ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602280005
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: F-2 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTER
GENERALLY I don't believe in suing each time one is wronged, but I was happy to read that finally someone - Ram Avrahami - is shaking up the catalog industry to tell them: No more! (Feb 7 article, ``Virginia man sues junk mail industry.'')
Last year I canceled at least 40 catalogs. Most companies consented courteously, but I was upset to learn that some ``do not have control'' over their mailing list, and therefore didn't (could not or did not want to?) tell me whom I could approach instead.
When I returned my catalogs to the post office marked ``return to sender,'' I was told to ``just junk them.'' I have recycled all catalogs, but my point was that I didn't want to get them in the first place.
I agree with Avrahami that no one should have the right to sell our names and addresses to another company without our permission.
I hope he'll be successful in his attempt to stop this endless stream of junk mail. The environment and I will certainly appreciate it.
COBY PIETERMAN
THAXTON
Politics still calls our leaders' tune
IT WOULD seem that politics is still playing a dominant role in our government's indecisive attitude toward solving the budget crisis. It's interesting to observe one political party attack another for the purpose of future political gains.
The Republican Party would have us believe that a balanced budget can be achieved in seven years. To achieve this goal, Republicans intend to cut Medicaid and social programs for needy Americans. As they have done in the past, they will give tax credits to the rich and corporations - their logic being that campaign contributions will come from these sources. Also, they contend that this will promote expansion, and corporations will hire more workers.
If this practice is productive as they imply, then why are so many corporations merging, downsizing and giving so many employees pink slips in order to survive? Republicans see their political future riding on the beginning of the ending of the budget crisis. It doesn't matter who gets crushed in the process. How can the Republican Party expect to end in seven years a crisis that took 50 to 60 years to create?
I respect President Clinton's goal to protect Medicaid and social programs that would assist our children and the elderly. However, his steadfast attitude could have some political basis in that he's receiving a favorable response from the people and the budget battle allows for less attention on the Whitewater investigation.
WILLIAM D. STALLARD
ROANOKE
Clinton's contempt for the military
BILL CLINTON went to Germany in December of last year to address the troops he was about to deploy on a dangerous and, to many, unnecessary mission. As these men and women, undoubtedly under orders to attend, were assembled to hear their commander in chief's inspirational oratory, they were disarmed and made to pass through metal detectors.
Then President Clinton went to Bosnia where troops, working in the mud and rain to build quarters for themselves, were asked to put aside this nonessential activity to once again lend their presence to this morale-raising effort by the leader of the Free World. Perhaps out of deference to the fact that they were then in the midst of a civil war - or perhaps to provide a better photographic backdrop - our troops were allowed to keep their weapons, but were reportedly required to remove the magazines and firing bolts, and keep their weapons pointed at the ground.
That Clinton has stated that he ``loathed'' the military and considered himself ``too educated'' to serve is a matter of record. But for him, as commander in chief, to treat our soldiers as potential terrorists or assassins shows the true depth of his contempt for America's armed forces.
SCOTT ANGELL
HILLSVILLE
Abortion's wounds are deep, painful
DURING the March for Life 1996, I was reminded of two main things: Abortion is not a nonissue and, as one congressman put it, ``This is not so much about choice or not but, rather, are we civilized?''
While our ``culture of death'' works untiringly to keep abortion out of our minds and consciences, more than 4,000 children are slaughtered every day in abortion mills across our land of the free and home of the brave.
For the millions of indifferent Americans swallowing the lines about ``free choice'' and ``personal rights,'' this evil isn't an issue. But for those whose wounds run deep as a result of the horror of abortion, this is the only issue.
My prayer is that those suffering the tragic aftereffects of this evil will seek forgiveness from God who forgives all contrite hearts, and those held in ignorance by our media will learn the truth - that abortion is first-degree murder.
CRAIG MASON
FOREST
County folks are already overtaxed
HARD ON the heels of an excessive real-estate reassessment and the word from ``on high'' that Roanoke County taxpayers are expected to vote ourselves a tax increase via a bond-issue referendum comes Roanoke city's latest harebrained scheme. As city officials continue to covet the county's taxpayer dollars, as they have for years, they now want a transportation district to which county taxpayers would contribute via a gasoline tax.
The city should leave us alone, because the county is already doing an outstanding job of overtaxing us. We'll soon have nothing left for the city to take.
RAY DENNEY
ROANOKE COUNTY
School issue is clear to students
WHAT is the problem? Isn't it obvious we need new schools in Roanoke County?
I'm a seventh-grader at Cave Spring Junior High School, and I don't see what the question is. The trailers leak when it rains (and they look like they're going to fall apart) and the halls are so crowded you can barely make it through them. We have to share lockers (which is a real pain), we swelter in the summer - and you have to feel sorry for the ninth-graders who can't even be in a high school where they belong. Take it from a person who lives with this every day, it's not a pleasant situation. You guys should come to the school to see what it's like.
I used to go to North Cross, and there were only 28 people in my grade. There were lockers to spare, lots of hall space and it was a lot more comfortable. I just don't understand what all the controversy is about.
MICHELLE DAVIS
ROANOKE
Hillary Clinton's little white lies
IS IT ASKING too much for our children to know a little about history and to also be truthful? Or do we teach them to make history fit the situation as it suits them? Is it OK to exaggerate just a little to make the story more interesting? If we take a lesson from our country's so-called leaders, it certainly must be the way to go.
Recently, Hillary Clinton told New Zealand television that she was named after Sir Edmund Hillary. The problem with that statement is that she was born in 1947, and Sir Edmund Hillary was at that time a beekeeper with no claim to fame. He didn't conquer Mount Everest until 1953, and it was only after that that he was knighted and became Sir Hillary.
This statement is an embarrassment to everyone in this country. Not only did she lie, but she did it while acting as a representative of our country. In other words, publicly she makes fools out of all of us.
She's now trying to sell a book she didn't write, giving no credit to the actual writer, and she doesn't even have the courtesy to sign the book - instead, having her name stamped in it by a machine. She gets to sell more books because it moves the line of customers along faster. I always thought the author's signature was part of the joy of an autographed edition. Why not have her autograph preprinted in each book, and see how much faster the lines would move along?
Think about it. If she lies about such minor things, what on Earth will she do with a major situation?
Children learn what they're taught. Are these the lessons you want your children to learn?
BEVERLY MERRITT
FERRUM
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