Letters to the editor (3/26)

 This country has a long way to go

Dear Editor:

I am an 81-year-old vet with 27 years of active military duty. I strongly feel that this country has a long way to go before we realize the freedoms we so loudly espouse.

U.S. history, for me, is a big case of "we talk the talk but don't walk the walk." There has been a lack of freedom since the beginning of our history. Our Constitution and Bill of Rights was written by well-meaning men who, because of their religion and education, didn't truly realize that black people were human beings. Many, including at least one president, fathered children from their female slaves. Various religious sects have disavowed one another from the beginning.

Catholics were feared and mistreated until Kennedy was elected. We screwed the Native Americans and many Mexicans out of their land. The only people who realized the American dream, until about 60 years ago, were white protestant males.

This is a great country and I love it, but it is not the one I really wish for. We need to get religion out of politics. Religious faith has, and still is, killing more people than most serious epidemics.

We need to start here and around the world an educational system that teaches the "big bang" and evolution are real. When mankind accepts the fact that the supernatural start of this universe and mankind is not the God of the Torah, the Koran, the Bible, or the Book of Mormon, we may be on the way to peace.

It is going to happen. Unfortunately it will take generations and millions more will die for their faith before it does.

Lt. Col. Larry J. Kluth (retired United States Air Force)

How hypocritical are we?

Dear Editor:

I noticed in the March 7 edition, page 25, a full-page ad for the X-rated establishment called Fascinations. I'm sure that brought in a tidy sum for the paper's bank account, but that aside, have you, along with many other Americans, stopped to consider how hypocritical you really are?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but did you do some hand-clapping when the governor of New York stepped out of office because he was associating with prostitutes? Oh my, wasn't that shameful, you thought.

However, I would like to remind you that those participating in pornography on DVDs over at Fascinations are nothing more or less than prostitutes themselves. That is what they are and that is what they must always be referred to despite their cries against it.

For instance, some attempt to lessen the stigma of their profession by referring to themselves as "domestic engineers," when what they really are is a maid. Likewise, those men and women participating in porn have always and every day referred to themselves as "performers," when what they really are is nothing more than the typical prostitute, let's be honest.

My point is that by accepting advertising for a pornographic establishment, you are encouraging that the residents of our lovely town associate themselves with prostitutes by purchasing their products.

The governor of New York also wished to associate himself with prostitutes by purchasing their products. Doesn't anybody see a fundamental hypocrisy running through our nation's veins when our personal opinion condemns a man when he gets caught in the act; but the nation's highest courts have ruled that this exact same behavior of associating with prostitutes is perfectly legal to everyone on planet Earth. So much so that WORLD magazine recently reported that there are now over 4.2 million pornographic Web sites (worldmag.com/articles/10555).

So to all those who applauded the ousting of the governor of New York, why are you so hard on the man when I see a DVD from Fascinations sitting there on your shelf? To those who were condemning the prostitute in the Bible, Jesus said, "He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone" (John 8:7).

Darrin Kemper

Phoenix traffic engineers are amateurs

Dear Editor:

I don't know that I'd designate the 40th Street and Pecos Road intersection as having "design flaws." But the intersection certainly has deficiencies.

It was a nice touch to add the left-turn arrow, however, it should have been set up as left-turn-on-arrow-only. Right now you still have exposure to high-speed traffic closing on you, without any visual references from which to judge speed. How many teenage drivers have the skills or experience to handle this intersection? Yet teenagers probably constitute a very large portion of this traffic.

The westbound yellow timing interval is insufficient. When I recently spent a few hours timing it I found it to be 4.46 seconds in a 50 mph speed zone, yet the yellow timing cycle at 48th Street and Ray Road is 4.12 seconds in a 40 mph speed zone.

Wonder why?

Duh? Isn't it obvious, 40th and Pecos has a money-making red-light camera, 48th and Ray does not.

Society of Automotive Engineers tables would suggest that the yellow light-timing interval should be at least six seconds, maybe more given that hardly anyone is actually observing the 50 mph limit.

Several Virginia cities have found that lengthening the yellow light-timing interval drops the accident rate dramatically. But Phoenix prefers (and needs) the money!

For amusement I would suggest that readers go out to the southeast corner of that intersection and just observe for awhile. The number of tractor-trailer trucks sliding up to the intersection to avoid a red-light-camera ticket would be funny... if it wasn't down-right scary. Wonder how long it will take to have a really nasty multi-death accident there?

I moved to the Valley of the Sun from the East Coast in 1962, right out of college (MIT). One of my first observations was that Phoenix traffic "engineers" were amateurs. My opinion hasn't changed in 46 years.

Jim Thompson