B01 1 <#FROWN:B01\>Clinton as a free-trader

B01 2 The Democratic presidential candidate took a sure step by B01 3 giving support to a North American common market

B01 4 GOV. BILL CLINTON deserves credit for endorsing the North B01 5 American Free Trade Agreement at the risk of offending major labor B01 6 organizations whose backing he counts on in the presidential B01 7 election.

B01 8 In deference to these constituents, Clinton put some conditions B01 9 on his promise to advance the accord if he is elected next month. B01 10 But as president, he would have sufficient leeway to reach B01 11 supplemental deals with Mexico and Canada on stronger protections B01 12 for the environment and labor standards, and against unexpected B01 13 surges in imports damaging U.S. industries.

B01 14 The free trade pact, on which negotiation was completed in B01 15 August, would knock down remaining barriers and join the three B01 16 nations in the world's largest trading bloc - 360 million people B01 17 with a combined annual output worth $6 trillion. It is an issue in B01 18 the presidential campaign because President Bush has accused the B01 19 Arkansan of waffling on the question.

B01 20 While endorsing the pact, Clinton needled the administration by B01 21 asserting that the text had "serious omissions," B01 22 which he proposed correcting with additional accords before B01 23 ratification.

B01 24 Clinton suggests creating international commissions on B01 25 environmental and labor standards. He would reserve the right to B01 26 re-erect barriers against import surges. Bush's trade B01 27 representative, Carla Hills, believes there are enough such B01 28 protections already in the agreement.

B01 29 Clinton's pro free trade announcement is welcome, and might B01 30 steer the Democratic leadership away from protectionist B01 31 demagoguery, such as that espoused by House Majority Leader Richard B01 32 Gephardt of Missouri, who seeks renegotiation of the pact.

B01 33 Clinton sees far enough ahead to know that free trade is not a B01 34 killer of jobs but a necessity for creating them through increased B01 35 exports and greater international prosperity.

B01 36 Democrats used to be champions of that truth, and should be B01 37 again.

B01 38 B01 39 Shipping sushi to Osaka

B01 40 IT MAY SOUND like the modern-day equivalent of taking coals to B01 41 Newcastle, but shipping sushi to Osaka has much to recommend it.

B01 42 It means jobs, as American workers fashion the sushi, which is B01 43 then frozen and sent to Japan. It means lower prices for Japanese B01 44 diners - American sushi costs about half as much as B01 45 Japanese-made.

B01 46 And finally, the westbound sushi trade means the United States B01 47 has made a small rent in Japan's rice curtain, which unfairly B01 48 shelters a $35 billion a year market from foreign competition.

B01 49 So, it was good news the other day when Japan relented and let B01 50 in a shipment of 950 frozen sushi samples from Escondido to the B01 51 44-restaurant, Osaka-based Sushi Boy chain. Japanese food B01 52 inspectors had held the samples hostage for several days in an B01 53 Osaka warehouse.

B01 54 The sushi met the requirement that 20 percent of their weight B01 55 be from ingredients other than rice. But inspectors worried: What B01 56 if the fish and the rice separate? Well, they decided, sushi just B01 57 isn't sushi without attachment of fish and the sticky B01 58 vinegar-flavored rice.

B01 59 Sushi Boy plans to start making sushi in its Escondido plant in B01 60 November, shipping about 2 million pieces a year to Japan. In Sushi B01 61 Boy restaurants (coming soon to the U.S.), a conveyor belt carries B01 62 sushi in endless circles to diners, who help themselves.

B01 63 We'll leave to Sushi Boy whether Japanese eaters will buy B01 64 defrosted, prefab American sushi instead of its fresh domestic B01 65 counterpart, even at half price.

B01 66 But we do think an important principle comes out of this sushi B01 67 skirmish: Governments shouldn't tell consumers what to eat or what B01 68 not to eat. Protectionism limits choices and raises prices.

B01 69 If Japan had a kernel of sense, it would open its rice markets B01 70 to everyone. Protectionism only benefits Japanese rice farmers, B01 71 co-operatives and a few government bureaucrats. A free market works B01 72 in the interests of everyone else in the world.

B01 73 B01 74 Save the tiger

B01 75 -Chicago Tribune

B01 76 WITH SO much international concern about the dwindling number B01 77 of great beasts such as elephants and rhinoceroses, little B01 78 attention has been accorded the plight of the tiger.

B01 79 Elephants are slaughtered for the ivory in their tusks, highly B01 80 prized for ornamental carvings; rhinoceroses are killed for their B01 81 fibrous horns, which are used as medicines, aphrodisiacs and for B01 82 such ceremonial accouterments as dagger handles.

B01 83 Now comes word from the World Conservation Union in Switzerland B01 84 that there are perhaps only 7,000 tigers left in the wild, B01 85 scattered in regions of Asia and Siberia, with most of them in B01 86 India. Within 10 years, there may be none, except for those in B01 87 zoos.

B01 88 The tigers are being killed for their bones, which, crushed and B01 89 powdered, are a prime ingredient in ancient folk medicines used in B01 90 China and Chinese communities in various<}_><-|>part<+|>parts<}/> B01 91 of the world.

B01 92 The Chinese believe that these medicines and 'tiger wine' made B01 93 from the bones can enhance strength and cure a variety of ailments, B01 94 among them rheumatism, ulcers, malaria, typhoid, burns, nightmares B01 95 - even eruptions under the toenails.

B01 96 The poaching is so severe that in one wild preserve in India, B01 97 the tigers were reduced from 44 to 15 in two years. And the price B01 98 for the bones is so rewarding - as much as $170 a pound and B01 99 escalating - that poaching is expected to increase, leading to B01 100 almost certain doom for the tigers.

B01 101 In response, the Chinese have begun experimenting with breeding B01 102 farms to produce enough 'industrial tigers' to satisfy the demand B01 103 for bones.

B01 104 Ours will be a richer world with tigers still in the wild; it B01 105 would be richer still if such animals weren't diminished by ignoble B01 106 or dubious human activity.

B01 107 B01 108 All shook up

B01 109 Once somnolent, the campaign awakens suddenly with agreement of B01 110 the Bush and Clinton camps to hold three debates

B01 111 AFTER WEEKS of horsing around, the presidential candidates have B01 112 agreed to debate. This is good. The American people will finally B01 113 get to see how George Bush and Bill Clinton match up. That's the B01 114 best way to make a choice: the old-fashioned way. No sound bites or B01 115 slick ads, just a contest of mind vs. mind.

B01 116 Coupled with Ross Perot's re-entry, the debates save the race B01 117 from boring inevitability. Clinton's lead was growing steadily. B01 118 Nothing Bush did worked. Not family values. Not going negative. Not B01 119 the pork barrel. Not train trips through mid-America.

B01 120 Say what you want about Perot (and we have), his sprite-like B01 121 dashes on and off stage kept us from falling asleep. He's turned B01 122 the campaign from something resembling, say, 'King Lear,' into B01 123 something more like 'Midsummer Night's Dream.'

B01 124 Was it coincidence that Clinton and Bush agreed on debate dates B01 125 within hours of Perot's self-resuscitation? Perhaps.

B01 126 More fun under the Big Top is suggested by Perot's inclusion in B01 127 the debates.

B01 128 His running mate, James 'Man of Steel' Stockdale, a graduate of B01 129 a North Vietnamese prison camp, apparently will join Al Gore and B01 130 Dan Quayle in a single vice-presidential debate. Public-school B01 131 graduate Quayle says he's at an educational disadvantage against B01 132 private-school grad Gore, who's also a Vietnam vet. We doubt Quayle B01 133 will bring up the Indiana National Guard.

B01 134 In the main events, Perot will undoubtedly force discussion of B01 135 the budget deficit, not a favorite topic of the Big Two. Bush has B01 136 piled more than $1.2 trillion onto the national debt, and critics B01 137 think President Clinton would be an even bigger contributor.

B01 138 For settling the debate, we commend both the Clinton and Bush B01 139 camps. They did the right thing, and each side compromised to do B01 140 so.

B01 141 Three presidential debates ought to bring the candidates, and B01 142 the issues, into focus. All that's required is for voters to tune B01 143 in. Let the shows begin.

B01 144 B01 145 Enact workers comp reform now

B01 146 GOV. WILSON'S new list of 'reforms' for the state's workers B01 147 compensation system increases the mystery of why - politics aside - B01 148 he vetoed all of the Legislature's plan to achieve $1.15 billion in B01 149 savings. Several parts of the Republican governor's package match B01 150 or closely resemble the Democrat-sponsored legislation he B01 151 rejected.

B01 152 He challenges the legislators to approve his new version B01 153 without hearings and without much change at a special session B01 154 starting Thursday.

B01 155 Similarities between the vetoed bills and the governor's new B01 156 plan include limits on numbers of medical evaluations of injured B01 157 workers, higher standards of proof in claims of mental stress and B01 158 use of managed care organizations to hold down costs of treating B01 159 injuries. Wilson also renewed his backing for repeal of the minimum B01 160 rate law assuring profits for workers' compensation insurance B01 161 companies - they get 32.8 percent of the premium dollar for profit B01 162 and expenses whatever their inefficiencies.

B01 163 The overriding need in realizing savings is to control costs B01 164 borne by employers for the $11 billion program covering workers' B01 165 on-the-job injuries. Savings also would permit increases in the B01 166 inadequate benefits that finally reach workers. The seemingly clear B01 167 aim of public policy, unfortunately, is buried in partisan B01 168 rhetoric, with Wilson vowing to seek the electoral defeat of B01 169 legislators who oppose him on the question.

B01 170 The two sides should call a truce in the political war and B01 171 quickly enact the reforms - including sensible anti-fraud measures B01 172 - on which they agree or almost agree.

B01 173 Those savings can be realized now. Then the governor and B01 174 Legislature should give longer consideration to proposals that call B01 175 for deep thought - like changes in the law that would profoundly B01 176 affect the rights of injured workers.

B01 177 With the state's economic health and the welfare of millions of B01 178 jobholders at stake, this is no matter for political B01 179 game-playing.

B01 180 B01 181 The last lion B01 182 VINCENT HALLINAN died Friday at age 95. He lived just long B01 183 enough to:

B01 184 <*_>black-triangle<*/> Scan the obituaries of J. Edgar Hoover B01 185 and the rest of his devoted enemies: "They're all B01 186 dead," he once said. "It's a great disappointment B01 187 to me."

B01 188 <*_>black-triangle<*/> See most of what were once his B01 189 ultra-radical notions, such as civil rights, become the law B01 190 of the land: "How anybody could stay out of the civil B01 191 rights disturbances and still hold up his head, I don't B01 192 know."

B01 193 <*_>black-triangle<*/> Become a very wealthy man, doing well by B01 194 doing good. As probably the best trial lawyer of his era, he B01 195 pioneered in bucking the system with personal injury suits that B01 196 required Big Business to pay damages to victims of corporate B01 197 negligence: "The only reason for going to law is to get B01 198 money, except in criminal cases."

B01 199 <*_>black-triangle<*/> Justify all those years of serious B01 200 boxing. In his 90s, confronted by a mugger, he knocked the man B01 201 flat. He didn't condemn such people. "I think that men have B01 202 become more cynical and more desperate. I think we are in a period B01 203 that is marking the collapse of an economic system."

B01 204 <*_>black-triangle<*/> Soften his views on religion. Once an B01 205 altar boy, he was a Navy officer in World War I when he read the B01 206 works of Thomas Paine and became an ardent atheist who sued the B01 207 Catholic Church to prove the existence of God. Much later: B01 208 "A lot of people need religion. The world is a rough, tough B01 209 place."

B01 210 <*_>black-triangle<*/> See one of his sons, Terence, elected as B01 211 a member of the Board of Supervisors in a city of refuge for B01 212 Vincent Hallinan's father, an Irish fugitive from British law.

B01 213 <*_>black-triangle<*/> Note how editorialists of The Examiner B01 214 regarded him in the early years with choleric contempt, then with B01 215 furious respect, later with a certain esteem and, finally, with B01 216 proud admiration.

B01 217 We won't see his like again.

B01 218 B01 219 Hands off the library

B01 220 The plan to cut the budget of San Francisco's libraries by 10 B01 221 percent is insane; Jordan should reconsider

B01 222 WE URGE Mayor Jordan to attend one of the upcoming meetings of B01 223 community residents who are concerned about the effects his B01 224 proposed budget cuts of $1.7 million would have on our city library B01 225 system.

B01 226 The mayor needs to see firsthand what the branch libraries are B01 227 doing for our city.

B01 228 Visit North Beach, for example, on Wednesday nights, when the B01 229 branch is open, and ask the many elderly residents. You'll find how B01 230 much they rely on it.

B01 231 Or the Richmond branch, where many of our recent Russian B01 232 immigrants are learning new career skills, and where every day a B01 233 goggle of students go to do homework.

B01 234 Or the Main Library across Civic Center Plaza from City Hall, B01 235 where the chess program provides the only warm, safe neighborhood B01 236 magnet for the 5,000 children of the Tenderloin.

B01 237 B02 1 <#FROWN:B02\>Powerless, but not hopeless

B02 2 FPL STRUGGLES TO COPE

B02 3 HURRICANE Andrew has darkened not only moods and spirits, but B02 4 blacked out homes and businesses as well. That is causing all sorts B02 5 of inconveniences, and in some cases endangering personal health B02 6 and security. It's just one of the countless grim legacies that the B02 7 killer storm left behind.

B02 8 As of yesterday afternoon, more than 750,000 people in Dade, B02 9 Broward, and Palm Beach counties had no electricity, and Florida B02 10 Power & Light was urging many of them to brace for a long wait. B02 11 Bothersome as that situation is, it demands patience and a general B02 12 understanding of what is prolonging the darkness.

B02 13 FPL personnel are being flooded with complaint calls from B02 14 people demanding immediate restoration of their electric power. B02 15 Their frustration is of course understandable. But that frustration B02 16 is being inflamed, irresponsibly, by some local radio hosts and a B02 17 few hysterical listeners who are urging the public to call the B02 18 company to protest. They are part of the problem, not the solution. B02 19 The effect of their behavior is to make it harder for FPL to do an B02 20 already overwhelming job.

B02 21 South Floridians must understand that FPL is scrambling to B02 22 restore power as soon as possible. Crews are working around the B02 23 clock to achieve that goal, beginning with priority areas such as B02 24 hospitals, shelters for Andrew's thousands of homeless victims, B02 25 police, and fire stations. They labor under intense national B02 26 scrutiny, which adds to the pressure.

B02 27 Some power outages are actually a pre-cautionary B02 28 measure, safeguarding people and property from potential harm. In B02 29 most cases, though, power is out because FPL equipment in the three B02 30 counties suffered severe damage that can't be repaired overnight. A B02 31 case in point is FPL's Turkey Point nuclear plant, which was not B02 32 producing any power because Andrew blew away virtually all of its B02 33 transmission wires.

B02 34 Admittedly, Turkey Point was supposed to have done better. B02 35 Supposedly hurricane-proof power pylons there collapsed in the B02 36 onslaught. No doubt FPL will soon learn of other storm plans that B02 37 failed, and will have to recoup and explain.

B02 38 But pledging an all-out restoration effort, the company says B02 39 that it expects to restore electricity to all of Broward County by B02 40 Thursday. In Dade, many residents north of Kendall will be without B02 41 power for a week, and those south of Kendall can expect to spend B02 42 three weeks or more in the dark. That is roughly consistent with B02 43 the pace of power restoration in Charleston, S.C., in the wake of B02 44 Hurricane Hugo - a less destructive storm.

B02 45 Unfortunately, no amount of complaining will shorten those B02 46 timetables. It may, in fact, slow recovery, destroy morale, and B02 47 feed a darkness that is more than literal.

B02 48 B02 49 Dry well rings hollow

B02 50 WATER PROMISES UNKEPT

B02 51 WATER IS proving to be the most critical problem left behind by B02 52 Andrew - not the anticipated flooding, which was not as bad as B02 53 expected, but broken pipes and seepage elsewhere. The latter left B02 54 much of the region's water-distribution system with zero B02 55 pressure and residents without safe drinking water. For safety's B02 56 sake, all of Dade County remains under a boil-water order, but B02 57 given the total destruction in Florida City, Homestead, and B02 58 Southwest Dade, and absent electricity, those were difficult B02 59 demands with which to comply.

B02 60 The inconvenience and annoyance of Monday and Tuesday could B02 61 turn to something much worse later in the week. Especially if the B02 62 damaged Black Point sewage treatment plant can't be brought back on B02 63 line or bypassed. Functioning public water and sewer systems are B02 64 society's first line of defense against epidemic illnesses such as B02 65 cholera and typhoid. With health department officials predicting B02 66 that it may be two weeks before the water system is fully B02 67 operational, delivering water safe to drink, there is a sense of B02 68 alarm assuaged only by the willingness of people to share. Indeed, B02 69 bottlers who showed up to distribute free water were a Godsend for B02 70 many of the hardest-pressed residents.

B02 71 When the crisis passes, however, there must be some answers to B02 72 the question: Why? Following Hurricane Hugo, water and sewer B02 73 officials were assuring Dade residents that they, and their system, B02 74 were prepared and would function even in a Category 4 storm. B02 75 Emergency generators were in place at every pump station. The B02 76 assurances ring all too hollow now, and a full investigation is B02 77 warranted.

B02 78 B02 79 We shall overcome

B02 80 THE REBUILDING BEGINS

B02 81 THOUSANDS of South Floridians have the numb feeling of B02 82 mourners, seeing little reminders of normal life that offer sharp B02 83 contrast to the depth of despair.

B02 84 Some of us have lost only the familiar comforts of the nice old B02 85 oak, or electricity. Many others, though, have lost the houses that B02 86 were home, that were built with hope, sweat, and large, scary B02 87 mortgages. A few have lost loved ones, paying the storm's ultimate B02 88 price.

B02 89 Will South Florida, especially Cutler Ridge, Homestead, and B02 90 Kendall, ever recover? In a way, no. Those of us who have taken B02 91 great losses will bear scars in our souls. Some of us now have B02 92 financial burdens from which we may not fully recover. Nearly all B02 93 of us will carry the new and clear knowledge of our vulnerability. B02 94 How so much can be lost in a few hours. Only fools can say today, B02 95 it can't happen to me.

B02 96 Some day, though, the rubble will be cleared. The canopy of B02 97 green will spread anew. Institutions will be reborn and rebuild B02 98 <&|>sic, and so will families. South Florida has proved - again and B02 99 again - its resiliency through hurricanes, through financial B02 100 collapses, and through sudden, large waves of penniless B02 101 refugees.

B02 102 Miami and all of South Florida have always emerged stronger and B02 103 it <&|>sic will again. Pioneers and refugees alike have amply B02 104 proved, we can and we do rebuild from little.

B02 105 We have the most important resource - ourselves. We have B02 106 neighbors who continue to report to duty at our police and fire B02 107 departments, utility companies, hospitals, and other essential work B02 108 places, despite their own worries at home. In fact, some are B02 109 working even though they have no homes.

B02 110 We also have neighbors who have performed those big and little B02 111 acts of heroism and kindness: the rescue of trapped families, the B02 112 sharing of fresh water, the two hours of time with a chain saw to B02 113 clear a driveway.

B02 114 We will need much more kindness and heroism, big and little, B02 115 for months to come. We will need patience now to restore basic B02 116 services, and in the long-term to restore the flow of commerce. We B02 117 will need courage, too - and confidence drawn from the knowledge B02 118 that we have coped. We can cope. And we will cope.

B02 119 B02 120 Bush: A fighting speech

B02 121 LET THE DEBATE BE JOINED

B02 122 AMERICANS have waited nearly four years to hear what George B02 123 Bush gave them on Thursday night: an animated, tough, and B02 124 forthright defense of his approach to American government. It was B02 125 an impressive and remarkable moment. Impressive, because the B02 126 president combined strong terms with passionate argument. B02 127 Remarkable, because he has waited four years to do it.

B02 128 His supporters would protest, as he himself did before a B02 129 jubilant Republican convention, that he has been pressing the main B02 130 elements of his program for his entire term. But his vigorous B02 131 convention address effectively disproves that. The speech, and the B02 132 far-flung program that it contained, had earnestness and urgency, B02 133 if not always freshness. In the 48 months since the last Republican B02 134 convention, the president has displayed such fervor only in foreign B02 135 affairs.

B02 136 George Bush can - and on Thursday did - argue forcefully for B02 137 his brand of supply side economics: for spending freezes and income B02 138 tax cuts, tort reform, unregulated enterprise, and his beloved tax B02 139 cut on capital gains. He defended open trade. He rejected national B02 140 programs for health care (and even, by implication, threatened to B02 141 freeze or cut Medicare and Medicaid). Like these ideas or not, B02 142 there was no mistaking his commitment to them.

B02 143 But this ferocious advocacy is a skill that, however potent, he B02 144 has hardly ever employed. Nearly all of the achievements in B02 145 domestic affairs for which he took credit - the Clean Air Act, the B02 146 Americans With Disabilities Act, and (incredibly) a Civil Rights B02 147 Act that he had first vetoed - were conceived and promoted by B02 148 others. His curious passivity has persisted even through 19 or more B02 149 months of economic hardship.

B02 150 So how to explain the sudden vigor of Thursday night? Insiders B02 151 give incoming Chief of Staff James Baker much of the credit. Some B02 152 of the speech's most forceful language was reportedly inserted in B02 153 the final day or two. That would suggest Mr. Baker's belated B02 154 influence.

B02 155 Mr. Bush, on the other hand, insists that advocacy would be B02 156 wasted on an intractable Congress. True enough, Congress has B02 157 acquitted itself miserably. (The president expended nearly a third B02 158 of his speech saying just how miserably.) Yes, Republicans B02 159 hold little sway there. And no, presidents don't have much power to B02 160 steer domestic policy on their own. But those are all the reasons B02 161 why the fire of Thursday night should have been lit 20 months ago, B02 162 when Mr. Bush's popularity was stratospheric. Instead, he B02 163 squandered that opportunity and now must scurry to recoup.

B02 164 One speech won't achieve that for him. Nor will several. B02 165 Americans must come to believe, in the next 73 days, that the zeal B02 166 of this convention won't promptly go back into mothballs if George B02 167 Bush goes back to the White House. That won't be easy.

B02 168 But on Thursday night, he proved that it is possible, and that B02 169 he means to do it. If so, the historically important differences B02 170 between Mr. Bush and Democratic nominee Bill Clinton should get a B02 171 sprightly airing and hearty debate. The public deserves no less, B02 172 and is hungry for more.

B02 173 B02 174 Still better in the Bahamas

B02 175 AS THE PINDLING ERA ENDS

B02 176 SOUTH Florida has intimate ties to the Bahamas. It's as if both B02 177 places formed part of the same Caribbean country, a land of islands B02 178 and seaside cities that transcends national borders, joined by B02 179 history, geography, and the perpetual movement of peoples. Indeed, B02 180 Miami is closer in spirit to the Bahamas than to much of B02 181 Florida.

B02 182 Hence, events on the islands have a special resonance in South B02 183 Florida. They needn't even be Earth-shattering events. This week, B02 184 for example, an era came quietly to an end in the Bahamas. It ended B02 185 peacefully, as Great Britain's dominion of the islands ended in B02 186 1973. As peacefully as life in general passes in the Bahamas, B02 187 islands of openness and relaxed tolerance.

B02 188 Lynden Pindling, the founding father of Bahamian independence B02 189 and the country's prime minister during the last 25 years, lost B02 190 Wednesday's general elections to Hubert Ingraham. Mr. Pindling B02 191 graciously conceded defeat. That is how he has mostly governed B02 192 these lovely islands - with graciousness and steadiness. Even when B02 193 his government was accused of being autocratic. Even when he was B02 194 under international scrutiny, accused of corruption and of letting B02 195 drug-traffickers ship their wares through the Bahamas. The B02 196 allegations, though worrisome, were never proved.

B02 197 The end of the Pindling era will leave most things as they are B02 198 in the Bahamas. The new prime minister does not intend to alter an B02 199 economic policy that relies on tourism and on conveying the B02 200 Bahamas's tranquility and stability to the world. Who would be so B02 201 foolish as to alter paradise?

B02 202 B02 203 Two cases, two concerns

B02 204 CHILDREN IN THE MIDDLE

B02 205 SHARON McCRACKEN, a 50-year-old lesbian from Fort Lauderdale, B02 206 was convinced that she would be an excellent foster mother. So she B02 207 worked doggedly through the system to convince officials too. Now B02 208 she has done so.

B02 209 Meantime, a longtime Dade County wrestling coach, a man revered B02 210 by children and admired by adults, worked through a different B02 211 system - the courts. Now he is suspected of using it to get young B02 212 boys for his sexual pleasure.

B02 213 Nothing binds these dissimilar cases except this: They both B02 214 offer compelling reasons for the South Florida community to examine B02 215 continuously what it means when it avers to do "what is B02 216 best for the children." Both cases demand that people as B02 217 individuals, not as part of arbitrary classifications, be judged B02 218 fit - or not - to contribute to the welfare of children.

B02 219 Dick Jordan stands accused of sexually molesting dozens of B02 220 young athletes over a 14-year period. The torment, sadly, stills B02 221 haunts many who trusted him.

B02 222 B02 223 B02 224 B03 1 <#FROWN:B03\>What voters should watch for - and ignore

B03 2 The season of campaign sleaze is upon us, but there are ways B03 3 for voters to filter it out.

B03 4 So you think the presidential campaign has been nasty so far? B03 5 You ain't seen nothing yet.

B03 6 As Election Day grows nearer and the stakes get higher, this B03 7 contest will head where all the others have - mudward.

B03 8 Despite the candidates' high-minded pledges to steer clear of B03 9 personal attacks, ample amounts of dirt have been hurled by both B03 10 sides already.

B03 11 Don't despair. Tune out the discouraging spectacle of infantile B03 12 antics and tune in what's really important.

B03 13 The three most important topics are: Deficit, deficit and B03 14 deficit. How the next president plans to eliminate this $333.5 B03 15 billion drag on the economy will dictate everything else the B03 16 government can and cannot do. Listen for a credible commitment to B03 17 deal with the deficit, get the economy growing and create jobs B03 18 before launching programs.

B03 19 Next: Everything else. How will the candidates resolve the B03 20 nation's other pressing problems, and how will they pay to do B03 21 it?

B03 22 On their agenda should be coping with the health care crisis; B03 23 repairing crumbling bridges, highways and water mains; reversing B03 24 and preventing environmental damage; reviving educational B03 25 achievement; reducing crime; and stemming a growing intolerance of B03 26 racial and other differences.

B03 27 No president can, or should be, solely responsible for curing B03 28 these ills, but his leadership will be crucial. Acknowledging the B03 29 limitations of the highest office and envisioning a role for B03 30 individual and community efforts are also vital elements of being B03 31 'presidential.'

B03 32 At last as many topics are safe to ignore: Murphy Brown's baby, B03 33 Hillary Clinton's legal theories, Barbara Bush's motherly mien, B03 34 anyone's cookie-baking proclivities, Dan Quayle's creative spelling B03 35 and Bill Clinton's creative grammar.

B03 36 By following these guidelines, you may discover precious B03 37 nuggets of leadership gleaming amid the slime. With luck and B03 38 effort, you'll be able to cast a vote in November without feeling B03 39 dirty.

B03 40 B03 41 Help protect home buyers

B03 42 Home buyers deserve the right to know what condition home B03 43 they're buying - warts and all.

B03 44 It's a maxim of home buying that during the first hard rain B03 45 after you move in, the basement turns into a scale model of B03 46 Okefenokee Swamp.

B03 47 Or the wiring opts for early retirement. Or the furnace emits B03 48 noises usually associated with processing raw scrap metal.

B03 49 And, innocently or not, the sellers knew but didn't mention the B03 50 flaw before pocketing your cash and leaving town.

B03 51 Mandatory sell-disclosure laws promise to lower the frequency B03 52 of such unpleasant, often litigious surprises - although they may B03 53 never be eliminated, given the cantankerous potential of both B03 54 houses and humans.

B03 55 Five states have such statutes, ending at least some of the B03 56 uncertainty inherent in buying a home - the costliest purchase most B03 57 people ever make.

B03 58 That's why everyone gains from the get-it-on-the-table openness B03 59 that mandatory disclosure laws foster.

B03 60 Buyers appear to file fewer complaints, say regulators in B03 61 California, which has required disclosure the longest, since 1987. B03 62 Most brokers and agents say such laws short-circuit debate about B03 63 whether they told buyers of defects - the accusation behind two of B03 64 three lawsuits now filed against them.

B03 65 Even sellers gain. They needn't rip houses apart seeking flaws B03 66 - just disclose known ones. That can nudge them to fix faults that B03 67 could slow a sale - or leave them liable afterward.

B03 68 Disclosure laws also wouldn't end buyers' need to get houses B03 69 inspected, or absolve agents and brokers from their legal duty to B03 70 disclose known defects.

B03 71 But such laws would smooth home buying for all involved. More B03 72 states should adopt them. Making the first mortgage payment should B03 73 be the biggest jolt most home buyers have to face.

B03 74 B03 75 Andrew's lesson: Disaster planning pays dividends

B03 76 Florida's smooth evacuation is a testimony to federal, state B03 77 and local emergency planning.

B03 78 When Hurricane Andrew struck, South Florida was ready.

B03 79 That doesn't happen by accident.

B03 80 A remarkably well-choreographed evacuation effort succeeded in B03 81 convincing an estimated 700,000 people to move out of harm's B03 82 way.

B03 83 Such plans are a testimony to intense federal, state and local B03 84 preparation.

B03 85 The federal government chipped in with a remarkable piece of B03 86 computer wizardry called 'SLOSH,' for "sea, lake and B03 87 overland surges from hurricanes," that predicts which areas B03 88 due to be hit by a hurricane will be flooded.

B03 89 Another computer model predicts how long it will take to B03 90 evacuate specific areas, so state offices of emergency preparedness B03 91 know when to start issuing evacuation orders.

B03 92 Then there are local efforts, like Miami Beach's mock disaster B03 93 drills for the elderly over the past three weeks.

B03 94 More grim news is probably on its way, as reports from hard-hit B03 95 areas come in and the hurricane rages on. But the teams who B03 96 prepared for this disaster, and those who heeded their warnings, B03 97 deserve credit for keeping that bad news from being far worse.

B03 98 B03 99 Protect telephone privacy

B03 100 Congress should ensure that federal snoops after our phone B03 101 records get the busy signal more often.

B03 102 As you read this, some FBI, IRS or other federal agent could be B03 103 trolling through your phone records to learn who you called, when B03 104 and for how long.

B03 105 You don't have to be a criminal. Or even under suspicion. And B03 106 you can't stop it: The Supreme Court has agreed your phone records B03 107 belong to the phone company - which routinely provides tens of B03 108 thousands of them to anyone with a federal subpoena.

B03 109 But Congress, where legislation is now being studied, can do B03 110 something: Tighten the standards government agents must meet to get B03 111 local and toll-phone records. Those records can disclose as much as B03 112 conversations and should get equal protection from casual B03 113 government 'fishing expeditions.'

B03 114 They don't now. Just ask the Alicia Patterson Foundation. Its B03 115 phone records were among those the IRS subpoenaed when trying to B03 116 learn who leaked an embarrassing story to reporter Gregory Millman B03 117 - even though, at the time, Millman's only contact with the group B03 118 had been to call for an application.

B03 119 The foundation's phone network, Bell Atlantic, got 22,000 such B03 120 federal orders in 1991. Pacific Bell already has received more than B03 121 12,000 this year.

B03 122 Clearly, reviewing phone records has become routine. An agency B03 123 need claim only that they're relevant to some investigation; B03 124 neither judge nor grand jury reviews such claims. But to wiretap, B03 125 an agency must affirm to a judge that the subject is under B03 126 investigation. Then, it can record only those parts of B03 127 conversations linked to the activity being probed.

B03 128 Congress should make it just as tough to see and copy phone B03 129 records.

B03 130 Law officers should find this no more a burden than the B03 131 workable laws that regulate wiretaps. In a democracy, the focus B03 132 should be protecting the rights of the majority, not nabbing a few B03 133 crooks.

B03 134 Where the feds go fishing should be determined by more than B03 135 just a hunch.

B03 136 B03 137 Don't reject private initiatives in education

B03 138 Private corporations could help the USA's public schools make B03 139 higher grades.

B03 140 When school bells ring this fall, hundreds of businesses will B03 141 show up in the nation's classrooms. Corporations provide mentors, B03 142 scholarships and equipment, from notebooks to computers.

B03 143 A 1991 study found 65% of grade-school students B03 144 surveyed were enrolled in districts that received a total of nearly B03 145 $1 billion in cash, materials or services from businesses.

B03 146 Now a bigger experiment is in progress - contracting businesses B03 147 to run public schools - and, despite misgivings, it's an experiment B03 148 worth trying as long as public oversight is retained.

B03 149 The private firms hire teachers, maintain school buildings and B03 150 select subjects the students are taught.

B03 151 Baltimore and Miami school officials have given Minnesota-based B03 152 Educational Alternatives a contract to manage some schools. The B03 153 company's new approach promises personally tailored study programs B03 154 and smaller classes.

B03 155 Entrepreneur Christopher Whittle's Edison Project plans 1,000 B03 156 for-profit schools that he says could replace publicly run B03 157 schools.

B03 158 With test scores falling and dropout rates rising, such new B03 159 approaches should be welcomed, albeit with caution.

B03 160 For-profit public education raises a daunting question. How B03 161 will these schools make money for themselves without cutting B03 162 educational corners?

B03 163 For-profit schools must not be allowed to skim off highly B03 164 motivated and affluent students, a guaranteed cost cutter that B03 165 would hurt those most in need.

B03 166 They cannot be permitted to skimp on the product they produce - B03 167 education - the way a fast-food chain can cut down the size of a B03 168 hamburger. The goal is not to churn out products driven by profit B03 169 margins, but well-rounded students who can succeed in college, in B03 170 vocational school and in life.

B03 171 And the schools must not become an excuse to shift B03 172 accountability away from public officials, parents and B03 173 taxpayers.

B03 174 School officials must assure that for-profit schools avoid B03 175 those pitfalls. But they can't afford to rule out new ideas B03 176 thoughtlessly. For-profit schools deserve a chance to make their B03 177 case.

B03 178 B03 179 Soaked by Andrew

B03 180 On another subject, USA TODAY argues the storm shows federal B03 181 flood insurance should be junked.

B03 182 Taxpayers will be lucky if Hurricane Andrew lets them dodge B03 183 another bailout - of the federal flood insurance fund.

B03 184 Flood insurance - sure to be soaked in claims by Andrew - is B03 185 supposed to be self-funded but has been only since 1987. The fund B03 186 now has $359 million from premiums. But there is no certainty that B03 187 will be enough.

B03 188 If Hurricane Andrew does its worst, moving from the Gulf coast B03 189 to flood inland areas, the fund will be hard pressed. And this is B03 190 only the first hurricane of the season.

B03 191 If the fund runs out of money, taxpayer loans will be the only B03 192 alternative to default.

B03 193 That's a needless risk. Congress and Bush should consign flood B03 194 insurance to the same scrap heap reserved for other storm detritus. B03 195 Those who use it can buy insurance from private companies.

B03 196 The federal fund puts taxpayers at risk to provide insurance B03 197 for those who can afford to buy costly coastal property - 82% of B03 198 all policies - or those who build in flood plains. Such unsafe B03 199 areas now have 40% more structures than before the insurance B03 200 began.

B03 201 Structures for which taxpayers could be left footing the bill B03 202 after the next 'big one,' unless Congress acts now.

B03 203 B03 204 Federal jobs programs must be made to work

B03 205 The federal government should play a vital role in providing B03 206 job training for those hit by economic forces.

B03 207 There's nothing like the fear of losing a job to change B03 208 someone's tune on federally funded jobs programs.

B03 209 President Bush joined the chorus this week with a belated but B03 210 welcome call to increase federal spending for jobs programs he once B03 211 sought to cut.

B03 212 Bush's proposal: Raise job-training spending from $740 million B03 213 to $2 billion over five years to train the unemployed, youth and B03 214 displaced workers, including those threatened by the North American B03 215 Free Trade Agreement.

B03 216 Bill Clinton has a similar job-training plan that has one great B03 217 advantage over Bush's: He says how to pay for it.

B03 218 Clinton calls for a 1.5% payroll tax on employers, but Bush B03 219 won't say how he'll finance his proposal unless he wins B03 220 re-election.

B03 221 Apart from spending, both candidates have the right idea about B03 222 a strong federal role in job training. When trade agreements, a B03 223 prolonged recession, global competition and technological advances B03 224 leave workers stranded, government has every reason to intervene - B03 225 and a track record to prove that intervention helps.

B03 226 The few studies there are of federal jobs programs show most B03 227 have succeeded at improving the employability of those who go B03 228 through them: They raise average wages of disadvantaged trainees B03 229 between $400 and $800 a year, teach life skills and speed up B03 230 re-employment.

B03 231 Some changes that could improve that record:

B03 232 <*_>black-triangle<*/>Get a clear picture of private-sector job B03 233 needs before funding new programs. Some programs persist in B03 234 training people for the kinds of low-skill manufacturing jobs that B03 235 are rapidly disappearing.

B03 236 <*_>black-triangle<*/>Make sure programs work by measuring the B03 237 success of their graduates. That enhances the value of the training B03 238 for those who complete it, as well as holding the programs B03 239 accountable.

B03 240 <*_>black-triangle<*/>Streamline the administration of the 60 B03 241 federal programs and 51 state programs to eliminate duplicate B03 242 efforts.

B03 243 Federal jobs programs may not work miracles, but they do B03 244 work.

B03 245 B03 246 Unite the United Way

B03 247 On another subject, USA TODAY outlines the challenges facing B03 248 United Way's new head.

B03 249 After a stormy year of financial mis-management and B03 250 falling revenue, the United Way of America could use a bit of B03 251 peace.

B03 252 B04 1 <#FROWN:B04\>Quit Feeding the Flab

B04 2 Here's one of the iron invariables of U.S. politics: Someone B04 3 will always come up with another reason to draw more money into B04 4 Washington and parcel it back out to the governments back home. We B04 5 of course have the limitless 'unmet needs' of which state and local B04 6 officials readily make us aware, but now our Keynesian economists B04 7 fear that forced public-sector thrift during the recession could B04 8 spiral into something more depressing for the whole country.

B04 9 Sounds like something the Democrats might propose. But leave B04 10 aside the doubtful theory and take a hard look at the premise: B04 11 Where are the jolting cuts at the state and local levels? The B04 12 broad, outrageous truth is that while nearly every other corner of B04 13 American life has had to economize lately - even the Postal Service B04 14 is downsizing, for heaven's sake - the governments closest to home B04 15 have just kept growing and growing and growing.

B04 16 To be fair, much of it is to attend to mandates from the next B04 17 level up. A lot, however, is just nest feathering or the building B04 18 of empires. Nor is this the first thing cut, either; that honor B04 19 usually belongs to library hours. But before revving up the fiscal B04 20 engines, consider our favorite measurement arrow, the payroll.

B04 21 The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that growth B04 22 in state and local employment - mostly the latter - actually B04 23 accelerated between July 1991 and last month. As the rest of the B04 24 nation cinched its belt, 250,000 more names were added to the 15 B04 25 million on these payrolls, which include school districts. B04 26 Seasonally adjusted numbers show this increase continued as spring B04 27 became summer, when the start of an 'austere' new fiscal year was B04 28 finally supposed to cut into the ranks. And it's not all because of B04 29 a youth-jobs program, either.

B04 30 BLS has broken down the numbers by states, through June. In B04 31 some instances, there's evidence of real tightening: in B04 32 Massachusetts, New York and Illinois. Elsewhere, some progress on B04 33 the state rolls has been undone at the various local levels, which B04 34 are often adjuncts of state government; this mixed record is true B04 35 in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, California and especially Florida. B04 36 Finally, there are states growing fatter in both categories; B04 37 Wisconsin, Arkansas, Washington, Hawaii and, most strikingly, B04 38 Texas. While Ann Richards was wowing the press corps, the public B04 39 payroll grew by more than 30,000, or nearly 3%, over the past year B04 40 in her strapped state.

B04 41 An organization of conservative elected representatives, the B04 42 American Legislative Exchange Council, this month fleshed out the B04 43 municipal side of the story. The nation's mayors are constantly B04 44 caterwauling about federal cutbacks, but ALEC found that though B04 45 Washington is sending the cities less to administer, overall B04 46 federal aid to urban residents increased in the 1980s.

B04 47 More important, the statehouses and the tax bases of the cities B04 48 themselves more than made up the revenue difference - $3.57 for B04 49 every federal dollar lost. New York City over this period gained $7 B04 50 for every $1 it gave up.

B04 51 Detroit and St. Louis lost ground in funding, but they also B04 52 suffered huge depopulation during the 1980s. But some shrinking B04 53 cities, Atlanta and Philadelphia in particular, made out like B04 54 bandits, according to the ALEC study. And Washington, D.C., which B04 55 lost a quarter of its population during the cunning Marion Barry B04 56 years, not only collected considerably more locally, it B04 57 increased its federal handle.

B04 58 Denizens of the nation's capital know that the boodle didn't go B04 59 toward improved public services. What was it spent on, in cities B04 60 across the U.S.? ALEC found the biggest gainers, more than the B04 61 woeful schools and hospitals, were the public-housing bureaucracies B04 62 and mass transit. The culprit? Inefficiency. ALEC calculated that B04 63 operating costs, adjusted for inflation and population changes, B04 64 rose an average of 28% in the 1980s in 41 surveyed cities. The B04 65 biggest leap was in the District of Columbia, but New York, San B04 66 Jose and San Francisco were close behind.

B04 67 The reason, according the ALEC, comes <-|>to down to having too B04 68 many people on staff, and paying them too much relative to the B04 69 private sector. Not only has this practice been unabated by the B04 70 downturn, but specialists in public finance seem to think it will B04 71 continue.

