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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1994)
OPINDN Nebraskan Friday, April 22,1994 Jeremy Fitzpatrick Rainbow Rowell. . . Adeana heJ'tin Todd Cooper. Jeff Zeletiy....... Sarah Duey. William Lauer... Nebraskan Editorial Board University of Nebraska-Lincoln .Editor. 472- / 766 .Opinion Rage Editor .Managing Editor .Sports Editor Associate News Editor Arts & Entertainment Editor .Senior Photographer Ql Ol KSOI I HK W'KKK "There is no forgiveness. You’re going to have to pay it back. ” — John Beacon, director of scholarships and financial aid at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, commenting on student loans that graduates will have to start paying off in May. > “I find it very surprising with all the mayhem going on in the streets. The House voted against an assault weapons ban two years ago, but a lot has changed since then. ” — Rep. Charles Sumner. D-N. Y., commenting on the lack of a majority support in the House for a ban on assault weapons. “It was just reaction. Together we did whatever we could to help him. ” — Nebraska assistant softball coach Lori Sippel. Sippel and trainer Chris (Celling performed CPR on Bob Offenbacker, father of player Amy Offenbacker, after he suffered a heart attack during the Comhuskers' April 14 game. “They really saved his life. ” — Athletic Director Bill Byrne on Sippel and Oelling. “If my generation had your generation’s commitment and understanding... the problems we deal with today would be much smaller. ’’ — Gov. Ben Nelson, speaking Monday at the Earth Day fair near Broyhill Fountain. “We just cannot turn our back on this situation. ” — Warren Christopher, secretary of state, commenting on U.S. involvement in warfare in Bosnia. “Our prisons are full of black males who have used crack cocaine, and the more affluent white boys in the community who have used powder cocaine are in the community on probation." — Flep. Charlie Flose, D-N.C., pointing out the disparate sentences for users of crack and powder cocaine. “I hope you recover and return to the rough and tumble of political life. “ — Boris Yeltsin, Russian president, in a “get well” note for former U(S. President Richard Nixon. *7 don’t use my whip too much any more, but when I get to new places, I like to snap it around the boys’ heads. ” — Molly Elswick, singer/songwriter for the rock band Miss Molly and the Whips, talking about her skills with a bullwhip. “I don ’t see what purpose is served by criticizing the chancellor, criticizing in the press. Why write a letter to the editor? What’s the editor going to do about it?” — NU Board of Regents Chairman Charles Wilson, questioning Regent Robert Allen's judgement in writing a letter to The Lincoln Star critical of UNL Chancellor Graham Spanier. '7 must apologize to my husband, Tom, and to my dear friend Kim Silva for letting outsiders, nasty gossip and lies finally break me down and leave me reeling. ” — Rosanne Arnold, dropping her divorce suit against her husband and asking his forgiveness. Kim Silva, the Arnolds’ assistant, has been rumored to have been involved in a relationship with Tom Arnold. I oi mm m i*oi i< \ SUIT editorials represent the official policy of the Spring 1994 Daily Nebraskan Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Hditorial Board, Ldilorials do not necessarily relied the views of the university, its employees, the students or the NU Board of Regents. Hditorial 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 th^ hands of its students • I I II LU l’< >1 It \ 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 Dafty 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. 68588-0448. doesn't cmecmck? m omrwo® 1 (TtwcrowowE; )| iSi Joel sir u ch Americans love sensationalism I recently saw part of the madc-for TV movie about the Menendez mur ders. It was called “These Freaks arc Guilty; Lei’s Just Cane‘Em,” or some thing like that. It made me think of all the trash that people actually waste time read ing, watching or thinking about (like this column, for instance). I mean, who wasn’t enthralled by the great Harding/Kerrigan saga? It’s important, right? Didn’t everyone need to know what Nancy wore to her first junior high dance and what Tonya’s dog’s middle name was? No, we didn’t. What the hell are we doing to our scl ves? 11 was some jealous skater who hired some guy to hit some other skater so the first skater could make i t to the Great Skatc-a-thon in Norway. It should have been a five-paragraph story buried on Page 34 of the local paper. Instead, it was a five-alarm media fire that gave the Winter Olym pics the highest ratings ever. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with watching the Olympics. They’re kind of cool (especially the luge and the snowman building), but people weren’t watching the games. They were waiting to sec what was going to happen in the next episode of their soap opera on ice. It’s just crazy that Nancy Kerrigan gets millions of dollars in advertising bucks, and Bonnie Blair, one of the best skaters ever, gets jack. W ha t d id Nancy do for t h is money? Did she even give a gold-mcdal-win ning performance? No, she got hit in the leg. Once. I mean, if she’s going to get mil lions of dollars, she should have at least had the crap beat out of her like Rodney King. Now there’s someone who deserves to be on Campbell’s Soup commercials. And what’s with the Menendez brothers? Two spoiled kids arc ac cused of offing their parents because What did Nancy do for this money? Did she even give a gold medal-winning performance? No, she got hit in the leg. Once. V ’ they were too greedy and impatient to wait for their inheritance. We need a half-hour Judge Wapncr decision, not 10,000 column inches of media cov erage and a television movie. And then there’s that kid in Singapore. He’s going to get hit six times (Omigosh, that’seven more than Nancy!) with a cane. I wonder how many kids get whacked with a walking stick every day in Singapore, and nobody bats an eye because they’re not American? But if somebody wants to spank some red-blooded, born-in-thc-U.S.A., Mom’sapplcpie-lovin’, saintly child, we get our dander up. How dare they? Give it a rest. Why don’t we spend more time worrying about the foreign exchange students who get blown away by God-fearing, gun-toting good ol’ boys instead of a maybe “cruel and unusual” punishment that some van dal might get? I’m not through yet. Three, count 'em, three made-for-TV movies about Amy Fisher. I still don’t know what that whole thing was about (I guess I was sick during prime time), and 1 don’t think this makes me a lesser person. About the only thing 1 could stom ach to watch about it was the “Buttafuoco over here” skit that they had on “Saturday Night Live.” That’s where all this stuff belongs. How hard can it be to write jokes for SNL when the whole nation is infatuated with skaters beating each other, a spray painter getting caned and a jealous lover shoot i ng her bed-buddy’s spouse in the face? And what about Lorcna Bobbitt? Some knife-wielding, genital-slicing woman and her abusive husband get more media attention than the fall of Rome? What docs this say about the people of this country? Arc we so sick and demented and desirous to know all the gory details of this event that there needs to be TV movic%entitled “How I Turned My Husband into a Eunuch” and “Take Matters into Your Own Hands and then Throw it out the Win dow”? Doesn’t this relationship have enough problems without sending all the pscudo-”60 Minutes” shows over to document the trauma they’re going through? All we ’re doing when we give these atrocities so much attention is giving all the mindless, follow-the-media lcader thralls ideas for their own sa distic activities. Why can’t we have extended me dia coverage of nuclear arms reduc tion hearings, or Nobel Peace Prize winners, or Clint Eastwood, or why some crawfish are blue? That’s a rhe torical question, don’t twthcr. Strauch Is a senior secondary education major and a senior reporter for the Daily Nebraskan. I .m 11 us i o 1111 Km iou ‘ M isconccpt ions' In response to Jim Anderson’s let ter (DN, April 21, 1994): He staled that much of the erosion and pollution in the world was directly related to livestock production. He also staled that if the food pro duced by farmers was used for human consumption, the amount of hunger and malnutrition would greatly de crease. The I ivestock industry, on the con trary, has actually improved much of the land and has provided a food source on land that is not suitable for crop production. In the world. 55 percent of the total land area lies ill arid and semiarid precipitation regions. Thismcans intensive irrigation and fallow practices must be used to pro duce crops. This is only iferosion will not be caused by irrigating. About 70 percent of the earth’s surface requires some modifications of a water regimen, cither by irriga tion or drainage, to be suitable for intensive crop production. Livestock are able to utilize these forages on the land.that catoiot be cultivated. , Through propcrland management, livestock hayc actually improved the land and decreased the amount of erosion that takes place. If there is such a great need for this grain to be used for human consump tion, why is the U.S. government ac tually paying farmers not to produce crops on their land? * It’s okay that Anderson is a veg etarian, but there is no need to spread misconceptions just to convert people to his beliefs. ._Zane Mai sophomore animal science