Re: Can't robe a judge in just one color, Oct. 21 Times.
Editor: While one's desire to appear to have "personality" because "it gives them a little hope," as stated by Circuit Judge Ric Howard, is a fine sentiment if genuinely applied in the right circumstances, I certainly hope judges aren't going to start mimicking the trend of fashionable and colorful televangelists who routinely parade their foolishness and colorful personalities on television.
If that's the case, I'm with newcomer Circuit Judge William "Bud" Hallman III, whose somber attitude is precisely what is called for in a judge who stands in the place of the Almighty in judging matters of justice and mercy.
The need to parade one's personality via colorful robes also can be an indication of a profound pathological personality flaw that is contradictory to the somber and solemn duty of administering justice.
Former Circuit Judge L.R. Huffstetler Jr.'s embarrassing comments before the Judicial Nominating Committee when seeking a reappointment recently come to mind in light of the recent article about happy robes. All judges should follow the ancient Judeo-Christian mandate to "do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8); and use the "happy robe" strictly for the use of genuinely happy occasions worthy of celebration, while carrying out their duties as public servants.
-- Carl M. Desmond, Brooksville
Bush war on terror is not above reproach
Re: Staff writer should keep his opinions out of print, Oct. 19 letter to the editor:
Editor: Despite the ferocious criticism of some conservative readers who insist on mindlessly walking in lockstep with every decision, good or bad, that the Bush administration makes, I found Robert King's Oct. 13 column Hernando lucky to avoid invasion, in which he satirically picked apart the Bush pre-emptive war doctrine in Iraq, rather amusing.
The blowhards who raise the flag of patriotism as the kryptonite to legitimate skepticism deserve to have their ears boxed on a local level. Neocon philosophies have destroyed the United States' reputation in the international community. The still-missing weapons of mass destruction are likely to stay missing because they don't exist anymore. It's ironic that the small vial of anthrax that Secretary of State Colin Powell waved around at the United Nations would constitute all that we would find. Former U.N. inspector Scott Ritter, a white-collar, ex-Marine and Republican to boot, proclaimed that, as of 1998, Iraq had been disarmed to "unprecedented levels."
King's column merely summed up, on a grass roots level, the futility and idiocy of how America's leaders responded to the metaphorical "war on terror." Going back to 9/11/01, as so many conservatives like to do as a means to justify their misanthropic agenda, 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi Arabian citizens. Not one Iraqi was involved. Don't take my word for it; the president himself confirmed this fact. Yet, if 15 Iraqis had been on board, or 15 Libyans, Syrians, or Iranians for that matter, the headlines would have yelled "Iraq/Syria/Libya/Iran attacks the U.S."
Yet artificially outraged conservatives merely shrug their shoulders and roll their eyes at the fact that the White House censored Saudi Arabia's implicit involvement in carrying out the 9/11 attacks. Conservatives fail to be outraged at the Bush administration's protection of the real terrorists in the Kingdom of Saud. Conservatives stay tight-lipped about the perfidious act of outing a CIA operative for political gain.
No, the list of scandals taking place currently in our White House makes former President Bill Clinton look like the pope compared to the exploitative tendencies of the Bush team. However, the intellectually dishonest out there who are making Faustian arguments have nothing better to do than thump their chests and use the new last bastion of a scoundrel: patriotism.
Invoking national allegiance to offset public scrutiny is a carpetbagger's trick. Beating up on King for providing a perspective to the WMD folly is a less than honorably intentioned attack aimed at keeping power for power's sake.
-- James Wrye, Spring Hill
[Last modified October 23, 2003, 01:33:54]
