Musical production

The 111th U.S. Congress passed some extraordinary legislation in 2009. So profound was congressional joy over a single year's accomplishments that both chambers of Congress teamed up to produce a well-rehearsed musical collection titled "Business as Usual: The Betrayal of the American People." Congressional favorites include: "We're in the Money," "Take the Money and Run" and "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time."

Two soloists are especially mesmerizing: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi belts out a rock-solid version of "Somebody Else's Money," while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid delivers a stirring rendition of "Takin' Care of Business." Even President Obama can be heard in the background humming to "Money Changes Everything."

In a closing tribute to the Senate's health-care-reform that passed on Christmas Eve, Democratic senators crescendo in a heart-felt performance of "Ka-Ching!"

Perhaps, in 2010 and beyond, our leaders' shameful "business-as-usual" mentality will unleash a voter-inspired version of the raucous "Had Enough."

Personally, I've already begun singing the lyrics of a '60s classic: "Na, na, na, na / na, na, na, na / hey, hey, hey, goodbye."

DEBORAH S. PHILLIPS

Lewisville

Being inclusive

Whether to replace the word "man" with the word "people" in the Bible (i.e. "fishers of men" in the letter " ‘Conservative' Bible," Dec. 21) is a classic tempest in a teapot. Why all this fuss about the use of "men"? The word has been used for centuries to refer to all humanity, and it has served well. Why, then, must we suddenly replace all uses of "men" in order to become more inclusive?

Do these critics think that historically, men conspired to make sure to use a word that would eliminate women in their references? That is absurd.

English doesn't have a good, powerful word to refer to everyone, like "volk" in German. "People" is a soft and unsatisfying word, and earlier speakers and writers saw fit to use "man" to refer to the group, as in mankind, "fishers of men," etc.

The use of "man" as an encompassing word resonates in English. At nominating conventions, the term "Madam Chairman" has a sonorous, impactful sound. Compare that to "Madam Chairperson." The same is true for "fishers of men."

"Fishers of people?" Please. Inclusionists find the terms "postman," "policeman," "fireman" objectionable because women also do these jobs. So what? These are just names that came into use. There are also women butchers, bakers and candlestick makers. Were these created to be inclusive while the others were not?

I suppose we need to weed out all exclusionary references -- person-made for man-made, doorperson for doorman, personhole covers for manhole covers, etc. Balderdash!

HERBERT OSMON

Winston-Salem

Need to grow up

Some readers of the Journal need to grow up. Ranting about "MBA aristocrats" and the "Reagan-Bush right wing transfer of the nation's coffers" is simplistic and intellectually dishonest.

While President Bush can shoulder his fair share of blame for our current problems, so must Democratic members of Congress, who voted almost unanimously for the war in Iraq, failed to exercise proper oversight of the financial institutions that caused the economic crisis and continue to spend money like drunken sailors.

So also must the American people, who seem to always want something for nothing.

As for the "rich" -- God bless them. As a general rule, they got rich because they were smarter, worked harder or took more personal risk than the rest of us. And most of them are pretty generous. People making over $200,000 per year represent 5 percent of the population, yet they pay 60 percent of all personal income taxes. Twenty percent of the United Way of Forsyth County's 2008 donations came from 206 people who probably fall into the common definition of "rich."

Tanglewood Park, Duke University, The Gates Foundation and more result from the largesse of the rich. Let's give them a little break and thank them for creating jobs and paying for our social programs.

Yes, you folks who want to view the world in black and white and blame one party or one person for all our problems, please grow up. In this time of crisis, we need to hear from thinking people, not ideologues.

SCOTT RHODES

Clemmons