Letters to the Editors 1/29

Cartoon falsely depicts Christianity

I was intrigued by the cartoon arguing against capital punishment in Monday’s edition of The Oracle.

The shadowed impression of the crucifixion shows misguided naivete concerning the purpose of Christ’s coming to earth. He came to die for the sins of mankind. The Bible is clear on this divine plan. It wasn’t some sort of mistake that could have been avoided had the Romans not practiced capital punishment.

Also, I must assume that the overweight, balding, white male figure wearing a tie must somehow be a stereotypical advocate for capital punishment (a.k.a. a conservative).

Perhaps in the future, in an effort to be as inclusive as possible, you can feature other religions in a similar light. I’m sure that would go over well with many of your readers.

Gary Compton is a second year education Ph.D. student.


Security necessary due to Al-Arian

It’s ridiculous for Sami Al-Arian to complain about USF moving the location of his hearing. “It appears that the thought process of the decision-makers is more reminiscent of the behavior of a security apparatus than an academic institution,” he said.

Personally, I would support any attempts by the school to reinforce security anytime that Al-Arian is on campus. It’s obvious that the man has been linked to terrorist groups — people that want to destroy the place where I live.

I’m offended that the school has even granted Al-Arian a hearing. I agree with the statement, “If you’re not for us, you’re against us.”

I feel that Al-Arian is decidedly not for me and not for the students I walk to class with. To me, he represents the people that want to hurt me.

Whatever the school does to ensure my safety and that of my friends, I will support.

If I find armed guards outside the MC food court, so be it. If I’m late for class because security wants to search my bags, I’ll take it.

And if the school wants to move Al-Arian and his supporters further away from my location, I’ll gladly pay mileage and expenses.

Andy Schrader is a junior majoring in civil engineering.


Race or creed not the issue with Al-Arian

The statement by Sami Al-Arian (“Al-Arian Hearing Moved Off Campus,” 1/24), implying his problems with the USF administration are due to his ethnicity or religion, is a classic attempt to cloud the issue at hand by playing the discrimination card.

Realizing that he has no defense for his actions, he tries to turn the situation into an obvious case of racial prejudice with him being the poor, persecuted victim.

Get a clue Al-Arian: This has nothing to do with your race or religion. It doesn’t even have anything to do with academic freedom, as some people have tried to claim. It has to do with protecting human rights, specifically, the right of all humans to live free from terror.

If the least of the accusations is true, Al-Arian has funded, if not played a leadership role, in an organization, the Islamic Jihad, which supports and encourages terrorist activities.

Al-Arian is the one violating people’s rights, not the USF administration. On a campus that has such a vocal, vehement stance against a war with Iraq, in which innocent civilians might be killed, I find it hard to understand why a large part of the faculty and student body has thrown their support behind a man who appears to condone and assist in the purposeful murder of innocents.

The hypocrisy on this campus is incomprehensible.

Cara Sivils is a senior majoring in biology.


Hussein’s actions justify war with Iraq

This is in response to Anthony Schmidt’s naive assertion that, “(the) United States … has spoken and we are saying that we don’t want this war.”

Yes, there were nearly 200,000 anti-war protesters that took to the streets over the weekend, but they do not represent the opinion of mainstream America. Moreover, polls show support for the attack on Iraq crossing well over the 50 percent mark.

That number should climb as the U.N. inspectors find more incriminating evidence of weapons of mass destruction.

If, however, the findings are limited to what has currently been found, that alone should be sufficient justification to begin strikes. We know that Iraq had chemical weapons, and we know they did not declare them. Therefore, unless they ate them, they are lying and are in breach of their obligations to the U.N.

It’s fitting that a dictator who tortures and murders his citizens would not be kept up at night over a lie to America. Why would those who don’t trust our President accept Dictator-for-Life Hussein’s word at face value?

Joseph Yanes is a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering.


Brothers Bush perform magic tricks

How does one take a huge federal surplus and low unemployment rate and in a short time, turn them into a devastating deficit and high unemployment rate?

By George, it’s easy. Some call it fuzzy mathematics.

How does one become a “Governor for Education?” By Jeb, it’s simple.

First you punish “poor” failing schools and reward “rich” successful schools. Then, you slash the state universities’ budget by over $111 million while rewarding businesses (the rich) with a $116-million intangible tax cut.

Is this class warfare or sibling rivalry?

Manoug Manougian, Ph.D. is a professor in the department of mathematics.