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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 18, 1996)
Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board University of Nebraska-Lincoln J. Christopher Hain..Editor, 472-1766 Doug Kouma...Managing Editor Doug Peters..Opinion Page Editor Sarah Scalet...Associate News Editor Matt Waite...Associate News Editor Michelle Garner...Wire Editor Jennifer Mapes.Columnist BretGottschall/DN Pointless Bill does little to prevent terrorism f Congress and the president want to take the teeth out of terrorism in this country, but the anti-terrorism bill passed Wednesday by the Senate puts its bite in the wrong places. With the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing on Friday, the U.S. Senate is hustling to approve an anti-terrorism bill that was promised after the tragedy one year ago. A compromise bill was approved Wednesday by the Senate on a 91-8 vote. When the measure hits the House floor today, it will be sufficiently watered down from its original form. The original bill would have extended many government powers too far. One pro vision in the original bill supported by President Clinton and re moved from the compromise bill would have made it easier for federal government to wiretap suspected terrorists. The problem is that giving groups like the Federal Bureau of Investigation more authority to invade citizens’ private lives would more than likely result in wiretapping of nearly any group the government was wary of — about everyone. We have the strange bedfellows of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Rifle Association to thank for successfully lobbying senators to remove many of the dangerous measures from the bill. But what is left has little to do with terrorism and will probably have little effect on terrorists. The legislation approved Wednesday would limit federal appeals by death-row inmates and other prisoners. It would allow the death penalty in certain cases of international terrorism and when federal employees were killed because of their work. It would also bar fund raising in the United States by foreign terrorist groups. One wonders what limiting death-penalty appeals has to do with terrorism in this country. What is left in the anti-terrorism bill seems to make it a merely symbolic gesture in dealing with terrorism. That’s sad considering the depth of the Oklahoma City tragedy and the effect it has had on our country. But what else can you expect in an election year? Editorial policy Staff editorials represent the official policy of the Spring 1996 Daily Ne braskan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of the university, its employees, the stu dents or the NU Board of Regents. Editorial columns represent the opin ion of the author. The regents publish the Daily Nebraskan. They establish the UNL Publications Board to super vise 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. 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 1 ished. 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. _ Love It or leave it In response to Andy Bosselman’s letter to the editor ... If you’re going to publicly profess anti-American ideas, why don’t you go to a country that regularly practices them. Maybe there you can find a flag to be proud of. Matt Berggren junior physics Students take financial beating Even though it has been almost a year since I have been at UNL, I find it distressing that the adminis tration still have not found any way to cut the burden of rising costs for the UNL student. When I enrolled in my first class at UNL in 1990,1 bought a Biology 101 textbook for $65, “Drop and Add” cost $5, applying for graduation was free, and parking spaces were sold to the right amount of people. But as I left campus in August, the biology book had gone up, it costs $25 to gradu ate, and parking services seems to have learned how to oversell parking spaces and get away with it! Oh yeah ... “Drop and Add” may have become easier, but they always found a way to stick the $5 back onto the student. I advise the UNL student body to keep putting pressure on the administration for things to get better. Things arc bound to change ... aren’t they??? Lawrence Matthews, Jr. New Orleans, La. Plate «f 100C Outta here The cartoon in the April 16 DN depicted Bishop Bruskewitz telling Christ he’s outta here. I thought, “that’s interesting.” Rather than dignify the audacity of the cartoon with a response, perhaps I could clarity what the edict by Bishop Bruskewitz means to many of us. I won’t quote scripture, nor will I point out the hypocrisy in bashing someone for their beliefs. An analogy might better explain it. --- Bret Gottschall/DN To be good at a sport, you need talent, strength, consistency and most of all, practice. Imagine a baseball team in pursuit of the pennant, working hard to achieve what they deem the ultimate goal. Our team wants that pennant, and expects its players to live, eat and dream baseball. Any coach will tell you practice is the key to meeting your goal. How do you, as a player, feel when the guy who refuses to catch fly balls, practice batting, or even come to practice gets the same treatment as all the folks who put their blood, sweat and tears into the sport? How can he expect to get better when he refuses to hone the skills necessary to be good? A coach wouldn’t put up very long with a slacker, and has probably already warned them to show up with the rest of the team or risk being kicked off. Perhaps the coach posts an edict, as a final warning to those who refuse to follow the guidelines for the team. It comes down to this. If you aren’t willing to practice, how can you step up to the plate in good conscience? Russ Barger first-year law Water rites I found Veera Supinen’s article “Water fight” (April 10) to be most timely, since currently a great debate and Parks Con^^Islofr’s effJr^^^ secure the last 30 percent of flows remaining in the Big Bend area of the Platte River for the benefit of fish and wildlife. This has been done via an application for in-stream flows before our State Department of Water Resources. Our Game and Parks Commis sion should be commended for seeking the remaining flows for fish and wildlife, and they should be encouraged to stick by their 10 years of research to determine the needs of the various species that use the river. They should also take their original application based on species’ needs and survival down to the Department of Water Resources for a ruling and not settle for a political compromise that does not take these needs into consideration. I also think there is a need for clarification on the on the point that some environmental philosophies hold that the well-being of a crane is no less important than that of a human. Seeing thousands of sandhill cranes coming into the roost on the Platte River at night, seeing a redtail hawk soaring over the countryside or hearing a wren in the orchard is part of the enrichment of the human’s life. These encounters give us a boost of spirit and a renewal of the soul. It is not the well-being of the crane per sc, but our well-being that is at stake. It should not be bought, traded, given away or compromised any further by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commis sioner or Gov. Nelson. Bruce M. Kennedy custodial supervisor facilities management -:->-1 ...to the Nebraskan ► Send your Drier letters to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588, or Fax to (402) 472-1761, or email detters @ unlinfo.unl.edu.> Letters must be signed and include a phone number for verification. __:__