Letters
Letters Bloom Counting The quotation you mention ["Tilting at Windmills," June] is from Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, Act IV, Scene 3. Perdita is speaking: . . . daffodils that come...
...Printed in U.S.A...
...Young agencies, as you noted, don't have that problem...
...1994 The Washington Monthly Co...
...However, I also understand that the board would be more aggressive except for the reluctance of its lawyer to pursue some cases where there may be a question of lawsuit, the costs of which could be considerable...
...The conversation might well have included no profit but friendship for the benefactors...
...This result supports your remark concerning malpractice litigation in this country...
...Published monthly except combined January/February and July/August issues by The Washington Monthly Company, 1611 Connecticut Ave...
...Send correspondence concerning subscriptions, undelivered copies, and changes of address to Box 587, Mount Morris IL, 61054...
...Board Stiffs In regard to your comments about medical licensing boards ["Tilting at Windmills," May], you may be interested to learn that the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners has had a lay member on its board since 1979 and two lay members since 1989...
...and possessions: one year, $39...
...We also have two osteopathic physicians on the board...
...Leonard Reed Chevy Chase, MD Et Tu, Monthly While I am not (to put it mildly) a fan of Tom Bethell, the fact remains that in the April Monthly—as well as in his companion piece in the January 1994 American Spectator— he makes an uncomfortably strong case for major restrictions on the voting rights of government transfer-payment recipients...
...Send subscription complaints to Charles Peters at The Washington Monthly, 1611 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009...
...I am told that among the 50 states, the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners has an outstanding reputation for its discipline of errant physicians...
...Washington corruption is plotted and planned sleaze, aiming cynically at taking down big bucks...
...Letters Bloom Counting The quotation you mention ["Tilting at Windmills," June] is from Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, Act IV, Scene 3. Perdita is speaking: . . . daffodils that come before the swallow dares, and take the winds of March with beauty...
...The way to cut down on meetings is to reduce agency personnel to the point where each employee has a job to do and doesn't have to fill his idle hours by attending pointless meetings...
...Most of the rice ended up being sold in the native market in Port-au-Prince...
...Postmaster: Send change of address to The Washington Monthly, Box 587, Mount Morris IL, 61054...
...The point of Bethell's piece— and our point—is that it's time for all of us to think about giving up our little tax breaks and special advantages for the common good...
...C'mon...
...If we have inflation, sounds like stocks will rise...
...Sylvan Meyer Washington, DC AID This Stryk Thomas' article on USAID ["Milkshakes in the African Desert," May] brought back memories of my experiences with that agency during 13 years as a foreign correspondent in Haiti...
...two years, $74...
...A recent survey done by the American Academy of Family Physicians, in which the member physicians were asked their five most important concerns, found that the number one concern is malpractice suits...
...Of course, we realize that if this reform were implemented, it would leave about 12 eligible voters in the country...
...Joan K. Tanner, M.D...
...During Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier's regime, tons of food ostensibly for distribution to the hungry of Haiti poured in from various humanitarian sources...
...People forget what happened in the big oil inflation of recent history...
...The Southern variety is more casual and usually does not attack the public purse, as does Washington's...
...Bruce Moomaw Cameron Park, CA The editors reply: We agree with Bethell if the disenfranchisement applies to all subsidies, from Social Security (beyond the return of your contribution plus interest) to the home mortgage interest deduction to rich sugar farmers who get price supports they don't really need...
...Hundreds of Haitian women were on the dock with sacks, buckets, and other containers...
...Then they went up markedly and generally stayed up...
...Portland, OR Cattle Prod Christopher Georges' article in May ["Get Smart About Inflation"] made the whole magazine worth the price of admission...
...When the ship cranes swung the cargo nets loaded with hundreds of sacks of rice over the side, they would be lowered until they were about 20 feet above the dock, at which time the entire net would be abruptly dropped...
