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
STATE FAILED TO KEEP PROMISE TO KIDS
In February 2005, state Sen. Larry Bomke sent
a letter to my daughter, Mariya, congratulating her on being
“an Illinois State Scholar finalist.”
In May 2005, Mariya was sent a certificate
recognizing her “outstanding performance in the 2005-06
Illinois State Scholarship Program competition.”
In July 2005, Mariya was sent a letter stating
that although she had qualified for the “2005-06 Merit
Recognition Scholarship (MRS) program, she would not be receiving
this scholarship.” The letter stated that the Illinois
General Assembly had failed to fund the MRS program in the 2005
fiscal budget. As parents, we ask out children to strive for
excellence, to pay all the debts they incur, and to make good on
all of their promises. How do we justify the actions of the
representatives of our Illinois state government when they fail to
uphold their promises or to make good on their implied debts to our
children? I understand that 6,000 Illinois students have qualified
under the 2005-06 MRS program, just like Mariya. If the state
representatives are going to fail to provide for the program, it
would be better not to have promised these students merit
scholarships. Laura L. Ratz Springfield
CENTER PLAN IMPERILS GREEN SPACE
As a homeowner who lives within the Oak Ridge
Neighborhood Association’s boundaries, I want to thank the
Salvation Army for clarifying that just one aspect of its proposed
community center on the J. David Jones Parkway is a homeless shelter.
However, is this the best location for this state-of-the-art facility? Has the Salvation Army considered the impact
of the traffic, noise, and congestion that this 15,000-square-foot
center, associated facilities, and parking areas will bring to this
seven acres of open space? It is my understanding that this
proposed complex will take up all of the green space that is right
across the street from where our state honors our military veterans
in Oak Ridge Cemetery. Has the Salvation Army considered the peace
and serenity that is taking away from this area?
The J. David Jones Parkway is one of the most
beautiful gateways into Springfield. As a parkway, it was intended
to be just that! Building the Salvation Army facility here will
take away seven acres of green space from one of our most scenic
and welcoming entrances to our city.
Judy Donath Springfield
THANKS FOR SIX YEARS OF LAUGHS
Springfield, in your great town, you have a
comedy club that is celebrating its sixth year of business. Your
local club is talked about all over the country, by comedians and
agents, on how well it is run and the kindness of its customers.
Just this past year it was the backdrop in a VH1 special feature
shown all over the country. Don Bassford’s commitment to
comedy for your town is unbelievable; many club owners would have
closed. He has spent more than $1 million in fees and expenses over
the years to bring Springfield the best, even still, paying on
losing weekends. Congratulations, Funny Bone Springfield —
may your support grow for another six years. David Carlow Executive vice president Funny Bone Entertainment St. Louis
RECENT CARTOON WAS OFFENSIVE
Why did you decide to ridicule us
hearing-impaired people [Mark Stern, “Springpatch,”
Sept. 22]? What did we do to offend you? What is next on your
agenda, tipping over wheelchairs or setting fire to the tails of
guide dogs? Blair Whitney Springfield
THE LESSON OF NEW ORLEANS
In the Gilded Age, robber barons justified
their riches by invoking “social Darwinism.” The
current rash of “industrialists” holds a similar
ideology. It all amounts to the same thing: more for the rich and
less for the poor. The poor are considered undeserving, and the
rich attempt to justify their riches by arguing that they are
somehow better than the rest of us. This kind of thing can lead to
revolutions.
According to conservative ideologues, the
federal government is only useful when it pads the pockets of the
fat cats through war profiteering (as in Iraq), when invoking the
false god of “supply-side economics” (as in tax cuts
for the rich), or in abolishing the estate tax or the capital-gains
tax. But it has no use in rescuing people from imminent peril and
economic hardship. The rest of us be damned!
Beni Kitching Springfield
IDEAS TO CUT BIG OIL’S PROFITS
Until we Americans take practical, everyday
steps to control our dependence on oil, oil companies will continue
to generate astronomical record profits. Here are several ideas as to what we can do to
decrease our seemingly insatiable oil appetite. First, if we live
close enough to our work locations, we can commute by bicycle.
Second, if we live farther away, we can carpool. Third, local bus
services could set up routes from a 50- to 60-mile radius and
provide rides. Fourth, the governor could have certain state
workers work four-day weeks or provide computer access to allow
others to work from their homes. Fifth, the governor could put the
state’s school districts on four-day school weeks for a
couple of months. Sixth, we can all plan our trips, whether short
or long, better and more productively. Seventh, we can all drive
the speed limit. I’m sure there are many more ideas that
need consideration. If we will work together, we will make a
difference. Chris Babb Rochester
TEACHING SUPERSTITION AS SCIENCE
A recent letter by Jerry Collins claimed that
“intelligent design” is a scientific concept
[“Letters,” Sept. 15]. The letter stated that it is
scientific to believe that living organisms were designed by an unspecified being, that it is unscientific to
accept evolution because it can’t be observed, and that the
probability of life arising from nonliving matter is “effectively
zero.” In science, there is a concept called the
“rule of parsimony.” The rule of parsimony provides
that when more than one explanation is proposed for a
scientifically observed phenomenon, one is to accept the simplest
explanation that fits the observations. Any theory that
necessitates the existence of one or more incredibly knowledgeable
and incredibly capable supernatural beings, which must perform
incredibly complex tasks for comparatively mundane results, will
always be the most complex theory proposed and will always fail the
rule of parsimony. Barring actual observations of the incredible
efforts of the incredibly knowledgeable and incredibly capable
supernatural beings, explanations that only require natural
processes will always be simpler and more scientific. It is unscientific to suggest that living
organisms must have been created by incredibly knowledgeable and
incredibly capable supernatural beings because humans have only
been around for thousands of years. As in many other aspects of
life, humans are capable of using artifacts to understand
scientific principles (that is, when was the last time you saw
gravity?). Biologists have fossils, the genetic code, and
morphological similarities of living organisms to use in studying
evolution. By comparison, “intelligent-design”
proponents have no such artifacts and no observations of any living
organism’s being created by incredibly knowledgeable and
incredibly capable supernatural beings. The claim that the probability of
life’s arising from nonliving matter is effectively zero is
meaningless. The phrase “effectively zero” is not
defined or derived from scientific research. Since we are not aware
of the exact conditions needed for the formation of
self-replicating molecules, any claims about the probability of the
conditions existing are ignorant speculation.
“Intelligent design” is not
science. It is religious mythology and superstition repackaged as
science to skirt the constitutional prohibition against using the
public schools for the establishment of a government-sponsored
religion. William Zierath Petersburg
CORRECTION
The last sentence of Dusty Rhodes’
column in the Sept. 29 issue was “So maybe he [the editor]
won’t mind that I wrote this column — while’s
he’s on vacation.” Part of the sentence was omitted in
the print edition. Illinois Times regrets the error.
This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 5, 2005.
