Letters, 9/7: Internet for Nebraskans
Who is looking out for outstate Nebraska’s Internet customers? It sounds like it won’t be the Legislature — again.
First we get assaulted by LB126 and the closing of our Class 1 schools. Now a special task force is going to recommend that public agencies not provide links to high-speed Internet, another vital service in rural Nebraska.
Well, I’m tired of businesses and legislators from Omaha and Lincoln telling the rest of Nebraska how to live and what we can or can not do. This is the state of Nebraska. I was privileged to help write a white paper with the Brennen Center for Justice about our state’s rural Internet access. Service is lacking in many parts of Nebraska, and the issue is personal as well as professional for me.
As it stands right now, I either pay $50 per month at home for satellite Internet or put up with slow dial-up. The dial-up is so slow that it prevents me from updating my computer because it takes too long and times out. My life is busier that normal now. My day starts an hour earlier to get my kids to school because our Class 1 school closed due to the pressures of LB126. I am unable to get DSL at home because the phone company (Frontier) will not extend the lines another mile to my house.
We need good Internet service in rural Nebraska. This appears to be similar to LB126 — decisions about a basic public service that are based on money. Lobbyists get what they want from the legislators, and we pay and do with less.
Char Carpenter, Neligh
Don’t fall for the ads
Planned Parenthood’s ad in the Aug. 25 Ground Zero says, “Who needs Planned Parenthood? Students do.” Students, you do not need Planned Parenthood. You do not need HIV, an STD, an unwanted pregnancy or an abortion.
Students, what you need is freedom. By waiting to have sex until you are married you will be free. Free to live your dream of going to school and achieving your goals. Students, don’t fall for Planned Parenthood’s ad.
Their “multiple options” or “emergency contraception” will not protect you from HIV or STDs, nor from unwanted pregnancy, an abortion or a broken heart. Planned Parenthood does not promote character, strength or wisdom, but a false sense of security. I beg you, I implore you. Be free.
Susy McDermitt, Lincoln
Intolerance is dangerous
After reading Cal Thomas’ article “Defector warns of menace posed by Islam” (Aug. 21), I was alarmed by Thomas’s attitude toward Islam in American society today.
Thomas believes that Islam as a whole is a danger to American society. He implies that Americans should begin to view even Orthodox Muslims the same as they would radical Muslims and recognize that all Islamic adherents are a “clear and present danger” in today’s society.
I disagree. While there are factions of Islam that present a danger to American society, I think Americans would be repeating some of the largest errors in American history if they were to begin to look at all Muslims as threats.
I am reminded of the Japanese internment camps of the 1940s, where all Japanese Americans were rounded up and put into camps around the United States because they might pose a threat to American society. I am reminded of the Red Scare of both 1917-1920 and the late 1940s-mid 1950s, where in both situations people lost their jobs and were sometimes jailed for their assumed communist beliefs.
Both the Japanese internment camps and the Red Scares were dark areas of American history where our nation failed to exercise tolerance toward other American citizens and later regretted the actions taken during these times of turmoil.
I feel that Thomas’ article incites an unrealistic fear that may be an even bigger “clear and present danger” than Muslims are presenting in America today.
Rebecca White, Lincoln
Membership not a crime
So in essence, what you are saying (editorial, Aug. 31) is that Trooper Robert E. Henderson should be fired based on guilt by association rather than actual conduct?
America is not yet to the point where membership in a nonpolitically correct organization is a crime, no matter how much you and Sen. Ernie Chambers would like it to be. Sixty years ago, for some of my relatives, it was, and we all know what happened as a result.
Alice Kell, Pottsville, Pa.
Managing student loans
I found the Aug. 31 Journal Star article regarding student loan debt informative. I do feel you could’ve taken it a step further.
Our son is a sophomore at a private school in South Dakota. The tuition, room and board, books and assorted fees runs about $22,000 per year. He chose this school over Wesleyan and Doane due to the fact his scholarship money went up every semester provided he maintain a certain GPA. Scholarships, grants and his Stafford student loans took care of a lot of this bill, but not all.
This leaves the student taking out private alternative student loans (making their debt level upon graduation even higher), mom and dad digging into their savings or mom and dad taking out parent-plus loans. We opted to help him out. Some parents do not have that option.
I’m curious to know what the actual debt level is for these kids and their parents. I know what our figures are for the first two years, and it is sobering. I think the Journal Star would be doing the future college students and their parents a service by letting them know what they’re in for.
Jean Wilcynski, York
Ruling precludes choice
I was very disappointed to hear about Secretary of State John Gale’s ruling on the Nebraska Democratic Party’s nomination of Kate Witek to be their candidate for state auditor (LJS, Aug.24).
There is no doubt that this is a very unusual circumstance. However, state law clearly allows potential candidates three ways to be placed on the ballot as a candidate for partisan office: through the primary, by petition and by nomination from a post-primary convention or committee. As a matter of fact, the same statute that allows Gale to direct Witek to petition onto the ballot allows for nomination by the Nebraska Democratic Party State Convention.
I strongly believe the law serves the best interest of all Nebraskans, and the Legislature clearly wanted to ensure that there were multiple options to promote a fair process.
As a state, we deserve a choice when it comes to elections, and John Gale is preventing that choice through his ruling.
