News should not have given attention to Berry pregnancy
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Letters to the editor
Published: October 9, 2008
News should not have given attention to Berry pregnancy
I am writing in response to the AP article you published on Oct. 3, 2007. The article appeared in Section C, the entertainment section, under the title “Halle Berry talks about her pregnancy and hopes for another.”
I am very disappointed that you chose to give so much attention to this story. Coming from the community and circumstance surrounding the story, the event may appear to be glamorous and exciting, but in reality it is very sad and telling.
The woman in the story has been “married” twice before, and I assume without having children because there is no mention of children in the article. If this is the case, she is now 41 years old and without a child. Childbearing is one of woman’s greatest achievements in life. The longer childbearing is not achieved, the more difficult womanhood becomes. Wealth and fame, as in this case, cannot replace the absence of motherhood.
Does it matter who gives the male reproductive material? Apparently not in this case. The man who participated in this relationship is Berry’s “boyfriend.” I know she said that she felt “married, in a way, than I ever have in two marriages before.” The term “boyfriend” describes their relationship. She was asked what was her first thought when she thought of this man, and she said, “My first thought is, my baby’s daddy.”
Can a “boyfriend” be a father? Biologically, yes; but not paternally. Not all men can become a patriarch to a family. How long will the “boyfriend” be around? What will the child call this man? If he is a father to the child, why would he not want to be a husband to the mother of his child?
Our society cannot be built on boyfriends and girlfriends having children.
Tom Tippett
Opelika
Financial meltdown can be traced back to Reagan era
I’ve been waiting for our local conservatives to offer an explanation for the looming financial meltdown on Wall Street. How could such a thing happen under the wise stewardship of George W. Bush? No doubt the Reverend Wright has been conspiring behind the scenes.
Here’s my no-doubt overly simple explanation. It all goes back to the poisonous and powerful legacy of Ronald Reagan. For Reagan, “govamint” could do nothing right; it was the enemy, to be downsized, if not eliminated. Starve this beast — cut taxes to force government to shrink. Under Reagan, this led, if you’ll remember, not to smaller government but to huge budget deficits, just as under our current president, a chump of the same philosophy.
And deregulation was an important part of the downsizing. Let’s get govamint off our backs! Republicans shouted. Throughout his career, John McCain has been one of these shouters. So it would be amusing, if it were not so serious, that McCain and others are now shocked at the wreckage their efforts have caused. What would you expect to happen when deregulators are in charge of regulations?
McCain’s explanation is that “greed” is to blame. Greed. Why, our entire economic system is and always has been based on greed! That’s the dirty secret behind “the magic of the market.” His advisor, Carly Fiorina, after running her company into the ground, parachuted away with a golden $42 million. At the time, this impressed John McCain.
D.W. St. John
Auburn
Don’t depend upon government, depend upon yourself
Every evening, I come home to my little family from work. My hands and clothes are decorated with the dirt, sweat and grime I collected throughout the day. My wife and I both have blue-collar jobs that at times, I admit, we are reluctant to see too. However, when the sweet image of our little daughter comes to mind, it gives us the motivation we need to put in an honest day’s work.
Today’s economic times and the rising cost of fuel have indeed placed a strain on our finances. At the end of the month, we have very little if not any money left. A bump in the highway of life could have a profound effect on our family, no doubt.
My daddy once told me many years ago, “Nobody really cares about you at the end of the day. You cannot depend on no one but yourself … not even me, because one day I will not always be around.”
It is very unfortunate that many of us turn to the government for answers when things do not go right in our lives.
Politicians in Washington care only about themselves.
I have learned when finances are short and health insurance is scarce, the first place I turn to is a mirror. When life throws me a curveball, I look into a mirror and say, “Your life and your destiny are up to you. Yes, things are not good, but I can take this problem and mold into an opportunity to strengthen me and my family.”
The government does not owe me anything except to provide a secure place for me to provide all the needs for my family.
Do not place your future into the hands of a “change you can believe in” politician. Look into a mirror and place your destiny into that person’s hands.
