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Reagan cuts to boost health costs
Middle East: The next world war?
by Catherine Siegner
As par, o f the Observer’s continu
ing coverage o f p o litic al and
economic struggles in the M id d le
East, this week we talk to two
YASSER ARAFAT
students in Portland—one Palestin
ian, one Iranian, and both Moslem,
to ge, their views on recent events in
that explosive region.
M ajcd Darweesh has been in the
U .S. three years and is Palestinian.
He and his fam ily now live in
Jordan, where he plans to return
after finishing studies at Portland
State University. He is a member o f
the General U nion o f Palestinian
Students.
M iry am Ram ezina is from Iran
and has lived in the U.S. four years.
She plans to return to her homeland
after Finishing a graduate degree in
urban planning. The daughter o f a
Moslem fath er and a Polish
Christian mother, she supports the
revolutionary government headed
by Ayatollah Khomeini.
Darweesh believes Egyptian presi
dent A n w ar Sadat’ s assassination
was a “ continuation o f a process; it
doesn't mean that C am p D avid is
o v e r.”
He
expects
S a d at’ s
successor, H osni M u b a re k , to
fo llo w S a d at’ s footsteps in the
Middle East peace process and does
not see M ub arek's leadership as a
significant change for Egypt.
Ramezina says the A rab world's
hatred fo r Sadat stemmed from
his no, meeting their demands and
sitting down to talk peace with
Israel, an “ imperialist and Zionist”
government.
The tw o place M id d le Eastern
countries into two camps: those of
“ m o d erate” (in W estern media
language) stripe, including Kuwait,
Saudi Arabia, and Jordan (all more
pro-Western than their neighbors),
and those countries o f “ progress
ive” policies and m ore or less
revolutionary— Iran, Libya, Algeria
and Syria.
Darweesh sees Egyptian leader
M ub arek as establishing a close
relationship with the "m o d e ra te ”
governments and trying to “ work it
out as a group," a policy supported
by the U.S. government. He believes
the U .S . is calling the shots w ith
regard to the peace talks process and
is directing both the “ m o d erate"
Arab countries and Israel.
W hat about Israel’ s bombing o f
the Iraqi nuclear plant and its recent
annexation o f the G olan Heights?
Darweesh says U .S. irritation at Is
raeli actions is feigned. “ Israeli
policy is parallel to U .S. policy," he
states. "T h e appearance o f conflicts
between them is just sand in the
eyes. You can tell because o f the re
cent strategic agreement between the
U.S. and Israel."
As a Palestinian, Darweesh wants
recognition o f the P LO (Palestinian
Liberation O rg an izatio n ) and full
participation o f Palestinians in the
Israeli government. “ I want to get
rid o f the Z io n is t regim e ( o f
Menachim Begin); after that, we can
sit and talk. I want Palestinians to
take part in the talks and set up a
dem ocratic governm ent o f all the
people."
H e says this position is a more
m iddle-of-the-road one than some
members o f the P L O would
advocate, and that P L O leader
Yasser A rafat represents the "m o d
erate faction o f the PLO . A ll o f the
P LO believes in armed struggle, the
difference is in the process. Some
factions d o n ’ t believe in peace
talks.”
This in te rp re ta tio n is in direct
c o n flic t w ith the n o tion many
A m ericans have that A ra fa t is a
" t e r r o r is t ,” Darweesh adm its.
“ The government o f Israel consi
ders the P L O a terro rist g ro u p .”
P art o f the problem is due to
racism, he claims.
“ Palestinians and Jews were
livin g together fo r hundreds o f
(Please turn to page 2 col. 1)
by M ary Ellen Leary
President Reagan, meet W illie
Ramirez, o f Hayward, C alif.
W illie is 11 years o ld . H e is a
q u ad rip leg ic, paralyzed from the
neck dow n. He knows first hand
about years o f hospitalization while
yearning to be home with his par
ents. This compelling human emo
tion was recognized by President
Reagan in his Novem ber 10 press
conference, a fte r which he cut
through the Medicaid red tape to let
3-year-old Katie Beckett o f Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, leave the hospital and
go home, with tax provisions for her
respirator and needed nursing care
to keep her alive.
The Katie Beckett case illustrated,
the president said, the wastefulness
o f bureaucratic rules which had kept
the little girl hospitalized while her
parents begged to care fo r her at
A cm e— at a m o n th ly cost o f only
* ' 44CO com pared to the hospital
m onthly cost o r $12,000. W aiving
strict M edicaid regulations in her
behalf, the adm inistration made it
clear this was one, lone exception to
the rule.
But that one case lifted the lid just
enough to expose a critical problem
in A m erica’s health care program:
its needless regulatory com plexity
n a o ittu i vApviiic. r w t oniy Ol V
facilities and trained personnel be
low the hospital level trag ic ally
short in supply, but the funding sys
tem in Medicaid and Medicare is de
signed to encourage a m axim um
amount o f hospital care, rather than
less costly alternatives.
