McCallum leads state well, deserves support
What a joke. Jim Doyle, the state's illustrious attorney general and gubernatorial wanna-be, has nothing better to do than criticize our sitting governor, Scott McCallum, for a picture on his Web site.
Gov. McCallum is dealing with decreasing revenues and a budget shortfall, while Doyle is looking at McCallum's campaign Web site with a microscope. Gov. McCallum is meeting with leaders from the Legislature, the business community and labor unions to discuss the future of our state while Doyle is conjuring up new verses of \On Wisconsin."" Gov. McCallum is leading our state while Doyle is mocking it.
In less than one year we will select the governor who will lead us for at least four years to come. This leader will be required to deal with a declining economy and a shortfall of state revenue. This leader will have to deal with a burdensome tax levy in our state. This leader will need to address growing education expenses and the increasing taxes associated with our state's schools.
Gov. McCallum has already dealt successfully with these issues. The state budget the governor signed into law included the lowest spending in a long time'a refreshing break from increasing spending on frivolous state projects. Gov. McCallum has remained steadfast in his pledge against raising taxes in our state, where we are already among the highest-taxed states in the nation. Gov. McCallum has begun to rework the state's education finance system and has said he expects results.
Gov. McCallum has shown real leadership in his nine months as governor of our great state. Doyle has shown a penchant for political bickering and dirty politics. Gov. McCallum deserves a sign of support and your vote in November 2002.
Higher Education Act, drug war hypocritical
Kudos to Students for Sensible Drug Policy for raising awareness of the Higher Education Act's denial of student loans to youth convicted of drug offenses (""Students want end to aid-drug ties,"" Nov. 20). Anyone born into a wealthy family need not fear the impact of HEA. Instead of empowering at-risk students with a college degree, HEA limits career opportunities and increases the likelihood that those affected will resort to crime. Speaking of crime, convicted rapists and murders are still eligible for federal student loans.
The hypocrisy of the drug war is glaring. Alcohol poisoning kills thousands annually. Tobacco is one of the most addictive substances known to man. Marijuana, on the other hand, is not physically addictive and has never been shown to cause an overdose death. If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal.
The first marijuana laws were a racist reaction to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s, passed in large part due to newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst's sensationalist yellow journalism. White Americans did not even begin to smoke marijuana until a soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda.
These days marijuana is confused with '60s counterculture. This intergenerational culture war does far more harm than marijuana. Illegal marijuana provides the black market contacts that introduce users to hard drugs like cocaine. This ""gateway"" is the direct result of a fundamentally flawed policy. Taxing and regulating marijuana is a cost-effective alternative to the $50 billion drug war.
Circumcision a needless human rights violation
I want to applaud Lisa Wade for her excellent article on circumcision (""Male genital mutilation inexcusable,"" Oct. 19). Not only is she correct in calling it male genital mutilation, she also has the backing of the Swedish parliament, which recently passed overwhelmingly a resolution to consider male circumcision as a violation of international human rights.
Approximately 85 percent of the world's male population is intact, including all of Europe, non-Muslim Asia and Latin America. The United States is the only country in the world where massive infant circumcisions are performed for non-therapeutic and nonreligious reasons. Worldwide, approximately 13 million boys per year are forcibly circumcised'an amputation analogous to cutting off both the clitoral prepuce and labia minora of girls'inevitably resulting in significant sexual and functional loss, as well as the automatic violation of basic human rights to physical and emotional integrity. Other thousands are left permanently deformed, maimed, disabled or dead. Even in the United States, it is estimated that more than 200 boys a year die from complications arising from this wholly unwarranted surgery. As with female circumcision, the genital cutting of boys continues due to ignorance, superstition, sexism and cultural inertia.
