Tilting at Windmills

...Connections may keep you on the periphery of power— "We've got to take care of dear old Robby"—but it usually takes talent and hard work to reach the top in any field...

...It is equally important to understand why the same transformation occurs in so many policemen and firemen...

...There was great merit, if considerable innocence, in that movement, and its death was an evil day for this country and the world...

...Sages have noted the rich variety of paths that can lead to success...

...The reason is that neither you nor the other guests are invited because you're delightful...

...a very attractive approach...

...We keep telling you that the neoliberal faith is spreading, but even we have been surprised by some recent converts...

...Approach to disaster is what they would really mean...

...I understand that Patrick Moynihan, Robert Dole, Robert Ball, and James Baker deserve the lion's share of the credit, and I congratulate them...

...Last month we told you about the West Virginia lawyers and their tax-subsidized trip to the Gator Bowl...

...The evidence against Hiss was equally overwhelming...

...The most dangerous aspect of American unionism today is their tendency to automatically defend the discharged employee, whether he is right or wrong...

...These loans were not made solely on the recommendation of young lending officers...

...he two greatest problems facing the small businessman are that (I) government officials don't understand him because few of them have ever been in his shoes, and (2) business lobbies like the United States Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers consistently subordinate his concerns to the interests of the industrial giants...

...Instead of hiring the maximum number of employees and decreasing unemployment, he will hire the minimum—and a lot of people who could be working never get the chance...

...Fred Reed is a columnist for The Washington Times...

...Take the case of Milton Coleman of The Washington Post...

...Like most conservative columnists, he seldom errs on the side of excessive compassion, but he sometimes can be very funny...

...From my own observation of people who have reached the top, connections may have eased their paths, particularly in getting a first job, but once they reached the point in life where their performance on the job could be seen and appraised, demonstrated ability became much more important than their connections...

...It is assumed that the 16-year-old heir to an American chemical conglomerate will benefit from his friendship with Sheikh Yamani's son, a recent graduate...

...The title of their seminar may prove a bit too blatant for even the IRS to swallow...

...What on earth does democracy mean other than that the people have the right to vote their rulers out...

...Even the younger students seem acutely aware of forming bonds that will be useful later on...

...Perhaps the story will be about something cute Nancy said to Ronnie at the White House dinner or a delightfully amusing account of the night the British ambassador had a bit too much to drink...

...A lot of people live today so they can sound interesting tomorrow...

...The first comes from Martin Feldstein, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, who says he thinks taxes based not on income but on consumption are "a promising...

...The rabbi," according to UPI, "remembered Lansky as a learned and compassionate man, a devoted father and grandfather and a generous friend of Israel...

...Some have four, but we were not able to find any other large city with five...

...Still, there are some disasters that even the most artful practitioner of public relations cannot conceal...

...Buried in the Letters section of Time's January 31 issue was some information I think belonged in the news columns...

...It was in this letter from R6bert A. Mullin: "As a former deputy comptroller of the currency for special surveillance, I know that all national banks, large and small, were regularly informed of their excessive and risky loans to foreign countries...

...Unfortunately, Washington parties are seldom much fun...

...He adopts Lillian Hellman's defense of the Stalinist intellectuals: "Whatever our mistakes, I do not believe we did our country any harm...

...Parties are a major part of Washington life...

...And I did so as one who desperately wanted to find them innocent...

...Charles Peters...

...I have a simple solution to offer...

...Now I learn from Jim Mintz of Mother Jones and Ken Cummins of the Florida Times-Union that smokers face similar dangers...

...They will be hired on contracts that can be terminated by either party with three months' notice...

...What this decision does is take the union leaders' present tendency to defend the incompetent and exacerbate it with the threat of "Listen, Buster, if you don't fight for that loser, you may be stuck with his back wages...

...The old saying that there is some good in everyone may be true, but sometimes finding it requires genuine dedication...

...Is there some obscure regulation in effect here...

...However, their own rulers were such a bizarre assemblage of crooks and clowns, it was highly unlikely that they would succeed in leading their country to a victory or to a form of government that was better than anything other than communism...

...Skillful public relations can minimize the adverse effects of many unhappy events...

...if the mayor pursues this course," says the union's president, "he would be putting dollars ahead of lives...

