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Portland Observer, August 11, 1982 Page 3 EDITORIAL/OPINION The Reagan Administration is supporting a controversial bill that would virtually eliminate the power of the federal courts to order busing for school desegregation. The bill would bar tederal judges from ordering that students be bussed more than 15 minutes from their homes. The bill, that passed the Senate in March and now is before the House, would block the Jus tice Department from seeking busing as a rem eds and allow the department to go to court to overturn previous busing orders. Tederal courts would retain power to hear de segregation cases but could not order busing. This bill is clearlv a threat to the constitutional The Reagan Administration has announced that the economic recession has bottomed out— that recovery has begun. This is based on a mod est 1.7 per cent rate of increase in the gross na tional product in the second quarter, after two steep quarterly declines. The small gain was largely due to a slower rate of reduction of business inventories. Sales of goods and services—as opposed to inventories— went down .6 per cent. Business investment fell at an 8.5 per cent an nual rate; government purchases fell 6.4 per cent and net exports fell slightly. Personal consump tion, which accounts for one-third of the GNP, rose 3 per cent. The unemployment rate is the highest since the 1930s and industrial production is falling. An up and down business cycle has continued Lebanon: authority of the courts, giving Congress the right to limit the actions of the federal courts. The bill does not go so far as to attempt to take away the jurisdiction of the courts in desegregation cases —as other bills do in abortion and school prayer —but it is clearly an effort to impose restriction on the courts and as such should be disclosed unconstitutional. This bill is a dangerous procedure that not only could eliminate the citizen’s right to equal educational opportunity, but could undercut the entire federal court system which, with all its in adequacies, is still the only hope for minority people in this country to achieve some measure of justice. since World War 11, with six recessions and re coveries. Each recession was followed by a surge of grow th that continued for several years. Since 1979 the pattern has changed. There has been a series of recessions with small waves of growth that do not reach previous highs. The economy—as measured by the GNP—is where it was in 1979, 3 l/ i years ago. The fact that the GNP remains the same does not mean that each American income remains the same. Since the population is increasing 1 per cent annually, income per capita is falling. The president might hope the recession is over but the truth is that the country is still caught in a spiral of stagnation and depression and the Reagan policies have done nothing to bring about a recovery. by Dr. Manning Marable "From The Grassroots" To most Americans, a “ p o liti c ia n " is someone who completely disregards the truth. To others, poli tics is the rich man’s game, usually played fo r high stakes, w ithout blacks, Hispanics or females. The first thing I do when someone intro duces a politician to me is to hold onto my wallet! Even before Nixon uttered his fa mous phrase, “ I am not a crook,” we’ve known that electoral politics in the U.S. is structured to favor the wealthy, the elite, and the corpora tions over the rest o f us. What is most perturbing, I think, about this electoral “ con game” is that it per petuates the illusions that A m er icans are being told the “ tru th ” about this or that issue, and that “ equal opportunity” exists for ev eryone who runs for office. Let’s ex amine these concerns more closely. Last year, as anyone who reads the newspapers can attest, Ronald Reagan fought to slash or delay So cial Security benefits. Against the Republican A dm inistration, Con gress parsed a 7.4 per cent increase in Social Security benefits, which took effect on July 1 for 36 million elderly recipients. So wha, does Reagan do? The ob vious—he lies. This month, the Republican Na tional Committee paid for a $1 m il by Martin Peretz excerpted fro m the Sew Republic, .4 ug. 2, ¡982 Much o f what you have read in the newspapers and news magazines about the war in L e b a n o n ...is simply not true. At best, the routine re p o rto ria l fare has been wrenched out o f context, detached from history, exaggerated, dis torted. Then there are the deliberate and systematic fa lsifica tio n s: re markably little o f what has been al leged in various published protest statements against the Israeli action in Lebanon is fact. I know; I was there . About ten days into the war, The New Republic noted editorially that there had been “ terrible civilian ca sualties terrible Israeli callous ness." With the specificity that the computer age requires, two numbers had