Weekly Summary: Week Three

This will be the last publication for the Fall semester, see you all again in the Spring, when we will kick it off on the second official week of school. Thanks for reading, thanks for your support! If you have final comments for the semester, critical reviews, or are interested in writing for us or debating us, write to us at: code.walrus@gmail.com

Christmas Bailout, Seasonal Giving
By Francis Mader

Will the likely government bailout of the automobile industry really benefit us in the long term? In the short term? Francis Mader argues that it is a bad idea.

George W. Bush: Good Man, Bad Rap
By Andrew Lacy

Just mentioning the four letter word (Bush) seems to get liberals foaming at the mouth. Maybe they should avoid reading this one, a letter from a Bush apologist.

Google Censoring Search Results
By Michael Folkert

If Google were to filter out homosexual sites, many people would be upset. But when they censor sites questioning Obama, there is little commotion. Wait, you knew about Google censoring, right?

Proposition 8
By Alex Thomas

While homosexuals continue to outcry oppression since proposition 8 passed in California, marriage continues to be an exclusive arrangement: Man and Woman. It only seems natural.

Teacher Stimulates Thinking by Questioning Reasons for being Heterosexual
By Michael Folkert

A touch of cynicism, perhaps, but the proof is in the pudding. I could answer all of these questions, could you?

News Clips: Full List
Compiled by Tobias Davis

News Clips: December 9, 2008

From news.yahoo.com:
A new federal law could charge farmers a tax for cows -- because of air pollutants from farting. While Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials insist that their proposal does not include a tax to livestock, the American Farm Bureau Federation says that this new tax could cots even modest-sized ranches up to $40,000 a year. The law could potentially extend to chicken and pig farms as well, impeding even more on farmers freedoms.

Sources:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081205/ap_on_bi_ge/farm_scene_cow_tax

From dailymail.co.uk:
Paperboys in Cambridge were followed by undercover officers who captured surveillance footage of them at work. This action was done under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIPS), a manipulative regulation made to help investigate potential terrorist actions. What did the boys do to warrant such a thing? Deliver paper without proper work permits. Can anyone say "Hello, Hitler!"

Sources:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1092264/New-target-anti-terror-spies-Village-paperboys--having-correct-paperwork.html

From news.yahoo.com:
In the midst of the oceans of monopoly money coming out of Washington, news comes out that California may be bankrupt by February or March, and even have $15,000,000,000 shortage. The states director of the Department of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says that the state "will begin delaying payments" in March.

Sources:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081205/us_nm/us_economy_california_shortfall

From worldnetdaily.com:
Apparently in Ithaca, N.Y., a noise ordinance restricts sounds that can be heard 25 feet away. While it seems they did this to stop a certain soap-box style speaker, noise this loud also includes sneezing, clapping, even some boot and shoe noises are too loud. The city Policy Enforcers promptly arrested the soap-box speaker for breaking the ordinance, proving their lack of respect for freedom of speech. Incidentally, when the Policy Enforcers speak, they can be heard over 25 feet away.

Sources:
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=82835

From contracostatimes.com:
Residents of the Bay Area now can't burn firewood in their homes on a new government created "Spare The Air" night, and they can't burn wood at all if it is too smoky. Brian Bunger, the "air district's general counsel", said the reason is to "protect people's health." Fines could be in the thousands of dollars, depending on various arbitrary events, the local district executive officer Jack Broadbent said. One news source reported there will be seventy gestapo police inspectors to go check out chimneys for telltale wisps. The state people who said the government should "get out of our bedrooms" are pretty silent on this one.

Sources:
http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2008/12/04/prometheus-bound/
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_10869483?source=rss
http://www.sparetheair.com
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/20/BAIV147OJ5.DTL

From naturalnews.com:
Pediatricians are now being encouraged by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to interrogate children about their parents habits without parental consent, even filing police reports if anything sounds suspicious. In one case a man was reported to the police after the doctor found out he had a gun. A legally owned, government registered gun. In fact, just the anti-gun advocacy by pediatricians is enough that some states are "considering legislation to stop it."

Sources:
http://www.naturalnews.com/022764.html

From paper source:
What happens to the University since Nebraskan's decided to not hire people based on race? While the University probably has to cut race-based funding, can they still sponsor race-based or race-promoting conferences? A recent symposium for "Latino Leadership" had sessions titled "They Can't Deport Us All" and "How does Chingo, Bling?" Whether the University is required to cease these types of conferences is still unclear.

From sfgate.com:
While government bureaucrats bicker and argue about the legality of public All-Seeing-Eye devices (video cameras), and courts argue about whether evidence can be used in court, the private sector wins again. A man in San Francisco who put up a live web-cam in his window because of the late night violence and noise has seen a dramatic decrease of both. Viewers play games trying to read the taxi plates, and even call in live criminal activity. It seems the private sector has made something more useful than the government. Again.

Sources:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/05/BANM14ITI9.DTL&tsp=1

From reuters.com:
It seems that those "carbon dollars" you occasionally hear about don't really go to replenishing the rain forest like the hippies hope. Indigenous peoples complained to the U.N. that the money is not going to trees, and may go to land grabs instead.

Sources:
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL4383081.html

From reuters.com:
People complaining that America doesn't care should find hope: An Egyptian man scheduled to be deported back to Egypt was kept here because of his fears that he would be deported. He says that authorities were going to force him under torture to convert to Islam. The plot thickens: Cairo claims he is a murderer, but the ACLU says that is questionable.

Sources:
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnN05480954.html

From forbes.com:
Mexico claims their drug cartel problem is more directly important to the U.S. than the war on Iraq. Thousands die each year from the drug cartel directly, while even more die from indirect drug usage. The U.S. government has pledged $1.4 billion in taxpayer funds to Mexico to help fight the drug cartel.

Sources:
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/1222/073.html?feed=rss_news

From abcnews.com:
Are you depressed because of your poor grade? So am I, but I don't expect to be coddled about it! High school students will be even more removed from the real world when teachers begin withholding F's on homework and exams. Alternately, in another town students are being paid for better grades. Maybe we could do both systems: Pay all students equally. Just like the real world, people who fail at jobs get raises, right? Right? Anybody?

Sources:
Http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=6395403&page=1
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/story?id=6371073&page=1

From lifenews.com:
The results of a study done by John Hopkins University on abortions should come as no surprise: The study was funded by abortion provider/promoter Planned Parenthood. More strange things about taxpayer funded Planned Parenthood: Their nurses routinely counsel girls to lie about their age, to cover up statutory rape, and how to get around parental consent laws, etc...

Sources:
http://www.lifenews.com/state3686.html
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=82710

From worldnetdaily.com:
An acclaimed phsyciatrist is claiming liberalism is a mental disorder. ""When the modern liberal mind whines about imaginary victims, rages against imaginary villains and seeks above all else to run the lives of persons competent to run their own lives, the neurosis of the liberal mind becomes painfully obvious." Not to be cruel, but I could have told you that...

Sources:
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=56494

From worldnetdaily.com:
For all the complaints of seperation of church and state, the recent move of now-government-controlled insurance company, AIG, to offer specialized Muslim insurance doesn't seem to be striking anybody as odd. Oh, that's right, it's probably because it's not Christian insurance.

Sources:
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=82726

From thenewstribune.com:
While everybody has to justify stealing their slice of the pie, Chryslers Robert Nardelli says he should be funded because the recession could cause Chrysler owners vehicles to depreciate in value. Isn't he so kind?

Sources:
http://www.thenewstribune.com/904/story/559087.html

From news.yahoo.com:
An Associated Press article argues that the falling gas prices are actually a bad sign, despite the massive public approval. Is he right? I always thought cheaper products was a good sign.

