It's time to decide what we mean by 'good Christmas'
Published December 13, 2003
Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year, yet I find myself once again perplexed at how we allow "having a good Christmas" to be defined, not only by the media, but even by well-meaning people. Everywhere I turn I hear people asking for a toy or money for a toy for children who might otherwise "not have a good Christmas this year." I am not against giving so children can have a toy, mind you, but I am against allowing a "good Christmas" to be defined by whether my children or any child has enough toys.
God reached down to us and gave us the ultimate gift by sending his son to live with us, eat with us, sleep with us, pray with us, cry with us, celebrate with us and ultimately die for us, changing our lives for eternity. Shouldn't Christmas be defined by how we can reach out to others in a positive way, giving a part of our lives to others so that their lives can be changed, not just at Christmas time but forever?
Maybe then we'd have fewer people getting run over at our local stores, fewer people stressing about how to pay bills and buy gifts, fewer people feeling depressed and unworthy because they don't have the money to make Christmas what the world says it should be, and fewer children feeling as though they didn't have a "good Christmas" because they didn't get as many toys as the next child.
Christmas is not a one-day affair, but a lifestyle of giving ourselves to others every day of our lives. How will you define a "good Christmas" this year?
-- Matt Cole, St. Petersburg
Fix the roads, then drive on them
Re: House members use state planes to do state work, letter, Dec. 11.
I had to laugh at Speaker Johnnie Byrd's remarks about the use of state planes. First, my question is, why can't you drive like the rest of us? Are you above the rest of your constituents, like fat pashas who cannot be bothered? Are you telling me your time spent on cell phones and Blackberries is worth more than my time spent in the auto license lines? You have to be kidding, or else out of your minds. You haven't done a thing for me when it comes to taxes and fees. Why should I pay you to fly home?
Second, I noted with some mirth that the quibble Mr. Johnnie had with Democrats was name-calling. Five times, our honorable Mr. Byrd referred to Democrats as "liberal." In political parlance, is this not name-calling? I am so disgusted that I no longer vote.
-- Dr. M. Adams, Gulport
Florida can't take much more innovation
Re: House members use state planes to do state work.
House Speaker Johnnie Byrd's shrill, defensive letter makes a few claims that can't go unchallenged. He lauds the "innovative Republican education policy" that seems to be limited to imposing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test on public schools but not on private schools, or on students that use public money to attend private schools.
That "innovative Republican education policy" also seems to consist of relentlessly searching for any way under the sun to avoid doing what the voters told them to do. We told the state government to reduce class sizes and to keep education public. We (the majority of voters) thought that by passing constitutional amendments we could force the Republican-led state government to do the right thing. We thought it would force them to quit playing games with the teachers' unions and get on with educating our kids. Instead of practical solutions, we heard endless coordinated PR stunts and bellyaching and whining about how much it was going to cost, and how it was going to suck up all of Florida's tax revenue and how the sky was going to fall. The whole episode looked like a temper tantrum from a 2-year-old who wasn't getting his way.
As far as Republican tax and economic policies being beneficial, it's hard to believe that passed the laugh test in his office. The Republican answer to just about any economic problem you can think of is "cut taxes!" and "let the private sector handle it!" They don't like the public sector very much. It wouldn't surprise me at all to find them trying to find ways to privatize our police and fire services in the interest of "market efficiency." If it had been left to the private sector, the Internet would never have been created and we would have had no space program (and our private-sector companies wouldn't enjoy the benefits of all that publicly funded R&D).
As for "innovative science-based Republican environmental policies," a short trip down memory lane puts the lie to that load of horse-apples. Those policies amount to absolving every polluting industry that can write a check from having to follow the laws that have cleaned up our air and water, or moving water from counties that conserve to give it to counties that allow hog-wild overdevelopment.
And who can forget the time our Republican-led state government wanted to inject untreated wastewater into the aquifer for storage? Never mind how it would affect the people who get their drinking (and cooking) water from wells that draw from that aquifer.
It's not surprising that Rep. Byrd sounds so defensive. If I had to defend a record like the Republicans', I'd be defensive too.
-- Chris Woodard, Tampa
Byrd's front porch has a strange view
Re: House members use state planes to do state work.