by then been bruited about in the media. One widely cited report numbered the dead at 10,122; another, at 9,583. The figure that took hold in the public's imagina tion was a neat 10,(XX) fatalities, to which were added anywhere from 16,000 to 40,000 wounded and no less than 6(X),(XX) refugees. (Another recent figure claims 700,000). . . . Tyre is where the controversy about civilian casualties starts and Sidon is where it ends. The casual ties o f West Beirut, whose destiny the PLO holds in its hands, were never counted in the early estimates that first provoked in d ign a tion . Ty re and Sidon fell to the Israelis af ter forty-eight hours of heavy fight ing. The cities were bombed from the a ir, shelled from the sea, set upon over (he land. These were not, said a saddened Israeli colonel, “ manicured a ttacks." But neither were they indiscriminate or whole sale; this was not war against a civil ian population, Lebanese or Pales tinian. Whomever 1 talked to on the streets—and there are many eager to ta lk, C hristian and Moslem, in French or English or Arabic—point ed out that what the Israelis had tar geted were invariably m ilitary tar gets. A friend in the States later re monstrated that this observation im plicitly faults the PLO for resisting the invasion. I t ’ s not that, not that at all —but rather that the PLO re sisted, as it had previously ag gressed, from the midst o f civilian life, and o f Lebanese as well as o f Palestinian civilian life. With excru ciating consistency, the PLO’s com manders seemed to favor for their antiaircraft batteries the courtyards of schools, for their tanks and artil lery the environs o f hospitals, apart ment buildings, and—easiest fo r them and most devastating for their families—the labyrinthine alleys of the refugee camps, Rashidiye at Tyre and in Ain el-Hilwe at Sidon. The PLO was not alone in turning non- combatant areas in to war zones: Jonathan Randal in the Post (June 14) gingerly admits from Aazzoun- iye that “ there were also confused reports o f Syrian soldiers being in the area o f the sanitarium during the fighting.” In Jezzin, more beautiful than Aspen, the reports were not confused. Dr. Naji Kannan told me that he had evacuated patients to his own home from his hospital because the Syrians had installed themselves in its confines and wouldn’t leave. On whom, according to the Gene va Conventions laws o f war aiming to set inhibitions on the killing of in nocents, falls the onus for civilian casualties incurred in populated areas? Had the Israelis, I asked, shelled areas from which there was no fire? No one, not even the surly young bank clerk in Tyre, suggested they had. The entrance to Sidon and the city center were devastated— and, I was told by locals, that’ s ex actly where PLO arms and fighters were most densely concentrated. The bombed-out, skeletal evidence of a m ilitary infrastructure proved it. In this p rim a rily Moslem locale, PLO headquarters stood directly be tween the Shabb hospital and Al Fatah’ s own in firm a ry . A ll the same, it was apparent that Israeli forces took pains not to damage such buildings, likely to hold civili ans. Even in heavily hit areas, many mosques and other public in s titu tions seemed miraculously to sur This week, House and Senate vive unscathed. I wandered freely, I conferees are continuing debate on a should add with an officer fro m ... $99 billion Administration-backed the army’s information unit. He had tax b ill—a bill that proponents like no itin e rary beyond my curiousi- to call a “ tax reform” measure. ty ----- But the more one looks at this In both m ajor coastal cities, bill, the clearer it becomes that it is hours before the Israeli attack, leaf anything but a reform measure. lets had been dropped, calling on This b ill is a tax hike—and a hike the inhabitants to flee to the that once again takes a big bite out beaches, which would be guaranteed o f the pocketbooks o f those least by the Israelis as open or war-free able to pay. zones. That’s what the cities could Consider the facts for a moment. have been had the PLO entrenched Under the bill: themselves in the hills and not in the cities. In Sidon, I was told by a local •Tax deductions for medical bills merchant, the PLO firebombed a w ill be smaller and harder to get. street o f shops to emphasize its in Only medical and dental costs in ex tent that people not leave.. . . cess o f 7 per cent o f adjusted gross Numbers have always been a income w ill qualify for an itemized problem in Lebanon: there has been deduction, up from a floor o f 3 per no census for more than a genera cent. O nly $100 o f medical insur tio n, lest fresh figures disrupt the ance premiums will be deductible— political formula for denomination a $50 cut from the present amount. al representation... .The PLO w ill •Medicare recipients w ill have to not allow UNRWA to do a count o f the refugees in the camps