The Brattleboro Reformer from Brattleboro, Vermont • 4

OPINION Monday, September 14, 1992 Brattleboro Reformer -W TWWB1N WY HOW DIPARJkHT' WHIG LDDNEY-TUNE. ukb that vjiN ih sL Vi ID THERE'S ND Ftfc this VHATl! A1EJ VCTTE1 I 7 'it DID YOU VOTE7. THEN YDU AND THE OF VERMONT VOTERS WHO ALSO STAYED HOME HAVE NOTHING TD Comtiain ABOUT- L. Letter about animal-rightists was prejudiced Editor of the Reformer: This letter is in response to Daniel Olmsteads letter of Sept. 8.

I found his letter offensive and inappropriate. Mr. Olmstead made several prejudiced statements. He put all animal rights activists into one general category. This very stereotypical category made us sound like maniacs out to eliminate the populace of meat eaters.

He called us hypocritical, stating that because he kills animals that infest his vegetable garden, that must mean all vegetable growers do. Therefore, he states, You animal rightist vegetarians must give up eating plant foods as well as meat. Mr. Olmsteads final statement summed up this mans apparent prejudice. Wouldnt that be a shame he stated, in reference to the fact that if animal rights activists stopped eating plant foods they would all starve to death soon.

Wow, Mr. Olmstead. I didnt realize that my beliefs could offend someone that I have never met before as much as they have offended you. I will not deny that there are some animal rights activists that go to extremes. However, the truth is that they make up a very small percentage of us.

Just because those people are out there does not mean we all share those beliefs. I do not shun my friends who own pets, leather jackets, or who are Christian. I respect their beliefs as they do mine. Also i know many animal rights activists who own pets, and who are practicing Christians. So I didnt really understand your statement about us eliminating people like them.

I also dont understand your statement about us lying about three-fourths -of the world being vegetarians. Maybe its not Three-fourths of the world I didnt come up with the statistic I do know though that many of the people in this world rarely eat meat. It is not uncommon for a family in the Middle East, Africa or Asia to eat a meatless meal. I would also like to say that I know many people who have vegetable gardens. My family has one, in fact.

Although we have raccoons and rabbits in our neighborhood, I have never shot one. We have a fence around our garden which works as an effective barrier against these animals. Other people I know use traps which dont kill the animal to catch the raccoons that eat their vegetables. Then they relocate the animal to a better place. Personally I find this more appealing then dealing with a dead animal.

But that is my opinion. I guess what I am trying to Olsmtead, is that people have different beliefs. Although I disagree strongly with yours I am not bashing them-1 do not hate you. I do not wish you would die. In fact, I respect your beliefs as being yours, and only ask that you do the same for me) and for others.

Thank you. Mary Parent Brattleboro Just the fax, maam Judging by the first three days of the general election campaign for their states seat in the U.S. House, Vermonters are going to witness a relentless war of words between two ideologues: Republican Tim Philbin, fresh from his upset primary victory over Rutland Mayor Jeff Wennberg, and the incumbent, Bernard Sanders. They are both in the politics-as-sports phraseology of the day on the offensive. At issue last week was abortion and family leave.

It started on Wednesday when, barely had the dust settled from Tuesdays primary, Sanders attacked Philbins stand on abortion rights. George Bush, his Supreme Court and candidates like Mr. Philbin have declared war on a womans right to choose, Sanders said at a news conference. Sanders said Philbins opposition to abortion, even in cases of incest and rape, was incomprehensible. He went on to trumpet his own TOO percent pro-choice voting-record, including his "support for the Freedom of Choice Act.

Philbin replied the next day in a faxed message titled (fanfare, please) a Truth-o-Gram, First in a Series Aimed at Setting the Sanders Record Straight. Under the two-fisted heading Sanders Lie No. 1, Philbin says that Sanders said that Tim Philbin supports a constitutional amendment banning all abortion. Yet, nowhere in Sanders announcement of the previous day were the words constitutional amendment used to characterize Philbins position. Maybe Sanders did use those words at his news conference, but the release distributed to the press did not.

Philbin responds to Lie No. 1: Tim Philbin. believes abortion should be illegal, but 'opposes a constitutional amendment. He believes the U.S. Supreme Court should reverse Roe vs.

Wade and allow states to decide the issue. Philbin seems to be picking an invisible nit. What matters to most women and men voters, both those who favor and those who oppose abortion rights, is how the candidates feel about abortion rights. The issue not the semantics should be the focus of the debate. Philbin did a much better job sticking to the issue later on Thursday.

Within a period of three minutes, the Reformer received faxed statements from Sanders and Philbin on the matter of family leave. Sanders press release summarize the statement he made earlier that day on the House floor in support of the Family Leave Bill, which the House later passed, 241-161. Mr. Speaker, it is an absolute outrage that the United States of America and South Africa remain the only two nations in the industrialized world that do not have a guarantee of job protection for family and medical leave, Sanders said. The bill calls on businesses with at least 50 employees to grant 12 weeks unpaid leave to care for sick or dying family members, or when a baby is born.

How dare (Bush), Mr. Family Values himself, threaten to veto this legislation when Germany 14 weeks at full pay, France 16 weeks at 90 percent pay (and) Canada 15 weeks at 60 percent pay, Sanders said. Philbin was unequivocal in his opposition to the bill. He said it was inappropriate for the federal government to impose further burdensome mandates on business. He said it was Washingtons' role to prohibit exploitation of workers through child-labor and minimum-wage laws, but it should not mandate employment benefits.

He called Thursdays vote, which was not veto-proof, a transparent attempt to embarrass President Bush during an election campaign. (Of course it wasbut it was made possible only through the presidents family values olap-trap being the center-piece of his campaign, as Sanders noted.) Philbin went on to blast Sanders for voting for fat budgets and high taxes, and for never missing an opportunity to bash the struggling small businessmen and women who are the very backbone of our national economy. Undoubtedly, Sanders and Philbin will hold some debates during the next seven weeks. If they are anything like the fax wars in which they are already engaged, the rhetorical fireworks from these two will be so deafening that the other candidates in the race, Democrat Lewis Young of Dum-merston and Liberty Unionite Peter Diamondstone of Brattleboro, will come across as the calm, dispassionate voices of reason in the campaign. Village program fights drug abuse Editor of the Reformer: The Community Prevention Partnership (CPP) is a local drug- and alcohol-prevention coalition, comprised of the WSESU school district, Project Adventure, local law enforcement and Family Court, and many local public and private human service agencies, plus teens, parents, and teachers.

The CPP will sponsor a FREE parent training during the month of September. The training It Takes a Village to Raise a Child takes its name and concept from an African proverb, which is also the theme of the Success by Six It Takes a Village to Raise a Child Week in Brattleboro (Sept. 20-26). The philosophy of the "Village training is this: Parents and families hold primary responsibility for raising of their children; all children are important to the community and its future; everyone in the community is responsible for the welfare of its children; parents and other adults can learn skills to raise healthy and responsible children; and everyone can help we are all part of the Village. The Village curriculum includes sessions on communication in families, self-esteem, stress management, drug-free living, setting limits, and parent-support networking, among others.

Participants in the training will emerge with the skills to establish parent support groups in their own neighborhoods and' communities. The training will be held on three consecutive-Tuesdays: Sept. 15, 22, and 29, from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., at the Brattleboro Teen Center-on Flat Street. Lunch and child care will be provided.

Transportation can be arranged. Participants must commit to attending all three sessions. We urge parents to take this training with other parents in order to support one another in the all-important task of child-raising, and to develop a renewed sense of well-being in themselves and their children. We also urge you to take part, with your children, in the festivities of the It Takes A Village to Raise a Child Week. We are all part of the Village.

Space is limited, so we ask that you pre-regtster for the training. For more information, or to register, please call the Community Prevention Partnership at 254-5054. Mary Jo Reid Brattleboro Will Bush launch more military attacks on Iraq? Editor of the Reformer: Last Nov. 18, the Reformer printed a letter from us, giving as a scenario that it was already August of this year, the economy had not improved, and President Bushs ratings were low. The State Depart-ment'and National Security Council, with the help of doctored intelligence from the CIA, proclaimed a new Hitler even worse than Saddam Hussein.

For a while some weeks ago, trial ballopns against some others were floated by Washington. But now Saddam Hussein is back as the bad man threatening not only his Shiites but the world. A White House policy adviser was quoted in The Washington Post of Aug. 19, as follows: "If Saddam let us into his Defense Ministry, then we go a step further. Maybe we demand access to his private offices.

We will continue to escalate as long as necessary, and sometime he will say no or admit total impotence. When he says bomb. President Bush claims anyone insinuating he might go to war for political reasons is crazy. But military action is not the solution to this or any other conflict. Military action has helped bolster Bushs sagging ratings more than once before.

Will he try it again? Gail and Jim Lobenstine Brattleboro Calling all Thayqr grads Editor of the Reformer: The third Thayer High School (Winchester) alumni reunion will be held Oct. 10 at the Hungry Lion in Keene. Letters have been sent out, and if any alumni were missed, we apologize. We are still searching for many graduates addresses. If you.

have not heard from us, this may be one of the reasons. If you are interested in the reunion, or need additional information, please call Janean (Russell) Gay at (603 239-6876 or Irene (Er-unski) Clark at (603) 239-4708. We need to hear from you by Sept. 25. Irene Clark Ashuelot, N.H.

Please Mom and Dad, stop smoking Editor of the Reformer: This is writing on behalf of all children who have a parent who smokes Mom and Dad, I love you, why do you Dont you know smoking shortens your life. If you get sick from smoking, or worse, who will nurture and take care of me? Dont you know second-hand smoke affects me also? My lungs are small and pink; yours are probably black and not in the best of shape. Your coughing and hacking frightens me. During the winter months it seems to take forever for you to get over a cold. You get so short of breath so easily.

Mom and Dad, are you aware that one-third to one-half of all smokers die from smoking-related deaths. Yes, Mom and Dad, this is a true fact. Mom and Dad, if you quit smoking my health will improve also. Look at all the good years we can have together. All the joys, all the precious moments, on our way to a fulfilling life.

