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The data on disease support pope's thinking

Re: the letter by Richard Eisler March 26, "Pope's admonition is deadly irrational for Africans":

I agree that God would not be opposed to a little critical thinking. Let's look at the subject critically.

First, the pope did not argue for sexual abstinence as a solution for the AIDS epidemic, but rather suggested that monogamy was the best single answer to African AIDS.

In response to the papal press conference, Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies stated, "We have found no consistent associations between condom use and lower HIV-infection rates, which, 25 years into the pandemic, we should be seeing if this intervention is working."

Green told National Review Online in an interview March 18: "There is a consistent association shown by our best studies, including the U.S.-funded 'Demographic Heath Surveys,' between greater availability and use of condoms and higher (not lower) HIV-infection rates."

I respectfully suggest to Eisler that the research and empirical data do not support his assertion that the pope's message was irrational. It appears Pope Benedict XVI has engaged in a little critical thinking.

Extend benefits to more jobless

That the Roanoke and New River valleys are losing jobs at an alarming rate is hardly news anymore. Virginia's unemployment rate is now 6.4 percent and rising. Yet some in the General Assembly are hesitant to accept federal stimulus funds that would extend unemployment benefits to more jobless Virginians.

Unemployment insurance "benefits are one of the most potent income supports available to prevent a family's fall into poverty," according to "Predicting Poverty in the Commonwealth," a February report by the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis and Voices for Virginia's Children. Yet in 2007, only 27 percent of Virginia's unemployed collected benefits. Only four states extend these benefits to a smaller percentage of unemployed workers.

Every dollar paid in unemployment benefits creates $1.64 in economic activity. Virginia's economy needs that kind of stimulus now.

If Virginia makes needed reforms in its unemployment insurance system, we can draw down an additional $125 million in federal resources, allowing more Virginia families to stay afloat after the loss of jobs and providing tax cuts for Virginia employers. The governor and General Assembly should adopt the required legislation to allow Virginia full access to these much-needed funds.

Chairwoman New River Valley Chapter Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy

Columnist shows his hidden NIMBY

Dan Casey's column March 22 displays an incredible lack of knowledge about land-use planning ("NIMBY label used as a cop-out"). A zoning classification is not a vested right, and this is even more true after the Virginia Supreme Court's recent bizarre ruling in the case involving the town of Blacksburg.

If Casey had his way, zoning would never change unless, presumably, all of the neighbors concurred. This rule smacks of the governance by referendum movement in the western United States and prevents change of any sort.

Former Blacksburg Town Councilman Mike Chandler has described land-use planning as "change management." Indeed, land-use planning is a dynamic process that is constantly changing, not static as Casey would like it to be. The only things certain in life are death, taxes and change. The saying also goes that no one likes change except a baby with a dirty diaper.

Yes, Casey, you are a NIMBY. If it makes you feel any better, so are most of your fellow citizens.

Perriello trade-in isn't working out

Rep. Tom Perriello's first two months in office have shown that he is no more than a puppet for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. First he voted for the pork-laden stimulus bill, which had a provision to protect bonuses for AIG executives, and then co-sponsored a bill to use the tax code to excessively tax the bonuses to cover his first mistake. The congressman might first try reading the bill before voting for it.

You would think that, being an attorney, he would know that using legislation to punish a small, specific group of citizens is a violation of the equal protection clause of the Constitution, but maybe he has never read the Constitution either. It appears the voters of the 5th Congressional District have traded a seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee for a back-bench rubber stamp for the speaker of the House from San Francisco.

An illogical leap from 'The Lottery'

Re: "Lotteries and the civilized," (March 26 commentary):

I am stunned by Linda Whitlock's illogical leap of comparison between the theme of Shirley Jackson's 1948 short story "The Lottery" and issues of abortion, stem cell research and involuntary euthanasia. It is just Whitlock's kind of thinking that Jackson objected to in her writing -- thinking based on religious/cultural traditions with no critical basis of proof.

This fundamental religious/cultural type of thinking precludes giving a country's citizens individual choice in making their own personal decisions regarding the quality of their lives, their health and their happiness, and this type of society certainly does have an ugly side.

In our constitutional democracy, no one is forced to choose an abortion, to benefit from medical treatments found through stem cell research or to end physical suffering from incurable disease with a painless intervention. The choice is always ours unless we let it be taken away by the religious/cultural beliefs of others.

Bus service cut is self-defeating

Roanoke City Council's decision to reduce the already skeletal bus service provided by Valley Metro is one of the worst and most self-defeating actions it could take at the worst possible time, when gasoline prices, the economic downturn and the rise in bus ridership all dictate increased service frequency, not the converse. What are these people thinking? What is next? Taking up sidewalks?

While President Reagan was partly right when he said that government is the problem, this does not mean that no governmental responsibilities are justified or necessary, whether at state, federal or community levels. When a service is essential but cannot profitably be provided by the private sector, government must be the default provider of the service.

And public transportation is essential even in a car-happy society such as ours. Better keep an eye on your sidewalk as long as these birds are in office.