The Kokomo Tribune from Kokomo, Indiana • Page 5

Opinion Monday, Aug. 10, 1992 Kokomo (Ind.) Tribune 5 TRIBUNE John C. Wiles Managing editor Arden A. Draeger Publisher-general manager Stephen Elkins Advertising director Richard Schram Circulation director Swept under rug Unpopular bailout is required The crash of the savings and loan industry is the towering example of government irresponsibility in recent years. Though deposits were federally insured, regulators looked the other way as unsound practices swept the nation's thrifts.

By contrast, the House of Representatives' current refusal to fund the bailout is the quintessential instance of petty, routine shirking of duty on Capitol Hill. The bailout, understand, is not an optional expenditure for Washington. Back in 1933, the federal government undertook to insure thrift deposits and incurred this obligation. In the early 1980s, Congress raised the cap on insured deposits to $100,000, thus committing the taxpayers to pick up a virtually unlimited tab should many thrifts fail. Hundreds did, and an agency called the Resolution Trust Corporation was created to sell or close insolvent thrifts.

Now the RTC has run out of money. It's been marking time since April 1. It needs funds to pay off depositors, many of them people of modest means whose entire savings are at risk. The 22 million accounts indemnified so far had an average balance of just $9,000. Yet the House of Representatives refuses to replenish the RTC even though every day's delay increases the bill by $6 million, Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady testified last week.

Congressional stalling has cost thepublic at least $600 million since the cleanup began in 1989, the RTC estimates. To its credit, the Senate voted promptly last spring to provide the $43 billion the RTC needs. But the House still balks. Members see the cleanup as unpopular never mind that it is required by law. This evasion of responsibility is bipartisan: Only one-third of House Democrats and one-third of Republicans were even willing to vote to release $18 billion authorized last year but not spent by the RTC before a cutoff date.

The debacle had its roots in the spiraling inflation of the Carter years and the collapse of the price of oil in the early 1980s. But it grew to gargantuan proportions because weakling regulators and politicians indebted to high-rolling thrift owners continually swept the problems under the rug. Some actual crooks in the thrift industry took advantage of the lack of oversight. Almost 1,200 of them have been charged with crimes, and 582 already have been sentenced to prison. Only the frauds on Capitol Hill haven't changed their ways.

Letters Bush should pass buck to Congress If George Bush's presidency is to be saved, he must shift the blame for the recession away from his administration and onto Congress. He must make Congress the target of public unrest, as Harry Truman did with what he called the "do-nothing Congress" in 1948. Maybe Bush fears to alienate Congress, maybe he fears that an all-out attack on Congress would make any chance for cooperation with the legislative branch impossible. But the fact is the opposition of Congress to most of what Bush wants to do to end the recession is what is prolonging the recession. Bush submitted seven programs to Congress in which he outlined steps that needed to be taken.

But the liberal Democratic Congress shot them down one by one. This Congress cannot bring itself to work with the President because it wants to drive him from office. It's a myth that Bush "isn't doing anything" or that he has not done anything to combat the slowdown. He has put program's before Congress, but the liberal Democratic leadership simply can't tolerate making a Republican president look good. That's why a divided government president from one party and Congress from the other doesn't work.

What would really get the country moving again toward good times would be Bush's reelection and a Republican majority in Congress. Bush needs to outline carefully Letter guidelines Letters is your space to comment on nearly any topic of general interest to the public. The shorter the letter, the sooner it can be published. The best guideline is 250 words or less. The Kokomo Tribune reserves the right to edit all letters for grammar, brevity, good taste, and libel.

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to the people where he wants to lead the country. But also he needs to start right now to systematically relate the failings of this Congress. I don't know whether he has the bulldog tenacity that Harry Truman showed in 1948, but he should try it. His survival in the White House could depend on it. Howards.

