LETTERS
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Sen.
Birmingham: How Could You Allow the Teaching of Death in Our Schools?
I am a parent. I am a taxpayer. I am a voter. I am upset with the entire House and Senate. And with Mr. Cellucci. Why? Back in May, you took a vote to keep $1.5 million in the school budget. But you were under the unconstitutional gag order of a court not to talk about what is being done with this money! You were not "allowed," under this unconstitutional gag order, to even talk about the March, Tufts "Fistgate" teaching of our children, some as young as 12-years-old! This vote was not only wrong in the eyes of each and every parent, but you took the cowards' way out and didn't even record how you voted. It was a voice vote. It was a cowards' vote. It was a one-sided vote! The gay activists knew what was going on but the parents didn't, and they aren't informed to this day! Is this how you stand up for the people of Massachusetts? I happened to call your office that day and your secretary told me that she was getting a lot of phone calls from the gay activists. Why? You were going to take a special vote on whether or not to keep that money in the budget! How come you didn't have any public forums on this? How can any intelligent person vote on something when they only have half the picture? And you took the vote in an "Emergency Session" on a Monday night because you knew the gag order was going to be lifted by the judge the next day. You didn't want to discuss the issues, and so you welcomed the unconstitutional gag order that was in place on Monday. It gave you the cover of darkness. Other Side of the Story
And the State Department of Health for Massachusetts and the State Department of Education were the ones teaching this! It was not just a matter of three people from the Department of Education and Health. It was the departments who not only allowed this, but encouraged it, according to one of the women who was fired from the Department of Education. She said they knew full well what was going on and they encouraged it! The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta stated this past June that "oral sex" is like sodomy when it comes to passing on the AIDS/HIV virus! And yet, the State Department of Health people teaches our children, "This is a great way to have sex." According to the man teaching the 12-year-olds on up, "If this isn't sex, then the number of times I haven't had sex has gone from a mountain to a valley, baby!" The Center for Disease Control has also stated that the fastest growing segment of our population which is contracting AIDS/HIV is the 15- to 24-year-olds! My next question is: How could you vote to kill the children in Massachusetts public schools? It is nothing less than this. You voted to keep this line of teaching in the public schools, without parents knowing. And it started at the kindergarten level this year! This is not "tolerance." Tolerance is accepting what adult people choose to do, notice the word "adult." But what the groups like GLSEN, BAGLY, GLADD and others are pushing on our schools is not tolerance. They are recruiting! Why else would children in the middle schools be asked time and again, "How do you know you are not gay if you haven't tried it?" Tolerance is saying and teaching that people live different kinds of lives. Recruiting, on the other hand, is showing kids and sneaking into the curriculum that the gay lifestyle is normal and how to do it! Let me give you some examples: 1) Shove a "flower like fist" into the rectum or vagina, called "fisting." It usually gets a bad rap, but it isn't about the pain (although they aren't knocking that). 2) Getting one's tongue pierced. It gives better oral sex (which is a viable way of getting AIDS/HIV). 3) Having your vagina pierced. Although they told the kids it is dangerous, infectious and the like, kids have to "weigh the danger" against the "pain and pleasure" of it all! 4) BAGLY has money that comes directly from the state! Boston Area Gay and Lesbian Youth! This wonderful organization has meetings where, according to their own flyer, they give kids $25.00 for attending their meetings, free bus tokens, a nice dinner and if they are really good, a 3-day weekend retreat with about 60 other queer guys at some NH lake! You Senators and Representatives and Cellucci give money to these groups, our tax money, to finance these kinds of wonderful things. How many other groups are there that help our kids leave the "lifestyle" they were brought up with and join the gay lifestyle? According to statistics, the average life span for the gay is 43-years-old! Do you want your child or grandchildren to embark on a behavior that will cut their lifespan from 80 to 43? You use state money to encourage kids not to smoke, drink or do drugs, but you also use that money to encourage these kids to "fist" (an infectious, even deadly practice, which could destroy the uterus or the intestines), have oral sex (which will cause HIV/AIDS, even without adding the tongue piercing which creates a real death mix). How about having your private parts pierced for the pain and pleasure? (Thus setting the stage for infections or AIDS/HIV, which result in death). Please don't tell us that this will not happen again. The people who were fired said these things go