Personal Responsibility

BOSTON - This tale of elders and children, of common dollars and common sense, began behind a one-way mirror. Earlier this fall, I watched a dozen mothers talking about child care. The women had a variety of caregivers for their children, from grandmas to groups, from preschool to after school. They talked about complex arrangements, about the good and the bad, the costly and the more costly. But when the conversation veered toward a gripe, one mother said, "Well, nobody asked us to have these children."

In regard to The Sun's editorial on Kermit Gosnell, you should be ashamed of yourselves ("Kermit Gosnell and the 'liberal media,'" April 16). Blaming the alleged murder of seven children on the fact that women don't have access to birth control and comprehensive sex education is ludicrous. Doesn't anyone need to take responsibility for their actions anymore? Since when don't women have access to birth control? Last time I checked, condoms are available in every pharmacy. Planned Parenthood - note the word, planned - helps women with their reproductive choices.

IF YOU'VE been listening to the babble from the Bush administration, you would think that the notion of personal responsibility is something foreign or new to most of the African-American community. It has become a code phrase for "what's wrong with those people?" and is sprinkled liberally throughout analyses of why the uprising in Los Angeles happened.Photos and videotape shot during the violence have inspired several commentators to intone that what's needed now in the black community is "a sense of personal responsibility."

A recent letter writer spoke of the "extreme sanctimony" of people who believe a pregnancy should not be terminated by choice ("Pro-life sanctimony," March 10). His statement "please, can we call them what they really are?" - anti-abortionists - was dripping with sarcasm. The main point of the letter seemed to be that it is somehow the personal responsibility of members of the pro-life movement to develop programs that support children who otherwise would have been aborted. But shouldn't personal responsibility start with the mother and father of the unborn child?

WASHINGTON - Until last week, Antonio M. Taguba was known mainly for being the second Filipino-American to become a general in the U.S. Army. Now, he is known as the man whose scathing report on detainee abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison ignited a firestorm. Taguba's 53-page document details widespread abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of American soldiers, including descriptions of sodomy, simulated sex and other humiliations. The report by the 53-year-old major general has been thrust into blanket coverage by newspaper and television news outlets worldwide.

BOSTON - I work in a danger zone. Across the street from my office is a restaurant that sells bagels larger than my hand. Around the corner is a Ben and Jerry's that scoops an ice cream flavor that is "Phish Food" for the whale-sized. This morning the local pizza place put up a sign announcing "all you can eat" night. Life on this Boulevard of Broken Diets is not easy. After all, like most Americans, I subscribe to the "just say no" school of weight control. This is a school that promotes theorists such as Will and Power.

A recent letter writer spoke of the "extreme sanctimony" of people who believe a pregnancy should not be terminated by choice ("Pro-life sanctimony," March 10). His statement "please, can we call them what they really are?" - anti-abortionists - was dripping with sarcasm. The main point of the letter seemed to be that it is somehow the personal responsibility of members of the pro-life movement to develop programs that support children who otherwise would have been aborted. But shouldn't personal responsibility start with the mother and father of the unborn child?

Ozomatli Ozomatli has been at the crossroads of music and activism for more than a decade, and its newest album, Don't Mess With the Dragon, is all about personal responsibility. "People growing up, people taking care of their own lives. The healthier people get, the better the music gets," said bassist Wil-Dog Abers on the band's Web site. Tracks on Dragon address the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina devastation and more. Doors open at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Sonar, 407 E. Saratoga St. Tickets are $17. Call 410-327-8333 or go to ticketmaster.

In his cavalier dismissal of the 47 percent of the population he describes as "people ... who don't take personal responsibility for their lives," Mitt Romney conveniently forgets about the large number of his own low-income, marginally educated but fervent supporters ("Remarks may haunt Romney," Sept. 18). These are people who Republican operatives have persuaded to demonize taxes, science, sensible gun control and women's reproductive rights rather than consider which candidate's approach would be in their own best interests.

