European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 25, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday May 25, 1992 the stars and stripes Page 13 commentary William f. Buckley or Quayle makes Good but poorly stated Point All that outsiders knew about Murphy Brown was the context supplied by the vice president. What he said in the course of making the Point about the consequences of deteriorated morals was a it does no to help matters when prime time to has Murphy Brown a a character who supposedly epitomizes today a intelligent highly paid professional woman a mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another a lifestyle a even for those who know absolutely nothing about Murphy Brown beyond what is divulged in that one sentence one is bound to admit that the vice president proceeded i cautiously. He seemed to be saying that a fatherless child ought not to be of course if that is the Correct moral position then it follows that that child should be aborted. What Quayle obviously meant to say was that the child should t have been conceived. As it is left he is a standing target for two sets of people those who Are in favor of abortion and know that Quayle and president Bush Are against it and those others who a but let one columnist put it in her own words a a it a always a Good idea to put your biases right out on the table so lets get one thing straight. I am a Bastard a or i was until i was blessed enough to be adopted by two Loving parents joined in Wedlock. The vice president has suggested society employ a social sanctions against women who Bear babies i wish there were a word stinging enough to express the Many a bumbling of dear. Poor Dan it is really unfair to suppose that he meant to say that no Bastard should have been born. And of course it is also unfair for him to suppose that the whole world knows what Are the ways of Murphy Brown though one supposes she is what we used to Call a a Loose woman a and that when she became pregnant she decided to have the child. One somehow gathers just from the feel of the situation that the next episode of Murphy Brown will not have her finding the Man of her dreams marrying him and giving a father to the Little Brown baby. But Quayle was saying very serious things with direct relevance to the problem that absorbs California namely the explosion within los Angeles. If poverty is something we Are All anxious to erase what arc we going to do with the following figures a marriage is probably the Best anti poverty program of All a Quayle informed those of us who did no to know it already. A among families headed by married couples today there is a poverty rate of 5.7 percent. But 33.4 percent of families headed by a single Mother arc in poverty professor Thomas Sowell the Black political scientist and sociologist has said As much confining himself to Black americans. If a Black child is reared by a father and a Mother who Send him to school the chances Are very Small that he will be a poor b illiterate c unemployed d imprisoned or e a drug user. But on the business of social sanctions Quayle is treading on very delicate territory. You see the situation has changed. Among Whites Over the past 20 years Bastardy is up from 6 percent to 17 percent a Rise in percentage More striking than the Black Rise from 38 percent to 62 percent though the Black numbers overwhelm. It is simply unreasonable to suppose that there is no correlation Between these figures and the Playboy philosophy that holds sex to be something you grab at the store As you might select Corn flakes or a trapeze. When Ingrid Bergman first came Back to America after her extra marital affair with italian movie director Roberto Rossellini they were later married she was not invited to appear on major television programs. Today by contrast some actresses would run the risk of being ignored Only if they were detected living other than with a Man whether married to him or not. The Hollywood Community which is ironically a stones throw from South Central los Angeles sets the tone without any sense of responsibility for the consequences of such lifestyles. But of course they can easily afford what we take to be the lifestyle of Murphy Brown. All you have to do is hire a governess for the kids. Perhaps the democratic party platform will accost the problem in the ghettos by a massive Federal program to Supply governesses to look after illegitimate children. I say hang in there Dan Quayle. You need to Frame what you say with a Little More caution but you Are dead on and there is no Way they can face up to those statistics. They arc tracer ammunition spelling out vital truths. C univ Orsyl Pross Syndicate Peter Applebome some issues live on after the executions when Roger Keith Coleman was electrocuted wednesday night still proclaiming his innocence in the murder of his sister in Law a haunting question was left to follow him to his grave Are innocent people sentenced to death and executed in America critics of the Public relations Campaign that sought to cast doubts about Coleman a guilt say that if innocent convicts die he was