Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 12, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba A10 Winnith Fri i Phi to Jim 2001 comment editor Terence Moore 6977044 editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights no reason to despair parliament has adjourned for summer and most maps Are scattering across the their pockets bulging As a result of the obscene pay and pension increases prime minister Jean Chretien fashioned for them and for in a differ ent political the arrogance of a government that would use its clout to line the pockets of its and further to use those same pay increases As a Means of mocking legitimate debate about their could be expected to outrage voters and strengthen the hand of the government in waiting the official but these Are not different times they Are simply the times in which we and the times in which we live Are times in which effective opposition has All but evaporated so that the Liberal government and act with the Alliance is Busy tearing itself apart Over the hapless leadership of Stockwell Joe Clark on the weekend very Likely put the last Nail in the coffin of the unite the right movement by Lead ing a Gay Pride Parade in which is not a judgment of Clarks Only an observation of its Likely the tiny nip mean is fracturing in a quest to find a reason to while the bloc quebecois seems a spent Force that had to twist the Arm of Quebec Premier Bernard Landry in order to get him to attend its anniversary if All that were not enough to cause canadians to despair that the nation will Ever again enjoy some thing other than on party wily Chretien has chosen this time to signal the Start of the race to succeed not just As Leader of the Liberal but As prime minister for the foreseeable allowing the candidates at this time to come out from the Backrooms and into the open is a decision that can Only be admired for its it Means that the attention of the nation will now be divided Between negative stories about the opposition parties and positive stories about the possible result of the Liberal it no longer mat ters so much what becomes of laughing Stock or that who but rather what becomes of the Liberal contenders Paul Alan Brian Michael Sheila Copps or Anne but canadians should not we Are cursed with interesting the for could choose the wrong Treyve done it before much like the Alliance did by choosing image Over John Turner Over Jean liberals were thrown out of office until they corrected the mistake by putting Jean Chretien first in their hearts and in their Stockwell May yet Call it a a new Leader with a new resolve could once again put a spotlight on the profligate ways of the Joe Clarks support could grow As big and As fast As his Quebec could turn on the Ontario could turn on the it could even be that the status quo will prevail among the but that voters simply decides its time for right now things May seem unlikely to change in a Day is a very Long death of a fanatic Timothy Mcveigh is whether or not that is a Good thing depends entirely on ones Point of View about capital Mcveigh was executed by lethal injection in the United states Federal prison at Terre he had been convicted of the april Oklahoma City bombing of a Federal government building that killed 168 including 19 children attending a daycare Saced Hotary is also he killed on june he strapped explosives to his body and mingled with israeli teenagers outside a night club in Tel when he pushed the More than 20 Young people were including and dozens More were both men went willingly to their Mcveigh could have prolonged the Legal process leading up to his execution for years but he declined to take advantage of the american Appeal system that can take As Long As 20 years in a capital instead he proudly proclaimed his responsibility for the justified it As an act of patriotism in protest against a corrupt american government and went to his death without a Martyr in his own Hotary circumvented the entire Legal process by killing himself at the same time he killed his a palestinian living in Jordan and working in considered himself a in his Case to the cause of the destruction of both these murderers Are albeit by differ ent there were protesters against capital punishment outside the Terre haute prison when Mcveigh there were both mourners and celebrants the same in Many cases at Notarys these two killers were in the service of very Dif Ferent but they shared one thing the fanaticism of their beliefs and their Choice to die for the two deaths under such different Cir the two groups of victims who were murdered for such very disparate Point to a single conclusion that no kind of death penalty could have deterred them from their their deaths will not make citizens safer from the next Long Road Back to Square one where will it All end How Long can the Cana Dian Alliance party continue on its course of bitterness and self destruction without some major upheaval putting an end to the whole shabby mess every Day brings new reports of bickering and Alliance members of who ought to be position ing themselves As an alternative government Are instead keeping Busy attacking each threatening each suing each sus pending each other or threatening to suspend each the party Leader has been assigned to a kind of allowed to speak Only when his handlers deem it Wise and to say Only what his handlers deem Stockwell Days friends in the party do their Best to keep him out of the limelight while his enemies become increasingly Frank about his shortcomings though remaining reticent about the details of where he has gone Deborah the party longest serving member and one of the leading critics of summed it up in a remarkable confession published in yesterdays Globe and mail it is no secret that my party needs renewal this Spring after having been born Only one year she in not discouraged by this rather in thankful that seasons of renewal come As an example of whistling past the grave that ranks and is Grey deserves full Marks for