Page 12—THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, Monday. Jul 1981 Opinions The Herald, its readers, syndicated columnists and =~ cartoonists discussvital issues : The Herald Comments Nation ‘Must Not Bend ‘to ‘Sanctione Evidence of startling growthin international terrorism — much of it directed against the United States — is contained in a New Central Intelligence Agency paper. And, as Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas pointed out in Congress, one of the most disturbing elemerts is that ‘‘established governments are increasingly inclined to carry out deadly acts of terrorism.” Bentsen was motivated by the report to introduce an ‘‘omnibus antiterrorism bill’ (S.B. 873) which hasbeenreferred to the Foreign Relations Committee. In his Senate speech, Bentsen called attention to several highlights of the CIA report, including: —Forty percentofthe international incidents are aimed at American citizens, property or installations abroad. —In 1980 there were 287 attacks on Americans. “Ninety-four of our people were wounded and 10 were murdered — six in El Salvador, two in Turkey, and one each in Jordan and the Philippines. In these at- tacks, property of U.S citizens was damaged in 97 incidents. —There were112 attacks on Americans serving abroad in various diplomatic missions in 1980. —Theincreasingly deadly nature of terrorism may be attributed to the fact that established governments, ‘with the Soviet Union, Libya and Cuba in the forefront, have turned their hand to terrorism.”’ CIA files chronicle almost a hundredterrorist attacks by national governments, Bentsensaid. These were more lethal than other terrorist incidents with over 42 percent resulting in casualties.” A prime example, of course, was the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and 52 hostages with support of the governmentof Iran. When governments act outside the law and embrace terrorism as a weapon, law-abiding governments should respond with appropriate measures. Bentsen’s legislation provides for that. Once it is determined that a government sanctions or engages in terrorism, visas of students from that nation studying in America would be cancelled. The president could stop all foreign aid directed to that country and halt any sales or guarantees related to defense materials. Conscious of the fact that I was paying for the call, since my daughter had called collect, I Started to geta little impatient. I found a pale yellowpencil that was so hard it wouldn't make a mark on the cover of a shiny envelope I had found But myimpatience was tempered with my own experience with u sleepy dad. I think I was about15 at the time. We lived on a large bay and owned a 17-foot launch. The boat's engine was not covered and tie electrical system looked like someone had thrown a bowl of spaghetti at the engine. There was no air filter. The boat. which my father had been building for about five years, was a monument to the temporary Nothing was finished The boat was little more than a shell, an old engineoutof a Jeep, a shaft, a propellor and a gas tank It was dusk when myfriend and I decided to gofishing. We rounded the head of the bay andabitter-cold southern wind whipped waves into ourfaces and small waves started to break over the bow and across the driver's seat I slowed to an idle and kept the nose of the boat directly into the get us. The ladylit a fire to warm our bones while we waited. We dripped waterall over her white carpet and waited, and waited and waited By 2 a.m. I called home again and dad was amazed to hearthat I had called earlier. He said he thought it was all a dream and had gone back tosleep. 1 asked to speak to “mum” andI could hear some harsh words through the hand she had clamped over the receiver and she assured me dad wouldn't go back to sleep again if he knew what was goodfor him. We were soon rescued So as I paddled aroundin the dark looking for pencil and paper the other night to take my own daughter's message. I understood the wisdom of having sleepy dads write things down. I finally found a crayon and the phonebookand settled downto write a message in the margin of page 10 (the rest of the book alreadyis filled with previous messages) what's forced Without exc A Lypewritten h limit wi not accept ot publish ch are duplicated 1 or which otherwise givethe the message,” asked op spell it out for you,” she said M-0-N-E-Y.”’ About Letters any letter to material, material in IT WAS JNEVITABLE : A GENERIC TERRORIST. As Bentsensaid, the U.S. must demonstrate that it “will not bend to the will of senseless violence nor tolerate officiallysanctioned terrorism.”’ Enactment of his bill would be a step in that direction. ROCKY MTN. NEWS Robert Wagman waves. But since it was nowpitch dark, I drifted off center slightly and a large wave broke over the whole boat. T rememberthe sound of the carburetorasit suckedin a pintofsalt water and then the total silence after the engine died in a hail of sparks andelectricalflashes. We spent the next three hours bailing, paddling and trying desperately to get to shore without piling on cliff we could hear but notsee. By 1 a.m. we had radeit into a quiet cove and myfee! were on dry ground. That wastheonlything that was dry, however. I wentto a house with a light on and rang The lady was very understanding andinvited mein to use her phone. I was soaked through andshivering in the cold. I phoned mydad and explained our predicament. He was horrified and said he would be right there to “OK, 1 SUPPOSE | AM TAKING OVER THO PLANE. Thebill also provides for an ongoing review of U.S. policies for dealing with terrorism, including domestic and global agreements. MoneyTalks paper that already were written on ANY OPPRESDED IPeOPIE ANYWHERE, Experience has shown many terrorist attacks originate from airports lacking proper security standards. The antiterrorism bill would require the Department of Transportation to survey foreign airport security and report to Congress, which would seek corrective measures. Robert McDougall I was just getting to sleep the other night whenthe phone rang — it was my15-year-old daughtercalling from