Facts were obscured
Whoever wrote the editorial pertaining to Alabama Supreme Court Judge Roy Moore did an excellent job of obscuring facts about the U.S. Constitution. He refers to fighting a war over nullification, which I believe is wrong; it was fought to deny a sovereign state's constitutional right to secede from the federal union.
During the Constitution Ratification Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, the Committee of the Whole reviewed Resolution 6: "to call forth the force of the Union against any member of the Union failing to fulfill its duty ..." James Madison then asked for a postponement.
That issue is illustrated in the book Miracle at Philadelphia by Catherine Drinker Bowen, which stated that Madison was strongly in favor of enumerated, distinct powers granted to Congress. The more he reflected, the more he doubted the practicability, justice and efficacy of using force against a state. It would look like a declaration of war, Madison said. Madison's notes declare "Agreed, nem. con." (meaning unanimous) on the motion of postponement. In the end the Constitution was to contain no clause calling forth a national army against a state or section.
There were no exceptions in James Madison's notes or written in the Constitution and the Convention of States took extra precautions by inserting Article III, Section 3, which defines treason as levying war against the United States. I fail to see the difficulty in comprehending this fact.
LOY MAUCH
Bismarck
Misrepresented truth
I believe the writer of the editorial "Once again, his reward" is passing along dangerously false information and does so either with or without cognizance.
Concerning Judge Roy Moore, the editor referred to him as (dis)Honor Roy Moore because Judge Moore, I believe, rightfully "demanded the governor of Alabama stand up to the feds and 'judicial tyranny' over these marriage rulings." The editor then went on to spread the grievous and devastating error that nullification, which I believe is the rightful remedy against government tyranny, is not valid because the federal courts have ruled, and that "state courts must follow."
This editor is wrong, wrong, wrong, and the annals of American history are replete with our founding fathers' quotes that guarantee that we, today, can understand their intended meaning of our Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and Bill of Rights--and I believe the statement that state courts must follow the decisions of federal courts is absurd and equally wrong. Federal courts, including the Supreme Court, are not the final authority on what is and what isn't constitutional. The U.S. Constitution determines who that authority is, and I believe it just happens to be "we the people," the creators of the compact.
Doubt me? Give me more than 250 words and I'll prove it. How about allowing me to write the editorial?
JAMES A. BRETTELL
Maumelle
Praying for a patriot
A note to emphasize that my penniless clans are praying for Donald Trump and that the know-nothing clans shall also pray for this heroic patriot Trump as he is fixing to perform as Abraham Lincoln did back yonder when there were oodles of ignoramuses refusing to recognize the Constitution's edicts and the biblical edicts.
H.E. HARVEY
Clarksville
Nonexistent problems
North Carolina's HB2 and similar legislation restricting the transgender use of public restrooms is an example of what I've begun calling a soluprob: A Solution without a Problem (soluprob.com).
As the controversy has heated up, some women say they would feel uncomfortable if a biologically male trans woman used the women's room. But this has been happening for years, evidently, with no one knowing about it or feeling uncomfortable. (I have it on good authority that women's rooms provide stalls with doors, so no one knows what you have.) What discomfort there is today was caused by HB2 and similar measures.
A more serious concern is a fear of sexual molestation: specifically, a fear that trans women will molest women and girls in the restroom. I haven't found a single case of this happening, however. There's the occasional report of a politician or clergyman molesting others in public restrooms, but never transgender men or women. The "problem" doesn't seem to exist, but the "solution" is very real in its consequences. North Carolina has suffered economically from entertainers and corporations who disapprove, and there is now a chance it will lose federal funding.
Even if the state sticks to its guns, no one is clear how HB2 will be enforced. If you must use the bathroom appropriate to the gender listed on your birth certificate, who will be responsible for checking birth certificates at the door? Or will physical exams be accepted in the cases of those who left home without their birth certificates?
The issue may ultimately be resolved as suggested by comedian and social critic, Bill Maher: "If you look like a woman, use the women's room; if you look like a man, use the men's room. If you're a bearded dude in a dress, hold it until you get home." When you think about it, Maher's prescription is simply for a continuation of past practices.
EARL BABBIE
Hot Springs Village
Obviously not wanted
Here we go again. We agreed to get out of Iraq after our own State Department poll several years ago allegedly showed 93 percent of Iraq's people didn't want us there any longer.
Now we are on our way back. First it was 200 "advisers" and now it's 5,000. And to what avail? An Associated Press article showed a recent unscientific survey by the State Department found that 40 percent of Iraqis believe U.S. policy is working to "destabilize Iraq and control its natural resources." Over 33 percent of Iraqis believe America "supports terrorism in general and [the Islamic State] specifically."
Much of our equipment, bombs and supplies allegedly end up in the hands of the enemy. Videos uploaded to social media by front-line militiamen are said to show U.S. military ready-to-eat meals, weapons and uniforms found in an area held by the Islamic State. In Syria the U.S. reportedly supports Syrian Kurdish fighters who are considered terrorists by NATO ally Turkey.
It appears all over the Middle East we don't know who our friends are, so we give or sell arms to nearly any group that wants them. I'm sure the military-industrial complex supports such.
There seems to be only one thing nearly all Middle Easterners agree on: "Yankee go home."
I believe we should not go where we obviously are not wanted.
VERNON McDANIEL
Ozark
Character judgment
When you see a white man in his 60s what comes to your mind?
Do you have any judgment of who he is? Do you profile him racially and for what he or his ancestors have done? Because you see him come in and out of a church not of your faith do you judge him? Do you believe because you vote a certain way or you or your spouse is a different race than your own that you can't be a racist? Did you know that 60-something white man had a small slice of Native American, that sharecroppers were in his family history and they were white?
Our ancestry is good to know as all history is, as long as it is true; if it's not it's a lie. Yet ancestry does not make us who we are. Our decisions and character define who we are. One's family and their success and failure don't define you.
I hope and pray I see a man not of my skin color does not cause me to decide anything. Racism knows no color and bigotry isn't owned by one race or political party. There is even a certain amount of truth to the old children's response that it takes one to know one.
A political agenda that is always seeing racism needs to step back from the mirror.
FLOYD HOPSON
Hazen
Editorial on 05/16/2016