Respect, Tradition And Rivalry

When it comes to the holiday season, tradition seems to ooze from nearly every corner and crevice of the lives of most people. Whether it's a favorite food or a cross-country trip we make only once a year, our unique holiday traditions are what make this a special time of year.

In sports, as in politics, traditions often come with rivalries - and aren't always easy to achieve.

Take the Husker football team's road to a final Big 12 Conference championship game with their rival of nearly a century, the Oklahoma Sooners.

Suffice to say, the Huskers had a tough time getting to the championship this year, including a Nebraska-Texas A&M matchup that included some horrible officiating and some controversy over Head Coach Bo Pelini's behavior on the sidelines.

While Coach Pelini's actions were colorful, and some folks seemed to not have much of a stomach for them, we were proud that he stood up for his players so strongly - and also proud that he and the team apologized and moved on from the game, instead of dwelling on their poor play, the horrible conduct of the officiating crew, and the disgusting actions of some Nebraska fans.

Rivalries often have a way of bringing out the best in all of us - and we think that's what has motivated Coach Pelini and his team to move on from the A&M game, to focus, change their attitude, beat Colorado, and lock in on the game the Huskers will play this weekend.

Traditional rivals aren't just another opponent we face in athletic or academic contests. We have all have rivals throughout our lives: high-caliber political cartoonists who have opposing political viewpoints; high quality writers and editors who challenge our abilities and vie for jobs with us; even quality webmasters who go about creating things in a way different from our own.

True rivals are those who beat us nearly as often as we beat them, with whom we come in contact almost as much as we do with our fellow workers.

The time when a rivalry becomes something more is when that rivalry becomes a tradition of respect, a way of viewing our opponents not as enemies, but as our equals. The best rivalries often have a strong component of friendship in them, and a long history of shared success - and failure.

For nearly a century, the University of Nebraska and the University of Oklahoma have battled on a regular basis on the football field, among other places. It's the kind of rivalry that few have, inside or outside sports. We couldn't wish for a better ending to Nebraska's time in the Big 12 conference.

True rivals respect each other enough to be on their best behavior while they fight tooth and nail - something our politicians in Washington would be wise to learn from some of our young collegiate athletes.

Holiday Tips To Keep From Missing The Point

We hope that you enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday as much as our staff members did. Of course, with every family gathering, there are almost always some relatives who don't understand how politics at almost every level works - or does not work. We had our share of "interesting" discussions over the Thanksgiving break, as we're sure most families did. While most of our different conversations appear to have remained civil, we know that's not the case with every holiday reunion.

The biggest single thing we seemed to run into is family and friends who refuse to remain informed, and instead choose to believe whatever snippets they may happen to hear from the infotainment talking heads on TV.

For example, while many insurance rates will be going up slightly, as FactCheck.org has proven, the majority of Americans will NOT be paying significantly higher insurance premiums next year. Compared to past years, the Health Care Insurance Reform law actually will have significantly reined in the potential for increases in health care premiums for most American families.

The latest release of previously classified documents through Wikileaks has even more examples of facts trumping rhetoric.

Released over the weekend, the documents prove many things. For example, Saudi Arabia and many Arab states, who often decry the United States as the policemen of the world, have also been insisting for some time that America attack Iran - because the Saudis and fellow Arabs either have no real ability to do so or are afraid to do it themselves.

Other ideas promoted this year by those on the far right have also been proven false by the latest release from Wikileaks. According to those previously classified papers, the Obama administration has quite obviously been working incredibly hard over the last two years on diplomatic efforts to contain or redirect the North Korean threat. The administration has also been shown to be working to handle the prisoner situation in Guantanamo Bay, to deal with the rampant corruption in the fledgling Afghan government, and to deal with both traditional and cyber terrorism from groups like Al Qaeda and traditional powers like China.

We hope that after a long break away from your regular responsibilities that you click some of the links we provide, then read and research for yourself the truth behind the issues you hear about on radio and TV and read about in the newspapers. We're not suggesting you take large chunks of time out of your already busy schedule to learn vast amounts about large numbers of subjects. That's our job as members of the media, and one we enjoy performing for you.

However, it's likely that that within the next thirty days you'll be at another family event, with a few individuals who might not be as well-informed as yourself. Take some cues from us and research the topics you care about most. Then, at the next family get-together, you might be able to have more civil and intelligent holiday discussions, leading everyone to the real point of the season - peace and family.

A Thanksgiving Treat - For Everyone.

As is often the case, we all  tend to overlook the many small blessings we have in our lives. For example, if you're reading this today, you have Internet access and a piece of technology to read the Daily Felltoon on at the moment.

That's more than many folks in the world have right now.

Something many Americans often don't look at as a blessing these days is a day away from their responsibilities. Whether at one of our multiple jobs, or in the search to find employment that pays enough, a day off is something too many Americans don't get these days.

So as a gift, our namesake and Editor-In-Chief, Paul Fell, decided our staff should have this week off - after we send out today's edition.

We're giving you a full set of cartoons for the week, including a Daily Felltoon, a HuskerNutz cartoon, and Paul's Prediction for next Friday's Husker football game (not including highly questionable officiating).

Before we step out for the week, we want to thank you for your continuing support of what we do here at the Daily Felltoon.
Thank you for reading, and enjoying our work.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving week. We certainly will be.