Time for Muscle

Sir / Shame! Shame on an Administration that seeks budget cuts at the expense of Viet Nam veterans [March 12] by reducing educational benefits and compensation to disabled vets and further downgrading services at VA hospitals.

If we were still in the war, would monetary savings be effected by giving wood and knives to amputees to whittle their own prostheses, while immobile paraplegics and quadriplegics look on?

This is "peace with honor"? Come on, Congress; this is a good time to show your muscle.

JANET L. PATHAK

Tucson

Sir / The Nixon 1974 budget cut of $277 million is in my mind a sadistic act. It seems unjust, does it not, to take more away from our returning and present veterans? Is it not enough that these men have fought for their country? Must they come home and find that there is not enough help for their broken and maimed bodies? It makes one think that the war protesters were right in asking, "What are we doing in Viet Nam; why are we there?"

(MRS.) BEVERLY GARAVAGLIA

Detroit

Sir / There is something odious and all too American about the contrived emotionalism and crass commercialism lavished upon a few hundred ex-prisoners of war, and the dehumanizing indifference in which thousands of war-maimed veterans are doomed to live out their shattered lives.

The universal patriotism and valor of the P.O.W.s has by no means been established, but the sacrifices of the multiple amputees are irrefutable.

KENNETH A. LABAND

Lompoc, Calif.

The Other Cheek

Sir / After reading your Essay "On Providing Aid to Yesterday's Enemies" [March 5], I wonder if maybe we haven't turned the other cheek once too often.

VIRGINIA M. BROCKIE

Scottsdale, Ariz.

Sir / Does the U.S. Government think American families are made of money? For the past ten years, my parents have paid their taxes to destroy North Viet Nam, and I oppose paying mine to rebuild it.

LISA WHITNEY

Waynesboro, Pa.

Sir / I thought that we had learned from our past foreign policies that very rarely can America buy friends or peace.

JIMMY LAWRENCE

Houston

Sir / 1984 is closer than we think. We have switched alliances so many times in the past 20 years that I can't remember whom I'm supposed to hate!

NANCY PREVELE

Seattle

Wounded Knee

Sir / The altercation at Wounded Knee, S. Dak. [March 12], serves to point out the desperate plight of the American Indian. Symbolic of Indian treatment. Wounded Knee bleeds and festers with an indignant discontent indicative that change is needed, and needed quickly. Violence can never be condoned, but something must be tremendously awry in our society if only through violence can minorities progress out of poverty and ignorance. If America does not heal its Wounded Knee, it will become crippled for life.

KENNETH D. SCHROEDER JR. RHONDA CAROL MCGEE

Columbia. Md.

Sir / Parts of your article on "Raid at Wounded Knee" would be laughable if they were not tragic, especially "a backlash from an angry white majority." Are you serious? Angry white?

I am mortified to be a member of that white race, lest I be mistaken for the ignorant, vicious, crooked angry white that unfortunately is in the majority in the country.

VERONICA SCOTT

Atlanta

Sir / Negotiate, hell! Where's the Seventh Cavalry?

PETER PEEL

Los Angeles

Versatile Pants

Sir / In your story "Slaughter on Seventh Avenue" [March 12] you say "many women are still shying away from dresses and skirts of any sort, and playing it safe fashionwise by choosing pantsuits."

I would like to point out that rather than choosing pantsuits in a dither of fashion uncertainty, women are more likely choosing them because they surpass skirts in both comfort and versatility.

L.R. OLTON

Phoenix, Md.

Sir / If the dress manufacturers of Seventh Avenue think that shirtwaist dresses are the answer, they are crazy. This style is frumpy. It is blatantly obvious that since the midi fiasco most of Seventh Avenue is grabbing at anything, hoping something will work.

PAT HENNESSY

New York City

Pious Deprogrammers

Sir / Has this country gone mad? Kidnaping for Christ [March 12]? Deprogramming for Jesus? What is going on?

These so-called pious deprogrammers are just as bad as the Children of God. They're telling you that their way is the only way, the right way. Also, this group of vigilantes is practicing a form of religious persecution.

I'm no Jesus freak, but I still think these deprogrammers are nuts.

MATTHEW STJEPCEVICH

Austin, Texas

Sir / As an 18-year-old who has already been an ardent member of the Jesus movement and had the chance to see through and beyond it on my own, I am completely opposed to the technique of kidnaping and intimidation that these people employ in "deprogramming."

It doesn't matter who they are, parents or religious fanatics; the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion to all.

I believe that every human being has the right to make (and correct) his own mistakes.

MOLLIE TAFARO

Montclair, N.J.

Sir / You may not agree with Ted Patrick's abduction techniques, but when a member of your family has been brainwashed by this frightening cult, there may be no other recourse. Do you believe that subjecting a person to daily distorted religious and anti-American propaganda is a sincere reflection of the Christian life?

Any young person who finds it difficult to cope with society, who has an emotional problem or is a heavy user of drugs is a prime target for the tentacles of the Children of God. I know. I spent three months in England trying to persuade my 19-year-old sister to leave the cult. It is pathetic to look at a member of your family and realize that she spends her life in a dank, condemned warehouse with no gainful employment, begging for food and clothing, studying the Bible by day and witnessing for Christ by night. She is no longer my sister but unwittingly the robot of a group of glory-seeking, money-oriented religious fanatics.

DONALD M. HARRISON

Denver

Sir / It is unfair to compare the deprogramming techniques of Ted Patrick and concerned relatives with any "brain-blowing technique" designed to rob the individual of his free will. Anyone who has ever listened to the senseless incantations parroted by members of the Children of God, and observed their unquestioning acceptance of arbitrary authority and misunderstood doctrine, realizes that members of such sects no longer have any free will or individuality. Members of the Children of God and groups like it have abrogated their responsibility and free will in return for easy answers and pseudo security.

EUNICE JORDAN

Pullman, Wash.

The Brave

Sir / Your report on the investigation at Stanford Research Institute of the psychic power of Uri Geller [March 12] is shocking. There are good aspects, yes: first, that SRI and the team of physicists dared to examine Geller's claims; second, that the funds could be raised to pay the bill.

But the bad features are horrid. Examination of such claims called for special experience and test precautions that are not part of a physicist's expertise. The premature publicity itself is simply unpardonable and may seriously damage the scientific image of parapsychology. Yet these men may be less amateurish than they appear, and they are certainly brave. Let us wait for the full report.

J.B. RHINE

Institute of Parapsychology

Durham, N.C.

Pleasantly Deranged

Sir / In your admiring review of Ten from Your Show of Shows [March 12], your reviewer stated that the scripts were written by "pleasantly deranged writers (Mel Tolkin, Lucille Kallen and the young Mel Brooks among them)."

Since I was the only other credited writer in the film's press release, I would like to assure you that the young Tony Webster was as pleasantly deranged as anybody there.

TONY WEBSTER

Los Angeles

The Queen's Troubles

Sir / What was troubling Queen Elizabeth while she was watching the parade of elephants [March 12]?

The answer is obvious: "My girdle is killing me!"

WILLIAM R. TEDRICK

Boonville, Mo.

Sir / Why should the Queen tell? All she is trying to do is stash a handbag in a comfortable position so that she may have her hands free to use the camera to take pictures of the elephants. Or hold a teacup.

ALICE OSTERMAN

Northfield, Conn.

Sir / Maybe the Queen was trying to retrieve something from her purse which she had already placed behind her

BARBARA W KOIRO

San Diego

Sir / My guess is that the Queen felt an insect crawling down her back, and it suddenly bit her.

FLORENCE LYONS

Lexington, Ky

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.