Foul Editorial
I share with the author of your "Fowl Play" editorial (April 9) disapproval of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's continuing approval of the "curious legal fiction that frozen chicken may wear the 'fresh' label in stores." This is dishonest.
But your editor is worse than dishonest in suggesting that the policy was adopted "for the benefit of Arkansas interests that helped Hilary Clinton hit the commodities futures jackpot." The USDA's policy is not new; it antedates by far the arrival of the Clintons upon the Washington scene . . .
To suggest otherwise in order to present the Clintons with their problem of the day -- to divert them, out of fear that they may succeed, from their efforts to find solutions to real problems -- is, as I said above, worse than dishonest: it is unpatriotic, mean-spirited, contemptible.
William Bader
Towson
Tax-Free Benefits
Quite apart from her commentary, facts in Susan Reimer's April 7 column are grossly inaccurate.
The welfare mother not only receives the welfare payment, which is peanuts, but food stamps, supplemental food program for Women, Infants and Children, free medical care and housing subsidies, plus any other benefits of the local community and private sector -- such as heating and utilities subsidies, educational benefits, job training and access to food pantries and clothing closets.
All of this is tax free. The real economic value of this windfall and inducement to illegitimacy is between $12,000-$14,000 in taxable wages.
I appreciate Susan Reimer's willingness to address this all-important issue, but she ought to get her facts straight.
Money is a prime inducement to the irresponsible acts of welfare mothers. Until we remove that inducement, we are doomed.
I have counseled working single mothers and many seriously consider returning to welfare since it pays better and doesn't interfere with their TV watching. Something is radically wrong with such a system.
Paul H. Wragg
Catonsville
In Singapore
I refer to the response Marylanders made to The Sun (news story, April 14) on the caning episode in Singapore. Knowing this to be a liberal state, I was relieved to see from the headline that a large majority approved.
But it appears that most of them missed the point, as did the reporter, who dredged up some sociologists to deplore the situation and warp the meaning of the results, by implying that the average citizen isn't sufficiently knowledgeable to make such learned judgments on his or her own.
This could be history in the making. A leader of Western civilization has appealed for clemency, claiming our rights and freedom are uppermost, along with our policies of compassion; a leader of eastern civilization rebuts, claiming that their emphasis is on "society and group interests." What are we really talking about here?
Almost 220 years ago, on April 19, 1774, the Minutemen fired "the shot heard around the world" to give individuals their rights and freedom from repressive rulers.
Jefferson, Adams, Madison and company assumed that all Americans knew how to act maturely. This was one huge error.
Rights give you the choice to do something, or nothing; you may select whatever pleases you. But if you choose to do something, whatever that is, and if democracy is to work, you should be held responsible for the outcome. Individual responsibility for your acts and yourself is the key to democratic survival.
Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore has fired "the second shot heard around the world" to give us a wake-up call. Even though his aim was poor, hopefully he got our attention to a gaping hole in the existing democratic system.
Without an immediate solution, all the democracies of western civilization are in danger of going out of business.
Fred Mott
Towson
Guns Kill Kids
My heart aches for little Tito Taylor and his family. I don't know why the death of this sweet-faced little boy touches me more than the death of other children, but I know that I can't handle the terrible waste any longer.
Our children are our future and yet our children are dying. We have an epidemic on our hands.
Yet we act is if we are helpless to change things. How can we stand by and watch our children be maimed or die just because some people, with a strong lobby, believe there is a "God-given right to bear arms"?
Easy access to guns is insane; and the insanity must end.
The Sun is to be commended for its April 10 article tracing the bloody trail of a single handgun which started its journey in North Carolina and ended its career on the streets of Baltimore.
If the handgun that killed Tito had been stopped somewhere along the way, or if it had never even been manufactured, that little boy would still be here today playing with his friends.
Jeanne M. Ruddock
Baldwin
Putting Out the Flames Fanned by Bigotry
Not being either a black or a Jew, I have some trepidation about voicing an opinion about the ongoing turmoil between these two groups.
Nevertheless, perhaps it makes sense for someone on the sidelines, with no emotional baggage, to address concerns about such divisiveness and mistrust.
Because I feel so strongly that the strength of our society depends on a belief in goodwill, I hope we can think of ourselves as Americans first.
The violence flamed by bigotry evidenced around the world should give us pause for thought. Is that what our future could become? The endless debate about numbers and who has suffered the most?
If it weren't so tragic, it would smack of childishness. All people have suffered at one time or another. Keeping count and claiming exclusivity are lessons in futility.
The relatively more recent atrocities of slavery and the Holocaust will always be remorseful blots on the ongoing history of human cruelty.
Hopefully we can learn from the past and we must somehow get beyond the tensions of religious and ethnic difference.
In the case of slavery, we are judging by today's standards what was the norm just about everywhere until comparatively recent times.
For instance, historical facts show that more than half of the populations of Athens were slaves (both black and white), Jews were in bondage in Egypt, and both the American Indian and African cultures indulged in slavery.
I'm not making light that many died, but that was not usually the intent, as slaves represented labor value, and their welfare was of concern.
Yes, change unfortunately does move slowly, but the ideal of society equity is emerging.
Many African-Americans have moved into fields of importance and prosperity. Jews are accepted into the social fiber of everyday life.
It is good to be pro-black or pro-Jew, but not by being anti-other, but through pride, hard work and commitment to those values that will lead to success.
In the case of the Holocaust, this was a most recent deliberate action on the part of a government with the intent to annihilate a whole ethnic group for reasons of envy, hate and economic frustration.
In the long history of abuse, persecution is not new to the Jew. By and large, Jews have learned to make the best of those few opportunities open to them.
Their successes sadly have promoted further persecution, despite the fact that society continues to benefit in so many ways. Most Jews can and do identify with the oppressed and have meaningfully supported efforts to help lift all people out of social and economic bondage.
Continuing efforts must be made to encourage honesty and fairness when faced with isolated transgressions and not condemn an entire class.
A good start would be to resist those mongers who may do good deeds but use hate to rally support for their divisive agendas.
Our religious and cultural heritages are interesting, comforting and worth preserving.
To use them, however, to divide us into groups that find satisfaction in exclusiveness and misplaced condemnation demeans moral honesty and fosters arrogant irresponsibility.
Ignorance, race and ethnic arrogance go hand in hand in destroying the harmony of our society.
I hope more persuasive, enlightened voices will speak out in clear, workable ways to guide us through and out of this troubled time.
E. Kaufman
White Hall