Morality

IAND OTHERS have written in the past to decry the waste of space devoted to the nastiness Michelle Malkin calls "political commentary," but in her most recent column, she has descended to a new level. Ms. Malkin has now become the guardian of public morality with her national outing of young women working in Washington. Thank God Jessica Cutler worked for a Republican senator and not a "liberal" Democrat. Ms. Malkin attacked only the young lady, not those public servants, including one "appointed by Bush," who took advantage of her favors.

IF Boy Scouts want to discriminate against gay people (and atheists), it's ultimately their decision. They just have to practice their questionable morality in a place not provided by taxpayers. Surely there must be a gay-hating, morally straight, Christian property-owner who'd be glad to offer the Scouts a building at below market value so they can continue their alleged "good work. " Michael McGonigle, Philadelphia

Stanley Karnow (Op-ed Page, Dec. 25) has distorted the meaning of George Kennan's recent article in Foreign Affairs. Actually, he has completely reversed the thrust of Mr. Kennan's piece. In his famous article 40 years ago, Mr. Kennan argued that American foreign policy had been too legalistic and moralistic. In his current article, he denies that he wanted morality to be abandoned. He points out areas where our policy should be more in line with morality. Specifically, he condemns a policy of secret dirty tricks, saying that the success of our diplomacy has always depended on its inherent honesty.

IN HIS LETTER to the editor, Mr. Syheed Ahmad Willis states that while it is true that the Prophet Muhammad had sex with a 9-year-old girl, he did it in an honorable way. I'm having a really difficult time trying to find anything "honorable" about a grown man having sex with a 9-year-old child. And why is it that the defenders of this pedophile's act all seem to have one state correctional address or another? Let me guess- you were framed. John Kirschner Claymont, Del.

The authors of a controversial report calling on Presbyterians to adopt a new morality allowing homosexuality and sex outside marriage presented their recommendations yesterday to representatives of a church that has been deeply troubled by the authors' work. Now the commissioners to the annual General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), meeting here this week and next, must decide what to do with the recommendations, which represent a dramatic break with centuries of Christian moral tradition.

TV news has drawn a line of morality in the sand that is laughable in its hypocrisy. The American public is inundated with sermons by pundits and commentators on "news" programs. The central themes are the alleged immorality of the president and the apathy of the American public. How is journalistic irresponsibility for a theme? The distaste for the discussion of sex acts is seen as moral apathy instead of a refusal to rush to judgment. The reality is closer to the fact that most Americans are aware that our TV news media and some print publications are hard-pressed to be arbiters of American morality.

Here we go again - another paranoid comedy about a decent, principled Jonah swallowed whole by the voracious leviathan of crass American society. By now, we know the dramatis personae: unscrupulous politicians, greedy publishers, scandal-mongering reporters, and, most cynically of all, an ignorant, gullible public. We know the narrative method, too: Grab a bludgeon and whack away. Jamie Pachico, a Chicago playwright whose The Return to Morality is on view at the Adrienne in an InterAct Theatre Company production, was inspired by an actual incident: a 1967 literary hoax in which a set of proposals spoofing right-wing ideology was taken, by some, as a genuine government document.

I hear the social engineers from the left: "You can't legislate morality. " In contradiction to this creed, members of ACT UP, an AIDS organization, toss condoms at an 80-year-old school board director, demanding prophylactics be distributed to students to fight the spread of AIDS. Claude Lewis, in his March 7 Inquirer column, urges the school board to adopt this seemingly pragmatic solution and cater to the sexual trends of today's teenagers. In the March 15 Letters section two writers support Lewis' article.

In Measure for Measure, Shakespeare deals with the issue of controlling public morality through law. The issue is with us still, as the debate over laws regulating abortion attest. Still, Shakespeare's infrequently produced work, which the Philadelphia Area Repertory Theater (PART) is presenting at the Mask and Wig Theater, is a puzzling piece for the contemporary theatergoer. One reason is the draconian terms in which the principal issue is framed: Claudio has gotten Juliet, whom he intends to marry, with child, and the penalty for fornication in the Vienna that Shakespeare imagines is death.

THE Daily News advocates extending unemployment benefits for another three months at a cost of $12.5 billion. Not noted is that the benefits have already been extended umpteen times, currently to 96 weeks (from 26), at a cost somewhere around $300 billion. Why can't the unemployed work for their benefits? Plant trees or clean vacant lots to help the environment, provide day care or elder care so others can work, fix potholes. Why, after the cost of transportation, day care, taxes, uniforms, are the benefits more attractive than accepting a minimum-wage job?

