Tyranny

John Garvey believes that "in a liberal democratic society, we must also respect the freedom of religion" when he advocates the Catholic church's position that it's right to mask the fact that some pro-life pregnancy resource centers will not provide birth control planning and abortions ("Protect religious liberty," Dec. 8). He also thinks pharmacists should be able to refuse to sell legal contraceptive products if it's against their conscience. That is not freedom of religion; that is tyranny of religion.

"We think it's reasonable to provide mandatory instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show. No loopholes anywhere for anyone. " - National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, May 27, 1999. Let's get one thing straight about the Senate's failure Wednesday to support a too-modest extension of the national background check system for gun buyers to cover sales at gun shows and over the Internet.

Soon, there will be no separation of church and state if Maryland's same-sex marriage law goes to a referendum. The state is permitting a congregation of folks to impose their religious beliefs on the secular public. We don't need a math teacher to deduce that the signers of the current petition are largely people of faith. By accepting the petition, religion wins and nonbelievers - who though in the minority are still voters and taxpayers - are dismissed as sinners. Same-sex marriage and abortion are private matters for individuals to decide, not the will of God. The state should steer clear of any legislation regarding these matters.

Soon, there will be no separation of church and state if Maryland's same-sex marriage law goes to a referendum. The state is permitting a congregation of folks to impose their religious beliefs on the secular public. We don't need a math teacher to deduce that the signers of the current petition are largely people of faith. By accepting the petition, religion wins and nonbelievers - who though in the minority are still voters and taxpayers - are dismissed as sinners. Same-sex marriage and abortion are private matters for individuals to decide, not the will of God. The state should steer clear of any legislation regarding these matters.

New York. -- It appears that order will be the problem of the New World Order.There is no doubt now that we are seeing the dawn of a new kind of world. As Prime Minister John Major of Great Britain said Wednesday, we are watching what may be the event of the century. Whether or not this turns out to be more important than World War II, or the splitting of the atom, or the discovery of penicillin, there is no doubt this is big stuff, the real thing in the Soviet Union and points west.But what is it, exactly, that we are seeing?

SINCE SEIZING POWER in 1989, the National Islamic Front of spiritual leader Hassan al-Turabi and President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has put Sudan on the cutting edge of the Islamic revolution.They have served as a conduit for Iran's export of terrorism, harbored subversives of neighboring Arab regimes, genocidally suppressed the black Christians of the south and given sanctuary to cultist Christian insurgents in Uganda. This was the regime that sponsored the revival of black slavery in its own country that was exposed by Sun reporters Gregory Kane and Gilbert Lewthwaite last year.

ROBERT G. MUGABE has earned a place in history among the despots who would destroy their own countries to possess them. After 21 years as independent Zimbabwe's only president, Mr. Mugabe might be content at 77 that his life's work is done. Instead, he is terrified of the possibility. Mr. Mugabe, facing re-election in March, fears that people blame him for agricultural meltdown, civil chaos and destroyed hopes. A free vote would elect opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. So Mr. Mugabe has run independent judges off the courts.

LAST NOVEMBER, in a palace coup, some generals in Myanmar (formerly Burma) overthrew colleagues and changed the name of their ruling council. Since then, they have tried to clean up the country's image of backwardness, corruption, tyranny and stagnation.The sham of this was shown when the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi tried to travel from her house, where she is theoretically not under arrest, to visit political allies. The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, whose party won the 1990 election that was overturned, was stopped at a roadblock.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The Hotel Intercontinental, gem of a ruined city, exudes a medieval charm.The lobby walls surrendered their photos and portraits to the Taliban religious police two years ago. The drinking and dancing that drew sultans and kings have been replaced by ice water and prayer. At night, the breeze wafts into the Pamir Supper Club through a hole made by a missile, the gap framing a city of twinkling lights and curfew calm."The Taliban took everything," says Sher Ahmed, the sad-eyed manager of food and beverages.