...Arthur B. Candell Silver Springs, FL The Washington Monthly Editor in Chief Charles Peters Publisher Hilary M. Ross Editors Jon Meacham, David Segal Contributing Editors Jonathan Alter, Thomas N. Bethell, Tom Bethell, Taylor Branch, Matthew Cooper, Gregg Easterbrook, James Fallows, Christopher Georges, Paul Glastris, Mickey Kaus, Phil Keisling, Michael Kinsley, Nicholas Lemann, Suzannah Lessard, Arthur Levine, Joseph Nocera, Leonard Reed, John Rothchild, Jonathan Rowe, Walter Shapiro, Scott Shuger, Steven Waldman Editorial Advisory Board Charles Bailey, James David Barber, Edgar Cahn, David Halberstam, Murray Kempton, Richard Reeves, Hugh Sidey Assistant to the Editor Pam Matthews Business Manager Kristine Norquist Production Manager Carey Jones Assistant to the Publisher Mark J. Lilback Interns Hillary Covington, Phoebe Dean, Liz Greenspan, Celeste Katz, Leyla Kokmen, Stryk Thomas, Rachel Van Dongen Proofers Virginia Cope, Alan Greenblatt, John Kalajian Subscription rates: U.S...
...Georges raises them...
...One says, "We gotta do something for Bill...
...ISSN 0043-0633...
...For reprint rights for all or part of an article call Carey Jones at (202) 4620128...
...All rights reserved...
...Margaret Ann Sullivan Stonybrook, NY Meetingless Waste I believe you put the cart before the horse when you suggested that the greatest reform A1 Gore could make would be to cut the number of meetings in government in half ["Tilting at Windmills," June], Meetings are a necessary holding pen when you have too many people in search of a function...
...In covering this story, I frequently went to the commercial dock in Port-au-Prince and watched freighters unloading 100-pound sacks of rice in huge cargo nets...
...Example: Can't you imagine some of the moneyed characters in Little Rock sitting around a late afternoon table...
...three years, $99...
...The Washington Monthly is indexed in the Book Review Index, Political Science Abstracts, Public Affairs Information Service, the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, the Social Science Index, and Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory and may be obtained on microfilm from University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI 48106...
...The air-conditioned offices of USAID were much more comfortable, thus the off-loading was delegated to Haitian government officials and soldiers...
...Reprints of articles are available to individuals or schools at $2.00 each (prepaid...
...That's because, unlike older agencies, they have not, year after year, been adding new layers of personnel...
...The docks were hot, noisy, and dusty...
...What do the Monthly's liberal staffers think of this...
...NW, Washington, DC 20009 (202) 462-0128...
...The boy's got a great future, but he's broke...
...A Haitian soldier collected money from the women who then proceeded to fill their containers...
...As the trucks went through villages and towns en route to their destination, the soldiers would throw off several sacks of rice to waiting merchants for pre-arranged fees...
...This was most interesting to observe...
...For Canadian and foreign subscriptions, add $7 for surface delivery...
...Second class postage paid at Mechanicsburg, PA...
...Another says, "Well, cattle futures look hot to me," or, "We can let him in on the Whitewater development and cut him a share at the original investor's price...
...The trucks, each with an armed soldier or two sitting on the rice sacks, left for the country's distribution points...
...I also liked Jon Meacham's piece ["Think Little Rock Is Corrupting Washington...
...Unsolicited manuscripts must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope...
...As regarding all the flowers blooming at once this year, I think it is because we've had the hardest winter in decades...
...I looked in vain for any American USAID officials who should have been on the scene supervising the loading of the rice sacks onto private trucks, which were to take the rice to storage facilities in various rural areas...
...After some 40 years as a newspaper and magazine editor, I still don't understand why reporters fail to ask the questions that challenge conventional wisdom...
...When the trucks arrived at their storage deposits, they contained nine or 10 sacks out of the 70 or 80 they received on the dock...
...air mail delivery add $32...
...Stocks fluctuated...
...Surely any politician who hopes to be reelected would not care to bring up these reasons...
...Seems a lot cleaner to me than taking an enormous fee for wrecking a small country or leaning on the citizenry to maintain an artificial price level for a giant industry...
...Many of the sacks burst open, spewing rice all over the ground...
...For change of address, please provide six weeks' notice and include old address label...
...Back issues, $5.00...
...The reasons for the high cost of health care in the United States are multiple and I have yet to see some of them addressed...
...People who fear inflation turn to stocks because theoretically they represent real values—machinery, real estate, buildings, productive capacity, etc.—if their prices are anywhere near true worth...
...This keeps early bloomers from flowering, and the late bloomers then seem early...
...The prime distributor of this food was USAID...
...Can't we put him on some legitimate money...
...From this off-loading to the final destination, no American USAID official was visible...
...Reproduction by any method whatsoever without permission is prohibited...
Vol. 26 • January 1994 • No. 7
