Editor, Times-Union: George W. Bush knew that we would be attacked by Osama bin Laden. How do I know this? Several nations warned him that it was going to happen and he did nothing.
Our intelligence agencies warned Ms. Rice and she had the Presidential Daily Bulletin that warned G.W. Bush. Both said there was no connection to this deed. Yet the title of the PDB stated just that. Several days after they lied to the 9/11 Commission, the PDB was unclassified and the world then knew that they lied.
On a day when normally there would be 40,000 to 50,000 people at work in the Twin Towers, only approximately 5,000 were there.
A man close to Bush was warned not to go to the Twin Towers on that day.
Bush was not in Washington at the time. When he was notified, he did not react immediately to our nation being attacked. His concerning look was not of fear, but more like one waiting to see just how bad the attack was. He acted like he expected it. Perhaps not the collapse of the towers, but surely damage to them.
Bush issued a no-fly order. But that was lifted for one aircraft only. That aircraft delivered the bin Laden family back to Saudi Arabia from the U.S.
The only hijacked aircraft that was shot down was the one headed for the White House. This was proved by a massive part of the aircraft being eight miles from the crash site. People in the area of the crash site were told to keep their mouths shut. Also, a former military officer confirmed the strange happenings just prior to the crash as being from a missile's lock-on electronics, and the sound of the missile being fired. More than three years later, the secretary of Defense stated that the craft was shot down. This must have been a slip of the tongue, because the TV networks quickly added a question mark behind the statement and, to date, it wasn't mentioned again.
Bush sent a token of troops to capture bin Laden. New York City had more policemen than the troops sent to capture the man responsible for invading our nation and killing thousands of our innocent civilians. It's doubtful that Bush wants bin Laden captured. After all, what might bin Laden tell the world about this?
Presidents McKinley, F.D. Roosevelt and Kennedy all did something to give them an excuse to go to war. Either set up an act to blame on someone or a country. Or they just let something happen that they could have prevented. G.W. Bush knew about this tragedy and allowed it to happen for his excuse to illegally invade Iraq.
Bush is indeed a very evil man. We as citizens will get what we deserve for electing this anti-Christ.
M. Tapp Warsaw
Abuse Prevention
Editor, Times-Union: Thank you for publishing the letters from the Child Abuse Prevention Council. We hear about the awful physical or sexual abuse that makes the news. Do not misunderstand me. Physical and sexual abuse can't be thought of as a small problem in any way, shape or form. But just like an iceberg, what is in plain sight is only a small part of the problem. What we do not hear in the news or see are the hundreds of children that fly under the radar, until they go to preschool or kindergarten. These are the children that:
Cannot dress themselves, because their parents did not respect them enough to dress them every day.
Go to school filthy, with matted hair because no one respected them enough to care for their basic hygiene (can't wash clothes, but have a satellite dish and Internet).
Do not know how to use silverware and sit at a table to eat, because their parents were playing video games.
Have parents who were never respected either, were abused when they were little or who are drug addicted
Don't talk, roll over, play pat a cake, because they have spent every waking hour in an infant seat, with a bottle of formula propped to keep them quiet.
Qualify as "delayed," but when removed from their environment make amazing progress!
These examples may be thought of as "value system" issues and are nobody else's business. Let me tell you that they matter and they are our business! It's not OK to just keep children alive, we should expect them to thrive! It isn't just "nice" to have a loving, predictable home for children. It is life changing! This is not just my opinion. The science is there. The research is done! Children will not (not can't or might not) develop into loving, functioning members of our community without it!
OK, now what do you and I do? How do we "raise the bar" on parenting? Many of us think that parenting is "policed" by the Department of Families and Children. You and I are their eyes and ears. There is no magic that swoops children out of a horrible home and places them with loving foster parents. It is the law to report what you think is abuse or neglect, period!
But also: Talk about parenting! Learn about parenting! Notice parenting at the store, at church, at the neighbor's house. Support new parents that you know. Talk to teens about parenting. Ask if they are going to be parenting their unplanned child, as opposed to keeping the child. Encourage the heart wrenching choice of adoption. (Like in Solomon, to give a baby up, you have to be the real mom!) Offer help when you hear an adult make a vicious comment to a child. Be courageous enough to say to a stranger that they should try a different way. Smile at the calm, nurturing parents you meet. Give thumbs up to a young mom who breastfeeds her infant. We have to help parents that live in poverty or ignorance! We are the parenting police!
Imagine a world without child abuse.
