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Show ' ' I he punctuation ofanniversaries is terrible. like the clt tstng of di ti trs. one alter another between you and ll hatyou want tohold on to. " 7— Anne Morrow Lindbergh Opinions 4Monday, March 15, 1993 The Daily Herald 7 GOP needs unity (in tlte first spending bill of the \ear. Senate Democrats defeated a Republt~ can plan to pay for an extension of unemployment benefits tltrottgh offset— REPORTS ‘mrr LOBBYlSl'S HAVE SPECIAL ACCESS 'to ' eater MEMBERS OF CONGRESS ARE UNTRUE ! llorald Comment ting cuts in other programs. Instead. es. increasing exemptions for families the Democratic majority pushed ahead with children. and indexing capital with providing the additional jobless gains rates. depreciation allowances payments. at a cost ofSS.7 billion. by and corporate taxes. «taps increasing the 1993 deficit. ' 0 Rep. John Kasich of Ohio. the Although the GOP lawmakers lost ranking Republican on the House on a straight party-line vote. their plan Budget Committee. would scour the \\ as a constructive alternative. lt repre- budget line item by line item and pro— 3sented the kind ot contribution Repub— pose detailed spending cuts that go Llican lawmakers should make to im— well beyond the Clinton plan. iprove President Clinton‘s economic Republican leaders are doubtful the iprogram as it advances through Coti— party will rally behind any one ofthese :gress. g plans. tron one, vitu. ACCEPT A BRIBE mom ANYONE WHO WALKS INTO . il‘o date. though. Republicans have "1 have not heard any unanimity at {failed to unite behind a comprehensive all.” said Sen James Jeffords of Ver:budget alternative. Their continued mont. "There is nocoalescing be— division strengthens the administra— tween either the supply-siders or the tion‘s assertion that its tax—and-spend cutters. ” lf GOP lawmakers are to avoid Ibeing relegated to the sidelines once 1Congress gets down to budgetary busiLness. they have to decide between var3ious competing approaches. At the moiment. no less than four are vying for Isupport ofthe party 's majority: It appears that Republicans are allowing their differences on the margins to overshadow their agreement on basic principles. Certainly. the decided majority of Republicans in Congress agree that. in general. tax hikes are bad for the economy and spending increases are bad for deficit reduction. In addition to drafting specific budget cuts to reduce the deficit, the Repub- . ° Sen. Robert Dole of Kansas. the {minority leader. would prune $100 bil- licans should oppose any and every tax f lion of the $178 billion Clinton propos- increase until real spending reductions :es in new domestic spending. He are locked in place. Congress has iwould accept some of the president‘s promised spending cuts before in ex— .’ tax increases. change for tax hikes. but has failed to '»‘ 0 Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas would live up to its promise. The GOP should eliminate 311 $178 billion of Clinton’s make sure that the American people proposed new spending. He would cap are not snookered again by this baitexisting spending programs. And he and—switch tactic. would forego new Social Security. inEven if the Republican minority - come or energy taxes. does not offer a full-blown budget al— . 0 Jack Kemp. the former Bush ad— ternative it can do much to improve ,ministration secretary of Housing and President Clinton's program by adv,Urban Development, would eschew ancing specific proposals to reduce the any new taxes. He would spur eco- deficit through additional spending nomic growth by reducing payroll tax- cuts. [rotten Ruffled feathers Editor: l have really ruffled the fathers of a few Anicle 5 provides two methods to amend the Constitution. One way is. CongreSs by a two-thirds vote writes the amendment and passes it to U.N. diehards. l really meant no offense to the states for ratification. them. 1 do understand that the “Association of BYU" is probably trying to make a The alternate way is for those times when Congress will not respond to the will ofthc people. In this ,case two-thirds of the state legislatures can call for a constitutional con— vention to address the needed change. When the convention is through with the amend— ment or amendments. they go back to the states for ratification. Just as when Congress writes it. the amendment must be ratified by three—fourths of the states before it becomes part of the Constitution. Read Article 5 of the Constitution. lt is very clear that three-fourths