News Media, Politicians Perpetrating a Gigantic Hoax

In addition to all the problems the Liberals in the print and broadcast news media and on the faculties of our colleges and universities are causing in America, another menacing specter of misinformation has arisen, thanks to the Liberal fringe. It is a gigantic national hoax called “global warming.”

One of the leaders of the hoax is a so-called scientist who was discredited long ago by legitimate scientists but who refuses to acknowledge he was dead wrong when he raised the global-warming specter three decades ago and who remains a defiant alarmist warning us about a danger that is non-existent. He is Dr. James Hansen of NASA.

The tragedy of the present situation is that the thousands of honorable and honest scientists who could refute Hansen’s exaggerated contentions do not do so for two reasons: (1) Because they are not asked, and (2) because they are reluctant to engage in pointless wrangling concerning scientific subjects. Scientific differences should be resolved in the laboratory, not in the public press.

As a result of the catastrophic and unscientific warnings issued by Hansen and those who have swallowed his gobbledegook, the mayors of scores of American cities, led by Seattle’s misguided mayor, have ignored the appeals of the world’s honest scientists and created a political campaign to adopt the Kyoto Protocol, which President Bush has very wisely refused to join because it would ruin the American economy to no useful purpose.

The print and broadcast news media don’t even bother to consult the legitimate scientists to get the other side of the picture and learn why Hansen and his breed are way off base on the global-warming issue. One of those legitimate scientists is a world renowned climatologist, Dr. Patrick J. Michaels, a professor at the University of Virginia and the author of several books on climate change.

Since the one-sided news media refuse to interview and report the explorations of the scientists who insist that global warming is a myth, the least they could do is listen to the positions taken by a level-headed, scientifically astute author, Paul Driessen, author of Eco-Imperialism: Green Power --- Black Death, who recently told a TV News Service the following:

“Not only are Hansen’s apocalyptic predictions not coming true, but more and more countries are beginning to realize that they will destroy their economies just under Kyoto 1 to prevent about 0.1 of warming. Hansen’s rants might still garner headlines in the Washington Post and New York Times, and raves from CBS --- especially if you believe every beetle infestation, forest fire, cold snap, hot flash, dry spell, flood, frog death, and malaria outbreak is due to global warming --- but they are complete hogwash.”

In Trashing the Planet, which I co-authored with the late Dr. Dixy Lee Ray, we observed: “In June, 1988, when Hansen testified in the Senate that the greenhouse effect is changing the climate now, he said he was 99 percent sure of it and that ‘1988 would be the warmest year on record, unless there is some remarkable, improbable cooling in the remainder of the year.’ Well, there was. Almost while Dr. Hansen was testifying, the Eastern tropical Pacific Ocean underwent a remarkable, improbable cooling --- a sudden drop in temperature of 7 degrees” So much for Dr. Hansen’s fairy tales and for the myth of global warming.

Rodney Dangerfield Was Right; Fathers Don’t Get No Respect

To borrow from Rodney Dangerfield, who was one of my favorite comedians, fathers just don’t get no respect. I came across his name and his frequent references to Father’s Day in a box of old theater programs I had amassed in my days as a theater critic for the Seattle Times.

I know Father’s Day is a long way off, but Dangerfield is always worth remembering and worthy of a laugh or two. His comments on that stage program I had reviewed sent me to the library to do a little research. But I soon discovered that the encyclopedia was a waste of time.

The only mention of Father’s Day was very brief and virtually a throwaway: Father’s Day, the note in the encyclopedia read, began in Spokane, Washington, in 1910. And that’s where it ended! Now, the encyclopedia and other tomes in the library give a lot more space and importance to Mother’s Day. Go figure.

I checked at least ten other almanacs and reference books in my library at home and at the television station. Nothing! Frustrated, I turned to another resource --- the shelves of books on speech, after-dinner remarks, joke books, and even one or two books on “birthdays and important days to remember.”

In one book, devoted to “special vocations,” I found this comment under the label of “Father.” This is what I found: “A police officer saw a man pacing the sidewalk at 3 a.m. in the morning. He asked the man: ‘What are you doing here?’ The man replied: ‘I forgot my key, officer, and I’m waiting for my children to come home and let me in.’”

There were other entries along the same lines, but would you believe that was the best one? Maybe even Rodney Dangerfield would have failed to turn that one into one of his favorite “I don’t get no respect” stories. Meanwhile, in another book totally unrelated to the subject of my search, I found one that really tickled my funny bone and reminded me of Dangerfield’s comic deliveries. It read:

“A father said to his 5-year-old daughter as she sat at her small table using paint brushes: ‘What are you painting, Dear?’ The child answered: ‘I’m painting a picture of God, Dad.’ Papa said: “But, Darling, nobody knows what God looks like.” And she replied confidently: ‘They will now.’”

I realize I used a gimmick to get the commentary back to the subject of Father’s Day. But that last one was worth it. It reminded me that, try as we may, the kid always gets the truly funny lines. Fathers, as Rodney always insisted, just don’t get no respect.

Maybe I’ll do better when the next Father’s Day comes around. That’s because my kids love me --- I think.

Lawmakers Not Listening to the People Regarding Immigration

If the American people could speak with one united voice today concerning the great dispute going on in Congress over the immigration issue, I have no doubt that this is what they would say --- and hope that our congressional and executive leaders would take heed and act accordingly:

“For more than two centuries, the nation has abided by an orderly, reasonable, and fair immigration policy. That policy has spelled out who would be welcome to come live in the U.S. as citizens and how many would be permitted to enter the U.S. each year under a clear, consise quota system.

“That policy has worked well. Or, rather, it worked well until both major parties began putting political gain before the best policy for America. Because both parties have manipulated immigration policy without regard for the wishes of the great majority of the American people, illegal immigrants are treated the same as legal immigrants --- or, in some cases, even better.

“The two parties have come to look upon immigrants as voters who will favor their political wishes, not as future citizens who will love this country as the rest of us do and who will abide by our laws, our traditions, and our form of government. In other words, the two parties now look upon Hispanic immigrants, legal or illegal, as persons who will vote for whichever party manages to bestow the most favors upon the newcomers.

“That is not only an un-American approach to welcoming newcomers; it is a dangerous one, because it threatens the great tradition of opening our borders and our nation to new citizens who come here, like the many immigrants before them, to live in freedom and liberty and not to enhance the political fortunes of this or that party.

“The American people want the long tradition of quota systems observed without exceptions. Foreigners anxious to live in America as citizens should wait their turn and make their way here in orderly fashion and under the rules that have been set down for legal immigration.

“Members of Congress have been debating numerous schemes under which illegal immigrants can be permitted to become citizens or to become recipients of all the favors now granted legal immigrants. The lawmakers, as well as President Bush, are not listening to the people. It’s time they did.

“If they would put away their political appetites and pause long enough to hear what the American people are saying, they would demand a return to the quota system and immediately order all immigrants who are here illegally to be returned to their original homeland, regardless of the hardships that might entail.

“Both parties have argued that the illegal immigrants must be permitted to remain here because they are doing jobs the American people won’t or can’t do. It’s an argument that doesn’t make sense, because millions are still unemployed and could fill those menial jobs the political wizards say Americans don’t want and can’t fill. That’s poppycock.

“Illegal immigrants have been turning out in large numbers to plead their case, but they don’t have a case worth the effort. If the large farm combines and other employers that have taken advantage of the cheap labor offered by the illegals would, instead, offer a decent living wage to workers, the jobs they say ‘Americans don’t want’ would be filled immediately.”

Scientists Await Development of Nuclear-Fusion Energy Plants

Whatever happened to the scientific development of one of the most promising sources of new energy --- nuclear fusion? The last important news I recall came in the late 1980s with the Princeton Laboratory’s extraordinary feat of heating a gas to 360 million degrees Fahrenheit. It was one of the most significant events of the century, even though it could be divided into good news and bad news.

First, the good news. The Princeton success meant the U.S. was closer than was thought to matching the heat of the sun and the stars --- and to creating a nuclear-fusion reactor. Nuclear fusion is much different than the nuclear fission now used to power defense and civilian energy plants.

In fusion, two atoms are fused into one to produce energy, while in fission, the atom is split to produce energy. Fusion is much safer than fission. And, perhaps most important of all, its fuel is deuterium, a form of hydrogen, found in unlimited abundance in the oceans of the world. That would eliminate the fuel problem in energy production.

Until recently, the highest temperature achieved had been 80 million degrees. The Princeton Laboratory, at last reports, was shooting for 400 to 500 million degrees. Its goal was to reach a balance or break-even point, at which energy going in equals energy coming out. It’s the ultimate energy resource, better and more plentiful than any known to the world.

And now to the bad news. The Princeton experiments utilized the Tokomak metal vessel, first developed by Soviet Union scientists in 1969. At that time --- and possibly even today --- the Russians, once called Soviets --- were and may be ahead of us in reaching for a breakthrough in nuclear fusion.

Perhaps our inability to keep up with the Russians accounts for the fact that there has been little or no news concerning the development of nuclear fusion. Why is it important? Because, as legitimate scientists have informed me, there is no doubt that nuclear fusion, if it is ever made practical and usable, will be the energy of the future.

The scientists also say that there is considerable political power residing in the emergence of nuclear fusion as the world’s most important new energy source. The nation that comes up with the first practical nuclear-fusion energy plant may very well be the world’s most powerful economic and military power on earth.

