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Show "If power corrupts, weakness in the seat of power, it Opinions its constant necessity of deals and bribes and compromising arrangements, corrupts even more." Barbara Tuchman, American historian (1912-198with 9) Friday Sept. 1990 21, B. Who won the war? Columnist Jack Anderson, speaking to a group of businesspeople in St. George a couple of years ago, said that Japan is still fighting World War II. Now Boone Pickens says it is time to rally the troops before we lose the war. Anderson said the Japanese don't consider World War II over. They simply feel the battlefield has changed and the weapons are now economic rather than miltary. They are patient, too, Anderson said. They look at the confrontation as perhaps a 100 year campaign and they are not only confident they will win, some Japanese feel they have already won. American busiPickens, a nessman whose investment company owns 26 percent of a Japanese company called Koito, claims he and 50 other Americans were taunted and treated rudely at a shareholders meeting of Koito held in Japan recently. "America lost the economic war!" "Yankee go home!" and "Remember Pearl Harbor!" are among the taunts Pickens said the Americans were subjected to during a three-homeeting. Pickens says Japanese direct investment in the United States totals $32.5 billion, yet Japan restricts U.S. direct investment to $1.6 billion in Japan. He says more than 850 American manufacturers have Japanese representatives on high-profil- e ur house Editor: I read in the Provo Herald ' Wednesday, Sept. 12, concerning the State Department of Corrections wanting to put a halfway house in Orem. Some city council members seemed to be receptive and the mayor asked them to drive around, select a site and report back. The question arises why us? Perhaps because we are known as Family City U.S.A., and this would be an ideal place to locate. For this reason alone, we do not have to take a back seat to anyone. We need to be more discriminating and careful to protect that image, and we do not have to give away our tax base to do it. Since the mayor is taking up the banner for the state, I propose that the street the mayor lives on be extended, and build the halfway house there on his street. There also is a large mansion for sale near Keith Hunt's home, which would be ideal as a halfway house. There are several vacant lots near the homes of James Evans, Joyce Johnson and Lucile Steele, which would be ideal for building a halfway house. Why not draw straws? The short straw would get to have the halfway house on their block. Seriously, I do not believe it is necessary to locate the halfway house in any residential neighborhood. Suggest to the State Department of Corrections taht they clean up the eyesore on their own property on 800 North between 900 West and 1200 West and build the halfway house there by the Highway Patrol facility. They would have a beautiful view of Utah Lake over the Geneva Steel smokestacks. Whenever any city, county, state or federal facility is built, then that property is removed from the property tax rolls. Orem City professes to be trying to broaden the tax base, not shrink it further. If this serious proposal of mine is not satisfactory to the State Department of Corrections, then invite them to offer the deal to some other deserving city. Bob Wright Orem Get out of Gulf Editor: educated American citizen, my intelligence is insulted by this nation's leaders who think they can invade Panama then seven months later condemn Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait. For those who claim that Kuwait is nothing near the situation of Panama, I beg to differ. I would ask them simply. "What has Saddam Hussein done in Kuwait that George Bush did not do in Panama?" The U.S. clearly defended its own interests in the Panama Canal Zone those are as vital to the world economy and security as oil is in the Middle East. Our actions there displayed an attitude of superiority; as if Panama was previously a state of the U.S., which, even if independent, had to answer to As an us. The United States installed its own government in Panama under the pretext of "democracy": a government which in all rmcM, n , Wm ) I'D APPRECIATE gF A HAND their boards of directors, yet the Japanese continuously block attempts by Americans to sit on their boards. One of Pickens' most disturbing claims is that Japanese companies in the U.S. pay considerably less in federal taxes than do their American counterparts. In other words, Pickens is saying the Japanese aren't playing fair. He is not alone. The crisis in the Persian Gulf has opened old wounds over Japan's willingness to let others foot the bill for defense of Japanese interests. For example, Japan is much more dependent on Arab oil than is the United States, but Japanese responses to requests for help in paying for Operation Desert Shield have been grudging and minimal. We don't advocate isolationism, Japan bashing, or overly restrictive