European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 03, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday january 3, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 what newspapers Are saying at Home the following editorial excerpts arc selected from a Cross Section of newspapers throughout the United states. The editorials Are provided by the associated press arid United press International. Los Angeles times whether the second year of his presidency will Fin president Clinton devoting to National Security and foreign relations challenges the time and concentration these compelling matters demand remains to be seen but if nothing else he has now strongly signalled his intention to seek greater vigor and decisiveness to making and carrying out key policies and that s All to the Good. The latest sign came tuesday with Secretary of stat Warren Christopher s announcement that Strobe Talbott who holds the title of ambassador at Large willbe nominated to the no. 2 Job at the state department. Perhaps the biggest contribution Talbott can make will be to persuade Clinton where others have failed that he must pay greater concentrated attention to global issues that affect the political and Security interests of the United states. The nominations of retired adm. Bobby Ray Inman to succeed Les Aspin a Secretary of defense and of Talbott tothe top tier atthe state department Are encouraging indications of a new appreciation of what the president s responsibility requires. Both of these first rate choices deserve speedy Senate  Sun Baltimore members of Congress have the Best jobs. They get Atwo month Christmas vacation. The first session of the 103rd Congress ended nov. 26. The second session resumes Jan. 25. This beats every College we know about. " ,. Many members used this time for travel. Not Home minding the store chatting up the constituents or bringing in the Winter Supply of firewood. Rather abroad broadening their minds sophist Cating up to their responsibilities. House majority Leader Richard a. Gephardt handsome House buddies for instance Are going to Indonesia Thailand China and Hong Kong. Gephardt fought Naftal to the bitter end and he is going As far from Mexico As the . Air Force can arrange. That s the catch. The air Force has to Fly these people. Departing defense Secretary Les Aspin was meaning to bequeath to the nation a military capable of fighting two major regional wars simultaneously. That s wish unthinking. One regional Micro War and a congressional Winter solstice vacation is More like it. Detroit free press it s too late to wish that the sex life of presidents or candidates had never been raised As a topic for Public discussion. For better or worse the operating principle now seems to be that Public figures have no aspect of their lives that is truly private and that allegations of Hanky Panky Are to be aired and debated much the Waythe Republic would debate say a president s position on civil right leaving aside the deeply Messy questions of whether or not the allegations about president Clinton a behaviour As governor of Arkansas Are True the new Standard leaves both president and Public in a difficult position. Clinton has probably responded As Well a possible unless the allegations reflect on his ability to govern or a serious abuse of office he is right to give them Short attention and try to keep the country and his own energies focused on More vital Public issues from health care to welfare Reform to crime. St. Louis Post dispatch the water is getting deeper for democratic  Rostenkowski of Illinois who As chairman of the ways and Means committee is one of the most powerful members the House of  under investigation for possibly trading his postage stamp allotment for Cash at the House Post office and allegedly running an office in his District that does t exist he new May face new charges. According to the chicane Sun times Rostenkowski apparently paid considerable sums to individuals in Chicago who either never worked for him or have Long since ceased to do soit is a shame that a Man who has done such important work May be lost to scandal but one Rule must apply in today s politics Only honest people should be allowed to play. The congressman May not pass that test with possibly major consequences for himself and his president s legislative program. Los Angeles times land mines Are not ordinarily thought of As weapons of mass destruction but 100 million of these devices scattered around the Globe will do a massive amount of destruction before All Are detonated or cleared. Removing mines is a Gargantuan task one for which Only primitive technology has been developed. But halting the planting of new mines is a separate an equally important task. Congress has voted to extend a one year moratorium on . Mine exports to three years and on dec. 7 the Clinton administration wrote to 40 mine exporting countries asking them to join the moratorium. Later in december the general Assembly of the unite nations passed a nonbinding Resolution calling for a global