Letter from a Whig

...Maryland Congressman Larry Hogan has introduced a similar petition for his "right to life" legislation...

...East German attitudes t~)ward West Germany often seem balanced between admiration and dogmatic opposition...

...Although she was unable to grasp the situation fully, it was with increasing apprehension that our friend realized that if she were to act and bring her daughter to the West, her last opportunity had arrived...

...CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS...

...Yet despite what has been termed an erosion of presidential power on Capitol Hill, despite the fact "that public opinion polls show that the President's popularity is at an all-time low, Congress has once again shown itself incapable of filling any power vacuum or displaying any leadership potential...

...Congressman Jack Kemp of New York, whose 38th District includes Buffalo and t h a t city's highly regarded Philharmonic orchestra, led the successful battle in reducing appropriations from $145 million to $98.6 million for the National Arts and Humanities Foundation...

...To date not one of the President's four vetoes (The Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, The Second Supplemental Appropriations, The Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Congress' attempt to make the Director of the Office of Management and Budget subject to Senate confirmation) has been overridden...

...I~nzer went on to defend Philip Berrigan and he is now a counsel to Senator Ervin's Watergate committee...

...7447, the Supplemental Appropriations bill...

...The question of this city is not being settled as part of the Crerman problem and within the general East-West "rapprochement...

...A loss of practically any one of these freshmen would be considered regrettable by conservative Washington commentators, who point out t h a t seldom has a group of congressional first-termers shown the leadership, political savoir-faire, and commitment to conservative issues as the ninety-third freshman class...

...POWER STALEMATE Even if the power of the White House has not been stalemated to the extent to which many argue, there can be no doubt that the Administration's efforts for reconciliation with Congress' liberal leadership is raising qualms among some conservative legislators...

...It is a practice which is implemented when a hostile committee drags its feet on legislation by either refusing to hold hearings on the subject or by failing to let the bill reach the floor for a House vote...

...Bradley has long supported radical legal service groups and is a disciple of what New York Times'columnist and former Nixon speechwriter William Satire has called the epitome of radical chic, Terry Lenzer, who had been fired from OEO by Donald Rumsfeld for failure to carry out orders...

...But the integrity of West Berlin is no more secure...

...It is with no slight effort that the Berliner can still say: Berlin bleibt doch Berlin (Berlin will always remain Berlin...

...A discharge petition, a parliamentary procedure which is rarely used, requires the signatures of a majority of the total House (defined as 218) and it removes a committee from the jurisdiction of a public bill...

...Phillips resigned as the center of controversy and a man under his tutelage, Alvin Arnett, was chosen to replace him...

...But, as one congressional newsletter recently charged, this attitude is not widely shared by Congress: "Too many public officials seem to forget that the so-called Federal money they dispense is in fact the taxpayers' money...

...To the contrary, the Soviets and East Germans have painstakingly avoided any formal recognition of West Berlin's ties to the Federal Republic...

...The Wall has accomplished its end...

...In January the so-called crisis arose over the President's impoundment of federal funds...

...No great change can be seen within the immediate future...

...Kemp's political savvy was critically questioned...

...From the beginning of the Ninetythird Congress in January to its summer adjournment in August, social pundits have spoken of one constitutional crisis after another...

...Washington, D.C...

...As the Vice-President pointed out in a news conference he called, he has not been given the traditional safeguards of secrecy normally accorded under such proceedings...

...Beard has introduced a discharge petition in this session of Congress for his bill which would prohibit forced busing for schools operating on an open-system basis...

...many Congressmen seem to exercise less caution and consideration in voting for a billion dollar Federal program than they would in purchasing a house or ,,n automobile with their own money...

...Any anti-Republican .<entiment, if it is to prevail, would be particularly detrimental for the forty-three member GOP freshman class, since the first reelection bid is thought to be the most difficult by political experts...

...Isolation, of course, means insecurity...

...Former Acting Director of OEO, Howie Phillips, had been given the assignment to dismantle this scandal-ridden agency...

...However, when West German Chancellor Brandt visited East Germany a couple of years ago the spontaneous and enthusiastic response he received (which proved an embarrassment to the East German government) proved that emotion and fervor are not far below the surface...

