Letters
LETTERS Challenges Keyserling Leon Keyserling reports in your April issue that it has cost us $1.8 trillion because our economic growth rate has been "much too low." If we had attained the goals...
...World peace can only be attained by mutual cooperation for disarmament, not tit-for-tat threatening actions...
...This is another bully-type threat to the Soviet Union, which has already responded by testing its new multiheaded nuclear weapons...
...Philip L. Ralph Leesburg, Florida No Energy Shortage It should be clear to all Americans that no real "energy" shortage exists in this country...
...Deputy Secretary of State Kenneth Rush asked the House Foreign Affairs Committee for $2.2 billion in grants to Israel, saying, "Failure to re-supply Israel's war losses would create a dangerous imbalance in the Middle East...
...There are no unnecessary hospital admissions...
...I suggest other groups elsewhere solve their problems as the people of Group Health Cooperative have done...
...At recent rates of inflation, outlays of $85.8 billion in 1975 would not be an "increase of $6.3 billion over 1974," but a decrease in terms of 1974 dollars...
...Conservatives preach ethical absolutism—the philosophy of eternal, immutable, ethical principles...
...7053...
...Particulars can be obtained from World Peace Tax Fund Committee, P.O...
...We have collected 100,000 signatures for impeachment...
...If we had attained the goals set by Keyserling, how much faster would we have exhausted our non-renewable resources...
...The way to get it is through overwhelming Republican pressure to use the Twenty-fifth to sideline Nixon during his trial...
...Equally obvious is the oil/thermal/coal/atomic interests' reluctance to do anything except amass huge profits until the last drop of oil is gone...
...No unnecessary surgery is done or permitted...
...This is doubly disgraceful in view of the sad truth that the United States began her history by trying to kill off her indigenous, aboriginal people, the Indians...
...The United States has not only the military potential in Iran but we also have Sixth Fleet units in the Mediterranean and Seventh Fleet units in the Indian Ocean...
...The Vice President's speech to the Republican dinner in Chicago evidenced his desire to have his party obtain a divorce from the Committee to Re-elect the President and all its nefarious works...
...The organization is growing, with new clinics throughout the area and another hospital in the planning...
...Alan Reynolds Associate Editor National Review New York, New York There is nothing hypothetical about the defense spending figures in my article...
...Section three of the Twenty-fifth Amendment provides for his taking such a leave if he is "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office," which he would be, within the broad meaning of those words, in a situation wherein he would have to devote most of his time and energies to defending himself against impeachment charges...
...Duscha's rather hypothetical figures on military spending, like Nixon's figures on Social Security benefits, fail, in Duscha's phrase, "to mention the relative purchasing power of the dollar...
...The technology is here and the benefits obvious...
...I am happy, therefore, to call to your attention a development which should give some reason for hope...
...missiles on Russian missile silos...
...John F. Oram Denver, Colorado The Department of Defense map, used in Julius Duscha's "Military Spending" article, is in error, as it failed to count U.S...
...Section four provides for his being made to take such a leave under similar circumstances of disability, by action of the Vice President and the Cabinet...
...Sheila Fyfe Impeach Nixon Committee Palatine, Illinois Nixon's Tax Returns That perceptive political journalist, Anthony Lewis of The New York Times, has noted how conservatives defend President Nixon's ostensibly fraudulent tax returns by parroting the President's claim to lack of personal responsibility for his tax returns...
...Every day these friends kill people in the name of democracy...
...Of course, we have gotten out of Vietnam since 1968, saving about $24 billion (in 1974 dollars...
...Nixon is not a lovable character as were Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John Kennedy, so how did he do so great in the 1972 election...
...The members range from housewives to lawyers, students, teachers, doctors, and many others...
...It was indeed refreshing to read the article on the Tet festival by Tran Van Dinh...
...A genuine health care delivery system must work for the benefit of the consumer, not for the benefit (through ever increasing premiums and enormous profits) of the insurance companies...
...As it is, I am saddened and shamed...
...The proposed bill, known as the World Peace Tax Fund Act, would allow conscientious objectors to allocate a portion of their Federal taxes to a permanent fund to support government and private agencies engaged in humanitarian and peace-related activities...
...Military pay has increased, too, but there the question is whether we need all those troops, particularly the ones in Europe who are still poised to fight World War II...
...I speak especially of the April inside back cover advertisement with its anti-sugar message...
...The average percentage of defense outlays going to military payroll and retirement rose from 45.3 per cent in 1961-1968 to 58.4 per cent in 1973-1974...