POTPOURRI: Did I read it right? A piece in a Seattle newspaper reported some dog-food companies are trying to make vegetarians out of Fido, Fluffy, and the rest of the pet-food gang. Why? Well, a holistic food guru in Australia says a concentration of vegetables is necessary to ward off allergies and skin conditions in the pets. Maybe so, but I wonder how Fido and Fluffy feel about the no-meat diet?. . .· Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, America’s extremely capable foreign representative, is convinced there is hope in courting the moderate Muslims throughout the world. One has to hope that she is right. The ultimate question remains: Do the peace-loving Muslims have enough clout and influence to persuade the Muslim radicals to hang up their suicide bombs and make peace with the West?. . . · Talk about bad ideas! Northwest Airlines, already in a heap of trouble financially, along with most other airlines, is trying out an extra fee of $15 for those travelers who insist on an aisle seat in domestic flights. The extra charge is designed to increase revenue. There must be a better way to increase revenue. How about cutting the cost of all flights and increasing patronage for starters?

Free Nations Must Not Rely on “Words” Alone to Keep Peace

If Iran continues to defy the rest of the world in its insistence on producing enriched uranium, the fuel of atomic bombs, the question persists: Are the U.S. and our Western allies headed once more toward a show of force to resolve a conflict that is totally within a nation, as was the case in the Persian Gulf War and Iraq?

It also represents the second test case for the United Nations, although it must be said that the U.N. was reluctant to take any military action until the U.S. took matters into its own hands and invaded Iraq with the assistance of some 40 nations, minus its onetime principal allies in France, Germany, and Russia.

In the Gulf War, the U.S. and its coalition forces drove an invader, Iraq, out of a neighboring nation, Kuwait. And, then, to finish the job and to get rid of the perpetrator of the adventure against Kuwait, the coalition had to march in and end the murderous regime of dictator Saddam Hussein.

In effect, the U.S. action in Iraq was designed to protect a minority inside a nation, although it may be inaccurate, in view of what happened afterward, to call the Shiite community in Iraq a minority. Today, thanks to the Western invasion, that onetime “minority” is now the majority that is finally enjoying freedom and democratic government.

For the Western nations, the new tack represents a remarkable switch for the world. It should represent a switch for the U.N., as well, but that organization, playing the role of the “reluctant dragon,” seems to be willing to rely on words and ultimatums as substitutes for a show of military force.

As has been proved so often in history --- as, for example, with Hitler’s Reich, the Japanese warlords, and the Soviet Union’s Communist hordes --- “negotiations” and “ultimatums” simply prolong the suspense and, actually, encourage the aggressors to pursue their evil designs.

The free nations of the world should have learned by now that force must be met with force. It’s the reason I have long been a devotee of the need for a volunteer expeditionary force, comprised of volunteers from all free nations, to protect minorities everywhere in nations beset by dictators, warlords, and even religious zealots.

By the same token, I reiterate my belief in the validity of a pre-emptive policy that should be adopted by the President and Congress. Yes, it is a policy fraught with danger, but history has shown us that the greater danger is to repeat Chamberlain’s “peace in our time” strategy of trying to appease dictators with words and empty promises.

In order to rally free, peace-loving nations to an international pre-emptive policy, I also believe we are duty-bound to face facts and the truth by demanding a reorganization of the United Nations --- or, better yet, to abandon it and form a new coalition of free nations that believes in action, not words.

Our experience leading to the Iraqi war should have taught us that we can no longer depend upon the Useless Nations to keep the peace and to represent those nations that want action and not empty “ultimatums” to eliminate tyranny within errant countries that are ruled by dictators.

Only One Way to Stop Migrants’ Death Toll on High Seas

With alarming frequency, migrants from poverty-stricken, downtrodden countries have been dying in futile attempts to leave their godforsaken homelands in desperate efforts to find better lives elsewhere. Africans are doing it in attempts to land on European shores and South Americans and Central Americans are doing it to find havens in the U.S.

Others are giving up their lives by entrusting their hopes and dreams to smugglers in Mexico and Asian nations. The death toll of illegal aliens seeking freedom and the better life in Europe and the United States is staggering --- and there seems to be no sure way to stop the carnage.

Of course, the way to stop it is obvious, and it isn’t to send military armadas to guard American and European boundaries. The only way lies in a long-range program to improve economies and living conditions in the poverty-stricken nations so their people won’t be compelled to risk death on the high seas and in smugglers’ trucks any more.

It’s an argument I’ve been making for many years: Raise the standard of living in the Third World and even some of the Second World countries, and we need not worry any longer about all the suicidal attempts to abandon poor countries.

* * *

POTPOURRI: Doctors from other nations certainly don’t see eye-to-eye with American doctors. The foreign medicos have condemned the U.S. doctors for approving the forced feeding of Guantanamo Bay prisoners who were on a hunger strike --- which was tantamount to committing suicide. So, the American doctors are trying to save lives. Don’t all doctors take an oath to do just that? . . .· So, the news reports tell us, the authors of “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail” brought a suit for plagiarism against Dan Brown, the author of “The DaVinci Code” in a British courtroom. In case you didn’t know, Brown’s book has earned him millions of dollars in sales, all of it based on the deplorable fiction that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and that they had several children. All I can say about the others on both sides of this legal comedy is “a pox on both their houses.” . . . · Funny thing about the TV actor, Isaac Hayes, featured on “South Park.” He is a devotee of Scientology, the faith espoused by Tom Cruise and John Travolta. Throughout all the spoofs of other religions on the comedy show, spoofs in which Hayes willingly engaged, he saw no problems. But when the show took some comic potshots at Scientology, Hayes, in a huff, announced he was quitting the show! That should tell the rest of us something. . . .· I’m still chuckling over the report that South Korea’s prime minister, Lee Hae-chan, offered to resign his post because, according to South Korean critics, he went out to shoot a round of golf at a time he was expected “to oversee the government’s response to the railway strike.” Sounds like an old American custom to me. When American politicos get into a tight situation, don’t they often brood over it by taking off for the links? Ah, these strange Asian ways. . . .· The liberal news media, which have made such an anti-Bush fuss over the case of the covert C.I.A. operative, Valerie Plame, should be ashamed of themselves for their exaggerations in the case. Now, it has been freely acknowledged, the names of scores of C.I.A. agents are easily discerned in routine searches on the Internet. Just call it another Liberal Democratic case of “much ado about nothing.” But, of course, the Liberal press will never admit its faux pas. . . . · In case you haven’t been concerned about the influx of millions of illegal immigrants, you should peruse recent statistics provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. Those statistics indicate that illegal immigrants now make up 5 percent of the total population --- and the pace of illegal arrivals across our borders is not slowing down.

Anti-War Protesters Are Forgetting the Lesson of Recent History

The rise of anti-war protests and the barrage of anti-Bush sentiments that have arisen in the news media and among Liberal faculty members at the nation’s colleges and universities compel me to repeat one of my favorite lines from the works of the great philosopher, George Santayana:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

About 30 years ago, the same types of rabblerousers came out of the woodwork and caused us to lose the only war America has lost in its history. They prevailed upon congressional leaders, the press, educational institutions, and the public itself to withdraw support of our military campaign in Vietnam.

It was a war we could easily have won. Because of the withdrawal of support at home, our generals, admirals, and Air Force leaders were persuaded to pull back their ground, sea, and air units and to table the final assault they knew could have routed the Communists and put an end to the war in Vietnam. It was clearly a war we could have and should have won. Instead, we permitted the Communists to swallow up South Vietnam, and we began our humiliating retreat.

A nation in Southeast Asia that we could have and should have set free to pursue its dream of freedom and a democratic republic was handed over to the North Vietnamese Communists. Doesn’t all that have an eerie, perilous ring to those Americans who are now demanding that we pull our military out of Iraq and Afghanistan and, once again, turn those nations over to our avowed enemy?

Are we about to make the same colossal mistake and retreat, just as total victory is within our grasp? Must we continue to prove Santayana right and prove once more that we are condemned to repeat the past because we cannot remember it? Now, more than ever before, patriotic Americans must stand their ground and support President Bush and our important ventures in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If we don’t, we can expect Muslim militants in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world to step up their campaign of “war against the infidels.” The Muslim extremists have been on the attack against the U.S., Israel, and the West for more than three decades, and they show no signs of relenting or seeking an armistice. Those who have their heads in the sand must realize that the Third World War has been going on since the 1970s and will continue until we defeat the extremists wherever we find them.

We have been told time and again that the majority of Muslims around the world are peace-loving people and do not share the extremists’ hatred for non-Muslims. If that is the case, we in the world’s free democracies must prevail upon the peace-loving Muslims to take action to subdue the militants and make peace with the rest of the world. If the two major factions of Islam are divided over the interpretation of the Koran, the peace-loving Muslims must take the upper hand and elevate that interpretation of Muhammad’s words that preached peace, not “a war against the infidels.”

Lost in the maze of today’s combat is the important fact that the U.S. and its allies have delivered to Afghanistan and Iraq the greatest gift a major Power can bestow upon a downtrodden, dictator-weary nation: Freedom, liberty, and the right to live within a democratic republic run by the people.

Dixy Lee Ray Disparaged Phonies Like Cousteau and Mead

My longtime colleague and dear friend, Dr. Dixy Lee Ray, seldom expressed her disdain over oceanographers, like herself, or scientists in general, but she sometimes had severe criticism for a few. And those few drew her ire because they committed the unpardonable sin in science --- they faked results of experiments or experiences or they manufactured “facts” to support untenable theories.

True to her character, Dixy never voiced her criticism of other scientists in public or where the news media could hear her. But she confided that criticism to me and other close associates on occasion --- and did so only when prompted and when she could be sure that her words would not be reported.

As a world-renowned scientist in her own right, she directed her anger at two in particular, because, as she said, “they were such publicity hounds.” One was “the pride of the newsreel operators,” Jacques Cousteau, the French oceanographer, whose underwater films garnered him a ton of publicity and acclaim.

The other was an equally noted international figure, Margaret Mead, the anthropologist, noted for her work and her writings on the people of Samoa. It is important to note that Dixy’s criticism of the two scholars was voiced long before others leveled serious charges of scientific chicanery against both Cousteau and Mead.

