America has freedom Îof,' not Îfrom,' religion

A letter in Monday's Wildcat stressed the fact that "under God" was added to the pledge as a way of combating atheistic communism and therefore has no place in the classroom of today. But the writer chose to ignore the blatant references to a higher power in the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration, written partly by Jefferson, remarked upon the rights to which "nature's God entitle(s)" citizens, and that humans are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." So all those claiming that the separation of church and state should mean that no mention of God is acceptable in the public sphere should find another country with a foundation that does not include so many obvious references to God. The reality is that our American heritage is one of freedom "of religion" not "from religion."

The secularists today would have everyone believe that the word "God" must be blasted from war memorials and from the very steps of the Supreme Court. But the history of America has always been one of religion. The only difference between America and other countries has been that we do not have an established state religion; rather we may pray as we chose, to whichever god we find most meaningful.

Seth Frantzman
UA alumnus

Church, state intermixed in many different ways

This is in reference to Jim Logan's letter titled "ÎUnder God' didn't appear in ÎPledge' until 1954."

While he is right about the phrase being added in 1954, the United States government has been connected to religion for a long time. While we have the separation of church and state ideology, our money still states "In God We Trust" and we observe a Christian holiday as a federal holiday (with it being a paid holiday for federal employees). Also remember that you do not have to say that phrase when you state the Pledge of Allegiance, as I know many people (including myself from time to time) that omit that part from their recital. I was never afraid of reprisal from the Christians, and why should I be? People's religious beliefs are to be respected, no matter what they believe.

In addition, if people oppose the phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance, then why are they not opposed to a paid holiday called Christmas?

Ross Richard
environmental science senior

Pell Grant hurting thanks to Bush administration

Last week I received an e-mail from Moveon.org's newsletter. The gist of the message was this: The Bush administration has frozen student aid and is now proposing a loan based on the future earnings of current college students.

It was the first I had heard of the student aid funding issue, so I did some research to confirm it. CNN didn't have anything of any value, so I hit Google and did my own news search. According to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, the FY 2005 Budget has frozen the Pell Grant at $4,050, the third year in a row the President has either frozen or decreased the Pell ÷ this after promising in 2000 to increase Pell Grant funding to $5,100. I know, a lot has happened between then and now, and there are other things that Bush has deemed a priority.

While our tuition increases, our available funds decrease. The story isn't new to this country. It happens from elementary schools on up.

Do we place such little value on education?

Wendy Watters
anthropology senior

Athletics needs to treat ticket holders better

It wasn't just Zona Zoo ticket holders who had a problem in relation to the USA softball game.

I have season tickets to UA softball games. It wasn't until reading a newspaper article last Monday that I realized my season ticket was not good for the USA game.

More troubling, however, is the quote from the ticket manager that, "Seats for the game sold out Tuesday." Monday morning during my daily run/walk, I stopped at the ticket office at McKale and was told that no tickets were available for the game on Friday. I hope the ticket manager was either wrong or misquoted about tickets being sold out on Tuesday.

I stopped buying football tickets in 1999 when I had difficulty using my valid CatCard to get a ticket to a game that was not sold out. If I treated my clients the way the UA treats its supporters, I'd lose clients every year.

Don Vance
Tucsonan

Bush not to blame for rising fuel prices

Instead of always pushing the liberal bias of this newspaper on all issues and attacking either Republicans, conservative thinkers or President Bush, why don't you practice your so-called "craft" of journalism and actually research a story? Saying that President Bush is responsible to the country for gas prices may be partially true, but what about the money-hungry petroleum companies that have monopolized the industry and truly set gas prices where they currently sit? When a company controls every aspect of the industry, including local gas stations that set prices in conjunction with one another as to not create unfair competition, it might seem like the real problem. Do a little more research before you state information in the paper.

Branden Lombardi
UA alumnus

Americans safer thanks to security efforts

Well, the Wildcat has done it again ÷ another attack on President Bush and his policies. Well, Ms. Kursman, of course we are safer today than we were before. Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. Furthermore, his capture is not a "symbolic battle." He is a megalomaniac who wanted nothing more than to kill and torture not only Americans, but Kurdish people in his own country. What about all those Iraqis she mentions avoiding the crossfire? I suppose they were better off before, getting pulled off the street by Uday and Qusay and then being raped and tortured. That aside, is it not our responsibility to go out into the world and find every single person who plans on terrorizing other people of the world? She mentions the fact that a mother might decide not to make a trip to New York because of possible terrorist activities. Is that not the exact reason why we should be out there trying to find these people? So people can go where they want and live the normal lives they want to live, free from the worries of terrorist activity?

Rob Lofgren
education junior