Letters To The Editor

FIREARMS

Right things done for wrong reason

I am impressed with our elected officials in Washington. In light of the recent Columbine tragedy, they have discovered newfound resolve to adopt new gun control legislation.

The underlying issues that led to Columbine have nothing to do with guns. Why can’t they figure this out by themselves?

I do not own a gun, will never own a gun nor do I support the National Rifle Association. The root of all NRA rhetoric is based on a literal interpretation of the Constitution. Anyone who bases their beliefs on a historical document without considering the context in which it was written is simply a fool.

I do not disagree with any of the legislation that was passed. But, their actions are only an easy way to gain points in public opinion polls. I find it appalling. Is it too much for me to expect the elected officials of this country to actually pass legislation because they feel that it will deal with a problem, instead of simply appeasing the public? J.L. Minnerly Spokane

Gun control laws just so much folly

I’m writing to protest the political propaganda printed in your newspaper, particularly the cartoons that characterize the news media. A couple cases in point are the cartoon recently published blaming the NRA for the Littleton school violence and the May 21 cartoon showing an automobile and a teenager with a shotgun and pistol.

We know that if a license were required to use a pistol or rifle, all the violence would stop.

If the media want to pick on an industry that takes thousands of lives a year, why not the auto industry? If we outlawed the automobile, think how many lives we could save. Alcohol is a factor in many of these accidents, so why not blame the liquor industry for the loss of lives?

The NRA has taught more gun safety courses and trained more police officers than any other organization in the country. This training has saved more lives than any gun control law will ever save. Those who want guns to commit crimes will always have guns. Restrictive laws only penalize law-abiding citizens and violate the Constitution.

Gun control laws are a contradiction. We cannot pass effective laws to control inanimate objects. The Second Amendment gives citizens the right to protect their lives and to possess the necessary arms to do so. The real problem is not guns; it’s the lack of character of those committing crimes and lack of enforcement of existing laws. The right to self-protection does not come from government or the Constitution; it’s an inalienable right from God. Gun control laws are only an attempt to violate rights over which government officials have no authority. Wayne H. Sommers Hayden Lake

Want to be as helpless as a Kosovar?

After the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., President Bill Clinton and his allies began their attack on the gun industry and those who exercise their constitutional right to firearm ownership. Rather than passing tougher laws on those who use a firearm in the commission of a crime, anti-gunners continue to point the finger at responsible gun owners.

In fact, the federal government refuses to prosecute many of the criminals who do engage in the illegal use of firearms. It seems as though the existing laws need to be enforced before creating new ones.

In light of the current anti-gun efforts, a person need only look at the situation in Kosovo to observe true gun control in action. The Kosovar Albanians are a minority within the nation of Yugoslavia and, as we know, the majority Serbians have instituted a brutal campaign of terror against them to take their land.

The Kosovar people begged the United States and Western nations for small arms so that they could have the ability to defend their homes and villages. But Clinton refused to send such assistance to the Kosovars, stating that such action would only escalate the violence. Instead, Clinton offered the services of NATO to protect them. By all accounts, the slaughter of these unarmed people has only intensified during NATO’s involvement, and the gun control boycott enacted by the Western nations has been one of the leading causes. William Dehler Davenport

Now, about what Constitution says

In his May 23 Bottom Lines column, Jim Kershner posed the question: “Doesn’t it say right there in the Constitution, `No law shall infringe on the right to hold big ol’ honking gun shows’?”

It sure does! Amendment I: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion … or the right of the people peaceably to assemble.

A question for Kershner: If the Second Amendment does not cover modern militia-type weapons (the so-called assault weapons), does it not follow that the First Amendment does not cover modern instruments used to carry speech (radio, TV, computers, the Internet, fax machines, etc.) and the modern version of the press?

The power of modern militia-type weapons may not have been anticipated by the framers of the Bill of Rights, but the same can be said for the power of modern means of communication.

However, to paraphrase a famous saying, it’s the principle, stupid. Francis E. Kent Four Lake, Wash.

BELIEFS

Faith shouldn’t be you testing God

Re: “Parents are charged after stings kill child” (May 11). Parents waited seven hours to call for medical assistance after their 2-year-old boy was stung by yellowjackets over 400 times. Why? They are members of a small religious group that shuns medical treatment.

I believe in miracles and that faith in God combined with personal determination can move mountains and cause the Earth to shake. Faith is an integral part of my day-to-day life. It makes me who I am, shapes the way I live, even changes my actions. But it shouldn’t prevent my actions, it should work through my actions.

