Letters to the editors for June 3, 2011
Dangerous nonsense
To the Editor:
Jeremy Borntrager (“Ill-informed and offensive” March 18) defends the Gay Straight Alliances (homosexual clubs for kids) in our schools on the basis that there is nothing wrong with having a support group for a lifestyle.
That all depends on what that lifestyle is all about. If it is a healthy lifestyle — fine. If it is an unhealthy lifestyle and the support group is to help the members overcome dangerous, unhealthy behavior — fine as well.
There are many valid support groups for drinking disorders, eating disorders and drug abuse. We would be outraged if these same groups affirmed alcoholism, anorexia, bulimia, or drug abuse — and had pride days to celebrate these behaviors.
Why aren’t we outraged that the GSAs affirm sexual disorders? (i.e. homosexual attractions and behavior which for men is built around the practice of anal sex—the leading cause of HIV)
A few months ago a distraught father called me to say that his daughter had just announced to the family that she was a lesbian. I asked him whether she had attended a Gay Straight Alliance in her high school.
He said that the previous year she attended her school’s GSA to be supportive of her girlfriend. Both girls have now identified as lesbians.
It’s no surprise when kids are bombarded with messages about homosexuality that at some point many will start to wonder, “Am I ‘gay’?”
GSAs imply that homosexual behavior is acceptable and even cool. Homosexual-friendly books tell students that bisexuality, sexual fluidity and experimentation are OK.
Open your eyes, people. Parents, do you really want your children attending a GSA where homosexual behavior is affirmed and celebrated and where children are trained to be advocates for this unhealthy behavior as well as activists for gay rights?
Parents and clergy, please understand that these GSAs use public education to change the political and moral beliefs of your children. What will you do when your child comes home and tells you that he (or she) has decided that he is gay, or wants to march in a Gay Pride Parade?
Under a banner of combating homophobia, GSAs become breeding grounds for hostile attitudes toward anyone who objects to homosexual behavior, including parents. This hostility extends toward traditional religions and morals, as well as school authority.
It was ridiculous to have clubs in schools based on sexual behavior in the first place. No school should allow risky, dangerous behavior to be legitimized by a school club.
It is irresponsible for educators to promote the “it’s OK to be gay” message to students when homosexuality is such a high risk behavior. This is an assault on moral standards and healthy living, and greatly endangers the physical and mental health of students who attend.
What about the issue of liability? More vulnerable students will likely be drawn into homosexual activity as a result of the existence of these clubs. What if a 15-year-old is seduced into homosexual behavior and then contracts AIDS?
These clubs first made their way into our high schools. Now we have one in the Anoka Middle School for the Arts and another forming at Oak View Middle School.
More confusion is on the way if the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN) has its way. Its goal is have GSAs in the elementary schools as well.
Let’s stop this dangerous nonsense before it’s too late and more young boys and girls are encouraged to “come out” and practice their “gayness” right in their own school’s homosexual club.
Sincerely,
Barb Anderson
Champlin
Purpose of Declaration
To the Editor:
Charlotte Cushman (May 13, Individual Rights) accepts Yaron Brook’s and Ayn Rand’s view that this country was founded solely to protect individual rights. This philosophy apparently motivates much of the Republican drive to slash social spending while decreasing taxes for the rich.
They justify this radical departure from past practice by claiming the Declaration of Independence supports only one principle: individual rights. Nothing else.
“Our rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (our happiness, not anyone else’s)…. the government was created … to protect those rights. And that is all the government should be doing. That’s it.”
No. It says we are endowed by our Creator with those rights The people are then to form a government “most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”
Clearly, “safety and happiness” is far less restrictive than Ms. Cushman’s assertion. Remember also that the Declaration’s purpose was to list the reasons for seceding from England, not to establish a legal framework for a new country.
Then she makes the same assertion for the Constitution.
The preamble to the Constitution states: “We the people …, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare…”
Article 1, Section 8 reads in part: “The Congress shall have power to … provide for the … general welfare of the United States…. and … promote the progress of science and useful arts….”
Congress has obviously been given wide latitude for action.
A few short minutes of embarrassingly obvious fact-checking shows up the Republican/Ayn Rand foundation as historical balderdash, a self-serving rationalization for raw greed, a sleight-of-hand to trick the unwary into submitting to their own impoverishment.
The Republican budget cuts reflect this my-money-is-everything philosophy: parks, science (especially for climate change), the social safety net, education and regulation of the financial markets are all on the chopping block. Medicare and Social Security are in their sights.
At the same time, the Republicans fight tooth-and-nail for continued tax subsidies for big oil. Ms. Palin says the several billion dollars for oil subsidies is trivial.
Ms Cushman continues, “You are either in favor of individual rights or you favor the government controlling your life. There is no in between. It’s either freedom or submission.”
Her melodramatic assertion again ignores the obvious.
We get massive benefits from living in society and we enthusiastically consent to almost all of its restrictions. Roads, medical care, home construction, financial services and cellphones are heavily regulated. That’s why they work. Our doctors are competent because laws require training at an accredited medical school.
The Massey Energy Company dodged safety regulations and killed 29 coal miners last year and deregulation of the financial system brought the global economy to its knees.
Effective regulation is essential in a complex, densely-populated society.
Randians oppose regulation because, they say, it causes corruption.
“Ah, Mr. Fox, we know you won’t eat more our chickens if we take down the fence. It was the fence, after all, that induced you to eat the chickens.”
Greed is not restrained by utopian ideals of laissez faire purity.
Republicans and the Tea Party financiers wail about the national debt while giving the super wealthy tax cut after tax cut after tax cut and now they want another one while at the same time threatening to shut down the government because “we’re broke!” Obviously, national welfare is secondary to tax cuts.
They kill people by denying medical care, by refusing to effectively regulate dangerous occupations, by creating false doubt in dangerous situations (tobacco use, climate change) and by supporting the perpetual war machine in the face of transparent criminality (Bush’s wars). Randians call this “rational morality.”
The common thread to their behavior isn’t “original intent” (Justice Scalia), “individual rights” (Rand), conservative values (fiscal responsibility) or even merit. It’s base greed, willing to do whatever it takes to acquire and hold as much as possible.
The great irony of this “It’s mine, mine, all mine!” philosophy is its fusion with Religious Right Christianity. And who leads the charge of the Great Christian Revisionist Society? None other than our own Rep. Bachmann!
The “values voter” has been scammed into believing that values don’t include integrity and poverty brought on by financial corruption. They desperately need to compare their red-letter verses with Republican budgets and philosophy. Neither the Beatitudes nor the golden rule are compatible with greed-is-good.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Randians claim a new interpretation for the Declaration and Constitution but their evidence is laughable. The tax cuts of the last 30 years have left our nation in increasingly dire circumstances.
How much more are we going to take before we drive the money-changers out?
Rod Kuehn
Ramsey
In-district office hours
To the Editor:
I’m writing to say a quick thank you to everyone who came and visited with me during my in-district office hours April 30 at the Andover Community Center.
I received great feedback from you on a variety of issues that concern Senate District 49.
I was thrilled to hear from residents who shared ideas on health and human services issues and jobs, among other things.
Overall, it was truly a great opportunity to connect with you throughout the legislative session.
If you missed my in-district office hours, please do not hesitate to contact my office to set up a meeting at 651-296-4380 or e-mail me your thoughts at sen.michelle.benson@senate.mn.
You can find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/senatorbenson and on Twitter: @SenatorBenson.
Thanks again
Sen. Michelle Benson
Ham Lake
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