LETTERS
LETTERS 'Off the Track' Deborah Baldwin hypothesized, in "Off the Track" in your July 1979 issue, the "traffic advisers" of the broadcast media advising commuters to leave their cars at home. I am...
...They did actively promote 1-80 from their own point of view...
...The Dan Ryan expressway is stop-and-go from 79th to the Loop...
...All the nuclear industry need do is to prove their own claims of efficiency, safety, and economy and agree to remain accountable for their actions...
...James A. Aune St...
...Jews in America are not trying to force all Americans to adhere to Jewish beliefs and doctrine, unlike the Catholic hierarchy...
...Speaking as a Catholic, I find it dangerous for any religion to adopt the present political tactics of the Catholic hierarchy...
...and prior posting of a bond equal to 30 per cent of capital cost as a guarantee to decommission the facility...
...Please keep up the good work and inform us about the dangers of radiation...
...As the husband of a recently graduated M.D., I can assure you that "doctors' " opinion is by no means as unified as Getlein suggests...
...It is equally inappropriate to suggest a parallel between the abolitionist activity of Yankee churches in times past and the political opposition to safe and legal abortion by the Catholic Church today...
...If you win, the bureaucracy of Washington will only be forced "underground" in their attempts to remove issues from the public arena...
...And with cost overruns now pushing a reactor's price tag well over $ 1 billion, utilities can hardly afford to raise another 30 per cent for future decommissioning costs...
...New England churches worked to abolish slavery, while the Catholic hierarchy is trying to reimpose sexual and reproductive slavery on every last one of us...
...To my knowledge, Montanans did not vote against nuclear power but rather for control over it...
...The judiciary for well-understood reasons is currently basically more conservative than it was some years ago — conservative in the sense of attempting to insure the strength of the Government...
...It is unfair to make the medical profession responsible for the health of the population when its influence is so little...
...He maintains a discreet silence about the illegal harassments and even rank terrorist tactics that currently abound in the anti-choice crusade...
...He also attempts to legitimize the efforts of the Catholic hierarchy to impose their own dogma on the entire nation — through a constitutional amendment redefining intrauterine life according to one religious view — by drawing a totally false analogy between those efforts and the support of ethnically oriented Jews for American political ties with Israel...
...There is the standard complaint that the opposition is trying to muzzle him, from which he takes off with rhetoric about his (unchallenged) right to "speak out" on such issues, while simultaneously chiding The Progressive for letting Barton do so herself...
...Then he seems to reverse himself...
...Dennis D, Sandage Oxford, Ohio Modern saint The Progressive should be commended for including, among other articles, the fine review of Leonard Baker's book, Days of Sorrow and Pain...
...Betty Daland Milton, Wisconsin (More letters on Page 61) Memo The United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago has set September 10 — the first day of its fall term — to hear arguments in The Progressive's First Amendment case...
...Coffee, alcohol, and cigarettes, while not exactly foods, are probably much more harmful than pizza, hamburgers, and milk shakes, and are often substituted for meals...
...The potential for disaster exists whenever the Church crosses the thin line that separates church and state...
...Louis, Missouri Socialism Abraham Kaufman, in his June issue letter, complains that Sidney Lens, in his April Reflections, deals with communist, not socialist countries...
...None of these standards exceeds what industry claims is now possible...
...I think that the concern that this article would lead to proliferation of nuclear weapons is totally unjustified, especially after reading the May issue...
...Leo Baeck and the Berlin Jews, by Madison's Rabbi Manfred Swar-sensky...
...I believe that this nation owes The Progressive a great debt for continuing to deal forthrightly with the broad range of hazards and degradation posed by the nuclear energy business...
...The relative ease of producing a hydrogen bomb has also come to be appreciated...
...that waste materials tan be safely stored...
...Therefore, I suspect you would lose the appeals you are embarking on to your own detriment as well as bringing about a general setback to First Amendment rights...
...Ted Means New Orleans, Louisiana Nuclear Power I'd like to correct some errors of assumption Norman Solomon made in "Nuclear Burial Ground" (April 1979...
...It's about time we the American people know what's going on in the nuclear industry...
...that the safety systems be proven to work...
