The People's Forum

...Fred Breukelman Dover, Delaware U.S.-Canada Energy Ties Dear Sirs: The references to a continental energy policy in Richard Pollak's otherwise most authoritative article, "The Plunder of Alaska," in the March issue of The Progressive, are not only misleading, but also a source of considerable dismay to a substantial number of Canadians...

...I am convinced that if his contributions were judged apart from his signature, ninety per cent of them would be rejected...

...I suggest you undertake an article on the full ramifications of the continental energy policy, and on Canadian-American economic relations generally...

...From the beginning Judge Hoffman made no effort to conceal his absolute contempt for these defendants who had dared to demonstrate against the war in Vietnam, despite Mayor Daley's all-out efforts to prevent the demonstration...

...One wonders if he ever re-reads them the morning after...

...Senator McGovern is the only person even thinking of running for President who comes anywhere near meeting progressive standards...

...I hope that some of those solemn scholars in The New York Review of Books see it...

...Objections seem to be based on such trivia as "he is too small" or "he has no charisma" or not enough money...

...William H. Lewis Detroit, Michigan Mayer Threatened by Women Dear Sirs: I am sorry that space in The Progressive was used for Milton Mayer's March article, "A.M.E.N...

...I can find no fault in him...

...Mayer seems to be threatened by women seeking liberation from traditional and oppressive roles, in addition to being angry with womenkind in general...

...People not present at this trial may not know that spectators were sickened by the spectacle and shouted much more loudly at Judge Hoffman than did the defendants...

...His realistic chances of winning are irrelevant...

...Few people have criticism of any consequence to offer...

...Let's give McGovern the support he needs to run a "campaign based on candor and reason...

...interests...

...The People's Forum 'The Smell of Oil" Dear Sirs: Thank you for that concise Note in the News, "The Smell of Oil/' in your April issue on the offshore oil deposits on the continental shelf off South Vietnam...

...In the future I hope the subject can be treated with the seriousness it requires...

...It is a book which ought to be read by all parents, as well as Herbert Kohl's 36 Children, Teaching the Unteachable, and The Open Classroom, and Harold Taylor's Students Without Teachers...

...To be present at this trial was to lose one's confidence in our system of jurisprudence...

...This is evidenced by the end products of our schools, often incapable of articulating honest thoughts or views, merely finished products of a system concerned with its own survival...

...John Holt has written a book, The Underachieving School, in response to real needs of parents concerned with what is being done to our children...

...I cannot think of anyone with less of that last quality than Richard Nixon, yet he won the Presidency...

...One had to be present at the trial of the Chicago 7 to believe that this could happen in America...

...I seriously suggest that the editors hold him up to their undeniably high standards...

...I am most distressed that your staff felt the article worthy of space...

...Jonathan Duncan Chicago, Illinois...

...Gerald Barnes Denver, Colorado Outlaw All SSTs Dear Sirs: Would it be politically feasible, in the absence of a U.S...

...We have had enough of secrecy, ambiguities, and outright lies...

...Judith L. Sommer Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Mayer Shows Off Dear Sirs: For more than a decade now, because I admire The Progressive, I have read—or started to read—Milton Mayer...

...Who's kidding whom...

...Letters, often with a financial contribution, have poured in from all segments of our land...

...Many Democrats are waiting for the Lincolnesque Senator Edmund Muskie to declare...

...Martha Brandt Ericksen Salvang, California Dear Sirs: Does a politician, for the first time in recent history, have more guts than the press...

...Should we sell our SST prototype, or any part thereof, to some other country, would it be possible to funnel the resulting funds to a mass-transportation project for the city hardest hit by the dropping of our program...

...I have listened to many different views on Senator McGovern...

...His chances of winning may be small, but his campaign is likely to have a great and permanent impact on the American people...

...However, I most fervently wish that the salvation of your wilderness will not entail the destruction of our own...

...oil shortage which could be provided by a "continental energy policy...

...In almost every sentence, he strains and strains to be original, clever, witty, or funny, with only occasional success...

...Douglass L. Grant Hamilton, Ontario Canada Dear Sirs: Richard Pollak, in the course of his excellent article on Alaskan oil in your March issue, refers to the relief of a U.S...

...No matter how strong Senator Muskie is on such issues as Vietnam and ecology, I suspect that he would to a certain extent carry on the present policies of withholding information to the press and the public...

...Ever since 1968 I have been keenly interested in him as a statesman and have watched his career closely...

...I was feeling good until the next sentence, when The Progressive started its own traditional charade: "(We) are not prepared, at this point, to endorse Senator McGovern's candidacy—or anyone else's...

...I see nothing funny about men continuing to miss the point of the women's movement, seeing it as a threat to them rather than something which may be the beginning of new and better ways for people to relate to one another and live together...

