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
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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.
