| OCR Text |
Show "We are dedicated to the public interest, to fairness and accuracy, to innovation and growth, and to the restless pursuit of excellence." Pulitzer mission statement EDITOR: DONALD W. MEYERS OPINIONS 344-25- THE DAILY HERALD (www.HarkTheHeraId.com) As Factual evidence isn't necessary for some people college instructors who teach research and writing tell students to base their conclusions on best evidence: factual evidence things analyzed with the five f Wi senses. However, people will accept some things without factual evidence. We can tell much about people based on what they do accept without evidence. For example, Book of Mormon critics complain its history has no physical evidence. They won't shake Utah. '. Considerable chunks of the Old Testament have no factual evidence, either. It is still popular in the Bible Belt. Israel bases its claim to Jerusalem on King David's conquest of a Jebusite citadel. Today, no factual evidence exists of David. Only his Bible story is left. Palestinians base their claim to Jerusalem on a Quran passage so vague it might refer to Hackensack, N.J. An Israeli political corner- stone is the grudge held by Jews toward Egypt because Egypt made slaves of ancient Hebrews. The only evidence is in Exodus. No factual evidence of such slavery exists. Modern Jews have few, if any, connections with ancient Hebrews, anyway. Most aren't related by blood or genetics as understood by scientists now. Jewish animosity yet endures. Last week, I posed this question to a class: Why is it OK for us to hold atomic weapons but not OK for Saddam Hussein to get atomic weapons? Those of my readers who think I am lost in space on Iraq policy would be proud of my student who confronted me with this question: "If a guy puts a gun to your head, would you pull your gun and get him?" He has a point. I am vain enough to believe I could out- suburbs, is picking up mm.. Ballistic fingerprinting would also be easy to defeat. Some guns have removable barrels, which would make it impossible to link a gun to a bullet. And a criminal who knows about ballistic fingerprinting will make sure they WIS don't leave spent shells behind. ... ,' Finally, critics note it hasn't worked in a state . that already requires The Washington Post it reported Maryland spent $5 million on its system, but it has yet to result in an arrest after two years. What do you think? Tell us, either on our Web site, www.HarkTheHerald.cpm, or on our call-i- n line, 344-294- 2. Well take your com- ments until Wednesday and publish them Oct. 27. When you respond, please include your name, hometown and phone number for verification purposes. Only names and hometowns will be printed with the responses. Anonymous and unverifi-abl- e responses will be discarded. If you use the Internet, comments please keep your I a t i ; 10 woras or less ana to nr send them to dmeyersher-aldextra.coIf you call in, please limit your response to 30 seconds or less. m. WOT J- WLLfTOE - education. As for the second rationale, illegal immigrants do pay taxes. There is no way to avoid sales tax on purchases, nor is there a way for illegal aliens to avoid property taxes, either directly or through rent. In Victor Hugo's classic novel "Les Miserables" Jean Valjean steals silver from a bishop. The bishop, instead of denouncing him, gives him silver candlesticks as well. From that time forward, Valjean lives a noble life. Disregarding the fact that this former criminal is now a good man, police inspector Javert spends his life stalking Valjean and fanatically demanding "jus- tice." Children of illegal immigrants are like Valjean. The question is, can we let a good student into our universities, despite a law that was broken perhaps 20 years ago? Or, like Javert, are we obsessed with punishment to the extent that we won't let an honor student attend a Utah university, even though he lives here, is part of Utah's work force and pays taxes? Rebekah Martindale Orem Massacre book valid WillBagley has written a magnificent study in "Blood of the Prophets" about the Mountain Meadows Massacre tragedy and, as a result, he has been praised and vilified. Nonetheless, the primary and secondary source work is and Bagley's analysis holds water. It will receive many nominations, locally and nationally, for history-writin- g awards during the next 18 top-rat- What the book is about is not who gets to heaven, but instead, a tale of tragedy here on earth, of power gone wrong and innocents who suffered because of it. It is a story about absolute power that corrupts men, many of them good men, in Salt Lake City and in Iron County into committing mass THtcmpeoptBHTfe MJWfiJHom&Auy HOT FOP. A &6, FAT, BUXXW CONFLICT RIGHT NOUJ! j Trudeau CCNT WUFINP Y IPS IT' ITS UK3P066 AF!IN CHARGE-- h 0 ws ov v r c. mm FZ4UY BIS P06SI 111 ! yS a ' Nacogdoches, Texas T .' address is: Ldeanheraldextra.com. If you have questions, call Opinions Page Editor Donald .Li 11 i am i ,m YSAH, POGS! with Bagley and other researchers and writers. Until the church opens access to all documents, any history prepared under church auspices is automatically suspect. Until the church does so,' Bagley's book will remain the standard work in the field of Mountain Meadows Massacre ' '" research and writing. Melvin C. Johnson The Daily Herald welcomes your letters to the editor. Please remember to include your full name, address and phone number where yo ican De reached. Only your name and the city in which you live will be