lest alloca casualty figures at a ll. " A phone tions be reduced... .The population call to U N IC E F headquarters in o f Lebanon is said to be about three New York provoked a stronger de m illio n ; this makes the figure o f nial. 600,000 new refugees in the south This leaves the International Red transparent nonsense, since that is Cross, which seems absolutely be roughly the total number o f inhabi side itself to deny responsibility for tants o f the war zone, fro m the the casualty numbers. David Otta- Mediterranean in the west to the way reported in the Post on June 25 Syrian fro n t in the east. Even the that Francesco Noseda, head of the scaled-down number o f 300,000 ref Red Cross mission in Lebanon, ugees defies logic and one’s eyes. . . . claimed that “ we did not mention Given the im possibility o f accu here any figure approaching rately judging the number o f the liv 10,000.” He did say that the only ing, it is not surprising that sloppi numbers the Red Cross had provid ness and propaganda determine the ed were the counts o f 47 dead and number o f the dead. In the begin 247 wounded in T y re —and these ning the high to ll seemed to carry figures, interestingly, are lower than the cachet or in te rn a tio n a l re lie f those put out by Israeli authorities. agencies. .. But the source was nev In Tyre, Dr. El Khalil estimated that er actually the In te rn a tio n a l Red between 57 and 63 persons had been Cross or any U.N. agency, though killed, including civilians from the they have been widely cited. The refugee camps. Dr. Harris told me numbers came originally from the that Israel “ doesn’ t estimate the Palestinian Red Crescent, o f which dead. We count them. This is why Yasir A rafat’ s brother is president. we couldn’ t give numbers as readily Some early Lebanese estimates were as the people in Beirut. We had no close to his . .. Chancellor Bruno real numbers u n til the fallen-in Kreisky of Austria, joining the lit buildings were dug out. Maybe there any fo r the 10,000 dead, said his are a few more we won’ t fin d.” . . . . source was UNICEF. But in Geneva The refugee estimates have also a spokeswoman fo r U N IC E F de (Please turn to page 2 column I ) clared, “ We have not reported any P o rtla n d O bserver Oregon Newspaper Publishers Asso, u tio n L PER Association - Foundad 1885 The P o rtla n d Observer (USPS 959 6801 is published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company, Inc , 2201 North Killings worth Portland, Oregon 97217, Post Office Box 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208 Second class postage paid at Portland. Oregon AI McGUberry, Editor/Publisher D r. M a n n in g M a r a b le is D i r e c to r o f th e R ace R e la tio n s In s t it u t e a t F isk U n iv e r s ity , N a sh v ill. T N by Congressman Ron Wyden pay a fee fo r home care visits—a proposal that w ill eat away at the pocketbooks o f senior citizens while doing nothing to save money for the federal treasury. Medicare recipi ents who can recuperate at home— instead o f in a hospital—actually save the taxpayaers money. •Savers and small investors w ill be subject to a 10 per cent withhold ing tax on interest and dividend earnings. •Consumers will also have to pay double the current tax for local and long-distance phone service. In all, individuals will have to ab sorb some $48 billion, or nearly one- half of the three-year tax hike. The approach o f the tax b ill is clearly unfair: the same people who were left out o f the tax relief pack age last year are being singled out fo r the proposed tax increase this year. In essence, the tax b ill w ill throw people who are already drowning an anchor. But more than that, the tax bill is il logical. The sole purpose ot this bill allegedly [,sto help reduce the deli cit. But byigiving people less money to spend, it is more likely to increase it. It would make some sense lo r Congress Io undo some o f what was done in last year’ s giant tax cut. M u ltib illio n dollar oil companies and other special interests came away with subsidies that are unjusli fied and should be cut. But it does not make sense to add more burdens to the shoulders of young families, small savers, senior citizens and other hard-pressed Am ericans. The tax b ill being debated by House and Senate conferees does not add up to tax reform , it just adds up to more taxes. Congress should not support it. Letters to the Editor It is a re lie f fo r me to learn the city and culture is being violcntly steeple on the First United Metho dismantled and destroyed? While dist Church in Salem is just being re many seem not to know what is paired and will be replaced. I view it happening there, I feel knowing and often and with great affection. caring people throughout the world The scene o f the Oregon Pioneer will long remember when this terti atop the Capitol on State Street to ble destruction and death was com gether