After reading your coverage of the Youth Pride march, I find it extremely ironic that your e-mail address is "patriot." This country is founded upon individual freedom, especially when it comes to moral and religious issues.

By making a moral judgment upon those who do not fit within your chosen beliefs (such as gays and lesbians), you undermine the basic rights of other citizens. You claim that when Massachusetts "rolled out the red carpet" for the event, it "invites such behavior." Although this claim is unfounded and in my mind slightly comical, SO WHAT? What if it did?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with homosexuality. I have trouble understanding why you are against it, except that perhaps you believe that all homosexuals will eventually go to hell. Homosexuals make up a decent percentage of our population, and most homosexuals that I know are extremely bright, talented and kind individuals. If I were to make any judgment upon such a group, I would say they are better than average.

If you find it offensive that they sometimes curse, imagine how offended they are when you make implications that they should not exist. I am disappointed in your lack of ability to see other people exactly for what they are: other people. People who should be free under the law and in the eyes of others.

Please remember history and think of how many groups - including Christians, Jews, African-Americans - have been discriminated against and persecuted by people who think that their way is right and anything else is the enemy.

Thank you for your time.

- Student
MIT '01

Response by Ed Oliver

Thank you for taking the time to write and share your views.

It is apparent from your letter that we approach this subject from fundamentally different viewpoints in some areas, but there are many areas of agreement. I spent a lot of time today thinking about your letter. I even worked on a response that turned into a soul-searching examination of some of my deepest held beliefs. I realized I would have to write a book. I then stepped back from all this and looked at the problem another way. So I put it aside and wanted to get this off to you.

I feel just as strongly as you do about individual liberty. The snag comes in resolving the "imposed values" issue. Believe it or not, the other side feels the same way you do, that values are being imposed on them. And they don't like it either. I think we want the same things but we are purposefully forced to butt heads and choose sides by the powers-that-be. Both sides improperly use the government force against the other.

In reality though, it is the government who is using both sides. The powerful in the government are the ones who gain and empower themselves from social divisions and strife and are only too happy to whip up the resentments, whether it be black and white, rich and poor, etc.

I think the solution for both sides lies in limited government and maximum freedom and self-determination. As long as we are heavily taxed and our children are herded into government-run institutions and the government regulates and micro-manages our lives, the disagreements will be magnified and we forget who the real enemy is.

Compare it to living together in an apartment as opposed to living across the street. All my annoying habits are magnified if you have to live with me. If I'm across the street, you only rarely have to deal with me, and then only if I'm really a bad neighbor.

Through socialism, the government interconnects our lives so deeply that all our annoying differences are magnified and we are ready to rip each other's throats. We are forced to pay for each other, go to school with each other, like each other, etc. Fences make good neighbors. It really shouldn't matter in America if we disagree on homosexuality. If you notice, it is the government schools and the imposition of alien values on kids and the tax-paid endorsements that we are yelling about. On the other hand, you want your freedom to be you. We are simply put too close together by socialist society and problems like these are inevitable.

So, Resolved: Big socialist government is the demon in my eyes, not homosexuals. For you, big theocratic government is the demon.

Ok? We're friends? Please write again, you seem like a very thoughtful person.

Response by Editor: This is a good discussion. However, the MIT student totally misses the point that what bothers us is not what adults do, but what is being taught to our children in the schools. She is still relying on the outdated theory of the gay gene and that homosexuals are "born that way." If that were true, everyone would agree with her. It is disturbing to know that she believes that everyone who does not agree with her is a bigot and does not know any homosexuals they respect or like.

Activist Successful About Cellucci

On the Sunday before his confirmation, I faxed about 20 pages describing what Cellucci has done to the Canadian Newspaper Association in Toronto. The information included a lot of Mass News articles and directions to your site as well. The next day, the Canadian papers and many here in the U.S. picked up the information!

However, it's the letter I received from Sen. Helms that really has "my arm aching from patting myself on the back." Thought you would like to see what one little old lady can do all by herself!

I have passed your site on to lots of people all over the country. The former New Englanders were easily convinced to start reading your news; the rest were really delighted with the information they found upon going to your site.

Keep it up! It is always you & my morning java! Can't do better than that!

- Jeanne Noel
Methuen

Response from Sen. Helms:

Thank you for your letter regarding the nomination of Governor Paul Cellucci to be the Ambassador to Canada. I appreciate your taking the time to write. Governor Cellucci's nomination was to be submitted by the White House to the Committee on Foreign Relations on March 27, 2001. The Committee held a hearing to consider the nomination on April 4 and reported out the nomination to the full Senate on April 5, 2001.

Until Governor Cellucci's nomination, the President made excellent choices in naming the senior members of his foreign policy team. Let's hope Governor Cellucci's nomination is the only exception.

I have seen reports regarding Mr. Cellucci's tenure as Governor of Massachusetts - reports that quite frankly have raised my eyebrows, as have his positions on the sanctity of human life, parental rights and the defense of traditional family values. These positions are out of sync not only with my own views, but with the President's stated position on these important matters.

Because of this troubling record, I asked Mr. Cellucci to provide a written clarification regarding his support for President Bush's policies as opposed to his own positions. He stated to me that, "If confirmed I will faithfully represent the goals and policies President Bush has set for our nation and its relations with Canada. My personal views will not be imposed on the President's agenda."

With that written commitment from Mr. Cellucci and because of my personal respect for the President - I allowed Mr. Cellucci's nomination to go forward. However, I felt obligated to vote against his nomination as a matter of principle.

Again, thank you for taking time to write. Kindest regards.

