Letter to The Washington Times, published Jan 1, 2005.

Here is the URL of the letter:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20041231-112353-4145r.htm

For reader convenience, here is the letter. Of course, I urge readers to purchase a hardcopy of the paper ($0.25 in the DC area) if possible.

Caring for the elderly
    Bob Barr's Op-Ed column "Euthanasia ... or a 'Dutch treat,' " (Dec. 26), starts an important debate. The lives of the elderly and severely ill can be prolonged by heroic medical treatment, but such costly intervention may be practical only when dedicated family members are available to care for the patient.
    In past generations, even stronger families accepted the idea that one lived as long as one was productive and was "meant to live." The falling birth rate (discussed in recent books such as Phillip Longman's "The Empty Cradle" and Peter Peterson's "Running on Empty") comports with weaker nuclear families and a technological society that offers people opportunities besides becoming parents. This development surely can have an impact on our respect for human life for its own sake. I wonder whether 10 years from now the homosexual "marriage" debate will have mutated into a discussion about filial and family responsibility, even for the childless. It needs to.

    JOHN W. BOUSHKA
Arlington

Please note: my original letter has the wording and punctuation of “gay marriage” and not [homosexual “marriage”], as printed in the Times (this is the way the newspaper always punctuates this phrase and often words it); my original and intended wording and punctuation is, I think, less abrasive and more objective.

Here is the URL of the Barr article

http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20041226-123251-5015r.htm

The Washington Times (as of 1/1/2005) published its most recent editorial on gay marriage on Dec 31, 2004.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20041230-075824-7495r.htm