Rowan Column
Carl Rowan, in his Dec. 30 column on "Why Affirmative Action," instead stands the issue on its head and attempts to disprove "reverse discrimination."
All of his statistics relative to median income, poverty and infant death, while undoubtedly valid, have no relevance to the beneficiaries of affirmative action in government, colleges, etc., since these individuals have been taken out of the disadvantaged groups he cites.
I believe that anyone who looks at the demographics of public employment will immediately notice the disproportionate effects of affirmative action on employee population in such institutions as the postal services, the Social Security Administration and public education.
In these areas the preponderance of "minorities" in employment, advancement and in recognition and rewards forces one to question whether there is reverse discrimination at work. . .
Harold Geller
Baltimore
Not Isolated
Reference is made to your Dec. 28 article, "Military seen as growing isolated from society." This is a complete misconception, as is the statement that such a development "could eventually erode the nation's long-time civilian control over the military."
During my years in the U.S. Air Force I served on many bases in Europe, Asia, Alaska and numerous continental United States locations. I also did temporary duty at far-flung places.
Military personnel perform duty and often live on a station, but by no means are they in a cocoon.
Like anyone else they shop, attend schools and often mix in the social life of nearby civilian communities. They read local newspapers and listen to local radio and TV programs. Just like the college professor quoted in your article.
There are many reasons why a person chooses a military career. It is quite different from civilian life, exacting, sometimes dangerous and often requires family separations as well as other hardships.
Patriotism and devotion to duty are absolute requirements, although that was not mentioned in your article.
In my Air Force career I never heard anyone question the principle of civilian control over the military.
I believe that is still the case in all branches of service. To imply otherwise is an insult to American military personnel.
Lt. Col. Bertram Bernheim Jr.
Baltimore
Pension Flak
Regarding Gov. Parris Glendening's pension deal for himself and his aides, voters in Prince George's County may deserve his raid on their treasury, but I resent their forcing the rest of us to accept him as our governor.
William D. Townsend
Timonium
Welfare Whiners
Recently the American Civil Liberties Union sued various officials over alleged segregation in public housing projects and one of the local television stations covered the story.
A woman living in the projects was complaining about the neighborhood in which she lived and said she wanted a better life for her children.
To this woman, and the ACLU I have something to say:
My husband and I both get up at 5:15 a.m. to go to work every day. I travel 42 miles each way to get to my job in order to collect a paycheck that goes toward paying our bills.
I have been working for 31 years, and we have earned everything we have. We have never received a welfare check or food stamps.
I had only one child because that was all that I could afford on the money I earned. No one offered me a monthly check for having more children.
My son went to a private school because I worked to send him there. I did not receive free breakfast or lunch money for him; it came out of the salary I worked for.
We would love to live in a better neighborhood. However, we are not afforded a monthly housing allotment. Therefore, we live where we can afford the mortgage.
We live in a neighborhood of many welfare mothers, an alleged murderer (now in jail pending trial), neighbors who steal from others. Many of the neighboring apartment complexes are federally subsidized.
When I go to the grocery store, I am almost always behind someone using their "Independence" card, while I write a check for my groceries from the money we earn.
Several months ago I was behind a welfare mother who purchased $143 in groceries on her "Independence" card and went home in a cab, while I went home in my car that was six years old.
You need to keep your doors locked at all times when driving through the neighborhood and keep your home secured.
On a positive side, we have many decent neighbors and we watch out for each other.
The ACLU should save its money for something worthwhile -- perhaps a campaign to tell the people in the allegedly segregated housing to stay in school and get a job.
Maybe then they can earn their groceries and a better home, the way the working people of this country do.
Ginny Phillips
Baltimore
Family Practice
Marilyn McCraven's Jan. 21 column, "A Prescription for West Baltimore," was a good description of the problems faced by medically underserved communities like West Baltimore.
The University of Maryland's UniversityCare will provide needed primary and subspecialty medical care to a population that has a significant medically indigent population.
But Ms. McCraven's otherwise excellent article perpetuates some errors about today's family physicians.
Ms. McCraven tells us that among the medical staff at the University of Maryland's health center will be general practitioners. This is not true. Family practitioners are the successors to the general practitioners of the past.
This is not a semantic distinction. After medical school, today's family practitioners must complete a three-year residency that includes training in internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, orthopedics, community medicine, emergency and geriatrics, among other disciplines.
In contrast, most general practitioners completed only a one-year rotating internship that, by necessity, was much less thorough.
And, yes, family practice is a specialty, just like pediatrics, psychiatry and the other disciplines Ms. McCraven mentioned.
In 1969, family practice became the 20th specialty recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties, the major accreditation body of medical specialists.
The difference between other medical specialties and family practice is that family practice is a specialty in breadth, not in depth.
Family physicians emphasize comprehensive patient care, continuity of care and patient care in the ambulatory setting.
This is not to say that other specialists do not subscribe to these tenets of medicine, only that family physicians are trained to excel in these areas.
The future patients of UniversityCare are indeed fortunate that their care will be provided by the University of Maryland's specialists, both primary care physicians and subspecialists.
James P. Richardson, M.D.
Baltimore
Why Morality
In my letter of Jan. 8, I attempted to suggest that if the purpose of teaching morals in the school is to affect behavior, you need the reasons for such behavior provided by TC philosophical or religious context.
In reply, Terry Hunt (letter, Jan. 23) says, "This assumes that human beings will not behave morally unless they are threatened with punishment by an angry 'god'."
That was not my assumption -- but there may well be truth in it, as any parent will testify and as Mr. Hunt concedes later in his letter.
No, my assumption is that the morality of most religions is not based on a set of arbitrary rules defining behavior deserving punishment (like the Criminal Code) but on the concept of a loving Creator who has given us an "owners manual" (e.g. the Ten Commandments) for our own good.
And, as we all know, when you ignore any owner's manual long enough, you end up paying a price for doing so, and not necessarily in the distant future.
I agree with Mr. Hunt that it is not the threat of punishment that best causes children to behave but it is the desire to please someone they love -- a parent, a teacher or perhaps even the Creator who "first loved them."
John D. Schiavone
Kingsville