Words to Live By Since 1993 A SPIFF Publication Vol. 2, No. 47 Atheist Christmas movie: Coincidence on 34th Street Do What I Say... Red flags went up and alarm bells rang off the walls here in the Spiff Executive Plaza, towering over beautiful downtown Donelson, Tennessee last week as the new Republican leadership in Congress seemed to waiver a bit on their commitment to term limits legislation. In an interview last week, incoming House majority leader Richard Armey said that he believed that the public would soften its support of term limits if the Republicans follow through on their Congressional reform proposals. Not good. First of all, term limits are a Congressional reform proposal. They can't follow through on their proposals without term limits. The precedent here is not encouraging. Too many times, we have seen people go to Washington with a bag full of promises and a boat load of good will, only to have them become part of the crowd that protects its parking privileges, keeps people around to push buttons on the elevators, and makes sure that a bag of ice is delivered to each office in the morning. It is the land of perks that addict from the moment they are touched. They must be abolished if we are ever to have a government that represents us instead of the ice company. The Contract with America, while not promising to pass term limits, does promise a vote. We here at Spiff will be watching to see what, if any, proposals the members of the House and Senate vote for in the first 100 days of Congress. It would not be advisable for Republicans to buckle to the desire to stay in Washington even before they are sworn in as the majority next January. It would simply prove that there truly is no difference between the parties when it comes to the perks that power in Washington provides. The people said very plainly that they want things to change in Washington. If Republicans do not deliver this time, we will find ourselves in the wilderness for another 40 years and all of these grand ideas and plans will be just that_ plans. We have no hesitation whatsoever when it comes to criticizing Republicans in Congress who do the same thing that we ripped Democrats for doing_ campaigning on an issue and voting the opposite way when no one is looking. We will be watching. Best Little (bleep) in Nashville If you needed any more proof of the long climb our nation has to get back to respectability, you got it last week. In Nashville, parents have become concerned about the open prostitution that has been taking place around a particular school as of late. In an effort to head off criticism, the Metro Nashville government announced the formation of a "Prostitution-Free Zone" in the area around the school. Yes, from now on, prostitutes should not push their wares (or whatever it is they push) in front of the school. To emphasize that they mean business about this, the government has decided to make it a felony to solicit near a school, but they don't care if you do it anywhere else. In all other parts of the city, it will continue to be a misdemeanor and an eyesore that decent people will have to tolerate because the city refuses to do anything about it. Here's a nifty idea. Why not make the entire city a prostitution-free zone? Why not say to people who break the law, "You will be punished, whether it is in front of a school, a business, or the little merry-go-round horses at K-Mart." It is illegal. It is a crime. It should be treated as such. But, in the spirit of tolerance (yiiish!) and fair-mindedness that our illustrious mayor brought to his failed race for governor, we present some ideas that would help the cause of prevention: Midnight basketball wouldn't be a great idea, so how about midnight make-up lessons? The Lord knows some of these girls could use the help! Andrea Conte self-defense classes. Every hooker worth her garters should know how to defend herself. An hour of listening to Joycelyn Elders. Somebody has to. As you can see there are many options open to today's thoughtful and well prepared prostitute. If we can only understand why they do what they do, we can help them to understand themselves. We have to be sympathetic to their plight as they travel the streets, outside the prostitution-free zone, of course. In the meantime, why don't we do what we are supposed to do and arrest people who break the law. Until people learn that there are consequences for wrongful actions, they will continue to do what they have been doing. When they learn that there is a punishment, they will stop. RIP Bosnia As Serbian forces push closer to the town of Bihac in Bosnia, the Clinton Administration has finally admitted that its policy in the region has become (as though it was ever anything else) a dismal failure. Deciding that they no longer wanted to play the blame game, administration officials conceded that we caved into the pressure from NATO allies and let the Serbs have their way in Bosnia. Now, even the United Nation-declared "safe zones" are being overrun while U.N. forces impotently sit by and watch it happen. In some cases, U.N. forces are trapped by the Serbs and not allowed to leave. Our response? To attempt to reopen negotiations. We at Spiff find it strange that we would try to negotiate with an aggressive country after it has, in effect, won the war. What good does it do? Are the Serbs going to relinquish the territory they have conquered in their wretched war on the Bosnians, a people we would not allow to defend themselves? If we had lifted the ill-advised arms embargo on the Bosnians two years ago, this never would have happened. Yes, the fighting would have escalated, but the Bosnian people would have been given the opportunity to fight for their homes and their land, instead of cowering under another barrage of Serbian artillery while we cynically sit by and launch another round of negotiations with a nation that would never adhere to any agreements that may be reached. After the devastation of the mid-term elections, it has been said that the administration will now turn its attention to foreign policy_ you know, that area that George Bush spent too much time in. It is felt in Washington that President Clinton and Bill will be able to affect the foreign policy arena more easily than pushing their domestic agenda on an unwilling people and a hostile Congress. We can only hope that this is not the case. The Clintons have demonstrated time and time again that they are very little fish in a policy ocean. The constant threatening and backing away that we saw in Bosnia is proof. The simple fact is that a tiny country with an insignificant military called our bluff and backed us down. How sad. If you read WTLB often enough, you know that we are rarely in favor of sending American troops into harms way with no American interest at stake. This is no exception. But, we did not have to send Americans into Bosnia. Neither did the French, British, or any other country. We only needed to let these people fight for themselves if they wished or give up their country. As is human nature, they wanted to fight for their nation. We simply did not let them. It will be remembered as one of our darkest and ugliest mistakes. Lament for Jeffrey Dahmer Darn! Quote of the weak: "We would never give up our sovereignty to such an organization." Mickey Kantor, talking about the World Trade Organization, or U.N. military forces. We're not sure which. Quote of the strong: "Why would I want to compromise and go halfway in the wrong direction?" Sen. Phil Gramm 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 Plaza, towering over beautiful downtown Donelson, Tennessee at 615-883-0435.