Makemson Kokomo, Ind, Books that help against satanism I am so thankful and praising my Lord that the Kokomo Police Department not only got proof of satanic-ritualistic abuse and crimes, but also for its bravery and honestly in sharing publicly the facts. As I am an ex-satanist victim myself, I can identify with the thrills of first studying satanism, the unusualness, finding out that I was special just because satan needed my gifts and all that I had to offer him, and then experiencing the downward spiral into the pit of horrors with no way of getting out, or so I thought. I urge all pastors and lay people to invest in several good books. We do not need a false wit- ch-satanism hunt here or thinking that everyone who has a rock T- shirt is a satanist, nor do we need to falsely think that because everyone grows herbs that they are witch doc tors. From Living Waters is an excellent book that I am almost done with "Dead Air" by Bob Larson.

It is an awesome book, based on facts, but set in a fictional situation in Columbus, Ind. It is about a little satanic victim (girl), who begs a talk radio show host to "help save me from the Dark Raven." This is not a book for the faint of heart, but for those who desire to know just what is going on, and to equip themselves against the hosts of hell. Read Ephesians 6. And of course, I recommend all of Frank Perritti's books, "This Present Darkness," "Prophet," "Piercing the Darkness." Also, "Don't Make Me Go Back, Mommy" by Doris Sanford, a child's book about satanic ritual abuse. Rev.

Tee Andrews Kokomo, Ind. Saturday's last chance for meals Saturday, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Terrace Tower Apartments, 605 S. Bell will be your last chance for the best hotcakes, sausage and orange juice, and at the best price of $1.

Thanks to all who nave made Tom Sylvester's job a little easier. He appreciates you all. Edna Suits Kokomo, Ind. No cure isn't our leaders' fault By Dr. Elizabeth M.

Whelan For Scrlpps Howard News Service Judging from the rhetoric at the Democratic National Convention and International Conference on AIDS in Amsterdam, it appears that Ronald Reagan and George Bush are now being held responsible for the fact that there is still no cure for AIDS. Efforts to find a cure, the critics claim, have been hampered by a lack of high-level leadership and by insufficient funds. As the authors of a paid obituary in the July 13 New York Times put it, the deceased had succumbed to "complications due to AIDS and the lack of care and funding for AIDS research by the Reagan- Bush "AIDS is a disease of the Reagan-Bush years," Clinton advisor Bob Hattoy told the Democrats in New York City. "We're dying, and you, President Bush, are doing nothing about it," he told the crowd. A homosexual, Hattoy has tested positive for the AIDS virus.

AIDS patient Elizabeth Glaser, who lost one child to the disease and has another suffering from it, told the Democrats: "My daughter did not survive the Reagan administration." The wife of Hollywood actor Michael Glaser, she contracted the disease as a result of a blood transfusion. Even actress Elizabeth Taylor has joined the chorus. Speaking at the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, Miss Taylor charged that President Bush "couldn't even spell AIDS" and was ignoring this deadly health crisis. That's the rhetoric. But what's the reality? The reality is that AIDS is primarily a self-inflicted disease associated with voluntary lifestyle factors: generally, heterosexual homosexual contact with an infected person and the sharing of contaminated needles.

A smaller number of patients, such as Elizabeth Glaser and her children, have been infected by contaminated blood products, or during pregnancy or breastfeeding. The charge that federal spending on AIDS during the past 11 years has been "inadequate" is blatantly false. The federal government spends more money on AIDS research than on any disease other than cancer. During this year alone, Washington will spend $1.2 billion on AIDS research. By comparison, it will spend $1.9 billion on cancer research.

Cancer is the second- leading cause of death in the United States; heart disease, the leading cause of death, comes in a distant third in research spending. By way of further comparison, AIDS has claimed 120,000 lives during the past decade while cancer has resulted in some 5 million deaths. Why then, are AIDS activists so critical of the Reagan and Bush administrations? There are several explanations. First, most of the critics are le with AIDS or members of i-risk groups, and they are all well aware of their impending mortality. "I'm here," Mrs.

