Jackson and Sharpton: hypocritical orators

To the editor:

For decades, the American public has lauded and extolled the racist, sexist and political incorrectness of comedian Don Rickles without so much as a complaint from the audience. And now, Don Imus, whose entertainment philosophy is of a similar nature, is suddenly thrust into unemployment for one line of insensitivity. Why the public outcry?

Actually, there was no public outcry. The incident was artificially stoked by the rantings of those hypocritical orators of “righteousness” and “morality,” Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

Don Imus had a job, which was shocking the public who wished to tune into his radio show. That was his purpose and he apparently did it well.

It seems that the only “job” these two soap box rhetoricians have is further infuriating the public.

Bruce Schowers

LAS VEGAS

Iraq plan

To the editor:

In his Sunday column, Charles Krauthammer, with whom I usually agree, wrote that now was not the time to withdraw because, “The news from Anbar is most promising,” and, “This is a crucial struggle that is going our way for now.”

I see at least two very serious problems with staying — or getting the public to back staying — and I do not know which is the most important.

First, no one states what victory or success or finishing the job looks like. During World War II, it was fairly clear that we fought established governments and their armies until we achieved unconditional surrender. This was accomplished by essentially removing entire cities from the face of the earth, leaving behind little but corpses and rubble. In addition, we killed almost all men from the age of 15 to 60 who were able to carry a weapon.

Those who advocate victory — or finishing the job in Iraq — fail to state exactly what this will look like and exactly how will we get there. Will it be “mission accomplished”? Apparently not.

What about executing the leader of the country and his immediate subordinates, or free and fair elections? Well we got those, and that was not winning or finishing the job.

Now that Haliburton stock has gone up by a factor of seven since we invaded Iraq, maybe victory is when Haliburton stock hits 100 instead of just 33.

Or maybe it’s when almost all people in Iraq turn out and cheer and support U.S. soldiers.

Maybe it’s when bombings fall to less than one a week. OK, I could buy that. How do we get there? Maybe it is when the people in Iraq become Christians. But that ain’t going to happen.

So what exactly is “finishing the job” and how do we do it?

The second problem that I see, is that we cannot believe any of the pronouncements that come out of this administration. We do know that our soldiers keep getting killed and wounded, and that when wounded they are not always treated all that well when they get back. We know that the people of Iraq keep getting killed and that many wish for the return of Saddam. Because President Bush and company have a history of lies, lies and more lies, we do not give any credence to pronouncements that things are getting better in Iraq.

So for those who wish for us to go for victory, you need to do two things. Tell us exactly what victory is, and how we get there.

Finally, those who want us to finish the job need to present us with truthful information. Not partial truth or exaggerations, but a picture of what is happening in Iraq that is fairly accurate.

Since I do not see any of this as happening, I prefer the idea of leaving the mess we made and not killing or maiming any more of our men and women.

Doug Nusbaum

LAS VEGAS

Scientific research

To the editor:

On April 11, the Senate voted to ease restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem cell research. President Bush has stated that if this bill gets through Congress, he will veto it. Opponents to this technology argue that once an egg is fertilized, it is a human life and should be protected against destruction.

However, in-vitro fertilization creates thousands of unused embryos that are either destroyed or kept past their viability date. These embryos could be used to enhance or save lives with stem cell research.

It seems to defy logic that it is fine to destroy embryos in a fertilization clinic but not to further medical research. This promising research deserves more consideration than the president is affording it.

BETTY MAXEY

LAS VEGAS