on all the time! Plus we have Suzie Landophie teaching in the Concord area a few years ago and then the "Lesbian Avengers" walking into an elementary school in West Springfield on Valentines day with shirts that stated plainly "WE RECRUIT" and handing out candy to babies! How about Orange or the many school districts that have given our kids "risky behavior surveys." Notice the word "behavior," not something born with, but behavior. Common sense says this is not normal. Nor is it normal to teach these "behaviors" to K-12 grades. Tolerance, yes. Tolerance for all, yes. Recruiting and teaching these dangerous behaviors, no! And the D.O.E. not only knew, but approved these teachings. Please don't tell us this wasn't state sponsored. Teachers were given credit toward D.O.E. and state accreditation! How could they get accreditation if it were not accepted by the state? All of this was paid for by state dollars. Buses were used, school buses, teachers were reimbursed for the drive, lunch, dinner, overnight stay if they were far away enough! The money in the budget of $1.5 million goes not for suicide prevention, it goes to create Gay/Straight Alliances! $3,000 per GSA. What is that money used for? It is a group of kids meeting alone with gay mentors, like those who taught "fisting" and "Pain and Pleasure." Their agenda is promoted no matter how damn dangerous it is to them and the children. Then they turn to the taxpayers and demand they get the best medical care and drugs needed to stop the death that will come! All these behaviors are pushed on the kids in the schools, without parental knowledge or consent, because you think all parents are stupid and bigoted. So in your opinion, we can't be told. But then you blame us for not knowing what is going on in our kids' lives! We are not allowed in the schools to see what is taught. They struggle to read and write and do the math, but our state motto seems to be "They Will Know the Gay Lifestyle and Be Encouraged to Try It to Know What It Is Like," and to hell with the danger and death it will bring! I will remember this come November. I will encourage others to remember and vote out anyone who is in office right now. I will encourage them to speak to the new people running and demand that they make that person sign a promise that they will get things like this out of our schools. Let's start using common sense and get all the information from all the taxpayers, not just "special interest groups" that represent only themselves. And I will encourage them to add a clause that if these people break their promise to represent all the people, they will be held to a promise that they will resign or be forced out of office by a recall vote! The voice vote you took on May 22, to keep perverting our kids without parents' knowledge but with gay activists' consent, is the straw that broke the camel's back. Every one of you is guilty, and because of your cowardice, none of you can be trusted. You can't have it both ways, saying to one person, I voted against it and to another I voted for it! You have all fallen onto the side of the gay activists, period. No more lies. Please! - Susan Fuchs
More Concern over Fistgate Reader
Upset about Graphic Content
We have a family with three young children, and I feel that I have to hide this newspaper because in the reporting of these stories your paper has bordered on pornography. As adult readers, we would have understood the points you were making about this homosexual conference without the graphic descriptions of the homosexual acts being described. As a Christian, it really offended me to even read about these things. I purchased this newspaper at MassHope's homeschooling conference and was not expecting to read articles with detailed descriptions of indecent acts. Frankly, I am disappointed with your paper. I have enjoyed your articles about DSS and public schools, as well as many other subjects, and again, I am glad that I know about this awful conference children were exposed to. I just hope that in the future your paper will be more sensitive in the language and phrases it uses to describe such explicit issues. - Peggy Boulet
Editor's Comment: We agree with you. But unless we volunteer to help eliminate this filth, we must be careful not to criticize other parents too quickly. All of us have been greatly offended to discover the filth in our schools, including those parents who wrote the article to which you refer. Those parents wrote in that manner to get the attention of the 250,000 people to whom we mail the paper. Could they have done it differently? Of course. Would I have done it differently? Perhaps. And don't forget about those thirty parents who donated their time to ride a bus all the way to Pittsfield to complain to the highest levels of officials in the state. But even after they did so, the officials continued to laugh and refuse to do anything about any of this because they knew that Gov. Cellucci would not let them change a thing. The sad truth is that nothing was done and nothing would have been done if we had not presented the truth in this newspaper in a forceful manner. Over one million citizens have now seen that article. Has anyone complained to WGBH about
the graphic homosexual sex that was shown in detail on their channel (at
any time of the day, much less at 10 p.m.)
