Letters to the Editor

Editor,

“Virginia stands out for not just buoying discriminatory marriage laws, but bullying its gay citizens.” Wayne Besen wrote in last week’s paper. I am not gay and yet I find myself taking this state of affairs increasingly personally.

It is people we are talking about. People who just want to be entitled to the same support the state gives me, people who would like to be valued for the determination and thoughtfulness of choices they accept to make. Nothing comes easy in gay communities because major decisions such as living together, coming out in the open, getting married and having children will bring personal joys, judgments and condemnations all in one lively batch. Take it or leave it. It's takes courage to take it.

I am starting to take it personally and a frown of vigilance creeps up on my forehead. Especially today. Should a child of a gay couple be welcomed into the world in any way different than a child of mine? Should the delight that I see on her parents' faces be mitigated by worries of acceptance? Should the criteria be: one man to one woman or could it simply be the nonnegotiable demand that love well applied be present?

In a gay couple, a child is never an accident, a child is always planned for, worked for and very much wanted. Wouldn't that in itself give gay couples at least as much entitlement to family life and its rights as any one of us in the mainstream? My consistent experience in meeting gay couples is that mutual respect, acceptance, support and plain enjoyment are present. If anything, their vows renewed tacitly and daily due to external pressures could be an example for us who take what we have for granted.Who are we to judge the nature of love? Maybe we could just be the keepers of love? Yes, I feel protective of the young gay parents who are working so hard this morning at bringing a life forth: one, sweaty, aching, tired and bewildered, the other, an anchor, a guiding light, perhaps hurting for not being able to take some of the pain away. When they come home in a few days, they will find the snow shoveled from their driveway, the car clean, homemade baby booties in the mailbox and the neighborhood's intense wishes for wellness.

That is their entitlement today, in a few days, next year and for decades to come. Just like my family.

Evelyne Noel Falls Church

Editor,

Last week the Falls Church News-Press ran portions of a Newsweek article from January 24, 2005 that featured The Falls Church as the “hot church” in Washington D.C. along with a “hot bar” in Georgetown.

On the one hand, we are glad to be “on the map.” After all, Jesus said "a city set on a hill cannot be hidden" (Matthew 5:14) and told His followers to “let your light so shine before men” (Matthew 5:16). On the other hand, some parts of the article could use a little clarification. The 3,600 worshippers within The Falls Church indeed include members of President Bush's administration, Capitol Hill staff of both parties, well-known theologians and scholars, and a large number of Republicans, Democrats, Independents and probably people who don’t vote. I don't know the makeup; we've never taken a poll. We welcome all political views.

Politics are important to all of us, but Christians always try to remember that we hold dual citizenship. On the one hand, we are exhorted by God’s Word, the Bible, to be good citizens where we are, serving and praying for the city we live in, paying taxes, respecting government authority, and doing what is honorable in the sight of all people and of God. But the Bible also tells us we are “citizens of heaven,” the Kingdom of God. This is what Jesus Christ taught - that people who believe in Him are born again into the Kingdom of God. We live on earth like everyone else but our human spirits also are alive to God in another realm. The Bible calls us “aliens and strangers” on earth; it's not our final home. This may be why Christians sometimes seem a bit peculiar to casual observers!

I am thankful that our President and many other leaders pray to God. But I hope I would never confuse any political party, system, administration or policy with God’s kingdom. As thankful as I am to be a citizen of the U.S. and live free from hunger or oppression, I do not believe I have reached Paradise yet!

When I came to The Falls Church 25 years ago, it was a fairly small parish in Falls Church City. I have been rather amazed that the greater Washington D.C. scene found us, but it did. That suggests to me that in this great city of power and wealth, there is also great spiritual hunger. My hope and prayer is that this spate of national and local publicity might draw a few more curious people to check out just what makes people raise their hands to God at The Falls Church. Or if you like to worship more quietly with the organ, we have more traditional services at 8 a.m., 9 a.m. and also at 11 a.m. in the Historic Church! All are welcome.

