Let’s make a difference.

No, this is not another Obama transcript from the campaign trail or a speech from your RSP advisor.

But now, Creighton students have a unique opportunity to leave a lasting impression on the state in which we live.

Nebraska lingers in death penalty limbo: We have capital punishment but no way to implement it.

The state Supreme Court called “Old Sparky,” the electric chair, cruel and unusual punishment, but a majority of the State Senate still wants to kill some criminals.

Recently, LB 1063, the bill that would have banned the death penalty, was defeated in the Nebraska Unicameral by five votes

To make matters more complicated, Gov. Dave Heineman released a press statement on his Web site in an attempt to push through another bill before the end of the term in mid-April.

“I believe it is now time to move forward,” he said. “Our focus now should be on deciding a legal method of execution for Nebraska.”

However, his efforts to reinstitute the death penalty may be all for naught. Seven out of eight members on the Judiciary Committee supported the anti-death penalty bill, so they could possibly pigeon-hole any lethal injection bill supported by the governor.

It takes 30 votes to wrench a bill from a stalling committee – only 28 state senators voted against the bill. Thus, two senators need convincing to adopt lethal injection or five to abolish capital punishment all together.

How will Nebraska pull itself out of this policy standstill?

This quagmire calls for civic engagement.

While I believe that the state should not engage in the business of killing its own citizens, and the Catholic Church firmly backs this stance, our predicament allows for advocacy on both sides of the issues.

We can e-mail our state senators at http://nebraskalegislature.gov/web/public/contact.

In addition, Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty and Creighton Students for Life, who cooperate on advocacy projects, plan to continue their opposition to the state’s current policy. Visit their Web site at www.nadp.net for more information.

I could not find any pro-death penalty advocacy groups in Omaha. However, some information exists on the Web.

Justice For All is a Texas based organization that does some national organizing and petitioning. For more information, visit its Web site at http://www.jfa.net/deathpenalty.html.

These are by no means all the resources out there; however, they provide a starting point for students to judge an important issue and apply their efforts to create an effective political outcome.

Although tracing the skeletal structure of 3,4 dihydroxyphenylacetate or memorizing Thomas Aquinas’ “Quinquae viae” are important undertakings, 10 men currently wait on death row.

Our actions will have real-world consequences.