The power of faith is lost if no action is taken by you or others. Faith inspires deeds; it doesn’t make them. Faith alone cannot be relied upon to save a child in dire peril when paramedics are a phone call away.

Why jeopardize one of the greatest gifts we possess to put God to a test? Have we not already been given so much more than we deserve, to now ask God to make miracles happen while we sit and watch? The answers to these questions are: we shouldn’t and no.

So how long would your faith alone have lasted? Seven hours or seven seconds? Zeke J. Maloney, age 16 Spokane

Godlessness is a menacing proposition

Capital punishment is the solution of the loving God of the Bible to spare humanity the terror of the countless murders we’re seeing today. “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” (Genesis 9:6)

But even the threat of capital punishment would not have stopped the boys in Colorado from committing their hateful crimes on others, for they took their own lives as well. Why not? I believe the last part of the verse tells us.

“For in the image of God made he man.”

I wonder if those boys knew they were created in the image of God, or that their victim were God’s creations as well? Did they understand that being created by God carries the responsibility to learn about him and submit to him? Did they know they’ll one day be judged by the same God who created them? Had they been told that God loved them and made a plan to redeem them from their sinful condition?

If Columbine High School is like the majority of American public schools, they wouldn’t have gained this knowledge there. Instead, they’d have been taught they’re just a higher form of animal, free to decide what’s right or wrong for themselves, with no eternal consequences either way.

If I were a public schoolteacher, I’d feel much more secure about my own life and the lives of my students if I was able to teach them the truth about God’s loving commands and fearful judgments. Candy Turner Newman Lake

Turn away from God, you find grief

Society wonders what has brought on the slaughter occurring in our schools. It started when Madalyn Murray O’Hair told us to eliminate prayer in our schools and we said,OK.

Then someone said, “You cannot read the Bible in school,” and we said, OK. Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children because their egos would be damaged and we said, OK. Someone added that school officials mustn’t discipline children, the courts upheld lawsuits against these officials and we said,OK.

Then someone said, “Let’s give our sons and daughters all the condoms they want. They can say no to drugs but not to sex. And when all else fails, let’s give our daughters abortions whenever they want and we won’t even tell their parents.” And we said OK.

Then our top officials violated all standards of morality, saying, “What we do in private is nobody’s concern.” And we said, “As long as I have a job and the economy is good, it doesn’t matter what they do - this, too, is OK.

So why don’t our children have a conscience? Why don’t they know right from wrong? Why doesn’t it bother them to kill? Primarily, the failure of humanity today is a disdain for God’s word and discipline. Wake up, America! We have choices to make right now but the status-quo rhetoric being heard doesn’t contain the answers. Only the Bible does. Read it. Larry T. Vosen Post Falls

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Changing mascots a small courtesy

I was sorry to see Doug Clark make light of objections to Native American mascot names. No doubt, he’d identify me squarely as a member of the so-called SS (Sensitivity Squad) but I believe this issue is hardly just a matter of political correctness.

Native Americans have made clear their feelings that these mascot names are disrespectful and demeaning. Why do we need to know more than that to honor their request that these names and symbols be laid to rest, just as insulting stereotypes of African Americans have already been cast aside? Where is the sacrifice?

If my alma mater, Cornell University, gave up its bear mascot, would my degree somehow be devalued? Would past and current achievements of our athletes and scholars be diminished? Would the friendships I formed there suddenly lose their meaning?

Finally, in a time when we’ve all been forced to acknowledge that petty cruelties and exclusions can ultimately provoke deadly outbursts of pent-up rage, why would we reject such a simple way to affirm our inclusivity? Surely, respect for the dignity of others is a basic human value which can hardly be reduced to political correctness. Florence R. Brassier Spokane

White males, whining is unbecoming

I’ve noticed a spate of letters from white males claiming to be maligned, persecuted, beaten up and downtrodden.

Yeah, right! In plain English, I fear many of us have become a cult of whiners! White-male whining seems to have become an art form.

Let’s examine some facts. First, all our presidents have been European-Americans of the male variety - white males.Moreover, all their vice presidents have been white males. Check out the composition of the U.S. Supreme Court. With only a handful of exceptions, they’ve been white males.

But that’s not all. We know that throughout history, the U. S. Congress has been dominated by white males, as have the ranks of the Fortune-500 CEOs. Examine the statistics regarding who earns the most money in this country and you’ll find it to be no contest in favor of - guess who? Yep, we white males win that one, too.