...And speaking of the doctors, Diana McClellan, the gossip columnist of The Washington Times, had an item in a recent column about "the battle royal between two top docs acrimoniously splitting a high-powered practice...

...One reason parents send their children to private schools has nothing to do with the decline of public schools that has so often been lamented in these pages...

...What they do today may be truly tedious or painful, but if it can be turned into a good story later on, it will be an experience they will not only endure but devoutly pursue...

...Speaking of unions, the Uniformed Firefighter's Association is mounting an all-out campaign against New York City's proposal to reduce the crews on pump trucks from five men to four...

...Once, when a young aide was advising Lyndon Johnson on how to put a favorable gloss on an especially unhappy development, LBJ answered, "Son, you can't shine shit...

...While there are certainly humane grounds for opposing the execution of the Rosenbergs, there can be no reasonable controversy as to their guilt on the part of anyone who has studied the evidence...

...One was the Smith Act decision in the early fifties that made it a crime merely to advocate Marxist theory...

...But she rarely opened a book outside of class...

...The other danger comes from Peter Peterson and his allies, who are right about the importance of doing something now to control deficits in the future, but wrong in not realizing that our concern should be with those projected for 1986, 1987, and thereafter, rather than those projected for the next couple of years...

...It is a tax he has to pay, regardless of whether he has a profit or not...

...These government officials know they are conferring favor on the news organization whose table they grace...

...No attention is paid to whether you share the same enthusiasms or have the same senses of humor...

...Many people go out four or five nights a week...

...Much nastier than divorce settlements,' sniffles a patient...

...I suspect one reason the Redskins are so popular here is that they give these diverse assortments of guests one common enthusiasm, one thing to talk about to avoid the terrible boredom that's just around the corner...

...There were, on the one hand, millions of South Vietnamese who did not want to be ruled by the North...

...As an enthusiastic admirer of Alan Brinkley's book on Huey Long and Father Coughlin, I was astounded by several things Brinkley said in his review of William O'Neill's The Great Schism: Stalinism and the American Intellectuals in the January 9 New York Times Book Review...

...Finally this year the liberals got control of the state senate's Rules Committee...

...There seems a strong possibility that many beers, wines, and liquors contain additives that could considerably heighten the risk of consuming the beverages...

...But consider the reply of Paul Dickstein, deputy director of the city's office of management and budget: "Virtually every other large city has three-man companies...

...But it was thoroughly disillusioned and disheartened by the Berlin blockade, the Soviet overthrow of the democratic Czech government in 1948, and the compelling evidence that had begun to surface of communist treason in the United States and Great Britain...

...That way we'll all have the satisfaction of having been invited—and of having it known we were invited— without having to endure the event itself...

...The author of the article, Theodora Lurie, goes on to describe one student named Isabella: "The youngest scion of a powerful publishing dynasty in Italy, she told me she expected to attend an Ivy League college...

...The second was the repudiation of democracy that came in the 1977 decision that held that a political appointee's free speech was infringed when he was fired after his party lost an election...

...Possibly a federal judge has ordered that all phones (I) be reachable by midgets, (2) be reachable by basketball players with fused vertebrae, (3) have an amplifier for the hard-of-hearing, and (4) offer counseling for the disturbed...

...I also used to patronize a Washington liquor store where every Saturday around noon one would encounter a high-ranking police official—identifiable by a white shirt and a lot of gold braid—talking to the owner...

...And that politician side of me feels intense admiration for the Social Security compromise hammered out by the president's commission and the White House staff...

...The harm was in fact devastating...

...And the city of Peking has not even been content to adopt our proposed elimination of half of the tenured civil service jobs...

...The sense of this is palpable at a major White House social event or at an A-list dinner at Katharine Graham's...

...For a truly heroic display of such dedication, I wish to honor Rabbi Shmaryahu T. Swirsky of Miami, who delivered the eulogy at Meyer Lansky's funeral...

...For one thing, it gives one a warm feeling of importance to be surrounded by the mighty...

...His reward: first, a promotion at the Post, and now an appointment as a nominating juror for this year's Pulitzers...

...And the people who have put all their faith in connections turn out to have a pathetic air of the hanger-on, treasuring their old school ties and their membership in the right clubs as symbols of the success that they can't admit their connections failed to give them, thereby passing on to their own offspring the same mistaken hopes and values...

