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Letters To The Editor

Here is one for members of the Secular Humanist Church:
Secular humanism sets no moral basis

Stephen B. Pruett
Bossier City

Re: Feb. 24 letter by Roy M. Fish headed "Secular humanists base beliefs upon evidence."

Fish asserts secular humanism is not a religion and that it provides a basis for moral standards. He is mistaken. God cannot be disproved by science or logic. In fact, Karl Popper, one of the leading secular philosophers of science, argues science cannot prove anything, in part, because it is always possible an exception to a hypothesis exists but has not yet been observed. One never can be certain an exception to a hypothesis exists but has not yet been observed. Thus, secular humanism is a faith-based belief system (i.e., a religion).

The secular humanist view of human beings is they are nothing more than a complex arrangement of molecules, the behavior of which is governed only by laws of nature. In this belief system, human beings --like the rest of the universe -- are mere machines. There can be no basis for meaning or purpose in this system. Without meaning, it is nonsensical to speak of morals.

Just in case you wonder how Clinton would handled the September 11 attack, here is your answer:
Clinton should have kept his promises

B.J. Brown

Shreveport

I am very glad William Jefferson Clinton is not our present commander in chief.

After the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six and injured 1,000 people, Clinton promised those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

After the 1995 bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed five U.S. military people, Clinton promised those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

After the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 and injured 200 U.S. military personnel, Clinton promised those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

After the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa, which killed 224 and injured 5,000 civilians, Clinton promised those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

After the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 and injured 3 U.S. sailors, Clinton promised those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

If Clinton had kept his promises, an estimated 7,000 people could be alive today. It is a shame his administration spent more money chasing down Bill Gates than they spent "hunting down and punishing" terrorists.

Here is a letter that had a profound effect on me.  Puts life into perspective.  See what it does to you.
Rocking chair holds a lifetime of memories

Shirley M. Brown
Shreveport

With my 10-year-old feet tucked under me, hands tightly clutching the arms of the sturdy, unpainted wooden chair on Mama's porch in rural Northeast Louisiana, I rocked for hours at a time, tilting thrillingly backward, almost to the tips of the 36-inch rockers.

Head back and eyes closed, I journeyed to perfect everywhere, my mind filled with delicious daydreams of wealth untold and a happy-ever-after life with my charming prince. Mama gave me that chair when I had my first child. I have it still, the chair and I both now in our seventh decade.

Did I dream when I was 10 that life's best dreams sometimes end? Husband gone, children gone, the chair and I alone again? Thinking of all the memories waiting in that rocking chair, my heart is soothed.

Multi-Culturalism crammed down throat, apathetic police.  We can all just get along and be happy, right?  I mean it's ok for me to do what I want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else.  Ever hear that line?  Check out this letter.
Law enforcement should be routine

The recent police activity in Eden Gardens should not have been newsworthy. If that level of law enforcement were the standard, as it should be for every area of the city, it would not be necessary for beleaguered law-abiding citizens to repeatedly beg a timid police administration for help.

I've been there. Notwithstanding years of beseeching the Shreveport Police Department for relief from boombox-laden vehicles plying our neighborhood streets, my wife is reduced to sleeping on the living room floor because her bedroom faces the street used by the cultural barbarians for their parade route.

No doubt, the mayor and chief of police will rest well in their beds tonight.

This letter exposes the self-imposed slavery created when a certain hyphenated-American group stereotypes itself.

Disparagement of ideas hinders improvement

(A letter to The Times of Shreveport, August 3, 2001)

Charles Lee

Bossier City

DeWayne Wickham's July 31 column about black conservatives being "out of step" is sad, not so much for pointing out the differences of opinion, but for asserting no other "credible voice" should possibly exist. The issue of whether the different opinion has any validity is ignored.

Are Hispanics disappointed Linda Ronstadt sang rock 'n' roll instead of strictly salsa? Is Yo Yo Ma a traitor to China for playing a cello instead of something Asian? Should the French be mad at Cajuns for playing the banjo? Even if a large majority of a community hold a certain viewpoint, that is no reason to dismiss those who don't.

A neighborhood which destroys individual initiative instead of serving as a springboard into the world is not a community, it is a trap. A school whose students cannot gain understanding has given them nothing. When my parents taught me how to chase my dreams, I learned to ask: If something doesn't work, what will? Improvement comes with the effort of learning and applying new ideas, not from drinking old whines.

Gun Control

The following letter was sent to The Times of Shreveport:

by Grits Gresham
Decline in school violence and other violent crimes.

The media, led by President Bill Clinton (still), have ignored the fact that children today are safer in school than they are at home, en route between the two or just about anywhere else. Clinton and the media take advantage of the heartbreak and fear stemming from school tragedies to repeat the lies about crime and guns that are their staples.

Clinton is currently using Littleton, Colo., and Conyers, Ga., to push his anti-gun agenda. An arrogant mass media, by publicizing such tragedies with endless, round-the-clock saturation, continues to inspire copycat repetition.

Congress is passing worthless feel-good measures, never exploring the point that none of these would have prevented any of the school shootings that have occurred. Our president repeats his well-worn proposals to "make it more difficult for children to get guns." Let's examine that. Not long ago, anybody could buy a gun at any hardware store and at most crossroads service stations. They could order guns by mail. Funny thing; there was virtually no crime.

Easy accessibility of firearms does not cause crime. Switzerland, where every able-bodied male is required to have fully automatic weapons and ammo in his home, has virtually no crime. Mexico, where guns are rare, has a much higher murder rate than does the United States. The criminals at Littleton broke more than a dozen laws (gun laws affect only law-abiding people). If all citizens are dis-armed, the goal of many anti-gunners, then we will suffer 2.5 million more violent crimes each year than is now the case.

Playing with cap guns was not dangerous

S.G. Johnson    8/2/99

Shreveport

Did you know that over a dozen states have outlawed cap guns, such as Washington, D.C., New York, Connecticut, West Virginia, Mississippi, Wisconsin and New Mexico? This is not recently, but before World War II. How did I live so long without killing someone?

We had guns in our house all my life. My father was a hunter and shooter. I had a collection of toy guns of my own, and still do. While going to Creswell School, a couple of friends and I used to play cops and robbers and cowboys and Indians. We would point the guns at each other and pop a cap and the others would fall down. We had knife fights with rubber knives. We would play Tarzan and wrestle the dog.

We are in our 70s now. And you know what the good news is? We never killed anybody.

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