B04 72 And why not? The Center for the Study of the States reports B04 73 that state tax revenue was up 8.9% for the second quarter of 1992 B04 74 over the same period a year ago. It attributes the bulge to the B04 75 higher taxes enacted last year during the supposed fiscal crises. B04 76 The payroll numbers nationwide confirm that this money is being B04 77 extracted from gaunt taxpayers to perpetuate flabbiness in B04 78 government. It lies with the voters to stop the bloat.

B04 79 B04 80 The Korea-China Calculus

B04 81 It had to happen that South Korea and China would finally go B04 82 public with their status as political bedfellows. The two announced B04 83 in Beijing that they are normalizing diplomatic relations. Now is B04 84 the time to start thinking about how to help Taiwan.

B04 85 Ties between China and South Korea have been growing at North B04 86 Korea's expense since the late 1980s. China's tyrants don't mind B04 87 running their own communist state, but they expect better sense B04 88 from their friends. And China's party leaders have apparently B04 89 noticed that their old flame, gaunt communist North Korea doesn't B04 90 stack up to the rich, democratic-capitalist South.

B04 91 So far, so good. We can all celebrate this Beijing-Seoul B04 92 embrace as one more way of isolating communist North Korea, and so B04 93 bringing Asia one move closer to polishing off the regional end B04 94 games of the Cold War.

B04 95 The dark side of this otherwise pleasant development, however, B04 96 is that Pyongyang is not the only place in Asia where a government B04 97 is waking up lonelier today for Seoul's tryst with Beijing. The B04 98 other odd man out is the democratizing Nationalist Chinese B04 99 government on Taiwan.

B04 100 This is where the world's leading democracies would be wise to B04 101 step in as a friend and escort, right away. It is not remotely in B04 102 the interest of peace, stability or generally ending the Cold War B04 103 in Asia to isolate Taiwan further. By virtue of its trade, B04 104 investment and brilliantly successful economic example, Taiwan B04 105 happens to be one of the most powerful forces engendering liberal B04 106 change in mainland China.

B04 107 Now, however, Taiwan stands alone as China's declared prey in B04 108 the region, recognized by only 29 countries, while 197 others B04 109 recognize the communist mainland regime. Notified last week, of B04 110 Seoul's imminent diplomatic shift, Taipei pre-empted the break by B04 111 announcing that it would freeze out South Korea - cutting B04 112 diplomatic ties, suspending all air links as of September 15 and B04 113 ending preferential trade treatment.

B04 114 The actions of both Seoul and Taipei are understandable. South B04 115 Korea in recognizing China is seeking foremost to eliminate the B04 116 immediate local threat posed by North Korea. And Seoul, in ditching B04 117 the democratizing capitalists of Taipei for the communists of B04 118 Beijing, is following a precedent set in the 1970s by many free B04 119 countries that have pandered to China with far less to gain. On B04 120 Taiwan, President Lee Teng-hui is under pressure to take some B04 121 face-saving action against South Korea. Democratization on Taiwan B04 122 has come far enough so that President Lee must answer to an B04 123 electorate that is irate over this latest diplomatic defection. B04 124 Taiwan's people have been throwing bricks at the South Korean B04 125 Embassy in Taipei, and boycotting dealers of South Korea's Hyundai B04 126 cars.

B04 127 But the important fight here is not the current tiff between B04 128 Taiwan and South Korea. What matters on a world scale is the basic B04 129 fight to end the communism that continues to endanger the peace in B04 130 East Asia. China is for South Korea a convenient bedfellow right B04 131 now, but not a worthy one. The world's democracies could greatly B04 132 lessen the blow to Taiwan by moving fast to show that they B04 133 appreciate their natural friends.

B04 134 America, instead of threatening to wall out China-made B04 135 underwear in the name of supporting free trade and human rights, B04 136 could more clearly and consistently penalize China's faults simply B04 137 by showing support for Taiwan's virtues. The General Agreement of B04 138 Tariffs and Trade could stop holding up Taipei's application B04 139 pending Beijing's admission, and wave Taiwan through the gate B04 140 first. The goal should be to insure that South Korea's gain is a B04 141 loss of status not for Taiwan and Chinese liberalism, but for B04 142 communism in Asia.

B04 143 B04 144 The Clintons and the Lawyers

B04 145 President Bush claimed last week that Bill Clinton "is B04 146 being backed by practically every trial lawyer who ever wore a B04 147 tasseled loafer." But don't take his word for it. Listen to B04 148 the trial lawyers who know Mr. Clinton best.

B04 149 "I can never remember an occasion," writes B04 150 David H. Williams, when Mr. Clinton "failed to do the right B04 151 thing where we trial lawyers were concerned." Mr. Williams B04 152 should know. As president of the Arkansas Trial Lawyers B04 153 Association, he's been sending out fund-raising pleas for Governor B04 154 Clinton to his fellow plaintiff's attorneys around the country.

B04 155 "Can I recommend that your folks put their money behind B04 156 Bill Clinton for president? Not just yes, but hell yes," B04 157 Mr. Williams wrote on July 10 to the head of the Houston trial B04 158 lawyers' group. "Dig down deep and give."

B04 159 Some of our best friends are lawyers, but their solicitude as a B04 160 class for Mr. Clinton deserves more exposure than it's so far B04 161 received. The decline of the U.S. justice system is one of the B04 162 major political issues of the 1990s. A nation that has 70% of the B04 163 world's lawyers, and its most backlogged courts, is in danger of B04 164 becoming less a nation of laws than a nation of lawyers and B04 165 lawsuits.

B04 166 Studies out of Brookings and elsewhere have estimated the B04 167 burden of lawsuits on the economy from $120 billion to as much as B04 168 $300 billion a year. But the social cost may be even higher. The B04 169 threat of lawsuits has stopped the development of birth-control B04 170 devices and made delivering babies a high-risk profession. A family B04 171 is now suing in Maryland because of injuries its daughter sustained B04 172 playing high school football. Her enterprising attorney claims the B04 173 board of education failed to warn her of football's risks, a sport B04 174 whose violence is on TV every autumn weekend. Had she been barred B04 175 from playing, of course, the school could have been sued for Title B04 176 IX sex discrimination. Now the costs of her playing will be borne B04 177 by the school district's taxpayers - not to mention that some judge B04 178 may well force them to drop football.

B04 179 This social impact, by the way, is why Hillary Clinton's legal B04 180 ideas are a legitimate issue, contrary to the view that every B04 181 criticism of her intellect is somehow unfair. Pat Buchanan and B04 182 other Republicans strain credibility when they say she equates B04 183 'marriage' with 'slavery'. It's her advocacy of "children's B04 184 rights" that is fair game. Mrs. Clinton has said that B04 185 children should be "competent persons" under the B04 186 law with standing to sue.

B04 187 The law already allows for this in cases of abuse, as it B04 188 should, but Mrs. Clinton wants to go much further. B04 189 "Decisions about motherhood and abortion, schooling, B04 190 cosmetic surgery, treatment of venereal disease, or employment, and B04 191 others where the decision or lack of one will significantly affect B04 192 the child's future should not be made unilaterally by B04 193 parents," she wrote in 1979. This is the sort of litigation B04 194 liberalism that uses 'rights' as a cudgel against the common sense B04 195 decisions of communities. (In a letter nearby, the Children's B04 196 Defense Fund denies that it's litigious.)

B04 197 This world view is also why the plaintiff's bar so loves B04 198 Clinton&Clinton. In Mr. Williams's fund-raising letter, he explains B04 199 how legal reform was stopped dead in Arkansas in 1987. "We B04 200 immediately got on the horn to the Governor about this and the tort B04 201 reform part of the legislative package was pulled," Mr. B04 202 Williams boasts. "It has never come back up."

B04 203 He can barely contain himself. "During another session, B04 204 I remember a bill that had whistled through the Arkansas House and B04 205 Senate that would have given immunity from liability to 'good B04 206 Samaritan' doctors who provided medical care to indigent B04 207 patients," the trial lawyer writes. "Once again we B04 208 got on the horn" to Governor Clinton, who vetoed the bill. B04 209 This is the same candidate who claims to be outraged by the lack of B04 210 health insurance for the poor.

B04 211 B05 1 <#FROWN:B05\>The Primary Results

B05 2 Tuesday's primary election had more than its share of surprises B05 3 and close races. The voter turnout in the Savannah area - somewhere B05 4 around 50 percent - was encouraging as well.

B05 5 The biggest shocker on the local scene was Joe Mahany's upset B05 6 of incumbent Chatham County Commission Chairman Robert McCorkle in B05 7 the Democratic primary. Mr. McCorkle, who has served on the B05 8 commission for 22 years, was beaten by Mr. Mahany by nearly a B05 9 2-to-1 margin.

B05 10 The chairman's defeat by members of his own party is a clear B05 11 indication that voters want a change in leadership. The victor, Mr. B05 12 Mahany, will face one of two Republicans, Commissioner Julie Smith B05 13 or Ray Gaster, who were the top vote-getters in the Republican B05 14 primary. No matter who wins in the November general election, B05 15 Chatham Countians will begin 1993 with a new commission chairman on B05 16 board.

B05 17 In other contests, the crowded fields in the 1st District and B05 18 11th District congressional races virtually guaranteed runoff B05 19 elections, which will be held Aug. 11. Barbara Christmas, a B05 20 Democrat, ran a strong campaign in the 1st District and will face B05 21 either Buddy DeLoach or Bryan Ginn in the runoff. That winner will B05 22 run against State Rep. Jack Kingston of Savannah, who easily won B05 23 the Republican nomination.

B05 24 In the newly-drawn 11th District, Cynthia McKinney and George B05 25 DeLoach will vie for the Democratic nod, while Republicans Woodrow B05 26 Lovett and Savannahian Michael Pratt will fight to carry their B05 27 party's flag. All four have an unenviable task, since this crazily B05 28 configured district stretches from Atlanta to Augusta to B05 29 Savannah.

B05 30 In various judgeship races, Charles Mikell handily won the B05 31 election for Superior Court judge, proving that his experience on B05 32 the State Court bench paid off. State Supreme Court Justice Leah B05 33 Sears-Collins, a Savannah native, won her race to keep her seat, B05 34 guaranteeing a measure of diversity on the high court.

B05 35 One disappointment was the statewide race between Labor B05 36 Commissioner Al Scott and challenger David Poythress for the B05 37 Democratic nomination. Mr. Scott has been doing an admirable job as B05 38 labor commissioner; Mr. Poythress has been manufacturing issues and B05 39 tossing mud. Unfortunately, the below-the-belt tactics apparently B05 40 had an impact in the three-person race (Savannahian Frances Bright B05 41 Johnson did surprisingly well) and Mr. Scott and Mr. Poythress go B05 42 into the runoff.

B05 43 On a more upbeat note, local voters wisely chose to return B05 44 Dorothy Pelote and Tom Bordeaux to the Georgia House. There, they B05 45 will be rejoined by Diane Harvey Johnson, who had little trouble B05 46 reclaiming her old House seat.

B05 47 On the Chatham County Commission, Republican David Saussy B05 48 turned back former chairman Bill Stephenson's bid to get back on B05 49 the board in the 1st District. He goes on to face Democrat Marty B05 50 Felser. Incumbent Deanie Frazier was the leading vote-getter in the B05 51 5th District, but Democratic challenger Clifton Jones Jr. forced B05 52 her into a runoff. In the 7th District, Eddie DeLoach won his race B05 53 and will follow in the footsteps of his father, outgoing B05 54 Commissioner James DeLoach.

B05 55 In school board races, congratulations are in order for B05 56 incumbents Daniel Washington and Andy Way and former State Rep. B05 57 DeWayne Hamilton. All three won their respective nominations, and B05 58 Mr. Washington and Mr. Hamilton will join the board because they B05 59 have no opposition in the fall. Mr. Way, a Republican, goes on to B05 60 face Democrat K.B. Raut.

B05 61 Credit is also due Tax Commissioner Barbara Kiley, who handily B05 62 won the Democratic nomination. She meets Republican Bill Atkinson B05 63 in November.

B05 64 A final winner Tuesday was the voting public. Getting people to B05 65 the polls for primaries isn't easy. Yet, half the voters in Chatham B05 66 County did their duty.

B05 67 That's a positive trend. It's also one that the public, and the B05 68 politicians, should try to build on through November and beyond.

B05 69 B05 70 President Should Settle Up

B05 71 Some local Democrats are getting some cheap laughs at the B05 72 expense of President Bush, who still owes the city some $14,000 for B05 73 a campaign visit here back in March.

B05 74 Actually, that's not too surprising. Most politicians are B05 75 notoriously slow in paying their debts. Sitting presidents are no B05 76 exception.

B05 77 Still, it would behoove the president if he settled up with B05 78 City Hall sometime soon. While the delinquency isn't going to mean B05 79 a thing to most voters, it has to be a little embarrassing to his B05 80 supporters.

B05 81 Besides, it's not as if he's strapped for cash. Published B05 82 reports say that his campaign is sitting on a $7 million surplus B05 83 from his primary campaign fund that he has to spend before the B05 84 Republican convention, so as to qualify for federal campaign funds B05 85 in the general election.

B05 86 Coming across with $14,000 for the city of Savannah should be B05 87 painless. And while that's not a lot of money to the city either, B05 88 local taxpayers shouldn't have to foot the bills for political B05 89 rallies, no matter which party stages them.

B05 90 Thousands of area residents jammed the riverfront to see and B05 91 hear the president. He got its money's worth for the pre-Georgia B05 92 primary pick-me-up. Now he should finish the job and pick up the B05 93 tab.

B05 94 B05 95 An Unpleasant Surprise

B05 96 A month ago, Savannah seemed on its way to getting a 5-percent B05 97 cut in federal flood insurance premiums. That was welcome news for B05 98 residents and business owners who could use the discount.

B05 99 But lately, representatives for the Federal Emergency B05 100 Management Agency changed their mind. The agency says it won't cut B05 101 rates because of "serious deficiencies" in flood B05 102 control here.

B05 103 Why the sudden turnabout? And more importantly, how can it be B05 104 resolved?

B05 105 Taxpayers are spending millions of public dollars to improve B05 106 drainage in the community. Not so long ago, FEMA was applauding B05 107 Savannah for some of the measures it was taking to improve flood B05 108 control and reduce the risk of flood damage. Happily, it looked as B05 109 though the investment would soon be paying off through reduced B05 110 insurance premiums.

B05 111 Now it appears the anticipated rate cut may be headed down the B05 112 drain.

B05 113 The feds are faulting the city for allowing five buildings - B05 114 four private homes, scattered from Coffee Bluff to west Savannah, B05 115 and the Goodwill Industries building - to be built below the B05 116 nationally designated flood plain without adequate protection.

B05 117 They also contend that several structures were given B05 118 certificates of occupancy before the elevation was formally B05 119 established, as required by FEMA regulations.

B05 120 City Manager Don Mendonsa says this is the first he has heard B05 121 about any problems. He says all previous contacts with the agency B05 122 had been positive.

B05 123 But Glenn Woodard, who works for the state Department of B05 124 Natural Resources and serves as FEMA's representative, tells a B05 125 different story. He contends that trouble was spotted last B05 126 November, and that state and federal officials have unsuccessfully B05 127 prodded the city for months to make corrections.

B05 128 It's clear that a breakdown occurred somewhere. But what's most B05 129 important is to correct what's wrong so Savannahians can save a B05 130 little money on their premiums.

B05 131 Mr. Mendonsa says he will send a detailed explanation to FEMA B05 132 about the buildings constructed below the flood plain. That's a B05 133 start. Perhaps the agency can be persuaded to change its mind. B05 134 After that, city and FEMA officials need to do a better job of B05 135 comparing notes so that such unhappy surprises don't happen B05 136 again.

B05 137 B05 138 Ugly Campaign Tactics

B05 139 Responsible voters in Georgia have reason to be concerned about B05 140 the tone and direction of the state labor commissioner's race.

B05 141 Al Scott, the incumbent labor commissioner, is the target of a B05 142 barrage of ugly charges from challenger David Poythress, who has B05 143 wound up opposing the incumbent in a runoff set for August.

B05 144 A Savannahian and a former state legislator, Mr. Scott has B05 145 performed capably at the Department of Labor, but you wouldn't know B05 146 that if you listen to his opponent.

B05 147 It is fair for a candidate to question his opponent's B05 148 qualifications and competence. But Mr. Poythress goes well beyond B05 149 that. He exceeds the limits of fairness. He emphasizes at every B05 150 opportunity the race of Mr. Scott. This is blatant. There's nothing B05 151 subtle about it.

B05 152 A black, Mr. Scott was appointed to his post by Gov. Zell B05 153 Miller. He is the first person of his race to hold the statewide B05 154 office.

B05 155 In addition, Mr. Poythress claims Mr. Scott took a bribe. This B05 156 is an unsubstantiated charge that is not borne out by the FBI tapes B05 157 Mr. Poythress claims are supportive of his allegations.

B05 158 The tapes were made by an undercover agent operating a 'sting' B05 159 against another state legislator. The legislator, Rep. Frank B05 160 Redding, has not been convicted. A mistrial was declared in his B05 161 case. Al Scott was a government witness at the trial. He was not a B05 162 co-defendant.

B05 163 If the investigators had evidence that Mr. Scott took money for B05 164 his vote, why wouldn't they have sought his indictment along with B05 165 Rep. Redding?

B05 166 If they had suspected Mr. Scott, wouldn't they have gone to him B05 167 and tried to trap him the same way they set up a trap for Mr. B05 168 Redding?

B05 169 Mr. Poythress also complained to the State Ethics Commission B05 170 about Mr. Scott, claiming the incumbent broke the rules on raising B05 171 campaign money. The commission dismissed the complaint.

B05 172 Ironically, Mr. Poythress is supported by the forces of former B05 173 Labor Commissioner Sam Caldwell, who was forced to resign his B05 174 office under a cloud of scandal and wound up spending time in jail. B05 175 Mr. Poythress obviously is not as sensitive about his support as he B05 176 is about Mr. Scott's alleged conduct.

B05 177 Political contests should be settled at the polls by citizens B05 178 who are not confused or misled by unconfirmed rumors and charges. B05 179 We deplore this type of political attack whenever and wherever it B05 180 is made. We hate to see it happening in Georgia.

B05 181 B05 182 Jones Falls; Newt Hangs On

B05 183 Among those who got jolted in the Georgia primary voting was B05 184 Democratic Rep. Ben Jones, the former TV actor. Among those who got B05 185 scared but escaped defeat was Republican Rep. Newt Gingrich.

B05 186 Rep. Jones fared poorly in a Democratic race won by state B05 187 legislator Don Johnson. Mr. Johnson, chairman of the state Senate B05 188 Appropriations Committee, accused Rep. Jones of working for perks B05 189 and privileges, voting against voluntary prayer in school, and B05 190 being out of touch with voters in eastern Georgia's 10th B05 191 District.

B05 192 "The commercials and the rumors and things like that B05 193 are as tough as we've ever faced," Mr. Jones complained. B05 194 Yes, they were tough. But they summed up his House stint pretty B05 195 well. He has been doggedly liberal.

B05 196 Mr. Johnson, however, is not home free. He must still survive a B05 197 fall contest.

B05 198 Newt Gingrich, the House minority whip and Georgia's only B05 199 Republican in Congress, edged Herman Clark, a former state B05 200 legislator who ridiculed Mr. Gingrich for writing bad checks, B05 201 voting himself a pay raise and using a limousine. In this case, the B05 202 criticism was also fair because Rep. Gingrich did all those things. B05 203 But he was not a major culprit in the House overdraft scandal, he B05 204 apologized for having been involved, and he voted to publicize the B05 205 names of all those who had written overdrafts. He redeemed himself B05 206 somewhat by properly supporting openness and reform of the system B05 207 that brought about the scandal. He also has given up his B05 208 limousine.

B05 209 One of Mr. Gingrich's prime virtues as a congressman is his B05 210 ability to put burrs under the saddles of the Democratic House B05 211 leadership. For that reason, Democrats will work hard to beat him B05 212 in the fall. But the minority whip's abrasiveness doesn't void the B05 213 fact that what he says often needs to be said. Washington wouldn't B05 214 be quite the same without him.

B05 215 B05 216 Keeping Up With Crooks

B05 217 The days of the police six-shooters became numbered when more B05 218 criminals started packing semiautomatic pistols. The Chatham C B05 219 ounty Police Department is the latest to modernize.

B05 220 County police officers are being issued .45-caliber pistols, B05 221 which hold 8-shot clips, to replace their 5- or 6-shot .38 B05 222 revolvers.

B05 223 It's good that officers will be less likely to be out-gunned. B05 224 With more sophisticated hardware on the market, those who protect B05 225 and serve shouldn't be put at a disadvantage.

B05 226 B05 227 Still Needed: Great Orators

B05 228 Great oratory is still missing from the presidential election B05 229 campaign.

B05 230 Most of us who like it are still smarting from President Bush's B05 231 lackluster State of the Union address in January.

B05 232 B06 1 <#FROWN:B06\>Bush gets back in the game

B06 2 "Good judgment," George Bush said, launching B06 3 into the hardest part of his acceptance speech at the Republican B06 4 National Convention, "comes from experience, and experience B06 5 comes from bad judgment."

B06 6 He then went on to confess that "with my back against B06 7 the wall," he made a "bad call" in 1990 on B06 8 "the Democrats' tax increase." It was, he said, a B06 9 "mistake" he would not repeat in a second term.

B06 10 Not to raise taxes wasn't the only lesson he learned in his B06 11 first term. He also learned not to make ironclad pledges like the B06 12 one he had to explain away Thursday.

B06 13 His acceptance speech contained nothing remotely similar to his B06 14 1988 vow of "no new taxes." Even his promise of B06 15 possible across-the-board tax cuts was carefully hedged: He will B06 16 "propose" such cuts, to be offset with "specific B06 17 spending reductions that I consider appropriate, so that we do not B06 18 increase the deficit."

B06 19 Bush did not win the election with his speech. But he did get B06 20 himself back in the game. He displayed spirit and determination, B06 21 combined with an appearance of mastery and control that had seemed B06 22 to elude him for many months.

B06 23 For that matter, his running mate, Vice President Dan Quayle, B06 24 also showed himself to better advantage than he customarily does. B06 25 Quayle was no Pericles, but neither was he a laughingstock.

B06 26 Bush left no doubt that he intends to try to repeat the 1948 B06 27 strategy of Democrat Harry Truman: run hard against a do-nothing B06 28 Congress dominated by the opposition. Given the bad odor that B06 29 currently envelops Congress, it could be both a successful gambit B06 30 and a justified one.

B06 31 Bush's speech was filled with derisive references to the B06 32 "gridlock Democrat Congress," and he persistently B06 33 linked opponent Bill Clinton to Congress and its financially B06 34 undisciplined ways.

B06 35 But Bush led, appropriately, with his strength: foreign policy. B06 36 He sketched the dramatic changes over the last four years in the B06 37 geopolitical landscape and claimed a rightful share of the B06 38 credit:

B06 39 "I saw the chance to rid our children's dreams of the B06 40 nuclear nightmare, and I did. Over the past four years, more people B06 41 have breathed the fresh air of freedom than in all of human B06 42 history. I saw a chance to help, and I did. These were the two B06 43 defining opportunities - not of a year, not of a decade, but of an B06 44 entire span of human history."

B06 45 But celebrating his foreign policy triumphs was the easy part. B06 46 Bush's real challenge was to persuade the American people that he B06 47 has a domestic vision and a plausible program to get the economy B06 48 moving again.

B06 49 The vision was captured in a couple of sentences: "The B06 50 defining challenge of the '90s is to win the economic competition - B06 51 to win the peace. We must be a military superpower, an economic B06 52 superpower and an export superpower."

B06 53 The economic program was more problematic, largely because of B06 54 the issue of taxes and the sense of betrayal that many people - B06 55 especially conservatives of his own party - feel because of Bush's B06 56 abandonment of his no-new-taxes pledge.

B06 57 The president made the necessary apology. But, hewing to his B06 58 overall theme, he laid the blame principally on the Democrats. B06 59 "I underestimated Congress' addiction to taxes," he B06 60 explained.

B06 61 Except for the suggestion of tax reductions and a gimmicky plan B06 62 to let taxpayers earmark 10 percent of their payments for debt B06 63 reduction, Bush proposed nothing economically that he had not B06 64 offered before. That's good, because anything he could have B06 65 proposed probably would have been irresponsible.

B06 66 What was different was the perspective in which he placed his B06 67 proposals: as the sharp, "whom do you trust?" B06 68 alternative to the alleged profligacy of Congress and a Democratic B06 69 presidential nominee who already has spoken of new spending and a B06 70 new tax increase.

B06 71 Indeed, the question for voters in November is the one that B06 72 Bush returned to again and again in his speech: Whom do you trust? B06 73 Bush has made himself, once again, a plausible answer.

B06 74 B06 75 It's time for these to go

B06 76 A political campaign is often filled with a language all its B06 77 own. Fortunately, outsiders aren't usually subjected to it unless B06 78 they wander into the wrong bar on election night.

B06 79 Not this time. The 1992 presidential campaign is in serious B06 80 danger of being captured by the clich<*_>e-acute<*/>d interests. A B06 81 plea to the campaigns: Stop it.

B06 82 For instance, there is the once-pithy five-word phrase that B06 83 emanated from the anger over the Senate Judiciary Committee B06 84 hearings into Clarence Thomas' nomination to the Supreme Court: B06 85 "They just don't get it."

B06 86 For a brief time, "they just don't get it" B06 87 meant something. It was directed by women toward men who thought B06 88 that women got some hidden pleasure out of crude, graphic pickup B06 89 lines or other forms of sexual harassment. It has been diluted into B06 90 a clich<*_>e-acute<*/> line uttered by any politician or B06 91 single-issue activist to describe the other side. Just the other B06 92 night, Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) searched for a way to describe how B06 93 Democrats have responded to the fall of communism, and he settled B06 94 on, "They just don't get it." Three times he said B06 95 it. Enough.

B06 96 Next up, the multiplying variations of Lloyd Bentsen's B06 97 "I knew John Kennedy" quip. It was one of the most B06 98 memorable lines of the 1988 campaign, used by the Democratic vice B06 99 presidential nominee to put down his GOP counterpart, Dan Quayle. B06 100 "I knew John Kennedy," Bentsen told Quayle, and ... B06 101 everyone knows the rest. Now it is a standard campaign put-down.

B06 102 Granted, it was used quite cleverly by Ronald Reagan B06 103 ("I knew Thomas Jefferson"), who managed to be B06 104 charmingly self-deprecating while he took a slap at Bill Clinton. B06 105 But Quayle couldn't leave it alone. He had to trot out his own B06 106 version in his acceptance speech Thursday night and, predictably, B06 107 it fell flat.

B06 108 Remember, Bentsen lost.

B06 109 The leading candidate for future clich<*_>e-acute<*/> status B06 110 has to be, "It's time for them to go." This is a B06 111 surprise, because it was a clumsy, instantly forgettable conceit B06 112 when Al Gore used it at the Democratic convention. But the B06 113 Republicans revived it at their convention, and it was as clumsy B06 114 and forgettable for them as it was for the Democrats. So, forget B06 115 it.

B06 116 Drop the political clich<*_>e-acute<*/>s. Before it's too B06 117 late.

B06 118 B06 119 The taxman's knocking on the door

B06 120 This is dodge-the-bullet week for Cook County property owners. B06 121 In the next few days, a postcard will hit the mailbox with all the B06 122 impact of a brick hurled through a window. It'll be the property B06 123 tax bill - more specifically, and confusingly, the second B06 124 installment of the 1991 tax bill, payable nine months into 1992.

B06 125 Some homeowners will greet the bill with a sigh of relief. It B06 126 will be high, a little higher than last year, but not too dramatic. B06 127 These are the folks who didn't go through reassessment roulette in B06 128 the past year. Chances are, though, they have a pretty good idea B06 129 when the assessor next will darken their door.

B06 130 Many homeowners in Chicago will be astonished when they see B06 131 their bills. They were reassessed in the past year, and chances are B06 132 their property assessments soared. Those who were savvy enough to B06 133 calculate the reassessment's impact when that notice arrived will B06 134 have some inkling of what to expect. But many people aren't that B06 135 savvy, and the bill will come as a shock.

B06 136 The reassessment notice's "fair market value" B06 137 probably didn't reflect their property's true value. The tax due B06 138 will have little to do with their ability to pay it.

B06 139 And this passes for tax policy in Illinois.

B06 140 The new tax rates issued last week are another reminder of how B06 141 confusing, and often unfair, the property tax system has become. B06 142 Anyone attempting to figure out one's own bill in advance has to B06 143 run a daunting gantlet of figures: assessment, state equalizer, B06 144 homeowner's exemption, new tax rate.

B06 145 Property taxes can have a depressing effect on a community's B06 146 ability to draw business and industry, and often the biggest burden B06 147 falls on those towns that most desperately need more business and B06 148 jobs.

B06 149 The new tax rate in Dixmoor (14.639) is more than twice the B06 150 rate in Lincolnwood (7.162), largely because property values in the B06 151 southern suburb are much lower than those in the northern suburb. B06 152 But kids in Dixmoor still have to go to school, fires have to be B06 153 doused, police have to be on patrol. Without a strong property tax B06 154 base, the burden on property owners has to be that much higher.

B06 155 Property tax caps in the collar counties will help dampen the B06 156 rise in bills, and a law that delays the use of new reassessments B06 157 for one year in Cook County will cause some easing of the confusion B06 158 and suburban 'sticker shock' next year.

B06 159 But if property owners want relief from their tax bills, they B06 160 will have to acknowledge that the burden must shift to some other B06 161 tax. And they will have to encourage the Illinois legislature to B06 162 accomplish this.

B06 163 At this point, too many people in the legislature are too B06 164 petrified of a tax-backlash to consider a shift that would lower B06 165 property taxes and raise income taxes. They expect they would get B06 166 the blame for the tax increase and no credit for a drop in property B06 167 taxes.

B06 168 Maybe they just need a little encouragement.

B06 169 B06 170 China and South Korea make up

B06 171 In late August 1950, as events moved toward China's entry into B06 172 the Korean War, the Chinese government declared: "North B06 173 Korea's friends are our friends. North Korea's enemy is our enemy. B06 174 North Korea's defense is our defense."

B06 175 Forty-two years later, North Korea has almost no friends left B06 176 and its economy is collapsing. Meanwhile, an infinitely more B06 177 pragmatic China makes common cause with the North's enemy, B06 178 capitalist South Korea, and worries along with the rest of the B06 179 world about North Korea's nuclear intentions.

B06 180 Dramatic evidence of how things have changed came Monday when B06 181 South Korea and China, putting economic aspirations ahead of B06 182 ideological differences, signed an agreement restoring diplomatic B06 183 relations.

B06 184 Clearly, both Seoul and Beijing recognized that formally ending B06 185 decades of enmity could further the already robust trade and B06 186 investment activity between them. And neither, understandably B06 187 enough, was willing to be held back by outmoded policies.

B06 188 "The normalization of ties between our two countries B06 189 marks a significant turning point in world history in that it B06 190 heralds the beginning of the end of the Cold War in East B06 191 Asia," South Korean President Roh Taewoo told Koreans in a B06 192 televised speech.

B06 193 For his part, Chinese Premier Li Peng declared that the B06 194 official rapprochement "has great significance for peace B06 195 and development in Asia and the world."

B06 196 The new relationship comes at the expense of a couple of old B06 197 ones. In Seoul, Taiwan lost standing as South Korea accepted that B06 198 the Beijing government is "the sole legal government of B06 199 China." And North Korea, despite China's assertions that it B06 200 remains a friend and ally, is now more isolated than ever.

B06 201 How the totalitarian regime of President Kim Il-sung reacts to B06 202 its worsening situation is a crucial question.

B06 203 If there is any political wisdom at all in Pyongyang, North B06 204 Korea will begin to moderate its austere, oppressive policies now B06 205 that it can no longer expect any real support from China.

B06 206 Beijing would like the North to get on with the process of B06 207 reunification with South Korea. Movement in this direction has B06 208 snagged on Pyongyang's failure to live up to an agreement calling B06 209 for inspections of nuclear facilities in both North and South B06 210 Korea.

B06 211 Neither South Korea nor the West believes North Korea's B06 212 contention that its Yongbyon nuclear complex is for peaceful B06 213 purposes only. In fact, the fear is that the North is trying to B06 214 build nuclear weapons. Hence the urgent need for rigorous B06 215 inspections.

B06 216 Until the world is satisfied that North Korea poses no danger B06 217 of triggering a nuclear weapon, welcome news like the China-South B06 218 Korea deal cannot be received with the wholehearted joy it B06 219 deserves.

B06 220 B06 221 A military stance that's hard to defend

B06 222 Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer served as an Army officer for 26 B06 223 years. Along the way, she won a Bronze Star during the Tet B06 224 offensive in Vietnam, earned a Ph.D. in nursing and rose to the B06 225 position of chief nurse of the Washington State National Guard.

B06 226 B07 1 <#FROWN:B07\>The school board must move on reform

B07 2 Those who put together the Chicago school reform law had a B07 3 clear intent: to bust up the central bureaucracy under which B07 4 education had so sadly deteriorated and to push decision-making and B07 5 dollars down into local schools.

B07 6 From long experience, though, legislators and reform advocates B07 7 were wary about whether the bureaucracy would willingly redefine B07 8 itself. So they built in an enforcement mechanism, adding B07 9 educational and administrative reform to the oversight B07 10 responsibilities of the School Finance Authority.

B07 11 The reform architects' fear proved unfortunately justified. B07 12 Despite the seating of a new school board, the hiring of a B07 13 superintendent from outside the system and the explicit mandates in B07 14 the 1988 law, the status-quo crowd at Pershing Road headquarters B07 15 has generally prevailed, fighting true decentralization at every B07 16 turn.

B07 17 Now the finance authority, after four years of frustrating B07 18 struggle on the issue, has finally said to the school board: B07 19 enough. The authority is insisting that the board develop a B07 20 realistic, meaningful reform plan.

B07 21 The reform plan as outlined by the School Finance Authority is B07 22 not flawless. Neither is the amended version the board is to vote B07 23 on today. There are inherent risks in sweeping dispersal of B07 24 decision-making, and the process cannot be expected to work B07 25 perfectly.

B07 26 But it's clear that what exists has not been effective. And B07 27 it's clear the authority is only doing its duty -to the law and to B07 28 the children of Chicago -after the board failed to do its own.

B07 29 Some board members, administrators and their supporters have B07 30 put up an ugly, vitriolic battle. But let's call this fight for B07 31 what it is.

B07 32 It isn't, as imputed by the likes of State Rep. Monique Davis B07 33 -who just happens to be a $54,971 school board administrator -a B07 34 power grab by white business interests or a fifth column for school B07 35 vouchers. This is a fight by the school superintendent, his staff B07 36 and his allies to hold onto power that, by law, they no longer B07 37 possess. This is purely a matter of their own political and B07 38 personal interests.

B07 39 The finance authority itself happens to be three-fifths B07 40 minority. It includes parents of Chicago public school students. B07 41 But the real issue here is what's in the interests of more than B07 42 400,000 city children. Propping up a stubborn bureaucracy is B07 43 not.

B07 44 Meanwhile, the board has until Monday to get its budget B07 45 genuinely into balance and meet a deadline for finance authority B07 46 approval. The board's arbitrary action Tuesday to void labor B07 47 contracts would not seem to make for a legally balanced budget. If B07 48 the board fails to work out a realistic spending plan, state law B07 49 would transfer even more control to the School Finance Authority. B07 50 Despite this potent threat, the board is still playing games with B07 51 bogus budgets and -incredibly -hasn't even met with teachers to B07 52 discuss options.

B07 53 The verdict's not in on whether sweeping decentralization will B07 54 make the city's schools better or even worse overall. But no one B07 55 will know until the board gives it an honest trial.

B07 56 B07 57 The ticklish politics of ethanol

B07 58 More than the heat and humidity made Gov. Jim Edgar B07 59 uncomfortable Sunday at the Illinois State Fair.

B07 60 Preparing for President Bush's campaign stop, Edgar, an B07 61 unabashed cheerleader for ethanol, wondered what Bush would tell B07 62 farmers about the future for the corn-derived alternative fuel.

B07 63 Would he side with corn growers and promote expanded markets B07 64 for ethanol? Or would he accede to those concerned about air B07 65 quality and uphold proposed restrictions on its use in some major B07 66 cities?

B07 67 Bush met privately with farm leaders, but he said nothing B07 68 publicly about ethanol. His silence bespoke volumes about the B07 69 delicate politics of clean air and special interests in this B07 70 election year.

B07 71 In Illinois, corn farmers sell about 17 percent of their crop B07 72 at premium prices to ethanol producers such as Decatur-based B07 73 Archer-Daniels-Midland. The producers, in turn, get a federal tax B07 74 subsidy to make ethanol-blended fuels competitive at the pump.

B07 75 But science has turned what would seem like an easy political B07 76 home run into a potential foul ball. Burning ethanol-blended B07 77 gasoline reduces emissions of carbon monoxide, but it also creates B07 78 more harmful ozone and smog than pure gasoline, especially on B07 79 warmer days.

B07 80 That's why William Reilly, Environmental Protection Agency B07 81 administrator, favors a proposed rule that would restrict the use B07 82 of ethanol during the summer in nine major cities, including B07 83 Chicago. The limitation would begin in 1995.

B07 84 Although they took part in negotiations on the rule last year, B07 85 the ethanol proponents say they misunderstood. Now facing slower B07 86 growth in ethanol sales, they want the rule changed, contending new B07 87 evidence will show ethanol-blended fuels can be used in the largest B07 88 cities year-round without damaging air quality.

B07 89 Corn growers have been promising such data for some time B07 90 without delivering. In the meantime, the White House is said to be B07 91 looking for a political compromise. One possibility might be to B07 92 push an ethanol derivative that meets the clean air standards and B07 93 likely can be processed in oil-company refineries.

B07 94 Such a step would please farmers because it would boost ethanol B07 95 use. Some oil companies would be happy to run the product through B07 96 their refineries, although ethanol producers, undoubtedly, would B07 97 object.

B07 98 Lost in this high-wire balancing act, unfortunately, is good B07 99 public policy. Everyone should be looking for the most efficient, B07 100 least expensive way to reduce pollution.

B07 101 Bush has reason to worry about political support from Illinois B07 102 farmers. But in seeking a compromise that won't alienate too many B07 103 voters, he shouldn't turn his back on good science and clean air in B07 104 the cities. For now, unfortunately, that means restricting B07 105 ethanol's use.

B07 106 B07 107 Is there life without political signs?

B07 108 From the Department of Laws You're Not Likely To See Passed in B07 109 Your Lifetime:

B07 110 A Lake County Board member -Larry Leafblad of Grayslake -has B07 111 this extraordinary idea that people wouldn't object if they were B07 112 deprived of political signs, posters, stickers and handbills. He B07 113 has proposed an ordinance to ban them from utility poles and road B07 114 rights-of-way and has been trying to whip up support for the idea B07 115 -a notion that is as popular with most politicians as northern B07 116 spotted owls are with loggers.

B07 117 You are familiar with this material. If you were not before the B07 118 March primary, when there were more candidates than registered B07 119 voters in Illinois, you probably were in some emirate where B07 120 elections aren't necessary. It was a banner season for political B07 121 paraphernalia, with scarcely a sign, sign post, tree, telephone B07 122 pole or highway shoulder neglected in the metropolitan area.

B07 123 It also brought the proliferation of a new concept: candidates B07 124 vying to see how many political signs they could stake B07 125 consecutively in the shortest distance along a roadway. This B07 126 presumes, apparently, that the more people see a name, the more B07 127 likely they are to remember it. But while this may enhance B07 128 recognition, it is not as entertaining as those old Burma-Shave B07 129 signs.

B07 130 Therein lies the principal objection to this campaign strategy: B07 131 It is annoying. There are some folks who plain don't like being B07 132 bombarded with political messages wherever they travel and bristle B07 133 at the unsightly nature of them, especially in the abundance they B07 134 were this spring. It is more annoying when the signs, posters, B07 135 stickers and handbills remain up long after an election. And B07 136 sometimes -when they obscure important road signs -they can be B07 137 hazardous.

B07 138 Of course, if we start passing laws just because something is B07 139 annoying, then we should pass laws just because some people are B07 140 jerks, or too silly. Hmmm.

B07 141 No one knows for sure if these messages do any good. No one B07 142 knows if they do any bad. This probably is why they are so popular. B07 143 And once the first signs appear, they breed faster than wire coat B07 144 hangers.

B07 145 Because Leafblad's proposition would have to be approved by B07 146 colleagues up for re-election, he is swimming against a strong B07 147 current. The most novel argument against his plan came from board B07 148 member Robert Depke: Since we incumbents already are known to B07 149 voters, it would be terribly unfair to our challengers to deny them B07 150 this opportunity. Is it any wonder that this guy got to be board B07 151 chairman?

B07 152 B07 153 A ruling on the law, not abortion

B07 154 Circuit Judge Thomas O'Brien issued a legal ruling, not a B07 155 political statement, when he refused to block the resumption of B07 156 abortions at Cook County Hospital.

B07 157 The judge's decision in the dispute between Cook County Board B07 158 President Richard Phelan and a handful of county commissioners will B07 159 be viewed as a victory for abortion rights and a defeat for B07 160 opponents of abortion. That's not the case. The judge was asked to B07 161 rule on the delineation of authority between Phelan and the board. B07 162 That's all he did.

B07 163 The commissioners argued that Phelan lacks the legal authority B07 164 to restore abortions at County Hospital without the board's B07 165 approval. But the court proceedings demonstrated that their B07 166 argument didn't hold up.

B07 167 No ordinance or policy rule clearly restricts the authority of B07 168 the president or hospital administrators regarding health B07 169 procedures. The obvious precedent for this case was former B07 170 President George Dunne's unilateral decision to stop abortions at B07 171 the hospital and Dunne's subsequent orders, on a case-by-case B07 172 basis, to allow them in certain circumstances. The board has never B07 173 set an explicit policy prohibiting abortion.

B07 174 Board members argued that public funds cannot be spent without B07 175 their approval, but there is no budget line item for abortion, just B07 176 as the board does not direct precisely how much money will be spent B07 177 on appendectomies, heart surgery or gunshot wounds.

