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Viewpoints
Russian Reaction Looks Bad
For Clinton Administration
In dealing with Russia the month of February was not a good one for
President Clinton. It demonstrated an amateurism not surprising for one
without foreign policy experience.
Russia has historical ties with fellow Serbs in Yugoslavia going back
centuries. No Russian leader can ignore such emotional and racial
affinities. Boris Yeltsin, now being challenged strongly, certainly can't
Yeltsin defused a threatening situation by getting the Serbs to comply
with a NATO ultimatum to remove guns surrounding Sarajevo. Although
this was a U.N. request, NATO, of which Russia is not a member, was
the enforcer. NATO being Russia’s primary military opponent until a few
years back, this gives Yeltsin opponents a chance to stir resentment
This confrontation defused, U.S. fighters then suddenly shot down four
Serb aircraft The better course would have been to issue a final warning,
giving the Sob's a week or a few days' notice. That was indicated because
for a year, in over a thousand flights, Serb planes had been flying over the
same territory without interception.
This gave Yeltsin opponents another opportunity to stir resentment
An amateurish demonstration was the reaction after the arrest of a CIA
official spying for Russia. This American had been assigned to enlist and
send spies into Russia.
He volunteered to spy for the Russians instead, for which he deserves
the death penalty; Russians spying for the U.S. in that country were
identified by him and they were executed.
The White House reacted to the arrest as if this wasn't a game played fa
centuries by all intelligence services. We are doing the same thing in
Russia, have been for fifty years. Our intelligence people would have
welcomed a Russian who offered to spy for the U.S.-and have frequently.
To expect the Russians to refuse such an offer from an American is naive
in the extreme.
The reaction in Congress was equally "bush," bleaters there exhibiting
bombastic ignorance more than anything else. Expelling a Russian
diplomat was merely aPR sop. The Russians responded, logically, by
expelling one of our spies in Moscow.
By this time the Clinton people had finally been briefed enough to
realize their initial reaction had been knee-jerk and half-cocked. Nothing
more was done.
Nobody Deserves Immunity
From Sincere Criticism
Minority monitoring and policing organizations today often take to task
any citizen who speaks critically of their activities. No group in America
should enjoy immunity from sincere criticism, because of the past.
In today's environment some who depend on the traditional right of
Americans to free speech are quickly smeared if they criticize a minority.
They're quickly made to apologize and retract their words. No one who
criticizes the majority is hounded.
If there must be favored status, it’s best minorities enjoy the extra
protection. But that shouldn't be carried so far as to muzzle, intimidate or
smear those who speak out honestly and sincerely against minority
position, ciaim or practice. No American, no American group, should
stand exempt from objective criticism.
Minorities in the United States have every right to protest
discrimination, and should be supported by the majority. They can,
however, become so militant they exert an intimidating censoring
influence.
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Editor
Houston Times-Joumal
P.O. Drawer M
Perry, GA, 31069
Houston Times-Joumal
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More School Choice May Be The Right Answer
Several states around the country
are flirting with vouchers in
education that would provide
parents with tax money to send
their children to the public or
private school of their choice.
California voters defeated a
public initiative last fall that would
have provided $2,600 yearly to
parents to send their children to
public or private schools. Even
though defeated, the significant
support for the voucher system
revealed that voters might accept it
if certain problems could be worked
out.
In California some of the
strongest support for vouchers or
school choice options were from
non-white, lower income, less
educated voters. The strongest
opposition came from upper
income and older voters.
Puerto Rico's legislature took an
unprecedented step last September
and authorized vouchers for
students, but the teachers' union has
the vouchers of $1,500 per student
held up in court. The vouchers
would only be available to families
with SIB,OOO or less income per
year.
Milwaukee's public schools are
Perry Scrapbook
Cub Scouts of Psck 216 participated In a Klta Flying Contest at Tucker School In 1970.
Pictured are winners Mark Montgomery, Jay Turned and Mark Richardson.
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STREET TALK:
Earlier this week, during the closing hours of their legislative session and after
weeks of debate, members of the Georgia General Assembly finally approved a bill
requiring teachers to begin each school day with a 60-second moment of silence
that could also be used for “student-initiated prayer”. This week, we asked local
residents what they think of this bill?
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Debra Thomas
“I think it’s good that they
left it open as a moment of
silence for the students to
use for whatever they
desire. Since it is not
designated just for prayer,
they still have freedom of
choice.”
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Dallas Cotton
“I think the children should
have prayer each
morning. When I was
growing up, there was
prayer in school and there
was also less crime.”
in the fourth year of vouchers that
allows a limited number of students
to receive state aid to attend private,
non-religious schools. Vouchers
for $3,000 are limited to low
income families, and students who
were previously in private schools
are not eligible. Thus far, academic
results are not clear. Test scores of
voucher students aren't much better
than students who stayed in the
public schools, but voucher
proponents say that private schools
grade tougher than public schools.
