P age
A2
J uly
31, 1996 • T he P ortland O bserver
Editorial Articles Do Not Necessarily
Reflect Or Represent The Views Of
The ^ o r tla n b ffibserucr
vote of 74-24, the
Senate passed the
C_
right wing's so-called
“welfare reform" bill.
After the bill goes to conference
comm ittee, it will go to President
Clinton, where JaxFax hopes the
President will exercise his veto pow ­
er.
In Reverend Jackson’s words, this
bill is an act of "domestic violence”
aimed directly at “the least of these,”
America’s women and children Jack-
son stated, “This is decision tim e -
does Bill Clinton really want to be
the one to drive the final stake into
the heart of the 60-year, FDR/New
Deal commitment to providing a safe­
ty net for our children? Bill and
Hillary Clinton are long-time advo­
cates for A m erica’s children—I can­
not believe they want the history
books to record that they allowed
this mean-spirited, right-wing bill to
become law."
The Senate’s only African Amer­
ican woman kept her cool and stood
tall when the heat was on. Senator
Carol Moseley-Braun (D-IL) took
the floor to make the case against the
bill (emphasis added), "Mr. Presi-
C O A L IT IO N
A shame on
this Senate
dent, I believe that the Senate will rue
the day that we pass this legislation.
This day, this bill opens up the floor
under poor children which in our
lifetimes no child has ever had to fall
below, no matter how poor, or how
irresponsible, its parents might be.
This day. in the name of reform, this
Senate will do actual violence to
poor children, putting millions of
them into poverty who were not in
poverty before
“No one in the debate on this
legislation has fully or adequately
answered the question What hap­
pens to the children? They are, after
all, the greatest number of people
affected by this legislation.
"Mr. President, 67 percent of the
people who are receiving welfare
today are children, and 60 percent of
those children are under the age of 6
years old. This bill makes a policy
assault on nonworking parents, but H
uses the children as the missiles and
as the weapons of that assault.
“ I believe that this bill does not—
does not-m ove in the direction of
reform Reform would mean that we
give people the opportunity to work,
to take care of their own children. It
would have a commitment to job
creation, to adequate child care, to
job training, to job placement. But
this legislation, Mr President, does
none o f those things.
"This legislation does not give
able-bodied people a chance to work
and support their own children. It
simply is election-year politics, and
rhetoric raised to the level o f policy.
I believe this bill cannot be fixed—
not in conference committee, not on
anybody's desk-and I believe that
this bill is a shame on this Senate.”
As Senator Moseley Braun had
pointed out earlier, there are 14 mil­
lion people on welfare, 9 million of
these are children, 60% below age 6.
She reminded the Senate, to noavail,
that 1.5 million American children
would he pushed into poverty if this
bill becomes law.
1.5 million more American chil­
dren pushed into poverty...This truly
is domestic violence. We urge the
President to veto this bill This is not
about p o litic s; it's about p re ­
schoolers
Gop Assault On Medicare Turns 31
America Celebrates 31 Year of
Medicare Security. Thirty one years
ago today, Lyndon Johnson traveled
to Harry T rum an's house in Indepen­
dence, Missouri to sign Medicare in
to law. Truman had spent 20 years of
his life fighting for dignity and secu­
rity for A m erica’s seniors, so it was
fitting that the bill be signed in his
home. Today we can all be thankful
for the vision and persistence o f all
who fought for Medicare: a good
idea that is still working well for
seniors.
31 Years O f Opposition to M edi­
care: Bob Dole counts among his
by
proudest m om ents his vote in 1965
against the creation of Medicare.
12, voting against M edicare in
1965...because we knew it w ouldn’t
‘7 was there, fighting the fight, 1 o f 12,
voting against Medicare in 1965...because
we knew it wouldn ’t work.”
-Bob Dole
His now famous speech in 1995,
some 30 years later, underscores his
strident opposition to M edicare. “I
was there, fighting the fight, 1 o f the
work.”
M edicare Works. For 31 years
Medicare has provided health insur­
ance coverage to A m erica’s seniors
helped keep them out of poverty.
M edicare has nearly doubled the
number of seniors with health cover­
age, from 51% in 1964, to 99%
tod ay -an d the poverty rate for se­
niors has dropped from 30% in 1966
to 12% in 1993. Americans who
work hard, raise their families, pay
their taxes and play by the rules
deserve a healthy and secure retire­
ment T hat’s why President Clinton
and the Democrats in Congress will
continue to fight the extremists in
Congress, led by Bob Dole and Newt
Gingrich who persist in trying to cut
Medicare.
The Dole Policy: No Policy at all
T he D emocratic N ational
C ommittee
After 35 years in the Congress
Bob Dole, the author o f the Largest
Peacetime Tax Increase In History,
still doesn’t have an economic plan.