B07 178 It is possible O'Brien's ruling will be overturned on appeal. B07 179 More likely, this dispute will drag on through other lawsuits once B07 180 this one is resolved. Abortion opponents are waiting in the wings B07 181 to file more litigation.

B07 182 Abortion doesn't belong in the courts; it belongs in the B07 183 legislatures. In this case, the judiciary has been asked to rule B07 184 only on government procedure and not on the appropriateness of B07 185 abortion. But it shouldn't have gone to court at all.

B07 186 O'Brien rightly called this case "a perfect example of B07 187 legislative timidity" by lawmakers who wanted the court to B07 188 be a "surrogate decision-maker." Commissioners B07 189 might yet seek a board vote on the issue, but they probably won't, B07 190 and the abortion foes don't have the votes to override a Phelan B07 191 veto, anyway.

B07 192 Abortion is a legal medical procedure, one that can be B07 193 performed at a reasonable financial cost. As long as it is legal B07 194 and not prohibitively expensive, County Hospital should provide it B07 195 for the largely indigent clientele it serves.

B07 196 One aspect of all this that has not drawn much attention is B07 197 that Phelan's plan includes several reasonable restrictions, B07 198 guidelines that probably come close to reflecting much of the B07 199 public's sentiment about the availability of abortion.

B07 200 A woman would be allowed only one abortion at the hospital in a B07 201 year's time. Abortion would be performed only in the first B07 202 trimester of pregnancy, except in cases of fetal anomalies, rape or B07 203 incest, or when the health or life of the woman is endangered. B07 204 Patients would receive counseling, including discussion of B07 205 alternatives to abortion. In effect, this would create a waiting B07 206 period. If the guidelines were followed, abortion at County B07 207 Hospital would not become a mere substitute for birth control, as B07 208 some have feared.

B07 209 This matter belongs in the County Board, not in court. If the B07 210 board doesn't have the temerity to challenge Phelan on its own B07 211 turf, it ought to leave the matter alone.

B07 212 B07 213 Bush's necessary risk in Iraq

B07 214 When a president who trails badly in a political campaign takes B07 215 military action, his motives inevitably become the object of B07 216 scrutiny. George Bush's latest move against Saddam Hussein -sending B07 217 planes to enforce a ban on Iraqi military flights in southern Iraq, B07 218 site of a rebellion by Shiite Muslims -is bound to create suspicion B07 219 that he might be exploiting an international crisis for his own B07 220 ends.

B07 221 But the president's action in this case ought to be judged on B07 222 the merits of the policy, and Bush has done what needed doing: He B07 223 has confronted the Iraqi dictator in a way that punishes him for B07 224 defying the peace terms imposed last year, while making it a bit B07 225 harder for Saddam to keep his grip on power.

B07 226 B08 1 <#FROWN:B08\>FROM THE PUBLISHER

B08 2 Smoking out the true nature of an American presidential B08 3 contender is never easy, but with not-yet-declared candidate Ross B08 4 Perot, the journalistic challenge has been especially tough. The B08 5 billionaire businessman comes with neither a political track record B08 6 nor detailed position papers, and two weeks ago, he announced he B08 7 was cutting back on press appearances. Sensitive to criticism when B08 8 it hits home, Perot made no secret of the fact that he was unhappy B08 9 with his coverage in TIME - especially a story in the April 6 issue B08 10 that said he had displayed a "thirst for B08 11 publicity."

B08 12 So when Houston bureau chief Richard Woodbury approached Perot B08 13 to arrange the in-depth interview that appears in this B08 14 issue, the first thing Woodbury got was an earful. "Perot B08 15 is a quirky, prickly guy," says Woodbury. "We B08 16 defended our reporting, but he wouldn't stop complaining. He really B08 17 held our hands to the fire." It took a series of extended B08 18 phone calls, a formal letter and a long phone conversation with B08 19 managing editor Henry Muller before TIME finally got its foot in B08 20 the door.

B08 21 It was worth the effort. The session, conducted in Perot's B08 22 Dallas offices by Muller, Woodbury and senior writer Walter B08 23 Shapiro, ended up running for three hours. Shapiro, who has covered B08 24 every presidential campaign since 1980, describes it as one of the B08 25 most extraordinary experiences of his career. "For once we B08 26 had the luxury of waiting out the sound bites, asking the follow-up B08 27 questions and then getting on to totally fresh stuff. It's a B08 28 wonderful moment when you realize you've been able to sort out B08 29 those things he really knows, those things that are smart but that B08 30 he has not been able to explain well, and those things that still B08 31 do not make much sense. You can't do that on TV. You can't do it in B08 32 a one-hop fuselage interview with Bill Clinton. And you certainly B08 33 can't do it with George Bush."

B08 34 That kind of access may grow scarce as the campaign warms up. B08 35 Woodbury, who has covered Perot since 1986, notes that the B08 36 take-charge Texan still works without handlers, travels without B08 37 aides and returns his own phone calls. But with his funds unlimited B08 38 and his polls still zooming, Perot can afford to be eccentric. B08 39 "As the pressures grow, it will be interesting to see how B08 40 long the homespun style can endure," says Woodbury. B08 41 "I'll know it's a new ball game if a media adviser starts B08 42 returning my calls instead of the man himself."

B08 43 B08 44 FROM THE PUBLISHER

B08 45 Three weeks ago, our art department cover coordinator, Linda B08 46 Freeman, received a phone call from Maurice Skinazi, an B08 47 international businessman and art collector. Mr. Skinazi suggested B08 48 that if by any chance TIME was going to do a story on the Rio B08 49 summit, we should consider using something painted by his friend, B08 50 Brazilian painter Lia Mittarakis.

B08 51 Mr. Skinazi, who might consider a second career as an editor, B08 52 had guessed our plans exactly right. Yes indeed, we were readying a B08 53 special report on the United Nations Conference on Environment and B08 54 Development in Rio, and yes, we were in need of a cover B08 55 illustration. Freeman asked Skinazi to send a transparency of the B08 56 painting. Even though TIME rarely uses unsolicited artwork for the B08 57 cover, the simple beauty of this painting delighted everyone, and B08 58 art director Rudolph Hoglund decided to use it. "Before I B08 59 told Lia about the situation, I asked her to name the most famous B08 60 magazine in the world, and of course she said TIME," B08 61 recalls Skinazi. "She was simply elated that you would B08 62 consider her painting for the cover."

B08 63 Mittarakis' style is commonly known as 'naive art,' a term that B08 64 describes contemporary works that are painted in a folk manner. B08 65 Mittarakis, the daughter of Greek immigrants, lost both her parents B08 66 by the time she was 10 years old. She took up painting during her B08 67 teenage years while living in an orphanage. For years the artist B08 68 supported herself and two daughters by selling tropical scenes at B08 69 Rio street fairs. Her vibrant works - which have been called B08 70 'painted poetry' - eventually attracted the attention of European B08 71 critics.

B08 72 Although a detached retina has robbed Mittarakis of sight in B08 73 her right eye and she has lost 60% of the vision in her left eye, B08 74 she continues to produce canvases at home on Paquet<*_>a-acute<*/> B08 75 Island off the coast of Rio. The work reproduced on this week's B08 76 cover is an acrylic portrayal of the Tijuca forest overlooking B08 77 Rio.

B08 78 Our special report on the summit is part of TIME's commitment B08 79 to cover environmental issues, which began when we named Endangered B08 80 Earth as the Planet of the Year for 1988. Says senior editor B08 81 Charles Alexander, who edited the stories: "The summit B08 82 itself can't save the earth, but it can put the nations of the B08 83 world on the right path." Mittarakis shares that optimism B08 84 and hopes that "by portraying the beauties of nature, we B08 85 can remind the world about what is at stake." That is B08 86 exactly our intent.

B08 87 B08 88 FROM THE PUBLISHER

B08 89 Every journalist dreams of working on the big story. Here at B08 90 TIME that means reporting or writing a cover story. By that B08 91 measure, veteran writers George Church and Ed Magnuson have had B08 92 enough dreams realized to last a lifetime - even if they live to B08 93 100. For Church and Magnuson are the only men in the magazine's B08 94 history to have written more than 100 cover stories each.

B08 95 From the agony of the Vietnam War to the exhilarating fall of B08 96 the Berlin Wall, a scrapbook of their work could serve as a B08 97 comprehensive index to the most momentous events of the past B08 98 quarter-century. Says editor-in-chief Jason McManus: B08 99 "Church and Magnuson excel at the most demanding B08 100 newsmagazine art: writing fast news covers. Masses of information B08 101 must be quickly absorbed, mentally structured, and the relevant B08 102 facts, anecdotes and quotes smoothly mortised into place while B08 103 writing on the run."

B08 104 Church, 60, joined TIME in 1969 after spending 14 years at the B08 105 Wall Street Journal. He wrote his first cover, on the B08 106 inefficiency of American business, just one year later. Since then, B08 107 George has efficiently produced 104 more covers, hitting the 100 B08 108 mark last summer with an elegant analysis of the disintegration of B08 109 the Soviet Union. But his own favorite is the 1986 cover on the B08 110 secret sale of arms to Iran. "That's the one in which I was B08 111 really challenged," says George. "I was writing B08 112 while the files were coming in and then rewriting to incorporate B08 113 the new things the correspondents had found out. I like that kind B08 114 of pressure. It's kind of suicidal. But I love it."

B08 115 No one understands that better than Magnuson, whose first cover B08 116 was a crash effort on nuclear testing that ran in 1962. He has B08 117 specialized in late-breaking stories ever since. "There is B08 118 a real pleasure in putting them together under pressure," B08 119 he says, "where you just stay up all night and get the job B08 120 done." Ed has got 118 of them done, including 21 covers on B08 121 Watergate, four of them written in consecutive weeks in May 1973 B08 122 for the U.S. edition of TIME. This year Magnuson, 66, will retire B08 123 after 32 years at the magazine. Looking back over his distinguished B08 124 career here, Ed recalls handling our coverage of the My Lai B08 125 massacre in 1968; the publication of the Pentagon papers - the B08 126 secret history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam - in 1971; the B08 127 nuclear accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979; and B08 128 "a lot of plane crashes. I guess you could say I was a B08 129 bad-news guy." For us and our readers, though, it has B08 130 always been good news when he and Church handled the bad news.

B08 131 B08 132 FROM THE PUBLISHER

B08 133 Great ideas are often generated in the most unlikely places, or B08 134 so claims photographer P.F. Bentley, whose latest brainstorm B08 135 occurred while he was having dinner at a sushi bar in Nashua, New B08 136 Hampshire. Bentley was part of the press corps covering the state's B08 137 first-in-the-nation primary, and he was trying to devise a more B08 138 personal approach to the U.S. presidential campaign. Then it hit B08 139 him: Why not portray a run for the presidency from the inside B08 140 looking out? A few days later, P.F. told associate picture B08 141 editor Rick Boeth that he'd like to hook up with the Clinton B08 142 campaign, a risky choice because the Arkansas Governor's candidacy B08 143 was in trouble at the time and his aides were suspicious of B08 144 becoming involved with the press. "P.F. used all his B08 145 diplomatic skills to convince everyone in the campaign that he B08 146 could be a part of their lives," recalls Boeth.

B08 147 That hunch led to the special series of photos that appear in B08 148 this week's issue. Initially, Bentley and Clinton agreed to a B08 149 one-month trial run, but the candidate felt sufficiently B08 150 comfortable with the arrangement to continue it indefinitely. B08 151 "We both understood that he would have to instantly trust B08 152 me," says Bentley. Campaign advisers were told to get used B08 153 to the photographer's presence in meetings, and Hillary Clinton B08 154 welcomed him to the family home in Little Rock. The first photos, B08 155 published in late March, ended with a Clinton win in Illinois. B08 156 Since then, Bentley has been privy to the Clinton campaign's B08 157 controversies, days of triumph and stolen moments of calm. His B08 158 photos capture the gritty reality of rumpled hotel rooms, B08 159 late-night strategy sessions and dinners of cold pizza, all shot in B08 160 black and white to emphasize the documentary nature of the B08 161 project.

B08 162 P.F., 39, lives in Stinson Beach, California, grew up in B08 163 Honolulu and has been a TIME photographer for 13 years. His TIME B08 164 presidential-campaign coverage won first place in the Pictures of B08 165 the Year Competition in both 1984 and 1988. In addition to his U.S. B08 166 political coverage, Bentley has shot assignments in Panama, El B08 167 Salvador and Haiti.

B08 168 "Clinton often acts as if I am not in the room at all, B08 169 and we can go a couple of days without speaking to each B08 170 other," observes Bentley. "I've found him to be the B08 171 most casual politician I have ever worked with." So casual, B08 172 in fact, that P.F. actually followed Clinton into the steam room of B08 173 his New York City hotel last week. The intrepid photographer could B08 174 take only two exposures at a time before the cameras fogged up and B08 175 had to be cleaned - but eventually got the shot he wanted.

B08 176 B08 177 FROM THE PUBLISHER

B08 178 Olympic athletes know that extensive preparation contributes to B08 179 a great performance, and that's a lesson our photo department has B08 180 taken to heart. Operations manager Kevin McVea spent more than a B08 181 year mapping out TIME's technical requirements for the Barcelona B08 182 Summer Games. Readers will begin to see the results this week in B08 183 our coverage of the opening ceremonies. Thanks to new equipment in B08 184 place at our press center, we will be able to bring high-resolution B08 185 images to our readers in special sections on the Olympics so long B08 186 as there's a medal yet to be won.

B08 187 In Barcelona, the daily work of seven photographers will be B08 188 reviewed by associate picture editor MaryAnne Golon, Paris-based B08 189 picture editor Barbara Nagelsmith and picture researcher Mary B08 190 Worrel Bousquette. Imaging specialist Kin Wah Lam will transmit the B08 191 edited selections to picture editor Michele Stephenson and B08 192 assistant picture editors Karen Zakrison and Eleanor Taylor. A new B08 193 Eastman Kodak 2035 scanner will be used to send pictures to us here B08 194 at headquarters in a mere 45 seconds. The editors will sift through B08 195 these low-resolution 'first drafts' and pick the photos to be sent B08 196 via satellite to them in publishable form.

B08 197 Using scanning and transmission workstations developed by B08 198 Israel's Scitex Corp., Kevin and his crew will be able to produce B08 199 the final, high-quality photographs on site. The images will have B08 200 the same sharp quality as those scanned on our premises and will be B08 201 ready for use in the magazine. Notes McVea: "These B08 202 innovations actually extend our deadlines. Four years ago, it took B08 203 up to five hours to process and send a single image from the Seoul B08 204 Olympics. With this technology, all that work takes just 35 B08 205 minutes."

B08 206 McVea, 30, makes it his business to keep track of cutting-edge B08 207 technical developments. He worked at Newsweek as head of B08 208 picture operations before joining TIME in 1988. B08 209 B08 210 B09 1 <#FROWN:B09\>S. African Realism

B09 2 POLITICAL realism may be getting the upper hand in South B09 3 Africa. The decision of the African National Congress to adopt a B09 4 more moderate policy toward negotiating with the administration of B09 5 President Frederik de Klerk could open the door to more rapid B09 6 progress toward a multiracial transitional government and B09 7 democratic elections.

B09 8 The ANC's move comes after intense internal discussion. Nelson B09 9 Mandela has represented the middle ground of negotiation and B09 10 compromise in these discussions, with ANC militants pushing for B09 11 heightened mass action.

B09 12 The latter tactic has failed in its immediate goal of toppling B09 13 leaders in the so-called black homelands.

B09 14 Mr. Mandela recognizes, realistically, that his organization's B09 15 best opportunity to secure a grasp on power is through continued B09 16 bargaining with the white National Party regime inn Pretoria. And B09 17 he rightly concludes that Mr. De Klerk - for all the ups and downs B09 18 in their relationship since the ANC leader left prison almost three B09 19 years ago - remains the white leader most likely to cut a B09 20 reasonable, politically valid deal.

B09 21 De Klerk, too, is constrained by realism to move toward B09 22 productive talks. Revelations concerning efforts by the South B09 23 African military to subvert the ANC have left the president little B09 24 room to maneuver. Judge Richard Goldstone, who heads the government B09 25 commission looking into allegations against the security forces, B09 26 doubtless has more revelations to come - even if De Klerk continues B09 27 to refuse his request for wider investigative authority.

B09 28 De Klerk needs political damage control. His best recourse is B09 29 expedited negotiations with the ANC. He, like the ANC, may have to B09 30 settle for a short-term resolution that doesn't give him everything B09 31 he wants in terms of long-term goals - for example, a B09 32 guarantee of substantial white representation in any future B09 33 government. Not only political stability in the country, but B09 34 economic recovery, hinges on progress in negotiations.

B09 35 ANC and government representatives have secluded themselves for B09 36 intensive talks in the days ahead. South Africa, meanwhile, will B09 37 shift into its summer vacation season, when little governmental B09 38 business is conducted. By early 1993 the negotiators should have a B09 39 plan for power-sharing.

B09 40 That plan will be born of political necessity, and it will be B09 41 criticized from many angles. But the process of negotiations should B09 42 also bring greater good will - an honest desire to move beyond B09 43 confrontation.

B09 44 That, along with realism and pragmatism, will be needed to B09 45 implement any plan.

B09 46 B09 47 Talks Worth Continuing

B09 48 THE latest phase of the three-strand talks about the future of B09 49 Northern Ireland either "has collapsed" or B09 50 "has been concluded," depending on where one takes B09 51 one's reading of events, from the headlines or from diplomatic B09 52 sources.

B09 53 No, the talks did not reach a comprehensive settlement of the B09 54 question of governing the six counties of the North. But for the B09 55 first time since the partition of Ireland in the 1920s, unionist B09 56 leaders sat down with ministers from the Dublin government. This B09 57 historic fact should not be minimized.

B09 58 That said, however, we must also note that once the whole talks B09 59 process moved from the procedural to the substantive, and the B09 60 various parties set forth their positions, the width of the divide B09 61 between them only became more apparent. The discovery of unexpected B09 62 areas of common ground that one might have wished, if not hoped B09 63 for, did not occur.

B09 64 Still, scoping out the breadth of a disagreement, finding out B09 65 which positions a party really holds to and which may be B09 66 negotiable, can be valuable.

B09 67 A next phase of talks is to be held in the new year, after a B09 68 new Irish government has been established (Nov. 25 is election day) B09 69 and has met with its British counterpart some time after B09 70 mid-December.

B09 71 The same 'strands' approach will be taken as has been the case B09 72 so far; that is, talks are to occur among constitutional parties in B09 73 Northern Ireland (those seeking unification with the south, and B09 74 those seeking to retain the link to Britain), between the north and B09 75 south within Ireland, and between Dublin and London. And as is B09 76 always the case in these situations, the informal contacts - quick B09 77 conferences in the corridors - are at least as important as the B09 78 formal ones.

B09 79 Meanwhile, it is clearer than ever that a unilateral British B09 80 military pullout from Northern Ireland would precipitate a civil B09 81 war, and the Dublin government has every bit as much interest as B09 82 London - indeed, more so - in preventing that.

B09 83 Skeptics may well be right that the current negotiations have B09 84 only a small chance of reaching a genuine political settlement to B09 85 the Northern Ireland issue. But realists would have to counter that B09 86 there is no chance of a settlement without such talks.

B09 87 B09 88 Tolerating Atrocity

B09 89 SERBIA'S brutal "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia B09 90 has been going on since May. The barbarity of the crimes has been B09 91 known in every world capital since June. But only recently has the B09 92 heinous nature of the acts been fully understood.

B09 93 Journalists in Bosnia have persistently found savagery beyond B09 94 the telling. They have shown that early ethnic cleansing was a form B09 95 of "elitocide" - killing off the educated, thoughtful B09 96 Muslims who could have led a resistance. Former US Secretary of B09 97 State George Shultz was filled with "a sense of B09 98 fury" when reading of systematic internment and rapes of B09 99 girls and women in Bosnia.

B09 100 Decent people find it hard to live with such atrocity. As Mr. B09 101 Shultz put it, "When forces of intolerance go wild, you get B09 102 a result that is intolerable."

B09 103 Yet so far the West has tolerated the wildness. Intervention B09 104 was ruled out in favor of the joint United Nations-European B09 105 Community talks in Geneva. But Western leaders have lost faith in B09 106 them. Last week, US Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger B09 107 indicated this by naming war criminals from the former Yugoslavia, B09 108 including Serb President Slobodan Milosevic and Bosnian Serb leader B09 109 Radovan Karadizc.

B09 110 Mr. Eagleburger seeks enforcement of the "no B09 111 fly" zone over Bosnia. This made for tough talk and high B09 112 drama - especially after UN mediator Cyrus Vance disagreed with the B09 113 no-fly zone enforcement. But step away from the headlines, and what B09 114 has actually happened? The answer: Little. All the essential B09 115 problems in Bosnia remain. Indeed, they are worse. Facts on the B09 116 ground have changed since the summer. Serbs are no longer trying to B09 117 take 70 percent of Bosnia: They now have it. Mr. Milosevic also now B09 118 knows the West won't act.

B09 119 The enormity of "ethnic cleansing" has sunk in, B09 120 but doing something about it has now become more complicated. Delay B09 121 has cost. Reiterating the decree of a no-fly zone and shooting down B09 122 a few planes will do little. Even lifting the arms embargo to let B09 123 Muslims defend themselves is late. Nor can the West afford to act B09 124 just to seem engaged, since even a minor scrape could give either B09 125 side a pretext for starting something bigger.

B09 126 Western action now will require a more serious effort. Doing B09 127 nothing out of concern that the cost might be great has ensured B09 128 that the cost will be great. Unchecked, ethnic cleansing is a B09 129 mentality of systematic hatred more dangerous by far than found B09 130 among, say, Somalia's war lords. It is a dynamic that could spread B09 131 east, beyond Yugoslavia; it already has adherents in Russia.

B09 132 The question isn't, What is the cost? The question is, Can the B09 133 West deal with aggressive evil?

B09 134 B09 135 IBM in Perspective

B09 136 IBM may be down, but it's not out. The computermaker still B09 137 produces and sells more than all other US high-tech firms put B09 138 together. Some of its products are doing well, its staff still B09 139 includes many brilliant engineers, and its financial resources are B09 140 considerable. But, like other giants of American industry, IBM may B09 141 have lost its ability to dominate a whole field of enterprise.

B09 142 Critics point out that the company once prided itself on B09 143 holding a top position in all facets of the computer market. Its B09 144 chief competitors were thought to be overseas, especially in Japan. B09 145 But, in the end, it was smaller companies in the United States - B09 146 like Intel, Sun Systems, and Microsoft - that carved out profitable B09 147 niches and nudged "Big Blue" to the periphery.

B09 148 In the personal computer realm, particularly, IBM lagged. The B09 149 company's biggest profits had always been in large, mainframe B09 150 machines, and it continued to push those products even as the B09 151 market shifted toward desktop units that were both more agile than B09 152 and as powerful as the larger computers. IBM is hustling to catch B09 153 up now, and its PC line includes some popular items. The road B09 154 ahead, however, will be difficult.

B09 155 The degree of difficulty was shown by IBM's announcements last B09 156 week - possibly its first-ever forced layoffs, a $1 billion B09 157 reduction in research, a 1992 profit picture that shocked B09 158 investors.

B09 159 IBM executives talk of a devolution of power within the B09 160 corporation, with pieces of the business, like the PC branch, B09 161 gaining independence. But the greatest need may be an honest B09 162 assessment of the firm's greatest strengths and a determination to B09 163 build on those, letting other product lines fall away.

B09 164 When companies like IBM - or General Motors, or Sears - are B09 165 shaken, the whole country feels a jolt. Concerns about industrial B09 166 decline are rekindled. It's worth remembering that it has happened B09 167 before, when the railroads, of Big Steel, collapsed.

B09 168 Lots of people who thought their working lives were secure are B09 169 put out of work. A still-vigorous and competitive US high-tech B09 170 sector will absorb some of them, but there's no doubt IBM's dark B09 171 news gives Bill Clinton's promise to "grow the B09 172 economy" even more urgency.

B09 173 B09 174 No Time For Hate Conspiracies

B09 175 CONCERN about US racism is renewed by the political campaign of B09 176 David Duke and the nod it gives to white racial anger.

B09 177 But what about new forms of black racism?

B09 178 Black anger is understandable. But racism, and the discontent B09 179 it spawns, is wrong in every form.

B09 180 That's why New York City College President Bernard Harleston is B09 181 right to remove Dr. Leonard Jeffries Jr. as head of the B09 182 African-American Studies Department. Dr. Jeffries would still B09 183 teach.

B09 184 A conspiracy theorist, Jeffries plays something of the B09 185 intellectual harlequin to his classes (blacks only, please) and the B09 186 public. His ideas, which as department head he sanctions as B09 187 'academic freedom,' run from kooky to dangerous: As "sun B09 188 people" blacks are superior to "ice people" B09 189 (guess who) because of a chemical in the skin named melanin missing B09 190 in whites. Or, that AIDS was put in Africa by whites in the World B09 191 Health Organization to attempt genocide. And this is the tame B09 192 stuff.

B09 193 While it's true, as the white male Shakespeare said, that B09 194 "there are more things in heaven and earth ... than are B09 195 dreamt of in your philosophy" - a factual basis for B09 196 Jeffries's ideas is probably not among them. Yet sadly many blacks B09 197 - 40 percent in a Harlem poll - believe this conspiracy theory.

B09 198 Jeffries, like grandstander Al Sharpton, has a following. But B09 199 most New Yorkers are uncomfortable with Jeffries's message. Last B09 200 summer he went too far. In an anti-Semitic public speech he B09 201 conjured up a movie industry conspiracy against blacks planned B09 202 "by people called Greenberg and Weisberg and B09 203 Trigliani" that Gov. Mario Cuomo denounced.

B09 204 No faculty would allow David Duke to teach the thinking that B09 205 made him a Grand Wizard; CCNY must discipline Jeffries. By demoting B09 206 him, Dr. Harleston (himself black) can send a needed message that B09 207 there are moral and academic standards.

B09 208 Now is a time for blacks, whites, Asians, Hispanics, and others B09 209 to respect diversity. No nation has ever done so. It can only work B09 210 by seeing that all folks under the sun are brothers and sisters.

B09 211 B09 212 Gerrymander Wars

B09 213 A HANDFUL of people seated before computer screens are changing B09 214 the face of American politics.

B09 215 They are engaged in outlining new congressional districts in 43 B09 216 states to reflect population shifts recorded by the 1990 census. B09 217 Most of these states require new district lines because they gained B09 218 or lost seats in the House of Representatives.

B09 219 Sophisticated computer programs facilitate drawing with B09 220 precision district borders that satisfy the Supreme Court's 'one B09 221 man, one vote' standard and also the mandate under the Voting B09 222 Rights Act to create black- or Hispanic-majority districts. Within B09 223 these parameters, however, the line drawers have a lot of leeway. B09 224 Thus, in many states political battles are being waged over which B09 225 party controls the computers.

B09 226 B10 1 <#FROWN:B10\>GATT: WHO SAYS BUSH IS A LAME DUCK?

B10 2 The transition from George Bush to Bill Clinton has temporarily B10 3 given the U.S. powerful leverage to move the long-stalled Uruguay B10 4 Round of trade talks ahead. Now relatively free from domestic B10 5 lobbying pressures, President Bush has turned his lame-duck status B10 6 to advantage by breaking the deadlock with the European Community B10 7 over farm subsidies. That clears the way to resume serious B10 8 bargaining at Geneva under the 108-nation General Agreement on B10 9 Tariffs & Trade on the full range of global trade issues, from B10 10 textile quotas to protecting patents.

B10 11 Until Jan. 20, President Bush has more political leeway to make B10 12 tough trade-offs among the demands of competing U.S. economic B10 13 sectors than incoming President Clinton is likely to have. But Bush B10 14 certainly will insist that key trading partners dismantle B10 15 long-standing trade barriers. Tokyo, for one, can't be allowed to B10 16 block rice imports while it benefits from open global markets for B10 17 its huge exports of cars and electronic goods. And India and Brazil B10 18 can't rip off U.S. pharmaceutical patents on the pretense that B10 19 economic under-development gives them the right to do B10 20 so.

B10 21 The GATT negotiations can lift the global economy out of the B10 22 doldrums by unleashing a vast surge of new trade. More than that, B10 23 the bargaining is a chance for each country to unshackle its B10 24 productive powers by getting rid of protections and subsidies that B10 25 hobble domestic producers. President Bush, in what could be one of B10 26 his greatest achievements, has led the way.

B10 27 B10 28 HOW TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL OF QUALITY

B10 29 Big U.S. corporations on the front lines of the global economy B10 30 have taken to heart the principle that success begins with high B10 31 quality, to the advantage of consumers and workers alike. Defect B10 32 rates on U.S.-built cars are barely distinguishable from those of B10 33 their Japanese counterparts, and such companies as Xerox and B10 34 Motorola have become case studies in how quality drives corporate B10 35 performance.

B10 36 But there still are plenty of medium - to smaller-size U.S. B10 37 companies to enlist in the effort. And because quality practices B10 38 know no borders, the lessons these companies learn can be applied B10 39 around the world(page-64).

B10 40 A lot is at stake. Most new jobs in the U.S., Asia, and Europe B10 41 are created by smaller companies. In America, they account for B10 42 one-half of exports. And big manufacturers often rely on smaller B10 43 suppliers for more than half the value of finished products.

B10 44 Recognizing this, bigger companies, most notably in autos and B10 45 electronics, have set stringent quality standards for suppliers. B10 46 More important, Detroit's carmakers and other companies are working B10 47 with suppliers to demonstrate how to achieve higher quality. That B10 48 still leaves many smaller companies without guidance, particularly B10 49 if they can't afford consultants' fees.

B10 50 Here, then, is an area where government and nonprofit B10 51 institutions can play a key role. In the U.S., 16 states have B10 52 initiated their own versions of the Commerce Dept.'s prestigious B10 53 Baldrige award to provide guideposts to upgrading quality. The B10 54 Minnesota Council for Quality also provides grants to local B10 55 chambers of commerce for education. The non-profit American B10 56 Productivity & Quality Center disseminates information that lets B10 57 companies compare their procedures with the best in various fields B10 58 through benchmarking.

B10 59 These programs deserve support. Another initiative long B10 60 advocated by BUSINESS WEEK, a nationwide network of B10 61 technology-extension services offered through federal research B10 62 laboratories or community colleges, would also help. The skills and B10 63 the information to significantly enhance the international B10 64 competitiveness of medium and smaller companies already exist. A B10 65 small investment in spreading knowledge would pay big dividends.

B10 66 B10 67 WESTINGHOUSE'S DO-LITTLE BOARD

B10 68 Westinghouse Electric Corp.'s board of directors provides yet B10 69 another example of failed corporate governance. Even though the B10 70 company was teetering on the brink of financial disaster, it was B10 71 investor pressure - not the board - that moved CEO Paul E. Lego to B10 72 act (page-26). The activist institutional investors that B10 73 began agitating this summer can take heart that Lego finally moved. B10 74 Getting action at other recent activist targets, such as GM and B10 75 Sears Roebuck, took years.

B10 76 Interestingly, Westinghouse's diversified nature made it more B10 77 vulnerable to activist shareholders because its disparate B10 78 businesses lend themselves to a fire sale. The activists demanded B10 79 an easy remedy, and the market applauded, pushing up the company's B10 80 stock by 24% on the day of the restructuring announcement - despite B10 81 a dividend cut.

B10 82 But a more important point is involved. Westinghouse shows just B10 83 how dysfunctional corporate boards can be - particularly at B10 84 diversified companies. No one believes, anymore, that a B10 85 professional manager can manage any kind of business. If making a B10 86 conglomerate work takes exceptional management, it takes B10 87 exceptional directors, too. Yet despite the need for greater B10 88 vigilance caused by problems in many of Westinghouse's diverse B10 89 businesses, the company's board did little. The company's finances B10 90 deteriorated, its market performance declined, and its investors B10 91 grew angry, but its directors didn't rise to the challenge. What B10 92 made Westinghouse directors think they could be effective monitors B10 93 of management at a troubled, diversified company without an extra B10 94 effort? Notes Stanford law professor Joseph A. Grundfest: B10 95 "Where you find conglomerates, you often find a B10 96 dysfunctional governance process."

B10 97 If the board wants to burnish its tarnished reputation, it B10 98 should enact many of the reforms activists seek, notably creation B10 99 of a nomination panel to replace departed directors.

B10 100 B10 101 CHANNELING BIG STORES' AWESOME CLOUT

B10 102 With enormous marketplace power, a small circle of merchants is B10 103 determining more and more how consumer products are made and sold B10 104 in the U.S. They're telling even the mightiest of manufacturers B10 105 what goods to make, in what colors and sizes, how much to ship, and B10 106 when. They are forcing suppliers to rethink whom they sell to, how B10 107 they price and promote products, and how they structure their own B10 108 organizations(page-40).

B10 109 A vast consolidation in U.S. retailing has produced giant B10 110 'power retailers' that use sophisticated inventory management, B10 111 finely tuned selections, and, above all, competitive pricing to B10 112 crowd out weaker players and attract more of the shopper's dollar. B10 113 The top tier of superpowers includes Kmart, Target, Toys 'R' Us, B10 114 Home Depot, Circuit City, Dillard, and a few others. Leading the B10 115 pack, of course, is Wal-Mart Stores. The nation's No.1 retailer is B10 116 expected to grow 25% this year, to some $55 billion in sales, at a B10 117 time when retailers as a whole will be lucky to grow 4%.

B10 118 The increasing influence of these retailers has obvious B10 119 benefits for consumers. For starters, the stores are continually B10 120 wringing excess costs out of the U.S. distribution system while B10 121 squeezing price concessions out of suppliers. Many shun the B10 122 constant promotions, coupons, and 'sales' that introduce big B10 123 inefficiencies. Much of the savings gets passed along to consumers B10 124 in the form of lower prices. And because these retailers use B10 125 sophisticated information technology to keep close tabs on what's B10 126 selling and what's not, consumers are likelier to find what they B10 127 want in the stores.

B10 128 The risk is that small manufacturers, who lack the resources or B10 129 savvy to cope with the inherent bias toward large manufacturers, B10 130 won't be able to compete. Innovation and risk-taking could also be B10 131 diminished. Those dangers must be monitored vigilantly by federal B10 132 and state antitrust authorities. But pressure from the power B10 133 retailers also benefits manufacturers by forcing them to become B10 134 leaner and more nimble themselves. They're becoming more B10 135 competitive with each other - and with overseas rivals. Some have B10 136 wrested U.S. markets away from foreign manufacturers by cutting B10 137 costs or reducing cycle time, and some have even been able to B10 138 penetrate overseas markets, thanks to their new efficiency.

B10 139 B10 140 SEASONED ADVISERS CAN TAKE CLINTON ONLY SO FAR

B10 141 In selecting leaders of his economic team, President-elect Bill B10 142 Clinton seems to be off to a good start at filling the most B10 143 important jobs in his Administration. His early choices, short on B10 144 fresh faces and long on Capitol Hill experience, are safe, intended B10 145 to convey a commitment to competence and moderation rather than B10 146 innovation(page-24).

B10 147 Senator Lloyd Bentsen (D-Tex.) built a solid reputation as a B10 148 student of the economic impact of government policy during his six B10 149 years as Senate Finance Committee chairman and his earlier tenure B10 150 as Joint Economic Committee chair-man. His passion is B10 151 tilting the tax code to promote savings and investment, which B10 152 should sit well with the Clintonites.

B10 153 Representative Leon E. Panetta (D-Calif.), chairman of the B10 154 House Budget Committee, would run the Office of Management & Budget B10 155 with a fervor for cutting the deficit. The plan to nominate him is B10 156 a welcome signal that Clinton is serious about cutting the deficit B10 157 in half during his first term.

B10 158 Others who seem headed for senior jobs - investment bankers B10 159 Robert E. Rubin and Roger C. Altman, and former Congressional B10 160 Budget Office Director Alice M. Rivlin - are also familiar with the B10 161 levers of power in the capital.

B10 162 In his desire to staff up with folks who know how to get things B10 163 done in Washington, however, Clinton could overload his B10 164 Administration with the sort of insiders who have given Washington B10 165 a bad name. Experience is a virtue - but only to a point. We also B10 166 hope to see some of those bright faces from state governments, B10 167 business, and the universities that Clinton told us he was going to B10 168 bring to the capital.

B10 169 B10 170 HONG KONG NEEDS A QUICK, QUIET SETTLEMENT

B10 171 To an outsider, the dispute between Hong Kong and China seems B10 172 like a tempest in a teapot. After all, the argument is about B10 173 increasing the number of directly elected seats on the Crown B10 174 Colony's legislative council - from 20 to perhaps 40 out of 60. By B10 175 no means does this amount to representative government, as the B10 176 Chinese fear. Yet Beijing's stern warnings to desist from the plan B10 177 have upset the Hong Kong business community, triggering gyrations B10 178 in the stock market (page-16).

B10 179 The dispute has been inflamed by two issues: Governor Chris B10 180 Patten went public with the plan apparently without much B10 181 consultation with the Chinese. This mortified Beijing, which felt B10 182 it had lost face. Second, the Politburo is afraid that any change B10 183 could quickly spread to South China, whose booming economy is B10 184 directly linked to Hong Kong's.

B10 185 It's easy to be cynical about the British timing. After all, B10 186 they have been ruling Hong Kong for 150 years, so why the sudden B10 187 interest in democracy? But it is because of the British that Hong B10 188 Kong enjoys fundamental rights that don't exist in China, such as B10 189 the rule of law and civil liberties. Preservation of these rights, B10 190 they say, is the motive for making changes before the 1995 B10 191 elections - the last Hong Kong will hold before China takes over in B10 192 1997.

B10 193 There is plenty of common ground for resolving the dispute B10 194 quietly, without China losing face. Any backsliding by Beijing B10 195 could deter the foreign investment so crucial to the Chinese boom. B10 196 For Washington, the proper response is to support bilateral talks B10 197 on electoral reform. But the U.S. should also make it clear that B10 198 China must move toward democracy and human-rights guarantees in B10 199 both Hong Kong and China. If Beijing is unwilling to accept reform, B10 200 pressure is likely to build in Congress to deny it B10 201 most-favored-nation status. That would hurt both China and Hong B10 202 Kong. The two sides should work things out - pronto.

B10 203 B10 204 THE MARKETS ARE APPLAUDING - SO FAR

B10 205 Presidential elections take place every four years, but the B10 206 financial markets vote every day. And because participants vote B10 207 with their money, their message is always worth pondering. As B10 208 BUSINESS WEEK's editors and writers detail in the 1993 Investment B10 209 Outlook, investors like what they're hearing from Bill B10 210 Clinton(page-40).

B10 211 They like the focus on economic growth and his attentiveness to B10 212 the role that private investment plays in financing that growth. B10 213 They like the emphasis on getting a long-term plan to reduce the B10 214 budget deficit. And they like the investor-friendly B10 215 leadership of his economic team.

B10 216 Keeping the confidence of the markets is critical. If the bond B10 217 market senses that Clinton is backpedaling on deficit reduction, B10 218 investors will bolt - and interest rates will jump. That would B10 219 raise the cost of capital and choke off the economic growth this B10 220 country so desperately needs.

B10 221 There are other areas where the market may turn on Clinton. The B10 222 President-elect is already committed to boosting taxes on very B10 223 high-income individuals. That is palatable to the markets as a B10 224 method of deficit reduction but will be repudiated if it becomes B10 225 the first step in a Democratic plan for a major redistribution of B10 226 income.

B10 227 B11 1 <#FROWN:B11\>STEPHANIE SALTER

B11 2 Ted Kennedy: Product of the '70s

B11 3 THE LAST thing I want is for anybody to feel sorry for Teddy B11 4 Kennedy. So that is not what this is about. As far as I'm concerned B11 5 all of those Kennedy boys - dead or alive - have wreaked more B11 6 personal havoc than they'll ever pay for.

B11 7 But this ratty new book, 'The Senator: My Ten Years With Ted B11 8 Kennedy,' is lower than low. Written by a former aide to the B11 9 senator from Massachusetts, one Richard E. Burke, the book rankles B11 10 me not because of the dirt it dishes on Edward M. - allegations of B11 11 cocaine, hot tubs, bimbos - but because of the period of time it B11 12 covers: 1971-1981.

B11 13 Come on, Burke, play fair.

B11 14 That was The Seventies, thus far the nadir in B11 15 post-war U.S. history. You could have followed millions of adult B11 16 Americans around during that same period and come up with a slimy, B11 17 embarrassing book about each of them.

B11 18 For many, the '70s was the decade of "Whatever turns B11 19 you on." Situation ethics of the personal persuasion B11 20 reigned supreme. The unofficial national credo was, "If it B11 21 feels good - do it," and the anthem should have been, B11 22 "Call Me Irresponsible."

B11 23 The '70s was before Mothers Against Drunk Driving slapped a B11 24 whole nation in the face and told it to grow up about its drinking. B11 25 Herpes was something only medical students heard about, and AIDS B11 26 was unknown and unimagined.

B11 27 THERE WAS a recession for part of the '70s, but it did not B11 28 carry with it legions of homeless and unemployed as we have now. B11 29 Consequently, whatever money you had was for spending. And we Baby B11 30 Boomers - deep into our I'm-gonna-live-forever 20s - spent it.

B11 31 In the '70s that I remember, a lot of adult Americans behaved B11 32 pretty badly. Oh, not all of them, I know (I heard Marilyn Quayle's B11 33 speech at the Republican Convention, too), but more than ever B11 34 before.

B11 35 Granted, I spent the first half of the '70s in the fast-lane in B11 36 New York, New York, living on the lower West Side, allegedly B11 37 working in Midtown and drinking Scotch all over. But I kept in B11 38 touch with high school and college friends from the Midwest; they B11 39 were not at Marilyn Quayle's house swilling RC Cola and discussing B11 40 creationism.

B11 41 As much as I hate it that Ronald Reagan ever got his hands on B11 42 the presidency of the United States, I'm not surprised. The '70s B11 43 were at once wild but depressing - not of a Weimar Republic B11 44 caliber, but wild and depressing nonetheless. They were fertile B11 45 ground for the emergence of a 'leader' who talked a great game of B11 46 old-fashioned American values - no matter how lame his actual B11 47 follow-through.