Glaser told the crowd in her emotional address, "because my son and I may not surivive four more years of leaders who say they care, but do nothing. I am in a race with the clock." For these people, no amount of spending is enough; anything short of an immediate cure is failure. Second, AIDS is an emotionally appealing topic that is easy to use as part of a general attack on an incumbent president by those who hope to replace him in the White House. Third, AIDS activists are using the war against AIDS to promote a broader agenda an agenda President Bush, and Reagan before him, have refused to accept: the demands for national health insurance, the full acceptance and endorsement of homosexuality as a morally equal alternative lifestyle and Asexual freedom" unfettered by ethical or moral concerns. We need a president who isn't terrified of the word "condom," Hattoy told the convention.

"If there is any honor in having this disease, it is the honor of being part of the gay and lesbian community in Finally, the critics are angry with the administration because it has proposed using classic public health protocol for dealing with the epidemic. The administration has endorsed a recommendation to require the reporting of AIDS infections as a means of notifying the AIDS patients' sexual partners and others who may be at risk of infection. Such "case-contact followup" is a classic form of public health intervention used to stop the spread of infectious disease, yet AIDS advocates object on the grounds that it could foster "discrimination." THAT REPORT'S SNACKS HEALTHY sowt THey RUM OUT TO UAV Maybe Waffle House cooks could help us in Congress As I look back on my life, the Waffle House seems to have been one of the most consistent things in it. The Waffle House is always there at the next exit, always open, always ready to thrown on a couple of eggs for me and even an occasional T-bone steak. It is the Waffle House T-bone that is the subject for today.

You can get a T-bone at Waffle House for about five bucks. It's not the thick, juicy cut one might get at Longhorn's in Atlanta, Manny's in Minneapolis, The Palm in New York or the Plaza III in Kansas City, but for the price it's a pretty good little steak. It comes with a salad, hash browns and two hamburger buns sliced and toasted. I know, it's white bread. "If you eat too much white bread, Lewis, it will kill you," health nuts are saying.

I don't care. I was reared on white bread, and I'm going to stay with it. Just get somebody to sing "Precious Memories" at my funeral. I pulled into a Waffle House the other day off an exit on Interstate 20 between Atlanta and Augusta. It was lunch time, and there are always too many screaming small children in McDonald's to suit me.

My Waffle House waitress was named Kay, and she was pleasant another consistent thing about Waffle House. They have good help. I ordered the T-bone medium well. "What kind of dressing do you By Lewis Grizzard want on your salad?" Kay asked me. I knew her name was Kay because she was wearing it on her blouse.

"Ranch," I answered. "What are you drinking?" Kay went on. "Iced tea." Kay wrote all that down and then yelled to the cook: "T-bone, medium well." The cook, I noticed, never responded, but Waffle House cooks never do. Waffle House cooks have wonderful memories. They can be frying six eggs, four pieces of bacon and have two waffles in the iron at the same time and listen to three waitresses yelling out orders and it all registers and they rarely get an order wrong.

There ought to be a lot of ex- Waffle House cooks in Congress. Maybe they wouldn't forget what the voters elected them to do. I ate my salad. Then, my steak and white bread and hash browns came. My steak was cooked perfectly.

I ate all the steak I could cut off the bone with a knife and fork. But did you ever notice how much meat is left on a T-bone steak that you can't get at with a knife and fork? Right next to the bone there's some really great tasting tender meat. If you are eating at a fancy steak restaurant, you wouldn't dare think of picking up what's- left of your steak and gnawing that good meat off the bone. But this is a Waffle House. The jukebox is playing a fine country tune, and how I would like to get to the rest of that meat.

I called Kay over. "What," I asked, "is the Waffle House policy on a customer picking up what's left of his or her T- bone and gnawing the meat that's close to the bone?" "Do whatever floats your boat," smiled Kay. I picked up my T-bone and happily gnawed away. The guy with the Harley-Davidson T-shirt seated at the counter next to me never looked up; nobody in the entire Waffle House seemed offended. What a nice experience.