Sources:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081205/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices

From money.cnn.com:
Another bank closed by regulators, taken over by the feds. FDIC will end up paying out $72 million out of their practically depleted stockpile. That makes 23 banks now.

Sources:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/03/news/economy/bank_failure/index.htm

From perotcharts.com:
This one should come as no surprise by now: Some large amount of that bailout that people were ignorantly hoping for went to pay bank employees extra bonuses.

Sources:
http://perotcharts.com/2008/11/tarp-troubled-asset-relief-program-or-wall-street-feeding-frenzy/

From memory:
The attack on Pearl Harbor happened 67 years ago on Sunday.

Sources:
Veteran friends.


[Compiled by Tobias Davis, a Mechanical Engineer student at UNL and Editor for the Student Newspaper]

Teacher Stimulates Thinking by Questioning Reasons for being Heterosexual.

As reported by World Net Daily (WND) an English teacher from Pecatonica High School in tiny Blanchardville, Wisconsin assigned their high school class a questionnaire in which student’s were to answer why they were heterosexual and to give reasons why they chose to be heterosexual over homosexual. Some of the questions were:

-When and how did you decide you were a heterosexual?
-Is it possible that your heterosexuality is just a phase you may grow out of?
-Is it possible that your heterosexuality stems from a neurotic fear of others of the same sex?
-Do your parents and friends know you are straight? How do they react?
-Why do you insist on flaunting your heterosexuality? Can't you just be who you are and keep it quiet?
-A disproportionate majority of child molesters are heterosexual. So do you consider it safe to expose children to heterosexual teachers?
-With all the societal support marriage receives, the divorce rate is spiraling. Why are there so few stable relationships among heterosexuals?
-Statistics show that lesbians have the lowest incidence of sexually transmitted diseases. Is it really safe for a woman to maintain a heterosexual lifestyle and run the risk of disease and pregnancy?
-Considering the menace of overpopulation, how could the human race survive if everyone were heterosexual?
-Would you want your child to be heterosexual, knowing the problems that s/he would face?

The English teacher responded that the questions were not an assignment but for a class discussion on “tolerance.” The Principal, Dave McSherry, then told WND that “the discussion was part of a comprehensive curriculum in critical thinking skills to prepare students to make decisions on their own in college and beyond.” McSherry also told WND that “the questionnaire was presented as a prompt to discussion and debate and that to simply react to the list of questions is to take the issue out of context.”

[Michael Folkert is an Ag-Econ Major at UNL]

Proposition 8.

There has been an outcry about fairness roaring across the campus. People seem to be highly incensed at California’s recent ban on homosexual marriage, but few of them seem to know all of the issues at stake here. Let us examine this issue a little more closely.

First of all the issue of gay marriage seems to be a flashpoint for many people, but those same people ignore a very basic fact when they urge this issue. Marriage is religious in its origins, religious in its observance, and religious in its most basic principles. This begs the question, why do homosexuals think they can force this issue? The fact of the matter is that, as marriage is essentially a religious institution, no law can affect who is or is not allowed to be married.

There is such a thing as a civil union in today’s society, and this form of “marriage” is controlled by the state. Gays seeking to live together as a couple could get a civil union before they began pressing for “equal status.” Where a church is concerned there is no law in the U.S. that can start or stop a practice. Gays, despite their best efforts, can never hope to force a church to marry them, and as such their fight was doomed from the beginning.

It was almost amusing to watch the protest the other day and see how quickly the protesters would contradict themselves when interviewed. For instance, one couple stated, “we just want equal rights in the eyes of the government. What churches do is up to them. We’re just after fair treatment and the multitude of benefits that heterosexual couples married by the state or church enjoy.” Then within the space of two breaths she said, “If the government or the church were to call unions in the church something different from those made by the state it creates a separate and unequal situation. We aren’t second class citizens.” She went on to say; however, that “I don’t believe the state can pass any laws regarding a church.” They destroy their own position with statements like this. They try to stand on the center of a line, and they fail to make sense by doing so. They know they cannot force the church to recognize them, but they are not willing to accept a redefinition of civil marriages. This is a self-defeating stance. They need to accept what they are really pressing for and clearly understand what it is they seek before they cry about injustice.

The second thing about this issue is how many people seem to think the majority of people are for gay marriage. I would have told you a few months ago that I believed more people supported gay marriage than clearly do. What the issue with the California marriage ban has shown us is we were mistaken. Some people howl about bigotry and the like, but the message here is very simple. The majority of people in one of the most liberal states have said they do not want to allow gays to be joined as couples.

There is some question about the actual legality of this ban, but regardless of whether or not the ban is upheld an important battle has been won here. Those of us, who have resisted the vocal minority, have seen in this that noise does not mean numbers in this. The majority is not what society would like us to believe.

[Alex Thomas is a freshman at UNL]

Google Censoring Search Results

According to an article in World Net Daily (WND), Google is being biased in presenting websites in its search engine. Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs told WND that Google has “sandboxed” her articles about Barack Obama ("Sandboxing" happens when Google strips a website's rankings from its search engine results). Google did this without warning or notifying Mrs. Geller or Atlas Shrugs.

When asked about the reason behind sandboxing Atlas Shrugs website from Google’s search engine, Google spokeswoman Elisabeth Diana told WND, "Atlas Shrugs was in violation of our terms of service. When we are made aware of a potential policy violation, our team of specialists will manually review the site to make sure it abides by our program policies. In this case, we have stopped serving ads to Atlas Shrugs."

Geller believes the reason Google banned parts of Atlas Shrugs website is because of her coverage over Obama. She reported that her exclusive stories about Obama's birth certificate once received 12,000 to 15,000 hits a day, than dropped to single digits over night.

It’s appalling that in a simple Google search one can learn how to make a bomb, remove evidence from a crime scene, do an abortion in your home, as well as watch murders, suicides, and obscene sex footage. But Google decided to forbid material presented by Atlas Shrugs, a news website. If that’s not an attack on freedom of speech I don’t know what is.

[Michael Folkert is an Ag-Econ Major at UNL]

George W. Bush: Good man, Bad Rap

Next month will mark the end of an era. For the first time in 20 years, the White House will not be occupied by someone named Bush or Clinton. To a majority of this country, this is good news. President Bush has one of the lowest approval ratings in history and many have expressed vitriolic antipathy for the president. Seemingly anytime anyone stubbed his toe in the last eight years, Bush has been blamed. But much like Harry Truman, I believe history will look favorably on this administration.

The Bush years got off to a rocky start with a comically long recount in Florida in 2000 and a recession inherited from the end of the Clinton Administration. Despite these challenges, the country was peaceful and mostly prosperous. The President went to Washington with the goal of being a “uniter, not a divider.” In accordance with that goal, he often reached out to Democrats, going so far as to let Ted Kennedy write the education bill that would give us the controversial “No Child Left Behind” program. Overall, it seemed that Bush’s time in office would be pretty mundane.

Then everything changed. Only eight months into his term, President Bush faced the country’s greatest crisis since Pearl Harbor. While many would have panicked in such a situation, Bush handled his duties masterfully. He comforted a grieving nation and provided charisma and leadership as the nation united against this foreign threat. He responded quickly, sending troops to Afghanistan and quickly removing the Taliban from power.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before the unity ended and the Kool-Aid was passed around. In 2003, Bush pushed a series of tax cuts through Congress – not just for “the rich,” but across the board. As a result, the economy expanded and recovered from the recession quickly. The economy was rolling and the government brought in record tax revenues, yet Democrats were mad.

