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Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Local Issues Obituaries Weather Archive Revels Etcetera Backpage Hot Topics Most Viewed Forum Photo Galleries Video Readers Polls O-Zone Online Games Movie Preview Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad September 13, 2005 Government has terrible priorities What has happened in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast requires me to use my long-hushed voice. Christian (or any other) values say we help our neighbor. That is in the large sense as well as the small. The events in the Gulf region demonstrate how cruel the treatment of our brothers and sisters can be. Nobody wished what happened in the Gulf. Nevertheless, the suffering and cruelty that has come to hundreds of thousands of people is simply wrong. Our administration will tell us they did all that they could. What they did was not good enough. Homeland Security, the largest and most expensive government agency ever created, and the Patriot Act were sold to the American people as a way to “protect” us. This is not protection no matter what the politicians say. The war in Iraq was sold to us based on non-existent weapons-of-mass-destruction and a false connection to Osama bin Laden. Our young men and women are dying overseas for meager pay, not to mention all the Iraqis that suffer. It is time to change the kinds of people we have administering this country. I again want to be genuinely proud to be an American. Andy Dungan Ashland Best to keep cats indoors I am pleased to have received several positive responses to my letter alerting Rogue Valley to the growing number of cats, feral and domestic, that are running in our streets and woods. Some people in the area focus on programs for neutering cats, and certainly spay-neuter is a valuable and critical part of the puzzle. However, a neutered cat is just as dead when it’s hit by a car, it gets distemper and rabies just as easily from raccoons and ’possums, and kills just as many birds, snakes, lizards, chipmunks, and so on. In addition to the danger cats pose to other creatures, cats themselves are in danger. According to an article by Bill Wallace, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer (Aug. 25), California has issued a public warning for cat owners to keep their pets away from wild rodents because an unusually high number of house cats in California have been found to be carrying the plague. The article goes on to say that the plague has been found this year in wild animals in nine other counties, several of them very close to us here in the Valley. “Health experts say house cats should be kept indoors if possible and should be supervised or, if possible, leashed when allowed outside,” the article says. So whether you’re more concerned about your health, your cat’s health, or the survival of birds, reptiles, and small mammals, please consider keeping your cat indoors and, please have your cat neutered, too, just in case. Alison Hope Ashland ID argument lacks intelligence Due to my frustration lately over so many people’s misunderstanding of science, I was going to write a letter attempting to explain the fundamental principles and the strengths and limitations of science. I was going to explain that science is merely a tool that when used correctly by trained people can yield extraordinary insights into our physical world. I was also going to point out that not all theories are equal; there are those that have scientific validity and those that don’t. I was even about to explain that it has been well established that even with science, nothing is absolutely provable. But, since reading recent letters to the editor from a Ph.D. biologist, a physician and others who have been theoretically trained in science — who more than anyone else should understand the power that good science has to yield insight into mysteries and to expose dogma as fallacy — yet continue to present their position on the teaching of evolution in science classes based not on their training in science, but on their scientifically invalid theories also known as belief systems, I can only conclude one thing; I was wrong. Some things are provable. We now have unequivocal proof that there is no intelligent designer. Eric Ring Ashland Humanity shows its better side I applaud humanity’s efforts during this past year. Disasters like the tsunamis in southeast Asia and Hurricane Katrina have brought out the best in humanity during very desperate times. I am very touched by the compassion and kindness of people from all over the world who have helped those who have had their realities turned upside down by these events. I was also impressed to see musicians from around the world perform at the Live 8 event over the summer to help raise money for those who regularly go without their basic needs being fulfilled. Even in the midst of all the chaos, we are on our way to creating a better world, a world where we are not separate nations but where we are all one: one planet, one family, one race, the human race. Michael Lemieux Ashland Letters to the Editor and Guest Forums should be e-mailed in text-only format to [email protected]. Please include your address and a daytime phone number where you can be reached for confirmation. Submissions cannot have run in any other publication. Letters are limited to 250 words, Guest Forums are limited to 600 words, and may be edited for length, content and clarity. --> Copyright © 2006 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.