European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 26, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday May 26, 1094 i commentary the stars and stripes Page 17backers of Breyer May be courting trouble president Clinton a nomination of . Court of appeals judge Stephen Breyer to the supreme court affords another Opportunity for conservative Republican senators to restate what the Battle for the ideological soul of the court is about. Instead they Are falling in line behind Breyer in demonstration of their pref Ere be e for being spoken Well of by their ideological and political opponents. Two of the Senate a most consistently  life senators Orrin Hatch of Utah and Robert Dole of Kansas announced immediately their support of Breyer. Dole called Breyer a a top notch intellect and a person of  Hatch said Breyer would be a a Fine Addi. Tion to the  even conservative Stalwart Strom Thurmond of South Carolina announced initial supports v How can a  life senator say such things about a nominee who believes the Constitution does not protect unborn life y no senator who claims to be  life can vote for judge Breyer a confirmation and still be credible on life issues. There can be no acceptable explanation for such a vote. By immediately announcing support for Breyer Hatch Dole and Thurmond diminish the claim of moral supremacy for the  life position. One of the numerous experts trotted out by can to comment on the Breyer nomination spoke favourably of him because he supported airline deregulation. By this Standard Stalin a Success in developing heavy Industry in the soviet Union is More important in judging his leadership skills and place in history than Are the millions he killed. Breyer a Demeanour hides a clearly Liberal Bent. He holds Liberal views not Only on abortion but also on civil rights Ana sex discrimination. In one of his opinions he held that states have the Power to require religious schools 10 be approved according to state rules for determining who has an adequate education. Breyer said such a requirement does not violate the free exercise of religion clause of the first amendment new life Baptist Church Academy is. Town of East Longmeadow 1989. That ought to strike fear into everyone who supports private education include Quot ing Home schooling. Breyer is clearly part of the Harvard sociological approach which believes the Law is something that should be fitted to the wishes and needs of contemporary culture not to an absolute fixed Standard to which people should be made to conform for their own and the country a . Quot Quot a a a. A. Quot to such persons Law is like a set of rules for private clubs that can be amended updated or rewritten whenever the club members feel like it. Knowing this and being familiar with other such cases in which judge Breyer in effect took the Law into his own hands  Republican senators who argued from a principled position in favor of supreme court nominees Clarence Thomas and Robert Bork argue with As much Fervour against the Legal free Lancing of Liberal judges How can senators who supported Bork and Thomas also support Breyer when these three menus views of the source and purpose of Law Are so different democrats have consistently worked against judges they opposed no matter what the Odds against them. From Nixon nominees Clement Haynsworth and g. Harrold Carswell 25 years ago to modern Battles Over Bork and Thomas liberals stood faithful to their ideology and principles. Where Are the conservatives they faded into the Woodwork on Ruth Bader Ginsburg a nomination and mostly voted with the 963 majority. They appear ready to do the same with Breyer. It will be difficult for  life senators to convince their colleagues or the Public that the Issue of life is Paramount when they hasten to line up behind Clinton nominees who surely passed Bill and Hillary a a scrutiny on the litmus test of abortion. If republicans wont at least raise the Issue when Democrat presidents nominate  abortion judges they wont be Able to reclaim their  life credentials when a future Republican president nominates a judge who believes Roe is. Wade was decided improperly. In fact future Republican presidents May not Feci compelled As they once did to nominate a  life judge Given their apparent surrender without a fight on Breyer. In his Book Justice which attacks the racial policies of Richard Nixon in the 1968 Campaign Richard Harris says something that could be applied in another context to contemporary leaders a most people no longer seem to care a if indeed they know a what is happening to their country. Exhausted by the demands of modern life and muddled by the fearful discord tearing at society they seem to have turned their common Fate Over to their leaders. And their leaders a con Vinced that this abdication Means agreement and that agreement Means the Public interest is being served a Nian age the Peoples affairs in a Way that can Only Divide the country further. When the people finally awaken they May find their freedoms gone because the abandonment of the Rule of Law must bring on  those who have a Liberal View of the Law such As judge Breyer fit this description. Those in the Senate who think it is More important to win the approval of their ideological enemies who never feel or behave this Way