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Nonbelievers deserve their own holiday film
Re: “ ’Tis the (open) season on believers,” Commentary, Dec. 6
Examiner Columnist Meghan Cox Gurdon bemoans the humanist themes in the book and film “The Golden Compass” by Philip Pullman. Yet her harangue appears as ignorant and intolerant as the boycott and protests by the Catholic League.
Pullman is not a “militant atheist,” but philosophically an agnostic who prefers to avoid labels. And he has said that the religious impulse “is a critical part of the wonder and awe that human beings feel.”
As for the film, which my family and I saw and enjoyed, it is really against intolerance and tyranny whether religious or otherwise — and reaffirms such values as kindness, intellectual curiosity and courage. Does Ms. Gurdon believe that those messages are wrong just because they come from a non-Christian author during the holidays?
Please understand that those of us with different ideas enjoy books and films, have children and celebrate the holidays, too. Can’t we have a holiday film as well?
Fred Edwords
Director of communications,
American Humanist Association
Washington
A bailout for the foolish coming at taxpayer expense
Re: “Bill coming due on sinking home equity,” Dec. 5
We are apparently going to bail out the banks for making deceptive loans and reward homebuyers for not having the intelligence to buy houses they could afford.
I bitterly resent using taxpayers’ dollars for these purposes.
CIA unfairly blamed for Iraq failure
Re: “CIA: At least we’re not the BND,” Yeas & Nays, Dec. 5
Those of us who were employed in the U.S. intelligence community do not believe for one moment the myth that the CIA is “inept” or “ineffective.”
President Bush simply chose to ignore sound intelligence and solicit, via his vice president, information from a CIA not about to deny a president what he wants to hear to justify his embarking on an ego-massaging, paladin adventure to gain an esteemed place in history as a great liberator.
When it became apparent the adventure was heading into disaster, he blamed the intelligence community for giving him faulty information.
Reuben Hamasian
North Bethesda
How can Huckabee call abortion murder?
Re: “No danger of comparison between W and Huckabee,” Blog Bits, Dec. 4
According to the TAS Live blog article you feature, Mike Huckabee said that “the (unborn) life never was given a chance to even exist.”
If the pre-born life did not exist, then how is abortion murder?
Immigrant-first agenda will destroy America
Re: “Immigration on America’s terms,” Editorial, Dec. 5
Your immigration editorial was right on target. Both political parties share the blame: Republicans want the cheap foreign labor, and Democrats want their votes.
By putting the immigrants before the priorities of the country, we run the risk of turning America into the same type of Third World hellhole that the immigrants are trying to escape from.
Chuck Jaymes
Arlington
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