Speak Out A 10/24/02

Religious fanatics

I GIVE up. If David Limbaugh cannot see the threat to religious liberty specifically and freedom generally caused by religious fanatics (colonial Puritans, fascist 1930s radio preacher Father Coughlin, various Muslim clerics) then not even a well-crafted Speak Out comment can save his misguided soul.

Demographic future

THOUGH THE Democratic African American candidate for the U.S. Senate in Texas may not get elected, major population shifts make it a real possibility. The same phenomenon is occurring in Florida and other states, with a large influx of Hispanics and other minorities. Since demographics is destiny, these shifts seem to indicate that the Republican Party is, in the not too distant future, destined to disappear.

Go for everything

FOR ALL intents and purposes, syndicated columnist Walter E. Williams wants us to invade Saudia Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Libya and North Korea. This is what bothers me about Williams. He is always advocating a lukewarm, limited response on the part of the United States when it comes to foreign policy. Why stop there? History has afforded the United States a unique opportunity. We should seize the moment and extend our conquests far beyond what Williams advocates. Today, Iraq. Tomorrow, the world.

Evidence not there

EVEN MAJOR U.S. news magazines are reporting that CIA intelligence does not support the Bush position on almost every argument he has offered about the threats to the United States posed by Iraq. According to the same CIA that would provide intelligence to our military forces if an attack were undertaken, evidence warranting a U.S. pre-emptive attack against Iraq just isn't there. Some inside the Bush administration, so we learn, are even trying to force the CIA to drum up some evidence.

Voting your conscience

THE APPEAL that Christine Stephens makes to "vote your conscience" is uncharacteristically sensible. For thoughtful humans and Christians alike, the admonition to vote pro-life must be asking us to vote against bombastic, bellicose, war-mongering Bush supporters who ask for Americans to die killing Iraqis in order to divert our attention from the disastrous two-year Bush record.

Hurry up, please

HOW ABOUT we hurry up and finish the construction on Mount Auburn Road? I drive the road every morning, and every morning I see the same thing: construction workers wasting the day away.

Creation question

Consider this: The Bible is by no means factual but rather rumors written down after thousands of years. If God really did create the world and everything in it but is still against homosexuals, then why did he create them?

Pertinent quotes

THE SPEAKER on the panel on homosexuality was quite clear and correct that Jesus never mentions the topic. The previous callers to Speak Out are quoting passages from the Old Testament, not Jesus' reported words which can only be in the New Testament. Also, the Old Testament condones slavery, death by stoning and a lot of other practices no longer accepted. Do the previous callers follow those rules? If they don't, why single out Old Testament comments on homosexuality as pertinent to the modern world?

Not just tobacco

I DON'T understand why tobacco is constantly being taxed. As a respiratory therapist, I have seen the results of years of smoking. I have also seen the results of years of drinking. Why is alcohol not being taxed as stringently as tobacco? Is liver damage any less a problem than lung cancer or emphysema. I have seen the devastation that both have caused the loved ones of people that have partaken in both. I would ask the people that write these proposals to look at other areas for taxation. Certainly there is money to be made from other luxury items.