Labor Blues

To the Editors:

We must guarantee the right of gainful employment for all [Feb. 8]. To the 9.5 million unemployed the freedom to work is more important than other privileges that our society guarantees. Now is the time for a constitutional amendment to assure jobs for everyone.

Theodore W. Johnson Williamstown, Mass.

If we are all to be unemployed and starving, I would rather sink trying to change destiny than wait patiently for the inevitable. We have no choice but to give change a chance. Let's get it over with.

Karen Ann Jakuc Brooklyn

If the ranks of the jobless continue to swell, the nation might produce a new brand of Solidarity with a Lech Walesa waiting in the wings.

Joseph Platania Huntington, W. Va.

Even though I was a child of the Depression, I know that joblessness is much more than an economic disaster. My father was haunted all of his life by the doubts and fears he developed during those terrible years about himself and his ability to provide for his family.

Roberta Van Winkle Saratoga Springs, N. Y.

You report that Robert London was a Ford car salesman who drove a leased Mazda RX7. How inconsistent can a person be? I feel sorry for him, but can't he accept a little responsibility for the depressed U.S. auto situation?

Bob Lucas Brentwood, Mo.

Federalism Reviewed

I was not surprised to hear the Democratic Party's response to the State of the Union address [Feb. 8]. It makes it sound as if Carter and Mondale left us in paradise and President Reagan destroyed it all in one year. The Democrats had four years to get us off the merry-go-round of inflation, recession and high interest rates, but they failed.

Arnold Newman North Andover, Mass.

A potential problem for states under Reagan's new proposal is that inflation will force up the costs of programs. But it will not necessarily increase the revenue from the recommended funding, since excise taxes on gasoline, liquor and tobacco are fixed amounts per unit, and not percentages of sales prices.

Local officials will not want to vote continually to increase these taxes, and I would certainly not urge Americans to drink, smoke and drive more to provide revenue for government.

Bill Green

Representative, 18th District, New York Washington, D.C.

A major objection to President Reagan's plan seems to be the fear that some poor states may not be able to support new services. In cases where their cultural and aspirational goals are similar, they should combine to form regional groups.

Milton E. Bland Atlantic Beach, N.C.

Listening to President Reagan's State of the Union speech gave us the feeling we were being addressed by the captain of the Titanic, who was telling us everything would be fine because we were reversing the ship's engines.

Mr. and Mrs. James P. Flowers Yardley, Pa.

We finally have a President who is doing what he was elected to do. I'll be glad to see the states pay their own way. At least if I don't agree with the policies of elected officials, I can move to a state more in line with my thinking.

Mike Strickland Shreveport, La.

With a bold stroke, Ronald Reagan plans to make the U.S. one nation, divisible, with liberty and justice dependent on the vagaries of 50 states. Two hundred years of evolving into "one nation indivisible" will be wasted if the New Federalism takes effect.

John R. Taylor Billings, Mont.

Palestine According to Arafat

Yasser Arafat claims a Palestinian state would be "very democratic, liberal, nonaligned" [Feb. 8]--just like the states supporting him now: democratic Iraq, liberal Iran, nonaligned Cuba.

Raphael Fischler Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Arafat, who is thought of as one of the world's most feared terrorists, is nothing more than a man asking for international legality for his people. The Palestinians are a people without a country: kicked out of their homes and scattered all over the world as refugees.

Samir Anabi Yonkers, N. Y.

Arafat forgets that a Palestinian state was declared at the same time Israel came into being and was immediately occupied by Jordanian troops. There was no outcry for statehood until the Israelis drove the Jordanians out in 1967.

Philip Lempert Ithaca, N. Y.

Shunned Ghost

"Afterlife experiences," like those related in Dr. Michael Sabom's Recollections of Death [Feb. 8], can be ambivalent. While the narrators move endlessly through tunnels en route to mysterious, strange landscapes, deceased spirits of relatives encountered along the way appear to be going nowhere at all. One of Sabom's near-death subjects reports seeing his brother who had died in 1979, and who pushed him back saying, "You can't come here; there's no room." Talk about housing shortages! I think we should all stay where we are for as long as possible.

Alvin B. Lebar Metuchen, N.J.

My mother once worked with a home-nursing service. One of the ladies she visited had had a close brush with death. She used to tell my mom, "Don't worry, honey. There's nothing out there!"

Jenni Ting Marietta, Ohio

Nicaraguan Defense

Your article on Nicaragua, "A Whole New Universe" [Jan. 18], cites "sketchy local reports" of the killing of a number of Miskito Indians by members of the Nicaraguan army.

Indeed, the reports must be sketchy to the point of being false: Honduras' own Minister of Justice and president of the National Commission on Refugees denied on Jan. 6 that the killing ever took place, stating that "there has not been a single problem or a single death." In addition, a fact-finding mission of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees into areas in Honduras where the Miskito Indians live found "no evidence of violence, fighting or kidnaping." We have, however, provided concrete evidence (namely the bodies of Nicaraguan civilians) of aggressions by former members of Somoza's army, who launch raids into Nicaragua from Honduran territory with the support of some officers of the Honduran army.

Following the discovery of a plan by counterrevolutionary groups in Honduras to increase their attacks upon Miskito Indian villages in the border region, the inhabitants of the area were relocated to communities in the interior. Schools, health clinics, potable water have all been provided. Reagan Administration spokesmen, however, continue to call this repression so as to discredit Nicaragua and further justify U.S. support to the tottering government of El Salvador.

Alejandro Bendaha, Ambassador Alternate Permanent Representative of Nicaragua to the United Nations New York City

TIME was inaccurate in saying that Nicaraguan troops violated the Honduran border, but stands by its report that Nicaraguan soldiers fired on and killed Miskito Indians who were trying to avoid a roundup by crossing the river to reach Honduras.

Indexing Bats

Instead of collecting all those vampires and woodpeckers, the Smithsonian [Feb. 8] should follow the example of the old-fashioned maiden who never forgets how to say no to new offers.

Vera Laska Weston, Mass.

Would you really go to the Smithsonian to see 100,000 bats, 82,615 fleas and one pickled gorilla? What next, 1,000 California fruit flies?

Dan Zaborowski Meriden, Conn.

The Smithsonian need save no more than ten examples of any one category. President Reagan should go to China and personally replace the bricks from the Great Wall. Then the articles that are left could be auctioned off, and the proceeds used to pay part of the national debt.

Olive Thomas Los Angeles

Jesus Christ, Super Bowl

"If Jesus were alive today," says Norman Vincent Peale, "he would be at the Super Bowl [Feb. 8]." Since more people probably watched the game than attended church that day, the preceding Friday should have been declared a holiday so fans could properly meditate on the virtues of St. Montana and St. Anderson.

James S. Snow St. Simons Island, Ga.

Tom Callahan says "sacred imagery is almost irresistible" at the Super Bowl. Did he think it a wonder that St. Francis overcame mortal Cincinnati?

Joseph N. Sweeney Silver Spring, Md.

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