Congressman unfairly attacked for proper usage Re: “Racist Democrats always get free passes,” Aug. 11
I concur with Gregory Kane that the media has a double standard. Nonetheless, he missed the point: The villains here are those who claim that an innocent and proper use of language is a racially charged comment.
I could not care less about Rep. Doug Lamborn’s political career, but I do know that his use of the term “tar baby” was accurate and devoid of racial implications. His error was not realizing that some undereducated charlatan would use his words to press an agenda.
The Tar Baby was a personified creation of tar and turpentine central to a folk tale by Joel Chandler Harris. The term evolved into an eponym (a word derived from a proper name) to mean a sticky situation. The only person of African heritage in this story of a rabbit and a fox was the narrator, Uncle Remus, so I find it unlikely that the author, who was white, intended it as a pejorative even though it has been used as such by persons of ill intent. But so have snowflake, cotton ball, lily, and tea bagger. Should we also strike these words from the lexicon?
Julian Bond succinctly captured the point in responding to the use of the word “niggardly”: You hate to think you have to censor your language to meet other people’s lack of understanding.
David Frick
Sterling
Ethanol is not only factor affecting food prices
Re: “Pork barrel ethanol subsidies have doubled corn prices,” Aug. 10
Robert Bryce and others who rush to blame ethanol for recent food price hikes would do well to realize that a wide range of factors influence prices — including energy and fertilizer costs, weather and political instability.
In reality, the U.S. ethanol industry uses just 3 percent of the global grain supply on a net basis. It isn’t reasonable to suggest that this small amount could so significantly impact livestock’s bottom line, especially when big meat groups like Smithfield and Tyson continue to report record profits.
Unlike the big oil companies who shamelessly cling to their permanent billion-dollar subsidies, the ethanol industry has already volunteered to forfeit its blender’s credit to pay for deficit reduction and incentives to commercialize cellulosic ethanol. Mr. Bryce should check his facts before pointing fingers.
Stephanie Dreyer
Senior public affairs associate,
Growth Energy
Washington
Beware of mortgage fix-it scammers
I have a second home in Florida with a mortgage higher than its value. Since Nov. 1, 2010, I have been trying to modify my mortgage, which would be beneficial for both me and the bank.
Every month I send a letter or ask the clerk in the bank, but there is no answer. Apparently this is a common experience of people in my situation who think they are negotiating with the bank.
I had a lot of offers on the phone, which I declined, but after eight months of not being able to reach anybody in the bank, I decided to hire someone to do it for me. I thought that I was not so naive as to be taken advantage of. You guessed it — I wasn’t. Beware!
B.J. Syska
Silver Spring
