Correspondence
CORRESPONDENCE Dorothy Healey Remembers nitrogen, etc., from which biological life Mr. Eastland could have added that lief prompts an individual to ignore My attention has been called to Ronald...
...have supported Chamorro against the Sandinistas...
...Chamorro's victory was "a grand drama...
...2) Weiner erroneously describes the Sandinista boondoggle involving land and cars, among other items of property, in the lame-duck period before Chamorro's inauguration...
...Having gotten into the country in the aftermath of the July disturbances, I found plenty to convince me there was a desperation about them that suggested waning support for the Sandinistas...
...The mayors want Sandinista army officers, police chiefs, and political authorities removed...
...In that case, why should the U.S...
...Eastland could have added that lief prompts an individual to ignore My attention has been called to Ronald forms evolved by the powerful process the difficulty in engaging creationists science, to ignore "consistent observaRadosh's review of my and Maurice Is- of evolution...
...Possibly Mr...
...This piñata was described in great detail in La Prensa...
...As to whether theistic evolution many scientists, as well as laymen, the clusions...
...To- "Man is the result of a purposeless and tific American on Trial," by Terry ly have broadened Mr...
...to hire must be pragmatic, must conAt no time in my life have I trans- R. Thomas Boyd Against these negative assessments [of fun- sider the potential long-term impact of ported money, nor did I ever indicate Department of Pharmacology damentalist claims], we must counterpose their decisions...
...In reality, the lieves that God has created Earth over states where the teaching of this sub- lief system for the simple reason that strikes have been a nuisance, but have these years by evolutionary mechanisms ject along with evolution was mandat- its beliefs are not based on the inerran- paralyzed nothing...
...Even when UNO deputies in the National Assembly manage to unite in support of the mayors' de-Sandinization demand—on December 14 they voted, in unprecedented unity, for a $20 million cut in the military budget—Mrs...
...That was my point at the end of the article, when I discussed grumblings of the Sandinista rank-and-file against the leadership...
...That is, to those like her all who are not angels are devils...
...Amid bomb and grenade attacks on UNO mayors and legislators who supported the cut, Mrs...
...Most are not involved in a of 6000 B.C., despite the evidence of the publication...
...With a controversialist of Schwartz's intemperate sort, one feels one is being dragged into arcana...
...Chamorro vetoed it, promising an $8.5 million cut instead...
...The earth is billions of years famatory lie your editor might at least old and its living creatures are linked by ties about some controversy regarding the have inquired how this suitcase passed While I really do not wish to defend of evolutionary descent...
...The remainder of Weiner's article consists largely of confused gossip that is neither necessary nor worthwhile to refute—all intended to support her thesis that Nicaragua under Chamorro is "looking pretty hopeless...
...I will refrain from corn- the current life forms came about and ble...
...Chamorro...
...The chipped tiles in the swimming pool made it dangerous...
...There is no issue of "ideological purity" involved in President Chamorro's lukewarm fulfillment of the demilitarization pledge that won her office...
...The country was shut down because people were denied access to their workplaces by force, and because Sandinista militants .. . cut off the electrical and communications systems...
...This last laugh...
...Creation or evolution, God or not lives of Ms...
...But in the end, neither Schwartz nor I know whether there isn't enough automotive booty left over for Mr...
...The chief feature of more elegant and beautiful than any de- ed...
...Schwartz, despite his strong union background, would no doubt be willing to overlook this kindof thing so that not a word will be said against Mrs...
...That should be enough...
...What is the risk ment on his ideologically motivated re- how they function, and to understand time compression, and mischaracteriza- inherent in hiring such an individual as marks but I insist on a retraction of his the physical and chemical rules of the don of science to arrive at creation date a spokesman for a prestigious scientific statement that I told him that I had universe...
...scribed was the well-known Darwinist evolutionary doctrine and religion in an Harvard and author of many popular George Gaylord Simpson, who wrote: otherwise informative article ("Scien- books with long words) would certain- The scars of these battles remain...
...I concede that this may be a truer picture of Mr...
...Most scien- with their adherence to the literal story as appears to be the case with Mr...
...It is also politically important to recognize that the penchant of Communist regimes to treat their own citizens brutally and to promote the degradation of the economy has not necessarily extended to tourism and consumer goods for export...