In Cousteau’s case, even several of his underwater team members turned against him and accused him of faking many scenes that were used in newsreels and the production of a documentary on sea life that was seen on U.S. and Canadian television and was highly praised by reviewers --- reviewers who were not scientists, by the way.

I remember Dixy’s specific words concerning Cousteau in one instance. She had seen his TV documentary and other filmed works and said: “He is not only a faker and an embarrassment to other scientists. He takes personal credit for the work of others, whose films he has utilized as his own; he has never given them credit for their work. What an insufferable ego!”

It’s too bad that she never had an opportunity, as a noted oceanographer herself, to confront Cousteau and deliver her criticism directly. However, other marine scientists, including Cousteau’s own team members, have succeeded in recent years to point out the Frenchman’s shortcomings.

The criticism of Mead has been of a similar nature, but in her case Dixy knew from other anthropologists of her acquaintance that Mead’s Samoan reports were inaccurate and misleading, mainly because she made no attempt to live with Samoan families, preferring to spend her time on the island with white foreign officials.

One of her severest critics, a longtime anthropologist who had studied the Samoan civilization in depth, said Mead “had been hoaxed by young Samoan women giving false and mischievous answers to her many questions about their sexual mores --- and had reported those false responses in her book, ‘Coming of Age in Samoa,’ which established her reputation in the Western World.”

I wish that Dixy, who died in 1994, had been willing to call a spade a spade in public and that other legitimate scientists would not be so reluctant to blow a whistle on the world’s scientific phonies.

A Great Idea to Appease the “Not in My Backyard” Protesters

Since it goes without saying that good ideas should be repeated --- until they are adopted --- I will once again risk repeating an idea I wrote about many times as a newspaper columnist, as an editorialist, and as a TV/Radio commentator. Now, will you bear with me and hold still for just a minute or two while I preach a little?

A recurring problem I believe every city, large or small, has these days and will continue to have in the future is one involving where to build or situate that installation, service, utility, or whatever that nobody wants next door or even a few doors away. I’m talking about garbage dumps, incineration sites, meat-packing plants, and things of that sort. You understand what I mean, of course.

I’m not talking about installations that could easily be erected out in the wilderness, at sea, or even underground. I’m referring to installations that serve an immediate need to industry, to the professions, to human services, and to the community at large --- installations that must be close to populated areas.

The reader must be acquainted with the old refrain, “Not in My Backyard,” which should have been set to music by now by some enterprising composer or editorialist. It has become something of a neighborhood “anthem,” and it is heard whenever someone raises the specter of a dump or smelly facility nearby.

It is part of our free democracy that public protest must be permitted for any reason and in any place, provided the protesters don’t turn to violence and do not damage private or public property. Therefore, we have no choice but to permit protests to that meat-packing plant or garbage dump or recycling site. And we are obliged to listen to the protest messages without demanding that the troops be called out to repress the noisy mob.

I remember the day, years back, that the idea I will express here came to me. A waste-incineration plant that was immensely important to the community was being planned by local government. And, as could have been expected, hundreds of residents in or near the earmarked site turned out with signs, bull horns, funny hats, and all the rest to lodge a loud, incessant protest.

What to do? How should the city fathers overcome such a protest against a facility that was much needed by the community protesting? That’s when the idea came to me --- an idea I expressed in a newspaper column at the time and have since repeated many times in other media.

It was this: When a facility, like a waste incinerator or garbage dump, is planned in a neighborhood, why not seek the residents’ acceptance by awarding them a sizable tax reduction or some other form of reward? A property-tax reduction comes to mind, as an example. Let’s say that all those within a half-mile radius of the projected plant would be eligible for the award. Doesn’t that make sense? And wouldn’t it put an end to the brigade of “Not in My Backyard” protesters?

The first time I ran the column, I received a barrage of letters and phone calls praising the idea, and just a few informing me that I should check in at the closest insane asylum --- one that was not situated within a quiet neighborhood! Despite the wide general acceptance of the idea, however, no one at City Hall or anywhere else bothered even to take it up for consideration. Now, there’s a real reason to protest!!!

Five-Year High Schools Are Best for All Purposes

Five-Year High Schools Are Best for All Purposes

For some time now, the million-member American Federation of Teachers has been mulling over a proposal to add a fifth year to the nation’s public high schools, the purpose of which would be to offer what might be considered “makeup” training for students who fall behind in their grades or just can’t keep up with their classmates.

I think it’s a good idea and should be implemented in both the public and private high schools. But I believe an even better plan for a fifth year of high school already exists and has been adopted by just a few technical high schools in major cities, most of them in the eastern half of the U.S.

I should know. I was a product of a five-hear high school in Cleveland. It was called East Technical and it had a counterpart on the other side of the city, called West Technical. Both schools switched over to five-year plans soon after passage of the Smith-Hughes Education Act that had been passed by Congress before the Great Depression years.

Of course, the new technical-school format was perfectly designed for highly industrialized cities like Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, New York, and a few others. One of the primary reasons for the new technical schools was to train students for the industrial work force.

As a result of the Smith-Hughes training in Cleveland’s two five-year technical schools, ready-made apprentices immediately became available for Cleveland’s industrial belt --- as has been the case in all the other cities with high schools offering the five-year training under the Smith-Hughes Act.

Under that act, the five-year schools offered thorough training in virtually every industrial field, from machine shop and aircraft design to beginning architecture, engineering, foundry work, sheet-metal production, chemistry, autromotive engineering, and many more.

Every student was obliged to spend a few weeks in each of the trade shops, the idea being to help each one determine which he liked best and for which he had the best skills. In addition to all those courses, the school offered training in college preparatory, which, to no one’s surprise, turned out to be my choice. I went on to college after graduation from high school. Most of my classmates went directly into jobs in industry.

In college and thereafter as a journalist, I had a great advantage over others in my age group because I had the benefit of a general education in all phases of industry. That extra knowledge has held me in good stead ever since, no matter where my news-media career took me.

Today, with the addition of training in the computer field and commercial courses, the five-year high school would be ideal for all students, regardless of their aptitude and their skills. Somewhere in that format, the A.F.T. should be able to insert additional “makeup” training for the high-school students that need it.

For some time now, the million-member American Federation of Teachers has been mulling over a proposal to add a fifth year to the nation’s public high schools, the purpose of which would be to offer what might be considered “makeup” training for students who fall behind in their grades or just can’t keep up with their classmates.

I think it’s a good idea and should be implemented in both the public and private high schools. But I believe an even better plan for a fifth year of high school already exists and has been adopted by just a few technical high schools in major cities, most of them in the eastern half of the U.S.

I should know. I was a product of a five-hear high school in Cleveland. It was called East Technical and it had a counterpart on the other side of the city, called West Technical. Both schools switched over to five-year plans soon after passage of the Smith-Hughes Education Act that had been passed by Congress before the Great Depression years.

Of course, the new technical-school format was perfectly designed for highly industrialized cities like Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, New York, and a few others. One of the primary reasons for the new technical schools was to train students for the industrial work force.

As a result of the Smith-Hughes training in Cleveland’s two five-year technical schools, ready-made apprentices immediately became available for Cleveland’s industrial belt --- as has been the case in all the other cities with high schools offering the five-year training under the Smith-Hughes Act.

Under that act, the five-year schools offered thorough training in virtually every industrial field, from machine shop and aircraft design to beginning architecture, engineering, foundry work, sheet-metal production, chemistry, autromotive engineering, and many more.

Every student was obliged to spend a few weeks in each of the trade shops, the idea being to help each one determine which he liked best and for which he had the best skills. In addition to all those courses, the school offered training in college preparatory, which, to no one’s surprise, turned out to be my choice. I went on to college after graduation from high school. Most of my classmates went directly into jobs in industry.

In college and thereafter as a journalist, I had a great advantage over others in my age group because I had the benefit of a general education in all phases of industry. That extra knowledge has held me in good stead ever since, no matter where my news-media career took me.

Today, with the addition of training in the computer field and commercial courses, the five-year high school would be ideal for all students, regardless of their aptitude and their skills. Somewhere in that format, the A.F.T. should be able to insert additional “makeup” training for the high-school students that need it.

World Would Be Better Place If It Could Adopt a Single Language

A few years ago, a philologist named David Crystal wrote a fascinating book, Language Death, in which he made the astounding point that “only 10 percent of the 6,000 or so present-day languages are safe from extinction.” Of course, 10 percent of 6,000 would leave 600 languages, but his assertion remains astounding.

He wrote that it was true that “most of the threatened tongues are pretty obscure, such as Andamanese (spoken in the Andaman Islands), Friulian (a dialect in a region of Northeastern Italy), and Tlingit (an Alaskan language), but they are languages that are the primary means of communication in the lands that support them.”

I found Crystal’s book fascinating, not because I agreed with him, but, on the contrary, because I disagreed with him on many points. He was actually appealing for support to protect the languages and the people speaking and writing them because, as he stated, “whenever a language dies, national culture, identity, and history are all diminished.”

It was his contention that diversity in languages is good for its own sake. Maybe, but I believe, as I have said often in commentaries, that the world would be a much better place if everybody in it spoke the same language. The essence of language is to communicate understanding.

If, for example, the entire world adopted English as its primary language, each nation could still embrace its original language. Think of the advantages that would accrue in communications, literature, the print and broadcast news media, foreign relations, travel, and just about every other field imaginable if a single language were understood, spoken, and written by every living human being.

One might also be wary of Crystal’s arithmetic, particularly his assertion that only 10 percent of all languages would defy extinction. I look at it this way: In this topsy-turvy world of continuing dissension, civil strife, mass murders, and misunderstanding, 600 remaining languages are 599 too many!