of the states must ratify before any proposal becomes part of the Constitution. If the convention runs away the states simply do not ratify and the proposals die. Note the restraint is not in Congress. or in the convention. it is in the ratification process. If the proposal is bad or poorly written the states simply won‘t ratify and the proposal will die. This business ofa runaway convention or fear of a convention not doing the will of the people is just a scare tactic of special interest groups to keep the control in Congress. I think it is time two additional states called for the convention. It is time we call the bluff of Congress and the special interest groups and reclaim our Constitution. It is time the Constitution requires a balanced budget. and time the president has a line-item veto. We need this restraint on an out-ofcontrol-Congress. I personally am more afraid of our out-ofcontrol Congress than I am of any constitu— tional convention. Howard H. Johnson Lehi difference and be actively engaged tn a worthy cause. 1 am just very concerned about the unbrella title of the U.N. that BYU is allowing them to use and wonder if those involved know what our prophet has said about that organization Let the quote from Ezra Taft Benson's writings. .“The United Nations has been the recipi— ent of so much lavish praise and favorable publicity. most ofus have come to regard it as the embodiment of our own hopes for peace and a better future world. "After many years of observing the U.N. in operation. after carefully researching the less publicized aspects of this organization. . . l reluctantly have been forced to the conclusion that U.N.‘s‘ potential for evil far outweighs its potential for good. Further— more. the very nature of the organization is such that this evil cannot be corrected without disbanding and starting all over frotn the bottom up. "‘On the surface. the LIN. Charter bears a strong resemblance to those of our own federal govemment. But the similarity goes no further than outward fonn. Whereas the United States is founded on the concept of limited government. the U.N. concept is one of unlimited government power with virtually no meaningful restraints to protect individual liberty." —- “An Enemy Hath Done This,” There will be some who will say 1 am reading outdated material. His writings are still being published by Deserct Book even now that he is prophet. But tnore important-ly in our last conference issue of the Ensign an admonishment was given by John E. Fowler: “What of the volumes ofteachings tr. tlll our beloved prophet ... E/ra Taft Benson'.’ his words. spoken from this pulpit throughout his ministry. will continue to bless the lives of the faithful Therefore we repeat our plea that members and others return to the message ofour beloved proph— et.” ' This is our latest conference issue which is considered scripture. ()ur duty is clear and the prophet has spoken . Sherri Jensen Springville ‘ Letters policy Dillinger would be 2-bit criminal now It‘s hard to believe that John Dillinger was once the best-known criminal in America. And that his fame lives on. Movies have been made and books written about his crime career. His biography is in almost any encyclopedia. To this day. crime buffs stand in front of the Biograph Theatre on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago and say: “Wow, that’s where the FBI gunned him down." How big a story was it. when he was killed? Under the giant headline of the July 23. 1934, Chicago Tribune — “KILL DILLINGER HERE“ — were three Page 1 stories. And the index listed these stories inside: “Dillingcr’s audacious crimes and his spectacular escapes captured the imagination of the public like no other criminal in American history. Page 2. High points in the life of John Dillinger from his birth in Indianapolis in 1902 to his death in Chicago last night. Page 2. Attorney General Cummings ‘gratified’ by shooting: Chicago agents praised. Page 2. Highlights in the career of America's most dreaded criminal. Page 2. Crowds gather at morgue to catch glimpse of Dillinger's body. Page 3. Examination at morgue reveals Dillin— ger had seared his fingers with acid. Page 3. Two eyewitnesses tell story of slaying. Page 3. “ And not only in Chicago but all over the country. It was the end of the most sensational crime career of its time. So why am 1 telling you this? To illustrate what a terrifying. wacky society we have become. By today's standards of criminal behav— ior. Dillinger was a nickel-and—dime guy. If