not one of them. But there is no question that innocent people have been executed Over the years in the United states people like Roosevelt Collins a Black Man executed in 1937 in Alabama after a four minute jury deliberation for raping a White woman. Historians say there was no rape. And Coleman Scase highlighted As few others have the degree to which recent supreme court decisions and an escalating Pace of executions Are raising serious questions about the likelihood of innocent people being executed. Critics of the death penalty say Coleman Scase was a chilling example of the degree to which legitimate issues Are not being heard by the courts even when a life is at stake. Proponents of the death penalty say what it showed even More was the degree to which a highly organized lobby against capital punishment is politicizing death penalty cases and raising questions where none exists. Both sides agree that the Coleman Case raised a Central Issue about the death penalty a whether innocent people die a and that Issue is certain to play out with even More Force at a time when More prisoners in the United states Are Likely to be executed this year than at any time since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 the supreme court has agreed to hear a Case involving a Texas death Row inmate Herrera that would specify whether the courts Are required to hear cases in which guilt or innocence rather than constitutional violations is at Issue. In some states particularly Texas Anil Yin Tina. Claims of innocence need not Merit judicial Rev ice Quot the number. where we worry about Tactual innocence will Imu it almost As a mathematical Luik Tion of the number ote a i unions that we have in the country said Franklin in inv a Law Protessor at the University of California at Bei Kelv Quot i fits Case puts a very Shaip Point to a Sioux be i Ihrk i going to be with a. Toi c Ile i n u i i a m a 111ii to 1 ii of i c a a Ifni 1111 i i m. I. A \ i i. A a if ii Lav to i tie 1 of 1 i ii. -1. T cd i. Ins a i and May goo ouf socjl5, it. Tive measure of cases where the state admitted error he said their research also found 23 cases of convictions of innocent men in which there was no state admission of error some of these cases Are still the subject i if dispute. He said the issues raised m the Coleman Case Are quite common and certain to become More so As the death penalty is expedited Tor the More than 2,s Kyj inmates m the United states w to Are on death Row. Opponents of capital punishment say Coleman s Case is a perfect exam Jile of How flawed the system is he w its defended by Young inexperienced lawyers Wilh Little. I Iii Mial Law Lem e he was Direel m a hostile environment m a town Lnae Many had already accepted his guilt and he was denied in evidentiary in Ledelia Couit despite .ii.ic. A i it sit Ion at e f i a kid ii if i. S i n e it i Clinti it it i i a e d a i i 11 c i i 1 11 my a c i i i it t in /1 of. Over the Case from local counsel. Critics say his Case is an example of How the supreme court is increasing the Odds of a flawed jury verdict executing a prisoner without a full airing of his Case. Coleman a attorney Kathleen a. Behan with the Arnold amp Porter firm said the Case will be remembered As a the Rcd Scott of death penalty Behan who was not representing Coleman when the filing deadline was missed said a fall of the procedures involved Are going to come Back to haunt All of these judges that refused to hear Roger a claim As Well As the decision makers in Virginia that give him a last Rad let said the other major change in recent years is the degree to which political pressures have made in increasingly unlikely cases will result in commutations or pardons by governors. A a we be seen the near elimination of executive but others say the politics of the death penalty can go both ways. Alan Slobodin president and general counsel of the Legal studies division of the Washington Legal foundation said the most significant change in death penalty Law came in the 1970s when the supreme court struck Down state death penalty Laws to protect the rights of defendants. He also said the Holcman Case is a poor one to use to make the Case that innocent men can be convicted Quot in this particular Case All the evidence Points to or Coleman s the prosecutor in the ease Thomas r. Scott jr., said that despite a flood of publicity on Coleman s Behall samples of his blood semen and pubic hairs were consist Cut with the killer and the Dan analysis done by an expert provided by the defense provided devastating evidence leading a Federal judge who reviewed the Case to conclude that the evidence against Coleman was even stronger than what the jury heard Scott said the most telling lung at Mut the Ca Lias been the degree to which Ami death groups and i editions press managed to create a lobby outside to. Charts for a guilty Man but finest Van Den Haig a i Mcd Prole Sor of in rude tue at i Oldham t , said. Almost a i Uman Ai Tiv Ilia. A use some n e it it eco ple Lou it so lb-1 i attic Doc in plane a a Toon in i loll Dot a. T ii e to i la w a 1 1 i ullage Otth i. I
