Letters, 7/9: Court decision a slap
The Lincoln Journal Star’s July 2 editorial which applauds the Supreme Court’s Hamdan v. Rumsfeld decision has been blinded by liberal legalese. The editorial quotes Justice Breyer, “Nothing prevents the president from returning to Congress to seek the authority he believes necessary.”
In fact, that authority has already been granted by the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, specifically crafted for the Hamdan case which states that, other than the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., “no court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained by the DOD at Guantanamo Bay.”
This decision is also a slap to Congress, which has given the president the authority to handle combatants of war, as now and in the past. After the Civil War, the courts were removed from jurisdiction in Ex Parte McCardle to allow a military tribunal for a publisher of incendiary articles. Again in World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt tried Nazi saboteurs who landed in the U.S. in a military commission, and executed them soon after the guilty verdict.
Oddly enough, the Supreme Court has in fact signed a treaty with al-Qaida by absurdly believing that these terrorists are not a nation, therefore the global war on terror is not “international.” Please disregard their fighting in the U.S., Somalia, Yemen, Kenya, Tanzania, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Never before in the history of the United States have enemy combatants, with zero regard for laws, ever had it so good.
Brian L. Johnson, Lincoln
Skyrocketing taxes
As I drove through Lincoln Tuesday night watching all the fireworks, a thought occurred to me. Every aerial burst I saw was at the absolute minimum a cost of $7. (I am being very gracious on the low side, because I believe it proves my point even further.) That comes to 49 cents tax per burst.
I saw at least one air burst every 5 seconds. My drive was 25 minutes of spectacular beauty. That adds up to 300 air displays during my drive through town. I believe that adds up to $147 in taxes.
Not much, but there is at least 180 minutes of reasonable darkness (9:30 to 12:30), which now turns into $1,058.40 in tax revenue, of which the city will get its share.
I’m sure everyone reading this understands my point (with the exception of the mayor and City Council). Yet we all wonder why our property taxes skyrocketed. Oh yeah, I think I saw them somewhere in south Lincoln exploding with a wondrous brilliance in the beautiful Nebraska sky.
Matthew H. Gable, Roca
Too many of us
I, too, hate seeing people dying from AIDS, malaria, starvation and wars just like others, but to give $31 billion to “save” million of lives could be better spent on family planning.
Please, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, give equally to both. It is irresponsible to save more lives while Mother Earth has reached a crisis of overpopulation. Human demands for survival have exceeded the sustainability of Earth to supply our needs and wants. We are literally consuming our very source of life. Isn’t it more realistic to cut our own numbers?
How can these two very rich men who work with numbers every day not see the connection between human numbers vs. Earth’s resources? Human reproduction is the same as compound interest.
We have been given a marvelous brain by the Creator that can reason, calculate, foresee, etc. … yet it is evident we are refusing to use it. Instead we are choosing to let our childlike egos reign supreme. All of the deaths from wars, diseases, starvation, natural causes have not limited our population’s growth. We are increasing worldwide approximately 81 million every year over and above all deaths. Do your math.
Where did we get the idea that we humans were created superior to all the others the Creator made? There is not one single solitary problem anywhere on this Space Ship that is not directly connected to overpopulation and we know it. Women worldwide have begged for birth control to limit pregnancies. Why are we ignoring their suffering? Where is our responsibly and love for our fellow humans, to all creations and to Mother Earth?
Population is a moral issue, but the head-in-sand approach cannot continue. There is only X amount of arable land, X amount of potable water, period. We are running out of both.
Lynn Darling, Lincoln
Sticking it to you
It seems someone found it their Christian duty as a loyal patriot to rip the “Godless American” bumper sticker off my car. Not to worry, though, because I already have its replacement: “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. — Sinclair Lewis.”
Jack Huttig, Lincoln
More like Pete needed
As a mother, grandmother and with a son just back from a year in Iraq, I am devoted to the future of my children and grandchildren.
