Ellington

'Solidarity with the Poor'

"Thank you for publishing such an informative and educated article on the growing gap of wealth between the rich and the poor in Mississippi (Editorial, Nov. 28, 2012). So many people are watching their incomes shrink while others with so much are getting much more. Its good to know that some notice this issue and care enough to bring it to a greater light.

—John Atkins, via email

'Contraception Wars'

"Great column (Editor's Note, Nov. 28, 2012). I have been stunned by the authoritarian enthusiasm of decent religious folks on this one. They simply accept the way the bishops frame the issue, apparently without much reflection about the implications. There is this strange cataract on the right. Conservatives are consumed with fear of government encroachment on individual rights. But they seem to believe that businesses should be allowed to encroach on individual rights however they wish.
 I do think it's important to clarify that there is no evidence that birth control or morning-after pills work by preventing implantation of a fertilized egg. Everyone is entitled to his own opinion on the morality of birth control. But no one is entitled to his own facts. Nevertheless, conservatives can't seem to stop babbling about these pills being abortifacients. It is a nakedly opportunistic attempt to conflate birth control--the morality of which is accepted by overwhelming majorities of the American people, devout and otherwise--and abortion, which is far more controversial."

—brjohn9, via jfp.ms