B11 48 IN MANY WAYS, that wild-but-depressing character is best B11 49 symbolized for me by the grotesque fashions of the '70s, especially B11 50 men's fashions:

B11 51 Helmets of hair with mutton-chops or skinny, B11 52 earlobe-length sideburns; bib-like wide ties with polyester suits B11 53 the color of ice cream; white shoes and matching belts; platform B11 54 shoes (yes, for men); florid polyester Nik-Nik shirts; B11 55 hip-hugging, bell-bottom trousers; shag haircuts.

B11 56 Even sex, of which there was no shortage during the '70s, was B11 57 sort of wild but depressing. When Jimmy Carter confessed to Playboy B11 58 that he felt bad because he had lust in his heart for women other B11 59 than Rosalynn, a lot of people thought he was a schmoe.

B11 60 Big deal, they said; he looks and dreams. Why not do?

B11 61 I remember, in particular, a personable woman, about my age, B11 62 with whom I worked in New York. Before she was 25 she was B11 63 semi-responsible for the break-up of two marriages and very nearly B11 64 a third.

B11 65 "I think marriage sucks," she said one night, B11 66 after the requisite six Dewars and waters. "Why should I B11 67 respect a man's marriage vows when he doesn't?"

B11 68 "Why indeed?" I probably said. My own B11 69 observations had led me to a similar cynicism, and I had not yet B11 70 grasped the feminist truth that, whatever you do to one of your B11 71 sisters, you do to yourself.

B11 72 No, the '70s was not America at its best. (Not that this decade B11 73 is much better.)

B11 74 And when I think about it, the words from a song in a minor B11 75 Broadway musical, 'Salvation,' come to mind. Written in late 1969 B11 76 by Peter Link and C.C. Courtney, it's called, 'Let's Get Lost in B11 77 Now.'

B11 78 WITH ITS WILD-but-depressing refrain - "So let's make B11 79 love and maybe tomorrow, if we still feel the same, we can do it B11 80 again" - it foreshadowed a mentality that I believe drove B11 81 the '70s. Here's the best/worst part:

B11 82 Time is a butcher, killing everything in sight.

B11 83 He ain't lookin' at you, but in a minute he might.

B11 84 So, come on, pretty baby, drive tomorrow from your head;

B11 85 'cause in the long run, you know, we're all dead.

B11 86 All I'm saying is, from 1971 to 1981, Teddy did not act B11 87 alone.

B11 88 B11 89 IAN SHOALES

B11 90 The song of Muzak

B11 91 AN OAKLAND rapper named Tupac Shakur was recently attacked by B11 92 Dan Quayle, who believed that the killer of a Texas policeman had B11 93 been listening to Mr. Shakur's '2Pacalypse Now,' before he pulled B11 94 the trigger. Mr. Quayle, apparently, was mistaken.

B11 95 The killer, in fact, had been listening to a rapper named B11 96 Gangster Nip. Despite having been listened to by a murderer, Mr. B11 97 Nip remains at large.

B11 98 No wonder the country's going to hell in a handcart.

B11 99 Inspired by Dan Quayle and by Bill Clinton's attack on Sister B11 100 Souljah, I've been thinking of making a citizen's arrest of Debby B11 101 Boone for the traffic accident she caused 12 years ago.

B11 102 I was driving along, minding my own business, when 'You Light B11 103 Up My Life' came on the radio. I couldn't help myself. Something B11 104 snapped. I began punching the dashboard with my fist, causing me to B11 105 veer into a parked car.

B11 106 Who's to blame if not Debby Boone? Is there a statute of B11 107 limitations on a provocation like that?

B11 108 We used to believe that the person who did the crime was also B11 109 guilty of it, but the times they are a'changing.

B11 110 IT'S JUST LIKE when Dylan went electric. Sure, it was upsetting B11 111 to the folk purists among us, but it was a shot in the arm to the B11 112 electric guitar industry. That meant jobs, folks, American jobs.

B11 113 And if the Republicans and Democrats are so concerned about B11 114 musical morality and job creation, why did the Democrats choose for B11 115 their theme a song by Fleetwood Mac, an English band?

B11 116 Why did the GOP choose for their theme a song from a musical B11 117 based on 'La Cage aux Folles,' a French movie B11 118 about a gay couple? Is there a bipartisan conspiracy going on to B11 119 undermine America's precious musical heritage?

B11 120 It's a complicated issue. Music itself is problematic. On the B11 121 one hand, we believe that music hath charms to soothe the savage B11 122 breast. Muzak in the mall puts us in the mood to shop. KOIT in the B11 123 workspace makes us more productive.

B11 124 ON THE OTHER hand, music awakens savage impulses. Didn't the B11 125 waltz scandalize Europe? Didn't rock 'n' roll lead to juvenile B11 126 delinquency and bad Elvis movies?

B11 127 And if response to music is a learned behavior, how are musical B11 128 prototypes created?

B11 129 Theme music for westerns, for example, always seem to employ a B11 130 full orchestra, heavy on the French horns. What do French horns B11 131 have to do with cowboys? Try tootling a French horn next time you B11 132 lasso a dogie.

B11 133 Western fans may also have noticed that cowboys around B11 134 camp-fires play the exact same harmonica songs as movie B11 135 convicts on death row. What would Dan Quayle make of that?

B11 136 Movie music is frequently used as a kind of shorthand. Whenever B11 137 we hear those 'wokka wokka' guitars, we know that Shaft is in town. B11 138 If we hear a 'rinky-tinky-tin-tin' figure, we can be B11 139 certain we're close to Chinatown. Of course this is racist. We B11 140 never hear Debby Boone when we have establishing shots of white B11 141 suburbia, now do we?

B11 142 The process is mysterious.

B11 143 WHY IS IT when we hear two notes on a cello we know immediately B11 144 there's a shark in the water?

B11 145 Why do shrieking violins make us want to get out of the B11 146 shower?

B11 147 "Bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum" means it's B11 148 time to circle the wagons. A wailing saxophone means it's time for B11 149 a beer. And the theme from Perry Mason always means it's time for B11 150 Perry Mason.

B11 151 Should we be reassured or frightened by this? Or both? If it B11 152 takes me back, for example, to hear Fever Tree do 'San Francisco B11 153 Girls,' the nostalgia is offset by the terrifying fact that I had B11 154 once liked this song in the first place.

B11 155 In this political year, here are some other musical questions B11 156 to ponder:

B11 157 Who do we hold responsible for the lambada?

B11 158 Why wasn't 'Cop Rock' a TV hit?

B11 159 Why is a tango sexy and a polka square?

B11 160 Why do armies always march?

B11 161 Why don't they waltz to war?

B11 162 WHEN A PRIMITIVE ancestor first banged on a hollow log with a B11 163 mastodon femur, did it shock a Cro-Magnon traditionalist who felt B11 164 that femurs should only be banged on rocks?

B11 165 Finally, if somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly, why the B11 166 hell can't I? Personally, I still blame Debby Boone.

B11 167 B11 168 KAREN O'LEARY

B11 169 Perot's quiet running mate

B11 170 JAMES STOCKDALE, chosen by H. Ross Perot as his candidate for B11 171 the vice presidency, has lived since 1981 the quiet life of a B11 172 senior research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover B11 173 Institution.

B11 174 Hardly a conventional politician, he grants few interviews. His B11 175 articles and speeches address public virtue, personal heroism and B11 176 moral leadership, as well as stoic philosophy and endurance in the B11 177 face of adversity.

B11 178 These are subjects he came to know only too well when, as a B11 179 Navy fighter pilot, he spent 7 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in B11 180 North Vietnam. If he had yielded to torture, he might have B11 181 seriously damaged U.S. credibility.

B11 182 Stockdale had information that could have undermined America's B11 183 justification for escalating the Vietnam conflict.

B11 184 As it was, his courage, personal philosophy, and physical B11 185 stamina empowered him to stand up to torture and to lead his fellow B11 186 POW's to do the same.

B11 187 And if Stockdale's wife, Sybil Bailey Stockdale, had not B11 188 recognized a covert message in one of his letters, torture of POW's B11 189 might have remained undetected by the U.S. government or the B11 190 American people.

B11 191 Galvanized by the knowledge of her husband's suffering, she B11 192 launched a major effort to bring a halt to the abuse of all B11 193 POWs.

B11 194 A YEAR BEFORE Stockdale was captured, he had been commander of B11 195 the air squadron that was covering the Maddox, an American B11 196 destroyer, on the night it was supposedly attacked in the Gulf of B11 197 Tonkin.

B11 198 The alleged attack on the Maddox by Vietnamese PT boats was B11 199 used to justify U.S. retaliation and became the pretext for B11 200 escalating the war dramatically.

B11 201 However, Stockdale knew that there had been no PT boats close B11 202 enough to attack.

B11 203 Rather, he says the incident was due to confusion caused by B11 204 stormy weather, an inexperienced Maddox crew and misinterpretation B11 205 of an intercepted Vietcong radio message.

B11 206 He informed Washington, but the United States went to war B11 207 anyway and continued to maintain that the Maddox had been B11 208 attacked.

B11 209 Stockdale was caught in the middle: He knew the truth, but did B11 210 not want to give the North Vietnamese a valuable propaganda card to B11 211 play.

B11 212 When he refused to divulge information to his captors, he was B11 213 put in hand and leg irons for periods of torture that lasted up to B11 214 three days.

B11 215 For eight agonizing months, Sybil Stockdale didn't know if her B11 216 husband was dead or alive. His first letter brought both relief and B11 217 anguish, as she picked up a covert reference to torture: B11 218 "One thinks of Vietnam as a tropical country ... but B11 219 there's cold and darkness, even at noon."

B11 220 She recognized the reference to Arthur Koestler's 'Darkness at B11 221 Noon,' a book that chronicled Soviet abuse of prisoners. She B11 222 concluded that her husband and fellow POWs were being tortured.

B11 223 She then developed an elaborate code for communicating with B11 224 Stockdale in the prison camp. In one encoded letter, he sent B11 225 disheartening information that his wife translated as: B11 226 "Experts in torture. B11 227 B13 1 <#FROWN:B13\>Political conventions are devoid of, B13 2 disconnected from, reality

B13 3 Charley Reese

B13 4 OF THE SENTINEL STAFF

B13 5 One word describes the Democrat and Republican national B13 6 conventions: disconnected.

B13 7 Both conventions were so surrealist, so disconnected from the B13 8 reality of American life, that the Comedy Channel convention B13 9 coverage seemed normal. After all, what were 15,000 journalists B13 10 doing at non-news events - two pre-planned, pre-programmed charades B13 11 designed for television in which every event and every word spoken B13 12 was pre-planned, pre-written, pre-edited and predictable?

B13 13 The anchors, commentators and Rolodex experts were all reduced B13 14 to banal chitchat - pretty expensive chitchat. As an aside, the B13 15 spectacle of a horde of journalists on expense accounts staring at B13 16 a Disney-like animation show reminds one that perhaps the B13 17 nation's news executives have a lot in common with General Motors B13 18 executives.

B13 19 Now I know what it was like to wake up and brush your teeth in B13 20 Hiroshima in the summer of 1945. I know what it was like to be B13 21 playing bridge on the Titanic, to be sleeping off a hangover at B13 22 Pearl Harbor in 1941. To hear the political rhetoric, one would B13 23 think America was in great shape - some minor problems with B13 24 recalcitrant Democrats or some minor problems resulting from B13 25 uncaring Republicans, but nothing really to worry about.

B13 26 One of two things is occurring, and neither is reassuring. B13 27 Either the major candidates are unaware of the economic peril this B13 28 nation is facing or they are deliberately misleading the American B13 29 people until one of them is elected.

B13 30 I despise the greedy Wall Street types who amassed so many B13 31 millions of dollars engineering job-destroying mergers and B13 32 acquisitions. At the same time, however, I recognize that these B13 33 parasites are smart when it comes to finances and money. I'm B13 34 beginning to think the explanation for the orgy of greed in the B13 35 late 1980s was that these rats knew the nation's economic ship was B13 36 going to founder and decided to grab some provisions for their B13 37 personal life-boats while there was still time.

B13 38 The present situation - an accumulated $4 trillion debt, an B13 39 annual interest cost of $200 billion or so, an annual deficit B13 40 pushing $400 billion, a continuing loss of jobs, and not a hint of B13 41 any political courage or economic understanding in either party B13 42 portends a dark future. We are on the eve of what Arnold Toynbee B13 43 called "a time of troubles."

B13 44 But just as the politicians are avoiding the problem, so also B13 45 are they avoiding the solution, part of which is a government that B13 46 works. Neither the legislative nor the executive branch of the B13 47 federal government works. They are inefficient on a mind-boggling B13 48 scale and seem to lack the will to correct even the most obvious B13 49 defects in the process.

B13 50 It's hard for me to believe that we as a nation have somehow B13 51 become genetically incompetent to govern ourselves. After all, the B13 52 same people who do not seem able to make government work in a B13 53 competent manner nevertheless show a great deal of ability in terms B13 54 of improving their own personal financial status.

B13 55 The American people, as a whole, have been sold down the river. B13 56 They have become largely a propertyless proletariat, dependent on B13 57 paychecks for survival, but paid in a currency others are free to B13 58 inflate. That means the wage-earner can work to the point of B13 59 exhaustion and never get ahead. The average American has been B13 60 rendered economically impotent. He has no control over the B13 61 businesses he works for and he has no control over the value of the B13 62 money in which he is paid for his labor.

B13 63 Thus the average American today is worse off, really, than a B13 64 slave. At least in the slave's case, the owner had a selfish B13 65 interest in keeping the slave healthy enough to work.

B13 66 Today, however, the wage-earner is as expendable to the B13 67 capitalist as any other piece of equipment.

B13 68 Unless Americans relearn the art of thinking, they don't have B13 69 much of a future.

B13 70 B13 71 It's not OK to do whatever you want

B13 72 Cal Thomas

B13 73 LOS ANGELES TIMES SYNDICATE

B13 74 Mary Fisher, the woman with AIDS whose eloquent, compassionate B13 75 and compelling address to the Republican National Convention B13 76 silenced the delegates even more completely than the invocations B13 77 and benedictions, left something out of her speech.

B13 78 She forgot to mention the role her ex-husband played in her B13 79 infection. She failed to use her moment in the sun to address men B13 80 who use intravenous drugs and risk acquiring infectious diseases B13 81 they then pass on to their wives.

B13 82 Fisher sought to identify with all persons who have AIDS, as if B13 83 the circumstances which led to her infection were common. She may B13 84 be the medical equivalent of everyone with AIDS, but the source of B13 85 her infection was different from most. She contracted it from her B13 86 husband who used intravenous drugs.

B13 87 Fisher is part of a tiny minority - women infected by their B13 88 husbands during marital intercourse. But her ex-husband is part of B13 89 a large majority, those who acquired the disease because of B13 90 personal behavior that could have been avoided.

B13 91 In her speech to the Houston Republicans, Fisher should have B13 92 addressed men who use drugs or those who commit adultery, and who B13 93 get AIDS and other venereal diseases that they pass along to their B13 94 unsuspecting wives. Married women have a fundamental right to avoid B13 95 being put at risk of disease and death by their mates.

B13 96 If a married man is going to cheat on his wife or abuse drugs, B13 97 the very least he should do is tell her so she can protect herself. B13 98 Why aren't women and editorial writers speaking out on this?

B13 99 The attempt by Mary Fisher to link her AIDS to all other AIDS B13 100 carriers is disingenuous and part of the politicization of a B13 101 disease that is handled differently from all others. It is also B13 102 part of an advocacy program led by the gay rights lobby and their B13 103 fellow travelers in the press whose condemnation is reserved only B13 104 for those who oppose their attempts to impose immorality on a B13 105 reluctant country.

B13 106 Appearing on CNN's Sonya Live program the day after B13 107 her speech, Mary Fisher said that "people should be able to B13 108 do whatever they want." Sonya Friedman should have noted B13 109 that it is precisely because Fisher's ex-husband did what he wanted B13 110 - abused drugs - that Fisher now has AIDS. Why do some say it is B13 111 hateful to state this fact?

B13 112 When a nation fails to set boundaries for acceptable behavior, B13 113 people believe there are none and do whatever they want. Why B13 114 shouldn't Woody Allen be surprised at the nearly universal B13 115 condemnation he has received for his acknowledged affair with the B13 116 adopted daughter of his lover, Mia Farrow? Time magazine B13 117 quoted Allen as saying he didn't feel it was a moral dilemma to B13 118 have an affair with Farrow's child. If he thinks having sex with B13 119 Farrow is OK, who's to say it is out of bounds to have sex with her B13 120 daughter? Only those who wish to impose their morality on him, B13 121 right?

B13 122 If there are no rules for such things, no objective standard to B13 123 which people can appeal for right and honorable and decent B13 124 behavior, then Allen can say he was just doing what he wanted.

B13 125 It is the same with the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson. The B13 126 London tabloids published pictures of a topless Ferguson cavorting B13 127 with a man not her husband while her children watched. Hey, why B13 128 not? They were just doing what they wanted, and to say that there B13 129 is anything wrong with this is to summon people to hate and B13 130 fear.

B13 131 Give the adulterers and incest practitioners time to get B13 132 organized. As soon as they become big enough or loud enough, we can B13 133 expect to hear appeals from them for 'tolerance' and condemnation B13 134 of those who say that what they are doing is wrong.

B13 135 "Woe to those who call evil good, and good, B13 136 evil," says America's most banned and least consulted book. B13 137 There are growing numbers who are saying and doing precisely that, B13 138 and the woe they, and we, are feeling is the price we pay.

B13 139 B13 140 Your candidates won't fight for your economic B13 141 independence

B13 142 Charley Reese

B13 143 OF THE SENTINEL STAFF

B13 144 I was sitting in a mall recently, waiting for a relative to B13 145 finish shopping, and out of 200 to 300 faces, I saw only one - that B13 146 of a young person - that reflected any happiness or joy. The others B13 147 were glum, worried or simmering with hostility.

B13 148 Why is this? I invite you to conduct your own survey. Observe a B13 149 crowd and note how many happy faces you see. If indeed we are the B13 150 best country on Earth, the freest and most prosperous, there ought B13 151 to be a lot of happy and content faces in every crowd. Why aren't B13 152 there?

B13 153 Obviously, regardless of what the politicians and the B13 154 institutional poohbahs say, Americans as a whole are worried of B13 155 dissatisfied or both.

B13 156 Neither Bill Clinton nor George Bush is going to discuss the B13 157 really important matters because they are both establishment B13 158 candidates. But here is the nut of the problem.

B13 159 Our goal as a nation should be, to the greatest and widest B13 160 extent possible, to be a nation of people who are economically B13 161 independent, which is to say owners of property - homes, farms and B13 162 businesses.

B13 163 Mortgage holders are not owners of property. What they own is a B13 164 debt. Usually these days, if it's a home mortgage, that debt is B13 165 three times larger than the just value of the property.

B13 166 To build a nation of economically independent property owners B13 167 should be our goal for the following reasons: (1) political rights B13 168 are meaningless to the economically dependent; (2) property owners B13 169 have a vested interest in stability, which means good government; B13 170 and (3) economically independent property owners can afford to act B13 171 on principles, whereas the desperate must always put survival B13 172 first.

B13 173 It's clear from the writings of early Americans that it was B13 174 their intention that America would in fact be a nation of B13 175 economically independent property owners.

B13 176 People, however, who lust for power over their fellow men also B13 177 recognize that the greatest barrier to their seizure of power is a B13 178 population of economically independent citizens. Thus, those people B13 179 do everything they can to prevent Americans from becoming B13 180 economically independent and to bankrupt those who are.

B13 181 It follows then, if we had honest political leaders, they would B13 182 be discussing this basic issue: What helps Americans become B13 183 economically independent and what forces them into economic B13 184 dependency?

B13 185 Instead they argue generalities - family values, liberal vs. B13 186 conservative, education, abortion, TV characters and other trivia - B13 187 anything in order to avoid addressing the main issues.

B13 188 The main methods of depriving people of their property or B13 189 preventing them from acquiring any are: taxes, usury, inflated B13 190 currency and establishment of monopolies.

B13 191 Do you hear any of the candidates discussing these subjects? B13 192 They only mention taxes, and that only in the sense of demagoguing B13 193 some minor cosmetic change. They won't open their mouths on the B13 194 subject of usurious interest rates, the corrupt monetary system or B13 195 the ever-growing concentration of business and industry into fewer B13 196 and fewer hands.

B13 197 This is the reason why in the past it never made any real B13 198 difference whether the man in the White House was a Democrat or a B13 199 Republican, a so-called liberal or a so-called conservative. It is B13 200 the reason why it won't make any difference whether you elect Bill B13 201 Clinton or George Bush. Neither one of them will stop the B13 202 monopolization and internationalization of business and industry. B13 203 Neither one will even talk about usury and bringing it under B13 204 control. Neither one will even mention the monetary system, which B13 205 robs both the active and retired worker through inflation. Neither B13 206 one will seriously consider lifting the tax burden and the B13 207 regulatory burden, which crush people's attempts to build B13 208 successful businesses.

B13 209 Watch and see for yourself.

B13 210 B13 211 Not all wives like their mates the way Barbara likes B13 212 George

B13 213 Mike Royko

B13 214 CHICAGO TRIBUNE

B13 215 After listening to Barbara Bush talk about her husband, I asked B13 216 the blonde: "What would you say about me?"

B13 217 "What do you mean?" she said.

B13 218 "Well, Barbara Bush just publicly stated that her B13 219 husband is, and I quote: 'The strongest, the most decent, the most B13 220 caring, the wisest and, yes, the healthiest man I B13 221 know.'"

B13 222 B14 1 <#FROWN:B14\>Bush's Regulations: The Unkindest Cut

B14 2 James J. Kilpatrick

B14 3 Washington

B14 4 These are hard times for George Bush. Everybody is picking on B14 5 our kindly Caesar, and the most unkindest cuts of all are coming B14 6 from such a right-wing Brutus as the Heritage Foundation in B14 7 Washington.

B14 8 The conservative think tank has hung around his neck the B14 9 scornful label of "the regulation president."

B14 10 This is a bum rap but an understandable one. The immemorial B14 11 political custom is that a sitting president gets thorns when B14 12 things go bad and bouquets when things go well, and generally he B14 13 deserves neither one.

B14 14 Herbert Hoover will be forever remembered for the Hoover B14 15 Depression, but the poor fellow was as blameless as Little Orphan B14 16 Annie.

B14 17 In the same fashion, Bush bears some of the responsibility -but B14 18 only some of it -for the increase in regulatory activity on his B14 19 watch. On the surface, the figures are sobering.

B14 20 The Federal Register, which records all federal proposals for B14 21 regulatory measures, ran to 53,376 pages in Reagan's last year in B14 22 the White House. In 1991, under Bush, the Register carried 67,716 B14 23 pages.

B14 24 Under Reagan, the government hired 104,360 persons in 53 B14 25 regulatory agencies. Under Bush the figure has grown to 124,994.

B14 26 In 1988, spending on regulatory programs amounted to $9.5 B14 27 billion. Last year the same agencies spent $11.2 billion, and the B14 28 data are reckoned in constant dollars that give account to B14 29 inflation.

B14 30 These figures from the Heritage Foundation are substantially B14 31 confirmed in analyses from the Center for the Study of American B14 32 Business in St. Louis.

B14 33 In May the center predicted that regulatory spending will reach B14 34 $14 billion in 1993, with 126,000 workers engaged in administering B14 35 rules and regulations.

B14 36 A slowdown, says Heritage, "is desperately B14 37 needed."

B14 38 Not many persons, and certainly not many persons in the B14 39 business community, would disagree with that assertion. Bush B14 40 imposed a moratorium last January on new regulations, and it looks B14 41 as if the regulatory budget for 1993 will show a tiny decline.

B14 42 Meanwhile, Vice President Dan Quayle is leading the B14 43 administration's charge against regulations that damage the B14 44 competitive position of American industry. This helps.

B14 45 To what extent is Bush personally to blame for the burgeoning B14 46 budget? The Heritage critics single out two laws for particular B14 47 attack -the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Clean Air Act. B14 48 Bush signed the former in July, 1990, and the latter the following B14 49 November.

B14 50 This is what gets overlooked. The disabilities bill soared B14 51 through the Senate in September, 1989, on a vote of 76-8. Eight B14 52 months later it passed in the House 403-20.

B14 53 The conference report cleared the Senate 91-6, the House B14 54 377-26. Is Bush alone to bear the blame for what this law will B14 55 cost?

B14 56 Consider the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act. The bill B14 57 cleared the Senate in April 89-11. It passed the House in May B14 58 401-21. In October the conference report won approval 401-25 in the B14 59 House, 89-10 in the Senate.

B14 60 What the record does not show is that Bush worked doggedly for B14 61 three months before the first Senate vote to pull some of the B14 62 sharpest teeth out of the bill. Minority leader Bob Dole threatened B14 63 a filibuster. Bush threatened a veto.

B14 64 In its final form the bill imposed heavy new burdens, but it B14 65 could have been much worse.

B14 66 The Heritage critics acknowledge that "the precise cost B14 67 of regulation is extremely difficult to determine." Having B14 68 said that, they proceed to give us some figures anyhow.

B14 69 Different scholars place the direct costs of regulation on the B14 70 economy between $636 and $857 billion a year. After subtracting B14 71 benefits, the net cost supposedly comes to $364 to $538 billion.

B14 72 Such figures are mostly moon-beam conjectures. Given a B14 73 sharp pencil and a large tablet, even a sophomore economist could B14 74 draw up a plausible tally.

B14 75 Some expenses under the disabilities act will be clearly B14 76 identifiable: It costs money to build a ramp for wheelchairs. To B14 77 meet clean air standards, expensive equipment will be required.

B14 78 Benefits are not so easily quantified, but they should not be B14 79 minimized. Fair treatment of 43 million disabled Americans is a B14 80 desirable goal to go for.

B14 81 My own feeling is that marginal improvements under the Clean B14 82 Air Act probably will cost more than they're worth, but it's a B14 83 close call.

B14 84 Anyhow, my point is that George Bush didn't add to the B14 85 regulatory burden all by himself. Congress voted overwhelmingly for B14 86 these programs. It's the guy in the kitchen who takes the heat.

B14 87 B14 88 Why the GOP is Ignoring 'Desert Storm'

B14 89 Art Buchwald

B14 90 Washington

B14 91 Last year the wise people in Washington predicted that Desert B14 92 Storm would be the centerpiece of the Bush political campaign. The B14 93 president could not miss with all the film of our boys striking a B14 94 blow for freedom.

B14 95 You can read George Bush's lips from here to California, and B14 96 not one word has been uttered about the war.

B14 97 "Why," some may ask, "has Desert Storm become a B14 98 bigger secret in Washington than Deep Throat?" The answer B14 99 is that while it was the greatest show we've had on television in B14 100 ages, there was more to the Gulf War than met the eye.

B14 101 Capablanca was assigned eight months ago to put together an B14 102 entire "Desert Storm Bush" campaign. He was told to B14 103 spend all the money he wanted as long as he showed yellow ribbons B14 104 hanging on old oak trees.

B14 105 But although he is ready, he just can't get the 'go' sign from B14 106 the White House and is starting to suspect that he never will. He B14 107 told me:

B14 108 "The hitch is that since no one bothered to knock off B14 109 Saddam Hussein, he's telling everyone that we gave him agricultural B14 110 grants that he managed to turn into weapons to invade Kuwait. This B14 111 makes George Bush look bad."

B14 112 "I should think so. Didn't the president know that B14 113 Saddam Hussein would attack Kuwait?"

B14 114 "No, Mr. Bush thought that Iran was going to attack B14 115 Kuwait."

B14 116 "Why did he think that?"

B14 117 "Because the White House always gets Iran and Iraq B14 118 mixed up. They both start with an 'I.'"

B14 119 "Even if Saddam got the weapons from us to fight, he B14 120 didn't do very well in the field," I said.

B14 121 "No, but he is still getting away with murder by B14 122 building atomic weapons and germ warfare projectiles. If we bring B14 123 up Desert Storm, some wise guy Democrat is going to ask where the B14 124 supplies came from for Saddam to try to go for the big B14 125 one."

B14 126 "From the United States," I volunteered.

B14 127 "Yeah, but just because we gave forbidden material to B14 128 him doesn't mean we considered him a friend. In any case, the B14 129 Republican big shots think that if we mention Desert Storm, B14 130 somebody is going to say, 'Has Kuwait changed from the way it was B14 131 before we helped them?'"

B14 132 "It's ruled by a royal family. How can it B14 133 change?" I asked.

B14 134 "The president promised the American people that our B14 135 boys were over there to fight for freedom and to liberate the B14 136 Kuwaiti people from the yoke of totalitarianism."

B14 137 "I don't believe that," I said.

B14 138 "We have it on tape, but we're not going to put it in a B14 139 TV spot because there are independents who will say 'What the heck B14 140 is he talking about?'"

B14 141 "Why don't we ask for a filmed statement from Saddam B14 142 denying that American money was used to equip his army?"

B14 143 "He won't do it. He says that he never interferes in B14 144 the internal affairs of another country. The truth is that Desert B14 145 Storm is a dead issue politically, and the whole exercise is one B14 146 that we can't cash in on, particularly if Congress appoints a B14 147 special prosecutor before the election."

B14 148 "It's a pity," I said, "since it was B14 149 Bush's finest hour."

B14 150 "You better believe it. If you had had your pick of B14 151 Iran or Iraq, you would have done the same thing."

B14 152 B14 153 As Customary, Reflections on Tuesday's Elections

B14 154 Tom Coffey

B14 155 Please permit, as has been your tolerant custom, some B14 156 reflections on the recent primary elections:

B14 157 <*_>black-square<*/>First it was John Rousakis, and now Bob B14 158 McCorkle, the latter experiencing on Tuesday what the former did B14 159 last November when the voters ended his 21-year reign as mayor. A B14 160 lesson perhaps to local politicians: two decades is sufficient.

B14 161 Or, as many a mother has admonished a teen leaving the house B14 162 all dolled up on Friday night: "Don't stay too long at the B14 163 party, Son."

B14 164 Still, Joe Mahany's upset of McCorkle in the race for the B14 165 county commission chairmanship came as a surprise to Yours Truly. B14 166 Didn't have nerve enough to predict in print, but I told anyone who B14 167 asked me, one-on-one, for a prediction that I thought Ol' Bob the B14 168 populist would win, especially considering the difference between B14 169 him and the challenger in name recognition.

B14 170 But Bob's 22 years in public office, Joe's low-key but steady B14 171 and make-sense campaigning, and the anti-incumbency wave -too B14 172 much.

B14 173 <*_>black-square<*/>No surprise in the Republican runoff in the B14 174 chairman's contest. Two excellent campaigners in Julie Smith and B14 175 Ray Gaster, and with aired differences while stumping they have B14 176 helped to demonstrate that the GOP has come of age as a political B14 177 entity in our neck of the woods. Used to be that offices went B14 178 uncontested in Republican primaries.

B14 179 And Mahany will have a formidable foe in whoever wins the B14 180 runoff.

B14 181 <*_>black-square<*/>Good Loser of the Night Award is shared by B14 182 McCorkle and Tom Taggart, who lost to Charlie Mikell in the race B14 183 for Superior Court judge. Both were gracious in defeat.

B14 184 Happily, there's no Poor Loser award. The others (at least B14 185 those who appeared on television) took defeat admirably.

B14 186 <*_>black-square<*/>Barbara Kiley, who won her B14 187 first-round race for tax commissioner and faces opposition B14 188 in November, may be the rare exception among longtime incumbents. B14 189 The lady has demonstrated how to win ever since she and John B14 190 Rousakis co-honchoed the late Carl Griffin's first race for B14 191 sheriff. Her second-round test against Republican W.D. Atkinson B14 192 will be the biggie.

B14 193 <*_>black-square<*/>State Rep. Dorothy Pelote -now there's a B14 194 political lady who always has known how to win, even before she B14 195 ventured out to seek public office, first as a county commissioner B14 196 and of late as a legislator.

B14 197 Years ago, she was her neighborhood's spokesperson and B14 198 unofficial ombudswoman in seeking such improvements as B14 199 play-grounds, drainage, better streets, lighting, etc. And B14 200 whatever Miss Dorothy wanted, she usually got. Her political B14 201 success is due to years of built-up respect from dedication to B14 202 constituents.

B14 203 <*_>black-square<*/>David Saussy's first-round triumph in his B14 204 race for a district County Commission seat was nip-and-tuck against B14 205 Bill Stephenson, whose one-on-one method won him the county B14 206 chairmanship 12 years ago in an up-hill battle against the B14 207 so-called Establishment.

B14 208 Saussy used pretty much the same technique, but obviously with B14 209 slightly more persuasion. His race against Democrat Marty Felser in B14 210 November will be among the more interesting ones.

B14 211 <*_>black-square<*/>Consider such factors as the accent on B14 212 women candidates at the recent Democratic National Convention... a B14 213 woman in the Savannah mayor's chair, women on Tuesday's ballot for B14 214 statewide, congressional, countywide and district offices, and the B14 215 Constitution which has, since 1920, accorded women the right to B14 216 vote.

B14 217 Now, imagine a lady's surprise the other day when, campaigning B14 218 by phone for a candidate, she was told by the lade on the other end B14 219 of the line: "Call back and talk to my husband. He does the B14 220 voting in this family."

B14 221 <*_>black-square<*/>As usual, there was confusion at some B14 222 polling places, and the tallying into the night was slow. It's B14 223 obvious we need a faster method of tallying, and when the money is B14 224 available the county should consider converting everything to B14 225 computer.

B14 226 Still, it wasn't all bad, at least not in my polling place. I B14 227 stood in line behind friend Willie Remley, who had six ahead of B14 228 him. When his turn came, he allowed that he had waited only about B14 229 10 minutes. Willie took just about a minute. I took less than that B14 230 because I voted GOP and had fewer offices to confront.

B14 231 <*_>black-square<*/>The Dedication Award goes to those B14 232 supporters of various candidates who stood on street corners to B14 233 wave placards and give motorists the old high-sign. In mid-July B14 234 heat, that's dedication.

B14 235 <*_>black-square<*/>And who got rich off the primaries? B14 236 B15 1 <#FROWN:B15\>Abortion debate is becoming moot

B15 2 Marilyn Geewax

B15 3 Few issues in U.S. history have stirred as much vehement B15 4 disagreement as abortion. In modern times, only conflicts over race B15 5 and Vietnam could match the nastiness that now characterizes B15 6 abortion debates.

B15 7 In many countries, ending a pregnancy is a quiet matter B15 8 involving a woman and her doctor.

B15 9 In the United States, abortion has been turned into a political B15 10 screen on which partisans project their fears. Each views the B15 11 picture clearly and can't understand why others don't see it.

B15 12 'Pro-lifers' look at the screen and perceive a nation in moral B15 13 decline. They see people having sex without concern for commitment, B15 14 marriage or the children they might conceive.

B15 15 When 'pro-choicers' view abortion, they see government B15 16 officials taking away a woman's right to self-determination. B15 17 Recognizing that all forms of birth control can fail, they believe B15 18 that forcing an unwilling person, perhaps even a young girl, to B15 19 give birth is simply barbaric.

B15 20 With the two sides engaged in this furious debate, few seem to B15 21 realize the outcome already has been determined. Abortion opponents B15 22 are losing - not to liberals, but to new drugs and technology.

B15 23 Anti-abortion firebrands can block clinics and push states to B15 24 regulate the procedure. For now, they are having some success. But B15 25 power to control the issue inexorably is slipping from their B15 26 hands.

B15 27 In coming years, women who wish to end pregnancies will be able B15 28 to take medication, such as RU-486, a pill now widely used in B15 29 France and England. The drug, which is banned by the U.S. Food and B15 30 Drug Administration, is bound to make its way into this country, B15 31 legally or illegally.

B15 32 Recently, the Supreme Court stopped a California woman from B15 33 bringing her dose of RU-486 into this country. That ruling was B15 34 intended to settle the issue - but it won't.

B15 35 Sooner or later, RU-486 will become available to U.S. women. B15 36 Doubt it? Just look at cocaine.

B15 37 Cocaine is a drug that many Americans want. They can buy it in B15 38 any city, even though government has spent billions to keep it from B15 39 entering the country.

B15 40 If enough Americans want a drug, they will find a way to get B15 41 it. Prohibition lasted just 13 years because so many citizens chose B15 42 to ignore the alcohol ban.

B15 43 Even if the U.S. government somehow can stop RU-486 from being B15 44 distributed widely here, no one will be able to stop the B15 45 proliferation of home-abortion kits. Women are using legal B15 46 equipment - glass jars, syringes and coils of aquarium tubing - to B15 47 end pregnancies in private.

B15 48 According to the Federation of Women's Health Centers, roughly B15 49 2,000 U.S. women are volunteering now to help pregnant women B15 50 perform home abortions. More women are learning to do the procedure B15 51 every day.

B15 52 Whether anti-abortion arguments make moral sense is an issue B15 53 for each person to decide. But right or wrong, abortions won't go B15 54 away. More types of abortion pills will be developed soon and more B15 55 laywomen will <}_><-|>learn to how to<+|>learn how to<}/> end B15 56 pregnancies without doctors present.

B15 57 Trying to turn back the clock to a time when women didn't have B15 58 access to reproductive information or birth-control technology is B15 59 futile.

B15 60 The ability to end a pregnancy is just a fact of modern life. B15 61 Blocking clinics and passing laws may be emotionally satisfying to B15 62 some, but such actions won't stop most women from choosing whether B15 63 to give birth.

B15 64 B15 65 Political pro strings along press corps

B15 66 By Leonard Larsen

B15 67 Secretary of State James A. Baker III's descent from the B15 68 heavens to take over another George Bush presidential campaign has B15 69 moved backward from "sure thing" to "maybe" B15 70 and that just goes to show how smart the man is.

B15 71 There'll be more drama in it now: Will the brilliant star risk B15 72 his reputation and pedigree on a mission impossible to rescue his B15 73 Texas sidekick, a president who's lower than a snake's belly in the B15 74 polls and sitting unhappily as first in a collection of dunces?

B15 75 It can't be done. So, of course, Mr. Baker will do it. And the B15 76 Washington-headquartered herd journalists who have built B15 77 the Baker reputation might soon be reporting a rejuvenated Bush B15 78 campaign, a new verve and savviness in an effort that was about to B15 79 be given up for dead.

B15 80 It was Mr. Baker himself, in the midst of another trot around B15 81 the globe, who deliberately dampened talk of the "done B15 82 deal," orchestrating staff leaks at his pique with B15 83 underlings in the White House who were already talking about Mr. B15 84 Baker's return to Mr. Bush's side.

B15 85 As his staff leaked it and the trailing herd journalists B15 86 reported it, Mr. Baker - at the edge of a break-through to B15 87 peace in the Middle East - feared his work in foreign affairs might B15 88 lie unfinished without him.

B15 89 But there was the tug of loyalty back to his floundering B15 90 friend, it was also said, and there was the prospect that all would B15 91 be lost - Mr. Baker's monumental good works as well as Mr. Bush's B15 92 sorry presidency - if Mr. Baker didn't go back and save Mr. Bush B15 93 from what looks like approaching disaster.

B15 94 Mr. Baker stage-managed the sure thing prospect of his role in B15 95 the presidential campaign back to "maybe" with polished B15 96 expertise, even acting aggravated during a joint news conference in B15 97 Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek.

B15 98 To a reporter inquiring about Mr. Baker's intent to leave the B15 99 peace process to go back to political campaigning, he suggested the B15 100 poor fool "ought not to believe everything you read in the B15 101 papers .... There has been no decision made."

B15 102 So now it won't look so much like Mr. Bush and his friend have B15 103 been planning it for the past several weeks when Mr. Baker - B15 104 probably after helping cut the deal for $10 billion in guaranteed B15 105 loans for Israel - will move to salvage the pitiful Bush B15 106 campaign.

B15 107 If - probably when - the reassignment puts Mr. Baker back in B15 108 presidential politics, Washington herd journalism will dwell for a B15 109 while on his sacrifice and selflessness but will quickly turn to B15 110 marvel at his miracles.

B15 111 There'll probably be leaked stories of the new mood at the B15 112 White House as Mr. Baker dispels gloom, stories of the new clarity B15 113 of purpose in the Bush campaign, the sharpening of its message, the B15 114 spring in the president's step and the lift in his spirits.

B15 115 There'll be herd journalism's analysis by leak, revelations of B15 116 Bush and Baker man-to-man talks, palsy stuff but important in B15 117 stiffening the Bush backbone.

B15 118 And pretty soon, with the brilliant Baker back at the controls, B15 119 the media herd will report on the rehabilitation of the Bush B15 120 campaign and the Bush presidency: lean and mean, ready at last to B15 121 make a fight of it.

B15 122 All that, of course, will be pretty much Mr. Baker's view of it B15 123 and pretty much the way his Washington career has been reported by B15 124 a Baker-friendly media. If President Reagan was Teflon on B15 125 which nothing would stick, Mr. Baker is rubber, bouncing always B15 126 away from harm.

B15 127 It's seldom recalled by the herd that Mr. Baker was secretary B15 128 of the Treasury when the economic slide into debt and recession was B15 129 quickening and the savings and loan scandal was coming to an B15 130 untended boil.

B15 131 He left Treasury to head the 1988 Bush presidential campaign B15 132 but herd journalism never attached the dirty business done there to B15 133 Mr. Baker.

B15 134 And while State Department small fry and the president himself B15 135 have been pilloried for ignoring Saddam Hussein's belligerency and B15 136 for actually strengthening the Iraqi dictator, it all happened B15 137 while Mr. Baker was directing American foreign policy.

B15 138 What's to remember about Mr. Baker - whether White House aide, B15 139 Cabinet secretary, political pro or presidential pal - is that he's B15 140 not only smart; he's always his own best press agent.

B15 141 B15 142 2 is enough? For families, that's the subtle message

B15 143 By Ana Veciana Suarez

B15 144 In the beginning, there were two of us.

