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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 1997)
Clinton’s goals hindered by funds By Nancy Benac The Associated Press Brace yourself, America. President Clinton tossed out enough capi tal-C Challenges, Cru sades and Calls for action Tues day night to keep an entire nation busy for awhile. With such high-minded flour ishes, Clinton tried to elevate his small-bore, second-term agenda into something grand. But his hour-long State of the Union dissertation also served as tacit acknowledgement of the limitations on Clinton’s reach at a time of divided government and growing constraints on federal spending. “You just really can’t do any thing without money, and there’s no money,” said Marc Landy, a political science professor at Boston College. “The commit ment to balance the budget ends the notion of any impressive De mocratic initiatives.” It’s not just Congress to whom the finger-wagging Clinton dis pensed a litany of low-cost chal lenges. Parents: Read to your children. Artists: Celebrate the American spirit. States: Adopt education standards. Young people: Con ANALYSIS sider becoming teachers. Em ployers: Hire welfare recipients. The list goes on. Where once health-care domi nated, education took center stage this speech. Clinton’s 10 point proposal would increase federal spending on education by 20 percent, but many elements were repackaged from speeches and campaigns past. Some, in fact, were reruns from last year’s State of the Union address. Still, his emphasis on educa tion did allow him to highlight “something that sounds Big-D Democratic” while generally hewing to more moderate priori ties such as tax cuts and a bal anced budget, said Charles Jones, a political scientist at the Univer sity of Wisconsin. On three items of “unfinished business,” Clinton’s calls for ac tion were largely a reflection of his own late embrace of these leg islative leftovers. —“Let this Congress be the Congress that finally balances the budget,” Clinton urged to a stand ing ovation. No mention that he came around to embracing a bal anced budget only after the Re publican congressional sweep of the 1994 elections — or that he vetoed the balanced budget plan the GOP Congress sent him in 1995. —Campaign finance reform ‘ ‘by the day we celebrate the birth of our democracy—July the 4th,” Clinton challenged. This came from a president who showed lit tle enthusiasm for the issue until his party became the target of withering criticism for improper contributions during the last campaign. —“Give someone on welfare the chance to work,” Clinton ex horted. The president who reluc tantly signed a Republican wel fare bill before last year’s election after vetoing two previous ver sions is now trying to make the program more palatable and lessen its impact on legal immi grants. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., al lowed that Clinton had come up with “a long list of objectives and goals, but I really think that we’re going to be better off if we keep it short and simple.” “Compared to the great presi dential agendas of the past,” said Bruce Buchanan, a political sci entist at the University of Texas, “he’s trying to make the best of a moderate hand.” Council: Few responded to survey ■ Continued from Page 1 Boundary would not be expanded, and the amount of land availaDle for development would be con strained. “Financial incentives, land use regulations and infrastructure im provements would encourage mixed-use development, re-use and redevelopment of under-used land,” stated the Planning Board summary. Recycle Eugene also favors “stronger environmental protec tion measures being adopted and significant efforts ... to acquire and protect open space throughout the urban area.” Discourage Growth was the op tion that was also approved by the public surveys, and it stated that growth in the city would be ac commodated but not encouraged. It generally states that infrastruc ture would no longer be extended in anticipation of new develop ment and those “who cause growth would be expected to pay the full cost of development," ac cording to the Planning Board summary. The survey itself was narrowed to include only registered voters, and the number of participants were 1,594. The question was raised by a member of the audi ence as to whether those who con ducted the survey felt that this was an adequate number of partici pants to decide policy questions. Shawn Boyles, former city coun cilor, replied simply, “yes.” The topics that were considered in the survey included land use, housing, transportation, jobs and the economy, public facilities, the natural environment, parks and open space and public safety. Wish: Service groups give majority of financial aid ■ Continued from Page 1 len Reilly said. “He would be goofy if a kid wanted to be goofy, but he was serious and warm if a kid wanted to be se rious.” In addition to meeting his celebrity hero, Helen Reilly said her son benefited from meeting other kids who had been through similar experi ences. “It was uplifting for all of us,” she said. Yet, children could not real ize their dreams without volun teers. The Make-A-Wish Foun dation is offering a training session Saturday, Feb. 8, for Lane County volunteers who wish to participate in the pro gram. Ann Harbert, director of vol unteer services for the founda tion, said the session is simply designed to involve more peo ple in the Lane County area. The all-day training will fo cus on interacting with a child’s