Standing Tall

To the Editors:

Our nation had a patriotic bath with the hostage release and Inauguration ceremonies [Feb. 2]. Now let's see how long we stay clean.

Lois Perison Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.

What a week! America and Americans stood 10 ft. tall. How great it felt!

Pat Halberstadt Dallas

Long live the Red, White and Blue! And let us welcome the yellow ribbon, our new symbol of care and courage.

Judy Baker Bothell, Wash.

We Americans are so in need of self esteem that we give a heroes' welcome to people who simply endured as captives. Neither we nor the hostages earned the right to the celebration we shared.

James A. Kern Miami

Thank goodness they are home. But will our emotions blind us to the events that led to the embassy seizure? The U.S. role in reinstalling the Shah in 1953 and our continued support were as inexcusable as Iran's recent behavior. The hostages suffered for America's sins.

Stephen McCurdy San Francisco

I do not want to take away anything from the joy of the hostages' return, but we should think about the Viet Nam veterans and P.O.W.s, who were subjected to a lot more hell and for much longer than were the hostages, and who were ridiculed for doing what their country asked. Paula K. Randall Taos, N. Mex.

We must not let our joy blind us to reality. The British made a patriotic myth out of Dunkirk, based on courage and exertion, but Dunkirk was still a staggering defeat. The overthrow of the Shah by Khomeini was a defeat for American foreign policy, heightened by our impotence during the hostage crisis. We are still in serious trouble in the Persian Gulf. That is what we have to remember.

William Allardice Knoxville, Tenn.

Needed: Experience

The ultrarestrictive provisions of the new Ethics in Government law [Jan. 26] are not "worth the price." At the beginning of World War II, executives in the War Production Board were not permitted to have any official relationship with their own industries. Inefficiency was rampant. The U.S. appeared to be losing the war. Then the rules were changed, and men were given responsibilities related to their prior experience. Thereafter, war production went very well, and our forces were supplied with the material required for victory.

Our Government must have men and women of outstanding ability, and I am sure they will be found overwhelmingly to be honorable and patriotic.

Joseph L. Block Chicago

Block, chairman of the Inland Steel Co. from 1959 to 1967, was a member of the War Production Board's steel division.

Good Government?

Hugh Sidey's statement [Feb. 2] that Government is "the heart that nourishes and protects the body" of liberty "by both its actions and its self-restraints" is contrary to the principle upon which our nation was founded.

Liberty has never come from any Government. Liberty comes from the limitation of the power of Government, whose very nature is force, threatened or applied. Unfortunately, Government is necessary to protect citizens from other nations and from one another, but allowing it to do more threatens our freedom.

Joel Brown Chariton, Iowa

Computers and Crime

In your story "Superzapping in Computerland" [Jan. 12], Donn Parker, a scholar in electronic theft, says that "by the end of the 1980s, computer crime could cause economic chaos." That is an understatement, not an exaggeration.

I am currently serving a state and federal sentence for "accessing" systems. I can guarantee you that complex cryptographic devices will never safeguard computers for long. The very nature of computerization is quick and easy access. That's why computers were developed and have enjoyed such tremendous growth. People don't take computer thieves seriously. I would not be surprised if the underage "compulopers" that you described in your story have already received job offers from IBM. I have a thick file of my own offers, which started coming in immediately after my crime was publicized and have continued unabated through 1 1/2 years of imprisonment.

Daniel Moody, A90266 Pontiac Correctional Center, Ill.

The incidence of computer-related crime involving theft or fraud of large sums of money is insignificant when compared with all other white-collar crime.

Between the invention of the computer and 1975, there were 381 known incidents of computer abuse reported worldwide, and of these cases only 77 were verified. After all, the computer is an ignorant machine--an unwitting instrument of a criminal.

Vico E. Henriques, President Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturers Association Washington, D.C.

Genes and Behavior

It is unfortunate that TIME chose to intimate [Jan. 26] that our forthcoming book, Genes, Mind and Culture, which is primarily a technical monograph, might somehow justify eugenics and racism, even indirectly. To suggest that unpleasant forms of human behavior such as racism have a partial genetic basis is not to recommend them. Quite the contrary. By analyzing the biological basis for this conduct, we can provide better procedures for avoiding destructive behavior, in the same way that we can circumvent diabetes and hereditary enzyme deficiencies.

Charles Lumsden Edward O. Wilson Cambridge, Mass.

Sharing the Light

Richard Corliss's laudatory review of Let There Be Light [Jan. 19] is gratifying but I wish to correct his ascribing sole writing credit to John Huston. I dance with Army records, credit should read "Written by Charles Kaufman and John Huston." Our twelve weeks of filming at Mason Hospital was a rewarding experience, and whatever the value of my share, tribute must be paid not only to Huston for his uncompromising adherence to truth, but to those anonymous G.I.s who shared with us and the camera the pain of their shattered psyches, their hopes and their joy in the prospect of regaining a normal life.

Charles Kaufman Los Angeles

Strategic Seating

T.E. Kalem's review of Macbeth [Feb. 2] states that the guests at the feast are seated at one side of a long table resembling Da Vinci's The Last Supper, "thus carrying resonances of sacrilege." Actually it carries resonances of historical accuracy. In early times it was customary for all diners to be seated on one side of the table with their backs to the wall, the better to leap into battle should the hall be invaded by enemies.

Miranda A. Mannia Bear, Del.

Acts of Mercy, Not Politics

There have been statements in the press that the nuns who were killed in El Salvador were not just nuns but were also political activists. I spent two weeks with Sister Dorothy Kazel, who was a personal friend, and Sister Jean Donovan in El Salvador. Naturally, we discussed conditions in that country, and I assure you that Dorothy and Jean had nothing to do with the Frente or any other leftist organization. They told me that they were forever reminding several young men of the parish who they knew were involved in political groups that violence and bloodshed are not the Christian response to injustice and oppression.

I know that all four of the murdered nuns were performing works of mercy for poor refugees: feeding, clothing, finding shelters and medical supplies for them; in short, trying to provide some modicum of decency of life in a situation of turmoil, inhumanity and fear. Is this political activity? Is it political to take the Gospel seriously and try to live by its values?

Sister Sheila Marie Tobbe Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Non-Drivers Unite!

My husband and I enjoyed your article on people who do not drive [Jan. 26]. Until three years ago, we were typical suburbanites wedded to our cars. But in the fall of 1977 we began walking or taking the bus almost everywhere. I estimate that we must walk between 35 and 40 miles a week. This has improved our health, introduced us to our neighbors (who often offer us rides), and freed us from feelings of guilt and fury over the energy situation.

Betsy Kaido Albany

As a nondriver, I can truly sympathize with Art Buchwald's problems in trying to cash a check. Without a driver's license, I was unable to purchase a bottle of Burgundy at the grocery store. They did not think I was of drinking age. I guess what they were saying was that I needed a license to drink.

Julie Gottlieb Cincinnati

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