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Show Thursday, March minions THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, 14. 1985 SI tFfjt The Herald Its readers syndicated columnists and cartoonists discuss vital issues JL - Page "JJ'aj'a 4:AAl W I 1 The Daily Herald Comments ft, Before the President has even unveiled his tax simplification plan, congressmen are at work to unsimplify his plan. Sen. Alan Cranston, D Calif., wants to make sure state and local taxes remain deductible expenses from federal returns. A preliminary proposal by the Treasury Department suggests that taxes paid to foreign governments should remain deductible. That's not fair, says Cranston, who says it would di-- scriminate against Americans who work in America. "Tax reform is sup ticked Ptrmtiwi j posed to make taxes fair," he argues. But the idea of dropping state and local taxes as legal deductions makes an "unfair tax-- system even more unfair." GOTTA (Lh kipping Cranston believes that plan would encourage industries to take more American jobs overseas and that the plan would add an additional $600 tax burden to the average California taxpayer. It is hard to take Sen- al nations is regulated by international treaty. Any change we make in the way we handle offshore taxes would com- plicate, and possibly ator Cranston's fears even violate, treaties. seriously. The Treasury plan he wants modified is only a proposal. It does not set definitive rates and his $600 is only a guess. What really motivates Senator Cranston is that taxpayers in his Golden State pay nearly the highest state and local taxes in the nation. The second was during Septem- ber of last year when for several days the news media was full of reports of two of the nation's leadind Democrats, Geraldine Ferraro and Gov. Mario Cuomo, feuding with Archbishop John O'Connor of New York over abortion. According to Richard Viguerie, and the conservative fund-raismagazine publisher, the two incidents may have more to do with how Americans vote in the coming years than foreign policy or the nation's economy. Coming from the far right of the political spectrum, Viguerie'i comments and predictions over the past few years have been treated with understandable skepticism. Like it or not, a lot of what Viguerie said has come true and his new theory is worth listening to. As be laid out his ideas at the er Washington Journalism Center seminar on politics recently, Viguerie began with the not too startling assertion that the outcome of the 1988 presidential race will hinge on three things: for- - science r adviser George Key-wort- h. The American press, according to Keyworth, is "drawn from a relatively narrow fringe element on the far left" that is "trying to tear down America." Keyworth, in an interview with officials of the Scientists Institute for Public Information, a New York-basenonprofit group, said most reporters covering science and technology purposely distort the facts in their writing. from the In addition to "there's he left, alleged, political an arrogance that has to do with the power of the press ... It s easier to achieve power by being negative and tearing at foundations. I By PAT THORNE Herald Washington Bureau WASHINGTON The Job Corps program passed a first crucial survival test when the Senate Budget Committee voted to fund federal education and - training programs at current levels plus inflation, but the vote did not permanently save it from the Reagan administration budget knife. Sen. Orrin Hatch, a member of the committee, supported funding the programs at current levels with no increase for inflation. He specifically h, urged continuation of Job Corps. "Job Corps works and if the budget is big enough to hold it, I intend to be sure it's included," he said. But he warned the struggle has just begun. The vote "was very important in that a sufficient level of funding was voted that can accommodate continuation of the Job Corps," explained Roberta Dunn, values." At this point dogmatic conservatives often launch into the litany school of their social agenda prayer, busing, abortion. But Viguerie said those hot issues that polarize voters are not what he is talking about. He is talking about Reagan asking for a moment of prayer, even though it may seem to be embarrassing, vs. two prominent Democratic leaders agruing with their spiritual leader in public. "Somehow the Democrats are coming across as anti-GoViguerie said. Polls showed that voters resented the intrusion of religion into the political campaign last whether it was Ferraro year questioning Reagan's Christianity because of his programs, or the New Right television preachers trying to dictate the social agenda of the Republican Party. "We're trying to build up America, and the press is trying to tear down America," added Keyworth, a nuclear physicist formerly at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. FAR OUT: Some students who would like to send their teachers or at least into' to the moon earth-orb- it will get their wish late this year, says NASA. More than 10,000 teachers have applied to the space agency for a flight on the Space Shuttle. Applicants will be narrowed to two per state by May 1, and to 10 semifin-alist- s in July. The 10 will report to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston for thorough medical examinations, briefings and interviews. NASA officials will select one primary and one backup candidate to undergo training to become Die first teacher in space. California led all slates in teacher nominees, with 926, followed by New York, 707; Ohio, 616, Pennsylvania, 573. and Illinois, 519. In Utah, 71 teachers applied for the flight before applications closed Feb. I. local deduction. 'His appeal for fair self-intere- st committee aide to Hatch. "But it of Job Corps. "There is some sentiment within the Budget wasn't the Budget Committee Committee this year to be specific with instructions that would have to be made to carry out a budget," Dunn asserted. Third, the Senate Labor and saying you have to continue the Job Corps." The committee vote covered a wide range of education and training programs including guaranteed student loans, handicapped vocational training, primary and Human Resources Committee must vote to authorize funding for Job Corps if it survives the budget committee. That is considered likely because Hatch, as the committee chairman, has vowed to protect it. Fourth, the Senate Appropriations Committee must vote specific spending funds for the program and that action must be approved on the Senate floor. Fifth, the House must follow a similar legislative budget process that authorizes and funds the Job Corps. In its request for eliminating the program, the administration said the cost per enrollee is $15,-00- 0 and the students are eligible for other employment training secondary education, and Job Corps among others. The panel, however, did not vote on each specific program but rather for the bottom line total of the entire budget category. There are a