European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 18, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes James j. Kilpatrick republicans will win new Orleans in some ways the Republican platform of 1988 is the same old hooey. This much can be said the republicans have Laid their promises and principles on the line. Win or lose they have raised the Flag of conservatism they have said to the country Here we stand. This platform running to 30,000 words of meat an potatoes comes in Sharp contrast to the Cotton Candy produced by the democrats at Atlanta. Except for Halfa dozen planks the democratic platform was Long on piety and Short on specifics. The democrats made vague promises to create expand or enlarge at least 25 spending programs but offered not the slightest suggestion about paying for them. In the grand tradition both parties have provided in their platforms the kind of partisan rhetoric that would insult the intelligence of a babe i arms. At Atlanta everything bad was the fault of the republicans. Here in new Orleans everything bad is the fault of the democrats. The gop platform claims credit for a 20 percent reduction in the rate of violent crime an achievement in which the Republican party had no discernible role whatever. The interesting thing about this Republican plat form is its tone. It breathes with fire eating , Rah Rah Rah and plunge into that line the republicans  not flinch from the a words conservation conservatism and capital ism. Their platform is not painted in pastels their pigments Are red White and Blue raw colors straight from the tube. Nothing Dainty Here. No apologies. Damn the democrats torpedoes full Speed ahead to be sure one notices a fair Quantity of blah we will increase strengthen and reinvigorate minority business development efforts to afford socially and economically disadvantaged individuals the Opportunity for full participation in our free Enterprise  the democrats might have inflated that balloon of hot air. One finds some hitting in the clinches the Bosses of the democratic party have thrown in the Towel and abandoned the american worker and  there is a a word for that sentence Balo Ney. In the same partisan vein homelessness Isth result of democratic policies in the 1960s and 1970s that disrupted mental health care family stability Low Cost housing and the authority of towns and cities to Deal with people in  boys will be boys and politics is a body Contact sport but come Carl Rowan on kids. Knock it off on the positive Side the gop platform commit the party on a Hundred specific pledges. At random the party promises its Best efforts to end the limitations on earnings of social Security recipients to reduce the rate on Long term capital gains to 15percent, to privatize Many government assets and programs to prevent tax increases of any kind an to provide housing vouchers and tuition tax credits. This platform does t mince around. It flatly opposes the Liberal notion of equal pay for jobs of supposedly comparable  it opposes Federal funding of congressional elections. It demands that the full panoply of civil rights protections be extended to congressional employees. It comes out foursquare for a constitutional amendment mandating a balanced budget it comes out three Square for an amendment to prohibit abortions. Once again the republicans ask that a presi Dent be empowered to impose a line item veto on spending Bills. The republicans Are All Over the landscape scrapping for every Inch of political ground. They present themselves As the party of the handicapped said the homeless the elderly the Young the disabled the Indian tribes and the native hawaiians. They proclaim their dedication to women minorities to american citizens residing in Guam the Virgin islands american Somoa and the Northern Marianas. The party also vigorously supports the right . Citizens of puerto Rico to be admitted into the Union As a fully Sovereign state after they freely  statehood for puerto Rico would give that colourful and hard pressed territory six seats inthe House seats that would have to be taken from other states. The platform is unequivocal on statehood for the District of Columbia it is unequivocally silent. It is the Overall tone that makes the  Are unabashedly for the old Virtues chastity frugality Temperance restraint Sanctity olm Arriage voluntary prayer in the Public schools. They want the pledge of allegiance recited everyday in every classroom. This is the old time Reli Gion. Sophisticates May scoff at such patriotic  there is real vitality in this platform. It is a pity so few voters Ever will read it. Universal press Syndicate rep. Conyers stood tall on sensitive subject racial bigotry is still so Perva leering wire fraud embezzlement Sive in America that every Black person and false tax filings becomes suspicious when another Black Portne $ 150,000 bribe Hastings Al in a position of meaningful Power is a Negedly was supposed to keep the focused of a crime or of unethical behave Manos out of prison and return Toor. History has taught us Black people that millions of White people regard the most celebrated Black As just another in one of those quirks proving the them about $1" million of property that . Officials has confiscated. Nigger and salivate Over any Opportunity to Jerk Power away. In that terrible but truthful context rep. John Conyers d., Mich deserves a profiles of courage award because this Black congressman rejected paranoia and faced the facts Fri the hearings re Garding the impeachment of . District judge Alcee l. Hastings of the Southern District of Florida. As chairman of a House judiciary subcommittee Conyers faced the dilemma of what to  about a poor Lack Man Hastings who had become the first Federal judge of his race inthe Long Jim Crow state of Florida. Hastings had been accused of engage with observation by Dickens character , that the Law is a ass Bor Ders was convicted and sent to , the alleged conspirator was acquitted. But judges of the 11th . Circuit court of appeals concluded that Hast Ings had indeed engaged in a conspiracy with Borders that he had committed perjury to win acquittal an that he ought to be impeached. The full judicial conference of the unite states agreed. As this unusual Case was being dumped into the Lap of Conyers Hast Ings was crying  the con Gressional Black caucus thought it ing in a corrupt conspiracy. 0- a Washington lawyer Williams Borders smelled bigotry. Conyers himself was to obtain $ 150 000 in bribes from suspicious All the More so because he Tom and Frank Romano who had knew that Hastings shared his social sensed the potential damage of impeaching the first Black judge in Flor Ida history. But this Black Radical Liberal Law maker of a dozen terms in Congress found the evidence against Hastings overwhelming. In what Conyers said was not a Happy moment for me he asked the full judiciary committee to approve 17 articles of impeachment against Hastings. The full committee then voted 32 to 1 to ask the House of representatives to approve the articles of impeachment and require the sen ate to hold a trial regarding the remo Val of Hastings from office. Do you want to know about per Sonal and moral courage listen to Conyers remarks at various stages of this proceeding in 24 years in Congress this is the most difficult decision that i have Ever been called upon to make. Nowhere Isth struggle against racism More Perni Cious and difficult to Root out than inthe government itself. This impeachment against a Black judge the first in his state in an administration been convicted of 21 counts of Racke and political philosophy. Conyers that has appointed Only five Black . District judges in seven and a Hali years makes it All the More difficult. But we must be equally concerned about the integrity of everyone who holds office. We did not wage our civil rights struggle to replace one form of judicial corruption for another. And we can no More close our eyes to acts that constitute High crimes and misdemeanours when practice by judge whose views we approve than we could against judges whose views we detested. It would be disloyal to the essential principles of the civil a Mats movement and to my oath of office at this late stage of my career to attempt to set Upa double Standard for those who May share my philosophy and for those who May oppose  that is Why one Long time Black Warrior came to demand removal another powerful Black Man who had fallen from Grace. Conyers gave us a Gutsy expression of integrity that ought to shame therapists and inspire All Public officials to a higher level of probity. North America Syndicate