Letters To The Editor

Disney

Stop picking on Disney

Ever since I was 5 years old and was taken to see “Show White” and later “Cinderella,” Walt Disney was the epitome of the kind of movies you’d gladly take your child to see. Now all of a sudden the Disney name and all the recent Disney productions have become a pariah.

Has all the wonder and imagination in our world died? First it was “The Lion King.” Some strange, warped minds saw the word sex in one of the cloud formations in one scene. Yet when they showed the scene on the news, neither I nor my friend saw any such thing.

Next to be panned was “Pocahontas.” She was “too well built and sexy” for a children’s movie.

Now “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” is being criticized as demeaning to disabled or handicapped people.

I can’t believe how narrow-minded people are becoming. They worry about some imagined things in a Disney movie than they do about what their child sees in day-to-day life. In the meantime, a lot of children are being ignored and left to grow up any way they can.

Walt Disney at least cared to give his very best for children. His best was good enough 51 years ago and is still as wonderful today.

Come on, people, stop nit-picking and face reality. It’s not Disney movies that are ruining children of today, it is lack of supervision, love and family. It’s street violence, abuse at home and lack of GOD - good orderly direction. Betty Randall Moses Lake

An overreaction to Disney issue

Oh, come on Priggee. You can do better than that. I have admired your work and disagreed with your opinions for years, but I’m sorry to see you sink to the mouse-on-the-cross level of June 26.

I have followed the Baptist/Disney story and don’t necessarily agree with the Disney boycott, but at worst it seems to be a case of overreacting to a legitimate concern. I perceive no hatred in the issue.

Is it possible that your stereotyping Christians as being hateful is influencing your work, or is it simply that when it’s time to drum up some public reaction you put someone on the cross again.

Please, let’s get back to the thoughtful artwork you are so capable of. M.E. Miller Spokane

ABORTION

Protesters should be ashamed

I have never been more appalled in my entire life. While driving past Planned Parenthood on the morning of June 24, my son and I encountered one of the most grisly sights imaginable. Strewn for two blocks along Indiana were huge, full-color posters of aborted, mangled fetuses. These protestors who profess to be protecting children exposed countless unsuspecting children to this hideous spectacle.

Shame on all who participated in such an uncalled for display. I wouldn’t be surprised if they caused many nightmares that night. Constance Castle Spokane

Pro-choice arguments inconsistent

Regarding the June 16 letters of Steve Blewett (“Inconsistencies in law revealing”) and Virginia Johnson (“Not who you kill but when and how?”):

I agree with them on questioning the difference between partial-birth abortions and a mother putting a pellet into her unborn baby; there is no difference. Can any pro-choicers out there tell me otherwise? Didn’t think so.

If you are pro-life, you already disagree with abortion and agree with the decision to charge that mother with murder. If you are pro-choice, why aren’t you out there campaigning to get this mother off the hook? After all, there’s nothing wrong with killing a “fetus,” right? You always talk about a woman’s right to choose, so what about this one?

Gotcha. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.

By the way, I’m neither pro-choice or pro-life. I’m pro-responsibility. Robert Caldwell Spokane

SOCIETY

Racists have no real power

John Olson (guest column, June 26) states that racism can be defined as “prejudice plus power.” I disagree. No matter what the racist’s station in life, the apparent necessity to denigrate and otherwise harm other people indicates only massive self-hatred and insecurity. Anyone attempting to operate from such a foundation, however seemingly successful, is essentially powerless. Margaret Koivula Spokane

Violence is not a solution

What has happened to the days when a dispute could be settled with an argument or at worst a punch in the nose? It seems that we have become so conditioned to violence that the only heroes we have these days are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis.

Family values is the theme for both political parties during this election year but Hollywood keeps cranking out these films. R-rated films bring in millions at the box office. So I guess money talks at the expense of giving our kids a positive role model.

I see no solution to crime as long as we reflect killing each other to solve problems or disputes. Bud Hammer Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Rosary not a fashion item

I want to register my complaint to the fashion industry on the model using a rosary as fashion jewelry around her neck, while wearing a very skimpy outfit.

The rosary is a religious article. Using it in such a way is a profane, sacrilegious act. Rose M. Ziega Osburn, Idaho

Gun opponents mired in propaganda

“NRA over the semiautomatic edge” (Letters, June 21) has some misinformation.

I challenge that letter’s author to visit any sporting goods store and try to purchase an “automatic assault weapon,” which he claims are readily available. The gun-ban lobby’s charge that non-existent assault weapons are only good for killing people is false. Military-type semiautomatic rifles are used mostly in Camp Perry-style target matches by responsible people. But the media only want the public to hear about Dean Mellberg.

The National Rifle Association lost several thousand members because of a dues increase, not politics. It has never lost “millions” of its members, and its membership is now climbing toward 3.5 million. Many people do hate the NRA for its politically incorrect patriotism and its staunch support of the Constitution.

Gun-ban zealots are trying to convince an unknowing public that millions of semi-automatic hunting and sporting firearms are “assault rifles” so they can get them all banned. They also want a total ban on handguns. After that, they’ll mop up whatever is left.

Local anti-gun spokespersons need to stop the namecalling, personal attacks, rancor, emotionalism and propaganda and instead debate the gun issue maturely. Curtis E. Stone Colville, Wash.

Farm story exaggerated

As I read “Farmers peer into the future” (June 21) my immediate reaction was frustration. I attended the tour that Grayden Jones wrote about. I thought the newspaper was suppose to be straight-forward and accurate. What happened?

The crop tour was a showing of the newest equipment and latest trends in farm methods. One method presented involved reduced tillage farming whose benefits include less soil erosion and lowered overhead cost. This method reduces the time the farmer must work a field, while leaving more residue, therefore reducing the amount of soil particulates in the air which cause the dust storms Mr. Jones mentioned.

The analogy of Spokane turning into a dust bowl if the CRP land is put into production is an exaggeration. CRP land is contracted with the government. Once this contract expires, the farmers look at their options on how to put the land back into production. Using the above methods, they can control the amount of dust created when planting their crops.

I am not a farmer. I am a citizen who struggles to understand the unfamiliar. I attended this tour out of a desire to understand all that’s involved with farming. My motivation? My husband is a farmer. Although I am just beginning to comprehend all that there is to this career, I ask many questions in hopes that I will be informed enough to have my own opinions about the issues involved. We have a responsibility as citizens to become informed of issues important to us. We can’t depend on other sources to do our homework for us.

I didn’t agree with everything at this conference, but I’m willing to take or leave what I want and form my opinions responsibly. Kelly Schultheis Colton, Wash.

Team companies are the future

Teams are the way of the future. Self-managed teams and employee-involvement teams already are making American business globally competitive.

There are reasons team companies can compete with low-paying companies. Team members at team companies have goal congruence throughout the company. Team members make decisions. Since team members have the necessary details to make decisions, they make effective workplace decisions.

Team companies can learn. A learning company can stay abreast with the constant change in today’s business climate. The “old way,” the command and control approach isn’t as quick to adjust as today’s marketplace changes. The old way is slow at change because it’s bureaucracy is slow at sharing information through the company.

Team members can quickly react to market changes. They huddle, share information, decide and follow through with solutions before the lethargic bureaucracy of a command-and-control company has finished their first battery of memos.

Team members make solutions stick because they possess the solutions. They possess their jobs.

Many people are confused about teams and the Team Act. There are team companies with unions (GM’s Saturn plant is UAW) and team companies without unions. The Team Act is not for or against unions. It is for making American business globally competitive. Without passage of the Team Act, the National Labor Relations Board can continue to attack team companies that are crossways with an inconsistent section of the 1935 National Labor Relations Act.

The Team Act simply legalizes the use of workplace teams for union and non-union companies alike. Larry Coulson, coach Stock Steel, Spokane

Proof lacking for evolution

My thanks to Paul Weis in his anti-creationism letter (June 27) for quoting a creationist who said, “We cannot discover by scientific investigation anything about the creative processes …”

An evolutionist, Professor Solly Zuckerman, writes in “Beyond the Ivory Tower,” “No scientist could logically dispute the proposition that man … evolved in a very short space of time … without leaving any fossil traces of the steps of transformation.” Is he saying, every scientist should believe evolutionism even though there is no evidence?

