Dear Editor,

In response to two items in your July 6, edition, first, the guest editorial was headlined “Activist Court Bails out Obamacare.” It is an easily observed fact that the ONLY time that the right wing refers to the court as activist is when it displeases their narrow interests. How many Republican congressmen labeled the court activist for the most damaging, evil decision of the last 50 years, Citizens United, which, in effect, turned our political election process over to the few in this country with enough money to buy our elected representatives? So watch the labeling, Dan Newhouse, or we might think you agree with giving the country to the Koch brothers.

Then we have the letter from Steve Lorz (was he impatient for his ‘opinion’ column to appear?). Out of a myriad of distortions and falsehoods, I single out his truly wicked assertion”…the offscouring of Chicago attempted to appease the Muslim world by saying that “The future does not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.”” Two points, first it is an unbelievably sick and hateful thing to refer to ANYBODY, let alone our President, as ‘the offscouring of Chicago’. What kind of sick brain dreams up these filthy insults? Second, the clear implication of this sentence is that Lorz believes that the future does belong to those who slander Mohammed. Sorry, Lorz my friend, but in a Christian nation, hateful slandering of another religion is NOT the flavor de jour.

(Incidentally, why do we, in English keep referring to Mohammed as the ‘prophet?’ In Islam his universal title is not ‘prophet’ but ‘rasul’, which means ‘Messenger.’ Also, before Lorz jumps on me as a Muslim, I am a practicing Roman Catholic, the offscouring of Ellensburg, but that does not prevent me from gaining knowledge and understanding of other religions. (Hint, hint, Lorz).

Yours truly,

John F, Connot

Everett, Washington