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
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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 <letters@unlinfo.unl.edu.
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