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
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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
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