(2 of 4)
Sir: You claim that " 'Mafia' means swank, dolled-up . . . beauty or pride." This is a latter-day meaning. Originally, this secret society was formed for good cause: to oust the despotic Bourbon kings and rulers in Italy. Mafia really stood for Movimento Anti Francesi Italiano Azione (Italian Action Movement Against the French). Its leaders became the respected rulers of Sicily.
S. O. MARCY Clifton Heights, Pa.
Jeremiah Indeed
Sir: It is an interesting measure of the relative priority given to various national goals that there have been periods in the past twelve months when several of the new "ecological Jeremiahs" [Aug. 15] that you mentioned wondered where the money was coming from to support training for a handful of students. For example, two of the so-called Jeremiahs have spent between them about 40 man-hours of effort negotiating with a major U.S. agency for support for a joint program to train one graduate student. The request to date has not been answered. You cannot imagine the bitterness I feel at the absurd discrepancy between the demands made on our time by the press and by politicians, which contrast so sharply with our inability to get the funds necessary to mount a program which makes sense in terms of the magnitude of the problems.
KENNETH E. F. WATT Professor of Zoology (Systems Ecologist) University of California Davis
Taking the Measure
Sir: I am stunned to realize, even in this cynical age, that Ted Kennedy has such utter disdain and contempt for the basic intelligence of the people he seeks to represent, and for their ability to measure deeds against empty words concocted in collaboration with his advisers. His reflex action toward self-perpetuation following crisis only underscores his lack of humanism and moral courage.
How well I remember the Senator's impassioned, albeit ill-advised charge of "irresponsible," which was leveled at the military. How very ironic that one of Webster's definitions for irresponsible is: "Not liable to be called to account or made to answer for actions."
DAVID E. LAUTHERS Major, U.S.A. A.P.O. San Francisco
Sir: We New Zealanders, because of our relative isolation from most of the world's wheeling and dealing, spend a lot of our time as mere spectators. Unfortunately, we cannot always cheer you on, and I, for one, am unable to rejoice at what many Americans are doing or would have done to Senator Edward Kennedy.
I would be saddened if yet another Kennedy should be expended in a futile and senseless fashion. They say that every country gets the politicians it deserves. If this is true, and if Edward Kennedy's success has come too easily, perhaps Americans should take a closer look at themselves and their political system.
NEIL D. BURGHAM Takapuna, New Zealand
Sir: There can be no excusing Markham and Gargan for their part in the tragedy. Whatever Senator Kennedy's condition, it was incumbent upon them, morally and ethically, to summon whatever help was necessary to remove the girl from the car as promptly as possible. Any intimation that they were constrained from doing so by the canon of legal ethics is a slander of the legal profession.
DANA C. COGGINS Westwood, Mass.