opinion

Feedback: Lucido's comments don't belong in modern world

On a visit to our nation’s capital, I delivered a letter to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, written by my daughter. With more confidence, intelligence and self-esteem than I had at her age, she commended the Justice for “showing that women can be what they want to be and do what they want to do.”

From my daughter’s vantage point, where we are today can be measured by the trajectory of strong women in her own lineage, all of whom were and are supported and encouraged by the men in their lives. Our achievements have shown my daughter that she unequivocally belongs in all institutions where her intellect, curiosity, and compassion are not just welcomed but needed — to lead, advance, create, discover, and contribute to the world in which we live, and to help shape a more respectful and civilized society.

It seems state Sen. Pete Lucido would have her believe otherwise — that, in fact, women are not on equal footing with men but, rather, are mere objects of male desire, whose intellectual contributions, ambitions, and aspirations can be reduced to pure entertainment value for male gratification. Lucido demonstrated this archaic mindset earlier this week when, instead of answering a legitimate inquiry from Michigan Advance journalist Allison Donahue, he suggested that Ms. Donahue “could have a lot of fun with” the young men standing at his side “or they could have a lot of fun with” with her. In one, profoundly crass, misogynistic fell swoop, he sought to reduce her intellectual station in life, and he did so in his capacity as a member of the Michigan Senate.

Is this really where we are today, Senator?

If he is incapable of embracing a world that condemns the objectification of women and that recognizes women and men as equals in all institutions, he has no meaningful place in such an institution. Justice Ginsburg was not unclear when she said, “I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” Please take your feet off of our necks, Sen. Lucido, and, with all the urgency of a five-alarm fire, acquire the character traits indispensable to a civilized society: integrity, humility, compassion, kindness, and respect for others, regardless of gender.

Suzanne Sonneborn

Lucido has to go

In the wake of his most recent sexist comments, the best apology state Sen. Pete Lucido can make is to resign.

Lu Dreyer

Farmington

Call your rep about bottle law

As Chair of the Anishinaabek Caucus, we feel that 80,000 comments were ignored in 2018 by the former Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (now the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, to allow Nestle to steal Michigan water, I applaud the Michigan State Court of Appeals’ ruling against Nestle. I also applaud the three state House representatives that have stood up for the people of Michigan and tribal nations by introducing legislation that addresses the issues of water theft. H.B. 5290-5292, introduced by Reps. Yousef Rabhi, Laurie Pohutsky and Rachel Hood will close the small bottle loophole, put the ground water in a public trust and give the state Department of Natural Resources more power to enforce the laws. We need to protect our ground water for future generations. Call your representative and have them support the packages.

Andrea Pierce

Nope, you're not imagining it

No, you’re not imagining that the weather has gotten weirder. By all indexes — heat, hurricane, and drought — weather extremes have numerically worsened in an accelerating path. It’s not just that the news is covering it more — it’s actually a demonstrable fact. The number of extreme precipitation events last year are five times higher than the 1980s, when I was in middle school. Can our infrastructure and sewer lines handle it? Not at the rate of this change. A national response to extreme weather is needed, and the single most effective and fair thing we could do is to correct the market error that artificially makes carbon cheaper than renewables. The correction is at hand in Congress, called the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividends Act. There are already 75 cosponsors, including Michigan’s Lawrence, Kildee, and Levin. If your representative isn’t one of these, I urge you to call them and ask them to take care of this situation. Our future of sewage backups, flooding, power outages, and exorbitant tax dollars for infrastructure repairs is what’s at stake.

Mary Garton

Ann Arbor

Cartoon didn't represent America

I was surprised and disheartened to see the inflammatory political cartoon on the Jan. 12 Sunday Opinion page. It unnecessarily ridiculed Iran about the tragic downing of the Ukrainian passenger plane and portrayed the U.S. as a pushy power wielder rather than a proponent of liberty. That cartoon is not who we are!

Carolyn Sampselle

Ann Arbor

Wouldn't it be something?

Won't it be something if the particular matter in the smoke from the Australian fire were enough to shade the earth to cool it down a little. In 1991 the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo's ash, circumnavigated the globe and was responsible for lowering our temperature in the u.s. by 7 degrees during the summer of '92!

Gary McDonald

Rochester Hills