European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 08, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday. February 8, 1.991. The stars and stripes Pago 13 commentary William f. Buckley , Gorbachev get different diplomacy the . Government has t a dear policy in respect of the soviet Union Tor reasons that should be made clearer than they have been. The main trouble is. That we Are afraid of the soviet Union and this is not. Unnatural when considering a country that has nearly a 12,000 nuclear warheads most of them aimed at us. What makes it All so confusing is that we Are engaged Irva War that we justify for two reasons the first utilitarian the second moral. It was the second Point that president Bush elected to stress in his state of the Union speech not because it is the More important of the two but because it sounds better and mobilizes More effectively. If he had spent the equivalent time explaining How. The domination of the Oil Supply would creeping by impose a sclerosis on american Industry the president could not have counted Nall those standing ovations. It is More galvanizing to talk about punishing a Man who has swallowed an innocent country raped and tortured its inhabitants and prepares unless checked to do As much to other countries in the Region spreading his malevolence like a plague. America is going for this and quite rightly so Given the moral tie in with the vital extra moral interests of the United states. A. A but have you noticed that we do not apply the same moral criteria to the soviet Union when Mikhail Gorbachev came to Power his country had already launched a War against Afghanistan every bit As ruthless As iraqis against Kuwait a indeed More so Given the percentage of the Post Fly Tion that had been slaughtered. A a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a t a Gorbachev is widely hailed for having put an end to the War but an estimated 600,000 afghans were killed Between the time Gorbachev took Power and the time he decided to Call an end to the War. And he did no to pull out of Afghanistan because he became heartsick Over the unhappiness he was causing. He became heartsick because our stingers were decimating the soviet air Force and the casualties streaming Home were causing him political problems. Moreover he left Afghanistan with a puppet government. But whatever he did was of by us. It is interesting to Asl the question wha would be the response of the .vgovcrnment if tomorrow Saddam Hussein were to Volunteer to withdraw from Kuwait but of course on the understanding that he would leave there a Viceroy Friendly to Harmony among All peace Loving pc pics 1 mean who other than maybe Sam Nunn and George Mcgovern would Greet this As a major Conics Sion to world peace but that of course is exactly How we greeted such a Concession made by Gorbachev in Afghanistan. What reduces our moral Gravity is As simple As this we can beat the hell out of Saddam Hussein with relative impunity but can do no such thing to Gorbachev to James j. Kilpatrick Cunt he has behind him a mobilized soviet Union with its missiles. We Are therefore at one and the Sanie time taking against Saddam Hussein a principled line with moral Appeal while with Gorbachev we temp look the other Way for All intents and purposes when he. Repeals glasnost in the Baltic states and when he so fugs off perestroika notwithstanding his commitment to it by refusing the Satalin plan for genuine economic Reform. His grandstanding oif the Point of parliamentary legitimacy is made a mockery by his sudden insistence on regal Power and his Call for the repeal of full press freedoms. But How else Are we supposed to react to someone who wields so big a stick if Saddam Hussein had a few Hundred nuclear missiles wed be treating him the same Way urging cultural exchanges with. Baghdad and no doubt the democratic party would come up with profound historical and anthropological reasons for Liwer a v standing Why Iraq has a right to oversee the political direction of Kuwait. A of so we play Tough where we can get away with it and we done to where we can to get away with it. What gets in the Way of rectilinear moral reasoning is our insistence on dressing up the moral arguments in opportunistic ways. A a ,. If we were to. the soviet Union under Gorbachev continues in Many ways to be As objectionable As Iraq under Saddam Hussein and a Good Deal More dangerous potentially to the people of the world but there Isnit much we can do about it at least we would have the vote oct he moral straight shooters of . A and Are Ivy to of sliding us these Days with a population explosion they do have a Little muscle there in the critical councils of the world. A c Universal Poss Syndicate. Free speech Issue like watching a fan dance a Sally Rand the famous fan dancer provides a Nice metaphor. Behind her or Trich Feather fans Sally reportedly was As naked As a hens egg. Maybe she was but in the dim Light in which she danced it was a matter of now you see her now you Long to. A a a a r so it is with the constitutional distinct lion Between expression and conduct. It is like seeing Sally. The line is a blur. The Constitution protects free a a speech a but manifestly some forms of speech Are not spoken a silent picketing for example or silent praying or the wearing of symbolic armbands. A Ais a striptease speech what about nude dancing in the Kitty Kat lounge in South Bend ind.? $ the supreme court heard arguments tie other Day on this seriously trivial Issue. Indiana Law makes Public nudity a class a Misdemeanour. In the Case at hand it was stipulated that Darlene Gayle and Carla the go go dancers were nude that their dancing was not obscene and that the establishments were places of Public accommodation for adults Only. This was the question put to the High court is Indiana a Law As it applies to. Dancing an unconstitutional abridgement of Freedom of speech on this Issue the 7h . Circuit court last May split All Over the landscape. A majority of the Conj i upheld the dancers the distinction Between conduct and expression a is an elusive one a but dance As entertainment is a Lorfn of exr pression that is inherently expressive. The majority cited the dance of Salome in the Richard Strauss opera a an erotic sensual expression. A it is immaterial that Salome tells a compelling Story and the nude dancing at the Kitty Kat lounge May not.�?�. Judge Frank Easterbrook led the dissenters. Speaking for three members of the appellate court he argued that Public nudity is the kind of conduct a state May prohibit. He saw no problem in distinguishing Between Ballet dancing and barroom dancing. Judge Daniel Manion and judge John Coffey filed separate dissents Indiana lawfully May act to uphold Public morality and to combat the degradation of women. Judge Richard Cudahy concurred with the majority though he left that the constitutionality of go go dancing creates a trivial Issue. Clearly he said a the message of the striptease is not a subject that the founding fathers had in mind in drafting the first judge Richard Posner concurred More emphatically. To say that a striptease is Mere conduct a is indefensible and a threat to artistic the go go dancing May not have been Quot Classy a but nothing in the Constitution restricts protected expression to Classy expression. Now its up to the supreme court. The justices had a great time of it at Oral argument last month. The occasion pitted Wayne Uhl Deputy attorney general of Indiana in a Battle of wit and insight with members of the court. T Uhl held his own pretty Well but the precedents Are against him. My guess is that the High court probably will affirm the 7th circuit. Justice Antonin Scalia went straight to the distinction Between nudity in opera and nudity in a May such a distinction lawfully be made Uhl said yes sir. A is that the Good taste clause of the Constitution a Scalia asked. Litows docs redraw a line Between Salome and the Kitty Kat lounge a a the line is drawn a Uhl replied getting himself in trouble a the same Way the line is drawn any time conduct is involved and that is whether or not the conduct communicates. If the conduct communicates then the conduct is speech. If the conduct docs not communicate then the conduct is not Scalia a communicates what an. Idea a a a a. A it Uhl a communicates a particularized message or an Scalia a what about a particularized message and an idea of sensuality Quot Uhl a that could be but even if the go go dancing in this Case is communication said Uhl it is not the kind of communication protected by the Constitution. The dancers could communicate As effectively and stay within the Indiana Law a with pasties and a strings covering the vital parts of the _. The Indiana Case itself is not of towering importance but the underlying question is critical. What forms of sex Krc Sion Quot Are a speech Quot we will have the High courts answer before the term ends in june. I Universal press Syndicate
