European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 22, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes wednesday. January 22, 1986 Mary Mcgrory would t you like to own a government Agency _ i ume Hal Congress would be put 01 Vivanna buy a used government in ency you May be Able u in i9s6. President Reagan has in mind the Pri Vali ing of the government which Means Selling it Ono As a first step he May put the Federal housing administration up for bid. According in a budget draft proposal the buyer would get the whole thing including assets Ana  maybe that s just the beginning. A lot of us would like to get our hands on a big government department and straighten in out or gel it off our backs. Trouble is who can afford one the saudis the defense contractors and an Odd lottery Winner or two arc about the Only people Rich enough to swing a hostile takeover of the Pentagon. We must t be Petty imagine How this could simplify Christmas giving. For inc Man who has everything 10,000 bureaucrats and a building big enough for u concert by the grateful dead. The Farmers Art Loo poor 1o capture the department of agriculture which they probably wish to do now More than Ever since they heard on new year s Day Hal in is planning More foreclosures maybe they could pay in surplus Grain. Ask yourself the asking Price for the internal Revenue service which of All departments might tempt the overage lax payer to take n flier. It migh go fora bargain Price. Us computers arc worthless they mangled million of returns last year. A number of Rich people would like to buy it just to close it Down. Others might Settle for in installation of a multiple Choice return allowing taxpayers to pick and choose what items their Money is to be used for. For in stance you Check schools roads and Street lights but put in x in the Box next Loaid to inc contras or Loans to Chile. Such a system could lend to a much Marc contented citizenry. The Corporal Jons who Don t Puy any taxes Are perhaps the people wealthy enough to buy the whole package still they might be willing to rent out various departments to the less affluent but equally vengeful elements. It s Worth thinking about. I would think the arms control and disarmament Agency would go for a song or maybe nothing on the basis of its performance rating. Anyone around Here seen any arms control and disarmament in the past five years James Kilpatrick look ground my see vat else we Caw silk to Mii vate est erase i Assum t t on the Block Loo although Tomt to think of in in May have been bought and paid for already. The pics you know. They spend big Bucks and they gel a Good return on heir investment. The department of Energy could pro Ducc spirited bidding. It foes nuclear weapons. Maybe some outfit like beyond War the richest and Tonesi of the Pence Erupi could pass the hat and raise the scratch to buy the nukes for dumping purposes Only of course. I Don t see much action around the department of health and human serv ices i s just not a Winner for the Likely investor. Its clientele is terribly draining the old social Security the poor wet fare the unwashed the homeless. No has might not make it in the Market place. On inc other hand if those souls who have been telling us about inc Para Sites the welfare cheats and the wilfully unemployed had a fund Raiser Ronald Reagan might go to it and Rake in a few billio n for inc cause of making the dispossessed pull up their socks. The Justice department might set hands reaching for wallets. There arc those who would Lake out a second mortgage or their life savings for the pleasure of sacking the attorney Genera. Many a Harvard Law pro Fessor is probably even now fantasizing the Farewell interview or. Macs Al. Why Don t you resign und spend More Lime with the constitution1 Bluit was out original intent in buying this Heap the same impulse might Start a drive to Purchase inc department of education. Devotees of the Public school system would die to Pink slip Secretary William j. Bennett the zealot who rallies the Tambourine for private schools. On the other hand the people with the Bucks Are Proba Bly Bose who i Hank Tom Sawyer is a dirty Book and who want to ice the hat stuff in Romeo and Juliet i think the Cia would gel a Good Price. Polygraph fanciers and invisible Ink collectors would Covel it. So would the wimps who want 10 shut it Down. Again though there arc the new patriots who would like to bring Back the rack and the thumbscrews for leaders and who want to lob the grenade into the men s room of the Kremlin. Maybe on second thought we should not sell the government you can t be sure who would want to buy it. Univ Nal Pross Send Calv spirit of intolerance pervades american society permit me a few Daur reflections on Edward Johnson of Atlanta. The gentleman is a Jerk. Johnson recently leaped to notoriety and became an overnight Public figure by his ingenious harassment of evangelist Jerry fall Cal. A computer Consul land by Trade Johnson developed a passionate hatred of to evangelists in general. He focused his obsession on fall Cluj whose moral majority is the largest of the airwave religions. Eight Moths ago Johnson rigged his computer to dial the 800-number of fal will old time gospel hour in Lynch Burn a. Johnson fixed it so the sine would be silently tied up for 30 seconds then the Call would disconnect instantly the computer would dial the number again. He kept this up for 24 hours 3 Day until Bell system detectives tracked him Down and threatened to deny him Tele phone service unless he stopped it. Falwell says Johnson s trickery cos his ministry Al least ii million in pledges from followers who could not break through the  Barri Cade Falwell is thinking of suing and i Hope be follows through. Federal prosecutors reportedly Are considering criminal re arcs against Johnson under a statute that prohibits harassment by Telephone. I Hope they stick it to him. Johnson s vindictive stunt strikes me As represent live of a kind of arrogant intolerance that is among the ugliest features of american life. This vindictive stunt is nothing new. Its manifestations go Back to the puritans of new England and inc slave owners of the South. Over the past 20 years we have seen the phenomenon repeatedly on College campuses. During the Vietnam Era. It was almost impossible for any defender of our involvement to be heard Al a major University. Students shouted Down Hubert Humphrey and Gen. Lewis Hershey. The students professed to believe in free speech which they defined As free speech for themselves but not for those with opposing views. The spirit of intolerance gets to be institutionalized. Yogi May recall the Long Battle Over the drug laetrile this was a formula Tion of Apricot pits. Unless one swallowed a Carload of the stuff it was absolutely harm less. As a treatment for cancer capsules of laetrile probably were no More effective than so Many gumdrops but hundreds of terminally ill victims of cancer wanted to try the stuff As a last resort. Our government moved heaven and Earth through lawsuits injunctions and criminal prosecutions w pre vent the dying victims from getting the drug. More recently we have seen other such efforts. Our government will make us spend hundreds of dollars on airbags for our autos whether we want i desc dubious devices or not. A movement is afoot to ban Cigar tie advertising Alto Gether because the surgeon general says cigarettes Are bad for us. Half inc states and Many comes now compel motorists of buckle up. The anti abortionists would absolutely prevent a women from deciding whether to carry a pregnancy to term and this ultimate imposition is defended by among others. Jerry Falwell. No body has a monopoly on intolerance. What has become of the Ideal of free society in the matter of Johnson s sly knavery. I hold no Brief for brother fat Well. I never have met the gentleman. A a Breed sawdust evangelists give me the willies. But if people want to believe isl lot s wife literally turned into a pillar of sail or that Jonah spent three Days and three nights in the belly of that fish Fin with me. If preachers want to raise funds to propagate these literal convict Loni a free and tolerant society would permit no impediment in their Way. This is what Freedom is All about. Up to a Point we ought to tolerate All sorts of conduct. That Point is reached metaphorically when inc fist of a meets the nose of b. In the matter at hand Johnson stepped Over the line. His kind of intolerance to put it bluntly is intolerable cd in Iverier Prah san Decalb