Letters To The Editor

ABORTION ISSUE

Making abortion illegal won’t end it

Peter Dolina’s letter (Aug. 2) was one of many among the pro-life/choice correspondents to your paper, contributing to the never-ending debate on whether abortion should be legal or not. Most of people raise this question trying to justify their position on this issue and their personal beliefs.

Regardless on which side of this issue they are, some of them are forgetting a simple fundamental fact: Abortions always were, are and will be performed, whether they are legal or not. The only difference is whether they are performed by professional doctors or by back-alley butchers. I wish people like Dolina would realize this when they talk about “disrespect of life.”

Further, I wish Dolina would talk and listen to some of the desperate women who had to undergo this procedure, before he starts preaching about “killing thousands for the sake of convenience.”

When are we going to learn that making something illegal does not make it disappear? Making alcohol illegal in the prohibition era did not lower number of alcoholics, it only escalated crime, related to the alcohol distribution. Our “war on drugs” is not exactly yielding the promised drug-free society. As in the prohibition era, it only brings a higher crime rate, gangs, overcrowded prisons and more deaths due to a black market distribution. When are we going to realize that helping these unfortunate people could create better results than just simply labeling them as criminals?

Making certain issues illegal is simple. However, resolving them through the real solution should be our main goal. Paul Silinger Spokane

Can we base humanity on location?

Re: Chris Cathcart’s July 27 letter.

How could the Nazis, without qualm, kill 6 million Jews? You may say it was because they were bad people. No, they were just people. They could do it because they’d been taught the Jews weren’t people, they were problems.

This is a quote from Richard Rubenstein’s “The Cunning of History.” “Law and order prevailed. The hoodlums were banished. Only then was it possible to contemplate the extermination of millions. A machinery was set up that was devoid of both love and hatred. It was only possible to overcome the moral barrier that had in the past prevented the systematic riddance of surplus populations when the problem was taken out of the hands of bullies and hoodlums and delegated to bureaucrats.”

Cathcart says abortion rights activists think the fetus is inhuman. This is completely strange. In partial-birth abortions, the head of the baby isn’t delivered, so it is legal to stab the head with scissors. That’s basing humanity on location! If the baby slipped out completely before it could be killed, and was cared for as any preemie, it would be illegal and horrible to kill it so cruelly.

In a hearing in Little Rock about partial-birth abortions, Dr. Kathy Aultman, former abortionist, testified. “I had a hard time understanding how the German doctors could do what they did during the war,” she said. Now it became clear: “Any time you take a group of people and consider them non-human, you can do anything to them. All of a sudden, I saw what happened to me during training.” Katherine Heline Botkin, age 17 Bonners Ferry, Idaho

GOVERNMENT/POLITICS

Social Security gives protection

I’m responding to a recent letter that stated people would be better off investing their Social Security taxes themselves.

In addition to retirement benefits (which keep 11 million older Americans out of poverty), Social Security provides financial protection through the disability and survivors programs. Of the 44 million Americans drawing benefits today, 17 million receive disability, survivors or dependent checks. Since a young worker has a 30 percent chance of becoming disabled and a 20 percent chance of dying before reaching retirement age, Social Security provides real protection today for workers and their families.

The benefit formula favors workers who have had lower lifetime earnings. This helps those who have not had the opportunity to establish a pension or to save over their lifetime as a supplement to their retirement benefit.

Social Security benefits are adjusted yearly for increases in cost of living, a feature not present in most private investments or pensions.

While getting your money’s worth out of your Social Security “investment” is a legitimate issue, social issues should be considered, too.

Those who want to know more about the Social Security program or to participate in the discussion about changes that will keep it solvent well into the next century, may call me at 353-2116. You can also learn more about Social Security on its Internet page located at www.ssa.gov. Stephen Finkelson, district manager Social Security Administration, Spokane

President needs to clean up his act

Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, you are still an American, and as Americans we can be proud of this country. However, I am saddened by the apathy many people have about the way the Clinton presidency has made a mockery of our highest office. I know there have been other presidents who brought shame to the White House, but not in such large doses! It’s also true that no one is perfect. We all have things in our past that could cause embarrassment. That does not excuse shameful behavior.

The difference with Bill Clinton is that he doesn’t really believe what he does is wrong; lying and cheating on his wife is OK. When he married her, he took a vow, just like when he took the oath of office. If a man cheats on his wife, his partner in life, his best friend, can he be trusted on his job to do the right things for the people he doesn’t love? I think not!

A man’s sex life is his business - to a point. When a person’s personal life detracts from his job credibility or effectiveness, then he needs to either clean up his act or move on. Clinton doesn’t really want to change, or he would have after the Gennifer Flowers and Paula Jones scandals.

The people need to decide what’s important and demand that the people we elect honor the office they are elected to. Otherwise, we have no self respect or world respect.

Where is the outrage? G. Gary Graupner Spokane

How could this happen?

As each of us reflects back on the past years of the Clinton presidency and looks forward to the remaining ones, I can’t help but wonder how an abomination such as this could have occurred in a country such as ours.

For whatever reason this abomination has occurred, I think it’s time to identify this presidency and this administration for what they are and provide Bill Clinton with a fitting legacy: Never in the history of this country have so many and never has so much been corrupted by so few. Bill R. Klein Nine Mile Falls

IN THE PAPER

Charges damaging to Montanans

To me, the article entitled, “Montana swimming in infamy” (Associated Press, July 27) is a case of one kettle calling the other black.

If the reporters would do a good investigation, they would find that the Unabomber, Kehoe family and members of the militia, plus Russell Eugene Weston Jr., have, for the most part, moved into Montana from other states, including time on the West Coast.

Certainly we have our share of the rotten apples, but we don’t have the unsolved serial murders of women that Spokane has. We do not have to drive in our cities with the car doors locked, as I have been warned to do if I am to drive down Riverside at night.

Your charges are damaging to the God-loving natives of Montana. I believe an apology is in order to the general public of our great, thinly-populated state. Paul J. Seifert Troy, Mont.

Efforts appreciated by family

I received a copy of a letter published in your newspaper on July 13, talking about a gentleman who found freedom on Independence Day. My family and I would like to thank Mark Brown C.C.P. for that letter. A burden has been lifted from our hearts knowing someone did all that could be done to save a man who meant so much to us. Thinking you could have saved a love one if only you were there is a difficult thing to deal with, but he lifted that feeling with his letter and his efforts on that day.

Thank you, Mark Brown. Stephen V. Butler Placentia, Calif.

OTHER TOPICS

Weaver should have faced charges

In response to James L. Farone’s letter (“Slam at Weaver ‘terrible’,” July 31) and his close-minded, end-ofstory opinion, it’s kind of like the chicken-and-the-egg argument.

If Randy Weaver was a real role model parent, he would have explained to his children that, in good times or bad, an honest man has to stand up and take responsibility. Therefore, coming off his mountain, facing the charges and dealing with said consequences would have kept the feds (who did kill his family members) away. Doug Foster Republic, Wash.