Letters
Look Homeward, Army Recruiters
Regarding "More Youths Tell Uncle Sam: 'I Don't Want You' " (March 24): Obviously, the problem is that more people are leaving the Army than can be replaced by recruits.
Some of these are soldiers who joined only because the Army agreed to pay part of their college tuition. Wouldn't it make more sense to use the recruiting dollars to entice trained men and women to stay in the Army? Also, the Army seems to feel that it needs smart kids to man its Buck Rogers weapons, and the only ones with enough intelligence are those headed for college. Balderdash, General!
The US sells weapons all over the world. Perhaps the Army could find out how these countries train their soldiers, most of whom are conscripts. The former Soviet Union built a powerful army made up of people of different nationalities who spoke different languages, by using simple, rugged, workable weapons.
The Army may learn, as other branches of the government have not, that of all the methods that won't work, throwing money at a problem is the most popular.
W.M. Miller
Chalmette, La.
Youths are trying to give us a message: Stop violence, division, and hate - called war - the worst addiction humanity has suffered. Can anyone conjure up a greater evil than teaching our young people how to hate and kill other people, obliterate their lands, and be honored for it?
We as a nation can change our priorities from military power to spiritual power. We can replace conflict training with conflict resolution. A new world is awakening as we approach 2000.
Beatrice Newby
Ashland, Ore.
Impeaching judges a good solution
In "What Would the Founding Fathers Say?" it is very hard for me to believe that N. Lee Cooper, president of the American Bar Association (ABA), could write about not impeaching judges. US District Court Judge Thelton Henderson of California has done nothing but ignore the wishes of California voters who overwhelmingly passed Proposition 209 to stop racial bias in jobs and schools.
Judge Henderson disobeys the law in not recusing himself, since he served on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union and the other organization that is suing to stop implementation of the proposition.
There is no higher judge to go to to have Judge Henderson removed from the case. How else do you remove a judge except by impeachment? He is not a good example of a virtuous, ethical, impartial arm of the court system. What does the author think about impeaching President Clinton, who has ignored all laws regarding fund-raising on government property?
Margie Gray
Penn Valley, Calif.
The ABA has been a mouthpiece for the lawyers of the left and academia for years. There are enough liberal news media markets to allow the author room for his leftist view of our form of constitutional government without befouling your pages with such pap.
Kenneth E. Wyman
Huntsville, Ala.
Dueling without dollars in politics
"Running for Office on Less Than $5,000" (April 2), recounting Bootie Hunt's rejection by the Democratic Party, is extremely disturbing. It is a shameful example of the barriers to opportunity faced by those with modest means and education. Mr. Hunt's experience begs the question of how many of our representatives in office would have been willing to ride a bus and sleep in a homeless shelter in order to attend the Democratic National Convention? It is no wonder that so many citizens are dissatisfied with government, when dedicated candidates can effectively be kept away by a system that measures quality by dollars instead of character.
Susan Linden
Mayer, Ariz.
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