The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 219, Ed. 1 Sunday, July 2, 2000 Page: 4 of 30
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Opinion
Wfye IBaptotott £km
Founded 1922
Wand* Gamer Cash, Editor and PuNisher I Nyra* Doucette, Asst. Managing Editor-News
Taytor B. Camp, Managing Editor | Rtchanl Nelson, Asst. Managing Editor-Sports
Fred Hartman, Publisher Emeritus
1950*1974
Hume
4A The Baytown Sun
Sunday, July 2,2000.
Breakthrough on human
genome calls for caution
rp his week, scientists
I announced that the entire
X human genetic sequence has
been mapped.
All the genes that make up the
code have not yet been deciphered,
but the code has been assembled, or
at least 97 to 99 percent.
Scientists say it is a milestone in
the field of biology, one that could
lead to cures for cancer,
Alzheimer’s or diabetes. It may also
offer valuable information about
patients’ susceptibility to high
blood pressure or heart disease.
- In many ways, it compares to the
harnessing of atomic power,
another scientific milestone that
carried enormous promise but also
the potential for great destruction.
Soon, scientists may be able to
replace defective genes with good
copies.
Or, parents may want to pass on
their best characteristics to their
children. Along with the potential
to spare people from disease and
early death, these uses offer hope.
However, decoding the road map
for human life carries with it just as
many potential dangers.
More sinister uses may arise if
governments or companies are
allowed access to a person’s blue-
prints to deny basic rights or ser-
vices, or even to group them in
terms of abilities and limitations.
President Clinton said this week
that tile genetic map must not be
used to segregate, discriminate or
invade privacy.
In such a dark model, freedom
would take a back seat to biology.
Less dire but troublesome is the
‘ relative ease and speed with which
genes are starting to be patented. If
the rights to genes are limited, it
may discourage research into the
causes of disease or hereditary con-
ditions, because someone else owns
the subject matter.
Whether patenting will stand the
test of the courts or common good
remains to be seen.
, What seems necessary, though, is
a careful regulation of what can and
cannot be done so that the benefits
of what comes may be enjoyed by •
everyone, and the potential for __ J
abuse minimized.
This editorial was written by Tay-
lor B. Camp, managing editor of
The Baytown Sun, on behalf of the
newspaper’s editorial board. ^
Federal hate crimes bill is not
' . v • 4k . ' : -
as effective as some believe
ft Tith an eye on the fall cam-
W/ paign, Senate Democrats,
• ▼ ¥ with some Republican
help, last week passed a hate crimes
bill that is unlikely to eradicate hate
and bigotry, as its backers claim, but
will further federalize state and local
criminal laws.
ever going to be America, we
should root out hatred and bigotry.”
America is America, and hate and
bigotry, while they may be sins, are
not crimes unless acted on.
One of the many drawbacks of
this legislation is that no one has
been able to demonstrate precisely
how it will benefit existing law
enforcement. The two crimes
invoked to justify the bill—the
dragging death of a black man in
Texas and the beating death of a gay
man in Wyoming, both in 1998 —
were folly prosecuted, and maxi-
mum penalties imposed, under
existing state criminal laws. Still, it’s
hard to vote against “hate.”
Other problems with hate crimes
laws are that they are selective,
making crimes against one group
worse than crimes against another,
they are subjective in that they
attempt to criminalize psychological
This hate crimes bill is presented as
a simple expansion of existing laws
against crimes based on race, religion
or ethnicity to include grader, dis- li-
abilities and sexual orientation.
But perhaps the bill’s biggest
drawback is that it goes much far-
ther than that. The existing federal
hate crimes law applies only to fed-
erally protected activities—voting,
use of public accommodations, reg-
istering for school. The Senate-
passed bill would remove that
restriction and, by a further stretch
of foe already over-stretched com-
merce clause, make any crime
deemed by a US. attorney to be
hate-motivated a federal crime,
This is a massive expansion of
federal writ into state and local law
enforcement.
motivation; and, at their most
benign, they duplicate existing laws
and jurisdictions, raising die
prospect of double jeopardy prose-
cutions.
The backers argue their case with
circular reasoning. Declaims co-
sponsor Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-
Mass.: “Hate crimes are rooted in
hatred and bigotry, and if America is
4 President Clinton lobbied hard
and publicly for the hate crimes bill.
Vice President Gore made a show of
returning to the Senate in case of a
tie vote. (It passed 57-42.) Now that
they have their campaign trophy, it
would be best if this bill died quietly
as it has in the past.
This editorial originally ran in the
San Angelo Standard-Times on
June 26.
