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Show OURVIEW A Taste of Justice shipped to feedlots for sale. They will ress courage and consumers by allowing packers to pass off foreign meat as pricier USDAbeefafter a 100-day laundering period in U.S.feedlots. Worst ofall, packers will continue to deprive ranchers of timely and accurate market information, thanks to billion into the Beef Checkoff pro- a schemeblessed by Washington bu: gram since 1985 on the promise that reaucrats. The Agriculture Departmore ising would pay off in ment’s 3/60 rule, which took effect higher profits. But while the ads have this spring, keeps pricing informaindeed benefited beef retailers, the tion secret in markets with fewer profits haven't trickled down to the than three buyers or when one comranchers. Retail beef prices set panytakes at least 60 percentof the Tecords in 2000 as cattle prices limped livestock offered. That describes the along at 10-year lows. bulk of today’s transactions — 100 The court decision will be wel- percent in some markets — so comed by the thousands of ranchers ranchers are essentially blind to who have foughtto end the program, marketconditions.It is like an invesbut bigger problems remain. Three tor trying to decide the best time to meatpacking giants — IBP, Cargill sell shares without access to data and ConAgra — still buy more than 70 from the New York Stock Exchange. percentofthe cattle sold in the United The court decision won'tlevelthis States, and this market share will unbalanced playing field; only a govcontinue to give them an insurernmentthatis interested in upholdmountable advantage in their dealing the spirit of the 1921 Packers and Stockyard Act can do that. But thanks They will continue to stockpile to the legal initiative oftheir culinary “captive supplies” of cattle, slaugh- partners, the mushroom growers,at tering just enough to wait out the least ranchers won't have the insult ranchers who must sell quickly or of the Beef Checkoff added to their lose moneyonce their animals are other injuries. Ignoring Plain Language The U.S. Supreme Court was re- with the Brady law was that the miss when it recently opted not to checks could be made quickly and easily. As part of that process, Congress included language in the law specifying that transaction records would be destroyed once the background check had been made and the transaction approved. hear a case in which the National Ri- fle ssociation challenged the FBI's practice of keeping records of firearms transfers y Act, even though the law expressly States that records are to be destroyed after legal transfers are approved. Bychoosing not to hear the case, parsing ofthe Brady Act that the majority ofa three-judge federal appeals court panel on the District of Colum- bia Circuit when they held 2-1, that the law’s mandate that records be destroyed once legal transfers had been cleared did not applyin this case. The appeals court’s reasoning was that the FBI's retention of records was temporaryand that if Congress really wanted the records to be de- stroyed forthwith. it would have added an adverb to “destroy” such as “immediately.” This is questionable. Indeed.it is silly and reflective of the previous presidential administra- tion's affinity for parsing words and divining its own desires out of the law Had Congress wanted to make an exception, it would have included it in the law. Thefact thatit did notis indicative of its intent that the transaction records be destroyed,not kept. It is more reasonable to suggest that the language the law’s enactors used means just what it says, since it makes just as much sense to argue that if Congress wanted an exception such as the Justice Departmentin- voked to justify its retention of the records, it would have provided it in the law. The principle of whether governMent agencies can ignore the law or, as in this case, come up with a fanciful argument that to do something ily is not the same thing as doing it, deserves a hearing in the nation’s high court. It’s too bad the court sloughed off this THE PUBLIC FORUM Elusive Agenda On June 22 a local TV station’s newscast reported a story about a bookdisplay that was causing a controversy. The Day-Riverstdelibrary director and a little boy were interviewed. The library director explained how every month they havea display about something that’s happening that month, andthey try to be inclusive, June is Lesbian and Gay Pride Month, so they chose to do a display aboutthat: The little boy was then asked whyhe was there protesting the display, and he said he didn’t really know anything about homosexuality andreally didn’t know what the display was about, but it was wrong and homosexuality was wrong. figured right then I better get down to thatlibrary and see the display for myself to see what the brouhaha was all about. I made my way through all the protesters — about15 adults and 30 children — to get in the library. On the display I saw a book about Tennessee Williams, one about Tchaikovsky, poems by Walt Whitman, and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I also saw a small yellow sign about the same size as the books that read “June is Lesbian and Gay Pride Month.” * Talk about disappointment. I was ing to see books like “Gone As @ practical matter, the idea of the congressionally-approved instant background checks in conjunction Where to Write Diversity Concern @ When submitting letters to the Public Forum; please include your full name, signature, address and daytime telephone numbers. Information other than your name and the city in which you live are kept confidential. @ Keep it short. Concise letters developing a single theme are more likely to be published. @ Please type and double space. @ Letters are’ condensed and edited. @ Because of the volume of mail received, not all submissions are published. ? @ Mail to Public Forum,The Salt Lake Tribune,P.O. Box 867,Salt Lake City, Utah 84110 ‘@ Our fax numberis (801) 257-8950. @ Our email address sitrib.com. their without having to make these events" aboutus. By appealing to more global concepts of “ Ps . disrespect the Speci ities ofene ee settlers that made a Herculean y ee Sey ee ae : Wouldn't it be regrettable if, in the name of letters@ Shutting Down Success The recentdecisionto close Lowell lishments are worthy of a standalone momentand adoration ofan entire community. is egocentrism, the same that “Human Rights Day” to Martin Luther King, Jr. in January. Dr. King deserves his day. The Mordeserve their day. We The gay agenda,” and a man in the library even me about pushing my“gay agenda” on him. Needless to say, I'm really curious about what my ANOTHER VIEW gay agenda is. Prescriptions for Managed Care controlling medical costs while keep- img patents happy consumers. Both sides are guilty of exaggeration in the Senate's highlypolitical ‘Thenalong comes an episode like the current Senate debate over a pabill of rights. The insurance Gne measure of popular unrest over managed cape is that both of the deadingDilis before the Senate con {io itnyertant protections that bad inthe chance of passing three or four Both guaraniee patients 2 beneficial step in the evolution of managed-care medicine The Minneapolis Siar Tribune E years ago. at tients’ :| nies, which have the unpopular job of ge insurers. in 2 country that doesn’t want the government or the free market to ration health care,that task has fallen to managed-care compa: the right to see medical specialists, both require insurers to pay for emergency-room under reasonable ci , and both require health plans to offer an external appeals panel to disgruntled i fi i ; Fy BE Fil i SEif iziil iz :HlLE iifai! ff i Ei if i uluHui il a i in 2 generous moment, a fairminded American can sympathize with the nation’s HMOs and health Ghe SaltLakeTribune UTAH'S INDEPENDENT VOICE SINCE 187) PAST PUBLASHERS PUBLISHER Dominic Welch | Joho +. Kiapaunick (1924-1960) Jobo W. Galliman (1960-1983) | Jessy O'Brien (1983-1994) RandyC. Fedech Af —_ ~ BAA ALA Ah MARMOLAAS.OARSST OALAINEYeats |