Afraid to Send Children
to School
- Name Withheld Editor's Comment: You must become a very aware parent and keep all of your senses open. We can see what happened down in Acushnet without the knowledge of even the unsuspecting principal of the school. These activists are very dedicated to their cause and are well trained. You and your friends must be the same. GLSEN
Instruction Dangerous for Abused Children
Boys, especially, assume that being sexually abused is a gay issue. Because it is the same sex, it is hard for them to deal with it, let alone tell anyone. Usually the perpetrators of these crimes continually tell the boys that they are gay, because they have let them do this. This kind of information is so, so, dangerous to these kids, because they are confused to begin with. When girls have been molested, it is usually easier for them, because it is heterosexual, which is more accepted by society. On the other hand, I have girls who have become gay because they are so afraid of men as a result of the sexual abuse. The article on "Fistgate" absolutely sickened me. I cannot believe that they are exposing these kids to this pornography. That is what it is, pure and simple. Do they realize what a devastating effect this can have on kids who have been sexually abused and consequently are not sure of their sexuality? Homosexuality is about 2% of the general population, that is all. And only the extremely promiscuous homosexuals engage in fisting. In my younger years, in the seventies, I had many gay friends, and fisting occurred in only the seediest of places, like New York, etc. This is not normal homosexual sex. Sorry for my candor, but I am so disgusted at these perverts discussing such unsafe, dirty practices. This is about abuse of our children and the control that these people want to have. Why don't you check these people out and see if they have a history of pedophilia? Sorry to have gone on about this, but I do this for work, and talk to kids who are in pain over sexual abuse and need to be victimized no longer. Please send me a copy of this tape. I am adding your newspaper to my site as well as the Parents Rights Coalition. Also, please send me your newspaper in the future. You are doing a great job. I would never have known this, but because of your newspaper, I do. - Denise Gordon
Contributed to
Delinquency of Minors
I believe we have a law here in Vermont that is not being enforced. If it were, then our illustrious Governor, "Howard the Coward," the Lieutenant Governor, Speaker of the House, more than half the House members, most of the Senate, and all of the Vermont "Supreme" Court should be handcuffed and hauled away for contributing to the delinquency of minors (not to mention many in the so-called "health" and "education" departments who are supporting the agenda). What do you think? And if you agree, shouldn't Massachusetts citizens consider doing the same thing with their government officials (as well as the "health" and "education" departments)? After all, how much do nylon handcuffs cost now? - David Demar
Editor's Comment: When the parents who did the taping of Fistgate took their tapes to the Department of Education, they were laughed at. Then the Department moved its April meeting to Pittsfield, and thirty parents rented a bus and followed them. It was only after this rejection that the parents decided they had no choice but to take the issue to the press. They also decided then that they must raise the potential criminal issues by referring the matter to the Middlesex District Attorney. She has ignored it. The parents have learned that it doesn't matter what the laws say if the bureaucrats and the judges don't want to follow them. That's when you need new officials. Missed Stories in
Boston Dailies
It does not surprise me that these "Fistgate" conferences involving children take place. What surprises me is that someone was finally able to expose these people to the public. It also does not surprise me that the concerned parents are considered the "criminals" and the perverts that try to brainwash the children and the teachers are the "victims." That is the way it is in this increasingly twisted state and country. I would like to receive a copy of the "Fistgate" tape to show my family and friends what these people are doing in the schools. - William Doocey
Founders Wanted to
Instill Virtue
The founders never mistook licentiousness for the virtuous liberty that they tried to secure and bequeath to their posterity. In his inaugural address, President John Adams said: "And may that Being who is supreme over all, the Patron of Order, the Fountain of Justice, and the Protector in all ages of the world of virtuous liberty, continue His blessing upon this nation and its Government and give it all possible success and duration consistent with the ends of His providence." Thomas Jefferson claimed that "free education" would be the way to inculcate virtue in the citizenry and so maintain freedom. He said: "I look to the diffusion of light and education as the resource most to be relied on for ameliorating the condition, promoting the virtue, and advancing the happiness of man...Will you have a happy, virtuous people, a free, a secure State? Then educate all the people in the fundamental subjects of knowledge; instruct every child to read, that he may know what is going on in the world; instruct him in those other necessary branches of learning that he may keep his part in the world's work going right. In the free public schools are the tap-roots of true citizenship." Virtue may be defined as "Moral goodness; the practice of moral duties and the abstaining from vice, or a conformity of life and conversation to the moral law." Ideologues, aided by the state, have betrayed the public's trust that the schools are religiously neutral. The schools are incapable of turning out a virtuous citizenry, because so called "educators" no longer believe there is such a thing as moral truth. Kids who attend those schools cannot help but be tremendously influenced by their amorality. People of faith can and should withdraw their children from the morally vile influence of a perverted educational system. They can either teach them at home or encourage their religious institutions to create schools that will promote decency and good order as well as academic excellence. - Lawrence Andrade
Kudos on Fistgate Reporting
- M. D. Dreyfus