O n ly by breaking through the
rules, as President Reagan did, or
bending them, as W illie R am irez’ s
ingenious friends at Stanford U n i
versity H o sp ital d id , can severely
disabled patients eligible for federal
support inside a hospital stretch reg
ulatory language to perm it care in
less expensive places, even th e ir
homes.
Every state in the U n ited States
shares the absurdity in medical cost
structure illustrated in C a lifo rn ia ,
where state officials say that, on any
day o f the year, at leas, 1,500 Medi
caid patients occupy hospital beds
unnecessarily, for lack o f alternative
places to move them and inflexibil
ity in paying for them . I f moved,
most patients rail o u , o f existing
public support plans and have no
care.
Said one experienced health care
provider, Robert Lucas o f H ealth
Conservation Inc. in San Francisco:
" T h e waste in public health pro-
b iiu
(Please turn to page 2 col. 4)
RONALD REAGAN
'Fenwick plan' draws challenges
D r. James Fenwick, Interim Su
perintendent o f the Portland Public
Schools, told the School Board
Monday night that serious discrep
ancies exist between the comprehen
sive desegregation plan and pre-ex
isting racial balance policies. He
thanked those members o f the
board who pointed out the discrep
ancy— H erb Caw thorne and Steve
Buel— and advised tha, the Board
deal w ith it so the adm in istration
can respond.
The racial balance policy requires
that the administration analyze each
year every school that approaches
50 per cent m inority enrollment to
determine whether the minority en
ro llm en t rem ains stable, and for
schools exceeding 50 per cent minor
ity enrollment recommend steps to
reverse the trend and “ prevent ra
cial isolation."
The racial balance p olicy deals
with numbers and the only way to
respond is in ratios and boundaries,
he explained. He advised the board
to sort through their apparent d if
ferences and come up with a policy
that meshes and gives clear signals
to the administratio. This would al
low the staff to address issues o f ed
ucation and achievement.
“ You desperately need to bring
into balance the differences that ex
ist within the Board so the staff can
respond.”
Fenwick submitted his annual re
port on racial balance, which con
tains several far-re ac h in g recom
m endations— a ll designed to de
crease percentages o f m inority stu
dents:
Patricia Rian, principal o f H u m
boldt School, explained that the
main issue at that school is lack o f
space. By next year class size wil
reach 40 and classes will be taught ii
hallways. Portables a block away
tha, were to be for temporary use
are still being used. Parents wan
classrooms added or portables oi
site.
“ W hile you consider racial bal
ance, consider exerting your energ;
concerning providing a quality edu
cation no matter where the childrer
a re ----- ” She advised the Board tc
work with the State to change racia
balance guidelines or to o b ta in a
w a iv e r." She estim ated that the
school now has 50 too many stu
dents and w ith o u t the portables
would have 150 too many. There are
240 transfers from other areas, a
large percentage o f which are in pre
school and Kindergarten.
Ronnie Herndon, co-chairman o f
(Please turn to page 3 col. I)
Blacks favor 'New Information Order'
A sweeping m a jo rity o f high
ranking Blacks feel the Am erican
news media is biased, and they sup
port the con ten tio n in the T h ird
W orld that the Western press is un
fair, according to a national survey
by the Black Opinion Poll (BOP).
Some 340 questionnaires resulted
in responses from 77 per cent o f
those contacted. “ W hich best de
scribes the general press coverage of
stories important to the Black com
m unity?” was one probe. The an
swers: 86.4 per cent said biased and
banta Claus visited children at annual Jack ai
Jill family Christmas social. Making thair wish
known are Karl Enga, K. C. Scott, Lanat
Ambers, Mark White. Temporary Santa is Jim
Walken.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
narrow coverage; 6.8 per cent said
unbiased but narrow coverage; 3.4
per cent said biased but wide cover
age; and 3.4 per cent had no opin
ion.
Relatedly, 89.2 per cent said they
«
support the U N E S C O d rive for a
“ New W orld In fo rm atio n O rd e r”
due to Third W orld dissatisfaction
with news coverage by the Western
press. In a d d itio n , 8 5 .9 per cent
agreed with some Black journalists
who contend the general (white con
trolled) press is “ too crisis oriented
in its Ih ir d W o rld news coverage,
and positive accomplishments in the
Third World go unnoticed.”
The ranking Blacks were also
asked: “ W hat about news-worthy
information you generate? Are you
successful in getting the G eneral
Press to print it?"
Some 37 per cent said. " N o I was
unsuccessful in getting them to print
i t ; " 29 per cent said “ Yes they
printed it but only after much resist
ance;" 12 per cent said “ Yes quite
successful. They printed it with
ease;” while 22 per cent had no re
sponse.
The BOP survey was conducted
for the Black Press Institute, a na
tio n al news gathering and media
m o n ito rin g o rg an iza tio n . Those
polled were readers o f the Black
Press R eview , a b i-m o n th ly news
and commentary report highlighting
key events and trends in the Black
community and published by the In
stitute. Those readers include Blacks
in Congress. presidents o f Black col
leges. and a host o f educators, ad
m inistrators, publishers, lawyers
and other “ Black influentials."
(Please turn to page 2 col. 3)