John Yates II, Rector The Falls Church-Episcopal

Editor,

I wish you folks at the News-Press would stop printing your “platform” - which includes such lofty goals as never mixing news with editorial policy - when every week’s edition routinely flouts that noble aim.

This week is no different. You uncritically report a Newsweek article that purports to “out” the Falls Church Episcopal Church as a GOP lair. While there is arguably some public interest in the fact that members of the current administration worship here - although it's hardly a shocker, given Falls Church’s proximity to DC - there is no excuse for the perjorative language. “GOP lair?” “Bastion?” A neutral reader cannot help but picture a Batman-esque villain's hideout, complete, perhaps, with a manicially cackling Alberto Gonzales working on his next diabolical scheme.

And a neutral writer, of course, would never have chosen such loaded words to tell a such a simple and non-threatening story. This is not the first letter, dear editor, to comment on the extraordinary leftwards slant of your publication. Standing alone, I have no problem with that sort of bias -- it’s the pious declaration of neutrality on Page 2 coupled with the steep slant on Page 21 that irks me.

Rick Munoz Falls Church

Editor,

People with limited mobility need an entrance to Mt. Daniel School that is as easy and convenient to use as possible. It should be access for all people with limited mobility; not just children, not just those in wheelchairs, and not just those arriving and leaving at the beginning and end of the school day. It should be at the main entrance at the front of the school near the office so that, throughout the day, all persons with limited mobility can enter the school with the least amount of disruption of school routine and with welcoming accommodations for that person’s limitations. “All persons” includes children, parents, teachers, volunteers, and people temporarily handicapped with sprains or broken legs or recovering from surgery or from an accident. Playgrounds should not have to be cleared with gates unlocked and relocked twice in order for one person to come into the school. And, where would they park; on the playground? These last sentences describe what would be necessary in order to use the proposed new drive and turnaround/playground on the west end of the school as an ADA entrance. If this turnaround is built and used for the arrival and departure of buses for disabled students, barriers will still exist for all other people with limited mobility coming to Mt. Daniel. Wouldn't it be best to plan for access to the school for all persons with limited mobility?

I think this access could be achieved with the installation of a chair lift at the front of the school. It could be installed next to the existing stairs. The lift would deliver the person at or near the front door. The door could be fitted with a power opening aid, and the lift could be operated by the handicapped person by themselves. This arrangement would welcome and empower disabled persons much more than the awkward arrangement currently proposed for Mt. Daniel.

There are many vendors eager to sell a number of types of chair ifts. I found many by searching the Internet. I encourage City residents to lobby their School Board for a solution to limited mobility access that will serve everyone coming to Mt. Daniel and to consider the preservation of the path to Highland as a definite part of any plan.

Judith K. Gallimore Falls Church

Editor,

How can the News-Press keep publishing columns by someone as consistently wrong as Helen Thomas (“2 War Presidents But With a Difference”)? Her column on Bush and LBJ was so full of holes that it was embarrassing to read.

In neither case, Vietnam nor Iraq, were/are the insurgencies “fueled by Nationalism.” They were/are ideological wars. I was in Vietnam for eight months and still correspond with a former ARVN officer who lives in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and who was born in Hanoi. Vietnam was a major Cold War, geopolitical battle between Bolshevism and freedom. The Viet Cong were fighting for Communism and the Vietnamese (I knew) were fighting for their freedom.

Thomas must still wallow in the ‘70s anti-war nonsense that the war was fought between the United States and the Vietnamese people. If she were correct then why did more than 400,000 Southeast Asians end up rotting in Thai refugee camps and tens of thousands more drown in the South China Sea trying to escape their “nationalized” nations? Why does she think the Washington suburbs have so many families of Vietnamese ancestry? Doesn’t she know why they came here?

Regarding Iraq, her view is a joke. The whole free World and much of the Islamic World knows that Abu Musab Zarqawi is a Jordanian and this is a war between messianic Islamo-fascism (militant Islam) and democracy. Of course the rest of us knew this even before Zarqawi's recently declared war on “Democracy.” Didn’t I and everyone else read that Zarqawi swore allegiance to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda? The last time I looked neither were Iraqi nationalists.