Once again, it appears that Johnnie Byrd, speaker of the Florida House, has stuck his proverbial foot in his mouth. This man's narrow-angled view of life in Florida is close to being comical, if it weren't so painful to the taxpayers of Florida.
Front Porch Florida was a losing idea from the start. The "media attention" it received from that catchy name got his smiling face on certain TV channels, and won him conservative radio talk show appearances.
Florida health care is in a shambles. The nonthinking Medicare reform Jeb's big brother has forced upon Americans has slammed lower-income elderly Floridians yet again. What choice do they have? (Very innovative, Johnnie.)
Did you notice he failed to mention his innovative leap into the age of computers? How big is the bill for a new state Legislature computer system, that a buddy of his has the contract for?
-- John F. Barfield, St. Petersburg
He must mean the technology sector
Re: House members use state planes to do state work.
It sure is good to know Florida's Republicans are so innovative. Among the many innovative claims made by the speaker are that "Innovative Republican tax and economic policies have made Florida's economy the strongest in the nation, if not the world." I have to speculate that Byrd did some really, really creative research to make that claim.
-- Jim Lyman, Lutz
A headline as long as the letter
Re: House members use state planes to do state work.
A better headline would be: House Speaker Johnnie Byrd refutes charge of arrogance by writing long, arrogant letter.
Why do Republicans have no sense of irony?
-- Jason K. Jolliff, Clearwater
We need more tariffs, not fewer
Re: Bush's steel error draws scattered fire, David S. Broder column, Dec. 10.
Bush's mistake was to put tariffs only on steel. While this helped steelworkers, it hurt manufacturers that use steel. The tariff should have been on all manufactured imports. From the time of Hamilton and Washington until 1950, our tariffs on manufactured imports were seldom less than 30 percent. Truman slashed them, I believe to induce help from other countries in the Cold War.
At first this didn't hurt much because we had such a big lead. But then in the 1970s, our factories began to close and the real wages of most workers started to fall. Our present open markets are a relic of the Cold War, and are causing America to regress to a weak nonindustrial country, with widespread poverty!
-- Jack Gregg, Largo
Who wants more work for fewer people?
Re: Exactly what part of "unilateralism' don't Bush's detractors understand?, George F. Will column, Dec. 11.
Reading Will's columns, published frequently, one has to wonder how those readers of the Times can say this paper is one-sided. Any thorough reader can see that the Times is more balanced than most papers in this country.
The only economic statistics that are meaningful to most Americans today are those that provide them employment, livable wages, health care and financial stability.
One can ask: Exactly what part of "economics" don't Bush supporters understand? It is basic economics that when a country produces more with fewer workers, it is an economic misfortune! This is what Will and Bush supporters do not understand.
-- Russell Lee Johnson, St. Petersburg
Arm-twisting of global proportions
Re: Iraq contracts: Only allies need apply, Dec. 10.
With this week's announcement by the Pentagon that contracts for the rebuilding of Iraq will go only to those countries that supported the U.S.-led coalition, the administration has shown its true colors in how willing it actually is to "look toward the future." As a display of how truly backward our politics have become, the very next day the Bush administration asked these same countries to forgive Iraq's debts.
Sadly, this punitive move seems like the natural progression of the type of cronyism displayed by the Bush administration toward its corporate donors. Only now it has reached an international scale. The last time I've seen this type of bargaining used, I was trying to get picked for the "better" kickball team.
-- Eric Soyke, St. Petersburg
They can bid if they can fight
Re: Iraq contracts: Only allies need apply.
I support President Bush and his initiatives, but he really should allow contractors from France, Germany and Russia to bid on work in Iraq. This is only fair.
However, there should be just one simple condition, and that is: If a contractor from France, Germany or Russia is successful and wins a bid for some work in Iraq, then that contractor should not expect the U.S. Armed Forces to provide security for his work force and equipment while he is working in Iraq. Taking on a project in Iraq without military protection being provided would be suicidal and just plain dumb.
Let's give credit where it's due. The international contractors in France, Germany and Russia are not nearly as dumb as their respective governments.
-- Kit Werremeyer, Valrico
We can't buy the Europeans' love
Re: Iraq contracts: Only allies need apply.
Any policy that attempts to purchase the conscience of a democratic consensus in the name of protecting freedom and democracy is bribery. It makes the United States the "crooked cop" of the world.
-- Daniel P. Quinn, St. Petersburg
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