Letters to the Editor
bodacious
Published Letters: 40 Editor's Choice: 3
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Which Reminds Me of A Conversation
[Read the article: Welcome to no-choice America]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]31 years ago, I was a sophomore at a major Baptist university; Roe was a year-old. An employee of the university inquired about my opinion regarding Roe, and I answered that bearing a child was a woman's choice. Her response was that if we allowed abortion, only white people would get them, and the "coloreds" would eventually outnumber us. That pronouncement has stuck in my mind these many years. I still support the premise upon which Roe was decided, though I feel abortion should be the last resort. But, I also feel that the sentiment expressed that summer's day 31 years ago still drives the anti-abortion movement, particularly in the South. If only poor minority women were getting abortions, white Southerners would not give a damn. They just want to be damn sure the white cheerleader who gets knocked-up has that baby. The rich whites will flee to other countries/states for their abortions, and the Blacks of Delta Mississippi will not have access to abortion so that White Fundamentalists won't feel outnumbered. And, Fundamentalists will be able to use unwanted babies as Exhibit A as to what happens when good girls go bad. Praise Jesus!
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Southern Christian Women
[Read the article: Welcome to no-choice America]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Bee, please spare me, another Southern Christian who happens to be male, the martyrdom routine. There is no oppobrium being expressed in these postings. Rather you are hearing from people not located in the echo chamber that you occupy. Please respond to these queries. 1. Why do White Southerners support an anti-abortion president who daily sends young men and women to their deaths in a war based on lies and deception? 2. Why did the merciful God (you know the unchanging One, who is, was, and evermore shall be) on more than one occasion instruct the conquering Hebrews to slay every man, woman, and child found in the soon-to-be occupied Promised Land?
3. How many of your church members are lined up to adopt Black babies from the Mississippi Delta? Based on my observations of adoption here in Texas, lots of Southern Christian women, among others, are running off to Romania, Russia, and China to adopt. Its not as if the United States does not have a cornucopia of adoptable children. So what gives?
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My Final Answer
[Read the article: Welcome to no-choice America]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Bee: Great responses to my questions. But it was your answer to the second question that proves my point. You had no answer but to say that someday in the sweet by and by God will make it all clear. Even God seems to make exceptions to life even for young life (and a perusal of the Old Testament makes my observation evident). But more evident is that daily around the world, God or Nature flushes fetuses out of wombs through miscarriage. Examinations of these fetuses sometimes reveal abnormalities (as when a woman learns from her doctor that her baby will be malformed, no brain or limbs etc.), and sometimes nothing is apparently wrong. If your retort is that God made the decision not the woman, my response is that everyday the same God that heals miraculously allows medical science to heal conventionally in his stead. I agree that aborting a child because it is inconvenient (the sex is wrong or my career will be put on hold) is a morally reprehensible, but I also know that 1. forcing a child into the world that the mother does not want does not bode well for the child, and 2. that considering the vast numbers of such children that are born, there simply are not enough adoptive parents around to make a difference. Perhaps a better tack for the UMC and other denominations is to spend less on pastor/bishop salaries, lovely church facilities and more on orphanages, lots of them. Or we could champion birth control and the morning after pill so that the numbers of unwanted children are reduced.
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The Rich Get Richer and Bob Woodward Shills for Corruption
[Read the article: Woodward's disgrace]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Bob Woodard is "rich and famous" or so says Deborah Howell, the Post's public ombudsman. In that description lies Bob's problem; he made/makes a lot of money. He hobnobs with the powerful. He is in a higher tax bracket, and I would guess he likes the Republican approach to wealth: more for us, and the rest of you slobs wait for the "trickle-down." Why would Bob expose corruption in an administration that continues to make him wealthier and provides him with ACCESS? For Bob its a win-win situation. 30 years and a lots of dollars later, Bob knows who butters his bread.
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Here are the Real Issues
[Read the article: Terminal folly]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Granted that in our "global economy" the U.S. is hypocritical not allow foreign companies to invest their capital in our economy. BUT the real issues: 1. The Prez of the US did not know UNTIL after the deal was finalized that a foreign nation with occasional connections to terrorism was about to run our major ports. 2. The Prez of the US is a habitual liar surrounded by habitual liars; one would think that in light of his dismal record, he would think that perhaps even might prepare the American people (by way of their Congress) with details highlighting the pluses of such a deal. 3. The law where ports are concerned requires him to consult Congress (but then his dimissal of FISA would negate such a consultation), 4. Mr. Bush to-date has not protected the American people from a. 9/11 b. Katrina c. bird flu d. high drug costs e. environmental degradation f. abysmal performances by cronies placed in important government positions. Why in the HELL should we think that this deal is good for us? I can guarantee you that if a French company were about to assume control of our port operations, every god damn republican from orange county to new hampshire would be up in arms and Ann Coulter would have a meltdown. The real world is an unreal place right now,and mr. bush's past follies give us no hope that Dubai's purchase offers us surcease from sorrow.