Crystal brought up the case of Esperanto, the relatively simple language, whose sponsors thought it could be the universal language. It never caught on. Perhaps it would have become a popular language if it were the native tongue of several established nations and if it had a background of written literature.

On the other hand, I have made the case for sign language as perhaps the best and easiest second language that could be adopted by every nation on the planet. It would be an ideal asset in the interim, while nations were in the process of adopting the preferred single language (which should be English).

There is a problem with sign language, however, but it is one I believe could be easily fixed. Several different sign languages exist. America has its own brand and other countries have theirs. If they could all get together and come up with one all would accept, the world’s second language would be born. It can happen, and the sooner the better.

A Prediction: Some Day Everyone Will Be a Vegetarian

The other day, I was perusing one of my favorite haunts, the newspaper’s page of comics, when I came across one I’ve always enjoyed --- and this one was no exception. In Johnny Hart’s very funny “BC” strip, a woman posed this question to the “Fat Broad,” who is sitting by her cave’s entrance:

“What do you suppose prompted the first caveman to eat a chicken?”

And the Fat Broad responded: “Someone probably told him it tasted just like lizard.”

After enjoying a good laugh, my thoughts grew serious as I pondered the question: “When and why did early man and woman start eating other animals?” I know that some civilizations thrived on diets of berries, herbs, fruits, nuts, and stuff like that, but many more hunted a variety of animals and devoured them.

Eating meat remains the primary diet of most people on earth today, but there is a growing movement toward a diet that shuns meat and dwells mostly on vegetables and fruits. Those who are drawn into vegetarianism do it for a variety of reasons. One is for better health. And, surprise of surprises, another is simply because many vegetarians like meatless foods a lot better.

Meat eaters could respond that they like beef, pork, chicken, duck, etc., because meats provide them with an essential element, amino acids. But the vegetarians say there are other ways to take in amino acids. And science has proved them right. In addition, vegetarians say science has already informed the world that a vegetable diet is healthier for us and promotes longer lives.

Another reason the vegetarians eagerly promote their cause is one that seems to be even more compelling to our over-weight and obese society. Going on a vegetable diet helps to take off the unnecessary pounds and to keep them off. In that regard, the medical profession is all for the vegetable eaters.

There is yet another faction in all societies that champions the swing toward vegetarian diets. Its reasons go far beyond the usual medical counseling. That faction is the organization of animal activists, who have been known even to resort to violence or serious damage to protest the slaughter of cattle, pigs, chickens, and other animals.

I wish the animal activists would adopt a gentler way of advancing their cause, but I have yet to hear any of them assert that they are vegetarians at heart and are beating the drums for the rest of society to join them. Don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen. But it’s possible that common sense will prevail.

In the meantime, I have already gone on record with a prediction I think has a good chance of becoming reality. In my latest book, “F! D! F! (Fire! Dammit! Fire!) A Feast of Good Ideas,” I have predicted that many years from now, perhaps not until the 22nd Century, all people in the U.S. and every other nation will be vegetarians. Trouble is, I’ll not live to see that day. In the meantime, please pass the spinach.

Sound Alarm! “Suicide Bombers” Slip By Security at 21 Airports!

If ever a national alarm over terrorism should have been sounded in the United States, it should have sounded loudly and forcefully across the land six years ago, when NBC’s Nightly News issued a report it said had come directly from federal-government sources with inside information.

NBC’s reporters said that federal agents had just revealed the results of tests they had made at 21 major airports. The agents were carrying bomb-making materials that were carefully concealed. They said “not a single would-be ‘suicide bomber’ was detected at any one of the 21 airports,” a most alarming finding!

In its news report, NBC News added: “In all 21 airports tested, no machine, no swab, no screener anywhere stopped the bomb materials from getting through. Even when investigators deliberately triggered extra screening of bags, no one stopped these materials.”

The NBC report should have touched off a nationwide alarm and demands for action to step up security at the airports from every corner of the land. But virtually nothing happened. Why not? Has any news source or responsible federal or local official sounded a siren to alert officialdom to this great danger?

It seems to me that airport officials everywhere should be turning their attention to security procedures and the screeners to determine how persons walking through airport lines could possibly have smuggled bomb-making materials onto flights without being detected. Doesn’t the NBC News report clearly indicate that our airports and our seaports should be run a lot better --- and that we should not, under any circumstances turn over those key sites to foreigners like Dubai in the United Arab Emirates!

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POTPOURRI: For years I’ve been saying and writing that the world’s major problem isn’t the supply of oil, it’s the shortage of clean drinking water in many parts of the planet. Now, a new international study and the Associated Press tell us that “mismanagement, limited resources, and environmental damage have combined to deny 1.1 billion people access to safe, clean water.” And the countries hardest hit are in Sub-Saharan Africa. . . .· Now that the port-management issue has been eased and the Dubai firm may be out of the picture, Congress and the President should resolve to examine every other facility in the U.S. that should be run by Americans, not foreigners. In this time of terrorist danger, that should include airports, seaports, industries supplying critical products or services, and any other corporation or agency that could give terrorists access to key activities in the U.S. . . · You and I will no longer be justified in referring to human idiots as “bird brains,” a common expression of disgust. Scientists studying the daily habits of humming birds and other tiny birds report that the birds have remarkable memories. The humming bird, the scientists have discovered, “can pinpoint the location of flowers it has visited and know when it has replenished its supply of nectar.” . . .· European nations simply cannot hide their distaste and jealousy for anything American, particularly if it has proved to be popular worldwide and accepted everywhere. Through their mouthpiece, the European Union, the Europeans continue to hound Microsoft, the world’s leading software maker, and accusing it of anti-trust rules. The software company insists it obeyed the E.U.’s edicts two years ago. It’s no secret that the Europeans are in collusion with their own software firms to combat Microsoft in any way possible. Once again, who needs enemies when you have friends like the Europeans?

Why Not a Chrysler Model T Named “The Iacocca”?

About 26 or 27 years ago, I was intrigued by an announcement from Detroit that auto makers invited new ideas that might make the cars of the day and tomorrow more attractive and less expensive. It came at a time I was reading a book by Lee Iacocca, then boss of the Chrysler Corporation, and a fellow I deeply admired for his frank talk about the American economy.

On a dare, I wrote to Chrysler with a pair of suggestions, hoping that at least one of them might be accepted, and I would receive a handsome check for my effort. The first idea was for Chrysler to pattern a new runabout after the small foreign cars that were selling well in the American market. In fact, I said Chrysler should make it a new version of Ford’s old Model T and call it The Iacocca. Sounds like a rumba or tango, doesn’t it?

The second suggestion came from a very old Laurel and Hardy comedy, in which the film studio rigged up an old jalopy with an extra four wheels that would help slide a car sideways into a tight parking space. What a boon that would have been for distraught drivers --- even today!

Concerning the first idea, the fellow running Chrysler’s suggestion program sent me this reply: “Your suggestion was considered by appropriate personnel. It has been determined that the suggestion would not fit into programs currently under way. Although we cannot use your suggestion at this time, we appreciate your interest and thank you for the opportunity to consider the item….”

As for the second idea, I have yet to hear from Chrysler, and, of course, I don’t expect to. If you like the two ideas, help yourself. They’re all yours.

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African-Americans Deserve a Better Leader Than Farrakhan

With Iran very much in the news these days, I recall a trip made to that nation ten years ago by the flamboyant Louis Farrakhan, head of what he calls the Nation of Islam. As reported by the Associated Press, the fiery fellow praised Iran’s clergy-dominated government as “perfect” and denounced the U.S. as “The Great Satan.”

That term was used by Iranian militants during the crisis involving Americans taken hostage by Iranian forces. In an address before members of the Iranian Parliament, Farrakhan pledged that American Muslims would rebel against U.S. policy because America treated Iran as one of the leading sources of terrorism.

Farrakhan had traveled to Iran to help celebrate that nation’s 17th anniversary of the overthrow of the U.S.-supported shah, a movement that resulted in bringing the Aytollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power and establishing control of Iran by Islamic clerics, a condition that exists today.

I have long been a staunch supporter of the African-American community’s causes and its plea for an end to racism. But I am puzzled by the actions of some black Americans, who consider Farrakhan the man who should lead them to better days. Do they really want a leader who describes America as “The Great Satan”?

Human Race Was a “Speck” in Creation of the Universe

My late, great friend, Dr. Dixy Lee Ray, charmed audiences across the nation and abroad with her wit and profound scientific knowledge and background. Quite often, people who heard her speak were entranced with her material and asked afterward for a copy of her speeches or, as was the case most of the time, excerpts that were particularly appealing.

Foremost among those was a passage she shared with me and which both of us used in our talks on the national lecture tour. It dealt with an appealing piece of wisdom she drew from an author whose name escapes me at the moment and whose message deserves notoriety. It goes this way, with apologies to the “mystery” author:

“The age of the earth is, as geologists tell us, between 4.5 and 5 billion years. And, if we condense that into one hypothetical year, then the earth would be born on the first day of January. For the first four months --- January, February, March, and April --- nothing happens, except enormous geological cataclysms as the land is formed and separated from the sea.

“The atmosphere is made and gigantic storms erupt and the oceans evaporate and form rain clouds and erode the surface of the earth. The continents shift around and move to occupy something like their present positions. The volcanoes erupt and mountains are built and valleys are formed.

“It’s about the first of May when the first tiny, little living blob, perhaps a single cell of protoplasm begins to pulsate in some warm tropical seas. Evolution begins, and sometime during the fall the primeval forests rise from the low lands. About the first day of November, dinosaurs are roaming the earth. Around Thanksgiving time mammals appear.

“It is 10:30 of the evening of December 31st when man’s primordial ancestor rises up upon his hind legs and looks around him. At 11:55 the pyramids are built; 57 seconds later, Columbus discovers America, and we enter the Industrial Revolution one second before the new year.”

