Letters policy
We welcome letters, but please include your full name, address and a daytime
telephone number. We edit all letters for libel, length and clarity.
Send letters to: Letters, Illinois Times. P.O. Box 5256. Springfield, Illinois
62705. Fax: (217) 753-3958. E-mail: editor@illinoistimes.com
AGAINST TAX BREAKS TO WEALTHY
Nice job on the Wal-Mart piece explaining how
vast its wealth is — the 29th-richest country [Kera Abraham,
“Going green,” July 21]! When you put it like that,
then it makes sense to really hold them to the fire for thwarting a
citizen’s right to form a union, paying poverty-level wages,
and treating women like slaves. Whatever happened to that right to
form a union, anyway?
In regards to [Wal-Mart’s plan] to
protect a wildlife refuge for every concrete sprawl they throw up,
it puts me in mind of the tax breaks that have recently drained our
social-service system. It is so cute, the way Springfieldians share
their tax breaks: We are just hoping that the people with all the
power and money do the right thing, but it is kind of like hoping
someone who owns a gun will use it responsibly. There is no
guarantee that if you give someone a pile of money, they will make
sure worthy causes will be supported and maintained.
Anne Logue
Springfield
NO WONDER WE’RE BEWILDERED
The recent Supreme Court decisions regarding
separation of church and state have confused the issue further. It
would be impossible to discuss the divergent opinions regarding
this issue in a letter. Suffice it to say the court’s varied,
and often confusing, interpretations of that part of the First
Amendment have most American citizens shaking their heads in
bewilderment.
Various polls show that approximately 86
percent of Americans believe in God. Therefore, why is there such a controversy about
the display of the Ten Commandments?
When attempting to interpret the intent of
our country’s forefathers regarding separation of church and
state, the decisions by the Supreme Court seem hypocritical. The
building that houses the U.S. Supreme Court has, near the top of
the building, several figures; one is Moses, and he is holding the
Ten Commandments. The doors of the courtroom of the Supreme Court
have the Ten Commandments engraved on the lower portion of each
door. On the wall above where the Supreme Court judges sit is a
display of the Ten Commandments. There are Bible verses etched in
stone on federal buildings and monuments throughout Washington,
D.C.
James Madison stated, “We have staked
the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of
mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of
us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves
according to the Ten Commandments of God.”
Thomas Jefferson worried that the courts
would overstep their authority and instead of interpreting the law
would begin making law. He feared the “rule of a few over
many.”
We are a nation in which the majority of its
citizens believe in God. Are we now to do away with all public
display and proclamation of the majority’s religious belief
because a few are offended? Considering the recent Supreme Court
decisions regarding separation of church and state, are we now to
believe the previous justices’ interpretation was wrong?
Thomas Jefferson’s fear is becoming a
reality as a result of not only the court’s separation of
church and state decisions but many other decisions that negate and
limit the constitutional rights of American citizens. Now one and
soon two justices will be appointed to the Supreme Court. The
individuals selected will either be instrumental in returning the court to its basic
goal of strictly interpreting the Constitution or they will join the
other justices in exceeding their constitutional authority by making
law rather than judging the constitutionality of existing laws.
We pray God will not only bless America, but
save her.
John D. Kolaz
Springfield
THE END IS STILL COMING
The U.S. Supreme Court made a judgment to
throw out the Ten Commandments in a courthouse in 2005!
The God of Israel won’t be mocked. The
reason that most of the United States is in a drought and
earthquakes are happening in 2005 is the wrath and judgment of the
God of Israel against the United States. The God of Israel made the
U.S. Supreme Court and out of their ignorance of the law; not
allowing God’s Ten Commandments in the courthouses will
destroy the moral law of the land!
In the next two years, if the U.S. Supreme
Court rules in favor of man instead of God, the people of the
United States will suffer the most since the birth of our nation.
There will be financial, physical, spiritual, moral, and natural
disasters suffered in the United States, valley-of-dry-bones land!
The God of Israel is warning us in the weather changes and birth
pangs of planet Earth’s natural disasters, moaning and
groaning for the Supreme Court’s stupidity!
May the God of Israel have mercy on the
United States of America!
George Culley
Pinckneyville
THREE LITTLE WORDS
There are three little words that are
continually overlooked in the fetal-stem-cell debate: It
doesn’t work.
The fetal-stem-cell groups have floated all
kinds of hopeful come-ons to get government grants because they
can’t raise private money to fund their research. Why not?
It’s simple: No results. Fetal-stem-cell research has not
produced one cure or therapy to date, not even in lab rats.
The private sector wants to see invested
capital producing useful results. Governments, on the other hand,
are notorious for not caring about end products. All that seems to
matter to them is that they can be seen as doing something, taking
action, making a stand. Results don’t matter because nobody
checks.
My advice to Gov. Rod Blagojevich is to stop
wasting our money on bankrupt research just so you can look good.
Dennis Driscoll
Round Lake
GOVERNOR BYPASSES THE LEGISLATURE
Gov. Rod Blagojevich has shocked me again. He
has signed an executive order authorizing the use of Illinois tax
dollars to pay for experimentation — excuse me, “research” — on human embryos.
He has authorized $10 million for embryonic stem-cell experimentation
and human cloning. Attempts to pass legislation to fund embryonic
stem-cell “research” have failed to pass the
Democratic-controlled General Assembly the last two sessions. So he
just signed an executive order and went around the General Assembly.
Is this a pattern? Well, it might seem so. I
was stunned when Blagojevich ignored Illinois law and ordered
pharmacists to dispense the morning-after pill. This was
unbelievably disrespectful of the ethical beliefs held by many
pharmacists. It is hard to imagine a governor who is so callous
that he would force a person to choose between leaving his job (and
this state) or dispensing megadoses of female hormones that might
kill a new embryo.
Blagojevich is bypassing the legislative
process in the General Assembly. This smells like the work of a
dictator instead of a governor!
Holly Rich
Quincy
JUDGING JOHN ROBERTS
The American people, along with their
senators, should support President George W. Bush in his nomination
of Judge John Roberts for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court not just
because the president says so but also because Roberts is a worthy
and valid candidate. Study up on this man and see why he
deserves our support. I believe he holds the same principles and
morals as I. I respect someone who not only believes that way but
chooses to stand up for what he believes in. He has my support. Let
others know he has yours!
Lauren Hughes
Charleston
“DO NOTHING NOW, COMPLAIN LATER”
Why do the historic do-gooders wait to get
excited only after a building is in shambles and on the destroy
list? If they would just direct their efforts sooner, but I
guess their philosophy is “do nothing now, but complain
later.” It’s not their time, effort or money, and
they sure don’t have much — if any — of a record
in actually accomplishing what they espouse.
F. N. Ross
Rochester
EVOLUTION AND SEX EDUCATION
How can some people can argue that
Intelligent Design ought to be taught in our schools (“in the
interest of getting all the facts out there and letting the
students decide what to believe”), but then take exactly the
opposite argument about “teaching all the facts” of
family planning and birth control (“that’s a topic best
left for the family to teach”). If “all the
facts” are beneficial and productive for one purpose,
they’re equally beneficial for the other.
Tim Slack
Newburgh, Ind.
This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 3, 2005.
