HUMAN RIGHTS AT HOME

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Argentina Declassification Project - The "Dirty War" (1976-83)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05263062
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: April 3, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 12, 2019

Issu
Si:
. �
� , �
By,BE
�
Wt
ago.'
tonic
joint
. that
!'wo
�
rein.
It s
bet
� to�
an I
tr.'
� s
� (
Approvedfor Release: 2018/10/02 C05263062'
, V 44"
IIP
THE NEW YOIZX TIMES MOHDA.KFE
Human
Rights
At Home
By Anthony Lewis
� " �
B� OSTON, Feb. 26�For 20 years;
from 1953.6.1973, the C.I.A. secretly
went through bags of international
mail . in New York and other postal
centers, opened. first-class, letters to
and from- Ainericans and made-copies.
.Altogether � it copied at lenst..215,000
letters and. fed. 1.5 milliOn�^7names ,
gleaned from the rnail-openingproject'
into computers.�,..1. , � �
Last August. three citizens eirhose
letters had been opened. won � etuit
against the Government�ter invasion
of theire:privacy;FederakeJtidge,�-�JaCk
B. Weinstein.. of BrooklynaWarded
the three,,victims� $1';000�each, in dam-
ages: Judge..:Weinstein-'WrOte:,.
this.,�country we ,ao.:riat:pay.
lip service -tO the value', of,z,human -
rights incizindividual ''dignity� we
mean to livel.by our ,��
The Department- of Justice--'.Jimmy
Carter's Department of Justicir
now appealFIXTEV�rdicsionde-
partment bnef says it not argue
that the actions of the C.I.A. in this ,
case were: legal: or- Constitutional,'
N. But Federal law; 1 argues, gives the
victims no 'remedy against the Gov-
ernment. And in any event, $1,000
in damages was "excessive.�. . � .
� The case is one more example of -
a. depressing trend in the. Carter Ad-
ministration. While. the President and
others rightly talk about the impel--;
tance of his human rights - policy
abroad, the Justice Department re-
acts with insensitivity and pettifog-
gery on issues of civil liberty at home.
One thing made this an especially
compelling case. Although the final
decision in damage suits against the
Government is left to judges, Judge:
Weinstein had an � advisory jury hear
the evidence and � give 'its opinions.
Three jurors wanted to 'award $10,000
to each. plaintiff, one suggested $2,500
and the, other eight called for $5,000;
In effect, there was an extraordi-
nary statement of public feeling about
Government wrongdoing. Some- jurors, �
when 'polled, said specifically that it
was important to showe the Govern-
ment it could not trample ,on people'si
rights and get away with it. "It was,:
instructive," � Judge Weinstein � said,..
that. jurors of sharply different back-i
grounds all found that the mail-open-
ing 'victims had "suffered substantial
damages". .� .
The- three people involved In the
'case had. no idea originally that their:
mail had been opened. Each made a
general request under the Freedom; of
Information.Act to see what the C.I.A...
had under his or her name, and was,
told that 'a personal letter was in the
. files: Then each sued. � ,
()Norman Birnbaum, professor of�so-'-
ciology'at Amherst, wrote to a facul-
ty member at Moscow University in
1970 about an upcoming conference on-
the ' sociology of religion. ,The letter
was opened and four copies distributed
to various C.I.A. units that had, it. was
said, an "interest" in correspondence.
to and ffem. Moscow University..
Mary, Rule MacMillenlwrote.' in
1913.W4lf,:-.7 11-know ��dissident.whomi
am
t6-theovieti
Iaritisl'it r
firseZ5t4bi!
, �
A
,
The Divine Right to the Une
By M. Northrup Buechner
� Following the November election for
Mayor of New York. City, ,departing.
top-level executives of the.Beame ad-
ministration put 'in' claims for thou-
sands of dollars in accumulated over-.-
'time pay; � ,
.� On Dec.. 13, by a margin of 33 to-
7, the. New. York City Council- voted �
itself a 50 percent increase in pay. ��
. On Jan. ,I3; in the second week of
,his administration, Maypr-Koch signed.
an order., authorizing � $5 million in
raises for city management executives.
