In post-election America, javelinas run the asylum

Many people with my political orientation feel depressed last week. But I take comfort in a "Twilight Zone" episode called "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder."

A woman is in the hospital. Her face is wrapped in bandages. She had surgery to correct her hideous appearance but does not know if it worked. When the bandages come off, you see that she is beautiful. But then you see that the doctors and nurses look like human/javelina hybrids. So she is devastated.

The people of the United States say that revenge and war and intolerance are good. They are for religious fundamentalism and fiscal irresponsibility. Those of us who are for peace, tolerance and fiscal responsibility are in the minority.

But unlike the woman in the show, we have a community of others like us - 55.95 million others, in fact. And unlike her, we are not confused about what beauty looks like.

File this under J, for the Javelinas are running the asylum.

Deborah Frisch
adjunct professor, psychology

Kerry supporters should unite behind Pres. Bush

This is in response to Delphine Perrodin's article regarding the legitimacy of Bush's victory last Tuesday. Four years ago we were told Bush was a "fake" president because he did not win the popular vote. Now Ms. Perrodin is suggesting some conspiracy theory about Bush winning the electoral vote. Is it that hard to believe that polls could be wrong? With the exception of the last couple days before the election we saw most polls showing Bush ahead from anywhere from two to five points. Then in the last couple days and the exit polls showed Kerry might win easily. Polls are not facts. There is no proof to back up her charge of voting fraud. Not only that, but both parties had sent their lawyer "dream teams" to the swing states to make sure there was no foul play.

Obviously Arizona was not a swing state because I had to be bothered by a moveon.org stand outside my voting location. Bush won the popular vote by almost 4 million votes and easily won the electoral vote. It's time to understand that it was a clear victory, whether you like it or not.

Before this election took place, I heard a lot from Kerry supporters about how the country needs to unite behind him once he wins. That attitude seems to have been lost along with Kerry's bid for the presidency. People need to realize that Bush is not the Antichrist. Kerry would not be the Antichrist either if he would have won. Both men want the best for America. I've had friends actually say that America is now hopeless and futureless because Bush has won re-election. If this is truly the way they feel then no one is stopping them from going to a place where they feel there is hope and future. Disagreement over issues is a healthy thing, probably the best thing about our political system. It's one thing to disagree and another to say you hate Bush because he's a "bumbling idiot." The fact is Bush will have an easy time pushing his agenda through in the next four years, but it is extremely important that he work with Democrats to overcome the divisiveness in our country today. We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America. That holds true no matter which party is in power.

Ryan Poirier
economics senior

Real American values shown in election

Congratulations to my former university-mates, and everyone in the United States.

You stood in line for hours, a record turnout, to elect your president on the basis of "values" and "morality." Now the rest of the world knows what you understand by these terms.

Your president led you into a war based on lies. You have shown your values and elected the liar.

That war killed 1,100 of your soldiers, as well as 100,000 Iraqi men, women and children (read the study in the medical journal The Lancet, www.thelancet.com) You have shown your values and elected the killer.

Your president decided that those he calls "terrorists" are to be stripped of any legal rights, they can be indefinitely detained without charge or trial. His administration advised the military police in "liberated Iraq" that the Geneva Convention does not apply when interrogating "insurgents." The world saw the results, the grisly photos of Abu Ghraib torture. You have shown your values and elected the man who organized the torture.

As I write this, the values you elected are at work in the Iraqi town of Fallujah. People there committed an unforgivable sin: They managed to defeat your mighty army and free their city from occupation. Your "moral" president, without having to worry about re-election, is now teaching them their lesson. The BBC (not the "free" U.S. media, of course) is showing fresh mass graves, hospitals filled with bodies, women and children shot "accidentally" at check points trying to flee their city.

Congratulations. You voted for all this, on the basis of values and morality.

Last time around, you managed to kill 60,000 of your citizens and a million Vietnamese before being defeated by a small Third World country.

Hopefully, less blood will be spilled before you come to your senses again.

