'Traditional marriage'
To which "traditional marriage" is the Rev. Ron Baity referring ("Same-sex ballot strategy forming," Feb. 4)? Before 1900, when women could not own property? Before 1967, when interracial couples could not marry? Before 1993, when marital rape was legal? Before 1724, when blacks could marry only with their owner's permission? With his Bible in hand, he's probably referring to biblical times, when a man just had sex with a woman to make her his wife, whether she agreed or not.
Baity claims to speak for God, just like the writers of the Bible, obviously interpreting what God wants and hates to fit their own beliefs. Why not follow Jesus, who was quoted in the Bible, to cherish each person as a child of God and love without judgment of what is acceptable and what's not? Identify, hate and correct your own sin before you cast light on someone else.
Perhaps Baity's time would be better spent saving those "traditional marriages" that are falling apart instead of denying others the right to marry their life partners. If his church wants to get involved in politics, maybe it's time to take away its tax-exempt status.
SALLY WALTON
King
Susan B. Komen
I have never supported the Susan B. Komen for the Cure because of its affiliation with Planned Parenthood. However, I was excited when it withdrew its support of Planned Parenthood.
But, sadly, it has succumbed to the pressure of Planned Parenthood and its supporters.
If the Komen foundation would have remained ethical with integrity, it would have held on to its initial decision. That would have been an effective step toward changing the culture of death that exists in this country.
If we do not turn this abomination around, nothing, absolutely nothing, will change in this country. We will continue to have all kinds of crime, immorality and economic downturn.
Over 50 million people have been murdered through abortion alone. Think about all the goods and services that would have been provided to these people if they existed today. Baby furniture and supplies, housing, food, clothes, toys, books, schools and supplies, entertainment, college educations, medical care, dental care, etc. That would have been a lot of money pumped into this economy over the past 39 years. And all that Social Security money that did not get paid.
We cannot continue to slap God in the face by destroying the lives he creates for our benefit and His and expect Him to continue blessing our country. We are paying now for the past 39 years and if we continue I fear for how bad it's really going to get.
RUTH A. COFFEY
Advance
Birth control basics
All women who have practiced birth control or plan to practice it need to be informed. They should be sure the people they vote for reflect their own thoughts on contraception before casting their votes.
It was in 1965 (seriously) that the U.S. Supreme Court (Griswold vs. Conn.) said it was a basic privacy right to have birth-control methods available. Up until then, birth control was illegal in some states. Do we really want to go back to that?
E.T. SHAFER
Seven Devils
Correspondent of the Week
Ban this texting
The one-hour-five-minute-long verbal assault on the 15-year-old student by Coach Mike Muse and Officer James Deeney is reprehensible ("Student recorded coach's tirade," Feb. 2). Their prior reputations don't excuse the vicious threats and language used and should result in some form of punishment. I see no reason for any adult employee of our school system to be personally texting a student at all, much less the heavy volume of texting as suggested in the news. The harsh reality of today is that there have been far too many incidents of inappropriate relationships in our nation's schools. Sadly, some of these incidents have happened right here in our own backyard. Just because there is no policy in place stopping teachers from personally texting students doesn't mean that it is a good idea.
The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school board should simply ban the practice of texting between students and teachers and only allow communications to be done via email through the school's website. Muse and Deeney have only made themselves look as though they have something to hide by going after this student with so much venom. I would suggest to them that like it or not, they turn their phones over to the proper authorities so they can clear their names and remove all doubt as to what was going on between them and that 16-year-old girl. Consider it a lesson learned and a warning to others in our school system to use better judgment in the new digital world.
CHRIS HOLLAND
Kernersville
Sum It Up
Should school systems allow texting between teachers and students? Respond toletters@wsjournal.com and put "Sum It Up" in the subject header. Only signed entries, please, no anonymous ones. Briefer responses receive preference in print.
Sum it up: It's great to see you posting again, WW. That about sums it up.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see you too, Bob.
ReplyDeleteI made two gallons of chicken stew yesterday, Tammy, if that would help Ron feel better.
DeleteThanks Bob, I think he was in the starve a fever most yesterday even though I did make him some chicken soup too of which he ate a little.
DeleteGoing to make Chili today. First good chili weather we've had. I think he'll be able to go back to work on Monday. Bad way to spend weekend, but a least he didn't have to miss work.
LTE #2... I'm pro-choice but understand and appreciate some pro-life arguments. However, I neither understand nor appreciate: "Think about all the goods and services that would have been provided to these people if they existed today......And all that Social Security money that did not get paid." When the truth comes out, it's not always pretty.
ReplyDelete"We cannot continue to slap God in the face by destroying the lives he creates for our benefit and His...." Hmm, so your deity receives Social Security Benefits too? I draw the line there.
