Letters in the Editor's Mailbag.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Why we fly the flag

I think Jason Agar (letters, Sept. 27) has missed a few of the reasons people fly our flag. First and foremost, my husband and I, for most of our lives, have flown our flag for we appreciated and honored our country.

Secondly, I have a grandson who joined the Army a year before Sept. 11, 2001, and he is stationed at Fort Bragg, which I think everyone knows is a jumping-off place for Afghanistan. I promised him I would fly the flag for him as long as he's in the service.

Whether I support the president's plans or not is no one else's business.

LOIS PASCHELKE Marcola

Guilty from outset

So John Walker Lindh was never a member of al-Qaeda, is not a terrorist and has been cooperating with interrogators, according to an Associated Press report (Register-Guard, Sept. 29).

So why is he being sentenced to 20 years in prison? Could it have anything to do with Attorney General John Ashcroft, who pronounced Lindh guilty before he was ever tried?

GEORGE WICKES Eugene

Actions contradict faith

In his recent letter to the editor, James Herriott raised the issue of the contradiction between the Christian beliefs our leaders claim to hold and their actions that defy the teachings of the Bible (letters, Sept. 24). He gave the example of the parable about it being more difficult for a rich man to get into heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle - despite this teaching, our leaders sanction or engage in the rampant pursuit of wealth.

I, too, have been baffled at the incongruities between our leaders' and lawmakers' professed beliefs and their actions. For instance, how is it that we can be on our current course of violence, death and destruction when it was Jesus Christ himself who taught us to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you"? Likewise, what part of "Thou shalt not kill" don't they understand?

If Christians actually practiced the teachings of the religion they purport to believe, the world would be a better place.

CHAR HEITMAN Eugene

Victors have a problem

The president was all fired up, "come hell or high water," with his tax cut. The only result has been that the economy is worse and some very rich people have been made very happy.

Now he is all fired up, "come hell or high water," to spend however many lives it takes on his own little war.

I came across this the other day: "The problem after war is with the victor. He thinks he has just proved that war and violence pay. Who will now teach him a lesson?"

IRBY SMITH Pleasant Hill

Racism pledge is silly

Spencer Butte Middle School's racism-free pledge (Register-Guard, Sept. 27) is certainly silly. Students, staff and parents pledge they "will not make statements ... indicating prejudice of any kind."

Are they allowed to order from a menu without tasting each dish first? May they state a general preference for real ice cream over the soy variety? Not according to their pledged word.

The pledge continues: "Freedom of speech does not extend to hurting others." No? Then why must we protect this freedom? If nobody gets hurt, who will object?

There's more: "We will not judge people by stereotypes." Huh? This sentence could mean so many different things that it ends up meaning nothing at all.

Finally: `All people will be treated equally ... .' Let us hope that students are not pledging that if they kiss one fellow student, they must kiss them all. That's harassment!

If students wrote the pledge, their age, at least, is a good excuse. Perhaps rewriting the pledge might help middle school students learn not only tolerance, but precision of expression as well.

BRUCE SCHENNUM Eugene

An intolerant ideology

Anyone who might have difficulties understanding the challenges Israel faces need look no further than M. Reza Behnam's Sept. 22 Commentary article.

While many people believe that a reasonable compromise solution to the Middle East conflict would be to create a sovereign Palestinian state willing to live peacefully side by side with the sovereign Jewish state of Israel, Behnam rejects the right of Jews to national self-determination in their ancestral homeland. The peace he proposes is a peace without Israel as a Jewish state.

The use of half-truths, misleading information taken out of context and deplorable comparisons of the state of Israel to Nazi Germany speak not only to the method but also to the intolerant ideology Israel's enemies put forward.

HAL M. APPLEBAUM Eugene

CAPTION(S):

The Register-Guard welcomes letters on topics of general interest. Our length limit is 250 words; all letters are subject to condensation. Writers are limited to one letter per calendar month. Because of the volume of mail, not all letters can be printed. Letters must be signed with the writer's full name. Mail letters to Mailbag, P.O. Box 10188, Eugene, OR 97440-2188 Fax: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail]