
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 14, 1994                   TAG: 9412140095
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long

NOT CLINTON'S FAULT FOR FAILINGS OF CONGRESS

WORDS can barely express my contempt for soon-to-be ex-Rep. David McCurdy of Oklahoma, who blames President Clinton for Democratic losses in the November election. Clinton must mend his ideological ways, McCurdy warns. Did it ever occur to him that Democrats lost not on ideology, but because of the perception that they're unable to govern?

When members of the president's own party actively contribute to his defeat on many of his major policy initiatives, and offer such grudging support for others that he has to eke out razor-thin victories on watered-down versions of his original proposals, is that Clinton's fault? Is it his fault the Democratic majority in Congress often seemed more interested in feathering their own nests than dealing with the country's problems?

It wasn't Clinton who instituted the midnight congressional pay raise and outrageous pension benefits, exempted congressmen from obeying laws they enact, winked at numerous ethical lapses, and perpetuated such perquisites as the congressional iceman and attendants for self-service elevators.

If McCurdy finds such presidential policies as gun control and an end to discrimination against gays in the military so repellent, I urge him to join the Republican Party, where he will feel much more at home. Perhaps Newt Gingrich and Sen. Jesse Helms will instruct him on how to remove his foot from his mouth.

JAMES G. SHELL

ROANOKE

How can you offend Japan?

OFFEND Japan with a stamp, indeed!

How can you offend a nation that, without provocation, attacked us when we were at peace? How can you offend a people who used Chinese citizens in the occupied area for bayonet practice? How can you offend a nation whose armies were responsible for the Bataan Death March? How can you offend a nation that bragged that their emperor would ride his white horse to the White House in Washington when they conquered the United States? How can you offend a nation that enslaved females from other countries to satisfy their soldiers' sexual lusts? How can you offend a nation that refused to admit it attacked us?

The head of the Japanese radiological society in 1945, who was familiar with the possibility of atomic power, stated that the use of atomic weapons saved 1 million Japanese lives because it forced Japan to surrender. Our country had no reason to believe the home islands would be less fiercely defended than Okinawa, where 110,000 Japanese died rather than surrender. Our losses included 7,000 ground troops, 763 aircraft and 38 ships. Our anticipated casualties in the home island invasion were 1 million killed or wounded.

Remember Pearl Harbor? We didn't start the war with Japan. Why should we worry about offending them in stating the truth? The atomic bombs ended the war, ended the killing, on both sides. The fire bombing of Tokyo, which killed more than either bomb, failed to convince the Japanese military to surrender.

JAMES A. HANCOCK JR.

BUCHANAN

The candidate's confusing stories

FRANK Early's Dec. 2 letter to the editor (``How about holding feet to the fire?'') contains two important errors.

First, he implies that the Robb candidacy held a monopoly on lying. Sorry, but it would take the remaining 51/2 years in this century to straighten out the North lies. Remember the now-infamous picture of Oliver North standing in front of the Congressional committee, decked out in his finest uniform, hand raised, swearing to tell the truth?

Second, most analysts now conclude that Sen. Charles Robb's 50,000-vote margin resulted from the public's distrust of North. The different stories that came out of the North camp two weeks before the election were confusing enough to send any losing candidate into hiding!

WALTER ROBINSON

SALEM

Why not a smart strip?

IF THE ``smart road'' from Blacksburg is going to truly be a smart road, why not design it as an emergency airstrip in the event of a nuclear war, with mountain and cave ``dugouts'' for storing aircraft and survival gear?

L. EDWIN HEATH

WYTHEVILLE

Orphanages aren't the solution

I CANNOT believe what I'm hearing about taking babies away from their mothers to be put in orphanages. Where are the women of this country? Where is your outrage? Are we so cowed by these sanctimonious hypocrites that we're afraid to speak out? It's so typical to single out the most vulnerable of our society - women and children.

In case Newt Gingrich is unaware, it takes male and female to produce a baby. Where are the fathers of these unfortunate victims? If a mother walks away from her child, she's arrested for abandonment! Heaven forbid she should avail herself of an abortion.

Well, I offer a solution, and it isn't orphanages. For every male who fathers a child and doesn't live up to his obligation of supporting his child, off he goes to the nearest clinic for a vasectomy - no second chances. I don't care if he's 15 years old or 115 years old. After all, a healthy male could father 270 children in the time it takes for a woman to give birth to one! This definitely would be cost-effective, and I'm sure there would be a dramatic drop in unwanted babies by teens and those awful welfare mothers - unwanted - at least by our warm, loving, Christian society.

JACKIE PRINCE

ROANOKE

by CNB