Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 30, 1994 TAG: 9412240004
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: G2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Our Capitol-building employees often announce they voted to cut billions in spending when it's only a reduction from an artificial cap much higher than the previous year's spending. They actually voted a spending increase. A lie or a misleading statement?
At the White House, we hear words such as investment, meaning money that our govermnment will spend. A lie or a misleading statement?
Our employees brag that they voted for a program the public wants, knowing that their head man will appoint members to the Senate-House conference committee that will delete that program. A lie or a misleading statement?
Deals were made by our president to get the votes to pass, by one vote, the deficit-reduction bill, with billions of dollars in new spending and a big tax increase. It was amended in the Senate-House conference committee to include all that new pork spending demanded by members. Deficit reduction? A lie or a misleading statement?
Congress votes spending off-budget, so that the spending doesn't appear in the year-end budget-deficit figure announced to the media, but is included in the total debt figure. A lie or misleading statement?
My advice is to vote for those you think least likely to mislead their employers. History tells us that new members are most likely to meet that criteria.
GEORGE F. SNYDER VINTON
Warner has lost his effectiveness
HAVING seen Sen. John Warner many times in person and on television without ever having seen him laugh or even smile, one would have little thought that he was a comedian. But surely he jested when he said Lt. Col. Oliver North did nothing but trash Congress. Doesn't Warner know that Congress has been trashing itself from the birth of the nation?
More than 150 years ago, when John Randolph of Roanoke rose in Congress to reply to those who had objected to his calling Congress dishonest, Randolph said: ``All the scoundrels in hell could not design a more corrupt system than the U.S. Congress.'' Since Randolph was speaker of the House at the time, he was in a good position to know. It's been downhill since then!
When Warner joined with Sen. Ted Kennedy and his like to defeat the confirmation of Robert Bork, Warner betrayed the trust of nearly 100 percent of those who elected him, and he lost his effectiveness as a conservative leader. I hope North will soon be Virginia's senior senator.
FRED WERTH RURAL RETREAT
Trust Clinton, Robb to control spending
ONE OF Oliver North's current TV campaign ads accuses President Bill Clinton of, among other things, working to ``spend our kids into debt.''
I'm amazed by the number of people who seem to have forgotten that it was North's old boss, former President Ronald Reagan, who took this country from being the world's largest creditor nation to being its biggest debtor.
Now, North is asking Virginia voters to let him join congressional Republicans who want to ``contract'' with Americans to increase defense spending, maintain Social Security and Medicare benefits, and reduce taxes at the same time.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, but he doesn't provide the federal budget! Clinton has done more to reduce the deficit than Reagan or George Bush ever thought about.
Sen. Charles Robb wants to help the president continue his efforts to get Washington spending under control. I don't think we can afford to replace him with another borrow-and-spend politician.
WILLIAM D. BESTPITCH ROANOKE
North gave aid, comfort to Saddam
OLIVER NORTH recently declared that ``Saddam Hussein is able to move with impunity'' into Kuwait because President Clinton ``does not have the forces he needs if [Iraqi troops] come across the border,'' and because Clinton has created ``a hollow military and [the Iraqis] know that.''
These remarks, coming at a time when U.S. troops were deploying to the Gulf region, were a disservice to the country and our troops. These remarks virtually invited Saddam Hussein to attack. They demonstrate North's unsuitability for leadership in Virginia. At a time of emergency, when American troops are in harm's way, I want no potential or present U.S. senator to ever give aid and comfort to the enemy.
TOM OXENDINE LEXINGTON
Payne didn't keep his word
LAST SPRING I wrote to my congressman, L.F. Payne, to express my concern with Clinton's health-care bill. He said that he couldn't support the bill, because it relied on employer mandates, price controls, global budgeting and other forms of government control.
He assured me he was against Clinton's proposal, and was for the Cooper plan. I was pleased with the position he had taken. That is, until this summer when I read that Payne, serving on the House Ways and Means Committee, voted for Clinton's health bill. He made a complete turnaround! Payne isn't ``one of us'' as his TV ads proclaim. He's simply a Clinton clone.
I want a congressman who will act in accordance with what he tells his constituents, a man of his word! George Landrith is such a man.
CAROLYN REAS MONETA
Natural resources can't be replaced
THE WIDENING of U.S. 221 up Bent Mountain isn't a good idea. When construction begins, so does destruction. Sure, houses will be torn down, which can be rebuilt. The woods and fields cannot.
Construction will run off all wildlife and destroy the country atmosphere. Isn't that why people move to the mountain, to escape city life? Where will we go for a peaceful drive or to see a deer? It definitely won't be very peaceful during construction.
When nature is gone, it will be gone forever, and people cannot understand this horrible fact. Let us stop taking the Earth's dirt and replacing it with metal and concrete. We need to stop destruction and start conserving the Earth's natural resources.
RUTH GARRIDO SALEM
Disney would thwart area entrepreneurs
DON'T GET me wrong. I have nothing against Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse or celebrating American history. But I'm adamantly opposed to a Disney theme park in Southwest Virginia because:
Economic benefits of a massive theme park would be extremely concentrated, probably in the Wythe County area. This means congestion problems, increased delays, displacement of farms and businesses, and some decline in air quality. Simultaneously, the benefit to counties with the worst economic problems - Dickenson, Buchanan, Lee, Scott and Wise - would be negligible.
Southwest Virginia's budding tourism industry would likely have the rug pulled out from under it. Currently, many entrepreneurs and community organizations are working to develop tourism opportunities based upon our region's unique cultural and ecological resources. These range from the historic opera house in Pocahontas to Natural Tunnel near Duffield. A Disney park would bring thousands of new visitors to the Interstate 77/81 corridor, but how many would venture beyond the park to experience smaller, less glitzy attractions?
Finally, courting Disney with $100 million incentive packages is playing that same old game that simply hasn't worked: enticing large companies to come from outside and ``give us jobs,'' rather than building up our own economy based upon our own values, resources and needs. There are now under way several efforts to assist small businesses and develop innovative, ecologically sustainable enterprises in our region. Among others, these include People Inc.'s Business Start Microenterprise program, the Dungannon Development Commission's Ecotourism project, and the Clinch Powell Sustainable Development Forum.
Before we spend $160 million to bring Mickey Mouse to Appalachia, shouldn't we consider how far such monies would go to develop a great diversity of entrepreneurs already living here?
ANTHONY FLACCAVENTO ST. PAUL
by CNB