Watching the World
Implications of Watergate
◆ Many people in the United States, and also in other countries, have been appalled as the televised Senate Watergate hearings during July and early August revealed corruption in high places. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun noted that the “very glue of our ship of state seems about to become unstuck” under the “pall” of the scandal. One might “question,” he said, whether this society’s “foundations are eroding and whether the walls, after all, are only rubble.”
Public Disillusioned
◆ Many of the American public feel they have been lied to consistently by high government officials and now do not know whom to believe. In Pittsburgh, policeman Alexander Bennett noted that respect for officials and for the country has eroded. He told of recently arresting several teenagers, who said: “Why are you picking on me? The President is corrupt; he steals.” Bennett asked, with a shrug: “What answer do you have for them?”
Widespread Famine at Hand
◆ Due to severe drought for several years, millions may starve to death in the African countries of Mauritania, Chad, Niger, Mali, Senegal and Upper Volta. But many other areas of the world are also threatened with famine, as The Christian Century of August 15-22, 1973, reported: “Famine over a much larger area of the globe is almost upon us. Last year a drought of unprecedented severity reduced crops from Australia, through Asia, to the Soviet Union, across Africa and into Central America. The new nation of Bangladesh has been fed almost entirely by foreign aid food.
“Six years ago, in their book Famine 1975, William and Paul Paddock warned that an international food crisis spurred largely by population increases would probably be upon us in 1975. But unusually bad weather and tragic unconcern may cause their prophecy to come true a year early.”
India—More Babies, Less Food
◆ Every day 57,000 Indian babies are born; 21 million a year! Some 8 million Indians die each year, so the country’s annual population increase is about 13 million. Again a desperate food shortage faces India, with its nearly 600 million people. But this time little help is available. “This is the first time that India will have to bail itself out,” said one European agricultural expert. “In the past there’s always been a world surplus, always a gift. Now countries don’t have any food to give away.”
Philippine Rice Shortage
◆ Rice stocks are almost gone in the Philippines. Hoarding began as panic filled the air. The dream held out of abundant rice due to the “green revolution” has faded. A bad harvest due to poor weather conditions is largely responsible.
Mentally Sick Children
◆ In the United States there has been a big increase in the number of mentally sick children. According to a National Institute of Mental Health survey, in 1971 there were 772,000 children under 18 years of age being treated through some mental health facility. This is a 63-percent increase over the 1966 total of 473,000 children treated. Why the increase? Robert Traisman, a psychologist in Skokie, Illinois, said: “The answer is to pick up a newspaper. There is more stress within families, more uncertainty about values to live by, an increase in academic demands on the young, a more automated, less personal society.”
More Narcotics ‘Buy Money’
◆ In an effort to curb the traffic in narcotics, New York city has nearly tripled the amount of money for use in purchasing illicit drugs. Now $2,400,000 a year is being provided for this. The ‘buys’ by law-enforcement agents, frequently of $20,000 to $30,000 worth of narcotics in a single transaction, are made in an attempt to track down the big drug dealers.
Coffee and Heart Attacks
◆ A study of 12,759 hospitalized patients, including 440 who had severe heart attacks, revealed a strong correlation between coffee drinking and heart attacks. Hershel Jick and his colleagues at Boston University Medical Center made the study, which was reported in the July 12 New England Journal of Medicine. “All we can say,” Jick reports, “for some reason or another, heavy coffee drinkers do tend to get more heart attacks.”
Vitamin Sale Regulated
◆ On August 1 regulations, which will become effective October 1, were announced to limit over-the-counter sales of Vitamins A and D. Prescriptions will be required for dosages above 10,000 International Units of A and 400 units of D.
Marijuana Blood Test
◆ There are perhaps tens of millions of marijuana smokers in the world. How many traffic accidents are the result of such persons driving under the influence of this drug? Now a Swedish research team has developed the first blood test for marijuana. “This is a method that has been looked for for years,” Dr. Stig Agurell, chief of the research team, reported.
High-salaried Athletes
◆ Professional basketball players are the highest salaried athletes. In the National Basketball Association they average nearly $50,000 a year. Hockey players are second, at $35,000 a year, followed by baseball and football players.
Dangerous Bee Sting
◆ Insect stings can be dangerous, and the level of one’s physical condition does not affect the immunity. In the United States a prominent college basketball player was stung by a bee recently while riding his bike. His older brother reported: “He didn’t know he was allergic to bees. He rode home and collapsed. He went to the doctor who gave him an immediate shot. The doctor told him if he hadn’t acted quickly it could have proven fatal.”
