Stop Bombarding Me, Stop!

To the Editors:

If Drs. Laing and Cole are still unsure of what mental illness is, the answer is on the cover [April 12], which clearly depicts insanity in all its glory.

Frederick M. Burkle Jr., M.D. Hanover, N.H.

Who made the weapon this man holds? Who filled the mind this man possesses? Who and what made him hate other men so much that he would murder them and pose above their bodies with flowers? We all had better take a lasting look at this picture. All of us are somewhere in it.

Gary H. Gamage York, Pa.

Stop bombarding me and my daughter with these horrible examples of "brotherly love." Stop, stop, stop!

Carolyn Du Vall Columbus

I expect that you will justify the publication of such photos with "the people's right to know," "freedom of the press," or a "valid illustration of the horrors of war."

If that be the case, I hereby waive my right to know what a man's blown-off head looks like.

Roderick D. Andersson Seaford, N. Y.

It's about time the masses see in such vivid detail the horrors of war. Don't sway from your conviction that you should show us what is actually happening in this world, even if in the process it turns some of our stomachs.

Eric S. Nelson Portland, Ore.

The killer actually thinks he has accomplished something toward the betterment of mankind. He even brought flowers to the wake. God help us all.

Karen Clapp Phaneuf Dallas

If this is how Arabs treat fellow Arabs, can you imagine how they would treat Israelis, given half a chance?

Norbert Y. Zucker Potomac, Md.

So the Israelis not only have nuclear weapons but they massacre innocent people in an airliner and they try to shoot down an American pilot? Their morals are no better than the Nazis'.

Rob Doorack

White Plains, N. Y.

The U.S. has assisted in arming a 30-year-old fledgling nation, which has been reared in a climate of nearly constant war, with some of the most devastating weapons devised by man.

It is time for Uncle Sam to exert some guiding influence and remove the specter of nuclear catastrophe from the already tragic situation in the Middle East.

Thomas Baer Chicago

To expect the tiny state of Israel to ward off the combined attack of 20 Arab states, the Soviet Union and her satellites without the Bomb is like having had David tackle an army of Goliaths without the slingshot.

George Sauer South Orange, N.J.

Liberty or Lust?

Fie on the porno peddlers who profit from ignorance and lust [April 5]. Fie on the libertines who raise phony cries of censorship. And fie on the decent folk whose self-righteous apathy has permitted this appalling advanced case of acne to creep across the face of America.

(Mrs.) Jean G. Tuthill Denver

I feel a personal affront from you self-righteous busybodies, fraught with your fears that somebody, somewhere, might be enjoying something other than the watery sustenance of Bible Belt standards for sexual normality.

Charles W. Maloney Baltimore

Pornography signals the sexual awakening of a generation of Americans who were taught as children to equate sex with evil and sin. The extent of fascination with sadomasochism, bestiality and other esoteric forms of sex is a measure of the damage done to the human spirit by the repression of natural feelings. The challenge is not to "control" pornography but to find ways to aid our children in achieving a sexual maturity based on the sharing of love and devoid of violence and hate.

Juan A. Mocega Jr. Milwaukee

Sodomy Watch

Re "A No to Sodomy" [April 12]: are the esteemed Supreme Court judges planning to hide under the beds of 80% of all U.S. adults, hoping to catch someone in the act?

Peggy Brisky Middletown, N. Y.

The court's ruling relegates a large majority of the populace to the category of ''closet criminal." This is a new low in civil liberties.

James Herd

Iowa City, Iowa

Taking a Life

Some people are stupid in voicing their objections to the death penalty [April 12]. It is only common sense that hardened criminals, and most certainly murderers, should be put to death before they can put to death someone else.

Etheridge Grant Ojai, Calif.

No, no, no! The death penalty is wrong! Rehabilitation has admittedly failed to accomplish its goals, but is something as barbaric and unchristian as execution the answer? Certainly anyone who takes the life of another deserves punishment. But what gives any court of humans the right to decide who shall live and who shall die? That is the prerogative of a higher power, not ours.

Ellen R. Me Daniel Cumberland, Md.

When a person is convicted of murder and sentenced to be executed, an automatic appeal should go to the Supreme Court. Let the court make its decision within a week. If that decision is that the verdict was fair in light of all the evidence presented, then the sentence should be enforced within another week and the murderer executed.

It is the immediacy of a sentence's execution that will stop people from killing other people. If murderers know that they can appeal again and again, if they have more rights than their victims, who cannot appeal, then we will never have a society that does not have to fear murder.

Robert C. Morgen Skokie, Ill.

Weeder Griffith

As I read Thomas Griffith's "Newswatch" column that depicted the caprices of Washington's journalism set [April 12], I felt an immense relief. The press is finally beginning to weed its own flower bed.

Bruce R. Dooley Phoenixville, Pa.

Sickeningly Biased

I find your coverage of the primary campaign [April 12] sickeningly biased. It's my opinion that you've been taken in by a phony, self-righteous, all too typical politician: Jimmy Carter.

For city folk, you're really bush.

Jim Anderson Carterville, Ill.

Candidate Jimmy Carter can rest assured that this black man's vote in the upcoming May primary in Texas will not "intrude" on the "ethnic purity" of his constituency.

Michael Tidwell San Antonio

TIME wrote a piece on why Jimmy Carter appeals to black voters. In that article you quoted me and identified me as a "black leader."

I consider this journalistic racism.

No one refers to George Wallace as a "white Governor" or Gerald Ford as a "white President." If a label must be attached to my leadership, as a minister of the gospel I prefer "moral leader."

Moral leadership, which essentially deals with ideas and values, is a universal category. Black is not.

(The Rev.) Jesse L. Jackson Chicago

Original Sin

Your story concerning Christian Science [March 15] included a litany of allegations by a church member. In limited space, it would be impossible to correct some without giving the impression of ignoring others. But TIME'S addition of its own "original" mistake --giving a figure of 500 churches disbanded, or 70% more than actually --does need correction.

J. Buroughs Stokes

Manager, Committees on Publication

The First Church of Christ, Scientist

Boston

TIME Dismembered

TIME has given a seriously wrong impression of my book on Lyndon Johnson [April 19]. That work is a respectful study of a man whom I greatly admired and who, had it not been for Viet Nam, would have been a President of unequaled achievement. We now seem to revel in destroying our past--its achievements, leaders, events. In this case it is TIME, and not my book, that adds to this lamentable and universal dismemberment.

Doris Kearns Miami

TIME'S story simply reported the book's portrayal of L.B.J.

For the Defense

I am quoted in reference to the Hearst case without any indication that I was associated with the trial defense [March 29]. In an earlier issue, TIME did identify me as having assisted Bailey in trial preparation, and I have indicated my role to all the reporters to whom 1 have spoken.

Alan M. Dershowitz

Professor of Law

Harvard Law School

Cambridge, Mass.

Keep Out

In the past 15 years the earth's population has increased by a billion, and still they're coming faster [April 51. They wouldn't if they knew what it costs to live here. There ought to be some place we can post a sign.

Paul Burleigh Santa Barbara, Calif.

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