Dixy called it the “Creation Episode,” and in every instance, it captivated and astounded the people in her audiences. I don’t believe any other writer has ever captured the truly miraculous creation of earth and shown us how relatively minor we humans are in the context of the universe and the passage of time.

A few people have suggested that Dixy’s frequent use of the remarkable passage indicates she didn’t believe in the hereafter and that she considered the human race to be insignificant. On the contrary, they were wrong on both counts, although Dixy never tried to explain herself at the time she was giving one of her talks --- and neither did I.

Dixy, a renowned scientist and possessing a most brilliant mind, was not a religious person. But, as she explained to me many times in private conversations, she believed in God --- and that all religions that profess a belief in God are not only legitimate but extremely valid in the lives of believers. As for the “insignificance” of humans, she also believed the miraculous hand that created and moved the universe --- God --- had also created human beings in His own image. Or “Her” image --- but that’s another story for another time.

Rejection of Nader Proves Public Is Wise to Obvious Phonies

Many years ago, I was an admirer of Ralph Nader, because he, like me, was a hell-raiser in the news business and targeted the automobile industry and other industries for failing to level with the public on defects in products and services. Then, when he went off the deep end and became simply a rabble-rouser and opposed to everything in sight, without supporting facts or scientific reasoning, I became one of his severest critics.

A case in point was Nader’s senseless and baseless assertion on many occasions that the American people didn’t know anything about nuclear power because a Harris poll showed that 63 percent of them favored the construction of more nuclear-power plants across the country. He said at the time: “When they find out what the story is, they’re overwhelmingly against nuclear power.” On the contrary, the public has always seemed to know instinctively and on the basis of honest scientific reports that there is an urgent need for nuclear power and that ithas a proven record of safety.

That seems to apply more today than ever before, particularly in view of the advancing crisis over diminishing energy sources, soaring gasoline prices, and the fact that Nader’s environmental legions were responsible for causing U.S. industry to quit building much needed oil refineries and nuclear plants more than three decades ago.

As the public has learned more about the safety and economic and environmental truth about nuclear power, the 63 percent has risen dramatically, and public acceptance and approval of nuclear power have defied Nader’s worst predictions. Congress and most legislatures in the U.S. long ago discovered that Nader and his misguided followers were preaching emotional and dangerous tripe, not solid facts.

Nuclear power has long since proved itself safe, efficient, and a lot less expensive than other forms of power. In fact, it is actually the only hope America has of remaining the world’s foremost super power, with enough energy to sustain its economy. If we followed Nader’s severely flawed reasoning and his Pied Piperism, we would relinquish leadership to other nations, which are going ahead with safe, productive nuclear power.

What did Nader do in a feeble attempt to shore up his cockeyed charges? He trotted out some 2,300 characters he said were “experts” on scientific matters, without offering to verify their backgrounds in any of the sciences. Most of his “scientists” were merely loud-mouth environmental extremists with little or no background in nuclear science.

The U.S. has more than 100,000 legitimate physicists and nuclear scientists, most of whom have supported the cause of nuclear power in particular and the Nuclear Age in general. They have acknowledged that the Nuclear Age is one of man’s most significanat and greatest adventures. Fortunately, most members of Congress and state legislatures have listened to the legitimate scientists and disregarded Nader’s ranting.

Proof of America’s rejection of Nader and his strident, discordant views came with his decision to form a Green Party and enter the realm of politics. That rejection came with the public’s solid “No!” vote on Nader and everything he has embraced. The old saying attributed to Abe Lincoln was never truer: “You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all the time.” Nader’s time has come and gone, and he should retire from the public limelight.

Five-Year High Schools Are Best for All Purposes

For some time now, the million-member American Federation of Teachers has been mulling over a proposal to add a fifth year to the nation’s public high schools, the purpose of which would be to offer what might be considered “makeup” training for students who fall behind in their grades or just can’t keep up with their classmates.

I think it’s a good idea and should be implemented in both the public and private high schools. But I believe an even better plan for a fifth year of high school already exists and has been adopted by just a few technical high schools in major cities, most of them in the eastern half of the U.S.

I should know. I was a product of a five-hear high school in Cleveland. It was called East Technical and it had a counterpart on the other side of the city, called West Technical. Both schools switched over to five-year plans soon after passage of the Smith-Hughes Education Act that had been passed by Congress before the Great Depression years.

Of course, the new technical-school format was perfectly designed for highly industrialized cities like Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, New York, and a few others. One of the primary reasons for the new technical schools was to train students for the industrial work force.

As a result of the Smith-Hughes training in Cleveland’s two five-year technical schools, ready-made apprentices immediately became available for Cleveland’s industrial belt --- as has been the case in all the other cities with high schools offering the five-year training under the Smith-Hughes Act.

Under that act, the five-year schools offered thorough training in virtually every industrial field, from machine shop and aircraft design to beginning architecture, engineering, foundry work, sheet-metal production, chemistry, autromotive engineering, and many more.

Every student was obliged to spend a few weeks in each of the trade shops, the idea being to help each one determine which he liked best and for which he had the best skills. In addition to all those courses, the school offered training in college preparatory, which, to no one’s surprise, turned out to be my choice. I went on to college after graduation from high school. Most of my classmates went directly into jobs in industry.

In college and thereafter as a journalist, I had a great advantage over others in my age group because I had the benefit of a general education in all phases of industry. That extra knowledge has held me in good stead ever since, no matter where my news-media career took me.

Today, with the addition of training in the computer field and commercial courses, the five-year high school would be ideal for all students, regardless of their aptitude and their skills. Somewhere in that format, the A.F.T. should be able to insert additional “makeup” training for the high-school students that need it.

Dixy Lee Ray’s Two Canine Pets Were As Colorful As She Was

I doubt that the national capital has ever had a personality who was more colorful or more controversial than my dear old friend, Dr. Dixy Lee Ray. She left this earth back in 1994, but she left so many memories that she is as much alive in my mind today as she was in the more than 40 years we were good friends. For example:

Dixy’s love for her two dogs, Jacques, the French poodle, and Ghillie, the Irish wolfhound, was deep and constant. They went with her wherever she went, and when she was appointed to the position of assistant secretary at the State Department, Jacques and Ghillie went along, too. They joined her in her office and on her walks through the building and on the grounds outside.

When a private citizen complained in a letter to Vice President Hubert Humphrey that dogs should not be allowed in federal buildings and that Dr. Ray should not be granted the special privilege of having her dogs with her everywhere in the State Department building, the vice president sent the letter to the congressional liaison office for an answer, he received this reply:

“It is true that the presence of Dr. Ray’s two animals has been permitted. We are assured, however, that the dogs are well behaved and cause no disturbance whatsoever. They are not maintained at taxpayers’ expense or by government personnel. Should any problem arise with respect to their presence in the Department, we would, of course, review Dr. Ray’s special exemption.”

There may have been other complaints, but Jacques and Ghillie stayed at the State Department as long as Dixy did. Nobody within the State Department ever complained. In fact, many of them grew fond of the two pets and enjoyed seeing them trailing the assistant secretary wherever she walked.

On another occasion, a leading Japanese fisheries official was visiting her at the State Department, and as soon as he was seated across from her, Jacques jumped into his lap and proceeded to tug toyfully at his jacket and vest, as he did with every visitor. The Japanese official tried fending off the dog for a moment, then reached into his jacket pocket to pull out a cigarette.

Now, Dixy’s aversion to cigarette or cigar smoke was known to all her friends and many of her foes. As he pulled out a matchbook to light a cigarette, Dixy grimaced and quickly said:

“You’re not going to light that, are you, Sir?” Without a second’s hesitation, the official said, with a smile:

“Dear Dr. Ray. If I have to put up with your poodle sinking his teeth into my clothing and who knows what else he may wish to do, you will just have to put up with my smoking a cigarette.”

Startled, Dixy then laughed broadly and said, “Sure, go ahead.” Thus, an important international relationship was preserved and the two marine scientists proceeded to enjoy each other’s company immensely. Too bad these two couldn’t have been conducting Japanese-American relations prior to December 7, 1941.

Two Little Known Stories in the Mount Saint Helens Episode

As I look back on the catastrophic blow Mother Nature dealt Washington State on May 18, 1980, I can still see in my mind’s eye the vast plume of ash that reached from Western Washington to the border with Idaho as Mount Saint Helens’ eruption devastated the surrounding forests, rivers, and lakes --- and took the lives of 58 people.

Today I am also reminded of at least two untold or little told events or non-events, as the case may be that grew out of that disastrous eruption. The first, the little told story, involves millions of trees, shrubs, and other growths that once adorned both private and public lands north, south, east, and west of the volcano.

The private lands, owned by the Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world’s largest producers of timber, probably suffered the greatest damage of all in the area. The public lands in the devastated area belonged --- as they still do --- to the federal government and Washington State.

Immediately after the gigantic cleanup that was necessary on both private and public preserves, Weyerhaeuser rushed to plant millions of new seedlings in perhaps the greatest regeneration effort the company had ever undertaken. Its scientists and foresters were world-renowned for their regeneration efforts.

On the other hand, the federal and state foresters decided to leave things as they were after the cleanup, trusting to Nature to do its thing, as environmental forces insisted. Ten to 12 years later, there was an amazing difference in the two forest areas --- a difference that brought smiles to my old, much lamented friend, the late Dr. Dixy Lee Ray, who was the undeservedly maligned governor of Washington State. One would have thought from the enviros’ charges that she had caused the eruption!

At any rate, the regenerated acreage treated by Weyerhaeuser’s crews was already well-grown with trees and undergrowth, while the government lands remained almost as if the eruption had just taken place. Dixy’s observation was right on the button: “When Mother Nature is given a hand, she responds with a rush!” How true, especially in this case. But the environmental camp has never acknowledged Weyerhaeuser’s forestry magic in the Mount Saint Helens area.

