LETTERS

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Baha’is persecuted in Iran

The 300,000 members of the Baha’i Faith living in Iran under near-constant persecution are heroes to me and scores of other Baha’is who live in central Illinois. The lies, attacks and atrocities heaped upon Iranian Baha’is since the 1979 Islamic Revolution would be unimaginable, were they not so well documented.

Iranian Baha’is have — for decades — encountered wave after wave of unprovoked, government-sponsored attacks; yet, through it all, these innocent and gentle people remain obedient to a government that seeks to exterminate them. The Iranian government has long trampled upon the human rights of Baha’is living in Iran. Since the 1979 revolution, dozens of Baha’i holy places have been seized and desecrated. During this same period, 10,000 Baha’is have been dismissed from government and university jobs, their pensions denied and, in some cases, forced to be repaid. Hundreds (perhaps thousands) of Baha’is have had their homes raided and possessions seized. And, since 1979, some 200 Bahai’s in Iran have paid the ultimate sacrifice — state-sponsored execution.

Further executions may be in the offing, under the latest governmentsponsored attacks embodied in the arrest and pending trial of seven leaders of the Baha’i Faith in Iran who administer the affairs (such as they are) of the Iranian Baha’i community.

By the time this letter is published, the trial of these seven Baha’i heroes will have begun. I call them heroes because, like those gone before them, they could avoid government persecution by simply recanting their faith. Instead they face false charges of, among other things, “espionage for Israel,” which carries a potential death penalty.

Please pray for these people. Information regarding them and the ongoing persecutions, can be found at http://iran.bahai.us/ Another welcome action is to contact your Congressional representatives and ask them to support House Resolution 175, which calls on Iran to immediately release these seven people whose humble demeanor and faith in God are awe-inspiring.

Mike Lang Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Springfield

How to avoid a ticket

In his Guestwork column in the Feb. 5 IT, the “Jerome speeder” took local police officers to task for giving speeding tickets for “going over the limit a few miles.” Without going into how many miles a “few” is, if you go any higher than the stated limit, you risk getting a ticket. It’s just that simple! If I go, say, 33 mph in a 30 mph zone, normally I would not expect to get a ticket, assuming road and weather conditions were OK, due to the margin of error I believe the police usually work within. However if the police did give me a ticket in such an instance, while I wouldn’t like it, I really would not have much of a case against them. A sure way to avoid speeding tickets is to scrupulously obey the limit. But if you insist on exceeding it, not only do you risk getting a ticket, often you’ll have to wait at the next red light just that much longer!

Dick McLane Springfield

bleepinggolden.com

Thanks to Dusty Rhodes for an amusing — and may I say, inspiring — article about how Ilinoisans are cashing in on our ex-governor’s infamy with T-shirts and more. As was said so often during his impeachment hearings, we’ve “got this thing and it’s bleepin’ golden.”

I’d like to ask for some creative assistance from IT readers: a few weeks ago I purchased the domain name www.bleepingolden.com but I’m new to figuring out how to market something like this to the highest bidder in true Blagojevich style.

What’s in it for Springfieldians if they help me figure out how to sell the domain for megabucks? It’ll mean a brewpub if we raise enough capital! So folks, think of how to parlay a site (that can only become more valuable as Rod’s trial begins) into megabucks so our city can have fresh microbrews.

Even if you’re not into beer, think how much good a Web site like that could do as a Wall of Shame of Illinois Politicians, a Blago/Burris Changing Story of the Day, or media grand tour listing. The possibilities are endless.

Lola L. Lucas Springfield

Correx

The photo we used with our Buddy Holly story last week wasn’t the real Buddy Holly, but John Mueller, the Holly impersonator who performed his Winter Dance Party reenactment show Feb. 8 at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in Springfield. According to original Crickets member Niki Sullivan, “John is a reincarnation of Buddy Holly. He is that good. He has the same determination in his eyes that Buddy did and when John is on stage, he is a totally dynamic performer, just like Buddy. John is awesome.”