Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 13, 1989, Winnipeg, Manitoba March Winnipeg free press Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights toppling John Tower published seven Days a week at 300 Cartton Winnipeg r3c 3c1 by newspapers division of Canadian newspapers company limited Telephone 9439331 a member of the Manitoba press Council Arthur Wood publisher John Dafoe editorial Page editor Murray Burt managing editor Rudy Redekop controller Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 editorials Kansas Republican senator Nancy Kassebaum went right to the heart of the matter when she gave As her Central reason for voting against John towers Nomina Tion As defence Secretary his recent highly paid services to defence president George Bush showed poorer judgment than this solitary Republican among the 53 votes against his if his political instincts were anything like As Good As he would never have put Forward such an obviously flawed his decision to put towers name up came after a delay that was just Long enough to suggest that Bush or his staff had some doubts about the Wisdom of the Bush struck the first blow at this having put him Bush then went off to a funeral in leaving his Ham handed chief of the abrasive John to make an unsurprising hash of rounding up democratic support for the Bush returned to play Clumsy completing a picture of administration ineptitude in backing a Candi Date who needed More backing than Kassebaum solid midwestern common sense is like a Beacon in the murky Clouds of rambling theories being advanced to explain this rare defeat of a presiden tial cynical members of the Washington establishment Are seeking any explanation other than hers that Tower does not deserve the Job because he does not know How to alternative theories some say this is straight partisan opposition to the Republican White if Why have the other White House Cabinet nominees been confirmed relatively easily some say it is the latest round in a struggle for Power Between Congress and the Why should such a struggle involve Only one nomination some say the allegations of heavy drinking and woman chasing made about Tower could be made about other Are these other senators asking to become defence Secretary As a former chairman of the Senate armed services committee and a former senior arms control negotiator in Geneva for the United both very recently held Tower knew better than most that he should not have plunged straight into the lucrative Trade of consulting on behalf of giant defence it is True that he broke no Law by accepting Over to help these companies by advising them on How to improve their chances of getting multimillion Dollar doing displayed eagerness to profit quickly from his recent positions of Public Trust and an absence of concern about How his behaviour might appear to voters shocked by the current Pentagon procurement his Grubby behaviour would have attracted Little notice had he not been ambitious to run the same defence department that has been under rigorous investigation for months by the Justice department because of Evi Dence of bribery of Pentagon officials by defence they were buying As one buys information from a former senator calling himself a they wanted an inside track on an indication of which Type of equipment or weapon the Pentagon planned to Purchase Kassebaum made a Point that apparently escaped president Bush the Pentagon procurement scandal has shaken Public Confidence and Public support for defence towers she though not against the demonstrate to me an enormous insensitivity to issues and questions that have been at the heart of our defence debate for As a student of defence issues and former head of the senates military Reform which seeks greater efficiency rather than defence spending her views were informed As Well As in would have made a far better candidate to run the Pentagon than most of the washing ton retreads who were considered for the her common ability to Cut through the fog to see the real Independence of knowledge of defence matters and personal modesty would give her a better Chance than most to bring that bureaucratic Leviathan under no one would have to worry about her ethics or her sense of responsibility to the Hydro should come clean value added tax is essential Manitoba Hydro customers will be Wise to look beyond the Utility justification for its proposed six per cent rate increase for 1989 at hearings before the Public utilities Board which begin last Hydro is this for just enough to cover its costs after customers should look for hints from Manitoba Hydro about what kind of rate increases it will be asking for next Hydro has promised to provide some indication of what future increases will with Long Range forecasts covering As much As ten these increases will Likely be because the first generators at the new Limestone Plant Are due to come into production next As soon As the Plant begins producing the Cost of building it will have to be transferred to Hydro customer rate the Limestone Plant is being built cheaper than Hydro first the latest projection for total costs puts the figure at less than a far cry from the billion estimate that was talked about before construction the Plant will have a significant effect on Manitoba Hydro the Cost of carrying the billion Worth of which so far is being added to the total Cost of the will have to show up on monthly when the entire costs have been Transfer Hydro will be looking at about million a year in new interest Hydro latest interim financial statement pinpoints the Utility total interest costs now at Limestone will almost double the amount of interest Hydro will have to pay each the argument put Forward by the former nip govern ment was that increased sales would More than cover Limestone there was talk of a billion so there is no evidence that interim sales Are about to it is far More Likely that the Cost of carrying Limestone Between the summer of 1990 and the summer of when the revised Sale to Northern states Power will fall mainly on since about half of what customers now pay Hydro goes to cover the million in interest charges on past simple arithmetic indicates How much More will be required to cover costs when they almost As Manitoba Hydro has suffered from a pro longed drought that has Cut into the electricity available for Export and has had the effect of reducing the Utility the third Quarter financial statement predicts a loss