B15 145 At restaurants we were seated immediately. We drove compacts, B15 146 small cars we could slide into tight parking spaces. Our grocery B15 147 bill was insignificant, our electric bill a source of admiration. B15 148 We even had trouble filling a large top-loader with our weekly B15 149 laundry.

B15 150 Now with four children, I look back at those days and wonder if B15 151 they ever truly existed.

B15 152 Our lifestyle was transformed subtly with the first child, but B15 153 it changed exponentially with each child thereafter, as much our B15 154 doing as the doing of the shrinking-family society that surrounds B15 155 me.

B15 156 America, I have concluded, has become the home of the B15 157 two-child family. An extra kid or two throws off the B15 158 delicate balance of the economy. Why, even most board games - a B15 159 popular (and inexpensive) pastime for our family - allow only four B15 160 players. Someone is invariably left out.

B15 161 For most people, four children constitutes a large family. We B15 162 discovered that when I was pregnant with our youngest more than two B15 163 years ago. The announcement was met with a modicum of apprehension B15 164 by friends.

B15 165 My husband's side of the family, most of whom have only one B15 166 child, accepted the news with raised eyebrows.

B15 167 "How will you ever keep track of all of them?" B15 168 asked his cousin, a mother of one.

B15 169 Admittedly, such reaction has taken me by surprise. I'm one of B15 170 five children, and that, among my extended clan, was considered a B15 171 small troop. Family get-togethers were a blast, and you never B15 172 needed classmates for birthday parties.

B15 173 Nowadays, more than two children invites unwelcomed B15 174 speculation. Everybody hints at what you do on cold evenings.

B15 175 There is a pernicious belief, too, that those of us who have B15 176 more children are single-handedly destroying the environment, B15 177 perhaps even enlarging the hole in the ozone.

B15 178 Society plots, in small but cutting ways, against families with B15 179 more than two children.

B15 180 Contests invariably award prizes for a family of four, which B15 181 means you can leave part of the gang behind or pay for them to come B15 182 along. The latter choice tends to offset any contest gain, B15 183 though.

B15 184 I am no longer fooled by the kids eat-fly-stay free B15 185 advertisements, either. They mean one paying adult per free child. B15 186 It's as if the remaining children in the family did not exist in B15 187 the minds of Madison Avenue.

B15 188 I've always been comfortable with whatever number of children B15 189 I've had, though each took some adjusting and expanding, B15 190 particularly in the furniture department. When there were two, I B15 191 thought of this as a nice even number, yet three turned out to be B15 192 more fun. And four made it possible for each child to have an ally B15 193 - an important strategic move in sibling wars.

B15 194 I became accustomed to eating at a large dinner table as soon B15 195 as we outgrew dinettes, and I've long stopped buying single B15 196 servings or anything smaller than family size.

B15 197 But one thing still gets me: How come all the close parking B15 198 spaces are for compacts only?

B15 199 B15 200 Balanced budget a bitter bill

B15 201 Strapped states, cities would have to face consequences

B15 202 By David Rapp

B15 203 GOVERNING MAGAZINE

B15 204 Washington - The balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution B15 205 flamed out in Congress this summer. But it will almost surely be B15 206 back.

B15 207 Anti-deficit sentiment is too strong across the country for the B15 208 amendment's sponsors not to try again sooner or later.

B15 209 In the end, it may still be up to the states - with their power B15 210 to ratify constitutional amendments - to decide whether a balanced B15 211 federal budget is necessary or even desirable.

B15 212 Just about everyone in Washington believes that a B15 213 balanced-budget amendment would sail through the 38 states B15 214 needed to ratify it. After all, the states balance their own B15 215 budgets; all except Vermont are required to do so. Wouldn't they B15 216 want Washington to play by the same rules?

B15 217 Not necessarily. The whole balanced-budget issue presents B15 218 states with some puzzles they probably want to think through before B15 219 the amendment ends up in the legislatures' lap.

B15 220 In most states, a balanced budget is more fiction than reality. B15 221 Some regularly borrow from pools of money outside the 'general B15 222 fund,' such as capital budgets or pension funds. Others count B15 223 revenue that won't really arrive until the next fiscal year. Many B15 224 more simply delay making obligated payments - to suppliers, to B15 225 salaried employees or to local governments.

B15 226 But there is a more important reason why states should think B15 227 twice about ratifying a balanced-budget amendment.

B15 228 B16 1 <#FROWN:B16\>Poor, Misunderstood Garbage

B16 2 By William Rathje and Cullen Murphy

B16 3 BOSTON

B16 4 In the spring of 1987, all eyes were on Mobro 4000, the B16 5 infamous garbage barge that sailed from Long Island in March and B16 6 spent 55 days plying the seas in search of a place to deposit 3,000 B16 7 tons of municipal solid waste. Five years later comes the summer of B16 8 the trash trains, two of which, laden with tons of New York City's B16 9 garbage, wandered the Midwest in search of landfills before heading B16 10 home and dumping their loads where most city garbage goes in the B16 11 first place: the Fresh Kills Landfill, on Staten Island.

B16 12 One could not drive through the Midwest this summer and escape B16 13 the radio reporters tracking the trains. Nor could one escape the B16 14 barrage of commentary, some directed generically at New York, most B16 15 of it focused on the garbage 'crisis'. The message was that B16 16 Americans are generating far more trash per capita than they can B16 17 ever hope to deal with and that we're desperately short of B16 18 solutions.

B16 19 That is an unfortunate message, because it happens not to be B16 20 true. The trash trains and garbage barge are imperfect examples of B16 21 what they are supposed to symbolize. The barge's voyage was the B16 22 result of an economic gamble by an entrepreneur that went awry. It B16 23 was not the result of a lack of ways to dispose of Long Island's B16 24 garbage. The farce of the trains involved labor and permit B16 25 disputes, equipment failures, bad weather and court orders that B16 26 combined to disrupt what is otherwise the vast daily shipment of B16 27 garbage from the country's most congested areas to less congested B16 28 ones with landfills.

B16 29 The U.S. does have serious garbage problems. We produce more B16 30 municipal solid waste per capita than many other industrialized B16 31 countries, and we dispose of it less efficiently. But it is also B16 32 true that we sometimes exaggerate our problems and emphasize the B16 33 wrong ones. In fact, there seem to be few subjects of public B16 34 significance on which opinion is so consistently misinformed. And B16 35 misinformation can lead to alarm, despair and bad decisions.

B16 36 The misperceptions involve matters as diverse as per capita B16 37 garbage volume (we're not producing more by leaps and bounds) B16 38 and biodegradation (not much of which happens in landfills). One B16 39 especially significant misperception concerns landfills. The B16 40 landfill problem we face is usually described like this: 50 percent B16 41 of existing landfills will close within five years. But all B16 42 landfills are not equal: Many of those being closed are small and B16 43 environmentally dubious, whereas newer ones are much larger and B16 44 much safer. And it has long been the case that 50 percent of all B16 45 landfills will close in five years. The waste-management B16 46 industry has never seen the need to maintain limitless capacity. B16 47 The difference today is that new capacity is getting harder to B16 48 find.

B16 49 Why ? The reasons often have nothing to do with the claim that B16 50 we're running out of room for safe landfills. Yes, in some parts of B16 51 the country we have run out of room. But few nations are as endowed B16 52 with open territory as the U.S., and suitable land is available B16 53 even in relatively populous areas. A survey of eastern New York B16 54 state in the late 1980's for possible landfill sites pinpointed B16 55 locations that together made up only 1 percent of the land under B16 56 study but added up to about 200 square miles. The obstacles to new B16 57 sanitary landfills are less territorial than psychological and B16 58 political.

B16 59 This brings us to the heart of the matter. The garbage crisis B16 60 is not a crisis caused by growing amounts of garbage. It is caused B16 61 by an evaporation of political will.

B16 62 Sensible ways of dealing with disposal exist. Sanitary B16 63 landfills can safely handle garbage in many places around the U.S., B16 64 perhaps even most. Recycling is no panacea, but it is essential B16 65 everywhere. Consumers can help by buying products that are B16 66 recyclable or that have a high post-consumer recycled B16 67 content.

B16 68 Incinerators are necessary in some places, and her and there B16 69 may even have to shoulder most of the burden. Incinerators are not B16 70 the smoke-belching monsters of yore and can operate within B16 71 stringent environmental guidelines. And they can be made safer if B16 72 some items, like batteries and some plastics, are disposed of B16 73 separately. Incinerators do require, however, that workers be B16 74 trained to think of pollution control as more important than energy B16 75 production.

B16 76 Beyond these means of disposal, market forces, in the form of B16 77 graduated fees linked to the volume of garbage that households and B16 78 businesses throw away, can be harnessed to give consumers - and, B16 79 through them, manufacturers - an incentive to reduce the volume of B16 80 discards.

B16 81 Clearly, we have ways to dispose of our garbage. What seems no B16 82 longer to exist is the capacity to make important decisions about B16 83 fundamental policies - a problem that afflicts us in many B16 84 arenas.

B16 85 New York City's leaders recently arrived at a tentative B16 86 compromise on a long-term plan for the disposal of city garbage, B16 87 one that relies heavily on recycling and incineration. Whether that B16 88 plan would work is probably less open to doubt than whether the B16 89 city has the will to adopt any plan at all. When it comes to B16 90 political gridlock on this issue, New York remains a world-class B16 91 city.

B16 92 B16 93 Recycling, Minus the Myths

B16 94 By John Schall

B16 95 NEW HAVEN

B16 96 Recycling is a noble idea, its critics concede, but they say it B16 97 won't work and costs too much. Many supporters say recycling and B16 98 composting can take care of the entire solid waste problem. Both B16 99 sides perpetuate misconceptions that New York City's proposed solid B16 100 waste management plan should help dispel. As the City Council B16 101 prepares to vote next week on this plan, it should not be dissuaded B16 102 by any of the following myths.

B16 103 Recycling is costly and an environmental B16 104 extravagance. The city's proposed recycling program may be B16 105 costly but it is also cost-effective. Managing solid waste is B16 106 expensive, regardless of the method used. The city's plan shows B16 107 that half of the waste could be captured in well-planned recycling B16 108 and composting programs, at a lower cost than it would take to bury B16 109 or burn it.

B16 110 Recycling is too difficult and people don't B16 111 participate. True, not all New Yorkers will sort their trash, B16 112 but the success of the proposed plan does not depend on 100 percent B16 113 participation. By making the program simple and consistent, 65 B16 114 percent to 80 percent of New Yorkers could reasonably be expected B16 115 to participate, based on experience in New York City and B16 116 elsewhere.

B16 117 Currently, the city's patchwork recycling programs differ from B16 118 neighborhood to neighborhood. Under the new plan, recycling would B16 119 be uniform throughout every borough. People would be required to B16 120 sort recyclables into only two containers - one for paper and B16 121 textiles, the other for glass, metal and plastic. It would be B16 122 complemented by a public education campaign, and perhaps every B16 123 block would have a volunteer recycling coordinator. More products B16 124 would be recycled, including textiles, junk mail and plastic bags. B16 125 More recycling facilities would be built, and the current B16 126 collection method, in which two trucks stop at every building, B16 127 would be streamlined to require only one truck.

B16 128 A lack of markets for recycled materials will make B16 129 recycling meaningless and uneconomical. Dozens of states have B16 130 passed laws in the last two years that require makers of packaging B16 131 and many consumer goods to reuse up to 50 percent of all the B16 132 materials they produce. Many other states including New York are B16 133 considering such mandates, and Congress may pass similar Federal B16 134 laws. These laws create markets, and the trend will only continue B16 135 as landfills nationwide fill up and pressure from environmentalists B16 136 increases.

B16 137 Recycling makes economic and environmental sense. A study B16 138 released in June by the Tellus Institute, a nonprofit research B16 139 organization in Boston, reports that most industries have found B16 140 using recycled materials technologically feasible, and that this B16 141 has reduced toxic pollutants, greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting B16 142 emissions. According to the American Paper Institute, paper mills B16 143 using recycled materials were five times more profitable last year B16 144 than those using virgin fiber.

B16 145 The issue is recycling versus incineration. Under the B16 146 proposed plan, from 50 percent to 65 percent of the 28,000 tons of B16 147 waste the city produces each day would be prevented, recycled or B16 148 composted. The remainder cannot be sent indefinitely to the Fresh B16 149 Kills landfill on Staten Island. Unless new ways of handling the B16 150 waste are developed, including more energy producing incineration, B16 151 New York will have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year B16 152 exporting garbage. The city's proposed plan isn't a recycling vs. B16 153 incineration plan: it maximizes recycling and composting and buries B16 154 or burns only the remainder. Recycling works. By approving the B16 155 plan, the City Council can take a giant step toward an B16 156 environmentally and economically rational approach for handling B16 157 waste.

B16 158 B16 159 The World Needs An Army on Call

B16 160 By David Boren

B16 161 WASHINGTON

B16 162 Americans are not enthusiastic about having the United States B16 163 stand alone as the policeman of the world. There is a feeling that B16 164 we simply no longer have the resources, given the pressing need to B16 165 rebuild our strength at home, to play that role any longer.

B16 166 This does not mean, however, that Americans have been lulled by B16 167 the dangerous siren song of the new isolationists. We understand B16 168 more clearly than ever that our economic well-being and B16 169 national security depend on developments and relationships outside B16 170 our borders.

B16 171 No American, for example, wants to allow Saddam Hussein to B16 172 thwart United Nations weapons inspections and rebuild his military B16 173 capability. No American can remain indifferent to the images of B16 174 starvation and brutality in detention centers in Bosnia and B16 175 Herzegovina; the hideous policy of "ethnic cleansing" is something B16 176 many of us never expected would occur again in our lifetimes. It B16 177 has filled our people with a sense of moral urgency and an B16 178 overwhelming feeling that we must do something to stop it.

B16 179 But while Americans want something done, they do not want to do B16 180 it alone. For the United Sates to act, the burden must be shared. B16 181 It is time to create a genuine multilateral mechanism that can deal B16 182 not only with these crises but also those that inevitably lie B16 183 ahead.

B16 184 Instead of shrinking from the task, we should welcome the fact B16 185 that we are the first generation, perhaps in centuries, to have the B16 186 opportunity to act boldly in the absence of confrontation between B16 187 great powers.

B16 188 The opportunity for the United Nations is clear. In the B16 189 aftermath of World War II, President Truman wanted to empower the B16 190 new United Nations to create a new world order. Addressing the B16 191 General Assembly at its opening session in October 1946, he said, B16 192 "We shall press for the preparation of agreements in order B16 193 that the Security Council may have at its disposal peace forces B16 194 adequate to prevent acts of aggression."

B16 195 That promise was never realized because of the cold war and the B16 196 Soviet Union's use of its veto power on the Security council.

B16 197 But under Article 43 of the United Nations charter, the B16 198 Secretary General still has the authority to ask member nations to B16 199 designate military units that can be deployed in the event of a B16 200 crisis "to maintain international peace and B16 201 security." In June, Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali B16 202 asked member countries to make that authority a reality.

B16 203 Richard Gardner, a professor of international law at Columbia B16 204 University, proposes that 40 to 50 member nations contribute to a B16 205 rapid-deployment force of 100,000 volunteers that could train under B16 206 common leadership and with standardized equipment. Intelligence B16 207 could also be shared to allow the United Nations to anticipate B16 208 problems and take pre-emptive action.

B16 209 It is time for us to create such a force, and the United States B16 210 should take the lead in proposing it.

B16 211 Of course, details would have to be worked out. The War Powers B16 212 Act would have to be amended to insure that the United States does B16 213 not surrender its right to final approval of committing American B16 214 troops to life-threatening situations. Members of the B16 215 United Nations that lack veto power in the Security Council could B16 216 condition their commitment to a rapid-deployment force on the right B16 217 to withdraw units for their own urgent national security B16 218 interests.

B16 219 Still, the existence of such a force, uniformly trained and B16 220 ready to act, would go a long way toward making the 'new world B16 221 order' more than just a slogan. B16 222 B17 1 <#FROWN:B17\>Prejudice and 'problem people'

B17 2 Clarence Page

B17 3 There is an old story about a cat who jumped onto a hot stove B17 4 once and found the experience to be so profoundly unpleasant that B17 5 he never jumped on a hot stove again. Of course, he never jumped on B17 6 a cold stove, either. Ruth Jandrucko of Miami, who was mugged in a B17 7 parking lot in 1986, can identify with that cat. Ever since she was B17 8 mugged, the 65-year-old woman says she panics at the sight of black B17 9 men.

B17 10 She's not alone. As a black man who has had the experience of B17 11 being passed over by taxis, seeing women wait for the next elevator B17 12 rather than get on alone with me or seeing people suddenly lock B17 13 their car doors at a red light when they see me standing on the B17 14 nearby corner, I know she's not alone. Shelby Steele, the black, B17 15 middle-class conservative writer, calls these "little B17 16 slights" that I should best ignore while keeping my eyes on B17 17 life's larger prizes.

B17 18 I try. Still, it's tiring. And enraging.

B17 19 Anyway, what separates Mrs. Jandrucko's story from countless B17 20 other cases of individuals coping privately with the aftermath of a B17 21 violent crime, according to USA Today, is this: She has B17 22 persuaded Florida authorities to sympathize with her enough to B17 23 award her full disability and $50,000 in workers' compensation, B17 24 since she says she can no longer work at the racially integrated B17 25 company where she was employed before the accident.

B17 26 Maybe Dan Quayle is right. Maybe we do have too many lawyers. B17 27 The news sparked inspiration of a financial kind in the imagination B17 28 of the friend who called to tell me about it. "I've got a B17 29 business proposition for you, Clarence," she said. B17 30 "We can consult people on things to be afraid of so they B17 31 can collect workmen's compensation."

B17 32 Prejudice for profit? Now, there's a twist on Reagan-era B17 33 enterprise. Ah, yes, I can see it now:

B17 34 Can't work in high-rises because you fell off a ladder, and now B17 35 you panic at the sight of anything taller than a chair? Sue. Can't B17 36 get to work because a fast-closing door caught you in the rear, and B17 37 now you panic at the sight of doorknobs? Sue. Spurned by a baseball B17 38 player, and now you panic at the sight of sports fans? Sue.

B17 39 Maybe my friend, who happens to be white, and I are being too B17 40 heartless. Or maybe we're just being too jealous.

B17 41 After all, I might like some compensation for the two B17 42 unpleasant occasions in my southern Ohio youth when I was assaulted B17 43 by roving bands of young white males who happened to have rural B17 44 Southern accents. They weren't after my money. They just wanted to B17 45 beat me up. They didn't like black people. Who knows? Maybe each B17 46 one of them was mugged by a black man, too. I didn't stop to B17 47 ask.

B17 48 I escaped serious injury, but I confess that the experience B17 49 causes me to flinch even today when I am approached by a pickup B17 50 truck that has a gun rack in the rear, a Confederate flag on the B17 51 bumper and a hound dog riding shotgun. I know better than to expect B17 52 all good ol' boys to be racial bigots, but prejudices are not B17 53 rational.

B17 54 Yet, if my unpleasant personal experiences had left me with a B17 55 phobia so fierce that I panicked at the sight of white people, I B17 56 would have a tough time not only finding work but also living in B17 57 this country, my home, which I love in spite of its flaws and B17 58 occasional foolishness.

B17 59 Unfortunately, America is infested with a national fear of B17 60 young black males that exceeds rational basis. Since urban blacks B17 61 commit more crime proportionately (although not numerically) than B17 62 whites, many people reason that it's better to be safe than sorry B17 63 and dodge all young black males.

B17 64 Of course, most victims of black criminals also are black, B17 65 although that brings little comfort to whites caught in the B17 66 spillover. I received a memorably poignant letter from an aging B17 67 white Chicago woman whose family I know. She was mugged with B17 68 extraordinary brutality by several young males who happened to be B17 69 black. She wanted me to know that her resulting wariness of all B17 70 young black males on the street was based on something more than B17 71 irrational prejudices.

B17 72 She was writing in response to an essay I had written about how B17 73 sad I felt that, when my cute little 3-year-old son grows up in 10 B17 74 years to become a teen-ager, chances are good that he will suddenly B17 75 be perceived as someone you should cross the street to avoid.

B17 76 If we haven't taken steps to heal this problem by then, don't B17 77 tell me how proud you are of America's racial progress.

B17 78 A national phobia has grown up around a distorted picture of B17 79 poverty and its bitter fruits, like crime, and the news story about B17 80 Mrs. Jandrucko's personal phobia symbolizes it. Since the '60s, B17 81 when poverty, high crime and broken families usually were reported B17 82 as a problem that touched all races, it has been transformed B17 83 through the distortions of media and political processes into B17 84 something else: a black problem.

B17 85 By every index, poverty, high crime and broken families B17 86 continue to plague white communities, too, but, by transforming all B17 87 of these problems into black 'pathologies', it is easier for B17 88 Americans to think of blacks as a 'problem people,' in the words of B17 89 Dorothy I. Height, president of the National Council of Negro B17 90 Women, rather than as fellow Americans with problems.

B17 91 Mrs. Jandrucko's case symbolizes a country that avoids engaging B17 92 its national racial hang-ups directly in a way that can lead to B17 93 long-term healing. Instead, we make short-term pay-outs while our B17 94 irrational fears fester.

B17 95 If Mrs. Jandrucko has a severe psychological problem with black B17 96 folks that resulted from one bad experience, maybe we'd all be B17 97 better off if she received psychological help instead of help in B17 98 avoiding black folks. Maybe that's another good argument for B17 99 national health insurance. We need to plug the gaps in physical and B17 100 psychological care we have in this country. We need to bridge some B17 101 social gaps, too.

B17 102 B17 103 Gore's book is good case against him

B17 104 George Will

B17 105 Someone retrieved Rudyard Kipling's poem Recessional (the B17 106 one about "dominion over palm and pine" and B17 107 "lesser breeds without the Law") from the B17 108 wastebasket where Kipling had tossed it. Whether that someone did B17 109 literature a favor is debatable. Clearly Al Gore's book Earth B17 110 in the Balance is wastebasket-worthy.

B17 111 The senator says our civilization is a "dysfunctional B17 112 family." He favors "wrenching transformation of B17 113 society," altering "the very foundation of our B17 114 civilization." Some leaders have effected such changes. B17 115 Moses, Jesus, Mohammed. But the U.S. government?

B17 116 His environmentalism is a caricature of contemporary B17 117 liberalism, a compound of unfocused compassion (for the whole B17 118 planet) and green guilt about "consumptionism" (a sin that B17 119 Somalia and many other places would like to be more guilty of). His B17 120 call to "make the rescue of the environment the central B17 121 organizing principle for civilization" is embarrassing. Who B17 122 wants politicians who are unaware of the comical figure they cut B17 123 when announcing new "central organizing principles" B17 124 for civilization?

B17 125 When Mr. Gore asserts, as he did yet again on television last B17 126 Sunday, that "the world scientific community" is in B17 127 "consensus" about global warming, he is being as cavalier B17 128 about the truth as the Bush campaign has been about Mr. Clinton's B17 129 tax increases. Mr. Gore knows that his former mentor at Harvard, B17 130 Roger Revelle, who died last year, concluded: "The B17 131 scientific base for greenhouse warming is too uncertain to justify B17 132 drastic action at this time. There is little risk in delaying B17 133 policy responses." Mr. Gore knows, or should know before B17 134 pontificating, that a recent Gallup Poll of scientists concerned B17 135 with global climate research shows that 53 percent do not believe B17 136 warming has occurred, and another 30 percent are uncertain.

B17 137 Mr. Gore is marching with many people who not long ago were B17 138 marching in the opposite direction. New York magazine's B17 139 Christopher Byron notes that Stephen Schneider of the National B17 140 Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, is an B17 141 "environmentalist for all temperatures." Today Mr. B17 142 Schneider is hot about global warming; 16 years ago he was B17 143 exercised about global cooling. There are a lot like him among B17 144 today's panic-mongers.

B17 145 Mr. Gore complains that the media, by focusing on controversy, B17 146 threatens the planet by creating skepticism about the agenda for B17 147 which he insists there is scientific consensus. Actually, too often B17 148 skepticism (about Love Canal, acid rain, the - it turns out - B17 149 non-existent Northern Hemisphere hole in the ozone layer) is B17 150 vindicated long after being portrayed in the media as a moral B17 151 failing, rather than an intellectually debatable position.

B17 152 Mr. Gore, who has spent most of his life in Washington's B17 153 governing circle, overflows with the certitude characteristic of B17 154 that circle. He knows the future and knows exactly what it B17 155 requires, which turns out to be an unprecedented expansion of B17 156 government - spending, regulating, evaluating technologies, and B17 157 transferring wealth abroad.

B17 158 He has mastered the Washington art of arguing that his agenda B17 159 won't really cost anything. You know: This or that program or B17 160 regulation will make us healthier or smarter or better behaved, and B17 161 therefore will make us more productive, so economic growth will B17 162 increase and so will revenues, and thus everything will B17 163 "pay for itself." Mr. Gore's new wrinkle on this is B17 164 environmentalism-as-business-opportunity. We shall prosper by B17 165 making environmentally "necessary" products. Perhaps.

B17 166 But we know who certainly will prosper. Ronald Bailey in B17 167 National Review reports a Rand study that shows that 80 B17 168 percent of the money spent by an environmental program Mr. Gore B17 169 sponsored - the Superfund, for cleaning up contaminated sites - has B17 170 gone in fees to one of the Democratic Party's most powerful, and B17 171 financially grateful, constituencies: lawyers.

B17 172 The hoariest cliche in modern American politics is B17 173 "Marshall Plan" for this or that (nowadays usually B17 174 "the cities"). It is being given another trot B17 175 around the track by Mr. Gore's call for a "Global Marshall B17 176 Plan." He is vociferous against the "hubris" of our B17 177 technological civilization but he partakes of the hubris of the B17 178 government class which, having failed at its banal but useful B17 179 business down the street (schools, bridges, medical care), has an B17 180 itch to go global.

B17 181 Mr. Gore's particular ideas (lots of new taxes, treating the B17 182 automobile as a "mortal threat" to civilization, B17 183 and much more) have no constituency. But what is dismaying is the B17 184 way he trades in ideas, uncritically embracing extremisms that seem B17 185 to justify vast expansions of his righteousness and of the power of B17 186 the government he seeks to lead.

B17 187 His unsmiling sense of lonely evangelism in a sinning world B17 188 lacks the sense of proportion that is produced by a sense of B17 189 history - and of humor. The planet is more resilient, the evidence B17 190 about its stresses more mixed and the facts of environmental B17 191 progress more heartening than he admits. His book, a jumble of B17 192 dubious 1990s science and worse 1960s philosophy B17 193 ("alienation" and all that) is a powerful reason not to B17 194 elect its author to high office in the executive branch, where B17 195 impressionable people will be bombarded by bad ideas in search of B17 196 big budgets.

B17 197 B17 198 Congress avoids fiscal restraints for its staff

B17 199 Stephen Moore

B17 200 It is often said that Washington, D.C., is a city where people B17 201 come to do good and end up doing well. Nowhere is that more evident B17 202 than on Capitol Hill, where members of Congress and their growing B17 203 legions of staffers are doing well indeed.

B17 204 This past January, as the U.S. economy continued to sputter, B17 205 unemployment continued to escalate and congressional approval B17 206 ratings sank to a near all-time low, Congress rewarded itself with B17 207 a $4,400 pay raise. Members now 'earn' $129,500 a year - a larger B17 208 income than that of 96 percent of all Americans and four times more B17 209 than the median wage earner makes.

B17 210 Speaker of the House Tom Foley, D-Wash., and Senate Majority B17 211 Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, even do better. Mr. Foley makes B17 212 $166,200, and Mr. Mitchell makes $143,800. Remember that the next B17 213 time Mr. Foley and Mr. Mitchell start one of their demagogic B17 214 rich-bashing escapades. They are the rich.

B17 215 A case might be made that the 535 elected members of Congress B17 216 deserve to be handsomely paid. B17 217 B18 1 <#FROWN:B18\>Nukes for Sale

B18 2 KARL GROSSMAN AND JUDITH LONG

B18 3 "The time has come to consider creating a global system B18 4 for protection of the world community," Boris Yeltsin said B18 5 on January 31, addressing President Bush and the United Nations B18 6 Security Council. "It could be based on a reorientation of B18 7 the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative to make use of high B18 8 technologies developed in Russia's defense complex." B18 9 Yeltsin's proposal is a hot deal for the former enemies: Russia B18 10 gets cash, the United States, nuclear technology - and power B18 11 through the militarization of space. The losers are the planet and B18 12 its peoples.

B18 13 A deal to buy Russia's Topaz 2 space reactor was struck more B18 14 than a year ago and announced in January 1991 at the eighth annual B18 15 Symposium on Space Nuclear Power Systems in New Mexico. Nikolai B18 16 Ponomarev-Stepnoi, first deputy of the Kurtchatovis Institute of B18 17 Atomic Power in Moscow, explained at the time, "Our B18 18 institution got its budget cut 50 percent and ... we need to look B18 19 for finances from different sources." As for the cost to B18 20 the United States, Richard Verga, director of key technologies for B18 21 the Pentagon's Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, said that B18 22 Topaz 2 would be used in a program with an overall cost of $100 B18 23 million. The Topaz, a reactor that produces energy through nuclear B18 24 fission as it orbits the Earth, uses a "thermionic" design B18 25 - technology in which Russia outstrips the United States. It could B18 26 be mass-produced here to provide power to weaponry on Star B18 27 Wars battle platforms.

B18 28 The Topaz 2 deal poses stiff competition to General Electric, B18 29 which is developing a Star Wars nuclear reactor of its own, the B18 30 SP-100, and is causing a split among U.S. policy-makers. In B18 31 a January 6 memo the White House Office of Management and Budget B18 32 ordered the Energy Department and NASA to give preference to the B18 33 Topaz 2 because "the potential availability of the Topaz 2 B18 34 ... offers new possibilities," and it cut D.O.E.'s SP-100 B18 35 budget for 1993 from $40 million to $30 million. The Pentagon also B18 36 favors the Topaz, claiming it can be deployed in three years at a B18 37 tenth the cost of the SP-100, which has a price tag of $1.6 billion B18 38 and can't be tested until 2004. But D.O.E., longtime friend to B18 39 G.E., insists SP-100's liquid metal heat system is "ahead B18 40 of thermionics."

B18 41 This past January the Russians were back with more deals - and B18 42 some veiled threats of selling to Libya - at the ninth annual B18 43 Symposium on Space Nuclear Power Systems. This time they were B18 44 peddling their nuclear-powered rockets. Coincidentally, the B18 45 Pentagon had just disclosed some of its own plans for B18 46 nuclear-powered rockets. Scrubbed in 1972 after seventeen years of B18 47 development as too dangerous and too costly (at $1.5 billion B18 48 already spent - $6.5 billion in today's dollars), the project was B18 49 covertly reopened for Star Wars in 1987, code-named Timberwind and B18 50 kept in deep secrecy. Nuclear-powered rockets, with a B18 51 stronger blast force than conventional ones, would theoretically be B18 52 able to loft the massive lasers, particle-beam devices and other B18 53 heavy Star Wars weaponry into orbit. Air Force spokesmen admitted B18 54 to a cost of $800 million for the project. The designer and B18 55 manufacturer of the U.S. nuclear-powered rocket engine is Babcock B18 56 and Wilcox, of Three Mile Island fame.

B18 57 Lost in the scramble for dollars and technology is careful B18 58 consideration of what the nuclearization of space can cost the B18 59 planet - in dollars and in lives. In dollars: The Star Wars budget B18 60 jumped from $2.9 billion in 1991 to $4.1 billion this year. The B18 61 White House in calling for a record 1993 Star Wars budget of $5.4 B18 62 billion.

B18 63 In danger: There has been a 15 percent failure rate in both B18 64 U.S. and Soviet nuclear space hardware. The most serious U.S. B18 65 accident occurred in 1964, when a plutonium-powered satellite fell B18 66 toward Earth, breaking up i the atmosphere and showering plutonium B18 67 over vast areas of the planet. Russian nuclear-powered satellites B18 68 have also fallen to Earth. The 1978 crash of Cosmos 954 covered a B18 69 broad swath of Canada with radioactive debris. Topaz or SP-100, B18 70 Timberwind or Russian rocketry, they're Chernobyls in the sky.

B18 71 Government documents on Timberwind told of a prototype of the B18 72 nuclear rocket failing on the ground. Still, the Pentagon planned a B18 73 test flight, which for "safety" reasons would take place B18 74 mostly over water around Antarctica, though New Zealand is on its B18 75 path. A government analysis put the chances of the nuclear rocket B18 76 crashing into New Zealand at 1 in 2,325. (For some perspective on B18 77 these odds, recall that the chances of a Challenger-type disaster B18 78 were estimated at 1 in 100,000.) The Topaz 2 has been used in only B18 79 two missions, in 1987. Both ended because of a malfunction in the B18 80 reactor.

B18 81 This past July, insuring against accidents with U.S. nuclear B18 82 space machinery, NASA and D.O.E. signed a Space Nuclear Power B18 83 Agreement limiting U.S. liability in the event of a nuclear B18 84 accident in space to $7.3 billion to Americans for property damage B18 85 or death from radioactive contamination and $100 million, total, B18 86 for citizens of all other nations. Five months earlier, the United B18 87 States withdrew support for U.N. draft guidelines on the use of B18 88 nuclear space devices because the Defense Department and NASA B18 89 feared that Star Wars might be hindered by such a treaty. It's the B18 90 nuke world order.

B18 91 B18 92 Toxic Banking

B18 93 DOUG HENWOOD

B18 94 "I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of B18 95 toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should B18 96 face up to that." The publication of these words, from a B18 97 leaked internal memo, caused a rush of bad publicity for their B18 98 author, World Bank chief economist Lawrence Summers, who now claims B18 99 he was being ironic and provocative. There were calls for his B18 100 resignation. But Summers was expressing honestly the logic of his B18 101 discipline and his employer.

B18 102 Summers - whose salary is 225 times the per-person income of B18 103 the bank's Third World clientele - is a whiz-bang Harvard B18 104 econocrat, a class that believes religiously that money is the B18 105 final measure of value. Happiness is a growing G.D.P. Legal issues B18 106 can be resolved as competing economic claims, and ethical decisions B18 107 can be translated into dollar terms, with the cheaper alternative B18 108 always preferable.

B18 109 In his memo, which criticized a draft of the bank's World B18 110 Development Report, Summers was applying cost-benefit B18 111 analysis, which measures the value of a human life by the stream of B18 112 wages remaining to it. Say it will cost Global Megatoxics $1 B18 113 million to install a state-of-the-art scrubber in its chimney. If B18 114 Global determines that not spending this sum will shorten the lives B18 115 of five people by ten years apiece, all that would be lost would be B18 116 the present value of these fifty years of wages. At a wage of B18 117 $1,000 a year, the cost of the five lives can be figured at B18 118 $41,000, thanks to the magic of compound interest; at $30,000 a B18 119 year, they're worth $1.2 million. As Summers said in his memo, B18 120 "health-impairing pollution should be done in the country B18 121 with the lowest cost, which will be the country with the lowest B18 122 wages."

B18 123 Since the costs of pollution - always priced in dollars or B18 124 their equivalent - rise with development, Summers argued, it makes B18 125 sense costwise to dump in Africa. If a pollutant is going to cause B18 126 "prostrate" [sic] cancer, a disease of old age, why B18 127 not locate it in countries where people aren't likely to live long B18 128 enough to get it? He concluded this section by saying that B18 129 disagreement with this logic suggests the belief that things like B18 130 "intrinsic rights to certain goods, moral reasons, social B18 131 concerns, lack of adequate markets, etc. could be turned around and B18 132 used more or less effectively against every Bank proposal for B18 133 liberalization." Exactly; as they should be.

B18 134 It makes no sense for Summers to resign; he expressed the B18 135 bank's logic perfectly. It's a bank, and acts like one. It may B18 136 preside over a steady erosion of Third World incomes relative to B18 137 First World ones, but it makes big money. Last year, after paying B18 138 $7 billion in interest and fees to its investors and bankers, it B18 139 had a $1.2 billion surplus and a rate of return that commercial B18 140 banks would envy.

B18 141 What's a public institution to do with that kind of surplus? B18 142 The bank's executive board spends a lot of time working that B18 143 question over. In 1991 it decided to contribute $267 million to its B18 144 soft-loan affiliate, which lends to very poor countries at B18 145 concessional rates, $29 million to the Global Environment Trust B18 146 Fund and stuff the remaining $904 million into its hoard of B18 147 'retained earnings,' which now stands at $11.9 billion. According B18 148 to Unicef, preventing vitamin-A-deficiency blindness would cost $6 B18 149 million. Preventing "the great majority" of B18 150 childhood malnutrition deaths would cost $2.5 billion. But adding B18 151 to the World Bank's surplus is a higher priority.

B18 152 In recent years, the bank has moved away from B18 153 project-oriented lending - power plants and dams - and B18 154 toward structural adjustment lending, in which credit is B18 155 conditional on adoption of a standard austerity/deregulation B18 156 package. Not surprisingly, these schemes have savage effects, to B18 157 which the bank has a ready answer - more loans. The bank is lending B18 158 its clients more money to treat the poverty, social dislocation and B18 159 environmental damage that earlier loans helped create. The bank B18 160 funds greenhouse-gas reduction schemes in countries where the B18 161 greenhouse-gas producers were initially financed by the World B18 162 Bank.

B18 163 Bank publicity makes much of a new environmental consciousness, B18 164 but actions tell a different story. The bank exempted structural B18 165 adjustment programs from environmental review even though their B18 166 point is to work human and physical resources harder which can't be B18 167 friendly to people or their environment. It has redlined its B18 168 environment department, leaving it little power. World Bank claims B18 169 to a larger role in global environmental politics - to be pressed, B18 170 for example, at this spring's United Nations Conference on the B18 171 Environment and Development - should be beaten back with heavy B18 172 sticks.

B18 173 Whether or not Summers returns to Harvard, waste export will be B18 174 a growth industry for these sluggish times. The practice of B18 175 shifting dirty industries to poor countries is well established. B18 176 Greenpeace follows the routine stuff all over the world - German B18 177 (per capita income: $20,440) plastic to Argentina ($2,160), U.S. B18 178 ($20,910) mercury to South Africa ($2,470), car batteries from B18 179 everywhere to Brazil ($2,540). Plastic dropped into recycling bins B18 180 is likely to be shipped to Malaysia ($2,160). The logic is B18 181 impeccable.

B18 182 B18 183 IMPLANTS: TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES

B18 184 KATHA POLLIT

B18 185 The F.D.A. hearings into the safety of silicone gel breast B18 186 implants have ended with a split recommendation by the advisory B18 187 panel: Rejecting an out-right ban on the devices, it urges B18 188 that implantees be registered in clinical trials, to which only B18 189 women who needed the surgery for reconstructive, not cosmetic, B18 190 purposes would be guaranteed admittance. Which is it - B18 191 "Panel Backs Marketing of Implants" (The B18 192 Washington Post) or "Experts Suggest U.S. Sharply B18 193 Limit Breast Implants" (The New York Times)? You B18 194 be the judge.

B18 195 Whatever else they were, the hearings were great theater. There B18 196 was the perfidy of Dow (Napalm? Agent Orange? What's that?) B18 197 Corning, the largest manufacturer of the implants, which was B18 198 revealed to have lied and stonewalled for almost thirty years. B18 199 There was the pious greed of plastic surgeons, who aggressively B18 200 marketed the devices as a "cure" for "micromastia" B18 201 (small breasts, to you) and now warn of an epidemic of B18 202 "hysteria" in breast-enlarged women newly B18 203 enlightened about the risks of autoimmune disorders, painful B18 204 scarring, obscured mammograms. There was a hero, too, if a few B18 205 decades late - David Kessler, the F.D.A.'s energetic new head. But B18 206 most of all there were breasts - sex, beauty, fashion, women, B18 207 women's bodies. Does anyone think the implant story would have been B18 208 plastered all over the news media if it was about orthopedic B18 209 shoes?

B18 210 The real breast-implant story, though, isn't about women's B18 211 bodies; it's about their minds. In the postfeminist wonderland in B18 212 which we are constantly being told we live, women's lives are B18 213 portrayed as one big smorgasbord of "choices" and B18 214 "options", all value free and freely made, and which B18 215 therefore cannot be challenged or even discussed, lest one sound B18 216 patronizing or moralistic. Thus, women "choose" to have B18 217 implants, we are told, to please men - no, wait, to boost their B18 218 self-esteem - and who are you to criticize their judgment? B18 219 B18 220 B19 1 <#FROWN:B19\>Task Proves Too Great for Bush

B19 2 George F. Will

B19 3 HOUSTON - The Republican convention succeeded in the sense that B19 4 the party clearly spoke its mind. It was, perhaps, a costly B19 5 success, because it proved that there can indeed be indecent B19 6 exposure of the mind as well as the body. Let us begin with the B19 7 president's speech, which had the merit of being merely inadequate B19 8 rather than, as many others were, strange.

B19 9 His speech was not up to the demands that his political B19 10 condition placed upon it. Judged, as the speech must be, against B19 11 the background of behavior that his condition has caused, his B19 12 speech was (in T.S. Eliot's phrase) "dry sterile thunder B19 13 without rain."

B19 14 It is not news that when Nature was dishing up rhetorical B19 15 gifts, Bush did not hold out his plate. But by the verve of his B19 16 delivery here he proved, again, that practice makes adequate. B19 17 Unfortunately, this adequacy was a reminder that his problem has B19 18 not been his lack of style but rather his abundance of B19 19 insincerity.

B19 20 The speech would have been far better for a candidate for a B19 21 first term. As the umpteenth reiteration of mostly familiar items, B19 22 from tax cuts to school choice to term limits, for which he has B19 23 been only intermittently and impotently ardent, it repeatedly B19 24 raised a ruinous question. For example, when the man under whom B19 25 domestic spending and regulations have exploded says, B19 26 "government is too big and costs too much," people B19 27 wonder why years five through eight will be better than years one B19 28 through four have been.

B19 29 Once upon a time political parties talked about things that B19 30 were clearly public matters, things like land for homesteaders, B19 31 anti-trust policies, rural electrification, Social Security, B19 32 medical care, defense and so on. Not so Wednesday night.