Modern Sex Education
a Deadly Game
It is obvious from the unfolding, sordid "Fistgate" affair that the pedagogical purveyors of perverse and unnatural sexual practices have "upped the ante." Not only has this new breed of "sex educators" begun handing out 12-chambered pistols to the children, they are now even loading those chambers before they do. This is deadly, dangerous business. In the Old Testament, the Israelites were often seduced by the surrounding self-serving and idolatrous cultures that were characterized by the brutal sacrifice of their young. That was thirty centuries ago. They have nothing on us. We are sacrificing our children to the gods and goddesses of pleasure and convenience at every opportunity. Whether pre-born or post-born, it does not matter anymore. There is nothing new under the sun. - Tom Graffagnino
Sex Education
is Parents' Responsibility
I would like a copy of the tape recording made of the Fistgate Conference. For bringing this (and other important issues) to my attention, you can expect a subscription to your newspaper to be forthcoming. - Brian Leonard
DSS Is Out-of-Control Double Standards
Be the spouse of a wealthy big business scion of society, a Democrat Party supporter and subject to physical assault like Angela Koch of Cape Cod, and your children will stay with you and your batterer can live next door at the guest house, while Senator Kennedy raises money for his campaign right outside your door. Sounds like Massachusetts "justice" to me. - Don Schwarz
DSS Power Breeds Arrogance
We were made to feel like criminals for allowing our daughter to live in such a place. We could not afford to move. In the final hearing, we came prepared with everything we had done, with our landlord and with what had been done to us. The person officiating at this meeting at least agreed that we had done everything we could. What struck me was the attitude of the DSS workers. They were convinced that since we hadn't complied with the letter of the law, we were guilty. They wanted to take our daughter away right there and felt cheated when the judge said she would review our case for thirty days. We won. Before we received the letter informing us of the hearing results, we moved in order to avoid any possible action by DSS, since their problem was with the apartment. We feared they would act to remove our child anyway, despite the fact that her lead level had come down. We couldn't afford to move and are still struggling today, two years later, but at least our child is healthy and with us. The largest problem is that DSS seems to be "menu driven" with an "if this, then this" approach. DSS also seems to suffer from arrogance. They are outraged that we, as citizens, would question their authority in what they believe is truly noble work. This is another example of power without adequate control. It is an enormous amount of power when you consider how devastating it could be for a parent to have a child taken away, especially if they were doing everything they could for the child. DSS needs to be abolished and a new set of rules drafted, a new charter written and new employees hired, where the emphasis is on solving problems, not removing children. Thank you very much for the complimentary copy. More people need to read your paper. I ask that my name not be published out of fear of retribution by DSS. It only takes a phone call to destroy someone's life. - Name Withheld
Thanks for Acknowledging
Parents' Pain
- Sarah Alcorn
Where Did 100,000
Children Come From?
The question: How many of those original 70,000 children from 1997 are still waiting to be adopted today? (I would guess that most are.) Then, where did these '100,000' children come from? A few more good questions: Out of all of the children who have been adopted, what are the percentages of the age groups? Could it be that a baby brother or sister is adopted, while the older brother or sister is left behind? Secondly, couldn't the new law providing "free college" also apply to parents who are not foster parents? And, on a side note: Shouldn't someone tell foster parents (especially of recently taken babies) that "foster parent" means long-term babysitter and not adoptive parent? - Dennis Kennedy
Readers' Letters to Gov. Cellucci Cellucci Refused
to Meet with Keyes
As Chairman of the Spencer Republican Town Committee, I was deeply disappointed in your failure to meet with former Ambassador Keyes and the many hundreds of pro-family Bay Staters who gathered at the State House yesterday (July 25). They were seeking a redress of grievances pertaining to the "GLSEN Teachout" issue and other abuses by radical, aggressive homosexuals whose state-endorsed access into the public school environment presents a grave danger to impressionable youth. The fact that my tax dollars are being used to support such is particularly offensive to me! I respectfully request that you honor the wishes of the overwhelming majority of Massachusetts parents and other concerned citizens and immediately remove any and all funding from these offensive program(s), and simultaneously oversee their expeditious removal and disbanding from official public sponsorship or hosting in any way, shape or form! To promote such anti-family and offensive moral behavior under the guise of "suicide-prevention" or "equal rights" is an insult to any thinking person and a hollow attempt to court the support of those who seek unjustified and disturbing access to innocent and impressionable high school students. This policy cannot stand, because such abuse of power and moral corruption will reap destructive results that carry a heavy social and economic price tag for all Massachusetts citizens. Also, until such time as the above request and others contained in the petition presented to you following Dr. Keyes' tremendous speech at the State House are honored, your webpage contains a glaringly false statement. Massachusetts cannot claim that it has "great schools" when homosexual perverts and pedophiliacs are allowed to prey on its innocent students. Please skip the Fenway Park issue for now. This issue demands your full and immediate attention, for the sake of our youth and future! - Dana George Reed
Response from Governor's Office:
Thank you for your recent E-mail. We appreciate your taking the time
to write. Your concerns have been noted. Please expect response from the
appropriate personnel if necessary.
