Culture Briefs

Editing abortion

“On Sunday, Sept. 7, the Chicago Tribune published a letter to the editor submitted by Bill Beckman, executive director of the Illinois Right to Life Committee. … [I]n each instance where Beckman used the word ‘pro-life,’ the Chicago Tribune changed the word to ‘anti-abortion.’ …

“I believe the Tribune’s editing of Beckman’s letter was nothing less than censorship. … The Chicago Tribune has come under considerable fire in response to the ‘editing’ of Beckman’s letter.

“‘The Tribune policy of changing pro-life to anti-abortion is clearly outrageous,’ said Cal Skinner, a former state representative from Crystal Lake. … ‘It’s worse than knowing that in the early 1990s the Tribune was automatically opposed to any legislative candidate who was pro-life. How can a paper’s editors live with themselves when they change, not edit, words in a letter to the editor? Makes you wonder how much other ideological slanting exists in the Tribune, doesn’t it?’”

—Dan Zanoza, writing on “Chicago Tribune Criticized for Changing Pro-Life Leader’s Letter,” Monday at www.lifenews.com

Imagine no Yoko

“Seventy-year-old Yoko Ono, wife of late Beatle John Lennon … recently finished performing what she calls a ‘cut piece,’ in which audience members come onstage and clip off pieces of her clothing until she’s nearly naked. …

“Supposedly, this all somehow promotes world peace. …

“Early last year, she rented a billboard in London, which read: ‘Imagine all the people living life in peace.’ …

“But why put these billboards in London, New York, Tokyo, etc.? Why not put them where they really belong — in Afghanistan, Somalia, Liberia, Iran, North Korea and in the backyards of drug cartels? That’s an easy question to answer: Because she’d get killed, thrown in jail for life or, worse, sentenced to listen to one of her own albums. …

“Since Yoko’s husband John released the pacifist anthems ‘Imagine’ and ‘Give Peace A Chance’ … we had a continuation of hostilities in Vietnam, the tragedy at the Olympic Games in Munich, the hostage crisis in Iran, embassy bombings, hijackings, continuous violence in the Middle East and constant terrorist attacks around the world. Why isn’t it working? The answer is simple: Terrorists, criminals, warmongers and despots clearly don’t listen to FM radio, read back issues of ‘Rolling Stone’ and attend Paris theater nearly enough.”

—Doug Powers, writing on “Ono, she’s stripping again!” Monday in WorldNetDaily at www.worldnetdaily.com

Feminized TV

“From CBS to the WB, the fall shows depict men the way women were once depicted: as supporting characters propelled by their biological imperative. And perhaps because science has made it so much easier for women to conceive children without a partner, these television fathers do not know best.

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