European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 5, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns William f. Buckley patriotism Acle questions still Hurt Dukakis one must conclude that gov. Michael Dukakis will place on his Headstone George Bush challenged my  it is All a Little Odd. Because vice president George Bush said during their debate that he had most definitely not intended to Challenge Dukakis patriotism but a Alicr his judgment. This got from Dukakis not he statement i m glad to hear you say that George no he wanted to be insulted. He said i Hope this is the first and last time i have to say his. Of course the vice president is questioning my  who will bet that that is the last Lime Dukakis makes thai charge if Bush had said of Dukakis you know Mike is a Little Limp Wrisley i think it unlikely that Dukakis would Lake an Early Opportunity to Tell 100 million viewers or. Bush has challenged my  if i May say so it becomes Clear that Dukakis is pleased to be Able o handle the american civil Liber ties Union pledge of allegiance business by translating it into a charge that Dukakis patriotism has been called into question. And he is Likely to think this a political advantage to be exploited in the weeks to come. Certainly it seems to be the subject most attractive to Liberal columnists. So once again into the breach and where to begin is by asking the question Why when he declared himself a member of the american civil liberties Union did Dukakis specify that he was a card carry ing member of the Acle to be a card carrying member of an organization suggests that one s loyalty to it is total it is to be distinguished say from saying i believe in most of the goals of the  or i think on the whole Thea Clu has done a valuable Job it was the specificity of Dukakis oath of allegiance to the Acle thai attracted the attention of Bush and indeed of others. Mow if one is a devotee of the Acle in the card carrying sense one identifies oneself with its to tit Iona and there Are indeed nuts attn and controversial. The first thing to remember about the a Luis thai on the whole its chosen instrument is not the legislature but the courts. It is through the courts that it likes to operate. Likes to operate in order to do what in order to Forward its Agenda. And to suppose that the Acle docs not have an Agenda is quite simply ignorant. The Acle As Bush charged is opposed to tax exemptions for churches. It is opposed to capital punishment. It is opposed to any bar to any american s Reading or seeing anything he wants to View or Sec. This rubs up into the question of child por Nogra Joe Murray Phy. If an american adult wants to buy smut involving children the Acle is on his Side. But there can not be smut involving children unless children Are pressed into the service of producing smut. How do we handle that problem is it Safe to say that the Acle believes that children should if they or their guardians desire make themselves available to smut paddlers almost certainly the answer is negative. The question then comes Down to patriotism and the oath of allegiance opposed by the Acle. Duka Kis retaliated by saying to the Best of my knowledge Bush has never suggested that a session of the sen ate begin with the pledge of  the easy answer Here is that neither do sessions of Congress begin with recitations of the alphabet or the multiplication tables. Schools Are where one is supposed to learn certain decision West Virginia state Board of education is. Barn Etc hotly disputed within the court itself an widely flouted As in Illinois on technical grounds never challenged in the courts. Such As Are the teach ers required to Lead their students in the oath or can they merely pause while the oath is recited we Are Back to the court. Is it unpatriotic to deploy one s political life around the proposition that the Way to get the legislation you desire is through court action thai the Way to License abortion is via the court if patriotism were defined As adherence to the constitutional proposition that All legislation is to be done by Congress then the answer is a careful Quali fied yes. Trove on fhe Bock Roods is filled with potholes Joe Murray editor and publisher of the in flirt Texas news is travelling the South listening to what people Are say ing Middle of nowhere flu. Things were going so Well until the thing Amaji on the transmission decided to go a Blodee. We did t even know it at the time the other half of we being my other Cousin Bubba. He s been driving me across Dixie in search of Down Home politics. My other Cousin Bubba is not to be confused with my Cousin Bubba the used car dealer. This other Cousin Bubba does t know Didley about cars which 1 knew full Well when we started out but i did t think it would matter. It mattered. All i had asked of him was to do the driving it being his vehicle an aging Chevy Blazer Good transportation for Good old boys. He drove it All right. At 2 . In the Middle of nowhere in the Panhandle of Florida he drove it into the ground. Later the Mechanic would Tell us that the Chevy had love been smoking some thing terrible after having blown a Seal on the transmission. You boys going Down Eye ten must have looked like a Bug fogging truck on fire Haw Haw he said slapping his sides with both hands. Sure he can afford 10 laugh about  that matter with us As his custom ers i d imagine he can afford most any thing. But if you saw the shuttle liftoff you can probably imagine our breakdown. In the dead of night not being Able to see the Trail of smoke we did t realize what was happening until we were dead in the water barely Able to coast off the High Way and into a tilling station. I say filling station but it s one those inter state automotive boutiques where in Stead of Mechanic on duty the sign might As Well say maitre d on  but at least nobody was injured and either one of us Vrr easily could have been what with me chasing Cousin Bubba clockwise around the truck with one of those sharpened Sticks we d used for our headlight ga., political poll. Luckily though 1 came to my senses and decided to turn the other Check. Turned my whole body in fact and started running the other Way Whasil with Cousin Bubba having found the Little red Hatchet we d used to Sharpe those Sticks. Nice Hatchet the Lizzie Borden autograph series understand he was just being playful trying to tap me on the Back of my Skull with the Hatchet while Yelling you re it or something that sounded like that. Of so maybe i m exaggerating. I could t blame my other Cousin Bubba for the breakdown no More than he Tould blame me. Never mind that i told him he ought to buy the truck that my Cousin Bubba sold it to him and thai my brother had been the previous owner nobody s fault really. So. We made the Best of it As Best we could stumbling through the dark drug Ging our Luggage toward one of those Norman Bales franchise motels in the Middle of nowhere. We even Sang a tramping song to boost our spirits we drove the Chevy to the Levy torched that sucker and collected on the insurance Doo Dah  Ever the Alert journalist i thought i might As Well make use of the Opportunity Lor an interview with the night clerk at the Motel. But then i thought belter of it. For one thing he looked a Little out of sorts that we woke him up for another thing he did indeed look a Little like an Thony Perkins. That was what caused the other Row Between Cousin Bubba and me this Lime Over who was going to Gelto sleep with the Hatchet under his Pil Low of so maybe i do exaggerate. Maybe the Mechanic we found the next morning did t have a Peg leg a Patch Over one Eye and a Parrot Riding on his shoulder. 1m sure he s an honest fellow. Besides he and his family know what bad times arc themselves. His sister who helps run the garage told Cousin Bubba what he did t Tel me until we had left the truck with them that they just did know where they were going to find the Money to pay their Mother s Hospital  for a Miracle to fall out of the sky they Are. Either that or a transmission to fall out on the Highway. Never mind. We be rented a car for the rest of the trip and tomorrow we re heading from Prosperity Fla. To Stop out Ala. Funny but somehow i feel As if i be already been taken on that ride. Cot Newt bar Vav