TANT'S RANTINGS ABOUT BUSH, IRAQ AND DRUG WAR ARE NONSENSE

In reference to Ed Tant's tirade of Oct. 19 and most of his previous
columns, he appears to be one person who just cannot find his niche in a
democratic society. He is unable to accept the fact that we do have a
president elected by due process. The only area of the United States with
alleged spurious voting in the last election was South Florida's Broward
and Palm Beach counties. Three counties are totally controlled by the
Democrats. And, after all recounts, gave President Bush even more votes
than the initial counting, yet Ed still cries ''unfair, illegal.'' What
nonsense by Tant. Of course some citizens have legitimate questions over a
potential war with Iraq. But, the vast majority of Americans support our
president and Congress on this issue. There were even dissenters when we
entered the second World War with Germany and Japan. Thankfully, we did go
to war and defeated the enemy. If we had not, we would now be speaking
German. If we had taken Hitler out in the '30s when we had a chance, there
would have been no war. If we had taken Hussein out in the '90s, there
possibly would be no need of war today. But as things stand, war is a
necessity, and what the president is planning will be a just and necessary
war. If we do not take the present threat seriously, we all will be
speaking Arabic in the future. I, for one, am happy we do have a war on
drugs. This is not a ''Mickey-Mouse war on cocaine and crack'' as one of
Ed's favorite radical poets, Allen Ginsberg, states. This is a real war and
those convicted at the federal level face no early parole. I am thankful
these criminals remain in jail for a substantial period of time. It is much
less expensive to keep a criminal in jail than paying the cost to society
when they are released.

Mike Carter