— It was once noted by artist Andy Warhol that in the future, everybody would be famous for 15 minutes.

One obscure American who has used his    15 minutes unwisely – twice – is Gainesville, Fla., pastor Terry Jones. The first 15 minutes occurred two years ago when Jones deliberately created significant unrest in Afghanistan and disgraced himself as a Christian by threatening to burn copies of the Quran in the parking lot of his church.

Now, Jones has been linked to the tragic deaths of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and members of the ambassador’s staff.

The deaths occurred during a demonstration by Libyans outside the U.S. Embassy over a U.S.-produced film that depicts Muhammad as a buffoon and an opportunist.

Jones exacerbated the controversy by advocating widespread distribution of the offensive film, using the constitutional right to free speech as a means of excusing his role in the tragedy.

We need to acknowledge that the U.S. Constitution is a document unique to the human experience. Because of our Constitution and the patriots who drafted it, and those who refined it over the years, we are guaranteed as Americans unparalleled freedoms and liberties unknown by other nations of this sometimes-volatile world.

But when we misuse our liberty as a tool to deliberately insult, anger and inflame others into acts of violence and retribution, we are not only violating our value as peacekeepers and desirable allies, we are degrading ourselves and the trust and faith placed in us by our historical ancestors.

Shame on you, pastor.

Carl Schultz

Johnstown



Too many plea deals

in Cambria County

The front page headline in The Tribune-Democrat on Sept. 10, “Combined trial sought in city shooting,” was very funny. What difference would it make if those men had a combined trial or two separate trials?

Everyone in Cambria County knows that the day before their trial or trials start, District Attorney Kelly Callihan will give them a plea deal.

In Cambria County, very few major crime cases ever go to trial. Why wouldn’t the district attorney offer them the plea deal now? It would save the courts a lot of time and the taxpayers a lot of money and the end result would be the same.

If they would decide not to take the district attorney’s offer now, it should be withdrawn and never offered again.

It seems the district attorney’s office doesn’t need prosecutors, just secretaries typing up plea agreements.

Gary E. Felski

Windber



Editor’s note: The following letter is being re-published because of an omission.



We are straying

from God’s word

A long time ago, there was a king who had a perfect world. He had a beautiful garden with lots of trees and animals. In his garden, he put two perfect people, a man and a woman, to enjoy it.

Everything was theirs to enjoy except the fruit of one tree, which they were not allowed to eat. The king said it would kill them. Things were going fine until an evil snake convinced the woman that the king lied and just didn’t want the people to be as smart as him.

She ate, and the man ate. Whoa! Immediately, things changed. They knew they betrayed the king, saw their nakedness and they hid from him.

He found them, killed some animals to make clothes for them and drove them from his garden.

Things got worse. The man and  woman had two sons. One murdered the other. Their descendants became so evil and violent that the king flooded his world, killing all but eight people. Death and destruction exist because the man and woman did not believe the king’s words. Do we believe the king’s words (Bible) today?

Look around. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, not abusers of themselves with mankind (homosexual perversions), nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” (I Corinthians 6:9-10)

But who is God to tell us what to do?

Barry W. Billings

Portage



Stop worrying about

others’ wealth

This is in response to John Rodgers’ question on Sept. 10, “How is tax break for a few going to help?”

I have my own question for Rodgers: How does increasing taxes for 1 percent of Americans help the other 99 percent?

Taxing the citizens, rich or poor, never generated wealth for anyone. The more a person pays in taxes, the less net income he or she earns.

For a business owner, this means he or she has less equity to put into the business.  As taxes (and thus expenses) rise, net income for the owner will decrease. The business will eventually have to downsize rather than expand and employees will lose their jobs.

It’s tempting to resent the wealthy because they have more than those who are not wealthy. But perhaps we could put a check on this resentment with the realization that each of us has what we have because of the wealthy.

A wise saying goes, “I was never hired by a poor man in my life.”

Let’s stop worrying about how much our neighbor has. We’re all Americans, created equal and endowed with certain un-alienable rights, no matter which income bracket each of us falls into.

Stephanie Rose

Johnstown

 

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