trade laws. We do think, however, it is high time for the United States to demand a level playing field when it comes to dealings with Japan. If we are still at war, there can be no justification for meekly rolling over and playing dead. Letters No halfway RAD Herald comment Seeking stewardship of Constitution sion, but didn't we, as well? The U.S. is wasting precious resources of time, money, and human lives by remaining in Saudi Arabia. It is vital that the U.S. get rid of the propaganda that Iraq is the new threat to the world now that communism is no longer a threat. Our goal of stopping Iraqi aggression, although no more foolish than the Soviet Union building up troops in Colombia to halt our advancement from Panama, is fulfilled nonetheless. Now, let's get back home where we belong! The other goal is at a complete stalemate. Hussein is not any more going to get out of Kuwait than Bush is going to send Noriega back to power. A quarter's difference in our gasoline prices is not worth fighting for. Let's get out of Saudi Arabia and back where we belong, before innocent Americans start dying. Angie Whetten Orem Damaged self-estee- m Editor: We want to bring to the public's attention a situation that happened to our son this year in the Provo East Babe Ruth League, in the hopes that another child does not have to experience what happened to Ryan. Toward the end of the season Ryan, along with his other teammates, tried out for the all star team. Three days later he was notified that he had been chosen for the team and his teammate Josh was the alternate. It was a definite high point in Ryan's summer. Then, three days later, Ryan's coach was informed the all star team "wouldn't be needing Ryan or Josh." Ryan's coach informed us that when the coaches met before the season started they decided that each team would have at least one representative. How do you explain to a why he is no longer wanted or needed? We spent a great deal of time consoling him. He wondered "What he had done wrong." Sad to say, Ryan had experienced one of life's realities. I'm sure Ryan's coach felt as bad as we did and he received no satisfactory answer from the all star officials. The coach went to the president of the league who said "she would check on it but doubted if anything could be done." She never got back in touch. We then called another league official. He politely listened and said "if they were allowed 16 boys and Ryan was the 17th then there wasn't much that could be done." He took our number and assured us he'd get back with us. Well, it's been two months and he never called back. We spoke with Ryan's coach a couple of weeks ago to see if anyone ever contacted him. They hadn't. Shame on you big guys that would do that to a young bo;-- . What is Little League supposed to be all about? I hope that occasionally your conscience bothers you or have you justified, to yourself, what you have done? It doesn't really matter what the reasons or whether Ryan was the 17th boy, it should have been more important that a boy picked to be on the all atar team was allowed to play on the all star team. You did nothing and that should have for Ryan's been your first consideration. Bob and Gini Rice Provo self-estee- actuality operates completely according to the U.S. dictates. The only difference with Kuwait is that Iraq avoided all such pretense of "democracy" by directly installing their own men and avoiding puppet middlemen. The U.S. holds every single Panamanian Editor: citizen hostage to the threat of another I was disgusted, and outraged by a front if of economic sanctions they do not invasion page photo and another on page 7 Sunday. act according to our best interests. It is true Write about it if you must, I don't have who not were a to threat that the foreigners head in the sand, but please lay off the our objective of ousting Noriega were al- my of these inhumane activilowed to leave. Similarly, the foreigners in graphic depictions ties. Kuwait who have been allowed to leave are I used to encourage my children to read from countries which do not threaten Hus- the newspaper but one can become desensisein. Those who supported the Noriega tized to violence through exposure and its government, were not allowed the freedom tough enough up in today's world. growing to leave without consenting to U.S. condiIf either of the victims had been my with situation the the tions. This is exactly relative. I would consider it an absolute who Yet. East. Middle in the hostages invasion of privacy to display his moment of among the international community has held death to the world. I encourage your newsthe U.S. responsible for those ruined Panapaper to employ real people who know manian lives? I believe that Hussein, in where to draw the line. holding hostages, has kept the U.S. from Kris Xicholas treating Iraq like Panama. Hussein blatantly Orem broke every international law in this inva Outraged by photos A-- - Sometimes the (AP) obvious, simple question is the tough one. Supreme Court