Words of the Constitution stand the test of time

Words of the Constitutionstand the test of time
EDITOR:
As a registered Democrat since 1947, and a Democrat even before I was enfranchised on reaching my 21st birthday, I did not vote for our 17th District U.S. Representative to Congress.
However, his stand on the current attempt to amend the Constitution regarding so-called desecration of the flag may lead me to change my mind about this young man.
Any, and I mean any encroachment on our American rights as espoused in the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America is anathema to me, and to others as evidenced by letters you have received on this issue.
Compared to some nations, we are still a relatively young country. Even so, we have weathered storms of protest of all kinds during this short time, and have for the most part come out unscathed as far as our government is concerned.
Lives, many lives have been lost in pursuit of maintaining this Constitution of ours. Sure, the flag can give a person comfort, but it is the words contained in the Constitution that tell what we are as a nation, words that for more than 225 years are still standing the test of time.
I have always been in favor of change. We embrace change, it has been the progress that has made this country the most powerful country in the world today. We must continue to change, not change for the sake of change but change that is good for the country and the world in which we live.
Except for one incident of which I am aware, those who were protesting the actions of our government in regard to the Iraqi situation, all were supportive of our fighting men and women, even before the fighting commenced. We are quick to put labels on our citizens. Mostly those labels have to do with liberals and indicating that they must be "leftists" or, even worse, "communists."
Fascism seems to be a term that is not in the lexicon of our current-day journalists. I wonder why that is. The far right borders on being further right that fascism, yet we, as a people, seem to think that the only type of a dictatorship that can subvert us, and which we ostensibly fear, is "communism."
Think about it.
LEONARD J. SAINATO
Warren
Turn of a phrase in storyon capital punishment demeaned retarded people
EDITOR:
I want to take exception to a recent article written by Peggy Sinkovich that I consider to be the journalistic equivalent of the old "bait and switch."
The article was about two death-row convicts appealing their sentence on the basis of mental retardation. The location of the article as well as the headline led me to believe that this was to be a serious news article.
However, the reporter, in her lead sentence, wrote that these two individuals claimed that they were "too dumb to die." In her article there were no quotation marks around this phrase. These were her words. Now, I am no journalist, but this type of writing seems to belong either in a column or on the editorial page, not in a news article.
My other objection is to Ms. Sinkovich's attempt to reverse political correctness by referring to mentally retarded people as "dumb." She may have her own opinion about this particular case, and her use of this term may be her attempt to dismiss it as without merit. However, in doing so she is characterizing an entire population of disabled people with the same pejorative label. I find this offensive.
TOM ARENS
Liberty