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Show r "A fellow who usually has his suspicions. " Wilson Mizner, American playwright (1876-193- 3) Trade a bill for a bl II Utah legislators have been busy profiling bills for the session which begins next month. In theory, the profiling gives the proposed legislation sort of a jump start and helps make the process work more smoothly. Maybe making the process easier is a good thing, but we're not so sure. In fact, we're not sure the public would not be better served by making it more difficult to pass legislation. Every body with the power to legislate is capable of passing bills, statutes and resolutions even ridicuthat are faulty, lous. In fact, virtually every lawmaking body has passed some ridiculous legisla- Tuesday Opunions is always declaring he's no foci Dec. 18, 1990 B m UH..:DOYOUHAVE1NYBOO(S Herald comment . fo& I 1 0H,...SGRWWM8 KV GUESflGN. bill-passi- ng tion. The federal appropriation some years back which funded a $200,000 study of how housewives feel about inflation at the grocery store, and the law passed by Baltimore as we recall a city to wear diapers are horses requiring some examples of legislative foolishness which leap readily to mind. What if we placed a ceiling on the number of laws we could have on the books? What if any lawmaker wishing to sponsor a bill had to also recommend a law which could be taken off the books if the new bill became law? It could be a trade situation pass a law get rid of a law. While we make this suggestion with tongue firmly implanted in cheek, just thinking about such a thing does make for a few pleasant moments. In fact, we wouldn't be surprised if most citizens would approve the "law for a law" tradeoff. Few would argue that government has become unwieldy. Fewer still would argue that an 18,000 plus page federal tax code, is just one of many symptoms of an overregulated society. On second thought, maybe that tongue isn't as firmly implanted as we first thought. S plin Congress still busy during winter recess By STEVEN KOMAROW Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON Watching Capitol Hill these days brings to mind the old Dan Hicks song, "How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away?" It's been more than seven weeks since the 101st Congress adjourned. But many of its members are still around holding hearings, issuing press releases and otherwise working to get on the nation's airwaves and news pages. The differences between an and an Congress have been blurred in this age of instant communication and fast travel. Other than the actual votes on bills, there's little that cannot be accomplished, and lawmakers are at working the system. In its early days, Congress would meet for a few months in the winter, after which lawmakers would flee the summer moisture and heat of this sultry swamp city. "We pay them to be professional legislators now," said Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution. Members of the House now get $96,600 while senators are paid $98,400. "It's not like the 19th century. We give them not only a living wage but all of the staff they need to work at it. When you combine that with jet planes ... air conditioning. ... It's a different attitude," he said. Some still cling to the ideal of the r. The mott recent popular expression of it can be found, Hess said, in the drive for term limits. But there's really no going back to the old days. The stalemate in the Persian Gulf provides a vivid example of how the Democratic-controlled Congress tries to exercise its powers when not in session. "Even though Congress is in recess they are still in the loop," said Jeff Biggs, whose boss, House Speaker Thomas Foley, has been working in his Capitol office for most of the recess. By holding hearings and generating publicity, lawmakers can affect national policy without passing a single bill. Taking advantage of exposure on the cable network, several national committees in the House and Senate have held hearings on the gulf. While their legislative goal may still be unclear, they have left no doubt that Congress wants its views heard and prerogatives protected. - well-polish- full-tim- e, citizen-lawmake- "Without those hearings, the public J News analysis would be left with the impression, by the administration, that no course other than military action ... would be effective in driving Iraq from Kuwait," said David Dreyer, spokesman for House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, o. Several experts, including former top Pentagon officials, testified that the United States should give economic sanctions more time to work before considering an invasion. "The (Bush) administration is in business 365 days a year ... (spending) 98 cents out of every federal dollar," Dreyer said. "It's our job as an entity to spend just 0.2 percent to monitor" how that is carried out. Of course, good government isn't the only force mat moves Congress to work year-roun- d. Because of the long legislative sessions, many younger lawmakers put their children in school in the Washington area. So they're in town anyway until the Christmas break. And not all of Congress' activity is making members look good. One of the events has been the Senate Ethics Committee's hearings into whether five senators sold their influence to former savings and loan operator Charles H. Keating Jr. post-sessi- most-watch- Lawmakers' enthusiasm for hanging around the Capitol does have its limits. At a private meeting, several members of the House Armed Services Committee barked when they were told that Chairman Les Aspin, scheduled two weeks of hearings ending just five days before Christmas. After so many weeks of testimony, Aspin was insisting on hearing from second-strin- g witnesses, including university professors and think tank experts. Forced to absorb the brunt of the complaints was Rudy deLeon, staff director of the panel, said one lawmaker, who requested anonymity. Aspin himself was stuck in Milwaukee due to another sign of the season a winter storm. Perhaps it was a sign from Dan Hicks. Editor's note: Steven Komarow covers Congress