...Letters From the German Democratic Republic, edited by the reputable phi]oI,~gian Hildegard Baumgard, reveals no great enthusiasm for the prevailing Pankow regime in East Germany, nor does it reveal disfavor...

...Light armored trucks and East German troops were guarding workers busily erecting wire fences and fortifications...

...Nonetheless, the Administration still proves itself a force to be reckoned with...

...The White House faced what was considered certain defeat when Congress _9 threatened to cut off funds for Cambodia and finally inserted such a cut-off as an amendment to H.R...

...But a letter Kemp received from the Director of the buffalo Philharmonic, who also happens to be the Director of the A1bright-Knox Art Gallery, speaks for itself: "I am vitally interested in these two [the Buffalo Philharmonic and the AIbright-Knox Art Gallery] professional organizations and I believe t h a t they all require governmental support...

...However, you are quite right in your plea for priorities and unless we get the federal budget in order pretty soon it won't make much difference what happe~s to the arts or other things as well...

...The Administration decided not to fight the issue...

...But when the White House and Congress later reached a compromise cut-off date (August 15) for the Cambodia affair, the Congress demonstrated once again that it could not ignore the political prerogative of the executive...

...Federal Republic Chancellor Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik has made numerous concessions to the Pankow regime in an attempt to promote conciliation between the two Germanies...

...Some fear, therefore, that the ultimate solution for West Berlin will have to transcend historical ties to the West...

...At eight o'clock that morning she and her daughter arrived at our apartment...

...It holds hope only insofar as there is evidence t h a t the current program will lead to the removal of government wage-price controls...

...Berlin is a city of great vitality--not at all because it has become a focus for global political tensions--but because culture blossoms and industry grows...

...As the family later learned, this couple had been two of the last people to gain access to the West, two of the fortunate few who had been able to analyze the situation, weigh its alternatives, and act decisively...

...The East German regime, carefully manipulated from Moscow, in an attempt to forestall the further depletion of its population (one-fifth of East Germany's population had fled the country before the Wall was erected), has created an almost insurmountable barrier which runs through the heart of Berlin and which isolates the country from its western borders...

...No city has the greenery and waterways of Berlin, nor its memorable night life...

...And it is even more amazing how few people know that these two discharge petitions have been introduced...

...Still, Berlin's future is closely linked to its political expectations, and so unfortunately all activities in the city are associated with politics...

...The amendment passed the House by a wide margin (244 to 172), amidst the cajoling, whistling, backslapping, and singing of glory hallelujah by those who supported the amendment...

...Both Germanies are expected to be admitted to the United Nations shortly and a flurry of diplomatic recognitions can be expected to follow...

...This young woman happened to be at the border separating the Russian and American sectors that night and saw that it was unusually active for 4 -x.g...

...Arnett reneged on his commitments, and blocked the intended appointment of J. Alan McKay as head of the Legal Services Office when he pushed instead for Dan Bradley...

...All rumors to the contrary, the Washington Post denies that it has been a long-time supporter of House Speaker Carl Albert' 12 The Alternative October 1973...

...But the memories of what was, remain--and so do the reality of what is and the longing for what could be...

...As the seconds ticked away our country's leadership began a The Alternative October ]973 11 countdown and cheer (none of which is recorded in the Congressional Record ) in anticipation of the Administration's defeat...

...One freshman who has ignored the usual rules of seniority is Tennessee's Robin Beard...

...the city has, consequently, become a pawn for great power endeavors...

...An amazing jump in events, considering the Vice-President has not been indicted and there is yet no evidence to indicate that he will be...

...Thus it would seem that the public will never know where their representatives stand on these two issues...

...The Administration's phase III and IV economic programs also appear to have come in direct response to Democratic congressional pressures...

...And, for the Ber]iners at least, a general conciliation appears to be as far away as ever...

...Lenzer had refused to discontinue funding with federal money radical groups like SDS and the Black Panthers, groups which were intent upon destroying the very political structure which was supporting their activities...

...Whereas East Berlin is claimed as the capital of the German Democratic Republic, West Berlin has become "inextricably" linked with the Federal Republic of Germany...

