Our Own Good

To the Editors:

While reading your article about what President Carter's new energy package [April 4] holds in store for us, I was shocked. It has actually reached the point where the people of the U.S. have to be ordered to conserve energy. It is like a science-fiction story: a government has to begin to run the way people live just to get them to do something that was for their own good in the first place.

Jim Campbell Seneca Falls, N. Y.

After reading "Superbrain's, Super-problem," we again see that if there's to be a future for North Americans, we have to conserve energy and live more modestly. Let's try it. It's not so hard.

Brenda Hamilton Nanaimo, B.C.

One can appreciate the obstacles ahead for our new energy boss. The idea of energy conservation for many people is leaving the lights off at home and taking the dinosaur in the driveway out for a 70-m.p.h. spin on the freeway!

Bob G. Dickie La-Selva Beach, Calif.

So the man who will be directing our energy program is the father of eight children. The idea that none of them are permitted to "waste time" by mowing their own lawn is an affront to the rest of us who are wasting time in an attempt to conserve energy by walking to work, pushing lawnmowers and hanging laundry to dry in the sun.

Barb Hofmann Laramie, Wyo.

Let's face it, the Industrial Revolution is over. What this country sorely needs now is a Manual Revolution, a return to greater reliance upon plain old manual labor. We can start by melting down the hundreds of thousands of electricity-consuming milking machines, then putting all the bureaucrats and millions of others not gainfully employed to work milking cows. If we are willing to rely upon people power rather than energy resources, we could really begin to defoliate the bureaucratic jungle, create a lot of honest jobs and save energy.

William D. Santoro, M.D. Beverly Hills, Calif.

I am afraid that the breeder-reactor program is being sacrificed in the expectation that environmentalists will produce less resistance to the mining and burning of coal. But in 20 years, when the sky is noticeably darker from soot created by coal plants, the cancer rate of people living in the cities is rising from breathing the coal wastes and the land is becoming scarred from coast to coast by strip mining, what will our alternatives be then? When President Carter warned that Americans would have to sacrifice, I do not think he meant us, but rather our children.

David R. Stamp Coram, N. Y.

For the President to expect a 10%-15% drop in his popularity due to the release of a tough energy policy is a national disgrace. I can assure him the only reaction of many Americans will be one of gratitude.

James G. Moody San Antonio

Throwaway Children?

After reading your article on children and pornography [April 4], I have come to the conclusion that the only just way for me to rear my children would be to pack them up and move as far away as possible from this wretched so-called civilization.

Margaret Miller Sanchez Hattiesburg, Miss.

Having perfected such disposables as beverage containers, diapers, towels and razors, it is only natural that we would come up with the ultimate throw-away ... our children.

Robert C. Heling Hollywood, Fla.

All I read about is "rights" under the First Amendment. Where the hell are the people's rights? When do we get justice and human dignity in lieu of legal technicalities?

The scum who prey on these children should be put away for life or shot!

John L. Johnson Carlsbad, Calif.

I found it ironic that TIME reported on the sex murders of the children in Detroit and the increasing trend toward child pornography--then in People printed the picture of an eleven-year-old girl, Brooke Shields, posing in a pink slip and lipstick, telling about her newest movie role as a preteen prostitute.

Lynne Tridico Brewster, Mass.

If kiddie porn is so successful, it is because millions of Americans want it, seek it out, pay for it. Let's try to find what it is that creates the taste for kiddie porn and then seek a psychological solution of some kind for the customers.

Jo-Ann Maranelli Albany, N. Y.

Lily as Poetry

Lily Tomlin [March 28] brings to mind Marianne Moore's description of poetry: "Imaginary gardens with real toads." Lily is poetry.

Nancy Brown Missouri City, Texas

Her extravagant characterizations are sick, sick, sick, and getting sicker. I had heard that she had matured into something less acid, more humorous, less paranoid. What in the world does the public see in her?

Charles R. Kelb Vicksburg, Miss.

Call Lily Tomlin the Crown Princess or whatever nice title you might want to bestow upon her, but "Long live the Queen!"--Lucille Ball.

Eugene Tatom Fairfield, Conn.

The old Queen of Comedy, Carol Burnett, is the funniest.

Jimmy Kent Laurel, Md.

All of Lily Tomlin's characters are super, but I find Ernestine to be the composite of all the switchboard operators I have ever come in contact with.

Lorraine G. Wright Valley Stream, N. Y.

Jesus v. the Pharisees

A big hurrah to NBC for supporting what should be one of the best portrayals of Christ ever put on celluloid--Jesus of Nazareth [April 4]. As for the critics of the production, Bob Jones and his followers, I hope the non-Christian world does not take them too seriously. Jesus dealt with people like this in his day --they were called Pharisees.

Bruce Wilson Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Louisville, Ky.

You are being less than fair in blaming "Protestant right-wingers" for "leaping to the conclusion that the portrayal of Jesus Christ in Jesus of Nazareth would deny Christ's divine nature."

What else were Evangelical Christians to think when the film's director announced he would portray Jesus as a gentle, simple man, rather than God, and said he would be destroying myths? Believe me, them's fightin' words!--especially for Christians who revere Jesus' deity as well as his humanity.

Herbert Henry Ehrenstein Philadelphia

No More Dragons, Please

Here we go again! Scolding half the nations of the globe because they violate human rights [April 4].

Four times in this century we have become entangled in bloody wars because we had moral leadership that led us to: "Make the world safe for democracy," "The Four Freedoms," "Save South Korea from the Communists," "Save South Viet Nam from the Communists." Now we've got a new resounding slogan, "Protect human rights everywhere," that may compel us one day to don our shining silver armor, buckle on our nuclear sword, and again ride forth and do battle with the wicked dragon.

Victor Rosen Los Angeles

Indira's Downfall

The result of India's general election was no surprise [April 4]. Mrs. Gandhi's predecessors did not undo the bonds of foreign domination and fight for freedom so that they could be replaced 30 years later by authoritarianism. Her deviation from the path of democracy led to her inevitable downfall.

Bramble Senn Kiribathgoda, Sri Lanka

Indira Gandhi's mass sterilization program was ahead of its time. When the Third World is finally ready for it, it will be too late and Malthus will have been avenged.

M. George Haddad San Jose, Calif.

Sense of Worth

Bravo for Kenneth Koch, who is not only getting lovely poetry from our often neglected senior citizens [April 4], but is also helping them feel a sense of worth.

Trudy Porter Excelsior, Minn.

Koch's enthusiasm for these trite, clumsy attempts nicely illustrates the pitfalls of equating the therapeutic value of writing for self-expression with the artistic merit of the product. When I am old, I hope that people will not demean me by lavishing praise on things I do that are actually mediocre.

Diana F. Ackerman Providence

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