Now even the Republicans are get­
ting testy over D o le’s om ission.
Donald Lambro, C hief Political C or­
respondent o f the W ashington Times,
wrote that “without fully formed eco­
nomic growth plan to sell, Mr. Dole
is essentially without an agenda,
without vision of where he wants to
take the country.”
Republican criticism of D ole’s
lack of an economic agenda is grow­
ing. A nervous Newt Gingrich, fear­
ing the worst, is meeting with GOP
leaders to draft an economic plan.
Dole Abandons Attack Strate­
gy. At first, all Dole could do was
attack President Clinton and his suc­
cessful economic plan, which passed
without a single Republican vote
from the Dole/Gingrich Congress.
After a while, even Dole began to
realize that attacking the Clinton
Economic Plan which cut the deficit
by 60% and created 10 million new
jobs, was a loser. The W ashington
Post reported yesterday that Dole
“has backed away from his earlier
denunciations... in part because con­
tinued news of a stronger economy
undermined the credibility o f the
charges.”
Dole Tax Increase Largest In
Peace Time History. The fact is,
the Dole Economic Plan is written in
the stone o f his 35 year career is
Congress. Every credible source
identifies the ‘82 Dole tax increase
to be the largest in peacetime his-
to ry -an increase so large it prompted
Newt Gingrich to call Dole “a tax
collector for the welfare state.” De­
livering an economic plan, based on
a 35 year record of taxes, taxes and
more taxes, is a stiff challenge in­
deed.
Drug prosecution efforts defended
by
M ichael D. S chrunk , M ult ­
D istrict A ttor ­
nomah C ounty
ney
number of questions
have re c e n tly been
CJ
raised regarding the drug
prosecution policies of the Mult­
nomah County District Attorney’s
Office.
It is clear to me that m isinform a­
tion has been circulating, particular­
ly regardi ng prosecution o f drug deal­
ers. I have prepared the attached
article in the interest of clarifying the
concerns I have heard. It is my hope
that you will consider including this
in your publication.
A recent front page article in The
Oregonian did the public a disser­
vice by representing that a major
shift in drug occurred. It has not. I
want to assure the citizens of M ult­
nomah County that they can be proud
of the record and the policies on drug
prosecutions in this county. To those
who have interpreted local drug pol­
icies as “giving away the courthouse,”
we need only to look at the facts.
Drugs conti nue to plague our com­
munity. In 1995 there were 185 drug-
related deaths in Oregon, the largest
number ever. In the same year in
M ultnomah County we prosecuted
over 4,500 felony drug cases. A p­
proximately one-third of these cases
involved drug distribution. Aggres­
sive prosecution of these cases and
recom m endations to the court for
strong penalties for those who sell
drugs are a priority.
Sentences in drug cases vary ac­
cording to the severity and criminal
history of the defendant. One dealer,
arrested for distribution, had multi­
ple prior convictions for various fel­
onies. Currently, he is serving a 16
month sentence in prison. Another, a
first time offender caught selling a
small amount o f cocaine, was con­
victed of a felony distribution charge
and sentenced to 30days in jail, three
years probation, and a long list of
conditions including treatment. A
third individual, arrested for posses­
sion , entered a drug diversion pro­
gram through the Multnomah Coun­
ty Drug Court. Under the watchful
eye of the court, he began the treat­
ment program and, after one year,
successfully graduated.
In the neighborhood we have es­
tablished Drug Free Zones through­
out the city to limit drug trafficking
and close down drug houses. We
have created a Drug Court which has
allowed over 2,500 persons who
where arrested for possession of con­
trolled substances to enter treatment
and overcome their addiction. We
will continue to pursue these ave-
n ues and to develop other methods to
reduce the drug problem in this com­
munity.
The Multnomah County District
Attorney’s Office prosecutes drug
cases as vigorously as any other ma­
jor metropolitan areas. We will not
tolerate people who have chosen to
sell drugs as a way of life to operate
in this community.
Republican platform calls for suggestions
he Republican Party has
launched an unprece­
dented effort to Invite
Americans across the country to
participate In the development
of the 19 9 6 Republican Platform.
This effort would not be complete
without support from the African-
American community. As Chairman
o f the 1996 Platform Com m ittee and
Chairman of the RNC, we are writing
to you to encourage you to submit
your ideas to help shape the Repub
lican Party platform for the next four
years.
Like other Republican leaders, we
have benefitted enormously from the
policy ideas gleaned from Ameri­
cans at the grassroots by the National
Policy Forum. Now, the Platform
Com m ittee is following through,
adopting an open door policy for
everyone who wants to share with us
their vision for a better America. The
Republican Platform Committee now
encourages African-Americans at the
grassroots to play an active role in
shaping the Republican vision for
America as it will be articulated in
our 1996 Republican National Plat­
form.
