Detroit perfume ban a caring step
As a chemical-sensitive individual, I applaud Detroit for their efforts (banning scented cosmetics and other products from city offices). Anyone who has chemical sensitivity is singing praise.
Perfumes make me ill. I cannot stand the smell of normal household chemicals such as bleach or cleanser. I get migraine headaches from a variety of things; these are only a few of the many triggers. Perhaps the woman in Detroit who sued did seek remedy in the manner in which you suggested (editorial “Detroit’s perfume wars,” March 22), but found no resolution.
I’m fortunate enough to have a bunch of caring and kind people in my building. Whenever engineering personnel are going to do something that may cause an odor, I get a warning. If it becomes “too stinky” for me or causes any symptoms, they stop and reschedule the work for when I’m not here. If that’s not possible, I go home.
The building maintenance manager uses “special” products for my office, so I do not become ill. I have understanding people who care enough to accommodate my disability. Obviously not everyone is that lucky.
TERESA TAYLOR
Genesis provides Socialism lesson
Socialism 101: Read Genesis 47:13-26.
The ruling class first takes your money, then your nongovernmental job, and then your land until you own nothing and become a servant to whoever happens to be in charge.
It took 400 years and many mighty miracles to break free from the ruling class. God commanded that we remember the bondage the Israelites suffered at the hands of the Egyptians (Exodus 12:42).
Remember the Passover on March 29 at sundown.
ROBIN VITELLI
Editorial distorts health care bill
Your editorial (March 23) on the new health care reform legislation grossly misrepresents the bill. The bill will not create new debt; it will reduce deficits by more than $100 billion over the next decade, and more than a trillion dollars in the decade after. This is not a Democratic claim. It comes from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
President Obama’s executive order banning federal funding for abortions is not the only protection against abortion funding. In fact, Catholic nuns and a large number of pro-life congressmen supported the bill before the executive order was announced, recognizing that abortion protections in the bill were sufficient.
Finally, you completely ignore the bill’s other provisions, which include tax credits for small businesses, an end to denials of coverage for people with “pre-existing conditions,” an end to lifetime caps on insurance coverage, and lower drug prices for seniors on Medicare.
This is the most important social reform since the passage of Medicare, and you are on the wrong side of history. Then again, I’d bet every dollar in my pocket that in 1965 the Free Press editorial board railed against Medicare, too
DAVID B. COE
Sewanee, Tenn.
Health bill reaction takes a scary turn
The health care debate took a very ugly turn Wednesday. Spurred on by right-wing bloggers, violent extremists targeted and threatened Democratic legislators and also hurled bricks through the windows of Democratic Party offices in several states. It is both scary and ironic that people allegedly opposed to big government would adopt the fascist tactics of the Hitler Youth. We have seen this before. It was called Kristallnacht or The Night of Broken Glass and it was the start of organized efforts to intimidate the Jews and drive them out of Germany.
This goes well beyond the specifics of the health care reform package. The very nature of a civil society is at stake. We cannot tolerate such tactics. They must be condemned by aRequire drug test for welfare aid
A majority of us who work and pay taxes have to randomly prove that we are not on drugs and therefore keep our job. Since most of those taxes we pay go to support those who either can’t work or won’t work (welfare), why would it not be prudent for those recipients of welfare to have to submit to monthly urine tests in order to get their check?
I certainly do not mind helping those who cannot work, but I shudder at the thought my hard-earned monies may be going to support someone who spends his day in a drug-induced haze instead of meaningful employment.
CHARLIE BENSON
ll reasonable people on both sides of this debate.
JOHN C. REIS
Wash out Biden’s mouth with soap
Vice President Joe Biden, you need your mouth washed out with soap. It’s too bad your mother wasn’t there to punish you.
Some example you are for our children. You need to apologize to America for being so crude and disrespectful.
JANE BAXTER
Ringgold, Ga.
Easter foolishness misses the point
In modern Christianity, Easter is recognized as the day to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. Yet, the familiar image of the Easter Bunny and eggs cannot revel the truth of His Resurrection any more than the pagan Teutonic goddess of fertility named Estere can.
Granted, Easter does have a religious meaning but the religion is certainly not Christianity.
The use of the egg goes back to Mesopotamia identified with another goddess of fertility, Astarte, who claimed an egg fell from heaven into the river Euphrates and was rolled to the bank by fishes where doves hatched it and out came Venus who was later called the Syrian goddess Astarte.
Let us look at Scripture. The Passover of the Old Testament (Exodus 12 and Leviticus 23) is a picture of Nature (spring); history (deliverance); and Grace (redemption). The Book of Acts figures prominently of how the gospel came to the Gentiles and according to the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 11:2 NASB) we are to “keep the traditions as I delivered them to you.”
How all this foolishness got mixed up with our Lord’s Resurrection is just one of the amazing calamities of incorrect doctrine of secular-leaning churches that needs correcting.
WAYNE SIMS
Things to believe to be a Republican
Oh yeah, your “Liberal? Conservative?” editorial Thursday was really funny. Here’s another one, “Things You Have to Believe to Be a Republican Today”:
A woman can’t be trusted with decisions about her own body, but corporations can make decisions affecting millions without regulation. Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won’t have sex. Global warming is junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools. Driving up the deficit to fund a war based on lies will keep us safe, passing health care legislation that is cost effective and makes health care more affordable to Americans, is socialism.
Are you laughing? Or offended?
REBECCA ROCHAT