nominee David H. Souter is a judge who studies the precedents, so he was ready when asked why he wants the job he's about to get. Souter told his confirmation hearing that he loves the judiciary, wants no calling but to be a judge, and would seek on the high court to serve as a steward of the ConstituWASHINGTON Walter Mears ASSOCIATED PRESS "J tion. He said it is the greatest responsibility a judge can undertake, "to join with eight other people to make the promises of the Constitution a reality for our time and to preserve that Constitution for the generations that will follow us after we are gone from here." That's an unassailable if vague answer to a question that would seem elementary It isn't for any nominee or office-seeke-r. always answered effectively. When Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was asked why he wanted to be president as he prepared to run in 1980, his awkward, rambling attempt to answer became a campaign liability. Robert H. Bork told the contentious Senate hearing on his doomed nomination to the Supreme Court that service there would be "an intellectual feast." He also said he wanted to contribute to maintaining constitutional government as he saw it. Bork, of course, had spelled out the way he saw it, in lectures, writings, and rulings as a federal appeals judge that established positions on most major constitutional issues of the times. Souter has not. Three days of questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee didn't change that. Souter talked about himself, about his experiences, about his judicial philosophy, about dozens of decisions and precedents COLUMNIST But he did not telegraph to skeptical liberals or to newly wary conservatives just where he would stand on the questions matawaiting the closely divided court ters including abortion, civil rights and criminal justice. Souter foreclosed answers to the abortion question early in the process, declining to discuss the court's 1973 ruling or to express his personal opinion on abortion. At the same time, he said that he believes the 14th Amendment to the Constitution "does recognize and does protect an unenumerated right of privacy." That position doesn't fit the conservative agenda. The ruling that legalized abortions was based on the right to privacy, something Bork had said was invented by the court. That was one contentious point among many at the 1987 hearings on his court nomination. Bork is a formidable legal scholar. He showed it in disputing critics and, at times, questioners. Souter was said to have reviewed the Bork hearings and to have watched videotapes of some points in that testimony as he prepared for his own confirmation hearings. Souter was no less the scholar; some of his answers came complete with footnotes as he cited legal history. Supreme Court cases and provisions of the Constitution. At the same time, he sought to dispel the notion that a bachelor who still lives in his boyhood home in a small New he remarked, rather Hampshire town proudly, that "I still have a black and white TV" is isolated from everyday concerns, remote, a theorist rather than a judge who can understand real world concerns. He worked at countering that impression from the beginning, saying that his first lesson as a judge was that "at the end of our task, some human being is going to be affected, some human life is going to be changed in some way by what we do." He answered some questions by speaking of personal experiences a wrenching, two-hocounseling session with a pregnant woman who was considering a quarter-centur- y ago when he was a freshman adviser at Harvard College; a boyhood in which he never heard a racial slur in his household; a contempt for discrimination reinforced by seeing against his friend, Sen. Warren Rudman of New Hampshire. He was deferential. When he declined to answer, he said he did so with respect, not by choice but because he couldn't respond without jeopardizing "the integrity of the judicial process." Even when the questions took on an edge, Souter did not. "I think the nation is served well by seeing me, and by seeing you," he told the senators. In Souter, people who watched the televised hearings saw a man who looks, acts and seems to think like a judge, on or off the bench. "I have loved the judiciary," he said. "I have been a trial judge, I have been an appellate judge and I want to be nothing else." ur self-aborti- m Sex abuse investigation rocks reservation - WASHINGTON The Havasupai Indian on the floor of the Grand Canyon looks like paradise to the visitor. But it's hell on Earth for some who live Reservation there. Federal agents assigned to monitor the reservation would rather quit than stay there. Some would rather be dead. Six of the last seven Bureau of Indian Affairs police officers assigned there have resigned their post at Havasupai. Three of thern attempted suicide. One succeeded. The statistics offer a glimpse into the nature of life on Indian reservations where alcoholism, unemployment and boredom