I think America is crying out for strong new ideas and leadership. After meeting Pete Ricketts and his family, hearing his ideas about balancing budgets, protecting our family values and Reagan-like conservative beliefs, Pete has won my whole-hearted support for the U.S. Senate.
We need the business community to find more leaders like Ricketts willing to step up and run for the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
I think the future of America as we know it is at stake.
Sharon Yost, Superior
It’s not a conspiracy
I am pleased to report there are now five citizens in the greater Lincoln area who pick up litter. Rosalind Morris’ welcome letter to the Journal Star (July 3) revealed she is one of us. The other three shall remain anonymous, to avoid crank calls and hate mail from the ignorant and superstitious.
After all, what is one to think at seeing another person commit the strange and suspicious act of bending over and picking up a piece of trash? It reeks of subterfuge and demands explanation.
The most likely motivation in most people’s minds is that the perpetrator is an al-Qaida agent, looking for something to attack. Worse, we are even depicted as liberals by many who are so shocked and offended at the sight.
Nevertheless, we struggle on, trying not to be too flagrant about it. You don’t want parents to have to take their kids to counseling because they can’t explain why that crazy man picked up their picnic food wrappers and dropped them in a nearby trash barrel.
Maybe we’re just dreamers, out of touch with reality, but our goal is to double our numbers by the turn of the next century. Imagine our descendants being stunned at the sight of another citizen picking up a piece of trash — possibly twice or more in their lifetimes. With almost a dozen perpetrators it could happen.
You can’t come to our meetings. Our cabal can’t afford a metal detector yet.
Tom deShazo, Lincoln
Use your vote wisely
Two years ago, a simple majority vote of the Legislature could repeal a law passed by ballot initiative. In November 2004, Nebraskans approved Initiative 418, which changed the state Constitution — now it takes a two-thirds majority vote of the state Legislature to strike down a law passed by ballot initiative.
This constitutional change has left our state laws wide open to influence from interest groups based anywhere in the world who can pay to place signature gatherers on Nebraska sidewalks.
A two-thirds “supermajority” agreement of our elected representatives will be needed to repeal laws created in this way, so please vote with care.
Sarah Easton, Lincoln
In fact, that authority has already been granted by the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, specifically crafted for the Hamdan case which states that, other than the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., “no court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained by the DOD at Guantanamo Bay.”
This decision is also a slap to Congress, which has given the president the authority to handle combatants of war, as now and in the past. After the Civil War, the courts were removed from jurisdiction in Ex Parte McCardle to allow a military tribunal for a publisher of incendiary articles. Again in World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt tried Nazi saboteurs who landed in the U.S. in a military commission, and executed them soon after the guilty verdict.
Oddly enough, the Supreme Court has in fact signed a treaty with al-Qaida by absurdly believing that these terrorists are not a nation, therefore the global war on terror is not “international.” Please disregard their fighting in the U.S., Somalia, Yemen, Kenya, Tanzania, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Never before in the history of the United States have enemy combatants, with zero regard for laws, ever had it so good.
Brian L. Johnson, Lincoln
Skyrocketing taxes
As I drove through Lincoln Tuesday night watching all the fireworks, a thought occurred to me. Every aerial burst I saw was at the absolute minimum a cost of $7. (I am being very gracious on the low side, because I believe it proves my point even further.) That comes to 49 cents tax per burst.
I saw at least one air burst every 5 seconds. My drive was 25 minutes of spectacular beauty. That adds up to 300 air displays during my drive through town. I believe that adds up to $147 in taxes.
Not much, but there is at least 180 minutes of reasonable darkness (9:30 to 12:30), which now turns into $1,058.40 in tax revenue, of which the city will get its share.
I’m sure everyone reading this understands my point (with the exception of the mayor and City Council). Yet we all wonder why our property taxes skyrocketed. Oh yeah, I think I saw them somewhere in south Lincoln exploding with a wondrous brilliance in the beautiful Nebraska sky.