he were killed today, he probably wouldn‘t rate more than five paragraphs on an inside page. if that. We‘re talking about a thief, not a killer. Sure. a higher-class thief than most because hc robbed banks rather than 7-Elevens. But a thief. nevertheless. His bankrobbing career brought in about about Syndicated Columnist $300,000, which he had to share with his gang. Even if you consider inflation, he didn’t make as much as recent savings and loan swindlcrs. Today. we don‘t even consider bank robbery news. Last year, there were 9,381 banks, S&Ls and credit unions robbed of $61 million. The dcathtoll: l6 robbers, six bank guards, one bank employee, one customer. How many did you read or hear about? And Dillinger was once ranked by the FBI as America’s Public Enemy No. 1. Now compare what Dillinger did to what you have been reading about or seeing in your newspaper the past week or two: An anti-abortion demonstrator, wearing a gray business suit, waits outside a Florida clinic with other protesters, then takes out a gun and puts two bullets into the back of a physician who performs abortions. Earlier, the killer said he prayed that the doctor would ”give his life to Jesus.” He apparently decided to speed up the doctor’s spiritual transition. In Waco, Texas, a religious nut and his loony followers use their huge arsenal of military hardware to kill four federal agents. At last report, it was a standoff. Inside the compound, the head loony says he is waiting for God to tell him what to do; outside the compound, there are military tanks. The tanks are needed because — who knows? — the loony might say God told him to bring out the bazookas. In New York, they are rounding up suspected terrorists for blowing a huge hole in the world's second—tallest building. The explosion. the smoke, the chaos, were so dramatic that within a few days we forget that at least five people were killed. That’s five more than Dillinger did in. Those are the main crime stories of recent days. There isn’t enough space in the papers or time on the news shows to deal with the run-of—the-mill street gang killings, the dope-deal murders, the punk gunman who robs a grocer then shoots him between the eyes to see if the pistol really works, the morons who toss their girlfriends kids out of windows. A few weeks ago, the big story was the mass murder of seven people in a fast-food restaurant in Palatine. 111. And there were the random highway killers in Florida. But those crimes are already dim history. They’ve been shoved aside by bombs in New York, the gun-toting messiah in Tex‘ as and the Bible-quoting doctor killer in Florida. Just for a moment. let’s forget Dillinger and switch to Jack the Ripper, who is probably as famous. He's been the subject of at least 100 books, thousands of magazine articles, several movies and millions of words in newspapers. What did he do? He was a fiend, no doubt about it. He roamed London‘s seedy section about 100 years ago and carved up a number of prostitutes. He was never caught, but he has become a lasting symbol of evil and danger. Compare him to our modern mass killers. Unlike the weirdo in Wisconsin, Jack the Ripper never cooked and ate his victims. Unlike John Gacy, he didn’t bury them in his ‘suburban basement. And he didn’t slaughter entire families because a dope deal didn't go down. We live in the greatest country in the history of the world. And everything else considered, maybe the craziest. A final thought on John Dillinger. Whatever mischief he may have done, and it really wasn’t that much, he never once said that Allah, Jesus, the Lord, or even the devil told him to do it. God bless the lad for his self-sufficiency. Lott sheds light on his mysterious ‘list’ WASHINGTON — Sen. Trent Lott. R— Miss.. has had secondthoughts about his showdown with Budget Director Leon Pa— netta over his once—secret “list“ of $216 billion in “pain-free“ budget cuts. “Now that it‘s become an issue maybe I fact that about 85 percent of the cuts are lack Anderson earmarked for entitlements, with the balance, or about $32 billion, coming from a Syndicated Columnist grab bag of other programs including “unused Amtrak routes," payments to “international anti-consumcr organizations,” a Pentagon civilian hiring freeze and the should have used another word (such as) ‘relatively painless.” Lott told us in a phone interview two days after we pub— lished details of the list in a column last week. “You all are focusing on an unplanned moment instead of focusing on the great The Daily Herald welcomes letters to the big problems of the Clinton package, the editor. Address letters to Letters to the Edi- tax increases. the fact that his own numtor. POBox 717. Provo. UT 84603. Letters bers don’t add up. ... What’s the interest in must be signed and include the writer ‘s tit/l this one incident?