Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 11, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba Focus a7 icim huh 2000 let count in Florida decide it the new York times said in an editorial yesterday never in living memory has there been a political contest like that now being waged Between vice president Al Gore and George Bush of prior to fridays ruling from the Florida supreme Public opinion was running strongly in a direction that would have made it necessary for Gore to we now expect that tide to and for a new mood of watchful waiting to emerge in the pub Lic opinion polls based on the powerful principles at the heart of the Florida courts As we said when the decision was the key principle is simply that elections should be decided by the votes actually the court reasoned that since the physical evidence of the bal lots themselves is still available to Florida officials and everyone should get on with the fundamental democratic activity of counting once those votes Are completely count the totals will exert a gravitational pull on the Public and the candidates that in our move the country away from the constitutional crisis forecast by we regret the decision by five of the nine justices of the supreme court on saturday to suspend the vote recount in Florida until it has time to consider an Appeal from the Bush Federal courts should not have halted the counting in continuing that activity posed no irreparable harm to either whereas interrupting it could cause the state to miss its 12 deadline for naming a slate of electors based on the True vote rather than legislative the supreme court said it will hear Oral arguments on the Appeal of the Florida High court decision we urge it to reject the Appeal and to permit the recount to this is a time for a politics weary Public to extend a new Grant of patience to Florida officials and to require a new commitment to fairness from the two americans should demand a banking of partisan fires in floridians of All Par ties in demand that their combative Republican legislators cease efforts to subvert the will of the should the renewed ballot count show that Gore won when prospects looked Bleak for we urged him to concede if he lost his Appeal to the Florida supreme we Are convinced he would have done notwithstanding his Tor menting knowledge that a Hurricane of errors in the form of butterflies and chads probably Cost him the now it is time for Bush to exhibit fortitude and with Florida gov the Secretary of state and the legislative leadership supporting he has enjoyed every advantage in the period when they were trying to certify the official count in his if they had the nation would have regarded the election definitively if oddly settled for the Texas but Florida and the have a Chance to see the Best available count of All legitimately cast political conniving aimed at preventing us from taking advantage of this Opportunity must Florida chief Charles warned that tabulating Florida uncounted votes could Lead to constitutional and Bush chief rep James said the 4to3 majority ruling would produce ongoing on the the process outlined by the states High court can conclude this episode on the first note of certainty since the conflicting exit poll predictions on elec Tion the Prospect of attaining a Good count should be factored into any speculation about the Prospect of a showdown in Congress under the constitutional rules for settling a disputed presidential if the matter reaches the republicans can win because of their Superior numbers in the but a count of All valid Florida votes under court supervision will have great influence with the american Public once it is our expectation is that the candidate who loses that count will i face an irresistible Public pressure to j concede before the matter has to be i decided on a part line vote by con the renewed Chance of securing the most accurate count under the Circum stances was enhanced by the rulings in Tallahassee earlier Friday by two Cir Cuit court Nikki Ann Clark and Terry they ruled against demo cratic efforts to throw out Absentee ballots from Seminole and Martin that Effort preserved for Bush several thousand votes that i properly belong to if the count is allowed to go for i the nation will get to see How Many votes should properly be record i de statewide for both after so i much All that is required to reach that Resolution is patience from the a Wise decision from the i United states supreme court and i responsible behaviour from the political nato is not a relic of history Europe must share risks by Wesley a year when leaders of the european Union announced the goal of Fielding a Strong european it seemed to some a possible answer to years of transatlantic squabbling about As the europeans Fin ish a year of organizing and designing the proce dures for this were hearing warnings about the risk it poses to in american actions and attitudes contributed significantly to pushing the europeans toward their goal of an autonomous military Capa lets face the United states has encouraged the europeans to believe that we no longer feel with the same strength the common interests that bound the Alliance together for a we allowed the europeans to believe that in future Security crises in we might not be there to its time to Back up and put this in nato was formed More than 50 years ago to protect Europe from invasion and intimidation by stains red in As Dwight Eisenhower surveyed his new he recognized that the europeans the British and the French we rent doing enough to protect Ever since Burden sharing has been debated within the end of the cold War made the argument More acute and the wars in the Balkans brought it to a when Yugoslavia fractured in bitter ethnic War fare in the Early american soldiers we rent there in the Early contingents of it was seen As the first test of Europe ability to take care of but without nato in peace including our British and French were no match for the ferocity of the and without diplomatic there was no Resolution of the it was the pledge of american troops to participate on the ground in Bosnia that really brought about the Dayton agreement to end the the american contribution was controversial at american leaders chided the europeans privately and europeans saw an isolationist tendency in these frictions were even More present during need Strong relationship the Kosovo there were myriad transatlantic differences what to when and How much to when to plan for ground the United states sought to control the strikes it was our intelligence and mostly our after but the europeans sought their too they were sharing in the military As Well As the political and they would pay the heaviest Price in refugees in the event of the transatlantic linkage but it didst the United states eventually led in Bosnia and in the air Campaign against Yugoslavia for reasons of practical but the longstanding frictions Over Burden sharing were intensified by the United states initial reluctance to participate with ground troops in peace operations in when we finally agreed to on the eve of the air we demanded what we thought would be the easiest when it came time to enter on the ground in june we were slow at the starting once into the we carried a Large responsibility but complained about what we were asked to in we Are now arguing about How to plan and organize for future crises in which the europeans will Send their forces but we wont at the europeans will remove the Deputy planners and key staff