OPINION

Re: "What is choice really about?" by Anita Goodspeed, Friday Letters.

What Goodspeed misses completely is that CBS went against its own policy by allowing the Focus on the Family ad. It was a kind of hypocrisy.

In 2004, CBS rejected a United Church of Christ ad for the Super Bowl. CBS gave no reason other than it wouldn't air "advocacy ads." It was thought that it was because this church is for equality for all Americans, i.e., gay marriage.

The content of these ads will be argued until we all die -- and then some. But the real point here is, and I am not a football fan, that the Super Bowl is supposed to be a time when people can forget the problems of life and just have three or four hours of good times.

It is not a time to air such controversial subjects -- unless we want something like Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction every year.

... and not a political decision

The objection to the CBS decision to run the Tebow story to a Super Bowl audience is not about Ms. Tebow's choice, but about the ad encouraging women to go against the medical advice of trained doctors.

Ms. Tebow apparently dodged a bullet in this case, but, knowing the odds, based on the right information, is part of making an important medical choice by the patient -- and not by some politician.

I am eagerly anticipating what old dude, has-been halftime show the NFL has planned for the next Super Bowl.

They've done the Stones, McCartney, Springstein and the Who. Maybe Rod Stewart can jam with the Bee Gees in 2011.

Re: "Move to enrich uranium angers West -- Leader sows confusion by also indicating acceptance of U.N. nuclear fuel plan," Monday news story.

The West's anger at Iran's nuclear program is irrational and hypocritical. Iran has consistently said its nuclear program is for non-military purposes, such as electric power generation and medical treatment.

The West has not produced any credible evidence to contradict Iran's stated purpose, so the West's fear that Iran is developing nuclear weapons is irrational.

Even if Iran were to be developing nuclear weapons, it would be hypocritical of the West to oppose that, because the West has thousands of nuclear warheads and one of the Western powers is the only country that has, in the past, used nuclear weapons in war.

Iran shouldn't have to forfeit its inalienable right to develop and use nuclear technology simply because of the West's paranoia.

The presidential initiative to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gays in the military is a moronic step taken for political gain only.

Those top officials in the military chain who are appointed at the will of the president should not be classed as the "military authorities" endorsing repeal as heralded by the ultra-liberal media. Congress should seek the advice of battle-tested troops and commanders.

In my 38-year military career, I had the opportunity to command nine major units. Not all were combat units, and there were probably some closet gays performing admirably. However, in those cases where gay individuals became openly aggressive in their sexual desires, the action to rid, replace and discharge was required, even demanded, by their fellow Marines and commanders in order to maintain peace and unit integrity.

The premise that excluding openly gay people from enlisting will have a deleterious effect on our hard-pressed military is unfounded, even trite. Our recruiters have responded and are making their goals, and there is no shortage of volunteers.

If Washington feels our military is too hard-pressed, the solution is to expand the numbers as necessary. But let's not fix something that isn't broken.

Re: "I blame scare tactic, unions," by Karen Barth, Sunday Letters.

The problems with the faulty Toyota accelerator were known worldwide before President Barack Obama took office. But in their hatred, many blame him.

Even the head of Toyota took blame for not responding sooner, but not before Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood took Toyota to task for allowing people to drive unsafe cars -- even though Toyota knew the cars had problems. Toyota corrected the problem on later models but did not bother with cars that people had already purchased.

Toyota's first reaction was to tell owners to take their front mat out. You may be fine with paying full price for and driving faulty cars as long as they are Japanese and not American, but if you are behind me and your accelerator sticks, you will be involving my family and me in your decision. You may be willing to lose your life over a faulty accelerator, but we are not.

Re: "Remember Audi was cleared," by Roy Jenkins, Sunday Letters.

Jenkins complained that a 2009 Chevrolet has needed much service, and the dealership wasn't accommodating about the repairs.

I own a 2008 Chevrolet Malibu with about 31,000 miles on it. I would guess that the 2009 Chevy might have less than 15,000 miles. My Malibu has never been in the shop except for scheduled maintenance. It handles like a dream and gets good gas mileage.

