Speak Out

When you think about it, we all live simple lives. We are born, we live and we die.

The founders of our country set the guidelines for our country. When territories were divided into states, the founders of those states wrote their own guidelines. All of these guidelines were called a constitution — the system of basic laws and principles of a government, society, etc.

It seems life was hard but simple during those times. It looks to me like life today could be much simpler if our federal and state legislators, when writing the laws of our land, wrote it themselves and say what they mean and mean what they say.

In other words, no lengthy laws, just simple laws that state what the writer and governing body intended to say. Then our judges would not have to bear the burden of trying to interpret the meaning of sometimes lengthy and often ambiguous laws that are passed.

William Rodney Rich
Hokes Bluff

Torture is war crime

Treating prisoners like they were at Abu Ghraib, Bagram and Guantanamo is a war crime under U.S. law. It is a capital offense with no statute of limitations if prisoners die. There is no exception for times of war because that's when prisoners most need to be protected.

President Bush approved of techniques such as water torture, sensory deprivation and sexual and religious humiliation. Most of the prisoners were innocent civilians or common fighters who had no important information to divulge. Saying that we were afraid of further attacks or deserved revenge for 9/11 does not justify this behavior: Americans are supposed to be better than that, and most are.

Vice President Dick Cheney and Bush are misguided souls who need to be held accountable by the rule of law that they denied others. As Gen. Anthony Taguba, who investigated the abuses at Abu Ghraib, recently stated: "... there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."

Scott W. Beckett
Jacksonville

Book of Mormon

Re "History of Mormonism" (Speak Out, June 14):

James 1:5 says, "If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him."

Letter writer Elmyra Jackson's comments about prayer were totally irrelevant to the subject of the Book of Mormon.

The translation of the Book of Mormon is the same as it was published in letter form in 1830. In 1921, it was arranged into chapters and verses, and the spelling of some words was corrected. Joseph Smith had about a third-grade education, as did some of his scribes. Footnotes and cross-references have been added to today's edition, but they don't change the translation. Copies of 1830 editions are found only in church museums, so how did Jackson research them?

People should read this book and decide if a man with a third-grade education could write such a book in three months.

Gladys Nunnally
Anniston