How can a scientist say anything about a process which left no fossil evidence, and which no one saw, which is not repeatable, and cannot be tested?

Neither evolution nor creation can be disproved or proved by science per se. Faith is involved. Both involve world-views, i.e. religion. And world-views have consequences.

To take the extreme examples, it is well-documented that evolutionism was part of the philosophical basis of Nazi Germany as well as Stalin’s Russia.

Creationism was part of the basis of American democracy. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have no faith that evolutionism can be proved true or that it is a good basis for social and moral order. Bob Silver Nine Mile Falls

Forests’ health must be restored now

Thank you, Tim Coleman, for setting forth facts about forest health. I am so tired of the mellifluous voices and the presentation of an all-American family to support the claims of the forest industry.

Wake up folks, these are actors playing a part, not your father or concerned citizens telling you the truth as sent down from on high. The industry spokesmen, who you see on TV, are going to tell you what is good for them. Asking anything else is like expecting R.J. Reynolds Co. to tell you that smoking is bad for you.

So, it takes someone like Tim Coleman and others dedicated only to the health of our forests to set forth the truth.

Sure, the forests may grow back in 30 to 50 years, but I can’t wait that long, can you? I want my forests protected now, so that all of the diversity and wonder of our natural landscape is preserved. Kay Stoltz Spokane

Quilt supporters deserve thanks

The AIDS Memorial Quilt has come and gone, the dust has cleared and it’s time for the fundraisers to say thank you to the generous and loving people of this community. This is the same community that has been called “conservative.” I can count on two hands the negative responses to requests for help.

The lovely individuals that include generous businesses, great volunteers and hard-working committee members made the quilt the truly moving experience it was for all of us - including the 7,000-plus visitors.

Again, thank you. Raedine Price, volunteer fundraiser Spokane

We have term limits: the ballot box

Those citizens who “think” that they are in favor of term limits (such as Donna Blazen, June 27) need to be reminded that our country’s system of elections grants voters the ability to vote out of office those elected officials whose terms we choose to limit.

Citizens need to become informed registered voters. Call the Board of Elections to learn of the many convenient locations for voter registration 456-2320. E.L Ripple Spokane

Program shouldn’t be compromised

I understand the right to a fair trial and the right to face an accuser, but for a program like Secret Witness to work we have to understand that it is in the public good that everybody remain secret. The people who call have a right to privacy (in some cases they may fear conviction) and if the only way we are to get the information to convict the murderer is to be told by someone who was in the area, they need to have the right to privacy and they need to know their name will not be divulged. If not, they may not call.

This program is run by civilian volunteers. Because of this, I don’t think it should be treated like it is part of the government. I really feel that a mistake was made and that Judge Schroeder tried his best to appease both sides, but in this case he should have thought only of the good of the public and not of some lawyers trying to abuse the system. Matt Meeusen Spokane

It’s the thoughts that count

In his June 24 letter, Edward M. Devlin expressed his discontent with the lack of originality of expression he found in many of the letters to the editor. Devlin cited several phrases that he termed “overused and overabused.”

Psst. My English teacher from the distant and nearly forgotten years of my youth called those worn-out phrases “trite expressions.”

“Trite” - cool word. Found that in my thaz… thesorgm… you know, that there big fat book with all them fancy multi-syllabled words nobody knows quite how to pronounce. No, not that Danny Webster book that fits in your pocket, that really big one that props up the end of the couch, the one by that Roman dude, Caesar Thesarium.

And, as smart as that fellow Thesarium was, he also said it wasn’t nice to criticize people who have taken the time and made the effort to sit down to express themselves on paper. So what if many people don’t come off sounding like Rhodes scholars. Most of us reading the paper probably wouldn’t understand a Rhodes scholar if we met one, or read one, except Mr. Thesarim, but he’s dead.

A lot of editors to the editor probably wouldn’t pass my English teacher’s or Devlin’s tests for clarity and originality of expression. However, these people attempted to express themselves, their feelings, their beliefs and their ideas. And, as Caesar Thesarium would no doubt agree, that’s what counts. Marilyn Roberge Rathdrum, Idaho