published. All other information will be kept confidential. Anonymous letters will be discarded. Letters must contain 250 or fewer words, approximately one page, typed and double'1 spaced. Your letter will be better read if it concerns one central theme or idea. All letters will be edited for length, accuracy and clarity. The Herald encourages community discussion of issues in a responsible manner. Please send your letters to: Editor, The Dally Herald P.O. Box 717 1S55 N. Freedom Blvd. Provo, UT 84603 Letters may also be faxed or The fax number is 344-298The Mallard Fillmore ' NO... NO... THAT'S NOT citations, and Bagley's analysis remains convincing. All condemnations of it yet, including the book review in the Deseret News, has not checked the work's scholarship but rather attacked the author. That is shameful. The challenge is for Brother Turley, who is preparing the LDS Church response to Bagley's book, to share all his documents from the church Letters Policy murder. All should read the book. All should check the sources and the citations before expressing opinions. I have read the book, I have checked the sources and HP. I e, months. By Garry III. Unlike fingerprints or DNA, the distinctive markings made by a gun are not permanently linked to one owner. Guns get sold, traded, passed down or stolen. Any break in this chain of custody would render the database useless. Which brings up a fear of gun groups that this database could be used by the government to identify who owns what guns for a possible gun grab. While government-sponsored gun confiscation is highly unlikely due to the sheer number of guns in circulation and it is public resistance of a fear that the enough Rifle National Association has been able to derail this and other attempts to keep records on gun ownership. to Doonesbury Km, NOT 344-2942- Utah residents pay a lower tuition at state colleges and universities because as Utahns gain more education, it improves the state economy. Offering residents lower tuition seems only fair, since they have been paying taxes here. If a person moves in from another state, they can gain residency in a year or two and be eligible for the lower rate. Now, let's take illegal aliens who live in Utah. If a person lives here, it is in our economy's best interest to encourage higher Rick T be beneficial to criminal investigations?, .Send your comments to dmeyersheraldextra.com ofcall Please leave your name, hometown and phone number with your comment tuition deserved In-sta- te If Hussein has chemical, biological or nuclear weapons that FOP.HmAWtiUH&-NOIN NOT Would ballistic fingerprinting the Editor operative word. mx&oumoNs,icvNT Herald Poll Washington, Letters smart and outmaneuver any punk with a gun. Believe is the Soulier teaches English composition at Utah Valley State College. He can be reached at souliercolumnist.com. His column appears Fridays. a sniper stalks positions, and they have political steam. been used for years to link President Bush said he suspects to crimes. In would consider the idea of recent years, states have requiring gun buyers to probeen establishing DNA vide a spent shell casing databases to identify crimifrom their weapon to be nals and in some cases included in a database. Bush vindicate innocent peohad previously opposed the who were wrongly ple idea and said this review is accused. not a sign that he has Police have already used changed his mind. ballistic comparisons to Proponents say a ballistic identify weapons used in fingerprint would make it crimes. Any fan of police easier to solve crime. Police shows on television has could compare a bullet or a seen where a technician shell casing at the scene of looks at two bullets and a crime to registered confirms that they were weapons and track down fired from the same gun, the owner of the gun in based on the marks the question. barrel makes on the bullet A company recently as it is fired. received a patent for a But the plan has its critmethod of putting a barics, who are armed with code on a bullet as it leaves data they say shoots holes the gun barrel. through the theory. In the sniper case, it First, there are the logiswould in theory give police tics of creating the dataa lead on who has shot 11 base. There are about 300 people so far, killing nine of million guns in circulation them. in the United States. How The theory behind the do you get a ballistic fingerWe sense. makes proposal print from every one of them? already maintain fingerSecond, the system is print databases on criminals, law enforcement offonly as good as the records icials and others in sensitive that are maintained. Rick Soulier FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2002 M losliikJinigeirpirflinifiDini gottolhiSilts? Ds RIGHT ASCENSION he plans to use on us, we should destroy his bases and factories. We don't have the right to kill civilians who have no connection to the weapons. Appearances, however, are deceiving. Would the CIA, NSA and FBI even recognize factual evidence if it dropped on their brainpans? The Bush administration is reticent about providwho will ing Americans bankroll the war and die in it with factual evidence of the security threat. Nevertheless, 373 members of Congress authorized war. A lack of evidence proves conspiracy to the paranoid. Most of our lives is fantasy and appearances. Then we wonder why we get fooled time and again. The beat goes on. A6 I I r4 mm m i V A W. Meyers i COWfam. NW, at By 344-254- Bruce Tirtetey n ii fipr in. |
