Pedophilia Victim Speaks Out

I’m responding to the special report in the July issue of Massachusetts News about the confrontation with pedophilia. I’m a resident of the state in my later 30’s, male. I was the victim of a male pedophile from the ages of 13 to 16. To state that my being a victim of such perversion branded my life is, for myself, a gross understatement. I assumed that his acts against me were unknown to my friends and family members but, as time passed, I was to learn otherwise.

I have had to pursue a course of normal sexuality through a continual barrage of labels on my person like "faggot," "queer," "homo" and some choice others since the age of fourteen. I live with the effort of repelling these labels even today.

The man who was the attacker toward me, and many of his pedophile pals, would have liked nothing better than to have received public tolerance for their crimes had a group like the North American Man/Boy Love Association existed then. To allow this group access to the state’s people is to allow acts to be committed on adolescents whose impact will probably affect the rest of their adult lives, in a most detrimental way

I can truly state that my victimization cost me many of the assets in life one would consider the attainment of normalcy: A career with a major U.S. corporation, membership in a labor union, the ability to own a home, a spouse and more. There is no room in our society for a group which allows the toleration of sexual predation on our future adults simply because that group’s leaders think they have a right to it. And there certainly is no room, therefore, for teaching that kind of behavior in our state’s classrooms. That’s gone too far.

–Name withheld

South Carolina Reader Sees Our Problems in the South

Many thanks for the first three print issues of Massachusetts News

We have our own political correctness problems down here in South Carolina, believe it or not. While we don’t have the elite colleges and universities of the Northeast, our power-hungry feminists and affirmative-action preferences define the law of the land here no less than in Massachusetts. It is just as impossible to work in higher education without tenure if you are critical of either (or unwilling to keep your mouth shut); sooner or later you will lose your job. I was forced to give up fulltime university teaching back in 1995. Apparently now things are even worse. I suppose I should not be shocked that revered journals are now publishing "studies" supportive of pedophilia.

What I would like to know is: if you believe there is an objectively knowable world (as opposed to postmodernist "social constructions"), reject so called group rights, support a Christian ethos, believe in the two parent family unity (not of the same sex), and civilization, just where are you supposed to go today to do it?

– Steven Yates, Ph.D.
Columbia, South Carolina

Editor’s note: Steven Yates is the author of a book, Civil Wrongs: What Went Wrong With Affirmative Action (ICS Press, 1994), and a number of articles in academic journals.

Eighty Years a Liberal . . . And a Subscriber

I have just mailed in a check for a subscription to your new newspaper Massachusetts News.

However, the reason is not, to quote your come-on, "I need a refreshing change from the Boston Globe and other liberal media." For one thing, the Globe is hardly liberal: for example, read the columns of Jeff Jacoby and John Ellis. As for the "other media," read the pontifications of Don Feder and Pat Buchanan and the traditional ideas of Catholic columnists in the Boston Herald.

I liked your stories about subjects I rarely see treated anywhere: the one about evangelical associations, Worcester Poly Tech (as we used to call it), BC’s Center for Religion and American Public Life, and home-schooled kids getting into what we Yale men call "Hahvud."

I spent two years as a reporter in Concord, N.H., and all my life I have read at least two newspapers every day, often three, so I know a lot about editorial policies and style.

But the most important reason for my subscription to your paper is that I have been a liberal for 80 years, in which my character has been formed by my experiences in conflicts between liberal and conservative attitudes and policies. Almost always, conservative dogma lost to the realities of human life.

I will also be quite fascinated to study the language of your conservative columns and reporting, for I am a linguistic scholar, and have taught English literature and composition for almost 50 years in school and college. If I were still teaching, I would conduct a special course in The Uses and Misuses of Language, with sharp emphasis on name-calling, undocumented generalizations, verbal tricks, false analogies, and hypocrisy, especially in the context of morality, religion and politics.

