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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 1995)
EDITORIAL Statistics alone won't stop AIDS Thousand* of rush-hour commuters drive past a grue some three-car piieup on the freeway. After surveying the crash, they drive away, double-checking their seat twits and glancing more than usual into their rear-view mirrors. The TV news carries live coverage of the aftermath of an airline disaster that kills 200 people. Travel agents soon report a noticeable decline In plane ticket sales. And a story in the newspaper about a mugging on a lesser known street may have people picking a different route home. Sometimes people need to see a single incident, par ticularly when it’s close to home, before they'll start tak ing extra safety precautions, it's an unfortunate truth about human nature: grim statistics alone aren't always enough to change people's behavior. Especially when it comes to sex That's why the newest grim statistic the discovery that AIDS is now the No 1 killer of Americans between the ages of 25 and -t-1 may not have as much impact as it should. People who are, in most other wavs, responsible and cautious, are still distressingly carefree about AUKS. That carelessness has now led AIDS past accidents, cancer, heart disease and murder to become the most prolific taker of young lives In the United States. The number of AlDS-reialed deaths Iras been increas ing dramatically since the first few cases wore diag nosed Hut people’s sexual behavior still hasn't been modified enough to prevent a growing nurnlter of deaths. The statistics, which are becoming more and more unavoidable, definitely point to a need for people to change. Hut hearing about thousands of deaths often does less to change people's attitudes than hearing about just ope: someone they know. To some degree, that's already happened A few celebrities with the disease have "brought it home.” so to speak, hut not nearly so well as a friend or a neigh bor would. Many people still don't know anyone to be diagnosed with the disease. If the number of AIDS-rolatod fatalities continues to grow, that will change. Everyone will know someone with the disease within a handful of years. Mavbe then people will start ' buckling their seat belts” — practicing safe sex, using clean needles, getting tested. To bo sure, some people have started doing these things already. But why must so many people see that car accident, that plane crash, that mugging, before they make the obvious adjustments? Why aren’t statistics enough? The question is hard to answer. Some people don't trust statistics — as evidenced by all the people who refuse to fly, despite the fact that airplanes are the safest transportation available. Hut. most people just don't think. They need more than numbers. And. because the number of AIDS deaths doesn't sin glohandedly prompt people to change, that number will continue to grow. Oregon Doily PQ tkO« t’oUKhit «**.' TNi OtHpoA £Wy f «» fckvxttry ttvtJMg* f !** Mfioot Tu»»d*y »«<J Thut*d«y lb* »umm« by IN* Ooyjoo D#tfy C Putet^ftng Co . Untv«'ft*y of Or«ran. I ug»n«, 0«vc*' TNi f r«kf mdapandanty o< *h# Urw** vty «*«h <>*«.«• at Su4« XX) of f.ft) Mnvrxxsai IJrwon *r*d <t a mamfw of XMOCNrtftd Th* frMorafcf«* pmraft* prtjparty Th# wnUmrfui tamovi or vm of by Um> E<*tor-ifvCh*rf K*y Solo Managing Editor Editorial Editor Maw* Art Edrto* Fraalanca Editor Rovtd thorn Hot*»a ftoavoa Jolt Lon Baemaaiu Nm EdHor Mtoani Uan>n Sport* EPtor On# Utfi Supptamant* Editor 1'HUHM Mghl Editor tV*«J TNorr Aaeoctete f dftora: Tama t «:hana*h#r SAOarW tio»*M*T»»-«4Si-tvrha* l<Ur «w« l /*••> » C-ommumfy ' ■** y SmAh t*(/>er f oucaaon Atmewtraton Newt sun Steve KbTf.i’-y Amy Cokynbo l*al Dar> Amy l Davenport. Pnmo liint»Ya tiayt* >Orman Onatocnw 1 o*. Man Garten, Gary Grata, Joe ttarwrod, Kns Henry. T(«vo> Kearney. Shannon K*<Ju«. Arlam Kmcher. Sujenne Made MaH Me Tyre Ben WtoeOui Met** Montgomery Anne Muter KotnUW Coant* PohAg Sherry Ka-'xr, Kale SafWtaw Peti ven Scale Kim Warn Bnen Womaet Genet el Manager Judy Red Adverltttng Drrecior Ma v At* Production Manager Mchete Row Advertising *nne Amador Aorta ftorgaet Marco Chryg. Tony Tor. fie Hay* Mcoe Herjmart. Jar am, Mason. Sarah MAchaA, Tom Mtlrwtaer*. Keteey Wake* Cieteihed Becky Merchant. Ua tge Kyte Ban* Jo* See an OratrttKitton: John Long \ erent: Raaocrt Regina /tuprvk Butineea Kathy Carbone Stoarwaor Judy Conno*y Production 0*<a UCett PrsxAichon Gowoknator Sheen* Abe* Tara GauKney fired Joe* Jannter Round. Clayton Yee N#w«/oom BvaifWMl OfftC* MHIIt 344-M1J Oi»pt*y Acfcr*rtiding Adv«<t»*iny M6-3712 J46-4J43 AT LEAST WF ARRIVED AT THE DECISION TO DO THIS democratically... C «« ' V*' ■ OPINION Military can’t fight two wars Here's a pretty scenario: You wake up tomorrow morning to learn North Korea has invaded South Korea lust to make things fun. on Fri day you awaken to the news that Saddam Hussein thought the