SOME KIND WORDS FROM THE OPPOSITION

To Lance Christie,

I doubt there are many things you and I could agree upon. You’’re a liberal, I’’m a stanch conservative. I love to ride around in the desert and rocks in my Jeep, so I doubt our eco agenda marries very well. I would think most of our social policies would be polar opposites. However…………………….

I must commend you on a very well written and argued stand on the Iraq war. I become so discouraged at times when listening to the screaming taking place between both liberal and conservatives on TV as if out-screaming will get your point across better than a well thought out and presented point. I’’m 60+ years old and remember to vividly the Tito debacle, Vietnam and other items you did and didn’’t mention.

That said, living in the panhandle of Florida and speaking against the war is akin to being a traitor. What many refuse to admit is not everywhere can be a democracy. In Muslim dominated or majority nations, the church is the state and state is the church. If you disagree with the church you disagree with the state or if you disagree with the state you disagree with the church. Either way you are an infidel, traitor or at the very best totally ignorant and should be dealt with.

A true Muslim could never function in our political process just as a Christian or Atheist or whatever could not function is theirs. The rationale is tainted. In our culture, even a Christian, Mormon, or Atheist can agree on the method to govern, while not necessarily agreeing on the outcome.

Thanks again for a great article. I can only hope some end is in sight.

Sincerely,

Ron Crumpler,

Panama City Beach, Florida

WAR...WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?

But, Jim,

Without war, what would our kids study in history class -- or bible class, for that matter? Our civilization has merely added global war to the ongoing tribal wars, territorial skirmishes, and bar-room brawls.

P.S. Yours is the only publication I see where I look at all the ads, though I admit I don’t read all of every article. Good luck with your book.

Ber Knight

Moab, UT

HODO IS A NO-GO

Hi Jim,

Cyndy Hodo gets everything wrong in her letter about stromatolites. Stromatolites aren’t "primitive organisms," they’re fossilized rock formations created by blue-green algae that lived in microbial communities. You can see stromatolites today in Shark Bay, Australia, and microbial communities are found everywhere in the world. The Great Salt Lake is a great place to see them.

Blue-green algae never "over-populated the globe" or were threatened by their waste products. It’s true that the evolution of blue-green algae created a pollution crisis three billion years ago when they began to give off oxygen as a result of photosynthesis. Before blue-green bacteria, all life on earth consisted of achaebacteria that evolved when the atmosphere was mainly carbon dioxide, so the introduction of oxygen killed off many of these anaerobic organisms. However, some survived and still live in oxygen-free environments such as mud, beneath the ground, or Yellowstone hot pots.

Finally, it’’s silly to say that humans face extinction because of pollution. Like all life, humans are incredibly adaptable (at least some of us), and will likely thrive and prosper for a few more million years. Life is tough and has endured global warming, ice ages, the effects of plate tectonics, frequent meteor impacts, worldwide volcanic eruptions, seas poisoned by hydrogen sulfide, and even the George Bush administration.

An excellent book that details the history of life on earth on is ""What is Life?"" by Lynn Margulis and Dorian Sagan. Its beautifully written and full of fascinating information on evolution, the importance of bacteria in the world, and the role of cooperation in the rise of life. Anyone who reads this book will worry less about pollution and global warming and better appreciate the epic span and vast panorama of life.

J. Bryan Larsen

Murray, Utah

DOESN’T LIKE ROADLESS INITIATIVES

Dear Editor:

The roadlessness initiatives that have been instituted under the mantra of "protecting" the forestlands, seem to have done the opposite. Lack of roads has meant lack of land access to fight wildfires, and that has meant that firefighters have had to parachute into fires from WWII-era planes which are deathtraps waiting to happen. Some have already crashed with a loss of crewman and firefighters. Roads create firebreaks which slow spread of wildfire. Here in Colorado we have already lost an area of forestland at least equal to the land area of Connecticut from mega-fires. I would add that more roads create more access for citizens who respect the forests, thus taking pressure off of overused national parkland elsewhere.

Making a recommendation for logging is akin to requesting that the Pope take the mark of the Anti-Christ, but it must be said that salvage logging of downed timber removes a tinderbox situation which turns a wildfire into a mega-fire. Also, selective logging (closely monitored by groups such as the Western Colorado Congress and others) would present the benefit of slowing down wildfires. I would rather see a moderate position on this issue than the absolutist approach which I believe has created a situation opposite to its intentions. Before anyone concludes that I am some sort of anti-enviro, I would like to say that I spent my early life in a small town in the middle of the California Redwoods, and no one loves the forests more than I.

Gary A. Higley

Grand Junction

WHOA. MO’ FROM HODO

Jim,

In 1992 a well-known psychic predicted that Bill Clinton would be "the last elected president of the United States." Others sensitive to subtle energy claimed they had witnessed the senior George Bush morph into a reptilian alien while speaking at a Republican campaign rally. They say reptilian aliens feed on the emotion of human fear and the more fear we have, the more "food" for the big lizards who control our media, our government, our economy.

Is the son of a reptile a reptile himself? Evidently. As Borat so eloquently puts it: "May George Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq!" In response the crowd cheers, albeit a bit uncertainly...

The Islamic mystics claim that the true jihad is not the horror we see splashed all over the media. The true holy war is the inner jihad, the struggle for peace which takes place within the hearts of everyone on this planet. It’s time to tap into what Abraham Lincoln referred to as "the better angels of our nature." What’s happening in the outer world is largely beyond our control. Peace begins at home.We only have control of our own actions and reactions, our own ethical behavior, our own thoughts and emotions. How are you handling your inner jihad?

I occasionally attend a group called The Dances of Universal Peace, where we sing and do simple folk dances. I’ve felt at times that we are Ghost Dancers, like the Native Americans of the 1800’s, who danced till they saw visions of the buffalo returning, danced believing if only they danced long enough the white men would dissapear...

At the Dances of Universal Peace we dance for peace and we sing this song:

"When there is light in the soul,

There is beauty in the person.

When there is beauty in the person,

There is harmony in the home.

When there is harmony in the home,

There is order in the nation.

When there is order in the nation,

There is peace on Earth,

Peace on Earth.

Camping under the full moon, along the river in Moab,

wishing us all peace, peace in our lifetimes,

Cyndy Hodo

AGAINST WAR

Zephyr editor,

I liked your front page, of the April/May 2007 issue, "War, when will we ever learn?" All Americans should learn wht the War Powers Act had done to our nation. It’s more than liberal or conservative, Republican or Democratis policies. It is unconstitutional, from 1948 to the present. It would accomplish nothing to get rid of President Bush. The War Powers Act gives authority to ANY administration in the Executive Branch of government; yet the consitution ONLY allows the Congress to declare war.

The War Poweres Act was passed an emergency measure after Pearl Harbor and should have been fully repealed in 1948. If John Kerry had been elected we might have gone to war over Ketchup factories in Venuezuela.

Finally, I enclose this poem that I wrote. ...my real feelings on war.

Lonely little tree/cast out after Christmas Day.

Was lovely to see for a short while.

Once a beautiful plant/Now cut off at the roots,

Only to decay/ Used by imaginative men

For Santa Claus ways.

Besides a garbage can you lay

I think of all the beauty you used to be.

Reminds me of young lives/shot down on battle fields

For the same belief in a false Santa Claus.

So lonely in death/ You gave your best.

Lonely little tree...lonely little tree.

Ken English

Moab, UT