during the current year of which will have to be taken out of the diminished Manitoba Hydro is entering a period in which it will have to begin paying Back the Cost of its and one of its largest generating stations at the same time it should be replenishing reserves that have been eaten away by the drought which no one was Able to at the Public utilities Board Hydro should put to rest any suggestions that it is about to become the engine that will in the near billions of dollars which would become available for other Good works in Hydro should make it Clear to who Are its captive How it intends to grapple with its twin problems of drought starved Export capacity and the repayment of new capital it should Tell its customers the whole Story rather than waiting for it to leak out the government should also be thinking about requiring Hydro to appear before the Public utilities Board each an appearance for review purposes is expensive and complicated and the borne by the will eventually find its Way on to consumer if Hydro can produce forecasts which Are reasonably accurate for three then an official pub review every three years would serve the purpose of Public any significant increase in rates above those forecast would be reason to trigger an earlier the frequency with which Hydro appears before the Public utilities Board is a matter for government the policy should require visits frequent enough to inform the Public but not so frequent As to create another Industry within that of preparing to meet the by Wilson special to the free press Ottawa opposition critics in Sist that the government postponed the new session of parliament Only because it has lost its sense of direct Ion and does not know what to do with the Power the electorate Ren ewed last the administrations Are not particularly Clear themselves about the priorities it should be in fact these Are not obscure the first priority should be to get a value added tax vat into place under whatever name finance minister Michael Wilson added revenues More the great tasks facing Federal government in Canada today Are to increase very sharply Progress towards healthy National finances and to modernize the nations social these should establish the parameters for approaching other the added revenues from vat Are essential to a coherent there Are at present the predict Able demands for cuts in social pro Grams As a deficit reduction Mea that is surely the wrong the goal must be in with grounds for Hope that this might reduce some direct costs if not Lead to such increased effectiveness that indirect benefits would have somewhat the same it does not seem to me that there is much dispute among the general Public when special interest groups Are excluded about the desirable goals of there Are surely one is to assist the legitimately disadvantaged and the other is to ensure that everyone has some reasonable Protection from the sort of economic disaster that can strike families through some forms of the goal should not be Complete Cradle to grave the net should leave Strong emphasis on personal respond if Public support is unlikely for a cos cutting attack on social programs it is close to certain that the country would accept the need for modernization and improvement in programs 40 or More years some much less hoary programs need improvement As if review and revision of the social policy network should not be con ducted primarily As an Economy measure there none the an urgent need to act on the National financial that should establish the other great parameter for government activity during the next few seriousness disputed there is dispute Over the serious Ness of the present some organizations and individuals regard it As gravely serious others insist that nothing much needs to be done and that Only very conservative peo ple think recently a to Ronto economist and a political scientist published in the Globe and mail an article questioning the seriousness of the present pattern of deficits and mounting the weaknesses in their arguments were in arguing that the mounting National debt is unt Rou they simply ignored the Bur Den of paying interest on that Cost has reached billion annual on Quarter of All Federal spend no other program costs As it takes 70 per cent of the Federal governments current in come tax Revenue to pay that inter the largest spending program of upward pressure if any other program economic involved As constricting a Burden on Federal finances no one in the coun try would suggest that it was unit obviously it handicaps the governments capacity to pursue Many desirable through the extra borrowing it causes it puts upward pressure on both interest rates and when the inevitable recession comes it will severely restrict the states capacity to revive the econ one reason for the severity of the 198182 recession was simply this the governments financial position prevented it away from Keyn Esian actions onto an old fashioned Raissez fairs it is futile to argue for action on deficits and debts while opposing significant tax spending has already been sharply curbed and there Are Early limits to the further cutting that is growth alone will not solve the problem we Are nearing the end of a Strong growth period and fiscal improve ment has been much too that is what makes vat fighting women the editorial a place for fighting women free february 23 missed an important aspect of the two world wars and Many other conflicts have demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that women have an important role to play in the armed services and this role is not necessarily limited to strictly noncombatant women have served alongside men As equals without the orderly con duct of War being disrupted by scenes of unbridled licence what is new about the present concept is a proposal that women should be posted to frontline combat units such As infantry combat is not a pretty trying to care in the Field for a Comrade who has been partially Dis Embo welled by a burst of machine gun fire or whose face has been smashed in by an entrenching tool is a heartbreaking millions of women have been woman to combat killed during wars in this but we Are now proposing in the cause of human to insert women into combat situations knowing full Well that even in this age of advanced military tech combat can often mean Handt hand in biological most species Are concerned to preserve life of the female and this fact is reflected in Many the