a party that needs to renew itself after Only one year of life is a party that is in serious the Only Way out of that trouble May Well be to renew itself out of All those internal ruptures May very Well Lead to the creation of even More parties on the appalling As that May it is not since the Early Days of the Reform Preston Manning and his followers have adopted the strategy of uniting the right by dividing the creation of the Canadian Alliance a year ago was supposed to provide a United alternative to Liberal governments but that didst the party failure in the last Federal election has set off the current wave of Back internal hostility and Mutual resent this cannot go no party can survive in the state of Mutual hatred and Dis Unity that is plaguing the Canadian Alliance at the Stockwell Day May hold on to his Job until the party National convention next he May even win a majority of votes at that but his with him and perhaps without is what might save the if not the would be a new merger Between the conservative party and the More mainstream elements of the Stockwell Day set out to destroy the tory party and instead finds his own party Plum meting in the polls while the after teetering near Are now rising in though not yet posing any serious threat to the if the Alliance can no longer Hope to Swal Low the the tory party could offer a Home to Many Alliance members who have thrown up their hands in despair at the inadequacies of their Leader and the eccentricities of their members of the two parties Are now discreetly canvassing the possibility of Mutual cooperation that might in time Lead to the for mation of a new party espousing what its sup porters these Days like to Call democratic at one the new party that emerged from those talks might have looked pretty much like the Alliance party with a few conservative these it would look very much like the progressive conservative party of Joe though not necessarily with Joe Clark As that of course would raise the interesting question if we Are to end up with a party that looks just like the tory party of what was the Point of All that political thrashing about on the right Over the past dozen years parenting tips for first dad the biggest sin committed by George Bush ebullient twin daughters was not get Ting caught for underage that was but not the presidents imbibed in a state where the Legal drinking age is a landmark few College Stu dents reach without sipping at least Small amounts of Jenna and Barbara Bush messed up in a much More profound breaking the social contract that has bound teenagers and their parents for it has always been the sworn duty of parents to Embarrass their a Job usually accomplished simply by being alive and its just unfair when it Hap pens the other Way one of the elemental Joys of parenting arrives when you realize your teenager blanches at the thought of you leaving the House forget threatening and taking away their internet theres nothing like a whispered Sugges Tion you might yol Untener to supervise a school dance to guarantee the gym clothes hit the laundry Bas Ket at least once a but Jenna and Barbara Bush messed with Trade doing a Thor Ough Job of shaming the Jenna was picked up apparently missing the teachable moment the first time Austin police charged her with illicit Margarita she was cited a second time two weeks later after trying to pass off a friends Drivers licence As her Barbara accompanied her Frisky sister on her second documented trip to the she has pleaded no contest to underage drinking while Jenna pleaded if they been any other the matter have raised an when youre the children of the president of the United a Man who quit drinking in 1986 after a lengthy history As a party More than eyebrows Are the girls were rewarded with a cover Story in people Maga with the headline oops they did it again the misbehaving of the Bush twins Doest rank High in the annals of High spirited teen they we rent drunk and they we rent drinking and Dri there Are no naked Pic no smoking guns and no one was unless you count the owner of the restau rant who dutifully called police and has found himself under scrutiny As a his staff is partially to hav ing decided that the Correct strategy for coping with an underage first child in a bar is to Call 911 and declare a police if that the method followed every time an underage Texas College student orders a its no wonder the citizens of the Lone Star state feel so strongly about carrying concealed you cant count on a police Force that is constantly Rushing out to the Beer n whirl to Check there is no sense the arrest sullied the Bush family name in an unfamiliar first grandmother Barbara apparently remembering her sons hell raising told a crowd that George is getting Back some of his the twins showed poor striking out could probably use a Little fatherly advice on How not to simultaneously shame the family and develop a reputation As a goo time but their lapse is so minor it really Doest warrant much More than a Stern talking to by a who surely has More significant problems to worry was it wrong As we want our children to obey All the keep their noses clean most of avoid the perils and Pitfalls we All experienced on our Way from adolescence to adult teens do stupid its the peril of their fathers profession that these girls Are doing their stupid things under a if George and Laura Bush Are looking for a Little parental heres mine follow your daughters to the hum when you walk Down the talk about How things were when you were a Wear clothing that draws attention to the fact that you have a laugh out loud at a offer to Wear talk to quickly the Bushes should be Able to strike a Deal with their wayward if Knock it the girls could probably abstain in Public for a couple More 0 llndqrraynolds@fraiiiriw.iili.6i Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 vol129n0182 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 number Lofte Manitoba Council Rudy email Nicholas Patrick Flynn Deputy of editor ;