Seattle, Wash., where she is vacationing with mysister. “Hello,” I said sleepily “Dad, are you awake?” she said. “T looked atthe clock and noticed it was past midnight. “Tam now,” { grumbled. “I hope this is important,” I said. “Oh it is, it’s very important,” she asserted. “I really don’t trust you to remember my messagein the morning, though you sound too sleepy,”’ she said. ‘Would you mind getting a pencil and papertowriteit wn?” T rolled out of bed and began a fruitless search for writing equipment within a 40 foot radius of the bed. I found twobluntpencils, a dry felt pen and half-a-dozen sheets of | ON BEHALF OF I Polls Pose Mushy Problem WASHINGTON (NEA) - The Washington community spends an inordinate amountof time considering the results of public-opinion surveys. Becausepolls influence so muchof the decision-making in the nation’s capital, their accuracy and likelihood of predicting the final outcomeare of great and continuing concern. Muchdiscussion has recently centered on a poll released by former Rep. Robert Bauman,the conservative Republican from Maryland’s Eastern Shore wholost his re-election bid last year after pleading guilty in a homosexualsex scandal. Professional pollsters know that somerespondents in everypoll are uninformed about the issues on which they are questioned. These people shoot from the hip, often trying to give the answers that they think their questioner wantsto hear. Obviously, a poll would havelittle valueif a significant numberof participants respondedin this manner. One major polling organization has spent two years trying to come up with a solutionto this problem. Yankelovich, Skelly and White Inc., which conductspolls for major political candidates as well as news The survey by a New York City organizations such as Time Inc., polling firm reportedly shows that voters in the congressional district now prefer Bauman to Royden Dyson, the Democrat who defeated him. Both menplan to run again in 1982. The poll found that voters favored Bauman over Dyson by a margin of 41.9 percent to 33.7 percent and that Bauman would regain his seat with at least 55 percent of the vote if the election were held of responseas “mushiness,” whichit today. Predictably, Dyson has challenged the poll. He contends that respondents in his highly Republican, highly conservative district would tend to pick the like-minded candidate if given a simple choice between a Democrat and a conservative Republican. The poll was “rigged,” says Dyson, because Bauman was presented as a viable candidate, which he can nolonger be considered as a result of the sex scandal. Dyson says that respondents would change their mindsin his favor if given an actual choice between the two on Election Day. This raises questions that have troubled pollsters for a long time: Do poll participants really mean r what they say? Do they really hold the views they say they do? Will they really vote as they say they will? says that it has developed a technique to measure the number of responses that are uninformed or likely to change. The company refers to this type defines as “volatility... present when there is evidence thata critical proportion of the public can changeits opinion ona givenissue.” The firm has devised a “mushiness index,” which it plans to include on future polls to indicate the volatility of answers. The index is based on responsesto a series of questions designed to measure the participant’s knowledge of and personal involvementin an issue. People have been foundto belesslikely to change their minds on matters that they believe they can affect or be affected by and on which they are well-informed The pollsters stress that their index is not a measureof the intensity of the respondent's opinion. Theyexplain that people caneasily change their minds on es © 1961 by NEA. inc Gow “| am sorry! This is a poorly worded question: ‘Do you work ?’” matters about which theyfeel stronglyafter ity of Americans came to favor the they have received more informa- " treaties after learning more about tion. them. This, say the pollsters say, is a Theycite as an examplethe Panama Canal issue in 1978. Barlypolls showed a deep and overwhelming opposition to handing over the canal to Panama. But a substantial major- classic example of the mushiness of a deeply held opinion. Yankelovich, Skelly and White has pronounced its “mushiness index” a major advancein polling. That is something that only time will tell. If the index does work, however, it might make public-opinion polling more accurate and predict those last-minute swings in opinion that have always been attributed to “volatile”issues. Paul Harvey Animals Screaming Silently The most cruelly misused segment of our nation’s population has no voice. It can scream — but not loud enough It can bleed — butit can't vote. The “kill box"’ where thousandsof innocents are put to death is like nothing since Dachau and Aushwitz and Buchenwald. Forournation’s only utterly silent majority — won't somebody speak? My bedtime reading since my earliest recollection were the Albert lovable veterinary doctor James Herriot. Ourfamilyhas never been without pets — dogs, cats. Mywriter son frequentlysits at the typewriter with a kitten on his lap and another draped aroundhis neck I confess to a lifelong affection And while there is no way to prove that human cruelty toward humansbegins with indifference to the suffering of animals, some respected philosophers are beginning to think so “Dumb animal means onlythat they are withoutvoice, not that they are without feelings. ‘And the way we maltreat animals hasinevitable implications in human relations.” I hesitate to delineate an indict- and respect for animals. ment. Payson Terhunebooks about his collie dogs. On mynightstand even now are the most recent animal stories by Animals are hosed down with detergent water and puppies drown in open sewers. Cats and smaller dogs, thrown into the same cage with vicious street dogs are torn topieces. I'm asguilty as anybodyof usually looking the other way from situa- tion that’s too shameful and too painful, I don’t speakforthis silent majority as I should (c) 1981, Los Angeles Times Syndicate