European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 03, 1995, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday september 3, 1995 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 what newspapers a re Syi n g at Home the following editorial excerpts Are selected from a Cross Section of newspapers throughout the United states. The editorials Are provided by the associated press Scripps Howard news service and other state Side syndicates. The Cincinnati enquirer he s still the grizzled Lead dog in the Republican Mush for White House glory but sen. Bob Dole s Campaign is catching fire like a wet match in a blizzard. In the recent Straw poll in the Early caucus state of Iowa he failed to strike a spark and finished in a Chilly tie with sen. Phil Gramm. His picture is next to the dictionary definition of Washington  he s the career politician Many voters ran out on greased rails in the 1994 election. He s a Compromise walking Down the Middle of the Road. Dole is 72. Many wonder. Should a Man born during the Harding administration be president in 2000?Dole is ceo of the Senate which is moving slower than the . Simpson  Dole can t Wake up and move the Senate he a on t move the Public and his fizzling 1996 Campaign will attract voters like a trained out campfire. Parsons Kan Sun the state of Tennessee has what most Law enforcement organizations consider the first successful privately contracted jail. Many Are Ballyhoo ing the fact that prison space can be successfully contracted through private sources and at a lower Cost than the state can operate on its own. But instead of the celebrating should t legislators be scratching their Heads Over Why a private company can do the same Job As the state while making a decent profit for the owners of the company and do it cheaper than the state. Why can t government do the same Job As a private Industry at the actual Cost incurred by that Industry. Whatever the problem is it s time legislators across the entire country begin to take a serious look at How and Why the y can contract out services to a for profit company cheaper than they can do them on their own. Downsizing government does t have to mean just eliminating branches and services downsizing should also mean running thinner arid More efficiently. /. The daily news Jacksonville . Sending criminals to prison is an expensive Way to fight crime. For what it costs to incarcerate a criminal you could Send a deserving student to College or make a Down payment on a Home. Billions have been spent on new prisons in recent years and billions More will be spent if the prison population continues to climb. So it s easy to be dismayed by a report from the Justice department showing that More than Ini illion persons were locked up in state and Federal prison last year with the number rising to 1.5 million if inmates at local jails Are taken into account. By the end of 1993, one of every 189 . Residents was behind bars. That compares with one of every 453 at the end of 1980. V. Those Are sobering statistics but the alternative to let violent criminals roam the streets is even More  is what to do with society s. Losers Many of them Semi literate men Yho end up in prison. Alabama and Arizona have brought Back Chain gangs. A More promising approach at  less hardened inmates might be work on a High school diploma. If you Don t have Basic math and language. Skills your prospects for meaningful employment on the outside Are not very Bright. Albuquerque . Journal we now have a record 5.1 million americans either behind bars or on probation or parole at the end of last year. Since the 1980s, the number of people in prison or jail or on probation or parole has almost tripled. Almost 2.7 percent of the population or 2.7 persons out of every 100 is under some kind of correction  does the Cost of corrections Stop outstripping inflation a and the growth in the Economy the Only thing these dreary figures say for certain is that by itself putting people in prison is not the answer or if it is the number we will have incarcerated by the time it makes a difference will be More than we can afford. 1 to willing to be another Ronald Reagan if that s Wii at you want me to  or maybe you d prefer Bob Doleto be one of the following great leaders i George Bush d Gerald Ford d Ross Perot a Dan Quayle d Nelson Rockefeller d Ike sen. Dole needs your input you need his tested leadership Seattle Post intelligencer the revelation that 16,000 american citizens were used by their government As human Guinea pigs for radiation research should become a Well remembered cautionary talc for future generations. It is a classic Case where government functionaries and scientific researchers concluded that they knew j Best and that their ends justified their Means. The department of Energy has released records that indicate twice As Many citizens were deliberately exposed to nuclear materials than it had previously estimated. What is regrettably missing front the documents is definitive evidence that those who participated