European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 6, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns Carl Rowan wednesday july 6, 1988 issues take Bock seat in 1988 presidential race the first of the National political conventions is this month and we already have evidence aplenty that the 1988 presidential Campaign is going to be a sordid affair. Vice president George Bush is not going to run against gov. Michael Dukakis he is going to run against George Mcgovern and the commies who might take Over once Dukakis tears Down our defense Structure and Jesse Jackson Dukakis secret slave Mas Ter. And Dukakis in t going to run against an incumbent vice president. He is going to run against a will o the Wisp wimp against attorney general de Meese and sleaze and against panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and the drug lords of Colombia. Bush is already on the stump blasting Dukakis As a so called big spending tax Raiser who will assault the Pentagon to the Point where America will lie naked to its enemies. Dukakis is claiming that Bush was guilty of malfeasance As Cia director in playing Footsie with Noriega and guilty of misfeasance As vice president and head of the anti drug task Force and that Bush therefore undermined the War against  just As Meese undermined respect for the Law. When Dukakis forces agreed last month with the Jackson people in Labelling South Africa a terrorist state some of Bush s people were Quick to say that this was proof that Jackson has a noose around Duka Kis political neck. The whole mess is appalling. Dukakis is not George Mcgovern and his willingness to stand up and declare a terrible truth about South Africa does not make him Jesse Jackson s slave. George Bush is no wimp however often he May lapse into preppie talk. He has ducked a lot of questions about Noriega and his knowledge of and involve ment in the Iran Contra mess but b Ash has not under mined the War on drugs especially since the Reagan administration never waged a real War. As for ethics and propriety Bush is anything but an de Meese. But dirty stuff is going to get worse. Especially when right Wing backers of Bush Zero in on Dukakis Reli Gion or his alleged Lack of it. The Magazine human events columnists Patrick Buchanan and Evans and Novak and others already Are suggesting that Dukakis has a character flaw in that he George f. Will lists himself As a member of the greek orthodox Church. This gives them a Chance to trumpet such monumental information As Buchanan wrote not Only did the Gover nor marry a non Christian his wife is a jew outside the Church his children were never baptized in the Faith and he has been ineligible for two decades to receive certain sacraments inside the  i thought we had risen above the injection of sneaky religious bigotry into presidential campaigns. After All president Reagan won two landslide elections and remained a very popular president without hardly Ever going inside a Church except for a few funerals. One cynic says astrologer Joan Quigley got More Calls from the reagans than god did. So what has the religion of Dukakis or his wife got to do with anything it has to do with the glee of anti abortionists saying that Dukakis supports a woman s right to an abortion while the greek orthodox Hier Archy Calls abortion  Bush can be sure that a horde of people will be checking into his religious history including How much he has put in the collection plate. Is the pubic Gullible enough to Swallow All these dirty charges and innuendoes the answer seems to be yes president Reagan goes to Moscow and praises the Leader of world communism Mikhail Gorbachev asks for his autograph and asserts that the soviet Union no longer is an evil Empire out to dominate the world. Reagan is not vilified in America except by the right Wing fringe. Jesse Jackson goes to Cuba and talks to Fidel Castro who is merely a Pawn of Gorbachev and american right wingers Brand Jackson As a Semi traitor unfit for the presidency or vice presidency., Why can t we have an election in which two candidates Tell us honestly what they stand for what they want for America and How they plan to reach their goals is it simply that demagoguery slander character assassination sell better than the truth. North american Syndicate inc. 5xcit5crowps, strom6, premise protecting teen age killer a bit cynical i Jam Yaj Lofils William them Nunn inc 15 Anh nah Perl Ftp Praia s rpm Isrl statute and it a ppm a that for their arts or a facile  he far of up apron Jan. 22,1983, Willia Thompson was 15 and As a matter of Oklahoma Law a child. He also was Busy. With three older accomplices he murdered his for Mer brother in Law. The victim was beaten severely and shot twice and his Throat Chest and stomach were Cut so the fish could eat his body Thompson said. Thompson was tried As an adult and sentenced to death. Now