Reader Comments

Editor: I thoroughly enjoyed your editorial entitled "The State of Christianity". The problem I have, however, is how to change such things. Demographics is a complicated equation - involving availability of birth control, value of child labor, norms encouraging large families, etc. - and it does not seem possible to change this. I just wonder whether it's not already too late. Ben Lavoie

Editor: Interesting editorial on “The State of Christianity.”  I wrote a similar one a few months ago, but decided not to release it. One point I made in mine was that the European nations and the U.S. commonly practice abortion.  Here we have aborted 45 million or so since Roe v Wade.  Rates of abortion in Europe are very high.  Muslims will outgrow white Europeans because whites are killing their own young at rates that prevent even replacement of current populations. My article also asked the question whether Democrats in the U.S. have decline in political power, because they have embraced abortion more than Republicans and have killed off their own future voters.  It is a reasonable conclusion, but I decided not to release the article. Bill Sizemore

Editor: Thanks for leading the fight against big government! JC

Editor: It has been many years since your editor taught me political science at Brooklyn College in 1964. Our mutual beliefs in the values and justice in the conservative movement have withstood the test of time. Let us both pray that the efforts I see in ConservativeBattleline will continue to grow in influence. May I take this opportunity to extend to you my best wishes for a sacred and meaningful Christmas and a healthy new year. Shalom teach, Alan Jay Gerber, Cedarhurst, N.Y.

Editor: I'm glad someone is noticing that society can't flourish when its citizens spend most of the waking hours behind closed doors (or in private communities)! Paul Weyrich’s emphasis on a dress code, however, is misguided. NYC has plenty on "public space" and it is quite OK for anyone to show up in blue jeans -- if you want "public space" you have to let people know they are welcome to come as they are, not as you would like them to be. In short, you have to accept diversity. Manners is quite another thing.  But in that case you may be putting the cart before the horse.  If people don't mingle, good habits and consideration for others becomes superfluous, so people lose the habit of good manners. In short, people's bad manners today are a result rather than the cause of lack of togetherness. Bring people together, and low and behold, they learn to live with each other.  Take a ride someday in a crowded NY subway and observe. Whenever I do, I am always amazed how CONSIDERATE people really are, considering there may sometimes be as many as 100 people in a single car. They move out of the way to let people in and out, they will make seats available to those who need them, they avert their eyes so as not to stare into a stranger's face, they make room for children in baby carriages, and so on and so on, all this by people who have never been TAUGHT manners in the conventional sense. So while I welcome Mr. Weyrich’s plea on behalf of public spaces, let me respectfully suggest that he will be more successful if he adopts a more inclusive tone. One would think the author lived in a cloistered community where (like many other Americans) he has grown unaccustomed to direct contact with people different from himself. One may think he wants the "Agora", but does not like the bustle that comes with a real marketplace. Raúl de Brigard, Higganum, CT

  Editor: I read Kevin McCullough’s article about no parental rights and it is very much true across the entire country. I just recently began home-schooling my daughter due to the fact I was no longer allowed to visit her classroom during school hours. I wanted to quickly explain something to the teacher about my daughter’s homework and I was informed I could no longer visit the class. I would have to leave a note with the secretary and she would relay the message. That was really a surprise since they seemed to push the fact parents need to be involved and participate in school programs. My daughter had attended this school the last 2 yrs and some of the teachers would insist you come to visit the classroom. Just kind of made me wonder if they were mean to my daughter and didn’t want to be caught, since it was a public school. I was glad I began home-schooling and my daughter is progressing so much better in all of her grades. She is a 2nd grader. Just wanted to let you know your article was nice and I could relate.   Thanks, Robin

Editor: As far as President Bush approving searches without judicial approval, who knows that Bill Clinton Signed an Executive Order that allowed Attorney General to do searches without court approval? Clinton said on February 9, 1995: "The Attorney General is authorized to approve physical searches, without a court order" WASH POST, July 15, 1994: Extend not only to searches of the homes of U.S. citizens but also -- in the delicate words of a Justice Department official -- to "places where you wouldn't find or would be unlikely to find information involving a U.S. citizen... would allow the government to use classified electronic surveillance techniques, such as infrared sensors to observe people inside their homes, without a court order." Deputy Attorney General Jamie S. Gorelick, the Clinton administration believes the president "has inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches for foreign intelligence purposes." Secret searches and wiretaps of Aldrich Ames's office and home in June and October 1993, both without a federal warrant. Jimmy Carter Signed Executive Order on May 23, 1979: "Attorney General is authorized to approve electronic surveillance to acquire foreign intelligence information without a court order."

Editor: We had a promising run at a Consumption Tax in July '98,aka the national sales tax. Steve Largent's bill featured a forced phasing-out of the IRS by 2002 (that means dissolution of the agency as we know it), came within ONE VOTE of being implemented by a 49-49 tie in a Republican Senate; after having passed the House, 228-206. How many people know this? Could it possibly be that the Democrat press refused to give it any play? In any case we have a lot to lose by not keeping this issue alive, since its death would be intolerable. A Parade Magazine Survey in 1995 showed that 90% of the public looked forward to relieving the pressure of April 15 and think the Consumption Tax is a good idea. I've been dismayed by the ignorance I've encountered by financial "experts" of the advantages of the plan. Al Lemon Grove

Editor: I am looking for an organization that is going to make a "real" effort to unseat some of the RINO's in the U.S. Senate during the 2006 Primary Elections.  If Conservative Battleline or anyone else is working at removing some of the impediments to realization of the 2004 election mandate, please contact me regarding grassroots support. Roy Milne, Abilene, Texas