DeleteFrom page 10 of the NYT Book Review, Fighting for Scraps: (my typing skill may betray me)
Delete"A 2-year-old girl drowns suspiciously in a pail, and a father empties a pot of boiling lentil over his sick baby. As Boo explains "sickly children of both sexes were sometime done away with, because of the ruinous cost of their care." "Young girls in the slums," she adds, "died all the time under dubious circumstances, since most slum families couldn't afford the sonograms that allowed wealthier families to dispose of their female liabilities before birth."
Excerpt from Behind the Beautiful Forevers. Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity By Katherine Boo.
Powerful description. I wish we could focus more on real children and less on fetuses.
Don't ever get round to reading these types of books.(Don't usually read the NYT Book Review section either) Spend to much time here, on Facebook and Twitter also working and cooking, but this passage of the review may portend where we could be heading.
Delete"She can also perceive why many well off Indians have grown impatient with even contemptuous of, democracy and like their counterparts elsewhere, want to eliminate rather than enhance the social welfarist obligation of government. For these Indians, Boo points out, "Private security was hired, city water was filtered, private school tuitions were paid. Such choices had evolved over the years into a principle:
The best government is the one that gets out of the way.""
"I wish we could focus more on real children and less on fetuses."
DeleteAin't it the truth.
If I were observing Earth from a distance and over time, which I've been accused of and worse, I would make the observation that the human species should learn to control it's population through education, contraception, and early termination of pregnancy, or face having it controlled through neglect, famine, disease, and war.
DeleteRe LTE #2: listen to George Carlin's view on 'Pro-Life' conservatives. A moldy oldie, but still relevant in today's political climate.
DeleteHere is the full 9 min routine:
DeleteCarlin
I especially like the part where he says ". . . the really hard core people will tell you life begins at fertilization . . . which is usually a few moments after the man says 'gee honey, I was gonna pull out but the phone rang and it startled me.' "
Delete. . . and what he says about a woman's monthly visitor: ". . . any woman who's had more than one period is a serial killer."
. . . and what about what he says about those Catholics and Christians?
Thanks for the links, Bob. I miss old George.
DeleteMy favorite line of his:
"Consider how stupid the average American is...then consider that half of them are even stupider."
Good morning, Wordly, et al.
ReplyDeleteGood morning folks and Wordly, yes Mrs WW and I are fine. Hope all is well at Wordly Manor. I haven't been here in a while and wasn't even sure if Stab was still the Capt Kirk of this Enterprise.
ReplyDeleteHe's Captain Kirk and Yoda all rolled up into one.
DeleteBig Kahuna
DeleteIt's hard to believe that Obama was supposedly a constitutional lawyer, since he seems so eager to violate it at every opportunity.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous
____________
Obama would make a great neighbor, unless of course, you happen to be Chinese, then Obama would be knocking on your door wanting to borrow things all of the time.
Ann Coulter
Good Afternoon, et al.
DeleteCoulter, ah yes, from the mouth of "babes." Actually that's rather humorous, Ann.
DeleteAnything that Ann Coulter says that is funny is purely accidental.
DeleteAs to the national debt, she is just as ignorant as most of her ilk.
The US debt is held primarily by Americans...a little more than 70%. The Chinese hold about 7%, slightly more than Japan. The Chinese percentage has actually dropped during President Obama's term in office.
Britain is a distant 3rd, followed by Brazil.
As of January 2011, foreigners owned $4.45 trillion of U.S. debt, or approximately 47% of the debt held by the public of $9.49 trillion and 32% of the total debt of $14.1 trillion.[50] The largest holders were the central banks of China, Japan, the United Kingdom and Brazil.
Delete____________
The previous post is what you get when you get a nitwit with a computer.
The previous post is what you get when some know nothing cuts and pastes (in this case from Wikipedia) confusing and outdated (in this case, year old crap from Jan., 2011) information. Note that he even left in the citation (50, in brackets) from Wikipedia. Clearly this know nothing has no idea what is meant by any of the stuff that he posts, and that is not limited to this particular subject.
DeleteThe information that I posted above is correct as of 10 days ago. By far the largest holder of US debt is the Social Security Administration, at around 20%, far more than the top 20 foreign holders combined.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Do not expect a response from the prior poster.
DeleteGood PM, folks! So nice to see familiar "faces" in here today!
ReplyDeleteSum It Up: if you'll pardon me, "Hell no."
Stab: Just wanna hash up some comments from yesterday re teaching common sense in school. I truly believe that just as what is taught in school should be reinforced, so should what is taught at home, specifically (in this conversation) values and yes common sense . As a parent, when I visited my then young child's school, I would be delighted that students walking the halls would go out of their way to open doors for visitors upon entering the building. Whether this was taught at home, I don't know, but it shows that it was reinforced at school. If incorporated into all aspects of their educational experience in the public school system the students benefit from this. Bucky's comment was (somewhat) right in this aspect.
