Going to war requires serious consideration

Going to war requiresserious consideration
EDITOR:
A writer's threatening letter of July 13 urging people to physically assault peace activists demands a rebuttal. Not only does the writer believe that (nonelected) President Bush's false claims are enough to go to war against the country of Iraq, she also believes it is enough to start a war against Americans who disagree with this policy, claiming that the founding fathers (and mothers?) never intended for everyone to be completely free.
In her interpretation, some people would be free to rule and make policy decisions while others would only be free to obey them or else. She spells out the "or else" as "slap a peace activist for your country."
Does this sound like democracy to you? I know something about the founding fathers. I have spent many an evening musing with them on the words of the Constitution and the many struggles, debates and deep considerations that went before and into the writing of it.
It has now been shown beyond the shadow of a doubt that Iraq was not involved in the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, nor was it developing weapons of mass destruction. For this reason, the United Nations refused to validate President Bush's aggression. That is much to their credit, or at least the credit of the few nations in the U.N. Security Council who dared to stand up against the American superpower and attempt to block this unjustified war.
The United Nations is not a democracy unfortunately due to unjust power of the Security Council, which is still very much in the control of America and which has used the power of the veto over 200 times to block resolutions that the majority of the world felt were needed for the good of all. That is a shame because we could have eliminated terrorism many years ago with the right actions, especially in regard to the tyrannical behavior of Israel to the oppressed Palestinian people.
I agree that not all wars are unjustified. But just because I beat up the neighborhood bully two years ago does not mean I now have the right to break into my neighbor's house and beat up his kids. War is a serious, deadly matter and should be justified on its own merits. The Bush-Halliburton administration has failed to do this, and the recolonization of Iraq is a step back into the chaos of the past.
Let me end by posing two questions: What is the essence of a nation? It consists in looking after one another. What is the message of a democracy? Do not say "I am right. You are wrong." Rather, say "Everyone is important."
Think about these things before you go to war against your brothers and sisters.
ROGER LAFONTAINE
Youngstown
Local TV stations gaveus overkill in coverage
EDITOR:
I am writing to protest the over-hyped, long-winded and hysterical weather reporting of Monday, July 21. All three of our local Youngstown television channels participated in this ridiculous display, and I and everyone I talked to the next day felt disgusted and insulted over it.
All the grandstanding forecasters were doing for most of the evening was basically repeating themselves and telling us common-sense measures to protect ourselves. It is an insult to the intelligence of the viewers to have a constant barrage of warnings, as if we were children who couldn't understand the situation.
The evening started out well enough with a few breaks in TV programing by forecasters to give us necessary warnings and advice. Also, a running banner at the bottom of the TV screen kept viewers updated. After a short time of this intelligent handling of the situation, it degenerated into a repetitious frenzy of weather-related warnings, advice and trivia.
To avoid nausea and to keep my sanity, I mostly tuned out -- ironic when you think of it. If there were a development that I truly needed to hear, I would have missed it.
I would like to hereby ask our television channels to use a little common sense in the future. The next time there is a severe weather situation, give us the necessary information in a concise and useful way. I would bet that the one channel that does this will see a big jump in their ratings numbers and definitely will earn a lot of viewer good will.
LENA FABRIZIO
Youngstown