It really hit the fan that same year, as the President set his sights on Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Hussein was torturing his own citizens, funding Palestinian terrorists, violating U.N. resolutions, and shooting at our planes as they patrolled the no-fly zone. Under the agreements that ended the first Gulf War, burden of proof was placed on Saddam to show that he was not developing weapons of mass destruction. He failed to meet this requirement and even Bill Clinton said on multiple occasions in the late ‘90s that Saddam was pursuing WMDs. Intelligence reports agreed, with then-CIA Director George Tenet declaring the reports to be a “slam dunk.” Intelligence from other countries, with Britain being the most prominent, agreed.

This is important to note. Contrary to what you have been told for the last five years with the benefit of hindsight, you were not lied to as part of some insidious plot to invade Iraq. President Bush made what he felt was the most prudent decision based on what the intelligence showed at the time. The fight turned out to be much tougher than anticipated, and much of the intelligence proved to be wrong.

Bush refused to give up, and implemented a change of strategy proposed by John McCain that would send additional troops. It worked, and now violence in Iraq is below pre-war levels. Let me reiterate that: Iraq is safer today than it was in 2003. In fact, developers are currently planning on bringing a Disneyland-style amusement park to Baghdad.

George W. Bush is a good man who has always done what he believes is best for the country. For that, he has my respect. Unfortunately, his political opponents have gone beyond disagreeing with his policies and instead resorted to personal attacks. This sort of rancor doesn’t benefit anyone, and I hope to see an end to it in the future. You’ve probably seen people wearing shirts with Bush’s picture that say “Not my president,” but I am declaring today that Barack Obama is my president. I don’t agree with him on much of anything and I think he’s going to be a complete disaster, but I want to be wrong. I hope he does so well that I actually want to vote for him in 2012. I pray he succeeds because what’s good for the country is much more important than my politics.

[Andrew Lacy is a Broadcasting Major at UNL]

Christmas Bailout, Seasonal Giving

In this season of giving, Congress has been especially generous with taxpayer money. This year, the Big Three automotive companies have asked for $34 billion, even though they haven’t been very good recently. In fact, they have been selfishly focusing on trucks and other cars that bring in a big profit margin, rather than the vehicles that the rest of the world wants to have. As a result, the companies are feeling the natural consequences of their actions, but are currently trying to receive a rescue in the form of a mixed-economy type bailout.

Capitalism, contrary to popular belief, requires the people in business to selflessly think of others’ desires and needs. This is a requirement in order that the market will voluntarily purchase the goods and services offered to them by the various sellers. If the Ford Motor Company fails at providing vehicles that enough consumers want to purchase, the fault can be found in their deficiency of land, labor, capital, or smart people with entrepreneurial ability.

General Motors has failed in the instances of entrepreneurial ability. According to the New York Times, the majority of GM CEOs have been from the financial side of the company, which has “led to the demise of GM’s most publicized efforts to try something new, like the EV electric car…” Since GM seemed to only focus on the vehicles that produced most profits (SUVs), they lacked the resources in research and development to focus on what people would demand in the future, such as the fuel-efficient car. This poor decision-making has resulted in today’s situation, with the company offering little that the customer wants and only the request to continue to make poor decisions with tax-payer money.

With capitalism, the companies that produce innovative products that satisfy the customer thrive. The most popular example might be the illustrious Steve Jobs, whose risks with Apple have created the iPod and many other products for millions of people to enjoy. In the automobile industry, it seems as if Toyota’s Prius and similar cars have been correctly supplied for what individual consumers demand.

On the other hand, industries run by the government have no incentive to produce something that the customer desires. The reason for this is because they are funded by taxes and have no incentive to produce something that consumers will voluntarily purchase in mass amounts. One example of a specific state-run industry is the agriculture of the famished USSR.

When American farmers visited the Soviet Union, they were shocked at the distribution practices for the produce. Since the Soviet workers’ only concern was to fill their quota of boxes, they carelessly packed spoiled fruit or vegetables with the ripe produce, multiplying the waste during transportation. These results would have ruined an American farmer whose livelihood was dependent on whether or not the market would voluntarily buy the produce, but instead the Russian citizens had only the scarce food offered by their government.

The politically expedient action of Congress to buy into the Big Three will not change the inherent problems within these unionized and inflexible companies. With new performance standards that will be expected to be fulfilled, the companies will be reluctant to take the necessary risks to succeed in the fluctuating automotive industry. They will have willingly exchanged the precious freedom that comes only through the ownership of private property for the false security that the government can help them correctly supply for the automotive market.

It is fortunate for the Big Three that congress has been friendly to undeserving companies this year. Hopefully they can change and provide what the markets want, but otherwise they will surely be kept painfully alive after the valuable investments congress has put into them.

[Francis Mader is a sophomore Business major at UNL writing anonymously]

Weekly Summary: Week Two

In this second edition of the Student Newspaper, we put out a new feature: News Clips! Enjoy news shorts covering things not covered on the mainstream media! This week we published four articles, as well as a Letter From the Editor.

Why Barack Obama Will Lose in 2012: A Non-Partisan Prediction.
By Benjamin Kantack

Don't despair, the reign of the avatar will end soon enough. From democratic stalemates, to broken promises and buyers remorse, people won't vote Barack back in. We hope.

Consumerism Kills 1 on Black Friday.
By Francis Mader

In a tragic and strange event, a temporary Wal-Mart employee was trampled by greedy shoppers. Some might say this is the inevitable end of capitalism, but consider how many people are killed because of "evil" capitalism, vs. the millions killed by Chavez.

Pastor Who Spearheaded "God" in Pledge Dies.
By David Dykstra

The phrase "under God" was not always in the pledge of allegiance, and is under attack now. Here are some sermon notes from the pastor who pushed for adding the phrase. "Once 'under God', then we can define what we mean by 'justice and liberty for all."

The University Does Not Care About You.
By Andrew Lacy

The cost of college has risen more than 400 percent, but why? Because they can, and quality of education is often measured by the cost. Less than half your tuition goes to pay for tuition.

News Clips: Full List.
Compiled by Tobias Davis

Consumerism Kills 1 on Black Friday

Wal-Mart temporary employee Jdimytai Damour was trampled Friday by hundreds of impatient Long-Island customers, according to a New York news source. * Four others were injured, including a woman eight months pregnant, when over 200 customers chanted “push the doors in” and proceeded to trample the suppressing human chain of Wal-Mart associates.

For a visual reference, just imagine gate 24 as one big lane with the ticket takers holding hands and yelling “red rover, red rover…” ninety minutes before kickoff.

Consumerism seem to be the watchword as a restless evil especially present around Black Friday, the day when the average American company breaks even and then shows profit for the annual reports. It is this profit that allows the entrepreneur to dream of the best products and services possible, which employs a massive amount of Americans, which fills the shelves of the department stores with colorful and high-quality products, and then evokes a massive desire for citizens to buy these wonderful things and then give them to their loved ones. The Friday the demand is greatest unfortunately resulted in the consumer’s freedom to obtain whatever they want (or to be happy) impeding on one man’s freedom to live in New York.

The dangerous human hype usually found at punk-rock concerts and global warming conferences but found Friday at the doors of Wal-Mart, is a situation where society usually pays. Often these are referred to as negative externalities, which are costs from production or consumption that accrue without compensation to someone other than the buyer or the seller. ** One cannot blame Wal-Mart for fairly providing goods at the best prices available in this situation, since the store was operating in complete compliance with the law, and even took extra safety precautions for that particular morning. *** On the other side, it is doubtful that any group of shoppers will face prosecution for stepping on Mr. Damour, since it would be much easier to blame Wal-Mart for the selfishness of human nature. Besides, Wal-Mart has more money.