The tyranny of New Hampshire and Iowa has been exposed as fraudulent. As though any pundit in 2000 will remember.Intimidating Taiwan is such fun the Chinese are going to keep up the fun and war games.For its next president, the Hopkins is examining an MRI wizard who can see through anything.It is announced that the northwest segment of the Beltway will be widened. This means that for two-plus years it will be narrowed.Pub Date: 3/18/96

In his March 22 op-ed piece ("Why I chose Sandra Fluke") Rep. Elijah Cummings mistakenly identifies a freedom issue as awomen's healthissue. For decades employees have been able to save money on health insurance costs by opting out of certain coverages. People beyond child-bearing years, celibate women and others were able to opt out of maternity coverage. People who didn't want to pay extra for vision coverage or dental coverage could opt out of such coverage. The government telling private companies what they must sell is tyranny.

The flood of video images emerging from the besieged city of Homs and other rebellious towns in Syria have shocked the world with their depictions of President Bashar Assad's bloody crackdown on innocent civilians. The images, nearly all of them taken with hand-held cellphone cameras, were not made by professional journalists (most of whom have been barred from entering the country) but by ordinary Syrians caught up in the terrifying chaos of war. We rarely witness a conflict at such close range, or so intimately from the viewpoint of the participants, and perhaps for that very reason the fuzzy, slightly off-kilter immediacy of these images makes the suffering and death they record all the more gripping.

You might call this a requiem for reverence. It seems that one Jeffrey Darnell Paul, a graphic artist from Miami Beach, had been tasked with creating a poster for a strip club's so-called "I Have a Dream Bash" last week in apparent "honor" of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. So this genius concocts an image of the nation's greatest human rights leader holding up a fan of $100 dollar bills like some low-rent "playa" while a scantily clad woman looks on. Mr. Paul, let the record show as African-Americans duck their heads in mortification, is black.

John Garvey believes that "in a liberal democratic society, we must also respect the freedom of religion" when he advocates the Catholic church's position that it's right to mask the fact that some pro-life pregnancy resource centers will not provide birth control planning and abortions ("Protect religious liberty," Dec. 8). He also thinks pharmacists should be able to refuse to sell legal contraceptive products if it's against their conscience. That is not freedom of religion; that is tyranny of religion.

With a divided Congress headed to Washington for the next two years, its members gravitating away from the middle on both sides of the aisle and Republicans tossing away one of the few tools available to foster compromise, the appropriation earmark, it's time to rethink Senate rules. New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall, a Democrat, has promised to force a motion on the first day of the 111 t h Congress on Jan. 5 to have the Senate consider new rules that would ultimately lower the 60-vote margin currently needed to end a filibuster.

The present functioning of the Democrat-controlled Congress concerning health care reform points to the inherent dangers of the unlimited power of its majority upon our republic. The ensuing consequences of the tyranny of a majority thwarting the will of the people were most feared by both Jefferson and de Tocqueville. They thought it to be an impious and detestable act for a legislative majority to use their authority of absolute power to pass laws they considered just but their constituents considered unjust.

If the BSO takes on a second home, it had better enlarge its donor base to match. Look what expansion did to the Peale Museum.Now that Pfiesteria have reached Florida, the gummint may do something about them.Bill brought a little rationality to Cuba policy. Not a whole lot, but it's a start.China is going to reform everything except its essential tyranny.Pub Date: 3/23/98

This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a fit of snickers.If Linda Tripp broke Maryland law by taping a phone call in Columbia without the consent of the other party, why is she not prosecuted?John Paul II has done more to weaken Cuba's tyranny than all the presidents combined.Cheer up. We will get the right hotel and the wrong hotel, and won't be told the cost.Pub Date: 1/26/98

However it turns out, the current fighting between Russia and Georgia - the first major military offensive by Russia outside its borders since the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 - is likely to have long-term consequences for the United States. Georgia's independence and democracy deserve U.S. support in this crisis, and we should make that position clear. When we were in Romania a decade ago, Romanians would regularly tell us that the United States was naive about Russia. Then, Russia's economy was weak and its politics much more democratic and open than they are today.

Some crimes horrify because of their brutality, others because of the sheer number of their victims. The alleged crimes of Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader accused of orchestrating Europe's worst massacre since World War II, were a mad stew of cruelty and mass murder that made the term "ethnic cleansing" synonymous with evil. This week, after a decade-long manhunt, Serbian police finally arrested Mr. Karadzic on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. His capture, though long delayed, should send a message to tyrants everywhere: You can run, you can hide, but sooner or later you will be found and called to account for your despicable actions.