For the Record

Some major legislative battles ahead: A move in Congress to cut back Social Security taxes (due to go up sharply Jan. 1) got weighty support last week from Sen. Russell Long— chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Long would like to see SS taxes repealed, income taxes limited to one-third of a person’s income, and a 10 per cent Value Added Tax substituted. . . . Jimmy Carter aides are lobbying against any cuts in SS taxes, arguing the government must have that revenue if the Administration is to bring in— and make stick—a $30-billion deficit budget. . . . Dr. Gallup confirms that the public thinks nearly half federal tax money is wasted: “Of every tax dollar that goes to the Federal Government how many cents of each dollar would you say are wasted?” Answer: Democrats, 49 cents; Republicans, 48 cents; Independents, 48 cents. . . . SALT II opponents getting their act together. Administration was furious over Sen. Henry Jackson’s attacks on SALT in Europe; former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Nitze also blasted accords in important speech to Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. Nitze says by early 1980s Soviets “may be in position to destroy 90 per cent of our ICBMs” by firing a third of their own; calls this “an increased temptation” to Soviets to strike first. . . . Conservative opposition to D.C. amendment (to give the District of Columbia two senators, two congressmen) also getting organized early. YAF, the ACU, the Conservative Caucus, the Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, the American Legislative Exchange (an organization of seven hundred conservative state legislators) met in Washington last week to plan their anti-amendment strategy. Forty-nine of the fifty state legislatures (all but Kansas) meet in 1979.

How Guyana-Jonestown is perceived. John Wayne sees in it another reason for releasing Patty Hearst. “If everyone is willing to accept the fact that one man [Jim Jones] can brainwash nine hundred people into committing suicide, why can’t they believe that a treacherous bunch like the Symbionese Army could brainwash one little girl?” . . . Mark Lane sees it as a way to make money. He offered a lecture on “The Horrors of Jonestown” to the U. of Vt. student association (for $2,700), was turned down. . . . New York’s black Amsterdam News pointed out that at least half of the Jonestown victims were black. . . . AFL-CIO News headline was: three unionists slain/ in Guyana ambush. . . Pravda called it a tragedy of “American dissidents” and said the “grave illness of American society” was caused by “the rule of great monopolies.” . . . And (our favorite) the Human Events headline: MACABRE GUYANA EVENTS/COULD EMBARRASS DEMOCRATS.”

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Some major legislative battles ahead: A move in Congress to cut back Social Security taxes (due to go up sharply Jan. 1) got weighty support last week from Sen. Russell Long— chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Long would like to see SS taxes repealed, income taxes limited to one-third of a person’s income, and a 10 per cent Value Added Tax substituted. . . . Jimmy Carter aides are lobbying against any cuts in SS taxes, arguing the government must have that revenue if the Administration is to bring in— and make stick—a $30-billion deficit budget. . . . Dr. Gallup confirms that the public thinks nearly half federal tax money is wasted: “Of every tax dollar that goes to the Federal Government how many cents of each dollar would you say are wasted?” Answer: Democrats, 49 cents; Republicans, 48 cents; Independents, 48 cents. . . . SALT II opponents getting their act together. Administration was furious over Sen. Henry Jackson’s attacks on SALT in Europe; former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Nitze also blasted accords in important speech to Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. Nitze says by early 1980s Soviets “may be in position to destroy 90 per cent of our ICBMs” by firing a third of their own; calls this “an increased temptation” to Soviets to strike first. . . . Conservative opposition to D.C. amendment (to give the District of Columbia two senators, two congressmen) also getting organized early. YAF, the ACU, the Conservative Caucus, the Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, the American Legislative Exchange (an organization of seven hundred conservative state legislators) met in Washington last week to plan their anti-amendment strategy. Forty-nine of the fifty state legislatures (all but Kansas) meet in 1979.

How Guyana-Jonestown is perceived. John Wayne sees in it another reason for releasing Patty Hearst. “If everyone is willing to accept the fact that one man [Jim Jones] can brainwash nine hundred people into committing suicide, why can’t they believe that a treacherous bunch like the Symbionese Army could brainwash one little girl?” . . . Mark Lane sees it as a way to make money. He offered a lecture on “The Horrors of Jonestown” to the U. of Vt. student association (for $2,700), was turned down. . . . New York’s black Amsterdam News pointed out that at least half of the Jonestown victims were black. . . . AFL-CIO News headline was: three unionists slain/ in Guyana ambush. . . Pravda called it a tragedy of “American dissidents” and said the “grave illness of American society” was caused by “the rule of great monopolies.” . . . And (our favorite) the Human Events headline: MACABRE GUYANA EVENTS/COULD EMBARRASS DEMOCRATS.”