Jimmy Carter's Talent Hunt

To the Editors: Your cover picture [Dec. 20] is amusing. It coincided with my concept of President-elect Carter's present status--that of a little boy who learned to swim in mud holes and is now about to jump into a big pond, having no stump or overhanging branches.

His thoroughness in making his choices is to be commended. However, one can be thorough and still decide poorly.

John M. Caughman Greenville, S.C.

I sincerely hope that President Carter shows me what a fool I was to vote for his predecessor. Your coverage of the President-elect's carefully considered appointments leads me to believe this. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Charles N. Brooks Rochester, Mich.

A President-elect who, during only one week of Cabinet choices, not only draws the disapproval of Ralph Nader, but also will not appoint Bella Abzug as Secretary of Transportation can't be all bad.

Joseph Behr Danbury, Conn.

With the appointments of Messrs. Lance and Vance, I perceive a trend indicating that I am eminently qualified for a Cabinet-level position in the Carter Administration.

Jim Nance Lexington, N.C.

In these times when employers cannot ask questions about age, sex, religion, sexual orientation, etc., and cannot discriminate because of these factors, I find it ironic that so much detail on these matters was covered in your profiles of the candidates in Jimmy Carter's great talent hunt. I particularly find it offensive that it is important to know that one candidate married a farmer's daughter or that Blumenthal's parents were nonpracticing Jews. Isn't there enough to establish credentials without this? A person should be weighed on his merits and not on matters of personal and private concern.

Madeleine Tress San Francisco

Energy Savers

A stiff tax on gasoline [Dec. 20] to force conservation! Refuse from a horsebarn floor! Deregulate the price of domestic oil. Result: more revenue for our own oil companies as an incentive for increased domestic production, less dependence on foreign oil, and an inducement for conservation.

Let the free marketplace solve our energy problems. But no more tax revenue for our bureaucratic, inefficient, bungling Government which wouldn't recognize a comprehensive effective energy plan if it bit it. Our politicians have eyes only for the next election and not the next generation. James A. Derbique Two Rivers, Wis.

Your criticism of the Chicago Commonwealth Edison Co. commercial [Dec. 20] urging homeowners to leave house lights on as burglar protection is a good example of emotional but practically worthless means to conserve energy. A homeowner will pay from three to six cents, depending on area costs, to light a 100-watt bulb for ten hours --cheap burglar protection, even during an energy crisis.

Shopping centers that are open seven nights a week and evening sporting events that could be held Saturday or Sunday afternoons are better examples of light-energy abuse. No one suggests doing without a 1,000-watt hair dryer, or tells how to turn dishwasher switches through the drying cycle and open the door for air drying (the new models have an "energy saver" switch that does the same thing). Roy Stark Pensacola, Fla.

Oil as a source of energy is becoming not only prohibitively expensive, but its import is a drain on our economy. Why then is there silence about the use of alcohol as fuel for automobiles in place of gasoline? Its effectiveness has been established over the years by its use in racing cars. Studies show that it is at least equal to gasoline in its efficiency, creates less pollution, can be used in existing engines with only minor adjustment, and can be abundantly and cheaply produced in the U.S.

Ben Levin Los Angeles

Community Caprice

The behavior of the citizens at Eagle Point, Ore., [Dec. 20] presents a cogent case against local control of school systems. The right to a decent education is simply too important to be subject to the caprices of community conservatism and ignorance. Do these parents want to turn their young people into carbon copies of themselves? Gene Wright Madison, Wis.

Hooray for the parents of Eagle Point High School! We parents must pay the bill. We must demand to call the tune and run the schools. I've yet to see a job application form asking, "How many ball games did your school win?" Employers should expect the applicants to be able to read, write and do arithmetic. Frances Wideman Birmingham

One out of every ten teen-age girls in the U.S. becomes pregnant. Eagle Point's city councilwoman Janice Sether doesn't "like sex education in health class." Where does she prefer it--at the abortion clinic?

Marcia Brandes Atlanta

The Trains Are on Time

I am sick and tired of reading your reports about India [Dec. 20]. The only things you have to say are negative. Perhaps this sells well, but there are certain things that you should know.

1) U.S.-style democracy will not work in India. The years since independence should prove this. At least 70% of India's population is illiterate. What do they know about democracy? When people are hungry they need food. They don't give a damn about democracy.

2) Now about Indira Gandhi: I have just returned from India, and I am surprised to see the changes. For the first time food is available at reasonable prices. For the first time trains are running on time. For the first time the bureaucrats are doing their jobs. I am proud of Indira Gandhi.

K. Rahaman Rolla, Mo.

Forgiveness Is Big News

Let's hear it for Memphis Bishop Carroll T. Dozier [Dec. 20]. In one fell swoop, he raised divorced Catholics' morale sky high while simultaneously exposing some shadowy church law to the critical judgment of daylight. Dozier's decision to bestow general forgiveness of sins on some 12,000 Christians is big news today. In Christ's time it would have been a no-hum event. For Pete's sake, Christ came on earth to forgive.

The Rev. Edgar Holden Ministry to Divorced Catholics Archdiocese of Newark

More power to Bishop Dozier! The Eastern Orthodox Church permitted divorce and remarriage from ancient times. It would appear to be more Christlike for a church to communicate than to excommunicate. The latter, unhappily, has had little deterrent value.

Maurice V. Moriarty Inglewood, Calif.

Ballyhooed Peace

Northern Ireland's much ballyhooed "Peace Movement" [Dec. 13] owes its very existence to the British propaganda mills. It wouldn't have gotten off the ground had it not been devoted to peace on England's terms.

Richard T. Crowe Chicago

Marching will never do good until the real issues are faced. Bias in housing and employment, and internment without charges are the key problems.

Edward Clarke New York City

Misleading Impression

TIME'S highly flattering (Dec. 27) summary of my career was marred for me by the fact that the section entitled "U.S. Posture Abroad" conveys an incorrect and misleading impression of my views on how our foreign economic relations are currently being handled.

I am frankly dismayed that TIME could take some comments made informally on the telephone nine months ago, in reference to an earlier and quite different period, and present them out of context. Inevitably, many of your readers must simply have assumed that these comments were made in an interview on the occasion of my appointment. This is especially embarrassing and regrettable to me because it misrepresents my overall judgment of our government's current and recent performance in the foreign economic field and, in particular, fails to convey the high esteem I have for Secretary Kissinger's many remarkable contributions on behalf of our country.

W. Michael Blumenthal Secretary-designate Department of the Treasury Washington, D.C.

The Impenetrable Partition

In reply to T.E. Kalem's suggestion that "perhaps the Deep South is not ante-or post-bellum any more" [Dec. 6], I must tell you that, in fact, we are both. We have fully re-entered the Union--socially, economically and politically. We are here to stay and are proud to tell you so. Yet the words Yankee and carpetbagger are still very much a part of our vocabulary, representing a partition that will never quite be penetrated.

Richard C. Detwiler Columbia, S.C.

Genes ueber Alles

Sociobiology [Dec. 13] may be one of the most important developments of this century. The study itself does not place value judgments on human behavior but seeks to examine its roots--to find a unifying theme. If what we find is distasteful, we can move more efficiently to overcome it. The attempt to quash a line of inquiry on political grounds is, at the very least, the worst sort of anti-intellectualism.

Robert A. Wallace Durham, N.C.

Address Letters to TIME, Time & Life Building, Rockefeller Center, New York, N.Y. 10020

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.