Bible article – of irony, offense

It is interesting and disturbing to read (Skagit Valley Herald, June 28) that China, an “atheist nation” as your headline triumphantly claims, is now the leading publisher of “The Word.” For those Herald readers who are outside the cognoscenti of organized religion, that phrase refers to the variously translated and creatively rewritten Judeo-Christian Bible, both parts.

Many will savor the irony of this and see it as real progress, whichever version of the Bible the masses come to read. Yet the worldwide increase in spirituality and religiosity, at the expense of reason, science and rationality, bodes ill for the future of our 6 billion fellows — and we are increasing soon to nearly twice that number, before our population levels off.

By the way, your headline using “The Word” likely was offensive to the handful of Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists residing here in Skagit County.

Bill Burley
Mount Vernon


Of contraception failures, abortions

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Every violation of the truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but it is a stab at the health of human society.”

In Mr. Larry Edward’s June 14 letter, he disseminates a myth popular among pro-abortionists. That is that the use of birth control lowers the number of unplanned pregnancies and, therefore, the number of abortions. At least superficially, this claim appears reasonable; yet spanning the past 50 years, there have been a number of studies that refute this lie.

In fact, in 1955, Dr. Alfred Kinsey, when speaking to Planned Parenthood employees, stated: “At the risk of being repetitious, I would remind the group that we have found the highest frequency of induced abortion in the group which in general, most frequently uses contraceptives.”

It has long been common knowledge that those who have unplanned pregnancies tend to be those who have abortions. Planned Parenthood’s solution is to provide more and more contraceptives.

Yet in a 1991 letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Federation of America clearly states the reason for the overwhelming majority of unplanned pregnancies: “More than 3 million unplanned pregnancies occur each year to American women; two-thirds of these are due to contraceptive failure.”

So, this means that out of 1.5 million surgical abortions performed in the United States each year, 1.1 million are the result of the failure of birth control devices.

Despite the evidence that more contraception does not equal fewer abortions, Mr. Edwards and his pro-abortion comrades grotesquely continue to promote increases in failed tactics and pander to Planned Parenthood.

Margaret Barton
Anacortes


Let’s move on Indian act now, too

Citizens who believe in our Constitution — whether or not one of the 3 million members of the National Rifle Association — can thank the NRA and President Bush for the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment ruling on guns and our rights to own them.

Bush’s pick of two impeccable judges, John Roberts and Samuel Alito, should end more than 200 years of debates. Unarmed homes may sleep better now, while armed criminals may think twice before breaking in.

It took 88 years after ratification of Article XIII to free slaves and those in involuntary servitude; 77 years after Article XIV, making all persons born or naturalized in the United States citizens; 93 years for voting eligibility for certain nationalities and skin colors; 88 years for women to vote; and 37 years to lower the voting age to 18.

The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 and Article XVI made Indians equal citizens to vote, hold offices, pay taxes, etc. It couldn’t be clearer, “Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”

Voters, don’t you think 95 years of “freebies” is enough for any mistreatments the early Indians may have had by the pioneers? We the people have the power at election time! Our Constitution is with us!

We don’t need another amendment of three-fourths Congress. Just vote out of office every politician who has taken money from tribes and voted for their freebies, which we are paying for! Vote in only ones who swear to get this unequalness corrected by our Supreme Court.

Lloyd Loop
Bow


Top-two’s unintended consequences

After the Supreme Court found Washington’s hallowed “open primary” unconstitutional, the Washington State Grange promoted several other electoral schemes. (Why the Grange dabbles in electoral procedures remains a mystery.) 

One scheme that finally met constitutional muster allows only the top-two vote-getters in the primary to advance to the general election — regardless of party.  Primary candidates will be listed on the ballot without a party label — only the candidate’s stated party “preference” or none.

Previously, the Democratic and Republican parties held off making their endorsements until after the primary voters had winnowed the field to one candidate per party. Primary winners of all parties then advanced to the general election.

But consider this scenario: In the primary, the Democrats get 60 percent of the vote, which is divided pretty equally among six Democratic candidates; the GOP splits its 40 percent of the vote between just two candidates, giving each 20 percent compared to each Democrat having only 16 percent. Two Republicans would advance to the general election even though 60 percent of the primary votes went to Democrats.

Democratic and Republican parties will, therefore, strive to limit the number of their primary candidates to one — or possibly two — so at least one of their own makes the top two. This will effectively limit voter choice in the primaries.

