THE MATTER WITH TRUST
Re: Francis X. Rocca’s “Baby”
Talk:
Re: Mr. Rocca’s editorial on the New Yorker article. I
saw a Newsweek article where a couple were “blessed” with
six children due to fertility drugs. Asked how they were going to
support their children now on their limited income, they replied
that they were going to “trust in God.” I find it interesting that
now they plan to trust in God, but when it came to the God-like act
of making babies they were perfectly willing to trust in technology
and take these matters into their own hands.
— Anna Ashley
Gulf Shores, AL
HOSED CAPADES
Re: George Neumayr’s Dirty
Gray:
In his report, Mr. Neumayr reports that the Gray Davis got a
$25,000 campaign contribution from Oracle after they got a $95
million contract from the state!
First, how can a company give that much to one candidate? I
thought that was illegal even before the ridiculous McCain-Feingold
bill.
Second, this is the best reason for California voters to get rid
of Grayout Davis! Not the extortion of Oracle, but Davis is
obviously a horrible deal maker — only $25,000 on a $95 million
contract? That’s only .026 % or .0026!
He got hosed!
— Greg Barnard
Franklin, TN
OUCHERS
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.’s Friedman
at Last!:
What would Mr. Friedman think if he knew the federal government
has taken his voucher idea, added some new laws “as a condition of
funding,” and used it as the means of expanding the public school
monopoly by turning private schools into the same type of schools
the voucher recipients are trying to escape? This has occurred.
Please see details, including documentation, at http://www.educationnews.org/public_schools.htm.
With best regards,
— Ginny Baker
TOM CRUISING
Re: Enemy Central’s Cruise
Control:
Excellent choice. I just wonder why anyone listens to these
people at all anymore. Being actors they’re used to having people
put words in their mouths; you just wonder who it was this
time?
I’m about ready to install my newest bumper sticker, “EARTH
FIRST, we can strip mine the other planets later.” That ought to
get a few comments from EOW wannabes.
— Roger Ross
Tomahawk, WI
COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENTS
Re: Bill Croke’s Rocky
Mountain Bohemia:
Many thanks to Bill Croke for his article on living on $8000.00
a year. I am a free-lance writer and bookseller with a family and
debts, and it was inspiring (as well as informative) to read of his
own struggles. It encouraged me to go on; it also made me aware
that there are a number of things I could cut in my own life to
reduce debt.
God bless,
— Jeff Minick
MAJORITY RIGHTS
Re: John Corry’s One
Nation Indivisible:
No one is forced to say the allegiance; they can stay mute. But
the majority that does, should not have the privilege taken away
from them for a “minority” opinion. God Bless America.
— E. & J. Rogers
PAKISTANI CONTROLS
Re: Jed Babbin’s Ten
Top Things to Do About Terror and Reader Mail’s On
the Offensive:
Please pass this on to Mr. Babbin, who thinks we should continue
dealing with the dictator in Pakistan. Maybe he’ll wise up. It
comes from “The Best of the Web,” WSJ Opinion Page, 2
July. He slammed me in his rebuttal to my letter a few days ago
for saying otherwise. Thanks.
— Mike Slater
“A week-long investigation” by the Christian Science Monitor
has “uncovered evidence that Al Qaeda and an array of militant
affiliate groups are prospering inside Pakistani-controlled
Kashmir, with the tacit approval of Pakistani
intelligence”:
“Pakistan’s guerrilla war to liberate Indian Kashmir has
been largely delegated to an array of holy warriors. Critics say
that this ‘privatization’ of the war allows the Pakistani
government to continue to support its interest in recapturing
Kashmir while denying any official government responsibility for
armed attacks inside Indian Kashmir.”
The Monitor quotes Mohammad Muslim, the ISI’s regional
chief, who claims: “The U.S. government destroyed the World Trade
Center so that it would have an excuse to destroy Afghanistan.
After that, the U.S. military killed tens of thousands of women and
children in Afghanistan.”
Pakistani Justice:
“A Pakistani tribal council ordered an 18-year-old girl to be
gang-raped in order to punish her family after her brother was seen
walking with a girl from a higher class tribe,” the Associated
Press reports from Multan, Pakistan:
“According to the victim, the Mastoi tribe demanded
punishment after her 11-year-old brother was seen walking
unchaperoned with a Mastoi girl in a deserted part of the village.
The boy and his sister are from the lower class Gujar
tribe.
“The Mastoi tribe called a meeting of the tribal council,
which ordered the girl to be raped to avenge their tribal honor.
The teen-ager said she was taken to a hut and assaulted as hundreds
of Mastois stood outside laughing and cheering.”
The AP notes drily that “Pakistan has a tradition of tribal
justice in which crimes or affronts to dignity are punished outside
the framework of Pakistani law.” That’s a hell of an
understatement. What kind of barbarians restore their “honor” by
raping a woman who wasn’t even responsible for the purported
offense?
