Helping Children

Thank you for your excellent editorial, “Stop Making Excuses, Sign It” (Jan. 7), in which you urge the President to honor the findings of the United Nations and pledge commitment to the sick and hungry children of the world, including hundreds of thousands in our own country.

When President Bush, in his “gentler and kinder” mode, refused to sign the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, our country was shamed before all humankind.

When Bush defended his unwillingness to cooperate with the United Nations, using the callous excuse that it didn’t include provision for the execution of children (at a time when all civilized nations are turning away from the barbarism of capital punishment), we were doubly shamed.

GRACE EHLMANN, North Hollywood