Dear Editor

...pomls mil Ih.H Dank s Beatrice \\o\ leiiou Jiul deals' M.indi Online were not meant lo be ?eal women Sunh she ie.ili/es thai is ptiit of the point By placing these acini...

...Dear Editor Spain In his article on "Spam's New Poling' (NL, September 12), Ray Alan slates thai "Most exiles who want to return are back ' This is not true For the past 24 years Spanish Refugee Aid has been helping the needy Spanish exiles in France We are still helping 1,600 individuals and many among them would like to return to their homeland But they are old (78 per cent over 60, 11 per cent over 80) and no provision has been made for them in Spain They cannot afford to give up the little they have in France, many have no relatives to go to A small number (45) may get a small pension for the wounds they received fighting tor the Republic This has been promised for some time and is long in coming But for the rest, until the Government of Spain recognizes the rights of these exiles and gives them some sort of indemnification so that they may live decently in their country for their remaining days, they will continue to live and slowly die in France They should be remembered, these heros and heroines of the first fight against fascism New York Ci(y Nancy Mac Donald Director Spanish Rejugee A id Capital Hijinks 1 was pleased to find out from Marvin Kitman that Washington Behind Closed Doors was a flop in the ratings department (Washington a Clef," NL, September 26) In Tact, the only quarrel I have with Kitman is that he doesn't seem to realize how much of a flop the show was in the quality department Washington's multiple love story was so sticky, confused and tiresome that calling it a soap opera would be a cruel and uniajr denigration ot afternoon serial drama And the political stuff, while admittedly slightly better drama, was morally repugnant Bv masquerading as history (but cowardly announcing itself as fiction) the show got away with saying h R Haldeman was a monomaniacal tyrant, Ron Ziegler a mental incompetent, and Richard Nixon a pathetic paranoid Dramatic license or no, in my book thal's slander Chicago Ed Ni-tolkkh'i Standing Up for the Ladies Not being female, J hcsifate to jump into the Iray Ncvci theless, I can't help wondering it any women found Phoebe Pettingell's eomments about women's poctrv ("Women Beware Women.' NL, September 26) as patroni/mg as I did My lecluig started in the lirsf paragraph ot the pieee, wheie l-Mhngdl finds K neeessarv to piove lhe proposition lhat "Women hive an ancient and distinguished history as poets " She eilcs the work ol Leaden, an lush oflavi who eould "hold hei own with the best ol the iikii WlII good toi 1 eaden 1 alei, in defending the female eie Uions ol male pools, IVIIingJ...

...Hoii-ee Correction Correcting some tactual errors in Katherine A.nne Porters The \iu/ / ndina II ronv ( Re menihcnng baeco md \an/i!ii NL Vpimiber 12) 1 made a earelcs\ mistake ol m\ own 1 wrote \pnl instead of Deeembei (111*)) is ilugnomh ol the Bndgevvater holdup aiieinpi lor \\ hieh \ ui/ei ti was LOnviilcd alkr t, do/en witnesses ksliln.il that on tin dav of the eiinie he w is in Plvmouiii selling eels lor C hi isUU is V m ) <>'k i Ih Kl 1 m M \ i iii w si...

...oi nu The New Leader welcomes comment and criticism on any of its features, but letters should not exceed 300 words...

...agmed lovers on pedestals the poets deprived them ot a mundane existence The idealized conceptions allowed (and, 1 think, still allow) men to ignore the real situation of women, and remain in a dav-dream realm ot their own imagination Miami Florida Jack Lyons Nothing to Cheer About Herbert E Meyer's article Taking (he Initiative Irom Moscow * (NL, September 26) was one of The most interesting—not to mention unusual—assessments of Jimmy Carter s Soviet policy I have ever read The President is doing well Meyer contends, thanks to "a change in the diplomatic cycle—a phenomenon roughly analogous to the business cycle, governing the relative status of nations " Well, that's okay with me, it Meyer's political philosophy includes some sort ot metaphysical cycle, it includes ?cycle, and I eagerlv await the resurgence ot the Athenian empire But before we relax in our armchairs, light a pipe and congratulate history for its symmetry and even-handedness, we would do well to consider the facts The situation in the West is far from improved, economically or politically The International Monetary Fund has recently characterized the state of the world economy as gloomy unemployment, lhose conservative bankers predict will keep rising and we can look forward fo subnormal growth as well The U S and China have no: been getting on lately, at least according to the C hmese In France, Socialists and Communists control 50 per ceni ol the vote In Italy Prime Minister An dreotti rules bv the consent ol the Communists nato, in short, is in danger Nor can we take any comlort from the fact lhat in our struggles with the Soviets Jimmy Carter is "selling the pace and calling the shots, because he is not His disclaimers and intentions notwithstanding, he has sueeesstulk chilled our relations with Ihe Kremlin—to no apparent point Dissidents in The Soviet Union are doing no belter than (hev were before (bv the wav whatever did happen to human rights7) salt II is tor the most part bogged down, a result ol Carter having put on the table proposals that he knew Ihe Russians who are exiremely sensitive about ihe U S nuclear technology bupenonu (i e the Cruise missile) would reject out ol hand ' What's worse Carter publiei7cd the proposals—hardly an ef teetive way to deal with the ultTaseeretive Kremlin as Averell Harnman and Walter C Clemens have noted So all in all, I don't see am eause lor cheer New )i>rk Cit\ l\s...