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Perhaps the real cover-up concerns the Air Force's waste of taxpayer money in releasing spy balloons in the U.S. instead of in Europe or Asia and dropping dwarf dummies just to make sure that gravity still exists. When the extraterrestrials officially land, we should sue for damages arising from the mindless hysteria they have caused. BRUCE C. JEWETT Belmont, Calif.
The only thing from Roswell that is out of this world is Demi Moore. Now that is a heavenly body! TONY PASSANISI San Francisco
ENDING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Is affirmative-action opponent Ward Connerly [NATION, June 23] the Martin Luther King Jr. of our time? King fought against entrenched racism, sought equal rights for all Americans and met vicious opposition. Connerly is fighting an entrenched reverse racism in the name of the same cause and meets vicious opposition as well. But as we stand with Connerly, we shall overcome. THOMAS A. HEPPENHEIMER Fountain Valley, Calif.
Connerly may be correct when he states that "we have used racial preferences to prop up a system of artificial diversity instead of doing the heavy lifting that leads to real equality." His desire to see affirmative action dismantled, however, is premature. Using Connerly's metaphor, wouldn't it be wiser to do the heavy lifting first, thus building a solid foundation before hastily tearing down the prop? That way, no one will end up under a pile of rubble. KURT TEZEL Merritt Island, Fla.
The mixture of antidiscrimination legislation, quotas and affirmative action is a policy of folly. Demanding affirmative-action employment and education preferences does not advance the struggle for equity or fairness when the applicants refuse to educate themselves and do not support academic excellence by their peers. The inevitable response is that intolerance grows. MICHAEL SAMUELS New York City
As a teacher in the U.S. during the early '70s, I realized that achievement through persistence, self-discipline and hard work fosters self-esteem, self-reliance and many other positive qualities. Racism is bred in homes where children are deprived of the motivation that helps them to achieve. It is not racism that is a deterrent to success, but ignorance and personal vices. Minorities need only equal opportunity, education, pay and fair treatment. Like Connerly, I see myself as a color-blind American. Minorities will never be considered equal until they see themselves that way--as humans and Americans, not as minorities. CHRISTINE JONES Barcelona, Venezuela
INDEPENDENT COUNSEL RESPONDS