United States might have its hands a little too full and d«lides to invade Kuwait and Saudi Ara bia. Oil price* skyrocket beyond $M) a barrel while the Asian finant ini markets nose dive. As you might imagine, Ameri cans are a bit edgy President Clinton comes on the air to ask for peace and to assure Ameri cans that the military is prepared to comltat both of the wars simul taneously Or is it? The problem is that the Gen eral Accounting Office said Tues day that the military may not be able to handle two simultaneous wars Clinton wants the military to be prepared to cover two wars at the same time But the GAO said the assump tions made by Clinton adminis tration officials m tin? Department of Defense were not always work able Among the key findings in the GA( ) report were • Plans to deploy Array National Guard i omhat brigades to a regional war do not consid er the difficulty those units have in meeting their peacetime requirements • The strategy assumes thut the fortes involved in peacekeeping operations would be immediate ly reassigned to one of the ma)or regional conflicts. But some Army support forties and spe cialized Air Kona) combat aircraft might encounter difficulty in shifting quickly from peace keeping missions to the battle front. • "Current indications are that il would be difficult for the Army to support two conflicts." This report further shows prob lems some in Washington nave recently had with military fund ing luist week. Pentagon officials said they would request an addi tional $2.6 billion in emergency funding for fiscal UKW>. warning Bki\s Womack that a lack of funding would have dir® consequent <>s for military readiness. Late last year, Defense Secre tary William Perry was having other funding problems when he said 10 of the Army's 12 divisions were rated at lower readiness lev els due to funding shortfalls and a delay by (Congress in supplying supplemental appropriations Following this disclosure, Clin ton authorized $2S billion over the next sis years to help allevi ate the problem But it amazes me that no mat ter how much the military is cut, all I hear is more calls for mili tary cuts I've asked people how they think the deficit should he cut. Typical of most liberals, the response will often bo the mili tary needs to be scaled hack They seem to conveniently for get that the military has already been axed extensively. In 1989. the national defense was allotted $90 billion In 1994, the estimate was around $70 bil lion aowniing to the Office of the President's Historical Tables These were initial cuts, not just reductions in the projected increases Obviously, some reductions were needed when the (iold War ended But just because the Cold War is over, it doesn't mean the world is a safe place Here are a few examples. Earlier this week, Kcuador and Peru clashed over an agreement that's more than 50 years old by killing each other Bosnia-Herzegovina continues to stir trouble and threaten to draw surrounding countries into conflicts almost as old as the ground that helps to cause those conflicts. Israel and Palestine continue to try to obtain peace in an area that seems to refuse any. Thon there's Vladimir Zhiri novsky in Russia, nn anti-Semi tt>, who drew one in four votes while advocating that Alaska be reacquired by his country. The world's not necessarily wonderful. It isn't a place full of hippies sitting around campfires singing John Lennon songs History has proven over and over again that lasting peace will never come to the world as long as humans are in charge. The khans. Napoleons. Hitlers and Husseins will always be around, ready to seize any opportunity they can. That's why the military needs to he ready fur these kinds of monsters. I'm not saying we should return our defense budgets to Cold War levels until it is clear ly needed. Hut many of us forget that the military is not just another part of the line items in a federal fis cal year budget. It's something that was specifically mentioned as part of the function of the fed eral government in the Constitu tion. In Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution, a "militia" was established as part of the func tion of the government. The vast numbers of govern ment handouts and other waste ful programs are not even men tioned in the Constitution Kven if we decided to keep scaling hack the military, it would not address the serious deficit problems which stem from entitlement spending which will consume the entire federal bud get during the next century if something isn’t done to scale hack the spending. We should be ready enough militarily to handle two simulta neous wars at a minimum. That‘s a no-brainer. Hut we should question if even this is enough. Imagine what might happen in that scenario ! referred to earli er if some other country decided to invade ours on Saturday. Wouldn’t exactly be waking up to a good day. Brian Womack is a columnist for the Krnerald.