are constant companions. The latest scourge is child sexual abuse some of it at the taxpayer-funde- d schools, including allegations that have recently come to light at the elementary school on the Havasupai reservation. Sources familiar with investigations into child abuse at Havasupai and elsewhere say it is no wonder that the reservations have a problem. Havasupai is a steep eight-mil- e horse ride into the canyon from civilization or what the Indians simply call "the top." From the canyon rim to the nearest major highway is another 63 miles. The mail comes in by mule. The phones are unreliable. Almost no one polices the 575 members of the tribe who live there. Despite reports as early as last November that a teacher at the elementary-schoo- l may have been sexually abusing pupils, it took four months of vintage bureaucratic miscommunieation before the FBI took over the investigation. The teacher will go on trial in October on 10 counts of sexual abuse. Our associate Jim Lynch has learned that the delay was caused by "confusion" between the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs over which agency should take the lead in the investigation. The FBI agent with jurisdiction over Havasupai reportedly doesn't have enough clerical help. Paper flow is at a standstill, and there is no formal communication between the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Perhaps the most disturbing thing about the Havasupai investigation is that the Jack Anderson & iLk Dale Van Atia UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE Li tribe was the last to know about the investigation. The community is now questioning the credibility of the Tribal Council. The council has asked for help on the child abuse problem, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs has not responded to the council's satisfaction. The U.S. attorney isn't talking about the case. The parents of the alleged victims are confused. And Havasupai is in the dark, ashamed and afraid. The story of bungled investigations on reservations is an old one. In 1987, Hopi Reservation English teacher John Boone was sentenced to life in prison on child molestation charges. FBI agents found Boone's own chart describing sex with 142 boys. There had been earlier hints of Boone's crimes, but the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs didn't pick up on those hints. thinks the Sen. John McCain, federal government has shirked its responsibilities to police and protect the reservations. The Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, of which McCain is a member, is holding a series of hearings on child abuse. At a Sept. 5 hearing in Phoenix, an official from the Hopi Special Child Sexual Abuse Project said the situation is getting with worse. '"We have seen sexually transmitted diseases," she told McCain's committee. She told of abused children who then molest others including a girls. boy who raped five The problem is not confined to the isolated desert Southwest. Indian officials in Michigan report that as many as 20 percent of the youths in some tribal communities have been sexually abused. Since 1986, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has spent about $4 million to buy a computerized crime reporting system. But it doesn't work. There are 100 computer terminals for more than 300 police agencies, and there is no money to expand or even maintain the computer system. McCain has introduced two bills that would improve abuse reporting procedures and create a support network for victims, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs thinks those measures are unnecessary. The bills are pending in the House of Representatives. BLACK VOTERS SHIFTING The Democratic Party is slowly losing its near monopoly on the black vote, a situation that has not escaped the attention of a worried Democratic National Committee. More and more blacks are becoming disenchanted with Democrats who talk about social justice as a priority, but who engage in the same old political games to set their agendas. The Republican Party is perceived by blacks as having the same g agenda without the promises of social justices. Some political analysts say the best option shaping up in the minds of black political leaders is to form their own party. The Rev. Jesse Jackson and Saddam Hussein have something in common. Both know how to make good use of hostages. Of course, Saddam's methods are the more despicable of the two, but Jackson is no stranger to opportunism. He recently flew to" the Persian Gulf to "negotiate" the return of Western hostages held by Saddam. When those hostages set foot on free soil, Jackson was there to make sure they gave him the credit. The real credit goes to the anonymous American officials who are working night and day to track the movement of hostages, negotiate for their release and arrange the paperwork and airlifts to get them out as soon as possible. But you won't see their faces on TV. They aren't running for public office. - self-servi- - |