Letters to the Editor

Snowden wrongly criticized

7/18/2013

Your July 4 editorial “The deeper scandal” called former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden “an eccentric and erratic character who possesses moral fervor but not moral clarity.” That was not appropriate or accurate.

Everyone needs to read Mr. Snowden’s comments and decide whether he sounds like an irrational man. He carefully thought out his actions and expressed them well, without hyperbole, in a quiet, logical tone.

He may have been late in finding himself, but he obviously is a talented man who was hired after careful vetting. Like many brave men who have gone before him, he has placed his country first.

If he should stand trial for what he has done, many more people in our government should stand trial as well, because they have violated their oath of office and our Constitution at its core.

LEE WOLDENBERG

Perrysburg Township

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It’s time to publish torture study

I was impressed by the May 30 op-ed column “It’s time for U.S. to end the inhumane practice of torture” by Tarunjit Singh Butalia. It’s seldom we read anything by a Sikh, one of the most peace-loving religious peoples of the world.

I join him in calling for the publication of the report by the U.S. Senate intelligence committee of its investigation of torture by the Central Intelligence Agency. It was approved by a bipartisan vote, but is kept classified, I presume, to protect those who approved of such immoral and unconstitutional practices.

America always has condemned torture. We need to understand how our leaders got led into that temptation, and what we have to do to prevent it from happening again.

HORACE HUSE

Cresthaven Lane

U.S. should return to isolationism

During the late 1930s and early 1940s there was a movement in the country called isolationism, which argued that America should stay within its boundaries and not be concerned with issues in other parts of the world. Adolf Hitler came on the scene and disrupted that concept.

Watching the Obama Administration’s failed attempts to bring democracy to Iraq, Libya, and Egypt, I think it is time again to embrace isolationism. There are enough domestic issues for Congress and the administration to deal with, rather than getting involved in countries that do not want our help — but want our dollars.

JOHN CHEZEK

Springfield Township

Taxing calories a ridiculous idea

The proposal to tax calories is ridiculous (“Study: Tax calories higher to curb obesity; 10% levy could cut youth body fat by 8%, researchers claim,” June 27).

A calorie is a measure of energy produced. Now, when many health experts espouse the view that many fat calories are necessary to good health, such as the fats in fish, nuts, and olives, taxing fat calories would push us back to the Dark Ages.

MARY CALLANAN

126th Street