Show fZ Standard-Examine- Opinion 10A Tuesday January 26 1999 'S v' Standard-Examin- r er SERVING THE TOP OF UTAH SINCE 1888 Scott Trundle Publisher Don Porter Editorial Page Editor Ron Thornburg Managing Editor OUR VIEW DeLore Thurgood one of our ‘12 Who Care’ The Syracuse resident’s commitment to various volunteer organizations and causes is an inspiration to others Editor's note: This monthly But he was initially reluctant feature "12 Who Care " is the about politics When a delegaStandard-Examineditorial tion of residents fust raised board's way of recognizing 12 in- the topic with him Thurgood dividuals - one each month durrecalls “not only did I say no laudwhose is work 1999 but hell no!” His bark being ing able in one of the dozen topics worse than his bite he was we have identified as our editorisoon elected mayor and al agenda for the upcoming year wound up serving on about 12 This month ’s different honoree for boards founda" Community tions and committees evSpirit” is DeLore In Thurgood erything from will we the sewer disFebruary select someone of trict to the tourin note ism board special the field of The reluctant " Open Records mayor cut short Meetings and his second term Access to Inforto serve an mation " Your LDS mission nominations are but after the encouraged church service was done he Thurgood was was right back at the civic volsecret in unteering at the Hill museer COLUMNS - DeLore until he retired from Hill Air Force Base in 1985 Up to that time he worked hard was well regarded by friends and neighbors and lived what many might call an average workaday life Then at his retirement party he let slip that he planned to do something “outside” after retirement he didn’t know what exactly but he knew he wanted to give something back to the community in which he had lived for so long “They were good to me” Thurgood says “and I thought it was time to give something back to them” So he wrote a letter to the governor with a proposal for a g program to help skills to needed who people find work It didn’t get far and there were already mechanisms in place for people to learn the trades Thurgood had targeted But it was a start - his start - to a life consumed by work-trainin- vol-unteeri- Before long he’d joined up with the foundation that oversees the Hill Aerospace Museum and had been drafted to run for mayor in Syracuse - um and at Antelope Island State Park among others (In fact when he was called to be interviewed for this editorial he was in the midst of working on a project to install new facilities on the island) Lately another of his passions has been construction of an amphitheater and museum in Syracuse Lots of people have been involved he says but when pressed admits that he personally mailed about 200 letters asking for donag effort tions The has been a success so far with hundreds of thousands of dolcontrilars in cash and for a He’s butions hoping 1 ground-breakin- g on Sept the project which will include something Thurgood and his colleagues in volunteerism are calling “Heritage Lane”: a tree-line- d pathway with markers recognizing those who helped build Syracuse into what it is today We’re guessing the name of DeLore Thurgood will be there someday Thank you Mr Thurgood for setting a fine example and being one of the Standard-Examiner“12 Who Care” fund-raisin- in-ki- nd ’s ANOTHER VIEW On talking up No one knows where ‘uptalking’ started but it appears here to stay and now the dictionaries are tracking its use last there’s a word suddenly mutated and began the way in which speaking in uptalk end statements Some have theorized that - you know with a rising intonation? So it sounds like a the rising questioning tone suggests the speaker is question? But according to uncertain Uptalk The word isn’t in an Oxford editor it seems the Oxford dictionaries But more likely that ending a the good folks at the US sentence on a rising note dictionaries department of means “there’s more to come Oxford University Press are I’m not through talking yet” use its tracking Even an uptalker will end the But where did uptalk come last sentence on a downward from and what does it mean? Period note Its origins are uncertain We 1 - San Francisco Examiner figure some At ’ As seen on TV the two faces of politics Clinton’s the target but it’s the GOP that’s losing respectability BOSTON - What sticks in their craw is the polls The numbers are too large to swallow The data is too tough to dice no matter how the knives are rt sharpened Put this president in a and he comes out whole bigger than ever Here is a man who’s been impeached He’s on trial in the Senate for high crimes and misdemeanors Yet when the camera pans the seats at the State of the Union address it’s the Republicans who look dour and dyspeptic as uncomfortads able as actors in the Immodium-And the morning after his polls are elevated into that 76 percent stratosphere reserved for either our own mothers or the late Mother Teresa Making his way to Buffalo he tells the crowd there “I thank you for one of the great days of my presidency” One of the great days of his presidency? Week Two of an impeachment trial? It’s enough to make the crowd choke At this point the wedge of the Republican Party hates Bill Q inton’s soccer-da- d complexion as much as any Democrat ever hated Dick Nixon’s 5 o’clock shadow They cannot believe that Bill Clinton is “getting away with it” Can’t believe he still has the public’s approval Never mind that many of them apparently got away with it Never mind that the president’s public humiliation has been more than an embarrassing moment Never mind that we don’t “approve” of Clinton we just refuse to disapprove This is a psychodrama played out on n or so the cliche- a national Cui-sina- D Death-of-Out-ra- split-scree- makers tell us The main characters are two Bill Clintons On one screen Hail to the Chief On the other screen “a presidential peijurer” on trial But this whole sorry mess hasn’t just ripped apart the seams of one man’s character It’s shown the split personality of the Republican Party as well In an astonishing sleight of hand this impeachment process has turned the president of the United Stages into a victim of big government It’s turned the GOP into big government As Dale Bumpers reminded the senators Thursday “We are here because of a five-yerelentless unending investigation of the president $50 million hundreds of FBI