Wednesday letters: No ‘code of silence’ — only fear

There are four ingredients causing the violence in Chicago. Drugs, poverty, guns and families. Most of the time, victims of violence are either a relative, friend or associate of drug traffickers and/or gang members. When a member of the family becomes a victim of gun violence, family and friends invoke the “code of silence”, which is merely a fear of what will happen if they identify the perpetrators. There is no fancy ‘code of silence’, merely fear of exposure.

Edwina Jackson, Longwood Manor

How pope can really go green

Pope Francis seeks to add “a green agenda to his works,” according to a report in the Sun-Times. But no person on earth has a greater ability to single-handedly reduce the human effects that lead to climate change. The problem is his complete and utter hypocrisy.

By ending the church’s prohibition of contraception and voluntary sterilization for all, even married couples, the pope could improve the condition of our earth in a way that literally no one else can. Catholics have overwhelmingly rejected this policy but the pope clings to it. Fewer people means less human impact on the climate. Even more cruel is the fact that the poorest Catholics will be those most likely to have the babies that this prohibition creates. They will be the most devastated by the negative effects of climate change.

Pope Francis refuses to do the one thing he can do to most improve the status of the Earth’s climate, but plans on guilting all of us into doing what little we can do.

Don Anderson, Oak Park

Madigan’s control is Illinois loss

Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan fights for gerrymandering to gain even greater control of the legislature, but for what? He already has a super-majority and we have a fiscal disaster. The budget is not balanced, the state constitution is not being followed. Our state has more than $10 billion in unpaid bills, huge pension liabilities and expensive union contracts. There are pensions that are not being paid for, and schools and colleges not being funded. Whose side is Madigan on? Being in control means being responsible for the well-being of the entire state, not just the pensioners, unions and workman’s comp people. What a mess, yet Madigan wants even greater control.

Thomas Cechner, Lockport