So much for the little told story. The untold event is actually one that never happened --- but it should have. I was directly involved in this one. A few days after the eruption, an old Seattle friend, Robin M. “Buzz” Towne, a noted sound and acoustical engineer, came to my office in the Governor’s quarters and said he had a most important proposal for Dixy.

With the enthusiastic support of Dr. Richard Cooke, retired director of the U.S. Bureau of Standards and, like Buzz, also a noted sound and acoustical expert, Buzz said he and his cohorts had devised an intricate, new sound system that could be buried deep in volcanic areas and which would forecast eruptions and save lives, land, and properties.

When I relayed his message to Dixy and brought them together in a meeting at the Capitol, she was excitedly supportive of the idea and said she would relay it to state and federal geologists with the hope that the new system could be installed in Mount Saint Helens as soon as possible. Unfortunately, it was her last year in office. She would not be re-elected and neither she nor I had an opportunity to follow through on the proposal. To this day, a brilliant idea has not been tried --- and the mountain remains a threat to Nature.

Privatize Social Security System and Banish the “Notch Years”

If you’re up in years and in that select group of retirees called “seniors,” you, too, have been getting a lot of mail recently asking you for contributions for a campaign to persuade Congress to undo a serious error it made way back in the late 1970s.

At that time, Congress voted what amounted to unfair punishment to those persons who had been unfortunate enough to be born in one of the three or four years after 1916. a period now known as the “notch years.” The “notchers” had their S.S. income reduced. I’m one of those unlucky critters, along with many of my elderly friends, and I’m damned mad about it, as they are.

Way back then, Congress was in deep trouble because of the recession and the economic slide that forced the lawmakers to find a way to cut costs in order to balance the national budget. As has happened so often over the years, the lawmakers looked to the Social Security Administration to find an easy target. ‘Twas ever thus!

Whenever these errant politicos can’t find money to fix a problem they themselves have caused, they look to the Social Security fund to cure their monetary ailments and say something like, “Oh, well, we’ll find a way to put that money back later --- when the economy is much brighter and we have a surplus in the national treasury.”

For that reason, the Social Security program has been in serious jeopardy for many years --- and members of Congress haven’t found a way (or they refuse to find a way) to stabilize the Social Security fund. What’s needed is a bold privatization plan to reduce the size and cost of federal government, including a cutback in the salary, pension, and other favors Congress has voted itself over the years.

At any rate, there has been a senior lobby strolling the halls of Congress and buttonholing lawmakers for a long time, but they haven’t been able to force the solons to eliminate the “notch year” penalties inflicted on many seniors and to write a new law declaring that the Social Security fund is sacrosanct and cannot be borrowed from for any reason by Congress or anybody else.

Frankly, I would prefer that the Social Security program be privatized and turned into a private agency run without interference from the federal government, but that dream seems to be beyond fulfillment at this time. And it probably will stay that way as long as millions of Americans insist on accepting handouts from the federal government --- handouts paid for by millions more Americans through taxes.

It is time for other national organizations to join the senior lobby and force Congress’ nose to the grindstone on the Social Security issue in general and the ridiculous “notch year” measure in particular.

Money paid into the Social Security system by American workers should be out of the reach of the politicians. And they, young and old, should rally to the aid of the senior lobby, not only to remove the obnoxious “notch year” law but to privatize the entire Social Security system.

I have no doubt that, if such a measure were referred to the entire population, it would be approved by a landslide vote. But where do we find lawmakers willing to take that chance?

Court’s Decision on Schools’ Racist Formula Merits Praise

In a brilliant display of jurisprudence that made immediate legal history, the Supreme Court of the United States has scuttled programs in Seattle and Jefferson County, Kentucky, that use race as a determinant in assigning students to public schools. The court’s decision was by a 5-to-4 vote.

It was a decision that had to be made if public schools are to abide by the U.S. Constitution, which forbids decisions made on the basis of skin color. Admittedly, the Seattle School Board used the racial formula in desperation to solve the problem of school enrollments that exceeded capacity. But, in the final analysis, Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote for the majority, put it best:

“For schools that never segregated on the basis of race, such as Seattle, or that have removed the vestiges of past segregation, such as Jefferson County, the way ‘to achieve a system of determining admission to the public schools on a non-racial basis’ is to stop assigning students on a racial basis. The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”

It was brilliant rhetoric and sound reasoning. But, as could have been expected, Democratic members of Congress who strongly opposed President Bush’s appointment of Roberts to the highest court were quick to condemn the court’s decision and to excoriate Roberts at the same time.

I think it was of great significance that the Supreme Court’s black member, Justice Clarence Thomas, concurred with the decision He wrote: “Racial imbalance is the failure of a school district’s individual schools to match or approximate the demographic makeup of the student population at large….. Because racial imbalance is not inevitably linked to unconstitutional segregation, it is not unconstitutional in and of itself.”

Although the five justices rendering the majority opinion didn’t say so, I believe they hinted at the proper solution. It’s a solution I have been proposing for some time. It is substantially this: Racial equality should be achieved, not by tampering with school enrollments or other gimmicks, but by desegregating neighborhoods.

That means getting rid of ghettoes, primarily in the large urban areas. It also means getting rid of the real-estate industry’s habit of refusing to show minorities the homes that are for sale, lease, or rent in white neighborhoods. Only then can we achieve the racial equality consistent with the freedoms expressed in the Constitution.

National Effort Needed to Curb Teen Cases of Anorexia

It goes without saying that it is vitally important to be physically fit, to exercise frequently, and to eat sensibly. But I think the experts on dieting have gone way too far with their mania for narrow waists. So have the news media, magazines, advertising agencies, the fashion industry, the movie industry, and television.

The national dance is now aerobics, and the only math many people learn and use is counting calories, A nationally recognized pediatrician who is acknowledged to be an expert on proper diets for young and old alike has told us what we have always known. Our children, he said, eat too much and exercise too little.

I wish the medical and food experts in our land would decide to talk about the other side of the coin --- those individuals who refuse to eat or who have nothing to eat. The first group is made up mostly of teen-age girls in high school and college who are anorexic or bulimic --- or both.

Because of the mania for slimness, these girls stop eating altogether or they gorge themselves, then give it all up by inducing vomiting. Nobody tells these girls there is something wrong with them, but they are seriously ill and do nothing to cure their illness. The terrible truth is that too many of these young anorexics and bulimics go to their graves at an early age.

Then there are those millions in poverty-stricken families, who must think it’s a cruel joke to be told they should eat the right foods! Their problem is economic, rather than medical, but if their condition is not ameliorated by an adequate supply of food, they, too, will suffer the same fate as anorexics.

With reference to anorexia and bulimia, the medical and research professions have tried to come up with a cure, but they have made virtually no progress in that regard. The reason is that the problem needs to be solved by psychiatrists, not medical doctors. Anorexics are, in fact, psychotics, who believe they are always “too fat,” even though a look in a mirror should convince them that they are wasting away.

In recent years, some advances have been made in the treatment of anorexics and bulimics, but much more must be done --- not necessarily by psychiatry but by the news media, magazines, films, television, and the fashion industry. These elements in our society insist on exaggerating the importance of “slimness,” dieting, and starving one’s self to be popular.

Perhaps what is needed is a decision by psychiatric sources to appeal to all the news media, the film and entertainment industry, and the fashion industry to start playing down the importance of “slimness” and dieting and start offering sensible, reasonable tips on eating and exercise. It can be done, and it should be done.

If you don’t think the need for a sensible approach is important, you should know that estimates of the number of young people suffering from food disorders has ranged as high as 12 million in the U.S. alone. Since the great majority of those stricken are teens, the potential damage to America’s young generation and the nation’s future is great.

I think the experts, the media, and especially the fashion and advertising moguls should get off the backs of the chubby kids and spend more time helping the millions who won’t or can’t eat.

Banks and Realtors Should Champion 75-Year Home Mortgages

The federal government and many banking officials seem to be warming up to the idea of offering home mortgages that go beyond the usual 20-year and 30-year term, and I am hopeful that they will eventually provide mortgages of much longer duration, as I have proposed in my latest book, “F! D! F! (Fire! Dammit! Fire!) A Feast of New Ideas.”

The feds and some banks are actually proposing to approve 40-year and, in some cases, 50-year loans. It hasn’t become a national trend, as yet, but I’m hoping that government and the private banking industry will consider my idea --- which is a proposal that home mortgages are issued to match approximate lifetimes of 70 or 75 years in duration!

Why not? My proposal for 70- or 75-year mortgages is designed primarily to help newlyweds purchase a home when they are starting life together and not force them to wait until they accumulate enough cash for a down payment on that dream home. Home ownership is most important at the beginning of a marriage, when a couple is in the process of creating a family.

Let’s say that Mr. and Mrs. John and Mary Smith, who are just starting life together, want to shop for a modest home. Under present conditions, they can’t afford to take out a 20-year mortgage because he is new at his job and can’t as yet bring home a paycheck that covers much more than rent and food for the family.

As a result, John and Mary have no choice but to rent an inexpensive apartment and dwell in it for several years as they manage to put away a few bucks each month, certainly not nearly enough to buy that $250,000 home they saw in a good neighborhood close to schools and shopping centers. They can barely scrape together enough money for the monthly rent.

Mary decides she must go to work to help buy groceries, but her efforts are hampered by the fact that she is the child-bearer and must spend much of her time keeping house and rearing the children. However, she and John are able to put aside enough to pay the rent each month.

There is that magic phrase, “pay the rent each month.” Now, with reference to my proposal, suppose the bank serving Mr. and Mrs. Smith and the real-estate industry were able to offer the young couple the purchase of a home bearing a 75-year mortgage, instead of the usual 20 or 30 years.

