EDITOR Josh Funk OPINION EDITOR Mark Baldridge EDITORIAL BOARD Brad Davis Samuel McKewon Lindsay Young Jessica Fargen Cliff Hicks Our VIEW No respect Useless Louisiana law a burden to the books Smile when you say that. This June, Mike Foster, governor of the state of Louisiana, signed into law legislation that will require the girls and boys of that state’s elementary schools to show the respect due to the men and women who teach them. Believed to be the first U.S. law mandat ing respectful conversation, it requires stu dents, kinder garten through fifth grade, to address teach ers and other school employ ees as “ma’am” or “sir,” “Mr.” or “Ms.” as the case maybe. Students who fail to show the appro priate respect can be pun ished, though the law leaves enforcement of the rule in the hands of each of the 66 public school systems - with the only restriction being that stu «—— Well; at least Louisianans won’t have to worry about their kids growing up to be loud and surly like New Yorkers or lax and familiar like those kids in California!’ dents cannot be suspended or expelled tor failing to comply. At last the citizens of Louisiana can rest easy. No longer will they be terrorized in the night by 10-year-olds packing pistols. Oh no. The law didn’t take guns out of the hands of children, did it? Just put words in their mouths. Well, at least Louisianans won’t have to worry about their kids growing up to be loud and surly like New Yorkers or lax and famil iar like those kids in California. Not that Louisiana’s problem (and every state has them) has ever been rudeness. Quite the contrary. Louisianans are already more likely to address older people or people in authority with the appropriate titles than your average Wisconsinite. In fact, and just going by the prevailing stereotypes (as we have been in comparing Louisiana to the other great states we’ve been maligning), the sons and daughters of Louisiana have been thought of as ignorant, 'backward hicks - a conception totally at odds with the real facts of the majority of Louisianans, but there you are. This somewhat more significant image problem could possibly be rectified if the Legislature of that worthy state would spend more money and time actually improving the education their little tykes are to receive, than in burdening the already bloated statue books with one more useless, featherweight law. Just a thought. HKorM Patty Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Fall 1999 Daily Nebraskan. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its employees, its student body or the Univereity of Nebraska Board of Regents. A column is solely the opinion of its author. The Board of Regents serves as pubfisher of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. The UNL Publications Board, established by the regents, supervises the 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 student employees. Letter Policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor and guest columns, but does not guarantee their publication. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject any material submitted. Submitted material becomes property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be published. Those who submit letters must identify themselves by name, year in school, major and/or group affiliation, if any. Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 20 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln, NE. 68588-0448. E-mail: letters@unlinfo.unl.edu. Obermeyer’s VIEW ■ *•.**'• \'.■%&*? ... -• \ . £ DN LETTERS God Hates Hackers! The “Reverend” Fred Phelps of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church, Topeka, Kan., is well known nationally for his homophobic big otry and for his mantra, “God hates fags!” Phelps has established a consid erable presence on the World Wide Web at www.godhatesfags.com, where one could find dozens of hate ful documents, photos of Matthew Shepard burning in hell, and even sound clips of Phelps preaching against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, apparently very amused with himself. On Aug. 18, an anonymous good Samaritan ended Phelps’ presence on the Web by transferring owner ship of the godhatesfags.com domain to the GLBT rival organiza tion, “God Loves Fags,” owned by Kris Haight of New Hampshire and Web-mastered by Rich Mackey of Nebraska. The GodLovesFags site owners explain that they received an anony mous e-mail on August 17 telling them to “pay close attention” to the godhatesfags.com Internet informa tion over die next few days. i———. ■.*■—•—^ Melanie Falk/DN The next day they were the sur prised recipients Of an authentic and legal transfer of the godhatesfags.com domain to their ownership. Since then, GodLovesFags has logged over 30,000 visitors, about 50 times their typical traffic, and access rates are climbing. So far, 604 supportive e-mails (and counting) have been logged and only nine hateful e-mails. How long will GodLovesFags will retain ownership of the god hatesfags.com domain? We’re not sure. Could be a day, could be forever. We intend to keep it the way if is as long as we can. Many are regarding the domain transfer from the anonymous Samaritan as a gift from God. The Lord works in mysterious ways. Sarah Fox, Ph.D. chief administrator QUILL News and Communications Editor s note: At press time the godhatesfags.com domain seems again to be contested. Surf on over for further developments. .. 1. Replace the battery in the smoke detector. God knows how long it’s been in there, and a dead battery can make a dead fella pretty easy. You don’t want to wind up a shrinkled skellington, do ya? Sixty cents and you could maybe pull your fat out of the fire. 2. Check with the Better Business Bureau before you sign that six-month lease, dope! Too late? Then for cryin’ out loud: 3. Know your renters’ rights! When you’re up against it, Student Legal Services can back you up. They can’t represent you in court, but they can tell you how to get there if it comes to that They also keep a handy list of deadbeat, slum lord, never-gonna-fix-that big-hole-in-the-ceiling where-the-raccoons-get-in landlords, so you can look up how to spell that so-and so’s name. PS. Write Back Send letters to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 "R" St., Lincoln, NE 68588, or fax to (402) 472-1761, or e-mail