It was. just like home. Which is the only other place I've ever picked up a steak and gnawed away at the bone. A precious memory at the Waffle House. How it will linger.

Pass the white bread, and somebody put another quarter in the jukebox. (Grizzard is a syndicated humor columnist writing from Atlanta, Ga.) Bush keeps Quayle; Clinton defends against mudslinging Bush camp contradicts itself regarding Perot to get votes WASHINGTON Exactly how confused President Bush's reelection effort has become can be seen by the following story that is circulating all over Washington at the hignest levels. Most significantly, it is eliciting only half-hearted denials from the supposed participants. In the wake of the Democratic Convention, and the nomination of Al Gore as Bill Clinton's running mate, an agreement was reached between those running the White House and those in charge of the re-election campaign that Dan Quayle had to go. Reportedly, Quayle was brought in, jobs and future support were offered, and a scenario was worked out in which Quayle would go to the president and remove himself from the ticket for the good of the party.

A short but bitter fight then erupted about who would be the best replacement. Some, especially in the White House, thought it had to be a big name. Initially this group pushed for Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Colin Powell, until it was pointed out he was likely a Democrat, and he had vowed not to leave the Pentagon to run for elective office. Some conservatives initially pushed for Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp, but that idea was soon abandoned because Bush and Kemp simply don't get along.

Trade Negotiator Carla Hills was considered, but for various reasons rejected. Finally, though, a consensus candidate emerged that made everyone happy. South Carolina Gov. Carroll A. Campbell Jr.

was judged perfect. He is young, a good campaigner and very conservative. Most important of all, he is both a Washington outsider and a Southerner who could balance the Democrats' all-Southern ticket. He was contacted, and he expressed his enthusiasm with the idea. The deal was apparently done.

Only one problem: No one had mentioned any of this to George Bush. When Quayle went to Camp David to offer his resignation from the ticket, the president would not hear of it. He told an apparently surprised Quayle that he was sticking with him. Reportedly, in a subsequent series of meetings with his top campaign staff and advisers, they argued that Quayle "was right and that he should leave the ticket. But Bush would not budge.

Finally, Quayle had a second private meeting with the president to ask again if he was sure that he should remain on the ticket. When Bush said yes, an obviously relieved Quayle began telling reporters that he was definitely remaining on the ticket. Just how quickly, and forcefully, the Clinton camp is ready to respond to any negative campaigning from the Bush forces was demonstrated recently. South Carolina Gov. Carroll Campbell was the GOP's designated mudslinger of the day.

In Washington, the Bush-Quayle Southern chairman took to the White House microphones to denounce Clinton's "tax and spend" policies in Arkansas, and to point out that people in his state were better off than people in Arkansas. But even as Campbell spoke, fax machines at major newspapers and TV networks came alive. It was Clinton headquarters in Little Rock, transmitting a copy of a personal letter Campbell sent Clinton in 1990 praising him for his "innovative" state economic plan, and a copy of a 1989 newspaper article in which Campbell lavishly praises Clinton's stewardship in Arkansas. On the campaign trail, laughed off Campbell's comments; by saying, "Gee, if that's the way- he thinks, why did he vote for meC on a number of occasions as ernoroftheyear." All this was cited in many of stories growing out of Campbell's- press conference, and they served" to mute the impact that the South Carolina governor might haveC had. Unbeknownst to the people, there must be two named Ross Perot who have beeir running for president.

When Perot withdrew from the. race, George Bush immediately left the Wyoming fishing stream and according to a transcript released by the White House called him to praise his efforts. "I admire what you have done for politics in this country," the president said. More recently, the Bush campaign had run full-page ads in major newspapers again praising, Perot and his supporters as "an. important voice in determining the future of our country," and asking for their votes in November.

It seems it must have been some other Ross Perot who just days earlier had been described by Vice President Dan Quayle as "a temperamental tycoon who has contempt for the Constitution," or by White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater as a "dangerous and destructive (Wagnian is a syndicated investigative columnist with experience in business and law.).