family, assembling wishes and learning the history of the pro gram. After the training session, volunteers are paired with ex perienced volunteers and are then ready to grant wishes. But as volunteer Carl DeBal do knows, wish granters can’t just wave a magic wand; a lot of emotional and physical work are also involved. DeBaldo, who has granted 30 to 40 wish es in the past five years, has in troduced a 3-year-old girl to her hero Snow White, given a child equipment to make his own movies, and set up a young boy’s wish to be a part of the 1996 World Series. However, DeBaldo said he finds it hard not to get attached to the chil dren. “Sometimes the kids don’t have a concept for how sick they really are," DeBaldo said. “But a lot of the kids do sur vive.” DeBaldo said he has learned to keep himself at a distance, but the kids still touch his heart. Harbert said this is one com ponent of volunteer training. While the kids receive most of the benefit of their wishes, Harbert said the families are just as grateful. “When a wish granter comes, of course, the kids are excited, but you’d be surprised at how much it makes the family excit ed,” Harbert said. In order to qualify for the pro gram, a doctor or parent must refer a child with a life-threat ening illness to the Make-A Wish Foundation. The family is not required to pay, and a child’s wish is not limited to any amount of money. “If a child has a wish to go to the moon, it’s obviously hard to grant, but we encourage chil dren to have two wishes so we can grant at least one,” Harbert said. Fund raising is extremely im portant to a program that grants about 80 wishes a year at an av erage cost of $3,500 per wish. Currently, the foundation is working on the “Make A Mil lion for Make-A-Wish” project where all U.S. Bank branches are collecting loose change and other donations in the hopes of raising $40,000. However, Larissa Golden, the development and public infor mation associate for the foun dation, said most funding comes from service groups, such as the Rotary Club, that hold benefits on behalf of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Feminism conference planners hope to attract diverse audience ■ MEETING: Speakers plan to jump into the ‘hot issues’ of feminist theory during Friday’s conference By Amy Palanuk Higher Education Reporter Engaging discussions on feminist theo ry and practicality will be the focus of the “Engaging Feminisms” conference this Friday. “What I plan to focus on is the state of feminist theory today,” said featured guest speaker Barbara Epstein, professor and historian in the History of Consciousness Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Addressing whether feminism has been accepted by the community will be one of the topics of Epstein’s opening address to students, faculty and community members at the conference sponsored by the Center for the Study of Women in Society. “What we tried to do was organize a conference that would ask some big over riding questions that would attract lots of folks and also create this opportunity to share information from people very close to the center,” said Sandra Morgen, direc tor ofCSWS. Morgen encourages those interested in hot issues in feminist theory to attend.“1 think the people who would get the most out of this are people for who feminist the ory is not completely new,” said Morgen. “We’re not doing background, we’re talk ing about hot issues right now.” The first part of the day will feature Ep stein and other guest speakers, including faculty members Joan Acker, professor of sociology, and Clare Lees, assistant profes sor of English. The second part of the day will focus on the center’s smaller “research interest groups” or RIGs. These special interest groups are sponsored by CSWS and are comprised of faculty members, students and community members interested in di verse topics related to the study of women or gender. The groups meet regularly throughout the year to collaborate on a wide range of topics. Those interested in forming their own RIG or joining an existing one are encour aged to attend the conference, said Mor gen. Madonna Moss, assistant professor of anthropology at the University, is a coor dinator for one of the RIGs, "Rationality, Intuition and Gender.” This group explores women in science and feminist epistemology, said Moss. Group members circulate articles and then discuss them in biweekly meetings. “The purpose of the conference is to make the broader community more aware of what we’re all about,” said Moss. “There are some really exciting speakers coming and there’s some really exciting topics being discussed,” said Morgen. “I hope there will be standing room only.” The conference will begin Friday at 9:30 a.m. in the Gerlinger Lounge and continue until 4:30 p.m. A brown bag lunch is pro vided for those with reservations. Complete Selection of X-C Skis • Boots • Clothing Cross country Ski Rentals Mon-Sat 10-7* Sun 12-5 13th& Lawrence* 683-1300 ■_ If you took the test today, how would you score? Come find out. ! ammastered trademll of thair mspa Bring a friend and Win a prize W' =Sf&3fH= yietofMs?; C1h/eatine Ge/e/iration Friday, February 7 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, February 8 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Victorian Style Gift & Crafts Sale, Valentine Displays Cake, Coffee & Tea Included Fee: $2.00 Shelton-McMurphey-Johnson House 303 Willamette St., Eugene, OR Parking Lot on 4th St. Handicapped Parking at house off 3rd & Pearl Phone: 484-0808