Atom Us
Our editorial board
The Baytown Sun's editorial board meets
weekly at 2 p.m, Wednesday. Individuals are
encouraged to visit the editorial board to dis-
cuss issues affecting the community. To
make an appointment, contact Managing
Editor Taylor B. Camp, (281) 422-8302.
Members of the editorial board include:
Wanda Gamer Cash, editor and publisher;
Taytor B. Camp, managing editor; Eric Bauer,
marketing director; Dee Anne Robbins, busi-
ness manager; Nyree Doucette, assistant
managing editor-news; and Richard Nelson,
. int managing editor-sports.
from you
The Baytown
to 300 words any
of up
to
500 words on any item of public interest.
Guest columns should include a photograph
of the writer. We publish only original materi-
al addressed to The Baytown Sun bearing
the writer's signature. An address and phone
number not for publication should be includ-
ed. We ask that submissions be limited to
one per month. All letters and guest columns
subject to editing. The Sun reserves the right
to refuse to publish any submission.
Letters endorsing or opposing political
candidates or issues will not be published
within two days of an election, except in
direct rebuttal to a letter previously pub-
lished in The Baytown Sun. Please send
signed letters to: Wanda Gamer Cash or Tay-
tor B. Camp, The Baytown Sun, P.0. Box 90,
Baytown, TX 77522.
Or, fax them to: (281) 427-1880. Or, e-
mail us at: sunnews@baytownsun.com.
Commentary
Dole bounces back to find there’s life after losing
WASHINGTON—Bob Dole, his politi-
cal hatchet buried, calk himself “sort of a
senior something" now. For the man who
lost the 1996 presidentialelection and came
back quipping, that something covers a vari-
ety of callings. „
He is a high-profile figure at a major lob-
bying firm, but draws a line against person-
ally lobbying his old colleagues in Congress.
He has gone to the Balkans on missing
persons missions as often as he has gone die
15 blocks back to the Senate that he left four
years ago for his campaign for the White
House.
He is no less a Republican, but no longer
the fierce partisan of die past Indeed, Dole
often is a conciliator, a voice for bipartisan-
ship. A wry voice, his wisecrack humor still
a trademark, but without die harsh edges.
“When we get out of here, I’d like to make
commercials with you,” President Clinton,
who beat him, told Dole at a White House
ceremony the other day. “I’ll be your straight
i ^ Walter Hears
Dole served as Senate Republican leader
for 11 years, longer than anyone else, and
then became the GOP^ar in the largely
Democratic firm of Vemer, Lipfert, Bern-
hard, McPherson and Hand Dole’s wife,
Elizabeth, is about to move into an office
there, too.
Mrs. Dole, who has served in the Cabinet
and as president of die American Red Cross,
ran for the 2000 Republican presidential
nomination bte didn’t get as far as the pri-
maries.
There has been speculation about ho: as a
vice presidential nominee with Gov. George
W. Bush, but Dole said he doubts that will
Dole is a TV political commentator on
Comedy Central, the role in which he will be
appearing at the Republican National Con-
vention this summer. >
The day after Dole joined the select com-
pany of the defeated the presidential nomi-
nees who lost, he got a call from a Democrat
who had been there, former Sen. George
McGovern.
“He said ‘Don’t despair, it’s just going to
be different” Dole recalled reminiscing in
an interview at the law firm he joined in
1997.
“I ran for president,” Dole said “I did the
best I could. We didn’t win. So get on with
your life. PoBtics isn’t everything.
.... “I drink as long as you behave yourself
and just become sort of a senior something
...” The thought trails away.
“So we just cruise along. It’s kind of fun,”
said Dole, 77 this month.
Dote’seruise includes his role as special-
counsel at one of the big three lobbying
firms in,Washington, a job he took at a
reported $600,000 a year in 1997, saying
from the start that he would not go back to
his former colleagues to ask for votes or
favors.
He sees clients and potential clients, deals
with foreign interests for the firm and advis-
es its hands-on lobbyists on whom to see and
what to seek at the Capitol.
Dole, whose war wounds cost him the use
of his right arm, leads the fund-raising effort
for a World War II memorial on the Mall in
Washington. He is chairman of die Interna-
tional Commission on Missing Persons in
Bosnia, and has been to die region a dozen
times in that role. He’s going again this
month.
Since he left the Senate, Dole says, he’s
only been back to visit about 10 times. H§
served more than 35 years in Congress,
more than 27 as senator from Kansas. He
resigned on June 11,1996, trying to energize
his lagging challenge to Clinton.
Dole also is chairman of die Federal City
Council, an organization that promotes the
capital. He campaigns for awareness and
testing for prostate cancer, the disease he had
and beat.
