EDITOR
Josh Funk
OPINION
EDITOR
Mark Baldridge
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Lindsay Young
Jessica Fargen
Samuel McKewon
Cliff Hicks
Kimberly Sweet
I
Our -
VIEW
Party
poopers
Partisanship affects
budget outcome
Budget shenanigans continue on Capitol
Hill.
Twenty-one days into fiscal year 2000,
President Clinton and a Republican
Congress still haven’t come to a definitive
answer on the budget. Clinton vows a veto of
everything that comes across his desk. He’ll
probably have to sign a stopgap extension
tonight to keep the government running.
Make no mistake, Clinton is making a
power play here. And after last week’s knock
down of die nuclear test-ban treaty, the first
in U.S. Senate history, it’s not surprising he
would do so; it was his baby.
Clinton got burned once; he won t get
burned again. Hence, these newly stalled
budget talks are linked to the test-ban treaty,
no matter how different the issues might be
on the surface.
Nine months ago, Republican leaders
(including Trent Lott) started courting their
own party for votes on the treaty. Nine
months ago, Clinton was in the midst of an
impeachment trial. The seeds were laid then.
As the voting approached, it became
clear that it would split down party lines,
regardless of the ramifications to other
nations. It had little to do with the treaty and
more to do with partisanship - the
Republicans breaking out against Clinton.
Democrats tried to get the vote delayed so
more time could be spent on debate. By a 55
45 vote, the delay was turned down.
Hence, in a 48-51-1 vote last week, the
treaty, which would have banned all nuclear
weapon testing, including underground test
ing, was shot down by Congress.
An angry president retaliated with the
veto, and here we are, stalled in traffic, again.
The day the test-ban treaty was shot down
was a dark day for partisanship, one of the
darkest. It’s one thing to screw your own
country, but it is entirely another when other
nations are a part of the mix.
Ihe United States is viewed, fairly or
unfairly, as a world leader in foreign affairs.
When it doesn’t ratify a treaty that has been
easily ratified by some of the same people in
the past, what message does that send? That,
maybe, it might be OK for Pakistan to test
nuclear weapons. India, too.
Is that die real truth? Of course not. But
not every nation understands the niceties of
our two-party system — that this is more of a
'game than it is foreign policy.
The United States needs to understand
the responsibility it has to the rest of the
world. Clinton can re-submit the treaty next
year. For now he can only be stubborn about
the budget.
It’s a sorry state of affairs and one that
reflects poorly on our country.
The issue will come up again, and we
encourage voters to express their interest in
the test-ban treaty.
Until then, we can at least wipe the egg
from our faces.
Editorial Policy
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
University of Nebraska Board of Regents.
A column is solely the opinion of its author.
The Board of Regents serves as publisher
of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by
the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Tne
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.
4 . v
Letter Policy
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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
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Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 20
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DN
LETTERS
Royal pain
I find it pretty sad that Angie
Klein and Matt Meyer did not receive
any acknowledgment for their crown
ing as Homecoming queen and king.
Matt and Angie are two outstand
ing students. The time they give to
their respective houses is immeasur
able. They are constantly involved in
community service or doing some
thing for the betterment of the univer
sity.
I find it very upsetting that when
our fraternity had 70 cases of beer
confiscated it made front page, but
two people receive one of the most
prestigious awards decided by stu
dents, and they are not recognized.
Aaron Gilson
senior
finance
Testifyin’
In response to Jeremy Patrick’s
(DN Oct. 14) “Incident sparks con
cern about children’s exposure to reli
gion:”
AMEN, BROTHER!!!!
Todd Hill
senior
biological systems engineering
Brother Patrick
Jeremy Patrick’s assertion that
“logic and reason mean nothing...to
95 percent of Christians” misses the
point. For most people of faith, logic
and reason are not irrelevant but sim
I
3
ply not of primary importance: Our
belief is rooted more deeply in expe
rience than abstraction.
And while I’m the first to admit
that my faith certainly is “a crutch...
(to) rely on when life gets difficult,” I
trust this is a testament to my rela
tionship with a caring creator, not
simply a testament to my own weak
character.
Finally, I understand and encour
age Mr. Patrick’s desire to present
“the seeds of doubt” to his young
nephews. Doing this may in time lead
them to drop their simple beliefs and
embrace atheism — or perhaps it will
help them arrive at a deeper, more
adult faith.
Jon Ritz
graduate student
English
Being a Christian
Mr. Patrick, being a Christian is
not about hating anyone. It is not
about being afraid to question. It is
not even about going to church or
quoting Bible verses every day.
Being a Christian is about recog
nizing our own deficiency before
God, asking for forgiveness from
Jesus and living our lives in a way that
would please him.
God is the judge, not me. We all
choose how we want to live, but not
believing in God does not make him
any less real.
Mike Wittmaun
junior
communication studies
Homosexual agenda
Jessica Flanagain (DN Oct. 14)
has once again proven that ignorance
has a very loose tongue.
I must confess, it gets rather tire
some feeling the need to defend the
so-called “homosexual agenda.”
I resent the implication that soci
etal acceptance of homosexuality
will eventually lead to a societal
acceptance of more deviant sexual
preferences.
I believe she made liberal men
tion of pedophilia as an example.
How dare you imply that
pedophilia is a mere few steps beyond
homosexuality?
The day our society, as a whole, is
* permissive towards sexual abuse, is
the day our society no longer
deserves to exist. But according to
Miss Flanagain, we homosexuals are
paving the way. I truly fail to see the
connection.
Roxane Gay
graduate student
English
This train
This letter is in rebuttal to the
story in Friday’s DN (“Train path
troubles students”).
Wah! Give me a break. The trains
have been traveling along these tracks
for years; now because a bunch of
whiny students don’t like to have to
wait for them, BNSF is just suppose
to re-route all trains away from cam
pus. Please.
If you don’t like waiting for the
trains, use the lUth btreet bridge.
Trains are re-routed around this
area on football Saturdays because
there are 70,000+ people attending
the game.
BNSF does this because it wants
to, not because it has to. So quit your
bitching and leave the house a few
minutes early or take a different
route.
Jana Bartels
senior
business education
Gun totin’ wackos
Responsible journalism applies to
photography as well as the written
content of a newspaper. However, in
Friday’s DN, Lane Hickenbottom
seems to have lost his mind in the
pursuit of a cool photograph.
1 can t believe today, that with the
media constantly necessitating safe
gun ownership, a photographer
would be stupid enough to place him
self at the business end of a rifle.
Before you try to justify the photo
by telling yourself that the gun was
unloaded with the action open, real
ize that it is not only your personal
safety that is at risk but the safety of
others who are influenced by your lax
attitude toward a firearm.
And shame on Nicole Allaire for
allowing such a stupid idea to
progress to fruition. It is the responsi
bility of people who know better to
protect the fools from themselves.
Kyle Long
senior
psychology/economics
