Letters to the Editor
Amerigo
Published Letters: 955 Editor's Choice: 60
-
Realistic discussion
[Read the article: An abstinence from abstinence? ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We never get any realistic discussion of these issues in the media.
Did Jamie-Lynn get pregant on purpose or accidentally?
Let's assume it was not a planned pregnancy.
Does sex inevitably lead to pregnancy and/or disease? No it does not, provided that people who want to have sex and avoid pregnancy and disease are educated about how this is done and have ready access to contraception.
I know the condom lobby won't like this, but I am a sexually active person and I can tell you that condoms are OK the first time you have sex with a partner, and maybe the second, but if a relationship is to go beyond that point, then condoms rapidly get very old indeed.
Did Jamie Lynn have secondary contraception? Why did it fail? Was she using the rhythm method and screwed up?
Did alcohol have something to do with having unprotected sex?
We, the public, really don't know the answer to any of these questions so we use this young woman as a tabula rasa on which to project our own belief, perceptions, and experiences.
Same goes for millions of other young women who become pregnant when we think they oughtn't to.
If we really want to reduce "unwanted" pregnancies, then what we need is a root cause analysis on a large number of pregnancies to determine the main factors.
Abstinence education may or may not be helpful. I suspect it isn't. But some people would argue that abstinence education gives many young women some tools to avoid early pregnancy. And maybe this is true for some young women. All approaches ought to be considered.
-
Gettin g out the Democratic vote
[Read the article: This is not an attack]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Whoever the Democratic nominee may be will have a tough time trying to counter Huckabee should he be nominated.
They would not have to worry too much about getting out the Democratic vote.
I do wonder though, if Huckerby actually won the White House, whether it might not lead to another era of civil disobedience to rival the sixties of the last century. I don't think the Supreme Court could get away with another coup d'etat like last time, when no one was really prepared for what happened.
-
Persecution?
[Read the article: Your cheating stars]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Is there a double standard in the way Barry Bonds has been persecuted for steroid use?
The word is prosecuted not persecuted and he is not being prosecuted by "baseball" but by the Department of Justice because he was mixed up with Balco in part of a wide ranging investigation that has included other prominent athletes in other sports, notably Olympic sprinters Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery.
This in turn is part of the worldwide initiative against drugs in sports led by WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) to whose code the United States is a signatory, and which is partly funded by the US Government.
According to Wikipedia:
In 2000, Conte managed to contact American baseball star Barry Bonds via Greg Anderson, a coach working in a nearby fitness studio. Bonds then delivered contacts to other baseball professionals.
So Bonds was allegedly involved in corrupting other players too.
The reason he is being prosecuted is that he failed to cooperate with investigators and a grand jury. He lied under oath.
It is nothing to do with being African American. He would have been prosecuted even if he was Swedish American.
Anyhow, he has the right to a fair and speedy trial and to be represented by a lawyer. He is a grownup. He does not need Salon to do silly PR for him.
-
Obama got it right
[Read the article: The Bhutto test]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In October 2002 Barack Obama said:
What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income – to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression.
That’s what I’m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war...
I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda...
Obama got it right. Hillary Clinton voted to authorize the war and did not speak out against it. She got it wrong.
I suspect that she knew Obama was right, but got it wilfully wrong, because she saw no electoral advantage in telling the truth, thus demonstating that she is a follower, not a leader.
This is nothing to do with her being a woman. I say to her:
Senator Clinton, you are no Maggie Thatcher.
So do we vote for the candidate who got it right, or the one who got it wrong? Yes, we vote for the one who got it right, because he showed a fundamental understanding of the situation that many, most politicians woefully failed to appreciate.
Join me in welcoming President Obama.