TNT letters to the editor, 7/14/2021
Tacoma Arts Live
Re: “Cutting ties with Tacoma performing arts visionary causes profound disappointment,” ( TNT, 7/2).
Along with the spectacular work of David Fischer and his team at Tacoma Arts Live, the city has turned its back on 42 years of collaboration with community volunteers, funders and citizens.
The partnership of the Pantages Center/Broadway Center/Tacoma Arts Live with the City of Tacoma led to the redevelopment of downtown Tacoma, the revitalization of Tacoma’s arts community and the saving of Union Station.
It set the stage for University of Washington Tacoma, the new Tacoma Art Museum, $30 million worth of private investment in the theaters and so much more.
It has led to diversity in programs and audiences, community voices in programming, and the largest, most diversified arts education program in the state.
The partnership that led to all of this depended on grassroots community involvement, which no government department or outside management company can ever hope to nurture and build.
What has been hailed as a remarkably successful public/private partnership has been thrown away.
For what?
Phyllis Harrison, Fox Island
Abortion and the church
Re: “Why Catholic bishops confront Biden, others about abortion,” (TNT, 6/30).
Columnist Cynthia M. Allen supports a handful of American bishops who advocate punishing President Biden by denying him Catholic communion for his position on freedom of choice regarding abortion.
These are the same bishops who publicly supported President Trump, called on Pope Francis to resign and ignored Vatican directives to cease this conduct.
The role of one elected to public office is to represent the general interests of all the people who elected them, not to vote their personal religious beliefs.
If these bishops are right, Catholics running for office should make clear to voters they feel obligated to act in conformity with Church doctrine irrespective of public interests.
In our democracy, religious doctrine should not be the final determinative for judicial and legislative decisions. Religious leaders should not control elected officials’ votes and actions in carrying out their elected roles.
The First Amendment says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ...”
This attempted involvement by these bishops is dangerous and should concern all who care about our democratic freedoms.
Paul Luvera, Gig Harbor
News media bias
Emmy Award winning reporter Bernard Goldberg published his book “Bias” in 2001 and wrote that liberal bias in television news was one of omission.
That’s not true anymore. The liberal press and mainstream media have become an arm of the Democratic Party.
Liberal journalists ignore or downplay major stories reflecting poorly on Democrats while digging deep for a negative tidbit about Republicans.
Remember when President Obama told us his administration was scandal-free? What about the Benghazi attack, IRS targeting conservatives, VA waiting lists, lies to pass Obamacare and more? Where was the liberal media?
The crown jewel of liberal bias was the Russian collusion hoax. Virtually all liberal outlets and gullible Democrats watching CNN and MSNBC 24/7 were completely wrong for over two years. It was journalistic malpractice.
The bias continues with the coverup of President Biden’s cognitive decline, his weakness on the world stage and the notion that the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters were mostly extremists and white supremacists.
And where’s the coverage of the border crisis? Vice President Harris says the administration is making progress, so all is well.
Craig A. Chilton, Bonney Lake
This story was originally published July 13, 2021 at 12:48 PM with the headline "TNT letters to the editor, 7/14/2021."