- Sen. Jesse Helms

Letter the Springfield Union Was Afraid to Print

In your March 11 Sunday Republican article entitled, "Police get tips on handling domestic violence," family therapist R. Lundy Bancroft has the reader believe that men are the only perpetrators of domestic violence.

For instance, Bancroft states that "members of a family with an abusive parent will often absolve the batterer and blame themselves for setting 'him' off" and "children will be afraid of an abusive 'father' or 'stepfather,'" and "boys who are exposed to domestic violence tend to become batterers when they grow up."

However, Bancroft has misrepresented reality. According to the U.S. Department of Justice July 1999 report in the National Institute of Justice (#170018), "Dunedin Multi-Disciplinary Health & Development Study," women perpetrate between 60 to 66 percent of all domestic violence. Bancroft also defines the profile of typical batterers stating that they tend to be "skilled liars" and sometimes take domestic abuse "beyond physical violence" in that they "employ threats, manipulate family members against each other and alternate between sweetness and violence in order to control the family." It would be interesting to study how the general public perceives which gender has the highest tendency toward the above abusive behavioral patterns.

Moreover, if we are a disciplined enough public to stick to the facts and the truth, the Justice report should serve us well and answer the tough questions - albeit notwithstanding political correctness. Then, and only then, in our effort to address the perpetual cycle of domestic violence, will we recognize that the majority of perpetrators are female.

This revelation should guide us in our application of prevention so we can help the majority perpetrators overcome psychological dysfunction which may be causing their abusive tendencies.

- George Schroder
The Fatherhood Coalition

Saw Paper at Peabody Library

I just found your paper at the Peabody Library and I will subscribe!

Keep up the good work.

- J. McAllister
Peabody

Thanks for the Compliment?

Allow me to convey my deepest gratitude for the complimentary issue. It was necessary for me to read several articles more than once before I realized that what I was holding was not, in fact, a newspaper, but rather a clear indication of someone exercising his First Amendment right of freedom of speech.

How proud I am that you and your staff have found a way to express your opinions, even under the guise of actual news.

- D. Noel Seaman
Framingham

Liberal Applauds Howard Coverage

I applaud the courage of MassNews in standing up to feminists by reporting the truth. As a liberal, I don't always agree with your point of view, but am always blown away with your thoroughness in covering the previously unreported side of stories.

I have been following your coverage of what I'll call the DSS's theft of the Howard children. Your up-to-date articles have been linked to in a number of international men's newsletters and e-groups.

The Howard saga is a classic example of the real danger that extreme man-hating feminists represent. The Department appears to be clearly controlled by them, with the bureaucracy unable to grasp the concept that a husband might not be abusive.

Thank God that MassNews reports these excesses. Without such rare, genuinely free press, every man and many women in the western world would have to kiss their democratic freedoms goodbye.

- Steven Stevenson
Melbourne, Australia

State's Sex Ed Is 'Laudable'

Your newspaper is a bastion of hate against homosexuals and other groups. That is your prerogative. However, I disagree with your point of view.

On your slandering of the sex education program in the state. I have looked at the curriculum in the high school (Newton) and found it worthy of praise, not scorn. I have kids in the schools and the one in high school has nothing but good things to say about the class. While totally emphasizing abstinence, the course gives kids all of the facts, and options for safer choices.

In addition, there is a strong component on how to act responsibly in a relationship, defining coercion, how to avoid being coerced, etc., and plenty of discussion and role playing to really impress upon teens that they do have the power to withstand pressure. The program is laudable and absolutely essential to a teen/young teen's education. Do you really think kids don't watch MTV or buy Em & Em CDs?

I suggest you take your heads out of the sand and start speaking responsibly.

- Amanda Annis
Newton

DSS Doesn't Care About the Children

I read a lot about DSS and what good turns they are doing for children. That is a lie. They only let the public know what they want so the money they get keeps coming into the system. The children are getting hurt more in the care of DSS and foster parents.

The so-called courts that take these cases are acting as dictators for the nazi DSS.

They seem not to care what is right, but what is in their pocket. They don't care about the children, only the big money that is involved in the system.

I know because this happened to me and lots of others that I talk with. People should go on your web site and see what's really going on.

- Evelyn Menard
Rutland

Community Service Is a Disservice

There is a disturbing growing trend in this state and others across the nation to require x-number of hours of pre-approved, unpaid "public service" in order to receive a high school diploma. This trend appears to be a smack of the authoritarian philosophy behind the communist "Young Pioneers" and the "Hitler Youth" because, like the aforementioned, it presupposes that the fruit of one's labors belongs inherently first to the state.

To be sure, this country has impressments into service via the military draft, and even in local emergencies such as raging forest fires, but these have been in times of pressing local or national emergencies.

I am appalled that the public has taken this development so meekly. Are we truly a "nation of sheep"? If this trend grows, will society eventually require "public service" of every able-bodied person under the pain of law, regardless of age?

-Neil F. Dunn
Danvers

It's Been a Long Winter

When I hoped in vain for a copy of Mass News, I became concerned that it had fallen under the sword of Damocles.

I have been sorry to lose Jeannine Graf. Her experience as a reporter added sparkle to her talk program.

For better or for worse, the finance gurus are predicting a heavy investment this year in the entertainment industry. The winners are Publication, Communication, Sports, Theater, Travel etc.

Considering that the electronic industry displaces at will, we can hope that newspapers won't forget Patrick Henry.

It's been a long winter. It could have been worse, but Mass News made sure it didn't get a chance.

- M. Godutti
Arlington

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