“ Lott has been serving as the unofficial name. address — and a daytime phone numRepublican attack dog, a job that has inber liir verification. Letters should be typed, double spaced. cluded hunting for skeletons in the closets and less than 400 words in length. Letters of Cabinet appointees. Though he called it an “unplanned moare usually published on a first come first served basis. ment," the Panctta hearing gave Lott anThe most common reasons for not pub- other forum in which to peddle the GOP’s lishing letters are: too long, unsigned. illegi- no-taxes. no-pain prescription. Lott deRead it first ble. obscene or libelous. clared he had “in my pocket a list of $216 Sometimes letters which are too long for billion in painless budget cuts that just Editor: People need to read the Constitution be- the letters to the editor column are chosen to about everybody would agree with, including you. I'd be glad to provide (it) to fore they makc their comments on amend appearas guest opinion pieces. Those long submissions not chosen for you.“ ments to the Constitution. There is absolute- But Lott seemed caught off-guard when ly no way a constitutional convention can guest opinion pieces will not be publishedas substantial shortened being without letters Panetta -— who’s been telling Republicans run away. to “put up or shut up" — called his bluff: . Yes. the Constitution is inspired but those ] . very men who wrote it were also inspired y Submissions specifically written as guest enough to recognize the need for revisions. opinion pieces are each considered on their and provide for the Constitution to be re» own merits using most of the same basic standards used with letters to the editor. vised when needed. .Miko Boylto “Let me have that list. I want to see those painless cuts." Lott folded the paper and returned it to his jacket pocket, leaving many with a case of Joe McCarthy deja vu. “Do you know what happened on this budgets of the executive and legislative thing?" Lott explained. “I walked into a branches of government. budget committee one Friday morning. and they (Democrats) were saying that they couldn’t come up with any more spending cuts. I just happened to be working on this list. It was not by design (when) I pulled it out and said look, here’s a list of basically painless cuts. I had no idea the thing was going to become the big focus it Lott would ax $184 billion over the next five years by “capping” the growth of non-Social Security mandatory spending, allowing increases for new beneficiaries and cost-of-living adjustments only. Also on the cutting block would be such programs as Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, child nutrition programs, Aid for did." Families With Dependent Children, unLott didn‘t want his list to become the employment compensation, Civil-service target for Democratic criticism, and that's retirement, military retirement and disawhy he sought to keep secret the details. bility, veterans' benefits, student loans and “Clinton is the president, and he has farm price-support programs. this great big ma'ority in both houses," Lott said. ' ‘We fe t it was unfair for people What Lott calls “caps" are actually to say show us yours (spending out lists) cuts. The Congressional Budget Office has now because then that would become the studied the spending caps and concluded target, and time would be spent saying that Without fundamental health-care rewell you can’t do this and you can‘t do form_ and only cost-of—living increases. Medicaid and Medicare eligibility would that, and attacking our plan. " be vastly curtailed because of the exponenSo long as Lott doesn‘t accept Panetta‘s put-up-or-shut—up challenge, he can avoid tial growth of these programs. Lott dismisses this analysis as “the way having to answer to angry constituents Washington argues,“ but not the way p60~ whose benefits are chopped. Lott’s “pain-free" list would entail the ple seen “out there in the real world. ” ’ :‘What about the people who (feel) the dismantling of entitlement programs scrv» ing the poor, the needy and the middle pain, (who) have to pay for all these pr0+ class. The one-page document reflects thc grams. “ - f —' ,plan is “the only game in towtt. ” |