Letters.

When I saw the Dec. 23 issue, I knew I had to read the cover story ("Bad Lands, Bad Votes" by Byron York). Party machinery controlling the outcome, arm-twisting, improper conduct at polling sites, questionable absentee ballots: It all reminded me of the 2000 presidential election in Florida.

Then I flipped through old NRs, looking for the post-election issue showing President Bush with an "invalid" stamp on his face. Did I miss an issue?

Jack Anderson

Chatham, Mass.

I want to commend Byron York on his fine cover story. The St. Thomas Parish Hall has been my polling place for nearly 20 years. The activities that took place there on Nov. 5 were reported accurately and fairly.

Gene Popkes

Mission, S.D.

Thank you for John J. Miller's cover story ("Off the Rez," Dec. 31).

Opportunity and self-determination cannot flourish so long as Uncle Sam acts as Great White Father and miscasts tribal members as incapable. The federal government has grossly mismanaged Indian trust property, and the potential benefits of tribal assets are bottled up, while taxpayers pay billions in subsidies and programs. A lucrative Washington lobbying industry has been created to serve this system. Taxpayers should be freed from the huge expense of a bureaucracy that suppresses opportunity on the pretext of protecting Indians.

Rep. Ernest Istook (5th Dist., Okla.)

Washington, D.C.

There's really only one solution -- disband the Bureau of Indian Affairs and let the Indians decide their fate. Stop the handouts, stop the incessant bureaucratic meddling.

Before disbanding the BIA, let's buy the Lakota one last round of drinks and say what needs to be said: "Sorry about the buffalo. Good luck."

Nicholas R. Hartman Jr.

Apple Valley, Calif.

Re Richard John Neuhaus's review of Matthew Scully's book ("The Quality of Mercy," Dec. 31):I have been involved in farming for 55 years and can assure you that factory farming is more humane than the animal husbandry of the past. Modern agriculture is very competitive, and no one ever made a profit from mistreated animals.

If you want to make money from animals, you must treat them well. The profit motive is the best protection animals have ever had. I would have thought that would be obvious to NR.

John Gardner

Essex, N.Y.

In "Religion of Peace?" (Dec. 31) Roger Scruton seems to insinuate that Christianity and secular law are close bed-fellows.

Any secular law code or system of jurisprudence that has as its fundamental and guiding basis homo mensura is decidedly un-Christian. While it is true that the Christian is commanded to obey all civil magistrates and recognize the sphere sovereignty of both the state and church, this in no way means that the former must be secular.

Paul's emphasis was to demand that both the state and the church reside comfortably under the moral law of God.

Jason Walsh

Phoenix, Ariz.

Mr. Scruton's article is the most coherent and concise statement of the nature of Islam that I have ever read. It does more to explain why the United States is so hated by Muslims than anything I have seen.

Won't someone at National Review please send copies to President Bush, Secretary Powell, and representatives of other major powers on the U.N. Security Council?

Lawrence R. Taylor

Cedar Mountain, N.C.