European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 28, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes sunday september 28,1986 James Kilpatrick what other rights Lurk in . Constitution Washington is agog. A new fundamental constitutional right has been found. It is a fundamental right of the Blind to have free editions of Playboy Magazine produced in braille. The discoverer of this remarkable fundamental rights the Hon. Thomas Francis Hogan 48, who came to the . District court for the District of Columbia in 1982. His Eminence looked deeply into the first amendment to the Constitution which says that con Gress shall make no Law abridging Freedom of the press and behold there was the fundamental right concealed in a Centrefold. No other doctor of jurisprudence had Ever perceived this fundamental right be fore. On aug. 28, when judge Hogan announced his discovery1 from the Bench a wave of admiring applause swept the courtroom. I declare said one Gray carded professor this boy is a Whiz bang. He never showed such Promise at  another judge of the District court who asked not Tobe identified confessed that he was frankly envious. I thought 1 had found it five years ago he sighed but it was Only a qualified right of the deaf to have videotapes of dynasty in signs. Not the same thing at  the circumstances of Hogan s fundamental find should be explained. A couple of decades ago the Library of Congress began producing braille editions of certain magazines. These were mostly at the innocent level of Reader s digest National geographic and popular mechanics but in 1970 the Library decided to Supply the Blind with Reading material having a higher intellectual Content. Thus a braille edition of Playboy came into being. In 1981 a Republican congressman from Worthing ton Ohio the Hon. Chalmers Wylie stopped by the Library to borrow a copy of Rebecca of Sunnybrook  during the five hours he waited for the Book to be located he observed two Blind men at a Reading table. They were chuckling Over a curiously embossed volume. His interest aroused he approached the two gentlemen Learned that they came from Ohio asked for their vote in the next primary and inquired what had occasioned their jollity. To his horror he Learned the awful truth. It was Playboy in braille he Forth with abandoned his search for Rebecca and embarked upon a crusade to have the horrid practice halted. In the summer of 1985 the congressman succeeded. By a Swift parliamentary Manuel or without identify ing the Playboy edition As such Wylie managed to Cut $103.000 from the Library s budget. By amazing coincidence this was precisely the annual Cost of product George will ing the offending publication. Librarian Daniel f. Boorstin a Man who can take a hint when he is belled on the head with it surrendered without a struggle. He cancelled the braille Playboy whereupon the american Council for the Blind the american Library association and several of Playboy s 1,000 Blind subscribers went into court. In this fashion was Hogan s fundamental find uncovered and revealed to the world. Boorstin decision was fundamentally unconstitutional said his Honor because it was viewpoint  Blind per sons he reasoned have a fundamental constitutional right to read Playboy and he was concerned that the Only form of Playboy now available to them was in a form they could not read. This was sound thinking. Boorstin s abandonment was a form of  it was based upon Playboy s Content. It is unthinkable the judge implied and unconstitutional also for a librarian to base a decision upon Content. Congress has no Power to decree what its own librarian May not buy. Under article Iii Power is vested in judges to order a braille Playboy resumed. Thus do the Blind Lead the Blind. This Sage commentary brought smiles and even an unrestrained whistle or two. A gentleman from the american civil liberties Union leaped into an aisle of the courtroom and performed a Lively Jig. When the Happy disturbance subsided his supremacy announce that he would reduce his findings to writing in the form of a formal opinion to be published this tall. The court thereupon adjourned. Professor . Spelvin of the Knoxville College of phrenology and fundamental rights a noted authority on constitutional Law was reached by reporters and acclaimed the court s decision. After All he said if Justice Blackmun could find a fundamental right to abortion in the 14thamendment and Justice Goldberg could find a right to contraceptives in the ninth amendment judge Hogan surely could find a fundamental right to a braille play boy in the first amendment. What other fundamental rights remain to be discovered Given judges As perceptive As Hogan it is hard to say. Universal press Syndicate Congress indulging in instant