Perspective

Today's Letters: Boot camp case reflects national character

Protest confuses lessons of history Oct. 28, Bill Maxwell column 

I grew up in the segregated white South. I can't imagine what it was like trying to raise your children in safety. I remember Emmett Till. I remember being horrified at the injustice. But today is 57 years later. What I find horrifying today is that more people are not horrified.

We are presented with a 20-minute video of seven grown men beating a 14-year-old child, and life just goes on. Is this a symptom of a society that tolerates rendition to be tortured in another country? That tolerates Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo? Is it okay to do this stuff because the victims have dark skin? Where is our humanity? Was it okay because the police, the authorities, were doing it? Does that make us a police state?

And so to Bill Maxwell, I say that this case is as important as the Emmett Till case. It holds a mirror to our character and our morality. My question is, "Do we dare look?"

Fern Williams, Zephyrhills

This close to homeless Oct. 28, story

We are vulnerable

Wake up, Florida. What is happening to the Qandil family could happen to anyone.

In 2005, I sold my three-bedroom, two-bath pool home to downsize and pay off bills. I purchased a two-bedroom, one-bath home without a pool, and my payment went up. What should have been a sound financial decision became a nightmare. I lost the benefit of my Save Our Homes cap, insurance increased and taxes doubled. Then I got sick and had several thousand dollars of unpaid medical bills.

I called the mortgage company to talk about my situation. They would not talk to me because my payment was not (at that time) past due.

When I got my escrow statement in December 2006, my house payment had increased to $1,539 per month. I called the mortgage company again and they again told me to quit paying my mortgage payment. When I was six months past due, they would step in to help me sell it. How sad that there is no help until the situation becomes unmanageable.

Fortunately, I have a steady job and income. I found a great rental house for $1,000 a month in a great location with nice landlords. I was lucky.

Cathie Chapman, Largo

This close to homeless Oct. 28, story

Little was learned

Are we really supposed to sympathize with these two? They took on a crushing load of debt without having a sound financial footing. They expected $200 a day from a consignment store? Get real. Consignment stores are hobbies or are run by charitable organizations with unpaid staff. And depending on papa's income with no financial reserve or disability insurance is asking for trouble.

Evangeline Qandil is heading for her second bankruptcy and doesn't seem to have learned a thing.

Pete Wilford, Holiday

Reporters actually were FEMA workersOct. 27, story

A typical ploy

Even if the Bush flunkies at the Federal Emergency Management Agency had not been caught asking and answering their own questions at the fake news conference on the California fires, they represent a basically pathetic endgame tactic for an incompetent and corrupt administration. And it's disingenuous for the Homeland Security czar, Michael Chertoff, or the White House to claim that such a ruse "will never be tolerated or repeated."

Of course such an activity, if not exposed, would be applauded. George Bush has doled out the Presidential Medal of Freedom like "political hush money," according to one critic, to such incompetents as Paul Bremer (post-Iraq invasion planning) and George Tenet (pre-9/11 and weapons of mass destruction CIA analyses).

If this stunt had succeeded, Bush would have happily bestowed, with irony intended, the once honored medal to the "heck-of-a-job" FEMA folks.

Bill McGrath, Bradenton

Clinton and Obama clash on going to war with Iran Oct. 30, story

Clumsy politicians

The pundits and presidential candidates are falling all over themselves to declare Iran a terrible threat to peace if it develops nuclear weapons. Have we been down this road before? Back in the early 1960s the Chinese were developing nuclear weapons, and the right-wing politicians of the time were declaring that we should take strong action, even make an air strike, to stop them. The catchphrases of the time were almost identical: "You can't reason with those fanatics" and "They have no regard for life" and "They hate us for being free."

Back then we had seasoned statesmen who weighed the consequences of rash action and trusted in our considerable military deterrent. We eventually realized that China's effort was meant to defend them from the Soviet Union.

Today we have rash and untested politicians and an echo chamber of pundits who see war as the solution. They forget that Iran ramped up its nuclear work after George Bush made a national speech in which he called Iran "evil" and then later invaded neighboring Iraq. I don't like the idea of an Iranian nuclear program. But is it any wonder they're working on such a program when they've been so bluntly threatened by our clumsy politicians?

Tom Butler, Tallahassee

Vice president will again take up armsOct. 27, story

Go hunt in Iraq

So, Vice President Dick Cheney is again attempting to take up arms against some poor unsuspecting, harmless animal.

Since he is so eager to "take up arms," would it not be more meaningful for him to take his gun and join our young men and women he and President Bush sent to fight in Iraq? He could prove his support of our troops by taking on a real enemy, as opposed to conquering the defenseless creatures of our forests.

Elizabeth Mignone, New Port Richey

A healthy hope

Reading the Sunday morning paper is a favorite weekend ritual of mine, one that often provokes disturbing questions for which I have very few answers. After reading the editorial, Medical students at USF fill a void in the Perspective section, I am overwhelmed with hope. Hope that I may not have to flee to Canada or Europe to seek fair health care - seriously!

I feel pure satisfaction in humanity and am thankful that there are many caring and talented students in the community who not only welcome, but also force change. Thank you to the students, professors, health professionals and humanitarians who are running this program.

A small article filled with so much hope and huge potential! Thank you. Oh, and GO BULLS!

Kelly Addington, Riverview

[Last modified November 5, 2007, 07:48:25]