...What we need now is to increase consumption, not discourage it...

...Of course, it may be that they were just old friends...

...Coleman was the editor most responsible for the Janet Cooke hoax...

...Who gets the Cabinet Member...

...And the Des Moines Register has asked how, since all the instructors and all the participants were from Iowa, could a tax deduction be justified for traveling to Atlanta, Georgia, for the seminar...

...But I once was a politician, and I understand the importance of the art of the possible, of doing what you can do today even though you know how far short it is of what you think should be done...

...There was in the mid-forties a strong antinuclear peace movement in this country, favoring such causes as rapprochement with Russia, world government, and an international police force...

...When I reminded her about tough admission policies, Isabella shrugged good-naturedly and confided that her family had excellent connections...

...Very much related is the fear of losing status by not being there and having your absence noted as a sign of your decline...

...All former students carry around wallet-size alumni cards...

...From that office we went often to a restaurant where hundreds of people were packed in an upper floor from which they could exit only by two very narrow stairways, neither of which was protected by a fire door...

...A similar fact that few people understand is the impact of the Social Security tax on the struggling businessman...

...Bribery of fire inspectors and policemen is widespread...

...For them and for others, it is important that the people back home know that they are invited to such occasions, that they have indeed made it...

...By the way, I'm told on very high authority that Reagan privately shares our view, that in fact he is constantly muttering, "Why should the Annenbergs get Social .Security...

...If he would only say that in public...

...And speaking of the New York City Fire Department, ten of its inspectors were arrested in January and accused of accepting bribes for overlooking safety violations at more than 50 apartment buildings in Manhattan...

...Do you think they expect nothing in return...

...Who, we might ask, is really putting dollars ahead of lives...

...Sure, Charlie is a bit tiresome, but his feelings will be hurt if no one shows up...

...and encourage `initiative and enterprise.' " The Times was talking about Yuri Andropov...

...Brinkley describes these cases as "still the subject of fierce controversy...

...I think the real reason for the "controversy" around this case was that Whittaker Chambers looked like a depraved slob and Alger Hiss like a nice, respectable, young Ivy Leaguer...

...by linking `productive' or 'shoddy' work to earnings...

...The third decision came this January when the Court ruled that labor unions are liable for back pay if they fail to press the appeals of employees who have been fired...

...They extended it to 59 days of the 60-day session...

...For the struggling small business the result of this lack of understanding and lobbying muscle can be catastrophic...

...Of course some people will still feel they actually have to attend the party...

...Did they strike a blow for democracy by abolishing the Special Calendar...

...TILTING AT WINDMILLS In my role as editor of this magazine I feel that it is important for me always to keep the ideal in view, since the politicians in this town tend to let their vision be limited by what is possible now...

...Of all the outrageous decisions by the United States Supreme Court since World War II, three stand out in my mind as the most odious...

...Another evil result was the rise of Joe McCarthy, who would never have gotten anywhere had it not been for the credibility his cause was given by the Hiss and Rosenberg cases...

...Guess, for example, the identity of the person described in this paragraph from The New York Times: "He stressed the need to improve the output of workers...

...Whatever it is, it is being able to tell it that inspires these people to put on that black tie and go out again tonight...

...The Editor Extraordinaire?' " I was telling a friend whose father is a doctor about the item, and he commented that the big fight these days in his father's clinic is how to split the take between the surgeons, who are pulling in between $300,000 and $400,000, and the rest of the doctors, who are only in the $100,000 to $200,000 class...

...But, for the struggling business, the gross-receipts tax can mean the difference between breaking even and going under...

...Now use your horse sense and contemplate the impact of this fact on his hiring practices...

...Deficit spending now can help fuel recovery, as The New York Times explained in its fine lead editorial in the January 23 edition...

...Alexander Cockburn made the same point in a good column that appeared the following week in The Wall Street Journal...

...So, I thought, it's okay to send volunteers who know what they're getting into but criminal to compel draftees who may oppose the war or not understand it...

...Highly profitable businesses, for example, will prefer, say, a two percent gross receipts tax to a 30 percent tax on profits because the former will cost them far less...

...The comptroller's attempts to reduce or eliminate these loans were thwarted by a Federal Reserve Board that contended that loans to foreign countries should not be criticized...

