Holier than thou?
Rep. Newt Gingrich has branded the Democrats as responsible for all the ills of our society, labeled Bill and Hillary Clinton as enemies of "normal" Americans and implied that a vote for the Republicans would rid the country of such crimes as the Susan Smith tragedy.
These claims are ludicrous. Despite Mr. Gingrich's rhetoric, no political party has a hold on family values.
Mr. Gingrich's holier-than-thou attitude conveniently ignores the faults and excesses of the Republican party.
For example, the Nov. 11 issue of Warfield's Business Record reported that "financing the deficit resulting from the Reagan tax cut and the massive build-up in defense spending is costing billions of dollars in interest payments and higher interest rates, a burden borne by everyone rich or poor."
That's hardly the workings of a no-fault party.
As president, Bill Clinton has an obligation to use his veto power over any bill he considers detrimental to the country.
In short, it may be necessary for the president to neutralize Newt.
The Republicans were given a mandate, not carte blanche.
Fred Davis
Pasadena
Scenic bird
I was riding my bike the other day through Herring Run Park near my house when I beheld a great blue heron standing in the waters of the stream. I couldn't believe my eyes and stopped and stared in astonishment.
I always thought that these creatures were seen in bay waters and marshes. But this was not the bay or a marsh; it was a city park.
The bird was so delicate yet stately standing on its long legs and posing with its long beak.
After watching it stand perfectly still in the water, I moved on with my errand. When I returned about 20 minutes later I looked to see if it was still there and caught sight of it perched nearby in a low tree.
Suddenly I heard splashing and quacking and was amazed to spy two mallard ducks dancing in the water.
A family with small children passed near me, and I pointed out the birds to them.
As the children moved closer to the heron it took flight on its magnificent wings. I watched it disappear into the sunset.
Who says this city is dead?
Paul Iwancio
Baltimore
Dole and North
Thank God Election Day is now history, and the Republican Party has emerged with majorities in both the House and Senate.
We are an extremely fortunate electorate: What other scenario would have permitted a ranking Republican leader like Sen. Bob Dole to once again, after eight years, occupy the seat of Senate majority leader?
Unfortunately for Mr. Dole (and fortunately for many of the electorate), he will be unable to participate in the seating of the illustrious defeated senatorial candidate Ollie North, who in his best performing style managed to lie (under oath) to the very body to which he sought office.
To me and many others, Senator Dole's ability and judgment as Senate majority leader should be questioned in that he supported Mr. North, both morally and financially, in his bid for that Senate seat.
Sy Steinberg
Baltimore
Still mad as hell
When elections come to include the irregularities, coercion, threats, tampering and payments for voting that we have seen in this past gubernatorial contest, we all lose.
These kinds of actions go a long way toward disenfranchising all of us. Regardless of party affiliation, the voters of this state should be mad as hell.
R. H. Dahl
Catonsville
New monument at Gettysburg belittles issue
I am deeply concerned about the recent unveiling ceremony at the statue in Gettysburg, Pa., honoring the 3,000 Marylanders who fought on both sides of the battle there.
I support reconciliation among descendants of the families torn apart because of that bitter conflict.
But I am appalled that the ceremony and the statue -- which portrays a wounded federal trooper and a wounded Confederate soldier helping each other off the battlefield -- seemed meant to reconcile the rift among white people, while completely ignoring the more serious division which still exists between many whites and African-Americans.
By doing so, the organizers of the service have trivialized the source of the conflict and the lessons we were supposed to have learned from it.
This is not to say that the Civil War was fought solely over slavery, because it was not. It was two ways of life coming into conflict, one of which thrived on a system of slavery.
However, the monument, and the participants at the ceremony, seemed to be saying that both sides of the conflict were equally honorable. I can not allow that kind of statement to go unchallenged.
Neither the United States government nor any individual government representative would say that the former government of South Africa, which instituted apartheid, was honorable. Nelson Mandela would not erect a memorial to President Botha.
Similarly, the Vietnamese would have a hard time explaining a statue of Ho Chi Minh and Ngo Dinh Diem in each other's arms.
Yet we sit by and do not question a monument which, in essence, is saying that the Confederacy was a proud part of our national history.
I believe that there are more appropriate ways to reconcile the past than to belittle the victory for human rights won during that war.
I am not trying to keep the conflict between the North and the South alive, nor am I saying white Americans from the North are or were morally superior to those in the South. However, reconciliation should not be a process by which our current national values are compromised.
I believe that this country is a better place because the Confederacy was defeated and slavery abolished.
I think people need to ask themselves whether they agree with that judgment and how their response to it affects their view of this monument.
Andy Basoco
Baltimore