- Barbara Burke
Thinks Cellucci Should
Answer
Somehow, you must have made enemies at The Massachusetts News. They are saying that you are responsible for a program in Massachusetts schools that teaches homosexual practices to the youth of our state. Now, I want to assure you Mr. Cellucci, that almost nobody believes this atrocious allegation. Everyone knows that only a low-down slimy snake would approve of graphic, value-free sex education to minors. After all, everyone knows how deficient our schools are as evidenced by low test scores. We are all familiar with the cries for more and more money just to provide simple literacy to children. Why would anyone in his right mind squander money and time on such predacious activity in the name of education?! Please Governor, tell us it isn't so! Because if it is, we've hit the bottom of that slippery slope called sex-ed that we were so vocally warned about by many who saw it coming. If it is so, you've shamed us badly. I think you should respond to The Massachusetts News. They say they have proof and it looks bad. - Linda R. Gouldrup
Why Does Cellucci
Support GLSEN?
At least the pressure is off from here on out and you will never have to worry about running for another public office in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, thanks to the "Fistgate scandal." What amazes me the most, is that an intelligent individual like you could make such a debacle out of a very clearly illegal and totally unjustifiable action by your Department of Education. It points out very clearly, that the leadership in the General Court is in total agreement with, and perhaps a party to, the "Fistgate scandal." Most certainly, it is fascinating to see who has come forward, who has hidden in the background and who is standing out brazenly throwing stones and making excuses. Perhaps some day you will explain to honest, upstanding citizens how you could continue to support the bizarre activities of GLSEN with some 1.5 million dollars annually of taxpayer funds. Obviously, in this Commonwealth the "minority" rules, whether by threat, intimidation or payoff. The Commonwealth and its elected and appointed officials apparently condone teaching sex and homosexual sex at that, to 14, 15, and 16-year-old children. But then, what according to the President of the United States, really is "sex?" Please do not try to make excuses for, or defend further, GLSEN and its pedophilic agenda, which is obvious to anyone who has studied their programs anywhere in the United States and elsewhere. The bathhouses of San Francisco, together with the AIDS epidemic in Africa and elsewhere, speak loudly enough about the extremists of the homosexual community, and will continue to do so until common sense or Sodom and Gomorrah recurs. - Milton W. Heath, Jr.
