Feedback.

DAVID WARREN MADE A GROSS UNDER-statement when he said, "political correctness actively discourages exactly the sort of analysis we need to assess terrorist threats" ("Important Distinctions," June 18). The real and infinitely more troubling problem is that political correctness has been codified into a law that describes any non-liberal utterance as "hate speech." We are not merely discouraged; we are legally prohibited.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Zachariah Anani was nearly charged under that law for simply explaining that the Koran was used as the primary tool of those who recruited him as an instrument of terror. His close encounter with a jail cell occurred because he pointed out the verses that convinced him, and every other Islamic terrorist in the world, that the dictates of God demand jihad against infidels.

It has now reached the point where the truth is illegal if a definable group does not want it spoken. Free speech, as we always thought it to be, no longer exists in this country.

Steve Harris 

Calgary

WITH ALL THE QUESTIONABLE ACTIVITY about the RCMP that seems to be surfacing ("RCMP at a Crossroads," July 2), maybe it's about time the force was completely restructured. Let the provinces that use them as their police get their own police force and let the Mounties be strictly a federal force similar to the FBI in the U.S. How can they be unbiased in their dealing with local, provincial and federal governments when many of the politicians within those governments are at political odds with each other? It won't hurt them to hang up their red tunics, put their horses out to pasture and start concentrating on some serious national security work that we need now and are going to need more of in the future.

Mel Lyons,

Kincardine, Ont.

THE ARTICLES PRESENTED IN THE JUNE 4 edition depicting environmentalism as bad and global warming as good (at least for Canada) really missed a great opportunity ("Chill Out" and "The Gospel of Green"). Resource conservation and cutting greenhouse gases means spending less on energy and, in a time of increasing energy prices, being more competitive. There is a lot of potential economic upside to encouraging businesses and individuals to reduce their impact on the environment. Alas, your magazine has shown, yet again, that there is no shortage of people willing to stick their heads in the tarsands.

Derek Allerton

Edmonton

MARK STEYN'S PIECE IN YOUR JUNE 18 issue ("No Man's Land") wisely points out the intrinsic misanthropy of much of fashionable greendom. It's so ingrained that it even causes them strategic problems. Take the anti-global warming crusade. One would think that a "win-win" strategy would top their agenda. They could ignore the global warming angle and say if we used less petroleum we wouldn't be held hostage by a finite resource that is often under the feet of tyrants. Forget "climate change," how about good old national security? Such coalition-building is the forte of the successful politician and diplomat, yet these folks will have none of such civilities.

J. Wroblewski

Vancouver

THERE IS SHOCK AND OUTRAGE, AND rightfully so, after a woman left her newborn baby in a toilet at a Wal-Mart in Prince Albert, Sask. ("Baby Steps Towards Child Protection," July 2). If she had her baby torn limb from limb at an abortion clinic two days earlier, there would not be a peep uttered. Would the abortion crowd dare say this woman was just exercising her right to choose? What is the difference between what she did, and an abortion performed a day or two, or even hours, earlier?

Stanley Reitsma

Carman, Man.

ACCORDING TO ARTICLE 1 OF THE HAGUE Convention, the rules, rights and obligations in war are also applicable to militia and volunteer corps, if they fulfil the following conditions: they wear identifying insignia which can be recognized from a distance; they carry their weapons openly; and they observe the rules and customs of war in their actions. Thus Omar Khadr ("The Case Against Khadr," June 18) is clearly just another terrorist that got caught and must face the consequences. I, for one, hope he never leaves prison.

Frederick Peitzsche

Innisfail, Alta.

RIC DOLPHIN ON JUNE 18 REQUESTED suggestions for a new name for an enlarged Alumbia ("Playing With the Big Boys"). My suggestion is "Samsland." One thing Canada's western provinces and the Yukon actually have in common is a genuine hero whose name has a prominent place in the history of all of them. We had Sam Steele of the North West Mounted Police.

Besides keeping the peace he also managed to skewer some corrupt and incompetent Ottawa politicians and bureaucrats. Making Samsland the name for an emerging new nation in this part of the world would be a valuable reminder of where we came from.

Lawerance Elliott

Edmonton

WHILE IT IS ADMIRABLE THAT YOUR PUBLIcation chose to recognize the death of Justice Donald Krueger (The Record, June 18), certain misinformation in the report should be noted.

Justice Krueger was not retired. He had elected a supernumery status April 1, 2006, and continued to serve as a supernumerary member of the bench until two weeks before his death.

Pat Krueger

North Battleford, Sask.

We welcome your feedback by e-mail ([e-mail]) by mail (Letters, Suite 205, 1550 Fifth Street SW, Calgary, AB T2R 1K3) or fax [phone]). Letters may be edited for space and clarity.