Don't Amend

Does anyone else remember George
Bush s campaign promises to be "a
uniter, not a divider," to be a "com-
passionate conservative" and to sup-
portstate s rights?

This country is more
divided than ever, we ve seen little.
or no compassion in anything Bush
does, and now he supports the
Federal Marriage Amendment,
which would overrule state s rights
and write discrimination into the
constitution.

This amendment isn t
about protecting the "sanctity of
marriage" or activist judges, it s
about politics. The timing is a sign
of the desperation of his re-election
campaign. He has to distract the
American public from the problems
he has created or made worse: The
war in Iraq, jobs and the economy,
health care, education, the environ-
ment and many others. It s a desper-
ate attempt to salvage his campaign,
by pitting one group of Americans
against another.

AIan.L. Light
Iowa City, Iowa

Praise

This last editorial ( Not Just
Semantics, March 2004), to Clavelle
re: his wrong positioning on this
issue [same-sex marriage], was
some of the best editorial writing I
have read in a long, long time.
Right glad I am that

you re at the helm of OITM and it s
my hope that you or someone on the
board send this piece out to compete
in competitions.

Sue Schein
Burlington

Another Take

I would like to respond to your edi-
torial Not Just Semantics.
Personally speaking, I have always
supported civil unions here in VT
and the U.S. and Canada. However,
in my opinion, I feel that the U.S.
should opt for a more socially dem-
ocratic word like —— oh yeah —— civil
union, thereby leaving the word
marriage to the pope in Rome.

Here s a bit of personal
history for what it s worth: Having
lived in N. Germany for some time,
there are only a few countries, I
think Finland is one, who endorse
civil unions intovlaw. Other more
religious countries, like Italy,
Turkey, N. Africa [sic] Austria,
Switzerland, that are so fanatically
religious — it s highly unlikely that
gay marriage would be accepted
there ever. Not to say that the term

civil unions wouldn t be.

I fully oppose that there be
a constitutional amendment to gays
or any minorities in the U.S. or else-
where. However, in my opinion, I
would keep church and state sepa-
rate at this point and not throw more
ﬁre onto the brimstone. Civil
Unions without the Pope s blessing
may be the trail to take. '

Thank you for your time.l
would also like to add that I am not
an advocate or member of any par-
ticular religion. I am only express-
ing my voice concerning this matter.
It is of heavy concern tome, espe-
cially with the current religious con-
flicts that have been ﬂaring up over
the last tne years and more.

Annamarie Nolte
Essex Junction

Taking Responsibility

This Friday marks the first anniver-
sary of the invasion of Iraq. Over
550 American Service people have
been killed in Operation Iraqi
Freedom, and over 3,200 have been
injured. Thousands of Iraqis, many
of them children under the age of
15, have been killed and injured.
There have been no weapons of
mass destruction found. The econo-
my is soft, jobs are leaving the
country at an unprecedented rate,
our education system is faltering,
social services for the poor are being
dismantled, veteran s benefits are
being cut and affordable health care
seems like a pipe dream.

Daily we are bombarded
with accusations placing the blame
on an administration or individual
who should be accountable for the
policies and the condition that our
country is in today. And I agree!
Those responsible for their actions
should be held accountable.

So let me be the first to
come forward and tell you who the
culprit is: I am. That s right, ME!
And you too!

You see, I am a citizen of
the United States of America and I
elect the leaders who choose the
direction that this country will take.
It s a pretty neat trick. ‘From what I
understand there are millions of peo-
ple in this world that would like
nothing better than to live as I do.

The good news is that in
this country, if you dont like the
choices that you ve made, you can
choose again. We ve spent hundreds
of billions of dollars on war and
weapons of mass destruction hoping
to make us safer. Instead of being
safer we live in fear, and this fear
robs us of our humanity. We are

' told to be fearful, not to trust, and

then pass these values on to our
children. _
Perhaps [we] might con-
sider taking some of that money
(just a little) that we spend on find-
ing new ways to shock and awe
other nations use it to endear them
to us. I know that it isn t easy, this
trusting and choosing a different
direction, but you have to admit the
choices that we have made so far
don t seem to be working too well.
Maybe we could start with
a few little changes in our homes
and community. We could be a little
kinder to our family and neighbors,

or teach our children that not every-
one is out to hurt them.
lfit works we might
expand the concept. Childcare for
working mothers? Better education
for our children? Healthcare for
everyone? Then if it really catches
on, and we feel more secure, we
might even choose to expand it to
other nations. Clean drinking water
and affordable vaccines for third
world countries?
What difference will it

make? You re only one person? I
used to feel the same way until one
day I watched the first snowﬂakes
of a winter s storm ﬂoat down on to
the bare ground. Each ﬂake was
very tiny and seemingly insignifi-
cant, yet within four hours the entire
landscape was transformed into a
brilliant blanket of pure white snow.
Happy Anniversary. Make your
choices wisely. ‘

Hunter Charnow
Bennington

at witt’s end

«leah wittenber

   

Ie

Braver in Pink

I enjoyed Pippin s review of
Bravehearts: Men in Skirts, and I
generally agree with it. However,
given Pippin s stressing of how het-
erosexual the book is, Pippen did
not mention the shocking pink of the
slipcover spine, book spine, con-
tents-page background, and chapter-
heading background that appear on
my copy of the book.

Peter Traneus Anderson
near Boston

No Ghosts

Francesca Susanna reviewed my
book, The Wrestling Party. Knowing
my book has so offended someone
as truly idiotic as her makes me
realize I m doing something right.
This letter, however, is to defend her
below-the-belt accusation that the
only part ofthe book she liked was
ghostwritten by Shawna Kenney.
Um’, no.

Bett Wﬂliams
Los Angeles, CA

 
   

Environment