Thursday, March 13, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Letters

School Board prayer

vote irresponsible

In 1992 the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of Lee vs. Weissman, declared that prayer at a high school graduation is unconstitutional. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his majority opinion in that case that the "Constitution forbids the state to exact conformity from a student as the price of attending her own high school graduation." In a later case, (Santa Fe Independent School District) the Supreme Court said that such prayer is unconstitutional even if led by a student.

Last week, the Clark County School Board irresponsibly voted to continue to violate the law by allowing student-led prayer at high school graduations.

By its vote, the School Board has decided to pursue a policy that is illegal and will cost the district millions of dollars as it loses federal funding and faces a certain loss in an expensive court battle. But even worse, the School Board's action is morally reprehensible because it forces public school children to face school-condoned prayer that may be in conflict with their beliefs.

The only argument that can be used to support prayer in schools or at graduation ceremonies is that "this is a nation of believers and those that don't believe as we do should keep quiet."

The United States is the most religiously diverse country in the world. While some polls show the nonreligious as ranking as high as 40 million, even the most conservative Gallup Poll estimate of those who do not profess a belief in God amounted to 14 million people. That's about the same amount as the U.S. Jewish and Muslim populations combined. Clearly those so-called "nonbelievers," even by a conservative estimate, are a substantial minority.

Our country has a rich and honorable history of protecting the rights and interests of minorities. The very fabric of our government was woven with this in mind. We all can think of notable exceptions to that rule, but I ask, why create another?

Our School Board should reconsider its vote and provide an example of legality and morality to the children it is supposed to represent.

--Mel Lipman,

President,

American Humanist Association

Goldberg riles

the Scientologists

Tod Goldberg's article ["Crap-free Diet," March 6] contains: "There's an entire book and worldwide cult that prescribes to this particular way of life, sort of like a weight-loss Scientology..."

As a Scientologist for more than 30 years, I simply am commenting that it was a cheap shot at an organization that has been in the forefront of protecting the rights of citizens in the U.S. and throughout the world since its founding nearly 50 years ago. A few examples:

WTC NYC firefighters and emergency response personnel are having spectacular results on completing the Hubbard Detox Program based on L. Ron Hubbard's R&D in biochemistry. More than 100 NYC emergency workers have completed this program, and approximately 400 more will be starting.

The life improvement tools developed by Mr. Hubbard can be used by any person. Scientologists were instrumental in geting the Freedom of Information Act passed in the U.S. (and other countries). Composed of people of all faiths, Scientology has a long-standing commitment to protecting ALL religions. From its first day of existence, its goal was and remains the protection of human rights.

So that there be no misunderstanding, I am not a staff member of any Church of Scientology organization, nor of any organization that is licensed to use Mr. Hubbard's technologies. I am simply a businessman who came across Goldberg's article and wanted to comment.

In this very difficult time, please accept my best wishes to you, your family and all your staff.

--David Barrington,

Reading, Pa.

Conspiracy kook

discovers Mercury

The Council of the Americas/Council of Foreign Relations' Free Trade Area of the America (FTAA) game plan calls for transforming the Western Hemisphere along the same lines as the European Union, ultimately merging the U.S. and the other hemispheric nations under an EU-style supranational government, with a single currency, a central bank--and no internal borders. In other words, it would be an end to sovereignty; an end to our national independence; an end to our Constitution, our form of government, our way of life.

As in the EU, FTAA "citizens" will be able to migrate between member states without restriction; efforts to stem the illegal alien flood will be rendered not only impossible but also illegal.

Do the vast majority of Americans have even the slightest inkling of the vast, radical, destructive changes the FTAA will foist on them? Of course not! Like Europe's unsuspecting peoples entering the EU 45 years ago (it was then known as the Common Market), they are walking blindly into a trap. The EU architects knew precisely that the "free trade" organizations they were setting up would indeed end up as the centralized supranational, increasing tyrannical government it is today.

--Michael Zufelt

Why did Bush help

bin Laden family flee?

The man who brought down the towers and who President Bush solemnly promised to find and bring to justice is still loose. Why has Mr. Bush shifted our attention away to Iraq, a country that did not attack us? Even more puzzling, why did President Bush break the national ban on flying a few days after 9/11 in order to fly 11 members of bin Laden's immediate family out of the United States? Despite the bin Laden oil family's ties to the Bush oil family, all the bin Ladens should have been made to stay within the United States. Instead, they were whisked back to Saudi Arabia...away from us, and the 3,000 families of the 9/11 victims, before the bodies were even cold. Why was this done?

I wonder what the Republicans would say if President Gore had been the one to break the nationally imposed flight ban to fly out of the country the family of the world's most wanted man? Cries of "Impeach Gore" and "Cover-up" would have deafened our ears, and filled that liberal media of ours to this day. Kenneth Star would have had no end of things to do. It would have made peanuts of his Lewinsky case, with all of Al Gore's oil connections to follow hither and yon.

Yet we have no special investigators, no truth-seeking task forces, no Osama and family, and no questions about it all from the major "news" networks. Alice, pass me the looking glass.

--David Singelyn

U.S. should follow

international rule of law

I was really alarmed by James Gillen's misunderstanding about the situation we are in with regard to Iraq and our country's insubordinate stance regarding the United Nations under the Bush administration ("Anti-War Left Plays into Hussein's Hands," Feb. 13).

I am ashamed of my nation's mental orientation. First, you read a lot of "expressed" resentment by citizens in the USA who follow the hateful Republicommunist propaganda against anyone in the USA and Europe who opposes the Republicommunist prejudices. We see a lot of their comments that U.S. citizens should leave the USA if they oppose what the Republicommunists are doing. They ridicule the anti-war protesters as being "traitors." But there is a long line of Republican criminal activity, from Sen. Joseph McCarthy's utter violation of our U.S. Constitution and federal laws for using the House Un-American Activities Committee to ruin the lives of people based upon allegations and self-incriminating extortions described as "testifying under oath" to the obvious clandestine treason of the Republicommunists to sabotage, defame and incriminate a U.S. president in office, Bill Clinton, as a means of countering the fact that two recent Republican presidents faced both impeachment and prison time for their crimes (Nixon and George Bush Sr).

Second, the Congress has no authority to approve the attack on Iraq without the

approval of the United Nations, which represents this "new world order" the Republicommunists keep harping about, but never actually support. The actions today of our nation to attack Iraq may result in our nation being incriminated for the same crimes that the Nazi Party of the 1930s committed in exactly the same way: creating the situation of "having to defend" our nation, of brainwashing our citizens and then leading us into war supposedly for the glory of our flag. The true reason for Germany to so valiantly stand up to the USA is because Germany went through the exact same extremist rhetoric that the USA is now going through! I respect Germany for that, and France and Belgium, as well.

The USA has one option: Negotiate with the U.N. to put some teeth into the U.N. resolutions and bylaws, or butt the hell out of a sovereign nation's business when that sovereign nation has been beaten in a U.N. police action.

The United Nations was created by the USA to instill constitutional democracy in the world. Then let us stop fighting that concept, and promote it by not violating the rule of international law!

--Ronald Kinum,

Patriotic U.S. citizen