European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 14, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 a the stars and stripes . Rosenthal France gives us All a lesson in cynical hypocrisy a Moa mar Qadhafi orders the release of three hostages kidnapped More than two years ago by one of the bands of terrorist killers that he controls. As Advance payment for releasing the hostages France allows three French made Jet fighter planes to Fly off to rejoin libyans air Force. When the hostages Are freed Paris lifts embargoes against Libya and promises More payoffs in the future. Then foreign minister Roland Dumas of France has something More to say a he Calls the libyans act a Noble and for these words alone Dumas earns for himself and his government a paragraph in history that neither will outlive. In any free court the tyrant of Tripoli would be convicted of participation in the kidnapping and imprisonment of the three hostages a and of sponsoring other acts of terrorism and murder beyond number. Everywhere anti terrorist specialists know that Qadhafi could have ordered the hostages released almost any Day since the kidnapping. The two adults were picked up in their pleasure boat by terrorists working for Abu Nidal the killer Leader who then and since has lived under the Protection of Libya. A child was bom to the couple in Captivity. Four More people seized on the boat including two children remain in the terrorists custody. Qadhafi is the main source of Revenue and arms for the Abu Nidal gang one of the most vicious in the world if there Are gradations among them. Relatives have paid Ransom before. Nazi and communist nations were paid in Money or in imprisoned agents to release victims. A child in Captivity a that is a hard thought to Bear. I suppose it is Frances business if it wants to pay Ransom to terrorists. France has paid it before to Iran. It is Frances business but Only up to a Point. By sending arms to Libya and holding out the Promise of More it adds to the Power that makes libyan terrorism possible. France leaves the list of victims of a crime. Instead it joins the list of bettors of crime. Perhaps Dumas and president Francois Mitterrand will think of that the next time they read of libyan or libyan sponsored terrorism. The rest of the world will. But for those who still struggle against terrorism for any surviving victims and All the beloved of those who did not survive nothing will Cut As cruelly As the words of deep political hypocrisy a the glorification of a terrorist King. Noble and humanitarian indeed. Those words Are an attempt to give him respectability and absolution. Neither Are Frances to give. Dumas prostitutes words and emotion. What is More important than the meaning of words distorting James j. Kilpatrick them is a tyrants daily weapon. For a free government to do so is intellectual treachery. But Dumas is not alone. We have been having an epidemic of hypocrisy in the West this past year. The United states says that top level visits to the butchers of Beijing against president Bush a Promise to do no such thing Are acts of kindness to their victims the chinese people. Then Washington put Forward the novel thought that reneging on the 50-year-old american Promise of support for lithuanian Independence was really for the Good of the lithuanians. Somehow lithuanians do not see it that Way stiff necked people. Britain Handcuffs screaming boat people to be shipped Back to Vietnam. Other Western nations look away. Everybody then goes to a human rights meeting somewhere. Western Europe discovers itself smothered in an unexpected Stampede toward Swift German unification and anxiously says there is nothing to worn about at All a nothing you hear yes certainly Mikhail Gorbachev has his share of hypocrisy awards to display. He gives the soviet press and nationalities tastes of glasnost except when the Freedom chips Are Down. Then Gingersnap gone is glasnost. But China Lithuania boat refugees whistling past German unification kissing kidnappers boots a All within a year a Tell us that we Are mired in the hypocrisy business ourselves never mind Gorbachev. Maybe we can find the reason in the level of Western leadership these Days hypocrisy and mediocrity often Are born twins. Maybe the answer is in the uncaring faces in our individual mirrors. Either Way Dumas and his Noble humanitarian Friend make it important to look at what is happening in the capitals of the Western world and pay attention. C new York Tim Esmo vie Industry should respect needs of elderly question when is a a a Home not a Home answer when the Home is a nursing Home where residents want to watch a rented movie. Its a Story with two sides. When videocassettes and Vars became popular a few years ago the directors of hospices and nursing Homes saw a Chance to give residents the same kind of pleasure they might have enjoyed in their own living rooms. The directors began to rent videotapes for viewing in the common room where the old folks gather after dinner. For a time everything went happily. The elderly gathered together some in wheelchairs some on walkers. They All watched a movie on the to set. Some snooze and some nibbled on Popcorn. No one dreamed that they were a gasp a in violation of the Law a but they were. The motion picture licensing corp. Mulc got wind of this invidious practice. In july 1987, the corporation budgeted $3.5 million for a two year Campaign to educate the old folks in the error of their ways. The Campaign began in a few Eastern states. The idea was partly to educate the directors and partly to scare them silly. The Campaign worked. Thus a Chain of nursing Homes in Delaware and Maryland Learned a Little copyright Law the hard Way. One Home received a Bill for $16,975 in unpaid License fees. Residents of the Emily p. Bissell Hospital a nursing care facility run by the state of Delaware wrote sen. Bill Roth jr., r-del., that they had been told the showing of Home videos without a License was it turned out that the moguls of the Mulc had distributed a notice warning the Homes in no Uncertain terms that they Are required to obtain a a Public performance License before showing videotapes. Home videos May be shown without a License Only a in the Home to a Normal Circle of family and its social offenders faced civil damages of at least $250 for each illegal showing. Panic a residents of the Bissell Home were plaintive a Emily p. Bissell Hospital is our Home just As other nursing care facilities Are Home for their residents. It is not by Choice that we Are Here but we Are and our lives Are now changed in Many Many ways. For the most part we Are not Able to get out into the Community to do the things that most people take for granted such As going to the movies or going to the video store. A if the staff from our activity department could show us some of the movies available on videocassettes however it would certainly bring us a lot of pleasure. And we do not see How this Type of situation could be defined As a a Public showing As the Law currently sees the Appeal touched a soft spot in the senatorial heart. Roth has introduced a Bill s. 1557 to Amend the copyright Laws. Rep. Benjamin Cardin d-md., has a companion Bill in the House. The measure would Grant a carefully drawn exemption for showings in any Hospital hospice nursing Home retirement Home or other such facility providing health related care on a regular basis. The Mulc not wishing to be perceived As an organization of blood sucking ogres out to feed upon the frail bodies of Little old ladies has been squirming. One studio after another has written Roth to say How a. They Are to the plight of the oldsters. The Disney studios will offer a 20-year, Royalty free License agreement to any eligible facility in Exchange for a $10 contribution in Disney a name to the United Way. Time Wamer would go for a 25-year agreement. Columbia pictures would Grant licenses for $ 1 a year. Paramount and the Turner Home entertainment people would not ask for any special payment. But All of them Are fighting the Roth Cardin Bill which they fear would seriously erode the a Public performance doctrine As it now appears in copyright Law. Roth s response is that without his amendment the hospices and nursing Homes would remain vulnerable to prosecution whenever the Mulc changes i collective mind. My own thought having visited la number of nursing Homes is that the Homes Are Homes in every sense of t copyright act. Elderly people live to a these Homes Are the Only Homes they have. The movie Industry a desire to protect copyrights is understandable b pick on elderly invalids a in evils there ought be a Law if Roth pre there will be. A a i