...The Chicago Transit Authority reports all trains on time...
...It poses a great threat to the religious freedom of all Americans, including Catholics...
...I will certainly acknowledge that the Catholic Church has contributed greatly to our nation's social awareness...
...Since Three Mile Island, people seem more receptive to serious thought concerning nuclear energy in any form...
...The measure known as Initiative 80 (1-80) was not a ban on nuclear power except in Solomon's imagination...
...At first he seems to be advocating staying away from physicians as much as possible and attacking chronic care...
...It seems unfortunate that a physician who opens a copy of The Progressive must be greeted by an offensive stereotype of his or her profession...
...It will then be six months and a day since the Federal Government, acting under the sweeping provisions of the Atomic Energy Act, went to court to prevent the magazine from publishing an article about secrecy in the hydrogen bomb program...
...And I believe that if your readers do not actively pursue solutions to the nuclear dilemma — starting at home — the debt shall remain eternally unpaid...
...There is no hint of qualification, not even "some doctors get livid," or "most doctors get livid...
...The smoke-detector issue arose recently after a home fire killed two people and critically injured a third...
...The biggest nutritional problem in the United States is obesity and it is difficult to convince patients that food is not just a convenient necessary pleasure but an important factor in health...
...The city council is now faced with the question of whether to require installation of smoke detectors, and right now it is almost impossible to buy any kind of detector except the radioactive kind in Oxford...
...The remaining question concerns the First Amendment issue...
...Mark Mackin Helena, Montana Norman Solomon replies: To require that nuclear energy interests "prove their own claims" is to impose a de facto ban on nuclear power...
...Surely their ultimate goal is communism, when that high level of education will have been achieved, but for the present they are socialist...
...Compliance is not within the nuclear industry's capability...
...The Nuclear Vote organization was the principal proponent of 1-80 statewide...
...Montana residents voted into law reasonable requirements which the nuclear industry cannot possibly meet...
...Kaufman, like so many others who pontificate upon communism and socialism, has not the slightest notion of the meaning of either...
...The Stevenson is down to one lane from the Tri-State to Harlem, and the Eisenhower is moving normally after the stalled semi at Cicero...
...Maureen McCarthy Abortion Rights Alliance St...
...Thank you both for educating me about something great I wish I'd known about before...
...If any "ban" is in effect, it is on the part of an industry unwilling to meet these conditions, not because our laws prevent their doing business here...
...Persons of anti-nuclear persuasion participated but did not dominate the organization...
...More specifically, he seems to resent the medical profession pointing out that there is little scientific evidence that the huge amounts of money spent for vitamins and expensive "health foods" and food supplements can be justified...
...These included that the owners, operators, and builders of a nuclear facility waive Federal liability protection...
...The Soviet Union, Poland, Yugoslavia, China, Vietnam, and others are socialist states, the leadership of which happens to be the Communist Party...
...The second error is the "anti-nuclear" description of the forces that sponsored the initiative...
...In three successive paragraphs he makes generalizations about doctors' attitudes toward health insurance, doctor-patient communication, and nutrition...
...The first was to give Montana voters the final approval authority in any nuclear facility siting in the state after it has been certified by the State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to meet certain standards...
...Jeffrey Stern Coventry, Connecticut I have admired your coverage of the nuclear issue...
...Requiring that "owners, operators and builders of a nuclear facility waive Federal liability protection" means no nuclear power...
...However, there are numerous examples of the Church's involvement in the political implementation and support of repressive social and religious policies, i.e., the Spanish Civil War, the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, Vietnam, and others...
...I hope all these people who criticized the attempt at publishing the H-bomb article will reconsider and lend their support to help this information be made public...
...Because nuclear power is capable of causing $ 17 billion in property damage from a single accident (according to the Government's estimates), nuclear energy is uninsurable on its own terms...
...Paul, Minnesota Frank Getlein's Last Word, "Crisis Intervention," in your June 1979 issue intrigued me as a physician...
...We have all read books about the Nazi horror, but I am ashamed to admit that I wasn't familiar with this one...