for The Associated Press. s., Goodbye to a Christian gentleman In a world where the sordid seems to hog the headlines, it is refreshing to consider that throughout the world countless people live good, decent lives and that every day many of them are being publicly honored, in solemn funeral services, after having fought the good fight, in the words of the Apostle Paul (Timothy 4:7). In a way, it is too bad we all cannot profit from all of the victories and defeats that people experience during their years on earth. But occasionally we can pause to consider the life of some one special to us who has just passed away. Thus many of us in this community paused on Monday to pay tribute to Oliver Rollin Smith, who for many years was Dr. Journalism at BYU and the husband of Provo City Councilwoman Barbara McKay Smith. Most assuredly, his life is worth examining as an inspiration and guide to us all. Knowing what a kind, loving prof and friend to students and what a Christian gentleman Oliver was, I am sure that he wasn't afraid to die. In the words of William Cullen Bryant (1794-187s, in Oliver must have gone to the world beyond sustained and soothed by an like one who wraps the unfaltering trust drapery of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams. Oliver Smith had two qualities that really impressed me. He was active, creative, and yet caring and consiimaginative derate of others. As a young returned missionary, he helped Harold I. Hansen produce the first Hill Cumorah pageant in 8) Than-atopsi- 1937. Later, after getting his start in journalBYU under the late Harrison R. Merrill, he ran the news bureau and taught and got practical experience journalism working Saturday nights at the Daily Herald, summers with the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Tribune, a radio station in Little Rock, Ark., and a p.r. firm in Boston, to name a few. He promoted internships and jobs for his students, too. ism at err I 3 Ed Haroldsen dV fK HERALD JCOLUMNIST "I took journalism history from him early on, my first semester here," recalls BYU journalism prof Jack Nelson. "He was really in to it. I caught his enthusiasm." I, too, recall Oliver's fascination with history. Thus Oliver and I once spent a rainy morning sharing a single umbrella as we walked around Charleston, S.C., looking at Civil War era mansions. Teaching at the Y, he first met his Barbara as one of his students, and they reared a fine family of eight children. Oliver and Barbara scrimped and saved as he earned a Ph.D. at the University of Iowa. Driving to a conference with BYU public relations man Edwin Butterworth, Oliver got the idea of converting the campus newspaper into a daily paper so it could better serve journalism majors. Oliver dreamed of a school of journalism, and his dream was partially realized in 1963 when several academic programs were consolidated into the new Department of Communications. He headed the Y's mass media academic programs for 17 years, serving under four presidents. But Oliver was never so busy being an executive or innovator that he forgot the human touch. Thus, here is how he is remembered: "He affected a lot of lives," recalls David Forsyth, a former vice president of McGraw-Hi- ll and now chairman of the BYU Department of Communications. "I don't ever remember Oliver Smith without a beautiful, big smile on his face in class, out of class, any time you'd see. him. He was dedicated to his students, a friend of the students. He- - was always asking how the class was going, what he could do to help. He had the whole burden on his shoulder then of being the major, teacher as well as the head of the depart- ment." Another former student and now a BYU associate dean, M. Dallas Burnett, recalls that Oliver was a deeply caring person. "He was concerned about students, a very, careful, meticulous teacher." Butterworth, who taught with Oliver for several years, recalls that. Oiiver demand-- , ed good work from his students, but hi' always showed his kindly nature. He nevjer swore. He never got mad at anyone. He encouraged people. "My career had been in newspaper work. I was used to hard deadlines. But Oliver took me under his wing and taught' me the no less demanding but different approach of the academic world and encouraged me to get an advanced degree,1' Butterworth recalls. Indeed, Butterworth, in 1954, earned the first master's degree in' journalism in BYU history under Oliver's guidance. e A neighbor, retired BYU English professor Samuel C. Monson, characterizes Oliver Smith as as a man of strong convictions and loyalties to his family and. church, the university, the Sons of the Utah Pioneers, and civic affairs generally. Adds Monson, "Perhaps because he was a journalist he seemed to be nonjuugmen-ta- l about people. He didn't condemn people with other views, and he was soft spoken, rather than argumentative about his own.'' A number of years ago while the Mon-- r sons were living in Chicago, Marian Monson and three children spent much of the summer in the Smith home in Provo. The Smiths had seven children at the time, but they thought it would be nice for trie : Monsons to come out for a visit. , Especially in this selfish, ine-to- o era, we all could well emulate an unselfish Christian gentleman like Oliver Smith. one-tim- Bush moving to defuse financial bombs Letters WASHINGTON The White House is in of a financial bomb squad to sniff out disasters before they blow up in the search taxpayers' faces. Lupus victims' support Editor: Can you imagine what it would be like to have to live daily with the knowledge that you had a disease that could cause your Some authoribody to slowly ties are now saying that as many as three million people do have such a disease, and for some unidentified reason the number is growing. An estimated 55,000 new cases are being diagnosed in the United States each year. The disease is not contagious and it is not cancer. It is systemtic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a chronic connective tissue disease involving the body's immune system. In SLE the immune system, which is supposed to protect the body against