-These actions were taken when con-.
tract. negotiations .with. .the city's--
unions were imminent- while the city
was again petitioning the Federal Gov-
ernment for financial assistance; amid
-general public- recognition, that .assist-
, anal-% would be 'necessary to. avoid
� :bankruptcy;.' in the;' face of- repeated �
'-warnings' .tha't�Congressional support
� would depend on giving. at least. the�
appearance of fiscal
' � TO an- outsider, the� irrespOnsibility,.;:
� orttcese� actions must have- been ase�-�
'
, tounding. The "average .NeW Yorker,,..
however,-was not surprised and took �
� it'in:.stride. Why? Because he is- used
;to it:Because those actions' were only
���thiteinost recent _ applications of the-
attitude that rules and is . destroying,
� _the greatest city in the World. It can.
� be- � called "the . divine right to, the
unearned.'.� - �� �
The most widely accepted applica-
tion of this idea is welfare. There, it �
is explicitly held that to be in need
gives one a right to � what one. has
not earned. The essence of the welfare
state is implementation of Princi-
ple by government force; taking from-:
the haves and giving to the haye-nots.� ��
While� this ideology is: draining this."'
�country!s productive. energy,' it is most �
widely and deeply .held . in New York
City.: New- York's welfare .programs
and benefiti significantly �exceed what
is offered elsewhere. While police, fire
� and sanitation services were cut to the
bone for -the fiscal crisis,, welfare pay-
ments went untouched. � '�
, The most ominous:application of the
-divine right to the � unearned occurred
during last summer's blackout. "We .
need it," was a typice!' looters' snarl.
And, � eliminating the 'tnie'dlerean of
. government- welfare payments, they
seized what they wanted.
��� The. divine right to the tmc,arried was
. also-behind the response to the looting
� by- the' City's intellectual leaders: per-
functory 'Condemnation 'drowned "
passionate "explanations". excusing
the- looting as "understandable". �� bee_
.cause of the poverty. and unemploy..e..,
ment of the looters.
� � The. origin of-the�divinte'right-to-the
� unearned., is the morality of altruism.
Altruism '..holds �that . the individual's
-primary-- moral" Obligation- 'is-- to-help
others. The, writer.'. Ayas � Rand' has
shown that this-means that those Oth- g
ers have a moral claim on one's weath,
energy, life.' . ��-���
0
/cf.]
t7T4
_
lry4
3
;
444.
Ar4.1
�P�'
"
st,
4'4
..� Usually, ,altrui
� the perspectiv
�-� 'have ea.; duty t
But the existe
� receivers. �The
� unearned is a
, perspeotive of
. a right to your
In principle,
� holds. that. a_ ri
conferred by
practice there
:.nomic, need
..desperate need
�ton. luxury. As
spreads, � ,
The Comptr
"",...did. not allow
--;�..,claims. Public
Council to wi
.'Mayor- Koch
fications for t
But wh
of th
,al- actions,
� '�a,ble to get, aw
:Those actions
vealing..how
::��;,-the,unearned
;City, but. it,
;.lower levels of
.�
Consider, f
'��� of both the cit
!,7 by one wage
."that had. no re
worker produ
could afford.
Cen.sider th
pension sys
after
-Jo retire on
s'thai) their wo
Consider tit
Atat
forces 1
,Vants regardle
or the destru
,
stock. e�:' �
The:naive
.necessitated
, there. are no
...'pendent- � of
Oecnoc
� has 'not led �
" cities. .
Withme, 1
ancl. th. divi
such politic
sought : nor
:�cient to wr
portant req
City's long �
donment of
enor Carter, Si.
By Andres Oppenheimer
4 s
M. Northru
� -professor of
i
'eeAlew months ago, when I returned'-:: -dent Carter.: They appreciated. hit.; ef�et...
to Argentina after a year' on a scholar;'
,�.: forts- to obtain liberty for Jacobo�Tim������:t
�9,Ship,in;the.,-,United,.Stetes;IZI'.;sur-:�\.W.,pernian;:/ Zionist and former publisher �,k,
�-torisedlito?A-Ifind""��-the turee'iri'iikot the , newspaper Opinien, . Who , is
��� � , �. was �
pproved for Release: 2018/10/02 C05263062
fo
!. hi
4
4
�
Issu
Si:
. �
� , �
By,BE
�
Wt
ago.'
tonic
joint
. that
!'wo
�
rein.