B19 33 Then Republicans made "family values" their B19 34 focus. In the process they showed that their view of government is B19 35 out of focus, and they pounded the phrase "family B19 36 values" into shapeless mush with a bad odor.

B19 37 Marilyn Quayle's speech was evidence for those who say women B19 38 should be kept out of combat not because they are too physically B19 39 frail or morally fine but because they are too fierce to respect B19 40 the rules of war. In a speech that launched an evening of sustained B19 41 innuendo, she said - well, tip-toed to the edge of saying - that B19 42 Bill Clinton "took drugs" and "joined in B19 43 the sexual revolution" and "dodged the B19 44 draft" ("ran from his responsibilities" was B19 45 Lynn Martin's version an hour later.) And he probably believes B19 46 "that commitment, marriage and fidelity" are B19 47 "just arbitrary arrangements."

B19 48 As for Mrs. Clinton, Mrs. Quayle implied that Mrs. Clinton is B19 49 one of those women who "wish to be liberated from their B19 50 essential natures as women" and who in the 1960s believed - B19 51 may still; can't be sure - that "the family was so B19 52 oppressive that women could only thrive apart from it."

B19 53 Next, Barbara Bush said: "However you define family, B19 54 that's what we mean by family values." Fogginess is, B19 55 apparently, a Bush family value. Her contribution to the evening's B19 56 thoughts about government was that families are good. But coming B19 57 hard on the heels of Mrs. Quayle's philippic, and later spiced with B19 58 Pat Robertson's revelation that the Clintons are hatching B19 59 "a radical plan to destroy the traditional family," B19 60 Mrs. Bush was just a kinder, gentler coda to one long innuendo: B19 61 Democrats may hug their children, but probably don't really mean B19 62 it.

B19 63 The Republicans' graceless rhetoric here compelled two B19 64 conclusions.

B19 65 For all their talk about America's "strength" and B19 66 "greatness," their tone is of frightened timidity. These B19 67 are "America the Endangered Species" Republicans, B19 68 terrified that neither "family values" nor the B19 69 nation can survive Mrs. Clinton.

B19 70 And Republicans have caught a particularly virulent version of B19 71 the Democrats' quite-virulent-enough tendency (remember the Bork B19 72 confirmation fight) to turn political disagreement into moral B19 73 assault.

B19 74 B19 75 Times Change and So Does Writer's Task

B19 76 Carole Ashkinaze

B19 77 The ghosts of "Bugs" Moran and Dion O'Banion don't lurk B19 78 here any more. Having an alderman in the family doesn't mean you B19 79 have a job. It's easier to find a cappuccino on Clark Street than a B19 80 chili dog. Chicago has changed and is changing in some disorienting B19 81 ways.

B19 82 That much has been obvious since the Sun-Times gave its B19 83 blessings three years ago to an Op Ed column with a liberal, B19 84 feminist slant - a radical departure for what a colleague described B19 85 (I think unfairly) at the time as a "working man's B19 86 newspaper" in a "'dems' and 'dose' kind of B19 87 town."

B19 88 Lacking the perspective of a native Chicagoan, I couldn't B19 89 accept either characterization. The Chicago I knew prided itself on B19 90 the excellence of its universities and libraries. The Sun-Times was B19 91 chock full of women's bylines. The "dems" and B19 92 "dose" I heard tended to be the affectations of B19 93 college-educated Bears fans from Beverly; they might swill B19 94 "brewskis" and festoon the Picasso at Daley Center Plaza B19 95 with a Cubs cap - but they stood in line for hours outside the Art B19 96 Institute when a Monet exhibit came to town.

B19 97 The women I met - from Operation PUSH's Willie Barrow, B19 98 philanthropist Marge Benton and Personal PAC's Marcena Love to B19 99 politician Miriam Santos, the ACLU's Colleen Connell and educator B19 100 Paula Wolff - were formidable.

B19 101 There had to be others.

B19 102 We didn't have a happy hodgepodge of cultures, either, despite B19 103 the hype. Our town's racial and ethnic boundaries were straining at B19 104 the seams. Its schools were on the brink of disaster. Its infant B19 105 mortality rates rivaled those of Third World nations. It seemed B19 106 full of invisible people.

B19 107 Chicago was their town, too, but it was just beginning to feel B19 108 their behind-the-scenes machinations, gentle persuasions and rage. B19 109 Though renowned for the fearlessness of its journalism, it had more B19 110 than its share of columnists who wanted to slow the rate of change, B19 111 so far as women and families were concerned. I had a chance to B19 112 write a different kind of column, and I jumped at it.

B19 113 Is this beginning to sound like the reminiscence of somebody B19 114 who isn't going to be writing in this space any more? Right you B19 115 are. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

B19 116 Wanting to make the most of my allotted space on Tuesdays, B19 117 Thursdays and Sundays, I decided that nobody would ever have to B19 118 wonder where I stood on the 'gag' rule, abortions at Cook County B19 119 Hospital or the exploitation of ancient Indian burial grounds. B19 120 There would be no cavalier dismissal of sexual harassment or women B19 121 candidates here; no turning away if rabid anti-Semites questioned B19 122 the rights of Jews to participate in elections.

B19 123 And the result has been gratifying. If Carol Moseley Braun's B19 124 campaign hasn't proved that change is stirring, nothing does. B19 125 Remember the smiles that women who didn't even know each other B19 126 exchanged on elevators the morning after her primary victory? B19 127 Everybody's writing and talking about women now.

B19 128 My columns have made some people, especially abortion foes, B19 129 angry. But I've heard from single mothers, rape victims, priests B19 130 and people with disabilities, too. They've taught me about their B19 131 struggles and thanked me for making them visible. Sometimes, they B19 132 moved me to tears.

B19 133 They also got me thinking about missed opportunities and roads B19 134 not taken, things I addressed in a social policy context (with B19 135 co-author Gary Orfield) in a 1991 book, The Closing B19 136 Door, about the persistence of poverty in Atlanta, my B19 137 hometown. Then I heard that Jimmy Carter, the ex-president, had B19 138 declared war on poverty in Atlanta. And that there was a task for B19 139 me, if I was interested.

B19 140 Imagine that. So without further ado, and with the hope that B19 141 women will continue to be visible in these pages, I return this B19 142 space to the editors.

B19 143 I'll miss you, Chicago, but I'm off to Atlanta for a while. B19 144 Bye, y'all.

B19 145 B19 146 Bush Plays the Shell Game With Proposal for Tax Cut

B19 147 Carl T. Rowan

B19 148 WASHINGTON - Give a clever, cynical politician an audience of B19 149 his blindly faithful and together they can make snake oil seem like B19 150 the elixir of life.

B19 151 George Bush and the power-protecting conservative delegates B19 152 proved that anew Thursday night in the closing hours of the B19 153 Republican convention in Houston.

B19 154 Consider the issue of taxes on which Bush flamfloozled voters B19 155 in 1988 with his "read my lips" deception. This B19 156 time the media and key delegates were propagandized for a week with B19 157 leaks that President Bush would make a "stunning" promise B19 158 of an across-the-board tax cut.

B19 159 "What a great political coup this will be, because B19 160 everybody loves a tax cut," some pundits said. Well, let's B19 161 look at what Bush actually promised:

B19 162 "I will propose to further reduce taxes across the B19 163 board - provided we pay for these cuts with specific spending B19 164 reductions that I consider appropriate."

B19 165 The party faithful could shout and cheer, but the average B19 166 American, in debt, jobless, laid off, worried about keeping kids in B19 167 college, fearing the loss of a long-cherished home, had better be B19 168 smart enough to ask: "What the hell did Bush mean?" B19 169 Would his "across the board" tax cut mean that his B19 170 friends making a million bucks a year would get a $100,000 windfall B19 171 while the family struggling along on $20,000 would get a $2,000 B19 172 saving? That would fit Bush's demonstrated mentality.

B19 173 The president gave a clue that his obsession is still to get B19 174 tax laws that reward his rich friends when he demanded for the B19 175 umpteenth time a reduction in capital gains taxes on the money B19 176 those friends make from selling stocks, bonds, real estate and B19 177 other investments. The tax cuts Bush 'promises,' but did not spell B19 178 out, will not bring relief to one percent of the Americans who now B19 179 suffer.

B19 180 But listen again to the words Bush used to explain how he would B19 181 ensure that the tax cut did not add to budget deficits that have B19 182 crippled America throughout his and Ronald Reagan's B19 183 administrations: " ...we pay for these cuts with specific B19 184 spending reductions that I [I meaning Bush] consider B19 185 appropriate."

B19 186 We'll have probably 150 new faces in the Congress after the B19 187 November elections, but we sure won't get a majority of lawmakers B19 188 who would cut spending in areas that Bush regards as "appropriate." B19 189 Bush would cut spending on Medicare and Medicaid, even as he rails B19 190 against any reasonable national health insurance plan. This B19 191 president would cut the food stamp program, which has provided B19 192 life-sustaining food for 27 million Americans during a recession B19 193 that he said didn't exist. The WIC (Women, Infants and Children) B19 194 program that provides vital nutrition to poor pregnant women and B19 195 their babies would get zapped by Bush.

B19 196 Mr. Bush's lollipop promise of a tax cut is more cruel and B19 197 diabolical than was his "no new taxes" lie of B19 198 1988.

B19 199 Even snakes wouldn't slither through the oily proposal that B19 200 each taxpayer be able to check a box on his or her return saying B19 201 "reserve 10 percent to reduce the national debt." B19 202 Suppose Congress ever were stupid enough to enact this gimmick and B19 203 taxpayers checked off $100 billion. That would reduce the $4 B19 204 trillion national debt by $100 billion while increasing the current B19 205 budget deficit by the same amount - unless Mr. Bush found a way to B19 206 cut spending by another $100 billion. Note that in four years he B19 207 hasn't cut a nickel out of White House spending, either for staff B19 208 and its uses of airplanes and limousines, or for his patently B19 209 political trips at taxpayers' expense.

B19 210 Mr. Bush's "tax cut" proposal and his B19 211 "checkoff box" to reduce the national debt are part B19 212 of a shell game that surely has won the admiration of every B19 213 swamplands real estate con man in Houston and 3,000 miles beyond, B19 214 in every direction.

B19 215 President Bush seemed to exult in his jibe at Bill Clinton's B19 216 so-called "Elvis economics." He said that under B19 217 Clinton, "America will be checking into the 'Heartbreak B19 218 Hotel.'" It was as though Bush was unaware that millions of B19 219 Americans have checked out of their homes and bankrupt businesses, B19 220 including the Houston hotel where he claims to have his official B19 221 residence. But the faithful were in no mood Thursday night to ask B19 222 George Bush how much he knows about "heartbreak."

B19 223 Mr. Bush may get a big upward 'bounce' in the polls just B19 224 because people who see his party faithful cheering think B19 225 momentarily that they must open their gullets to join the clamor. B19 226 B20 1 <#FROWN:B20\>Here Come the Eager Beavers

B20 2 Liberals, thinking government is a scalpel, are hot to operate B20 3 on the body politic

B20 4 George F. Will

B20 5 James Carville, Bill Clinton's Clausewitz, talks like an Uzi, B20 6 in bursts. He should do the president-elect a final favor by firing B20 7 off for him the story of the traffic lights on Florida Street in B20 8 Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

B20 9 A decade ago, Carville helped elect as mayor of that city a man B20 10 who promised to synchronize the traffic lights on the main drag, B20 11 Florida Street. By God, said the candidate, using a rhetorical B20 12 trope then fashionable, if we can put a man on the moon, we can B20 13 smooth out the herky-jerky stop-and-start nonflow of B20 14 traffic. So the new mayor straightaway turned to Carville and said: B20 15 Get it done. Carville called the city's traffic engineer and said: B20 16 Make it happen. The engineer said: OK. But it will cost bushels of B20 17 money. The computers will have to be jiggered. And there will be B20 18 these problems with left-turn lanes. And, besides ...

B20 19 The traffic on Florida Street still does not flow.

B20 20 But even if Carville tells this cautionary tale to Clinton and B20 21 to the swarms of eager beavers now bearing down on Washington it B20 22 probably will not do a lick of good. Washington had better brace B20 23 itself for the arrival of a lot of liberals who really believe that B20 24 government is a sharp scalpel, and who can hardly wait to operate B20 25 on the body politic. Or, to change the metaphor, they are eager to B20 26 go marching as to war.

B20 27 The Cold War is over, but the governmental hubris that the war B20 28 engendered lingers on. Liberals, who often have faulted U.S. B20 29 foreign policy for its alleged bellicosity, are enamored of 'wars' B20 30 on the home front. Burton Yale Pines, a leading conservative, B20 31 believes the Cold War gave rise to a misplaced confidence in B20 32 Washington's capacity to do things not related to the Cold War, but B20 33 which were called 'wars' anyway. The powers Washington acquired to B20 34 run containment of Communism seemed to give Washington legitimacy B20 35 as architect of ambitious domestic undertakings. Washington B20 36 declared 'wars' on poverty, crime, drugs and AIDS, spoke of a B20 37 "Marshall Plan" for the cities and a B20 38 "Manhattan Project" for education. The language of B20 39 war lent spurious plausibility to the idea that the government's B20 40 skills in foreign policy could be as successfully applied to B20 41 solving the social problems of an individualistic, pluralistic B20 42 society.

B20 43 Actually, the importation of martial language into domestic B20 44 governance began before the Cold War. Franklin Roosevelt, in his B20 45 first Inaugural Address, said he might ask Congress for B20 46 "broad executive power to wage war against the emergency as B20 47 great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact B20 48 invaded by a foreign foe." Eight months before that, FDR B20 49 had told the Democratic convention that the nation should resume B20 50 the "interrupted march along the path of real B20 51 progress." The 12-year interruption had been the interval B20 52 of Republican rule between Woodrow Wilson - a war leader - and FDR, B20 53 domestic 'commander in chief' treating a domestic difficulty as the B20 54 moral equivalent of war. Wilson, who disliked the Founding Fathers' B20 55 purposes in designing the separation of powers, was impatient with B20 56 institutional inhibitions on government's freedom to alter the B20 57 balance between "the power of the government and the B20 58 privileges of the individual."

B20 59 Before Clinton surrenders to the siren call of the Wilsonian B20 60 presidency, read Terry Eastland's 'Energy in the Executive: The B20 61 Case for a Strong Presidency.' Eastland traces some problems of the B20 62 modern presidency to Wilsonian grandiosity in the conception of the B20 63 president's duties. Wilson, writes Eastland, was the first holder B20 64 of the office to believe "that Presidents are to lead the B20 65 people ever onwards and upwards - to an unknown destination only B20 66 history can reveal, but which, as the decades have passed, B20 67 inevitably seems to have required larger and more costly government B20 68 whose reach extends more deeply into the states and the private B20 69 sector." Wilson declared that "the size of modern B20 70 democracy necessitates the exercise of persuasive power by dominant B20 71 minds in the shaping of popular judgments." Thus began the B20 72 inflation of the presidential function: The president as the B20 73 public's tutor, moral auditor and cheerleader.

B20 74 "Salvation by society": Clinton, who B20 75 will be the sixth Democratic president since Woodrow Wilson, leads B20 76 a party still awash with Wilsonian liberalism's desire to conscript B20 77 the individual into collective undertakings. Wilson presided over B20 78 the 'war socialism' of modern mobilization. Walter Lippmann and B20 79 other 'progressives' thought war could be a healthy antidote to B20 80 America's excessive 'individualism' and "the evils of B20 81 localism." The public, properly led by a "dominant B20 82 mind" at the pinnacle of the executive branch of the B20 83 central government, could be nationalized and homogenized and made B20 84 into good raw material for great undertakings. The greatest of B20 85 these was to be what Peter Drucker calls "salvation by B20 86 society" - society, controlled by government, would perfect B20 87 individuals. Hence, Lyndon Johnson. One of his aides, Harry B20 88 McPherson, described how LBJ envisioned the nation as a patient B20 89 whose pathologies were to receive presidential ministrations:

B20 90 "People were [seen to be] suffering from a sense of B20 91 alienation from one another, of anomie, of powerlessness. This B20 92 affected the well-to-do as much as it did the poor. B20 93 Middle-class women, bored and friendless in the suburban B20 94 afternoons; fathers, working at 'meaningless' jobs, or slumped B20 95 before the television set; sons and daughters desperate for B20 96 'relevance' - all were in need of community, beauty, and purpose, B20 97 all were guilty because so many others were deprived while they, B20 98 rich beyond their ancestors' dreams, were depressed. What would B20 99 change all this was a creative public effort ..."

B20 100 It is a wonder we did not wind up with a Department of B20 101 Meaningful Labor and an Agency for Friendly Suburban Afternoons. B20 102 LBJ promised a Great Society "where the city of man serves B20 103 not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the B20 104 desire for beauty and the hunger for community." Today B20 105 Americans would settle for cities where the basic needs of the body B20 106 (such as protection from bullets) and the rudimentary requirements B20 107 of commerce (order; adequate education and transportation) are B20 108 provided.

B20 109 Clinton's eager beavers should ponder that, perhaps during a B20 110 herky-jerky drive down Florida Street.

B20 111 B20 112 Europe, Our Former Ally

B20 113 The bitter trade dispute reveals isolationism is growing on B20 114 both sides of the Atlantic

B20 115 Robert J. Samuelson

B20 116 We call the Europeans our 'allies'. This reference is an B20 117 increasingly outdated relic of the cold war. The bitter trade B20 118 dispute now raging between America and Europe merely captures a B20 119 larger reality: Western Europe is so self-absorbed that it's B20 120 aggravating the conflicts of the post-cold-war world. An alliance B20 121 presumes common goals. In practice, Europe gives only lip service B20 122 to the common goals we supposedly share.

B20 123 Ever since World War II, Americans have correctly favored B20 124 greater European unity. The Common Market spurred economic recovery B20 125 and helped subdue the hatreds of two world wars. But the latest B20 126 exercise in unity - embodied in the 1991 Maastricht Treaty - no B20 127 longer deserves our admiration or support. It aims to create a B20 128 single European currency by 1999 and to remake the European B20 129 Community (EC) into something of a superstate. These foolish B20 130 ambitions are bad for Europe, bad for the United States and bad for B20 131 the world. They inhibit Europe from playing a constructive role in B20 132 international affairs.

B20 133 Everyone knows the basic problems of the post-cold-war era. The B20 134 first is to help Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union B20 135 establish prosperous and democratic societies. The second is to B20 136 nurture cooperative mechanisms that enable countries to maintain B20 137 peace, healthy world trade and a cleaner environment. And the third B20 138 is to foster strong global economic growth. On every count, Europe B20 139 has been unhelpful.

B20 140 It has been unimaginative and stingy in dealing with the former B20 141 Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. It has been totally ineffectual in B20 142 Yugoslavia. Its heavy farm subsidies threaten the global trading B20 143 order: precisely the type of cooperative framework that's now B20 144 needed. As for the economy, Europe's slump is self-inflicted and is B20 145 hurting the rest of the world. The slowdown resulted from poor B20 146 economic policies - rigid European exchange rates and high interest B20 147 rates - adopted to cope with German reunification.

B20 148 Europe aspires to join the United States as a superpower. The B20 149 trouble is, Europe provides no practical or moral leadership. B20 150 Building a more grandiose Europe serves as an all-purpose B20 151 excuse to shirk global responsibilities. Europe's message to B20 152 everyone else is: be selfish like us.

B20 153 Consider the current trade dispute. In 1962 the EC eliminated B20 154 its tariff on soybeans. As soybean imports rose, the EC sought to B20 155 stem the tide by massively subsidizing its own farmers to grow B20 156 competing oilseeds: sunflower seeds and rapeseed. Europe's oilseed B20 157 production jumped from 1.5 million metric tons in 1976 to 11.7 B20 158 million in 1991. Meanwhile, its imports of oilseeds (mainly from B20 159 the United States) dropped from 7.6 million tons to 6.3 million B20 160 tons over the same period. In effect, the EC's subsidies revoked B20 161 the 1962 tariff concession. That violates the rules of the General B20 162 Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

B20 163 In 1989 Washington complained to GATT. The GATT twice ruled in B20 164 our favor. The Europeans refused to remedy their violation. Only B20 165 after long negotiations did we retaliate: 200 percent tariffs to be B20 166 imposed on $300 million worth of European food imports (mainly B20 167 wine) in December.

B20 168 Global leadership requires the capacity to identify larger B20 169 international interests - consistent, to be sure, with a nation's B20 170 own interests - and pursue them, even at some immediate domestic B20 171 political cost. This has been the hallmark of postwar U.S. B20 172 leadership. We helped Europe and Japan rebuild after World War II, B20 173 kept a strong military and maintained relatively open trade B20 174 policies. It is precisely this capacity that Europe lacks.

B20 175 Irrelevant goals: On trade, perhaps the worst B20 176 calamity - a breakdown of GATT - will be avoided. By threatening B20 177 Europe with real penalties, the tough U.S. retaliation may prompt a B20 178 settlement of the soybean dispute and the broader GATT talks. Even B20 179 if this occurs, though, Europe seems fated to remain self-absorbed B20 180 by the impractical and irrelevant goals of the Maastricht B20 181 Treaty.

B20 182 Take a common European currency, which would replace national B20 183 ones, like the French franc. In the United States, a single B20 184 currency works because, among other reasons, people migrate from a B20 185 region of economic weakness to one of strength. Europe, divided by B20 186 language and culture, lacks our flexibility. It's hard to create an B20 187 economic policy that suits all countries. The bad experience after B20 188 German reunification confirms that.

B20 189 Even if a common currency could work, it is irrelevant to B20 190 Europe's immediate needs. If Eastern Europe and the former Soviet B20 191 Union slide into chaos, it won't matter whether or not Western B20 192 Europe has a common currency. The economic and social effects of B20 193 this anarchy - unwanted immigration, perhaps more strife as in B20 194 Yugoslavia - will be overwhelming. But Western Europe focuses on B20 195 Maastricht instead of the more critical problems in the East.

B20 196 Europe cannot be made into a nation: it is a permanent cluster B20 197 of nationalities. The unrealistic effort to do so is increasingly B20 198 unpopular. The Danes rejected Maastricht, the French approved it by B20 199 2 percentage points. People fear being submerged by a faceless EC B20 200 bureaucracy. To overcome hostility, Europe's leaders pander to B20 201 local interests. They are insensitive to outsiders, including us. B20 202 Farm policy is one area where we've suffered; Airbus - Europe's B20 203 subsidized commercial jet maker - is another.

B20 204 What Europe should do, as columnist William Pfaff writes in the B20 205 International Herald Tribune, is follow its "past model of B20 206 progress through pragmatic economic integration." B20 207 Specifically, it should bring Eastern countries into its market as B20 208 quickly as possible.

B20 209 The Persian Gulf crisis showed that Europe needs us. But we B20 210 also need Europe as a superpower. All nations are looking inward, B20 211 perhaps (as after World War I) dangerously so. Americans won't make B20 212 the sacrifices for global leadership unless other rich nations do B20 213 likewise. Unfortunately, the Europeans won't play. They merely want B20 214 to advance their own agenda. Their isolationism feeds ours. Down B20 215 that path lies a world without superpowers.

B20 216 B20 217 This Economy Won't Walk

B20 218 Yup. But it may not be quite as crippled as you've been led to B20 219 believe.

B20 220 B21 1 <#FROWN:B21\>Judge Bea's case

B21 2 This is to correct inaccuracies and to supply facts neglected B21 3 by your writer in his article about me ("Judge profits from B21 4 poverty program," Sept. 27). Far from abusing the U.S. B21 5 Department of Transportation Minority-Disadvantaged Business B21 6 Enterprise program as charged by your article, our family business B21 7 (Ampac) met the letter and the spirit of the legislation.

B21 8 The program is not a 'poverty program.' It was never designed B21 9 to provide benefits to the needy. It is an 'affirmative action' B21 10 program that provides an opportunity for minority enterprises to B21 11 participate at all levels of government contracting, not just in B21 12 the low-scale janitorial and house repair sectors. The hope is that B21 13 minority entrepreneurs will hire and promote minority persons. B21 14 Ampac did just this. We had 80 percent minority employees, placed B21 15 at all levels of the company.

B21 16 Manufacturing reinforced concrete pipe is not a backyard B21 17 industry. It requires a factory, land, capital and people. Ampac's B21 18 competitors in the Southern California market were all companies B21 19 listed on the New York Stock Exchange, either directly or through B21 20 their parent companies.

B21 21 One of our competitors, Hydro (a subsidiary of Consolidated B21 22 Gold Fields, which received over 45 percent of its income from B21 23 South African gold diggings and is largely owned by De-Beers, the B21 24 South African diamond cartel) challenged Ampac's disadvantaged B21 25 business enterprise (DBE) certification before Caltrans. We B21 26 demanded a hearing at which evidence was challenged and presented. B21 27 We won. Hydro appealed to Washington. We won again.

B21 28 We didn't win based on any 'legal argument.' We won, fair and B21 29 square, on the substance and merits.

B21 30 Your article also charged that I misused office stationery by B21 31 seeking "to advance the private interests of B21 32 others" in responding to Caltrans inquiries and implied I B21 33 refused to supply the information requested. Nothing could be B21 34 further from the truth.

B21 35 My letter of April 20, 1990, to Caltrans was not a response on B21 36 behalf of Ampac or Radco. It was a response to Caltrans demands for B21 37 information regarding my relationships with Ampac and Radco. Your B21 38 writer again "neglected" to print that after questioning the B21 39 legality of the department's request. I nonetheless answered the B21 40 specific requests of the Caltrans letter writer.

B21 41 I continue to consider the matters submitted to the U.S. Senate B21 42 to be inappropriate for comment at this time, due to the pending B21 43 nomination [for a federal judgeship]. That includes financial B21 44 matters.

B21 45 CARLOS BEA

B21 46 San Francisco

B21 47 B21 48 It amazes me that a well-intentioned program that provides B21 49 minority businesses with government contract opportunities can be B21 50 so easily manipulated. I am equally amazed and angered that a B21 51 person like Superior Court Judge Carlos Bea, who is not Latino, B21 52 African American, Native American or Asian American, can legally be B21 53 considered a disadvantaged minority. After all, he is a white B21 54 European (he was born in Spain).

B21 55 Many of us in the Latino community have lamented over this B21 56 predicament that people like Bea, who have a Spanish surname, are B21 57 the first to say they are Latino (they hail from Latin America) and B21 58 have faced historical discrimination in this country, when they in B21 59 fact fail on both accounts.

B21 60 FILIMINO REYES

B21 61 Menlo Park

B21 62 B21 63 Bush can't manage

B21 64 I was very disappointed in the column by William Randolph B21 65 Hearst Jr. ("Why Bush may win," Op-Ed, Sept. 27). B21 66 Hearst definitely seems out of touch with the impact of the current B21 67 economy, deficit, AIDS and other significant problems, and the lack B21 68 of action by the Bush administration.

B21 69 Bush simply lacks management skills, and is unwilling to B21 70 recognize problems and unable to develop actions to resolve them. B21 71 The more I read, the more I am convinced that Bill Clinton and Al B21 72 Gore have the energy, intelligence, vision and management skills to B21 73 tackle our significant problems.

B21 74 If the U.S. were run as a business, Bush and Dan Quayle would B21 75 be fired for poor management, incompetence and complacency.

B21 76 GEORGE M. HUNT

B21 77 San Francisco

B21 78 B21 79 State plans for extra income don't endanger parks

B21 80 For the record, no one in the state parks systems has B21 81 'embraced' such ludicrous notions as a Disney-run railroad at Mount B21 82 Tamalpais State Park, as implied in your editorial, B21 83 "Turning parks into profits: the Ansel Adams B21 84 Marriott" (Sept. 27).

B21 85 Although the editorial notes that I as state parks director B21 86 asked for a study of whether additional concessions can be granted B21 87 without "violating our resources," it seems to B21 88 suggest that this department has a cavalier attitude toward parks B21 89 resources.

B21 90 At one point in this year's state budget process, the B21 91 Department of Parks and Recreation came within just a few votes of B21 92 having to close 100 of the 270 state parks. Your suggestion that B21 93 parks be closed rather than that serious studies of alternative B21 94 funding be conducted simply won't work without serious adverse B21 95 impacts on the parks.

B21 96 State parks are not enclosed by barbed-wire fences that allow B21 97 them to be protected when money is not available to staff and B21 98 maintain them. A closed state park unit is not immune to B21 99 trespassers and vandals.

B21 100 A continuing decline in general fund support for state parks B21 101 has already resulted in a stiff increase in visitor fees. I am most B21 102 troubled by your suggestion that state parks have a historic B21 103 mandate to enact fees that "exclude all but the B21 104 affluent." We are exploring ways to reduce fees to make B21 105 parks more accessible to people of all income levels.

B21 106 This year the department has begun a restructuring that will B21 107 save over $10 million annually by eliminating supervisory and B21 108 headquarters positions. We will also shift personnel to field B21 109 positions so that we end up with more people working at the parks B21 110 themselves. The California state parks system has fewer staff B21 111 positions than it did in 1986.

B21 112 With a mandate to protect and preserve California's natural, B21 113 historic and cultural resources and to provide for public enjoyment B21 114 of those resources, this department would be remiss if it did not B21 115 study every possibility for reversing the decline in financial B21 116 resources.

B21 117 One such possibility is an expansion of privately operated B21 118 concessions that provide legitimate visitor services in a manner B21 119 that won't harm precious resources. No development, no matter how B21 120 financially lucrative, will be undertaken in the state parks if it B21 121 degrades natural and cultural resources.

B21 122 DONALD W. MURPHY

B21 123 Director

B21 124 Department of Parks and Recreation

B21 125 Sacramento

B21 126 B21 127 City Hall salaries and automobile perks

B21 128 The Insiders' salary story ("Jordan's pay tops all U.S. B21 129 mayors," Sept. 28) combined with their car story B21 130 ("City Hall brass rides high while pinching B21 131 pennies," Sept. 24) only reinforces the cynicism the B21 132 average person feels toward government.

B21 133 These salaries have no relation to any kind of reality B21 134 concerning productivity or efficiency. The way these salaries are B21 135 set is nuttiness run rampant. No wonder most people think of B21 136 themselves as caught in the pincers of greedy "public B21 137 servants" and greedy "public service B21 138 consumers."

B21 139 RICHARD N. PREVOST

B21 140 San Francisco

B21 141 B21 142 I got very angry when I read The Insiders column Sept. 24 (on B21 143 city automobiles). I feel that the leading problem in the San B21 144 Francisco city government is fiscal irresponsibility.

B21 145 On one hand we are promised our second increase of Muni fares B21 146 within a six-month period. On the other hand, Muni head Johnny B21 147 Stein gets a 1992 Ford for his use. He is not alone. Other city B21 148 officials are abusing their privileges. These vehicles are being B21 149 used outside of The City, during off hours, without any city B21 150 markings.

B21 151 Meanwhile, Mayor Jordan requests budget cuts and the Finance B21 152 Committee debates them. I hope the committee decides to cut the B21 153 personal transportation perks of city employees. I call for the B21 154 Board of Supervisors and the mayor to conduct an investigation into B21 155 abuse of the privileges of these people. Find a way to put the city B21 156 seal on these vehicles in a way it can't be removed. These are not B21 157 times for fiscal irresponsibility.

B21 158 MARTIN P. VOJEWODA

B21 159 San Francisco

B21 160 B21 161 In regard to the recent "scandal" about the use of city B21 162 cars by top S.F. executives, it would seem to me that the general B21 163 manager of a "company" with more than 3,000 employees, such B21 164 as Johnny Stein of Muni, might just be entitled to a B21 165 "luxury" ($14,000 is luxury?) Ford Crown Victoria. I'm sure B21 166 he has occasion to transport officials from transit agencies around B21 167 the world as he shows off Muni's facilities. I imagine transporting B21 168 three or four people in an economy car (sub-compact) can't B21 169 be impressive or comfortable. The same probably holds true for B21 170 other city department heads to one degree or another, but let us be B21 171 reasonable.

B21 172 Rather than a "meat ax" approach, taking these B21 173 vehicles back and assessing city officials what I think would be B21 174 exorbitant fines (three times the normal mileage rate for past use, B21 175 in one proposal) for what has obviously been a practice (right or B21 176 wrong) for many years, let's take a reasonable look at the use of B21 177 city vehicles. A reasonable solution will benefit the needs of B21 178 department managers and their subordinate managers, their ability B21 179 to respond to emergencies and their general overall service to The B21 180 City as a whole.

B21 181 MARK DONOVAN

B21 182 San Francisco

B21 183 B21 184 Marines vs. AIDS ad

B21 185 I grew up in a U.S. Marine Corps family. My father was in the B21 186 corps for 38 years and I am a proud son. The Marines have always B21 187 been my idea of the highest and finest branch of service. But today B21 188 I feel differently.

B21 189 These men who valiantly raised the flag at Iwo Jima have taken B21 190 on a new foe: A grass-roots organization dedicated to saving lives B21 191 from the devastation of AIDS. Marine Corps lawyers have taken on B21 192 the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, a non-profit education B21 193 organization. Why? A model in an anti-AIDS ad wears a tattoo of the B21 194 Marine Corps emblem.

B21 195 Even if this were proved a "trade-mark B21 196 violation," what American would give consent to this B21 197 mean-spirited lawsuit? And if the Marines win this suit, what would B21 198 they gain?

B21 199 The Marine Corps will pay any price and pursue any action to B21 200 distance themselves from the stigma of homosexuality. What they B21 201 don't realize is that AIDS is everyone's problem - gay and straight B21 202 - and that education is one of the few ways of preventing it.

B21 203 The AIDS Foundation has a slim budget and could quickly spend B21 204 all its money on this case. The Marines obviously have no budget B21 205 problem. We, the taxpayers, are picking up the bill. How sad that B21 206 the Marines are spending tax money to pursue legal actions against B21 207 an organization that is working to put an end to AIDS.

B21 208 As a proud member of a longtime Marine Corps family, I feel B21 209 betrayed.

B21 210 JOHN HOFFMAN

B21 211 San Francisco

B21 212 B21 213 Electoral win-lose folly

B21 214 The presidential race has become a heated and fierce footrace B21 215 to the White House. As mere spectators we find ourselves almost B21 216 breathless, tense with anticipation to see who will win.

B21 217 The most disturbing part of this win-lose format is that it B21 218 polarizes the candidates. Each tries to represent the winner, the B21 219 good, while making his opponent out to be the loser, the evil.

B21 220 This notion of a winner and loser in a presidential race is B21 221 absurd because the only losers are voters.

B21 222 ALEX COSTA-STEVENS

B21 223 San Francisco

B21 224 B21 225 500 years from now?

B21 226 This being the 500th anniversary of the beginning of B21 227 colonization of this land by the European nations from over the B21 228 horizon, it might be interesting to try an exercise.

B21 229 From today's perspective, let us imagine what the world 500 B21 230 years from now would look like? I would wager that a significant B21 231 number of people have difficulty perceiving what human life will B21 232 look like-- provided we make it that long.

B21 233 If more corporate high guys and their political friends would B21 234 think ahead several generations, we might see a different set of B21 235 decisions being made in behalf of the Earth and those of us who B21 236 inhabit it.

B21 237 Of course, we may choose to picture the Earth in 500 years with B21 238 no human life on it. The choice is ours.

B21 239 DON L. EICHELBERGER

B21 240 San Francisco

B21 241 B21 242 Bush's bid for 'trust'

B21 243 So we're supposed to trust George Bush. Bush said he knew B21 244 nothing about illegal arms sales to Iran. He brushed aside evidence B21 245 showing his complicity in illegal acts, saying it was an B21 246 underling's "error of judgment" and wouldn't happen B21 247 again.

B21 248 B23 1 <#FROWN:B23\>Help Aristide return to power in Haiti

B23 2 To The Editor:

B23 3 Over the past 10 months, The Herald has attempted to cover the B23 4 coup against Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the democratically elected B23 5 president of Haiti.

B23 6 Does the Bush administration want President Aristide to return B23 7 to power? If yes, what is President Bush doing to secure President B23 8 Aristide's return? If no, then President Bush owes an explanation B23 9 to Haitian Americans, Haitian nationals, and the American B23 10 people.

B23 11 Why must this matter take so long to resolve? How is it that B23 12 the leader of the world is unable to assist the Organization of B23 13 American States in bringing about an end to this untenable B23 14 situation in Haiti? Why did State Department officials meet with B23 15 army-backed Marc L. Bazin's minister of foreign affairs recently? B23 16 Does that imply a tacit recognition of the Bazin regime?

B23 17 The United States traditionally has portrayed itself as the B23 18 bastion of democracy. Would it not then be correct to reinstate B23 19 President Aristide to power immediately? Has President Bush B23 20 forgotten that he pressured the OAS and the United Nations to B23 21 facilitate elections in Haiti in December 1990? These were B23 22 recognized as the first truly democratic elections held in Haiti's B23 23 history, and Father Aristide emerged as a winner with over 67 B23 24 percent of the electorate.

B23 25 What is the World Bank's explanation for inviting to its annual B23 26 meeting an unconstitutional, de facto regime headed by B23 27 the former finance minister of dictator Jean Claude Duvalier? Is B23 28 the World Bank considering lending money to the Bazin regime? Even B23 29 if the Haitian Chamber of Deputies votes on such a loan, only B23 30 President Aristide's signature can validate that action.

B23 31 We are definitely at an impasse. The Haitian problem needs to B23 32 be resolved soon. We the Haitian people want our president back.

B23 33 PAUL SYLVESTRE

B23 34 North Miami

B23 35 B23 36 On unincorporated Dade residents' needs

B23 37 To The Editor:

B23 38 I am a member of the Dade County Citizens' Advisory Committee B23 39 on Incorporation. I wonder whether the legal reasoning upon which B23 40 U.S. District Judge Donald Graham based his judgment (declaring the B23 41 present countywide system of electing county commissioners to be in B23 42 violation of the Federal Voting Rights Act) considered the dilution B23 43 or debasement of all of the nearly 2 million unincorporated B23 44 Dade residents' votes. The current system allows the residents of B23 45 Dade's 27 municipalities to vote on what in fact is the municipal B23 46 government of the unincorporated area of Dade County, to wit: B23 47 the Metro Commission.

B23 48 Unfortunately, and perhaps unknowingly, Judge Graham's judgment B23 49 has failed to mention the express finding of the advisory B23 50 committee's February report that the votes of all of Dade B23 51 County's unincorporated-area residents in any election for county B23 52 commissioners are diluted or debased by as much as 46 percent. That B23 53 is because residents of the county's 27 municipalities participate B23 54 in this particular election.

B23 55 Furthermore, the dilution or debasement of the B23 56 unincorporated-area residents' vote will continue if the 27 B23 57 municipalities' residents continue to vote for county B23 58 commissioners, no matter whether there are countywide or B23 59 single-member election districts. That is particularly true if each B23 60 unincorporated-area resident will now be limited to voting for only B23 61 one commissioner.

B23 62 I respectfully suggest that Judge Graham review the Citizens' B23 63 Advisory Committee's report. He should include in any redistricting B23 64 plan the committee's recommendation to divide the unincorporated B23 65 area into municipal-service areas based upon communities of common B23 66 interest and geography, so that unincorporated area residents can B23 67 elect their own true municipal officers.

B23 68 BRIAN. W. PARISER

B23 69 Coral Gables

B23 70 B23 71 Address the issues

B23 72 To The Editor:

B23 73 Did the president condone Deputy Campaign Director Mary B23 74 Matalin's reference to "bimbo eruptions" in the B23 75 Clinton campaign? If he did, then I'm really disappointed.

B23 76 Once again the Republicans will lose my vote. Whatever happened B23 77 to addressing the issues, keeping one's integrity, and promoting B23 78 constructive political discourse? Mary Matalin should join the 7.7 B23 79 percent of Americans without a job.

B23 80 JIMMY BLACK

B23 81 Miami

B23 82 B23 83 Avi<*_>n-tilde<*/>o's reality check

B23 84 To The Editor:

B23 85 I am disgusted at County Manager Joaquin Avi<*_>n-tilde<*/>o's B23 86 $30,000 salary increase (to $157,000 from $127,000)!

B23 87 We are in the midst of recession, and as both local and state B23 88 taxes increase, government services seem to get worse.

B23 89 Mr. Avi<*_>n-tilde<*/>o should give himself a reality check. B23 90 Many people have lost their jobs and no longer can make their B23 91 mortgage payments. As a public official who earned over $10,000 a B23 92 month, he was well compensated.

B23 93 CARLOS E. RUIZ

B23 94 Miami

B23 95 B23 96 Free trade mugs the U.S.

B23 97 To The Editor:

B23 98 A new, great menace to our struggling economy and dwindling B23 99 jobs is in the making. This one is a creation of President Bush, B23 100 under the misleading name of "North American Free Trade B23 101 Agreement." A more descriptive title would be, 'The B23 102 Upcoming Economic Mugging of the United States and Canada by B23 103 Mexico.'

B23 104 The present negotiations covering this trade agreement will B23 105 produce devastating results for the average American still lucky to B23 106 have a job today. Not just companies, but whole industries will B23 107 begin moving south of the border to the land of low-cost labor and B23 108 high profits.

B23 109 Proponents in the United States maintain that Mexico, through B23 110 this newly found prosperity, will be in a position to become our B23 111 best customer. But for 50 years, Japan has refused to buy U.S. B23 112 output of 95 percent of our products. Mexicans will do the same, B23 113 because in a short time they will be in a competitive position to B23 114 make more cheaply for themselves the very products that we want B23 115 them to buy from us. As with Japan and Germany, Mexico will end up B23 116 being our Frankenstein monster, and competitively devour us.

B23 117 BOB RIJOCK

B23 118 North Bay Village

B23 119 B23 120 Eastern Europe tragedy merits front-page play

B23 121 To the Editor:

B23 122 On Aug. 5, an article describing the bombing of Serbia during B23 123 the funeral of two children appeared on page 14A of The Miami B23 124 Herald. This same story appeared on the network news on Aug. 6 as a B23 125 headline story. More progressive reporting of events in the former B23 126 Yugoslavia appeared in Anthony Lewis's excellent column (Aug. 5, B23 127 View-points, 17A) provided by The New York Times News B23 128 Service.

