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Show THE ZEPHYROCTOBER 1992 PAGE 27 climbs up on George's knee. "Grandpa, she says, "I've been thinking." "Uh-oGrandpa says to himself. "From the age of five till the age of eighteen, I will spend seven hours a day, five days a week under the supervision and tutelage of someone who is making less than the man who comes to the house when the sink backs up. This has caused me to wonder. Is the kitchen sink more important than I am?" "Now, now, let's not go jumping to imprudent conclusions... h, subjectCherietoGilmore change by "And another thing. I've noticed that there are no seatbelts in school buses which, interestingly enough, carry primarily children. I'm not complaining it's a lot more fun when you can get up and catch the view from different windows. But it doesn't give me a real feeling of, well, security. I noticed that when the basketball guys went to Barcelona they were under, like, armed guard.. "But dear, those men are making millions of dollars, paying, uh, some taxes. I think. And they did have to ride a bus from the hotel to the actual basketball court." "Oh. OK. Well, gotta go. I've got soccer practice." "Have fun and tell your little friends hello." "Friends?! I'm not playing soccer to make friends. I'm there to win. Good luck on that speech, Gramps. Give 'em helL" Gives ya a warm glow, doesn't it? And yet there are those who don't see this, who insist that George Bush and his merry band of followers really don't see children as having any importance at all. They point out that a couple who recently tortured and starved their 13 year old child to death were charged with "Injury to a child". They admit that maybe it's just a picky little problem with semantics, but to them "injury" has always referred more to a bloody nose or scraped knee, perhaps even falling out of a tree and breaking an arm. But this child is dead. Fbr the torture and murder of the Hi-death penalty. What's the victims, Andrews and Selby got the Republican-supporte- d difference here? Well, he was only 13. Pat Buchanan goes purple in the face at the very thought that this child could have sued his parents. God knows what his reaction was upon discovering that they were actually prosecuted. (It's OK Pat. They'll get out while they're still young enough to conceive another child.) It can of course be argued that the Republicans are not totally to blame for the low regard in which children are held. Well of course they're not. It's just hard to keep hearing the "kinder, gentler, family and litany year after year while the reality continues to be as cruel as ever. In the past 10 years (all of which occurred under the kind and gentle eyes of a a record high. We continue Republican administration) the juvenile crime rate went up 25 unable to to be find room in the budget for improvements in education. Yet we continue to find all kinds of money to cover for crooked bankers. We continue to find the time and money to ferret out every last marijuana plant in southern Utah but we don't seem to have the time to take care of the unwanted, unloved, unaborted but still strangely unadopted babies who are bom every year. We, as taxpayers, are almost worse. We whine and moan about paying higher taxes to insure a better future for our kids but we cheerfully hand over $50.00 for a seat at a Jazz game. We TV or that Nintendo game. Trust me, they'd trade time at home with our kids for that the a Nintendo choice. As if we hadn't done enough, we in the second, game give up given clinch it by destroying the very air they rely on for life. And yes, I do blame the Republicans for that Look up their voting records. But George Bush, in his perky, optimistic way, has even given us a word of hope for that: "The Soviet bear is dead, but there are still wolves in the woods." , Well, at least one. But keep it under your hat " - . Has this been a great year or what? The Olympics and the Republican convention all within short weeks of each other. I guess the Olympics and the presidential race have always shared the same year. I just don't remember the combination ever being so nauseating. All things do eventually end however (although at any given time, at some place in the world, an Arnold has pretty Schwarzenegger movie is always playing), and life at least on prime time TV much returned to normal. Yes, I know, it's oily the calm before the political speech storm, followed closely by basketball season, but for the moment things seem to be where they should be. Dan Kwail Quad Quayle is safely seated in front of his TV, watching Murphy Brown instead of appearing on the TVs of millions of helpless, impressionable young children; Charles Barkley has relinquished his role as America's ambassador to Angola and Croatia and is back where he belongs, making deodorant commercials; and at least one wolf has reintroduced himself to Yellowstone Park. Life seems, if not deliriously wonderful, at least momentarily peaceful. In the unaccustomed quiet I have had time to think. Mostly about the aforementioned occurrences. The Olympics are best forgotten, I think. Like the Dream Team's Scottie Pippin, I was just glad when the whole tiling was over and I could get back to my vacation. The Republican National Convention, though well, I can see that it is destined to become a Gilmore tradition. This was the first time I had ever watched it Normally I just skip it and go straight to the cartoons. However, since I do have a child to consider this election year, and with all this talk of Family Values, I felt that it was my duty as a responsible parent to expose him to the very Founder of Family Values himself, George Bush. Imagine my surprise when I tuned in (a little late admittedly -- 1 always feel so silly listening in on someone else's prayer) to what were apparently the opening remarks of a hockey game. The audience was chanting what sounded like, "Hit him again, hit him again, harder, harder! I looked for a scoreboard, thought about it for a minute, realized the Winter Olympics were long over and waited for perhaps a helpful commentator to show up with a chalkboard and explain it all to me. I became even more confused when the camera left the red and sweating faces of the chanting crowd and focused in on, yes, Our President. This was truly a shock to me, for I had never realized that George was an athlete. As the speech continued I became even more perplexed. George Bush was quoting Harry Truman.. I could be wrong about this, having never been fully awake in those American History courses, but in my mind I've always thought of Harry Truman as a Democrat and while he and George do seem to share that quirky little affinity for bombs, that seems to be pretty much where any similarity ends. A fact which was made increasingly apparent as the speech continued. You may recall that Truman made famous the phrase, "The buck stops here." After listening to Mr. Bush repeatedly whining, "It was Congress' fault, it was Congress' fault", it became obvious that this was no Harry Truman. Strangely, though, I began to fed the warm glow of happy moments remembered Maybe it did have something to do with Truman; Mother was always quoting him. No, it was ... let's see ... Yes, it was my childhood I was remembering. Something about a broken plate. At this time I would like to thank George; his speech prompted me to phone my sister, just to chat about the golden days of childhood (As it turns out, she has long since convinced herself that she really did break that plate). Gosh, I guess he really does know how to bring families closer. Still, there's a creeping doubt What if everyone didn't experience the same emotional reaction? What if they just said "Take the responsibility like a man and go home"? What if they turned off their TVs in disgust missed that moving prayer at the end (and the accompanying balloons), and returned to their godless. Democratic ways? What if and this is almost too horrible to contemplate what if no one bought the whole Family Values thing at all? I have to say, in looking back, that it was my favorite part of the speech. Hie "little White House on the Prairie" image really got to me When he mentioned "prayer in school", I felt a surge of hope. He had said The "S" Word If he could say it, maybe it had taken on some meaning for him any meaning. Maybe the education of the children could became something mare than just a hazy, fantasy of those lunatics out there on the left I Yes, can see it all now the moment when that tiny little point of light clicked on in his mind Picture this. One of the Bush grandchildren comes bounding home from school and - - Fi - God-oriente- d" - big-scre- en I - - - half-form- ed - NEEDLES OUTPOST Canyonlands National Park - Needles District Located 34 miles west of Hwy 191 on Hzpy 211 gasjpropane campinglpartial hookups 4x4 rentals scenic flights maps, books, information general storesnack bar ice, cold beer, pop showers firewood jeep tours by reservation 259-20- 32 or 259-85- 45 |