Health Waters Called Unsafe
◆ For years people have been drinking the mineral waters of Saratoga Springs in the belief that they were good for their health. Now New York State Health Department researchers have found that the waters contain up to four times the recommended top limits of radium, and could potentially cause cancer if taken steadily. So new signs are reportedly being prepared by painters for the Saratoga Spa State Park that say: “It is recommended that not more than one glass per week be consumed.”
Kenya Expels Missionaries
◆ In July, Kenya radio announced that all missionaries of Jehovah’s witnesses were being given seven days to leave the country, or be subjected to deportation. The charges made are that Jehovah’s witnesses are “subversive,” and that they teach “never to respect any authority on earth.” However, those acquainted with Jehovah’s witnesses know such charges to be false.
Food Prices Skyrocket
◆ No one needs to tell housewives that retail food prices are soaring. The Agriculture Department predicts that they could average about 20 percent above 1972 prices. The Bronx Zoo reports that its food bill for 2,800 animals has leaped from $130,000 to $200,000 in a year.
Buying Power
◆ What does a family head who made $10,000 a year in 1966 need to make today to maintain the same buying power? According to estimates by the Tax Foundation in New York city: $13,966! Increased taxes and higher prices have eroded one’s buying power that much. No wonder that many are feeling pinched financially, particularly those on fixed incomes.
Drugged Women
◆ A national survey revealed that 29 percent of American women are using mood-changing drugs, compared to 13 percent of the men. The study, which included interviews with 2,552 persons, was made by groups from George Washington University and the Institute for Research in Social Behavior, Berkeley, California.
Nonsmoking Young Afflicted
◆ Exposure to tobacco smoke causes some eight million children to develop coughs, stuffy noses and running eyes, even though they themselves do not smoke. “Tobacco sensitivity starts in childhood and follows the same developmental pattern as other pollen or inhalant allergens,” Dr. Bernard Zussman of Memphis said. “The main source of exposure to tobacco smoke is within the immediate family environment and by age five, two-thirds of allergic children have positive skin reactions to tobacco.”
Japanese Young Dissatisfied
◆ “Do you think “that your Government protects the welfare and rights of the people?” was a question asked youth in a number of countries. Only 11 percent of the Japanese young said, Yes. “The results were surprising and shocking to those concerned with youth problems,” the widely circulated Mainichi Shimbun declared in an editorial. The newspaper added that “present-day Japanese youths mirror their current society.”
Venereal Disease Rampant
◆ “According to statistics,” the Boston Globe, of August 5, 1973, observed, “venereal diseases strike someone in the United States every 15 seconds, or 5,000 individual cases per day. With the prevalent sexual attitudes of youth, it is also estimated that one of every 10 High school students is infected, while one in five are expected to catch it before graduation.” Surely “the prevalent sexual attitudes” are something to be avoided!
Latest U.S. Crime Report
◆ On August 8 the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the first time in 17 years reported a drop in serious crimes. The reported decrease was 2 percent. However, critics have disputed the accuracy and completeness of crime reports, and Attorney General Elliot Richardson agreed with them, observing: “It is universally recognized that only a fraction of all crimes committed are reported to the police at all.” A total of 5,891,900 crimes was reported in the United States last year.
Women Commit More Crimes
◆ From 1966 to 1971 the number of women arrested for murder, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and auto theft rose 80 percent.
Quarrel over Seat
◆ On a recent evening a man was sitting on a garbage can in front of a building on East Second Street in New York city. When he briefly left his seat, another man took it. A heated quarrel followed, one man drawing a four-inch-blade pocketknife. The other left and returned with a steak knife. The two men fought, and one was stabbed to death—because of a quarrel over a matter of little consequence.
Divided on Birth Control
◆ July 29 marked the fifth anniversary of the papal encyclical banning birth control. This ruling, perhaps more than anything else, has divided and frustrated Catholics. Priest Nazareno Fabretti described the present situation: “One confessor says: ‘Take the pill, as long as your conscience allows you to do it.’ Another confessor warns: ‘If you take the pill, you’ll go to hell.’”
Looters in Dallas
◆ On July 28 a wild crowd in the downtown area of Dallas, Texas, broke store windows and looted. One girl asserted: “There’s going to be a lot of poor people tonight wearing diamond rings and minks. We deserve it.”
Cigarette Use Up
◆ Despite constant warnings, Americans keep smoking more cigarettes. From June 1972 to April 1973 consumption was up 2.5 percent, according to a recent report by the Agriculture Department.