I have owned a Cadillac and a Datsun Z, but this is the best car I have ever had. The service has been excellent.

Nobody wants to lay any portion of blame on drivers of runaway Toyotas. However, how many of the crashes and resulting deaths might have been prevented had the drivers of these cars simply pushed the gear shift one notch up into neutral?

Stories I've read and heard about drivers standing on the brakes, unable to stop, make me crazy. Simply putting the car into neutral will disengage the drive wheels and return control of the car to the driver.

Let me say upfront I didn't know Charlie Wilson. But like many people in Texas and Washington, I knew about the Democratic congressman, who passed away today at age 76. When I was living in D.C. in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, the East Texan was living proof of the color of Texas politicians of days gone by.

Now, some people have loved the bigger-than-life personalities of our Charlie Wilsons, Lyndon Johnsons and Bob Bullocks and some have loathed their flair, thinking their antics made us look we were nothing but a bunch of yahoos. But one thing you can't deny is that Texas has produced some darn interesting characters.

There was a time when you could walk by Charlie Wilson's Capitol Hill office and understand why he had earned his reputation as "Good Time Charlie" Let's just say Hugh Hefner would have appreciated the abundance of beautiful blondes in his employee. (I once flew back from Washington next to a woman with whom I was sharing my impression of his office when she quietly said "Yes, that sounds like Charlie." It turns out she was his ex-wife.) He also was known to enjoy a good libation from time to time, just as was the late John Tower.

In today's media-saturated world, Charlie Wilsons are almost hard to imagine. How could a guy who relished his swashbuckling ways also be such a consequential legislator?

He certainly became the latter when he famously helped arm rebels in Afghanistan so they could fight the Soviets who invaded their land in 1979. Millions of Americans learned about that cause in the book and film, "Charlie Wilson's War." And he took it on with the no-bull approach that's needed to cut through Washington's bureaucracy. Thanks largely to him, Afghans were able to beat back the Soviet army.

The politically correct usually don't have much use for Charlie Wilsons. They can't get past their warts to see their achievements. But that's the way it is with colorful politicians. Texas doesn't produce so many of them any more, but Charlie Wilson was one proud exemplar of the breed.

Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker recently joined the faculty of Texas A&M as dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service. Before retiring from the Foreign Service, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, Pakistan and Iraq. And in 2009, President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

I caught up with the ambassador at the Munich Security Conference, where he was part of the U.S. delegation. You'll find the full Q&A in tomorrow's paper, but as a preview, the ambassador had this video message for folks in Dallas:

Every week, we poll the members of the editorial board on a timely and divisive topic. This week, the question is:

With a new poll out showing Debra Medina closing in on Kay Baily Hutchison for second place in the GOP governor's race, what do you think is fueling the enthusiasm for a woman once considered a fringe candidate?

Here are their responses:

1. We note the many shortcomings of deputy constable Howard Watson and note that, even worse is the fact that management - or the troubling and pervasive lack of it - allowed him to get hired and promoted in the first place. And not surprisingly, Watson is a lieutenant in Constable Jaime Cortes' Precinct 5 office. We appreciate the county judge calling Tuesday for the Sheriff's Department to step in and fill the void on doing detailed background checks. But the best long-term solution is for voters to get rid of Cortes in the March primary; we detail Cortes' other shortcomings. We also note that state law requires the background check and we suggest that going forward no background check means no paycheck. Colleen writing on behalf of the board.

2. We make recommendations in the Supreme Court Place 9 GOP primary and in Collin County judge race. Bill and Rodger writing on behalf of the board.

When I first realized that the Democratic debate was addressing death penalty issues, I got excited. Perhaps this is the place where an honest debate and discussion about flaws in the system will finally take place at the governor-level.

Nope. Farouk Shami of Houston blew that prospect out of the water with the bizarre allegation that "lots" of innocent people have been put to death in Texas in the past few years.

Read more and comment.