...The Washingtcm (WASHINGTON)--Our nation's capital prides itself in being the country's political opinion leader...

...Using the American Conservative Union's index of Key Votes, this freshman class has voted as a group, with only four or five exceptions out of the forty-three member body...

...But the Washington Post notwithstanding, there has been more to political happenings in Washington in recent months than the Watergate Hearings...

...A sudden glance at the Wall always brings back the presence of the unrelieved EastWest struggle...

...it is not...

...The present calm in Germany is often mistaken for apathy...

...More recently the constitutional crisis has been tied t O Watergate, and particularly the Administration's refusal to release, to Senator Ervin's Watergate committee, the White ttouse tapes of telephone conversations...

...The Wall separates Germans from Germans, parents from children, lovers from lovers, and friends from friends...

...But Arnett, who had lived off the conservative movement for many years, not only dissociated himself from his former mentors, but very comfortably aligned himself with the Senate liberal~ who hold the power over his confirmation...

...The signatures of those members who have signed are not made public until the requisite number have signed the petition...

...THE 93RD FRESHMAN CLASS The Watergate Affair has also awakened a new interest in public opinion polls...

...If we are to believe the Washington Post's advocate journalists, it will only be a matter of months before the President and Vice-President resign...

...This economic program promises to be the disaster ,(beth domestically and internationally) every major economist prophesized it would be...

...Where once tens of thousands fled, now only hundreds succeed and many more die or get caught in the attempt...

...It was a spectacle which would have made any football team proud...

...Much of the difficulty in overriding a veto undoubtedly lies with the technical requirement of a twothirds majority in beth houses...

...The dismantlement had been heralded as the first major step in returning power and jurisdiction to the states, but it had also been opposed by the liberal establishment which viewed the effort as a threat to its position...

...Its fate arouses a sadness in all those who cherish the aura of the city...

...is the home of that award-winning perlustration, that monument to advocacy journali s m - t h e Washington Post...

...Congressional propensity to spend, irrespective of any other consideration, was illustrated in the appropriations battle over the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities...

...It is rather a helpless acceptance of reality...

...VEEP UNDER SCRUTINY With no Watergate hearings to fill its pages during the August recess, the Washington Post has become the forum, the trial, and the jury for the alleged kickbacks which have resulted in a federal investigation of the Vice-President's political career in Maryland...

...Today that access is sealed more than ever...

...The attraction of freedom has been countered by imprisonment...

...The House also has a new electronic voting system which permits the House membership and gallery spectators to see how much time is left on a given vote...

...The White House is also returning to the old position that the only way the cost of living can be held down is to hold down the cost of government...

...The Washington Post has not only reported what the Vice-President called "damned lies," but it has used what are at least innuendos, dubious aspersions, and targeted leaks by those who stand to gain from them, as the basis for discussing whether or not the Vice-President must be impeached before being indicted...

...And little wonder...

...In any event, the Wall remains and as one young East Berliner said, "perhaps U1bricht [who was then East Germany's head of statel will realize that the Wall by virtue of its existence has become a fascinating lure to what is beyond...

...Indeed, the Wall may have severed with irretrievable finality those last threads joining together the two Germanys...

...What prevents a more humane solution to the problem of Berlin is the unfortunate fact that the city's crisis remains the core and symbol of the East-West confrontation...

...One of the more tragic episodes has occurred in the Office of Economic Opportunity...

...A June Gallup Poll indicated that if congressional elections were held today the GOP would lose more House seats than usual for the party occupying the White House ~the average has been 29~ Stan Evans, the Chairman of the American Conservative Union,has consequently argued that if the Republican and conservative candidates are to survive, they will have to cut their ties to the White House and take the initiative on issues like federa} spending and taxes...

...Phillips was forced out of his directorship after certain welfare rights groups and leading Senate ;iberals had taken their case to the courts and it was ruled that Phillips (who had not been confirmed by the Senate) was holding his position illegally...

...A last minute congressional effort undertaken during the congressional recess to defeat the Bradley appointment was successful, but there is little chance in preventing the appointment of Arnett...

...Here a t least is one incident where Watergate has taken its toll...

...The West German government has recognized the concept of two German states within one nation...