Congress and Baseball

Letter sent to the Miami Herald on Monday, March 21, 2005:

Speaking on the Major League Baseball steroid issue, John McCain says baseball "can't be trusted." As if Congress can be trusted! They have issues of true national importance before them, but they would rather spend their time and our money pretending to fix baseball. If Major League Baseball wants to make itself into a pathetic hormonally created sham no different than the "wrestling" of WWE, so be it. Our representatives need to quit trying to make cheap political capital off this issue and get back to their jobs.

Mercy or Justice?

Letter sent to the Miami Herald on Wednesday, March 23, 2005:

Dear editor,

Today Senator Dan Webster begged the Florida Legislature, "I'm here pleading for mercy. Have mercy on Theresa Marie Schiavo."

But Sen. Webster has misstated the government's obligation in this situation. What the state owes Terry Schiavo is not mercy, but justice. She is not some pathetic soul that deserves our pity. She is a human being with certain "inalienable rights," as the Declaration of Independence phrases it. And the duty of our government is "to secure these rights."

Governments exist to protect the life and property of citizens. That is why they are given the power to enact and enforce laws and to make war. Even our fire trucks bear the motto, "protecting life, protecting property"! Any society in which the lives and property of innocent people are violated while their offenders go free displays a perverse and disgusting concept of justice.

The fundamental issue in the Terry Schiavo case is this: will our government uphold its duty to do her justice by protecting her life?

Thank you.

Public Comments by Government Officials

On October 21, 2003, the Sun-Sentinel published a column by Clarence Page condemning public comments made by a U.S. Army general that were critical of Islam. Mr. Page argued that such comments could damage relationships with Middle Eastern peoples and incite terrorists to further attacks. Consequently, government officials should be prohibited from making such comments and the general should be disciplined for what he said. The following was my reply:

Dear editor,

Re: Clarence Page's October 21 column, "Declaring holy war":

While I desire to see diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the Middle East improved, nevertheless Lt. Gen. Boykin must be allowed to express his views. Why should he not be allowed to speak when so many others in Congress, the Bush administration, and the military can voice their opinions? Soldiers in Iraq are writing letters of discontent to newspapers across the United States--why silence only Boykin?

There will never be a shortage of public figures in the U.S., among government officials and elsewhere, whose opinions will be used by radical Muslims to justify their actions. Since when do bin Laden, Hussein, Omar, and their like need an excuse to hate America?

Like the rest of us, columnist Page, Boykin has a right to speak his mind, even when others disagree with him. Let him speak!