from the nato Chain of command headed by the american supreme Allied in order to plan and head missions by a purely euro Pean rapid reaction but do we want a potentially split nato Headquarters with an american commander whose authority will always be subject to will the United states continue to participate at the europeans will create a new head quarters with additional planners and staff that will simply be redundant and competitive to those with in these Are the two bad alternatives at the Centre of the in this is not a dispute about arcane military forms and it is about the strength of americas commitment to Europe and what we expect in by All we should avoid any duplication of nato but More we should avoid misperception on either Side of the Atlantic about changing both Europe and the United states need a Strong transatlantic defined by shared shared burdens and shared we should make Crystal Clear to the europeans that we accept our we should state unequivocally that we will be there with nato whenever there is a Security Challenge in and the europeans should make Clear in word and deed that nato is the Security and defence instrument of first nato is not yet a relic of his time is but its not too Wesley a retired United states was supreme Allied commander in Europe during the Kosovo ill trip p Fri the free press welcomes letters from they must include the authors address and Telephone number in letters May be letters to the 1355 Mountain r2x fax email versatile workers need support on there was a 500strong rally in Solidarity with the versatile workers of Caw despite the spirits were but these workers have been walking a 24hour picket line for close to five Christmas is and they need our the workers were under stress for some time As they waited for a new buyer for while they were relieved when Buhler took pre venting a Plant closure maintaining 250 500 workers Are on Perma nent Layoff due to a downturn in the farm since 97 per cent of whom voted to have been off the the main issues Are seniority and the strike and the loss of 500 jobs presents a Case for Public ownership and progressive Plant closure Laws to save jobs and strengthen the Manitoba Winni Eggers have always been Friendly and supportive of those in Christmas is coming and one of our Community concerns should be to support the versatile workers in any Way we pickets at versatile run 24 hours a Solidarity from the Winnipeg Community would be since 2 the prime focus of ver Satile workers has been on seniority issues As butlers b i gaining objective is to reduce the work Force from 250 Down to 90 Deborah Graham Winnipeg were losing sight of dignity Market forces will decide How much to pay people for the work they this was a statement recently made by a Manitoba politician in regards to the Dps decision to review the mini mum wage in the the populace is steadily losing sight of one important Factor essential to every human life dignity of dignity of dignity of i think we have lost sight of the dig nity that should be afforded each per son to earn a to be compensated appropriately for ones and to be treated with should Market forces be a deciding Factor on How we treat other human beings should not our own sense of Worth and respect for our fellow Man decide How we adequately compensate a person for work performed All too we see images of third world factories and work being contracted off to countries where Market forces decide How a person should be Market forces dictate that a person should receive a but is this ethically and morally Cor rect dignity of should Rise above any political ideology one May we should ask ourselves what is happen ing to our society and How we can change it for the Saveria Torquato Winnipeg voters not living in Cave Lindor Reynolds article they stopped votes kept coming the plus residents of Winnipeg South who voted for Geoff Lambert were not ignorant nor living in a the residents of Winnipeg South who voted for the progressive conservative party of Canada chose to exercise their right to be it was unfortunate that Lambert was unable to continue in the it is More unfortunate to make the Assumption that progressive conservative voters would Sim ply forgo their principles if the party did not if you want to complain about wasted speak to those who dont bother to Dan Hunter president pc association of Winnipeg South Winnipeg keep Homegrown doctors at Home a few months your paper carried an excellent article describing a first Ever in Manitoba surgical procedure carried out on a Man who suffered from Parkinson the surgery was very but any Hopes of alleviating the suffering of other patients with a similar condition were Cut your article closed by advising that the neurosurgeon who had per formed the surgery had left win Parkinson patients would now have to be flown to Calgary or Toron if they were there would be an opening for it was therefore with great interest that i read in your paper about paying competitively High salaries to entice neurosurgeons Why Are we pay ing Large salaries to encourage new people is the same Effort being put out to keep our committed and often Homegrown products from leaving Donna ekerholm Winnipeg nuclear Energy is a Dinosaur atomic Energy of Canada in let ters published across the country is defending Canadas stance in the nuclear Power is a Dinosaur and the rest of the world knows no new reactors have been built by any North american Power company for Well Over a the simple Rea sons Are that they Are too they produce High level toxic waste which does not go and they release radioactivity to the Environ atomic Energy of Canada has convinced the Federal government that Selling reactors to third world countries should be its contribution to global its time that Canada began pursuing a truly sustainable Energy future and made us proud cutting subsidies to the nuclear Indus Dave Taylor spokesman for concerned citizens of Manitoba Winnipeg ventilate those smoke heavy bars re smoke gets in your eyes Jim spokesman for a coalition of Manitoba restaurant and hotel said that instead of being allowed to take an Active role in find ing a solution that will meet every ones were too Busy fighting a draconian such As a that imposes immediate economic try explaining that to bar and restaurant owners in this coalition has not taken any initiative to implement any ventilation system improvements because it affects their Bottom not because there too Busy fighting a draconian Why does it take the threat of a smoking ban to get you talking about installing advanced filter systems lets see such a system in place in a smoke heavy bar in this City and demonstrate to us you can do Gordon Feck Oakville does up fear Public might ask questions in the editorial ideological Barrier the free press again displays hubris in portraying its View As that of How does the free press editorial team know that Mani to bans do not wish a say before Dis posing of Crown corporations did the free press protest when the Previ Ous government sold off its were the tories criticized for not making this plan part of their election plat form perhaps what the Good burghers of the free press editorial committee fear is that the Public will begin to ask questions of proponents of mass and hold them to account for their conduct As corporate when examining the reasons for the creation of Many Crown frequently one finds that the marketplace was unable or unwilling to provide High Quality service to Donald Teel Winnipeg doonesbury by Garry Trudeau ;