He still makes appearances to help Repub-
lican candidates raise campaign funds. He’s
also done one for Mayor Anthony Williams
of die District of Columbia, a Democrat,
despite some Republican gripes about it
When Dole turned up as die mystery guest
at a Democratic dinner for Sen. Christopher
Dodd of Connecticut three weeks ago, he
joked that he’d had to do shows at two or
three hotels a week since he lost the election.
Then into die routine, with die assurance
that he’d soon leave so that the Democrats
could start beating up on Republicans. “I’m
told a Viagra side effect for some men in
their 50s is that their hair turns gray,” Dole
said, glancing at Dodd, and winking at Clin-
ton.
Dole, of course, did a television cotnmer-
cial for Viagra. Jj made a few bucks, gave
most ©fit away,” he sakLHe also appeared
in a Visa ad, just after the*election, lamenting
“I just can’t win” when he couldn’t cash a
check in his own home town without show-
inghisID.
In his 1998 book, “Great Political Wit,” '
Dole wrote that the ad, and his post-election
appearances on late-night television show#*
were die start of his post-political carder.
“By going on television to poke fun at the '
campaign just concluded, I hoped to shatter
the tradition of presidential also-ran silence,”
Dole said. “Most of all, I wanted to show
that there is indeed life after politics.
“And that losing an election does not '
mean losing your sense of humor.”
It did mean changing an image. Dole said-
people had known him as the sourpuss of die
Democratic attack ads. They also knew him ■
as the candidate who snarled darkly to
George Bush to “stop lying about my
record” in their contest for the 1988presi-- 1
dential nomination.
And as the vice presidential nominee who
said in 1976 that all the conflicts of the 20th'
Century were “Democrat wars.” His oppo-,;
nent, Walter F. Mondale, said Dole “richly
earned his reputation as hatchet man” that .
night. ,.
Dole recalls campaigning in Jackson, „,
Miss., after that, and sending an aide to a ...
hardware store to buy him afoatehet. “I T
pulled it out of the sack 1 said I’m supposed
to be the hatchet man. Here’s my hatchet.”
Not now Dole points out that he hasn’t
been jumping on Clinton, or on Vice Presi- *
dent A1 Gore, the certain Democratic presi-
dential candidate, as much as some Republi-
cans want him to.
Dole quotes McGovern’s explanation of
his attendance at the funeral of Richard M.
Nixon’s wife, despite their bitter 1972 rivalry
andWatergate.
“You can’t go on campaigning forever,” ;
McGovern said.
Reflecting on his career in a speech to sen-
ators earlier this year, Dole said one of life’s
milestones is to look back “and be almost as
thankful for the setbacks as for the victories.
“Losing means that at least you were in
the race,” he said. »
Walter R. Mears has reported on Washing-
ton and national politics for The Associated
Press for more than 35 years. ,'
Letters
Nation should pray without ceasing — even at sporting events
“Let’s not offend anyone.”
We have been informed; via the news
media, that one of foe reasons we can not
have prayer at sporting events is because it
may be offensive to someone. Let me start a
list of “offensive motions.” >
Drive down our highways and notice, if
you will, the bumper stickers on vehicles!
These messages they bear, are they not offen-
sive to those of us who believe that we as a
God fearing nation should pray without ceas-
ing! Even at sporting events.
Also, it is a known fact things happen
when women pray!
It French
Baytown
CHy department showing fitUe
concent for resident’s wants
I am so disappointed with the city’s parks
and recreation department!
Call them and they will tell you tire only
thing that has been canceled for this year’s
Fourth of July festivities is the cooking con-
test. Yeah right I asked about the fim run
they always have the morning of the Fun
Day: “Oh we are not having that this year.”
OK- That’s two things. Then I askedabout
the remote control contest they have for the
kids: “No, not this year.” Then the balloon
toss: Again, “No.”
All the things that our small kids looked
forward to are not going to be there this year.
OK, now what about this little MISS and MR
photo contest Why do we have to go to this
Baytown Photo Center to have pictures
taken? What if we just had our babies pic-
tures taken just recently?
I am so mad you may not want to put any
of this in our hometown paper but that’s OK,
because I just want to let you know that I
think. They (parks and rec) are doing things
that is to benefit them, that will make it easier
on them, and not caring about what the peo-
ple of Baytown want or will enjoy.
Peggy Ortiz
___
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Cash, Wanda Garner. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 219, Ed. 1 Sunday, July 2, 2000, newspaper, July 2, 2000; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1019765/m1/4/?q=architectural+drawings: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.