She questions whether there is really a Social Security “crisis” (her quotes). I seem to recall that former President Clinton and Vice President Gore both claimed that Social Security was in crisis. In fact their language and statistics were very similar to those of President Bush. Thomas, who I guarantee did not lampoon Clinton or Gore for alerting us to the impending “crisis,” discredits herself with such transparently partisan spin.

This was all found on the first page (p. 8) of her column. Regretfully, it was not enough to prevent me from wasting time on the, “continued on page 38” nonsense. However, enough written. The FCNP can do better than Thomas.

M.F. Johnson Falls Church

Editor,

I would like to ask Ms. Thomas a question. Where was the ACLU and the U.S. based Human Rights Watch last year when Daniel Peal, Nick Berg and Paul Johnson were beheaded just to name a few? Let's not forget the charred and mutilated bodies of the Americans that were hung from the bridge spanning the Euphrates River in Iraq last year and the inhumane abuses that Saddam Hussein has inflicted on his own people. I am referring to Ms. Thomas's piece in the Jan 27th. edition of the paper titled “Bush Must Stop Prisoner Abuse.”

Ms. Thomas has been in the news business long enough to know full well that no country in the time of war has ever followed the rules and regulations set forth by the Geneva Convention. Did the Germans, Japanese, North Koreans or Viet Cong abide by the rules of the convention? The answer is no.

When is Ms. Thomas going to realize that we are dealing with sub-humans who shout “Allahu akbar” (“God is great”) while cutting off a person's head. These people are not deserving of any type of protection under the Geneva Convention because they are terrorists. I think it’s about time that the liberal press starts to realize that we are at war with an enemy that is out to destroy us and our way of life. Islam has brought nothing but death and destruction to the four corners of this planet. It would be refreshing to know that the ACLU and other liberal organizations like it, would put more time and energy into reporting on the abuses inflicted by our enemies instead of placing all the blame on our troops who are trying to bring peace to a troubled area of the world under extreme adverse conditions.

Douglas Goodgion Falls Church

Editor,

A liberal icon once said to his fellow Americans, “We will bear any burden, pay any price to defend freedom.” That was JFK. He had fellow travelors, like Scoop Jackson and others during those days. Today's liberal icon, Teddy Kennedy, could plausibly re-state his brother, there is no burden and no price we will pay to defend freedom.

Today, Sunday morning, there is dancing in the streets in Iraq, with an election turnout that will, in the end, far surpass our election turnout in the US. Iraqis are thanking us, and our military for giving them the chance for freedom. The Iraqis have shown us their bravery, voting even though the animals who threatened them with death are doing their best to stop freedom's advance. JFK would be proud. I am; of our troops, the Iraqis, and our president. T

he FCNP editor says, in his 1/27 column, that there is barely a civilian in Iraq today whose life has not been made worse by the US invasion. Ask a Kurd, or a Shia -- where at this early hour are reported to be voting in excess of 90%. Saddam's torture chambers are closed, mass graves are not being filled, the rape rooms are closed, the athletic teams are free from torture from Saddam's son when they happen to lose a match.... The list goes on. The editor of our little town's paper is so blinded by his hatred for our president, that he cannot see the profound truth of freedom. It has never been gotten easy, and it takes vigilance to keep it. Every American generation has, unfortunately, had to fight to defend it, from the revolution to the Barbary pirates, to today, in defense of freedom. Freedom is not free, to keep it, we have had to, bear any burden, pay any price......JFK, Wilson, Truman, and all our forebears understood that. Remember that we fought, and over 200,000 soldiers died, in WW I, to “make the world safe for democracy.” Impressive, brave Iraqis now have their first taste of that wonderful tonic.

Dave Phelps Falls Church

Editor,

Regarding Nicholas F. Benton’s column, “Exit No, Iran Yes,” in the 1/20 edition, it is probably the most true and therefore the most scary analysis I have read in the last two years. Thank you for the outside the box viewpoint.

Tom Williams Via the Internet