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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 1994)
I OPINION Nebraskan Thursday, March 17,1994 Nebraskan Editorial Board University of Nebraska-Lincoln Jeremy Fitzpatrick Rainbow Rowell. . . Adeana Left in. . . . Todd Cooper„ JeffZeleny. Sarah Duey. William Lauer. . . . .Editor. 472-1766 .Opinion Page Editor .Managing Editor ___........... Sports Editor .Associate News Editor Arts & Entertainment Editor .Senior Photographer kl)l IOKI \l Test of character Loudon to show integrity by paying fines Like most Association of Students of the University of Nebraska elections, this year’s was followed by a stack of complaints and alleged campaign wrongdoings. The ASUN Electoral Commission will respond to these com plaints today at 4:15 p.m. Of 17 complaints to be addressed, 12 allege violations by members of the victorious VISION party. The commission should take all complaints seriously and administer fines when necessary and just. Although poster violations may not seem serious or malicious, ASUN election laws should be upheld. If the commission is not stem, future campaigners may not take the laws seriously. The VISION party, led by President-elect Andrew Loudon, should be especially cooperative with the commission. Loudon’s term has not begun yet, but his behavior today will preview what type of leader he will be next year. VISION has already been fined $82 for four earlier complaints. Loudon has said he will pay any fines levied today to put the situation behind him. Of the 12 complaints against VISION, seven are for alleged improper posting of signs, two arc for alleged phone solicitation — which violates no laws, two arc for alleged door-to-door solicita tion, and one is for allegedly taking down competitors’ signs. If the complaints against VISION are valid, Loudon could face substantial fines. But his cooperation will show maturity, integrity and a commitment to ASUN law. What a waste ASUN displays frivolity with nameplates Do you want to know where some of the more than $140,000 of your student fee money is going? The same money that ASUN approved for itself last year? Nameplates. Our student government, the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska, showed Wednesday why it sometimes deserves little respect. ASUN senators voted to approve $550 to purchase “45 durable metal placards for the incoming executives, senate and CFA members to be used as long as future senates deem appropriate” ASUN graduate senator Charles Hamilton said the nameplates were needed because the current plastic and paper placards made ASUN and the Committee for Fees Allocation look unprofessional. Plastic placards do not make ASUN look unprofessional. Spending $550 of student fee money on unnecessary nameplates docs. Students at the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln might as well have burned the $550 that will pay for the nameplates. The money will be completely wasted either way. Mark Byars, senator for general studies, wrote the bill and said it was an act of unselfishness for next year’s senators. But Byars’ bill and the senate’s decision do not represent virtue. They instead represent senseless government waste at its worst. If you arc unhappy about where your student fees are going, you can do something about it. You can call your ASUN senator and ask him or her what ASUN is doing with your student fee money. I m ioki \i l*oi u \ StafT editorials represent the official policy of the Spring 1994 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 Nil Board of Regent s 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 ofthe newspaper lies solely in the handsof its students I I II I It l*ni l< \ 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 ofthe 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 68588-0448 f 4EIX0 Vfe STOPPED BY To THLt YA'...Cl/NTOM &)U> TWt WHITE H009E To JA^Atv) Vl^B'RA.S'A^A ^JrSflL J _ ; /ThE'1'KL- \I(>T __ (111 ni ( >immo\ Irish law resists move to left Editor's note: The following is a guest column written by Edmund Roche-Kelly an Irish student about changes in sexuality and law in Ire land. ct’s skip Mass and make love. condoms. Pink, blue, purple with yellow stripes, strawberry, mint, roast beef and baked potatoes, apple pie with custard — any shape, flavor or color you desire. Yep, we’ve got ‘cm all. It’s about time, too. It was 20 years ago that legislation was first introduced to le galize contraception in Ireland. It’s only been two years since we could go into a shop, ask for a pack and get it without being excommunicated, con demned, vilified and run out of town by the parish priest. So, for your edification, here is a potted history of the transition of the humble rubber from Satan’s greatest triumph to fashion accessory. In 1974, the Irish Minister for Jus tice introduced a bill to provide 1 imit cd contraception to the Irish public. That bill was defeated by the leader of the government party, showing the remarkable solidarity of Irish politi cians. In 1979, the European Com mission on Human Rights ordered the government to provide contraception as a health service. The people of Ireland had to