...Since I detect a note of approval for this policy I draw to the attention of The Progressive the fact that a continental energy policy is the cornerstone of the complete economic domination of the Canadian economy by U.S...

...I believe he could write with deep conviction and power, if he could stop showing off and lose himself in his subject— because, once in a while, he does...

...supersonic plane, for our government to outlaw the use of any U.S...

...Gross exaggerations, half-truths, and quarter-truths follow each other in dizzy succession...

...He seems convinced that about every idea that enters his head is worth communicating to a large, intelligent audience...

...In your March editorial, "A Candid Candidate," you praised Senator McGovern for avoiding the "I'm-not-a-candidate-yet . . ." charade...

...The result is a hastily written stream of consciousness...

...We need the forthright kind of statements of a McGovern who is not afraid to call a spade a spade and who, I am sure, would not be afraid to admit to being wrong...

...John C. Davis New Port Richey, Florida McGovern for President Dear Sirs: I agreed with everything you said in your March editorial on Senator Geor^0 McGovern, only I would have gone a step further and endorsed him...

...How about breaking with a little tradition yourselves...

...Certainly political stature should not be measured by physical size, money, or so called charisma...

...airport for any foreign SST...

...But the widespread support for our son Rennie—one of the defendants—from total strangers has helped to restore our faith in the essential fairness of the people in this country...

...The Canadian government has indeed contemplated such an energy-sharing deal with the United States, but in so doing it has provoked much opposition from the advocates of economic nationalism, who fear that such an arrangement would so inextricably tie together the economies of our two countries that Canadian independence, in any meaningful sense, would be lost forever...

...I would hope that the views of democratic socialists in Canada, who alone seem concerned about preserving an independent nation capable of promoting such worthy goals as world peace, would engage the sympathies of the editors of The Progressive...

...Dorothy K. Scott Seattle, Washington Children Exploited Dear Sirs: That our educational system is not serving the real needs of human children is far from the lone opinion of one neurotic mother...

...Holt sees the grading system and the testing programs as tyrannical and an entirely false basis of judging children's progress...

...Mrs...

...Mrs...

...Peter Sanford Courtenay British Columbia Canada McCann's Spoof Dear Sirs: In these grim times it was a special pleasure to read "Billy" McCann's spoof, "Some Notes on Jespers' Kolniyatsch," in the March issue...

...These letters supporting Rennie for his efforts to awaken America to the horrors of Vietnam have convinced us that the American people have had enough of America's war orientation, and that the people are far ahead of our government and our courts in an understanding of what honesty, morality, and justice are...

...Why should we tolerate the befoulment of our atmosphere and the nuisance of a supersonic boom anywhere over our states or possessions...

...I wish the opponents of the Alaska pipeline only well, and it is unfortunate that I must advance an argument that might strengthen the case for this monstrosity...

...and then you added, "We like it that way...

...To be there made it clear why the defense lawyers and the defendants could not maintain a respectful silence toward a judge who didn't even try to merit their respect...

...Norma Nichols Spencer, Wisconsin Neal on Khrushchev Dear Sirs: Fred Warner Neal's essay-review of Khrushchev Remembers in the April issue is both thoughtful and lively, and it is easily one of the best commentaries I have read on the controversial volume...

...Besides the undesirable political and economic effects on our country, such a deal would bring on a massive exploitation of our raw materials to maintain the prosperity of American industry and produce the same sort of devastation in our wilderness that Pollak foresees for Alaska...

...The influence of oil interests on our foreign policy is, in my opinion, a factor in many other explosive areas—the Middle East, Greece, East Pakistan, Angola, and Nigeria...

...While we refrain from such possible environmental damage, not only to our own land but to all others, it seems reasonable that we deny the opportunity to those who are careless...

...It would seem to me that the more parents who could persuade their children to ignore the grade standards, to evaluate tests for what they are, and to be free from being owned by pontificating teachers or politically-oriented school boards, the better chance there would be for an end to the exploitation of children to enhance a system's image...

...And if any parents would take the time to examine the textual material upon which grades are given, it could readily be seen how we manage to turn out people too benumbed to know that serving one's country does not end with pledging allegiance or bowing down to the flag, or believing the doctrines which assume all progress, American style, is unquestionably good...

...This is just what we don't need at this point...

...Phyllis Paine West Des Moines, Iowa Judge Hoffman's Conduct Dear Sirs: Joel F. Henning's article, "Doing Awfully Well with Judge Hoffman," in your April issue shows clearly the degree to which Judge Julius J. Hoffman's treatment of defendants in his court is affected by his personal reaction to them...

...Neither did Judge Hoffman try to conceal the extent to which he was working hand-in-glove with the prosecution to get a conviction...

...he deserves the support of everyone who is seeking progressive social change...

...Though a comic relief is needed amid so many disheartening articles about corruption and destruction priorities, I found Mayer's article not only lacking in humor but shot through with misunderstanding and hostility...