LETTERS 11/29/07

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The prohibition of torture is a non-derogable human right — an absolute under federal law, international treaty obligations and the peremptory norms of international law. That is, no executive order, no law and no treaty (even if “the life of the nation is threatened”) can remove that prohibition under any circumstances. To do so is a crime against humanity.

There are several other non-derogable human rights. The analogy of police deadly force presented by the letter writer is a false one. If he wanted to provide a proper analogy in his justification of torture, he should have written about “limited use of murder (extra judicial death)” or “limited use of slavery.” Now, that would convince everyone that it’s all OK, don’t you think?

Michael Bersin

Warrensburg, Mo.

In response to Aaron Peters’ “Design not unique” letter (11/23): There is also the Alton, Ill., bridge, which is similar in design and can be viewed by searching for the Clark Bridge on the Internet.

Jennifer Easler

Warsaw, Mo.

Jonathan Last’s portrait of Ron Paul (11/25, Opinion, “Odd bet is on Ron Paul, ‘crank of many colors’ ”) is an example of invective, utilizing a tactic that can best be described as “the sustained sneer.”

No arguments are presented against Paul’s ideas; none is necessary. Merely stating his positions is enough to relegate him and his supporters to the “crank” category.

Illustrative of Paul’s wackiness, for example, is his principled opposition to “virtually all wars.” “He was against Gulf War I, Kosovo, the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, and the current Iraq war.”

Of course, cogent arguments have been made (not least by Paul, on the House floor!) that the results of all these exercises in imperial foreign policy have been of little benefit to the American people as a whole, and disasters to those who have been “liberated.”

Ron Paul’s candidacy, buoyed by a huge amount of grass-roots support, is not going to net him the Republican nomination, but it represents a radical challenge to an intellectually bankrupt establishment.

Last’s analysis of this phenomenon (“there are a lot of strange people out there”) is a superficial, juvenile response to serious argumentation.

Alan Kent

Kansas City

A couple of Saturdays ago, I was traveling Interstate 70. Traffic came to a stop. Eventually, we came upon the “accident” slowing traffic down. It was a toll booth.

We waited our turn rather impatiently and were stunned to see a very nice, very elderly woman passing out tickets. She was taking time to have a conversation with each driver. While nice, it was ridiculous on a Saturday football afternoon. Each of the toll booths was staffed with the same type of lady.

On we went and were quickly back up to speed. Ten minutes later, we were back in another traffic jam. Another toll booth — and the experience here was even more perplexing. We finally got to the booth to find a man making change for the toll, which was an odd amount ($2.15) and not posted.

A few suggestions:

1) I don’t relish the idea of firing elderly women, but paying anyone $8 an hour to sit, make conversation and create traffic backups isn’t a good use of funds.

2) Post the toll amounts.

3) Replace the toll-taking/change-giving man with a machine (they invented these in the 1960s).

Mike Lenzen

Eureka, Mo.

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