I pegged my proposal at about 75 years to approximate the lifetime of a couple. With a 75-year mortgage, the Smiths are required to pay the bank a monthly amount that is about the same as the rent they pay for an apartment. Hence, buying a home with a 75-year mortgage is the financial equivalent of a lease on an apartment or condominium.

The additional beauty of the plan is that the Smiths would be able to accelerate and/or increase their payments as they prosper in the work place. If they wish and they are able, they could pay off the mortgage much earlier than the original 75 years. Or they need not pay it off at all, if they should so choose.

The banks and the real-estate industry wouldn’t lose a penny for their role in the process. In fact, by making more homes available to more young couples, both the banks and the realtors would enjoy larger returns in the long run! What are we waiting for?

”Inner Space” Deserves As Much Attention As Outer Space

In our lifetimes, we hear and see millions of things that are soon forgotten, and perhaps we are better for the forgetfulness. But there are certain events that make such an impression on us that we remember them forever --- and, in fact, cause them to grow larger in our appreciation of life and certain people.

One of the latter for me was a short, impassioned speech made before a small group of people by an old friend, John Hauberg, who was a compassionate civic leader with great interest in the visual and performing arts and a host of experiences to prove it and render his memory indelible.

In that speech, one of many I heard him make, John spoke from personal family experience and a very close knowledge of those who live with severe physical and mental handicaps from birth. He told his audience that it was wonderful that our nation had expended enormous energy and financial resources to explore outer space but precious little toward what he called “inner space.”

It was the first time I had heard the phrase used, and my immediate reaction was to wonder why on earth someone hadn’t thought of it before. John’s objective was to promote much more scientific discovery of what happens inside the human body and, most of all, what could be done to correct physical and mental deficiencies in infants before they are born.

Will it ever be possible for the science community in the United States and in all other nations to give at least as much attention to “inner space” as it gives to “outer space”? I certainly hope so.

We Should Start Charging Other Nations for Defense Services

In the Far East, the Middle East, and various other sectors around the globe, the U.S. has used its military forces to protect the cargoes, properties, and even the personnel of many other nations. The question arises: Why haven’t we asked or received compensation from those nations for our services?

By way of example, our surrender agreements with Japan and Germany at the end of the Second World War forbid those two countries from mounting defense forces that could be used outside their borders --- and then only home-guard duty. But we haven’t charged them a penny for our very expensive defense services.

Instead, we have poured billions of our dollars into those two nations and to many others around the globe for similar defense purposes. It seems to me that we have permitted the tale to wag the dog, so to speak, or, in better logic, permitted the money to flow in the wrong direction.

As I have written and said many times before, we should junk our foreign-aid programs and the transfer of billions of our tax dollars to other nations, and, instead, create a new type of foreign-aid program in which we send our best minds to under-developed nations to help them improve their economies and raise their standard of living.

Then, perhaps, we can start billing those nations for services rendered, instead of sending them the billions of dollars that are being swallowed up by royalty and dictators.

Academy Awards Show Continues Its Boring, Endless Pattern

For the umpteenth time recently, Hollywood trotted out its annual Academy Awards extravaganza, and I couldn’t care less. The boring event, which each year consumes four or five hours of valuable television time, is a terribly dull exercise the movie capital pretends is entertainment the entire nation is waiting for.

The awards, which could be done in about a half hour’s time or less, is nothing more than a combination fashion show of scantily clad actresses and a parade of performers, technicians, directors, and movie moguls who feel obliged to thank everybody in the world, except for the doctors who brought them into the world, for making it possible for them to win an Oscar.

I wish the Academy Awards would get lost --- and take with them all the other awards shows that have contaminated the TV channels in recent years. The Oscars, which invented the breed, are the biggest pain of all. I don’t come by this pet peeve by accident.

As a film reviewer at the Seattle Times for close to 20 years, I saw 10 to 12 movies a week. And, although I saw many more turkeys than winners, I loved films for the most part and I still do, despite the massive, overwhelming screens and the sound systems that sometimes blow you out of your seat and empty your popcorn container.

However, I could never swallow the hokum and boredom of the Oscar shows and their interminable thank-yous and silly posturing. The Academy Awards prove little of real value in drama or films, but they severely affect the lives of thousands of performers and technicians, because the Oscar statuettes are worth millions in automatic publicity. Those close to the industry, as I was all those years, know what a sham the whole process is.

Judging the films and casting ballots each year are a couple thousand persons who work in the movie industry and, of course, owe their allegiance to people who work and perform in their studios. Naturally, they have deep prejudices and have proved year after year that they vote on sentiment, rather than savvy.

Throughout my years as a film critic and an entertainment editor, I joined with others in the news media in pleading with the owners and shakers of the industry --- and the banks that fork over the millions to produce each film --- to leave the voting of awards to the only group qualified to do it, the nation’s film and drama critics.

I have still another gripe. Most Oscar awards are bought, not earned. The Academy members who vote are deluged with studio ads and publicity, particularly in the last two months of the year. They’re targeted with a barrage of pitches that would make a presidential campaign seem even-handed by comparison.

I must add one more gripe --- and, perhaps, this one is the most serious of all. The recent crop of films demonstrates that Hollywood has swung to the Far Left in political doctrine on one hand and toward tasteless moral issues on the other. It’s no secret that the Liberals have taken over the film industry.

The irony of the present situation is that the few so-called “family movies” that are made do extremely well at the box office. But the “R” or “X” rated products are struggling to attract moviegoers across the nation. Don’t the moviemakers see the handwriting on the wall? They need to return to movies that “entertain,” not deliver a raunchy message.

Russians to Resume Construction of Nuclear-Power Plants

The Associated Press reported recently that Russia has announced an ambitious program to build two nuclear reactors a year “to make nuclear power account for a quarter of the nation’s energy by the year 2030.” The Russian government has overcome the backlash against nuclear power that resulted from the disastrous Chernobyl incident of April, 1996.

In the meantime, the U.S., which has not built a new nuclear-power plant for more than three decades, thanks to the misguided campaigns of the anti-nuke camp and the environmental extremists, has relinquished the lead in the Nuclear Age to France, whose nuclear-energy plants supply at least three-quarters of that nation’s electric power.

Now, with about 100 nuclear plants in operation, the U.S. has definitely fallen behind in power production --- and will soon fall farther behind France and Russia. The Russians have 31 reactors in operation at the present time, a number below that in the U.S. But by the time Moscow’s new plan is complete, Russia will surpass us in nuclear-power generation.

Is this an arms race? Of course not. This is a race for electric power, which fuels a nation’s economy, its industry, and virtually every phase of development. It should be noted that it is also a race to see which nation can end what President Bush has called “an addiction for oil.” If the U.S. had built the 1,000 nuclear plants once envisioned, it would no longer be embroiled in the Middle East. Nuff said.

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POTPOURRI: Another legend has been born --- and it happened in the snowy wilds of Northern Quebec in Canada. The woman, Lydia Angylou, was walking with her two children one day when a gigantic polar bear moved in on her 7-year-old boy. She moved quickly to get between the bear and her son. The bear attacked her, and with superhuman strength, she wrestled the bear to the ground, keeping the animal engaged until friends arrived to kill the bear. She suffered only a few scratches and a black eye! Now, there’s a heroine worth memorializing with a statue and a special day! . . . · It could be called a silly game, if it weren’t so tragic in consequence. Select whichever conflict occurs in a foreign land, whether we are involved or not, and one or both sides in that conflict is bound to blame it all on the United States. That’s the consequence of being the world’s foremost power. Even though we have time and again stressed the fact that we want no part of colonizing or controlling another nation, we are accused of empire-building. Do we have real friends abroad? I doubt it. So, just let them try doing without us and our billions in aid! . . . · Rules and regulations concerning “dangerous” websites must be tightened. Parents in many regions of the U.S. are asking for such restrictions as a result of mounting cases in which teen-age girls have run afoul of predators and suffered the consequences. MySpace.com seems to be the most perilous of the new websites for thrill-seeking young girls. There are several others. The Internet must be cleaned up! . . . As of this writing, the Iranians and Russians are reported to be making a deal whereby the Russians would join with the Iranians in a joint venture to process enriched uranium, the stuff of which nuclear bombs are made. The Russians have proposed the plan to make it possible for them to keep a careful eye on the Iranians and thwart any attempt by Tehran to build nuclear weapons. Can the Russians, who helped Iran build its first nuclear reactor, be trusted to play the role of watchdog over the impulsive Iranians, who have pledged to drive Israel from the face of the earth?

Evangelical Leaders Misinformed About Global Warming

I have a great deal of respect for the Evangelical leaders of America, but they have made a serious error in mounting a national advertising and publicity campaign to demand action to curb global warming, which they say threatens the very existence of America and the rest of the planet.

Surely there must be scientifically oriented persons among them who would tell them that they were way off base and that their campaign could do far more damage than they realize if the action they propose were to be undertaken by lawmakers, educators, and the public at large.

Reputable scientists in the U.S. and in foreign nations --- not those who do the bidding of the radical environmentalists --- have tried to inform the citizens of the world that the global warming the enviros have transformed into an international bogey man has been with us for millions of years and that it comes and goes without severe damage to the earth.

In fact, an important segment of the scientific world has testified that what is construed as global warming actually is of benefit to Planet Earth, mainly because the buildup of carbon dioxide is actually beneficial to the earth and not the dreaded demon the radical environmentalists have declared it to be. Carbon dioxide enhances the growth of all plant life and forested land. The Evangelical leaders should seek the counsel and wisdom of those reputable scientists who know the truth but are reluctant to grandstand and misinform the public as the extremists have.

