I'm a first-year student at Widener School of Law, and read last week's story on our new Fowl Division. I just wanted to point out that the mother goose is attended by not just one male partner, but two. The male geese work in tandem to maintain a defensive perimeter around the nest.

I realize that such alternative avian lifestyles may be controversial in these times. But this threesome is clearly committed to providing a stable family for its eggs.

Do people realize the stress Paratransit operators endure? Besides fighting traffic, it is time- consuming securing the people in wheelchairs or traveling to pickups that weren't cancelled. A wasted trip is due to the passenger, not the operator.

A reader wrote to criticize the recent article by Col. Lawrence Wilkerson. While criticism of Islamic fundamentalists is fine, the similar view of Christian fundamentalism is completely ignored. How much difference can there be between two religious views that both aim to eliminate the other? Is one right and the other wrong?

A better course is to look for peaceful resolution. Understanding a different culture leads to common ground for cooperation. Invading and destroying a country like Iraq to eradicate a religious view, as we have done under the leadership of President Bush, is unsupportable.

In a recent column, conservative George Will characterized John K. Galbraith's book "The Affluent Society" as a doctrine of condescension. He also claimed that the Harvard economist had a disdain for the average American as a "pathetic lump." If Will were less interested in silliness and more interested in accuracy, he should have mentioned that Galbraith spoke out disapprovingly on environmental and societal degradation. Galbraith was prophetic in referring to the rampant effects of consumption relative to savings.

Americans now have a negative savings rate. Our government spends $1.35 for every dollar of revenue, according to the U.S. Comptroller General. One does not need to be a mathematical wizard to calculate where this will take us.

Galbraith also stressed the role of government in providing a civil society. He was the author of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, hammering the government's indifference to public needs.

Will thinks Milton Friedman is a superior theorist. However, Friedman argued against government intervention in the economy. In 1991, Friedman said he would apply market mechanisms to the war on drugs, treating this scourge the same way alcohol and tobacco are treated. He was in favor of abolishing the Food and Drug Administration because it took far longer than European agencies to approve a drug. One can only shudder to think of the process resting with pharmaceutical companies.

Friedman also said that the role of government "should be limited to defending the country, to providing law and order, and to helping us to determine the rules under which we operate and adjudicate disputes." If Republicans take comfort in this, that's their choice. But why tarnish the memory of a man whose accomplishments so far outweigh those of Friedman?

A recent letter could be interpreted as saying that for some human embryos created outside a woman's body, the only options are being discarded as medical waste or destroyed in research.

A more humane option is placement with an adoptive mother unable to conceive herself. Not all frozen embryos will survive thawing and transfer successfully, but many can. Several local children who came through this process were introduced to legislators at a January General Assembly hearing on the ethics of using human embryos for experimentation.

The News Journal articles on heroin are a blessing and a wake-up call to the community. It is a shame that it took a bad batch of heroin to bring it to the attention of everyone.

I am 25 years old and know of three people who have died and too many to count who have fallen pry to deadly addiction. I have seen loved ones suffer. I have seen some make a recovery. But a few cases of recovery do not blind me to the cycle this poison creates. It is a lifelong battle.

Having dealt with the system currently in place by attempting to help addicts, I have seen the ludicrousness of it. Did you know it is easier to get an addict off the street into a treatment facility than it is to get a person who has been working and has health insurance into a detox center? I have seen it time and time again.

The state should use this bad batch to advance programs so much needed. The public should not forget about these people. If you suspect there is a problem in your neighborhood, call the authorities. If you suspect someone you know has a problem, talk about it or seek help if possible. Remember that addiction is a disease.

In a May 2 article on immigrants, Kristie Green of Thermal Seal Experts in Elsmere said "our employees are hard workers, good people. They show up on time, do their job and are courteous to our customers. We haven't gotten good workers who aren't immigrants. They're just better workers and are willing to do the job."

The American working man's translation to what she is really trying to say is they shut their mouths, do what they are told, and take what they are paid. If she needs good insulators, call Local 42.

Columnist Harry Themal wrote about the potential effect of overturning Roe v. Wade. He mentioned Delaware's law dating back two centuries. It is unacceptable to allow a law enacted in 1883 to become our default position on abortion. Personally I consider abortion to be termination of a human life, but society has many allowances for that unfortunate event (war, policing and punishment for crime).

It is a woman's choice to have an abortion, though she should not be denied medical and moral facts about the choice she is making. That being said, if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade and allows states to determine the legality of abortion, we must debate the topic.

State politicians should not be allowed to hide behind an old law. They need to openly take a stand. If they have no stomach for it, then exit the political arena.

I implore everyone to contact their elected state representatives and ask that they repeal Delaware's abortion laws. They are useless and unenforceable at present, and only encourage cowardly political behavior.

Any law about abortion must be newly minted and defensible in the context of the society, religious systems and technology in our current century.

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