| ||||||||||
|
 |
Wednesday, March 15, 2008 Letters to the editorStudents should research information for selves EDITOR, I have read with interest the exchange of words between contributors Guy Glover and Reid Mowrer. They often mention students. So, I thought I would aid the students with a lesson in the deconstruction of language ... using Mr. Mowrer's most recent letter. Normally such a deconstruction would require a large tit for tat amount of text. But, if any students actually read these columns, I will try to accomplishment the deconstruction using as few quotes as possible. In Mowrer's first paragraph, he copies his own words then supports those words with constitutional wording: "...but to 'laws passed by Mrs. Pelosi's House,' a correct statement and necessary condition under Article I, Section 7, subsection (2) of the Constitution...." True or false, students? Later, in the same sentence, Mowrer uses more wording: "...every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives. ..." Consider this simple fact: constitutionally, Mrs. Pelosi, dominant owner in the first part and deleted in the second part, does not own the House of (the people's elected) Representatives; so, constitutionally speaking, if you are a student, can you guess the purpose of such language construction — the point of negative suggestion? In the next paragraph, Mowrer correctly defines opinion and belief as a "non-fact viewpoint:" "In my 'non-fact viewpoint,' also known as an opinion, I believe that before Mr. Bush undertook any such signature act, he prayed to God that 'thy will be done,' and not his own." In the spirit world of the Ouija board of opinions and beliefs, the words of the second half of the sentence may bring shouts of praise and glory from residents of the spirit world; but in the real world of facts, those words of "non-fact viewpoint"and a couple of dollars might buy a cup of coffee. ... But like Mr. Mowrer, I too would urge all students to read and study the founding documents of this nation, including the Federalists Papers and the dozens of statements by and the hundreds of letters of same-subject correspondence between those same authors. However, I take great umbrage with this statement: "I urge you to take your students back to read pre-Constitution documents, where they will find that the authors not only based their intense Constitutional debates on separation of powers issues, but just as strongly agreed that there would be no question that the foundation of the deliberations would be to maintain a Judeo-Christian attitude toward its composition." This oh-so-familiar dominionist-reconstructionist claim of today is equally the opposite of the loud complaints at the time of the founding by so many like-minded religious people — complaints against the intentional, non-religious (Judeo-Christian) wording-construction of the Constitution. Of course, that is what the rewriting of history is all about — if the "reconstruction," by perverting constitutionally granted rights for dominion domination, for a long enough period of time, is repetitively taught, the Constitution will finally give way to the "dominion" and factual rule of a specific set of Ouija board opinions and beliefs. The world has been there before; it was not pretty — it certainly was not "We the People." Finally, I agree with Mowrer's advice to students in his final paragraph, but most likely would not agree with his words deleted by the editor's ellipsis: "I also ask you to teach your students to look forward and watch closely what issues (arise) from our courts and legislatures during the next presidency. Train them to keep a critically skeptical eye not only on the direction our society takes after one of the three top-runners is elected, but also if they agree with what is happening ..." My further advice to the students is to closely study the nation's future economic demands (massive), general debt and the horrific growth of the national debt (soon to be the students - interest payments and all) and the staggering growth of corporate "criminal" conduct and corruption (simply type on Google search - "corporate criminal fines and settlements") - and, just how quickly your "We the People" constitutional rights are being usurped in the courts by corporate-serving, lifetime-appointed judges of the new, dependency driven and privatized, "Corporate World Order of the Straussian Elites." Students, in their own defense, should study Orwell's "1984" and the philosophy of Leo Strauss's "noble lie." ... Students, on the way to the polls, should watch out for the media witches' cauldron of e-mail hoaxes and rancid name-calling - with the evil (demon's breath), spell-filled cups generously laced with reason-killing doses of rhetorical fear, rumor and hate mongering — also, for the spirit world's Ouija board of "brutal and inescapable" opinions/beliefs disguised as "this world's" truth/facts.
Terry Mehaffey Support for St. Vincent de Paul was amazing EDITOR: The members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of the Immaculate Conception Church in Tomé held their annual fundraising breakfast Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008. It was a huge success. We would like to thank all of those who attended the event. It was a great time to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. We especially want to thank the following businesses: Albertsons of Los Lunas, the Wal-Marts of Belen and Los Lunas and Smiths of Los Lunas for their generous donations. It would not have been the success it was without them. The funds raised are used to provide assistance to those in need within our parish area. These acts of giving underscore how working together, we can care for each other. Again, thank you for your generosity.
Peggy Gutjahr President St. Vincent Society de Paul Immaculate Conception Church Nation's founders were rational men of reason EDITOR: My reaction to Reid Mower's (March 1, 2008 "Constitution must be upheld by each branch") screed is that Mr Mowrer would seem to be perfectly content to have his church take over the U.S. government. His ...view seems to be that the concept of freedom of religion consists of the freedom of a religious sect to use the power of the state to force its religious views and practices on everyone. He seems to believe that our government should be run by mystics and priests, ... He has the right to live his own life any way he wants, but he and his ilk should keep their religion to themselves. Of course, this is impossible, because a fundamental principle of monotheism is that it must be spread-and continue to spread-until it engulfs the whole world and everyone in it. (This fact, in a nutshell, explains the pervasiveness of religious belief in the world today.) Historically, spread by the sword, the rack, the pyre, the axe, the gallows and the gun. Besides these mundane worldly penalties, the penalty for non-compliance extends to the next world as his veiled threat that "those who have decided to forsake god take matters into their own hands." Eternity in the lake of fire for using your brain? I don't think so. Weak spiritual fare for weak minds. Proselytizing condescension for the pulpit. Fortunately, contrary to what some may say, the founders of this nation were primarily rational men of reason rather than of religion and irrationality. Their religious views, if any, they kept to their church and themselves. The separation of powers and checks and balances they built into our Constitution, along with the Bill of Rights, (which we are in danger of losing because Bush has, as Mowrer so succinctly put it, "stacked the Supreme Court with conservatives"), testifies to the founders' insistence on a secular government rather than the theocracy that Mowrer seems to support. We need a government that serves the people, not the other way around. Our government has, since January, 2001, tipped heavily to the far right, notwithstanding the 2006 elections. Such a government can't serve the people. It can only serve its fundamentalist conservative masters while the people become, at best, irrelevant or, at worst, slaves or corpses. The balance of power must be restored so that the three branches of government can function as the founders intended. The excesses of the religious right and the neocons have been exposed to public scrutiny for some time now, as have extremists like Mowrer, (who) ... have become a regular feature of this newspaper. It's time that people of reason, intellect and social conscience activate to restore some semblance of sanity to the debate about how our government should be run. Surely Mowrer's idea of a de facto theocracy would mean no more Constitution/freedom, only religious totalitarianism. What then? Modern day pogroms? A return to the inquisition? This time with high-tech torture devices? ...
T. D. Hollinsworth International congress featured viewpoints EDITOR: In light of the recent Stephenville UFO sightings, the 17th annual "International UFO Congress" in Laughlin, Nev., held in late February of 2008, was well attended. This event featured speakers from all around the world who came together to discuss the most recent information and evidence on a wide variety of topics from crop circles, UFOs, Mayan archeology and the 2012 calendar, implants, remote viewing (a project funded by the CIA), USAF classified aircraft, abductions and many more controversial topics. Perhaps the best and most interesting speakers were David Wilcock and Dan Burisch. Dan Burisch is a former Area 51 employee and whistleblower who has come forward to inform the public about some of our country's most guarded secrets. While I expect many readers to dismiss this information as hogwash, it is my hope that those of us who seek truth can begin a dialogue that will prepare us for the time in which we live. Far too much evidence exists to be dismissed outright. While I remain a skeptic on some of these issues, I can no longer ignore the mounting witness accounts from credible sources. Is anyone else out there curious? Is anyone else out there tired of being lied to?
Eugene Duran Historian's book calls to mind de la Casas EDITOR: Hats off to our venerable historian Ruben Salaz Marquez and the News-Bulletin for today's article challenging the questionable way some historians skew U.S. history, particularly as it relates to Spanish-American history. Salaz does an exemplary job of pointing out the long-held one-sided bias that Spanish colonists were nefarious, cruel to Indians, not capable of any good. He correctly illustrates that there are indeed many examples of Hispanics who championed the culture and lives of Indians. Probably the most important fact of history that the Pueblo Indians should take heed is that, without the rescuing intervention of Spanish-Americans, surrounding warring tribes would have annihilated the remaining Pueblos. One little-known legendary Spanish-American who championed the lives, culture and welfare of Indians was America's first social worker, Bartolome de las Casas. The work of De las Casas is honored every year by the National Association of Social Workers with an award to a Hispanic social worker at its annual conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. ... Bartolome de las Casas, (1474-1566) a Dominican friar and unwittingly the first American social worker, emerged as a champion of the disadvantaged and abused indigenous Indian natives. De las Casas, in 1502, just 10 years after the arrival of the Spanish in the new world, was granted an encomienda on the island of Hispanola. An encomienda was a grant of land and commission over the natives residing there. When it became clear to de las Casas that the encomienda system was subject to abuse against the Indians, he renounced his