Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 10, 1995 TAG: 9510100117
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
In it, he wrote: ``I believe every Christian, whatever their name might be, should make a positive influence on our country's society.''
I would agree with him that every Christian should do this. But what about the rest of American society - Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, as well as nonbelievers? Do we have no part in the betterment of American society? We Jews believe that all humans are God's partners in tikkun olam - bettering and perfecting creation. Other cultures and religions have similar beliefs. We all need to work together. Let's not leave anyone out.
JEROME S. FOX
ROANOKE
Congress is made up of con artists
THE PUBLIC is disenchanted with Congress and its Republican revolution. Why? Consider the progress being made on the declining middle-class standard of living, the sorry state of education, the exploding juvenile crime rate, inner-city decay, job creation (lack thereof), out-of-wedlock births, and universal medical coverage (lack thereof). There's little or none.
Instead, the Republican Congress' solution: remove constraining regulations, give private enterprise free reign and downsize Washington by flooding states with block grants. Evidence shows that these basics, where applied, haven't worked. The manner in which they're about to be applied will also fail. Consider the following:
Congress has block-grant-funded local government in Washington, D.C., for most of this century because so much federal government property there is off the tax roles. Is there a local government more corrupt and incompetent in the country than Washington, or a locality anywhere in the country in more dire straits?
The proposed welfare reform will cause millions to be abandoned without skills and available jobs to support themselves. These people won't starve; they'll turn to crime to exist. Then watch your crime and legal bills soar. They can exceed the welfare funds projected to be saved.
Our private-enterprise system has already been unshackled. We're witnessing an avalanche of investment into entertainment to the neglect of our essential industry and infrastructure. Evidently, we will be entertained (for a price) like never before because, without jobs, we'll have nothing else to do.
Private-pension surpluses will be freed for unrestricted corporate use, under a proposal within the tax-reform bill. This will draw corporate raiders to the money pot like bees to honey. It will make robber barons of a past Republican era look like teddy bears.
Medicare is being tinkered with to save it from bankruptcy. The truth is the savings are going into general funds to reduce the deficit and give tax breaks to those who don't need them. Medicare will still be broke by the year 2002. Congress allotted a large portion of projected savings to eliminate Medicare fraud. But have you read of the massive fraud within privatized Blue Cross agencies throughout the country, including former Blue Cross of Virginia? Fraud will reappear within the privatized portion of Medicare reform, even as it's being reduced within Medicare itself.
Congress refers to itself as the ``courageous Congress.'' Perhaps it should be labeled the ``Congress of con artists.'' Its victims will be the poor, elderly and working middle class. Meanwhile, by refusing to take up political reform, this Congress will remain the best one money can buy.
EMERY A. WHITE
SALEM
Edwards is an honest politician
IN DAN Casey's Sept. 27 article (``Gentleman challenger may lack killer instinct'') about John Edwards, state Senate candidate, he referred to my comment that Edwards was an ``honest politician'' as an ``old joke.'' I know the phrase, ``honest politician,'' is now considered by most as an oxymoron, but I was not joking.
I believe Edwards is honest!
CHARLES SALMON
ROANOKE
The justice system needs an overhaul
IT IS with heavy heart and tear-filled eyes that I write this letter to the editor. A cloud of sorrow has engulfed me since the verdict was announced. O.J. Simpson was found ``not guilty'' of murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. But he's definitely guilty of instilling these intense feelings within me.
I'm not now, nor have I ever been, prejudiced. All of us bleed the same color blood, and cry the same color tears. And all women who are victims of domestic violence bear the same color pain, suffering, humiliation and sometimes death.
Are we to overlook the facts to avoid being called a racist? Have the citizens of our community who cheered the ``not guilty'' verdict forgotten about Sandra Smith? She was only 42 years old when her ex-husband brutally murdered her and attempted to murder her male friend in her living room, with their daughter upstairs. Smith was black. So was her friend and her ex-husband. These two cases, separated by more than 3,000 miles and the color of the victims' skin, are closely related.
As I watched Marcia Clark try to speak for the victims, I was reminded of Betty Jo Anthony as she spoke for Smith. A prosecuting attorney's job is to seek justice; a defense attorney's job is to defend his or her client, whether or not the client is guilty. The flaw in the system is the fact that it's considered a step up, in salary and prestige, to become a defense attorney.
As ordinary citizens, we have the power to change this. The last day that you can register to vote is today. Please do it for Smith, Brown, Simpson and for all victims of injustice.
TAMMY JAVIER
President, Victims of Injustices Cry Enough
VINTON
America can't divert its eyes again
REGARDING Carl Padgett's Sept. 26 letter to the editor, ``America must mind its own business'':
The so-called ethnic cleansing that's been happening in Bosnia is nothing less than genocide.
It's a shame that in 1941 it took Japanese bombs in Pearl Harbor to stop us from ignoring German atrocities against Jews, et al. If not for that, perhaps the entire Jewish race would now be extinct, and we'd be wearing swastikas.
Former President George Bush did the right thing in Kuwait, and now President Clinton is doing it in Bosnia. The issue isn't politics. It's something more basic: humanity. I saw where a visitor to The Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., summed it up best by writing in the museum's visitor's log: ``Never Again, World!''
We and the entire world should be ashamed that it's taken this long to stop the inhumane savagery in Bosnia. We turned the other cheek for way too long before we entered World War II, and we've been pushing it again in Bosnia. It's unfortunate that some civilians may be killed. However, the alternative would be far worse.
ELDON MARCUM
BEDFORD
For gays, the issue is simply respect
THE SEPT. 28 Opinion page published two letters to the editor - ``Advertising firm had a choice'' by Jane Dreyer, and ``No gay celebration planned'' by Kitty Boitnott and Dorothy Cooper. These require a response.
It's always tempting to seek solutions for extremely complex social issues through simple, condescending and judgmental means. However, those who live with the gay-rights issue every day of our lives tend to approach our sexuality with a more thoughtful perspective.
In spite of what the ``Christian'' right would have us believe, homosexuals aren't immoral, hedonistic pedophiles as described by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. The vast majority of us are human beings who have struggled all our lives with ourselves and society as a whole for things most people take for granted: simple human dignity and respect.
I don't know a single gay person who hasn't, at one time or another, desperately tried not to be gay. Many of us, myself included, get married and create families in a deluded attempt to become ``normal.'' Ultimately, we're faced with only one choice: Do we continue to live a lie, or do we find the courage to be honest with ourselves and those we know and love? If we have children, we must realize that the greatest good, the greatest gift from a loving God, is to teach them to be honest with themselves, and to accept who they are with love and dignity.
The real issue is simply one of respect for all people. If a person's religious views don't reflect this concept, he or she can hardly claim to be a follower of Christ.
MARK MARTIN
ROANOKE
by CNB