Matthew H. Gable, Roca
Too many of us
I, too, hate seeing people dying from AIDS, malaria, starvation and wars just like others, but to give $31 billion to “save” million of lives could be better spent on family planning.
Please, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, give equally to both. It is irresponsible to save more lives while Mother Earth has reached a crisis of overpopulation. Human demands for survival have exceeded the sustainability of Earth to supply our needs and wants. We are literally consuming our very source of life. Isn’t it more realistic to cut our own numbers?
How can these two very rich men who work with numbers every day not see the connection between human numbers vs. Earth’s resources? Human reproduction is the same as compound interest.
We have been given a marvelous brain by the Creator that can reason, calculate, foresee, etc. … yet it is evident we are refusing to use it. Instead we are choosing to let our childlike egos reign supreme. All of the deaths from wars, diseases, starvation, natural causes have not limited our population’s growth. We are increasing worldwide approximately 81 million every year over and above all deaths. Do your math.
Where did we get the idea that we humans were created superior to all the others the Creator made? There is not one single solitary problem anywhere on this Space Ship that is not directly connected to overpopulation and we know it. Women worldwide have begged for birth control to limit pregnancies. Why are we ignoring their suffering? Where is our responsibly and love for our fellow humans, to all creations and to Mother Earth?
Population is a moral issue, but the head-in-sand approach cannot continue. There is only X amount of arable land, X amount of potable water, period. We are running out of both.
Lynn Darling, Lincoln
Sticking it to you
It seems someone found it their Christian duty as a loyal patriot to rip the “Godless American” bumper sticker off my car. Not to worry, though, because I already have its replacement: “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. — Sinclair Lewis.”
Jack Huttig, Lincoln
More like Pete needed
As a mother, grandmother and with a son just back from a year in Iraq, I am devoted to the future of my children and grandchildren.
I think America is crying out for strong new ideas and leadership. After meeting Pete Ricketts and his family, hearing his ideas about balancing budgets, protecting our family values and Reagan-like conservative beliefs, Pete has won my whole-hearted support for the U.S. Senate.
We need the business community to find more leaders like Ricketts willing to step up and run for the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
I think the future of America as we know it is at stake.
Sharon Yost, Superior
It’s not a conspiracy
I am pleased to report there are now five citizens in the greater Lincoln area who pick up litter. Rosalind Morris’ welcome letter to the Journal Star (July 3) revealed she is one of us. The other three shall remain anonymous, to avoid crank calls and hate mail from the ignorant and superstitious.
After all, what is one to think at seeing another person commit the strange and suspicious act of bending over and picking up a piece of trash? It reeks of subterfuge and demands explanation.
The most likely motivation in most people’s minds is that the perpetrator is an al-Qaida agent, looking for something to attack. Worse, we are even depicted as liberals by many who are so shocked and offended at the sight.
Nevertheless, we struggle on, trying not to be too flagrant about it. You don’t want parents to have to take their kids to counseling because they can’t explain why that crazy man picked up their picnic food wrappers and dropped them in a nearby trash barrel.
Maybe we’re just dreamers, out of touch with reality, but our goal is to double our numbers by the turn of the next century. Imagine our descendants being stunned at the sight of another citizen picking up a piece of trash — possibly twice or more in their lifetimes. With almost a dozen perpetrators it could happen.
You can’t come to our meetings. Our cabal can’t afford a metal detector yet.
Tom deShazo, Lincoln
Use your vote wisely
Two years ago, a simple majority vote of the Legislature could repeal a law passed by ballot initiative. In November 2004, Nebraskans approved Initiative 418, which changed the state Constitution — now it takes a two-thirds majority vote of the state Legislature to strike down a law passed by ballot initiative.
This constitutional change has left our state laws wide open to influence from interest groups based anywhere in the world who can pay to place signature gatherers on Nebraska sidewalks.
A two-thirds “supermajority” agreement of our elected representatives will be needed to repeal laws created in this way, so please vote with care.
Sarah Easton, Lincoln
Copyright © 2002-2008 Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved.