Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 1, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba A12 a Impi Fri at 2001 comment editor Terence Moore 6977044 editorials Freedom of Vade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights recognize ability the United states supreme court ruling that forces the professional Golf association to allow a disabled golfer to use a cart during its tournaments is a Clear Victory for Casey the golfer who brought the it is not necessarily a Victory for the Martin has spent More than three years work ing through the court system to accomplish his a skilled by All he suffers from a serious disadvantage caused by a physical Dis Abili he has Klippelt Renquay a degenerative circulatory disease that makes it difficult and painful for him to to compete in the world of professional he needs to use a cart but pea rules do not allow for Martin took the pea to court under the Ameri cans with disabilities act and the supreme broadening the concept of Access for the has now ruled 72 that he must be allowed to use the ruling has raised fears that this May be the beginning of the erosion of standards in profession Al in a bitter Dis sent from the Justice Antonin Scalia sarcastically noted one can envision the parents of a Little league player with attention deficit disorder trying to convince a judge that their sons disability makes it at least 25 per cent More difficult to hit a pitched wrongheaded though it might the ruling appears to have been framed by the court in such a Way As to avoid compromising the athletic integrity of professional if there is a slip Pery slope it May be More of a danger to the wider cause of rights for the More than with any other the social majority depends on the disabled themselves to advise How Best their daily lives can be and it is to that end that efforts need to be concen it is generally agreed that the disabled should have Access to All the facilities that Are generally available to the Public at most Howe do not have Access to elite such As Golf on the professional except As spectators and the rules of the concept of do not apply there As they do in most other areas of by broadening the concept of Access to allow Martin to play professional Golf with a cart when no other golfer is allowed that privilege does no ser vice to the their a justified is that they should be allowed to compete on a level playing or at least As level a Field As society can provide what the court has is not level the Field for handicapped but to lower the bar for to set an entry level Standard that is lower for a disabled golfer than it is for Able bodied it is a precedent that should be rejected by the disabled themselves As a counterproductive Mea the greatest service that society can offer the disabled is to see beyond their obvious disability and acknowledge and make use of the abilities that they the supreme court has taken society a step Back from the provision of that glimmers of Hope this israeli and palestinian negotiators met at the urging of the United states special envoy to the Middle William in an attempt to restart the peace not much Progress was the talks appear to have been mostly slagging matches with each Side accusing the other of bad Faith and violent Intel the meetings took place in an atmosphere of heightened political activity and israels unilateral declaration of a truce was spurned by the palestinians As palestinian Leader Yasser touring Europe capitals to gain support for his met with a lukewarm reception from european leaders usually More favourably disposed to their message was that until he joined in a Europe could play no role in negotiating an ultimate Mideast the israeli government of prime minister Ariel Sharon appears still intent on observing the truce on its but further inflamed the situation by announcing plans to construct hundreds of new houses within the jewish settlements in the West Bank and the palestinians regard these settlements As illegal and demand that they be removed the israeli announcement can Only incite further All of this took place in an atmosphere of growing four israeli settlers have been killed this week a tragedy was narrowly averted at a school in the israeli town of Netanya when a palestinian Sui cide bomber miscalculated the schools dismissal time and blew up Only Burns returns to Washington this weekend but that is hardly a since Arafat rejection of the generous peace terms offered by former israeli prime minister Ehud relations Between the two sides have deteriorated so badly and the violence has grown so exponentially that there can hardly be a realistic Hope for a Quick there is not much of a Bright Side what glimmers there Are consist of americas recommit ment to the Europe new and the apparent sincerity of Sharon efforts to curb the what is missing is any incentive for Arafat to come to the and that can Only be provided by his supporters in the Arab supporters lock a those eight popu written on Tuens there my editorial Skoc nests Ottawa Tianen Panama clinic is Dps answer Competition is driving both Mark god Ley and health minister Dave but to a very different Competition is Why the Doc Tor who has opened a private surgical Centre on Jefferson has chosen Winnipeg As a Central beachhead to expand his for profit clinics across Competition is Why Chomiak has purchased the pan am sports clinic to Demon Strate that All the advantages and More of private clinics can be achieved in the Public saving medicare in the at his first Federal provincial health minis ters Chomiak three or four health ministers told me the worst Issue youre going to face is private clinics and How to Deal with As health costs Rose and governments private entrepreneurs were Quick to set up clinics to do Low Cost procedures such As Knees and supposed to save Money and take the pressure off the change leaves the Public sector with Only the High Cost tertiary Hospital services Organ the Competition Between Public and private the min ister the Public sector is shown to be costly and then the cry is pub Lic health care Doest work and we have the the government decided to counter the privatization mantra by taking it on frontally with its Purchase of the Panama Chomiak Hopes it will demonstrate a National alternative to counter the a affordability Issue now being used to Bury a publicly owned Panama clinic will do everything Pri vate clinics claim to do to unburden reduce waiting lists and be but unlike godless it will be in full Accord with the Canada health the endlessly repeated notion that private for profit is the future has been proven false