Moral Authority

I found your recent article about speed cameras most disturbing ("Losses claimed on speed cameras," March 13). It brings to light why this program was a failure from the start. Not once is it mentioned that the main purposes of the cameras to protect public safety by curbing speeding and aggressive driving. Your story only mentions the cost of the equipment compared to the revenue it generates and how much the city and the camera operator make off the devices. Have we lost sight of the fact that these tools are to intended to increase safety on the roadways, not become a primary source or revenue?

I found your recent article about speed cameras most disturbing ("Losses claimed on speed cameras," March 13). It brings to light why this program was a failure from the start. Not once is it mentioned that the main purposes of the cameras to protect public safety by curbing speeding and aggressive driving. Your story only mentions the cost of the equipment compared to the revenue it generates and how much the city and the camera operator make off the devices. Have we lost sight of the fact that these tools are to intended to increase safety on the roadways, not become a primary source or revenue?

Washington. -- Some may dismiss Irving Howe as something of a dinosaur, for he believed deeply in the currently unfashionable doctrine of socialism. Yet, to describe him as a socialist intellectual is like describing Michael Jordan as a Chicago basketball player.Mr. Howe, who died May 5 of heart disease at age 72, added a richness to the game, a show-stopping nuance that can quickly be grasped and appreciated even by those who are unfamiliar with the rules.Through his editing of the leftist opinion journal Dissent, his warmly narrated book ''World of Our Fathers,'' about the Eastern European Jewish migration to America, and the dozens of other essays and books he wrote on literature, culture and politics, he displayed an impressive moral and intellectual steadiness.

It is truly amazing that Archbishop William E. Lori has the audacity to pose as a leader in the so-called fight for religious liberty when, in fact, he really doesn't believe in it at all ("A Catholic priest speaks up in favor of same-sex marriage," Nov. 4). Archbishop Lori has attempted to use the power of the pulpit to persuade Catholics to vote his way, which is strongly reactionary. I do not share his beliefs or the beliefs of Catholics who think the way he does. It is pretty clear that Catholics have very strong opinions on a series of issues and that there is a deep divide among practicing Catholics.

SINGAPORE -- A Cabinet-level minister said here yesterday that Singapore would lose "all moral authority" to govern if it granted President Clinton's personal request for mercy toward a U.S. teen-ager sentenced to six lashes with a rattan cane."

WASHINGTON -- As Congress weighs the fate of President Clinton, many Republicans and Democrats agree that one certain casualty is the president's moral authority.The Monica Lewinsky scandal "has, I fear, compromised his moral authority at a time when Americans of every political persuasion agree that the decline of the family is one of the most pressing problems we are facing," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat."If he does survive this," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, "then certainly his moral authority is going to be weakened."

ATLANTA -- Does it matter what the rest of the world thinks of the United States? Does it matter that our recent foreign policy has frayed alliances and created enemies? Since we remain the world's only superpower, with the biggest and best military, should we care about our reputation? Yes, we should. Despite what Vice President Dick Cheney and neocon Norman Podhoretz think, we can't shoot and bomb our way out of this war. While military force is sometimes an appropriate response to terrorists, the U.S. also needs to cultivate friends and admirers.

IN SUGGESTING a congressional resolution of reprimand or censure of President Clinton for carrying on an affair with a young intern and deceiving the American people, Democratic Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut pointed to one path of dealing with hysteria that reflects national values while respecting the Constitution.Senator Lieberman spoke for many in finding Mr. Clinton's behavior not just inappropriate but immoral and harmful, "for it sends a message of what is acceptable behavior to the larger American family" and undermines the moral authority of the president.

IN THE 1960s, the civil rights movement owed much of its momentum and power to a moral authority derived from historical circumstances. Most fair-minded Americans accepted the idea that blacks' historical experience of discrimination justified legal and social redress.By contrast, the addition of women, Latinos and Asians to the civil rights movement was more politics than morality. One consequence is that race lost its role as the primary determinant of a civil rights claim. Another is that the uniqueness of the black experience became obscured by the growing list of groups -- including people 40 and older, gays and the disabled -- granted protected minority status.

Tuesday is a double anniversary of note. Sixty years ago on April 12, Franklin D. Roosevelt, thought by many historians to be the greatest American president, died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 63. And 50 years ago on April 12, one of Roosevelt's greatest accomplishments was announced. The crusade that he inspired and helped finance to conquer polio had achieved success with development of a vaccine to defend against that devastating disease. Some critics criticize the game of ranking presidents, saying it oversimplifies complex historical questions.

With all the protests and violence in Arab and Muslim countries generated by a despicable and demeaning film about Islam, here is a sobering prediction: There will be more such films and clips, they will be even more provocative, and they will generate even more violent reaction among Arabs and Muslims. And no matter who is behind them, many will see the hands of Israel and the United States. Yet this is not time for panic but for steady and intensive diplomacy. This is an easy prediction to make.

ATLANTA -- Does it matter what the rest of the world thinks of the United States? Does it matter that our recent foreign policy has frayed alliances and created enemies? Since we remain the world's only superpower, with the biggest and best military, should we care about our reputation? Yes, we should. Despite what Vice President Dick Cheney and neocon Norman Podhoretz think, we can't shoot and bomb our way out of this war. While military force is sometimes an appropriate response to terrorists, the U.S. also needs to cultivate friends and admirers.

What do you call a man so devoid of decency that he would try to take advantage of a critically ill hospital patient, and so lacking in integrity that he would scapegoat a deputy for the growing scandal on his watch? Amazingly, the answer still is: attorney general of the United States. Alberto R. Gonzales continues to serve as the nation's top law enforcement officer despite mounting evidence that he is willing to ignore laws, rules, regulations and conventions to do the bidding of President Bush.

Colin L. Powell is late. Late by weeks, late by months. Truth to tell, late by years. "The world," he wrote in a letter to Sen. John McCain this month, "is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism." The eyes goggle at the word, neon-obvious in its understatement. Beginning to doubt? "Beginning"? Au contraire. Surely the world began to doubt when we barreled unilaterally into Iraq, crying, "WMD! WMD!" Surely the world began to doubt when, finding no weapons of mass destruction, we declared that not finding them didn't matter.

Let's face it, America. We're having more than just a bad day. No, this isn't malaise, but a serious condition brought on by prolonged exposure to really bad news. Like everything else, it seems to date from Sept. 11, 2001, when we faced the unthinkable on our own shores. We've been reeling ever since, seeking answers and leadership and policies that work. But it's been a bitter harvest. War and despair seem to be pervasive - from Iraq to Darfur to Lebanon to North Korea. The nuclear threat seems more real than at any time since the early 1960s.

Tuesday is a double anniversary of note. Sixty years ago on April 12, Franklin D. Roosevelt, thought by many historians to be the greatest American president, died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 63. And 50 years ago on April 12, one of Roosevelt's greatest accomplishments was announced. The crusade that he inspired and helped finance to conquer polio had achieved success with development of a vaccine to defend against that devastating disease. Some critics criticize the game of ranking presidents, saying it oversimplifies complex historical questions.

WASHINGTON - I like hypocrites. You would, too, if you had this job. A hypocrite is the next best thing to a day off. Some pious moralizer contradicts his words with his deeds and the column all but writes itself. It's different with Bill Cosby. I don't know if he did what a Canadian woman has alleged: drugged her and fondled her. Mr. Cosby denies the accusation, and the fact that prosecutors have declined to prosecute obviously supports him. Still, his ambiguous remarks in last week's National Enquirer interview ("Looking back on it, I realize that words and actions can be misinterpreted")