...Driven from their first line of defense, "Don't confuse me with the facts," they fall back to the second line, "Don't confuse me with principles...
...We are staffed by Gold-water fans, former Nixonites, McGovem-ites, liberals, conservatives, Republicans and Democrats alike...
...More orchids for the advertisements from NOW on your back covers in recent months...
...I lived in Teheran during the summers of 1971-1973 and was shocked to discover that there are more than 10,000 American servicemen stationed in that country...
...Is it because he put Alger Hiss in prison as a result of the Soviet espionage trial, or are there other reasons...
...What exists are governmental priorities designed to turn off the Watergate heat, sabotage environmental concerns, and bolster the profits of the oil industry...
...The compromise and "reform" he advocates in "For a Revolu-tion-in-Stages" (April issue) have done nothing in the United States but strengthen capitalism...
...This is the first time I have read him, and he writes as well as he speaks...
...Such a defense is especially strange in view of the conservatives' constant denunciation of ethical relativism—the idea that ethical standards must be judged in the context of different historical eras and different cultures...
...Representative Patricia Schroeder was newly elected from Denver in 1972...
...Jim Weeks Daly City, California Orchids to Our Advertisers Orchids to you and to some of your advertisers...
...forces in Iran...
...Box 1447, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106...
...Yet when confronted with President Nixon's manifold skulduggeries, many conservatives cite the weakest of relativist ethical justifications...
...Most ecol-ogists now agree that zero growth in the gross national product, and zero population growth, must be attained if human life on earth is to survive...
...Tondalaya Gillespie Saipan, Marianas Islands Trust Territory of the Pacific Tap' by Sidney Lens Someone ought to put Sidney Lens in touch with reality...
...now the Impeach Nixon Committee is receiving a fantastic response from the people here...
...Our military aid made it possible for Israel to capture all of Palestine plus parts of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria...
...She surprised many people, but most of all Representative F. Edward Hebert, by being assigned to the House Armed Services Committee, which he heads...
...So, if I were an Indian, I would question U.S...
...John C. Davis (Formerly top economist, President's Council of Economic Advisers) New Port Richey, Florida Using the Twenty-fifth As soon as he is impeached by the House, Nixon should take, or be made to take, a leave of absence from the Presidency while the Senate decides whether or not to make it a permanent ouster...
...Margaret Mozzanini Portland, Oregon Praise for Tran Van Dinh Micronesia being as far-flung as it is, I have just now received my February issue of The Progressive...
...This is the problem that must be solved...
...The United States is not yet ripe for socialist revolution and may never be...
...Would we have polluted our environment beyond restoration...
...All the figures come from the Office of Management and Budget, the Defense Department, and the Joint Congressional Economic Committee...
...The majority are there to help train the Iranian military in preparation for a "possible" war...
...I am certainly in favor of the Kennedy-Griffiths bill as opposed to the Nixon proposal, since the latter scheme would only perpetuate control through private insurance companies, and this is one of the vital factors that must be changed in any concept of a national health plan...
...C. Arthur Elden, M.D...
...If our Government runs our health programs it will cost us more and be less efficient...
...Average military pay went up by 113 per cent from 1968 to 1974, and is due to rise sharply again...
...military growth surrounding the Arab world makes Schlesinger's threat real indeed...
...I have had the opportunity of hearing Van Dinh speak, and came away impressed...
...Their news is not only limited but heavily slanted toward the Nixon Administration...
...motives...
...Otherwise he would be in a position to exert tremendous political pressure on many Senators to vote for his acquittal for reasons other than the merits of the case, and no doubt would make full use of that advantage...
...Rather it is to keep our economic system viable under conditions of no growth...
...I suspect that most of the people who voted for Nixon were really voting against the alternative...
...The pap presented by Lens guarantees disillusionment for the unwary and a long life for capitalism...
...The proposal would not create a tax loophole but follows the principle, already established, of allowing part of the tax to be assigned to the financing of political campaigns...
...She calls the Committee action in rubber stamping the $6.2 billion Defense Department supplemental appropriation "a billion-dollar rip-off...
...And every day our Government, in the name of the "energy crisis," devises new ways to increase unemployment, destroy our environment, wreck our economy, limit our freedom, and squander our resources...
...Is Nixon the prime target of liberal wrath or is he merely being used to kill the American free enterprise system...
...An impeachment committee is needed in every state to prove to the men and women in Congress that a Presidential trial should be at the top of their list of 1974 priorities...