VATICAN CITY - The Legion of Christ religious order, already discredited for concealing the crimes of its pedophile founder, suffered another blow to its credibility Tuesday after its superior admitted he knew in 2005 that his most prominent priest had fathered a child, yet allowed him to keep teaching and preaching about morality. The admission by the Rev. Alvaro Corcuera is likely to enrage members of the Legion and its lay branch who have endured years of apologies, hypocrisy and explanations for the crimes of the Catholic order's founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, who sexually abused his seminarians and fathered three children with two women.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI, carrying a tall, lit candle, ushered in Christianity's most joyous celebration with an Easter vigil service Saturday night, but voiced fears that mankind is groping in darkness, unable to distinguish good from evil. Easter for Christians commemorates Christ's triumph over death with his resurrection following his crucifixion. "Life is stronger than death," Benedict, wearing white robes in a symbol of new life, told the faithful in a packed St. Peter's Basilica.

Conjoined twins born to an Orthodox Jewish family in Lakewood, N.J., 35 years ago created a wrenching moral dilemma for their parents and doctors, not to mention the rabbis the family consulted. Joined at the chest and sharing a heart, the babies were airlifted to Philadelphia and were soon failing. Only one could survive; the other would have to be sacrificed. Was it wrong to kill one child for the sake of the other? Should both be allowed to live as long as possible, sharing their strange six-chambered heart, even though that would likely mean their imminent death?

Ricardo Morales, announced in April as the New York Philharmonic's new principal clarinetist, has resigned the post before even beginning, the Philharmonic acknowledged Monday after a reporter's inquiry. "For family reasons, Mr. Morales has chosen to remain in Philadelphia, where he currently holds the position of principal clarinet with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The New York Philharmonic wishes Mr. Morales well in his future endeavors," a Philharmonic statement said. A Philadelphia Orchestra Association spokeswoman said president Allison B. Vulgamore was unavailable, and the orchestra would offer only a short statement on the matter.

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Bolivia's long-downtrodden indigenous majority adored President Evo Morales as he championed a new constitution that promised the nation's 36 ethnicities unprecedented autonomy. But three years after voters overwhelmingly approved that document, making poor, landlocked Bolivia a "plurinational" republic, the country's first indigenous president is under attack for essentially ignoring it. Lowlands Indians have quit his Movement Toward Socialism over his insistence, without seeking their consent, on building a road across a virgin jungle preserve and for forging ahead with natural-gas projects on their traditional lands.

The witness The smoking crater that was once the Pennsylvania State University football program has been devastated by alleged horrific behavior, less than exemplary leadership, and media bloodlust that has paid homage to due process on its way to publicly destroying anyone associated with the alleged crimes. In the whirlpool that culminated in the firing of the university president and football coach Joe Paterno, Michael Smerconish raises an important question: Why didn't the adult who witnessed the horrible crime being perpetrated on a 10-year-old boy intervene ("Amid the wreckage, don't forget the one who saw," Thursday)

BRUTAL fighting-dog "trainers" employ different devices in "training" (torturing) dogs, one being a "rape stand" to immobilize an unwilling bitch to be impregnated. If facts support the grand-jury report, Penn State University provided a rape stand for Jerry Sandusky to anally attack innocent young boys. In one of the ugliest Pennsylvania stories of the young century, an esteemed university apparently put the importance of its football program above simple decency and morality.

AMERICANS find themselves in a struggle for the soul of our nation yet again. Some see it as an economic struggle, some see it as a social struggle, some see it as a political struggle. But really it comes down once again to a moral struggle - how do we define ourselves as a nation and how do we fix what isn't working in America today? This is what has motivated so many Americans to occupy Wall Street and Main Street from coast to coast. We've seen a government powerless to act, a government mired in gridlock, a government plagued by dysfunction where influence is for sale to the highest bidder.

In Happy Valley, JoePa is pope. In his 46th season as head coach, and most likely his last, Joe Paterno can claim 409 career wins for a program annually generating $72 million. To many proud alums, Joe Paterno and his Nittany Lions football program are Penn State. Penn State takes its football very, very seriously. Credible accounts that a former assistant coach was sexually abusing young boys? Not so seriously. Eyewitnesses saw former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky do horrible things in the Lions' locker room, according to the grand jury presentment.

Most romantic comedies succeed by indulging fantasy: men want to date out of their league; women want a nice guy they can whip into a socially respectable man. Robin Pond's Even Steven , at the Walnut's Studio 5, borrows the rom-com backdrop but toys with the formula. Teddy (Matt Dell'Olio) and Sarah (Stephanie Lauren) broke up after three years, when she dumped him because his slacker lifestyle no longer fit her careerist ambitions. (That, and a Porsche-driving lawyer took her out a few times, then vanished.)