BOSTON -- This column was inspired by the 5 extra pounds that have made their annual post-holiday appearance and for which I claim personal responsibility. No one else is to blame, although perhaps I could sue the two young women who produced that miraculous chocolate cake for Christmas dinner. But the issue here is not my weight; it's my aforesaid "personal responsibility." PR is the great American password, the single term which, uttered properly, ensures my status as a stand-up grown-up.

Had Vice President Joe Biden behaved toward Sarah Palin in their 2008 debate the way he behaved toward Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan in their debate last Thursday, he might have been denounced as a patronizing misogynist. In his debate with Mr. Ryan, the vice president was merely a jerk. Interrupting while someone is trying to make a point is an old debate tactic intended to throw your opponent off-balance and distract observers from what is being said. By some counts, Mr. Biden interrupted Mr. Ryan more than 80 times and moderator Martha Raddatz broke in at least 50 times, mostly interrupting Mr. Ryan.

In his cavalier dismissal of the 47 percent of the population he describes as "people ... who don't take personal responsibility for their lives," Mitt Romney conveniently forgets about the large number of his own low-income, marginally educated but fervent supporters ("Remarks may haunt Romney," Sept. 18). These are people who Republican operatives have persuaded to demonize taxes, science, sensible gun control and women's reproductive rights rather than consider which candidate's approach would be in their own best interests.

If 47 percent of American voters weren't in the bag for President Barack Obama before, they certainly are now. The video of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney writing off nearly half of the American population as layabouts with no feeling of personal responsibility, a victimhood complex and an addiction to government services may hit a new high-water mark for self-inflicted wounds in an electoral campaign, not just because it was insulting but...

Thank you for your recent article about the problems involved in making our roads safe ("Road of mourning," Oct. 23). I was amazed that in this era of disdain for government regulation there was not a single mention of citizens' personal responsibility to abide by the rules of the road. The speed limit on Route 177 is 40 mph. There needs to be a campaign to inspire adults to help stop the killing by setting an example for young people to observe the speed limit and not drive drunk.

Nobody has to tell Tara Stickel she bears some of the fault for the death of her 14-year-old daughter two weeks ago on the Amtrak tracks that cut through the heart of Middle River. She tells herself that often enough. "I take responsibility. She was my daughter. Maybe I didn't teach her enough," she said last Friday as we sat down to talk at a diner just a few miles from where Anna Marie Stickel died Jan. 5. Calm and dignified even in the face of her grief, Anna's 38-year-old mom doesn't absolve her daughter either.

The newspaper headline - "Middle River Girl Killed by Train" - could have run last week when 14-year-old Anna Marie Stickel was struck and killed by a passenger train while walking to Kenwood High School. But the headline actually ran in May 1968, when 9-year-old Bonnie Louise Calhoun was run over near Martin Boulevard and Old Eastern Avenue - within walking distance of where Anna was killed - by a Pennsylvania Railroad train. Little has changed over four decades on these tracks in eastern Baltimore County, where the nation's busiest passenger rail corridor divides neighborhoods from several schools.

BOSTON -- This one is for Priscilla Parten, the Derry, N.H., woman who had the temerity to ask Lamar Alexander who would care for the elderly if the budget is cut according to the GOP pattern.The answer from the presidential candidate, one of the men hawking their wares across New Hampshire was that ''We're going to have to accept more personal responsibility in our own families for reading to our children and caring for our parents, and that's going to be inconvenient and difficult.''Happy New Year, Priscilla and open up your calendar.

It seems that every time we open a phone book or drive past a highway billboard or turn on the television, we are bombarded with personal-injury lawyer advertisements encouraging people to sue for anything that might go wrong. Slip and fall on some wet leaves? Sue. Ate too many Big Macs? Sue. Don't think your son got enough playing time on the football team? Sue. Instead of accepting responsibility for their actions, people too often look to those faces in the Yellow Pages to help them find others to blame and file a lawsuit in hopes of striking it rich.