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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 28, 1993)
Opinion Netwaskan Thursday, Oetobar 2d, 19N Nebraskan Editorial Board University of Nebraska-Uncoln Jeremy Fitzpatrick . . Kalh v Steinauer.... Wendy Mott. Todd Cooper. Chris Hop/ensperger Kim Spurlock. Kiley Tim per ley .... . . . Editor, 472-1766 Opinion Page Editor .. . Managing Editor .Sports Editor .... Copy Desk Chief .Sower Editor Senior Photographer kl>l IOKI \l No pain Event intended to educate people Critics are coming out against the Great Plains Winter Sleepout, an event to raise money for Lincoln’s homeless. The Rev. Andy Hird of All Souls Non-denominational Church and Street Missionary and a group called Humanity Plus plan to protest at the sleepout because it distorts the problem of homelessness and exploits homeless people, Hird said. He said he thought those participating in the sleepout would be too comfortable to identify honestly with the homeless. They will be dressed warm enough to endure the weather and would not truly experience what being homeless entails. The protesters forget the point of the sleepout: to raise money for the homeless. The event is meant to be a day for the public to think about homelessness, to offer a glimpse of what it might be like and to raise money to fight it. The issue should not be how comfortable or uncomfortable the participants arc. Those sleeping out will not be allowed to sleep in tents or bring cook stoves, but will depend on their clothes and sleeping bags to protect them from the weather. While the participants will not leave the sleepout with a full understanding of the plight of the homeless, they will have focused on the problem for at least a moment. Sleeping out shows the participants are willing to give up their cozy beds for one night for a worthy cause. They could easily choose not to donate money to help the homeless, or could do so without any idea of what it means or feels like to be homeless. Hopefully many people will participate in the sleepout, and the event will raise the organizers’ goal of $30,000. Hopeftilly the participants will continue to work to end the problem of homelessness long after their sleeping bags have been abandoned for down comforters. Keep military open Justice shouldn't limit gays ’ right to serve The Clinton administration is asking Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor for an emergency order that would let the Pentagon implement the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military. This order would limit the enforcement of a lower court’s ban on discrimination against gays in the military. The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy cannot be enforced while the lower court’s ruling stands, and this ruling is scheduled to be heard in a court of appeals in December. Justice O’Connor handles emergency matters from the Circuit Court that handled the lower court’s case. She has the power to limit the court’s ruling so it only affects this case, or she can refer the matter to the full Supreme Court. She should let the lower court’s ruling stand as it is. President Clinton promised when running for president that if he were elected, he would lift the ban on gays in the military. Since then, he has continually backpedaled on this promise, and this eventually led to the compromised “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. If the lower court’s ruling is allowed to stand, Clinton would finally have fulfilled his campaign promise. But the appeals court could overturn the lower court’s ruling and the Pentagon’s desired policy on gays in the military would then be enforced. The Clinton administration should wait to see if this happens, rather than pushing for an emergency order to get the Pentagon’s policy passed. I HI H >KI \l IN il l< \ Staff editorials represent the official policy of the Fall 1993 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 Regents. Editorial columns represent the opinion of the author The regents publish the Daily Nebraskan. They establish the UNL Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its students. i i 111 u I'm i< \ 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 reject all 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. Requests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit material to the Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, Neb. 68388-0448. TwECCftBEKT up iwm flfc P KtttaONT.i UPRWMD ^ own mi .<r\ .« TwR JMWKS\JT 'EMOWtu AVCjROH^OWWnll©91 J* A INKDTOMWX mu wen IWW(6»U. o % \flOUENCE / Ott Tv€ me. I i 111 ks km 111 Kminn Anniversary Nov. 1 marks the 1 Oth year since Commonwealth Savings was closed by former Gov. Bob Kerrey because of insolvency. Although Commonwealth deposi tors had a guarantee for $30,000 passed into law by the Nebraska Unicameral, this guarantee was never honored. Seven states, Rhode Island, Ohio, Maryland, Colorado, California, Utah and Hawaii, have made their deposi tors whole by giving the full guaran tee. The federal government has hon ored not only its FSLIC and FDIC guarantees to depositors, but many times exceeded the $ 100,000 guaran tee. But Nebraska has betrayed its depositors, leaving us still wanting after 10 years. The irony is, federal income tax dollars of Nebraska depositors go to pay for the huge savings and loan bailout for the nation. It will cost $ 158 billion. Congressmen Bill Barrett, Doug Bereuter and Peter Hoagland just