The Star-Democrat from Easton, Maryland • Page 9

OPINION A9 THE SUNDAY STar SUNDAY, JANUARY 13,2008 LETTERS POLICY YOUR VIEWS We Sell DELL COMPUTERS OFF Any Repair With This Coupon Expires OFF Any Dell Computer or Laptop With This Coupon Expires Computers on the Go! Computers On The Go 7 N.Harrison 410-770-9911 or 410-924-8202 Democratic Viewpoint By ROGER BURT Guest Comment The public is dissatisfied and an increasing number of people are choosing to register as another word for Independent. From Independents we hear things such as, like or taking a stand and making a The first problem with these is that by registering the Independents have disenfranchised themselves in primaries. right. Independents vote in primaries in Maryland. They claim the is designed to send a message.

Has it been heard? Yes. And those of us who are involvedpolitically at this point where our country is facing so many crises after the debacle are wondering why Independents are sitting on the fence rather than pitching in. Disaffiliation is a hollow statement which suggests an abandonment of democratic principles. We have work to do to take back our country. Most of us are frustrated by what is or is not happening in Congress.

But we have to face facts. Democrats can only do so much when they have a majority of just one vote in the Senate and an intransigent president holds sway with a veto Democrats override. Our country is immobilized by a failed Republican administration. Only after its end can we begin the decades-long work to undo the damage which has been done domestically and internationally. This next year is crucial.

This is when we lay the groundwork for prepare for the hard work to rebuild the basis for our future. To do that we need people who are passionately committed, who are active and involved members of a party and are not sitting on the sidelines. It has been said that by and large people get the government they deserve. Do we deserve the government we have which serves only the wealthy and large corporations? Do we deserve a world which now lives in fear of America? Do we deserve a middle class under attack, mounting debt and a health care system which is so badly in need of repair? Let us hope that we can prove we deserve these things. But it will take a citizenry which is involved enough that they do not make hollow statements while they fail to commit.

Commitment is crucial. If we like the politicians we have, then we need to get rid of them and replace them with people who will work for their constituents in a responsible fashion. To those of us who are committed Democrats it means pitching in to work actively in the party of our choice, giving time, giving money and voting in primaries and general elections. Talbot County has a high level of voter registration but a less impressive level of actual voter participation. Substantive commitment is the key to our future and will define the country we live in and leave to our children.

Roger Burt, a St. Michaels resident, chairs the Talbot Democratic Communications Committee. Taking a stand for America By KATHRYN JEAN LOPEZ Political Columnist An odd thing happened when Benazir Bhutto died. Liberal feminists seemed not to notice. Sure, Hillary Clinton made use of the former Pakistani prime assassination on the campaign trail.

It was legitimately a major world event two days after Christmas and a week before the Iowa caucus. Anyone running for president who wanted to be taken seriously had to address it. But for Hillary, it was also an opportunity for a woman who wants to be feminist-in-chief to remind people that she and Bhutto shared a gender bond, something no one else running for president can do. But Clinton get into too many details about the type of woman leader Bhutto was. Clinton talked about how they related as fellow mothers general stuff that she would ultimately get grief on the Internet about, for forgetting how many children Bhutto had.

lack of depth was not an anomaly. The National Organization for Women was noticeably silent about the first democratically elected female leader of a Muslim country. Web site was stuck on stupid with a of toys that promote gender stereotypes instead. One thing Clinton certainly do is remember the good times she and Bhutto shared as leaders at the United infamous Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, in 1995. At the conference, the two women were on opposite sides, one Ivy League grad arguing for every girl and right to abort innocents (that would be then first lady Clinton, who earned her law degree at Yale), another Ivy League grad arguing to protect all human life (Bhutto, a Harvard alum).

Bhutto perfect by any stretch. Her tenure was riddled with corruption, she had friends call enemies but she still managed to offer the world an alternative model of feminism. As she argued for protecting the most innocent, she sounded more feminist than those who claim to speak for all women. In a speech at the opening of the gathering, she warned: please her husband, a woman wants a son. To keep her husband from abandoning her, a woman wants a son.

And, too often, when a woman expects a girl, she abets her husband in abandoning or aborting that innocent, perfectly formed In reporting at the time, her speech was explained as being a condemnation of violence against women. Fair enough. But it was more than that: She was arguing against the forced abortion of female babies, and she was also arguing on behalf of innocent human life. Bhutto heard cries of the girl and she said: conference needs to chart a course that can create a climate where the girl child is as welcome and valued as the boy Serrin Foster, executive director of the group Feminists for Life, emphasized in a statement memorializing Bhutto, also refused to choose between meeting the needs of women or between protecting unborn children from Foster pointed out that Bhutto called the common practice of gender-selected abortions and said it haunts a world we regard as modern and Some will dismiss her as having no other choice. As the head of a Muslim country, she had to be against abortion.

Even if that was the case and no longer here to tell us what was in her heart she offered a legitimate model for what Pope John Paul II referred to as In his encyclical Gospel of issued earlier that same year, the pope wrote: transforming culture so that it supports life, women occupy a place in thought and action which is unique and decisive. It depends on them to promote a which rejects the temptation of imitating models of in order to acknowledge and affirm the true genius of women in every aspect of the life of society and overcome all discrimination, violence and I pretend John Paul II would endorse all Bhutto did or that Bhutto, a Muslim, would have signed onto the Catholic whole (or Gospel), but there was a synergy there, one not to go unnoticed as we remember Bhutto. At a reception before the world conference, Hillary Clinton said: have very high hopes that this will not be just a lot of talk but will enable us to learn from one I agree. start by keeping Michigan primary campaigners warm by throwing old copies of Ms. Magazine in one big bipartisan bonfire and embracing a life-affirming model of feminism.

Liberal feminism and its abortion fetish is not a gender mandate. Bhutto seemed to know this. American feminists could remember her by considering that wisdom. Kathryn Lopez is the editor of National Review Online (www.nation alreview.com). She can be contacted at 2008, Newspaper Enterprise Assn.

Remembering compassion Steve Nery, thank you again for your wonderful, accurate reporting of Lyme disease in Maryland having doubled its cases in ONE year! so sad also that hundreds of thousands of cases are not reported nationally since the positive numbers do not meet the Centers for Disease requirements. These are the people who are encouraged to seek treatment for Lyme disease by either antibiotics, supplements, herbs, or other alternative methods. Congratulations to Lucy Barnes and other Marylanders who got all of U.S. senators and House representatives to sign on being cosponsors of our Lyme disease bills in Congress (S 1708 and HR 741). That effort took lots of work as I have worked one full year in Iowa and have only gotten one of five House representatives to co-sponsor.

Our two senators since they are the chairmen of the finance committee and the health committee. The extremely active Maryland group has made a big impact not only on your state but nationwide and encouraging other states to work hard to get our Congresspeople working to protect our health and to make things happen in our states! BETTY activist Ames, Iowa Lyme disease effort in Maryland lauded Thank you for publishing the excellent article by Steve Nery about Lyme disease. It is imperative that the public, our legislators and local officials be informed about the prevalence of this dangerous disease. JEAN GALBREATH, Harford County Lyme Disease Support Group Inc. Thanks for report Although I am not from Maryland and have never lived there, I share one thing with your readers I have an interest in Lyme disease.

The more attention to this growing epidemic, the better our chances are of receiving better medical care. Thank you for publishing articles on the second worst disease right after diabetes. SUE VOGAN, Radio show host, journalist from LaGrange, N.C., and author of two books about coping with Lyme disease. A growing epidemic tombstones should read, at 30. Buried at Nicholas Murray educator (1862-1947) AP The Sunday Star welcomes letters to the editor.

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