LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
LETTERS to the Editor How Soon We Forget Your brief review of Studs Terkel's Chicago (Books, January issue) referred to the late Mayor Richard 5. Daley. How soon we've forgotten the mayor so many...
...Perhaps we need to rethink our whole educational system—not only its reliance on private schools for the rich and public schools for the poor, but also its most fundamental attribute as a system of coerced (compulsory) schooling...
...Ralph Chapman Wilton, New Hampshire No Ounce of Cure Your editorial, "No Ounce of Cure" (Comment, December issue), was hardly fair to the Kaiser health-maintenance organization...
...Ward D. Houtz Glendale, California The editors welcome correspondence from readers on all topics, but prefer to publish letters that comment directly on material previously published in The Progressive...
...As long as this is the financial reality, there will be religious, moral, and academic conflicts between parents and school authorities...
...Nancy Wallace Robert M. Wallace Ithaca, New York Tubal Ligation Linda Rocawich is not the only American who has never seen the space shuttle explode ("Tubal Ligation," The Last Word, January issue...
...The ongoing controversy on several fronts within the Church shows we have great vitality, refuse to become monolithic, work to be ever more credible, and never lose sight of the life and vision of Jesus...
...Such letters can be a kind of grassroots participation in democracy...
...Gordon assumes that "a ban on testing has long been regarded as the key to nuclear disarmament...
...The magazine is so unpleasant to look at that I rarely pick it up...
...Your art director should ask what progressive message this stuff has...
...foreign and military policy...
...We have always received excellent medical care...
...It would seem to be overstepping constitutional bounds to insist that all children must read great literature—the very thing to which many parents, unfortunately, object...
...Some peace activists believe there are better "keys" to disarmament...
...Jay Melvin Woodside, California Closed-Book Policy Commenting on the concerns of fundamentalist Christian parents, The Progressive says, "But no one is forcing them to send their kids to the public schools" ("Closed-Book Policy," Comment, December issue...
...Suzanne Gordon Arlington, Massachusetts All Roads Lead to Rome As a reader of The Progressive, I was saddened by the ignorance you displayed in the editorial headed "All Roads Lead to Rome" (Comment, January issue...
...National and grassroots pressure on the comprehensive test ban increased last summer, and it was approved by the House of Representatives...
...Charles K. Myers Mount Clemens, Michigan Please note that the Pope's infallibility is strictly limited to matters of "faith and morals," not to "theological policy...
...Think of the admirals and generals who would quit to seek useful work...
...It follows, then, that those who are calling for resumption of the draft regard this nation's young people as criminals...
...All letters may be edited for clarity and conciseness...
...The author replies: I'm sorry Michael Ferber interpreted an article that was meant as constructive criticism as a "blast" at the peace movement...
...If you're going to knock something, get it right first...
...Some of the arguments pressed by peace lobbyists in Congress are identical to those urged by the Soviets...
...I'm not sure I would compare it to the Soviet Gulag, but then I haven't experienced the Gulag...
...I don't need a monthly dose of pure discouragement...
...But the helpfulness of her article was undermined by unlikely claims, blurred distinctions, and neglect of contrary evidence...
...It does not seem to have embarrassed these groups, including the most moderate ones, that they could be construed as parroting the Russians...
...Try as I will, I can only get gloom as the message of the majority of the illustrations...
...Its doctors and nurses are clearly motivated by the wish to help people and provide fine care...
...They can help the public learn more about what is happening in this society by nominating stories they believe should have received more coverage in the major news media...
...Biodegradation, the decomposition of organic compounds by microorganisms, has been well documented in the scientific literature...
...The Afghan rebels are fascist-oriented, operating in a feudal society where women occupy a subordinate position...
...We need to get into other publications the kind of discourse found in the Letters pages of The Progressive...
...It seems clear that public schools really work only when there is broad agreement in the community as to what kids should learn and when parents actively support what the schools try to do...
...Gordon states that the peace movement failed to support the Soviet test-ban initiative because of a "crude, knee-jerk anticom-munism...
...The Pope does not have the right to tell Catholics what to think, but only to inform them of the will of God where faith and morals are concerned...
...Milen Dempster Mill Valley, California Best Censored Stories The Progressive's readers are invited to participate in a national media research project by nominating one of the "Ten Best Censored Stories of 1986...
