Sheldon,
You gave an example of the seemingly backwards (my words ) custom experienced by a Saudi woman. In that editorial you said you found it hard to comprehend that kind of thinking.
Woman wearing pants, 2 piece bathing suits, smoking, buying birth contro products , are among a few of the things this very country made illegal at one time. Death threats as well, over the moral breakdown of society were common.
In 1973 I remember girls being sent home for wearing pants to school. Until the 1960s it was still illegal to marry interracially in some US states. Surely you remember that.
Customs change as society and rulers dictate. Religious beliefs play a large part of that. Change is inevitable. Even religious customs change as society dictates. Again change is inevitable.
To some , the US customs we follow seem just as perplexing…. Our obsession with Hollywood stars, our overeating, our superiority complex just to mention a few. These have me just as perplexed as you seem to be.
Mike Art
Editor, Ventura Breeze,
Reference December 21, 2016 issue,
Letters to the Editor: Mr. W. Dunlap & MS M. Wells
We have had a long-standing debate over the Electoral College for several decades. The debate will continue until the day it is abolished, but that day should not come to pass for as long as we live in the United States. The Electoral College is not perfect, it can be modified and kept to the original concepts it was created to assure.
Units of the Electoral College are established by each individual state, members of those units are governed by each state, and the rules under which members can vote are governed by each state. If a change is to be made, then each state must agree to have their college members vote in accordance to the local population they represent. Voting by personal feelings would not be permitted.
The original intent of our country’s founding fathers was to prevent large population centers from overpowering rural population areas. Yes, Ventura County is still considered Rural area. It might be okay for the County of Los Angeles to allow the County of San Francisco to dictate how LA will be operated, where money comes from, and how to police its citizens. But, would the citizens of Ventura County allow the City of New York to tell them how they must live and conduct their lives?
If a change to the Electoral College were to be accomplished (abolished, or greatly modified), it would require another amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and several State Constitutions. A feat nearly impossible. We would have a better chance of dividing California into two independent states.
Michael Gordon
Dear Sheldon
Thanks again for all you do in support of the Ventura Parkinson’s Disease Support Group…and the people who you help find us; may you be abundantly blessed for all the great work you do for our community – we are certainly blessed to have you! 🙂
Yours Truly,
Patty Jenkins – Volunteer Coordinator
Ventura Parkinson’s Disease Support Group
Sheldon,
In your December/January issue, you displayed your “Christmas present . . . a 50 dollar bill bearing your picture and the words “in DOG we TRUST.” I, and I am sure the majority of folks in Ventura, are deeply offended by your substitution of the word “DOG” for “GOD, our Lord and Savior. Freedom of expression is a two-way street, so please express your appreciation of same by publishing this letter.
Dan Scully, SR
Dan: So published as requested but I don’t think that the words In God We Trust even belong on our currency. Money is not the proper place to make a religious statement. Nor does Under God belong in our Pledge of Allegiance which was added in 1954 to show the commies that we are a God loving country.
Sheldon
“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”
~ Mark Twain
