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SPORTS GAMBLING The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law that prohibits sports gambling.
I strongly disagree with the high court’s decision based in a states’ rights argument. I too believe in states’ rights, but this is not the issue in this case. The real matter at hand is whether the American people have a God-given right to be protected by the federal government from thievery, which is what the corporate gambling interests are. Las Vegas didn’t secure all its riches, glitz and glamour from winners, but from suckers exploited by professional looters.
This decision may have some impact on curtailing illegal sports gambling, but it will actually do more to make the corruption aspect legitimate and mainstream. Worse still, state governments that choose to permit this form of gambling will become addicted to the revenues they get from the fleecing of their own citizens. Sports will be corrupted by nefarious elements and the integrity of the game and the beauty of competition stained with greed.
Our children, in addition to the temptations of alcohol and drugs, will now have greater access to an additional vice – gambling.
The high court should have stood up to slick lawyers, politicians and robber barons that will now use this opportunity to line their pockets at the expense of our nation’s citizenry. Rev. Mark Creech, executive director Christian Action League of North Carolina, Inc.
HUMANNESS OF HOMELESSNESS I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the article titled “H.O.T. means hope for the homeless” (Fletcher Farrar, Illinois Times, May 10). I’ve been struggling with substance abuse for years, and this time last year I was being dropped off at a homeless shelter with my abusive then-boyfriend. He has since been arrested for robbery, and I was able to make it back home to my family in the process. I’ve gone through inpatient drug treatment a few times, and am currently holding down a job and rebuilding my relationships with my family. Some of the people that I met through my addiction and at the shelter have been the kindest, most understanding examples of human beings I have ever been blessed to meet. Thank you for drawing attention to the humanness of homelessness and drug addiction. We are daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, husbands and wives. I’ve seen too many die to this disease and leave loving families torn apart in the wake. Name withheld by request Springfield
WELCOMING CITY In response to Tim L. Thornton’s opposition (“Letters,” Illinois Times, May 10) to the city’s proposed welcoming city resolution:
“Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth ... It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.” – Bahá’u’lláh, Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í Faith.
“God grant that not only the Love of Liberty but a thorough Knowledge of the Rights of Man may pervade all the Nations of the Earth, so that a Philosopher may set his Foot anywhere on its Surface, and say, ‘This is my Country.’” – Benjamin Franklin Thomas W. Yale Springfield
