Sex & the Swastika

[Paul Mackin]

On Tue, 11 Jan 2000, rj wrote:
> I do still think
> though that calling Nixon Nixon wouldn't have been a wise move,
> legally-speaking, but it's very very clear who Zhlubb is *meant* to be.
> Pynchon is pretty fearless when it comes to naming names I think, 

Hard to conceive of any American writer having legal problems over
anything he might say about a President. Don't threaten to kill 
one but otherwise anything goes. The Alien and Sedition Acts were
repealed 200 years ago. Think of the things that were written about
Kennedy and Johnson. Anyone remember Barbara Garson's Shakespearean satire
"MacBird"? And in civil law I always thought public figures couldn't be
the subject of libel. I'm probably not being accurate in the way I'm
stating this but it's on that order. Presidential candidates say worse
things about each other than P says about Nixon.

			P.