when Republican nominees arc before the Senate Are for citing their principles. It thus appears that abortion May be about to go the Way of Quot read my lips no new  just another promis that served its purpose for a while and can now be discarded. While the blood of unborn innocents continues to cry out from the ground this must never be allowed to happen. A a. Cd los Angeles Elmea. T a maybe the cruellest thing that can happen after ones death other than being forgotten is being turned into a stereotype. That is what worries the grieving friends of Lewis b. Fuller or. No Way would Puller who took his life earlier this month be forgotten he was too important to too Many people those who knew him and those who Only knew of him. The son of a world War ii officer whose valor had won him More decorations than any other Man in the Long history of the Marine corps Puller was a Marine lieutenant in Vietnam when he stepped on a land mine 26 years ago. He lost both his legs. Parts of both his hands were blown away his body riddled with shrapnel. Somehow he survived after Long months of hospitalization. His Book about the struggle to reassemble his life fortunate son the Healing of a Vietnam vet won the pulitzer prize in 1992 and rightly was hailed As one of the classic accounts of that terrible War and its aftermath. With the Success of the Book Puller left his Job As a Pentagon lawyer and became a writer in residence at George Mason University. The alcoholism and addiction to pain killing drugs he had battled for years returned and at the same time his marriage began to unravel. The fatal self inflicted gunshot followed. The tragedy made news and provided raw material for immediate stereotyping that cast him As a victim of the War. The Media were not solely at fault for this in their grief Many of his loved ones spoke in exactly those terms. But the Puller friends with whom i have spoken argue forcefully that neither he nor his follow vets deserve to be stigmatized As  they offer proof that right up to the moment he decided to end his life. Puller was deeply engaged in a project which spoke of his concern for others. It could Well serve As a Monu ment to what he and his comrades in arms achieved. Last August Puller went Back to Vietnam with a Friend from the Christian children a fund. He went on a Mission of peace and reconciliation. Terry Anderson the associated press correspondent who was held captive in Lebanon served in Vietnam with Puller and he tells the Story. A in november of �?T92,�?� Anderson said a i spoke atthe Vietnam veterans memorial Wall and the theme of my speech was reconciliation. I said it was time to put the War behind us and get on with our lives. I said All the people who fought in that War on both sides believed passionately in what they were doing and so did the people who fought against the War. But it was time to heal the wounds. A Kieu Chinh the vietnamese actress who played in the Joy Luck club was there to read a a some of the names on the Wall and she said a what you said is Fine but what about my people a a i talked to Lew about it and he said a she a  the Wall has brought such a powerful sense of Healing to us and he wanted us to do something for the vietnamese. Our first idea was a memorial to the vietnamese dead that we would build somewhere in Vietnam. A but when when Lew came Back last August he said a they done to need another pile of stones. Lets make it a school a or a series of  he was a very Tough minded person and he was determined this not descend into sentiment that it be kept in  Jack Wheeler another of the Vietnam vets and pull David s. Broder or friends involved in building the Wall says it is important for people to understand what was entailed in pullers Effort a not just emotionally in reaching out to the people who had blown his legs off but in. Putting himself through the physical pain and humiliation of being lifted on and off air planes Halfway across the world and then negotiating the Deal with those hard nosed vietnamese  the school will be built in Quang Tri province an area close to the old Border Between North and South Vietnam devastated by cars of fighting. Development officials say that in the Quang Tri Countryside Ana elsewhere in a nation that once boasted of a�?z90 percent literacy rate there arc tens of thousands of children who have never set foot in school. Construction is cheap a 30-person classroom can be built Wheeler says for about $4,000. The goal for the first school is $185,000. A fund Raiser that Puller attended in new York shortly before his death netted about one fifth of that amount. In his last weeks of life he and Wheeler discussed ways to get help for the school from some of the . Companies that Are moving into Vietnam now that the Trade embargo has been lifted and profits Beckon tax deductible donations for the school May be sent to the vietnamese memorial association . Box 26176, Alexandria va., 22313. The Hope is to have the school up and running by april 30, the 20th anniversary of the Day the last . Troops left Saigon. And the plan now is to name it for Lewis b. Puller jr., As a reminder to citizens and leaders of both nations that the men who fought in Vietnam were not just victims of the War but builders and shapers of the future. Civ Ashing to i p pm