Taboo

Hulond Humphries has been depicted as a horrible man, a veritable bete noire in the tradition of a Bull Connor or a Jim Clark, two of the notorious lawmen of the segregationist South who did more than their fair share to make life miserable for civil-rights demonstrators.Mr. Humphries is the principal of Randolph County High School in Wedowee, Alabama. Earlier this year he had the effrontery to make the politically incorrect decision to ban interracial couples from the high school prom. Judging from the reaction, you'd have thought he'd advocated drowning the baby Jesus.

IF WE were to put our faith in the West Valley School Board of Kalispell, Mont., we might be convinced that there are witches in that part of the state.Certainly, there is one woman who has handed out books and knowledge, to mere children, and it looks as if some may consider such acts black magic.In following the American Library Association policy that librarians are duty bound to obtain requested material without regard to bias or personal judgment, Debbie Denzer, an assistant librarian who had worked at the West Valley School for a little more than a year, made the sort of mistake you can't afford to make around there.

BERLIN -- Among the recent prime-time offerings on German television was American actress Valerie Perrine sprawled nude on a bed, lustily displaying herself for a salivating Dustin Hoffman.It was a scene from the 1970s film "Lenny," a biography of self-destructive comedian Lenny Bruce, and you didn't need cable to see it.Meanwhile, playing at the same moment in Germany on U.S. armed forces television was a memorable scene from the Mel Brooks comedy "Blazing Saddles." Dusty cowboys encircled a campfire, gobbling beans.

Japan is under foreign pressure to contribute more to world security but also to refrain from becoming a threat to its neighbors. It's a contradiction. Japan also is under pressure from its own citizens to exert more influence abroad and to hew scrupulously to constitutional pacifism. Another contradiction. The taboo on military action abroad remains. The taboo on discussing it is shattered.Some politicians in each of the three major parties favor holding a great debate on Article 9 of the 1947 constitution, imposed by U.S. occupation authorities after World War II, which "forever renounces" war and prohibits arming.

From colonial times until well after World War I, tobacco growing was a mainstay of the Maryland economy. Tobacco shipment to domestic and foreign customers was a primary activity of London Town, an early port in southern Anne Arundel County.In recent years, however, tobacco farming has lost its former importance, even in Southern Maryland. When the annual tobacco auction opened in Upper Marlboro last March, prices were so low one farmer lamented, "This is not a recession. This is a depression."

From colonial times until well after World War I, tobacco farming was a mainstay of the Maryland economy. Tobacco shipment to domestic and foreign customers was a primary activity of London Town, an early port in southern Anne Arundel County.In recent years, however, tobacco has lost its former importance, even in Southern Maryland. When the annual tobacco auction opened in Upper Marlboro last March, prices were so low one farmer lamented, "This is not a recession. This is a depression." Pretty soon, only names such as Port Tobacco may carry on the legacy.

TOKYO -- Within the space of three days, Japan's three biggest political parties have shattered the 47-year taboo on any hint of change in this country's U.S.-written pacifist constitution.Senior officers of the governing Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Social Democratic and Komeito (Clean Government) parties all have called for what two of them separately described as "a great debate" on Article 9 of the 1946 constitution.That article "forever renounces" war as a means of settling international issues and prohibits maintenance of an army, navy or air force equipped for any but self-defense fighting.

In "Amy Fisher: My Story," the high school student who has come to be known as the Long Island Lolita is asked what she sees in an auto mechanic twice her age."We have great sex and he fixes my car," she says without hesitation.That's the nearest thing to a satisfying answer viewers are going to find in the NBC docudrama that airs at 9 tonight on WMAR (Channel 2). And those viewers who pay attention to disclaimers might not even be sure there was any sex -- let alone how good it was -- in the real-life case that this show purports to dramatize.

Washington. -- The recent recurrence of cancer in Paul Tsongas has revived the issue of medical disclosure by presidential aspirants, with Mr. Tsongas conceding some shortfall of candor about his health while pursuing the Democratic nomination.No excuse for that. But the understandable concern with presidential health among press and public has followed a barren course, focusing on physical health, while ignoring the real danger, psychiatric disorder.How easily we find confidence in the easy measurables of physical examinations, even if the predictive value of the check-up is slight for any particular individual.

London -- As President Fernando Collor De Mello's power wanes in Brazil under the onslaught of the campaign to impeach him for corruption, it's inevitable that the power of Brazil's military waxes. It is likely that the ''no nuclear weapons'' accord between Brazil and Argentina signed in 1990 will unravel further. There have been indications for some time that a part of the military establishment has been secretly ignoring it, and now, with civilian authority badly diminished, who is going to pull them into line?