European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 16, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday april 16, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary Carl Rowan it s incredible that son of . Still in race Thelma 4louise to Armp of amp Mhz in this wackiest of All the presidential political seasons i can recall the weirdest thing of All is the response to former California gov. Jerry Brown. Commentators refer to him As a nuts a a a screwball a a a wags Call him a son of .�?� Texas gov. Ann Richards joked that he a drives a Saturn because that a where he thinks they re More serious politicians say Brown is just a a spoiler a a a whining demagogue a a politician from a bygone Era throwing out a brain dead ideas As to How to fix the american Economy. Despite the fact that All the comments above May accurately describe Brown he is one of two democratic candidates who have survived the presidential primaries so far. Incredible How can citizens with a reasonable concern about whose Finger is on the nuclear trigger cast thousands of primary votes for a Man they be Long thought of As having bats in his Belfry it is Clear that Brown is following a Long ago contrived scheme in which he gets voters so concerned Over Power abuses corruption and criminal behaviour in government that few electors will demand to know where Brown stands on the most pressing issues of the Day. What worries me is not that i think Browne a crazy. Its that so Many people flock to him who done to know that he has a Long history of flip flopping his views. So no one can be sure what Brown would stand for or do if he got the Power of the presidency. The new York times has pointed out in details that ought to Embarrass Brown that the views he is now expressing Are at Odds with what he was saying in 1976, 1980 and even last year. The Brown Camp says that his views Are that word Means that you May think you know what Brown is saying now but you can have no idea what he will a a evolved into tomorrow. Black voters Arentt swallowing his Promise to pick the Rev. Jesse Jackson As his running mate first because they done to want Brown to Ever have such a Choice to make and second because they think his Slick views would a a evolved into a need to have a White vice presidential candidate. Brown excels in assailing lobbyists and those who manipulate the members of Congress who have Power. Yet he admits that he tried to get an influential congressman to throw his weight in favor of a company that paid Brown $20,000 a year As a director. This a son of .�?� had a remarkably Down to Earth understanding of where his bread was buttered. Brown has his 800-number to which the faithful and the loonies can Send Campaign contributions of no More than $100. Never mind that Brown once defended the right of California lobbyists to give $50,000 to the democratic party of that state when he headed it. Browne a gig now is to posture As the Savior of the a Little people who can to Pony up More than $100. Yet Brown is pushing what some Call a a brain dead proposal for a Flat tax of 13 percent and a value added tax that would Delight the Rich and wreak havoc on the poor and the aged who would pay More for food and Medicine. Could a son of .�?� have some extraterrestrial Power Over who goes into voting Booths or is it just that everybody a mind is half addled by the presidential choices they face Democrat and Republican and voters done to care whether Brown is from Sacramento or Saturn c North Amanca Syndicate James j. Kilpatrick was ugliest of in americans Fri s Hoover the Man was a monster. He was also in his twisted Way a Genius. He professed to Loath communism yet he practice the worst aspects of communism every Day. T during his lifetime he built a reputation As a 100 percent american. Twenty years after his death we Are. Beginning to see j. Edgar Hoover for what he was the ultimate in american. In her new study of the Fri under Hoover alien Ink the of big a War on Freedom of expression Natalie Robins performs a notable Public service. At great expense and at prodigious investment of time she used the Freedom of information act to obtain Fri files on 150 people. Her review of those files provides the most fascinating Reading of the Spring. T fascinating yes and terrifying also. George Orwell a fictional world of 1984 was not More ominous than the world of j. Edgar Hoover. His Genius was in meticulous organization of random bits of intelligence. The Man was a vacuum cleaner. His agents sucked up every morsel of information they could find on the subjects of hoovers encompassing curiosity. It was immaterial to Hoover if the filed information was True or false. It could be evaluated later. But file it file everything the director wanted every scrap saved. The appalling truth that emerges from Robins Book is that Lav also was immaterial to Hoover. The of big a authority extends Only to suspected violations of Federal Law. In practice flyover ordered an investigation of any person whose ideas he disliked. He hated ideas distrusted them feared their contagion. Thus he built files on people who had ideas. Writers Are people who have ideas. Publicly Hoover could court them privately As his memorandums make Clear he despised them. For a ludicrous example of hoovers paranoid mind at work consider the 690-Page file he accumulated on William f. Buckley jr., editor of the National review. The file begins in 1941, when Buckley was 16 years old. His name went into the memory Bank because his father was president of Pante Pec Oil co. Of Venezuela a foreign corporation. Fli Riners aliens alarm Bells rang in the of big a division of internal Security. In 1948, Buckley or. Attended an inter regional convention of the National student association. An entry went into the files. In 1949, As chairman of the Yale daily news Buckley asked a spokesman for the Fri to appear in a Campus debate. Said the suspicious Hoover in a memo turned up by Robins research a i done to like this at by 1950, Young Buckley had acquired excellent credentials As a patriotic god fearing american. An Fri agent filed a note that Buckley had been a guest speaker for a foundation to defeat communism. Hoover was impressed. He offered Buckley a Job As an Fri agent. Buckley was then an agent for the Cia. He politely declined. Years passed and the file on Buckley grew. In 1959, Hoover sent two agents covertly to cover a debate Between Buckley and James Wechsler editor of the new York Post. In 1962, Buckley took his son Christopher on a tour of the Fri building. Christopher dutifully sent a thank you note to Hoover. The note is in the Buckley file. Christopher was 10 years old. A then Buckley committed the unforgivable sin a Robins remarks. A the ridiculed this was in a satirical piece in the National review that alleged Tongue plainly in Cheek that Hoover had been arrested on a morals charge. Hoover a Man utterly devoid of a sense of humor never forgave the impudent editor. The director ordered files on other writers. A few of them a very few a were communists legitimately subject to surveillance As possible spies. The rest at some time had said something or written something sympathetic to socialism. They were pinkos. Hoover hated pinkos. He especially hated Pinko poets. They think too much. Such men Are dangerous Joyce Kilmer Conrad Aiken Robert Frost. He feared playwrights William Inge Clifford Odets Moss Hart. He ordered that files be kept on Erie Stanley Gardner writer of the Perry Mason novels and Rex Stout creator of Nero Wolfe. The names of Edna Ferber Westbrook Pegler Edith Wharton and . Mencken went into the memory Bank. He filed a rabble routers a a a activists and �?oagitators.�?�. Freedom of speech Freedom of press Freedom to believe these were values that j. Edgar Hoover held in contempt. The Man was a monster. It is a travesty but a fitting travesty that the ugliest building on Pennsylvania Avenue should Bear the name of the ugly Man who ruled the Fri. A Universal press Syndicate the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government
