Cleaning Up the Country

Sir / Bravo to the Supreme Court for its recent ruling on pornography [July 2]. It's about time we got tough with those greedy smut pushers and cleaned up America.

DAVID R. BLAKELY

Winchester, Mass.

Sir / The Supreme Court has destroyed the First Amendment and this nation's claim to freedom of expression. Congress is beginning to restore the balance of power in its relationship with the Executive Branch. Will Congress also have the guts to stand up to the Supreme Court and restore freedom of speech and press?

FRED N. BREUKELMAN

Dover, Del.

Sir / Chief Justice Burger's statement that "it is neither realistic nor constitutionally sound that the people of Maine or Mississippi accept public depiction of conduct found tolerable in Las Vegas or New York City" might be quite logical.

But wouldn't it be even more logical for each individual to decide what he finds tolerable or obscene?

Personally, I find billboards on the highways more offensive than porno books and movies. At least with porno books and movies a person has the option to either look or not, depending on his own taste or boredom threshold.

EDWARD NOBLE

San Francisco

Sir / Censorship is obscene and without any redeeming social value.

RICHARD L. KLASS

Silver Spring, Md.

Sir / Apropos of your dissertation on the Supreme Court's latest ruling on the definition of pornography, it might interest you to know that my aunt (age 89) considers TIME magazine to be pornographic.

DIXON LYON

Allenhurst, N.J.

Sir / As an American serviceman with a mission to protect the freedom of America against those who would take it from us, I find the greatest "clear and present danger" to that freedom in the Burger court decision on pornography and its far-reaching implications for repressive legislation.

KENNY J. STRICKLAND

Captain, U.S.A.

Amman, Jordan

Sir / Some tolerance of pornography is necessary, for if we distinguish it by its lack of "literary, artistic or scientific value," we put censors in the position of deciding what constitutes art, literature and science. Their previous record is lamentable.

The shift to local standards of obscenity recognizes that there are various viewpoints and considerable controversy on this issue, but these differences are not merely geographic. The existence of nationwide communication and distribution of information would force censorship to accommodate the lowest common denominator.

ALBERT T. LUNDE

Chicago

Nettles Island or Camperland?

Sir / What is the point of "getting away" if we must carry all of our paraphernalia with us to insulate ourselves from a new environment [July 2]? Like the American tour ists who asked the hotel clerk whether they were in the Paris or the Madrid Hilton, campers may soon be asking each other if this is Nettles Island or Camperland.

CHRISTOPHER C. BAKER

Boston

Sir / Not for me the spartan existence on lonely wilderness trails espoused by Philip Taubman. In the backwoods are the piercing cacophony of songbirds, the harassment by vicious chipmunks and other wild beasts, the choking fumes of wildflowers. Give me the trailer camp with the solidity of concrete beneath my feet, the rich aroma of half-burned gasoline, the reassuring hum of the flush toilet, the wall-to-wall people. Ah, the great outdoors!

GARY REINESS

New York City

The Growing List

Sir / After listening to the Watergate testimony, I would like to add my name to the list of people "unfriendly to the Nixon Administration."

RUTH M. WAGNER

Wilmington, Del.

Sir / Apparently the authors of the Nixon Administration's "enemies list" neglected to add what I hope in the end will be their greatest enemy, the Constitution of the U.S.

RICHARD G. LONG

University City, Mo.

Sir / There are many young men like myself who obeyed the law when we were drafted though we disagreed with the legality of the war. How many of the men involved in Watergate will emerge with an honorable discharge when all the facts are in? As one who has obeyed the laws even when I disagreed with them, I would like to register my vote for impeachment.

ROBERT J. GIACOBBE

Arlington, Mass.

Sir / The revelation of the secret lists is shocking. This is a police-state operation and reminds us of the lists that Adolf Hitler kept during the 1930s. It is disgusting that the present Administration is so paranoid that it considers anyone a traitor who disagrees with its political views.

(MRS.) FAYE WALLACE

Los Angeles

Sir / Do 245 pages make John Dean the world's biggest tattletale?

MELVIN P. KEISTER

Lake Jackson, Texas

That Bill for San Clemente

Sir / I realize that $703,367 is a lot of money, and I have lost much faith in President Nixon, but any person willing to accept the responsibilities of a President of these United States merits much more than we give him. I only wish that the American people would realize how much our Presidents deserve for the continuous problems they must face 24 hours a day.

BERNARD G. RUDER

Columbus

Sir / I feel the San Clemente property ought to be turned over to the public, with reasonable compensation to Mr. Nixon for his private investment, subsequent to his tenure as President. This nation, sprawling geographically and culturally as it does, needs a Western White House to let the people of that section feel a closeness to the Federal Government. However, for Mr. Nixon to retain the premises following his presidency would seem, at best, unethical.

ELIZABETH STORCH

Lockwood. N.Y.

Sir / With all the public moneys spent to improve the President's San Clemente home, I hope there is ample closet space for Pat's "respectable Republican cloth coat."

RAYMOND A. MCKEIGHAN

Southold, N.Y.

Brand New Plane

Sir / Your article "The U.S. Goes to Market" [June 18] discusses the export sales of our F-5E IFA. You accurately point out that a number of Latin American nations are interested in the airplane to meet their air defense needs. However, a remark attributed to an unidentified air force officer of another country incorrectly describes the F-5E as "surplus remodeled equipment."

The F-5E is a brand-new airplane, just beginning to come off the production line. The first production models are being delivered to the U.S. Air Force and deliveries will soon begin to the other countries that have selected the airplane in competition with those of other nations.

W.E. GASICH

Vice President and General Manager

Aircraft Division

Northrop Corp.

Hawthorne, Calif.

A Cheaper Way

Sir / Why does the U.S. spend billions of dollars to fight Communism in Southeast Asia only to turn completely about-face and subsidize wheat shipments to the Soviet Union [July 2]. Isn't this in effect helping to perpetuate Communism at its very hardcore source?

Would it not be cheaper for us if the average Russian living under Communism could feel the pangs of hunger to the point that he would have the courage to stand up and face his government in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation? Why should Americans feed Russians?

LAURA SMITH

Birmingham

Sir / Strictly in terms of what it will cost the American taxpayer, Russia looks better as an enemy than as a friend. Brezhnev came to Nixon as a friend in need, and everyone knows that a friend in need is a friend to avoid.

LES TUSUP

Mill Valley, Calif.

Talented Turncoat

Sir / Instead of prattling her sour grapes to TIME [July 2], Carrie Nye should have been struck speechless contemplating her affected performance in Divorce His/Divorce Hers.

Mr. and Mrs. Burton deserve to get roaring drunk recalling their idiocy in hiring this turncoat talent.

JOHN CARLYLE

Los Angeles

Sir / Please thank Actress Carrie Nye for providing the most enjoyable fit of hysterics I've had in years. That gal is in the wrong profession.

MRS. JAMES O. MCCOWN

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Advice from a Farmer

Sir / I appreciate TIME magazine and would advise the staff to buy broilers, eggs, pork and maybe beef wanted for eating after New Year's. Maybe you had better buy extra bacon because eggs won't be too good by then. As long as price ceilings stay on my 300-head, hog-finishing house will continue to stay empty regardless of what happens to feed prices.

I believe in a free marketing system rather than a huge bureaucratic control by a corrupt Administration, which needed George Meany's support.

I would also advise you to fill storage space with sugar, cocoa, tires and so forth each time export embargoes are put on. Signed, a past Nixon supporter twice over.

CLARENCE HUYGENS

Hospers, Iowa

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