William “Bubba” Dupree
Opelika
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( Ms.W ) on October 22, 2008 at 9:50 am
As a teacher, I find this discussion quite interesting, if not a bit telling about the current state of our country. I think that both Mr. Dupree and mpb3 are correct in a way: we take from the government and it takes from us. In other words, it is a symbiotic relationship; one could not exist without the other. The government relies on our taxes to create the workings of the country. We rely on the government to provide for the things that we cannot (i.e. infastructure). It is futile to say that anyone in this country did anything without some assistance from some aspect of the government.
And Mr. Dupree, let’s keep in mind that the government exists by and for the people. If we don’t like what they are doing we can vote them out. It is ultimately the people who are in control of the government, so one should not fear it, but learn to control it better. We have a constitution and a legal system that guarantees that!
And although I agree that more people should “look in the mirror” and take responsibility for their lives, I must disagree with the notion that most people lack “honesty, humility, fortitude, and determination.“ I believe (perhaps a little like Anne Frank) that people are generally good at heart. I think most Americans mean well and have good intentions. Perhaps a little more education wouldn’t hurt them, but I think the majority of Americans are just trying their best. Some are hurting, some have a lack of guidance, and, yes, some are greedy. But this is where the community and the government can work together to help everyone be and do their best.
Idealistic? Perhaps. But at least I have hope!
Lori Woods
Auburn, AL
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Posted by ( mpb3 ) on October 22, 2008 at 9:10 am
Mr. Dupree, I must humbly suggest you do take from the government. The roads you drive on were paid for by some government, be it federal, state or local; the post office that delivers your mail is supported by your tax dollars as collected by the federal government (and, by the way, the postal service is the first duty put to the federal government in the Constitution); the Federal Communication Commission sets guidelines that ensure your radio, television and cell phones work properly (and if you want to know why the FCC is necessary, try reading up on radio history); the money you have deposited in the bank is guaranteed by the federal government. Indeed, the money you have is printed and supported by the federal government. These aren’t simple issues of self-reliance; you don’t have the ability to build roads, to establish communication with friends, family members or business associates in distant locales, to insure your bank. As to your grandparents, that certainly is a hard story. They survived as farmers and that is to be commended. Unfortunately, it probably wasn’t as easy for the construction workers who did rely on New Deal programs to go back to work. And when did your grandparents get electricity? Because that was brought to the area by the TVA. As were malaria-eradication efforts. And better fertilizer.
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Posted by ( hbd1932 ) on October 20, 2008 at 7:47 pm
To my dear friend who fails to understand the point I am attempting to make. The lack of understanding, in my own feeble thought process is the main reason our great nation is so divisive. The government derives it’s power and it’s revenue from the people… you and me and everyone else. Therefore the government does not provide me roads, police protection, etc. I, you, we the people provide the government the neccessary funds and abilities to make those securities a reality. One of the greatest presidents who ever lived was John Kennedy. It seems to me everyone forgot what he said on his inauguaration day. “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.“ Amazing he sounds like a conservative. My grandparents, not my father raised a family during the Great Depression. My grandfather did not find work, he created his own. He was a farmer. The banks in Opelika would not loan him any money. The president of one bank in Opelika laughed at him and would not loan him five bucks out of his own pocket to buy seed. So out of desperation my grandparents went to work plowing dusty fields with a cow and not a mule, picked blackberries and sold them for a dime a gallon, made homemade molasses and told my aunt whan she was eight years old there was no Santa Claus because he could not buy apples and oranges to give her. They did not find work nor did they work for the TVA, my grandparents had what most of us do not have now… self-reliance, self-responsibilty, motivation, honesty, humility, fortitude, determination, welfare, and the stubborness to refuse to quit. I do not take from the government, the government takes from me. A government that is big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take it all away.
