Letters to the Editor continued

Sometimes, Force Itself Produces the Evil

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

I wonder if Elliott is aware that the Latin American military forces, trained at the School of the Americas, were in many instances found to be the source of what he calls evil. They have been implicated in the rape, murder, abductions, and assassinations of their own people. In El Salvador, SOA-trained soldiers massacred more than 900 men, women, and children in the village of El Mozote.

There are alternatives to the violence perpetrated by those who have been trained at SOA/Whinsec. If Congress and/or President Obama closed the school, the estimated 13 million to 20 million taxpayer dollars could be used to export education, medical care, and technical assistance to help solve the problems of poverty of the Latin American people.

As Abraham Maslow said, "When the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail." Let's quit exporting military hammers.

Marcia Dickinson. Richmond.

We Can't Second-Guess Tech Administration

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

David Cariens writes that the lives of the Virginia Tech families will never move toward any degree of normalcy until all questions are answered. I contend their lives will never be normal again. But as article after article demands answers, I have to ask: What answers will bring peace? Will apologies or new leadership at Tech change what happened? What answers will allow life to ever be normal again? I cannot think of one. For that reason alone, it's time to end this relentless barrage of articles recounting details of that day.

I am not without compassion. Lives were forever changed that horrible day. Jim Shuler and Dave Nutter are right. Unless one has walked in the victims' families' shoes, we cannot understand their grief and suffering. The authors are, however, also correct that the only person responsible is now dead.

I am one of the fortunate Virginia Tech parents. My daughter, while in West Ambler Johnston dormitory when the first shootings occurred, was not injured. The next day a reporter asked how I thought the administration handled the situation. I told her I would not question its decisions. Information published since has not changed my mind.

Just as we have not walked in the shoes of the victims' families, neither have we walked in the shoes of the administration or police in charge that day. Until you are in an identical situation, under identical circumstances, none of us knows how we would react. And sadly, no governor's panel or blue-ribbon investigation will provide answers or change the outcome of that day.

Vickie S. Moore. Richmond.

Have We Moved Away From Freedom?

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Have we come to a place where a sizable segment of our population (even those who are old enough to know better and have benefited from the prosperity and freedom that capitalism has fostered) would reject freedom in their desperate need to feel secure and to be taken care of by a nanny state? Do these folks not understand they are inflicting a form of slavery on themselves and their children?

I submit the following to those two old-timers and to all freedom-loving Americans:

--Change we cannot believe in: moving away from America's long-held choice of capitalism -- an economic system that has been at the core of the most prosperous and free societies in history, to replace it with Obama's socialism -- an economic and political system that has been implemented throughout history by power-hungry bullies to oppress the people.

--Change we can believe in: the people actually remembering and embracing the things that made our country prosperous and free in the first place. The big factors are (1) a limited and non-intrusive government; (2) a free capitalistic market; and (3) a hard-working populace.

Tom Viets. Forest.

Let's End, Not Expand, Capital Punishment

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Under our current economic crisis, lawmakers must take a closer look at all programs, and eliminate those which are unworkable. The death penalty is unworkable; we get it wrong too often, it isn't fairly applied, and it shifts the focus away from victims. Moreover, it contains no protections against wrongful convictions and executions.

One hundred thirty men and women have been exonerated from death row from 1973 to the present, including Earl Washington Jr. right here in Virginia. I call on Gov. Kaine and the members of the General Assembly to stop death penalty expansion and take a closer look at our system. We can do better for Virginia and for victims' families.

Beth Panilaitis. Richmond.

One-Sided Blasts Are Unfair to Obama

Editor, Times-Dispatch

Columnist Bob Bailie offered an ideological diatribe and Commentary editor Bob Rayner simply continued his usual lecture from Adam Smith 101 (while allowing several local businessmen to complain about their taxes). Readers deserve better.

Bailie said the president doesn't "embrace capitalism and free markets" and doesn't like entrepreneurs. Rayner said Obama "treats businesses primarily as a source of government revenue." Both of these claims are ridiculous. Obama embraces the power of the marketplace as much as his foes, yet he is currently dealing with the near-destruction of the global economy caused by unrestrained capitalism and the unfettered greed of big boy entrepreneurs. It's ironic that these columns were printed the same week AIG's entrepreneurs were insisting they were contractually obligated to award 400 or so of their colleagues $165 million in bonuses.

Obama recognizes that entrepreneurship lies at the heart of American prosperity. At this time, however, he must restore confidence in the banks so credit lines are freed up and entrepreneurs can get the loans they need to innovate and create better jobs. Maybe in 12 months it will be fair to print one-sided blasts at Obama's economic policies. Until then, such free-market extremism simply underscores their economic naiveté and brings discredit to the newspaper.

John Schuiteman. Ashland.