Maureen Beard Warsaw via e-mail
Hot Summers
Editor, Times-Union: When the days of winter with their deep snowdrifts, icy roads and cold blasting winds have passed, everyone is thrilled to see spring and summer come alive; in fact, before we know it, the hot, scorching days of summer will once more be upon us.
The summer of 1934 is a time to remember.
During those months, a steady, hot wind moved across the land and everything was dried up. There was very little rain, the grass was parched - there were no green lawns - and crops were very poor. In 1934, not only were the elements in dire stress, but the great Depression was raging. There was no money. My uncle and aunt lived on a couple of dollars a week. (1934 was a time when canned goods and bread were a nickel and a dime, and one could purchase a pound of boiling beef for 15 cents and 5 pounds of soup beans for a quarter.)
Many families drove to the lake or river for a swim to cool off, that is, if they had 20 cents to buy a gallon of gas. One day, I went swimming at the river, and afterwards, when I changed from my bathing suit into my clothes, I leaned back against a tree to step into my underpants. Well, the tree trunk was covered with a pretty good vine of some sort, and when I started to break out in a rash and commenced to itch like crazy, I realized what I had backed up against - poison ivy! After a day or two of scratching, my posterior looked as though I had sat on a fried egg. For nearly a week, I couldn't wear clothes!
Yes, the summer of 1934 was excruciatingly hot, and on July 22, FBI agents spent one hot night mowing down notorious racketeer John Dillinger near the Biograph Theatre in Chicago.
Then there was the summer of 1936, which was nearly as hot and unbearable as 1934. (During the early 1930s, there was very little air conditioning in the provincial areas, and we small-town folks were fortunate if we had a small electric fan to depend on.)
In 1936, some of the nights were so suffocating and unbearable that, unable to sleep, I, along with a gang of other teenagers, both boys and girls, would venture uptown and congregate on the benches in front of the stores, where we shared candy bars, potato chips and told ornery stories; however, after we kids had whiled a few hours on the benches up on Main Street, about 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning after the atmosphere had turned cooler, we finally broke up, and went home and fell into bed.
Whenever nostalgia is brought up, we generally refer to the past as what we call "the good old days," but if you think about it, years ago with a lack of conveniences such as air conditioning and so forth, perhaps some of those "good old days" weren't so good after all.
Don Kaiser Warsaw
Redeemer School
Editor, Times-Union: To the 40 people of Redeemer Lutheran Church who voted to close the doors of the Redeemer LutheranSchool Thursday night, shame on you! You were able to leave the meeting and go on with your life as if nothing has happened. For the rest of us, people employed by the school, members of the church voting to keep the school open and people in the community who sent their children to our school, you have changed our lives forever. You did not have to see the tears of a 5-year-old when I had to tell her that her school is closing. You did not have to answer the question, mommy, where will I go to school? You have taken an already crippled church and divided it yet again. May this be your cross to bear!
Angie Oler Warsaw via e-mail
Child Abuse
Editor, Times-Union: As an advocate for preventing child abuse in all its forms, I annually support April as Indiana Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Awareness Month. With great sadness, the tragic deaths of 57 children in 2004 have made the need for prevention even more urgent, not just in April but every day. It is unimaginable that the perpetrators intended to kill the children but, once again, children died violently because we fail to offer the parenting skills and family support systems required to put the child's safety and well-being first.
"Parenting" is definitely the hardest job anyone undertakes. All parents can use help at some time with their children's development. We - family members, friends, neighbors, physicians, educators, policy-makers, faith leaders, law enforcement, judges and the greater community - must be accountable for building communities that strengthen and support, not blame, parents. Regretfully, the recent deaths validate that we are not building those communities. Too many children die, are harmed or fail to flourish because our systems and communities do not work together to ensure that we are putting children first.
Parents or family members commit approximately 80 percent of the substantiated acts of child abuse and neglect in Indiana. Perpetrators constantly cite lack of parenting skills and support as the primary reason for their abusive behaviors. Yet we continue to ignore the overwhelming need to prepare parents and caregivers better. We must make policy and systemic changes that value children and strengthen families, and we cannot wait for someone else to do it.
If we do not act now, headlines about abused children will only get worse. Preventing child abuse is possible. It is up to each of us - not someone else - to make it happen. We must hold policy-makers, elected officials and ourselves accountable for being informed, being involved and being dedicated to preventing child abuse before the pain is inflicted on another child.
Amy L. Drake President, Child Abuse Prevention Council