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Posted by ( mpb3 ) on October 19, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Mr. Dupree, you take from the government every day. Do you drive on roads to get to and from the houses and business with pests who need control? Then you take from the government; it built those roads. The money you keep in the bank is guaranteed by the government—indeed, the U.S. Mint prints the money you use. My point is that you are right—the government does owe you a secure place to raise your family and ply your trade; I merely pointed out how much actually goes into that “secure place” of which you wrote. The government is part of your life in so many small, unnoticed ways that you and many others have no idea about how unliveable your life would be without the government’s existence. In conclusion, it’s wonderful that your father was able to find work during the Depression, when so many people were unemployed (thanks to a downturn in a poorly regulated free market). I wonder where he found work, and if any of the New Deal policies of FDR indirectly led to his job’s creation.
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Posted by ( hbd1932 ) on October 15, 2008 at 7:08 pm
My dear nameless friend who commented that myself and Mr. Clark missed the point.My name is William “Bubba” Dupree. If you have noticed my screen name is hbd1932. That is my dad’s initials and the year he was born. He caught his first breath in the midst of the Great Depression. My family came a hair’s thickness from losing every single thing we owned my friend. My grandparents, Charlie and Lanette Dupree did not accept a single dime from Uncle Sam and his New Deal.They simply bit the bullet and went to work. My Dad was born in 1932. His doctor’s bill, took my grandfather 3 years to pay off. Thus my family knows a thing or two about hard times. Every single American looks into the mirror every day. Whether they be a policeman, firefighter, or a pest control technician as myself. The first line of defense against difficult situations begins and starts with you… the one peering into the mirror. If everyone would take personal responsibility for their own actions, success’, and failures, the quicker we as a nation will achieve once again the impossible… the impossibility of believing that an individual can achieve the American dream by him/herself without the self serving-vote-wanting hand of a slick politician. If you are foolish enough to hold the hands of a politician, to achieve the American dream, then you my friend are damned to ethernal failure and servitude of the DC crowd. Look into your mirror and see beyond the impossible.
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Posted by ( mpb3 ) on October 15, 2008 at 11:51 am
Mr. Dupree and Mr. Clark miss the point. While citizens do need to rely on themselves to a great degree, we also rely on government. For example, if health care is not available or affordable then “looking in the mirror” is not going to help much. (Unless you are asking yourself why you voted for a politician who thinks the “market” is gong to provide health care for everyone.)
It is the government that establishes the laws we live by. It is the government that distributes the money that allows our machine-of-a-country to provide jobs. It is the government that could have intervened years ago to put in place laws that would have precluded the greedy lending practices that helped get us into the mess we are in now.
The government does owe you something, Mr. Dupree. That “secure” place you speak of includes a great many things. It includes laws that look out for our best interests. It includes police, firefighters, clean and safe streets, good schools, affordable health care, safe food, a clean environment, and much, much more. In turn, we owe it hard work, taxes, and compliance with the laws.
When you say that “politicians in Washinton only care about themselves” you might want to extend that to corporate executives as well. But, we can only control corporations by passing laws (and being aware of what we buy and from whom). And who passes the laws?...
So let’s do what Mr. Clark suggested: let’s replace the current politicians with “more competent persons.“ And then let’s expect more from them and from ourselves.
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Posted by ( rlc ) on October 12, 2008 at 6:55 pm
In response to William “Bubba” Dupree’s commentary on don’t depend on the government, depend upon yourself, I could not agree more. Mr. Dupree never missed a point in his analysis of the troubles this country is experiencing nor the solutions it will require to solve the very complex and convoluted situation we have allowed our politicians and ourselves to get into.
We, as citizens, must remember that we voted and elected the persons who are selling our children’s future “down the river”. A good and long look in the mirror, as Mr. Dupree suggested, may help us understand that politicians are there at our pleasure (vote) and their job(s) can certainly be replaced by more competent persons.
I would suggest Mr. Dupree run for Congress or the Senate, he certainly makes good sense and offers great advice. He would have my vote!
Ron Clark
Attorney at Law
Auburn
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Posted by ( mpb3 ) on October 09, 2008 at 11:33 am
Regarding Tom Tippet’s ridiculous letter: 1) Halle Berry already does have a biological child; 2) She also previously adopted her ex-husband’s child; and 3) Who do you think you are stating that “the longer childbearing is not achieved, the more difficult womanhood becomes”? What an absolutely ignorant letter and statement! The real question is why on earth would the OANews even publish it?
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