environmental and infectious agents, turns against itself and attacks and destroys healthy tissue. Although SLE is not a well known disease, it is more prevalent than muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, leukemia, and cystic fibrosis. It is more widespread among black women than sickle cell anemia. SLE affects all races, age groups, groups, and both sexes. However, 90 percent of lupus patients are women, with the usual age of onset being between 16 and 30. socio-econom- Systemic lupus attacks internally, damaging, or destroy ig any organ which is targeted. With proper treatment most SLE pa- tients can live a normal lifespan. However, even a mild case may become without proper treatment. More than 6,000 people die from SLE each year. Symptoms vary but can include joint pain, muscle aches, skin rash, photosensitivity, hair loss, inflammation of the membranes around the heart or lungs, anemia, fatigue, blood abnormalities, kidney involvement, and others. The paradoxical thing about SLE is that the victim can look healthy and well, even when heshe is critically ill. This often causes misunderstandings among relatives and friends, who cannot understand how anyone can be really ill and look so well. Many SLE patients feel isolated and alone because of the lack of understanding they encounter. The L.E. Support Club, Inc. is a worldwide, organization dedicated to non-pro- fit bringing help and understanding to SLE patients. Its newsletter, the L.E. BEACON, informative articles on prints subjects which are important to SLE patients. The cost of printing the newsletter is paid for by the tax deductible dues and contributions of members and concerned friends. Anyone who would like more information on the L.E. Support Club, Inc., should send a stamped envelope for more information to: L.E. Support Club, Inc., 8039 Nova Court, North Charleston, SC 29420. Harriet B. Mesic presidenteditor The big financial scandals of the 1980s the savings and loan bankruptcy and the Housing and Urban Development debacle could have been avoided had there been trouble-shootewatching the numbers in every government agency. Last month, President Bush signed a bill authorizing the hiring of that squad of trouble-shooter- s led by a "chief financial d officer" by the president. He or she will operate out of the Office of Management and Budget, backed up by 23 assistants in major federal agencies. They will stalk those agencies, watching closely for the signs of fraud, waste and abuse. Here are some cases that need their immediate attention. The Resolution Trust Corp., assigned to sell about $300 billion in S&L assets, needs all the attention that the chief financial officer can muster. The race to pick up the S&L assets at bargain prices is an invitation for fraud and waste. We have learned that the government forgot to factor in the cost of local real-estataxes that the Resolution Trust Corp. must pay while it still manages the properties. The Internal Revenue Service has let tax cheats get away with owing the government more than $60 billion. The amount of unpaid taxes has more than tripled in the past 10 years, and there is no sign of a turnaround in that trend. The Pentagon has $30 million in inventory that it has no intention of using. The mismanagement that created the glut is still in place. For example, the Pentagon bought 40,000 turtleneck shirts for $5 a shirt and then decided not to use them. rs hand-picke- te agency policing waste ment. Jack Anderson ft Dale Van Atia UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE and mismanage- Sources told our associate Jim Lynch that the likely candidate for chief financial officer is Frank Hodsoll, who is now executive director of the Office of Management and Budget. Some are doubtful that Hodsoll has tb technical skills for the job, but his reputation is that of a smooth negotiator and a d numbers cruncher. His boss at OMB, Budget Director Richard Darman, has been a big proponent of the creation of a chief financial officer position. And Darman welcomes the added power the position will bring to the OMB. weU-like- They were sold at auction to the public for a penny each. The government already has inspectors general in every department, so why can't they do the job without adding another layer in the form of financial inspectors? The inspectors general answered that question at a House Government Operations Committee hearing arranged by Rep. the author of the John Conyers, chief financial officer legislation. The inspectors general described chaotic bookkeeping procedures that are rampant in the federal government. Health and Human Services Inspector General Richard Kusserow told Congress that agencies must file two separate financial reports one to fit the General Accounting Office's standards and another to please the Treasury Department. There are seven accounting systems in Kusserow's department alone. Interior Department Inspector General James Richards said that when he came on the job, there were 13 accounting systems in the department and none of them were approved by the GAO. Commerce Department Inspector General Francis DeGeorge said the inspectors general cannot "go it alone." They desperately need a senior finance officer in each - NOT ENOUGH Through diplomatic back channels, Iraq's Saddam Hussein has sent feelers that he might be willing to pull his troops out of Kuwait, as long as his power base in Iraq is left alone. That is ; settlement that most nations would accept. But President Bush believes that he cannot leave Saddam in power because he would continue to threaten the stability of the Persian Gulf. Republicans and Democrats alike have declared that America's "vital interests" are at stake in the Gulf. That's diplomatic language for "oil." - In the 1980s, Congress came close to legalizing marijuana. But today, marijuana users would have a hard time persuading Congress to support their right to get high. That is as it should be. Lawmakers have before them within the sliadow of the Capitol plenty of evidence of what happens when people tune out reality and e:"ape to a world created by chemicals. |