Drug Wars Cheats
Raiding Road Fund cheats taxpayers There is a growing concern about the future of transportation in Illinois -- and for good reason. Gov. Blagojevich and the Democrat- controlled General Assembly have set Illinois down a dangerous path by engaging in a systematic gutting of the Road Fund to pay for the day-to-day operation of state government.
It took some time, but several Senate Democrats have recognized their mistake and are pushing legislation to take away the authority they gave the governor to raid the Road Fund.
We are happy the Democrats are on board with us in this effort to protect the Road Fund, and are committed to supporting Senate Bill 2682. But it is not enough merely to give lip service to this legislation. The Democrats control both chambers of the Legislature and the governor's office. If this legislation is going to have a chance to become law, the Democrats must show some leadership and make it happen.
We cannot let this legislation die. We need the Democrats to join us in making sure this legislation is passed and then signed into law.
Senate Bill 2682 is a good first step, but it does not go far enough. Senate Republicans have introduced a constitutional amendment to limit Road Fund dollars to road-related expenses, but the leadership in the Senate has not allowed this amendment to move forward. But certainly we have some common ground with this legislation. Collecting motor fuel taxes for roads and bridges and then spending that money on something else is not honest. Being honest with taxpayers should be above partisan politics, and we are calling on the Democrats to take action to end the misuse of Road Fund dollars.
State Sen. Larry Bomke
(R-Springfield)
New respect for our leaders
Watching the 9/11 hearings Tuesday was a refreshing relief from the constant political attacks we see and read about daily. Both the representatives of the Clinton administration and the Bush administration clearly articulated the extreme difficulties our government faces in responding to the dangers from our avowed enemies. Many from the right complain that President Bill Clinton was irresponsible in his passivity, and many from the left say President Bush was irresponsible in his aggressiveness.
Neither the right nor the left is correct. Based on the testimony, it seems to me both presidents made the best decisions they could based on the best information available to them at the time.
I was struck most by the testimony of the former secretary of defense under President Clinton, William Cohen. He testified that in the late 1990s his Defense Department was routinely accused of overstating the severity of the burgeoning terrorist threats in order to fatten their budgets and deny the American public of their peace dividend they had earned as a result of the end of the Cold War. He emphasized that he is not sure today, even after 9/11, that most Americans fully appreciate the gravity of the risks we face in today's world.
Tuesday, for the first time in a long time, I felt that both Republican and Democratic professionals in our government have been working to combat the very real and very serious life-and-death issues that we all face from fanatics and rogue leaders. It was a nice break from the constant bickering right- and left-wingers force us to endure every day. Terry McAuliffe and Ed Gillespie, please take note.
Phil Adams, Lincolnshire
Israeli overkill
The Israel military assassinated Ahmed Yassin, the founder of Hamas. In light of the fact that he was a wheelchair-bound old man, one wonders why he couldn't have been arrested and put on trial. Being a paraplegic, it's not like he could jump over a wall and run away. Instead, he was blown up by missiles as he was coming out of a mosque.
One has to wonder what the Israelis are thinking. Or if they are thinking at all.
Robert Erck, Darien
Yassin had it coming
Israel's targeted killing of Hamas founder [Sheik Ahmed] Yassin was justified. Yassin not only masterminded and ordered countless suicide bombings, but also had his own brother killed for being too moderate.
Let Yassin's death serve as a warning to other terrorists that there can be truth in the old saying: "What goes around comes around."
Marc Flax, Lake Bluff
No appeasement
The Sun-Times' position [editorial, March 17] that the citizens of Spain are appeasing terrorism by voting for the Socialist Party, and your implication that there is only one way to fight terrorism -- that of the Bush administration -- are both wrong. There is more than one strategy for fighting terrorism, just as there is more than one type of terrorist.
The people of Spain voted for a candidate who would respect their opposition to the U.S. war on Iraq, not ignore it, use different strategies for dealing with terrorism that are more in line with many of their European neighbors, and one who does not equate ETA with al- Qaida. The people of Spain are not appeasing terrorists, and they are not withdrawing from the world. They elected a different strategy, one that does not include appeasing the Bush administration.
Barbara Koenen, Hyde Park
Rewarding terrorism
So the Bush administration tells Spain they are wrong to give in to the terrorists. However, despite suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism weekly, Israel is expected to return territory won in wars in which it was attacked.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is supported by much of the world, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to negotiate. It's not surprising. Probably the first instance of violence against civilians was the murder of the Israeli Olympic athletes. The world was shocked, but it didn't prevent the Games going on as usual. After the hijacking of the Achille Lauro, when a Jewish man in a wheelchair was shot and thrown overboard, again, the world was horrified, but one of the terrorists was released early from jail in Italy, and another disappeared into Iraq.
Evidently, acts of terrorism are intolerable only when we are the targets. Until the entire world rises up in revulsion at terrorism by anyone in any country, it will continue. Terrorism works, and will continue to, until we do not reward it anywhere.
Marji Bank, Lake View
Will freedom ring?
With the new Spanish government saying that they'll be removing their 1,300 troops from Iraq by June 30 because of the recent train bombings in Madrid, will our Congress waste taxpayers' money again and change the name of Spanish olives and Spanish rice to "Freedom olives" and "Freedom rice"?
Yvonne B. Garstki, Lombard
Don't rush executions
The March 18 editorial urging Gov. Blagojevich to start the wheels of the state-sanctioned death machine in Illinois is ill-founded. The editorial cites Teodoro Baez, a man with mental illness, as the example of why the death sentences should start again.
Illinois under Gov. George Ryan's leadership put a moratorium on carrying out death sentences. Ryan, as we know, said no to killing potentially innocent people. He was moved to finally clear out the state's Death Row prisoners and shift most of them to life without parole.
That move protected both the Illinois public and innocent prisoners from being executed. Blagojevich has seen fit to continue that policy with the few people on Illinois' new Death Row. The process of required and prisoner-initiated appeals will effectively prevent any execution from taking place for years to come.
The editorial mentions Illinois citizens support the death penalty. But polling has shown this support is greatly reduced, and because Illinois almost executed 13 men found to be innocent of murder through DNA testing and other means, they are very skeptical of any executions.
The Sun-Times is off base on prematurely calling for state- sanctioned executions. A newspaper, as a societal leader, must call for caution and forgiveness for society as a whole. Being incarcerated for life with no parole is a far worse punishment than the quick death through a drug cocktail.
Doug Dobmeyer, Rogers Park
Cheney's loopy logic
Vice President Dick Cheney is making the rounds claiming that the administration's own counter-terrorism czar, Richard Clarke, was "out of the loop" in the administration's counterterror efforts. Therefore, Clarke doesn't know what he's talking about and anything he says should be discounted.
Cheney does not seem to realize what he is saying: that the Bush administration deliberately ignored its own expert on terrorism, with Sept. 11 being the result. Cut out of the loop, Clarke's warnings went nowhere and were ignored. That is pretty damning of the administration.
Alan Light, Iowa City, Iowa
MY TWO CENTS
"Watching the 9/11 hearings was a refreshing relief from the political attacks . . . For the first time in a long time, I felt that both Republican and Democratic professionals have been working to combat the life-and-death issues that we all face from fanatics and rogue leaders." -- Phil Adams
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