The fact that America has goods that drive consumers to such lengths is truly a mark of this nation’s economic prosperity. This evil consumerism that has brought about one of the highest standards of living makes this rare commerce-related death a little ironic. While other countries are struggling to feed their people and to find clean water, it’s no wonder that there’s an absence of homicides from civilians rushing to toy sales. For example, when socialist Hugo Chavez gained political control of Venezuela, homicides in the country tripled annually.

Perhaps when a country has a superior economic system, less of her gainfully employed citizens are likely to kill each other because of their depressingly lower standards of living.

It is uncertain if businesses and OSHA will have to address instances such as the Long Island Wal-Mart in required training, since another stampede-like incident probably won’t happen for another 12 months. Although consumerism will continue to be thought of as a greedy dark entity that plagues the country, the country may want to reflect on the positive and overlooked effects of a strong economy.

And then go buy something.

[Written by Francis Mader, a UNL student publishing anonymously]

*http://www.dailynews.com
**Macroeconomics, McConnel Brue, 17th edition
***http://www.dailynews.com
****"Deadly Massage-How not to Tackle a Soaring Murder Rate", Economist.com, 17 Jul 2008

[The analog/paper version contains an error on the continuation page, where it is titled "Capitalism Kills 1", which should be "Consumerism Kills 1" since the killer was not capitalism, but consumerism. -----Editor]

The University Doesn't Care About You

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,‭ ‬energy prices have more than doubled in real terms since‭ ‬1985‭; ‬medical costs have more than tripled in that same time frame.‭ ‬The pressure these rising costs put on America’s wallets has garnered a lot of attention and outrage.‭ ‬That’s nothing compared to the cost of college,‭ ‬which has risen by more than‭ ‬400‭ ‬percent in that time.

It’s well known that college costs have become ridiculous,‭ ‬but have you ever considered just why the University is charging you so much‭? ‬The short answer:‭ ‬because they can.‭ ‬The longer answer is that for many people,‭ ‬the quality of a college is measured by how much it costs.‭ ‬The better quality education a college is perceived to provide,‭ ‬the more it can charge.‭ ‬This leads to a cycle of rising prices not unlike what we saw with the housing boom.‭ ‬As nonprofit entities,‭ ‬the colleges will then spend most if not all the money they have.‭ ‬Increased spending means the need for more money‭ – ‬I think you can see where this is going.

Many professors and administrators will defend these rising costs by saying it’s needed to provide a high quality education for students.‭ ‬I’m sorry to burst your bubble,‭ ‬but colleges don’t care about the students,‭ ‬they care about their own prestige.‭ ‬In a study of spending at nearly‭ ‬2,000‭ ‬public and private schools over‭ ‬18‭ ‬years,‭ ‬researchers for the Delta Cost Project found that the percentage of operating expenses going to classroom instruction‭ (‬mainly professor salaries and benefits‭) ‬accounted for‭ ‬34%‭ ‬to‭ ‬44%‭ ‬of spending‭ ‬-‭ ‬and those percentages actually fell over the period reviewed.‭ ‬For you Obama voters,‭ ‬that’s less than half.

Where is the rest of that money going‭? ‬Well,‭ ‬if you walk around campus,‭ ‬you’re sure to see plenty of enormous wastes of money‭ – ‬an arch in front of the union that serves no real purpose,‭ ‬a new multicultural center that won’t provide anything of any real value‭ (‬unless you count a new office for Tim Alvarez‭)‬,‭ ‬the rec center looking to leave the ROTC program homeless by taking over the Military and Naval Science building to put in a few more treadmills,‭ ‬and the purchase of the state fair grounds to allow for more research facilities that will do little or nothing to provide students with a better education.‭ ‬Somebody has to pay for these things,‭ ‬and while the alumni may help pay for some,‭ ‬the burden to pay for the rest falls on you,‭ ‬whether you like it or not.‭ ‬Meanwhile the University has over‭ ‬$1.5‭ ‬billion in its endowment,‭ ‬tax-free.‭ ‬That’s enough to give every student roughly‭ ‬$60,000.‭ ‬In other words,‭ ‬there is enough money in the University’s endowment to put every single currently enrolled student through school absolutely free and still have plenty left over.

The University often pays lip service to concerns over rising college costs,‭ ‬but when is the last time they actually did anything about it‭? ‬If it is such a concern,‭ ‬why don’t they use their endowment money instead of raping the students‭? ‬Why don’t they cut unnecessary spending‭? ‬Why don’t the administrators and regents take pay cuts so more students can afford to come to Nebraska‭? ‬Because your education is far from their top priority.‭ ‬Much like the government,‭ ‬universities expect everyone to find a way get by with less‭ – ‬everyone except them.

Students and parents alike need to hold these bureaucrats accountable.‭ ‬We’re paying their salaries‭; ‬they work for us.

[Written by Andrew Lacy, a Broadcasting major at UNL]

[The paper version has Andrew Lacy listed as Sports Journalism, a major not even offered at UNL. Pardon the error. ---Editor]

News Clips: December 1, 2008

eHarmonys Loss Is Not Good For Either Side
Online based dating service eHarmony officially started matching homosexuals. Although founder Neil Warren originally said there was not enough research on how to properly match homosexuals*, the company will begin partnering homosexuals in March of 2009 following a lawsuit by Eric McKinley which claims eHarmony discriminated against him**.

Although homosexuals will probably see this as a victory, it should be pointed out that a company has essentially bowed to the dictates of a government, a government only recently outlawing homosexual marriages. What will happen when the public opinion passes a law dictating that companies cannot hire homosexuals? Alternately, how will eHarmony respond when someone takes them to court because they do not offer a partnering service between man and boy, woman and horse, or man and dead body?

Any time a company is told who they can and cannot provide services for, people everywhere -- homosexual and normal -- should voice strong opposition.

Sources:
*http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=41938
**http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=81446

Merry Christmas: Have an Abortion
Planned Parenthood is offering Christmas gift certificates for birth control services, one of those services being abortions*. In the LifeNews.com article, the CEO of Planned Parenthood said "Why not buy a loved one a gift this holiday season that they really need" and, "please join Planned Parenthood of Indiana and give the gift of health this holiday season." Apparently, as LifeNews.com says, you can also give the gift of death as well: "Merry Christmas, Honey! Have a free abortion, on me!" It is a strange, twisted place we live when you cannot mistreat an animal, but you can give a gift certificate to kill a human.

Sources:
*http://www.lifenews.com/state3669.html

Zimbabwe Displacing White Farmers Was Racism
Apparently it's not only white people who are racist: A southern African court ruled that the 78 displaced white farmers could keep their farms, and that the land grab was racially motivated. Zimbabwe President Mugabe is unlikely to enforce the ruling, however, considering his violent racist history.

Sources:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gZHLI-mYYC7pkoRsuyro9kyVIrYQD94O5N3O4

Mexico City Hands Out Viagra to Old Men
Mexico City claims that sexuality has enough importance on the "quality of life and ... happiness" that they are giving out Viagra to all men 70 and over. Society places such high importance on sexual health that anyone not having sex is deemed as unhappy automatically, even though many people have pleasant lives without it.

Source:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D94EDGFG1&show_article=1

Obama's Released Birth Certificate was a Forgery, and No One Cares
Online blogger "Lame Cherry" discusses why Obama's released digital birth certificate is undoubtedly a fake*. A hint: It has to do with his father being labeled on the certificate as "African", while, until 1968, all black people were called "Negro", from the supposed three races Caucasian, Mongoloid, and Negroid. Although another lawsuit was filed to release Obama's official birth certificate, Judge Bert Ayabe ruled there was "insufficient evidence to indicate that the public interest supports"** releasing the document.

Apparently no one cares about the Constitution, and if Obama takes the Presidential oath, claiming to defend the Constitution, he will be a liar, which shouldn't be a surprise.

