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]