in the experiments which included children infants prisoners mental patients soldiers pregnant women gave informed consent. \ a presidential advisory committee is now mulling whether any of the experiments were ethical and whether any of the subjects should be compensated. Guinea pigs. Surely should be compensated for any subsequent suffering and the perpetrators just _ As surely publicly called to account. Los Angeles times to judge from Philip Morris sanctimonious reaction to extracting a narrow apology from Abc news for a report on alleged nicotine spiking of cigarettes one would hardly guess the company surveys products that cause death and disease. T he company took out full Page ads in major newspapers headlined apology accepted and implying that the press is often wrong. About the dangers of tobacco. Fairness and a sincere interest in the truth Are All that is wanted by. Philip Morris which still disputes the obvious truth that cigarettes cause lung cancer heart disease and other ills a Abc s  program had claimed that Philip Morris artificially spiked cigarettes with outside sources of nicotine. Abc now concedes that this was not True but it holds to the principal focus of its reports that cigarette companies use reconstituted tobacco to manipulate nicotine Levels to keep people smoking. Just Why Abc chose to Settle the $10 billion Philip Morris libel suit Over the objections of its journalists is a matter of debate. Some have suggested that the decision May have been the new York based network s fear of losing before a presumably hostile jury in tobacco producing Virginia. Suffice it to say that Abc handed the tobacco Industry a major Public relations Victory at a time the cigarette makers Are fighting a proposed Rule by the food and drug administration to declare nicotine a drug and to restrict advertising and availability to teen agers. Oregonian Portland Ore. What with All the controversies in Congress Over Public lands management a Bill even alluding to the  eliminating part of the National Park system is bound to raise suspicions. Actually though h.r.260, awaiting a vote in the House of representatives would make the system much More systematic. The Bill favored by most republicans and democrats alike on the House resources committee would require the National Park service to prepare a plan to guide the National Park system into the next century.,this  the Park service s role. In preserving America s heritage relative to other. Federal state local and private efforts and establishing criteria for National Park . Such a plan has Long Beciri  l times Picayune new Orleans the. Gulf of Mexico 6yster Industry has been spared air annual half year ban on raw oysters. The interstate shellfish sanitation conference voted ,. Not to endorse the food and drug administration s proposal to ban consumption of Gulf raw oysters from april through november to the bacterium Vibrio Vul ficus occurs naturally in. Seawater and flourishes in warm temperatures. Some v 10 to 15 deaths a year arc attributed to oysters most taken from the Gulf of Mexico in summer. But the size of the threat does not justify devastating major Industry and penalizing the vast majority of Consumers. Now the conference has adopted a refrigeration schedule oysters shall be refrigerated a certain number of hours after harvesting according to the temperature of the water. The requirements Range from within 14 hours when water temperatures Are 65-74 degrees to within six hours when temperatures  84degrees. " " " a / the Compromise plan will undoubtedly increase the Tost of oysters and threaten smaller harvesters. But it is. A responsible attempt to balance physical Anil economic health _ ,. ". Post and courier Charleston . China s decision to expel human rights activist Harry we is Welcome although hardly cause for Celebration. It has cleared the major obstacle to sending Hillary Rodham Clinton to. Represent the United states i Beijing at the United nations conference on women which starts monday. The first lady should take \. Advantage of this Opportunity to communicate _ _ american concern about human rights abuses in China. China was not nearly As magnanimous As it could have been in its treatment of. We. Arrested when he entered China with a valid visa and an american passport last june he was arraigned on trumped up espionage charges carrying the death penalty. Chinese authorities then attempted to extort a confession that he had lied about prison conditions. They vere angry that on previous visits he had helped the British broadcasting corp. Prepare a television report on human rights abuses in chinese prisons. Before being expelled on aug. 24he was tried convicted of spying and sentenced to a 15-year prison term that makes it very Likely that he will be arrested and jailed if he again tries to visit his native country. The , conference could become a testing experience for China s leaders. Now that. We is Back in the United states mrs. Clinton is free to go to Beijing As the Leader of the . Delegation