European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 12, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday june 12, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary William Safir Rabin s comeback at Issue in israeli election Tel Aviv Israel a the legendary Brooklyn democratic Leader Hymie Shornstein used to refer to presi Dent Franklin d. Roosevelt As a the Staten Island asked Why he replied a you know How when the boat glides into the ferry slip it drags in All the garbage from the Harbor behind it for the rest of our candidates for is the Staten Island the upcoming election in Israel from now centers on one Man Yitzhak Rabin. If the gut Issue were settlements on the West Bank the current prime minister Yitzhak Shamir would Lead the right Wing liked to Victory. By populating the West Bank with jews he told me a we will make impossible the establishment of a palestinian labors Rabin who was prime minister in the �?T70s, is for the less popular a territorial he would continue settlements in the Jordan Valley and the Southern approaches and suburbs of Jerusalem for Security purposes but said a i oppose political that opens the door to dealing a which counters liked is the Slippery slope to a Plo state. That specific Issue Paramount in the minds of diplomats and commentators is not being fought out Here. Nor does this Campaign pit socialist economics against free markets liked can proudly Point to a 6 percent growth rate but it has failed to remove the dead hand of government ownership from the israeli Economy. The scrap is about the comeback of Rabin. In the to spots just begun labor hardly mentions the party or other candidates. Instead Rabin a exploits As commander of the six Day War of 25 years ago this week Are recounted and his familiar visage dominates the screen. Contrariwise Shamir is downplayed in Many liked ads. They picture the unpopular labor candidates and warn they would run the country if Rabin won. The rights theme which worked in Britain is a Stop the in the Street Campaign As Well Rabin is the Issue. He was smeared Early for a nervous breakdown decades ago and a though a genuinely private Public Man a had to discuss it at length in an interview. He is also denounced As a drunk As was Boris n. Yeltsin some of his angry supporters responded with an attack on the 76-year-old Shamir As impotent Nap prone and Short. America is not the Only democracy where campaigns focus below the Belt. I like and respect both Yitzhak and As a card carrying right Wing Hawk i am leery of the lefties hiding behind Rabin. And i done to like the Way the Bush administration is trying to influence the election by withholding loan guarantees in Hopes of ousting the Shamir government. But i think liked is blowing this election All by itself. The dissension among the triumvirate under Shamir a Moshe Arens Ariel Sharon and David Levy a is something fierce and swing voters know it. That unresolved succession is in Sharp contrast to the Clear Cut Victory of Rabin Over his longtime rival Shimon Peres. I mistakenly went to labor Headquarters with its old pictures of Peres and Halls filled with Hacks to meet Rabin. It turned out my appointment was at his a personal Headquarters a with Plain pipe Racks and Busy Young people bustling about. He a running alone and other labor candidates know that Rabin a comeback is their comeback. A the problem in israelis political system a he said a is that we have no Clear Cut decision. We tried to change the system to the direct election of the prime minister but liked torpedoed the idea this time. They were afraid of the verdict of the Over at Shamire a office after pointing out that the Rabin popularity a is baseless a he was a failure As of trim minister a the Short but potent like Dink Revea singly said a i done to like the american personification personalization of campaigns. I prefer the other Way where people vote for strategies and principles not for a Man. What is a Man to me that illuminates the Basic difference in approach to politics that characterizes this israeli Camf it sign. Rabin is a Strong individual Leader Topping a list Ess list Shamir is a principled movement politician on top of a bickering Bunch of talented individuals. What is a Man in politics everything a if he can sail into office like the Staten Island ferry. C Tho now Yolk Olmos William f. Buckley Issue in your pipe and smoke it Perot in order to qualify these Days As Alert to topical affairs one needs to mention. The name and accordingly i establish my Bona fides by asking what does Ross Perot think about legalizing pot followed by two stories. The first a letter from a stranger who lives in Nebraska. He knows How to get to the Point a i done to smoke cigarettes or drink alcoholic beverages. I eat a Well balanced diet and exercise regularly. I am Active in my Church and contribute to almost every Charity that asks. I done to cheat on my taxes or on my wife and i have children who Are healthy physically mentally and spiritually. I have a Job that i enjoy and do Well enough to earn a very respectable living. And i could be arrested tomorrow. A Why because three or four times a month on a Friday or saturday night after the kids Are in bed i like to slip out to the garage and smoke a joint. I then take a Shower raid the refrigerator and drink two cans of diet pop while watching late night to. I feel Fine the next morning and Hurt no one. I have Only one question a Why is this illegal a a and then from a column written for the new York observer by a distinguished Oung writer and colleague. Richard Brookhiser. He is being treated with chemotherapy for cancer and suffers a hideous nausea that is relieved Only by marijuana. It is procured for him by his wife a professional psychotherapist. Is he. Drug inclined a my wife and i you must understand live on an Island of normality. We Are not the protagonists of brightness Falls. Our friends and associates Are As Bourgeois As ourselves. I can to even say that All this takes us Back to the �?T60s, because for us drug Wise there was so Little of the �?T60s to be taken Back to. I smoked pot a dozen times in four years at College. Unlike Bill Clinton 1 inhaled. It made some things like Arthur Rubinstein a performance of the e Flat Nocturne particularly vivid. A my wife for her part believes in the examined life and one believes in examining it by the Light of Day not by the signal flares of chemicals. She rarely finishes a Glass of pinot the dope fiend from Nebraska goes on a hemp is a Gateway drug not in my Case. After what in be read i have no desire to try anything stronger. Our current policy of classifying hemp crack and heroin As equivalent evils would seem to do More harm than to the argument that the comprehensive Laws against pot remove it from the hands of the immature he is contemptuous. A it keeps it out of the hands of Young people totally wrong. Ask any student in America if its easier to get an ounce of grass or a pint of on this Point Brookhiser concurs with an interesting qualification. He does not dispute that it is easy to procure. A fall in All an excellent adventure unless some agent of the drug enforcement administration with nothing belter to do and do they have anything better to do should decide to Hale us before the bar of Justice. A except a that it is insane. Insane that i can to buy the stuff at the pharmacy like aspirin. Insane that a common chemical with a proven medical use should be obtainable Only at inflated prices and by committing crimes or with prescriptions Only less difficult to get than the code that activates the everyone then agrees that the drug is easy to procure and that it is far less dangerous to mental health than say marrying into the British Royal family. But Brookhiser closes his complaint with a reminiscence that tugs at the conscience. A several months ago i sat on a jury that heard a Case of Possession of cocaine with intent to sell. The defendant was strictly Small time a Gofer in a larger operation who had been swept up during a bungled bust. He lived and worked on West 149th Street or some such place and his clients were not relieving symptoms of illness or Reading under milk Wood. He was guilty As sin and we so found. A i know All the differences Between his Case and mine. I believe in obeying Laws even unjust ones so Long As they do not compel the commission of injustices and unless there is an urgent and clearly just reason for breaking them. I have one he did no to. And yet. A and yet there is so much that is wrong with the present drug Laws including now my own relationship to them that the next time i have a Chance to sit As a peer of an alleged violator i think i will respectfully a Nice Point. It him who has not sinned cast the first Stone. We await breathlessly the opinion of Perot on the above. I our Pruvis i i Ata
