WyoLogue

There was a recent article in the paper regarding a man and woman in Cheyenne who had been convicted of taking part in a scam operation where a number of people had lost a great deal of money, perhaps even most of their life’s savings, by “investing in gold certificates,” which were said to have been backed by Ferdinand Marcos. It’s too bad that anyone was taken advantage of.

The article was good, even if produced by the highly biased AARP organization, who would like seniors to think that the advice they give is almost gospel. It’s a fact that the elderly lose millions of dollars every year because of financial exploitation. Sometimes this is a result of a convincing con artist’s scam, but that isn’t the only type of elder abuse happening today.

Another news article reported that 104-year-old New York socialite Brooke Astor was “abused and neglected” by her 82-year-old son, and many financial planners and attorneys are making a good case of advising that the elderly must be very careful when investing their funds, and also when receiving care from others (either paid or volunteer), including their own family members and friends, some of whom could take advantage of them and/or steal their financial resources.

Many eldercare attorneys and other financial advisers can help with what may turn out to be a huge problem facing America as the baby boomers mature. There are more wealthy elderly people on Earth today than ever before, and the potential for financial abuse is going to become more rampant in the years to come. Frequent, smaller cases may never receive national attention.

You can bet the personal injury attorneys won’t be far behind the eldercare ambulance, either!

GARY WELLS, Casper

I’m afraid that the Israelis, who have not accepted the teachings and marvelous demonstrations over all forms of evil which Jesus practiced, are still holding to the “eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” doctrine, which causes misunderstandings and leads to war. Unless the peoples of our nation and its government officials start practicing the doctrine of “doing unto others as you would have them do unto you,” both internally and internationally, we cannot expect God’s help in this awful conflict. We must set the best example we can of moral integrity and fiscal responsibility in our society, with tolerance and love, which are spiritual ideals that will bring out the best in all of us. Now would be a good time for human beings to take a good, hard look within ourselves and choose what thoughts and attributes we really want to exemplify. When we give up extreme forms of sensuality, such as drugs, alcohol and other addictions, we will find we really do want God in our lives. We, as individuals and a nation, are making our own choices, and its really a choice between good and evil. Selfishness, greed, hate and violence fall before God, good. Without a love for God we will be like a “city divided against itself,” which cannot stand alone.

DOLLY HAMLET, Casper

An advertisement in the *T (8/07/06) calls for some critical thinking: Eight Compelling Reasons Why Christ Is Coming Very Soon.

1. Israel Reborn. Not the first time. Refer to the Book of Ezra.

2. Plummeting Morality. See the Bible and your history books.

3. Famine, Violence and Wars. Refer to the Bible and history books; study human nature.

4. Increase in Earthquakes. Refer to geologic maps, Casper Mountain escarpment, the Bible and daily news.

5. Explosion of Travel and Education. Bible tells about people running to and fro. A new invention can come out of the blue and spark education. It’s happened lots of times. The media can distort happenings.

6. Explosion of Cults and the Occult. Not new human interests. We still cannot understand the supernatural.

7. New World Order. Try Nebuchadnezzar. Try Ancient Rome. Try World Wars II victors.

8. Increase in both Apostasy and Faith. This seems to go in cycles with events, on individual and national scales.

The advertiser could be right. We cannot know.

Be careful about selling the farm, quitting your day job and going up on the hill as did the Millerites on Oct. 22, 1844.

HELEN SCHMILL, Casper

Once again the vanity of man beacons with his self-proclaimed intelligence and reason. Please enlighten my ignorance and inform me on the practical purpose of the hunting and kiliing of mountain lions. Is it their meat that succulently makes an economical replacement of store bought meats on the dinner table, like that of elk and deer? Is it their invaluable pelts that are sought after and cherished for their insulative warmth to protect the human body from the cold?

Or is it the unparalleled achievement of of the hunt through the bravery, skill and heroics of the hunter? The conquering of the cougar, after all, is a well renowned talent to be revered and admired. The adrenaline of excitement that must consume the hunter when his mindless slobbering pack of canines (those of which, for some reason, the cat does not seem to realize that he could single-pawedly shred to confetti) chase the lion up a tree to await his fate from the hands of one of the greatest marksman ever to yeild a firearm.

This momentous act of courage is boasted with such pomp that the dead cat must be

stuffed and mounted on the victor’s wall for proof of prowess; thus I presume,

the name catamount.

I can only point out to these noble huntsmen who insist on defending their justifiable quotas on this ghost of the Rockies, that upon death with indignity is to arouse the vengeance of the spirit.

Patrik Troiani, Jacksonian

Of the 75 soldiers in C company, a few of the soldiers refused to kill any of the civilians herded into a ditch.

After the atrocity reporters in Saigon were told of a victory battle that killed 128 Communists and Gen. Westmoreland sent congratulations to the brigade.

Not until March 1971, only after writer Seymour Hersh exposed the massacre and a solder who took pictures of the dead and sold them to Life Magazine was Lt. Calley convicted of the murder of 22 civilians, the only one charged, and sentenced to life. But he only served three days before being transferred to Fort Benning where he lived in officer housing waiting an appeal.

President Nixon reduce Calley’s sentence to 20 years and a federal judge over turned the conviction and Calley was released on a thousand dollar bond. In Sept. 1975 the U.S. Court of Appeals reinstated Calley’s conviction but the case was just dropped and Calley went free.

In Iraq there has been too many cases of U.S. troops killing women and children and babies and because the members of the U.S. and multinational forces are given immunity from Iraqi law or any real law, it fosters rape and murder when just as in Vietnam when civilians were raped and killed in Free Fire Zones they were ruled to be Viet Cong and every dead man woman or child that was killed was classified as enemy dead.

In Iraq the U.S. military needs to stop covering up and distorting the killing by Marines of the 24 civilians that included babies at Haditha and the four soldiers who killed the family of that 15-year-old girl that was raped and set on fire and their house burnt down to cover up the crime. And if people in the U.S. want to ignore the truth and keep on acting like dumb sheep being misled by the Judas Goats Bush and Cheney then it will only get worse.

AL HAMBURG, Torrington