Marginalizing Christianity
June Edwards (June 24) wonders if the boy in my letter (June 16) who was abused for silently praying in the cafeteria is real.
My letter described one incident from a 51-page study on "Hostility to Religious Expression in the Public Square" presented to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Rights (Oct. 8, 2004) by Liberty Legal Institute.
The chief council, Kelly Shackelford, noted, "Hostility to religious expression is real, too frequent and victims need better protection in the law." (Victims are adults as well as children.) Shackelford also noted that such organizations as Americans United for Separation of Church and State are constantly battling against expression of a religious viewpoint in the public square.
June Edwards claims that if my "tale" is real, "It should be given to Rev. Barry Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who will sue the school if warranted."
Not likely! June and the Rev. Lynn are allergic to the word "God" and hostile to religious freedom.
The Rev. Lynn even objected when our congressmen prayed in the Capitol on 9/11 after the terrorist attacks.
The Founding Fathers' understanding of separation of church and state was very different from that of the Rev. Lynn. Virtually all of the actions secular liberals claim are forbidden were permitted for most of our history.
The liberals claim it had to change because we are in a more-diverse country now.
This is false. Historian Philip Jenkins states, "The Christian population is growing. America, a Christian country, has become more Christian."
The current form of separation of church and state is a fraud built on a false historical and constitutional foundation.
It seems the real purpose of its advocates is to marginalize traditional Christian religion and morality.
Rita Armstrong
Oneonta
Vote Democratic for health care
Well, Sam Pollak has again touched off hot criticism. Admiring bill-free universal health care in Israel, he used the word "free." It was clear to any nonhostile reader that Sam meant freely available, without out-of-pocket expense, or going into debt, or bankruptcy, or going without care at all. Sam stressed the cost of doing nothing.
Tom Morgan lectured Sam that equal care for all is not at all free in Israel. In addition to high taxes, it is partially subsidized "one way or another" by $1 trillion plus from us in private charity or government aid 1973 to 2002. "Free" is a deceptive "fantasy," he sneers.
In a more-irate response, county Rep. Stephen Fournier sarcastically questions Sam at length. Like Morgan, he focused his exasperation on cost and taxes, saying "we do not have national health care ... because no one has come up with a plan that will work."
Government-administered funding, as with Medicare, really works well. All pay and all benefit with equal access. When your real priority is WEALTH CARE instead of health care, there is no way to care about all of the people.
Sam said people "are dying because of the control ... health industries have over our politicians." This Republican era has deceptively thrown words at every social problem, talking small government, privatization and free-market morality. It is time to do something.
Our Senator Seward's committee now blocks modest limits on health insurance price increases and profit margins. Candidate Don Barber urgently says it is time to address the problems of health-care cost and availability.
Sam was right. We can address the problem if we get our priorities right. Vote Democratic. Vote for Don Barber.
William Masters
Oneonta
Firefighters deserve praise
The recent June 7 fire on Main Street was an incident that proved once again why we, as a community, are fortunate to have professional firefighters like the Oneonta Fire Department in our city. Those units and the others from the surrounding areas did a masterful job of containing a fire that potentially could have ignited other nearby houses. The manner in which they sealed the area, attended to a hard-to-access attic and the respectful way they helped the resident of that house deal with that catastrophe is truly noteworthy. Firefighter Jim Maloney and numerous others, whom I didn't know, were extremely sensitive to the situation.
After seeing firsthand how the Oneonta Fire Department, volunteers from area units and the other agencies who helped the victim dealt with this incident, it made me appreciate their professionalism much more than I had realized. The men and women who go to work every day and protect us truly deserve our gratitude. Thanks for being the pros that you are!
Joe Stillman
Oneonta
First, protect Glimmerglass
I may be jumping the gun, because I am sure there will be more on the issue of taking many thousands of gallons of water from Otsego Lake daily to sell to the natural gas companies. But I want to hear from the Field Station people and others.
I do not care so much about whether the Cooperstown water treatment plant can handle the additional volume (obviously an important component of the discussion but not the central one). I think the central question is: what will the impact on the health of the lake be? Water treatment plants can be built and expanded. Money can come and go quickly. But the Glimmerglass can never be replaced.
Rosemary Markert
Oneonta
Union always want more
This is in reply to a recent letter by Wendy Crouch. I feel that if the CSEA members do their work, they should have a raise, but a lot of them don't, and they hurt it for the ones who do.
Plus, CSEA does have great benefits and always wants more. What about the people who don't have any benefits? How come they can't cry, like CSEA does? They are trying to live on $7.15 a hour, and they can't cry because they don't have a union.
Why don't you think about them and put yourself in their shoes and see if you could make it?
William Schermerhorn
Portlandville
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