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An expanding population adds to the world's problems

U.S. population and safe fish

Two recent articles in the St. Petersburg Times really address the same issue.

As people have several children (not just replacing the two parents), they are contributing to exhaustion and overuse of our resources as well as to pollution.

Whether it is landfills filling up or more power plants that put mercury in the air that ends up in the seafood, the more people, the more problems. Traffic, waiting in lines, and, ultimately, the cost of goods are a result of too many people. Even the amount of garbage. Larger families should pay more for contributing a lot ore garbage.

People need to consider this and encourage friends and family to have fewer children. There are too many breeders who have no purpose other having a child to keep them busy. Have fewer children and the quality of life will be better for all of us (lower costs for housing, less traffic, fewer societal problems). And then maybe we can spend the time improving society and reading to be informed.

Family is very important, but one or two children should be enough. Even a couple is a family.

Shelley Kinser, Tampa

President signs detainee measure Oct. 18

An infamous event

To borrow a phrase: Oct. 17 was a day that will live in infamy. The public seems largely unaware that the president of the United States has effectively stripped the Constitution and the Bill of Rights of the cornerstone of habeas corpus, or your right to a fair and speedy trial, to know evidence used against you, and to have legal representation in a court of law.

It's for the bad guys, we are told, and then the president threatens "liberals" and newspapers as traitors and warns them of government repercussions.

The president has been given the power to declare anyone a threat to our safety and thus strip that person essentially of all rights. Our founders started a revolution in order to guarantee these very rights for us. Now we let them slip away without so much as a word of protest.

May God help us.

Mark DiGiacomo, Tampa

Death of our Republic

On Oct. 17, I watched, horrified and with tears in my eyes, liberty, freedom, and our republic die. It happened when President Bush, with the stroke of a pen and to thunderous applause, wiped out 800 years of bedrock legal principles dating back to the Magna Carta, and which later became the foundation of British and American law. It was his signing of the abomination called the "Military Commissions Act," one of the worst violations to civil liberties I have ever seen.

In the name of the "war on terror," this president (or should I now say emperor), with the consent of Congress, has claimed unto himself the absolute power to declare anyone, American citizen or not, an "enemy combatant" and thereby deprive that person of all rights without any due process. As such, people may be arrested and held indefinitely without being charged with any crime, and with the loss of habeas corpus, may not challenge their imprisonment in the courts. Hearsay evidence, not admissible in civilian courts, is now allowed if the military judge believes it to be "reliable." Never mind that such evidence may be obtained through forced confessions of witnesses and other prisoners by torture, now acceptable under this act. And what is the definition of a terrorist? Whatever Bush says it is.

How could we let this happen? We have no one to blame but ourselves, through willed indifference and apathy.

Kevin T. Hurlbut, Winter Haven

President signs detainee measure

Lost liberties

I hope this isn't an indication that the "new" St. Petersburg Times will be "news light." This article didn't even begin to state the ramifications of this new law.

In addition to "authorizing tough interrogation and prosecution of terror suspects," making torture legal for the first time in the United States, this law does away with habeas corpus, the Constitutional right every person in this country has to appear before a judge and be told what they are charged with when they are arrested. This new law revokes this right for anyone who is deemed by the president or his designate as an enemy.

The president and vice president, as well as others, have indicated that anyone who doesn't agree with them is "dangerous" or, at best, misguided. It is not a huge step from declaring dissenters "dangerous" to declaring them enemies of the state. It has happened before.

In the words of Benjamin Franklin, who knew something about the subject: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Nancy Frioud, Tarpon Springs

Be accountable

It seems that almost all of our "leaders," from Mark Foley to George W. Bush to Bill Clinton, have an innate ability to avoid personal accountability for their actions. They seem most willing to take credit not due them and blame others for problems.

Foley, for example, has attempted to justify his sexual misconduct by proclaiming himself to be a victim of sexual abuse. Clinton tried to dodge his own misconduct with Monica Lewinski. Bush has repeatedly lied to the nation about Iraq and most other areas of concern to justify his actions in office.

This country needs and deserves leadership with not only a vision but also personal accountability.

I would like to hear one politician own what he or she does without blaming others or dodging issues.

We each need to be accountable for all of our actions. Without this accountability there is no guarantee that the problem or problems have been or will ever be corrected and resolved.

David M. Wagner, St. Petersburg

A fallen nation

America has truly fallen. It makes me so sad to see what we have become. Ask yourselves this: How many times, in private conversations, away from the ears of the world, have you heard a statement like this: "We should just bomb the whole Middle East and be done with them all" or "Those people in New Orleans could have left; we should not help them."

I have heard these kinds of things many times in many, often shocking, places. These are not the sentiments of the Land of the Brave and the Home of Free. These are the comments of a cruel, uncaring nation. We have become what we have fought against. We torture people now. The America that once existed is gone, likely forever. The enemy has won, because we have become like the enemy and in a battle for our way of life, that is the surest way to lose.

Anthony Taylor, Tampa

President Bush signs defense spending bill Oct. 18

Military disservice

In this bill, the members of our great military services will receive a 2.2 percent pay raise. I want to thank President Bush and Rep. Bill Young for being so generous. These are the same military service members whom Bush, Young and every other politician are praising as great American heroes doing a great job protecting our country and freedoms.

For all you people who drive around with that little yellow ribbon on your car that says "Support our troops," now is the time to do so. Call, write or e-mail your congressional representatives and tell them that they need to be ashamed of themselves for being so cheap.

Robert Blake, Clearwater

Holiday overload

It's no wonder young kids are messed up theses days. I was in some local stores shopping the other day and what did I see? Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas displays all out at the same time.

Why don't we toss in Valentine's and the Easter bunny for good measure? Then it would be much easier for store owners to jam the holidays together to squeeze you out of your money and your mind.

Steve Harris, St. Petersburg

[Last modified October 20, 2006, 08:39:55]