agents fanning across the nation examining in detail the microscopic lives of ar people” Bill Clinton commander in chief is now seen as the little guy the man who’s private life was invaded by the feds The Ken Starr Republicans are now seen as the Beltway hunting dogs The party that ran against Washington is Washington For several long decades the fiscal and cultural conservatives kept the GOP aloft with two right wings One wing of the party wanted to keep government out of your pocketbook the other want put government in your bedroom One side talked taxes the other talked morals One wing signed up entrepreneurs the other signed up religious crusaders One worried about budget deficits the other about abortion homosexuality and creationism In this long year the moralists finally took over the party image and maybe the party Is this a rite of purification? Tom Katina of the American Conservative Union says “The Republican Party has found its soul again" Are the last happy Republicans only those who see 2000 AD not as an election year but as the Apocalypse? n There is a final today one that may remain a more permanent political image The two faces of government: good and bad All during this impeachment process at one end of Pennsylvania Avenue the Clinton folks have issued a press release a day showing what government can do for you If this is Tuesday it must be child care credits Meanwhile on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue the Republicans are showing what government can do to you If this is Wednesday let’s call Monica to the stand The GOP is now seen as the party of big bad government Try swallowing this number: In one poll this week only 32 percent of the American people said they trust Republicans to do a better job with the main problems the nation faces Anybody hear the Grand Old Party gulp? columnist Ellen Pulitzer Goodman is associate editor of The Boston Globe Her column runs on Tuesdays and Fridays ed to split-scree- Prize-winni- We’ve seen a global economy and it is us Americans must realize like it or not we’re part of the world WASHINGTON - Among the stories buried under the last year’s obsession with President Clinton’s scandal is a remarkable transformation in the debate over the global economy and its effect on the jobs and incomes of Americans While everyone talks about history’s verdict on Clinton and impeachment the change in our approach to organizing the world’s commerce bids to play a larger role in defining this era’s historical legacy Clinton hinted at this in his State of the Union message “I think trade has divided us and divided Americans outside this chamber for too long” he told Congress “Somehow we have to find a We have got to put common ground a human face on the global economy” Behind these words is a battle that has been waged in Washington largely out of public view since the 1997 defeat of a bill that would have given Clinton the authority to negotiate trade treaties on a “fast track” defeat demonstrated k The Democrats now that liberal pro-labhave veto power over legislation to promote free trade and to support global economic institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund Without the liberals there aren’t enough votes in Congress to pass such Democrats initiatives These pro-labhave used their newly found influence to push for more assistance to workers who are hurt by freer trade and for stronger international rules to protect workers’ rights and the environment says the Rep Barney Frank new situation can be explained by the di fast-trac- or or ss vision of Congress into three groups There are in his terms: (1) “isolationists” who are skeptical of all international institutions and free trade (2) “trickle downers” who favor free trade and free markets but oppose any rules to regulate the global economy and (3) “international New Dealers” who accept the global market as a reality but care passionately about lifting labor standards and wages in the United States and elsewhere Because the “trickle downers” lack the votes to pass free trade or support interna- tional institutions on their own they need the “New Dealers” to create a majority The Clinton administration particularly Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin came to realize this and opened negotiations last year with Frank and his allies - they include House Minority Whip and Rep Nancy David Bonior In October Rubin sent a Pelosi letter to Frank making important concessions in pursuit of the group’s votes on new financing for the IMF “I believe that one of the ways to build the confidence of workers is to seek the adoption and promotion of policies abroad that will enhance the respect for core labor standards” Rubin wrote “The United States” he went on ‘will work to affect the policy dialogue between the IMF and borrowing countries so that recipient countries commit to affording workers the right to free association and collective bargaining through unions of their choosing” Rubin also pledged to push the global financial institutions “to encourage sound environmental policies” Clinton’s State of the Union pledges were the logical next step in this running negotiation Frank saw Clinton’s promise to work against “abusive child labor” as especially significant “It’s important for some of the labor people and it’s one of the most visible examples that you can do something” to regulate the workings of the global marketplace C Fred Bergsten of the Institute for International Economics thinks the debate has changed fundamentally “Most trade types thought the merits of free trade were so obvious the benefits were so clear that you didn’t have to worry about adjustments - you could just let the free market take care of it” he says “The sheer political gains of the side in the last few years have made the free trade side realize that they have to do something to deal with the losers from free trade and the dislocations generated by globalization” This battle has only begun and the common ground that Clinton says he seeks could prove elusive “The jury is still out” Frank says referring to the administration’s intentions But creating a global economy that promotes growth with a measure of social justice is a big and worthy project - yes the sort of thing that might matter more to historians than our current preoccupations EJ Dionne is a former reporter for the New York Times POOR |