Published: November 17, 2008 08:28 am         

Letters for November 17, 2008

Local schools should tackle bullying

Now that the elections are over, I would like to address a problem that exists all over the U.S., including Oneonta.

Recently, my daughter became the subject of bullying at the local school. I told her bullying isn’t right by anyone and to talk with her teachers when this happens. I sent a letter to the principal asking for a “safe place” at lunch/ recess for her. No call came from anyone. Next, my daughter showed us bruises and places where her hair had pulled out. She talked to the teachers _ they said, “Ignore it and it will go away.” It did not go away.

We pulled our daughter from school. She is now in a safe environment at Oneonta Community Christian School. When did we as a society accept bullying? Have we forgotten Columbine or Virginia Tech?

Bullying starts at home, on TV and video games, and from a lack of supervision and teaching right from wrong. What happened to manners and respect for one another? If we don’t teach our children this, it will be lost from society.

Just because my child is gone, will the bullying go away? No, it won’t! And whose child will be next? Our schools are seeing it everywhere. But as the teachers say, “Just ignore it.” Better yet, when my husband went to the school, “prove it.” I have pictures of the hair loss and it’s not a small amount.

But more importantly, my daughter is now in a safe place. Her self-esteem is back and she doesn’t have to be afraid. I hope all parents will talk with their children about this. I would hate to see another Columbine and innocent children hurt.

Elaine Roe

Oneonta

New president supports abortion

Those who view last week’s election of Barack Obama as 44th president of the United States as a quantum step forward for the civil rights movement should look again.

President-elect Obama is an adamant proponent of abortion-on-demand, the deliberate killing of preborn infants, which he euphemistically calls “a woman’s choice.” In addition, Obama supports partial birth abortion, a procedure whereby, as soon as the baby’s head emerges, the attending abortionist plunges surgical scissors into the base of the baby’s skull behind the neck, then uses suction to evacuate the contents.

Even more alarming than his apparent disregard for human life in general is President-elect Obama’s decided disregard for African-American life in particular, since African-American women, who constitute 12 percent of all females in the U.S., account for 35 percent — by conservative estimates — of all abortions performed in the U.S.

According to statistics published by the New York state Department of Health in 2004, the ratio of aborted births to live births was greatest among African-American females, at approximately 1:1, compared to 1:3 among Hispanic females and 1:4 among White females. In New York, Barack Obama promotes the discriminatory genocide of 50 percent of the race he allegedly represents.

Furthermore, it is rumored that one of the first things President-elect Obama intends to do during his new term in office is re-release federal funding for International Planned Parenthood Federation, an organization responsible for the widespread killing, by abortion, of Third World infants.

Perhaps more problematic is the fact that our nation’s first African- American president whole-heartedly backs an agency, Planned Parenthood, whose very raison d’ tre was to effectively eliminate African-Americans and other minority populations from the U.S. demographic.

If Americans seek an honest spokesman for civil rights, specifically for the human right to life as guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution, they should look elsewhere.

Patrick A. Burdick

Oneonta