Letters

...America certainly won't find the truth in the mainstream media...

...and helping those in need with government programs...

...I still believe that women and men are equal, that a woman is fully capable of performing any job a man can, that the disparity in pay is grossly unjust, and that we should have control over our bodies...

...It is my pattern to read those few magazines to which I bother to subscribe cover-to-cover, with the slight exception that I will often save my favorite contributor to read last...

...All letters may be edited for clarity and conciseness, and may appear either in the magazine or on its web page...

...Imagine if someone were to write a piece on the Muslim community as a whole based on the experience of visiting a jihadist camp...

...I am surprised and disappointed that The Progressive would print such a shoddy piece of writing...

...But it is, just the same—all chromosomes are present that are necessary for human life...

...But once the sperm meets the egg and a life is created, there is another person whose rights are also important—and that person does not have the means to speak for himself or herself...

...The author paints all pro-lifers as lunatics...

...Letters may be e-mailed to: editorial@progressive.org...

...If a woman at any stage of her pregnancy needs an abortion to preserve her life or health, it is not the business of government to interfere...

...It's time to put Dennis Kucinich on the cover of The Progressive...

...Fran Manti Bend, Oregon Don't Bomb Iran Thanks so much for "Bush's Iran War Plans" (Comment, October issue...

...Alice Hamers McNeal, Arizona The editors welcome correspondence from readers on all topics, but prefer to publish letters that comment directly on material previously published in The Progressive...

...More public money should be put into good sex education programs, and birth control should be either free or at a reduced cost for those with limited financial means or lack of health insurance...

...Letters to the Editor The Abortion Debate Your article "Glee in the Anti-Abortion Crowd" (by Eleanor Bader, September issue) confirms what I've always known: The so-called pro-life movement is really about the control of women...

...Yes, her initial (and lone) vote against giving the President the power to declare war remains the bravest and most intelligent vote of the past many years...

...While the Democrats are talking a good talk about health care reform, the actual proposals are far from what is needed for a workable and just universal health care system...

...Being pro-life does not make me a crazy rightwing nut...

...The pro-life stance is the progressive one...

...It is dependent on the mother for sustenance, but a child who is already born needs care from someone else to survive, as well...

...Angie Yowell Austin, Texas Dems and Health Insurance Contrary to Matthew Rothschild's Editor's Note ("Sick Priorities," September issue), Bush and the Republicans are not the only ones who would rather defend the profits of the insurance companies...

...This is what makes me a progressive...

...All of the major Democratic Presidential candidates propose mandated and/or increased use of private health insurance in their health care proposals...

...When it comes to decisions about their personal and private lives, most people will make their own choices, legal or otherwise...

...Clinton, for me, does this more successfully and with a little more variety in approach...

...Since when is it a good idea for political moralists and uninterested lawmakers to tell doctors how to practice medicine...

...That said, however, why are Lee and the other progressive members of Congress not supporting Representative Dennis Kucinich's Presidential candidacy...

...This is why I take issue with the article "Glee in the Anti-Abortion Crowd...

...I encourage you to continue to search for a columnist who can combine those qualities...

...I know this can't help but be a painful and no-win situation for you...

...The idea that requiring everyone to purchase private health insurance would enlarge the pool and therefore lower the rates is a dream come true for insurance companies and their lobbyists...

...But please, don't make Will Durst your final contributor in each issue...

...Emergency contraception should be readily available over the counter...

...the elimination of corporate money in politics...

...One way or another the job will be done...

...I oppose war and the death penalty...

...It's a total mystery to me, then, why so many progressives cast about to Obama, Richardson, Clinton, or Edwards, and fail to give Kucinich his due...

...I expect The Progressive to be more balanced in its presentation of information...

...Government has been very slow to learn this...

...It's more of the same coming from most Democratic candidates— watered-down platitudes that offer no real reform...

...On every single issue, it is Kucinich who is truly the progressive, as I understand that term...

...I also believe that abortion should be illegal...

...We failed at prohibiting alcohol...

...It was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who snatched it from the table...

...From among current writers, I would put in a bid for Kate Clinton over Durst...

...Joan C. Manning Shasta Lake, California I am a fervent believer that this world can and should be a better place, and that we should all be working towards that goal...

...What Ivins provided, and what is missing in both by and large, is substance: Ivins entertained us while making important points about public life...

...Sloppily thrown-together quotes from some misguided extremists do not paint an accurate picture of an entire movement...

...The poverty line should be raised dramatically—as many people considered "middle class" by their income levels cannot afford basic needs...

...the right of labor to organize...

...Our current leaders are dotting the i's and crossing the t's on definitive plans to bomb Iran...

...We will fail at prohibiting abortion...

...Please, a little more objectivity regarding Democrats...

...Please include your city and state...

...Patricia Mitchell Waukesha, Wisconsin Missing Molly I feel for us all for losing Molly Ivins's voice...

...basic human dignity for all people (American citizens or not...

...Who will stop this madness...

...The back-alley operators will again set up shop...

...True, the embryo hardly resembles a human being to us...

...Not a week goes by when some overwhelmingly outrageous or ridiculous Administration action leaves me speculating about what she would have had to say...

...Count on it...

...She's my first choice for President...

...For years in your magazine, my two patterns converged—Molly was the best, and Molly was last...

...I believe in protecting individual liberty and civil rights, including the rights of people who are homosexual to marry and adopt children...

...Certainly not the Democrats...

...Robert Frame Minneapolis, Minnesota Lee Speaks for Me Thank you for putting Congress-woman Barbara Lee on your cover (Interview by Andrea Lewis, October issue...

...Bush is determined to attack another sovereign nation...

...The only one who doesn't, to my knowledge, is Dennis Kucinich...

...I know there will never be another Molly Ivins, but I believe there will be—there is— another who as successfully blends humor and meaning...

...The difference between Republicans and most Democrats with regards to health care reform and the role of private insurance companies is minimal...

...If I am not mistaken, his column has ended the issue twice in recent months...

...We are suffering through the monstrous problem we created by prohibiting drugs...

...Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, a Vietnam veteran and father of an Iraq soldier, presented a proposal that would prevent the President from attacking Iran without the approval of Congress...

...And I feel, in particular, for you at The Progressive, not only because you've lost her contributions, obviously, but also because you are now required to determine what to do with her monthly "real estate"—the last word in each issue...

...I believe in a living wage and universal health care coverage...

...Women should be free to exercise their own choice about whether to have a child, but this choice should be made before conception, not after...

...The problem with both, in my opinion, is they concentrate strictly on humor...