LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
LETTERS to the Editor The Hollow Men Imust object vehemently to your lead editorial, "The Hollow Men" (Comment, September issue). Your criticism of Michael Dukakis is accurate. Your assessment of...
...Alan Caruba Maplewood, New Jersey The author replies: My intention in including Alan Caruba's quotation was to highlight the industrywide concern about pest control's weak professional standards...
...to free corporations from every restraint on decency and good sense, leaving them to wreak havoc on the environment and on their labor force, and to diminish the civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans...
...And Americans can't be sure that Bush's lovely "low-intensity" conflicts will be waged abroad...
...Agriculture must remain drug-free...
...Only the work of pest-control professionals-mandated by law from the Federal to the local level-protects us in schools, hospitals, restaurants, hotels, and offices, to name just a few public places...
...R. Herisse Princess Anne, Maryland Iliked Bernard D. Nossiter's "Bankers Never Lose" (August issue), and his point about the overvaluation of the British pound is well taken...
...The warriors are primarily Third Worlders, more expendable and cheaper than American boys...
...George Bush, as Billy Bragg reminds us, "is not stupid...
...Burke's advocacy is severely tainted by what he does not tell us...
...All letters may be edited for clarity and conciseness...
...And the emphasis is on secrecy, surveillance, and keeping American hands clean...
...But the critical political issue that confronts humanity today and in the foreseeable future is how we are going to transform the world community's warfare states into law-abiding, life-enhancing peacefare states—beginning with our own United States...
...Robocop designers and practitioners make paranoid fantasies more real every day...
...With all its contradictions, the Democratic Party offers the American people the best and, perhaps, last chance to make that transformation...
...Many of us will vote this year not for Dukakis but against George Bush...
...Thinking people may not always agree, but I like your style...
...My article dealt explicitly with only two applicators, but I did mention that there is a nationwide problem of pesticide misapplication in people's homes and that there is mounting evidence of long-term health problems to workers, despite industry efforts to buy off the more obviously poisoned victims © BRAD HOLLAND with out-of-court settlements...
...Don't waste your vote on a major-party candidate...
...Wells Eddleman Durham, North Carolina The editors welcome correspondence from readers on all topics, but prefer to publish letters that comment directly on material previously published in The Progressive...
...My point was to suggest that alternative insect-control and responsible use of chemicals, when necessary, should replace current chemical-dependent methods...
...Only the unit of currency was different: The "3.50" on a packet of meat meant it cost three-and-a-half pounds, at an exchange rate of about $1.80, instead of three-and-a-half American dollars...
...He also ignored the fact that insect and rodent pests are nature's primary disease vectors...
...Michael Dukakis and his rallying cry of "competence" do not inspire dreams of a golden tomorrow...
...As Vice President, George Bush has been a partner, if a silent one, in this maniacal assault on America and on humanity...
...Peter Lasagna Peace Dale, Rhode Island All Americans who want a better country in a better nuclear-free world should go to the polls in November and cast a write-in vote for Jesse Jackson...
...However, insofar as competence represents a rejection of lunacy and wanton destructiveness, we must take hope in competence...
...Termites are, indeed, costly pests, but my article didn't suggest that we should capitulate to insects...
...George Bush will...
...We cannot afford another 400 right-wing Federal judges...
...It is a sad commentary that year after year we must choose between the lesser of two evils...
...The weapons are high-tech, user-friendly, and often unseen...
...I didn't consider the other quotation relevant because I have never seen evidence that environmental groups possess a sinister "unspoken agenda" when they encourage effective pesticide regulation...
...For that reason, we invite progressives to join us in making a maximum commitment of time, energy, and money for a Democratic victory in November...
...For this reason, we must take whatever steps are necessary to keep him out of office...
...The quotation, addressing the problem of negative publicity suffered by this service industry, was, "It will not cease so long as the regulatory requirements to enter the pest-control industry remain so minimal they virtually invite a level of incompetence...
...I am shocked at how some readers who supposedly read The Progressive for its alternative perspective would try to censor it by labeling some articles as "propaganda...
...America has already lost that battle...
...Considering that neither the Iran-contra affair nor any other foreign-policy misdeeds have stuck to Bush, it's easy to imagine him smiling, palms up, and announcing, "Look, folks...
...Burke quotes two former technicians who claim to have been harmed, but the industry employs an estimated 57,000 who, in the daily course of performing their work, neither harm themselves nor anyone else...
...Your assessment of the style of America's elections—and the 1988 election in particular—is correct...
...Vote against the greater evil in November...
...Farmers in this nation are the most flexible, yet the most punished, cogs in the wheel of productivity called capitalism...
...Cecil P. Roberts El Paso, Texas The Exterminator William Burke has a right to make his case against pesticides ("The Exterminator," August issue), but his selective use of a quotation from an article I wrote about chemophobia in the February 1987 issue of Pest Control magazine both distorts and misrepresents my views as an expert on the pest-control industry...