Sources:
*http://lamecherry.blogspot.com/2008/08/proof-barack-obama-birth-certificate-is.html
**http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=81865

Woman Gets Transplant: Personalized Organ Growth
In another strike against fetal stem cell research (presently funded by your tax dollars), a woman is now using a transplanted windpipe grown from her own (adult) stem cells.* The operation was done at the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona. A collaborator, professor Martin Birchall, is hopeful that this procedure will transform surgery, making the option of regrowing all kinds of organs a reality. Strange that, with around $4 Billion of your taxes being spent on stem cell research**, the most productive method, adult stem cell research, would not be pushed more.

Sources:
*http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/the-medical-miracle-1024576.html
**http://www.genengnews.com/articles/chitem.aspx?aid=2061&chid=0

Steve Padgett For President!
North Carolina mailman Steven Padgett became a local hero when it was found out that he had stopped delivering unwanted spam-mail for at least seven years. Apparently he had been taking out the unwanted junk mailings and setting them at his house. No complaints were ever filed against Mr. Padgett, rather, local neighbors thanked him and praised his efforts, with one person even writing "Steve Padgett for President!" Obviously, his efforts were not appreciated by the company paying for the mailing. Right now postal letter service is federally restricted to the U.S.P.S. only, making competition impossible and driving delivery costs up.

Sources:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-junk-mail22-2008nov22,0,42692.story

Egypt is a Dangerous Place For Women
Ladies: Marriage got you down? Be thankful you aren't in Egypt, where almost half of all married women are physically abused by their husbands. Nahed Abu el-Qumsan, head of the Egyptian Center for Womens Rights, said that "if a woman complains, it would be considered a crime. But if she doesn't, the husband won't be punished."

Sources:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081125152923.6tli7g7e&show_article=1

UK University Students are Overly Passive
The UK Telegraph has an interesting article about University students dropping out because of "pointless" courses. Apparently the UK's government run and funded Universities are filled with not-surprising low performance and high dropout from students called "spoon-fed .. wanting to receive education passively and without effort." It is not surprising that someone who is continuously given something would stop working to get it: Communism has shown that to be the case for years.

Sources:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/3519157/Thousands-of%E2%80%94teenagers-drop-out-of-university-after-being-pushed-onto-pointless-courses.html

Boy Thrown Under Train for Writing Love Letter
Although the news is flooded with reports of the shootings in India, what went without notice was a teenage boys brutal death from a mob: Manish Kumar, one of India's "untouchables", was beaten and thrown under a train to be killed while police officers looked on. His crime? He wrote a letter to his sweetheart, a member of a higher caste system. Not even really a higher caste, since both of them were from the same Dalit caste system. In the Times Online article, Prakash Louis, a sociologist based in Bihar, said: “The intense cruelty of this attack has captured interest, but similar incidents are occurring daily.” Dalit caste members are often sexually exploited by higher caste members, and police officers routinely ignore the Dalit pleas for help.

Sources:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5197439.ece

[Compiled by Tobias Davis, a Mechanical Engineer major at UNL and the Editor of the Student Newspaper]

Pastor who Spearheaded ‘God’ in Pledge dies

Fifty-six years ago, the Pledge of Allegiance was different. At that time it had no reference to God. The man whose work is credited for changing this is the Rev. George M. Docherty, who died this past Thanksgiving. To us the Pledge would hardly seem normal without ‘God’ in it, but when Rev. Docherty evaluated the original “normal” pledge he realized something was missing. This feeling was so strong he went on to preach a sermon on the subject to President Eisenhower:

Docherty preached:

“I came to a strange conclusion, there was something missing in this Pledge. And that which was missing was the characteristic and definitive factor in the ‘American Way of Life.’ Indeed, apart from the mention of the phrase, ‘the United States of America’, this could be the pledge of any Republic. In fact I could hear little Muscovites repeat a similar pledge to their hammer and sickle flag in Moscow with equal solemnity, for Russia is also a Republic that claims to have overthrown the tyranny of kingship… Russia also claims to be indivisible… Russia claims to have liberty… Again, the Communists claim, there is Justice in Russia. It is one fundamental concept that completely and ultimately separates Communist Russia from the democratic institutions of this Country… “Under God” are the definitive words… Two world convulsions shattered the illusion that you can build a nation on human ideas without a fundamental belief in God’s Providence. Crowns in Europe toppled not because of autocracy but because the peoples had lost the vision of God… The only point I make in raising the issue of the Pledge of Allegiance is that it seems to me to omit this theological implication that is inherent within the “American Way of Life.” It should be “One Nation, indivisible, Under God.” Once “Under God,” then we can define what we mean by “liberty and justice for all.” Some might assert this to be a violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution. It is quite the opposite… “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.” Now “establishment of religion” is a technical term. It means Congress will permit no state church in this land… This is separation of Church and State; it is not and never was meant to be a separation of religion and life…Philosophically speaking, an atheistic American is a contradiction in terms…This age has thrown up a new type of man we call him a “secular”… But they are “spiritual parasites”…Seculars are living upon the accumulated Spiritual Capital of Judaic-Christian civilization, and at the same time deny the God who revealed the divine principle upon which the ethics of this Country grow. The dilemma of the secular is quite simple. He cannot deny the Christian revelation and logically live by the Christian ethic. And if he denies the Christian ethic, he falls short of the American ideal of life. This is the issue we face today… A way of life that sees man, not as the ultimate outcome of a mysterious concatenation of evolutionary process, but a sentient being created by God and seeking to know His will and “Whose soul is restless till he rest in God.”

Wow! If only pastors today would be willing to speak up to our current officials, like Docherty did 56 years ago, they could and would make a lasting impact like his.

[Written by David Dykstra, a high school student from Omaha]

Sources:
www.onenewsnow.com/Church/Default.aspx?id=337500
www.nyapc.org/congregation/Sermon_Archives/text/1954/under-god-sermon.pdf

Why Barack Obama Will Lose in 2012: A Non-Partisan Prediction

You heard me right.

I know this is a right-wing‭ ‬publication,‭ ‬and I know that I am a right-wing person‭ – ‬and probably most of the people who are reading this are too.‭ ‬You might doubt that someone of my innate conservative bias could ever pull off a non-partisan article,‭ ‬but hear me out.

I know a lot of you are hurting after Election Day,‭ ‬when Barack Obama swept America’s hearts and minds into a stunning political victory,‭ ‬and Democratic Congressional candidates rode the‭ “‬change‭” ‬wave into Washington.‭ ‬Yet while the media was celebrating the results and offering the nation collectible commemorative plates with Obama’s likeness,‭ ‬I was playing pundit for the future of this country.‭ ‬This is the result of my musings.

To begin with,‭ ‬let’s make some concessions to the Democrats for the duration of this article.‭ ‬Let’s assume that‭ ‬the‭ ‬Democratic Party holds all the ideological keys to solving the economy.‭ ‬I make my first postulate:

1.‭ ‬THE ECONOMY WILL NOT BE FIXED BY‭ ‬2010.

If we are in the worst economic situation since the Great Depression,‭ ‬it will take longer than two years for the Democratic Congress to fully implement and see success from their plans.‭ ‬Franklin Roosevelt knew this all too well:‭ ‬even though the U.S.‭’‬s economy was growing during the New Deal,‭ ‬median unemployment was still at‭ ‬17.2%‭ ‬throughout that time period.‭ ‬The economy will still be broken in two years.
‭
‬ 2.‭ ‬VOTERS WILL BACKLASH IN‭ ‬2010.