Giorgio Torrieri
UA alumnus

Media uninterested in voter fraud

It's coming out in articles throughout the world about how the presidential election this past Tuesday was tampered with, and that Kerry really won. Fraud evidence has come out of Florida, Ohio, New Mexico and now other states. It is estimated that as many as 8 million electronic votes were tampered with, an unusually high number of Kerry votes were determined to be "spoiled," and provisional ballots were forced upon an extraordinary number of black voters.

Do you intend to investigate this? How is it possible that we have had stolen elections in 2000, 2002 and now 2004, without the mainstream media reporting on it? Is representative democracy that hated by the mainstream media? Please do some sort of investigating. It's becoming painfully obvious that our votes don't matter in this country, and the media does not care.

Scott Warren
economics graduate student

Governments need value systems

This letter is in response to Friday's article, "Religion has no place in politics," which outlined a prevalent view in liberal circles regarding the separation of church and state. Since Evangelicals derive their moral code from Christianity, the author argues, such narrow religious views shouldn't be used to elect a president who has been lobotomized by Jerry Falwell. This view is not only hypocritical but discriminatory, which may explain why it holds such little sway at the national level.

Governments need value systems in order to make decisions so it's a question of which, not if. Whether that value system is based on the value systems of Christianity, atheism, Marxism or a mix depends on which leaders are in place. Whether one believe in God or not, and how this relates one's perception of right and wrong or values, he or she still has a right to participate in elections. And remember it was moral arguments (rooted in Christianity) that brought about an end to slavery and other evils.

More importantly, this argument is used selectively. The author conveniently forgot to mention how Kerry spoke in churches about how his interpretation of Catholicism guided his domestic agenda. Liberals say that if something offends you change the channel, and then demand that no one use the term minority because they find it offensive.

Most disturbing is the implicit conclusion: that Evangelicals, or anyone with a moral code, based in religion, that the author doesn't like, shouldn't have the right to vote.

Bret Reed
senior majoring in English

Voting makes no difference in America

Well, George W. Bush won and John F. Kerry lost. That wraps up another fine political season full of entertainment like Jenna's silly tongue and Teresa's stupid mouth. Doesn't it seem like such a colossal waste of money?

Does it even make a bit of difference if one of these men is elected over the other? Has it ever mattered? This country is the greatest example of fascism that has ever existed, and we didn't even make the mistake of putting a face on our specific brand.

We learned from Hitler that if the leader dies, the movement dies. That is why these silly elections serve such an important purpose. We replace the leader every four years, but the system stays the same so that people believe that they have these freedoms that would quickly be taken away if they were ever exercised in a meaningful way beyond pornography and abortion.

We have failed to see this, and we will now suffer through another four years of being blind to our potential if we would just take action. But alas, we can barely get up the energy to vote, so it all seems rather silly now me asking you to start a revolution. Unfortunately, that is what is needed if we are ever to live in a world that can sustain itself. Unfortunately, the intelligent people who could create this change have been silenced and replaced by the replaceable mediocre minds of academia. Too bad. Too bad indeed.

Ove Maard
UA alumnus

Kerry, not Bush, was the moral choice

People voted for President Bush based on moral values. I must not understand what morals are, since I believe I am a moral person and I voted for John Kerry. I would like to try to clear this up. I thought that having morals meant that you don't lie to soldiers that you are sending to war. I recall being told last year while on my way to Iraq that we would find weapons of mass destruction there. We didn't. I was lied to. I thought having morals meant that you take responsibility for mistakes that you make. Since figuring out that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that there were tenuous links to terrorism at best, I have not heard anyone in the administration admit to making a mistake. I have not heard any apologies for the deaths of my fellow soldiers and friends.

I thought that a moral person believed in treating every person the same. That means you do not impose your personal beliefs on people, you respect that they have differing opinions. This administration and voters across the country must disagree with me because they feel that they can impose their beliefs concerning marriage on everyone else in the country. Women and minorities continue to be discriminated against. And the administration forces people into retirement when they disagree with decisions the administration makes.

This country was founded by people who were trying to escape oppression. In the past four years we have lost many of the rights that our ancestors fought for. Now we are our own oppressors.

Sara Fleming
communication graduate
student