the supreme court has ruled 5-3 Justice a thur Kennedy not participating to overturn his sen tence. Four justices said it is unconstitutional to impose capital punishment on anyone who is even a Day younger than 16, no matter How careful the consideration of his circumstances no matter How much Evi Dence is gathered to overcome the presumption against trying a 15-year-old As an adult. Because the fifth Justice Sandra Day o Connor concurred Only in the result not the plurality opinion it remains unclear whether such executions would be constitutional if a state specifically adopted after care Ful consideration capital punishment for 15-year-Olds. The argument is about How to construe evidence . In 1972, the court ruled 5-4 that Georgia s capital punishment Law was unconstitutional. Two of the five majority justices William j. Brennan and Thurgood Marshall said simply that society s evolving Stan Dards of decency Nave made capital punishment cruel and unusual and therefore unconstitutional. That claim was promptly refuted but not abandoned when 37 states re enacted capital punish ment statutes in conformity with the court s 1972 Cri Teria the other three justices in the 1972 majority argued Only that capital punishment was cruel and unusual when administered capriciously. In 1976, the court upheld Georgia revised status it seemed t capital punishment opponents had confounded them selves causing reforms that immunized capital punishment statutes from constitutional Challenge. But the Thompson Case reveals a new wrinkle. Justice John Paul Stevens speaking for Brennan Marshall and Harry a. Blackmun erected a rickety statistical scaffolding to support the conclusion that there exists an evolved american Standard of decency opposed categorically to executions of anyone under 16. Stevens noted that All 18 of the states that have adopted a minimum age for capital punishment have adopted age 16. However Justice o Connor who concurs in the judgment but not Steven s statistical reasoning noted that More states 19and the Federal government have authorized capital punishment without stipulating a minimum age. And Justice Antonin Scalia joined in dissent by chief Justice William h. Rehnquist and Justice Byron r. White noted that in the comprehensive crime legislation of 1984, Congress addressed the question of youth and the imposition of punishment. Congress changed the Law lowering from 16 to 15 the age at which a juvenile can be tried and punished As an adult As Oklahoma did with Thomp son. Oklahoma Law permits that Only after a careful find ing that the Young defendant appreciated the wrong Ness of his conduct and that there Are no reasonable prospects for rehabilitation within the juvenile Justice system. By the time Thompson committed murder head been arrested three times for assault and Battery once with a knife another time for assault with deadly weapon once for burglary. Stevens argued that Many Laws restricting voting use of alcohol Etc recognize that juveniles Are Apt to be impulsive. Thus juveniles Are often not As culpable for their acts or As easily deterred by fear of severe punishment. But Scalia noted that two hours before the butchery began Thompson announced his premeditation we re going to kill  Stevens stated that the likelihood of a 15-year-old weighing the probability of execution when calculating the risk of a crime is so Remote As to be virtually non  but a clinical psychologist testified that Thompson believed that his age would protect him from severe punishment. Many people familiar with the epidemic of gang murders of juveniles by juveniles in los Angeles say that the killers regard their punish ment if any As a relatively mild rite of passage through prison. A few executions might get their Atten Tion Stevens noted that very few executions in this Cen Tury no More than 20 none since 1948 have involved killers under 16. But Scalia said that the statistic demonstrates Only a Long standing consensus that such executions should be rare. And if the relative rarity of an act is construed As conclusive evidence of a consensus that the act is cruel and unusual then the execution of women could forthwith be declared unconstitutional. Note the new wrinkle. A state complying with the court s elaborate Crite Ria gives fastidious attention to the individual Circum stances of defendants in criminal cases. That attention makes executions of certain categories of criminals e.g., those under 16 rare. By a non sequitur the rare Ness of a phenomenon demonstrates a societal Consen sus against the phenomenon generally this bareness is turned into a constitutional prohibition. So complying with the court s criteria for constitutional action produces a statistical argument for branding the action unconstitutional. It is an intellectually elegant wrinkle. It also May be a bit cynical. Washington Post writers group