moratorium. Whether China Italy the former soviet Republic Sand various other mine exporters will respect the moratorium is Uncertain but Congress and the Clinto administration Are to be applauded for quietly taking a first step. " v the Sun. A Baltimore few individuals have dominated their times a completely As the son of a chinese peasant born 100 years ago. Contemporary China of More than 1 billion souls is the China that Mao tse Tung made. His successors Are trying to undo his damage while holding on to the legitimacy he conferred upon them. Whether the communists represented China s truest evolution or just another dynasty is for sino Logiste to debate. For certain the Small communist party that the librarian Mao helped found in 1920 subverted the revolution of 1911, survived the Long March of 1934,withstood the japanese in the 1930s and 1940s from a Cave in Yean and triumphed in 1949. Mao May still be the cultural icon of China s rulers but his death in 1976 was China s liberation. When China finally decides Mao was never the great helmsman his successors will be off the Bridge and in the sea. But of All the babies born on dec. 26,1893,  the one with the most lasting effect on the world the Washington Post in the aftermath of the russian elections it would be wrong to think that those jarring returns were the result of too much Reform. It s just the opposite. The worst of the social distress has been used by too Little Reform. The question for the West avow is How Best to encourage and Nelp president Boris a lets Inland the people around him to stay at the difficult Job rebuilding the russian  v. A Mirinovsky whose rabidly nationalist party won the largest number of votes has been touring Germany and Austria in the company of various admirers of the late Hitler. The spectacle does t mean that Russia is turning fascist but it does indicate the need to think carefully about the present economic strategy. Examiner san Francisco for those of us who believe open Access should Bethe first immutable principle governing the new _ information superhighway a recent speech by vice president Al Gore made the right stops but the trip Isar from Complete. At some time in the next decades,." the Vic president said in remarks to the National press club r we won t talk about Cable or telephones or cellular or wireless because there will be free and Ope Competition Between everyone who provides arid delivers information today technology is abundant and developing at rapid Pace. The task is to throw open the switch to Competition retaining just enough regulation to ensure free and fair Access. Gore talked about that balance As he outlined five goals he said the administration would pursue letting private Enterprise build the informationhighway.-1 promoting and protecting Competition. Ensuring open Access. Avoiding a society of information haves and have not " keeping  Long As intelligent rules Are developed and observed it does t matter How Many wires one two or 50 reach each Home. Open Access is the key. Plain dealer Cleveland Domino s pizza s pledge to deliver its wares within30 minutes evidently was a hit with customers. Since the marketing gambit was adopted in 1984, Domino shas grown into the country s largest pizza delivery company. But even to pizza lovers there must have seemed an element of risk that delivery Drivers would be tempted to exceed Speed limits or crash red Light Sand Stop signs to Honor the Promise. It might have come As no Surprise then that a  woman who suffered disabling injuries when a Domino s delivery vehicle ran a red Light and struck he car sued the company for damages. What probably has staggered everyone who has read of the Case is not that she won but that a jury awarded her $78.75 million mostly in punitive  amount could be trimmed on Appeal. But Domino a which has had mixed fortunes in various lawsuits arising from traffic accidents wisely decided to draw a lesson from its defeat in St. Louis. It will no longer guarantee delivery within 30 minutes. The Boston Globe a National intelligence estimate that concludes therein a better than even Chance North Korea already has a nuclear bomb not Only complicates president Linton s handling of a perilous threat of nuclear proliferation. It also illuminates a crucial problem concerning the integrity of analysis produced by the intelligence Community. But can Clinton be certain that the intelligence analysts Are Correct the agencies that concurred in the intelligence estimate acknowledge that they Haven proof North Korea has a nuclear bomb. They Are guessing and their guesses Are based on shaky suppositions about the amount of plutonium Pyongyang might have extracted from spent fuel in nuclear reactors and about the sophistication of North Korea s bomb making technology. The analysis derived from this Guesswork is and was meant to be a worst Case scenario. Understandable As this motive for a worst Cas scenario might be embarrassment about past intelligence errors should not be allowed to influence or distort current intelligence estimates