Even if the Democrats‭ ‬can fix the economy,‭ ‬they‭ ‬can't do‭ ‬it by the time midterm elections roll around.‭ ‬When voters go to the polls,‭ ‬they will see an Obama-Pelosi-Reed trifecta in power and will associate the Democrats with their continued economic misery‭ (‬regardless of whether such association is deserved‭)‬.‭
‬ Since‭ ‬1942,‭ ‬only‭ ‬three midterm elections have‭ ‬increased the president's party in‭ ‬either the House or the Senate,‭ ‬and only‭ ‬one‭ ‬increased it in‭ ‬both:‭ ‬2002.‭ ‬Overwhelmingly throughout history the out-of-power party gains‭; ‬this will be even more pronounced with a lackluster economy.‭ ‬Voters will correct the imbalance of power in Congress.
‭
‬ 3.‭ ‬REPUBLICANS WILL DEADLOCK CONGRESS.
‭
‬ As‭ ‬Republicans‭ ‬come‭ ‬back‭ ‬to Congress with a vengeance,‭ ‬Democrats will not be able to‭ ‬complete their economic plans.‭ ‬The purely coincidental fact that it takes longer than two years to fix the United States‭' ‬economy will come back to bite the Democratic Party.‭ ‬And with a deadlock in Congress,‭ ‬the Democrats will lose the‭ ‬carte-blanche‭ ‬they had from‭ ‬2008‭ ‬to‭ ‬2010.‭ ‬As a result‭…

4.‭ ‬OBAMA WILL LOSE IN‭ ‬2012.
‭
‬ And that's not even counting the issues of the‭ ‬Iraq War,‭ ‬health care,‭ ‬social policies,‭ ‬or foreign policies,‭ ‬all of which could become voting issues in‭ ‬2012.‭ ‬Even if Obama wins one or more of these issues,‭ ‬he will still be weighed down by a crippling failure to fix the economy.‭ ‬Voters will be‭ ‬fed up with Barack Obama,‭ ‬his congressional‭ ‬cronies,‭ ‬and his broken promise of change,‭ ‬and there will be a stampede of elephants back to Capitol Hill.‭
‬
This prediction,‭ ‬of course,‭ ‬is very short-sighted.‭ ‬I cannot predict the next four years of world events or what‭ “‬international crisis‭” ‬Joe Biden predicts will test Obama.‭ ‬But I can assure you that Obama’s prospects for the‭ ‬2012‭ ‬election are by no means a slam dunk.‭ ‬So have faith,‭ ‬and do not despair on Inauguration Day:‭ ‬there is a light at the end of the dark tunnel that awaits us.

Respectfully submitted,
‭
‬ Benjamin Ronald Kantack

‭[‬Benjamin Kantack is a political science and Spanish major at UNL.‭]

Letter From the Editor

Greetings again, fellow students!

Well, your friendly Student Newspaper is at it again. This week we have a few articles about the latest goings on, and a dozen or so new clips you won't hear from the usual news sources.

What with the Wal-Mart employee getting trampled to death, the boy in India getting thrown under a train for writing a love letter, the twelve year old getting arrested for farting, or Planned Parenthood giving out free abortions as Christmas presents, the last two weeks sure have been interesting.

Thankfully, there was some good news: A teenage girl was sustained a remarkable 100 days without a heart, another lady had a transplant done with an organ grown from her own adult stem cells, and South Carolina celebrated two days of tax free gun sales.

What with the rising power of The Messiah* Obama, we encourage all conservative voices to speak out now while they have a chance. You can start speaking out by writing news reviews for the Student Newspaper: It's easy, it's fun, and people will always disagree with you!

Thanks for reading,
Tobias Davis
Editor for the Student Newspaper

*Not really the Messiah, all you Obama fans out there need to wake up.

[Tobias Davis is a Mechanical Engineer majjor at UNL and the Editor for the Student Newspaper]

Weekly Summary: Week One

The first official publication of the Student Newspaper brings out six issues:

The Grand Introduction, A Letter From the Editor
By Tobias Davis

Shattering the Human Mosaic: Down Syndrom Abortions in the Modern Era
By Stephen Harris

Real Change, or The Christian's Attitude Toward Change
By William Collen

A Different Quiz
By Francis Mader

The O-----
By Alan Guard

How Did America Become Great?
By Andrew Lacy

Shattering the Human Mosaic: Down Syndrome Abortions in the Modern Era

In the United States, 80 to 90 percent of infants prenatally diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted, according to Dr. Brian Skotko of Children’s Hospital Boston. Statistics are similar in England.

Steve Wagner, bio-ethics speaker for the Christian apologetics group Stand to Reason, said: “Is this the killing of a group of people simply because they're in the way and they can't defend themselves? That seems clearly what's happening with Down Syndrome in [this] country.”
During the first 20 years of legalized abortions following Roe vs. Wade in 1973, the percentage of live-born Down Syndrome infants dropped dramatically, according to a 1998 study by Harvard Medical School.

“The longer abortion is legal in this country, the more that people come to believe what the government is teaching them,” Wagner said, “that the unborn is not a human being with the same basic rights – rights to life and liberty – that you and I share.”

Dr. Skotko cited the book, “Drawing the Lines: Notes for Policymakers,” which documents a large anonymous survey in which 23 percent of physicians admitted to either over-emphasizing the negative information concerning Down Syndrome, or to actively urging mothers to terminate.

Lolita Hanks, board member of Colorado Right to Life, said, “There is a place for testing, but to specifically look for genetic defects, with the premise of, ‘You should get rid of this kid,’ isn’t that a little eugenics-sounding?”

According to Children’s Hospital Boston, about one in every 733 children in the United States is born with Down Syndrome: a total of 5,000 in a year. Of those, 12.5 percent, or 625, are diagnosed prenatally.

In the majority of cases, Down Syndrome is caused by having three chromosomes in the 21st position instead of the usual two. Down Syndrome causes varying degrees of mental and physical handicaps, including the physical characteristics of small body, mouth and ear size, and an upward slant to the eyes.

Thirty-nine percent of Americans approve of aborting Down Syndrome fetuses, according to a Gallup poll referenced in Wagner’s book, “Common Ground Without Compromise.”

The number of Down Syndrome abortions appears higher than the number of people who approve of them. Dr. Skotko said that the high termination rates apply only to infants diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Only a small portion of women undergo definitive testing because the two leading procedures have a one percent chance of causing a miscarriage, he said.

New, non-invasive tests, however, will likely increase the number of diagnoses that will take place.

In 2009, the biotech company Sequenom plans to unveil a blood test that the company claims will offer a definitive diagnosis of Down Syndrome for a little over 90 percent of mothers, a number rivaling current more dangerous methods.

“Of course, that means that the rate of abortions for Down Syndrome babies will rise,” Julie Johnson, former consultant for the crisis pregnancy center network Care Net, said.
“I think that couples should have a choice as to whether they wish to raise a child with Down Syndrome or not,” Dr. Peter Singer, Princeton ethicist, said. “[If] the majority of them choose not to, I think that's reasonable.

“They'll probably have another child who won’t have Down Syndrome, and that child’s life will be, perhaps in their view, better than the life of a child with Down Syndrome,” he said.

“Parents’ wishes about their children are very important to their life. I think it would be wrong to deprive them of that choice,” Dr. Singer said.

Wagner, however, said human nature is the basis of human rights.

“Someone with Down Syndrome is just a human being with a different number of chromosomes in the 21st position,” Wagner said. “We should focus on the image of God in people, and that should direct how we treat them.”

Mrs. Vickie Hughes, the mother of a Down Syndrome child named Rachel, said she wishes those considering terminating their Down’s pregnancy would take the time to meet her daughter. “I think if they spent one day in our house with Rachel, they would make a totally different decision,” she said.