approach is not a function of altruism it recognizes simply that in the mammal at any a relatively High ratio is necessary to ensure the continuation of the this is what is All about and if chivalry is it should not be equated with an often misused in the final most combat ant soldiers Are decent men and knowingly to kill a women is an act repugnant to a decent if women Are to serve in combat they will be exposed deliberately to the possibility of killing and being for the human rights Tribu Nal to enforce this policy is contrary to one of the More sensible Laws of Shakespeare often has the last word and in act 4 of King Henry he wrote there Are few die Well that die in a it is to be hoped that the decision makers of the human rights who May not have an Opportunity to die in will remember this when enforcing the assignment of women to combat weeks Here forever the pandas Are Only going to be in Winnipeg for four it looks like there going to stay Here fore the government is spending thousands of dollars for the Why dont they spend thousands of dollars on the homeless and starving in Winnipeg Daniel Gokal age George v school letters the Winnipeg free press welcomes letters rom writers must give their name and names will be used and letters Are subject to unwarranted in a recent vitriolic outburst Henry Morgentaler likened prolife advocates to the Ayatollah Khomeini who condemns people to death by putting a Price on their his totally unwarranted attack prompted a variety of responses among pro lifers in the initial reaction was to laugh off this attack because of its sheer that reaction was Fol Lowed by one of anger and dismay at the irresponsible nature of Morgentaler comments which were de signed to incite hatred and anger towards peaceful demonstrators and counsellors at his Winnipeg at a time when feelings Are run Ning very High against Morgentaler attempt to link pro lifers with this notorious individual was seen As an invitation to encourage violence against pro for this reason serious consideration was Given to the possibility of Legal follow ing considerable another View emerged and has what would prompt an individual to make such bizarre allegations is it an attempt to project their own unacknowledged feelings onto others in an Effort to relieve their anxiety in reality it is Morgentaler who has put a Price on the Heads of unborn in the Morgentaler clinic collects for each baby killed up to 12 weeks of prenatal and for babies Between 12 and 14 weeks of prenatal Morgentaler repeated insistence that there is no baby until 16 weeks would appear to highlight his deliberate efforts to evade very stressful and violent perhaps Morgentaler is More to be than and in the tradition of True the league for life is prepared to turn the other Pat Soenen executive director league for life in Manitoba controversy there seems to be a lot of Contro Versy Over i was born january and my age last january was i was one of ten children my grandmother had in those Days the doctor got a Bonus for every male child that he brought into the the King needed soldiers to fight for its different today male and female Are on Call to fight for their we had a female cat at Home my Mother thought that female cats were better mouser than male before coming to Canada i used to drown Many a litter of if we the place would have been overrun with just like that englishman who took a pair of Rab bits to Australia and almost drove the Farmers out of their minds rabbits everywhere at least we can eat Rabbit Many women have died from a dirty Needle Given in some Back room it would be far better to have abortion in a clean we cant keep producing at the rate we when i was growing up there were about three billion humans on this now in the last 100 years we have More than doubled the Popula at that we will have 12 billion or More in the next 100 where Are we going to put them and what will they eat people do not seem to look my great grandchildren will be Lucky to have a Job and will be paying for our Hugh Roberts Winnipeg poor judgment the recent decision by the Manitoba government to allow health care dollars to be raised by Casino Gam bling is an example of poor judg one is left wondering if this is the Only Avenue of securing the funds required to update Hospital equip it is a Well known fact that Winni Eggers have always responded generously to worthy so Why not depend on a yearly health care Blitz for this purpose in doing the government would be enlisting the Goodwill of Winnipeg rather than open shop to an activity which carries with it the negative elements of desire for greed and the inherent promotion of crime of All gambling itself at a Nega Tive and at theft by Mutual hats off to Grace Hospital for turning Down any reve Nues from this Nicholas Slykerman Winnipeg shocked i am shocked by Anwar islam real issues lost in controversy about free february i do not believe As he does that the real issues have been lost in the concerning the writer Rush if the debate seems biased be cause of the sensationalized Media then he demonstrates very Little respect for the work of our who Are considered by most to be the guardians of our to reduce the debate to the question of the biased coverage is to give Little value to the life of a human it is also to ignore acts of vandalism and terrorist pressure which Force our minister of external affairs to ask for Protection of Rushdie it appears to me quite Likely that despite the official position against the death sentence Given to Rushdie taken on behalf of the Manitoba islamic Rushdie and his editors will eventually be Assassin i would remind you that this threat applies also to All persons who favor or participate in the distribution of the now a each one of us in the West who holds dear to his heart the right of free is menaced by the threats and actions of religious extremists who live among it became a collective these statements hold True regardless of what Rushdie has or has not i believe it would have been pref Erable to convince the world of the prejudicial nature of the Book by standing against the moslem spirit Ual who would destroy the freedoms and liberties guaranteed by our instead of summarizing passages of a Book you wish to see i resent being taken by the hand and told what i must i prefer to use my intelligence to make my own it would be a pity to return to the Era of the Sylvai Beaudoin miss Evans take a memo smoking in the workplace is strictly ;