– H. Leavitt
Andover MA

Globe’s Bias on School Reform

I have just made a visit to your site, and especially enjoyed the letter to you from Mark Rosen of Newton, complaining to you that you are not publishing critical letters. His letter shows that the "liberal" establishment has taken notice. So, the criticism is great news. Maybe the Newton TAB will start treating the letters they receive a bit more fairly. They refuse to publish anything, including articles, which are remotely anti-educational reform. Maybe their corporate ownership has something to do with it.

However, the content of Mr. Rosen’s criticism is entirely erroneous. Perhaps Mr.Rosen might take a look at the Boston Globe’s entirely false coverage of the MCAS debacle last spring. Over the same months, the Globe refused to publish any of the dozens of letters submitted by teachers, parents, and administrators, all complaining about the MCAS.

The funny thing about it was that by the end of May, 1999, the Boston Globe’s extreme bias in favor of all the Education Reformists became so noticeable that people started making jokes about it. On the CARE and FAIRTEST list serves the going joke was: "The Boston Herald covers MCAS student protestors, while the Boston Globe covers students protesting toilets!"

Seems that the Globe was trying to find something protest-like to print, but wouldn’t go near the real issue, which is that the MCAS is racist. (Even Commissioner David Driscoll admits to this fact.) Instead they had a huge article all about students at one school who didn’t like the bathroom facilities.

Seems that The Globe noticed our jokes. The joking about the Globe’s blatant bias did result in the publication of two sort of anti-MCAS letters, but they were from Ford Foundation fundees. The Boston Globe continues to refuse to publish any serious anti-MCAS articles, and continues to pump out the pro-Education Reformist propaganda.

Anyhow, glad to see that you’re in the swing of things. And please, for our children’s sake, keep on swinging at those family-hating folks up on the hill! Education Reform is up for "renewal" and we need to push it out.

– Lise D. Rubin
Newton, MA

We Must Stop Restraining Order Abuse

I find it refreshingly painful to see a publication with the courage to print truths about matters not commonly found in our "regular" newspapers.

This is particularly true of the stories related to domestic violence, 209A Restraining Orders, and the enormous uncontrolled industry which now permeates almost every aspect of our lives.

Your publication has cited studies performed by credible researchers who have produced the information relative to domestic violence. Twenty years ago, domestic violence against women was one of society’s deep-closeted secrets. Rightfully, we have addressed this problem and measures have been provided to facilitate protections.

However, these protections have gone too far. Now, a woman only has to claim she is "in fear" in order to control, manipulate and destroy a man. The need for 209A reform is long overdue, as the pendulum has swung too far.

Let’s face it, protecting these poor defenseless women is a noble cause where anyone will jump on the bandwagon. But we must have our eyes wide open. Yes, men are also subjected to domestic violence and abuse. All studies expose this reality. This fact is the new deep, dark, closeted secret. Men who are victims are less prone to come forth. Pride, embarrassment, and a closed-minded judiciary prevent men from admitting they are victims. It’s much easier to claim sports injury or some macho bar room brawl to explain away a blackened eye from a punch or flying object.

One of the biggest factors preventing men from coming forth is the loss of their children. As we all know, women will get the restraining order and the children. The man is typically viewed as the perpetrator and the woman the poor innocent victim. Why don’t we get real and start holding both men and women accountable for less than desirable qualities and dysfunctions?

Additionally, all any well-informed woman needs to do to destroy a man is to run to the local courthouse and claim fear or whatever else she chooses to get a 209A Restraining Order to achieve her malicious goals and objectives. She doesn’t even have to get her hands dirty. And, if she needs any help, there are battered women’s advocates to coach her right through the process of destruction. All at no cost to the woman; not a red penny.

I would submit that 75% or more of these people involved in restraining orders would be better served by good counseling than by one year restraining orders which create further problems and divide family units and children from loving fathers.

Until we all wake up, the courts will continue to error on the side of caution and divide the parties, while criminalizing the man and destroying father/child relationships. In the meantime, phony statistics keep building to justify this huge monster of an abuse industry, which sees things from a one-sided victim-feminist perspective.

How many programs for women who batter men are there in the state of Massachusetts? How many women are penalized for abusing the 209A laws in order to control, manipulate, and destroy good men?

