European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 10, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday november 10, 1991 the stars and stripes a Pago 13commentary these issues need to be thoroughly debated in Public and scientific hearings before any policies Are set. The it Gelster guard Eug trn  opinion from newspapers across the nation the Sun Herald Biloxi miss. While the Atlanta braves did no twin the world series fans can still be proud of their teams Complete turnaround from worst to nearly the Best. But fans of the Federal government have nothing to cheer about in the record our government set for fiscal 1991 the record $268.7 billion budget deficit. The record is certainly impressive though bigger by far than the record it broke which was $221.1 billion set in 1986. Its not that the government did no to have enough Money to spend. It certainly did. It had $ 1.05 trillion 2.2 percent More Cash than it had the year before. Trouble is the government spent $1.3 trillion which is 5.7 percent More than it went through the year before. The 1991 deficit get added to the National debt. To feed that monster taxpayers must pay out $304 billion in interest this year. That a $832 million a Day. The Burden Breaks Down to $3.33 every Day for every Man woman and child. You get nothing Back for the daily $832 million except a Good credit rating for your government. It s no record to be proud of. It s a National shame not just on Congress but on All of us  Carlsbad current Argus new Mexico concerned with the state of the Economy congressional democrats republicans and the White House Are feverishly at work on recovery plans a All said to involve some kind of tax decreases to stimulate consumer  with an election year approaching its not surprising to hear politicians talking of tax cuts. But before things get too far a few principles should be recalled. President Bush has likened the Federal budget deficits now running at More than $200 billion a year to a cancer eating away at the nations future economic health. The president is right and to increase the deficit would help the cancer spread. Any net tax Cut therefore must be matched by a spending Cut. If the politicians worried about reelection come at us with a net tax Cut unmatched by a spending Cut we should turn them Down. The Charlotte observer North Carolina with the election just a year away president Bush s political antennae Are beginning to quiver at the criticism that he has no Domestic policy and no interest in the nations increasingly obvious and ominous Domestic problems a and with Good reason. Middle class americans Are beginning to realize that they were largely left behind by the economic Boom of the �?T80s and have no Prospect of catching up with the nation in a prolonged recession. Polls show their dissatisfaction is seriously eroding the unprecedented popular support. Bush enjoyed just a few months ago. Reports from inside the White House indicate that the president is getting conflicting advice from his Cabinet and key republicans in Congress. Some say Hunker Down and Hope that the Economy will rebound before the election. Others say come up with some bold new policy initiative. But so far All the administration has come up with is another Call for a Cut in the capital gains tax a a proposal that whatever its theoretical merits is an insulting joke to average americans who have no capital gains to tax. What most americans surely want and have a right to expect Are fair and reasonable taxation a solvent government that can afford to meet its obligations an 1 Opportunity to compete for a fair share of the benefits of a sound and growing Economy the Assurance that they wont be denied medical care because they can t afford it renewed Confidence that promised pensions and social Security benefits will be there when they need them and the reasonable expectation that their children if they re willing to work will be Able to carve out a Good life in the years  Knoxville news Sentinel Tennessee in the same breath recently the members of the . Senate announced that they were ending their exemption from Laws against discrimination in employment a and devised for themselves unique arrangements that continue to treat Congress differently from other employers. They just Don t get it. The reason citizens Are angry about lawmakers living under special rules is that the rules they impose on others Are so onerous. If the senators expected to have to comply themselves they might Craft More responsible legislation. Employers greatest Burden in the areas of discrimination by sex race age religion and disability is the danger of being sued for ill defined offences that Are difficult to prove or to defend themselves against. Such suits entail High Legal expenses time consuming paperwork and serious damage to reputation even if they have no Merit. Employers found guilty can face punitive damages set by a jury under the civil rights Bill the Senate just passed. Sen. Warren Rudman r-n.h., is one who appreciates the loss of privacy and damage to reputation when a charge of discrimination is taken to court. But for Rudman the very weight of this Burden is a reason Why senators should escape it. Rudman got some satisfaction a move to allow the 6,000 Senate employees and most executive Branch appointees the same right to jury trials As other citizens was Defeated 54-42. What riled him was that the Senate s new special internal process for dealing with discrimination complaints will permit review by the . Court of appeals. Thinking to kill that provision which he believes violates the constitutions separation of Powers Rudman introduced an amendment requiring senators to pay damage awards out of their own pockets. To Rudmanis consternation his amendment passed. Whether that provision will remain in the Bill after the House passes it remains to be seen. It should a until senators Are willing to live under the rules they deem Good enough for other  Scoti Wlady Gazette naw York there a. Money in them there genes and the Federal government is in a hurry to Cash in. How else to explain the virtual Gold Rush it has begun by seeking patents for hundreds of human genes before even knowing what these genes actually do with a global Market estimated to grow to $ 100 billion by the Middle of the next Century biotechnology is undoubtedly important for americans future competitiveness. And As the recent fight Between Genc tech and a japanese competitor Over a genetically engineered heart drug shows owning the knowledge of codes of genes will hold the key to profits. But the National Institute of health s recent move to obtain a Patent for 340 genes from the human brain and its plans to Patent 1,500 additional genes is a massive overreaction. While obviously meant to protect american interests this premature push for patents will Only slow Down the human genome project the $3 billion research project that Aims to decode All the 50,000 genes that make up our genetic endowment. Besides flying the american Flag Over bits and pieces of human genes is not the Best Way to nurture International collaboration that has been the hallmark of this project. Nihls move has opened up a Host of Basic issues that will shape the future of this remarkable technology. George Bush got up one morning. Looked at the civil rights Bill pending in the Senate and said a this is not a quota  which is remarkable because for a year and a half before that he had been saying exactly the opposite about virtually identical Bills. Fine. That a politics. At least this Lime it turned out Well. The Senate passed the civil rights Bill with Only five dissenting votes and the House also passed the measure. It clearly was politics that forced the president to give in on this Issue and accept the a Compromise Quot drafted by moderate Senate republicans. Bush is on the defensive with regard to racial and sexual discrimination. The Clarence Thomas supreme court nomination Battle helped put him there. Given All of this Bush the pragmatist decided he did not want to spend 1992 explaining Why he kept vetoing the most important civil rights legislation of recent times. Most of the Bill a provisions simply reverse decisions the court has made interpreting statutes. Five of those decisions came in 1989, a sixth earlier this year. By / adopting the Bill. Congress is telling the court no i that a not what we meant. This is what we mean. Read / it right this time. The journal Providanza . Western Europe these Days is showing continuing signs of an identity crisis. Even though the soviet menace is swiftly retreating and the common Market is happily expanding outward the continent still resounds with jitters. About its own Security. Such disquiet should hardly come As a Surprise. After All Europe wasted by two titanic wars is determined not to risk another. Some european govern cols notably France and Germany Are eager to Edge away from dependence on nato with its american dominance. The Bush administration. Values nato and is deeply sceptical of any moves to create a new Independent military Force in Europe. Yet this is precisely what France and Germany have in mind Chancellor i Helmut Kohl and president Francois Mitterrand have proposed creating a modestly sized French German military Force. The idea is certainly provocative. But the plan contains at least three flaws that should Rule it out of serious consideration. First a Franco German army would gradually weaken nato an Alliance that meeting the test of Lime sustained Western freedoms throughout the cold War. Second a shift to a Home grown european army would soon erode the invaluable Security linkage Between the United states and Europe. Finally a new european based defense organization is basically redundant. The continent May get along quite Well without the United slates in most endeavours but maintaining Europe s Bedrock military Security is not one of them. Distributed by the associated press