with the steeple o f the Metho milled upon the W'orld. I tear the dist Church, just two blocks away, days of August 1982 in Lebanon will fittingly at the corner o f Church and join December 7th, 1941 (the Japan State Streets, has come to mean and ese attack on Americans at Pearl represent much to me. These two Harbor) followed by August 6th, spires express our pioneer and more 1945 (the American nuclear bomb recent past and have always stood ing of the Japanese at Hiroshima) as above the spring and summer Salem days when terrible wrongs were skyline during the legislature. They committed. I tear too that many, represent Jason Lee, W illia m S. many people in the world are decid U ’ Ren, earlier Oregon and present- ing that Beirut too w ill need to be day middle America rolled into one. avenged and that they w ill not rest Lately I'v e noticed a bit o f Tom easily until both Israel and its arms McCall there too. supplier and supporter, the United An unplanned, parallel thought States, have been repaid. came to mind during this local inci More than the beautiful church dent. If the dismantling of a Salem spire I have come to love in Salem church steeple holds this much could then be destroyed. meaning and significance for myself and others, how can the people of Wally Priestley Beirut, Lebanon feel as their entire state Representative Subscribe today! Receive your Observer by mail. Only $10 per year '¿VNDAÍ1 283 2486 • >*,* 1 1 4 - • •» ... i / * t. • Portland Observer Box 3137 Portland, OR 97208 Name _ Mil My Mom and Dad read the Portland Observer — why not you? Subscribe todavl National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc. New York A I Williams, Advertising Manager E\. V irtually every U.S. Senator to day earns more than 580,(XX) a year. Only one out of every one hundred Americans earns that much. O nly 4,000 blacks out o f almost 30 mil lion earn incomes above $80,(XX). What’s worse, they’ re in the pro cess o f hiking their incomes. Their annual living allowance jumped to $19,000 from $3,000. H a lf o f the senators earn over $40,(XX) annually from honarariurns for speeches. In this country club, some are a little better o ff than others A 1979 as sessment o f Republican Sen. John Heinz’ s wealth exceeded $20 m il lion. The Senate’s "poor man” may be New Jersey’ s B ill Bradley, a former professional basketball star who has to struggle to get by on “ only” $95,(XX) a year. There are at least 40 “ o ffic ia l m illio n a ire s " in the Senate, and in all probability, there are even more. So you wonder why Reagan robs the poor and gives to the rich? You ask why the American political sys tem places the interests of p ro fits over people? Don’ t ask: just watch the scoundrels at work. Their con game might even be amusing, except there are too many millions o f poor and working people’ s lives at stake. H S * •<*’ •-*' Subscriptions $10 00 per year in the Tri County area Post m aster Send address changes to the Portland Observer, P O Box 3137, Portland, Oregon 97208 MEMBER lion television advertising campaign which tries to convince the Am eri can people that Reagan actually is responsible for w inning a 7.4 per cent increase. The ad pictures a folksy old postman who’s delivering Social Security checks. The postman declares innocently that Reagan himself “ promised that raise and he kept his promise, in spite o f those sticks-in-the-mud who tried to keep him from doing what we elected him to d o . . . . For gosh sake, let’ s give the guy a chance.” Democratic Congressman Clause Pepper, chair o f the House Com mittee on Aging, was shocked at the G O P ’ s ad. For Reagan to claim credit “ lowers the art o f deception to depths not explored since N ix o n ," Pepper declared. “ The ad is nothing less than a hypocritical at tempt to mislead the American peo ple into thinking President Reagan and the Republican Party are re sponsible fo r the very benefit in crease which they fought so hard to postpone.” Why do Reagan and his coterie of reactionary supporters, like Nixon before them, have such a contempt for truth? Their distortion o f poli tical reality may have something to do with their great wealth, and the manner in which one’ s olym pian status high above the poor affects one’s perspective. Washington Hot Line One Jewish Viewpoint T h e P o rtla n d O b server tr ie s to p r e s e n t a ll s id e s o f th e M id d le E a s t p r o b le m as w e ll as o t h e r c o n tr o v e r s ia l issu e s. T h is w e e k , w e r e p r in t e x c e r p ts fr o m " L e b a n o n E y e w itn e s s ," an a r tic le b y M a r tin P e retz w h ic h a p p e a re d in The A e w R e p u b lic , A u g . 2, 1982 T h e a r tic le w a s s u b m itte d to us by a p ro m in e n t re p re s e n ta tiv e o f P o rtla n d s J e w is h c o m m u n ity N f M A Money and truth in politics •? •> . Address City____ W NMHh State Zip A . • ' ■ i v -, X- - ’ i • *•