Words to Live By Since 1993 A SPIFF Publication Vol. 3, No. 36 See Judgment House. Mean-spirited Bill In her weekly radio address last week, President Clinton had Bill denounce the current GOP Medicare reform proposals, using the same old Democrat lies of how much they are going to hurt our great-grandparents, and that the cuts (See the truth about cuts elsewhere in this issue.) were being made only so the Republicans can finance their evil tax breaks for the extremely rich. What Bill didn't say is that President Clinton's proposals are a lot closer to the Republican plan than any of the remaining libs would like you to believe. According to some, (That means that one of us read it somewhere, and he doesn't remember where, but it still makes for a good article.) President Clinton's proposals would increase the premium that Medicare recipients pay by only $4 less than the GOP plan. These four dollars have become suddenly important to them. They weren't important during debates on middle-class tax cuts, when they said that letting us keep such tiny sums of money in our own bank accounts or to spend as we pleased rather than as they pleased would be insignificant, especially compared with the huge amount that would be added to the deficit. (We won't bother reminding you that tax cuts can decrease government deficits by increasing the taxable economy. You already know that.) Now such tiny sums stand in the way of Medicare reform. Next month, they'll be insignificant tax cuts again. Using Bill's logic, (or whatever random noun you wish to insert here) President Clinton's plan to reform Medicare would: ù Force our nation's elderly from their homes to the streets and give them $4 a month. ù Keep them from getting the medications that they need to get from those greedy drug companies and give them $4 month ù Kick sick people out of hospitals and give them $4 a month ù Destroy the ozone layer and give it $4 a month ù Force our grandparents out of nursing homes and into our homes where we cannot adequately care for them and give them $4 a month ù Force our grandparents out of our loving homes and into cold, heartless nursing homes and give them $4 a month At $4 a month per person, that's enough to defund the NEA for many years to come. You'd Think They Could Find a Dictionary! Last Wednesday, one of your faithful Spiff publishers walked into a local book store. This surprises many liberals, who not only thought we cannot read, but are shocked to know that we neither crawl nor slither, but actually walk upright. Anyway, there in the front windows was a display, like many others in book stores throughout America, of what we were expected to believe are books that have been banned throughout history. These displays of books (many of which, conveniently, can be purchased on your next visit. Isn't capitalism wonderful!) include examples from Madonna's Sex book (That one died fast, didn't it? (Thank God! (Literally.))) to Dr. Seuss books to, of course the poster boy for banned books, Catcher in the Rye. The displays are part of an annual event known as Banned Books Week. The American Library Association and the American Booksellers Association publish the Banned Books Resource Guide, a list of books that have been banned from public libraries and bookstores in the last year. What we didn't learn until this week, however, is that most of the books on the list have not actually been banned at all. Some have been moved by libraries to less prominent shelves. Some in school libraries have been restricted from younger kids. Some have been removed from school curricula in response to complaints from (shudder) Parents! There is certainly a nasty history in the world of governments banning and burning books. Usually, as in the obvious case of Nazi Germany, it is done because the governments' lies cannot stand in the face of truth. But when a librarian moves a controversial book, making it less prominent but just as available, that's not banning. When a book store owner chooses not to stock a book, (for whatever reason. It's his store.) that's not banning. When the government comes in and says that the school library cannot contain that big black book with the leather cover, red letters, and thin, gold-trimmed pages because doing so would violate the Constitutional (yeah, right) requirement of separation of church and state, that's banning. (Strange, isn't it, how that book never seems to make the banned book displays.) If the ALA wants to print a list, it can print a list. If book stores want to put books in the window to increase sales, they can do so, but it would be nice if they would not try to pass off personal discretion as banning. Can't their arguments stand in the face of truth? Get Out the Ax! You gotta love those Medicare and Welfare cuts. Except for one thing: there are no cuts! The National Endowment for the Arts is still there. Amtrack is still there. The Congressional chaplains are still there. Of course, you already knew that. As a loyal reader of WTLB, you are aware of the world around you, and you know that just because the medialibs tell you that there cuts in next year's budget doesn't mean that there are cuts in next year's budget. But you already knew that, too. So what should the leaders in Congress do? Should they bombard the media with press releases telling the world that the papers were wrong when they wrote about the cuts? Yeah, that'll make the front page. Should Speaker Newt and Senator Dole go on television and tell the country that there are no cuts? It didn't work last time. Maybe they should try something new. Instead of trying to conform what the networks are saying to reality, let's conform reality to what the networks are saying. Since they're going to proclaim that the heartless Republicans are cutting the budget, let's cut the budget. Quote of the weak: "No one wants a repeat of the Republican tactic in 1994 that made the 'G' in G.O.P. stand for gridlock." Ted Kennedy Quote of the strong: "God's verdict is the one that counts." Sign in front of the Donelson Cumberland Presbyterian Church Words to Live By is published every week at about this time by Spiff. You can send a fax to us here in the Spiff Executive Tower, on the banks of the mighty Cumberland River, at 615-847-2259, or you can send us e-mail at spiff@nashville.com.