...It was that I think the use of draftees is justifiable only in situations of absolute moral clarity—as, say, in aiding England against Hitler— whereas there was always considerable moral ambiguity surrounding our cause in Vietnam...

...Or, and this would more likely be the case, the motive is "the stories I can tell later on...

...My favorite example of such damage control remains the announcement of Senator Edward Kennedy's divorce on a day the papers were filled with news about the Reagan inauguration and the release of the hostages...

...Even a two percent tax on gross income means you've lost $10,000, and that could be curtains...

...Suppose your gross income is $500,000 and your expenses are also $500,000...

...Brinkley also says that "in the long history of the Red scare," there were "only three" possible cases of espionage or treason—the Rosenbergs and Hiss in America and Klaus Fuchs in England...

...Recently he asked why there are no telephones inside Washington's subway stations: "Surely no grave harm would accrue to the republic if, say, a fellow could call his wife to get him without walking over half of suburbia in a driving rain to find a phone...

...In reviewing what I wrote about Vietnam last month, I realize 1 omitted one important step in my thinking: Why did I support the use of volunteers and oppose the use of draftees...

...At a time when both industry and government suffer from rampant inefficiency, it is crucial that they be able to fire the people who aren't producing and that they not have to fear being tied up indefinitely in court if they get rid of real losers...

...By ignoring the warnings of other staff members that the story of the child addict was a fraud, he subjected both the Post and the Pulitzer Prize to one of the most embarrassing moments in their respective histories...

...There is much that is obviously wrong about such snobbery, but the one aspect of it that I think is less commonly recognized is how misleading it is for the students themselves and for their parents...

...Lobbyists have long known that the most efficient way to avoid unpleasant legislation is to concentrate their attention on the committee that decides what bills will get to the floor...

...The Comical Columnist...

...For some people, these parties, however deadly, are the life they dreamed of back in Peoria...

...How, I wonder, does he describe Guy Burgess, Donald MacLean, and Kim Philby...

...As a drinker I've long been concerned with the government's failure to require the makers of alcoholic beverages to disclose the contents on the label...

...One such proposal is being considered by the administration...

...Wall hope that economic recovery is underway, but with 12 million unemployed, the road back is not going to be easy, and it is especially important that we avoid fruity proposals that might make it more difficult...

...It is abolishing tenure completely for newly hired employees...

...Last month we spoke of the need to understand why the motivation of most doctors gradually changes from idealism to greed...

...The other is advocated by its critics...

...Some question of access for the handicapped...

...The additives used—mostly, it appears, to restore the flavor lost when tar content is reduced—have such reassuring names as 3 Hexenyl propionate and Hexyl 2furoate...

...It turns out that Iowa lawyers used a similar device, the Peach Bowl Federal Practice Seminar, to follow the football fortunes of the University of Iowa...

...Glycerol, of which 35 million pounds are added to cigarettes annually, is suspected, when burned during the smoking of a cigarette, to produce a chemical called acrolein, which interferes with the normal clearing of the lungs...

...The compromise, by taxing half the Social Security income of recipients with other income above $25,000, takes the first step toward the ultimate reform this magazine seeks—elimination of benefits for people who don't need them...

...When I was a member of the West Virginia legislature, liberal legislation was often throttled during the final 20 days of a session by a device called the Special Calendar, which kept bills not on it from reaching the floor and which was controlled by the Rules Committee, which in turn was controlled by conservative lobbyists...

...There will be no parties, just invitations...

...And the other fellow is invited because he's a congressman, or a White House staff member, or an FCC commissioner...

...With the invitation will come a complete guest list, which will also be sent to Washington and hometown newspapers...

...they were approved by the banks' directors...

...You've broken even—but only if taxes are levied on net income that you don't have...

...Their motive may be kindness...

...It is explained in a recent article in GEO about Le Rosey, an exclusive preparatory school in Switzerland: "The high tuition buys entry into a powerful network of contacts that stretches around the world...

...I once worked in a building that had but one fire escape, under which were always piled highly inflammable cardboard boxes and trash...

...Of course not...

...You are invited because you're an editor...

...Deep in the second page of The Washington Post's account of the National Press Club's annual dinner was this revealing little nugget about the culture of Washington journalism: "Competition was keen among reporters and the news organizations they work for to bring as guests the most glittery government uppity-ups...

...Why then do people go to these parties...