gratification Foo if Congress disposition is surly that is because its situation is Embarrass ing. Congress is being praised for a tax Reform Bill the contents of which Are As mysterious As Mongolia to Many Mem Bers who arc primarily interested in something they would rather not talk about thank you transition  regarding deficit reduction members fully understand that the cooked books and other Dodges by which they arc com plying with the Gramm Rudman Law would get people in the private sector sent to prison. What is going on self indulgence on a stupendous scale. But what Congress is doing in Domestic policy is analogous to what the executive Branch has done in the Samloff affair. The common thread running through recent actions is the Pic has of immediate satisfaction by spending principles and mortgaging the future. Secretary of state George Shultz says i  amazed at the outcry Over making array Fici its to get or. Daniloff out Ofa 6.li.-Lnrll into a More congenial envy ronn.-. Ii while this was being struggled  ? the administration vowed that Mihcic would be no Swap no linkage of the Daniloff Case and that of the spy Gennard Zakharov no acceptance of the equivalence of the cases. Then came the Swap. The cases were linked As equivalent As the men were simultaneously placed in the custody of their govern ments officials. The administration s idea of Success in this crisis is simple the return of Daniloff. Because the soviet Union has no desire to keep him forever the administration will perhaps soon be claim ing  and As the president said when Jesse Jackson collaborated with Syria to enable Syria to avoid dealing with the . Government concerning re lease of a . Airman you can t argue with  but you can and should argue with it when it involves self indulgent pre occupation with the immediate. Speaking of which the tax simplification Bill 925 pages of relentless simplification will pass partly because of transition rules designed to mitigate the agony of fairness As it Falls on certain friends of certain senators and congressmen. The More than three Hundred of such rules exempt particular corporations and other interests from the Rigours of Reform. For example tax subsidies reformers will be opposed to such things in general just As soon As these hundreds Are enacted Are retained to enable nine communities to build stadiums to attract or retain teams. A 10th such project for the Baltimore orioles is different be cause. Well just because without the transition rules with out a stupendous Shower of pork tax Reform also known As the slaying of Spe Cial interests by the gleaming sword of virtue might have died. Passing appropriation Bills is too banal an activity for a Congress that is Busy bringing Justice to South Africa and stadiums to needy cities. Therefore we have government by continuing Resolution. Soon the president will be presented with a yes or no decision on a nearly $600 billion Bill to keep govern ment the whole thing ticking Over. Perhaps he should veto it to show How much an executive Branch run by re publicans detests the sin of spending. Shultz is Cross because con Gress is cutting the administration s for eign Aid request. He is right to be Cross such cuts will dangerously diminish .influence abroad. But he is wrong to be As he seems to be surprised. Shultz is the adviser the president trusts most. Where was Shultz when the president was wrapping himself in Gramm Rudman As in the Flag it was predictable that Gramm Rudman combined with the president s tax phobia would mean severe cuts in foreign Aid. Such cuts arc the least risky choices for Congress attacking the deficit Only by shrinking spending not increasing reve nue. And speaking As we arc of the predictable consequences of self indulgent republicanism is Shultz really surprised that foreign Aid is not faring Well in Anera that reflects the effects of 30 years of Republican rhetoric about How govern ment is the problem not the solution to problems Congress has complied with the Gramm Rudman Law with a mixture of fudged figures and one time sales of As sets. The savings of $ 13.3 billion is jus enough to avoid across the Board spend ing cuts. Because Congress resorted to arithmetic gymnastics to achieve just $13.3 billion it is Apt to be even More self indulgent next year when hitting the deficit reduction target will require cuts of about $80 billion. Perhaps Congress will indulge in a Small perfecting amendment just changing a number. The current Gramm Rudman requires the deficit to be reduced to Zero in five equal increments by 1991. Perhaps the perfected Gramm Rudman will require 55 equal increments. Congress probably could succeed in cutting one-55th of the deficit and hey you can t argue with Success right c Washington Posl writers group