Correspondence

0 Comments | Insight on the News, March 13, 2000

Damn Yankees Need to Get Facts Straight!

Your magazine made a mistake in "To Arms, Al! Yonder Come the Somalians" [washington in brief, Feb. 14]. The Confederate battle flag, originally the flag of the Northern Virginia army, is the diagonally striped flag that is shown in the article flying over the South Carolina Statehouse and is the one to which some people object. However, the "Stars and Bars" referred to in the article is another flag, which looks similar to the American flag but has three horizontal stripes with a blue field in the upper-left corner filled with stars (hence the stars and the bars).

The troops changed from carrying the Stars and Bars to carrying the "battle flag" because the Stars and Bars was mistaken for the "Stars and Stripes" and they sometimes were shot at by their own men. The Stars and Bars again seems to be mistakenly shot at, this time by Insight.

You need to check the encyclopedia more frequently or hire some Southerners to tell you Yankees what's what.

Donald Fusarini Louisville, Tenn.

Media Loved `Slick Willie' and Now Gush Over McCain

In 1992 the Arkansas news media tried to warn the rest of the nation about "Slick Willie" Clinton, but the liberal news media turned their backs. Now the liberal media seem hell-bent on doing the same for John McCain in spite of the warnings from the Arizona news media about him ["`Straight Talker' Puts Spin on Bush," March 6].

History is repeating itself, and the liberal news media have the audacity to question why the public no longer trusts them.

Hazel O. Edwards Houston

Pressuring Congress to Protect Medical Privacy

In response to "Public Comment on Medical Records" [Feb. 14] I sent a letter to the members of the House Commerce Committee stating that I am exercising my civic responsibility and that I expect them to protect my medical privacy by modifying the proposed regulations written by the Department of Health and Human Services allowing federal snooping on private medical records.

I also told them that if they printed the proposed regulations and presented each congressman with a copy for the comment section, we would get busloads of people to the congressional offices for comment, a ton of front-yard petitions and whatever it takes to keep such regulations from being enacted into law.

Nancy Brinckerhoff Russo via the Internet

Is It Okay When Parents Abduct Their Own Children?

With regard to "A Great Escape!" [Feb. 14]: Why does Insight take the position that foreign fathers who take their children home are kidnappers? Is U.S. law the only law in the world, or do the fathers from foreign countries fall under the laws of their own land? You are confusing a very important issue as well as the human rights of foreign fathers.

Ken Robertson via the Internet

Thank you for the article on Dria Davis. I was appalled at Saudi Arabia, the country in which I was born. It's sad when you can't even count on the U.S. government to get involved when an American child is abducted. On behalf of Dria and the thousands like her, I will support the boycott of Saudi Arabian oil companies doing business with the United States.

Sandra A. Seidel Hartford, Conn.