http://www.philly.com/dailynews/opinion/20080822_Christine_M__Flowers__T...

To the editor:

Christine Flowers (Opinion, 5/22) has reached back into her bag of right
wing myths. Bob Casey was denied the right to speak after Bill Clinton's
nomination because he refused to endorse the candidate and to work for
his election. Four other anti-abortion spokesmen were allowed to speak
at the convention, but had endorsed Clinton, and pledged to support the
campaign despite their misgivings. Democrats, like Republicans, are
entitled to exercise party discipline. The right-wing media apparently
think Democrats are so stupid they will allow people to speak at their
expense at the convention to undermine their image with the public.
Flowers is barking up the wrong tree.

Ben Burrows
406 Shoemaker Road
Elkins Park, PA 19027
215-266-2029

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20080824_The_Point__A_man_of_word...

To the editor:

Mark Bowden's essay this Sunday on Barack Obama pointed out a change in
the American outlook, perhaps even in the American Dream which
Republicans have so distorted over the past decades. When Bowden says,
> If people are listening to his story, and comparing his life story to
> the story he is telling, that may be because millions of Americans
> have been waiting for someone to tell it. For years, it has been a
> story waiting for a teller. The desire for racial equality grows in
> each succeeding generation. It is a welcome and unstoppable trend.
he does not compare this to the American Dream of equal opportunity for
ourselves and our families to succeed. We watch our schools deteriorate,
and we watch our neighbors leave to the outer reaches in search of
educational excellence. We watch as our neighbors' houses are abandoned
because of fraudulent mortgages, while the hucksters who knowingly
schmeichled them open their Swiss bank accounts, to leave the rest of us

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20080821_Beyond_the_Spin__A_lesso...

To the editor:

I am puzzled. Some months ago when Rev. Jesse Jackson had a microphone
malfunction, explaining what parts of Barack Obama's below-the-belt
anatomy he would remove, I cited the same "Hymietown" microphone
malfunction that George Curry recently cited -- as a reason why we
should discount Jackson's threat, and as a reason why the news media
should immediately have belittled the whole incident. Jackson, like
George Bush, apparently has no sense of tact around live microphones.
Like the famous "Yo, Blair!" malfunction, the Jackson threat to perform
a Lorena Bobbitt operation on the presidential candidate should not have
been taken seriously. Sadly, the Inquirer refused to print that letter,
and carried stories about the remark for several days thereafter

Ben Burrows
406 Shoemaker Road
Elkins Park, PA 19027
215-266-2029

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20080820_A_statesman_too_old_to_r...

To the editor:

To those of us who feel that Vice President Dick Cheney has usurped
powers that even presidents dared not in the past taken, Thomas
Schwartz's ringing endorsement of Cheney -- on the grounds that he is so
politically enfeebled that he poses no threat to the president -- seems
both ironic and ignorant of recent history. The Vice President's office
has enabled the shredding of the constitution. It has revealed the
identity of covert CIA operatives. Cheney was added to Bush's ticket as
a check on Bush's youthful exuberance, and extravagant claims to
competence. In that role, both Bush and Cheney are eminent failures.

Ben Burrows
406 Shoemaker Road
Elkins Park, PA 19027
215-266-2029