...Ortega to make himself into the Joe Isuzu of Nicaragua...
...The mayors, and the armed ex-contras who have come to form part of their constituency, are clashing with local Sandinista authorities and their recently armed supporters...
...for what she seems to consider its inI am a molecular biologist, with my In much of the nation, evolution, when Mr...
...But somehow even with the advantages of a beautiful beach, cheap labor, millions in aid, and economic policies that strangled any private competition, he bequeathed to the new government a white elephant that will have to be significantly improved if it is to compete for foreign tourism dollars against other tropical resorts that are both less expensive and better run...
...To see La Prensa's advocacy as politically calculated to stir up trouble between different levels of the Sandinista hierarchy is not, I believe, unreasonable...
...In 1987, courts fi- the Catholic Church has no problem as "paralyzing," a cliche that belongs in doubt...
...That of promoting "creation science" or of evolution" and most religions or (1) The strikes called by the Sandinisthe earth and life on it evolved over the "scientific creationism" as an alter- non-fundamentalist sects...
...In fact, as anybody with the slightest 39...
...Shirley MacLaine (author co-chewing, cigarette-smoking, alco[Communist] party bought its new God" is not a choice that has to be of many popular books with short hol-swilling womanizer for a position headquarters on West 23rd Street in made by scientists or anyone else...
...labor leadership...
...2) Sandinista memos leaked to La Prensa did describe bargain car sales to FSLN party members...
...Court struck down such laws in 1968...
...this causes them to rely on miracles, for the truth irrational...
...it is Sandinista and private...
...disgruntled Montelimar guests can always drown their sorrows in it...
...ther Science has has —Dorothy Healey "Amateur Scientist" column, I do feel taught us some things with confidence...
...mind...
...Piel to the decision he made...
...Eastland might have explored lution on an ancient earth is as well estab- The writers have a point: Not all evolua few of the issues that might have led lished as our planet's shape and position...
...that Mr...
...I defend my terminology by turning, not to the Nation, but to a report by the human rights group Freedom House (Douglas W. Payne, September 28, 1990): "The Sandinistas paralyzed the country in May and July through armed occupation of government ministries and state enterprises...
...One leader I talked to, Jose Espinoza of the Council for Trade Union Unity (CUS), said Sandinista security officers searched his house looking for a counter-revolutionary weapons cache, and that Chamorro's people, not being in control of security or police forces, were powerless to stop it...
...Such an approach, in response to the grand drama of the Chamorro victory, offers little more than further proof of another characteristic of intellectuals,both of the right and the left—their frequent heartlessness...
...Ortega's commercial activities than what my sources told me...
...Yes, it's true that Flor de Cana is still very good rum...
...A lit- Our continuing struggle to understand how don as a contradiction in terms...
...Chamorro does not take advantage...
...For example, to opposition are described by Weiner course of many billions of years is not native to evolution...
...In the second column, where it says "the most precious claims to long tradition," I originally wrote "the most specious claims . . . "; and in the third column, where it says "In an age where aesthetic realism is king," I originally wrote "in an age where aesthetic relativism . . . " —R...
...J. Stove Ashfielcl New South Wales Australia 40 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR APRIL 1991 CORRESPONDENCE (continued from page 7) are a symptom of strategic and tactical paralysis among the Sandinistas...
...When it is the Sandinistas doing the firing, La Prensa becomes the defender of dismissed Sandinista union members (Schwartz erroneously implies they belonged to independent unions...
...Instead, he seems to want to defend an accommodating attitude toward the previous regime by defending the "best" that that regime had to offer (e.g., tourism...
...Eastland inappropriately injects sufficient ideological purity, lacks ac-belief in evolutionary doctrine fully presented, was discussed as one "theo- the issue of political correctness into curacy as well as acuity ("Violinistas," supported by literally thousands of retical" alternative to creationism for the dispute (certainly not a debate) be- TAS, December 1990...
...tion") does not cast our documentation of lieve to be erroneous statements regard- hen Jay Gould (a professor in the its occurrence—the "fact of evolution'!-- Typical of the kind of scientist I Being the outlook of many scientists on Museum of Comparative Zoology at into doubt...
