Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 3, 1995 TAG: 9501070069
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
This presidential failure persists in meddlesome attempts to shape our foreign policy with our resulting embarrassment.
The latest of which was Carter's apology to the Serbian thug leader for press coverage of the American media exposing the murderous action of the Serbs killing noncombatants. And Karadzic is not the only brute Carter has embraced, literally as well as politically.
Brezhnev, Ceausescu, the Shah of Iran and Saddam Hussein are all members of the Carter mutual admiration society. In point of fact, Carter came close to treasonable activities in his attempts to intervene with Saddam Hussein by urging every member of the United Nations' Security Council except Great Britain to vote against the U.S. resolution to authorize force against Iraq.
The former president's intrusion in the North Korean Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty served only to muddy the issues, and resulted in a weakening of the position of the Clinton administration in its plan to seek sanctions against North Korea.
Carter is the classic example of a loose cannon.
BUD SANTORO ROANOKE
The pleasure of donating one's time
MANY OF YOU have contributed to various charities this season. You've given via angel trees, food pantries, filled Christmas stockings or a donation of cash. Have you ever wondered what happens with your gifts?
My family gave an addition gift this year - the gift of our time.
The Salvation Army Christmas distribution center served more than 3,000 families with children. For many, what they get at the center is all they will have. Each child received one large and one small toy, a stocking filled by people like many of you and a bag of food based on family size.
This was a very fulfilling experience for all of us, especially for our 13-year-old son. He gave us a really special gift. We now know that he understands the real meaning of the season: Helping others and making it special for someone else makes it special for you.
If you have ever taken an angel from one of the many trees in the Roanoke Valley, or picked up a stocking to fill but not filled it and return it, please think twice.
If you have any doubts where your gifts go, do as our family did. Spend some time at the Salvation Army's center. What a gift! This was our first of many years to volunteer. Please join us next year.
ROBERT, THERESA and PAUL WRIGHT ROANOKE
Following Christ, not public opinion
THE EDITORIAL cartoon of Dec. 28 showing Pope John Paul II in an unflattering light can be taken two ways.
One way is to sneeringly agree that the current pope is an old fossil who drives members out of the church with outdated rules and regulations.
The other way is to acknowledge that the cartoon inadvertently praises the current pope.
The pope follows the will of Christ, not current (and always changing) public opinion. Peter was given specific authority over the church, irrespective of any democratic vote within or without the church. The democratic method can fail.
We can be thankful the pope stands against the inseparably linked contraception and abortion evils. We can only accept the ``ban'' on female priests. The supreme authority given to the chair of Peter does not include the power to change truth or modify the will of Christ.
Pope John Paul II, by his teachings, proves the papacy is timeless, following the eternal Christ, not the shifting sands of time.
JOHN D. STEC COVINGTON
Editors' note: This letter was also signed by three other individuals in Covington and Roanoke.
Perpetuating racism into the future
IN REGARDS to the Dec. 21 letter (``More confusion concerning Santa'') by Claire E. Sanders:
I was so upset that anyone is so small-minded to get offended about a black Santa that I had to write this letter. For Sanders' information, African-American children believe in Santa, even though as she states he is a mythical character.
Her remark about ``perpetuating that kind of ethnic equality'' is the stupidest I have ever heard even though I am not one of the ``literate (mostly white) public.'' I learned as a small child that Christmas was about the birth of Christ, and the love that he had for all of us. If I'm not mistaken, that includes the African-American race.
It is this kind of hatred that won't let racism die. Sanders is teaching young children the same kind of hatred she has, and they, unfortunately, will grow up and pass it on to their children. What Sanders needs to be teaching children is that God created all people, black and white, as equals, and that we all have to live on this Earth together.
DEBORAH L. McCLANAHAN DUBLIN
by CNB