Mom and Dad, please quit smoking, quit flirting with a habit, that in in the long run is so self -destructive. Mom and Dad, I love you, please stop smoking, for your sake, and fortny sake also. Mom and Dad, whatever you do, please dont let me start smoking. Do everything in your power, whatever it takes. to stop me from smoking.

This will truly be one of the best things you can do for me, and I will be forever grateful to you, Mom and Dad, for having done this for me. Joseph Rush Townshend The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere. Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American writer (1906-). EC EC go: How Denmark slowed the rush toward a European union content was at least neutral. The yes forces answered back late but powerfully.

They did indeed forecast economic collapse if "no should prevail. Political and industrial leaders spoke out. Full-page advertisements were placed in all national newspapers. The yes proponents spent $5.5 million, against a total of $240,000 gathered by Denmark 92. they did their homework fast.

They satur Perhaps the worst mistake the govern- irA position movement, called Denmark 92, attracted a range of no leaners, from left to right. Denmark 92 quickly set up more than 60 local groups, a central office with a staff of two, many volunteers, and two national spokespersons, a political scientist in her 40s and a physics professor in his 60s. They knew they had to get out ahead of the wave of well-financed yes propaganda, so rated the nation with clear, sober brochures, four to eight pages long, on all important aspects of the agreement how it would affect energy, employment, environment, security, democracy. The brochures were distributed by local groups and placed in multiple copies in libraries and schools. The proponents of Maastricht will come out, they said, with the usual arguments threatening your job and the Danish economy.

There is simply no basis to those threats. Whats at stake is not your job, but your democratic voice. of that night there was a street party in Copenhagen. "Denmark 92 closed down, but when it became clear that other nations, and in particular France, would also have referenda, a new June Movement was created. It is working to translate the Danish grassroots materials into other languages, and to prepare an alternative White Paper to lay out a better model for European cooperation.

The Danes want the alternative vision to be based on widespread discussion, not on decisions made by movers and shakers in Brussels. They expect it to contain, for example, the stipulation that the union set not maximum but minimum environmental standards, which any nation can set higher for itself without being accused of restraint Of trade. The nr' vote, followed closely by a surprise championship in the socqer World Cup, have given the Danes an unaccustomed heady feeling, which reached a peak during the EC Summit following the Danish vote, There the assembled prime ministers, in shock that a twerpy little northern nation had derailed their union, Concluded, Maybe we should listen more to the people. Donella Meadows is a farmer in Plainfield and a eo-author of Beyond the Limits. PLAINFIELD, N.H.

In June, the 5 million people of Denmark put the brakes on the rushing locomotive that vas carrying 340 million people into a European political union. According to the Treaty of Rome, if any of the participating 12 nations fail to enter, the unification process stops. Therefore, legally, the European Union is now dead. The upcoming referenf dum in France on Sept. 20 may bury it very deep.

The impertinent Danes did not intend to stop European cooperation, but to reshape it. Europe Yes, Union No is their motto. They are in favor of breaking down the narrow nationalisms and clumsy restrictions that have divided Europe for centuries. But they think the agreement reached in Maastricht last December, upon which they were voting, doesnt accomplish that goal. Maastricht, they say, is based on an obsolete model.

It moves Europe toward centralized management, increased corporate power, reduced democracy, and environmental unsustainability. The formation of a new Europe is the chance of a lifetime, they say. not waste the opportunity. Their posters read: EUROPE DESERVES SOMETHING BETTER. DONELLA MEADOWS The purpose of Maastricht, say the Danish objectors, is to form another superpower, an entity that could outcompete the United States and Japan We need fewer superpowers in the world, they say, preferably none.

The union would allow European troops to go beyond self-defense and patrol the world. We would rather work through the United Nations. Maastricht sets economic growth as the primary European goal. Environmental protection, social welfare, equity, concern for the Third World, are secondary concerns at best. Say the opponents: That's not how we rank those values.

They were up against a strong tide flowing the other direction. Nearly 80 percent of the members of the Danish Parliament had declared their support for Maastricht. The prime minister -was pushing hard for it, as were industry, most labor unions, and all the large newspapers. So how did no win? With a grassroots base broad enough to include all possible reasons for objecting to the union. The op- ent made was to distribute 500,000 copies the actual Maastricht treaty.

It is a long, unreadable, diplomatic document, but the Danes read it and found the clauses that traded away their self-determination. Economic policy should aim at stabilizing prices, it said, not at fighting unemployment. On environmental questions the union should speak with one voice which meant strict Danish environmental standards would be lost. The union was to harmonize social policies; the treasured Danish principle of common welfare for all would fall to the privatization of social services. The Danes do not insist that everyone live like Danes, but they believe that Danes should be able to live like Danes.

To the astonishment of nearly every politician in Europe, no won by a narrow margin. That A stable of 100 speakers fanned out to attend meetings and debates. Denmark 92 activists bombarded the newspapers with articles, columns, and letters to the editor, so that, though the official editorials of the papers favored the union, their total.