B23 129 There are relevant international issues being addressed through B23 130 the reporting of European events, the importance of which The Miami B23 131 Herald seems to miss.

B23 132 There is an international situation going on in Bosnia and B23 133 Herzegovina. Even though much of the American public does not B23 134 understand the political subtleties of such an issue, they at least B23 135 will be interested enough to turn to pages 14A and 17A in order to B23 136 read more about it, having been informed of some of the atrocities B23 137 believed to be going on in that corner of Europe.

B23 138 Even though the article on page 14 was simply factual reporting B23 139 of an incident, it should not only be encouraged, but should be B23 140 given front- or second-page attention.

B23 141 I hope that the editor will give these European concerns better B23 142 exposure in the future, and contribute to American humanity's B23 143 general awareness of worldwide events in doing so.

B23 144 JILL GILBERT

B23 145 Pembroke Pines

B23 146 B23 147 Hispanic isn't a race

B23 148 To the Editor:

B23 149 Gary Illas's July 25 Readers' Forum letter neatly summarizes B23 150 the confusion we all experience in distinguishing between race and B23 151 ethnic background.

B23 152 A classic example was on your front page: Peru's President B23 153 Alberto Fujimori obviously is Hispanic and at the same time is of B23 154 Asian extraction. Hispanic is an ethnic background, not a race.

B23 155 The difficult question arises: If Pik Botha immigrated to the B23 156 United States and was naturalized, would he check the B23 157 'African-American' block on his census form?

B23 158 ROB CARDWELL,

B23 159 West Palm Beach

B23 160 B23 161 Simpson isn't the only popular Homer

B23 162 To the Editor:

B23 163 On July 28, Herald writer Tracie Cone wrote about Howard B23 164 Robinson's ad asking people to call him if they'd be interested in B23 165 reading and discussing Homer's Iliad.

B23 166 Surprise, surprise! Some 30 to 40 souls met at the bandstand in B23 167 Hollywood Beach. For over two hours we read and discussed. One B23 168 woman was an expert in Greek history, and Robinson himself provided B23 169 background material and information.

B23 170 What thrills me is to find that a literary oasis exists and can B23 171 thrive in the midst of sleaze a la Channel 7 and its ilk of B23 172 grocery-line checkout 'journalism.'

B23 173 Some of the people who attended already belong to Great Books B23 174 clubs (one from the North Miami Public Library) but are ready for B23 175 more, more!

B23 176 Several young people joined the group, so fuddy-duddy - B23 177 Not.

B23 178 Thank you for having the wit to pick up on a unique story, and B23 179 for publishing it.

B23 180 MARION L. HALLAM

B23 181 North Miami

B23 182 B23 183 Welcome garbage police!

B23 184 To The Editor:

B23 185 Herald staff writer Charles Strouse's attitude toward B23 186 enforcement of the ordinance against illegal dumping of trash in B23 187 stations designed for residential use is one of ridicule B23 188 (Garbage police on patrol, July 30). Yet if more county B23 189 enforcement officers did their jobs, we would have fewer zoning B23 190 violations, building code violations, and yes, illegal dumping.

B23 191 Unfortunately, some people just won't get with the program B23 192 unless there is a penalty - and even then, some won't comply.

B23 193 For example, since July 1, businesses and multifamily units B23 194 were supposed to have recycling programs for employees and B23 195 residents to participate in. The management of my office building B23 196 (in Coral Gables) tells me that it's the waste-hauler's B23 197 responsibility to set up the program; the waste-hauler B23 198 tells me that the owner has to sign a recycling contract so it can B23 199 put out a bin ($26 per month); and the Coral Gables Public Works B23 200 Department tells me that it isn't enforcing its own ordinance.

B23 201 When I confronted the owner about the law, he basically said: B23 202 "Oh, that won't go into effect for another year." B23 203 So what's the point in having an ordinance if it's not enforceable? B23 204 How many businesses and condos don't care about saving resources or B23 205 about the solid waste problem? Plenty. To them, recycling is just B23 206 another bureaucratic scheme to plague private enterprise.

B23 207 When we have to permit yet another landfill or, God forbid, B23 208 shell out millions for a polluting garbage incinerator, those who B23 209 now smirk at the thought of a "garbage police" B23 210 ought to remember how silly they thought mandatory recycling B23 211 was.

B23 212 KAREN YOUNG

B23 213 Coral Gables

B23 214 B23 215 Overrun by aliens

B23 216 To The Editor

B23 217 I disagree with Herald Editor Jim Hampton's Aug. 2 column, B23 218 Toss a legal lifeline to Haitians. I and a lot of other B23 219 men didn't risk our necks defending this country from our many B23 220 enemies all through the past 200 years just to see the place B23 221 overrun by a bunch of humanity from Third World countries.

B23 222 When a place gets overrun like this, it has a depressing effect B23 223 on wages for everybody. No one gets ahead. I have lived in this B23 224 town almost all of my 40 years, and it is apparent just by looking B23 225 around Miami that when a load of poor people washes ashore, the B23 226 place gets poorer. A few fast buck operators might make a killing B23 227 in the short term, but the rest stay broke.

B23 228 In a way, I take it personally about Mr. Hampton and his B23 229 Editorial Board colleagues wanting to be nice guys. I think that B23 230 their hearts are in the right place, but their brains ain't.

B23 231 As far as worrying about any other Third World country going B23 232 down the tube, that is too bad. Some places on this Earth are B23 233 blessed, and some are not. We are, and others are not. Life is B23 234 essentially cruel, and I for one have enough problems without B23 235 worrying about getting overrun again. If you want them here that B23 236 bad, give them your job. I need mine.

B23 237 BRIAN SHARP

B23 238 Miami

B23 239 B23 240 On the bosom beat

B23 241 To The Editor:

B23 242 Those who have written concerning crime downtown and in support B23 243 of Rafael Kapustin's Aug. 6 Viewpoints Page article, Downtown B23 244 Miami: 'Mayday!'<}_><-|>:<+|><}/> should be aware that all is B23 245 not lost. The police are focusing on more<}_><-|>-<+|> B23 246 <}/>important offenses.

B23 247 Just visit Rickenbacker Causeway or Virginia Key Beach and B23 248 watch what happens when a tourist from Europe or Brazil drops their B23 249 bathing suit top.

B23 250 You will witness the finest display of police tactical response B23 251 and command and control performed with immediate precision. Yes B23 252 sir-ree!

B23 253 As citizens and taxpayers, you should be proud. The next time B23 254 you or your co-workers are victims of crime, take comfort in B23 255 knowing there are no bare bosoms on Miami's beaches. B23 256 B24 1 <#FROWN:B24\>How Taxpayers Might Stop Deficit B24 2 Spending

B24 3 Editor:

B24 4 It seems to me the foremost problem to be addressed by B24 5 candidates in the coming presidential election should be the B24 6 federal deficit.

B24 7 Amazingly, the general public hasn't protested with the B24 8 ferocity a problem of this magnitude demands. I feel this is due in B24 9 part to the fact that the dollar amounts involved are so large the B24 10 common taxpayer can't relate to them easily.

B24 11 Time magazine of June 22 took projections of government B24 12 spending and revenues for 1992 and scaled them down, based on B24 13 household incomes from $20,000 to $100,000.

B24 14 Example: Annual income, $40,000; total existing debt, $144,981; B24 15 annual interest on debt at 5.1 percent, $7,398; other spending, B24 16 $47,472; total annual spending, $54,870; additional debt acquired, B24 17 $14,870.

B24 18 If you had $144,981 left to pay on your mortgage and were B24 19 earning $40,000 a year, would you borrow an additional $14,870 in B24 20 1992?

B24 21 I feel the recently exposed congressional check-writing scandal B24 22 inspired such public outrage because it somehow proved to some B24 23 people what they've always suspected. It's not that our elected B24 24 officials can't balance the budget (or their own checking B24 25 accounts). It's that they choose not to.

B24 26 Perhaps we should be made to write two checks to IRS at tax B24 27 time - one for our normal tax and one for our share of what the B24 28 government spent beyond its means in the previous year.

B24 29 First, it would be fair in that people who actually benefited B24 30 from services provided by deficit spending in the previous year B24 31 would have to pay for them rather than passing the bill on to B24 32 future generations.

B24 33 Second, the general public would be outraged to the point of B24 34 demanding a truly balanced budget.

B24 35 ROB MAHARREY

B24 36 B24 37 Court's Beachfront Decision Reinforces Property B24 38 Rights

B24 39 Editor:

B24 40 The Sierra Club to the contrary notwithstanding, the Supreme B24 41 Court's June 29 decision in Lucas vs. S.C. Coastal Council does not B24 42 "gut environmental law."

B24 43 It merely returns a small measure of protection to the rights B24 44 of property owners that the founders of this country created when B24 45 they added the Fifth Amendment to our Constitution.

B24 46 The property rights and takings clauses are models of clarity B24 47 and brevity: "No person shall be deprived of property B24 48 without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for B24 49 public use without just compensation."

B24 50 Mr. Lucas was clearly the victim of an unconstitutional taking B24 51 (the Coastal Council forbid him to build on his beachfront lots B24 52 because of erosion), but cases such as this involving total loss of B24 53 value due to an act of a governmental entity are, and will continue B24 54 to be, relatively rare.

B24 55 Mr. Lucas bought the property (near Charleston) in reliance on B24 56 the land-use regulations then in force, but the S.C. Coastal B24 57 Council changed the rules retroactively and he was forced to seek B24 58 relief through the judicial system.

B24 59 Mr. Lucas's perseverance may encourage others to sue when their B24 60 property rights are taken from them by administrative B24 61 procedures.

B24 62 It's very disturbing that the reaction of the Sierra Club to B24 63 the Lucas case is to equate property rights to greed. Carried to B24 64 its logical conclusion, the Sierra Club seems to be saying that all B24 65 undeveloped property should be taken by the government, without B24 66 compensation, in the name of public welfare.

B24 67 It's becoming increasing<&_>sic<&/> apparent that "the B24 68 Green tree has Red roots."

B24 69 JOHN C. SNEDEKER

B24 70 B24 71 Our Judicial System: A Retort

B24 72 Editor:

B24 73 I hope attorney Kevin Street (Letter, Sunday, July 12, 'Is Our B24 74 Judicial System Sick? No, It's the Best in the World') wrote a B24 75 letter to Terry Santiago expressing his sympathy over her husband's B24 76 June 6 death as I'm sure he has written to the Saltysiaks, B24 77 MacPhails, Kellys, Valerie Armstrong's mother and others, assuring B24 78 them the judicial system will do everything in its power to protect B24 79 the rights of individuals who perpetrated the ultimate crime B24 80 against their loved ones.

B24 81 I'm sure they'd like a lesson in how the criminal is treated B24 82 versus how criminals treat their victims. Apparently the fact the B24 83 chief witness for the prosecution in a murder case is dead means B24 84 little to Mr. Street.

B24 85 He feels the rights of the defendant must be protected and is B24 86 glad courageous lawyers and judges have improved our society. I B24 87 only wish he would direct me to this improved society he and his B24 88 peers have created.

B24 89 Perhaps this society is the one described by Cade in B24 90 Shakespeare's 'Henry VI,' where everyone "agrees like B24 91 brothers." The only problem is, Dick wants to "kill B24 92 all the lawyers."

B24 93 I made no threat of violence in my tirade, as Mr. Street labels B24 94 it. I only pointed out the direction the country is going. And I B24 95 suggest Mr. Street spend some time in court, as even I know the B24 96 jury doesn't plead a case.

B24 97 RICHARD F. TUYLS

B24 98 B24 99 A Humanist Speaks Out

B24 100 Editor:

B24 101 Priscilla Carlton explained in her Sunday, June 14, letter B24 102 ('Atheism and Humanism: Dispelling the Ignorance'), in a clear and B24 103 powerful style, the definitions and differences of the terms B24 104 'atheism' and 'humanism.'

B24 105 Nancy Buttimer's June 28 letter ('Religion, Character, B24 106 Decency') is a beautiful example of tolerance with believers and B24 107 non-believers.

B24 108 Then came Luther Nichols's July 5 letter ('Some Thoughts on B24 109 Humanism') with his anxiety concerning humanism. What kind of laws B24 110 would we have, he asks, if atheists (and humanists) were in B24 111 control? Perhaps he should re-read the Carlton and Buttimer B24 112 letters.

B24 113 As a member of the American Humanist Association, I can say we B24 114 presently number less than 20,000 in the United States. We are made B24 115 up of various levels of believers, agnostics and atheists.

B24 116 If we were in control (which we don't want to be), there would B24 117 be much less federal and state law concerning control of individual B24 118 behavior of the victimless type.

B24 119 The current domestic war on drugs would be throttled back and B24 120 turned over to health agencies rather than police. There would be B24 121 considerable<&_>sic<&/> more research and education on the effects B24 122 of harmful individual behaviors.

B24 123 Crimes against individuals and property would be managed much B24 124 more rapidly. There would be no difference between the sexes in the B24 125 eyes of our law.

B24 126 Our goal would be a lot less government and much more B24 127 freedom.

B24 128 We would hope all individual behavior would be based upon B24 129 rational choices, tolerance, and the courage to accept choice B24 130 consequences rather than the fear and punishment model presented in B24 131 Mr. Nichols's letter.

B24 132 Most of all, we would encourage all people to take control of B24 133 and become responsible for their lives.

B24 134 If you wish to know more about humanism, go to your local B24 135 public library and read some issues of the Humanist magazine.

B24 136 Also, check out and read Corliss Lamont's book, 'The Philosophy B24 137 of Humanism.'

B24 138 HORACE W. SHEWMAKER

B24 139 Cobbtown

B24 140 B24 141 Get Rid of the Rebel Image

B24 142 Editor:

B24 143 I like to add some input on the flag issue. The great state of B24 144 Georgia has come a long way since the days of old and if we're to B24 145 keep moving ahead, we must forget the past.

B24 146 It's hard to forget when the flag reminds us of the way it used B24 147 to be in Georgia.

B24 148 I think changing the flag would change the way other states B24 149 look at Georgia. In ridding ourselves of the rebel image, we can B24 150 only advance further.

B24 151 Thank God for Gov. Zell Miller and others who favor the change B24 152 and the new image for this great state of ours.

B24 153 God bless Georgia.

B24 154 GENE MINOR

B24 155 B24 156 A Perot Backer's Plea: Come Join Us

B24 157 Editor:

B24 158 Ross Perot has a debt on his shoulders that makes the national B24 159 debt seem comparatively trivial. He owes his supporters and all B24 160 those who favor the concept of an independent political party one B24 161 thing, a presidential candidate.

B24 162 Personally, I'm glad Mr. Perot is gone now rather than after he B24 163 took office, if he had no stomach for it. But he should at least B24 164 name an heir to his place in his movement. The 20,000,000-plus B24 165 volunteers and uncounted millions of voters who were willing to B24 166 hand him their voting blocks on a silver platter know the two-party B24 167 system in America is dead.

B24 168 The 'Perot Party' wasn't really about Ross Perot anyway, it was B24 169 about freedom of choice and recognition of the failure of both the B24 170 Democratic and Republican parties to run this government by and for B24 171 us. That hasn't changed, even if Mr. Perot's resolve has.

B24 172 Those of us who dreamed the dream can't go back to the B24 173 two-party system, regardless of how warmly and hungrily Bill B24 174 Clinton or George Bush want us. We'll likely write in ourselves B24 175 first. But what we really should do is stay united and bring in a B24 176 new independent party, candidate and platform to a yearning B24 177 America.

B24 178 The 'Perot Party' (new nomenclature needed) would carry on the B24 179 ideals we believed in and fought for in the first place, and win - B24 180 forcing an entirely new form of democracy in this country for B24 181 generations to come. Imagine the possibilities.

B24 182 I'd also say to supporters of Bush and Clinton that, rather B24 183 than us join them, they could now vote with a clear conscience and B24 184 be part of the future by joining us, that powerful new grass-roots B24 185 independent party with all the momentum instead.

B24 186 Applications and resumes for prospective officeholders are now B24 187 being accepted.

B24 188 JIM ESHLEMAN II

B24 189 B24 190 Statesboro: Grow Up

B24 191 Editor:

B24 192 In a recent article in the Savannah Morning News, B24 193 staff writer Laura Milner quoted Statesboro City Councilman John B24 194 Newton as stating the city of Statesboro helps "maintain B24 195 the integrity of what a single-family residential area should B24 196 be" by limiting the number of unrelated roommates living B24 197 together and the number of vehicles parked on private property in B24 198 certain neighborhoods. These limits are set by city ordinance.

B24 199 Councilman Newton goes on to say, "A family unit has B24 200 people working in the daytime and coming home and wanting a little B24 201 peace and quiet." He further states he thinks all Georgia B24 202 Southern University freshman students should live on campus and B24 203 implies they need to "learn responsibility toward the B24 204 public and the folks around them."

B24 205 If these attitudes are shared by the majority of the city B24 206 fathers and the 'movers and shakers' of the city of Statesboro, B24 207 then as a city, Statesboro is undeserving of a university the B24 208 magnitude and caliber of GSU. It's precisely these close-minded and B24 209 socially-retarded attitudes that cause many of the growing pains B24 210 communities in our country experience as they undergo the B24 211 transition from big towns to small cities.

B24 212 If Statesboro wants the prestige and social and economic B24 213 benefits of being host to such a fine, sophisticated institution as B24 214 GSU, then as a city it needs to learn to accept some of its own B24 215 inevitable 'urbanity' and 'grow up' in mind, as well as in size.

B24 216 JACK FLETCHER

B24 217 Pembroke

B24 218 B24 219 Change in DUI Law Was Unfair

B24 220 Editor:

B24 221 Maybe someone can give me some advice. I'm running out of B24 222 options for a solution.

B24 223 I recently called the State Department of Public Safety in B24 224 Atlanta in hopes of obtaining my temporary driving permit. The date B24 225 I was to get it was April 27,1992.

B24 226 It was then that I found out about a new law.

B24 227 The clerk informed me it would cost $690, plus completion of B24 228 DUI school at a cost of $155, and also SR22 insurance, which is B24 229 very expensive. The clerk said the $690 was because of a new law B24 230 passed April 1, 1992.

B24 231 Let me explain my feelings on this. First, I don't condone B24 232 drinking and driving. It's a very serious offense. It's very B24 233 dangerous and does cost many lives everyday.

B24 234 But like any crime, there's a price to pay. I honestly believe B24 235 I've paid mine. I spent 5 1/2 months at Hardwick (GWCI) and six B24 236 months on intense probation, meaning curfew, alcohol tests nightly, B24 237 and considerable restrictions on freedom.

B24 238 During that time I did some serious soul-searching, and began B24 239 to turn my life around. I started taking medicine, and getting B24 240 treatment. I am a recovering alcoholic. This was not something B24 241 anyone made me do. I did it on my own, and by the grace of God, I'm B24 242 finally, after all this time, somebody.

B24 243 I guess the thought that most goes through my mind is, if a B24 244 person commits armed robbery, or even manslaughter, they're allowed B24 245 to go free, after being deemed 'fit for society,' and are allowed B24 246 every privilege and freedom provided by law after time served.

B24 247 B25 1 <#FROWN:B25\>Who's Behind Hysteria in the Main B25 2 Woods?

B25 3 To the Editor:

B25 4 Your Aug. 2 news article on Mainers who are worried the Federal B25 5 Government will take their land for a wildlife refuge implies that B25 6 there is a genuine threat this might happen. There isn't.

B25 7 You report that last year the Government bought 318,000 acres B25 8 to add to national parks, forests and other public land units. B25 9 Three of the four agencies that purchased these areas did not use B25 10 condemnation at all. The fourth, the National Park Service, did use B25 11 its condemnation powers in some cases, almost exclusively to B25 12 purchase tracts in Florida's Everglades eco-system, which the B25 13 owners had bought sight unseen and do not live on.

B25 14 The Mainers are suspicious of the United States Fish and B25 15 Wildlife Service, which manages the adjacent Moosehorn National B25 16 Wildlife Refuge. Last year, not one of the 235,727 acres aquired by B25 17 the agency around the country was obtained through condemnation. B25 18 The landowners near Moosehorn should believe the refuge manager's B25 19 assurances that they can either keep their land or sell it.

B25 20 This is one more example of nationwide efforts, financed mostly B25 21 by the extractive industries and their allies, to whip up hysteria B25 22 among citizens by convincing them that steps to protect our B25 23 environment will hurt them.

B25 24 GEORGE T. FRAMPTON JR.

B25 25 President, Wilderness Society

B25 26 Washington, Aug. 12, 1992

B25 27 B25 28 Monterey Safeguarded

B25 29 To the Editor:

B25 30 An ad from members of the environmental community criticizing B25 31 the recently announced designation of the Monterey Bay National B25 32 Marine Sanctuary makes accusations that do not reflect the B25 33 hard-fought safeguards for this treasured portion of California's B25 34 coast (Op-Ed page, July 22). To counter a few of the more obvious B25 35 misrepresentations:

B25 36 <*_>bullet<*/> No offshore oil drilling will be allowed in the B25 37 area.

B25 38 <*_>bullet<*/> No contaminated dredged materials can be dumped B25 39 in or adjacent to the sanctuary. Through a unique, B25 40 co-operative planning effort joining the Corps of B25 41 Engineers, state and other Federal agencies, ports, fishermen and B25 42 environmentalists, a permanent ocean dump site is being studied to B25 43 the west of the sanctuary. But the eventual plan is required by law B25 44 to prevent damage to the sanctuary; and sediments disposed at the B25 45 site must be sands and muds that are as clean as or cleaner than B25 46 current conditions found in this pristine area.

B25 47 <*_>bullet<*/> All pesticide runoff and sewage disposal into B25 48 the sanctuary must meet the strict state and Federal requirements. B25 49 Further, all discharges must be upgraded to secondary treatment, B25 50 and the state has committed itself to revise its coastal B25 51 water-quality plan in keeping with the purposes of the B25 52 sanctuary.

B25 53 <*_>bullet<*/> Finally, the state has entered into a joint B25 54 agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration B25 55 to insure meaningful regulation of water quality in the sanctuary. B25 56 To complement the agency's proposed sanctuary staff of five, who B25 57 will implement all regulations, this agreement brings to bear B25 58 hundreds of the state's water-quality experts.

B25 59 The remaining claims in the ad similarly distort the purposes B25 60 and achievements of this largest marine sanctuary in the country. B25 61 Fulfilment of the sanctuary purposes will be difficult, given its B25 62 size and that this is also the first marine sanctuary adjacent to B25 63 major population and agricultural centers. Under Gov. Pete Wilson, B25 64 California has committed its resources to working with the National B25 65 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in bringing this dream to B25 66 reality.

B25 67 KEN WISEMAN

B25 68 Undersecretary for Environmental Protection, California B25 69 E.P.A.

B25 70 Sacramento, Calif., Aug. 3, 1992

B25 71 B25 72 Alaska's Park Pennies

B25 73 To the Editor:

B25 74 'City Dwellers Want U.S. Park Funds to Go East' (front page, B25 75 July 27) makes a good point: that the public really does need more B25 76 accessible open spaces.

B25 77 But national park lands in Alaska do not, as you state, use a B25 78 large percentage of the National Park Service's budget.

B25 79 The Alaska region receives only 3.4 percent of the Park B25 80 Service's $1.3 billion budget, though 70 percent of national park B25 81 lands for the entire United States are situated there. Now 3.4 B25 82 percent is not a big slice of the pie, when national park lands in B25 83 Alaska exceed 54 million acres and some Alaskan national parks are B25 84 the size of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont combined.

B25 85 In 1980 you supported increasing National Park lands in Alaska B25 86 from close to 8 million acres to more than 54 million acres. We B25 87 warned at the time that management of new Alaska National Park B25 88 lands would affect the budgets for recreation lands in the southern B25 89 48. No visitor access by road is possible to at least 10 of the 15 B25 90 national parks in Alaska, and demand for that access in Alaska's B25 91 national parks is up too.

B25 92 TED STEVENS

B25 93 U.S. Senator from Alaska

B25 94 Washington, Aug. 2, 1992

B25 95 B25 96 In Algeria, Not French, But Arabs Suffered

B25 97 To the Editor:

B25 98 Re 'Still Aching for Algeria, 30 Years After the Rage' (Toulon B25 99 Journal, July 20):

B25 100 In describing what is generally identified as one of the most B25 101 brutal colonizations suffered by Africa, the Fench historian M. B25 102 Bandicourt relates how French troops occupying Algeria in 1830 B25 103 would sever the limbs of Arab women to retrieve the silver leg and B25 104 arm rings they wore.

B25 105 Such violence continued more than a century, as the colonial B25 106 authorities ruthlessly subdued the Arab population and confiscated B25 107 and settled tribal land with French 'colons', also known B25 108 as 'pieds noirs'.

B25 109 There is not a word of this in your article. Instead, you tell B25 110 us only that the pieds noirs enjoyed a 132-year B25 111 "presence" in a country they considered their home, but B25 112 were forced to leave en masse because of an Arab "blood B25 113 bath", your epithet for Algeria's revolutionary struggle. B25 114 Now, their former residences and neighborhoods in that country are B25 115 "run-down" or "in ruins". B25 116 You would have us believe that a great injustice was done to the B25 117 French by the Algerians.

B25 118 In detailing the experiences of the pieds B25 119 noirs during the revolutionary war, you speak only of B25 120 Arab "atrocities". But it was the French who showed a B25 121 penchant for gross brutality: they killed a million Algerians in B25 122 the eight-year war against the nationalists, and uprooted large B25 123 sections of the rural population by a relentless bombing B25 124 campaign.

B25 125 The use of torture by the French military was widespread. Why B25 126 is this aspect of the war denied? Among the ideological precepts of B25 127 the 'new world order' is one that describes the third world as B25 128 brutish and backward, and justifies continuing domination by the B25 129 advanced Western countries in economic, political and military B25 130 terms. This outlook can be seen in your article.

B25 131 One would expect you to maintain a certain objectivity about B25 132 such crucial issues.

B25 133 MUHAMMAD SAAHIR LONE

B25 134 Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., Aug. 3, 1992

B25 135 B25 136 Must Doctors Always Do Something?

B25 137 To the Editor:

B25 138 After reading your news article on the risks associated with B25 139 the drug <}_><-|>ritrodrine<+|>ritodrine<}/>, used to prevent B25 140 premature births (front page, July 30), I was left with a flood of B25 141 emotions.

B25 142 I am among the lucky. My only cross to bear for having been B25 143 born to a mother who took the drug DES in the 1950's to prevent B25 144 miscarriage was to remain on strict bed rest for the last six B25 145 months of my two pregnancies, to have two sutures surgically placed B25 146 around my cervix and to take ritodrine. At the end, with much B25 147 praying, I had two glorious children.

B25 148 The scars of others run deeper: malformed reproductive organs, B25 149 multiple miscarriages, premature births, vaginal cancers and the B25 150 curse of sterility. And yet, lucky or unlucky, the feelings of B25 151 having been indelibly damaged by a drug whose effectiveness was B25 152 ultimately found to be nil persist in all of us who were B25 153 exposed.

B25 154 Given my history and knowing I took ritodrine while pregnant, B25 155 imagine my terror as I read your report. The word ritodrine popped B25 156 out, my pulse began to race, and I began to shake, not knowing what B25 157 fate awaited me. Was it to happen to me again - a "double B25 158 dose," as my physician husband called it? What would it be B25 159 this time - my health, my children's, some other hidden time B25 160 bomb?

B25 161 Fortunately, the newest information on ritodrine does not seem B25 162 to hold out the same horrors as DES. Yet the experience is the B25 163 same: an ineffective drug exposing pregnant women to needless risk B25 164 and sometimes even death. How is it that such a thing should happen B25 165 again?

B25 166 Most disturbing of all was the statement of a prominent B25 167 obstetrician that although he thought the new data on ritodrine B25 168 should "sway doctors to use no drugs in most B25 169 cases," he himself was not sure he or others would follow B25 170 that course: "most doctors would rather give some treatment B25 171 than do nothing." Who is being treated, the physician or B25 172 the patient?

B25 173 Isn't it possible that if physicians were more highly developed B25 174 and educated in doctor-patient relations - that is, in empathy, B25 175 understanding and communication - it would offset their driving B25 176 need always to do something?

B25 177 JANET RIVKIN ZUCKERMAN

B25 178 Mamaroneck, N.Y., Aug. 1, 1992

B25 179 B25 180 Treat Hypertension With Right Mix of Drugs

B25 181 To the Editor:

B25 182 'Treating Hypertension Without Giving Up Sex' (letter, Aug. 1), B25 183 by Dr. Elliot Wineburg leaves the impression that all medications B25 184 used in high blood pressure management cause impotence, and that B25 185 nondrug measures are usually effective.

B25 186 A new generation of drugs lowers elevated blood pressure: ACE B25 187 inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, alpha-adrenergic blockers, B25 188 centrally acting agents, beta blockers and diuretics. In skilled B25 189 professional hands and with some patience, the right combination of B25 190 drugs can almost always be found - without intolerable side B25 191 effects, and that includes impairment of sexual function.

B25 192 Most doctors agree that hypertensive patients of whatever race B25 193 should first be treated with a low-salt diet and a weight-reduction B25 194 program. However, such measures alone suffice in only a minority of B25 195 cases: when the blood pressure level is only mildly or moderately B25 196 elevated; when the disorder is salt-dependent (less than 50 percent B25 197 are), and when the subject is significantly obese.

B25 198 Severe hypertension, however, with its risk of serious vascular B25 199 complications, requires normalization more qickly than diet and B25 200 weight loss can possibly effect. In such cases, medication is B25 201 necessary early on.

B25 202 Biofeedback and psychotherapy may play a supportive role in B25 203 some anxious individuals, but they cannot be considered mainstays B25 204 of treatment.

B25 205 ISADORE ROSENFELD, M.D.

B25 206 Clinical Professor of Medicine

B25 207 N.Y. Hospital-Cornell Medical Center

B25 208 New York, Aug. 1, 1992

B25 209 B25 210 Let's Reject Concept of Dogs as Designer Jeans or Sports B25 211 Cars

B25 212 To the Editor:

B25 213 Larry Shook in 'Bad Dogs' (Op-Ed, Aug. 8) raises the important B25 214 issue of the increasing frequency of genetic diseases in pure-bred B25 215 dogs. However, he misses the point when he suggests that this B25 216 should be dealt with by having the American Kennel Club refuse to B25 217 register such animals or by forcing the pet store to cover the B25 218 owner's associated medical expenses.

B25 219 First, Mr. Shook ignores that there are individuals knowingly B25 220 responsible for the suffering of sick dogs. For every dog suffering B25 221 from a genetic disease that survives to adolescence or adulthood, B25 222 there are many more that die as puppies or shortly thereafter. B25 223 Second, and most important, the vast majority of people do not show B25 224 dogs and therefore do not need pure-breds.

B25 225 There are millions of adorable, loving, healthy mixed-breed B25 226 dogs waiting for homes in shelters across the country. The majority B25 227 will be destroyed. Puppy mills and irresponsible show breeders will B25 228 churn out defective dogs as long as there is a market for them, B25 229 even as shelters are forced to destroy dogs that can provide love B25 230 and companionship. The problem can only worsen as the frequency of B25 231 deleterious genes increases in the pool.

B25 232 People should ask themselves whether what they want from a pet B25 233 can be fulfilled only by a pure-bred and whether they must accept B25 234 that, for this, the mixed-breed dog they reject must die. Few B25 235 people who want pure-bred dogs are themselves pure-bred! Are dogs B25 236 now to be considered on the same level as designer jeans and sports B25 237 cars?

B25 238 KAREN S. ZIER

B25 239 New York, Aug. 9, 1992

B25 240 B25 241 Relief on Auto Alarms

B25 242 To the Editor:

B25 243 'Wailing about Wails' (Topics item, Aug. 12) echoes the B25 244 feelings of New Yorkers on the usefulness and nuisance of car B25 245 alarms. Gov. Mario M. Cuomo has signed a bill I sponsored that B25 246 outlaws the sale of new car alarms that sound for more than three B25 247 minutes or that can be set off by other than direct physical B25 248 contact.

B25 249 B26 1 <#FROWN:B26\>NAFTA Seen as Resulting in Devastation for B26 2 Mexico's Corn Growers

B26 3 Regarding Part 3 of the series 'Farming a Shrinking Planet,' B26 4 the article 'Trade Deal With the United States Puts Many Mexican B26 5 Farmers at Risk,' Nov. 4: If the North American Free Trade B26 6 Agreement (NAFTA) is passed, I am concerned about the possible B26 7 effects it could have on the 2.7 million corn producers in B26 8 Mexico.

B26 9 Any benefits NAFTA might bring to Mexico would be outweighed by B26 10 the problems brought on by the displacement of millions of farmers B26 11 and their families due to a drastic reduction in the production of B26 12 the nation's largest agricultural product - corn. Under NAFTA, B26 13 Mexican farmers could not hope to compete with US farmers, due to B26 14 climate conditions and geographical disadvantages.

B26 15 I fail to see how an agreement such as NAFTA, which is intended B26 16 to benefit all participating countries, can justify the risk of B26 17 possible economic disaster for a nation by reducing or eliminating B26 18 the production of its main food staple. A nation cannot eliminate B26 19 the livelihood of millions of its people without causing an B26 20 economic domino effect. One problem leads to another. If NAFTA is B26 21 passed it will not be as profitable or beneficial to the overall B26 22 economy of Mexico as expressed by the proponents of the B26 23 agreement.

B26 24 Alisha Whitaker

B26 25 Burnsville, Miss.

B26 26 B26 27 Empathy for French farmers

B26 28 Regarding the editorials 'Against the Grain,' Oct. 28, and B26 29 'Back From the Trade-War Brink,' Nov. 12: About one-third of the B26 30 farmers in Nebraska have been forced from the land by rising costs B26 31 and falling farm prices during the last 10 years. Similar B26 32 statistics apply to other agricultural states. This is 'progress' B26 33 under the so-called free-market system? During this time B26 34 agricultural-business giants such as Con-Agra of Omaha, Neb., and B26 35 Cargill of Minneapolis have become bigger and richer.

B26 36 I sympathize with the French farmers because, under the B26 37 international free-market system of GATT, the General B26 38 Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, they will also see their numbers B26 39 greatly reduced by rising costs and falling farm prices.

B26 40 Hank F. Bohling

B26 41 Auburn, Neb.

B26 42 B26 43 A mandate for the UN

B26 44 Given the emerging regional trends in the direction of peace, B26 45 it is time that the United Nations General Assembly changes both B26 46 the tone and the content of its resolutions regarding Israel. With B26 47 the sole exception of the United States, UN member nations continue B26 48 to pass resolutions which repeatedly have the effect of hindering - B26 49 not helping - the peace process.

B26 50 One important case in point is the UN's refusal to allow B26 51 Israel, like other countries, to hold key positions such as a B26 52 nonpermanent membership on the Security Council, the presidency of B26 53 the General Assembly, and chairmanships of various committees. B26 54 Without this, Israel uniquely continues to be denied full B26 55 participation in the work of the UN, and an opportunity is being B26 56 missed to grant Israel the international acceptance it needs as it B26 57 considers the risks it must take in the peace process.

B26 58 The current (47th) session of the General Assembly provides the B26 59 chance to reverse the UN's defamation of Israel. It is crucial that B26 60 all Americans seeking constructive change in the fragile Middle B26 61 East encourage our government leaders to work with foreign B26 62 representatives to end this trend of 'Israel-bashing.'

B26 63 Mark J. Levinson

B26 64 Boston

B26 65 President, American Jewish Committee

B26 66 Greater Boston Chapter

B26 67 B26 68 A Two-Sided Coin: Feeding the Hungry and Preserving the B26 69 Land

B26 70 While I applaud the four-part series 'Farming a Shrinking B26 71 Planet,' there are serious oversights in the perspective from which B26 72 the articles were reported. In Part 1, 'Can the Earth Feed B26 73 Everyone?,' Oct. 21, the question presumes that our current norms B26 74 of eating must be maintained. Nutritional research and B26 75 environmental awareness have lent great weight to the argument that B26 76 we must change our food consumption patterns dramatically.

B26 77 Regarding Part 2, 'How Far Can Technology Boost Output?,' Oct. B26 78 28: The emphasis is on new genetics and new varieties. Why not B26 79 emphasize the value of intensive gardening and the role of policy B26 80 in encouraging subsistence and sustaining farming rather than B26 81 export production?

B26 82 Regarding Part 3, 'Will Trade Barriers Fall,' Nov. 4: In B26 83 looking at the global arena, examples are given of the B26 84 counter-productive nature of agricultural subsidies. The B26 85 underlying assumption is that the global marketplace is the best B26 86 way to provide the world's food. The tragedy is that the cost of B26 87 such production is hardly borne by consumers in the short term.

B26 88 Regarding Part 4 How Is Change Affecting Farmers?,' Nov. 12: B26 89 Where is the discussion about programs to link consumers directly B26 90 with producers? Where is the discussion about the awareness among B26 91 farmers that the land cannot continue to produce with agribusiness B26 92 practices? The global economy will work only when farmers, the B26 93 land, and consumers enter into a mutually enhancing B26 94 relationship.

B26 95 Marilyn Welker

B26 96 Columbus, Ohio

B26 97 B26 98 The immigration issue

B26 99 The article 'Immigration Issues Land in Clinton's Lap,' Nov. B26 100 18, points out our continuing problem of hordes of people from B26 101 already-crowded countries trying to enter the United States B26 102 regardless of quotas. In addition to seeking answers to our present B26 103 dilemma, we should take a long-range view and give more help to B26 104 fast-growing countries in their efforts to spread family B26 105 planning.

B26 106 The US devotes less than 3 percent of its total foreign aid B26 107 appropriation to bringing down the birthrates of less-developed B26 108 countries. In contrast, billions go to military aid and to B26 109 developmental and infrastructural projects that will soon be B26 110 overwhelmed with too many people. Let us hope that the new B26 111 administration will resume our contributions to the United Nations B26 112 Population Fund and the International Planned Parenthood B26 113 Federation. No additional money is needed; just modified B26 114 priorities.

B26 115 Keith C. Barrons

B26 116 Bradenton, Fla.

B26 117 B26 118 The Opinion page article 'US Refugee Policy Faulted,' Nov. 12, B26 119 is an excellent review of the issue. The author notes that our B26 120 refugee policy has outlived its historical mission. The same could B26 121 be said for our entire immigration policy.

B26 122 The United States currently allows entrance of more immigrants B26 123 each year than the rest of the world's nations combined allow into B26 124 their countries. And this quota does not take into account refugees B26 125 and family members of immigrants who enter the US each year.

B26 126 Do the immigration-policy makers truly understand the long-term B26 127 implications? Through natural increase and legal and illegal B26 128 immigration, America is adding at least 3 million people to its B26 129 population each year. Conservatively, in 50 years, there will be at B26 130 least 400 million Americans.

B26 131 If the US limited its total number of immigrants to the total B26 132 number of people leaving the US each year, which is approximately B26 133 200,000 people, would not that be a wise policy in the long run? B26 134 Responsible policymaking must be based on long-term not short-term B26 135 benefits.

B26 136 G.B. Lloyd

B26 137 Southwest Harbor, Maine

B26 138 B26 139 The US Government's 'Tough Love' Approach to Somalia

B26 140 The good news is that Washington has decided to apply 'tough B26 141 love' principles in Somalia, where disorder is so severe that less B26 142 than half the donated food and medicine gets past warlords and B26 143 looters to reach the multitude of innocent victims. The bad news is B26 144 that our troops risk undertaking a dangerous mission without a B26 145 clear objective. An open-ended notion of why they are there could B26 146 lead them into the very quagmire everyone wants to avoid. We need B26 147 to be explicit with ourselves, our allies, and Somalia that our B26 148 sole objective is to safeguard the humanitarian relief operation - B26 149 not to take charge of the country politically. Drawing the B26 150 distinction is vitally important:

B26 151 <*_>black-square<*/>Troops should be used to take control of B26 152 ports, airfields, and storage facilities used for relief purposes; B26 153 to escort food convoys and personnel; to protect distribution B26 154 sites; to provide a communications network and air-mobile rescue B26 155 capability; and to organize and train local civilian guard forces. B26 156 And they should do so in the face of opposition from warlords, B26 157 using whatever force is necessary.

B26 158 <*_>black-square<*/>American troops should not be used to B26 159 settle clan feuds, chase down warlords, or police political truces B26 160 or cease-fires. The time may come when outside forces are needed B26 161 for these purposes, but that is another mission, involving a B26 162 different set of policy judgments.

B26 163 Inevitably, the presence of an imposing modern military force B26 164 will lend political stability to the situation. But for now, let's B26 165 focus squarely on saving innocent lives from needless B26 166 starvation.

B26 167 T. Frank Crigler

B26 168 Arlington, Va.

B26 169 US Ambassador to Somalia, 1987-90

B26 170 B26 171 A serious peace proposal

B26 172 The Opinion page article 'Peace Process Hang-Up,' Nov. 25, B26 173 implies that Israel has made significant confidence-building moves B26 174 which are not reciprocated by the Arab participants to the Middle B26 175 East peace process. The steps described are largely cosmetic and B26 176 aimed at the United States, not Palestinians or other Arabs.

B26 177 Considering the scale on which Palestinians have been stripped B26 178 of their property and human dignity during 25 years of Israeli B26 179 occupation, Israel has a long way to go to convince anyone that it B26 180 is serious about peace. Real confidence-building steps include: an B26 181 end to torturing prisoners, collective punishments, and land B26 182 confiscations; permission for diaspora Palestinians to return as B26 183 permanent residents to their former homes in the West Bank, Gaza B26 184 Strip and East Jerusalem; and an end to the taxation system. These B26 185 are reasonable expectations of a country that describes itself as a B26 186 Western-style democracy.

B26 187 Lee Elizabeth Britton

B26 188 Petoskey, Mich.

B26 189 B26 190 The author of the Opinion page article 'In Occupied Lebanon,' B26 191 Nov. 25, distorts Israeli and Hizbullah policy in Lebanon.

