Letters, Jan. 31, 1977

A Great Tragedy

To the Editors:

If the black-lung disease and the continuing mine disasters do not impress anyone, the ever increasing oil tanker spills [Jan. 10] have established themselves as a great environmental tragedy. Sooner or later we have to realize that under well-controlled conditions, atomic fuel is environmentally the most acceptable source of energy today. Any further reliance on the present “supertanker mentality” is not only dangerous to the environment but, from the national security standpoint, foolhardy. James Scott, M.D. Streator, III.

I don’t understand how you can state that “major accidents involving freighters have been infrequent.” There have been at least seven such blunders since 1967, and millions of gallons of liquid death unleashed into our oceans. What is frequent, one disaster a week? Bradley David Young Terre Haute, Ind.

I am willing to bet that if the companies whose ships were responsible for the oil spill were forced to assume the high cost of the cleanup, there would be fewer oil spills. DM. Boulay Marshfield, Mass.

All tankers operating within 200 miles of the U.S. coastline should proceed only in convoys supervised by a U.S. Coast Guard vessel. Robert W. Reynolds Centerville, Mass.

Your article left the impression that all shipowners are flocking to Liberia and Panama to avoid the expenses associated with U.S. registration. In fact, many American owners, including the major oil companies, are equipping their ships with the most advanced navigation equipment available, regardless of where the ships are registered.

Although Government regulation is one solution for dealing with irresponsible shipowners, a more effective form could be provided by the marine insurance underwriters by developing a premium structure that reflected their actual risk. Peter M. Talbot Huntington, N. Y.

Those tankers breaking up off our coasts, spoiling our seashores, are there because: 1) we want to spare our prairies from coal mines, 2) we want to spare our descendants from radioactivity, 3) we want to spare ourselves extra costs per gallon.

Somehow, we’re going to have to stop this sparing, or we can change those lines to “from sea to oily sea,” while poorer countries fall bankrupt trying to compete with us for OPEC’s treasures. Richard-Louis Grosse Savannah, Ga.

Supershow

Isn’t it all beautiful, isn’t it all Americana? As I am an avid sports fan and a person who eats, drinks and sleeps football, the Super Bowl [Jan. 10] remains to me the yearly culmination of everything sacred to American athletics.

As sure as technology advances, athletes’ salaries skyrocket and O.J. Simpson accumulates more mileage than his favorite rental agency, the Super Bowl will continue to weather its critics’ disdain. Personally I find no better way to kick off the New Year than by viewing the Super Show. Robert J. McNamara San Diego

When you think about it, a Super Bowl is a lot like a moon walk. It can be treated as a spectacle, it can be construed as a crass commercial event, and (if you are really turned off) it can be seen as irrelevant. I am not sure which way to take it, but I do know this: it’s tiresome. Eric Steel Emeryville, Calif.

Fascinating Creature

I was amused to read your account of Gore Vidal’s Caligula [Jan. 3]. I was puzzled to read Bob Guccione’s statement that I had always wanted to be a woman, “petulant and bitchy,” two qualities that he thinks characterize all women but, actually, best describe Guccione himself. This mercurial but fascinating creature could be described as the “Dark Lady of the Porno-Mags,” with his artfully dyed black ringlets, filmy lace blouses with plunging cleavage and gorgeous gold chains and rings. Gore Vidal Los Angeles Word Games

I am happy to hear that there is a group dedicated to playing with language, “Perverbs and Snowballs” [Jan. 10]. Our favorite family perverb was assembled by my husband when, after he had trailed in a game for a long time, his luck changed and he moved out ahead. Quoth he: “The worm is on the other foot.” He also sometimes accuses me of giving him a vote of no competence. Power to OuLiPo! Anne B. Schneider Blairstown, N.J.

TIME wounds all heels. Vytautas Izbickas Westwood, Mass.

O to see more poets devise unusual formulas. Peter Joseph Daly Pearl River, N. Y.

I donot findquite simpleletters counting exercises especially commendable, particularly aesthetically. Nevertheless, inoffensively diversionary indulgences frequently encourage somewhat similar effort among such men as I.

Jan D. Hodge, Associate Professor of English, Morningside College Sioux City, Iowa

A Strong Papacy

For centuries the Roman Catholic Church has seen theologians like Hans Küng come and go [Jan. 3]. A strong papacy has always defended the orthodoxy of the faith.

Why is Küng allowed to retain his Roman Catholic priesthood and his professorship at Tubingen? Is Paul VI fiddling while the Church of Rome burns? (Mrs.) Catherine M. Roders Cleveland

The massive denials and rejections of historic Christianity contained in this book automatically disqualify Küng from serious consideration by the Christian community. Christianity’s only recognized authority throughout the centuries is the Scriptures. To reject them is as disqualifying as a rejection of the Constitution by a pleader before the Supreme Court. Walker W. Means Heber Springs, Ark.

Living on $65,000

Your article in the Jan. 10 issue on Government employees and their salaries floored me. The officials in Washington ought to be profoundly ashamed. Anyone can live on $65,000 a year. Living within one’s means is a lesson we all should learn, and it ought to begin at the top. Come on, Washington, don’t throw away your dignity and don’t make fun of us out here Sara M. Simkowitz Miami Beach

I would feel more comfortable about the Congress with its many perks, large staffs, self-serving election financing, and general insulation from the real world if it were mandatory for each Congressman and bureaucrat above GS-15 to prepare his own income tax return by hand.

Furthermore, rather than being protected from inflation, our representatives and employees should be the first to feel inflation’s cutting edge and responsibility for it by being subject to a negative cost of living adjustment; every time there is a little inflation, salaries should be reduced proportionately. William W. Stevenson Charlottesville, Va.

“How to Get—and Keep—the Best” is a very amusing concept, or is TIME becoming naive? Now we can add an eleventh commandment. The more a person earns, the better he becomes. With this thought in mind, if we again double all the proposed increases of salaries, we’ll be on the road to a perfect Government. Ann Busack West Bend, Wis.

Why Take Chances?

Your article on birth control [Jan. 10] goes around Robin Hood’s barn for an answer to the birth control problem. Why take chances with pills, vaccines, etc., when a vasectomy in males and tying of fallopian tubes in females ends the problem quickly and finally? N.R. Vance Nashville

It is gratifying to learn that increasing numbers of Americans are becoming concerned about the unhealthy effects of some forms of birth control. It will be even more gratifying when men begin to take some responsibility and you can report that today’s liberated men buy condoms off display racks. Paul Drews Portland, Ore.

Your academic footnote referring to an apocryphal 17th century English court physician, Dr. Condom, brings to mind the shy teen-ager who asked me for a prescription for “condiments” (from the French condire, to pickle, season or add relish to). Gerald C. Freedman, M.D. Mill Valley, Calif.

Our White House

Re Rosalynn Carter’s banning of liquor from the White House [Jan. 10]: someone should remind the Carters that the White House is not their house, but our house. If, for reasons of personal conviction, they want to ban liquor from the family quarters, that is no one’s business but their own. To turn the rest of the White House into a dry zone, however, is no more proper than would be a Jewish President’s banning of pork and shellfish from the White House menu. Daniel F. Goldman Baltimore