I have ordered my subscription to your publication. Keep up the responsible reporting.

– Ray Saulnier
Biddeford, ME

Socialized Health Care? No Thanks

In October 1982, I was dispatched to London to work for a year for an American computer consultancy. I was automatically covered by the British National Health Service because I was a resident. My National Insurance number was 17 BC 649334E. I never planned to use this as I was very healthy and didn’t think much of the free service anyway. On annual visits home to America I would schedule check ups with my own doctor and dentist in Needham. A cavalier attitude about my own good health and its ability never-to-fail crumbled shortly after I arrived in the U.K. My first episode involved a tooth that needed an immediate filling. I arranged for a NHS dentist. My stiffness in the chair was amplified by my complete lack of confidence in the person drilling my tooth. The whole scenario offended me. His office seemed like it was in his living room. He was a real nincompoop and the work he did had to be repaired by my Needham dentist the next year. But it was free.

My work demanded a lot of meetings which required me to walk a lot – all over London. My feet began to bother me to the point I thought I needed some help. So, flashing my Nation Health number at the neighborhood clinic, I made an appointment, which ended up being two weeks later. OK. I waited two weeks and went back to the clinic where the doctor met me at exactly the prescribed appointment time, 10:00 am. I thought to myself then that the British health care system must be much better than I supposed because physicians saw their patients precisely at the appointed times. After discussing my foot ailment with the doctor, she said that I needed an X-ray and wrote an order for one at St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington.

I was sent to the X-ray waiting room, which reminded me of the South Station waiting room, crowded with some pretty pathetic people sometimes. These folks represented the British melting pot as many wore turbans and others were obviously from afar. I’ll never forget how sad they were. Some had been waiting for more than five hours. Now I felt so bad, not because my foot hurt, but the sight of these poor, unfortunate souls waiting interminably, really sent a message. National Health Service provided a service – yes, but when? I couldn’t stand it. I left without my X-ray, vowing to never use NHS again. I made an appointment with a private physician the next day. He saw me in his Harley Street office the following day. Contrary to the NHS environment which was like a dirty train station, I wondered if I was dressed formally enough to enter the doctor’s office. He did not see me immediately at the specified time, but close enough. I was fascinated that he was so young and learned that he was the Tottenham Spurs’ physician. He quizzed me for about ten minutes and came up with my affliction, Podagra (gout). I received the appropriate medications and instruction and went on my way, depositing £80, the equivalent of about $120, for the 10-minute visit, with his receptionist.

I never used NHS again. This limited encounter with socialized medicine makes me thankful for what we have in America. It’s not perfect but it’s better. And the National Health Service continues to have its problems. Just yesterday, I learned of a woman in England who is in bad shape because the NHS only allows women to have breast exams every three years. There are other horror stories of people who wait months before they can schedule needed surgery. NHS, no thanks.

– Andy Thomas
Framingham

Media Fearful of Political Incorrectness

It’s quite revealing that one newspaper columnist refused to report the statistics about the number of public school teachers who send their children to private schools because it was "too controversial." Since when has the news media shied away from controversial material? Most thrive on it because it drives up ratings, or brings in new subscribers. What this columnist was actually admitting is that such news would draw the wrath of the politically correct crowd, and he didn’t want the aggravation. Is there no longer any pride or lust for truth in the major media of our land? Thank goodness for publications like Massachusetts News, or we would be drowning in a sea of lies and half-truths without hope of being thrown a life preserver.

– Lloyd Cain, Minister
Chelmsford Church of Christ

Breath of Fresh Air on Environment

The September issue is the first I have seen. I have read only the article "Good News for Mass. Environment" and I am sending my subscription. Being in the forest products industry I was taken by the bold type paragraph over the picture. Where is the director of forests for Mass?

It is my opinion that some of our bureaucrats are so sensitive to the whims of the protectionist segment of our society that they are ineffective in carrying out their responsibilities.

Thanks for the breath of fresh air.

– Lee Fiske
Greenfield, MA
 

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