...As in El Salvador, Guatemala, and elsewhere in Latin America, it is a matter of who has the guns...
...If anything, the strikes the Big Bang and the carbon, hydrogen, and local school boards continue...
...At the Central American presidents' summit held at the resort last April, diners did not have adequate utensils with which to eat their food...
...Whether or not these strikes are popular is a separate issue...
...But Editorial Nueva Nicaragua (ENN) no longer belongs to the government...
...I can understand the fear that may have stayed her hand, but I cannot ignore its consequences for democracy in Nicaragua...
...The country was not paralyzed because people refused to go to work...
...I should evolution happens (the "theory of evoluI am writing to comment on what I be- tle time spent with the writings of Ste- have reflected this fact in my column...
...Correction Two printing errors (I take it that this is what they are) have made the meaning of two sentences in my Ivory Trade review (TAS, February 1991) somewhat unclear...
...invasion instead of an election...
...Piel hoped in Lauren Weiner's ill-conceived attack on not at all represent the predominant strategy prevailed until the Supreme some small way to ensure that Bryan's the government of Violeta Chamorro, view...
...I am not one of those who advocated a U.S...
...For spective and led him to different con- books do not mention evolution...
...I am also a Christian who be- nally struck down these laws in the few with the facts of science and its own be- in the Nation, not TAS...
...Evo- Terry Eastland replies: Washington, D.C...
...Why...
...Is not such conscious disregard (January 1991...
...indeed, the independent labor movement played a major role in the Chamorro victory, precisely on a program of defending the rank-and-file worker against the Sandinista bureaucrat...
...should it be...
...Her arguments remind me of a discussion I recently had with a former contra advocate who insisted "the U.S...
...La Prensa has consistently defended the basic labor rights of workers mistreated by Sandinista bosses...
...But Mrs...
...The Ohio State University the overwhelming judgment provided by had enough problems making money observations and inferences by consistent Before printing this ludicrous and de- Columbus, Ohio for its owners without having to worry the thousands...
...3) While he was minister of tourism, Herty Lewites's big project was a showcase resort he built at Montelimar at a cost of some $50 million, with creditsand technical assistance from the government of Italy...
...The efforts of creationists before cy of the Bible...
...Chamorro had a better chance, many say, to assert herself at her inauguration...
...should have invaded...
...Michael J. Cakora If this fabrication is not retracted I its handling of Mr...
...Montelimar offered beach users only three outdoor showers, one of which was broken...
...4) Weiner takes a slap at La Prensa by describing its support for the fired employees of ENN, the former official publishing house, as "cynical...
...lution is a contradiction in terms...
...the actions of Scientific American in cused of promoting dogma by so stating, staff...
...for appointment as the writer of the at the e center that of the the earth is nuniverse...
...Stephen Schwartz San Francisccl California Lauren Weiner replier Aside from saying I was too hard on the Nicaraguan government, Stephen Schwartz refutes not a single thing I said about that government or its struggle to take the political helm of the country it was overwhelmingly elected to lead...
...Schwartz's praise of Lewites as the most competent Sandinista may well be appropriate...
...The rest of his case is similarly off the point, consisting of challenging my choice of adjectives to characterize Sandinista strikes and La Prensa's advocacy of Sandinista workers...
...Nor words...
...was the penultimate laugh...
...Why not...
...the that the laws passed in various states in the arguments of William Jennings alternatives are two and only two: crea- during the Scopes era simply barred the Bryan, but to date Bryan has had the Shrinking Violeta: An Exchange don or evolution, God or not God" does teaching of evolution by itself...
...Weiner's essay, aside from its peevishness, is an exercise in the Manicheism that unfortunately seems to afflict many intellectuals, of the right as well as the left...
...members, in The American Spectator fists want to seek out knowledge of how of Genesis and the inerrancy of the Bi- Mims...
...Because ejecting the Salvadoran guerrillas "might hurt the peace process in El Salvador," Antonio Lacayo told me...
...publications in the fields of biology, over forty years...
...Mims in his quest but do we brand people illiberal when they Springfield, Virginia ei flat n shall proceed to legal action...