As the result of a new law, parents will have more opportunities to meet such families with Down Syndrome children. On Oct. 8, President Bush signed the “Prenatally and Post-Natally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act.”

The law will establish a grant program to ensure that families whose children receive diagnoses for conditions such as Down syndrome will be offered accurate information about the nature of the condition and be connected with support services.

“Down Syndrome children, at least the ones I've known, are very active, they're very innocent and they're very loving,” Wagner said. “I think that’s a part of the human community, a part of the human mosaic that, if we lose it, we miss learning something about what it means to be human.”

Real Change

Real Change, or, The Christian's Attitude Towards Change

We hear a lot about change from Barack Obama. Change is something he is very passionate about. But what should be the Christian's attitude towards change? We can agree with Obama that there are problems with this country, and change is needed. But should we work for change in the same manner that Obama does?

As Christians, we should be committed to following God's law. This means that if a government is in rebellion to God's law, then it is time for change. But since we have God's law as a standard, we should always be working toward a return to Biblical principles, not a revolution or even the kind of directionless change that Obama's campaign seems to endorse.

But for the liberals, change is the standard. When the liberals proposed changes are adopted, all they do is clamor for more change. Where does the change stop? When do we finally reach a goal? The truth is that there is no goal to the liberals, and Obama's, desire for change. It is only a political maneuver: the idea that indiscriminate change is necessary caters to people's selfish discontent and lazy unwillingness to work towards a solution to our problems. It is always easier to throw away and replace what is broken, rather than fix it. Similarly people like the liberals easy change rather than the conservative’s more difficult, but ultimately more effective, repair strategy.

What we need is not groundless change. We need a return to strong Biblical methods of operation, methods that God promises to bless, methods that have worked in the past and are guaranteed to work in the future.

By William Collen
William Collen is a man living in Omaha. He is awesome.

Grand Introduction

Greetings fellow students!

Do you like guns, hunting, and going to church on Sunday? Do you argue for the right to own land, the right to self defense? Do you think the government ought to keep it's meddling fingers out of the economy? These things, among other things like a literal view of the Constitution and the necessity of a free state, were the ideas once considered to be obvious.

It seems, however, that every idea once held obvious is now under attack by liberal agendas. Our right to own guns is being degraded, while criminal activity escalates. Our freedom to hunt is threatened by animal rights activists, while the human life is not defended. The government promises to bail out billion dollar companies, while the farmer loses his land because of increased taxes and the city steals your house by eminent domain so they can build hotels or strip malls.

There is an old saying, by Edmund Burke, that goes: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

Well, instead of doing nothing, join with us in the fight for freedom! This day marks the beginning of something great, the introduction of a paper which holds to a traditional conservative bias. We will never pretend to be unbiased, but rather embrace our view fully. You can always know our stance: For freedom, for God, for Country, for family, and for the liberty of the individual!

Do you enjoy writing? Do you hold to the traditional conservative view? No matter your degree, whether student or teacher, slave to the state or free, you too can write articles for this paper.

By Tobias Davis
Tobias Davis is a Mechanical Engineering Major at UNL and the standing Editor for the Student Paper

A Different Quiz

POP QUIZ! Do you recognize any of these names? Berringer? Gershwin? Odenga?

If you knew that Brook Berringer played after Tommy Frasier for the 1994 Championship season, you are a prestigious Huskers fan. If you knew that George Gershwin wrote Rhapsody in Blue, you must have a fine musical collection. And if you knew that Raila Odenga is the prime minister of Kenya, you might be a very educated person in global politics.

For those of you not familiar with any of the names, I’m sure you are very knowledgeable of the people in a significant field of study.

A consideration of economics can show where we choose to develop our skills in some subject matters instead of others. With limited amounts of time and effort, it is only right that an individual invests his or her passions into something valuable to them that bring them joy. Here an opportunity cost is presented with subject less appealing, and it helps explain why Michel Dell valued computers over college, UFC fighters value the circuit over working at McDonalds, and the football fan values Husker history over Kenyan politics. It is what we value that creates our beneficial differences.

The word university receives its name because people become united in diversity. The amount of various skills and talents that abound in the college setting is a precious commodity not found in many other institutions. Since disciplined individuals have developed these skills, it would be erroneous to accept individuals onto the campus based on immutable characteristics rather than achievement of academic standards.

Take, for instance, the realm of sports.

On Thanksgiving, I proposed to let Colorado start with 10 points at the beginning of the game, just because they are from a different geographic location. Likewise, let’s imagine having some sprinters start 20 meters ahead in the 100 meter dash because their parents are in a low-income bracket.

Showing preferential treatment in competitive sports might be considered mad to most people. Fortunately, the Athletic Department correctly values the skills and the productivity of the athlete, rather than the athlete’s ethnicity or income.

Realizing that the Athletic Department is responsible for marketing the school and generating massive amounts of income, the quality of the athletes is of paramount priority. Because the student athletes meet the highest athletic standards know to NCAA sports, Nebraska has the most Academic All-Stars in history. One may also notice the 17 former Huskers competed in Beijing in August and 3 football players were accepted in the 2008 NFL Draft. The prestigious fans can check the answers below for the draftees.


Excellence is valued with athletes, but is academic excellence valued in other parts of the college?

It may seem that UNL values a certain gender more than another when the university accepts $9.3 million from the National Science Foundation. The grant goes to promoting women in science, technology, math, and engineering fields. One might think that the demand for people in these jobs would be naturally met by those who are interested and value these areas, but the college insists that the gender of the workers is worth $9,300,000 for accomplishing these science-related tasks.

When a group is promoted in a field, it is to the detriment of the alternative groups. By valuing the qualities of individuals that are permanent, the qualities that can show real worth are disregarded. The real benefits of the people united in diversity arrive from people’s interests, not in the amount of melanin in their skin. This means that anyone should be free to pursuit Husker football, classical music, politics, science, technology, math, or any subject they enjoy. As these different subjects become more valued by individuals who fundamentally desire to master them, only then can they excel and foster a great learning environment. A place where people are accepted immutable characteristics cannot be expected to thrive in a competitive world.

I don’t know what will become of these thoughts. Like most ideas, I hope that they should be considered and given a fair judgment before being rightly discarded or put into one’s paradigm.

By Francis Mader
Francis Mader is a student on the UNL campus

Sources : 5th round- Zack Bowman, Chicago; 5th round-Carl Nicks, New Orleans, 6th round-Bo Ruud, New England

The O-----

[This article is partially in response to an event on the UNL campus called "The Female Orgasm", internet based information was not immediately found with a Google(tm) search, sorry. ---Editor]

The Female “Orgasm.” Were you offended? Let’s say it again: ORGASM. Strange we aren’t afraid to blurt this risky word whenever it seems appropriate, or not. So what is an orgasm anyway? Well, let’s simply put it as feeling associated with sex. Many things are associated with sex, including some not so pleasant aspects. Lets take little Masud for an example.

Little orphan Masud is living in the heart of where mankind originated. Lying in his cot in a Red Cross tent, Masud rolls over and puts a withered arm on the arm of a peer. It feels cold and lifeless. Masud must face another day of suffering, as undereducated nurses must tend to the needs of many other orphans. Did he have sex? No, but he is feeling the consequences and how he was infected is up to you to decide. This horrifying disease is something we, in the States, hope we never have to face. Sadly 1 in 300 Americans have such a disease.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,014,797 people are suffering with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. as of 2006.

Would you deny the fact our culture has become sexually deviant even when the risks of catching something is almost as daring as a game of Russian roulette? At the beginning of the year, a Nebraska starting lineman was arrested for First Degree Sexual Assault. Around that same time, the Associated Press reported that 1 in 4 American teenage girls have a sexually transmitted disease. The crimes and diseases propagated by unfettered sexual activity are strangely neglected by today’s society, while the University seems to be promoting sexual liberation.

