We can make a difference
To the editor,
It makes me extremely sad to think that the young people in this country want to turn away from the election and not vote. It seems our generation has become very good at turning our heads from anything that matters and then blame someone else when we aren't happy with a situation. To the people who encourage others not to vote this I say "if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything." Do some research and get an opinion.
We live in a time of exceptional prosperity and wealth, a time of amazing technology that is improving everyday. It is time to take charge of our future, and the first step in this is casting a vote on Nov. 7. In my mind George W. Bush is the better candidate, but whether or not you believe that, at least take the time to vote. If you don't, I don't want to hear your voice around campus complaining that leaders don't care and therefore you didn't vote. It is time for our generation to speak out and make our voices heard. We can make a difference.
Anna Dubiak
Business marketing and political science junior
Be sure to vote
To the editor,
Kudos to Nick Zeckets for his editorial in response to the Counter-Campaign 2000 which is going on the UA campus. My daughter, who is a sophomore at the UA, came home earlier this week very angry by this group trying to convince students that not voting was going to help solve the issues of this country. My guess is that many of these young people have parents who don't vote or very rarely voted but are the first to complain about elected officials not doing their jobs. Leaders and issues can be changed at the ground level in this country as is evident by the way that this country was born. I am a poll worker, and I am so excited to see young adults coming in to vote and voice their opinions about issues and candidates. To all of the young adults, register to vote, then go vote, remember this is your country and you are it's future. Please do not let apathy and ignorance make your future decisions for you.
Lynda Coffey
Tucson
American arms misused
To the editor,
I am amazed that American students can sit back, and without as much as a glance, watch Israel use American weapons such as tanks, Apache Attack Helicopters and machine guns on both the Palestinians and their own Arab-Israeli citizens. Surely if the Serbs decided to use these tactics on the Albanians, the US and Nato, and the UN, would take action. By standing by and not saying anything America is de facto supporting the use of our "economic aid" to shoot and kill civilians. How many children need to die at the hands of the Israeli army for us to say enough is enough.
I believe that the US should suspend all weapon sales and other "aid" to Israel until they begin to respect human rights and stop treating one part of their population as second class. They treat the Palestinians the way we treated the Native American in this country. Up to the late 1920s a white man could kill an "Indian" and not be prosecuted. So too can an Israeli shoot and kill a Palestinian on the flimsiest of pretexts.
Perhaps to make it fair we should suspend weapon sales (aid) to both sides. Impose sanctions on both sides and send in UN troops to protect the civilians from the aggressors. But at the very least, students should be outraged that our tax dollars are being used by a foreign army to kill civilians.
Chris Lovato
Psychology graduate student
Scout funds donated
To the editor,
I just wanted to clarify the so-called "public funding" that the BSA received. The funds were allocated to the BSA and other non-profit organizations from money donated by city employees. These employees contributed on their own good will and then these funds are distributed. So with a distortion, some might ignorantly say that those funds are tax dollars, but they would most definitely be wrong.
So would Mr. Spiller and everyone else running around trying to point a finger and conform the world to no beliefs, their beliefs or ask that the government regulate every belief (did someone say Fascist?), please do me a favor (selfish, I know). Please stand up, take off your underwear and, with a circular motion, unwind them to a less twisted state. I hope these twisted underwear and the last month of hoo-rah hasn't caused any permanent physical damage to your brain (I would be friendly, courteous and kind, but you have convinced me that the BSA and it's values are bad - now look what you've done). If I could only have been exposed to SAS or something like that as a child, you would have avoided that name calling!! Darn you BSA. So don't believe everything that you hear or read in the media. It might actually be somewhat incorrect. In fact, please call the City of Tucson and ask if I'm right. I did hear it from my wife's father's lawyer's friend's sister who knew someone that worked for the City of Tucson. Maybe Mr. Spiller would call that a reliable source. Good luck!
Lan Allen
Psychology and chemistry senior
