LETTERS

...It was obvious that of those trapped in their cars between the pancaked tons of concrete slabs, very few would survive...

...The amendment was defeated...

...It's amazing how you and Eleanor Randolph of The Washington Post were able to determine from the east coast that newsmen on the scene were "hyping" the story...

...Randolph's article in the Post noted that because the original estimate of the death toll was incorrect, the frequently heard claim that the quake was the second worst in American history is also questionable...

...In addition, I have always believed that abortions should be allowed in the case of rape, incest, and to protect the life of the mother...

...What I wrote was that Nunn lacks firm views about the ABM treaty itself...

...In other parts of the country there are entire towns with a total property value lower than that of a few blocks in downtown San Francisco...

...The quake could still be called second worst in terms of economic damage, but the high cost of this quake is more a measure of San Francisco's affluence than of the severity of the quake...

...Last summer a reporter asked Nunn whether Stealth itself is "really good technology...

...But isn't it remarkable that whenever the reactionary right launches a pet campaign, whether to advocate racial superiority, realpolitik, armed intervention, or a phony "war against drugs," it can always rely on pseudo-intellectual support from someone in academia who will claim to possess "common sense...

...MARK D. LEW Oakland, California Frying Nunn I would like to take a moment to correct a few inaccuracies contained in the Tim Noah profile of me which recently appeared in your magazine ["Born to Be Mild," December...

...One reason to depart from it might be the implementation of the Accidental Launch Protection Systems (ALPS), an antimissile defense plan that Nunn himself proposed in 1988...

...If traffic had been heavy stop-and-go, as it frequently is, there could easily have been over 500 cars and buses smashed and burned...

...Fortunately, for whatever reasons, traffic was unusually light when the earthquake struck, but this was not ascertainable until many days had passed...

...I'm not saying that the ABM treaty should never be changed...

...THOMAS L. SLOAN Fort Washington, Maryland...

...I'm just saying if we change it, it ought to be done either by amendment or, if we terminate it, it ought to be done under the terms of the treaty...

...First, I have not supported a constitutional amendment to ban abortion...

...I have always said that I would oppose a Human Life Amendment which states that life begins at the moment of conception...

...There's a reason for this: Test results for the B-2 bomber have been uninspiring...

...I have been a strong supporter of the B-2 for some time and have stated this position in numerous interviews and in press conferences...

...On the Equal Rights Amendment, Nunn has supported amendments that put up various roadblocks to extending the ratification deadline...

...Admittedly, as a former prosecutor and law professor, Mr...

...Obviously he is passionate about them...

...For examples of what happens when the accused has no rights I refer you to Germany of the 1930s, or closer to home, our own beloved South of that period...

...The amendment failed...

...JOSEPH R. MARKS Foster City, California I was pleased to see your discussion of the media's exaggeration of the recent California earthquake...

...I have always reserved—and you may view this position as being "too technical"—my right to support amendments which would clarify the meaning of the Amendment in certain instances...

...I asked Nunn whether ALPS would require a revision of the ABM treaty, as many have claimed...

...For example, in 1978 Nunn supported an amendment to require that Congress extend ERA by a two-thirds vote rather than a simple majority...

...When I asked Nunn point-blank whether he believes the treaty ought to be adhered to, he did not say "yes...

...I believe it is important that we make sure its stealth technology works and that the plane can fly...

...Finally, the article left the impression that I did not have a position with respect to the B-2...

...Wronged rights I do not agree with Paul Savoy ["When Criminal Rights Go Wrong," December] that his contention that our criminal justice system must adopt the double standard of distinguishing those who cannot prove their innocence after having their constitutional rights violated from others, represents "common sense...

...I apologize for the error...

...I was even more pleased to find out that there was at least one article written about it—I hadn't seen any, and I was bristling about it for weeks...

...Finally, on abortion, Nunn voted for a 1983 constitutional amendment sponsored by Senator Orrin Hatch that would have allowed (but not required) Congress and the states to outlaw or restrict abortions...

...LETTERS Go figure I was more than a little put off by your disparagement of the news reporters who used a figure of more than 200 fatalities in reporting the October 17 earthquake ["Tilting at Windmills," December...

...LOUIS MARINUS WIJSEN San Francisco, California Having read Paul Savoy's treatise supporting the notion that only the innocent have rights, I look forward to the sequel: only the guilty are ever accused...

...The author replies: I never questioned Senator Nunn's commitment to the constitutional issues at stake in the ABM debate...

...I plead guilty to the charge of wanting to "dot every i and cross every t of quantifiable fact" before we spend billions of taxpayer dollars on the B-2...

...He said, "I think it should be until we have a viable reason to depart from it...

...Nunn does indeed support the B-2 "Stealth" bomber, but he does not go out of his way to say so, and when he does say so, he quickly changes the subject to America's need for some kind of penetrating bomber...

...Women's groups did not consider those who supported such amendments to be "supporters" of ERA, but I may have overstated the case when I wrote that Nunn "opposed" ERA...

...Third, while the article concluded that I don't have any firm views about the ABM treaty, such an assessment will cause any reader familiar with my record, and with defense issues in general, to seriously question the credibility of your article...

...Without falling into the dry, cold clutches of "fine print" by arguing the prerogative of the Senate with respect to treaties, I certainly did not think that my effort on behalf of the ABM treaty—including three speeches on the floor of the Senate and a very public disagreement with the Reagan administration—was undertaken without conviction...

...Speculation by the traffic reporters flying over the scene initially placed the figure much higher than 200 for that site alone...

...It is far too expensive to be a Stealth taxi...

...Second, it was news to me that I oppose the Equal Rights Amendment, since there has never been a vote on the amendment while I've been in Congress...

...Nunn answered, "Well, let's put it this way: If that plane doesn't fly, the debate is over...

...Obviously its intent was to make abortion illegal, but my shorthand description of it as an amendment "to ban abortion" was too sweeping...

...In fact, I have consistently said I would support the Equal Rights Amendment...

...Nunn answered that he thought it could be made to comply with the treaty, but if it could not, "we should seek an amendment...

...Nunn was—and is—hedging his bets on Stealth...

...SAM NUNN Washington, D.C...

...Savoy has not labored in legal professions known for their common sense and unbiased approach to such questions...

...I hope that Ms...

...I read this as a less than wholehearted endorsement of the ABM treaty...

...Being a frequent user of the Cypress Freeway that collapsed, I know that normally at that time of day there would be some 300 vehicles on the mile-long section of the lower deck which was crushed by the upper deck...

...Second worst" was originally "second deadliest" until newscasters started to get sloppy in repeating one another's stories...