...This organization is of the people, by the people, and for the people, and costs $600 a year for a family of four...
...Woodinville, Washington Congratulations on your April issue which is crammed with excellent articles, including those on "Health Care for All," in which I have a keen interest...
...The U.S...
...All necessary drugs are free as part of the coverage...
...Our real challenge is not how to maintain a more rapid growth rate...
...Armed Forces also operate the only English-speaking television and radio station in Iran, and their news announcers are U.S...
...Women For Peace has continually protested nuclear testing by the United States, and we equally deplore and condemn the same actions by the Soviet Union...
...Defense Secretary James Schlesinger warned in early January that "the Arabs would be risking the use of force against them if they carried their embargo too far...
...Last summer, Watergate information was sometimes not given at all, and when it was reported it was often a three-minute news item...
...Every day our Government sends millions of gallons of oil to support its military friends in Cambodia and Vietnam...
...Since then, she has given him no reason to rejoice, as she has consistently demanded that the Committee carefully audit Defense Department requests for funds...
...Everybody does it...
...Julius Duscha Washington, D.C...
...LeRoy M. Netts Beloit, Wisconsin Citizens' Impeachment Drive I live in Illinois's Twelfth Congressional District, reportedly one of the most conservative districts in the nation...
...Paul H. Adriance Moses Lake, Washington Opposes A-Tests James Schlesinger, Secretary of Defense, is calling for targeting U.S...
...In 1972, it voted heavily for Nixon...
...But it should be not only from CREEP, but from its Godfather, Nixon...
...E. Bradford Burns Los Angeles, California Silent Majority for Nixon Would someone please explain why all liberals have such a burning hatred for Richard Nixon...
...Spending authority and "requests" are largely irrelevant...
...In spite of the relentless loud-mouthed liberal attacks, the vast silent majority still stands behind the President because it fears and distrusts the social planners...
...This not only changes our posture from one of defense to "first strike" capability, but is an excuse for asking for a whole round of offensive nuclear weapons of "greater accuracy...
...Even if only a small minority acted upon the provision, it would serve the double purpose of relieving the consciences of those unwilling to support war and of calling attention to the disproportionate allocations to defense and military aid in the Federal budget...
...Certainly the Pentagon is beset by inflation...
...C. W. Griffin Denville, New Jersey Senate and Genocide Shame on the Senate for its latest failure to ratify the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide...
...Seventy-eight other countries have ratified that Convention, but the United States continues to hold out against it...
...His remarks to that effect were resoundingly applauded, indicating a strong Republican wish for such a divorce...
...Gina L. Pearson Mission Viejo, California Health Care for All The articles on "Health Care for All," in the April Progressive, bring up many problems solved by Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound...
...Frederic C. Smedley New York, New York Military Spending I share Julius Duscha's pacifistic and isolationist impulses ("Military Spending: The Juggernaut Rolls On," April issue) but I think the cause is better served by telling the truth...
...But we also quit stealing soldiers...
...Spending authority figures are relevant because they determine actual spending in the years ahead...
...With main headquarters in Evanston, we have ninety-six home headquarters across the state...
...If expressed in 1974 dollars, defense outlays fell from $111.8 billion in 1968 to $79 billion in 1974...
...Michael D. Knox Ann Arbor, Michigan Free Energy With NASA looking for chores to do and thousands of laid-off technical people pumping non-existent gas, we could be putting a space station in orbit which would beam free and limitless energy back to Earth via microwave...
...The point which Alan Reynolds seems to have missed is that the Nixon Administration conveniently ignores inflation when bragging about Social Security, which has hardly kept up with the Nixon inflation, while stressing inflation in trying to justify a bloated defense budget...
...Shirley Lens Chairwoman, Women For Peace Chicago, Illinois Taxes for Peace A significant step toward loosening the military stranglehold is offered by the Del-lums-Rosenthal bill (H.R...
...Kathryn Skott Madison, Wisconsin...
...military men dressed as civilians...
...I found it a welcome change to read something pleasant...
...Abroad, we can look to the recent tragedy of President Salvador Al-lende in Chile to see what consequences compromise and "reform" trigger in the "Third Camp...
...Julius Duscha's article on military overspending was both enlightening and discouraging...
...It seems to me this massive U.S...
...It is factual and does not resort to the half-truths that mark the ads of sugar associations in prestigious news magazines...
Vol. 38 • June 1974 • No. 6