decide if we could have birth control available for married couples for family planning use only. (We couldn’t have people making love just for fun, now could we?) Naturally, the Catholic Church got all up in arms about this, condemned those who didn’t regard contracep tion as immoral, told us that sex with out the possibility of procreation was offensive to God, and pointed out the rhythm method was good enough any way, now wasn’t it? There’s some thing strangely ironic about a bunch of supposedly celibate men dictating our sexual policies. Anyway, the idea got through, though many chemists refused to stock “those filthy things,” and you nearly had to get a papal dispensation and a letter from your mother before you could get any form of birth control. You had to be married too, with at least two dozen children. You want condoms, wc got You couldn’t say, “Sure, aren’t we all good Catholics who don’t even know what sex is till our wedding night,” when the number of HIV-positive patients was going up all the time. The bill introduced was referred to as “an Irish solution to an Irish prob lem" and provided plenty of raw ma terial for stand-up comedians. By 1984, we were judged liberal enough to let condoms be sold to anyone older than 18, but they could only be stocked by pharmacists. This means you could get a rubber if you lived in the city, but God help you if you lived out in the country in the bastion of the Catholic Church and were a regular producer of follow ers of the one true faith. Finally, in 1992, ordinary shops could sell condoms to anyone older than 16, and furtive trips to the pharmacist with fake IDs ended. AIDS was the turning point in the campaign to allow widespread distri bution of contraceptives. People felt a bit silly saying there was no use for them in Ireland. You couldn’t say, “Sure, aren’t we all good Catholics who don’t even know what sex is till our wedding night," when the number of HI V-positivc patients was going up all the time. Finally, the presenter of I rish Tele vision’s premier chat show.“The Late Late Show,” on at the ungodly hour of 9:30 p.m., demonstrated how condoms should be used. He put one on his fingers, just his fingers. (Pornography is not a major feature of Irish Televi sion.) The floodgates opened, and the government was embarrassed into let ting us all have them. There still exists a core of opposi tion to anything faintly liberal in this country. There was outcry six months ago when it was proposed that homo scxualitybedecriminalized.but thank fully, the objectors were ignored. Various groups exist with the sole purpose of preventing any of these newfangled liberal ideas from con laminating our society. The most pop ular group is the Society for the Pro tection of the Unborn Child. They must be disgusted by the Ire land they see around them. Condoms in the shops, gays on television, pre marital sex—with only the continued ban on divorce and abortion to get them through the day and into the nights of unprotected sex (missionary position only, of course). All this to produce more funda mentalists, who must fight the good fight and the evils of proposed divorce legislation and, who knows, maybe abortion in a year or two. Still, we’ve come a long way since the ’50s and ’60s, when the Catholic Church could bring down the govern ment over radical health proposals like free medical care for women and children, and when priests controlled the censorship board. During the ’50s, censorship was Ireland’s only growth industry. At one point there were books banned at the extraordinary rate of 50 a day. One can only conclude books were banned on the basis of their covers. Some claimed getting banned in Ireland helped sell books abroad. If a writer was hit by the censorship board, it was like saying he’d actually been offered sex in a brothel. A group of Irish men decided that J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye” was considered unfit for public consumption. Looking at sexuality, censorship and the law in Ireland is like taking a long, slow swim through a sewage bed, but sometimes you just have to laugh. Kdaiuad Kocke-KHly ii * Junior aiatbe mtki major at Irialty College la Dublin, IreJaad, aad a guest colunaiit. I I Ml Us in I III I lil in|< ‘Good meat’ In response to Paul Kocsler’s col umn (DN, March 14,1994): Today’s fanners and livestock producers are some of the most conservation-mind ed people in the world. They are also some of the most efficient when it comes to how many people they feed besides themselves. If Koestcr took some basic animal science classes, he’d probably go back to eating some good meat. Stephen Goodrich professor military science Equal rights In response to Christopher Winkelmann’s letter against equal rights for homosexuals (DN, March 11, 1994): The 14th Amendment states, “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the priv ilegcs and immunities of citizens ... nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection ol the laws.” I fW inkelmann cannot be fired from a job or refused housing or beaten up for being an ignorant, white hetero sexual, than neither can a homosexual person. Adam Buttress freshman political science