Thatcher Wins

To the Editors:

It is about time a major nation has realized the potential of a woman. Congratulations, Margaret Thatcher [May 14]!

Now, will the American Margaret Thatcher please stand up for 1980?

John H. Ferguson V Mount Airy, Md.

With Thatcher & Co. in office in Great Britain, may God have mercy upon her victims, Irish, Indians, Pakistanis and blacks.

Kenneth Tierney Yonkers, N. Y.

Your cover painting caught the lady's spirit, iron will and plain old-fashioned spunk! O, that we had a lady like her here to run circles around Jimmy Carter!

Mary P. Felter Arnold, Md.

If our presidential hopefuls learn one thing from the elections in Great Britain, let it be that they can win a campaign by saying what they feel, not what they think the public wants to hear.

Keith A. Vandenbergh Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

Margaret Thatcher is more beautiful than either Cheryl Tiegs or Cher, and furthermore, she has brains. She has carved for herself a place in history in which she will rest secure long after sagging breasts and graying hair have felled those sex symbols.

Carolyn Foust Memphis

Cents-able Cars

I bet that the fuel-saving Moodymobile [May 14] will never make it because it makes too much sense--and not enough dollars and cents for Big Oil or the car companies.

John Ricciuti Quincy, Mass.

Two creative people spent six weeks and $10,000 to alter a conventional car, and by utilizing available components achieved fuel consumption of 57.2 to 80 m.p.g. Meanwhile, in another story, you describe how carmakers are throwing away valuable time and resources on developing a dashboard that talks. The idea that the industry cannot develop a more efficient car is foolish. Even the Moodymobile can accelerate faster than the mossbacks in Detroit.

Barney Burke Ann Arbor, Mich.

Alliterative Autos

Herewith our further nominations for the titles of your "audible autos" [May 14]: pontificating Pontiacs, orating Oldsmobiles, garrulous Gremlins, muttering MGs, tittering Thunderbirds, chattering Corvettes, vociferous Volvos, conversant Cadillacs, stuttering Saabs and the omnipresent voluble Volkswagens. We favor articulate, not to mention alliterative, automobiles!

Ellen Langill Hartland, Wis.

A Jewish Scholar and Jesus

May God's richest blessings continue to follow Orthodox Jewish Scholar Pinchas Lapide [May 7]. His teachings concerning Jesus, the Christ of my faith, may indeed do much to unite Jew and Christian in a spirit of love and respect as we go our separate ways.

Ralph J. Keller Nesconset, N. Y.

What can it profit either a Christian to profess faith without the benefit of belief in the Resurrection, or a Jew to believe in the Resurrection without the benefit of Christian faith? Perhaps one should, as Lapide has, enter theological study of the New Testament without the shackles of Christian faith. On the other hand, it could also be argued that there can be no meaningful theological study of the New Testament without the benefit of Christian faith.

Jean C. Spaans Gaithersburg, Md.

As a religious Jew, I resent and question Pinchas Lapide's claim that he is an Orthodox Jew. The fact is that one who believes in Jesus' Resurrection is obviously not a Jew, let alone an Orthodox Jew.

Harry Marmer Downsview, Ont.

Pinchas Lapide's logic escapes me. He believes it is a possibility that Jesus was resurrected by God. At the same time he does not accept Jesus as the Messiah. But Jesus said that he was the Messiah. Why would God resurrect a liar?

Eva Zaleckas Skillman, N.J.

Lapide says that Christianity "stands or falls" on the Easter story. No! This is only the view of the fundamentalist. Many Christians believe that their religion stands on what Christ taught about life after birth, not life after death. What he taught about structuring love to fight for justice, laying down arms, accepting all men as brothers, nursing the sick, feeding the hungry, loving all mankind, is what makes life worth living, whether the tomb was empty or not.

Rhett Jackson Columbia, S.C.

Cable TV's Capabilities

Despite cable television's potential [May 7] to supply "diversified" programming for select audiences, to date it has given us nothing more than a duplication of the commercial television it promises to replace. I'm tired of hearing what cable can do, and would very much like seeing on the screen right before my eyes what cable TV's capabilities are.

Glenn Rossman Massapequa Park, N. Y.

Your article covered the statistics, mechanics and variety of cable TV. But it did not give us the real story: each member of the family with his very own set, plugged into his very own fantasy world. Ten years ago, the feeling was that we were becoming a nation of observers instead of doers. I hope I miss my guess, but in another ten years, this ever increasing number of observers may swell into a citizenry of intellectual zombies.

Robert M. Miller Jr. Jacksonville

Over the Cuckoo Clock's Nest

Your phrase "Winterthur will not soon forget the time the cuckoos escaped from their clocks" [May 7] is very nice; yet, alas, cuckoo clocks have their origin in the Black Forest, and have absolutely nothing to do with Switzerland.

Christine A. von Planta Arlesheim, Switzerland

Emigration and Human Rights

Your article on the two Russian families living in the U.S. embassy in Moscow [April 23] minimized one of the most disturbing aspects of the case: the shameful lack of support and even hostility exhibited by the American embassy. Though physically well cared for, they have been the victims of Ambassador Malcolm Toon's relentless efforts to isolate and discourage them. He has deprived them of letters of support. Embassy officials constantly urge them to leave, naively assuring these victims of years of Soviet internment that by so doing they will be better off.

At the very least, should not the Soviets be required to honor past international agreements respecting emigration and human rights before we sign new ones with them? Let them demonstrate good faith and allow these Christians, and all others who wish it, to emigrate.

Vladimir K. Bukovsky Cambridge, England

Hemophiliac's Happy Life

I am a 17-year-old hemophiliac with a severe factor VIII deficiency. Your article [May 14] left the impression that abortion is the only answer. Although I will admit that the disease has given me certain problems, the common fallacy that a hemophiliac will die from a cut or a loss of a tooth is complete nonsense. Hemophilia can be overcome, and does not mean life will be a terrible adventure. I cannot take factor VIII injections due to an antibody buildup, or inhibitor, yet I am still able to lead a very happy, fairly normal life.

Jimmy Mueller Oklahoma City

No Place for the Shah

You suggest that there is a possibility that the former Shah of Iran could go to New Zealand [May 7]. The New Zealand government could not accede to any request made by him or on his behalf. This was made clear as long ago as March 30 in a statement issued by the New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Merwyn Norrish

Ambassador of New Zealand

Washington, D.C.

Carter's Tight Tummy

Please! How can you allow such inappropriate use of a word like the President's "jogs along the Atlantic had tightened a stomach [sic] already impressively taut..." [May 7]? Really now! The stomach is an organ within the abdomen, as are the liver, spleen, kidney, pancreas and others. If you meant a taut abdomen, or abdominal muscles, or belly, say so.

Merlin L. Bru baker, M.D. San Juan, Puerto Rico

Cooking that Goosefish

It is true that the monkfish (a kind of goosefish) [May 14] is prized for its tail. However, a high percentage of the adult animals from the Atlantic have parasitic infections that localize along the sides of these tail muscles. Since little is known about these parasites, all potential goosefish connoisseurs should not attempt dishes served less than medium rare.

Earl Weidner

Marine Biological Laboratory Woods Hole, Mass.

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