POTPOURRI: Just when most observers in Europe and America thought peace had finally come to North Ireland, violent protests have broken out in Dublin and elsewhere. With the world occupied so deeply in the current war between Judeo-Christians and Muslim extremists, continuing violence between Christian factions in North Ireland are a most puzzling fact of life. If the Irish can’t solve it, who can? . . . · Suppose the Christian world reacted toward the author and movie producers of “The Da Vinci Code,” which demeans Christ and Christianity, the same way the Muslim radicals have reacted in the case of the Danish cartoons depicting Muhammad with a turban holding a bomb. If they had, we would be seeing violent demonstrations by Christian activists wherever the book and the movie are available. But that won’t happen, because the Christian world isn’t given to such radicalism. . . . · Is nothing sacred? Now a Texas scientist tells us that his studies of vegetables and fruits in America indicate that, “in spite of what your mother taught you about the benefits of eating broccoli (and fruits)… the nutritional content of vegetables and fruits has declined over the last 50 years.” I have a hunch that the agriculture industry and health groups, as well as other scientists, will soon descend upon the Texan. . . . · A great deal of publicity and television time has been invested lately in a series of programs called “Dancing With the Stars.” It has been an appealing production, but I wonder why the producers of the program insisted on labeling the action as “ballroom dancing.” The performers’ routines were outstanding and extremely acrobatic. If persons “danced” that way in a public ballroom, it would undoubtedly result in a smashing brawl. . . . · One of today’s mysteries to me is how the new satellite radio stations can skirt censorship laws that regular stations must obey. Why are they above the rules, so to speak? The mystery is specially disturbing since the filthy-minded Howard Stern deserted his old radio network for the satellite network, Sirius. Another mystery is why some Americans are willing to pay a monthly fee for the satellite stations. All radio should be free; advertising should pay for the upkeep, as is the case with FM and AM radio.

All States Should Adopt the Federal Electoral College System

I made the following statement a couple months ago, but it is certainly worth repeating. Several former members of Congress have begun a campaign to reform the Electoral College, because, they insist, the results of presidential elections should be based on the nation’s popular vote, instead of the results of the votes in what they call “a handful of swing states.”

They call themselves the Campaign for the National Popular Vote. Because earlier campaigns to amend the Constitution and reform the electoral-college system have all failed, the group will try to change election laws through each of the 50 state legislatures. As could have been expected, the move will begin with the most populous states.

The group includes ex-congressmen from both the Democratic and Republican parties. In the case of the Democrats, they left no doubt that they were reacting to the presidential election of November, 2004, in which Democrat Al Gore won the popular vote, but Republican George W. Bush won the electoral vote.

It is important to note that in each case, the former Republican congressmen are from states in which the Republican popular vote was the greatest --- and the Democrats hailed from states in which the Democratic popular vote was the largest. In other words, both sides want the President elected by popular vote because their party faired best at the polls.

In each case, it’s quite clear, the former lawmakers have completely forgotten their history --- if they ever knew it. In framing the United States Constitution, our forefathers very wisely created the electoral system specifically because they didn’t want just a few states with the heaviest popular vote to dominate not only the elections but the affairs of Congress and the nation. It’s as if they foresaw the 2004 presidential race, in which the few extremely large states cast the greatest number of votes, but in which the many smaller states evened the score, thanks to the electoral system.

Republicans in all 50 states should be wary of the campaign’s aims, even though a few members of their party have joined the movement. It should be obvious to them that the Democrats would gain political control of Congress, the White House, and the nation if the electoral system is tossed into the ashcan.

Instead of reforming the electoral system, which has served the nation admirably for more than two centuries, I hasten to repeat a suggestion I have made many times in the past three or four decades. It is substantially this: All 50 states should borrow the federal Constitution’s provision for an Electoral College and write a similar law into their own state constitutions!

Why not? All 50 states have seen their few largest urban counties take on a decidedly Democratic hue, while the smaller counties have tended to lean toward the Republican Party. With a few exceptions, the largest counties have been controlled by the Democrats. As a result, the Demos have monopolized legislation and political control in most of the states.

If each state adopted the federal electoral system, the smaller counties would gain at least an equal voice in the election of governors, elective state officials, and the legislature itself. It makes me wonder why the 13 colonies and states formed subsequently didn’t include the electoral system in their state constitutions. It’s never to late to right a wrong!

What Are the Best Jobs One Can Hold in a Free Society?

I think it was about a dozen years or so ago that I remember reading a book, titled “The Jobs Rated Almanac,” by an author whose name I have forgotten --- perhaps on purpose. At the time, I was working as a television and radio commentator for the Seattle station, KIRO-TV and KIRO-Radio.

The book presumed to tell us dimwits in every walk of life which jobs were the best ones to seek and to hold. It rated jobs on the combined criteria of salary, stress, work environment, outlook, security, physical and mental demands, and the potential for advancement.

I remember specifically that the book presumed to tell us that the best all-around job, by far, is that of an actuary, the person who compiles statistics for insurance companies and others. Curious as to where I stood, I looked up all the jobs or skills I’ve lived with in my lifetime.

The job of radio-TV commentator didn’t even show up on the list of 250 occupations, although I would rate it as the best and most rewarding job I’ve ever had. I looked for other things I’ve enjoyed working at --- author, composer, arranger, orchestrator, band leader, and editor --- and I couldn’t find any of them on the list. So I tossed the book into the ashcan, an action I’ve never regretted.

I’ve been a musician since I was 7, when I began taking violin lessons, and I loved every moment of it, including the sometimes harsh words my fiddle teacher had for me when I played badly because I hadn’t practiced. Alas! Musicians rated only 208th on the stupid list! Even a piano tuner was far better off in Position No. 63, no less!

Astrologers rated 9th, while physicians languished in 131st place and mayors at 201. I was amused to find that the book had placed Protestant ministers 72nd on the list, rabbis 87th, and Catholic priests 116th. I found no listing for magicians, restaurant cooks, comedians, burlesque queens, taxi drivers, or prostitutes. Do you suppose there is a message there in such omissions?

I wondered how the author could explain the low rankings of ministers, rabbis, and priests. But nowhere in the 300-plus pages could I find one. Did the author believe there was little cause for advancement of God’s chosen few, or was he afraid of touching off a religious war in the U.S.?

I had a word for the list and the book after reading it way back then, and I have the same word for it now that I have remembered it --- and that word is “asinine.” Nobody can tell you or me which job is best for us. Whether it’s bricklaying or selling used cars, the best job has to be the one we like best and do best.

I suppose some people would rate jobs according to the amount of income they bring to the job-holder. But I’d say that is also “asinine.” My guess is that the happiest people in life are those who are in the middle segment of society --- those who have fun rearing families, enjoying their youngsters, and living a life in which loving and caring mean a lot more than how much you are able to amass on the stock market or pile up in the bank.

So much for “The Jobs Rated Almanac.”

Other States Should Emulate South Dakota and Ban Abortions

Who would have thought that l’il ole South Dakota would be the first state in the U.S. to exhibit real common sense and courageously pass a law the 49 other states should have approved long ago? At any rate, it’s now a done deal, and South Dakota has gone on record with an outright ban on abortion, with no strings or exceptions attached.

Of course, the pro-abortion camp will not give up easily, thanks to pressure being applied by national women’s groups. In South Dakota, Planned Parenthood is already gearing up for a protracted legal scrap with a campaign to contest the decision by the state legislature and Governor Mike Rounds, who signed the bill. Now all eyes will be turned to the Supreme Court of the United States, which, as everyone knows, has been undergoing a “politically sensitive climate change” with the seating of two known Conservative judges, John Roberts and Sam Alito, both of whom are known to oppose abortions on demand.

Even with the addition of the two new Conservative judges, a vote on any abortion measure might be a tossup. However, it is conceded that, by the time a case involving the South Dakota action reaches the highest court, President Bush may be given a chance to appoint still another judge to the court, thanks to the fact that one more present justice may be retiring. I applaud the South Dakota action, but I am disappointed that its legislature did not write three exceptions into its measure. For years, I have supported an anti-abortion law that would ban abortions in all cases, except in those instances in which the pregnant woman’s health was at risk, she became pregnant as a result of rape, or she became pregnant because of incest. I still strongly believe that way and hope the 49 other states include those three exceptions in any anti-abortion law.

POTPOURRI: The Internal Revenue Service recently reported that three out of four churches, charities, and other civic groups violated the law that prohibits the groups from engaging in political activity. They are 501(c)3 groups that have been granted immunity from paying taxes on condition that they do not play any role in political campaigns nor support political candidates or issues. Now, if only the I.R.S. would also go after all those radical environmental groups that play active political roles, despite the fact that they, too, have been granted tax immunity! . . .· San Francisco, already regarded as the pet-animal capital of the West, has decided to take advantage of that fact in a most unusual way. It has begun to collect dog doo and other pet-animal waste and turn the stuff into methane gas, which can then be piped directly into “a gas stove, heater, turbine, or anything else powered by natural gas.” The methane can also be utilized to generate electricity. Other American cities and towns should copy San Francisco’s example to provide inexpensive gas and electricity. . . · In the more than three years I spent in sensitive positions in the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and the State Department, I was amazed by the number and content of documents marked secret and thus kept from public view. A great many of them had no strategic value and should not have been classified. However, in recent times, intelligence agencies have added thousands more documents that should have been declassified and made available to the public. Where in the world is Congress when it’s needed? The public is already denied far too much information that it has a right to know. . . · Talk about rebounding from a foul history! The Austrians have a law which decrees prison sentences for anyone denying that Hitler’s Nazi hordes killed 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. In fact, a British citizen, David Irving, was given a three-year prison sentence for denying that the Holocaust ever happened. He insisted he never said such a thing, but witnesses said otherwise. Isn’t it enough that idiots like Irving should be humiliated by society? Why should they be sentenced to prison? Seems to me that the Austrians have gone from bad to worse if they can’t tolerate idiots.