Nicholas Verzani, Omaha
First we get assaulted by LB126 and the closing of our Class 1 schools. Now a special task force is going to recommend that public agencies not provide links to high-speed Internet, another vital service in rural Nebraska.
Well, I’m tired of businesses and legislators from Omaha and Lincoln telling the rest of Nebraska how to live and what we can or can not do. This is the state of Nebraska. I was privileged to help write a white paper with the Brennen Center for Justice about our state’s rural Internet access. Service is lacking in many parts of Nebraska, and the issue is personal as well as professional for me.
As it stands right now, I either pay $50 per month at home for satellite Internet or put up with slow dial-up. The dial-up is so slow that it prevents me from updating my computer because it takes too long and times out. My life is busier that normal now. My day starts an hour earlier to get my kids to school because our Class 1 school closed due to the pressures of LB126. I am unable to get DSL at home because the phone company (Frontier) will not extend the lines another mile to my house.
We need good Internet service in rural Nebraska. This appears to be similar to LB126 — decisions about a basic public service that are based on money. Lobbyists get what they want from the legislators, and we pay and do with less.
Char Carpenter, Neligh
Don’t fall for the ads
Planned Parenthood’s ad in the Aug. 25 Ground Zero says, “Who needs Planned Parenthood? Students do.” Students, you do not need Planned Parenthood. You do not need HIV, an STD, an unwanted pregnancy or an abortion.
Students, what you need is freedom. By waiting to have sex until you are married you will be free. Free to live your dream of going to school and achieving your goals. Students, don’t fall for Planned Parenthood’s ad.
Their “multiple options” or “emergency contraception” will not protect you from HIV or STDs, nor from unwanted pregnancy, an abortion or a broken heart. Planned Parenthood does not promote character, strength or wisdom, but a false sense of security. I beg you, I implore you. Be free.
Susy McDermitt, Lincoln
Intolerance is dangerous
After reading Cal Thomas’ article “Defector warns of menace posed by Islam” (Aug. 21), I was alarmed by Thomas’s attitude toward Islam in American society today.
Thomas believes that Islam as a whole is a danger to American society. He implies that Americans should begin to view even Orthodox Muslims the same as they would radical Muslims and recognize that all Islamic adherents are a “clear and present danger” in today’s society.
I disagree. While there are factions of Islam that present a danger to American society, I think Americans would be repeating some of the largest errors in American history if they were to begin to look at all Muslims as threats.
I am reminded of the Japanese internment camps of the 1940s, where all Japanese Americans were rounded up and put into camps around the United States because they might pose a threat to American society. I am reminded of the Red Scare of both 1917-1920 and the late 1940s-mid 1950s, where in both situations people lost their jobs and were sometimes jailed for their assumed communist beliefs.
Both the Japanese internment camps and the Red Scares were dark areas of American history where our nation failed to exercise tolerance toward other American citizens and later regretted the actions taken during these times of turmoil.
I feel that Thomas’ article incites an unrealistic fear that may be an even bigger “clear and present danger” than Muslims are presenting in America today.
Rebecca White, Lincoln
Membership not a crime
So in essence, what you are saying (editorial, Aug. 31) is that Trooper Robert E. Henderson should be fired based on guilt by association rather than actual conduct?
America is not yet to the point where membership in a nonpolitically correct organization is a crime, no matter how much you and Sen. Ernie Chambers would like it to be. Sixty years ago, for some of my relatives, it was, and we all know what happened as a result.
Alice Kell, Pottsville, Pa.
Managing student loans
I found the Aug. 31 Journal Star article regarding student loan debt informative. I do feel you could’ve taken it a step further.
Our son is a sophomore at a private school in South Dakota. The tuition, room and board, books and assorted fees runs about $22,000 per year. He chose this school over Wesleyan and Doane due to the fact his scholarship money went up every semester provided he maintain a certain GPA. Scholarships, grants and his Stafford student loans took care of a lot of this bill, but not all.
This leaves the student taking out private alternative student loans (making their debt level upon graduation even higher), mom and dad digging into their savings or mom and dad taking out parent-plus loans. We opted to help him out. Some parents do not have that option.
I’m curious to know what the actual debt level is for these kids and their parents. I know what our figures are for the first two years, and it is sobering. I think the Journal Star would be doing the future college students and their parents a service by letting them know what they’re in for.
Jean Wilcynski, York
Ruling precludes choice
I was very disappointed to hear about Secretary of State John Gale’s ruling on the Nebraska Democratic Party’s nomination of Kate Witek to be their candidate for state auditor (LJS, Aug.24).
There is no doubt that this is a very unusual circumstance. However, state law clearly allows potential candidates three ways to be placed on the ballot as a candidate for partisan office: through the primary, by petition and by nomination from a post-primary convention or committee. As a matter of fact, the same statute that allows Gale to direct Witek to petition onto the ballot allows for nomination by the Nebraska Democratic Party State Convention.
I strongly believe the law serves the best interest of all Nebraskans, and the Legislature clearly wanted to ensure that there were multiple options to promote a fair process.
As a state, we deserve a choice when it comes to elections, and John Gale is preventing that choice through his ruling.
Nicholas Verzani, Omaha
Copyright © 2002-2008 Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved.