Letters To The Editor

Thu., Aug. 1, 1996

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Welfare fix defies the realities

Cutting welfare isn’t going to make alcoholism, drug abuse, mental illness, teenage pregnancy and the working poor go away. We can’t just sweep these people under the rug by putting them in a one-size-fits-all, find-a-job program. It isn’t that easy.

Most of the mentally ill, alcoholics and drug abusers have had jobs before their fall onto the welfare wagon. What they need are programs that help get them off and keep them off of drugs and alcohol, and help them maintain some sanity. This will take counseling and/or medication and medical help. They also need a place to live and food to eat.

Very few teenagers get pregnant to get on welfare. Taking the money away isn’t going to make sex go away. These teenagers need programs that will teach them to make better choices.

The working poor are always going to be paying inflated rents to slumlords, along with rising food and medical costs, while trying not to get sick or go hungry. They need help, especially if an illness or emergency arises.

We can’t keep cutting welfare by sweeping people under a go-find-a-job program because, sooner or later, there will be a mountain under the rug that nothing will hide. Vicky E. Lamont Spokane

Wrong to dump those who are trying

I happen to be one of those senior citizens that Michael Wiman mentions in his letter (“Entitlement rip-off costly to end,” July 25). I also happen to be a recovering addict on Social Security insurance and disability.

I receive exactly $496 in cash, $45 in food stamps and medical each month. With these “big” benefits I did manage to get my life together and was grateful for the help. I’ve worked my whole life and was a single parent at that.

I’m appealing the new law, on my own, because if I’m cut off on Dec. 31, the treatment program that works so well for me will be cut off, as well as care for my other medical problems that are not related to drugs. A lot of other people are doing their own appeals also.

Wiman, maybe you should walk that mile in somebody else’s shoes. You don’t throw away the whole barrel because there are a few rotten apples. You save the good ones.

Also, I noticed your letter didn’t mention alcohol. The new law is for both addicts and alcoholics - or are you one of those who think alcohol is OK because it’s legal? Barbara O’Brien Spokane

TRIM arguments specious

The Spring ‘96 TRIM Bulletin (ad insert) in the July 24 newspaper contains the essay, “The Tempting Term-Limit Trap!” which attempts to prevent voters from deciding the issue by saying that term limits aren’t the real issue.

The real issue, according to these self-proclaimed know-it-alls, is the means by which the initiative would have term limits passed - a constitutional convention. According to them, proponents of the initiative for term limits would use this convention to rewrite our Constitution and gut the Bill of Rights.

Read Article V of the Constitution. Amendments to the Constitution must be passed by either three-quarters of the state legislatures or, if Congress decides to use the constitutional convention method of ratification, these conventions must be convened in each state and still must pass amendments by a three-quarters majority of these conventions. Representatives to the federal convention, as required by the term limits initiative, couldn’t rewrite our Constitution and expect it to become reality just because of their efforts and “wisdom.”

Did the TRIM Committee misread Article V on purpose or was it just confused? Either way, a constitutional convention is no threat to either our Constitution or our way of life.

I do oppose term limits, but if I allow the TRIM Committee demagogues to get away with this, what defense will I have later, when such a tactic is used against me?

Vote your conscience on term limits and don’t worry about imagined threats to our Constitution or our way of life. Art Seaton Spokane

Another GOP ambassador of bad will

If the letter from Mike Anstine (“Gingrich-phobes gullible and dumb,” July 27) is representative of the average Gingriphile, it’s no wonder the Republican Party is perceived as being exclusionary.

Anyone who would imply, in print, that 50 percent of the population doesn’t have enough brain cells to complete a synapse is a much better example of the “dumbing-down” theory.

The fact is, any logical decision is reached through research and ingestion of information derived from several sources that include conservative, liberal and moderate viewpoints. Then and only then can an informed, logical decision be made.

Ah, but then again what do I know? I am just a logically disadvantaged female in dire need of male guidance. Oh my! Get the smelling salts, Gertrude. I feel the vapors coming on. Shar Costello Reardan, Wash.

BUSINESS AND LABOR

Symptomatic of what ails us ,

Thanks for carrying the series on sweatshops. It appears mainstream media are reluctant to admit that capitalism has a dark side that is growing in profitability, and therefore in popularity.

Unfortunately, the writer bailed out in the end, deciding that sweatshops, for all their nightmarish conditions and human rights abuses, are probably better than no jobs at all. That attitude meshes nicely with the Marie Antoinette school of compassion for the oppressed. But in most cases, the workers would be better off unemployed, except that land that once provided subsistence has been grabbed by corporate interests.

Some of us argued long and hard against NAFTA because it encourages multinationals to continue to exploit workers and the environment. Greed, however, carried the day as morality was sacrificed for more obscene profits.

Complaints are heard about NAFTA occasionally, but the Mexicans that corporate America cares about are doing fine. U.N. figures show that Mexico now has 24 billionaires, compared to 2 in 1988.

What’s so difficult for journalists to report is the role of the American consumer in this mess. We’re cutting our own throats by continuing to demand items we don’t need without regard for the conditions under which they were produced. Materialism blurs the lines between poverty and luxury in this country and the lines between enterprise and genocide in poor countries.

As long as multinationals call the shots, we’re doomed to the polarization spiral that will make us economically indistinguishable from the Third World, and we seem determined to go out in an orgy of spending. Rusty Nelson Spokane

Sweatshops: ‘What a shame’

I compliment The Spokesman-Review for printing the articles about the sweatshops in the United States and elsewhere. With celebrities like Michael Jordan selling their names, endorsing these products, and the business people exploiting these poor people - what a shame. Maurice B. Cauchon Spokane

Wal-Mart needed downtown

If Wal-Mart wants to move into the Spokane area, it should locate its store downtown. Wal-Mart could use the whole block where Lamonts and Newberry’s were. This would give us a store with a little bit of everything in it. A lot of people on fixed incomes have no place downtown to shop. Cheryl Greve Spokane

Check cards better than fingerprinting

Regarding the article about supermarkets starting to ask for ID here for writing checks. I’m from Connecticut, and back there they have check cards. If you want to write checks, you fill out a little application form and in a few weeks you get a check card. Then all you have to do is show your check card with your check and they know it’s you. That might be a good idea for this area. Jim Nobitz Veradale

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Unselfish except to AIDS victims?

In her July 29 letter, Diana Blume asks, “Why should I be forced to pay taxes for things I don’t believe in, such as abortion and AIDS research, when gays are still the highest spreader of the disease with their promiscuous lifestyle?”

She changed the subject when she brought up AIDS research. Her original argument was that she shouldn’t have to fund abortions with tax dollars when she doesn’t morally agree with aborting babies. Frankly, I agree. However, by bringing homosexuals into the discussion she lost my support.

She ends her letter with the rhetoric of hypocrites: “We were not created to look out for No. 1. God meant for us to live unselfishly.”

Blume, what is your definition of unselfish? Clearly, it doesn’t include willingly sacrificing some of your tax dollars to fund research that, God forbid, might alleviate the suffering of all AIDS patients. Some of those suffering, in your opinion, actually deserve a horrible death. Do you think God feels that way about any of his children? I don’t believe that’s the Christian message of the New Testament.

I would hate to think gays believe all heterosexuals think the way Blume does. Anne-Marie Ophus Spokane

Most want gays treated as abnormal

Blaine Stiles (“Gays are also taxpayers,” Your Turn, Opinion, July 20) states concerns for what he sees as unfair treatment of homosexuals. He cites the U.S. House of Representatives for refusing to equate married couples with homosexuals who choose to live together.

Stiles’ piece is an example of how difficult it can be to deal successfully with important issues when we fail to establish dialogue based on defined terminology. In Stiles’ case, we have to start with a definition of homosexuality.

If one follows Judeo-Christian teaching, he learns that homosexual behavior is unacceptable and does not equate to married couple status.

If one is unfortunate, he may follow the lead of the humanist, elitists, politically correct. With the American Civil Liberties Union as their guide, they’ll allow just about anything, all in the name of civil liberty - including a vigorous defense of pornography. I hope Stiles would not embrace the champions of pornography as his moral guide.

If one cannot accept either of the above, he is left with the dictionary to define homosexuality. Using Webster’s New International Dictionary as a representative source, one finds two definitions for homosexuality: “atypical sexuality characterized by sexual desire toward a member of one’s own sex” and “abnormal.”

Stiles’ piece does not include a definition and so his lamentation of presumed oppression proceeds from assumptions that are clearly not shared by his fellow citizens.

It seems to me that House members did their homework well. They got it right, Stiles. Larry J. Welch Colbert

THE OLYMPICS

Athletes make good role models

In response to Mike Harmon’s July 29 letter, “Dream Team? No, Clod Squad”:

A case of little-man complex, perhaps? In these days of bombings and other tragic happenings in America, don’t you have bigger fish to fry?

Kids who idolize athletes should be commended, not criticized. Obviously, you don’t have a clue about teenagers these days. Most of them are wrapped up in various role models that glamorize killing, suicide and the devil.

We as parents should be thrilled when our children choose these esteemed athletes to be their role models. From the sound of things, Harmon, if you really do have children, you have failed as a parent. This is the ‘90s, and you cannot rule your household like Hitler ruled Germany. Even your kids are entitled to freedom of choice. J.A. Ward Spokane

Critic of athletes goes too far

In one short letter (“Dream Team? No, Clod Squad,” July 29) Mike Harmon managed to insult basketball fans everywhere, and also insult most of the fathers in this country with sons under the age of 12.

It may come as a surprise to him that an awful lot of kids look up to athletes. They collect autographs, sports cards and, yes, even worn equipment of their stars.

If Harmon won’t allow his kids to collect sports memorabilia that’s one thing, but there’s no need to verbally attack parents who wish to see their kids involved in that aspect of sports.

To say that having Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal in American uniforms is a disgrace is one of the most asinine comments I’ve ever read. The reason that they’re making so much money is because people will pay to see them play. If his beloved Kerri Strug could get 20,000 people to pay to see her perform every night, she would be making the same kind of money. But the fact is that people won’t.

Harmon is right about one thing. No one on the basketball team would go in with a sprained ankle. That’s not because they wouldn’t want to but because they wouldn’t need to. We are that much better than everybody else, and I am damn proud of our team. They’re the best in the world.

If having a child who collects athletes’ items makes one a “failed parent,” I would rather be a failed parent than one who suppresses my child’s interests. Allen Moody Medical Lake

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