It s
bet
� to�
an I
tr.'
� s
� (
Approvedfor Release: 2018/10/02 C05263062'
, V 44"
IIP
THE NEW YOIZX TIMES MOHDA.KFE
Human
Rights
At Home
By Anthony Lewis
� " �
B� OSTON, Feb. 26�For 20 years;
from 1953.6.1973, the C.I.A. secretly
went through bags of international
mail . in New York and other postal
centers, opened. first-class, letters to
and from- Ainericans and made-copies.
.Altogether � it copied at lenst..215,000
letters and. fed. 1.5 milliOn�^7names ,
gleaned from the rnail-openingproject'
into computers.�,..1. , � �
Last August. three citizens eirhose
letters had been opened. won � etuit
against the Government�ter invasion
of theire:privacy;FederakeJtidge,�-�JaCk
B. Weinstein.. of BrooklynaWarded
the three,,victims� $1';000�each, in dam-
ages: Judge..:Weinstein-'WrOte:,.
this.,�country we ,ao.:riat:pay.
lip service -tO the value', of,z,human -
rights incizindividual ''dignity� we
mean to livel.by our ,��
The Department- of Justice--'.Jimmy
Carter's Department of Justicir
now appealFIXTEV�rdicsionde-
partment bnef says it not argue
that the actions of the C.I.A. in this ,
case were: legal: or- Constitutional,'
N. But Federal law; 1 argues, gives the
victims no 'remedy against the Gov-
ernment. And in any event, $1,000
in damages was "excessive.�. . � .
� The case is one more example of -
a. depressing trend in the. Carter Ad-
ministration. While. the President and
others rightly talk about the impel--;
tance of his human rights - policy
abroad, the Justice Department re-
acts with insensitivity and pettifog-
gery on issues of civil liberty at home.
One thing made this an especially
compelling case. Although the final
decision in damage suits against the
Government is left to judges, Judge:
Weinstein had an � advisory jury hear
the evidence and � give 'its opinions.
Three jurors wanted to 'award $10,000
to each. plaintiff, one suggested $2,500
and the, other eight called for $5,000;
In effect, there was an extraordi-
nary statement of public feeling about
Government wrongdoing. Some- jurors, �
when 'polled, said specifically that it
was important to showe the Govern-
ment it could not trample ,on people'si
rights and get away with it. "It was,:
instructive," � Judge Weinstein � said,..
that. jurors of sharply different back-i
grounds all found that the mail-open-
ing 'victims had "suffered substantial
damages". .� .
The- three people involved In the
'case had. no idea originally that their:
mail had been opened. Each made a
general request under the Freedom; of
Information.Act to see what the C.I.A...
had under his or her name, and was,
told that 'a personal letter was in the
. files: Then each sued. � ,
()Norman Birnbaum, professor of�so-'-
ciology'at Amherst, wrote to a facul-
ty member at Moscow University in
1970 about an upcoming conference on-
the ' sociology of religion. ,The letter
was opened and four copies distributed
to various C.I.A. units that had, it. was
said, an "interest" in correspondence.
to and ffem. Moscow University..
Mary, Rule MacMillenlwrote.' in
1913.W4lf,:-.7 11-know ��dissident.whomi
am
t6-theovieti
Iaritisl'it r
firseZ5t4bi!
, �
A
,
The Divine Right to the Une
By M. Northrup Buechner
� Following the November election for
Mayor of New York. City, ,departing.
top-level executives of the.Beame ad-
ministration put 'in' claims for thou-
sands of dollars in accumulated over-.-
'time pay; � ,
.� On Dec.. 13, by a margin of 33 to-
7, the. New. York City Council- voted �
itself a 50 percent increase in pay. ��
. On Jan. ,I3; in the second week of
,his administration, Maypr-Koch signed.
an order., authorizing � $5 million in
raises for city management executives.