title as an encomendero in 1508 and began a lifelong crusade of defense and advocacy on behalf of the native Indians. Local historian and Chicano activist Gene Hill writes about De Las Casas in his bilingual book about Hispanics in America, "Americans All/Americanos Todos," as follows: "De las Casas wrote voluminously to the court of King Ferdinand about the chaos and disaster being visited upon his new subjects in the New World. He returned to Spain in 1515 to plead the Indian cause directly. De las Casas found a sympathetic ear in King Ferdinand, the Catholic and later with the Regent, Cardinal Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros. The King appointed a council to examine the matter. The council, upon review of de las Casas' pleadings, recommended the suppression of all encomiendas; separation of Spanish towns from native towns; freedom for the Indians; and a clerical administration of the colony. Bartolome de las Casas was bestowed the title of "Universal Protector Of All The Indians Of The Indies." According to author-historian Hill, "the nature of the title and the duties made him the first ombudsman in the Americas." However, any social worker who has done any advocacy at the grassroots level knows that this is social work which has become a specialty unto itself and falls under the heading of community organization in many graduate schools of social work. "Spain adopted the practice and created a system of laws, courts, procedures and administration that attempted to provide justice for the Indians. All of this began in 1516, a mere 24 years after the discovery of the New World." Thanks to the efforts of a social worker ahead of his time, Bartolome de las Casas, "the enlightened policy of Spain became one of inclusion rather than exclusion. The kings through royal decrees attempted to open the avenues for Spanish justice through its institutions such as the General Indian Court and the Royal Court. In many areas, especially among the more sophisticated indigenous cultures, the native readily adapted to the Spanish legal system. There quickly emerged a proliferation of attorneys who specialized in representing Indians in litigation. They were known as Abogados de Indios and Procuradores de Indios, Indian attorneys and Indian prosecutors." Bartolome de las Casas, like a grassroots social worker, was motivated out of his own sense of moral imperative. He was a pro-active change agent who advocated for disadvantaged people, much as a modern social worker is trained to do. The dictionary defines a social worker as "any person who engages in any of various services, activities, or methods concretely concerned with the investigation, treatment, and material aid of the economically underprivileged and socially disadvantaged." Ergo, Bartolome de las Casas was the first American social worker.
Don Chavez y Gilbert Waiters rely on your generous tips EDITOR: I am new to the Los Lunas area and believe it is a wonderful place to live. The expansion of the area is amazing, and we will enjoy the dining and other activities that are available. The one thing I do have to discuss is how people tip or don't tip their servers at local restaurants. I know from experience that waitresses and waiters are paid a very low wage. They get on average about $2 an hour. Their income comes from the patrons who eat in their facilities. Add it up, and the hourly wage for a week's work is $80. Taxes and other deductions come from that and basically they only get their tips. The going rate for tipping good servers is about 20 percent of the cost of the meal. I have eaten at many local restaurants and notice how little is left for the servers and felt the need to ask why people leave $2 on the table for a meal that may have cost $30. This makes it very hard for food service people to make a living here. I know that there is a tight economy now, but if people can afford to eat out, they should remember that the server is also having a hard time making ends meet. If a server is giving me poor service, I leave about 10 percent. If a server is cheerful, attentive to my needs, and eager to help with any problems I may have, then I try to give him or her more than the 20 percent. As I said before, I was one of them as I worked my way through college. Let's all try to remember all the people who work hard for a living and give them their honest wages and tip accordingly.
Terri Amos Think for yourself --God wishes us well EDITOR: Mohammed, Jesus Christ, and all the previous Jewish prophets, representing the one God ! The point that I am making is, that all of the prophets were identical in their messages and were all bonafide. The messages were all identical in that God put us on this, His Earth, hopefully to prosper; that He loved us, and wished us well! Mohammed was a direct descendant of Abraham and Ismael and received his messages from God through the Angel Gabriel. He was born in Mecca, the site of Abraham's church, in 570 A.D. He died in Medina in 632 A.D. My second point is that we Christian, Muslims and Jews all worship the same One God, so why are we all fighting others for or about? Part of the answer is that all three of us have fanatical factions that scream the loudest and cause 99 percent of the trouble! ... They and they alone are the troublemakers. ... Hatemongering is their stock in trade, and the rest of us stupid humans fall for it and create all these wars and irrational unrest. Nobody ever made a nickel off of it, but the crooks and manipulators in each sect! So, people, wise up, and do what the Angel Gabriel told Mohammed in the first message — read! Interpreted; Think, learn and get all the behind-the-scenes information before you make your mind up about everything and anything, and then act. Don't sit on your rear on a barbed-wire fence and complain. God wants us all to love and help each other before we mess the world up worse than we're doing! He told me so! Erase hate from your vocabulary!
Charles H. Rundles
|
|
|
||||||
|
||||||||||
