Bush cut from Lincoln’s cloth
I find it quite ironic that President Bush would choose the USS Abraham Lincoln for his announcing the end of general combat in Iraq. It is ironic in the fact that Abraham Lincoln, like President Bush, was a Republican that held the Constitution of the United States and the limitations on governmental power it contains in total disdain. In Lincoln’s case, he waged war on fellow Americans who exercised their God-given right to end their participation in a voluntary union and form a new government that to them best suited their needs.
Also, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus, a power he did not possess as it is reserved to Congress by Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution, and set about imprisoning anyone he thought to be disloyal to him and his fellow aggressors in the northern states. When he suspended the writ, Lincoln ordered the U.S. military to arrest citizens who spoke against him and shut down newspapers that criticized his government.
Those who were arrested for exercising their freedom of speech were held in military prisons without being formally charged and were never allowed to consult attorneys.
One of those arrested, John Merryman of Baltimore, applied to the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, R.B. Taney, for a writ of habeas corpus. In his written opinion, Taney ordered the president to release Merryman as he had been arrested by virtue of martial law, had not been formally charged with any crime, and therefore his rights to the due process of law had been violated. In short, the chief justice declared the president’s actions to wholly violative of the Constitution.
In President Bush’s case, he has ordered military tribunals to try those he and his Justice Department have declared to be “enemy combatants”, refused to show evidence of their supposed wrongdoing, sent legislation to the Congress, the U.S.A. Patriot Act that shreds the Constitution and the protections against an overzealous government it provides.
Also like Lincoln, Bush and his Justice Department have said publicly that anyone speaking against his war actions are “aiding the enemy,” disloyal, and therefore must be kept under close scrutiny.
In addition, Bush is pushing the Congress to adopt Senate Bill 22, The Domestic Security and Justice Enhancement Act of 2003, also known as the U.S.A. Patriot Act 2, which will destroy, when it is passed, what little parts of the Constitution still exist by stripping Americans of their citizenship which would allow them to be deported and placed in foreign prisons where they, like Lincoln’s victims, would be denied the right to due process of law.
Of course both presidents have used the excuse of “we are at war” that makes things different. How? No part of the Constitution says “this is the law of the land except in times of war” with the exception of the writ of habeas corpus and then only if the Congress, not the president, does so.
Yes, it is totally fitting that Bush would give a speech on a ship named after Lincoln as he sounds just like him.
Brian K. Lutes
Uniontown
Step in to save Meason House
I see that another one of Fayette County’s historical landmarks will no longer be with us. So many have been destroyed; I think it is time we do our best to save it.
The Meason House is for sale, to be torn down and moved. An article in the Herald-Standard states: Isaac Meason Home is “the only Georgian-style seven-part Palladian structure in the United States. “
The only one in the U.S., and a site that was visited by none other than George Washington, and our county leaders are willing to let it go without a fight. But they are more than willing to fight about other things.
It seems that the major industry in Fayette County is now tourism. This should be a great place for tourists. This could bring tourist dollars into the county, if handled right. What is wrong with our local leaders? They can find money for many less important things.
Surely, there is money to be had.
This should be a challenge to our county, state and federal representatives, local historical societies and any others who want to help save what few historical sites we have left in Fayette County.
If we don’t do something soon, all of our history will go the same way as the coalmines and the coke ovens. And to think Connellsville was once known as the coke capital of the world, when the coke ovens were in operation. The coke ovens are now gone, and there is nothing to commemorate that fact.
What can we do? We can contact our politicians and ask them to get involved.
Are we going to sit back and let the Meason House suffer the same fate as the coke ovens? I hope not.
Ken O’Neal
Connellsville
Separation of church from state
In no way would I attack Sen. Santorum for exercising his constitutional right of free speech. However, I would think that a leader in his position in the state of Pennsylvania as well as in the Republican Party, he should be more concerned about spiritual truth rather than tradition, lest he add to the perpetual myths that have kept our citizenry mentally paralyzed about a whole host of issues in our society.
Myths have caused society over the years to act in a manner that is against itself. Since the senator as well as the right-wing element of his party have wrapped themselves up in this religious blanket of knowing what’s religiously correct for the American people, he should at least be aware of what the scripture says from a spiritual perspective.
Unfortunately, there has been a pervasive custom within the religious body of America and society that has embraced this notion that if an individual has graduated from a seminary, or if he has been preaching for a hundred years, or if he has a multi-million dollar ministry, or if he knows the bible from cover to cover, that somehow he knows something about truth when it comes to the things of God. How absurd, but this custom has been the foundation upon which most Americans have built their morale principles.
Undoubtedly our senator is one of those individuals.
We should all thank our lucky stars that the Founding Fathers had the wisdom to separate church from state thus sparing us the tyrannical rule of a theocracy. Imagine Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson as head of state.
If one concerns himself with truth, eventually he will arrive and he will know without asking anyone for their advice. Moreover he will not try to impose those truths on anyone else, because that is impossible. Truth must be sighted with the mind and once that occurs, one will know and not believe anymore. It is not what we believe but it is what we know, after all how long did people of the world believe that it was flat.
I would submit to you that God’s creation is perfect as it is and that there is nothing that anyone can do to improve on that perfection; not even our politicians.
Ron Dennis
Uniontown