voted for an additional $26.3 billion. None of these latest funds will be used in Nebraska for Nebraskans. Why are Nebraska depositors the only ones who have not been paid their guarantee? Dolores Schiebinger Lincoln Discrimination Tim Hcdegaard (DN, Oct. 22), i believe you missed the entire point of my correspondence. If you, like Mr. Beineke, feel that people with innate differences have no place in the work environment or anywhere else, then I do not sympa thize with your plight. You would then be getting a piece of your own medicine. But if you do not follow the bigot ideals that caused me to write my letter, then I empathize with your situation. In that one solitary instance, you were being treated in a manner that has been recurrent to other minor ities since the beginning of time. Didn’t feel all that good, did it? Hopefully you can now understand why there are so many angry individuals, repeated victims to this type of injustice. Jacqueline Ann Baez-Thompson sophomore communication studies/pre-law ‘Happy alternative’ The Daily Nebraskan has once more used its well-known, deter mined, chaotic and destructive point of view on moral issues to emphasize that the recent Lutherans’ message of tolerance is a “happy alternative” to what the pope said last summer (DN, Oct. 27). If the Catholic Church was a hu man organization with goals only for this stage of life, and if its reference point was only a human group or part of a certain society, issues like mas turbation, abortion, birth control and others could well be accepted. But this is not the case. Rather, the Cath olic Church tries to be faithful to what is commanded by its founder, who constitutes himself the reference for any decision to be made. Furthermore, since the time He was first living among us, this very same founder did not accept what was done by the pharisees and other groups of that society; rather, He preached a different way of living that would endure forever. Ivan Guerrini post-doctorate soil physics I T David Badders/DN Denny trial Henry Watson is walki ng the streets of Los Angeles right now. Watson and Damian Williams were clearly seen savagely beating an innocent man, and yet they get away with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. The reason behind these verdicts is that the jurors were afraid for their lives, as it had been promised that there would be more rioting if these men were found guilty. The verdicts in the Reginald Denny beating trial arc another example of how people arc no longer being held accountable for their actions. Under the Clinton administration, anything that feels good is now permissible. The liberals are trying to create a perfect society in which people can do anything they want without conse quences. They use abortion to elimi nate the consequences of pregnancy. They oppose capital punishment to eliminate the consequences of mur der. They give out free condoms to eliminate the consequences of teen age sex. They give welfare to elimi nate the consequences of unemploy ment, and so on. When I was young, I was taught responsibility for my actions. If I did something wrong, I was spanked for it, and I think I learned the error of my ways. But now, we are supposed to make people feel good and under stand why they do wrong instead of opposing what they did. I’m sorry, but when people do wrong, they need to be pun ished for it. If we eliminate the consequences of our actions,eventually we would have an anarchist society, where people would do whatever they wanted. As suming most people do not want this to happen, we need to do something about it. We need to re-establish the fact that in America, each person is responsible for his or her own actions. If you do the crime, you do the time, whether it’s in a riot or not. Chad W. Pekron freshman business administration/pre-law Racism I remember last year during the Candice Harms murder investigation, the police got a lead that she was seen sitting next to and talking to a black man in one of her classes the week she disappeared. As 1 remember, the po lice Stained confidential informa tion on race of students with the per mission of James Griesen, vice chan cellor for student affairs. All black students in the class were then taken to the police station for questioning — not just the one who was seen talking to her. All five of these men were treated as suspects, as they were all strongly encouraged to be photo graphed. Can racism be more blatant that this? This wasn’t racism accord ing to Griesen, who in my opinion was just as much part of this as the police. Last year Flore ncio Palomo, a Mexican-American student, came forth complaining that Andrew Sieerson, former ASUN president, had called him a racial slur at an ASUN meeting. Palomo was upset because Griesen basically ignored him and dropped the issue, just as the issue of the racist treatment of black students at UNL had been. Last week a group of black men assaulted a Malaysian student at Broyhill Fountain. Once again, Griesen sees no indication of racism. Personally I can’t say with certainty it was racism, but anybody with any sense can see there are some strong indicators of it being a possibility. I’m truly amazed that with the university’s anti-racism policy, a man who refuses to deal with or acknowl edge racism when it occurs, and par ticipates in it as well, should be given such a high position. Racism will never stop if we pretend it doesn’t exist. ____ Paul Koester senior soil science