Letter from the Editor

[The paper publication had a shortened version of this letter, the full length is presented here online]

Greetings to the astute reader:

As many of you are aware, a few weeks ago the State of Missouri put out a watch list, warning the police of potential terrorists in the form of people who own guns, who view the Constitution as a legal document, who go to church on Sunday, and who are basically your good old country boy Christians.
Noticeably absent from the list was any mention of Islamic terrorists, Greenpeace terrorists, or any of the other groups who actually commit acts of terrorism on a regular basis.

Now, upping the scale, last week the Homeland of Security released a report also warning law enforcement of right wing extremists, again describing your typical country Christian. Gun owner? You might be a terrorist. Church goer? You might be a terrorist. Think abortion is wrong? You might be a terrorist.
When I think about it, it could be be the new “Might be a redneck” comedy punch-line of the year. I can imagine Jeff Foxworthy adding it to his list: “If you have a gun by your couch, you might be a terrorist.” Except the Homeland Security is serious.

Consider this: You, a traditional gun owning church going American, decide to go to the airport with a “God bless America” shirt on. Airport security, under influence of the Homeland Security, profiles you as a potential terrorist and pulls you out of line. Congratulations, now you get to spend a few hours in a cold cell. Probably get searched. Miss your flight. And the worst part? The airport won't refund your ticket, since Homeland Security says you may have presented a threat, probably because you think God might be willing to send a few blessings our way.

Isn't it great to know the Homeland Security office is helping track such dangerous criminals? You know, like the Islamic terrorists who apparently blow themselves up at bus stations. Oh. Wait.

The question is: Can we do anything about it? William Collen, an Omaha writer, points out that we must not despair when governments press down on us. Right now you have a great opportunity to begin speaking out for your rights: The Constitutional right to bear arms and the right to free assembly. You can tell the government you don't appreciate getting put on the same level as someone who blows themselves up at a bus station.

It's pretty easy, really. The hardest part is probably the few minutes online looking for your governor's e-mail or office address. Just take a few minutes, once a week, to write another letter communicating to the people in office. You could even put it on your schedule. Like, right now.

Thanks for reading, thanks for caring.

-----Tobias Davis
Editor and Manager for the Student Newspaper
UNL Mechanical Engineering Major

Letter from the Editor

Why is anyone surprised when events occur such as a fifteen year old shooting a neighborhood man "for fun", or an eleven year old killing his dad's girlfriend?

In every public school across the nation, all morals and ethics are taught as entirely relative and situational: Can you really say that Josef Fritzl, the man who imprisoned and raped his own daughter for 24 years, was absolutely wrong? Where does morality come from? Does it only come from the human mind? If so, can anything truly be absolutely wrong?

If you deny the existence of any divinely authorized morality, the only thing remaining is humanly authorized morality which is the voice of the people. But the voice of the people allow cannibalism. The voice of the people allowed Nazi-ism to flourish. In ancient Rome, the voice of the people cheered for sports where people were eaten alive by lions. The voice of the people tends to be the voice of the mob and the voice of madness.

I'll take the Christians Biblical morality any time, thanks.

-----Tobias Davis
UNL Mech. Eng. Major
Editor and Manager for the Student Newspaper
code.walrus@gmail.com

Letter from the Editor

Greetings from the Editor!

This past week seemed to be filled with all sorts of crazy news. Most of it seemed to be centered around the passing of the “stimulus” bill, but other important issues were often not discussed.

Things like the significantly large increase of federal land for the Wild Game and Parks.
Things like the lead protection bill, only recently passed, which will practically shut down many thrift stores, and has already crippled the children's ATV sales on the coasts.
Things like Obama sending a very large number (17,000) of troops in to Afghanistan, while continuing to tell everyone he will end the war.

Things like the ASUN spending your student fees to try to convince you to increase your student fees.

What a busy week!

And did anyone notice Facebook's policy change? If you didn't, you are not taking your privacy very seriously, and I would encourage you to read up on what happened. As of Wednesday, Facebook had to revert their policy back to it's original because of the public outcry.

Also, the good ol' European Union seems to be having it's own troubles, if their bailout scheme is any indication: European Banks are apparently needing a $25 Trillion bailout. The main-stream media has been pretty actively trying to cover the significance of it, so you may have to dig through some archives before you can find that recent bit of news.

Anyway, thanks for continuing to read this small-fry paper, and we hope you have a great week!

-----Tobias Davis
Editor and Manager
UNL Mechanical Engineering Major

We Are Back (almost)!

Greetings faithful followers! The staff here at the Student Newspaper is back for another semester, ready to give you the news and views that matter. We won't be publishing anything this week, and next week we will be postponing our first-of-the-semester publication until Wednesday -- our print shop won't be open on Monday.

This week we will be rolling out a fresh new look for the web-site, as well as a new-and-improved look for the paper. Great things to come, keep your eyes open!

That's all for this week, enjoy the rest of it: The real meat and potatoes starts soon!

-----Tobias Davis
Editor for the Student Newspaper

(Gun show this Saturday at the fairgrounds!)

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]