...My wife and I, both in our eighties, have been members of Kaiser for nearly forty years...
...The issue should be current and of national or international importance...
...The Soviet testing moratorium prompted introduction of the bill...
...Richard D. Erlich Oxford, Ohio Hore Anti-Red Than Thou Suzanne Gordon's blast at the peace movement for its supposed anti-Sovietism was salutary, in part, for we need constant reminders on this subject ("More Anti-Red Than Thou," November issue...
...The government's only compelling interest is to make sure its citizens are minimally educated so that they become responsible members of society...
...To piously invoke the "free marketplace of ideas"—how could a compulsory school ever be such a thing?—is to ignore these basic realities...
...George S. Wheeler Grapeview, Washington I dislike most of the artwork published in The Progressive...
...Ronald C. Squibb Logan, Utah Igather from your Letters columns that it is mandatory for subscribers to comment on the graphics in the magazine...
...Even though that was the so-called good war, I didn't find the experience particularly inspiring or rewarding...
...Carl Jensen Project Censored Sonoma State University Rohnert Park, California Caught in the Cross Fire Kathy Gannon's "Caught in the Cross Fire" (Datelines, January issue) presented a one-sided view of the war in Afghanistan...
...How soon we've forgotten the mayor so many of us loved to hate...
...Mary Engel North Bergen, New Jersey Base Maneuvers Despite the apparent problems in disposal of toxic wastes at Tinker Air Force Base ("Base Maneuvers," December issue), the Air Force is being innovative in dealing with the problem...
...Think of the money we would save...
...To nominate a "censored" story, readers should send a copy of the story, or information about it, including the source and date, to me at the address below...
...As a Catholic, I was angered by the bigotry you revealed...
...Certainly a number of peace groups are trying to deal forthrightly with this issue, and they should be applauded...
...it called for "responding" to the Soviet initiative...
...Chicago, Illinois You state that "no one is forcing [fundamentalist Christian parents] to send their kids to the public schools," but surely you know better...
...We have seen no indication that Kaiser is governed by money...
...Her "Persian Diversion" (Small Favors, January issue) was incisive, devastating, and delightful...
...We don't surrender our brains on baptism...
...Given the Democratic Party's growing support of Reaganite foreign and military policies, that discussion will become increasingly important as the peace movement ponders political options in the 1988 elections...
...The anticom-munist statements of many leaders of arms-control groups—Ferber seems to ignore the important distinctions I draw between armscontrol and peace groups-are not simply examples of cautious leadership...
...The deadline for nominations for the eleventh annual effort of Project Censored is March 1, 1987...
...I haven't felt so good after reading something in a long, long time...
...Toward this end, I suggest that every reader who has ever written a letter to The Progressive or has ever thought of doing so ought to write at least one letter to a local newspaper or a general-circulation magazine...
...Has The Progressive turned economic royalist...
...This is what "strengthening public education," as preached by P-TAs, teachers, unions, and others, is all about: to make nonpublic education as expensive as possible...
...William F. Wendt Jr...
...Has The Progressive never learned that the public schools' great mission is to socialize the teeming masses into our "great society...
...Her article is already out of date...
...Had Gordon paid attention to such complications, she could not have criticized the peace movement so sweepingly, but she might have done it more good...
...It might be a good idea to make military service completely voluntary—that is, to have our soldiers and sailors, marines and fliers volunteer to perform their good deeds without pay or expectation of material reward...
...It's time for all of us to engage in constructive discussion, to admit the problem, and to try to forge a coherent solution...
...Most national peace groups are concentrating on the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars...
...To ban or not to ban books will continue to be an issue...
...E. Hawley Haig Summit, New Jersey Molly Ivins's "Great International Blink-Off' (Small Favors, December issue) was priceless...
...Eric N. Lindblom Palo Alto, California Progressive Graphics The Progressive's graphics are amateurish, tasteless, offensive, and just plain ugly...
...It may have received no media coverage at all, appeared in the back pages of a newspaper, or been covered in a small-circulation magazine...
...When you have young children, you quickly learn about the evils of the tube...
...Arguing among ourselves, while important, just isn't enough...
...More power...