In heavily Democratic or Republican districts, the two finalists on the general ballot may well be of the same party.  Minority party candidates — Libertarian, Green, independent — will not be able to play a pivotal “spoiler” role in state general elections like Nader and Perot have nationally.

 If “top-two” promoters were trying to increase the clout of ticket-splitting independent voters in partisan elections, that attempt has backfired. The Law of Unintended Consequences has asserted itself once again.

Larry Edwards
Burlington


Keyed van over bumper sticker?

My husband and I parked in Sedro-Woolley recently to see the carvers. Wonderful art!

I have three bumper stickers on my car. One says, “Vote! It’s not illegal yet!” Another says, “Those who ignore history are doomed to vote Republican.” And the last one says, “Being nice to everyone is a very good idea.”

Which one of those upset someone enough to key my van?

So much for the idea of free speech!

Diane Falk
Sedro-Woolley


Obama’s change not right kind

I’m Barack Hussein Obama, your leader as a Democrat, and you can believe, I will initiate changes as you’ve never known.

Who I am will be revealed and enthusiastically accepted by Democrats. Conservatives will question bigger government; nationalization of our energy companies, health care and transportation; and a diminishing response to terror and those who encourage it.

With Obama, and his vocal wife, America will certainly experience promised change. Perhaps some of these changes will be influenced by the Obama family’s 20 years of exposure to their former church.

From Obama’s book, “Audacity of Hope,” there is a profound exclamation: “I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”

In his earlier book, “Dreams of My Father,” it’s stated, “I ceased to advertise my mother’s race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites. I found a solace in nursing a permissive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother’s race.”

Changes in politics may arouse questions and reluctance of some to accept Obama’s version of good and evil. This can be understood if one comprehends the promised consequences.

It is a historic moment for Democrats to choose a black man to run for the White House. Obama, with or without Clinton as his running mate, will have to explain his version of difference between diplomacy and appeasement, and what America will achieve in improved security by withdrawing our military too soon.

Our nation’s future should not be based on a social experiment that is expected to increase government, manipulate the natural order of supply and demand, and create an unnatural solution to longer term successful global economics.

John Wilkinson
Anacortes


Third Bush term with McCain

If there were any question that John McCain is Bush’s third term, consider that he has hired Steve Schmidt, a close associate of Karl Rove to be his new campaign head. Bush’s communication director, Nicolle Wallace is joining the McCain campaign, along with Greg Jenkins who worked for Rove and was also a Fox news producer.

Look for the McCain campaign to become increasingly dirty. I almost feel sorry for Sen. McCain; he’s lost his ability to run his own campaign on a higher plain. Mr. Rove’s influence will ensure that high-mindedness will immediately be sacrificed.

The “flip flop” accusations Rove and company used against Sen. Kerry are already beginning to surface again. Two words from a 45-minute Obama speech in Fargo, N.D. were immediately blown out of context and sent to media outlets. Those outlets ran with the story that Obama had changed his position on ending the Iraq war without bothering to fact check.

If one lies loudly enough, media don’t bother fact checking and only print innuendo and lies.

Leslie Krous
Anacortes


Letter would be good teaching tool

Were I still teaching, I would use the letter, “Our enemies have no qualms” by Mr. Hammons, as an example of how one can use purposely limited examples and outright factual errors to create an erroneous conclusion. In his discussion of international use of torture, he failed to reveal that the guidelines being used for U.S. torture were based on the Chinese, who used torture to get false confessions for propaganda purposes.

To analyze the issues raised by those of us who protest on different street corners, I would have my students look at the slogans and to try to develop an understanding of the issues.

I suspect they’d learn that many of those who protest this war are combat veterans. They might learn that the slogan “Support our Troops” is an attempt to keep people from protesting the war. We all should protest the administration’s lack of support for combat equipment and veterans’ benefits.

I don’t think it would take long for my students to understand that Mr. Hammons has a different set of criteria for military service for Democrats than for Republicans. They’d discover that all four Kennedy’s served in the military and that Joe Kennedy died in WWII. They would be able to analyze the different accounts of Kerry’s combat, differentiating between those who were there and those who were not.

Also, these young people may wonder why the author failed to point out that the vice president “had better things to do” than serve.

As an educator, I would ask my students to rely on original sources and analyze the objectives of those presenting arguments, including their teacher, and draw their own conclusions. I can see this statement on my classroom wall, “Debate is only honest if it fairly uses facts.”

Vince Sellen
Anacortes