-These actions were taken when con-.
tract. negotiations .with. .the city's--
unions were imminent- while the city
was again petitioning the Federal Gov-
ernment for financial assistance; amid
-general public- recognition, that .assist-
, anal-% would be 'necessary to. avoid
� :bankruptcy;.' in the;' face of- repeated �
'-warnings' .tha't�Congressional support
� would depend on giving. at least. the�
appearance of fiscal
' � TO an- outsider, the� irrespOnsibility,.;:
� orttcese� actions must have- been ase�-�
'
, tounding. The "average .NeW Yorker,,..
however,-was not surprised and took �
� it'in:.stride. Why? Because he is- used
;to it:Because those actions' were only
���thiteinost recent _ applications of the-
attitude that rules and is . destroying,
� _the greatest city in the World. It can.
� be- � called "the . divine right to, the
unearned.'.� - �� �
The most widely accepted applica-
tion of this idea is welfare. There, it �
is explicitly held that to be in need
gives one a right to � what one. has
not earned. The essence of the welfare
state is implementation of Princi-
ple by government force; taking from-:
the haves and giving to the haye-nots.� ��
While� this ideology is: draining this."'
�country!s productive. energy,' it is most �
widely and deeply .held . in New York
City.: New- York's welfare .programs
and benefiti significantly �exceed what
is offered elsewhere. While police, fire
� and sanitation services were cut to the
bone for -the fiscal crisis,, welfare pay-
ments went untouched. � '�
, The most ominous:application of the
-divine right to the � unearned occurred
during last summer's blackout. "We .
need it," was a typice!' looters' snarl.
And, � eliminating the 'tnie'dlerean of
. government- welfare payments, they
seized what they wanted.
��� The. divine right to the tmc,arried was
. also-behind the response to the looting
� by- the' City's intellectual leaders: per-
functory 'Condemnation 'drowned "
passionate "explanations". excusing
the- looting as "understandable". �� bee_
.cause of the poverty. and unemploy..e..,
ment of the looters.
� � The. origin of-the�divinte'right-to-the
� unearned., is the morality of altruism.
Altruism '..holds �that . the individual's
-primary-- moral" Obligation- 'is-- to-help
others. The, writer.'. Ayas � Rand' has
shown that this-means that those Oth- g
ers have a moral claim on one's weath,
energy, life.' . ��-���
0
/cf.]
t7T4
_
lry4
3
;
444.
Ar4.1
�P�'
"
st,
4'4
..� Usually, ,altrui
� the perspectiv
�-� 'have ea.; duty t
But the existe
� receivers. �The
� unearned is a
, perspeotive of
. a right to your
In principle,
� holds. that. a_ ri
conferred by
practice there
:.nomic, need
..desperate need
�ton. luxury. As
spreads, � ,
The Comptr
"",...did. not allow
--;�..,claims. Public
Council to wi
.'Mayor- Koch
fications for t
But wh
of th
,al- actions,
� '�a,ble to get, aw
:Those actions
vealing..how
::��;,-the,unearned
;City, but. it,
;.lower levels of
.�
Consider, f
'��� of both the cit
!,7 by one wage
."that had. no re
worker produ
could afford.
Cen.sider th
pension sys
after
-Jo retire on
s'thai) their wo
Consider tit
Atat
forces 1
,Vants regardle
or the destru
,
stock. e�:' �
The:naive
.necessitated
, there. are no
...'pendent- � of
Oecnoc
� has 'not led �
" cities. .
Withme, 1
ancl. th. divi
such politic
sought : nor
:�cient to wr
portant req
City's long �
donment of
enor Carter, Si.
By Andres Oppenheimer
4 s
M. Northru
� -professor of
i
'eeAlew months ago, when I returned'-:: -dent Carter.: They appreciated. hit.; ef�et...
to Argentina after a year' on a scholar;'
,�.: forts- to obtain liberty for Jacobo�Tim������:t
�9,Ship,in;the.,-,United,.Stetes;IZI'.;sur-:�\.W.,pernian;:/ Zionist and former publisher �,k,
�-torisedlito?A-Ifind""��-the turee'iri'iikot the , newspaper Opinien, . Who , is
��� � , �. was �
pproved for Release: 2018/10/02 C05263062
fo
!. hi
4
4
