Letter to the Editor

I got printed in the Daily News again today!

LETTER: 'Biased wording, slanted reporting' used in article

January 20, 2005

It's a matter of freedom of choice, not abortion.

I'm ashamed that the Daily News printed "Groups honor, protest at vigil" with such biased wording and slanted reporting. The title itself implies that protesting is the opposite of honor. As a believer in the human right of choice, I find it quite honorable that those 17 people came out and spoke their voices, just as a believer in anti-choice might consider it honorable to pray for dead babies.

I urge readers of the Daily News to consider the implications of the wording of this article.

"A few yards away, pro-abortion protesters gathered on McKinley Avenue's sidewalk holding signs saying 'Honk for a woman's right to choose,' among other slogans."

I'm offended by the term "pro-abortion" in this article. As I stated in a past column in the Daily News, it IS possible to be both Pro-Life and Pro-Choice. The difference between the two sides is that one believes in a woman's right to choose what she does with her body, while the other side believes that she should have no choice.

If I were to ever have to make the decision to abort, I can honestly say I wouldn't. However, it's not my place to impose that on other people. It should not be my decision what someone does with her life or her body.

There are a few things people need to remember in this debate:

- History shows that if you take away the right to choose, people will have abortions anyway, even in dangerous ways.

- If men could have babies, this wouldn't be a debate at all. There would be abortion clinics in strip malls.

- If your mom had aborted you, you wouldn't be here to wonder about it anyway.

- Pro-Choice is not Pro-Abortion. Pro-Life is not exclusive to Anti-Choice. Anti-Choice is oppression.

- If you don't believe in abortions, don't have one.

If you truly believe that your opinions should oppress those who believe otherwise, perhaps a democracy isn't for you.

Jack Shepler
Junior Telecommunications Major

And now for pics of the rally!



( Read more... )

Four More Years

And the cost?

I was starting a list of all the costs when I found this gem from AlterNet:

• $40 million: Cost of Bush inaugural ball festivities, not counting security costs.
• $2,000: Amount FDR spent on the inaugural in 1945…about $20,000 in today's dollars.
• $20,000: Cost of yellow roses purchased for inaugural festivities by D.C.'s Ritz Carlton.
• 200: Number of Humvees outfitted with top-of-the-line armor for troops in Iraq that could have been purchased with the amount of money blown on the inauguration.
• $10,000: Price of an inaugural package at the Fairmont Hotel, which includes a Beluga caviar and Dom Perignon reception, a chauffeured Rolls Royce and two actors posing as "faux" Secret Service agents, complete with black sunglasses and cufflink walkie-talkies.
• 400: Pounds of lobster provided for "inaugural feeding frenzy" at the exclusive Mandarin Oriental hotel.
• 3,000: Number of "Laura Bush Cowboy cookies" provided for "inaugural feeding frenzy" at the Mandarin hotel.
• $1: Amount per guest President Carter spent on snacks for guests at his inaugural parties. To stick to a tight budget, he served pretzels, peanuts, crackers and cheese and had cash bars.
• 22 million: Number of children in regions devastated by the tsunami who could have received vaccinations and preventive health care with the amount of money spent on the inauguration.
• 1,160,000: Number of girls who could be sent to school for a year in Afghanistan with the amount of money lavished on the inauguration.
• $15,000: The down payment to rent a fur coat paid by one gala attendee who didn't want the hassle of schlepping her own through the airport.
• $200,500: Price of a room package at D.C.'s Mandarin Oriental, including presidential suite, chauffeured Mercedes limo and outfits from Neiman Marcus.
• 2,500: Number of U.S. troops used to stand guard as President Bush takes his oath of office
• 26,000: Number of Kevlar vests for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan that could be purchased for $40 million.
• $290: Bonus that could go to each American solider serving in Iraq, if inauguration funds were used for that purpose.
• $6.3 million: Amount contributed by the finance and investment industry, which works out to be 25 percent of all the money collected.
• $17 million: Amount of money the White House is forcing the cash-strapped city of Washington, D.C., to pony up for inauguration security.
• 9: Percentage of D.C. residents who voted for Bush in 2004.
• 66: Percentage of Americans who think this over-the-top inauguration should have been scaled back.

Up to the minute protest coverage

It's amazing to read through IndyMedia's coverage of the Inauguration protest.

Examples:
7:25pm Republican assaulted photographer taking pictures, while police looked on; no action was taken by the police;

3:18pm Pepper spray and tear-gas directed at protestors at 15th and Pennsylvania; at least 50 injured protestors; reports from police of "chest pains" in protestor; mainstream media journalists being hit with pepper spray; reports of bleeding from injured protestors;


Check it out!

It's a shame that in this society, protesting is basically illegal while Bush is in office. It shouldn't be.

You know what protesting does?

It represents the people that can't pay the millions needed to have their voices heard. The easiest way to avoid the common people is to block them altogether and take control of the media.