Some of the letter writers whined about pride. I’d argue that when you have that kind of power, maybe pride comes automatically. Why bother to prance around in T-shirts with white pride slogans? It goes with the territory. These white male whiners are giving us a bad name. Enough, already! Bruce M. Mitchell Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Don’t shortchange veterans

As we honor our fallen heroes on Memorial Day, it is a bitter irony that the federal budget shortchanges America’s sick and disabled veterans.

Although the spending blueprint recently passed by Congress added $1.7 billion to the president’s request, it falls far short of what’s needed to provide quality health care service to sick and disabled veterans. According to the independent budget, developed by Veterans of Foreign Wars, an additional $3 billion above current levels is needed to prevent a disaster that threatens the lives and health of veterans and reneges on this nation’s promise to generations of veterans.

The only way to end the crisis in veterans health care is for every one of us veterans and non-veterans to write or call our U.S. senators and representatives in Washington, toll-free at (800) 722-7494. Tell them to do what’s right and support full federal funding for veterans programs. Don’t sell out America’s veterans.

A Memorial Day rally at the Spokane VA Medical Center to end the crisis in veterans health care will take place at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Military veterans and supporters will carry hand-painted placards protesting drastic cuts in our nations veterans health care. Ben Keeley, supervisor Kootenai County Veterans Service Office

Communists still seek world takeover

I am so angry about what’s happening to America and what our politicians are allowing to happen, I can barely think straight. I’m most angry about what’s happening to our national security.

Don’t let anyone tell you “communism is dead.” It didn’t die with the breakup of the Soviet Union or the fall of the Berlin Wall. It just went deep underground.

Do you really believe Russia is destroying its nuclear weapons as we are? Do you really believe they aren’t manufacturing nuclear weapons? Do we want peace so badly that we’ll believe anything they tell us? Do we really believe that just because they signed a treaty, they won’t break it?

Communism is a lie and those who adhere to it are liars.

Add this up: Chinese money to a presidential campaign plus Chinese theft of American nuclear secrets, plus a Chinese takeover of the Panama Canal Zone next year, plus downsizing our military, plus smaller and smaller budget for our military and intelligence agencies each year equals America’s downfall.

I’d rather deal with the devil than be weakened and overthrown from within by those who call themselves American but whose only agenda is one world government. We are allowing this to happen by thinking only of ourselves and our pocketbook (which is getting smaller for most of us) by not looking at and asking for credentials of those who are in government (or would like to be). And most of all, by not voting.

It’s time to think of America first. Linda Childers Veradale

THE ENVIRONMENT

Damage still outstrips protection need

The problem of deforestation has been around for quite a while, yet people continue to ignore it.

I realize lumber is vital to the survival of the Pacific Northwest but do not feel the timber industry has taken enough responsibility for the damage it has done. According to Robert L. Peters and Reed F. Noss of the Defenders, the Northwest has lost over 90 percent of its ancient forests, which contain an estimated 3,500 plant species, 280 of which, including a tree containing possibly the most effective cancer-treating agent ever, are found nowhere else. Animals such as the spotted owl and Chinook salmon are in danger of perishing if logging does not stop.

The clearcutting of forests has many other consequences. Emissions cause pollution and health risks, which can prove devastating to both people and the environment. Some consequences are irreversible. New forest can be planted but they are strangely uniform. Much of the life that once existed in the forests of the Pacific Northwest can never be recovered.

There are solutions to this predicament but we must initiate them now. The industry has been doing better, currently using 99 percent of every tree it cuts down, but there is still quite a long way to go. As I see it, the best way to save our dwindling forests is for the people of the Northwest to become more aware of growing problems. Knowledge is power and with that power, solutions will come. Alicia A. Blasingame Spokane

Spoiled interests act out again

Re: “ Industries benefit us all”

What Bob Bluto (Letters, May 22) means by “the benefits of true multiple use” of our state and federal lands is that he and his cronies get a number of benefits.

They get roads built for them by the Forest Service at taxpayer expense. They get resources for themselves that belong to all of us - at prices that would scandalize a con artist, then proceed to sell their subsidized gains at the highest price the market will bear. They do this while intoning mantras about competing in a free market system.

Spare me.

The truth is, they’ve been living on entitlements for so long as to come to expect them as their due. And as far as protestations about clean air, water and the sanctity of nature are concerned, one may as well believe the assertion that tobacco doesn’t cause cancer. B.R. Hume Mead