So do you think we should treat sex as a casual activity with any creature that walks upon two legs? Should we be under the illusion that we are only animals giving into to a natural instinct? So go ahead, attend this seminar and educated yourself. Let’s just hope they encourage some responsibility. And sexual responsibility is of course, your responsibility (not the State’s).


[A Daily Nebraskan article by Noah Ballard stated: "there is an editors note stating that the 'facts' the writer used cannot be found with a Google search." The statement referenced, which I presume he means to be the editors note at the top of this page, is not intended to state that the facts of the article are not findable on Google, but rather the event (The Female O) had no information readily available online. I would have thought this to be obvious. ---Editor]

How Did America Become Great?

In a time when our country faces a number of challenges, from a struggling economy to security threats from Russia and Iran, I think it’s important that we take a step back and ask ourselves this question: how did America become great?

From the time of Adam and Eve, people throughout history have organized themselves in various ways – families, neighborhoods, nations – but none of these groups in human history has every achieved the opportunity, security and prosperity of America. How did this happen? We’re just humans like everyone else on this planet. There are plenty of nations that have been in existence much longer than the United States and yet those countries in their long histories have been unable to match what the U.S. has accomplished in just 230 years. Why?

People from those older countries founded the United States, yet they were unable to achieve in their homelands what they did here. The Founding Fathers were British, but why were they unable to make England as great as America? Why did they have to uproot their lives and come to the new world to do it?

There is no difference between us and people from other countries, yet the United States has become the richest, the most powerful and the most technologically advanced country in human history. We are a nation that has liberated hundreds of millions of people from oppression in the last century alone. We are a nation that rebuilt Europe after the horrors of World War II. By giving the Philippines independence after WWII, we became the only nation in history to win a war and willingly lose territory. We are the nation that has invented many of the luxuries we take for granted every day. We are the nation the world turns to when they need humanitarian aid in the wake of natural disasters.

How did this happen? This answer is very simple. In a word: freedom. Most of the people around the world don’t have the degree of freedom that we enjoy. The Founding Fathers recognized that freedom is an essential part of our creation. The made very clear in our founding documents that we are endowed by our Creator with the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Every human is born with these rights, but many live in places where they are not allowed to fully exercise those rights.

Our ancestors were allowed to exercise these rights and they used them to build, to invent, and ultimately to make the United States of America the greatest nation the world has ever seen. It is that freedom that allows us to come to college to pursue our own ambitions and do what we love. We have the power to do anything we want if we desire it bad enough and are willing to put in the amount of work necessary. The Founders recognized this, and more importantly they recognized that this power doesn’t come from politicians. Truth be told, it doesn’t come from we the people, either. It first comes from God Almighty.

The answers to all the challenges our country faces come directly from above, and are transmitted to our hearts so we can act on them. As long as we follow that flow of action, we’ll be all right. The answer to our economic concerns is as close as your wallet or purse. How ironic that the answer is to be found right on the symbol of the problem: IN GOD WE TRUST.

More Information

Project Walrus, The Introduction:
The project, code name Walrus, was the project behind publishing the paper "Student Newspaper" for distribution on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). The University currently publishes a daily paper which is run by, and writes from a specific view of, the liberal minds. While there may be an occasional conservative minded article, in general the paper considers the ideas of the classical conservative to be offensive, or unintelligent at best.

Additionally, the traditional values that this country has held for the majority of it's history are elsewhere being degraded and are constantly under attack. Because the general public is exposed to this degradation of these traditional values, the same general public increasingly find their arguments difficult to elaborate on. Like someone who was at one time a disciplined student, the skill of argumentation, and the arguments themselves, become lost in the past when they are constantly put down or ignored.

Project Walrus was initiated to aid the fellow conservatives on the UNL campus, to help defend our increasingly attacked rights, and to get people of all views thinking more critically.

The Guiding Principles:
Within the project Walrus there is a driving motive to encourage a point of view. There is no pretense of being without bias, project Walrus is specifically biased toward a fundamentally conservative Christian view of the world and it's history. It is a simple point of statistics to note that the majority of conservatives are Christian, but it can also be noted that conservatism is not an exclusively Christian view: Many notable atheists hold to some form of conservatism, and humanists everywhere agree to the benefits of a traditional conservative view.

The guiding principles of traditional conservatism can be based on many things: Historical statistics, Crowd consensus, and so on. However, any true lasting values or principles must be founded on something more lasting than the people who create the principles. In order to place the principles on the most lasting historical document, project Walrus has as it's guiding principles the entire Bible. Specifically, project Walrus argues that the traditional conservative values come directly from the Bible.

The founders of project Walrus believe that, due to what the Bible calls grace, even someone who is not a Christian can have views which are similar to Christian conservative views. Because we believe that a person may not ascribe to our religious view but still argue very well for traditional conservative views, project Walrus will accept for review articles from anyone who holds to the general principles in the Writers Principles section, whether that person be Christian or not.

Who We Are
Project Walrus, and the resulting paper, are the product of a core of five UNL students who have become increasingly frustrated by the lack of conservative voice on the UNL campus. It is our hope that the conservatives on campus will speak up and defend their own rights. We are not professional writers, and many of the volunteers with Project Walrus do not desire to be, but we each desire to see truth promoted, and conservative ideas debated openly and honestly without fear. The standing editor at this time is Tobias Davis, a mechanical engineering student. He can be reached through the official Project Walrus e-mail (code.walrus@gmail.com).

Questions and Answers

What is this?
The blog you are reading is the digital version of a news-review style paper published on the University of Nebraska - Lincoln campus by a group of volunteers. Instead of pretending to be unbiased, the main team behind the Student Newspaper has a strong traditional Christian conservative political view and is not afraid to say so.

Who runs this?
Volunteers. All articles are written by volunteers. All editing is done by volunteers. All publishing work is done by volunteers. So far printing has been done by a volunteer. The main editor right now is Tobias Davis, a Mechanical Engineer major at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.

Why do you do it?
The Student Newspaper was started as a defense against the encroaching liberal bias of the media: The present campus newspaper (funded by student fees) claims to be neutral, but presents a strongly liberal bias. The local town newspaper does similarly, only in a more professional manner. Property ownership is seen as a government given privilege, and the right to self defense is being continually squashed. This paper was started to encourage the traditional conservative view on campus.

I agree! Can I write articles?
All articles are written by volunteers, so yes! The leaders of the Student Newspaper hold to specific conservative views, and articles should generally follow those principles. For more information, send an e-mail to the Editor at: code.walrus@gmail.com

I disagree! Can I write articles?
Short answer: Yes! Long answer: Our goal is to promote a conservative view on the campus, but, if you do not agree with specific principles that the Student Newspaper holds, you might still get an article published. If you disagree with the entire conservative movement, we actually want you to write articles as well! We hope to have a featured "debate" style article, where a generally anti-conservative person makes an argument for their view and we respond. Our goal is to promote healthy debate, so articles of this nature are treated with great care for accuracy. For more information, e-mail the Editor at: code.walrus@gmail.com

Why do you post anonymous articles?
This question is frequently raised, usually with the implication that anonymous articles are somehow "bad". In discussions during the founding of the Student Newspaper, the founders noted a bit of fear from students and teachers concerning job security or peer pressure to use the "party line" of liberalism or "neutrality", while they themselves believe the conservative view to be correct. Many authors have written articles under pen-names, Benjamin Franklins "Silence Dogood" being perhaps the most commonly known.


More questions?
E-mail your questions and concerns to the Editor at: code.walrus@gmail.com