Republican Brett Schundler was
elected mayor of Jersey City, N.J.
last year partly because of his plan
for school vouchers. Presently the
state spends $6,000 per year to
educate the students. Under the
plan that amount would be
deposited for each student who opts
out of the public school system,
and that amount would be divided
equally among all students in
private school, which would
provide each between SSOO-$ 1,000
per year.
Texas Republicans have come
close in recent years to enacting
vouchers and school choice;
however, Democrats have blocked
the move each time. Late last year
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Cynthia Curry
"I think it’s good. We need
that in our schools now
more than ever.”
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Charles Farnham
"I think it’s a good idea
because there are so
many different religious
cultures in out nation. The
moment of silence allows
each to express his or her
own beliefs.”
Houston Times-Journal
Democratic Gov. Ann Richards
stunned the state when she
announced that she would consider a
pilot voucher system.
In Michigan the State
Constitution prohibits public
money from being spent on private
schools; however, the state is
considering changes that could
border on vouchers. The state's
Republican governor and the senate
are pushing plans that would
liberalize transfers within the public
school system, giving parents more
choice as to the public school their
child can attend.
Usually when the word voucher
is mentioned it shakes the
foundations of the public education
establishment to its roots. One of
the major focuses of the 21 million
member National Educational
Association (NEA) and its state
affiliates is to defeat voucher
initiatives. NEA reportedly has
already spent millions in this effort.
Undoubtedly the Georgia
Legislature will have to deal with
this hot potato this session. Last
year an Atlanta attorney found a
1961 segregation era law that
allowed the state to pay for private
educations. He and his allies are
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Charlie Brown
"I think it’s a good move. It
gives the kids time to think
about what they’re going
to do all day.”
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Susan Thurmond
”1 think it’s good. One of
the reasons my children
go to a Christian school is
the lack of prayer in public
schools. I’m a firm believer
in it.”
Saturday, March 19,1994
Page 4A
Bob Jj
I Tribble I
m- , |
going to court and to the
Legislature to enforce it.
Vouchers in education come in
all shapes and sizes, as you can see
from the above examples. Without
doubt if the system is not instituted
properly it could do great harm to
the public educations. However,
when done properly a voucher
system could well work to improve
the quality of public education by
forcing it to become more
competitive with private education,
and even more competitive among
its own schools.
Warner Rogers, our State School
Superintendent, says he favors more
school choice by parents. Maybe
that is what we need in our state
right now rather than vouchers, just
more choice by parents as to which
public school in the area they want
their child to attend.
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§|||i Roley I
Wm Staff Writer I
Small Business
Holds The Key
To New Jobs
Earlier this week, President Bill
Clinton and others leaders from the
G-7 met in Detroit to talk about
jobs.
I am sure that it was an interest
ing meeting. After all, no nation in
the world, it seems, is immune to
job problems. Despite the dire writ
ings in many large newspapers and
business journals, the United States
has one of the world's lowest unem
ployment rates.
Even so, the unemployment rate
is higher than it was in the SOs, 60s
and 70s, when economists were talk
ing about universal employment for
those who wanted jobs. Today, it is
rare to hear someone talk about uni
versal employment as a realistic
goal. Rather, some economists today
defend a certain amount of unem
ployment as crucial to the econ
omy's success.
Clinton got his four year free
lease at the White House by running
on the economy. He has learned
since the election that the economy
depended on people working, earning
money.
With the money people earn, they
pay taxes and buy bonds, which pays
for the programs Washington politi
cians want paid for, and buy goods
and services, which in turn provides
more employment, more taxes and
more consumer spending. On the
flip side, when people are not work
ing, or when they are working part
time or underemployed, less is col
lected in taxes and less is spent on
consumer goods and services.
Economists have finally figured
out that the real cost of unemploy
ment is not unemployment insur
ance or increased welfare costs to
make up for lost family income.
Rather, the real cost of unemploy
ment is lost taxes either due to the
loss of the job by the wage earner,
or the loss of a job in the services
and goods sector because of lower
spending.
It is interesting to note that a
small drop in the unemployment rate
can raise billions in increased tax
revenue for the government, while a
small raise can cost the government
billions.
The economy really is jobs.
When the nation works, money is
available for growth and for govern
ment projects. When the leaders of
the G-7 met in Detroit, they were
looking at a real problem.
However, they are going about it
the wrong way.
You see, the leaders of the G-7
are looking to heavy industry and
other large employers to provide the
jobs their nations need. But, a quick
glance at the workforce shows that
large employers are not that impor
tant as far as jobs are concerned,
I do not mean to belittle or dis
parage the meaning of companies
like Northrop or Frito-Lay to em
ployment. They put a lot of people
to work and have impressive pay
rolls. However, nearly nine-in-ten
jobs arc created by small businesses.
Please see ROLEY, page 8A
