Letters to the Editor

President can destroy freedoms
with improper appointment

If one doesn’t believe the President (and the Democratic contenders for that office) doesn’t have an anti Second Amendment/anti gun bias, then consider the following. When terrorist attacks killed and injure people by the dozens in Paris and Brussels, we hear long and loud how it’s not right and not fair to cast a blanket of condemnation on Muslims or profile them at airports or subways. But at another place, and at another time, when a lone gunman with a history of mental illness goes on a shooting spree, these same said political giants in the Democratic party reflexively ignore a Constitutional right and call for the absolute ban of automatic rifles!

Is there any wonder why the Republicans want to delay any Supreme Court nominee appointed by Obama? The Constitutional rights we hold so near and dear can be crippled or erased by a liberal justice carrying out the agenda of a president that appoints him. The freedoms we enjoy and take for granted in America does a tight rope walk on a razors edge by those who become president and appoint those who sit on the Supreme Court!

Karl Schmidt

Farmville, Va.

Islamic Terrorism is Not the Problem

Islamic terrorism is not the problem.  The problem is Islam itself.  Of all the world’s major religions, in spite of their occasional outbreaks of bigotry and violence in their early history, all return to the humanist qualities of peace, tolerance, and brotherhood.  These qualities are encoded in the basic ancient literature of their founding philosophy.  Most of their adherents are convinced their literature was written by the will of God, dictated by prophets who communicated directly with their deity.  Unlike most religions, Islam is the exception.

The written code of the Islamic World is the Holy Qu’ran and the Sunna.  While most Westerners have heard of the Koran, few have any knowledge of its contents and still fewer have ever heard of the Sunna.  If you are a believer, you accept the belief that the Qu’ran is the literal word of Allah the beneficent, the merciful.  But the Koran is only the rule book for Islam.  Mohammed’s, peace and blessings be upon him, life actions and sayings are the play book for Islam.  As role model and interpreter of the Koran, his words have been codified in remembrances by his devotees. There is a general misconception in the West that Islam is just like some other religions and is confined only to some doctrines and rituals and, after observing the doctrines and rituals, everybody is free to run his life any way he desires unhindered in any manner by the divine imperatives.  But the reality is that Islam is an all-pervasive life style.

In a previous article regarding the European mass immigration, I wrote: “It is an established fact that Islam, unlike some other religions which can coincide and co-exist with the secular concept of life, is not merely a set of doctrines and rituals. It is a complete way of life which deals with the political, economic and social problems as well as with theological issues. The Holy Qu’ran says: O those who believe, respond to the call of Allah and His Messenger when he calls you for what gives you life (8:24).”

“Jihad in Islam is the struggle to please God.  While there are four ways to satisfy this responsibility, one way is by the use of the sword.  The Qu’ran, accepted as the literal word of God, states: “slay the unbelievers wherever you find them. (9:5)”.  Jihad is the duty of all mainstream Muslims, who belong to the branch known as Sunni Islam.  Militant Jihad refers to defending Islam and waging war against its enemies with the sword.  Still other Muslim militants extend the concept of jihad to acts of terrorism against Western countries whose influence they view as harmful to Islam. Islamic law states that it is the duty of Islam to strive to bring as much of the non-Islamic world under its control, preferably by conversion but by force if necessary. The Qu’ran states that those who die in jihad, while fighting for the faith, automatically become martyrs and are awarded a special place in heaven”

Assuming the normal distribution of religious zealots, ignorance, and violent anti-social radicals that may be found in any society, to non-Muslims, this cadre of Muslims possesses a real threat.  In all of the other religions, all human life is valued whether they are adherents to the generally practiced religion or not.  In Islam, non-Muslims are infidels and their life has no value to the radicals.  Sir Winston Churchill, in the latter part of the nineteenth century identified the potential difficulty Islam posed.  He wrote: “How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.”

Consider the fact that the so called ‘terrorists’ are the true followers of Islam.  Those Moslems who have made accommodations to live among the heathens are actually apostates to their faith and are subject to death.  In that Islam is averse to the Judeo-Christian, humanist values, perhaps it should be outlawed as in several nations, or at least monitored.  Even though this applies mainly to Sunni Muslims, as a society, we should require vetting all the Muslim communities by having a recognized Imam to preach rejection of jihad by the sword and have each Muslim who wishes to remain in the United States swear on the Holy Qu’ran to renounce Jihad by the sword.  We should assume that a true activist and devotee to Islam would abide by an oath sworn to on a holy Qu’ran.  This is surely politically incorrect, but what if Stalinist Communism or Hitler’s National Socialism had triumphed over American independence? I propose that Islam today poses such a threat.  We should and must educate ourselves and deal with the reality of the Islamic religion and not just with the terrorists.

Russell D. Corntree

Meherrin, VA  23954

Foundation honors Charlotte County citizens

The Barksdale Cancer Foundation would like to thank staff member April Hall and your newspaper for its support of our latest fundraiser, the seventh annual Vera Bradley/31 bingo.  Thanks to you and to all our faithful supporters, we were able to raise over $6,000 for Charlotte County cancer patients.

A big thank-you also to the hundreds of others who helped in any way to make the event such a huge success.  Whether you donated food or a raffle item, made cupcakes, sponsored a bag in memory or in honor of someone, or bought a ticket, each of you was an integral part of its success.

The Barksdale Cancer Foundation is a grassroots organization founded in 1999 for the sole purpose of supporting cancer patients in Charlotte County.  To date more than 200 grants totaling over $120,000 have been distributed.

In addition to grants, the organization provides cases of Ensure to its patients.  Patients who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments have access to free wigs and caps through BCF, and breast cancer patients can be provided a variety of prosthetic items.

This year will mark the fifth in which the foundation will award a $1,000 scholarship to a graduating county high school student pursuing a career in the medical field, preferably in the field of oncology.

Barksdale is a 501(c)3 non-profit manned solely by volunteers.

Funds come from fundraising events and donations from county citizens and businesses. If you would like to make a donation, you may mail it to Barksdale Cancer Foundation, P. 0. Box 225, Charlotte Court House, Va. 23923.

Many thanks,

The Barksdale Cancer Foundation