Intimate Talks
James Hannah wrote an article (Today, Jan. 9) about the Antioch College policy requiring "consent before kissing." According to the dean of students, Marian Jensen, the policy has helped increase "applications and inquiries from students." I feel this policy pushes forward in the right direction.
Aimed at date rape, this "sexual-consent rule" will, by itself, not wipe out the crime but rather gear students to talk about intimacy, and how far they feel comfortable in sexual relations.
Verbalizing among a couple clearly establishes sexual boundaries and leaves no question in anyone's mind as to what physical and/or sexual "level" the couple can approach.
Knowing each other's limits as the relationship grows reduces the risk of someone going too far and creates respect for one another.
This policy draws complaints regarding invasion of privacy, and the reality that long-dating couples will not query one another for a peck on the cheek.
Antioch College, on the other hand, developed this plan in hopes of focusing student attention on openly discussing higher levels of intimacy and talking through emotions before taking quick action and facing severe consequences.
Students expressing their feelings will hopefully avoid date rape, and those "acting before asking" might face penalties in the future.
Expecting couples to ask one another before kissing sounds silly, but the issue of discussing sex before having it isn't such a ridiculous notion.
Neil J. Adler
Ellicott City
Editorial Baloney
Truly you must have had tongue in cheek in your editorial "Balanced Budget Baloney" (Jan. 11).
The statement "from our viewpoint, which is conservative in an old-fashioned way" tends to make me try to remember when anything that The Sun stated was conservative.
You support Sen. Paul Sarbanes and then try to tell us that you are a old-fashioned conservative? Give us a break.
Joseph H. Cutchin
Salisbury
Good vs. Evil
On Jan. 8, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke was quoted in The Sun as saying, "Black-on-black crime continues to be a real problem in our community. We are doing more harm to ourselves than was ever contemplated during the era of segregation. We have inflicted more pain on ourselves than the Klan did during the worst periods."
Baltimore's mayor continues to beat that same old liberal Democratic Party drum that America and, I believe, Maryland just recently rejected.
Is black-on-white crime or white-on-white crime any more tolerable than black-on-black crime? I think not.
The legitimate differences in our society are not differences of race, color or creed, but are instead between good and evil.
Get with it, Mr. Mayor. Crime is a moral problem . . .
Louis H. Kohlman
Parkville
Fractured
William Pfaff wrote an interesting column (Opinion * Commentary, Jan. 16) comparing the political party structures of France and the United States.
I don't know much about French politics, but I believe Mr. Pfaff's theories on manipulative over-simplification, politico-sociological profiles and vertical institutions "missed the boat" concerning what is happening in America.
The vote on Nov. 8 wasn't a "fracture between electorate and elites." It was a fracture between the electorate and its leaders, whose policies were guilding our nation down the drain.
The voters punished their politicians for lousy leadership and, to some extent, for their permitting other forms of incompetent leadership to go unchallenged throughout our society.
After spending billions of dollars on government and education, the main reason we're better off today (where we are better off) is due to private industry overcoming the government's and educators' shortcomings.
The best to be said is that the tax money gets spent and schools are still open.
And remember all the news about religious leaders and their misconduct -- try remembering one article about an inspiring sermon or a growing congregation.
Too many people enter the fields of education, government or religion to escape the commercial arena of employment: the weak ones who find safety educating inexperienced youth, political spenders who are free from the consequences of supply and demand and religious leaders where there is always someone more fearful of life than themselves.
I'm not talking about the truly dedicated. But there are many whose fears cause them to avoid life; in their positions of trust their weakness can create havoc for those depending upon them.
They include educators who mock the capitalist idea of productivity, imparting a distaste for commercial achievement; politicians whose decisions satisfy their supporters, rather than the interests of their political division as our founders intended; and spiritual leaders who have surrendered hope of adjusting to this life, but offer guidance in worldly matters to others.
The news media bombard the public with reports about these misfits who cast shadows on their positions of trust.
One of the responsibilities of the dedicated leaders in these fields is to weed out the incompetent, to cleanse their profession for the public's benefit and the ultimate benefit of their co-workers who should be employed elsewhere.
Working class or elite, Americans are getting fed up with shoddy leadership, and Nov. 8 may have been the forerunner of things to come.
Ron Walker
Baltimore
Unsafe Statistics
While reading the Jan. 18 letter by John Conger ("Statistics Show Speed Kills"), I could not help but recall a not-so-famous but very applicable quote, "Beware of the person who uses statistics as a drunkard uses a lamp post, for support rather than for illumination."
As a person who uses statistical analyses occasionally at work and in several activities away from work, I feel competent and compelled to raise several objections.
Mr. Conger carelessly pulls a couple of numbers out of his hat and uses them to "support" his claim that "speed kills." In reality the numbers in his letter provide no statistical "illumination."
Obviously people do occasionally get killed on the nation's highways, and on those with both 55 and 65 mph speed limits.
But the numbers used by Mr. Conger provide no statistical evidence to substantiate his claim that highways with 65 mph limits have a higher fatality rate than those with a 55 mph limit.
Mr. Conger makes no attempt to back up these numbers by using any type of metrics to further quantify and qualify his claims.
For example, are his numbers related statistically to the number of miles driven, number of cars, each driver's cumulative experience or something else?
Of the fatalities to which Mr. Conger refers, was speed the sole factor in each accident, or were there other factors (seat belt usage, weather, alcohol, vehicle condition, time of day, etc.)?
These are among several questions that come to mind immediately.
And without any clarification, the numbers must be considered highly suspect from a statistical standpoint and therefore useless to validate any of the claims that Mr. Conger makes.
I must cast additional doubt on the validity of Mr. Conger's claims, because some of the numbers were provided by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS).
Based on past experience, it is my understanding that the IIHS receives a large percentage, if not all, of its funding from several motor vehicle insurers.
In my opinion, the IIHS has a high probability of providing statistical data and interpretations biased in favor of their sponsoring companies' financial bottom line.
Steven Hegg
Baltimore
Open Zone
The empowerment zone must be open, public and thoroughly accountable to the community at all levels.
Resources and strategies will have an impact only if the community participates.
Get it: empowerment.
Richard E. Ullrich
Baltimore