Our arrogant, misguided leaders are the real threat

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay complained about the "arrogant and out-of-control judiciary that thumbs its nose at Congress and the president."

It seems to me that it is Tom DeLay who is arrogant and out of control. It is Tom DeLay, the president and the Republican-led Congress who thumb their noses at the American people in their attempt to overrun the Constitution and the separation of powers established by our Founding Fathers. The judiciary followed the law as it was always intended. Tom DeLay and the Congress tried to get around the law and the judiciary for their own political purposes, which is frightening.

I fear more for our country from the arrogant fanaticism of those like Tom DeLay than I do from the acts of foreign terrorists. Our own misguided leaders can destroy us from within.

Congress is eroding our democracy

Re: Courts may feel Schiavo impact, April 4.

It is a scary day when activists and special-interest groups carry more weight on an issue than the large majority of individual Americans. Poll after poll indicated the majority of the country felt the president and Congress should stay out of the Terri Schiavo case.

The article stated, "Conservative activists and members of Congress believe that the state and federal courts essentially ignored the law Congress passed on her behalf last month." Now the Republican Congress wants to use this issue to change rules on how judges are appointed so they can get their way. It seems that members of Congress are essentially ignoring the majority of their constituents and eroding our democracy.

Descending the slippery slope

In the editorial Terri's legacy, the writer states: "What all Americans need protection from is a federal government with so little regard for the courts and the privacy rights of individuals," and makes reference to "the judges who so courageously protected Ms. Schiavo's constitutional rights."

Specifically to which constitutional rights is the writer referring? And what about a government and society that demonstrate such little regard for human life and the sanctity thereof? And who has the right to subjectively determine the measure of the quality of life that another individual is able to experience? Especially a helpless, "comatose" person such as Terri Schiavo, who apparently was still displaying a pretty full range of human emotion. What is the basis for determining "quality of life"?

We are rapidly descending that "slippery slope." Maybe the next time a judge is faced with a dilemma such as Schiavo's, he will deem death by starvation as disgusting, cruel and inhumane (as it most certainly is), thereby making provisions for the next helpless person to be "relieved of his or her suffering" and effectively euthanized before being starved to death. To many I am sure it will be a reflection of our "progressive society."

Replace judges with computers

It has become very clear that all judges, including justices on the Supreme Court, do not apply judgment - in their own words, they must adhere to the letter of the law.

If that is the case, we don't need judges. All we need to do is load all the established laws and legal judgments made throughout history into a computer, apply the facts of a given case and the computer will do a more accurate job than any judge.

I would expect that the computer would apply much better judgment than our judges today. They have forgotten that the Constitution is for the people, not their personal ticket to sainthood. Our judges are out of control.

Stand up, America, and take back the Constitution that the court system is stealing from all of us.

Shameless opportunism

Thank you for calling attention to Tom DeLay's appalling behavior in your April 1 editorial, Terri's legacy. An apparently shameless opportunist, DeLay's obvious attempt to take attention off his growing ethics scandals by latching onto the Schiavo case is perhaps his most unethical act of all. His criticism of so-called "activist judges," who are said to rule from their own beliefs instead of from the law, is especially ironic; DeLay is House majority leader of the party that's actively seeking to replace fact and science in schools and other U.S. institutions with religious beliefs.

Vastly different approaches

I am prepared to mourn the passing of a great man, a good man who did much to promote peace and justice, yet only a man. As an agnostic, I just don't know if there is a heaven or hell. I am convinced, however, that if a heaven exists, a place is waiting for Pope John Paul II. I am equally sure that if there is a hell, hypocrites who have done much harm will surely burn there forever.

The pope did many great things, including acknowledging that organic evolution was not in conflict with church doctrine. He also vehemently opposed President Bush's illegal and immoral attack on Iraq. He missed a chance to reverse the long-standing church prohibition of contraception and family planning which many prosperous Catholics practice, but which perpetuates poverty, famine, disease and early death in Third World countries. Still, on balance, his record is good.

Not so for such sanctimonious hypocrites as Tom DeLay, the hands-down winner of the most corrupt legislator award; Peter Popoff, caught bamboozling credulous believers by James Randi; and James Bakker, who went to prison for defrauding his parishioners, got out and went right back into the "Jesus business" because it is so lucrative.

Perhaps the biggest frauds of all are Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, who claim to have frequent discussions with God. Following 9/11, these men announced that God had placed a special "curtain of protection" around America because we were founded as a Christian nation (as we were surely not) and that because of people they did not agree with - such as secular humanists, agnostics, atheists, feminists, homosexuals, etc. - God lifted that "curtain of protection" and allowed 9/11 to take place. How dare they to presume to speak for God (if one exists)?
--Joseph F. Bohren, Tampa

Stance on birth control troubling

When I read all the great comments about the pope I am troubled. He was probably a very nice person. But I got very upset with him on several issues. The thing that bothered me most was when he would go to Third World countries and preach about the evils of birth control. Telling poor people that they should have more and more children borders on immoral.

Opinion

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