Missing point of

casino gambling

Mr. Craig Ladwig’s commentary of Jan. 1 misses the point of casino gambling in Indiana: it exists solely because the religious right prefers casinos to increased taxes. Make no mistake about this. Casinos were not legalized for any other reason.

I take issue with the whole (apparent) tone from Mr. Ladwig. Don’t we, as adults, have the right to engage in folly? Adults should have the right to make decisions that others may not agree with. Smoking, drinking, recreational drugs, prostitution, etc., should be legal to the extent they don’t damage those who choose not to indulge. You shouldn’t face a penalty for not wearing seat belts. Mr. Ladwig’s seeming point of view is that human beings are perfectible, if only we use the coercive power of the state to perfect the human animal.

This thinking supports innumerable bans and prohibitions, the effects of which on liberty Mr. Ladwig ignores but bemoans their obvious impotence. This is the real reason for the “exorbitantly increasing size and scope of government” that Ladwig laments, not the “official sanction” of “lesser impulses” as he states. Are the casinos really worse than the old numbers games? Can’t society tolerate something and by doing so not give it a “good housekeeping seal”? Does “legal sanction” really equal “social good”? Does it have to?

You may not like gambling or casinos. You don’t have to. But those who go to the casinos pay for the privilege. Gambling is, in effect, “zoned”. “Close to” but “away from” our legislators’ moral sensitivities. But big enough to point to as some kind of “achievement”.

I can agree gambling in Indiana is a bad bet, if only from the income tax angle. If you lose $10,000 day one in an Indiana casino but win it all back on day two, you’re even, right? Not in Indiana. For IRS purposes, yes, you are even: no federal tax is owed. But Indiana ignores the loss but taxes any gains, the lottery excepted. Hoosier hospitality!

Who says the religious right doesn’t know how to exploit a money maker? But it grows tiresome that they never miss an opportunity to lecture the rest of us about how to live our lives, if there’s no money in it for them.

— Matthew Alig

Terre Haute

Taking a stand against

human trafficking

Indiana’s next journey into the nation’s limelight is only a few short weeks away as Hoosiers embrace the excitement surrounding Super Bowl XLVI.

But some of the activities surrounding events like the Super Bowl aren’t exciting at all. Indeed, some are very tragic.

One tragic accompaniment of such events is the increase of human trafficking. The U.S. State Department estimates that between 14,500 and 18,000 persons, many of whom are women and children, are trafficked into the country each year. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center has reported that more than 11,800 calls were made to its hotline regarding sex trafficking in 2010, including calls from Indiana.

Some victims of trafficking are forced to work for extremely low wages and live in inhumane conditions; others, particularly women and children, are forced into prostitution and subjected to a variety of threats, including death, to ensure their continued compliance. Truly, trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. The cities of Miami and Dallas found that out during the last two Super Bowls.

It is unlikely that human trafficking will leave Indiana after the Super Bowl. Our state also hosts the Indianapolis 500, the Brickyard 400 and numerous top-tier athletic events and conventions. The tragedy of human trafficking thus has an opportunity to spread in many of our Hoosier communities throughout the year.

The Indiana attorney general’s office has been offering educational opportunities to local officials on how to identify, contain and eliminate human trafficking. We hope our local officials have participated in those educational offerings.

Senate Bill 4 (2012) has been identified as emergency legislation in the Indiana General Assembly with the hope of strengthening penalties for those who are involved in organized criminal activities associated with human trafficking. We have contacted Wabash Valley state senators and state representatives to urge them to support the legislation. We also have contacted the bill’s sponsors to thank them for raising the issue and to pledge our support in any way that may be helpful.

We hope that many of our fellow citizens will also choose to make their voices heard with local officials, with business people, and with our lawmakers. We know that Governor Daniels was quick to offer his support of the effort to reduce human trafficking and we encourage our elected leaders to be equally supportive as the legislation moves through the General Assembly.

The Sisters of Providence have united with 10 other communities of Catholic women religious in Indiana and Michigan to work with state and local officials to offer information about human trafficking to those involved in the hotel industry. Our group, the Coalition for Corporate Responsibility in Indiana and Michigan (CCRIM), is also sponsoring a prayer service here at our motherhouse as part of Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Jan. 11 (Wednesday).

We would like to invite everyone for the prayer service at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 11, to focus on this issue. The service will be held in the Church of the Immaculate Conception at St. Mary-of-the-Woods. People of all faith traditions are welcome.

— Sister Denise Wilkinson

General Superior

— Sister Lisa Stallings

Vicar

— Sister Jenny Howard

General Officer

Sister Mary Beth Klingel

General Officer

— Sister Dawn Tomaszewski, General Officer

Sisters of Providence

St. Mary-of-the-Woods

Unions abuse

their positions

In reply to letter writer Mr. Cheesman: My grandfather was a laborer when the unions were established and they were certainly a blessing, correcting too many wrongs in manufacturing.

However, today the unions have become just like the Mafia. They try to rule and control companies and their workers. “You work here, you pay us. We rule.”

One small company for auto parts, with locations in a small city in Illinois (union) and one in Kentucky (non-union), liked the Illinois site and was going to move the Kentucky plant to the Illinois plant to consolidate and save some money due to much duplication. In the interim, the Illinois plant production fell to the point that the company had misgivings about which plant would best survive in the tough automotive market.

So what happens? The union contract came up and what dumb thing did the all-knowing union do? “Strike,” they urged the workers. Needless to say, the plant is now in the south and 200-plus workers were left without employment. Union workers out of a union shop and forced unions in manufacturing plants are two different entities. The latter are the ones that help push manufacturing plants out of the country.

— Ken P. Lodge

Marshall, Ill.

Gather to oppose

right-to-work law

At a recent General Assembly of Occupy Terre Haute, the members present unanimously resolved to oppose the bill in the Indiana General Assembly deceptively referred to as “right-to-work.”

No one speaks for the Occupation except through its democratically constituted General Assemblies. That said, the following views are my own.

To my surprise, Sen. John Waterman has announced his opposition to this bill, and has persuasively articulated the reasons it should be defeated. Thank you, Senator. Likewise, congratulations are in order for Rep. Clyde Kersey and Sen. Tim Skinner, as well as any other members of the Indiana Legislature who have the political courage and wisdom to oppose this campaign in the War on Workers.

I regret to report to all of you who have been asleep for the past few decades; the people’s governments have been hijacked by Corporate America. The influence of corporate money and power on government is overwhelming. It is up to the people to take it back. We need to learn who our real friends are, and to support them. We need to stand in solidarity and demand the return of democratic principles to the operation of our governments.

Make no mistake, it is not just the federal government; state and local governments have also been confiscated by those of wealth and privilege. You can see it every day, as our duly elected too often follow their orders and act on behalf of their corporate bosses instead of the people to whom they properly owe their duty.

We must all gather in solidarity if we are to accomplish this. And we must determine to continue to act for as long as it takes. This is our civic duty, from which we are not permitted to desist.

I also regret to report that we cannot depend on the major political parties, the duopoly, to help us in our struggle. We must do it ourselves.

One way each of us can act is by supporting the efforts of the Occupation Movement. The most direct way you can do that is to join us, and stand witness to the need to restore the principles of democracy.

Occupy Terre Haute currently meets four times a week. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 4:30 p.m. We meet on the northwest corner of Seventh and Wabash. On Sunday we meet at 2 p.m. on Third Street in front of the courthouse. All persons of good will are welcome to join us, even if only for a few minutes. And, if you can’t stop, honk and wave as you go by. We appreciate knowing you are with us.

— John C. Kite

Terre Haute

Math criticism

doesn’t add up

I am certain many who read the letter of David Roberts on Dec. 30 were as astonished as I. Why would a writer, who has nothing constructive to contribute, pen a letter of “non-fact, unsupported opinion, and over-simplified conditions”?

To begin, the math education in the Vigo County schools is performance-proven to be outstanding. Mr. Roberts must not be aware of science and technology innovations and changes that have occurred since he “wandered the halls” with his slide rule tucked in his pegged Levis. What happens if the electrical service is interrupted? I’ll bet Mr. Robert’s grandfather and great-grandfather threw-out that stupid Edison invention, and went back to whale oil lamp when power was down.

How can any intelligent person draw a “massive conclusion”, based on one related experience with a 10-year old? Perhaps the 10-year old does not have a natural, or developed, math proclivity.

Mr. Roberts, the U.S. test ratings compared to other nations are “out of whack”, because not all nations test every level student as the U.S. does. Many test only those who have qualified to go beyond a lower grade level of math or science.

You state that you wish you had a solution. It would be a start if you had a clue. Being one year your senior, I suggest to you that letters as baseless as yours give reason to the younger generations to label us “out-of-touch”. Do yourself a great kindness, reach out and touch the real world before you opinionate.

— Jim Camp

Terre Haute

America’s colors

are as song says

Oh beautiful for spacious skies

for amber waves of grain

for purple mountain majesties

Among the fruited plain

This is the opening stanza of “America the Beautiful.” A recent discussion on the TV of a local personality seems to think that this is flowery language — not actually.

In my early years, our father wanted his children to see what America had to offer in scenery. We traveled by train. He worked for that mode of transport through a lot of states. Best remembered were Montana and New Mexico. In Montana, we traveled through 16-mile canyon and viewed the Blue Mountains, which appear purple in the morning sun.

On another trip to southern California we traveled through the Superstition Mountains, which also appear as purple in the morning sun. In Montana, farmers raise a Russian red wheat, which appears as amber when it is growing.

So the song has merit and some people should travel on land and see the sights before they make judgments.

— James Hehman

Terre Haute

Logic absent in

pipeline debate

President Obama’s decision to delay approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada was his best decision yet. A better decision would have been to disapprove it permanently.

If the pipeline is disapproved, Canada has threatened to sell the oil to China. Our elected officials say, “Why, if they did that, we would be forced to buy more oil from Arab countries.”

That last warning, of course, is the biggest flaw in this discussion. The U.S. has the largest known reserves of oil and natural gas in the world. I still fail to understand why we spent $225 billion to buy oil from others in 2010, a massive negative effect to the U.S. economy. All we need to do to end this recession is to let U.S. companies satisfy our oil needs.

Canada is already the largest supplier of U.S. oil: this and other goods totaled $305 billion in 2010. In exchange, they only bought $208 billion of American goods. We fuss and fret daily over $150 billion taxes from “millionaires and billionaires,” yet we are willing to supply Canada with $97 billion without even a peep. Tell me how this pipeline will reduce our trade balance.

If, in fact, we are so stupid to buy something we already have, we should at least negotiate for a significant reduction in the trade balance with Canada through purchase of more American goods.

But don’t waste time thinking about this; whatever will happen will be for political reasons, not logic.

— Ron Gore

Covington