by numerous last the Mani Toba Centre for health policy and evaluation issued an update on its 19971998 report on waiting it found private clinics increase surgical this pattern has already been noted in the United where areas with the longest Waits for Public surgery Are those with the most private and the longest wait proce dures Are those where there is the most Pri vate theory is that surgeons with private clinics have an incentive to have Long Public sector waiting is True not Only for Cataract surgery but of elective surgery the Mchue report is bolstered by a Simi Lar study just released by the Consumers association of Alberta and another in the new England journal of the latter found Public hospitals Are More efficient than Pri a spokesperson for the Alberta con Sumers association says its just human nature that doctors will choose to do their surgeries at private clinics where they can earn Chomiak underlines the fact that Pri vate cant make a Buck unless they charge facility facility fees Are the previous tory government was being penalized a month by Ottawa for allowing three private in it signed contracts to pay their facility so those fees have Cost Manitoba taxpayers Chomiak admits pan am still gets a Facil Ity but it remains in the Public Godley May be Angling for the same Deal As the pan am Hes playing saying were negotiating right now As we if the pan am clinic Experiment works and expansion is godless clinic could be in line to be bought along with it worries a government spokesman that the taxpayer May end up paying for his building for for his Godley says he is adamantly opposed to two tier health care and Hes out to save not Bury but he never becomes Clear on How this squares with his other he admits he has to make a profit and makes a distinction Between moral and immoral when you have two tiered where you Are driven by prof it first and the whole situation in health care delivery becomes a Little bit but if patient care comes first and then making a profit is actually a very Good Godley also says medicare needs free Market Competition to drive Down costs and ensure Quality How else Are you going to get medicare to respond and become More Effi cos effective and accountable to the Public canadians right now Are not getting the All they get is its not it needs to the provincial government agrees change is but it wants the Choice to remain with the o a time for wringing of the hands the press has been asked to Stop writing about the drinking habits of the Bush family that now runs the government of the United and i am anxious to comply with that this is not about Jenna 19 year old daughter of president George nor about the report that she produced fake identification to a restaurant waiter in one Day this week when she ordered a nor is this column about an incident less than two weeks when Jenna Bush pleaded no contest to charges of underage the judge then deferred the charge and ordered her to take alcohol counselling and perform Community that matter might have to be reopened now that the offender has once again run into trouble with the liquor Laws of the state of the Bush family enjoys growing familiarity with the liquor Laws of the different father now ran afoul of the Laws of Maine Back in 1976 when he pleaded guilty to driving while under the influence of alcohol near Kennebunkport during the labour Day a famous Toper in his swore off the bottle 10 years the Day after his 40th the press has been asked not to discuss these matters because it is none of the Public Busi White House press Secretary Ari Fleis Cher yesterday told reporters i would urge All of you to very carefully think through How much you want to pursue i understand that theres a question of Ive never called anybody or suggested to anybody that the coverage today is in any Way but to go beyond that i would urge you to be very she careful because any reaction of the parents is parental it is not it is its private and the american people respect since the american people respect i want to respect but How will i per Suade my who Are Canadian that they should not be curious about the attitudes of the Bush family toward compliance with the Law they May be for whether the full Force of the Law will be applied against Jenna Bush under these difficult circumstances or whether some convenient reason will be found Why the daughter of the president should enjoy greater mercy than is available to i would not want to be the police chief of in these if the Young Ster is prosecuted to the republicans will cry persecution and will say she is being picked on because is the presidents if she is let off democrats will cry favouritism and complain that she is getting the kid Glove on the face of one might conjecture that Jenna Bush either has a weakness for alcohol or is not too when youve been up in court once for underage its not too Bright to head out on the town and create another of there is some deep psychological subtext Here involving Jennas relationship with her maybe she wants to Hurt him with this kind of bad maybe she has no other Way of engaging his the imagination spins and this is the raw material of daytime television How can the Public not feast on the few scraps of information that have been provided the formal advice we have How is that this is a private matter and the american people respect it is therefore my duty to ask the Winnipeg Public to put the matter out of their we should not wonder How Bush is handling this we should not wonder what he has said to Jenna about respect for the Law and about the place of alcohol in her we should not wonder what Calls have been made on Bush behalf to resolve the Law enforce ment issues raised by his daughters in the time of the Monica Lewinsky the most combative republicans were eager to take the fullest partisan advantage of Bill Clinton private this matter of Jenna Bush and the underage drinking is totally different because this time the private shame involves a Republican presi i Hope democrats will resist the temptation to seek revenge by adding to the grief of Jenna they would do better to assume a pious attitude of deep con Cern Over this helpless youngster driven to excesses of aberrant behaviour by the intolerable pres sures of her family envy a Little hand ringing goes a Long 3 Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free presses 1872 Winnipeg Tribune Esi 1890 vol 129 n0171 2001 Winnipeg free a division of newspapers division of Thomson Canada limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Manitoba r2x pm 6977000 a member Manitoba press Council Rudy email Nicholas editor ;