...3) Weiner comments contemptuously on Sandinista functionary Herty Lewites's involvement in the scheme for a new Nicaraguan airline by stating, "It is hard to see how it will get off the ground if Lewites uses traditionally bad Sandinista management techniques...
...Nobody could seriously claim that Stolichnaya vodkas represent an inferior product, that Czechoslovak Communism rendered Pilsner Urquell beer undrinkable, that Cuban or Nicaraguan Marxism ruined those countries' rum (Havana Club and for de Cana), or that Cuba or Bulgaria did not provide lovely beaches for tourists...
...Airports and borders were closed because the Sandinista functionaries manning them had walked off their jobs...
...As for the independent labor organizations, Schwartz is right to say they played a major role in the victory of Mrs...
...The point was that such commerce is labor-intensive, adding nothing to the development of the country's infrastructure, and was reserved for the enjoyment of foreigners...
...But independent union leaders say they do not feel represented by UNO...
...But what happens when religious be- (continued on page 39) THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR APRIL 1991 7 real knowledge of the Managua scene knows, Lewites stood out in the Sandinista bureaucracy as the only official to have applied sensible management methods to his sector of the economy, which happened to be tourism...
...With regard to the first point, please chemistry, physics, astronomy, geology, After 1968, creationists took the tack There is no conflict between the "fact note the following: anthropology, and paleontology...
...Even former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias urged her to fire Humberto Ortega as head of the armed forces when she had the opportunity...
...tionary biologists regard theistic evoluGlorious Evolution Mr...
...Would the American Can-"brought thousands of dollars back in quest to prove that a God does not ex- fossil record, astronomy, and the past cer Society seriously consider a tobaca suitcase, with which the American ist...
...Those in a position New York City...
...Ortega did not acquire title to a fleet of imported cars so as to resell them in the free market, but, rather, transferred title on them at ludicrously low prices to members of the Sandinista cadre...
...But victories can be squandered...
...I kept trying to explain that whatever should have happened, democracy won in Nicaragua...
...There has been a general consensus that, of the Sandinista officials, Lewites was the only one who might be recommended for a post in Chamorro's government on grounds of competence...
...But, here goes: (1) As someone who found herself unable to fly into Nicaragua during the July strike, I can attest to the country's paralysis...
...No bi- state textbook selection committees stand, acknowledge, and contribute to thusiasm, if not downright hostility, of ologist or physicist can say where the (particularly in Texas and California, science in no way precludes religious workers in relation to the Sandinista original matter came from to produce the biggest purchasers of textbooks) belief...
...International guests at its hotel had to fight to have their reservations honored, and faced a confusing system for charging their expenses...
...The other group labeled counter-revolutionary by the Sandinistas is the ever-more-organized movement of UNO mayors all over the country...
...Before the transfer of power, an Italian diplomat in Managua had this to say about the Pacific coast resort: Its commercial future is "bleak" if it wants to attract anyone other than Managua residents who have nowhere else to go...
...Eastland's per- day, many high school biology text- natural process that did not have him in Eastland, TAS, February 1991...
...Scientific American has anything other than that to Radosh...
...Chamorro's Union of National Opposition (UNO), and they are now reaping the benefits of increasing defections from the Sandinista unions...
...Eastland might have pointed out the absence of any intellectual nuggets gists, I defer to Professor Boyd...
...Herein lies the role of God in any sort of reasonable debate lies tions and inferences by the thousands," serman's book, Dorothy Healey Re- in an evolutionary doctrine...
...And although the Salvadoran FMLN (still headquartered in Managua) was recently caught receiving Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles from the Sandinistas, the FMLN will not be kicked out of the Nicaraguan capital...
...Why not leave the country in the hands of its former masters, on the assumption that it would prove an unregenerable burden...
...I, too, say Mrs...
...Scientists stand ac- extracurricular activities of one of its through customs without detection...
...The ability to under- these strikes has been the lack of en-scribed in the book of Genesis...
...4) La Prensa supports the Chamorro administration's efforts to remove Sandinista militants from their government jobs, and to trim bloated state payrolls generally...
...tween fundamentalists and scientists...
...As Gould has written, as its spokesman...
...Mencken may have laughed in 1925 at is the predominant view among biolostatement "Thus, for them, theistic evo- Mr...
Vol. 24 • April 1991 • No. 4
