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.