EDITOR Josh Funk OPINION EDITOR Mark Baldridge EDITORIAL BOARD Lindsay Young Jessica Fargen Samuel McKewon Cliff Hicks Kimberly Sweet I Our VIEW Break it up Microsoftfinding is a positive first step The first shot has been fired, and Microsoft took it squally in the chest. And the bullets are going to keep com " ing. On Friday, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson released his findings of fact on the infamous Microsoft vs. Department of Justice case, which has gone on for almost a year now. In the 204-page document, Judge Jackson said Microsoft is quite obvious ly a monopoly and that Microsoft has “abused” its position as such. Obtaining a monopoly is legal, but using that monopoly to take over other areas of business is not. Dismissing Microsoft’s claims to the contrary, Jackson wrote that Microsoft has caused “consumer harm by distort ing competition.” While the actual ruling in the case will not be announced until next year, things look very bleak for Microsoft. The decision Jackson hands down next year won’t be final, regardless. ' Microsoft will appeal, and it will be a few years before the courts settle the matter for good. Until that final decision comes down, Microsoft will continue stomping on anyone who gets in its way, and the list so far includes dozens of companies from IBM and Compaq to Netscape and America Online. We applaud this first step in the long war against Microsoft’s overly abusive business practices. For far too long, Microsoft has stifled innovation, and it has the gall to start a grassroots movement defending its tac tics under the title “Freedom to Innovate.” Freedom to Dominate is more accurate. Microsoft is simply too big and aggressive for a slap on the wrist to do any good. Microsoft needs to be broken up. While it may sound drastic, drastic crimes call for drastic measures. Microsoft has made it easy to cut up, though - one company for operating system work, one company for Internet software work and one for other soft ware. Microsoft already has many of its divisions labeled, which will make this process quick and relatively painless. If Microsoft is confident its tactics have not harmed consumers, letting those pieces of contested software stand on their own merits rather than coasting on the laurels of another shouldn’t both er it one bit. Editorial Policy Letter Policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor and guest columns, but does rat ouarantee their oublication University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to employees, its student body or the edit or reject any material submitted. University of Nebraska Board of Regents. Submitted material becomes property of A column is solely the opinion of its author. the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be *» The Board of Regents serves as publisher returned. Anonymous submissions will of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by not be published. Those who submit the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. The letters must identify themselves by name, UNL Publications Board, established by year in school, major and/or group the regents, supervises the production affiliation, if any. of the paper According to policy set by Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 20 the regents, responsibility for the editorial Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln, content of the newspaper lies solely in NE. 68588-0448. E-mail: the hands of its student employees. Ietters@.unl.edu. Obermeyer’s VIEW '-T' _ * • i_ • IQ? HATE DN LETTERS Nuh-uh-uh! Jennifer Walker (DN, Friday) claims that a women’s studies major has taught her a great deal. Unfortunately, like so many women’s studies graduates before and since, she apparently hasn’t acquired a respect for factual accuracy. - Just to take one example from her column: there is no Bureau of Justice. There is a Bureau of Justice Statistics, a division of die Department of Justice; it conducts something called a National Crime Victimization Survey. The survey found in 1998 that there were 110,000 rapes and 89,000 attempted rapes in the United States, not 500,000. These numbers can be found out by anyone with an Internet browser and five minutes to spend on the Web. Any rape is one rape too many. But one of the major reasons why women’s studies lacks respect as a discipline is its apparent willingness to multiply any horrific statistic by a factor of four or five to make a political point. When women’s studies learns respect for the facts, it will have become an academic discipline and cease to be a fringe political move ment. Gerard Harbison department of chemistry faculty advisor College Republicans Holy Cold War I appreciate Adam Klinker’s enthu siasm and optimism over the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification between Lutherans and Catholics. As a Catholic, I, too, am thankful for this milestone in Christian ecu menism. However, I believe Mr. Klinker has misunderstood the content and significance of this Joint Declaration. The document itself highlights the fact that Lutheran-Catholic differences on the doctrine ofjustifica tion are not yet completely resolved, although some initial agree ments have been established. The Catholic Church teaches and believes - as it did at the Council of Trent in 1547, contrary to Lutheran theology - that we are saved by grace alone but not by faith alone. Other differences still persist, espe cially concerning the nature of justification itself - whether God’s righteousness is actually infused into the sinner (Catholicism) or merely imputed (Luther). Nor can Lutheran-Catholic differ ences on the doctrine of the Eucharist be set aside, as Mr. Klinker suggested. The Eucharist is, as Vatican II put it, the “source and summit of the Christian life,” the very heart of Catholic spiritu ality and dogma. I have no desire to extinguish Mr. K1 inker’s excitement and confident expectation. I only want to point out that the Joint Declaration is the beauti ful beginning, not the completion, of a long process, the end of which I await with hope. WeiHsienWan senior psychology ACLyou! The Nov. 4 letter to the editor by Jason Fredregill entitled “ACLwho?” left me puzzled. Mr. Fredregill claims to have been ignored by us after writing us letters and knocking on our door. I am not sure upon whose door he knocked or to whom he wrote, but it certainly was not our office. I have personally reviewed every letter written to ACLU Nebraska over the past four years and spoken with every individual who came walking through ACLU Nebraska’s door. Mr. Fredregill simply was not one of those folks who wrote us or came to our office. I would submit that Mr. Fredregill has a basic misunderstanding of what ACLU is and what we do. This was clearly manifested in his resorting to name calling instead of setting forth real examples of what ACLU does. In the future, I hope the DN at least contacts our office before it gives one of its readers carte blanche to make outlandish accusations. Matt LeMieux ACLU Nebraska executive director Yadda yadda yadda Was Josh Knaub’s article “Senators; Student role key” (Nov. 4) supposed to be a “minutes” for the ASUN senate meeting? If so, Knaub failed to recognize several key issues of the Nov. 3 meeting of the senate: Government Liaison Committee Chairman Andy Faltin was seeking advice from the student body on what educational issues should be the focus of discussions with government offi cials. The Student Impact Team is col lecting items and assembling “Hygiene Packs” for Daywatch individuals. The Academic Committee is pre senting Dead Week policy informa tional sessions and promoting mid semester evaluations. The Campus Life Committee is scheduling a time for ASUN to volun teer at a food kitchen. The Communications Committee is preparing a newsletter for new stu dents to inform them about what ASUN has accomplished this semester and how they can become involved in the spring semester. I personally invite all students to attend another ASUN meeting or com mittee meeting. Better yet, fill out an application for a vacancy. You might be surprised how much is accomplished. Vicki Geiser graduate student senator I P.S. Write Hack Send letters to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 "R" St., Lincoln, || NE 68588, or fax to (402) 472-1761, or e-mail