B26 192 Israel's policy is clear: It has no territorial claims against B26 193 Lebanon, and its sole concern is the safety of its northern B26 194 population, which continues to experience cross-border infiltration B26 195 attempts from Lebanese territory. With proper guarantees and a B26 196 peace treaty, Israel is prepared to withdraw from the security B26 197 zone.

B26 198 Hizbullah's policy is also clear: It is an anti-Western, B26 199 anti-Israel terrorist organization bent on taking American and B26 200 Israeli lives. Hizbullah does not accept the legitimacy of a Jewish B26 201 state in the Middle East and has launched terrorist attacks against B26 202 Israel's northern population.

B26 203 The complexities of the Middle East must not blind observers to B26 204 stark realities. The Lebanese practitioners of violence and their B26 205 Syrian and Iranian patrons are responsible for delaying progress on B26 206 the Israeli-Lebanese front.

B26 207 Bluma Zuckerbrot

B26 208 New York

B26 209 Anti-Defamation League

B26 210 B26 211 Clinton's Middle East Policy

B26 212 Regarding the article 'Mideast Talks Hinge on Clinton,' Nov. B26 213 10: I find it distressing that "Clinton's own definition of B26 214 Palestinian self-determination" does not entail Palestinian B26 215 statehood. What then does it entail? What does President-elect B26 216 Clinton think is the appropriate resolution for the question of B26 217 Palestine? It is unwise for Mr. Clinton to make statements B26 218 concerning such a delicate and complex matter without being B26 219 informed of the facts and realities of the situation.

B26 220 His understanding of the situation does not take into account B26 221 prevalent, accepted positions and decisions of the international B26 222 community or statutes of international law. This includes his B26 223 position on Israeli settlements in the occupied territory, on Arab B26 224 East Jerusalem, and on the right of Palestinians to B26 225 self-determination.

B26 226 The settlements are illegal, according to international law and B26 227 are major obstacles to peace. The overwhelming majority of the B26 228 nations of the world, including the nation Clinton will lead, does B26 229 not recognize Israel's annexation of Arab East Jerusalem, and the B26 230 right to self-determination is an inalienable right to all human B26 231 beings.

B26 232 In this regard, it is imperative that Clinton appoint B26 233 specialists who understand the history, politics, and culture of B26 234 the region and its people to advise Clinton and enable him and his B26 235 administration to deal with the issue in a responsible manner.

B26 236 F. Abdelhadly

B26 237 Cliffside Pk., N.J.

B26 238 B26 239 Winter in Bosnia

B26 240 The continued fratricidal fighting in the former Yugoslavia, B26 241 the revelations about the death camps, and the coming of winter B26 242 underscore the need for effective and immediate humanitarian action B26 243 to relieve the suffering in Bosnia and the region. Because of the B26 244 sophistication of Serbian forces, military intervention is not B26 245 easily attainable but should not be ruled out.

B26 246 In the absence of immediate military intervention, the B26 247 following interim should be undertaken: Resettlement must be B26 248 provided for far greater numbers of concentration camp survivors; B26 249 aid to United Nation's agencies must be increased and speeded; B26 250 protected shelters must be available for those who will be forced B26 251 to leave their homes owing to freezing temperatures and conflict; B26 252 Croatia must be induced to accept additional refugees on a B26 253 temporary basis.

B26 254 B27 1 <#FROWN: B27\>'BESSIE' & ANITA HILL

B27 2 New York City

B27 3 I agree with Nell Irvin Painter's conclusion that the black B27 4 woman's role in history, past and present, is largely ignored or B27 5 demeaned ['Who Was Lynched?' Nov. 11]. However, she incorrectly B27 6 cites Bessie, in Richard Wright's Native Son, as the B27 7 first murder victim of Bigger Thomas. Bessie was the second murder B27 8 victim. In contrast to the essentially accidental killing of the B27 9 white woman, Mary Dalton, Bessie's murder is depicted as B27 10 premeditated and particularly brutal, making Bessie's death far B27 11 more horrifying. Thomas rapes Bessie, smashes her head with a brick B27 12 and finally tosses her down an airshaft, where she freezes to B27 13 death.

B27 14 As Trudier Harris points out in her essay "Native Sons B27 15 and Foreign Daughters" (New Essays on 'Native B27 16 Son', Cambridge University Press), "Wright does not B27 17 respect his own creation [Bessie] .... Bigger and the whites for B27 18 whom she works use Bessie to their own physical and emotional B27 19 ends." Painter is on the mark when she states that black B27 20 women are treated as two-dimensional both in Wright's novel and in B27 21 real life - as all could see in the treatment of Anita Hill.

B27 22 Elise Fischer

B27 23 B27 24 GIRLS & BOYS IN THE BAN

B27 25 New York City

B27 26 In his recent editorial, 'Ecce Cuomo' [Dec. 2], Tom Gogola B27 27 refers to two cases of antigay bias in the U.S. Armed Forces. Would B27 28 that the odious discriminarory policy of the Pentagon were limited B27 29 to those two instances. Unfortunately, gay service personnel like B27 30 Joe Steffan and the lesbian reservist Gogola mentioned are released B27 31 from the military at an astonishing rate. Since 1982, more than B27 32 10,000 men and women have been discharged from military duty on the B27 33 basis of perceived or admitted homosexuality. That translates B27 34 roughly into 1,110 individuals per year, or just over three persons B27 35 per day.

B27 36 My colleague Barbara Boxer and I have recently introduced a B27 37 resolution in the House to instruct President Bush to rescind the B27 38 ban on lesbians and gay men in the military. Our resolution has B27 39 forty-seven sponsors. The resolution is straightforward, B27 40 acknowledging what at least three studies by the Pentagon itself B27 41 have already concluded: that gay men and lesbians have served our B27 42 nation, at peace and at war, with the same dedication and B27 43 professionalism as heterosexual service personnel.

B27 44 Ted Weiss

B27 45 Member of Congress

B27 46 B27 47 N.E.C.L.C. & C.O.s

B27 48 New York City

B27 49 Bruce Shapiro, in his article on Gulf War conscientious B27 50 objectors, 'The High Price of Conscience' [Jan. 20], asks, B27 51 "Where are all the civil libertarians?" I can speak B27 52 only on behalf of myself and the National Emergency Civil Liberties B27 53 Committee (N.E.C.L.C.); we are, and have been, on the front lines B27 54 representing, pro bono, hundreds of soldiers seeking advice and B27 55 serving as counsel for many of the resisters named in the B27 56 article.

B27 57 As one of only three attorneys representing approximately B27 58 twenty resisters held at Camp Lejeune, both in the hearings on B27 59 their C.O. applications and in their criminal trials, I spent eight B27 60 months working solely on their behalf; my time was donated by the B27 61 N.E.C.L.C. Other attorneys, also acting for the N.E.C.L.C., fielded B27 62 hundreds of telephone calls from soldiers seeking legal advice B27 63 relating to their military status.

B27 64 Indeed, those of us who spent most of our time on the front B27 65 lines at Camp Lejeune often wondered where the press was. For B27 66 example, Enrique Gonzalez, a first-year law student, activated with B27 67 only two weeks left on his contract, found medically unfit for duty B27 68 and recommended for discharge as a C.O. by the Marine Corps, was B27 69 found guilty of desertion and missing troop movements after a mere B27 70 thirty minutes of deliberation by a Marine Corps colonel. He was B27 71 then sentenced to thirty months' imprisonment and given a B27 72 dishonorable discharge. This outrageous conviction received B27 73 virtually no press coverage. As Shapiro mentions, Amnesty B27 74 International adopted Gonzalez as a prisoner of conscience and B27 75 named him a worldwide prisoner of the month. However, this resulted B27 76 not from some spontaneous action by the European peace movement but B27 77 from a tremendous effort by the War Resisters League and Hands Off! B27 78 Moreover, the clemency granted Gonzalez was the consequence of B27 79 months of hard work by myself and others and not merely by virtue B27 80 of Amnesty's campaign, as Shapiro intimates.

B27 81 N.E.C.L.C.'s contribution to the anti-Gulf War effort was a B27 82 natural consequence of its commitment to civil liberties. We were B27 83 active during the Vietnam War, representing draft resisters and B27 84 challenging the legality of the war. While I agree in large part B27 85 with Shapiro's critique of the American left's inaction, I believe B27 86 credit should be given where credit is due. Not all civil B27 87 libertarians sat on the sidelines; some of us actually engaged in B27 88 hand-to-hand political combat.

B27 89 Hillary Richard

B27 90 B27 91 GRANDMAS

B27 92 Sacramento, Calif.

B27 93 Do add to your "handful of groups" that have B27 94 kept the C.O.s "at the center of their attention" B27 95 an organization of which I am a member, Grandmothers for Peace. A B27 96 number of us worked on behalf of California's Erik Larsen and many B27 97 others. I think the war frenzy and all the tragic so-called B27 98 'patriotism' that fevered the nation helped keep publicity about B27 99 the peace movement's support for military resisters to a minimum. I B27 100 wrote to my Congress members and others to ask their help for the B27 101 C.O.s. I had no reply from any of the men to whom I wrote.

B27 102 Margaret M. Waybur

B27 103 B27 104 GREENS

B27 105 Keene, N.H.

B27 106 The Monadnock Greens of Keene, New Hampshire, would like to B27 107 inform Nation readers that in December we adopted B27 108 conscientious objector Paul Cook through the organization Hands B27 109 Off! During the horror of the Gulf War, the courage of the B27 110 conscientious objectors was a source of strength for many of us B27 111 facing the blinding rhetoric of flag-waving enthusiasts. The B27 112 Monadnock Greens hope to support Paul during his imprisonment at B27 113 Camp Lejeune and also to educate the public on the unfair treatment B27 114 of conscientious objectors.

B27 115 Darcie Boyer

B27 116 B27 117 SHAPIRO REPLIES

B27 118 New Haven, Conn.

B27 119 Not just credit but honor is due the handful of attorneys, B27 120 including Hillary Richard, who defended Gulf War resisters in the B27 121 military. My comments were directed not at them or at the tireless, B27 122 always admirable N.E.C.L.C. but at the many prominent civil B27 123 liberties advocates who remained silent and at large, B27 124 well-funded organizations like the A.C.L.U., which failed B27 125 to lend its legal resources and publicity apparatus to what was B27 126 after all a free-speech fight.

B27 127 Several community-based peace organizations like the B27 128 Grandmothers for Peace and the Monadnock Greens have contacted me B27 129 about their efforts on behalf of C.O.s. The passion these scattered B27 130 groups brought to adopting imprisoned military resisters proves an B27 131 important point: Support for C.O.s should be central to the peace B27 132 movement's efforts. Support for C.O.s is not only just but gives B27 133 citizen-activists concrete tasks and attainable victories - so B27 134 essential to the morale of any movement, and so often elusive B27 135 during the Gulf War.

B27 136 Readers may be interested in developments since my article went B27 137 to press. In late December, Dr. Yolanda Huet-Vaughn's sentence was B27 138 reduced on military appeal to fifteen months. She is imprisoned B27 139 under medium security at Leavenworth, even though by the Army's own B27 140 standards she merits less restrictive confinement. In January the B27 141 Marine C.O.s released last fall from Camp Lejeune filed a lawsuit B27 142 (with help from the N.E.C.L.C.) challenging their commanders' right B27 143 to prohibit them from speaking publicly. The court-martial of Tahan B27 144 Jones has been set for late February at Camp Lejeune.

B27 145 Bruce Shapiro

B27 146 B27 147 'ABOUT THAT AD ... '

B27 148 Portland, Ore.

B27 149 You are right: The ad for Positive Realism's program to B27 150 "straighten out" gays and lesbians is thoroughly B27 151 offensive to queer readers and flies in the face of everything B27 152 The Nation stands for, with the possible exception of B27 153 free speech. The ad strikes me, a proud gay man, as equivalent in B27 154 its obscenity to an ad for child pornography or a recruitment ad B27 155 for the K.K.K. In your 'apology' for running the ad ['About That B27 156 Ad,' Feb. 10] you make the common progressive mistake of treating B27 157 gay issues as merely political. It is more than a political issue; B27 158 the ad insults the integrity and dignity of gays and lesbians.

B27 159 An ad like this is dangerous. Someone struggling with his or B27 160 her sexuality might attempt this program. It would inevitably fail B27 161 and reinforce the belief that being gay or lesbian is a disorder B27 162 and that the person must truly be diseased because he or she failed B27 163 to become straight.

B27 164 Here is a good idea for all the lesbians and gays who came away B27 165 from that ad with that familiar dull sense of rage. Call that silly B27 166 outfit and tell them exactly how happy we are being what we are, B27 167 and that even if we could change, we would never want to.

B27 168 Bill Wilkerson

B27 169 B27 170 ABOUT THAT DISCLAIMER ...

B27 171 Studio City, Calif.

B27 172 Please stop confusing censorship with editorial policy. You B27 173 don't run right-wing editorials. Is that censorship? Surely B27 174 you reject unsolicited manuscripts that are well written but B27 175 politically incorrect. Is that censorship? Well, guess what? B27 176 You don't have to run a politically, humanly incorrect ad just B27 177 because it "does not seem fraudulent." It's a free B27 178 country! You have the right to reject ads! In fact, your other B27 179 disclaimer, the one on the Classified page, begins with your B27 180 "right to ... reject ... any advertisement." So if B27 181 you didn't reject this ad what do you reject? Disclaimer or B27 182 no, your acceptance of that ad endorses it. I considered canceling B27 183 my subscription, but I'll wait for your Institute for Historical B27 184 Review double truck.

B27 185 Sharon Bell

B27 186 B27 187 FROM THE ADVERTISER

B27 188 Culver City, Calif.

B27 189 I appreciate The Nation's spirit of open discussion. B27 190 I don't view homosexuality as evil or a disease. I consider it an B27 191 unhealthy choice - nothing more or less. There are many people with B27 192 homosexual feelings who are unhappy about it. I help them change. I B27 193 am against eliminating a homosexual from any job he is qualified B27 194 for. I also think homosexuals should be allowed to marry, even B27 195 though I don't recommend it. My gripe is not with homosexuals. I B27 196 have no licenses or degrees. For the last seven years I have been B27 197 helping people make the change from gay to straight. My gripe is B27 198 with the 'experts' who claim it can't be done.

B27 199 Joe Zychik, director

B27 200 Positive Realism

B27 201 B27 202 'TWOFOLD OVERSIGHT'

B27 203 Paris

B27 204 Why was Gilberto Perez - whose name is unfamiliar to me but B27 205 whom I take to be an informed film scholar - so unkind, indeed so B27 206 unscrupulous, as to fault at some length (for "modernism" B27 207 and "proletarian sentimentalism," which is fair B27 208 enough) an article of mine on W.S. Porter published some fifteen B27 209 years ago, at the very outset of my work on the period, while B27 210 studiously ignoring my book Life to Those Shadows, which B27 211 appeared early this year and which, being entirely devoted to the B27 212 early cinema, would have fit nicely, it seems, into a review B27 213 dealing with recent publications on the subject ['In the B27 214 Beginning,' Nov. 4]. The book devotes exactly 100 pages to the B27 215 question of the social composition of early film audiences in B27 216 Britain, France and the United States and shows that I believe that B27 217 blanket answers, encompassing different social formations, are B27 218 wholly inadequate.

B27 219 As for the "modernism" of the early cinema, I have B27 220 shown the fallacy of this projective reading (including my own B27 221 early tendency to sacrifice to it) in an article published eight B27 222 years ago and collected in another book that also appeared at the B27 223 beginning of this year, In and Out of Synch. A twofold B27 224 oversight seems unlikely. My impression is that any scruples were B27 225 simply overridden by the desire to produce a 'neat' article.

B27 226 No<*_>e-umlaut<*/>l Burch

B27 227 B27 228 PEREZ REPLIES

B27 229 New York City

B27 230 The three books I chose to review (among several others I could B27 231 have reviewed, including Burch's) were a sampling that enabled me B27 232 to consider certain important issues pertaining to early cinema and B27 233 to film history and theory more widely. Because Burch made a B27 234 significant contribution to the rethinking of early cinema that has B27 235 taken place in recent years, I mentioned him in my article even B27 236 though I wasn't reviewing his book. I thought I was recognizing him B27 237 rather than attacking him (for me "modernism" is not a term B27 238 of attack, and "proletarian sentimentalism" - his B27 239 term, not mine - is nothing to be ashamed of), and it didn't occur B27 240 to me that he would take offense.

B27 241 B12 1 <#FROWN:B12\>Has Bush Really Flipped on Abortion?

B12 2 DEBRA J. SAUNDERS

B12 3 FINDING GEORGE BUSH'S definitive position on abortion before B12 4 Bush became Ronald Reagan's running mate is no easy feat.

B12 5 Groups such as the National Abortion Rights Action League B12 6 insist that Bush has flip-flopped from an earlier pro-choice B12 7 position. Yet Bush's pre-running mate public statements on abortion B12 8 are such a mish-mash, it's hard to pinpoint just where he stood. B12 9 And the search to pin down Early Bush is made harder by the fact B12 10 that most databases start with stories printed in 1985.

B12 11 Supporting those who argue that Bush was pro-choice are the B12 12 president's one-time affiliation with Planned Parenthood, his B12 13 erstwhile championing of family planning and his tendency to eschew B12 14 social conservatism in pre-Reagan days.

B12 15 The most damning bit of evidence is an interview in the March B12 16 1980 Rolling Stone in which Bush said, Ronald Reagan B12 17 "opposes me for not wanting to amend the Supreme Court B12 18 decision on abortion. I happen to think it was right."

B12 19 The Stealth Position

B12 20 A 1980 position paper, supplied by the Republican Mainstream B12 21 Committee, from the Bush Iowa campaign belies a pro-choice stand. B12 22 The paper stated that Bush is "personally opposed to B12 23 abortion" - which in those days often was code for personal B12 24 opposition but support for choice. But it also said that Bush B12 25 supported states' rights on abortion and opposed federal funding B12 26 except in cases of rape, incest or to save the mother's life.

B12 27 The paper said Bush was opposed to a constitutional amendment B12 28 banning abortion because he "believes there is a need to B12 29 recognize and provide for exceptional cases - rape, incest or to B12 30 save the life of the mother."

B12 31 At no point did the paper assert that Bush was pro-choice or B12 32 pro-life. The curious voter reading this paper could assume basic B12 33 agreement with Bush, whatever the reader's abortion persuasion. In B12 34 1980 pols got away with such fudging.

B12 35 Bush has flip-flopped on rape and incest; he has vetoed B12 36 measures to fund such abortions.

B12 37 But was he pro-choice? By NARAL's current standards, no. What's B12 38 more, you have to figure that if Bush publicly supported Roe vs. B12 39 Wade, there would be much more than the Rolling Stone article to B12 40 show for it. (NARAL also produces an NBC transcript in which early B12 41 1980 Bush said, "I do not want to change the Constitution. B12 42 There is some freedom of choice that exists under the law today, B12 43 and I would support the law." But that's it for B12 44 contemporary evidence.)

B12 45 And the thing with Bush and the elliptical way he talks, well, B12 46 it makes you wonder whether he was being goofy and left out words B12 47 that would have changed the meaning. More likely, Bush was talking B12 48 out of both sides of his mouth.

B12 49 Before becoming Reagan's running mate, Bush didn't seem B12 50 particularly concerned about abortion; if he were, he would have B12 51 talked about the issue more frequently and with specificity. Now B12 52 Bush evokes the subject at every chance.

B12 53 Evolution, the Wrong Way

B12 54 The president has admitted to a change in his position; he B12 55 calls it an "evolution."

B12 56 Vice President Dan Quayle's position seems to be evolving too. B12 57 He has supported outlawing abortion. Then Tuesday Quayle said, B12 58 "What I am trying to do and what the president's trying to B12 59 do is to get more reflection on the issue of abortion before the B12 60 decision is made."

B12 61 That's a move to mushy ground, and a natural one. Many who have B12 62 called themselves pro-life blink when they realize their agenda B12 63 could bring a return to the days of coat-hangers. They are appalled B12 64 by abortion, but as the prospect of victory approaches, they B12 65 hesitate for good reason. Whether Quayle sustains this worthy doubt B12 66 remains to be seen.

B12 67 What Bush calls evolution, I call decline. After years of B12 68 throwing sops at the far right, his presidency brought an end to B12 69 the days when the GOP gave the religious right mere lip service.

B12 70 Technically, Bush's abortion position may not be a flip-flop. B12 71 It's worse, because Bush went from being wishy-washy to solidly on B12 72 the wrong side. It's perverse: He flips on hard promises, then B12 73 stands tough on the one issue where few want or expected him to. B12 74 Figure that, having betrayed fiscal conservatism, Bush felt he had B12 75 to embrace social conservatism or he wouldn't be able to portray B12 76 himself as a conservative at all.

B12 77 B12 78 Burma's Quiet Prisoner Maintains Her 'Presence'

B12 79 KAREN SWENSON

B12 80 DAW AUNG San Suu Kyi's goal is a democratic government where B12 81 all regions and ethnic groups are represented, said the Nobel Prize B12 82 committee in awarding the 1991 Peace Prize to this woman under B12 83 house arrest in Rangoon, Burma.

B12 84 While the award honored Suu Kyi, it was a threat to the B12 85 government which under Ne Win has steadfastly fought against his B12 86 country's ethnic groups. In fact, the government cites its struggle B12 87 with the ethnic population as the reason for spending over half of B12 88 its budget on defense.

B12 89 Meanwhile, it meets this expenditure by selling gems and B12 90 logging franchises to the Thais, who help out with money and arms. B12 91 The Chinese in 1990 also supplied $1.2 billion in arms. Japan cut B12 92 back on its aid to Burma in 1991, but it remains the only major B12 93 nation outside China, to keep up high-level contacts with Burma.

B12 94 Burma's human rights record is one of the worst in the world, B12 95 as cited by both Amnesty International and Asia Watch. The Nations B12 96 Commission on Human Rights has sent officials to Burma.

B12 97 The U.S. Senate last year passed a resolution congratulating B12 98 Suu Kyi and condemning the Burmese government for repression and B12 99 human rights violations, yet a number of U.S. businesses continue B12 100 to conduct business there.

B12 101 Pressure from the outside world, however, has had some effect. B12 102 The Burmese regime recently released a few political prisoners and B12 103 allowed Suu Kyi's husband, Michael Aris, to visit his wife for the B12 104 first time since December 1988.

B12 105 Guarded by soldiers with fixed bayonets, Suu Kyi has as B12 106 visitors only a young girl who looks after her, and an intelligence B12 107 officer. Still Rangoon is filled with rumors about her: that she B12 108 converts her guards so that they must be changed frequently; that B12 109 she heard about winning the Nobel prize on her shortwave radio; B12 110 that she gave up playing the piano because her strings broke.

B12 111 Her absence is a presence in the minds of her countrymen and B12 112 women, just as her silence has spoken to the world.

B12 113 B12 114 Benicia Home

B12 115 THE WHITE HOUSE has bestowed a singular honor on a Benicia B12 116 recovery home for men with alcohol problems, citing the Adobe B12 117 center's participants for developing good character and values B12 118 while devoting themselves to serving their community.

B12 119 The Adobe home, which helps the residents build self-esteem B12 120 through activities such as repairing houses and cars for the B12 121 elderly, received the Daily Point of Light from the Bush B12 122 administration.

B12 123 The award is designed to recognize those who successfully B12 124 address the country's most pressing social problems through acts of B12 125 voluntary commitment to the community. The Daily Point of Light B12 126 program is a welcome promotion of volunteer service.

B12 127 B12 128 Poignant Pleas

B12 129 WHEN ALL THE HOOPLA and campaign rhetoric of the Democratic B12 130 National Convention are long since forgotten - probably a few weeks B12 131 from now - Elizabeth Glaser's heart-felt plea on behalf of present B12 132 and future AIDS sufferers should remain burnished in the nation's B12 133 memory: "America, wake up. We are all in a struggle between B12 134 life and death."

B12 135 Glaser, who contracted the HIV virus in a blood transfusion and B12 136 unwittingly passed it on to her two children, joined fellow AIDS B12 137 sufferer Bob Hattoy Tuesday night in wrenching open the closet that B12 138 has kept AIDS mostly isolated from the political agenda. In B12 139 separate, prime-time speeches, they displayed to the Democratic B12 140 delegates and the TV audience a quality of compassion, anger, B12 141 frustration, fear and love that transcended politics and spoke B12 142 directly to the moral core of America. As Representative Pat B12 143 Schroeder of Colorado exclaimed afterwards, "If that didn't B12 144 touch your heart, you don't have one."

B12 145 PART OF what was said was partisan - dealing with an alleged B12 146 Bush administration failure to respond adequately to the AIDS B12 147 epidemic. But the broader message that came across was a plea to B12 148 respond to AIDS not as a political or moral problem, but as a B12 149 public health catastrophe that affects the entire spectrum of the B12 150 human family.

B12 151 As Hattoy, the Clinton campaign's environmental adviser who B12 152 discovered a month ago that he has AIDS, put it so eloquently: B12 153 "We are your sons and daughters. Fathers and mothers. We B12 154 are doctors and lawyers. Folks in the military. Ministers and B12 155 rabbis and priests. We are Democrats. And yes, Mr. President, B12 156 Republicans. We're part of the American family."

B12 157 B12 158 U.S.-Mexico Nearing Deal

B12 159 AS DEMOCRATS basked in the warmth both of New York's humidity B12 160 and the uncharacteristically smooth functioning of their nominating B12 161 process, President Bush was demonstrating practical, effective B12 162 leadership out here in California.

B12 163 At a San Diego meeting with Mexican President Carlos Salinas de B12 164 Gortari, Bush told reporters that the North American free-trade B12 165 talks were in the "top of the ninth inning" and B12 166 that domestic politics will not prevent speedy conclusion of a B12 167 treaty.

B12 168 That's good news. Divisive voices have been raised about this B12 169 U.S.-Canada-Mexico pact: The usual retrograde protectionist ones; B12 170 the cry by labor that jobs will be lost and wages affected; the B12 171 sounds of environmentalists who fear Mexico will become a low-cost B12 172 refuge for polluting U.S. companies. But many of these problems B12 173 have been addressed, and there is no doubting the ultimate benefit B12 174 to all parties involved of a free trade zone extending from the B12 175 Yukon to the Yucatan.

B12 176 A MAJOR HURDLE was surmounted recently when Mexico agreed to B12 177 open its financial services industry - long shielded from B12 178 competition - to the U.S. and Canada.

B12 179 The parties will be meeting for final negotiations on July 25. B12 180 And while the U.S. Supreme Court's decision giving tacit approval B12 181 to the kidnaping of a Mexican charged with complicity in a drug B12 182 case may have cast a shadow over U.S.-Mexico relations, there are B12 183 indications the process will stay on the rails.

B12 184 President Bush is quite properly pressing ahead, and will not B12 185 allow the election to deflect this important effort. That's B12 186 leadership.

B12 187 B12 188 Greatest Female Sex Symbol of All Time?

B12 189 CONTI

B12 190 (Asked at various locations)

B12 191 Edward Myotte, 38, not working, Vallejo:

B12 192 Marilyn Monroe. What a body. She was so soft looking. She must B12 193 have had some good cosmetology work. Being on drugs, she couldn't B12 194 have kept up that way without it.

B12 195 Paul Uliana, 50, electrician, San Bruno:

B12 196 Brigitte Bardot. She was totally animalistic and it was the way B12 197 she pouted. She gave the appearance of being self-assured, and B12 198 anyone who has respect for themselves is sexy.

B12 199 Eric Thorsen, 29, electrician, the Sunset:

B12 200 Kelly Bundy from 'Married With Children.' She's naive and makes B12 201 herself available to the opposite sex, which is appealing. She's B12 202 very easy. She's a possibility.

B12 203 Jim Simms, 31, electrical maintenance man, Fremont:

B12 204 Cindy Crawford. She's sleek looking. It could be her hair. The B12 205 different ways she fixes her hair. It's always wild looking. It B12 206 doesn't look all perfectly in place.

B12 207 Seth Kilbourn, 27, public policy major, Berkeley:

B12 208 Madonna. She exudes a real sensuality and sexuality that's B12 209 refreshing. It's honest and it challenges the status quo. It B12 210 challenges conventional notions of female sexuality.

B12 211 David Jay, 33, claims examiner, the Richmond:

B12 212 Grace Kelly exuded class and sensuality. She had an air of B12 213 sophistication and seemed to be someone that would be out of reach. B12 214 Someone you would put on a pedestal.

B12 215 B12 216 Camille Paglia - born to be mild. Not.

B12 217 IF YOU have any sense, I kept telling myself, you will stay out B12 218 of the Camille Paglia House of Horrors. No feminist writer gets B12 219 near Camille Paglia without losing a pint of blood and at least one B12 220 eye.

B12 221 Paglia was born ticked off because she's a girl and not a boy. B12 222 She fights like a man - viciously and to conquer - which excites B12 223 the hell out of a lot of people but has nothing to do with the B12 224 advancement of feminist dialogue.

B12 225 Camille Paglia calls Susan Sontag a "bitch." She calls B12 226 'Backlash' author Susan Faludi "stupid and naive," B12 227 'The Beauty Myth' author Naomi Wolf "profoundly B12 228 hypocritical" and "bourgeois," and Gloria Steinem B12 229 "an outmoded tyrant."

B12 230 B22 1 <#FROWN:B22\>Chilling Specter

B22 2 Editor - Ross Perot claims his mission is to serve the American B22 3 people, to do whatever it is we want him to do. The tragic B22 4 consequence of his billion-dollar fantasy, fed by a host of B22 5 well-paid sycophants, is that he fails to understand we Americans B22 6 do not speak with one voice. We are, in fact, a nation with many B22 7 voices crying out on behalf of countless interests. Even given the B22 8 clear choice between a candidate supporting a more prominent role B22 9 for government and a candidate advocating a laissez faire approach, B22 10 we were not a decisive bloc.

B22 11 From which quarter would Ross Perot get his mandate? From an B22 12 800 line set up to count only the yea votes? How would he hear from B22 13 the rest of us? We are not like the 'shareholders' in a business. B22 14 Investors have a single-minded goal: bottom-line profit. Sell more B22 15 widgets for the best price while incurring the least cost. But we B22 16 in this nation do not sell widgets, and the definition of profit is B22 17 different for each of us.

B22 18 Ross Perot opted out of the chance to plead his case, to answer B22 19 the voices of defiance that had only begun to be heard when he quit B22 20 the race in July. The specter of Ross Perot on the political B22 21 landscape, with his bag full of money to buy out the fair process B22 22 of debate, sends a chill up my spine.

B22 23 BETH CONNOR

B22 24 Los Altos

B22 25 B22 26 Ross for Boss

B22 27 Editor - Naturally we are hesitant with Mr. Ross Perot, but why B22 28 must we continue to be this way when we finally have someone who B22 29 doesn't care to race because of name calling or because of B22 30 candidates who are playing up to the media?

B22 31 We finally have a candidate who is running because of the B22 32 issues that are affecting the United States as a whole, as a B22 33 democracy. Why must we burden ourselves by turning the candidacy B22 34 into a soap opera?

B22 35 Right now we need a president who is a businessman, who can B22 36 project where we are 50 years from now. We do not need someone B22 37 whose own state is bankrupt and someone who is walking around with B22 38 no concept of the people. We need someone to help us, the American B22 39 people, not to define who we are or our beliefs, but to aid in the B22 40 economy and give us the chances we need again to fulfill the B22 41 American Dream ... of freedom.

B22 42 F.P. DERWILLERBY

B22 43 Oakland

B22 44 B22 45 Titillating B22 46 Editor - Golly gee-whiz gang, seems I had to check my 'family B22 47 values' at the door when I opened Wednesday's Chronicle. Those B22 48 titillating photos of Madonna's mounds and Crawford's cleave ... B22 49 butts in Berkeley ... it was all too much for me! I snapped. I'm B22 50 now casting my vote for Joe Bob Briggs for prez.

B22 51 STEVE SALAZAR

B22 52 Santa Rosa

B22 53 B22 54 'Sore Sport'

B22 55 Editor - Ross Perot; the Will Rogers wanna-be, the candidate B22 56 was-a-be, the contender never-be. We've got him back: the B22 57 buffoonish, bumpkin billionaire who claims to be different, a B22 58 change and an outsider. Outside and different from what? Here's a B22 59 guy who made a bulk of his money from dealings with General Motors B22 60 and the Pentagon. How much more inside can you get? How many B22 61 billionaires do you know who are not "ego-driven, B22 62 power-hungry people"?

B22 63 Anagrammatically speaking, Ross Perot = Poser Sort and Sore B22 64 Sport.

B22 65 BRIAN LEHMAN

B22 66 San Rafael

B22 67 B22 68 Women for Clinton

B22 69 Editor - Bush and Clinton are running neck and neck among men, B22 70 but Clinton far out polls his rival among women. A quick comparison B22 71 of their records reveals that there are very good reasons for B22 72 women's preference for Clinton. Bush vetoed the following B22 73 provisions in legislation passed by Congress, all of which Clinton B22 74 supports: establishment of an Office of Research on Women's Health; B22 75 a requirement for inclusion of women in clinical trials in medical B22 76 research; increased funding for research on breast and ovarian B22 77 cancer, osteoporosis and contraception; the Family and Medical B22 78 Leave Act; over-turn of the 'gag rule' that forbids B22 79 health-care providers that receive federal funds from giving B22 80 low-income women information about abortion.

B22 81 In addition, Bush opposes and has threatened to veto the B22 82 following other provisions, supported by Clinton: the Freedom of B22 83 Choice Act, which would protect women's legal right to choose B22 84 abortion even if Roe vs. Wade is reversed; full funding of Head B22 85 Start, WIC and childhood immunization by 1996; and restoration of B22 86 the U.S.'s contributions to the United Nations Population Fund.

B22 87 This adds up to a remarkable record of indifference by Bush to B22 88 women's health, to their reproductive freedom and to the health and B22 89 well-being of infants and young children. Women support Clinton B22 90 because we know that he supports us.

B22 91 EMILY STOPER

B22 92 Oakland

B22 93 B22 94 Diversity at Boalt

B22 95 Editor - Boalt Hall's changes in its admissions policy are wise B22 96 and welcome. Contrary to what critics say, the new policy poses no B22 97 threat to diversity. The new admissions rules will promote real B22 98 diversity - diversity of life experience, culture, political belief B22 99 and outlook - and replace the old diversity which was based on B22 100 immutable characteristics, such as race, which aren't directly B22 101 related to how an applicant has spent his or her days on Earth.

B22 102 CLINT N. SMITH, student

B22 103 Boalt Hall Law School

B22 104 Oakland

B22 105 B22 106 Why Bush

B22 107 Editor - Enough! We have been blitzed by constant media B22 108 propaganda consisting of subtle, too extremely obvious, anti-Bush B22 109 messages! One cannot read a newspaper or watch TV without being B22 110 subjected to biased political statements.

B22 111 On the other hand, Clinton has been allowed to smooth talk his B22 112 way across the country, telling every special-interest group B22 113 exactly what they want to hear, and leaving many of the negative B22 114 campaign tactics to a very willing, primarily Democratic media, B22 115 eagerly scrambling to help him in his attempt to win the White B22 116 House.

B22 117 Think America! And put the blame where it belongs: a Democratic B22 118 Congress, a changing world economy and worldwide recession, an open B22 119 door policy and a negative media.

B22 120 There has never been a more crucial time for experienced B22 121 leadership, if the U.S. is to remain a superpower. It is vital that B22 122 we continue with a president who has the respect and admiration of B22 123 world powers and the strength of character to do what is in the B22 124 best interest of the American people rather than what is B22 125 politically expedient and 'attractive.' And that man is President B22 126 Bush!

B22 127 KRIS GUILIANI

B22 128 San Francisco

B22 129 B22 130 Sex, Abortion And the GOP

B22 131 Editor - I am dumbfounded by the conservative Republicans who B22 132 prefer a Democratic victory in California to a platform compromise B22 133 on their definition of family values ('Bickering Hurts State's GOP B22 134 Candidates,' Chronicle, September 22).

B22 135 The right claims the moral high ground and implores its B22 136 disciples to stand firm and seek the overturning of Roe vs. Wade. B22 137 The position is so extreme, lacking in thought and common sense, B22 138 that there is no longer room for Republicans like myself. Why is a B22 139 party that professes the virtues of parental responsibility asking B22 140 the government to outlaw something it is incapable of enforcing? B22 141 Parental responsibility means explaining sex and birth control to B22 142 adolescents when the hormones start ragging. I grew up in the ivory B22 143 tower of the upper middle class and have found to my amazement that B22 144 more than half of my friends never had a discussion about sex with B22 145 their parents. Outlawing abortion ignores the all important B22 146 parental role in preventing pregnancy in the first place.

B22 147 When conservative Republicans stop seeking a simplistic and B22 148 unworkable solution to a complex moral dilemma, maybe the party can B22 149 get on with the business of winning an election.

B22 150 STEVE FILLIPOW

B22 151 Alameda

B22 152 B22 153 Oust Congress

B22 154 Editor - Congress has deliberately attempted to sabotage the B22 155 Bush administration at the expense of the country. They should be B22 156 ousted not Bush.

B22 157 Voting for Clinton is a vote for socialism and a sucker's B22 158 bet.

B22 159 With inflation low, interest rates low and no outside threat, B22 160 the reason for the recession is clear - over-regulation.

B22 161 KENNETH DEKKER

B22 162 Lafayette

B22 163 B22 164 No Contest

B22 165 Editor - The radical right-wing of the Republican Party has B22 166 been promoting an anti-environmental theme throughout the 1992 B22 167 election campaign. No candidate is more pronounced in this view B22 168 than Bruce Herschensohn. Mr. Herschensohn believes that B22 169 environmentalists are socialists, that the Environmental Protection B22 170 Agency and Endangered Species Act should be abolished, that B22 171 offshore oil drilling should take place up and down the California B22 172 coast and that both the Clean Air and Clean Water acts are B22 173 "con jobs ... unworthy of a free society." Not only B22 174 are these positions absurd, they expose Mr. Herschensohn as being B22 175 unworthy of high public office.

B22 176 The Senate needs leaders who understand the reality of the B22 177 environmental threat and are willing to advocate solutions. B22 178 Candidate Herschensohn who would repeal both the Clean Air and B22 179 Clean Water acts is not such a person.

B22 180 Barbara Boxer, however, is such a leader. She has consistently B22 181 been one of the strongest environmental advocates in the Congress. B22 182 She understands that if our grandchildren are to inherit a clean, B22 183 liveable environment, public policy favoring the environment will B22 184 have to be established now. Clearly, if one cares about the B22 185 environment and the health of the planet there is no contest B22 186 between the candidates. 'Senator' Herschensohn would allow further B22 187 degradation of the environment. 'Senator' Boxer would lead the B22 188 fight to preserve and restore it.

B22 189 ROBERT H. SULNICK

B22 190 American Oceans Campaign

B22 191 Topanga (Los Angeles County)

B22 192 B22 193 Man of Change

B22 194 Editor - As California headed into a recession, the Congress B22 195 voted itself a 40 percent pay raise. Among those voting for the B22 196 raise was the self-proclaimed candidate of 'change,' Barbara B22 197 Boxer.

B22 198 Boxer made her name in Congress by attacking the Pentagon for B22 199 spending $7,500 on coffee pots - then she turned around and voted B22 200 against firing the House elevator operators.

B22 201 Her definition of government waste is simple: if it's spent on B22 202 her and her pals in the Congress, it's a bargain - no matter what B22 203 the cost.

B22 204 Bruce Herschensohn delivered more than a dozen television and B22 205 radio commentaries against the 1989 congressional pay raise. I B22 206 trust him to bring change to the Congress.

B22 207 GERRY SNYDER

B22 208 Danville

B22 209 B22 210 No Gimme's

B22 211 Editor - Re: Sharon Johnson's letter, 'Unshackle Women' B22 212 (Chronicle, September 29). I read and hear many opinions akin to B22 213 those expressed by Ms. Johnson. She states that "women will B22 214 flourish in any position if they are given a level playing field in B22 215 the workplace." Who wouldn't?

B22 216 I realize it is not in vogue, but nevertheless I offer Ms. B22 217 Johnson and anyone who thinks like her to reconsider. In real life B22 218 no one is given anything. Respect, position, renumeration, success B22 219 and anything else worthwhile, are earned by hard work, dedication, B22 220 perseverance and personal responsibility. Not by gimme!

B22 221 ART WALLSTEAD

B22 222 Merced

B22 223 B22 224 7th on Sale: a Zoo

B22 225 Editor - "7th on Sale" I hope was a huge B22 226 success in spite of itself. Friday night I'm told was wonderful, B22 227 but for the rest of us peons, Saturday and Sunday was a zoo!

B22 228 Too crowded, slow moving, long lines, sessions starting way too B22 229 late, and worst of all old, old merchandise - more like a B22 230 high-class rummage with a tax write-off for the designers.

B22 231 I'm not the only one who said "never again."

B22 232 NINA STONE

B22 233 San Francisco

B22 234 B22 235 WAVES Reunion

B22 236 Editor - I am trying to locate WAVES that we served with during B22 237 the Korean War to have a 40th reunion. I am looking for all WAVES B22 238 stationed at El Toro Marine Base in Santa Ana, Calif., working in B22 239 Navy supply of the infirmary during 1953-1956. Please contact Mona B22 240 (Foster) Benson, 16713 E. Queenside Dr., Covina, Calif., 91722, B22 241 regarding a 40th reunion in the spring.

B22 242 MONA BENSON

B22 243 Covina (Los Angeles County)

B22 244 B22 245 'FAMILY VALUES'

B22 246 Editor - It's laughable to see a scoffer like Quayle acting as B22 247 a press agent for family values.

B22 248 The very system that bestowed him with privileged status - the B22 249 modern industrial system - has from the very beginning declared war B22 250 on the family by dragging fathers and mothers out of the home to go B22 251 to work for someone else, by turning people and nature into objects B22 252 to exploit and transform into money and by forcing everyone to work B22 253 harder and longer for less pay. Our system idolizes money and B22 254 judges everyone in terms of it. Thus, family values are constantly B22 255 under fire from the very processes of the 'free' market and B22 256 everyday life.

B22 257