...Peter Noursi Bethesda, Maryland No Shots Needed In Gary Webb's article, "Poor Health" (May issue), and in Kate Walter's letter commenting on it (July issue), the medical establishment is criticized and congratulated for not immunizing the children of Ohio against "polio, diphtheria, typhoid, scarlet fever, and measles...
...I say he offers an end to Reaganism, and that is enough...
...As President, Michael Dukakis will not automatically appoint right-wingers to the Federal judiciary...
...In London this spring, I observed that the prices in the Safeway store on the Edgeway Road were almost the same as those charged for similar foods at Domin-ick's in the Chicago suburbs...
...Phyllis Zweig Eugene, Oregon The Strangelovian world described by Marc S. Miller ("New Toys for Robo-cop Soldiers," July issue) fits George Bush nicely...
...Routine typhoid immunization is not recommended in the United States, except for those traveling to areas of the world where the disease is endemic...
...And Bush's running mate, Dan Quayle, makes even Lloyd Bentsen look liberal...
...You say Dukakis offers little...
...There is no immunization against scarlet fever...
...If the Democrats win, the United States will carry on Bentsen's policies either directly or indirectly...
...The fact that a leading industry magazine would publish this statement is evidence of industry-wide concern and efforts to upgrade standards, but Burke conveniently ignored the preceding statement, "It will not cease while environmental organizations hold to their unspoken agenda of eliminating as many, if not all, pesticides as possible...
...William K. Burke Somerville, Massachusetts Middle East Coverage Iam taken aback by the recent letters critical of The Progressive's Middle East coverage (Letters, April and August issues...
...The sad fact is that the American public is all too rarely presented with information on Israel's systematic attempts to drive out the Palestinians who remain in their homes, and on the extent to which these attempts are bankrolled by U.S...
...But, as I believe my article showed, that concern is focused on public relations, not public health...
...However, for the past eight years Ronald Reagan has worked vigorously to destroy every constructive program of the U.S...
...Rockford, Illinois Fan Mail Thank you for the thought-provoking and inspiring adaptation from Marty Strange's book ("Getting Control of the Farm," September issue...
...Michael Hardesty Emeryville, California Amen to your criticism of the Democratic Party's "hollow-men" strategy...
...Dukakis is pro-choice, anti-contra, and opposed to capital punishment...
...Staying home this time is an indulgence we progressives cannot afford...
...I have always felt that The Progressive has addressed issues that must be addressed if there is ever to be a true and just peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians...
...We can make a difference in what promises to be an extremely close contest...
...They are all elitist hawks...
...No war...
...Gale Price Washington, Pennsylvania When Michael Dukakis announced that Lloyd Bentsen was his choice for the Vice Presidential nomination, the Massachusetts governor pointed out that the last time a Democratic Presidential candidate from his state, John F. Kennedy, was coupled with a Vice Presidential candidate from Texas, Lyndon B. Johnson, the ticket won...
...Our mission must be to see to it that our country ceases to foster "steroids agriculture"— production by any means...
...Americans have a chance to vote against terrorism, espionage, and secret "low-intensity" wars...
...Let's not provide the eager terrorists in Langley, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., with such a willing boss...
...aid to Israel...
...More importantly, why is such sense so rare in our "free" press...
...As an aspiring agricultural economist, I'm happy to know that there are others who cater to the tradition of feeding people quality, not quantity...
...Will American voters realize that if Dukakis is elected and does not adhere to policies supported by the CIA and the military-industrial complex, he may meet the same fate...
...Ronald Reagan and his cohorts, while destructive, have been constrained by their own incompetence...
...Granted that Michael Dukakis and George Bush are both champions of American capitalism...
...David M. Keller, M.D...
...Imagine what a clever man could do with these weapons, the intelligence apparatus, and a coordinated, supportive staff...
...Frederik Pohl Palatine, Illinois Where do y'all get all that good sense you print...
...Unlike Bush, he agrees that South Africa is a terrorist state...
...Government...
...And only 5 per cent of all the pesticides applied are utilized by the pest-control industry...
...Satellites can observe and electromagnetic radiation can disable silently...
...Dukakis optimistically predicted a similar outcome this time, but he failed to mention that the liberal President was assassinated by conspirators who obviously preferred Johnson...
...You explain the solar/renew-able/reforestastion solution to the greenhouse effect, the political economy of high pressure on our coasts, and the International Monetary Fund's destructive impact on the poor (and on ecosystems)—all in a bit over one page...
...While fulminating against chlordane, Burke failed to inform readers that, by U.S...
...to enrich the rich and impoverish the poor...
...Once bitten by the intelligence bug, one finds dangerous enemies everywhere...
...Government estimate, termites damage or destroy more than $1 billion worth of property annually...
...Jo Seidita Nick Seidita Northridge, California Ishare your reservations about Michael Dukakis, but I wonder whether The Progressive has ever, since its founding, been able to heartily endorse a candidate from one of the major parties...
...Your bits on the environment in the Comment section of the August issue, to take one small set of examples, are priceless...
...Martin R. Haase Chester, Nova Scotia Iagree with every word of your criticism of the Dukakis ticket, but I will vote for it...
Vol. 52 • October 1988 • No. 10
