Except for the last paragraph I could have written this letter to the editor that was in this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram. It's the Mike Moncrief addition in that last paragraph that vexed me. Fort Worth's corrupt mayor is part of what makes Fort Worth delightful and the fact of him being in Fort Worth is proof that it ain't all bad? That's perplexing. But all that came before that in this letter made sense.....I was warned but am still surprised
I guess the reason I find the discourse in the Star-Telegram so incredible is that I am a relative newcomer to Fort Worth and to Texas.
I had been told (actually warned) about the “love it or leave it’ and “my country right or wrong” attitudes, the purposeful intermingling of church and state to achieve the religious right’s ends, the pervasive waste of resources here (i.e., pick-up/SUV heaven) and the general disdain for the less fortunate (just look at Texas’ ranking on any measure of commitment to social or educational services).
Whether the natives know it or not, Texas has, and continues to embellish, a well-deserved reputation as the most insular, regressive and politically inane state in the union.
What put me over the top was an article in the Sept. 22 paper about abstinence-only sex education, which said that, although Texas receives more federal money than any other state, it shares the highest teen birth rate in the land with New Mexico. Forget that every objective study indicates abstinence-only sex education is blatantly ineffective; this thinly veiled effort by the religious right to ignore both science and truth (while, incidentally, spending $20 million tax dollars) is a sham and a shame.
If we’re serious about making any headway against teen pregnancy and STDs, abstinence must be taught in conjunction with contraception.
To end on a happier note, Fort Worth is a delightful place to live, and any town that can claim Bob Schieffer, Dan Jenkins, Mike Moncrief and the Carter and Bass families can’t be all bad!
— Rufus Schriber, Fort Worth
1 comment:
I read the last paragraph as over the top sarcasm, but that might just be me.
This guy sounds like one of his kids just got impregnated or impregnated someone.
Then, in the next to last paragraph something snaps inside of him and he sarcastically lashes out at those that seem to be "in charge" of his area.
There, I feel better now.
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