...The stage for the historic constitutional battle, which may ultimately reach the Supreme Court, was set in June when Federal Judge Robert W. Warren of Milwaukee refused to lift the ban he had first imposed on March 9. Like the H-bomb program itself, like The Progressive's article about it, like many of the Government's allegations, and like many of the arguments in the magazine's own defense, all of which have been hidden from public view on grounds of "national security," Judge Warren's opinion is secret...
...As for verifying adequacy of reactor safety systems or safe nuclear waste storage — there is strong evidence that such verification is impossible...
...Commercial nuclear power depends on Federal liability protection which now limits total recoverable amounts to $560 million, mostly out of Government funds...
...The substance of your arguments for publication has in effect been achieved...
...Secondly, 1-80 outlined standards that the DNR was required to verify before issuing a certificate to construct...
...For his edification and enlightenment, there is not one communist country on the face of the earth...
...In making the argument against the city's requiring radioactive smoke detectors, I circulated copies of your August 1977 article by McKinley C. Olson on the hazards of these devices...
...Nor has there been for thousands of years...
...He states: "Montana voters approved what amounts to a ban on nuclear power in the state, after anti-nuclear forces were outfunded by more than twenty to one during the campaign...
...Further, any resemblance between a Social Democrat and a socialist is purely imaginary...
...Douglas Acker Evanston, Illinois Radiation The city council of Oxford, Ohio, has made a so far successful effort to discourage the use of radioactive smoke detectors in people's homes...
...In the case of radioactive smoke detectors, the problem is just outside the bedroom door...
...For those of us who walk to work, the first part of the report is black humor and the second is hope's dawn...
...Ingrid Jobst- Wooten Arlington, Virginia I am sure you have heard the arguments against your lawsuit from many sources...
...While much is to be gained by winning such a suit, the potential losses, it seems to me, are much greater...
...Wall University of Maryland College Park, Maryland Nutrition Frank Getlein's article, "Crisis Intervention," in the June issue, displayed a type of prejudice which I am not accustomed to find in The Progressive...
...Having been active as a non-lawyer in ACLU I would appreciate the lawyer's interest in pursuing what is undoubtedly a most important case...
...They also sponsored and passed a city ordinance in Missoula County making it a "Nuclear Free Zone...
...Repeal of the Price-Anderson Act by Congress would force corporate perpetrators of nuclear energy to assume full liability for atomic reactors — something the industry knows it cannot risk...
...First Amendment I just want to let you know that I support your attempted publishing of Howard Morland's article about the H-bomb...
...But because of The Progressive I have learned about that "modern saint" from the pen of one who is highly qualified to praise another rabbi who deserved the accolade...
...Robert A. Baumler Amherst, New York Abortion Orlan Love's attack in the June Letters on Judy Barton's article, "Abortion Clinics Under Siege," presents a classic example of anti-choice sophistry...
...These lessons from the past should be heeded...
...Nuclear energy remains an alternative for Montana...
...It is therefore unnecessary for me to reiterate them...
...It is not a matter of nuclear industry unwillingness to fulfill the requirements of the Montana law...
...He also complains that Lens seems to have little use for Social Democrats...
...That was made clear to the voters despite the best efforts of the opposition to convince them otherwise...
...I am certain that she would delight to hear the early morning broadcasters in Chicago give traffic reports with the following information, the like of which I have heard on many mornings: "It's bumper to bumper on the Kennedy, and traffic is very slow around an accident on Lake Shore Drive at Diversey...
...1-80 had two major elements...
...The anti-nuclear movement in Montana is headquartered in Missoula under the name of Headwaters Alliance...
...it merely binds them legally to perform to their own standards...
...N.S...
...Montana voters felt that these were reasonable provisions and amended the state's Major Facility Siting Act in affirmation...
...This matter of choice was probably the factor in the measure that made it acceptable to Montana voters...
...Judging from comments made to me later about that article, it had a beneficial effect...
...Serious discussion about public health policy in the United States requires the participation and good will of all concerned citizens...
...I am afraid, however, that such pursuit at this time is not in the best interests of The Progressive or the country, from either a win or lose point of view...
...This volunteer group planned the strategy that brought together a loose coalition on an environmental and states' rights issue...
Vol. 43 • August 1979 • No. 8
