TOM DELAY'S GOOD OLD-FASHIONED VALUES

Re: "Right and Wrong - A return to fundamental standards is the way to head
off youth violence," Viewpoints, April 2, by Tom DeLay.

Old-fashioned values? After reading Tom DeLay's column on the need for us to
return to the "national values that for centuries allowed us to rise above
our natures and act as civilized men and women," I finally get it. But why
don't these empowered, white male Republicans just stop talking between the
lines and just say what so many of them and their talking heads on the AM
airwaves really mean?

Just once, Mr. DeLay, let me hear you say this: "We need to return to
yesteryear when there was order in the land! Blacks knew their place in the
back seat. Women stayed at home and raised the kiddies. They didn't take
jobs from the men. Gays and lesbians only existed on the seedy streets of
the big cities. Daddy could have a few drinks after work and if he had an
accident, well, 'wink, wink,' boys will be boys! The Commies were the
bogeymen and the people knew who the good guys and the bad guys were. 'Weird
religions' like Hinduism, those Buddha followers and witches were just a
notch below Catholics on the religious landscape. Drugs were not discussed
because real Americans did not use them, especially marijuana because we all
saw that movie that showed those black people turn into murdering zombies
after smoking that stuff. Sexually transmitted diseases did not exist
because you never heard of them in public life. Abortions were a sin
committed by poor people in alleys. Cousin Lucy gained weight and visited
Aunt Myrtle in Mexico during her problem period. Pass the Lucky Strikes and
let's watch an old Ronald Reagan movie. Now there was an actor for ya!"

How about it Mr. DeLay? If you really want us to go home again, just say so!

BILLY KIRBY, Cedar Hill, Texas