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Bowleys Quarters

Goodman belongs behind prison bars

The Dec. 19 editorial, "The crime of Alan Goodman," was not strong enough against the taking of one human life that could have easily started World War III.

The taking of one human life triggered World War I in 1914.

More important, the message his release is bound to send is that it is OK to take the life of a Palestinian no matter what the reason.

If the shoe had been on the other foot, the Israelis would have wrecked havoc on a Palestinian village in retaliation, and leveled same.

Our accepting Alan Goodman to our shores only falsifies the message that it is all right to kill the people we hate, and you will become a hero.

Alan Goodman is not my choice of hero, and he should be put behind bars where he, and anyone who mimics his actions, belongs.

John F. Thomas

Catonsville

Shock Trauma staff is skilled, helpful

Our son received serious injuries in an automobile accident in Baltimore recently, and was treated at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. We want to acknowledge publicly the truly remarkable skills of the members of that unit. In addition we found, as parents of a patient, that staff members were unfailingly helpful to us in spite of the many demands on their time. The people of Maryland and the surrounding areas are extraordinarily fortunate to have access to this unit and its outstanding members.

Sallie C. Robinson

Cecil H. Robinson

Winchester, Va.

Dangerous leader on global warming

A Dec. 10 article on global warming indicates that Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott "warned the Senate stood ready to oppose any deal that lawmakers believed would harm the U.S. economy".

Am I to understand that, in his view, the richest country on earth, which spews more greenhouse gases than any other, is unprepared to make economic sacrifices to assure that the accumulation of harmful gases is slowed?

If that is the direction in which this leader leads, I don't want to follow. I am prepared to make economic sacrifices to reduce the danger that the planet our children and grandchildren will inherit is not impoverished by our present greed.

Michael Beer

Baltimore

Columnist doesn't back up assertion

In his Dec. 17 column, "Let's freeze any talk about global warming," Cal Thomas attempts to argue that the concept of global warming is a lie that is propagated by inferior scientists and magnified by politicians and the "big media."

Mr. Thomas' self-centered fear of an inconvenient intrusion into his daily life has misled the argument of his column. He neglects to support claims that there is an abundance of opponents to the global warming theory who are being ignored or ridiculed.

Instead, Mr. Thomas elected to quote an expert who confirms that global warming is occurring and concludes that it could be beneficial.

The underlying issue in this debate is not that Mr. Thomas benefits from increasingly moderate weather, but that the global ecosystem is drastically being altered. Consequences of this alteration exceed far beyond our daily lives and should not be ignored simply because we cannot see them from our back-door window.

Paul A. Speargas

Towson

Judge Dudley knows justice is complex

Your Dec. 4 editorial, "Blaming the victim, again," says that Judge James Dudley was wrong, before sentencing a rapist, to mention to his victim that she had some responsibility to protect herself. You say that the focus should be on the "real culprit" only, and not on his victim.

Does anyone doubt that there is a greater likelihood that a man will commit a crime of sexual violence if he himself was a victim of, or witness to, sexual violence as a child?

In cases where this is so, and there must be many, is it so easy to identify the "real culprit"? How does the boy cowering while his mother is raped by her husband suddenly transform into a perpetrator deserving of zero compassion?

Does justice require that we find one and only one person to blame for a wrong that's been done? Is it no longer possible to hate the sin but love the sinner? Conversely, can no words of criticism, no matter how true, no matter how tactfully delivered, be directed to the victim?

Like other, not-so-intelligent primates, we are driven to cast out those who are different. Doing so requires that we make "all good" and "all bad" decisions about people who may not be all good or all bad. Justice demands that we do better.

Defenders of victims would be especially well-advised to reconsider their perception of victims as completely helpless and perpetrators as completely in control.

Do abusers have the power to stop abusing? If so, then surely the abused have the power to remove themselves from abusive situations. You cannot conveniently attribute free will to rapists, and then just as conveniently believe that their victims are people totally without power to change their behavior.