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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 9, 1993)
Nebraskan Editorial Board University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chris Hopfensperger.Editor, 472-1766 Jeremy Fitzpatrick.Opinion Page Editor Alan Phelps. Managing Editor Brian Shellito.Cartoonist Susie Arth.Senior Reporter Kim Spurlock.r..Diversions Editor Sam Kepfield.Columnist Just do it Entire university has a lot to lose in cuts This time it is a call to everyone at the University of Ne braska-Lincoln — students, professors and administrators. Show up, skip class, carrel class. Do whatever it takes to get people to go to the budget rally and march to the Capitol this afternoon. After all, the budget cut — even in the reduced form it may take — is going to hurt everyone at the university system. Because UNL is the university’s flagship campus, it has the most to lose from the budget cuts. Because the campus is located a mere few blocks from the Capitol, there is no excuse for UNL representatives not to turn out en masse. ASUN President Andrew Sigerson said last week that he hoped to sec more than 300 students from the university’s four cam puses. Yesterday, however, Sigerson said he was expecting less than 50 people from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Nebraska at Kearney. That leaves UNL students to pick up the slack. Hopefully they will do their part. ASUN representatives have been hounding organizations on campus for the past week. And the two groups vying for election have even more at stake than just the university’s future. But the attendance at the rally should go beyond students. The jobs of professors and university employees arc on the line. This is their opportunity to speak out for their interests as well. Obviously some people at the university remember the last round of budget cut hearings at the university. That effort is still to come, but the less the Legislature cuts from the university, the less UNL has to slash. It’s supposed to be a nice day. Gel out, get some exercise. Do your future a favor. ________ In 1981, James Brady was shot in the head during the assassi nation attempt on President Ronald Reagan. Following his recovery, Brady and his wife, Sarah, lobbied for a bill that would require a five-to seven-day waiting period in the purchase of a handgun, to allow for a police background check — now known as the Brady Bill. Introduced in Congress several times, it has always been voted down. On Feb. 22, the Brady Bill was introduced again, and President Clinton promises to sign it into law. With the threat to America these days more internal than external, it is time for this bill to be passed. In spite of the good this bill would do, there arc people who believe that the Brady Bill is an infringement of Second Amend ment rights, and therefore unconstitutional. But a reading of the Second Amendment, and the debates that surrounded its ratifica tion in 1789, paints a different picture. The Second Amendment was ratified purely for the defense of the nation — not to preserve an individual’s gun collection. The Brady Bill has received overwhelming support from the police, who encounter situations involving handguns every day. People buying handguns arc not always rational, intending only to protect themselves. Some wish to harm others — or us. To wait a week or less for police approval is not a great sacrifice. The number of deaths by handguns is not decreasing, it is increasing. That alone should send a clear message, but people are, still dying when they should be living. —The Minnesota Daily University of Minnesota Staff editorials represent the official policy of the Fall 1992 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of the university, its employees, the students or the NU Board of Regenu. Editorial columns represent the opinion of the author. The regents publish the Daily Nebraskan. They establish the UNL Publications Board to supervise die daily production of the paper. According to policy set by the regenu, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of iu students. The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from all readers and interested others. Letters will be selected for publication on the basis of clarity, originality, timeliness and space available. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or rejectall material submitted Readers also are welcome to submit material as guest opinions. The editor decides whether material should run as a guest opinion. Letters and guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be published. Letters should included the author’s name, year in school, major and group affiliation, if any. Requesu to withhold names will not be granted. Submit material to the Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St.,Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. VMawt , <m NONN pvn m on. Yucca supplies cheap friendship From the moment I saw him, I knew he’d be mine. I spotted him in K mart, hang ing around the cafeteria. He looked rough and disheveled, but ravishing all the same. I thought he had poten tial, so I took him home. On Vine Street, I could see other drivers peering into my passenger seal, admiring my catch. I had won the prize. They had missed out. Poor dev ils. When we got home, he sat in a comer of my bedroom, looking gor geous, while I folded laundry. I felt 1 ike the cal that swal lowed the canary. Now every day he