European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 3, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse 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 and Scripps Howard news science Monitor Boston the Media Saga of . Simpson is bound to continue Well past the preliminary hearing. Overnight we have the spectacle of a celebrity superstar becoming a celebrity accused of murder. There Hasni to been anything quite like this Case ,. In . Public life. Still a Way must be found Between mindless celebrity sentimentality and the perverse jeering Quality one now hears where Delight is taken in the fall of a hero and he becomes the butt of sick jokes los Angeles times its unfortunate it May take the arrest of a High profile celebrity like . Simpson to focus the nation on Domestic violence a very serious problem that for too Long has been cast by its sorry practitioners As a a private family it May be that the recent extraordinary events will prove to be the beginning of the end of neglect. Wall Street journal new York rewinding the videotape of boggled memory it runs something like this it is Friday and Channel surfers Are swimming out through the numbers on their to sets towards the world cup against Switzerland on Abc when they stumble and Stop Over the District attorney of los Angeles on can announcing that a a emr. Simpsons has failed to turn himself in arid is Quot at Large and anyone in los Angeles who helps him will be prosecuted As a Felon. How amazing. Perhaps it is a mismatch. Perhaps the unpredictable Phenomena that now burst in unannounced on our tvs Are beyond the extemporaneous skills of Dan rather Connie Chung or Peter Jennings who were better in the simpler Era of say arms control summits. Those were the Days when Large Media events played according to the orchestration of producers at three networks. Those Days Are gone. We now live in a time when at any Given moment of any Day a person with a name known in every living room May suddenly Streak into our lives a fugitive chased by to helicopters proclaiming himself a victim of spousal abuse. Washington times ,. A Good Deal of the Public comment gushing Forth after the murders presented . Simpson As a perhaps fallen hero. The trouble is that while he was surely a breathtakingly talented athlete and by All accounts a lot less avaricious and a lot More Friendly than some pros that was about All . Had going for him. And there just has to be More to being a hero than being a living Miracle on the football Field. Recently the Philadelphia Phillies less than heroic first baseman John Kruk was accosted by an irate fan As he sat enjoying a smoke in a bar. A a it a disgusting a the woman steamed , a to see an athlete to which he replied a a in a no athlete _ May am. In a a he seems to have the right idea. 7 a. So lets not place too great a moral Burden on our ballplayers. Lets cheer them on Admire the great gifts god has showered on them emulate them on the Field. But lets save the hero worship for people who demonstrate True virtue a kindness honesty courage and constancy. Providence . Journal at the least the of. Simpson Case shows the insidious and mindless affection Given to celebrities about whom we really know very Little beyond what they and their press agents desire to put out we can at least be assured that the television image of Simpson was at considerable variance with reality. This is a Man after All who was arrested five years ago and pleaded no contest to his wife a charge that he had beaten her severely. And that came after eight other a complaints of abuse. The Case is a reminder of How chronic and dangerous spousal abuse can be and How it is too often tolerated especially for the Well connected. Dally news Longview Wash. A. A a _ a a a a despite All the talk of evidence and free Wheeling speculation we have Learned nothing of . Simpsons role if any in the murder of his sex wife and her Friend. Yet it seems we be Learned quite a lot in recent Days about the former football stars pattern of wife abuse _ during his seven year marriage. We be also Learned. How ineffectively the Legal system dealt with that neb world Herald time Magazine tricked up a cover photo of . Simpson making the superstar who has been accused of murder look Darker More sinister and menacing. Time has no business placing impressionism and symbolism above journalism a traditional dedication to the a chronicle it would be hard to top . Rep. Patsy Mink a Hawaii for hypocrisy. When the House education and labor committee on which she serves began working up a health care Bill. Modelled on the Clinton plan which she co sponsored Mink quickly moved to get a waiver for her Home she apparently views health care the same Way most people View nuclear waste disposal a great idea but not in my backyard. You know maybe she a Plain Deale Cleveland. It is Worth noting that president Clinton be piling up so Many Legal Bills if his powerful position did no to make him such a tempting target. It also is Worth noting that Clinton be piling up such hefty Legal Bills if he were willing to Settle for lawyers who charge moderate fees. But Here is the president slogging through a swamp of Legal troubles with some of the nations priciest lawyers at his Side. So he has taken to wondering apparently if some of his fellow americans might have pity on him and Chip in to Cut the Cost of his Bills. Americans Are a generous people of course Quick to respond when Well meaning folks hit a spell of bad Luck. But there is something about this pitch that does no to sit quite right. We elect presidents after All to help solve our nations problems a not to Burden us with their Union a a Albany . The evidence about the dangers of smoking Are so Clear that # is surprising a or perhaps amusing a that the tobacco Industry still tries to refute the claims. Steps to discourage smoking should include increases on taxes on tobacco restrictions on the places people can smoke gradually increasing their number and Type and Public service announcements reiterating the health dangers to smokers and nonsmokers alike. By such an approach we should be Able to reduce the number of smokers considerably. The great majority of them will probably not object since most already would like to Buck the habit. A St. Paul Minn Pioneer press North koreans step Back from brinkmanship Over its nuclear program provides a much needed Opportunity for the Clinton administration to get its act Back together before facing the Kim government directly when talks resume in Geneva this month. Much credit should go to former president Jimmy Carter pc it a his role As a damage control intermediary in getting the debate Back on its historic if difficult 7 footing. Baltimore Sun now that president Clinton has shaken up his White House staff in an attempt to Stop his political decline at Home his next target should be Nis muddled foreign policy operation. Warren Christopher has to go. As Secretary of state he projects an image of weakness that ill suits this. Mighty nation. Accompanying him to the exit door. Should be Anthony Lake the National Security adviser who has been unable to articulate much less formulate . Policies that measure up to today a challenges. The shift of David Gergen from the White House to the state department gives the president a conduit for surveying the Miasma at foggy Bottom. Gergens Strong suit is Public relations however and the conduct of foreign policy needs a lot More than new packaging and a new spin. It needs a sense of purpose vision and firm Resolution. .7 Washington Pfost the two great goals of health care Reform Are to achieve or approximate Universal coverage while containing costs. Each comes at a Price. The coverage has to be financed the Cost containment by definition requires that patients and providers get by with less. The politicians want to come As close As possible to the goals while minimizing the Price. _ a a that a understandable a and in this Case not just the usual Effort to have a thing both ways. Health care Isnit a Rivers and harbours Bill. The real world costs As Well As political costs of making a mistake could be huge. 7,. But at the very least a Congress that wants to Start Small while being taken seriously tweeds to set Clear goals As to future coverage and Cost and impose on its successors a timetable and procedures for achieving them. A vote not to do even that is a vote in favor of a system in which health care consumes a seventh rising toward a fifth of All the Money americans have available to spend and yet a seventh of the population remains uninsured