Deleteouch!!!! that hurt . . .
DeleteI'll stick with what I said yesterday. Schools cannot "teach" morals or common sense. They might be able to reinforce such things.
DeleteOf course, in Zero's case, when he talks about common sense, he is not talking about common sense...more like truly "common" nonsense.
I left out of my list one of the most important factors...friends. A child's friends are so crucial...the old saw about "birds of a feather" can, unfortunately sometimes, be all too true. It's actually a tribal thing.
My childhood friends have been an important force for good all my life. The same can be said for my sons...sometimes I marvel at the extraordinary variety of friends they both have.
Agreed re friends being an important force in one's life. I've always said that if a parent is not in control that one's peer group will always take over. My daughter's peers (my profile pic is my daughter and HER daughter)were her biggest influence, next to mine. She once told me that her friends would tell her that she was TOO POLITE!!! Can you imagine? I KNOW that she learned that from me, and I attribute my politeness to my teachers in 1-3rd grade.
DeleteI attribute my immaculate manners to my mother, my grandmother and a great aunt, none of whom ever failed to correct my many failings.
DeleteMy second grade teacher was a demon on manners. The slightest miscue got you banished for a while to the "cloakroom", there to contemplate original sin. What a great woman she was.
I hold doors for old people, chicken thieves, lawyers, children, even politicians. The only time that ever got me in trouble was when I held a door for an obvious feminazi, who gave me a withering "how dare you"look. I just smiled and said "You're welcome."
I also bellow out a "Your Welcome" to those ingrates that pass through doors without a "Thank You" or even an acknowlegement that the door didn't open by itself.
DeleteWhen I was a kid, our parents would take us shopping downtown. While walking down the street, they would greet every passerby with "Good morning; how are you today?" And everybody would respond "Good morning. I'm fine. How are you?" And so on.
DeleteAnd I would think "Wow, my parents have a lot of friends!" Eventually, of course, I figured out that they didn't even know most of those people.
I still greet everyone that I pass on the street. At best, one in four responds. The worst offenders are the suits, most of them lawyers and stockbrokers and such...they stare stonily ahead as if they see Jesus waiting on the next corner.
The most frequent responders are the ones that Zero would consider undesirables...people of color or gayness, and those not dressed for Sunday school. My favorite, who I encounter several times a week, always says "It's a glorious day to be alive!" And I always agree. Even when it's pouring down rain.
I have found that the standard "How you doin'?" that unconsciously rolls out of people's mouths around here is empty. I have also found that when I respond "I'm fine, how're YOU doing?" I will get the also standard "I'm fine, how're YOU doing?"; not only is it the same question I previously asked, but it tells me that no one is really listening to the question NOR the answer. I now respond by saying "I'm WONDERFUL, I really hope you are!" This always gets a different response from each person, each time.
DeleteGood idea...I'll try it...with the few who do respond.
DeleteMy friends call me "the sidewalk anthropologist" because I am always (informally) studying life on the street.
For instance, who are the politest people downtown? Without question, the panhandlers. If they ask you for "help" and you respond "sorry", most will reply with a cheery "thank you, sir" or even "God bless you, then". Somewhere in the neighborhood of 97%.
One day I was waiting for a bus in Ardmore, that bastion of morality and Americanism. The intersection was a four-way stop, so I decided to keep track of how many cars actually stopped...which means that the wheels stop turning entirely. That is the actual legal requirement. The law doesn't say "slow down"; it says "stop". Many don't even slow down that much.
Result: 9% actually stopped, quite a few because they did not have any choice because another car was already in the intersection.
Tried it later in another neighborhood with the same result. So our drivers are 91% scofflaws.
Result: whenever I hear some blowhard talking about being a "law abiding citizen", all I can do is laugh.
I've done the same survey with drivers using turn signals.
DeleteYou have my admiration for taking on a far more complicated study.
DeleteOn the one hand, you have the zillions who never signal a turn, as opposed to the zillions who drive down the street with their signals always on while zipping straight ahead through intersection after intersection.
Nobody ever said that evolution actually improves the species. It just allows it to survive for a few more years.
One of the joys of living downtown is watching the bike cops use old fashioned hand signals when turning.
I've had to use hand signals here in Winston-Salem; no one pays any attention to them, either.
DeleteNote for those expecting action on the disgusting event at East Forsyth at tomorrow's school board meeting:
ReplyDeleteIt is not on the public agenda. The only possible agenda item is the last, # XIV. Closed Session to Discuss a Personnel Matter in Accordance with Article 21A of Chapter 115C of the North Carolina General Statutes and to Discuss a Legal Matter
NCGS 115C 21A is a nebulous general statute dealing with general school policies.
Truth is, this should not be a School Board issue anyway. It should have been handled by the school administration and already resolved.
Who knows what will happen.