike on your Whopper?” George Bush gets six figures and his own plane. • Speaking of Earth Day... We’ re hearing less about it this year. My guess is that the average-type person is sick to death of having to hear from celebrities once a year about how concerned they arc about the environ ment, when the same celebrities, with their gas-guzzling automobiles and private jets and leslcd-on-animals cosmetics, are some of the most obvi ous consumers. • Today is the English Depart : menl’s Shakespeare Day. This is my third year as an English major and I haven ’t yet gone to Shakespeare Day, even though my professors tell me it’s lots of fun. But then, these arc people who still hang around college 20 or 30 years after they’ve actually gradu ated. • Speaking of graduation ... The I big event is just around the bend (something like 15 days away). I’ve still got a year or four left here at the U., so I won’t bore you with stories of the trials and tribulations of gradu ation. I’m sure you’ve heard enough of those already. • There arc more than 5 billion people on Earth, twice as many as there were in 1960. We’ll definitely see 6 billion by the year 2000, maybe 10 billion by 2015. ^ For perspective, the entire human population at the end of the Paleo lithic (early Stone Age) era was about 6 to 10 million. That many people could comfortably live in the modern San Francisco Bay Area, with room to spare, but they pretty much had the whole world to themselves. This is progress. • The humpback whale popula tion also is growing. There arc now tens of thousands of the critters — more than there were in 1970, bu t sti 11 fewer than in 1770. • A Pennsylvania law restricting access lo abortion and requiring spousal or parental notification is up before the mostly conservative Supreme Court. It’s ironic that most Ameri cans would go to war over abortion but can’t be bothered to vote, which just goes to prove how sex-crazy people in this country arc but don’t want to be. I wish I could end my attcnlion span-friendly column on a more posi tive note, but then, there isn’t much positive happening these days. (There was that bit about the humpback whales, though.) If you’ve managed to actually read all the way until the end of the col umn, you’re probably one of my par ents, so I just want lo add that my MasterCard bill came on the same day as my tuition bill. Send money. Soudors Is a Junior English mujor and a Daily Nebraskan columnist. ,-EDITORIAL POLICY-1 Staff editorials represent the offi cial policy of the Spring 1992 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its mem bers are: Jana Pedersen, editor; Alan Phelps, opinion page editor; Kara Wells, managing editor; Roger Price, wire editor; Wendy Navratil, copy desk chief; Brian Shclliio, cartoon ist; Jeremy Fitzpatrick, senior re porter. Editorial columns represent the opinion of the author. According to policy set by the re gents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its students.