number of hazards the Job Corps program still must surpass in the Senate to hive overcome the administration request to eliminate it. First, the Budget Committee could reconsider its action and vote to lower education and training. "Then the Labor Committee would have to figure out which programs would go," Dunn said. Second, the Budget Committee could add specific language to its resolution calling for elimination programs. Hatch told the committee the administration figures are off target. "Last year, 98,809 youth participated in the Job Corps, be said. "This represents a cost of $6,244 per participant." He said the administration figure is a cost per Job Corps slot, or the cost of one year's training "which serves more than one participant." He noted that the $6,244 cost per participant buys remedial education, vocational training, room and board, transportation, clothing, medical care, counseling, and recreational programs, at well as paying for facilities and rehabilitation. "Statistically, four out of 10 new enrollees in Job Corps have prior arrest records," be argued. "Costs to incarcerate an individual range from $22,000 to $30,000 per year." Over the past two years, Job Corps has been authorized spending of approximately $600 million. Doubts Saudi's St ability eport - ," Man Says Reagan Builds Up Country put-dow- Those taxpayers, therefore, would benefit most from a state and Senator Cranston is guilty of resorting to unnarrow der the banner of fairness that is anything but fair. orps F$C6S Many hlurdles eign policy, the nation's economy and the social agenda. Viguerie said that in the realm of foreign policy there is a good chance that in three years we'll be pretty much where we are now. The Russians will still be unable to produce a policy that will affect world affairs in any dramatic way. Because of this status quo, foreign policy will be no big issue in the campaign. With a little bit of luck, he went on, the current healthy state of the economy will continue. We might even, the conservative said with a wince, get used to big budget deficits. "Therefore the one area for true realignment is social issues,'' Viguerie said. "We call it social issues, but it may be called Potomac Potpourri THEM AND US: Washington's journalists were unnerved when conservative columnist Pat Buchanan was named recently as White House director of communications. Buchanan, a former Republican speech writer who supplied Spiro Agnew with his celebrated of newsmen ("nattering nabobs of negativism"), has now been joined by another presidential aid who sees little good in America's media: White House treatment then becomes one of unfair treatment. If Californians lose their ability to charge off the local taxes, they Commentary National Elections a. The deduction for foreign taxes is a necessary one because treatdoing business in sever- eligion Influences - ) ment of corporations Washington Window By CLAY F. RICHARDS UPI PolltlcaJ Writer ConsiWASHINGTON (UPI) der for a moment two events that took place during the last two presidential campaigns. The first was is Detroit in 193) where President Reagan accepted nomination for his first term. Near the end of his speech, the future president said: "I'm almost afraid to say this, but I'm afraid not to," and went on to ask for a moment of prayer and' concluded: "God Bless Ameri-c- SjrtJUt f ''YrM?' ???Tri tTH BE will have to pick up more of the federal burden all of the rest of us share. ' WASHINGTON The Reagan administration is quietly preparing a new arms package for Saudi Arabia, the premier Arab oil nation. This will likely provoke a major battle on Capitol Hill. The State Department has already begun briefing members of Congress in secret, hoping to persuade them how important it is to bolster Saudi military power. A crucial consideration is the stability of the imperial Saudi regime. Congress doesn't want a replay of Iran, where the Shah was kept in power with the aid of the CIA. This embittered the populace against the United States. When the Shah was driven from the throne, he left behind a legacy of political extremism, hatred for America, economic disintegration and broken lives. Congress will demand to know whether the Saudi royal family is more solidly entrenched and, therefore, a more dependable ally. The secret intelligence on this score does not square with the public assurances. The royal rulers are vulnerable, for instance, to Shiite harassment. Shia fanatics respond to that wily old octopus, Ayatollah Khomeini. What makes this all the more ominous is that the Shiites are concentrated in the Saudi oil fields and constitute d of the work force of Aramco, the state-owne- d oil monopoly. The Shiites resent the years they have been treated as second-clas- s citizens. Warns a secret, e report obtained by my associate Lucette Lagnado, "One cannot totally reverse Shia antip- eini's fulminations, will begin to associate their grievances with the United States, the report pre- dicts. The report was written by one of the State Department's leading Arab experts, David Long, in 1980. It emphasizes, "The consequences of possible Shia uprisings could be devastating to oil production," noting that the Shiites, influenced by Iran, are in a perfect position to sabotage Saudi oil installations. one-thir- 100-pag- athy toward the government, amounting in some cases to deep and abiding hatred for the royal family, which years of neglect has bred." Some Shiites, roused by Khom ' V .-- So vast and empty a space as Saudi Arabia would be difficult to defend. The imperial family relies on a small army of dubious loyalty and a haphazard security I ' , IS V... ,1 Jack Anderton apparatus. "There is real fear for the security of the regime over the loyalty of the military," declares the Long report. It tells of past military arrests "for subversive activities" and "Saudi distrust in a professional military establishment." Fear of attack has driven the Saudi rulers to arm their defense forces with sophisticated American weapons. But suspicion of the military has caused them to withhold the wherewithal. Notes the report: "Traditionally, the Saudi military has never been issued fuel and ammunition in large quantities or at the same time." How this arrangement would work in a crisis is anybody's guess. V 0 40 o 0 00 O, .o O ) O 0 . . . o . , "Royal family reluctance to trust too greatly in the loyalty of the military establishment," the report adds, has produced slowdowns and delays. "Military training and arms purchases are subject to several additional constraints." Then the report offers this revelation, which might surprise members of Congress now being cajoled by the administration: "Due largely to Saudi ambival- ence toward a modern military force, there is relatively little to show for nearly 30 years of U.S. military training The instability of the Saudi regime and the shortcomings of its military forces are detailed in a book, "The American House of Saud," by former congressional investigator Steve Emerson. |