Opinion Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board University of Nebraska-Lincoln J. Christopher Haiti.Editor, 472-1766 Rainbow Rowell.Managing Editor Mark Baldridge.Opinion Page Editor DeDra Janssen.Associate News Editor Doug Kouma.Arts & Entertainment Editor Jeff Zeleny. Senior Reporter Matt Woody.Senior Reporter James Mehsling.Cartoonist Showdown Compromise required to avoid collapse By Tuesday 800,000 people may be temporarily out of a job be cause of the big showdown on Capitol Hill. Unfortunately it’s a showdown with little reason and with much on the line. As Congress continues to work on its plan for balancing the bud get by 2002, time will run out midnight Monday on the authority of most federal agencies to spend money, sending half the government work force home. —I-1 And Wednesday the gov eminent will lose ability to continue borrowing money, which could potentially send financial markets into an up heaval. Neither President Clinton nor Congressional Republi cans will compromise on a resolution to continue govern ment funding until December. Congress is tightly grip ping the government purse strings (plus some sharp bud get-cutting scissors). While the president is holding his veto pen up high (not to men tion his golf bag). Republicans want the i jiiL-Mucni 10 agree, in prirt Jason Giidow/DN ciple, to the idea of a balanced budget in seven years. And the Republicans want the continuing resolution to include budget-cutting measures. Clinton has said he will not accept new cuts as a condition to keeping the government open. But the question is not who will blink from the brink of a govern ment shutdown first, but why should this cavalier confrontation take place? This is the kind of governmental gridlock that turns off so many Americans to Washington and its political games. Balancing the budget is an admirable undertaking by Congress. And President Clinton and many Americans have problems with Republicans' seven-year path of tax cuts, spending reductions and the overhaul of Medicare and other social programs on the way to a balanced budget. But why toy with a federal shutdown and the financial crisis of a halt to government borrowing? In the month ahead, Clinton and Congress can hammer out the budget specifics. But right now somebody needs to give in for the short-term. It doesn’t matter which side. Or better yet — both. Editorial policy Staff editorials represent the official policy of the Fall 1995 Daily Nebras kan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebras kan Editorial Board. Editorials do not necessarily reflea 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 produaion of the paper. Accord ing to policy set by the regents, respon sibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its students. Letter policy 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 mate rial 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 re turned. Anonymous submissions will not be pub lished. Letters should include the author’s name, year in school, major and group affiliation, if any. Re quests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. VIHEN I AVlNfCE fRfM smbzk i am so mpi jBfCAOSE IWW KfeOliT jNEBWSW fOOTfef\LU. ml m iu class i imk I vjhen \ m, \ thavik u\> AfcOOT umm P»T£ALL FOP NEBPAsM FOOTBALL. hv\nk HbU this "n ! tp ww i men rue 'p mu# sou/e Mr A® \0\ICR , AMb OWK AMlKli., I wen i k?w ■ \m K&AU4 t)REM\0P THE WEBW tytTBAU th\s hks been &RC(Mr to soo BV Ut&RASkAfe fOPv ^£aR(\5Kft 'rDOTEALL (wAT&Sfc \ v \S>1U£W-?/ Dimensions I couldn’t believe that on the day before a potential government shutdown, all you could print was a 2.5 inch by 3 inch, 4 paragraph article, when on the same day the plight of a bar’s liquor license made front page news. If the thought of not being able to get drunk in a certain bar is more important than the shutdown of our government, spurring the possible layoff of thousands of personnel, 1 suggest the DN get its priorities in order. Neal Berggren Freshman Computer Engineering via e-mail Advice column Dear Doug Peters, Just about any kind of parent can beget a procrastinator (“Better late...” Nov. 7). It takes attention and an uncommon self-control not to fall into the habit of giving the reluctant child a small shove in some way. When that shoving lets up, who’s to shove? Society. My advice is procrastinate more: all the way. You can’t like much what you drag your feet and squirm out of as much as possible. Quit all that stuff. Spend very little. Live with friends. Don’t be embarrassed to mooch; you’ll be pioneering a ; much needed new culture. I’ll help you out. Keep the column for our sake; you’ll still have plenty of spare time for searching for what you really want to do. Mike Chilcote Lincoln Bundy jumping I hope Scott Knutson’s grasp of English is better than his “A1 Bundy”-like view of Political I Jason Gildow/DN Science. Otherwise he can expect to the fools lead. spend ms days nipping burgers rather than researching or teaching. His assertion that America should revert to an isolationist agenda is as absurd as it is bold. I’m going to “spell it out” for Mr. Knutson: 1. America WOULD NOT be “just fine” if it returned to its pre WW1I isolationist ways. 2. Tire U.S. would experience catastrophic economic ruin. Foreign trade is one of the pillars of our economic infrastructure. Without it, we wouldn’t be a viable country, much less a world power. 3. In case Mr. Knutson has forgotten, Kuwait (one of his so called “little countries”) and other Middle Eastern countries supply the majority of our oil. Perhaps he has invented a substitute which will run our cars, planes and power stations. But what is most frightening about his views is not his ham handed attempt to justify isolation ism, but his view that Yitzhak Rabin was “a fool fighting for a lost cause”, and that the only way to achieve peace is through genocide. If the desire for peace is foolish, I say: let the “wise” step down and Brent Hawkins Sophomore International Business via e-mail Cyberiad As a DN alum, who now makes his living in “cyberia,” I congratu late you on the DN’s home page. It looks great. I live in the D.C. area, and I’m thoroughly enjoying being able to read the DN on a daily basis....for the first time in a decade! Mike Frost via e-mail Death penalty advo cate As far as I’m concerned, Scott Barney won’t even come close to getting what he deserves. And what he deserves sure isn’t a “death with dignity” (“All deserve death with dignity,” Nov. 10). 1 don’t know who worries me more; people like Scott Barney, or people like you, Ms. Schwarting, who actually feel “sympathy” for scum of the earth such as Barney. Gordon Strom Freshman Special Ed. . * Send your brief letters to: 770 fhp Daily Nebraskan, 34 ^ Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., - Lincoln, Neb. 68588, or Fax to (402) 472-1761, or email —-- Letters must be signed and ^ Nebraskan 3S,?„„phone“mber,pr , — --—