Letters
The costs of preventing war
The article "Not just a world cop, US spends big to keep peace" (Dec. 2) seemed factually correct, but missed the big story.
The biggest of the "big" expenditures noted was $5.1 billion this year for Israel-Egypt peace. Let's put this into perspective. World military expenditures come to some $750 billion every year. The United States spends more than China, Russia, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and Libya put together.
The world has become too small and interconnected for nuclear and other genocidal weapons to make sense. The war system itself is obsolete. This is obvious to many countries, which look to a strengthened and more democratic United Nations to keep the peace, in a world free of weapons of mass destruction.
To achieve a global system for keeping the peace will take spending tens of billions of dollars. But it will save hundreds of billions of dollars.
Hank Stone
Ionia, N.Y.
Euthanasia and abortion: Be consistent
Your article, "Sanctioned euthanasia: lessons from abroad" (Dec. 3) considers the ethical and legal issues surrounding Dr. Jack Kevorkian and his physician-assisted suicides. However, you fail to mention the connection with the issue of abortion and the 1.5 million abortions performed annually in our country.
The moral and ethical issues of abortion were settled when abortions were legalized. If we can legally end the lives of the unborn, who have no choice on the matter, then it is obvious that we should legalize the death of those who choose it voluntarily. The question of a "slippery slope" occurring if such laws are enacted did not deter us from legalizing abortion.
Let us be consistent. If you want to indeed make Dr. Kevorkian's actions illegal, then begin by making abortions illegal also.
Moorad Alexanian
Wilmington, N.C.
Y2K and calm reasoning
Thank you for your editorial: "Y2K Wake-Up Call" (Dec. 3). I've been tracking this situation for the past two years on the Internet. Many scenarios are presented on a variety of Web sites. "Doom and gloom" will be exploited by Hollywood next year with several science fiction films with "end of time" themes. Web sites dealing with biblical Armageddon abound, as well as more balanced religious views.
I hope the Monitor continues to bring a calm, clear, reasoned warning to its readers and the world. Public response can be orderly and civilized only as fear of the unknown is dispelled by accurate information.
Ed Specht
Cambria, Calif.
The Monitor celebrates 90
Thanks you for the 90th Anniversary edition of the Monitor (Nov. 25) for it recalled many of the events that I remember well. The Monitor has been a source of information reported in a reflective and "up-beat" style so lacking in other periodicals of the day.
My family read the feature "I Record only the Sunny Hours" and these columns gave the family courage and the feeling of the uplifted human spirit during the dark days of the Great Depression. "Today's Article on Christian Science" and the Home Forum also helped put a positive thought to the day's events.
The change from the full-sized newspaper page to the present size is much appreciated. And the "pull-out" sections that focus on important parts of our daily living is one of the best changes. It helps me to zero in on the things going on in daily life and guides me in areas that I may not have thought about before.
Walter L. Stockman
Douglass, Kan.
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