Evolution in our schools

For 150 years, the theory of evolution has been a hot topic, subject to much debate and disagreement. While it is difficult for anyone to determine the past based upon the evidence found in the present, it is clear that the theory of evolution has many logical and scientific flaws. Therefore, the way evolution is taught in public schools needs to be drastically changed.

There are hundreds of different objections that can be raised against evolution. One simple example: Something cannot come from nothing. Everything within the universe is bound by the laws of nature, and these laws do not allow the creation of matter. Matter can be destroyed and changed in form but cannot be made. This example is so simple it barely covers one flaw within evolution. However, it does serve as an effective reminder that evolution is at best a theory not a scientific law.

As it currently stands, the theory of evolution is first taught to public school students while they are in grade school. This is an age when most children struggle with telling fact from fiction. The theory of evolution is embraced by many well-educated scientists and as such should be discussed in schools. However, it needs to be taught as an unproven, flawed theory and as such should not be taught to students until they reach an appropriate age.

Jedidiah John

Colorado Springs

Repositioning the deck chairs

The Gazette’s viewpoint opinion article of Monday, Nov.2, written by The Washington Examiner stated, Rep. (Paul) Ryan starts off on the right foot. The Examiner was very kind to our new House speaker. No one would question that the House was in need of new leadership, but did we get a conservative or liberal Republican? Ryan’s voting record would not show a conservative background, but it would show his eagerness to work across the aisle with Democrats.

One of the first measures Ryan voted for as speaker of the House was to show support on HR 1314, the bipartisan budget act of 2015. This massive budget bill will be in place until March 2017, well after the presidential elections. This bill removes spending caps that were put in place under the sequester bill and removes the debt limit now estimated to be at $18.5 trillion. I’m sure there’s people out there that would say, “Well, we cannot shut down the government and must give our new House leader and incoming new president a little bit of breathing room.” Some estimates will put the debt limit at over $20 trillion by the time they decide to do anything – if anything – to the budget.

The vote on this horrendous spending bill was that Democrats enthusiastically endorsed it and many so-called conservative Republicans voted in favor of it (I call these rhinos). In the Examiner’s article, it mentioned conservatism four different times in referencing to Paul Ryan. I question what their definition is of a conservative. When the Titanic was stricken by an iceberg, I could visualize the captain demanding that the deck chairs be repositioned before anything else; this is exactly what we are getting out of Congress today. Conservatism is not an infringement on anybody’s rights – it does call into accountability of government and what is demanded by our society. I, too, wish the new House speaker best of luck.

Rob Blancken

Colorado Springs

Failures of professional politicians

Well, folks, it appears that (according to media and his opponents) Dr. Ben Carson’s main fault is that he is a political neophyte who lacks experience in politics. Many people, myself included, view this as a plus! Professional politicians of both parties have brought us to a point where we are $19 trillion in debt, have 48 million on food stamps (true number is north of 100 million when you count the total number of family members eating) and God only knows how many are really unemployed when you discount the Obama new-math way of counting those who want more than 30 hours a week.

The answer to all these issues and host of others disabling our nation is an even larger nanny state with more freebies. This coming from the precoronated queen of the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton.

She does, however, have that one asset that media types and professional hacks value so much – experience! To what end can certainly be seriously debated. Her time as secretary of state was a disaster. I contend that nowhere around the world are we better off as a nation because of her appointment as secretary of state. She does have experience, though, particularly in the area of socialistic statesmanship. She and her husband have drawn a paycheck courtesy of American taxpayers for decades, not to mention living in public housing of one sort or another most of their adult lives.

Ben Carson has little experience in this area. He had to toil in the private sector using his mind and physical gifts to help others and save lives. So there it is: Ben Carson has a political experience deficit. But as he points out: The Ark was built by amateurs while the Titanic was built by professionals!

I like to point out that our first president also had a professional political deficit, and I believe that worked out pretty good for all of us!

Len Bentley

Colorado Springs

Fraught with bad decisions

The decision by the president to put “boots on the ground” in Syria is perhaps the worst decision he has made in a presidency fraught with bad decisions! The Russian Air Force is dropping ordnance onto groups of fighters who are individually and collectively trying to overthrow the dictator, Bashar Assad, some that are supported by the U.S. military. So what happens after a Russian airplane drops ordnance onto one of these units where United States military are embedded, killing American servicemen? Will this be just another “line in the sand” crossed and not challenged?

I have watched in amazement as the terrorist organizations in the Middle East have captured and are using our military equipment with apparent ease since American forces likely trained them when they were “on our side.” The United States has apparently trained and equipped its worst enemy!

Our president surely knows that if he puts American soldiers in harm’s way some will be harmed, tragically coming home in the flag-draped caskets that are often hidden from public knowledge and view! In the foreign policy chess game with Russia, our president should realize that he is no “Bobby Fischer” and will not only lose but will be humiliated by Putin.

The United States will lose its stature as a “World Power” not as a result of some gigantic blow but as a result of “a thousand cuts.”

Don Laughlin

Colorado Springs