European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 5, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 22 ii. Lilt log Jiju Vulf jew go j.i-uj.h>�-.  l  a or a a of cab so i  if incl in Sivirn it fall trl Anding for a Day special on target shooting Wasny to Andy Rooney of might think a four Day trip to Normandy to take pictures for television in. Advance of the 50th anniversary of the a Day landings in France would be a vacation. Not really. Here a the Way the first Day went. We got on the plane in new York at 6 30 . For the 7 . Flight. The 7 . Flight took off at Quarter to 8 a airline Normal. Dinner was served from 9. . To 11 . After dinner i tilted Back my seat As far As it would go and pretended i was going to sleep. You have to remember that when you take off at 7 45 . In new York its already 1 45 . In Paris where you re going. At 11 ., when you Start trying to sleep its 5 . Two hours later they blasted out a breakfast announcement and your nights sleep is Over. The Sun is shining. I was travelling with my Friend and All purpose Edi Tor director producer Dob Forte we were met at orly Airport in Paris by the sound Man in a medium sized Peugeot Van. The first thing he told us was that we had to pick up the cameraman who was flying in a j\9" v # a. A it a it Andy Rooney did no to have to land like these British and French paratroopers wednesday at Ranville France to Mark Normandy operations. From Rome at Lebourget the Airport on the other Side of Paris. All the Paris based Crews were in Cannes for the film festival. First things first. Vito Monaco the cameraman arrived from Rome with 17 cases of camera equipment. We had already filled the Van with our own Luggage so we rented a big Renault diesel Van with three rows of seats and a huge High Ceil need storage area in the Back. After a three hour drive we checked into our hotel the chateau do Audrieu. It was a Beautiful place a although for $168 a night it should have been a with a Good restaurant a although at $65 apiece for dinner it should have been. The bad news was with no traffic it was an hour from Omaha Beach a and there was traffic. We realized not Long after we left Paris that As a Crew we had a language problem exacerbated by the noise in the poorly built diesel Van. Mario the sound Man was bom in Chile and his native language is Spanish. He worked in the lbs Paris office so his French is passable. I work in the lbs office in new York and my French is impassable although i can do a Little. Vito the cameraman from Rome Speaks italian but not much French. His English was better than Mario a and Superior to my French. Vito lived in South America for two years where he Learned Spanish so he spoke to Mario in Spanish. Mario a English was not As Good As my French. Bob Forte is a special Case. As he said when we talked about it a i done to even speak English too  we re Lucky we Ever got where we were going but finally we arrived at the american cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach and prepared to Start taping. Vito set up his camera and i walked in circles trying to memorize what i wanted to say. My mind was fuzzier than usual after the Long flight and the drive to Normandy. There seemed to be a Long wait. I noticed Vito and Mario fussing with their equipment. I interrupt cd their Spanish dialogue and ask Vito when they d be ready. A camera. Dead a Vito said. A do not understand. First time Ever  any problem a cameraman has is always the first time it has Ever happened. We called the lbs office in Paris and it dispatched a Driver with another camera for us. It arrived at 5 45 . A in a pouring rain that made taking pictures impossible. I Hope things get better tomorrow. In a Reading my French English Spanish dictionary and reconsidering the Case for esperanto. How do i say a Shasta la Vista in French Tribune Media services Andy Rooney is a former stars and stripes  welfare sounds Good but not Worth it Clarence Page once upon a time any politician to the left of David Duke would have been committing political suicide to Call for cutting off welfare to reduce Cut of Wedlock births. Even losing ground author Charles Murray currently a resident scholar at Washington a american Enterprise Institute floated the suggestion Only tentatively even at the height of Reagan Cra welfare bashing. Everyone it seemed agreed the idea was simply too Radical to survive Washington a political processes. But limes May have changed. The formerly unthinkable is now openly proposed. A dozen Republican legislators recently assembled on the Capitol building Lawn to support a welfare Reform Bill that would do just what Murray has dreamed deny Cash Aid to any new unwed mothers under age 21. Instead of giving Cash Aid to the Young mothers the Bill sponsored by first term rep. James Talent r-mo., in the House and first term sen Lauch Faircloth r-n.c., in the Senate would Send it directly to the states to care for poor children any Way they Sec fit ways that might Well include another Murray option reopening orphanages. Orphanages zounds shades of Oliver twist one almost certain consequence would be an upsurge in abortions. Yet the Bill has been endorsed by such staunchly conservative groups As the Christian coalition Eagle forum and the american conservative Union similar proposals have won the backing of possible 1996 presidential contenders Jack Kemp the self proclaimed a bleeding heart conservative a and William Bennett the former drug policy Czar. What has happened How has the formerly unthinkable become politically possible for starters the politics of poverty have taken a punitive turn. It began when candidate Bill Clinton scored valuable Points with Middle class voters by promising to a Send welfare As we know  Clinton favored the recommendations of Harvard a David Ellwood now a Deputy Secretary of health and human services who called for a two year limit on Cash Aid provided that a safety net of jobs training child care child support Assurance and National health insurance Are in place for those leaving the system. Republicans responded in much the Way they responded to Clinton a crime Bill a by shifting farther to the right. Suddenly work alone was not enough they said they wanted to fight out of we Loek births too. The idea has Appeal because it attacks a problem that like welfare itself is becoming More apparent to liberals As Well As conservatives the fragile fibres of society Are falling apart for today a Urban poor. While the vast majority of welfare recipients Are on the Rolls for less than two years one group deserves special attention teen age welfare mothers. Their numbers Are not great. In 1991, the latest year for which statistics Are available Only 8.1 percent of welfare mothers were under 20 years of age. But their Impact is disastrous. Babies raising babies tend to produce children unprepared to learn in school or function productively in society. There Are countless heroic single mothers out there who do heroic jobs of raising their children despite the adversities of poverty. Like other Urban based reporters i have profiled quite a few Over the years. But it does these heroes no service to ignore the threats posed to their Well being or that of their children by the offspring of other mothers who Are less responsible or prepared for the burdens and challenges of child rearing Murray blames welfare for creating a new class of emancipated but poorly prepared Young mothers. He would cure the problem by ending welfare. Period. A a / a a a attractive As that idea May sound in the age of crack cocaine a gangsta rape and super gangs Mur a Ray fails to account for other More significant changes in inner City life. Before welfare As the University of Chicago a William Julius Wilson a research Points out Black americans were mostly Rural. Today they Are mostly Urban. The Middle class role models that helped poor kids like me have Hope have moved away now thanks to housing desegregation. De industrialization also has removed the City jobs that once enabled Black workers to support their families. Welfare pays too Little to attract very Many Young women or girls to the Rolls All by itself. Cutting it off and reopening orphanages is less Likely to cure old problems than to create new ones. It sounds attractive politically because it sounds easy. Unfortunately it probably wont work. A Chicago Tribuna sunday june 5, 1994