The RNC has set up a W eb site on
the Internet for submitting ideas to
the 1996 Republican Platform The
Internet address is www.rnc.org. Or,
you can send your ideas to Dave
Gribbin, Executive Director, Repub­
lican Platform Committee, 310 First
S treet, S.E., W ashington, D C.,
20003.
The platfuiin adopted al the 1996
Republican National Convention will
serve as the statement of principles
and policies that will guide the Re­
publican Party for the next four years.
The 1996. Republican Platform
Committee will convene on Mon­
day, August 5, in San Diego, Califor­
nia. The Republican National Con­
vention will be held August 12-15.
Sincerely,
U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.),
Chairman, 1996 Republican Plat­
form Committee;
Haley Barbour, Chairman, Re­
publican National Committee.
fetter 'Co Che dCitor
Send your letters to the Editor to:
Editor, P 0 Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208
p e r s p e c tiv e
If You Say It, Say It Right
e t’s hear It! Some re-
sounding applause for
(
all those parents, grand
parents and guardians who are
right on top of things when it
comes to the proper education
of their wards at an early age,
within a day of the publication
of last week’s column “Watch
Your Tongue," they were on the
phone and FAX (Phone 284-
7080, FAX 284-0484).
And it w as
quite rewarding
for yours truly to
have two Beaver­
ton, Oregon par­
ents, who have
th e ir k id s e n ­
ro lle d in the
Riggs Institute ‘Super Summer
Spelling Camp,” remark that they
first got interested in phonics when
attending my classes at Portland
State University. Not a shabby ac­
complishment for an instructor who
was teaching “ Urban Economics at
the time—mid 1970’s.
These were interesting times
when I was teaching a rather di­
verse class o f minorities, public
officials, social program adminis­
trators and a middle-class throng
that simply wanted to know what
the inner city (black) economic ex­
perience was like. These two white
Beaverton parents remembered that
at the time I was chairperson o f the
Minorities Teacher’s Association-
and that I was going hammer-and-
tongs after some school adminis­
trators who thought phon ics weren t
necessary (“Good Speech is an eco­
nomic necessity”).
And as usual, I was taken to task
for extolling the virtues o f some
Mr. Michael Grice and his very
excellent “Saturday Academy” pro-
gram )-and for not pursuing the
accomplishments o f another pro­
gram designed to enhance minority
academic performance (EXCEL,
recently combining forces with the
National PTA).
Well, for one thing, the latter
organization, unlike Mr. Grice, has
never acknowledged my existence,
let alone avail themselves o f my
services.
I had one caller to get rather
ugly, “vitriolic” is the word, 1 be­
lieve. He wanted to involve me in
the support o f a House bill, “To
Make English The Official Lan­
guage O f The United States”. He
came c lose to having a stroke when
I used the description o f Rep. Gene
Green, D -Texas,"aphony-issue in
search o f a problem ..this is noth
ing more than a attempt to try to
divide us based on where we came
from.”
Obviously, the legislation is
racist slap at the Hispanic people
I reminded this gentlemen that in
the St. Louis neighborhood where
I grew up there were an awful lot o f
Polish, German
and Italian im
m ig ra n ts w ho
By
spoke little ifany
Professor
English—and no
Mckinley
one advocated a
Burt
law to “remedy
a national prob
lem,” In New York, o f course, the
cacophony o f languages and dia­
lects was (is) as strident as any­
where in the world, and the city has
persevered quite well.
And, yes, I did catch Tony
Browns “Chataqua Speech” “Gone
are the days when a parent can
launch a kid on a 17-year educa­
tion journey ($100,000 or more)
and feel that his goal has been
accom plished. N ot so! “ Tony
launched into an ebullient descrip­
tion o f his new, and latest, concept
He promises (already there?) to
have 6 year-old can do.” Praise be
the saints, Tony. Is this another o f
those wel l-intentioned, but too-far-
out programs o f yours?
Closer to earth, much closer, is
the feed back I get from parents
who heeded my advice last year
and bought a copy o f “R oget’s
International Thesaurus: Fourth
Edition (or later).
They swear by it, and many
teachers, made curious by the sud­
den improvement in the perfor­
mance o f certain students, made
inquiry and are now enthusiastic
advocates for learning tool.
The $15.50 you will spend for
the paperback edition will be re­
paid a thousand times as you esca­
late all o f your language and com­
munication skills with this ‘far-
m ore-than-a-dictionary’ publica­
tion.
Just the table o f contents (Syn­
opsis O f Categories) will provide
you with a new way o f looking at
the world, its ideas and the objects
in it and the processes that involve
them. Get it and expand the hori­
zons o f your child and yourself.
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