brightens my little comer of the world just by being there. All I have to do is remember to water him every couple of weeks or so. Yep, my little yucca plant is about the best thing to happen to my decor ever since my friend confiscated my pink piggy bank. Yuccas arc those huge spiky plants with brown sprouting things thalgrow along interstates out west in the arid foothills of the Rocky Mountains. If it thrives in eastern Colorado, it’ll sur vive in my room. I was ecstatic to have another liv ing, growing thing in my house. I even gave him a name: Don, after the box ing promoter. The resemblance is strik ing. What a piece of work is a plant — live company for only five bucks, cinco simolians, chcapola, with prac tically no responsibility. It’s the economics of living house things. How docs the demand of the bouse thing weigh against the supply of the house owner? I’m a low-supply house owner. 1 have absolutely no lime or energy to spend taking carcof something taking up my space. So kids arc out. I’ve thought about having a child like I’ve thought about ripping my hair out strand by strand. I know parents who arc attending classes, working full-time jobs and taking microwave cooking courses at the YMCA while rearing a couple of When we got home, he sat in a corner of my bedroom, looking gorgeous, while I folded laundry. I felt like the cat that swallowed the canary. kids. These people chase after liulc bundles of joy bouncing around their houses, then rip their hair out strand by strand. Children arc very, very high de mand living house things that require very, very high supply owners. No thank you. Then there are those high demand living house things called pels. Be they furry or reptilian or aquatic, they are a pain in the tush. Fuzzy pels, like puppies, kitties and orangutans, are high on the high demand side. They have special needs for eating, sleeping, exercise, affec tion and relieving themselves. The only reward for the owner are those cute (toe eyes, cute purring noises or cute “ooh-ooh-oolr sounds the fuzzy house thing makes, causing the exhausted owner to forget that the fuzzy house thing relieved itself on the house carpet. Nol-fuzzy house things are lower maintenance, but only slightly, and they don’t make doe eyes. Hence, owner satisfaction is decreased sig nificantly. Plants are very low demand living house things. Every morning, Don is there to greet me with his big, spiky leaves when I roll out of bed and crawl to the shower. Hedoesn’t lick my face. Hedoesn’t claw my couch. He doesn’t scream at 3 a.m. wanting a drink of water. He doesn’tnecd lobe walked. Hedoesn’t have a litter box/aquarium/cage that needs cleaning. He just sits there, being green. But lately, Don the yucca is look ing sort of yucky. His tips arc turning brown and breaking off. 1 just don’t understand. I gave him water from the bathroom faucet. I gave him sunlight that reflects off the snow-covered junk in my neighbor’s back yard. I gave him carbon dioxide from my own lungs. What more docs a lousy plant need? In desperation, I called a local greenhouse for advice. Upon hearing die symptoms, the florist told me I’d probably just neglected it and that I should keep his soil moist. I fell like such a bad parent; I’d neglected my little yucca. I wanted to make it up to Don somehow, so I asked the florist if I should maybe sing to him. “Well, the yucca’s an outdoor plant, so it’s pretty durable,” was his reply. How due he! He hasn’t even heard my singing, unless he lives in the junkyard next door. So Don doesn’t need me to sing Patsy Cline tunes to him. He just needs a little more water before I eventually kill him off. Sad but true. All the living house things I’ve ever had under my roof have died, except my roommate. So it’s just a matter of time before Don goes to yucca heaven, which probabl y is out in eastern Colorado. It’s not easy being green in my house. Paulman is * senior news-editorial and history m^Jor and a Dally Nebraskan colum nist and photographer. u -1 m-W-. dimming I wish to lhank Chas Baylor (DN, March 8,1993) for the rare opportu nity to find myself branded a member of the “educated liberal class.” I’m sure my friends and fellow staunch Republicans lhank you as well. And what a wonderful ad execu tive you’ll make for the tobacco in dustry, Chas! Not only did you try to sell smoking as macho and attractive, you even managed lo throw in a sex ua I plug. You even appealed lo “femi nists ... and radicals” as well. Bravo! As for your suggestion that smok ing is a form of expression akin to what are currently deemed "legiti mate” forms of expression, I say go for it! If you can get a grant from the National Endowment or the Arts (or any other group) to support your nico tine addiction, more power to you. Just remember that both the govern ment (as the “curator” for the public buildings in which you would display your “art”) and the private individual (as the “curator” for any building he or she owns or dwells in) have the right to decide whether or not to let your deadly artwork be shown in their galleries. Eric Odgaard junior psychology Gambling There was $460 million wagered in the state in 1992, plus a new lottery coming up this fall, and yet Nebras kans can ’ t afford to in vest $ 14 million to provide for the needs of the univer sity system? Obviously, the money is available; if you can’t afford to lose it, you don't gamble. But where are the priorities? Jerry Frobom associate professor university libraries