...Anticommunism, whether in its crude knee-jerk form or in its more sophisticated liberal guise, has long been a stumbling block for those opposed to U.S...
...It was then quashed because of the Reykjavik summit, but the House is likely to pass it again this winter or spring...
...Really...
...So is the Soviet Union...
...You refer to "the tradition that our society—including our public schools—is a free marketplace of ideas...
...This is reflected in the Air Force's willingness to fund feasibility studies to examine the biodegradation of toxic organic wastes...
...Warren C. Marglin Salem, Kentucky During 1942 and 1943, I had some experience with the involuntary servitude of conscription...
...Some groups were reluctant to drop their existing projects and take up the comprehensive test ban because they thought it would have little effect on the arms race for a long time...
...Al McCullough Huntington, New York Molly Ivins should have a grand time writing for The Progressive about the Feds...
...You've managed to make one, though, by adding Molly Ivins to the lineup...
...By whom...
...Ray Anderson Ranier, Minnesota Ivins Fans For almost as long as I can remember, I've admired The Progressive's work and its people, and found it difficult to suggest improvements...
...These rebels are attempting to overthrow the "Soviet-dominated" government with the not-so-covert aid of the CIA...
...If he'll check the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, he'll find that involuntary servitude may be imposed in the United States "as a punishment for crime...
...Discounting, for the moment, our blind countrymen and women, let it be known that there are large numbers of us who deliberately choose not to have a television set...
...As someone who is not only a journalist but a peace activist, I'm also sorry that he completely missed the point...
...Donald E. Ash Lake Elsinore, California As a long-time Molly Ivins fan, I just want to say that her column is the greatest...
...But her examples indicate that peace-movement leaders were simply cautious in the face of the prevailing anti-Soviet mood...
...As I indicated, they tend to accept anticommunism instead of challenging it...
...My appetite for more Ivins is probably insatiable...
...Kathleen M. Kerr Austin, Texas Letters from the Grass Roots We need to get more progressive ideas into general circulation if we want to affect the body politic in the United States...
...I don't need visual hyperbole to remind me...
...Do the artists have any political philosophy...
...I think they're fine...
...Of course the law reserves them the right to send their children to private schools, as long as they can afford to support two school systems...
...The nature of the Kaiser system does not encourage cutting service to achieve economies...
...It is not good reporting to rely on agentless passives...
...Human society is sufficiently ugly...
...Each one is worth several times the price of admission...
...Norman Dudziak New London, Connecticut Ijust can't take any more of your pointless, dismal, and defeatist "artwork...
...No one who "buys into the Church" gives the Pope the right to tell him or her what to think...
...Gordon says nothing about the anti-SDI campaign...
...Brian T. Gibbons Cleveland, Ohio Involuntary Servitude In the Editor's Memo (January issue), Erwin Knoll refers to military conscription as "involuntary servitude...
...Michael Ferber Coalition for a New Foreign and Military Policy Washington, D.C...
...Although all children in the United States are guaranteed the "right" to a compulsory education, their families are not guaranteed the right to an adequate income, so most parents have no choice but to send their children to the public schools...
...Anything remotely resembling genuine freedom of choice, such as voucher plans or tuition tax credits, is perceived as a threat...
...To leave a patient only partially cured when a fuller recovery is possible would ultimately cost Kaiser more, not less...
...It passed easily, even though President Reagan opposed it...
...I would gladly volunteer to serve as the first unpaid chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff...
...This may have been right or wrong, but it is not the same as crude, knee-jerk anticom-munism...
...Please have your proofreaders do public penance at Chicago's Richard J. Daley Plaza...
...If the American peace movement is to surmount the enormous obstacles it faces, it must mount a bold and aggressive challenge to the anticommunism that justifies every weapons system, every intervention, every imperialist foreign-policy initiative...
...No one in the Church claims, or has ever claimed, that a representative of God here below has God-guaranteed infallibility on "matters of theological policy...
...There will be no free marketplace of ideas in education, no genuine parental choice, and no lack of meddling with religious or political beliefs, until there is a free marketplace in education itself...
...In the absence of such agreement, public education becomes the alienating mess we have today...
...Each waste site is unique, and in some cases biodegradation can provide a cost-effective and permanent solution to the problem of soil and groundwater pollution...
Vol. 51 • February 1987 • No. 2
