Obama’s absence from Arlington Cemetery says volumes Citing other presidents’ lapses in their role as commander in chief never excuses current or future presidents’ disrespect for those Americans who make the ultimate sacrifice, protecting our government’s promise to protect us from harm. When President Obama deploys troops to Afghanistan, do these brave men and women beg off by saying they’re too busy or too tired to honor their military commitment? Arlington Cemetery is the most significant place to be on Memorial Day because of its long history with our nation’s wars and its Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. If Obama refuses to appear at Arlington Cemetery on Memorial Day, history will record him as the commander in chief who was unknown to his soldiers. Helen Logan-Tackett
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Abortion lowers respect for life, increases crime Re: “Politically, abortion helps conservatives,” from readers, May 30 Mr. Drudi references Steven Levitt’s publication while claiming that abortion decreases crime. However, Levitt’s analysis of abortion and crime statistics was discredited by Yale University law professor John Lott and Australian economist John Whitley, who re-examined the data and the assumptions he used in his statistical analysis. They showed that abortion actually increased crime. Underlying Mr. Drudi’s assertion is the same old Margaret Sanger racism/genocide argument: the fewer blacks, the better for society. That is why some 70 percent of Planned Parenthood’s abortuaries are located in black neighborhoods. But abortions don’t decrease crime. They decrease respect for life and therefore enable more crime. Drudi’s ridiculous conclusion is that abortion helps conservatives. True, conservatives hate abortion because it takes the life of an innocent human being. Would that liberals would work to stop this unjust killing. Richard A. Retta
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Swift Boat Veterans for Truth never backed down Re: “Pickens avoids mentioning those infamous swift boats,” May 19 The Yeas & Nays column referred to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth as infamous, a word with negative connotations. It’s important to remember that the only individual who was forced to revise, correct, or withdraw claims of wartime exploits was the self-promoting Sen. John Kerry. Had it not been for these Swift Boat veterans, who persisted in telling the truth despite having abuse dumped on them by Kerry’s political operatives and his supporters in the mainstream media, Kerry would have been elected president. But the story doesn’t end there. Authors Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler wrote “To Set the Record Straight,” a book that not only reveals additional inconvenient truths about Kerry’s alleged heroics, but further undercuts his claim to medals for valor and battle wounds. As his fawning biographer, Douglas Brinkley, eventually acknowledged, Americans now know that John Kerry was not the war hero we thought he was.
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