GSA's Teach Foreign Ideology
I hope you will reconsider your lack of serious attention to the fact that a body of beliefs that is foreign to many is being taught in our public schools by the Gay/Straight Alliance. We do not allow any particular religious group to do this, and that is what religion is, a body of beliefs. To teach non-violence, open-mindedness, love of neighbor, etc., is quite different from the agenda of the Gay/Straight Alliance. Though I disagree sometimes even with the behavior of the heterosexual community, no one ever referred to me as "heterophobic." The name-calling by the Gay/Straight Alliance of those who do not agree with their every practice gives this group away as being the most intolerant of all. Finally, I resent every tax dollar given to those who would undermine the values my husband and I taught at home. We were not the ones who taught our children to get diseased, drugged, pregnant, aborted or trapped in any condition that unnecessarily takes tax dollars away from the needy. People who fail to teach positive, constructive behavior should never be in charge or put in leadership positions, especially in our schools. - Mary Jane Scholz
Assorted Letters of Interest Ashamed of
Liberal, Feminist Leadership
I have always fully believed in equality and tolerance for everyone, and I believe that "everyone" includes Christians and people with families. "Everyone" also includes people who do not completely agree with the extreme left-wing agenda. I have sadly come to feel deeply ashamed of the feminist leadership in this nation. I seriously feel that the feminist movement in this country needs a complete overhaul. We still do need a feminist movement because we still do have inequalities such as unfair pay, domestic violence, and harassment. However, the leaders of today's feminist movement deeply shamed their sisters when they came out to support Bill Clinton, a man who is nothing more than a weak-spirited sexual predator. For such a long time, they spoke out about protecting women from predatory men, but now they have betrayed American women. They needed to keep President Clinton in office because he supports abortion, and so they betrayed us and they betrayed themselves. Any voice in the leadership of the feminist movement that disagreed was quickly silenced or ignored. The favorite sound bite was that if it "didn't matter to Hillary," then it shouldn't matter to anyone else. After all, monogamy is just a lifestyle choice among many. However, somewhere along the way they forgot that it wasn't about Hillary, or even about Monica. It was about God-knows-how-many women who were molested against their will, and the fact that so many people don't seem to care that there is a rapist in the White House. And now we find out that the extreme left wing of the gay-rights movement, with the blessing of our government, is graphically teaching kids bizarre homosexual sex practices. What could be the purpose of this education? Obviously, it does not teach young people how to avoid AIDS or make schools "safer" for certain young people. In the 60s liberalism used to be about civil rights, women's rights, and social equality. Now, however, it seems that "liberal" is merely just a misspelling of the word "libertine." Where is the talk about equal pay for equal work? Where is the talk about protection from harassment, or equal job opportunities? Instead of teaching young girls to respect themselves and protect themselves, or teaching them that they have a right to say "No!," are we teaching them that giving themselves to many casual partners is what feminism is really all about? Are we teaching straight kids that they might consider themselves "gay" when they really are not? Are we teaching boys and girls that "freedom" is about having many sex partners, and that monogamy and chastity and self-respect are "bigoted" or "fundamentalist?" Those among us who consider ourselves to be "liberal" should be ashamed, deeply ashamed, to have let this happen to our society. - Rose Titus
Mayor Flynn Decries
Media Bias
Surely, coming from Mayor Flynn, we can now see that we may have a case of designer news, a case of conform over inform, which we've long suspected. That which happens from day to day is contoured to what end?
- M. Goduti
Unfair to Jacoby
Will Jack Thomas be punished for not keeping to standards of fairness in "representing the readers" as the Globe says the Ombudsman is supposed to? Does the Globe have a double standard when it comes to the reporting of the Ombudsman? The answer is obvious in Jack Thomas' Ombudsman report. The Globe follows inconsistent standards to demean a writer who does not agree with their purposes. This is not good journalism. - Alice Slattery
Readers Need to
Become More Active
This paper can't do all the work. We readers need to pick up the momentum and become more active to make a real change and get our country back to its founding principles. I suggest you put the names and addresses of the State Representatives and Senators offices on one page. Hopefully, readers will have the courage to write and flood them with a demand for change. I truly believe most people are conservative but just don't realize it because of the biased reporting that is done countrywide. Please keep up the fantastic journalism and hopefully more and more people will wake up before it's too late. (P.S. Any chance of J. Edward Pawlick, Esq., running for Governor?) - Aaron R. Bart
Must Join with
Others to Change System
- Peter Van Oudenaren
Seat belt Law is Unreasonable
Interestingly, the state Appeals Court recently ruled that police couldn't stop people simply based on a tip that they are carrying a gun. Judge Rudolph Kass commented on his ruling, "in a free society, the balance between the public interest and individual freedom from governmental interference tilts in favor of individual freedom." - Arnold Koch
Editor's Comment: The new seat belt law did not pass. Although approved
by the Senate, it was rejected by the House. After raucous debate that
included accusations of "liberal fascism," the House voted 71-78 to
reject the Senate bill, which would have allowed police to pull
people over solely for failure to wear a seat belt. Rep. William McManus
(D-Worcester) argued, successfully, it turned out, that the bill under
consideration was not, in fact a public safety measure. He said, "This
is the single worst bill I have seen in the eight years I've been here.
Finally we have gotten to the point where government is going to tell
someone how to live their life. What's next? Mandating exercise? More
people die of colon cancer each year than traffic accidents. This is
not about public safety. This is about insurance money. This is about
limiting benefits to people injured in accidents if they don't have
their seatbelts on. This is about surcharges for insurance companies."
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